December 29, 2021 • 39 mins
Wednesday on 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe, Jonas Knox, Brady Quinn and LaVar Arrington reflect on the life and career of John Madden who passed away at the age of 85. They wish the Jags good luck as they get an early start on their coaching search. Plus, a safe bet on Micah Parsons for Defensive Player of the Year.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's the best of two pros and a couple of
Joe with Lamar Arrington, Brady Quinn and Jonas Knocks on
Fox Sports Radio. Hi, it is a Wednesday, and that
is LaVar Arrington's favorite day of the week. How do
you know? How did you know? Jona? Jona, Jona, Jonah,
(00:22):
How did you know? How do you know? How did
you know? Burt toe Burt Toe? Berto, You're back there,
Brady Berdy, Brady Brady le le Lee? Do we got
my best tea back there? Is? You know my Bessie
back there? Done? It's that's right baby here on Talk
Sports Radio U. And now we've got all sorts of
football conversation to get to. Is it okay if one
(00:44):
day I don't want to do it? Yeah, I agree.
It's kind of getting played out, you know. Yeah, that's
good about the way. I thought all the days like
today would be the day we don't do it. Yeah. Yeah,
of all the days I thought, today kind of agree.
I can't believe he did it, man, but I mean
I ran with it. I mean, I'm not going to
(01:05):
leave you hanging. Just can't believe he did it. I
appreciate it. You should leave Jonas out there with his
pants around his ankles. Just we call that the Dublin.
That's what we call it. I won't leave you hanging.
I got you back theah. Well, I appreciate you know
Brady would, but I appreciate it. LaVar. You gave up
on giving us the Harry Carey impersonations. All right, that's fine.
(01:28):
We can. We can say bye bye to the hump
Day intro until we bring back Harry carry. I mean,
I'm just saying that's a deal. That's a deal going
with the camel deal on on a day where we're
going to talk about one of the greats of the game.
I mean, you know, I get it. I hear you, man,
I don't know why Brady told me to do it.
Now let's let's get into Uh. You're not about yourself, no, listen,
(01:50):
I appreciate it, man. Um. So this was the news
that made the rounds in the NFL late last night
or late yesterday afternoon into last evening. John Matt and
legendary coach broadcaster Uh, the name behind the Madden video game.
He passed away at AG a D five top to bottom. Uh.
(02:11):
In my mind, one of the great resumes in NFL history,
if not the greatest, his impact on the field just
as a coach, what he did afterwards. But John Madden
gone at the age of eighty five, just a legend. Uh,
in every sense of the word. He was more than
just Like as far as NFL news, this is more
than the NFL. Like obviously, his entire life was about
(02:34):
the game of football. You know, played initially played in
the NFL. Hurt his knee in Philly and that was it.
But that's where he first developed his love for the
game of football. Uh as far as coaching goes and
teaching goes, being around Norm Van Brocklyn, you know, he
gets into coaching out there, he's around the great Don Corriel.
Uh then from there he ends up getting hired by
(02:55):
Al Davis, who obviously, I'll ended up he had had
coaching or said Gilman, I mean you're talking about some
of the like all time, you know, pioneers of the
sport of football. That's who influenced him. And at at
a young age, he gets thrusted to be a head
coach of the Raiders at thirty two years old. Like
I know, it's it seems more commonplace for us now
(03:18):
and There were instances of that back then, but it's
it was really rare, especially considering his resume at that point.
And he never had a losing season, never he won
a super Bowl. He went over a hundred games. And
I think one of the crazy things about it is
he didn't like stay too long. He got out. He
(03:39):
went into broadcasting when sixteen Emmy's worked for every network,
became the standard in that industry. With how he went
about calling games. I called him. He was a tradition.
John Madden became a tradition. And most households who like
to watch football on Thanksgiving Day because it was his voice.
(04:00):
You heard, you know him and Pat Summer all and
they're giving away a turkey or tur duck in or
whatever it was. But I mean, I mean, he became
a legend in so many different ways around a game
of football. But that was the thing is it was
all about football. Is all about him wanting to educate people,
entertain people. And he could talk to coaches, he could
(04:21):
talk to players about ball and xs and os, but
he could also talk to the common man who maybe
didn't play football, I didn't know football that much and
explain things to him to make it simple. He was
an icon really when you think about the impact he's
had on younger generations and and Madden the the e
a sports game, and the impact that had on young
(04:42):
men who one day played that game hoping to be
up there at the NFL level. Then one day they're
up there playing as themselves. I mean, he had such
an impact on the game of football and growing the
game of football. I don't think you can really truly
appreciate eight you know, what he's done, unless you start
(05:03):
kind of reading through and you talk through some people.
I mean, I know what Fox like. He's He's who
everyone tries to talk about. Not that they try to
make you be as a color analyst, but he's the
one who set the standard. He he's the one that
you're you're basically trying to say, hey, trying to do
with John mad doing, make it your own, but be
educational and formative entertainment, like he wrote the book on it.
(05:24):
So it's it's a sad, sad day. And and obviously
I was just you know, when you watch that documentary
that came out on Christmas Day, you start to get
a sense of how special it wasn't so many people
you know, I started to get a sense of of
what what was to come. I had heard for many
years that that coach Matt was dealing with with illness,
per personal illnesses, and and a lot of people, you know,
(05:47):
maybe attributed him moving on from the booth to just
wanting to move on into life based off of dealing
with some of those those health health concerns. I immediately,
my my, my flags immediately went up. When they they
announced that they were going to be releasing this this
documentary on them on Christmas, it just had an airy
(06:09):
feeling to it and and and so much so I
started looking up, like how is he doing? You know,
you meet enough people when you play this game. Our fraternity,
of our group of people, our circle and reality is
very small, and so in your travels, you know, I
was in the booth with Gus, I saw a couple
of people that that used to work with, you know,
(06:33):
you know, different people they worked with, with, uh, you know,
Coach Madden and my my my agent actually Dean Dean Grossman,
Sandy Grossman, Like there are there are so many people
that you know, you start to have conversations with. And
when the documentary was announced, it generated a lot of
conversation within the Legends community, and and it was even
(06:54):
going around on messaging boards. Is he is he okay?
And and so when you stop and think, like for me,
it's hard to educate young young people on the importance
of people like John Madden because it's just so you know,
(07:14):
things are just so simply put these days, they's just
so simply absorbed. So John Matten too. You know a
lot of younger people it is it's the video game,
you know, And and that's what they know. They don't
really know the person or the figure. They never probably
taken the time to know who he is. You know
what he represented to me? Uh, I say, there's like
(07:37):
a few people that you will meet in your life
that embody certain things to a certain degree where the
balance of it is so amazing that it's like, for
all these years they have tried to recreate what John
Matten was in the booth. It's like it's it's like
all these years people have tried to recreate Whitney Houston
(07:59):
seeing in the national anthem before the Super Bowl between
what was the Bills and the Giants, right, people have
tried to recreate that and they can't do it. People
are tried to recreate what John Matten has represented in
in the booth and they can't do it. And and
I always felt like John Matten was the perfect balance,
Like he had to look the way he looked to
(08:23):
be John Madden. He had to have the name John
Madden to be John Matten. He he had to have
the voice in the presence to be John Madden. It's
like so many different things that that had to be
in balance for him to be the figure that he
ended up being to those who knew who he was
and knew his body of work. So I'm just honored
(08:45):
that I've had an opportunity to be interviewed by him, uh,
to to have met him and spend time with him.
I always tell the story about how he said he
would jump out of a Good Year blimp if we
went to the Super Bowl. I love telling us story
because to know John Matten and know his his style
of communication, the way he presented it. UH. Just a
(09:08):
masterful dude. And and I always say the ultimate the
ultimate goal for me in my life is to be
able to create a legacy where one day, when I
ceased to exist physically on this earth, that people actually
make it a point to talk about my my principle,
my core values and what was important to me, and
(09:29):
and being someone who who impacted others, being someone who
worked hard and and and had a sense of integrity
about how I approached things. And I have never come
across anyone Mike Haines is a real good friend of mine,
used to mentor me on a very consistent basis. I
have never come across anyone who has known UH coach
(09:52):
Matten to the level that they've known him, that has
ever had anything bad to say about him. And that's
very cool. That's a very difficult thing to do, to
go a lifetime where you can meet people and no
one if his name comes up, no one has anything
to beat, anything bad to say about him. So honor
(10:12):
to him, man, in respect to him, and you know,
thoughts and prayers go out to his family of course,
but man, what what a loss to to the football community.
