0:00

Now, let's welcome in Shawn Merriman, uh,

0:02

the former All Pro linebacker

0:04

and host of the Lights Out podcast,

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and you can reach him on Twitter at Shawn

0:10

Merriman Sean. What's up, buddy, How you doing

0:12

Welcome to the odd couple. What's up,

0:14

fellas? Are you doing doing good? Hey?

0:17

Me and Jonas have gotten into it because

0:20

Tom Brady should be as concerned

0:22

about cheating in football as he is about

0:25

what uniform number players are wearing.

0:27

What he's making a big stink about

0:30

the new rule players can wear any number.

0:32

Basically, where are you on this? Is

0:34

this that big of a deal? And if

0:36

you could have wore any other number, would you have

0:38

changed to a lower number or a different

0:41

number? You

0:43

know what? Um? I don't totally

0:45

disagree with him on one part,

0:47

right, I think that people making it such a big deal,

0:50

Right, You've seeing people going back to the college numbers,

0:52

um in the single digits. I'm like, okay, cool, it's

0:54

a number you still gotta go and perform, right,

0:57

Uh So on that part of I do agree with. You

0:59

know, I don't agree much with what Tom Brady

1:01

got to say anything he does, but on that

1:03

part I do, I do. I

1:06

do think they're just making it too big of a deal. It's

1:08

it's a jersey number. It's fun,

1:10

you know. It sounds like they're trying to put some kind

1:13

of fun back in the football, which is always a good

1:15

thing because they've taken a lot of it out of it over the

1:17

years. Um, but yeah, it's it's a big

1:19

deal, guys. It's not a you know, nothing, nothing serious

1:21

to be talked about and then getting as much as much

1:24

media attention as it has for the past week

1:26

or so. Yeah, it's just slow news.

1:29

But yeah, I mean to teither that or baseball

1:31

games. So you know, we had we had, you

1:34

gotta But

1:36

now, in all seriousness, Sean, every

1:39

single year, it seems the NFL comes

1:41

out and there's different rule changes, things that they

1:43

do differently, whether it's the on site

1:45

kick or moving the extra point

1:47

back, etcetera, etcetera. You being

1:49

a former player, you being a guy who played

1:51

at the highest level, if you

1:53

could change one thing in the

1:55

NFL, if you could make one rule change

1:57

right now, the NFL came to you and said dealer's

2:00

choice, make the call.

2:05

I'm sorry that you know.

2:08

It's hard to say and I and I don't

2:10

want to sound um you know, Bob Barry called,

2:12

you know like I'm going back in old times. But I just

2:15

feel that um,

2:17

you know, the hits to the head or the timing and the

2:19

guy gets hit, you know, after he has

2:21

two feet on the ground or whatever. It's almost just as

2:24

an assent. They're just protecting the offense

2:26

side of the ball just so much. Um

2:29

so so that or you know, the quarterback

2:31

hits around the neck, you know, those like teddy

2:33

things like that. I wish they could take away because

2:36

you gotta you got point five seconds man, and

2:38

make a decision like that, and then you can cast your team

2:41

severely, um just by

2:43

you know, slapping down top of the shoulder patch

2:45

right, you know, as a pass rusher, you're just going buy

2:48

and you just get him around the neck, not even tackle

2:50

him. If you touch him around the neck, it's automatic flag.

2:52