Learn learn your history, guys. I know there's probably not
a lot of young people up right now at six
am or at three am or at four am, they're
probably hammered. But do your do your homework at some point,
really do do it. Just do a dive on who
(10:36):
John Matten was. And I think that that that would
be good for you. I mean, Brady mentioned it. As
a coach, he won seventy six percent of his games
as a coach, and he didn't coach for a couple
of years. He coached for a decade. He won seventy
six percent of his games. There are thirty Think about
who he was going up against. Oh my god, her
(10:56):
At Chuck Noll, all right, I mean Don Shula, like,
these are some of the other Tom Landry, these are
some of the other great minds and coaches he was
going up against during that time. So it's not like,
oh he happened to hit this decade period that was
a cakewalk at all. It was to your point, it
was a golden era and he had that much success.
(11:16):
It's still the old time winning his percentage for for
a coach to have won a hundred games, it's the
highest thing. I mean, it's it's remarkable. I think what
he did as a coach, and um, I think the
crazy thing is is he stayed relevant. I mean, how
how many guys can say that, considering how long ago
he coached, he stayed relevant. There there are only a
(11:39):
few times where the name superseds, whatever the name is
attached to, Like, especially if you only have to say
one name. Yeah, Like people don't say lit bomb anymore,
they say chap stick. They don't say tissue anywhere, they
say clean x with. They don't say football video games anymore. Well, yeah,
that's the point, man. They don't say football video games anymore.
They say Madden. They were their games tech mobile. John
(12:02):
Elway had one, Tannah had one. Say Michael Jordan's. Yeah,
his name Serena Williams. You say Serena, and you know,
it never seemed like he was and you meant LaVar.
You've never heard anybody say a bad thing about him?
Isn't that because he was just himself? Like it never
seemed like he was trying It never seemed like he
(12:23):
was trying to to you know, like this was my
niche I'm gonna be the guy who was a little
bit all over the place of the tellustrator. It was like,
all right, here's the tellustrator. How does it work? It
goes like this, Okay, let me draw some pictures and
have some fun during He never he never tried too hard.
Andy read reminded me of John Matten. I played for
Andy Reading most of my Pro Bowls because they would
(12:44):
always come up short and the ends up coaching the
Pro Bowl. Well that's the truth. That is the truth.
I'm sorry, um, but I played for him, I think
all three of my Pro Bowls all three years, and
and being around him and and how he handled things.
The one thing that you're talking about as a coach,
(13:05):
if you're able to relate to your your team, to
your players, the one thing that a player will always say, Brady, maybe,
and then you let me know if I'm wrong. I
just want to know that my coaches care about me.
If that's the first and foremost thing to a relationship
between a player and a coach. I just want to
know that my coach actually cares. John Martin came across
(13:30):
to me when I met him as one of the
most as you met. As you said, John is one
of the most genuine dudes I had ever met, Like
one of those type of guys you know where it
impacts you in a way where you wanna help him
sit down, Like like I can recall the few times
that I met him and interview with him, I'd hug him, right,
(13:50):
I hug him because you know, they get up, you know,
greet you when you come into the production meeting. And
I would shake everybody's head and I'll go him last.
You know, anytime I were expected somebody a whole lot,
I would go to them less, unless unless they were
just right there in my face. But I go to
John Last. I hug him, and now I put him
in his seat right like I sent him down, and
(14:10):
make sure he got into his seat. You know, I
I play, you know, I grabbed his shoulders and and
and give him like you know, like the coach to
to the player to coach, like shoulder rub and stuff
like that, and and almost like he was like your granddad,
you know what I mean, Like you had a respect
and an admiration for him that it's like you need
a blanket. Do you want me to go get you
(14:32):
some some hot chocolate or something like is everything okay?
Like you wanted to know he was one of those figures. Um,
you wanted to know that he was okay. Keith Jackson
was like that, like you just felt a certain type
of energy that made you feel like a kid. He
made you feel like a kid, you know. So anyways,
(14:55):
I'm I'm I'm thankful to have the memories of it,
to to have even at him and have been around
him and have talked with him. But I just think
it's ultimately his ability to go to the screen and
be what he was and on the tellustrator and calling
the games on Thanksgiving, right, it was because he had
the ability to connect with all of us and so
(15:17):
many people, you know, they could use that and don't
have it. His his sounds, the boink, boom, you know,
all that stuff. It was all natural. It was just him,
Like you could picture him phil Or on the board
and like explaining it to a player coach, and it
was also natural. It's it's one of the reasons why,
(15:38):
Like now, when you hear guys do it and I'm
not gonna name names, but but Jonas knows who I'm
who I'm talking about, I'm sure it comes off as disingenuous,
like they're almost trying to recreate jib. I mean, it's
just it's so fake. And that's the thing is he
was anything but that, and that's why I think he
resonated to connect with people, whether it was through the
(16:00):
TV screen or just in person, in the manner in
which he communicated. But but also I think, you know,
we're talking about how when coaches let you know they
care as a player, I think when people just trying
to help, try to educate, trying to you know, entertained,
like when they come off and as that type of figure,
which he was, I always think that people tend to
(16:22):
buy in more because what they're doing is they're not
making it about themselves. They're making it about the person
they're talking to. It trying to help. And that was
who John Madden was. Like he he really made it
as entertaining and as brilliant as he was, and he
really did behind the scenes. People don't know this, but like,
but even behind the scenes the way they shoot football
(16:43):
and talk about the game. He was the one who
helped construct that. It wasn't all these people out in
Hollywood who did all that. He was the one that
was like, we need to do this, we need to
think of this, this is how we need to you know,
talk about this. Like he was one of the visionaries
behind all of that. And so one of the things
that's crazy to me is like the way he went
about doing it all was it was never about himself.
(17:06):
Even though he probably had the greatest impact on growing
the game of football of any figure that we've ever seen. Yeah, No,
I tell you, it's just an awesome, awesome resume, awesome dude.
Um at lors Point. You never hear anybody say a
bad thing about him. I think it's a testament to
who he was a guy, uh and and just his
impact on the game as a whole. Be sure to
(17:26):
catch live editions of Two Pros and a Cup of
Joe with Brady Quinn, LaVar Arrington and Jonas Knocks week
days at six am Eastern three am Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. We've got
a couple of weeks left in the NFL season, the
first ever eighteen week NFL season, and so we've got
(17:47):
some teams out there that I've got some decisions to make.
But guys, if you're interested in being a head coach,
guess what we got good news. The Jacksonville Jaguars are
starting up their interview process. Yeah, the worst team a
league UH two years running is now looking for a
head coach. And we've got all sorts of names out there,
believe it or not. Yeah, they got all sorts of
(18:08):
names that are being tied to the Jacksonville interview process.
Doug Peterson, former Eagles coach at Jim Caldwell had a
couple of runs with Indianapolis and Detroit. Byron Leftwich, the
o C for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dan Quinn, Kellen Moore.
There's been a bunch of names tied to this. Brady Quinn,
the Jags interview processes underway. Let's get involved, Let's make
(18:32):
it happen and be a part of the worst franchise
in the NFL. Let's go. I'm gonna pass, I'm gonna
pass all things involved. Big fan of a few of
the players on their team as far as just what
I think their ability is. But uh, the hard part is,
you know, Trent and Bulky somehow has the year of
shot con He's gonna be a part of this next
head coaching higher based on how things worked out, whether
(18:55):
it's in San Francisco or in Jacksonville. This you know,
this type frame probably not not gonna work out well
that that's just my guess. There might be some success,
but it seems like it always comes to it to
a crashing end at some point. So the more interesting
thing I'm curious is, like a guy like Byron Leftwich
makes all the sense in the world. Was there as
(19:18):
a player. He understands that market. I think he understands
what this organization has been at times, maybe what it
can be. He's you know, been calling plays for Tampa
now being around Tom Brady, all of that. The only
thing that stands in the face is there was a
report that came out that said they wanted to have
(19:38):
a guy who's got prior head coaching experience in the NFL.
They didn't want to start over with someone who's doing
this in the NFL for the first time. So I'm
thin gonna make an exception, are they not. I Mean,
that's what becomes interesting about all of this is we
hear owners say things all the time about what they're
looking for their next head coach, and then they pletely
(19:59):
completely desperate guard that or they'll go through a coaching
search and they'll get the advice of, for example, Jimmy
has them with the Cleveland Browns. I mean, Kevin Stefanski
was who was actually said to them like, hey, this
would be the candidate we think would be best student
for what you guys are doing. But no, they ended
up elevating Freddy Kitchens into that spot and he end
(20:21):
up being the head coach for a period of time
before it ended up eventually being Kevin Stefanski. So, for
whatever reason, owners sometimes don't even listen to the advice
that they're either paying for or some of their initial
thoughts on how they feel about the situation, and they
get persuaded at some period of time. But Byron left,
which makes all the sense in the world to me
(20:42):
as far as who would make the most sense for
Trevor Lawrence, a player and a guy who gets that
area and everything else. It just it comes down to that,
no different than what I said about Urban Byrol when
he got hired. Have patience. This is an awful organization.
Awful and you know you've got to have time for
him to learn as far as this organization to change
(21:03):
if you're ever gonna see what they're capable of a
few years from now. Yeah, I wonder if that was
a shot at Urban Meyer. We want a guy with
that has been a coach formerly in the league, Like
is it like not enough? Like it's not enough everything
that's taken place, Like you gotta put that out there
(21:24):
as as like a parting gift shot a dark, so
to speak. I think that that's interesting. But again, I'll
say this, when you look at situations such as these
and you're trying to find the right candidate to change
(21:44):
the fortunes and and the trajectory of of a team,
which is really a trajectory of the entire franchise, it's
a difficult proposition when you have people above the pay
grade of the person that you're going to hire that
holds them back from being able to achieve and accomplish
(22:08):
what it is they're being hired for. I'm gonna let
that sink in, like let that sink in, because that's
the ultimate reason why coaches going into situations like this
is in some cases coaching suicide. It's it's it's why
would why would Byron Leftwich leave what he has right
(22:32):
now for that now? Nonetheless, it always happens, right if
a guy gets an opportunity, they're going to try to
make their their their their way. But man, why would
you go into a situation Because if you've been around
the business long enough, you know if if the people
that are above you that can overrule your decision making ability,
(22:54):
whether it be on personnel moves with players, whether it
be on coaching staff, hires and fires, whether it be
on how you discipline or or free agency, whatever it
may be. If you have people above you, the owner,
the GM, anybody else that may be in those circles
(23:14):
that they run in and they sit around and they
make these decisions and do what they do, you're not
giving a person an opportunity to change the team. You're
giving them an opportunity to be called a head coach.
And that's what you gotta be mindful of in these situations.
The one thing Jacksonville had going for him is patients,
(23:36):
because when you looked at the job there as a
head coach, it was always, you know, may maybe not
the most ideal situation, but at least you know you're
gonna get give the coach some time to try and
turn it around. Gus Bradley got several years there where
they were a bad team every single year. They were
picking in the top five virtually every single year, and
they gave him an opportunity. They were patient until they
(23:56):
decided we gotta move on Doug Morrow. A lot of
about Doug Marron was gonna be gone a year prior
to when he actually came back for the final season,
they showed patient. So you thought when Irvin Meyer came in,
well that's an attractive job because you know the organization
has shown that they're going to be patient with you.
All that's gone. That completely changed. I think the job
(24:17):
and that destination got worse this year and not better.
And that's after the coach. They got rid of doubled
their win total from a year ago in less games.
So if I'm one of these guys, I look at
this gig going I don't know anymore. And if I'm
Byron Leftwich, you guys tell me if I'm crazy, I
would rather wait for Bruce Arians to retire and take
(24:39):
over in Tampa, then go take this job in Jacksonville
right now, with no guarantees that I would get the
Tampa job, I'd rather wait. I think that depends on
the quarterback though, right. I mean that's what this is about.
You know, last year, when you control the number one
overall pick and you have a class that has a
prospect like Trevor Lawrence, I mean you're gonna be tied
to that forever, so you feel pretty good about it,
(25:00):
and especially having a second first round pick, all that
draft capital, all the all the cap space, So you
got all of that this year. Now, yeah, you've got
the number one pick as it is right now, you
don't need that number one overall prospect as at the
quarterback spot. And you might say, yeah, let's let's go
get another edge guy. But I said yesterday you drafted
(25:20):
Josh Allen, You've drafted Caleavon Chason. Are you gonna invest
another pick in into the in an edge rusher? You
need help? On the old line? Is it is that
too high than take an offensive lineman that we don't
necessarily have one that's regarded as a guy that would
potentially go number one overall. I mean, there's a lot
of questions in regards to how that that's gonna look.
So to your point, Jone is I do think it's
(25:42):
less attractive from the optics of, well, you know, look
what shot con said he was gonna do and then
how things actually operated. You're being hired by a general
manager that kneecap the most recent head coach. He's done
it previously in his career, and so he obviously has
the ear of the owner. And so if you butt
heads right away, it's gonna be a problem. And so
(26:04):
to your point like, yeah, if this is the only
opportunity I get, I'm probably gonna wait for another opportunity
or for you know, the situation that SAMPA to clear
itself up where I can then you know, sit there
and say, right, how much longer is Tom Brady gonna
be here? And who's coming in behind him? Because that's
gonna be a big case of what all happens next.
And also, like Doug Peterson, there's a lot of conversation.
(26:25):
You know, Doug Peterson would make some sense in in jacksonvelopment.
I don't know that Doug Peterson looks at this and goes, oh, yeah,
that's the one for me. Like I think there's a
reason that he waited to get because there was talks
and he was going to get hired right away this
past offseason, like Mike McCarthy, and he waited. I just like,
I think about this, Why why do you leave Philly
who end up pushing him out? Another guy who had
(26:48):
the ear of the owner, Holly Rose, who also pushed
out Chip Kelly. I mean, you could go through the
line of some of these guys who find their way
into an organization, they know how to maneuver a corporate ructure,
and they end up finding a way to the guy
in power and have his ear, and they become the
influential piece that makes all these decisions. So I don't
(27:08):
know that Doug Peterson wants to tie himself to another
guy that could do the exact same thing to him
that how he Roseman did. I also wonder do you
guys buy into the the approach of well, you need
an offensive guy or a defensive guy. You got this
young quarterback got it because a lot of these names
outside of Dan Quinn and a couple others have been
thrown out. I think Matt eber Fleus is another one
(27:29):
that's been thrown out there outside it's all offensive guys.
If you're Jacksonville, you just need somebody that's gonna that's gonna,
you know, steer the ship in the right direction. Think
about it this way. Everything if you bring in someone
who doesn't create the ripples and waves that Urban did
perceivably by having a woman dancing on his lap in
(27:53):
a restaurant or uh kicking a dude in the ham
So he's so funny. I was listening to Sanity Sharpe
talk about how if you want to know what a
real football player, is you put your finger in and
a real football player's head, you're going to get a swing.
So the fact that we found out about uh Urban's
(28:14):
foot touching the hamstring and the way that we did
said all we needed to know. You just I would
assume that Jacksonville is looking at it as we just
need to bring somebody in that isn't going to be
in the media, isn't going to be scrutinized the way
that Urban was, and that's a win for Jacksonville. I
don't even because if we're talking about the what the
(28:36):
team needs, the team needs a culture shift. They need
a culture change. That's that's where you have to start.
The biggest mistake people make and trying to change where
the trajectory of their teams are is they think that, oh,
do we get an offensive minded guy, do we get
a defensive minded God? No, start with culture. You need
to find somebody who's going to build the proper culture,
(28:58):
and then you worry about every thing else. Because let
me tell you right now, if you had the best
play calling, the most sophisticated play calling, mine and all
of the game, if if you bring him into a
culture that is is toxic and not conducive. An environment
not conducive to success, they will fail. If you bring
in a defensive guru in a toxic environment, that is
(29:22):
an environment that is not conducive to success, they will fail.
So the point is the problem that that Jacksonville is
going to have to to really address and be honest about,
is you have to address the culture, and you have
to start there before you worry about anything else. Well,
they want to change that. Tell Shotgun to sell the team.
(29:43):
See you get rid of the team, you want to
change the culture. That that's the common denominator through all this.
You know they'll get somebody in there who's gonna put
some cement in the swimming pools in the top deck.
Get him out of London. Be sure to catch live
editions of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe with
Brady Quinn, LaVar Errington and Jonas Knocks weekdays at six
am Eastern three am Pacific. I'm George Rice Stir, host
(30:07):
of the Rice Ster or Wrong Podcast. This is the
intersection where sports, business, society and pop culture meet the
truth Absolute fire on Monday's, Wednesdays and Friday's Facts Only.
Make sure you check your feelings at the door because
no bys is allowed. We keep it one hundred. This
(30:28):
is where real conversations happen. Listen to the Rights Are
Wrong podcast on the I Heart Radio, Apple Apple Podcast
or wherever you get your podcasts. So we've been talking
on this is the charge was led by LaVar Arrington
who tried to warn everybody about the storm that was
Micah Parsons in the NFL. Try to let everybody know
(30:49):
it's coming. Uh, he's a problem, He's going to be
a problem. And here we are. Mica Parsons is indeed
a problem. Uh, the Rookie of the Year to the
defensive Rookie of the year not even worth discussing. It's
a rap. It's over with. Michael Parsons is going to
be your winner. But the defensive Player of the year
odds have switched. And this according to Fox Bet, where
(31:12):
Michael Parsons is now the favorite, followed by t J. Watt,
Trevon Diggs, and then Aaron Donald who comes in fourth.
But here's what's interesting is that Michael Parsons is still
plus money. So he's still a plus one seventy five,
meaning you bet a hunter bucks. You listen Brady, You're
better at the what's good value and what's not good value.
(31:34):
I don't think there's anybody else that I'm even concer
I mean, say whatever you wanted about t J. Watt,
He's missed time. This feels like this is Michael Parsons
Award and a plus one seventy five. Even though the
odds have dropped significantly, this still feels like a value pick.
And Michael Parsons is gonna win this award, I think so.
I mean there's still some risk there and you kind
(31:56):
of never know what you know, voters for this kind
of stuff are going to do. Um, they could surprise you,
especially if t J. Watt were to close out the
season strong. Um, that might change things. Right, There's there's
there's a lot of football play in the a f
C North, So that would be my only hesitation because
I think he's really the only one in striking distance
that could potentially, you know, change how you view things.
(32:18):
But uh, to me, I mean, again, worth the risk.
I'm sure you could find some way of kind of
hedging those two bets based on those odds, But um,
to me, I think I'd give it to him. I mean,
he's had the biggest impact of any defensive player on
any team this year, and and he's done it in
a variety of ways. So I think I think it
is a safe bet, but I do think there's still
(32:40):
some risk involved if t J. Watt was to have
some monster performance here down the stretch. You know what's
interesting is Dallas finished third in the NFC East last year, third,
and what was the what was the main Yeah, what
was the main reason for Dallas finishing third outside of
(33:01):
Dak Prescott's injury? Defense? Their defense. Their defense has been
much maligned for the last several years, and it has
been a point of contention um for quite some time.
You bring in dan Quinn, and I knew immediately because
if you look at dan Quinn's resume of what he's
(33:23):
been able to do with defenses, I knew that that
with the personnel that they had on defense, that was
going to be an amazing addition for Mica to go
into to that situation. More than any more than t J. Watt,
more than anyone else and Aaron Donald, anybody else you
(33:45):
want to throw in there. Micah Parsons has had the
biggest impact on a defense and on a team than
any defender in the National Football League, including Males Garrett.
And then if you if you ask yourself, well, how
do you quantify that? How do you how do you
show that because they they're they're NFC, they're going to
(34:08):
be NFC East chance that they're not already I think
they're already champs. Um, yeah, they got to this past weekend.
Uh there, So they're They're a team that you can
look at right now today and say that this is
a team that's competitive enough to possibly make it to
the championship round in the playoffs. They might make the
(34:29):
deepest run that they've made in quite some time. This
is America's team. You gotta take that into consideration. Bye bye,
I guess proclaimed or by by value whatever you want
to look at Dallas. When Dallas is doing well, that's
good for business. So the fact that he's the catalyst
(34:50):
of this, because I mean, let's be honest, this team
is winning. You're not gonna say Dak Prescott is the catalyst.
You're not going to say Ceedee Lamb. You're not gonna
say Marie Cooper. You're not gonna say Ezekiel Elliott. You're
gonna say Michael Parsons and this Michael Parsons lad defense,
which I found to be funny when uh Lewis Riddick
(35:12):
was covering the game and he was talking about how
immature uh Michael was and and this, that and the other,
and Michael needs to learn. Like Michael definitely is a
work in progress and learning, but his understanding of the
game and how the dimensions of the field work. If
you just take a moment in time to stop and
(35:33):
watch Michael Parsons play, he's different. And when I say
he's different, I say he's different because I can't categorize
or use a player. I don't think he's comparable to
Lawrence Taylor other than the fact that he's probably the
best defensive player we've seen on defense since Lawrence Taylor.
(35:55):
But I can't compare. Like I said, you would have
to take and mash Von Miller with Ray Lewis to
come up with the comparison of what player Michael Parsons is.
He's always around the ball or getting off of the ball,
or making the play in the backfield. You just if
you understood how difficult that was for someone to be
(36:18):
able to do what he's doing. It doesn't matter if
he's a rookie, you're not going to see veterans doing
what it is that he's doing. And so whether he
gets it or not, you still got to look at
it from the standpoint of there has not been one
defensive player in the National Football League with given the
success where the team is currently in their standings, where
(36:40):
you could say this one player is the reason why
they are number one in the champions of their division
and going to the playoffs, other than him, and also
t J why Pittsburgh is not going to the postseason.
I mean, it's I think it's a rap with when
it comes to this has been poor and and I
just you know, with with the Michael Parsons stuff, they're
(37:00):
one of the top teams in the NFC. I don't
even think it's just that he's the best player on defense.
I think he's been their best player period for top
to bottom. Who's who on the Cowboys had a better
year than Michael Parsons, not Dak, nobody, I don't think
anybody on offense. But that's what I'm saying. He's the
catalyst for the entire team. He's a catalyst for the
entire the team is winning. I think you can't say
(37:21):
it for Pittsburgh like, Okay, t J. Watt is the catalyst.
I would I would argue that cam Hell Hayward has
had a better year than t J. Watt. I mean,
just being honest, I think Cam Hayward has been more impactful.
So and if we're going to go to other teams,
all right, you go to Cleveland, but they're not having
enough success for you to sit there and and say
(37:42):
it's a runaway situation for Miles Garrett and Aaron Aaron
Donald came to the table late. If Aaron Donald played
the way he's been playing as of late for the
entire season, it's a rap he gets it again. But
he hasn't been doing it for long enough this season.
It's only been like the last three or four games
that Aaron Don has been the most Now, Aaron Donald
over the last three or four games has been the
(38:04):
most dominant defender in the league, but not as as
a whole, not for the entire season. I think the
award will be one based off who was viewed to
have the greatest impact. And there's no dispute. Micah Parsons
to our conversation about what they were last year as
a defense to this year, and even at a time
of need being first little enough to adapt to being
(38:26):
an edge rusher, and and now how you can move
around and play off the ball at a high level. Two.
I mean, all those things continue to make that case.
But the team has to have success, which they have.
They're winning the NFC is gonna be a playoff team.
And he's had the greatest impact. As good as Aaron
Donald is, as good as t J. Why anyone else
would throwing the conversation. No one's had a bigger impact
(38:49):
on the turnaround of a team than Micah Parsons this season. Yeah,
plus one still sitting there, plus one seventy five, make
a little bit of coin. If you want to free
seventy five bucks, go ahead and lay the money. Yeah,
Fox bat plus one seventy five. That's a lock. Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
(39:11):
com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
s R to listen live.
It's the best of two pros and a couple of
Joe with Lamar Arrington, Brady Quinn and Jonas Knocks on
Fox Sports Radio. Hi, it is a Wednesday, and that
is LaVar Arrington's favorite day of the week. How do
you know? How did you know? Jona? Jona, Jona, Jonah,
(00:22):
How did you know? How do you know? How did
you know? Burt toe Burt Toe? Berto, You're back there,
Brady Berdy, Brady Brady le le Lee? Do we got
my best tea back there? Is? You know my Bessie
back there? Done? It's that's right baby here on Talk
Sports Radio U. And now we've got all sorts of
football conversation to get to. Is it okay if one
(00:44):
day I don't want to do it? Yeah, I agree.
It's kind of getting played out, you know. Yeah, that's
good about the way. I thought all the days like
today would be the day we don't do it. Yeah. Yeah,
of all the days I thought, today kind of agree.
I can't believe he did it, man, but I mean
I ran with it. I mean, I'm not going to
(01:05):
leave you hanging. Just can't believe he did it. I
appreciate it. You should leave Jonas out there with his
pants around his ankles. Just we call that the Dublin.
That's what we call it. I won't leave you hanging.
I got you back theah. Well, I appreciate you know
Brady would, but I appreciate it. LaVar. You gave up
on giving us the Harry Carey impersonations. All right, that's fine.
(01:28):
We can. We can say bye bye to the hump
Day intro until we bring back Harry carry. I mean,
I'm just saying that's a deal. That's a deal going
with the camel deal on on a day where we're
going to talk about one of the greats of the game.
I mean, you know, I get it. I hear you, man,
I don't know why Brady told me to do it.
Now let's let's get into Uh. You're not about yourself, no, listen,
(01:50):
I appreciate it, man. Um. So this was the news
that made the rounds in the NFL late last night
or late yesterday afternoon into last evening. John Matt and
legendary coach broadcaster Uh, the name behind the Madden video game.
He passed away at AG a D five top to bottom. Uh.
(02:11):
In my mind, one of the great resumes in NFL history,
if not the greatest, his impact on the field just
as a coach, what he did afterwards. But John Madden
gone at the age of eighty five, just a legend. Uh,
in every sense of the word. He was more than
just Like as far as NFL news, this is more
than the NFL. Like obviously, his entire life was about
(02:34):
the game of football. You know, played initially played in
the NFL. Hurt his knee in Philly and that was it.
But that's where he first developed his love for the
game of football. Uh as far as coaching goes and
teaching goes, being around Norm Van Brocklyn, you know, he
gets into coaching out there, he's around the great Don Corriel.
Uh then from there he ends up getting hired by
(02:55):
Al Davis, who obviously, I'll ended up he had had
coaching or said Gilman, I mean you're talking about some
of the like all time, you know, pioneers of the
sport of football. That's who influenced him. And at at
a young age, he gets thrusted to be a head
coach of the Raiders at thirty two years old. Like
I know, it's it seems more commonplace for us now
(03:18):
and There were instances of that back then, but it's
it was really rare, especially considering his resume at that point.
And he never had a losing season, never he won
a super Bowl. He went over a hundred games. And
I think one of the crazy things about it is
he didn't like stay too long. He got out. He
(03:39):
went into broadcasting when sixteen Emmy's worked for every network,
became the standard in that industry. With how he went
about calling games. I called him. He was a tradition.
John Madden became a tradition. And most households who like
to watch football on Thanksgiving Day because it was his voice.
(04:00):
You heard, you know him and Pat Summer all and
they're giving away a turkey or tur duck in or
whatever it was. But I mean, I mean, he became
a legend in so many different ways around a game
of football. But that was the thing is it was
all about football. Is all about him wanting to educate people,
entertain people. And he could talk to coaches, he could
(04:21):
talk to players about ball and xs and os, but
he could also talk to the common man who maybe
didn't play football, I didn't know football that much and
explain things to him to make it simple. He was
an icon really when you think about the impact he's
had on younger generations and and Madden the the e
a sports game, and the impact that had on young
(04:42):
men who one day played that game hoping to be
up there at the NFL level. Then one day they're
up there playing as themselves. I mean, he had such
an impact on the game of football and growing the
game of football. I don't think you can really truly
appreciate eight you know, what he's done, unless you start
(05:03):
kind of reading through and you talk through some people.
I mean, I know what Fox like. He's He's who
everyone tries to talk about. Not that they try to
make you be as a color analyst, but he's the
one who set the standard. He he's the one that
you're you're basically trying to say, hey, trying to do
with John mad doing, make it your own, but be
educational and formative entertainment, like he wrote the book on it.
(05:24):
So it's it's a sad, sad day. And and obviously
I was just you know, when you watch that documentary
that came out on Christmas Day, you start to get
a sense of how special it wasn't so many people
you know, I started to get a sense of of
what what was to come. I had heard for many
years that that coach Matt was dealing with with illness,
per personal illnesses, and and a lot of people, you know,
(05:47):
maybe attributed him moving on from the booth to just
wanting to move on into life based off of dealing
with some of those those health health concerns. I immediately,
my my, my flags immediately went up. When they they
announced that they were going to be releasing this this
documentary on them on Christmas, it just had an airy
(06:09):
feeling to it and and and so much so I
started looking up, like how is he doing? You know,
you meet enough people when you play this game. Our fraternity,
of our group of people, our circle and reality is
very small, and so in your travels, you know, I
was in the booth with Gus, I saw a couple
of people that that used to work with, you know,
(06:33):
you know, different people they worked with, with, uh, you know,
Coach Madden and my my my agent actually Dean Dean Grossman,
Sandy Grossman, Like there are there are so many people
that you know, you start to have conversations with. And
when the documentary was announced, it generated a lot of
conversation within the Legends community, and and it was even
(06:54):
going around on messaging boards. Is he is he okay?
And and so when you stop and think, like for me,
it's hard to educate young young people on the importance
of people like John Madden because it's just so you know,
(07:14):
things are just so simply put these days, they's just
so simply absorbed. So John Matten too. You know a
lot of younger people it is it's the video game,
you know, And and that's what they know. They don't
really know the person or the figure. They never probably
taken the time to know who he is. You know
what he represented to me? Uh, I say, there's like
(07:37):
a few people that you will meet in your life
that embody certain things to a certain degree where the
balance of it is so amazing that it's like, for
all these years they have tried to recreate what John
Matten was in the booth. It's like it's it's like
all these years people have tried to recreate Whitney Houston
(07:59):
seeing in the national anthem before the Super Bowl between
what was the Bills and the Giants, right, people have
tried to recreate that and they can't do it. People
are tried to recreate what John Matten has represented in
in the booth and they can't do it. And and
I always felt like John Matten was the perfect balance,
Like he had to look the way he looked to
(08:23):
be John Madden. He had to have the name John
Madden to be John Matten. He he had to have
the voice in the presence to be John Madden. It's
like so many different things that that had to be
in balance for him to be the figure that he
ended up being to those who knew who he was
and knew his body of work. So I'm just honored
(08:45):
that I've had an opportunity to be interviewed by him, uh,
to to have met him and spend time with him.
I always tell the story about how he said he
would jump out of a Good Year blimp if we
went to the Super Bowl. I love telling us story
because to know John Matten and know his his style
of communication, the way he presented it. UH. Just a
(09:08):
masterful dude. And and I always say the ultimate the
ultimate goal for me in my life is to be
able to create a legacy where one day, when I
ceased to exist physically on this earth, that people actually
make it a point to talk about my my principle,
my core values and what was important to me, and
(09:29):
and being someone who who impacted others, being someone who
worked hard and and and had a sense of integrity
about how I approached things. And I have never come
across anyone Mike Haines is a real good friend of mine,
used to mentor me on a very consistent basis. I
have never come across anyone who has known UH coach
(09:52):
Matten to the level that they've known him, that has
ever had anything bad to say about him. And that's
very cool. That's a very difficult thing to do, to
go a lifetime where you can meet people and no
one if his name comes up, no one has anything
to beat, anything bad to say about him. So honor
(10:12):
to him, man, in respect to him, and you know,
thoughts and prayers go out to his family of course,
but man, what what a loss to to the football community.
Learn learn your history, guys. I know there's probably not
a lot of young people up right now at six
am or at three am or at four am, they're
probably hammered. But do your do your homework at some point,
really do do it. Just do a dive on who
(10:36):
John Matten was. And I think that that that would
be good for you. I mean, Brady mentioned it. As
a coach, he won seventy six percent of his games
as a coach, and he didn't coach for a couple
of years. He coached for a decade. He won seventy
six percent of his games. There are thirty Think about
who he was going up against. Oh my god, her
(10:56):
At Chuck Noll, all right, I mean Don Shula, like,
these are some of the other Tom Landry, these are
some of the other great minds and coaches he was
going up against during that time. So it's not like,
oh he happened to hit this decade period that was
a cakewalk at all. It was to your point, it
was a golden era and he had that much success.
(11:16):
It's still the old time winning his percentage for for
a coach to have won a hundred games, it's the
highest thing. I mean, it's it's remarkable. I think what
he did as a coach, and um, I think the
crazy thing is is he stayed relevant. I mean, how
how many guys can say that, considering how long ago
he coached, he stayed relevant. There there are only a
(11:39):
few times where the name superseds, whatever the name is
attached to, Like, especially if you only have to say
one name. Yeah, Like people don't say lit bomb anymore,
they say chap stick. They don't say tissue anywhere, they
say clean x with. They don't say football video games anymore. Well, yeah,
that's the point, man. They don't say football video games anymore.
They say Madden. They were their games tech mobile. John
(12:02):
Elway had one, Tannah had one. Say Michael Jordan's. Yeah,
his name Serena Williams. You say Serena, and you know,
it never seemed like he was and you meant LaVar.
You've never heard anybody say a bad thing about him?
Isn't that because he was just himself? Like it never
seemed like he was trying It never seemed like he
(12:23):
was trying to to you know, like this was my
niche I'm gonna be the guy who was a little
bit all over the place of the tellustrator. It was like,
all right, here's the tellustrator. How does it work? It
goes like this, Okay, let me draw some pictures and
have some fun during He never he never tried too hard.
Andy read reminded me of John Matten. I played for
Andy Reading most of my Pro Bowls because they would
(12:44):
always come up short and the ends up coaching the
Pro Bowl. Well that's the truth. That is the truth.
I'm sorry, um, but I played for him, I think
all three of my Pro Bowls all three years, and
and being around him and and how he handled things.
The one thing that you're talking about as a coach,
(13:05):
if you're able to relate to your your team, to
your players, the one thing that a player will always say, Brady, maybe,
and then you let me know if I'm wrong. I
just want to know that my coaches care about me.
If that's the first and foremost thing to a relationship
between a player and a coach. I just want to
know that my coach actually cares. John Martin came across
(13:30):
to me when I met him as one of the
most as you met. As you said, John is one
of the most genuine dudes I had ever met, Like
one of those type of guys you know where it
impacts you in a way where you wanna help him
sit down, Like like I can recall the few times
that I met him and interview with him, I'd hug him, right,
(13:50):
I hug him because you know, they get up, you know,
greet you when you come into the production meeting. And
I would shake everybody's head and I'll go him last.
You know, anytime I were expected somebody a whole lot,
I would go to them less, unless unless they were
just right there in my face. But I go to
John Last. I hug him, and now I put him
in his seat right like I sent him down, and
(14:10):
make sure he got into his seat. You know, I
I play, you know, I grabbed his shoulders and and
and give him like you know, like the coach to
to the player to coach, like shoulder rub and stuff
like that, and and almost like he was like your granddad,
you know what I mean, Like you had a respect
and an admiration for him that it's like you need
a blanket. Do you want me to go get you
(14:32):
some some hot chocolate or something like is everything okay?
Like you wanted to know he was one of those figures. Um,
you wanted to know that he was okay. Keith Jackson
was like that, like you just felt a certain type
of energy that made you feel like a kid. He
made you feel like a kid, you know. So anyways,
(14:55):
I'm I'm I'm thankful to have the memories of it,
to to have even at him and have been around
him and have talked with him. But I just think
it's ultimately his ability to go to the screen and
be what he was and on the tellustrator and calling
the games on Thanksgiving, right, it was because he had
the ability to connect with all of us and so
(15:17):
many people, you know, they could use that and don't
have it. His his sounds, the boink, boom, you know,
all that stuff. It was all natural. It was just him,
Like you could picture him phil Or on the board
and like explaining it to a player coach, and it
was also natural. It's it's one of the reasons why,
(15:38):
Like now, when you hear guys do it and I'm
not gonna name names, but but Jonas knows who I'm
who I'm talking about, I'm sure it comes off as disingenuous,
like they're almost trying to recreate jib. I mean, it's
just it's so fake. And that's the thing is he
was anything but that, and that's why I think he
resonated to connect with people, whether it was through the
(16:00):
TV screen or just in person, in the manner in
which he communicated. But but also I think, you know,
we're talking about how when coaches let you know they
care as a player, I think when people just trying
to help, try to educate, trying to you know, entertained,
like when they come off and as that type of figure,
which he was, I always think that people tend to
(16:22):
buy in more because what they're doing is they're not
making it about themselves. They're making it about the person
they're talking to. It trying to help. And that was
who John Madden was. Like he he really made it
as entertaining and as brilliant as he was, and he
really did behind the scenes. People don't know this, but like,
but even behind the scenes the way they shoot football
(16:43):
and talk about the game. He was the one who
helped construct that. It wasn't all these people out in
Hollywood who did all that. He was the one that
was like, we need to do this, we need to
think of this, this is how we need to you know,
talk about this. Like he was one of the visionaries
behind all of that. And so one of the things
that's crazy to me is like the way he went
about doing it all was it was never about himself.
(17:06):
Even though he probably had the greatest impact on growing
the game of football of any figure that we've ever seen. Yeah, No,
I tell you, it's just an awesome, awesome resume, awesome dude.
Um at lors Point. You never hear anybody say a
bad thing about him. I think it's a testament to
who he was a guy, uh and and just his
impact on the game as a whole. Be sure to
(17:26):
catch live editions of Two Pros and a Cup of
Joe with Brady Quinn, LaVar Arrington and Jonas Knocks week
days at six am Eastern three am Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. We've got
a couple of weeks left in the NFL season, the
first ever eighteen week NFL season, and so we've got
(17:47):
some teams out there that I've got some decisions to make.
But guys, if you're interested in being a head coach,
guess what we got good news. The Jacksonville Jaguars are
starting up their interview process. Yeah, the worst team a
league UH two years running is now looking for a
head coach. And we've got all sorts of names out there,
believe it or not. Yeah, they got all sorts of
(18:08):
names that are being tied to the Jacksonville interview process.
Doug Peterson, former Eagles coach at Jim Caldwell had a
couple of runs with Indianapolis and Detroit. Byron Leftwich, the
o C for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dan Quinn, Kellen Moore.
There's been a bunch of names tied to this. Brady Quinn,
the Jags interview processes underway. Let's get involved, Let's make
(18:32):
it happen and be a part of the worst franchise
in the NFL. Let's go. I'm gonna pass, I'm gonna
pass all things involved. Big fan of a few of
the players on their team as far as just what
I think their ability is. But uh, the hard part is,
you know, Trent and Bulky somehow has the year of
shot con He's gonna be a part of this next
head coaching higher based on how things worked out, whether
(18:55):
it's in San Francisco or in Jacksonville. This you know,
this type frame probably not not gonna work out well
that that's just my guess. There might be some success,
but it seems like it always comes to it to
a crashing end at some point. So the more interesting
thing I'm curious is, like a guy like Byron Leftwich
makes all the sense in the world. Was there as
(19:18):
a player. He understands that market. I think he understands
what this organization has been at times, maybe what it
can be. He's you know, been calling plays for Tampa
now being around Tom Brady, all of that. The only
thing that stands in the face is there was a
report that came out that said they wanted to have
(19:38):
a guy who's got prior head coaching experience in the NFL.
They didn't want to start over with someone who's doing
this in the NFL for the first time. So I'm
thin gonna make an exception, are they not. I Mean,
that's what becomes interesting about all of this is we
hear owners say things all the time about what they're
looking for their next head coach, and then they pletely
(19:59):
completely desperate guard that or they'll go through a coaching
search and they'll get the advice of, for example, Jimmy
has them with the Cleveland Browns. I mean, Kevin Stefanski
was who was actually said to them like, hey, this
would be the candidate we think would be best student
for what you guys are doing. But no, they ended
up elevating Freddy Kitchens into that spot and he end
(20:21):
up being the head coach for a period of time
before it ended up eventually being Kevin Stefanski. So, for
whatever reason, owners sometimes don't even listen to the advice
that they're either paying for or some of their initial
thoughts on how they feel about the situation, and they
get persuaded at some period of time. But Byron left,
which makes all the sense in the world to me
(20:42):
as far as who would make the most sense for
Trevor Lawrence, a player and a guy who gets that
area and everything else. It just it comes down to that,
no different than what I said about Urban Byrol when
he got hired. Have patience. This is an awful organization.
Awful and you know you've got to have time for
him to learn as far as this organization to change
(21:03):
if you're ever gonna see what they're capable of a
few years from now. Yeah, I wonder if that was
a shot at Urban Meyer. We want a guy with
that has been a coach formerly in the league, Like
is it like not enough? Like it's not enough everything
that's taken place, Like you gotta put that out there
(21:24):
as as like a parting gift shot a dark, so
to speak. I think that that's interesting. But again, I'll
say this, when you look at situations such as these
and you're trying to find the right candidate to change
(21:44):
the fortunes and and the trajectory of of a team,
which is really a trajectory of the entire franchise, it's
a difficult proposition when you have people above the pay
grade of the person that you're going to hire that
holds them back from being able to achieve and accomplish
(22:08):
what it is they're being hired for. I'm gonna let
that sink in, like let that sink in, because that's
the ultimate reason why coaches going into situations like this
is in some cases coaching suicide. It's it's it's why
would why would Byron Leftwich leave what he has right
(22:32):
now for that now? Nonetheless, it always happens, right if
a guy gets an opportunity, they're going to try to
make their their their their way. But man, why would
you go into a situation Because if you've been around
the business long enough, you know if if the people
that are above you that can overrule your decision making ability,
(22:54):
whether it be on personnel moves with players, whether it
be on coaching staff, hires and fires, whether it be
on how you discipline or or free agency, whatever it
may be. If you have people above you, the owner,
the GM, anybody else that may be in those circles
(23:14):
that they run in and they sit around and they
make these decisions and do what they do, you're not
giving a person an opportunity to change the team. You're
giving them an opportunity to be called a head coach.
And that's what you gotta be mindful of in these situations.
The one thing Jacksonville had going for him is patients,
(23:36):
because when you looked at the job there as a
head coach, it was always, you know, may maybe not
the most ideal situation, but at least you know you're
gonna get give the coach some time to try and
turn it around. Gus Bradley got several years there where
they were a bad team every single year. They were
picking in the top five virtually every single year, and
they gave him an opportunity. They were patient until they
(23:56):
decided we gotta move on Doug Morrow. A lot of
about Doug Marron was gonna be gone a year prior
to when he actually came back for the final season,
they showed patient. So you thought when Irvin Meyer came in,
well that's an attractive job because you know the organization
has shown that they're going to be patient with you.
All that's gone. That completely changed. I think the job
(24:17):
and that destination got worse this year and not better.
And that's after the coach. They got rid of doubled
their win total from a year ago in less games.
So if I'm one of these guys, I look at
this gig going I don't know anymore. And if I'm
Byron Leftwich, you guys tell me if I'm crazy, I
would rather wait for Bruce Arians to retire and take
(24:39):
over in Tampa, then go take this job in Jacksonville
right now, with no guarantees that I would get the
Tampa job, I'd rather wait. I think that depends on
the quarterback though, right. I mean that's what this is about.
You know, last year, when you control the number one
overall pick and you have a class that has a
prospect like Trevor Lawrence, I mean you're gonna be tied
to that forever, so you feel pretty good about it,
(25:00):
and especially having a second first round pick, all that
draft capital, all the all the cap space, So you
got all of that this year. Now, yeah, you've got
the number one pick as it is right now, you
don't need that number one overall prospect as at the
quarterback spot. And you might say, yeah, let's let's go
get another edge guy. But I said yesterday you drafted
(25:20):
Josh Allen, You've drafted Caleavon Chason. Are you gonna invest
another pick in into the in an edge rusher? You
need help? On the old line? Is it is that
too high than take an offensive lineman that we don't
necessarily have one that's regarded as a guy that would
potentially go number one overall. I mean, there's a lot
of questions in regards to how that that's gonna look.
So to your point, Jone is I do think it's
(25:42):
less attractive from the optics of, well, you know, look
what shot con said he was gonna do and then
how things actually operated. You're being hired by a general
manager that kneecap the most recent head coach. He's done
it previously in his career, and so he obviously has
the ear of the owner. And so if you butt
heads right away, it's gonna be a problem. And so
(26:04):
to your point like, yeah, if this is the only
opportunity I get, I'm probably gonna wait for another opportunity
or for you know, the situation that SAMPA to clear
itself up where I can then you know, sit there
and say, right, how much longer is Tom Brady gonna
be here? And who's coming in behind him? Because that's
gonna be a big case of what all happens next.
And also, like Doug Peterson, there's a lot of conversation.
(26:25):
You know, Doug Peterson would make some sense in in jacksonvelopment.
I don't know that Doug Peterson looks at this and goes, oh, yeah,
that's the one for me. Like I think there's a
reason that he waited to get because there was talks
and he was going to get hired right away this
past offseason, like Mike McCarthy, and he waited. I just like,
I think about this, Why why do you leave Philly
who end up pushing him out? Another guy who had
(26:48):
the ear of the owner, Holly Rose, who also pushed
out Chip Kelly. I mean, you could go through the
line of some of these guys who find their way
into an organization, they know how to maneuver a corporate ructure,
and they end up finding a way to the guy
in power and have his ear, and they become the
influential piece that makes all these decisions. So I don't
(27:08):
know that Doug Peterson wants to tie himself to another
guy that could do the exact same thing to him
that how he Roseman did. I also wonder do you
guys buy into the the approach of well, you need
an offensive guy or a defensive guy. You got this
young quarterback got it because a lot of these names
outside of Dan Quinn and a couple others have been
thrown out. I think Matt eber Fleus is another one
(27:29):
that's been thrown out there outside it's all offensive guys.
If you're Jacksonville, you just need somebody that's gonna that's gonna,
you know, steer the ship in the right direction. Think
about it this way. Everything if you bring in someone
who doesn't create the ripples and waves that Urban did
perceivably by having a woman dancing on his lap in
(27:53):
a restaurant or uh kicking a dude in the ham
So he's so funny. I was listening to Sanity Sharpe
talk about how if you want to know what a
real football player, is you put your finger in and
a real football player's head, you're going to get a swing.
So the fact that we found out about uh Urban's
(28:14):
foot touching the hamstring and the way that we did
said all we needed to know. You just I would
assume that Jacksonville is looking at it as we just
need to bring somebody in that isn't going to be
in the media, isn't going to be scrutinized the way
that Urban was, and that's a win for Jacksonville. I
don't even because if we're talking about the what the
(28:36):
team needs, the team needs a culture shift. They need
a culture change. That's that's where you have to start.
The biggest mistake people make and trying to change where
the trajectory of their teams are is they think that, oh,
do we get an offensive minded guy, do we get
a defensive minded God? No, start with culture. You need
to find somebody who's going to build the proper culture,
(28:58):
and then you worry about every thing else. Because let
me tell you right now, if you had the best
play calling, the most sophisticated play calling, mine and all
of the game, if if you bring him into a
culture that is is toxic and not conducive. An environment
not conducive to success, they will fail. If you bring
in a defensive guru in a toxic environment, that is
(29:22):
an environment that is not conducive to success, they will fail.
So the point is the problem that that Jacksonville is
going to have to to really address and be honest about,
is you have to address the culture, and you have
to start there before you worry about anything else. Well,
they want to change that. Tell Shotgun to sell the team.
(29:43):
See you get rid of the team, you want to
change the culture. That that's the common denominator through all this.
You know they'll get somebody in there who's gonna put
some cement in the swimming pools in the top deck.
Get him out of London. Be sure to catch live
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am Eastern three am Pacific. I'm George Rice Stir, host
(30:07):
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(30:28):
is where real conversations happen. Listen to the Rights Are
Wrong podcast on the I Heart Radio, Apple Apple Podcast
or wherever you get your podcasts. So we've been talking
on this is the charge was led by LaVar Arrington
who tried to warn everybody about the storm that was
Micah Parsons in the NFL. Try to let everybody know
(30:49):
it's coming. Uh, he's a problem, He's going to be
a problem. And here we are. Mica Parsons is indeed
a problem. Uh, the Rookie of the Year to the
defensive Rookie of the year not even worth discussing. It's
a rap. It's over with. Michael Parsons is going to
be your winner. But the defensive Player of the year
odds have switched. And this according to Fox Bet, where
(31:12):
Michael Parsons is now the favorite, followed by t J. Watt,
Trevon Diggs, and then Aaron Donald who comes in fourth.
But here's what's interesting is that Michael Parsons is still
plus money. So he's still a plus one seventy five,
meaning you bet a hunter bucks. You listen Brady, You're
better at the what's good value and what's not good value.
(31:34):
I don't think there's anybody else that I'm even concer
I mean, say whatever you wanted about t J. Watt,
He's missed time. This feels like this is Michael Parsons
Award and a plus one seventy five. Even though the
odds have dropped significantly, this still feels like a value pick.
And Michael Parsons is gonna win this award, I think so.
I mean there's still some risk there and you kind
(31:56):
of never know what you know, voters for this kind
of stuff are going to do. Um, they could surprise you,
especially if t J. Watt were to close out the
season strong. Um, that might change things. Right, There's there's
there's a lot of football play in the a f
C North, So that would be my only hesitation because
I think he's really the only one in striking distance
that could potentially, you know, change how you view things.
(32:18):
But uh, to me, I mean, again, worth the risk.
I'm sure you could find some way of kind of
hedging those two bets based on those odds, But um,
to me, I think I'd give it to him. I mean,
he's had the biggest impact of any defensive player on
any team this year, and and he's done it in
a variety of ways. So I think I think it
is a safe bet, but I do think there's still
(32:40):
some risk involved if t J. Watt was to have
some monster performance here down the stretch. You know what's
interesting is Dallas finished third in the NFC East last year, third,
and what was the what was the main Yeah, what
was the main reason for Dallas finishing third outside of
(33:01):
Dak Prescott's injury? Defense? Their defense. Their defense has been
much maligned for the last several years, and it has
been a point of contention um for quite some time.
You bring in dan Quinn, and I knew immediately because
if you look at dan Quinn's resume of what he's
(33:23):
been able to do with defenses, I knew that that
with the personnel that they had on defense, that was
going to be an amazing addition for Mica to go
into to that situation. More than any more than t J. Watt,
more than anyone else and Aaron Donald, anybody else you
(33:45):
want to throw in there. Micah Parsons has had the
biggest impact on a defense and on a team than
any defender in the National Football League, including Males Garrett.
And then if you if you ask yourself, well, how
do you quantify that? How do you how do you
show that because they they're they're NFC, they're going to
(34:08):
be NFC East chance that they're not already I think
they're already champs. Um, yeah, they got to this past weekend.
Uh there, So they're They're a team that you can
look at right now today and say that this is
a team that's competitive enough to possibly make it to
the championship round in the playoffs. They might make the
(34:29):
deepest run that they've made in quite some time. This
is America's team. You gotta take that into consideration. Bye bye,
I guess proclaimed or by by value whatever you want
to look at Dallas. When Dallas is doing well, that's
good for business. So the fact that he's the catalyst
(34:50):
of this, because I mean, let's be honest, this team
is winning. You're not gonna say Dak Prescott is the catalyst.
You're not going to say Ceedee Lamb. You're not gonna
say Marie Cooper. You're not gonna say Ezekiel Elliott. You're
gonna say Michael Parsons and this Michael Parsons lad defense,
which I found to be funny when uh Lewis Riddick
(35:12):
was covering the game and he was talking about how
immature uh Michael was and and this, that and the other,
and Michael needs to learn. Like Michael definitely is a
work in progress and learning, but his understanding of the
game and how the dimensions of the field work. If
you just take a moment in time to stop and
(35:33):
watch Michael Parsons play, he's different. And when I say
he's different, I say he's different because I can't categorize
or use a player. I don't think he's comparable to
Lawrence Taylor other than the fact that he's probably the
best defensive player we've seen on defense since Lawrence Taylor.
(35:55):
But I can't compare. Like I said, you would have
to take and mash Von Miller with Ray Lewis to
come up with the comparison of what player Michael Parsons is.
He's always around the ball or getting off of the ball,
or making the play in the backfield. You just if
you understood how difficult that was for someone to be
(36:18):
able to do what he's doing. It doesn't matter if
he's a rookie, you're not going to see veterans doing
what it is that he's doing. And so whether he
gets it or not, you still got to look at
it from the standpoint of there has not been one
defensive player in the National Football League with given the
success where the team is currently in their standings, where
(36:40):
you could say this one player is the reason why
they are number one in the champions of their division
and going to the playoffs, other than him, and also
t J why Pittsburgh is not going to the postseason.
I mean, it's I think it's a rap with when
it comes to this has been poor and and I
just you know, with with the Michael Parsons stuff, they're
(37:00):
one of the top teams in the NFC. I don't
even think it's just that he's the best player on defense.
I think he's been their best player period for top
to bottom. Who's who on the Cowboys had a better
year than Michael Parsons, not Dak, nobody, I don't think
anybody on offense. But that's what I'm saying. He's the
catalyst for the entire team. He's a catalyst for the
entire the team is winning. I think you can't say
(37:21):
it for Pittsburgh like, Okay, t J. Watt is the catalyst.
I would I would argue that cam Hell Hayward has
had a better year than t J. Watt. I mean,
just being honest, I think Cam Hayward has been more impactful.
So and if we're going to go to other teams,
all right, you go to Cleveland, but they're not having
enough success for you to sit there and and say
(37:42):
it's a runaway situation for Miles Garrett and Aaron Aaron
Donald came to the table late. If Aaron Donald played
the way he's been playing as of late for the
entire season, it's a rap he gets it again. But
he hasn't been doing it for long enough this season.
It's only been like the last three or four games
that Aaron Don has been the most Now, Aaron Donald
over the last three or four games has been the
(38:04):
most dominant defender in the league, but not as as
a whole, not for the entire season. I think the
award will be one based off who was viewed to
have the greatest impact. And there's no dispute. Micah Parsons
to our conversation about what they were last year as
a defense to this year, and even at a time
of need being first little enough to adapt to being
(38:26):
an edge rusher, and and now how you can move
around and play off the ball at a high level. Two.
I mean, all those things continue to make that case.
But the team has to have success, which they have.
They're winning the NFC is gonna be a playoff team.
And he's had the greatest impact. As good as Aaron
Donald is, as good as t J. Why anyone else
would throwing the conversation. No one's had a bigger impact
(38:49):
on the turnaround of a team than Micah Parsons this season. Yeah,
plus one still sitting there, plus one seventy five, make
a little bit of coin. If you want to free
seventy five bucks, go ahead and lay the money. Yeah,
Fox bat plus one seventy five. That's a lock. Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
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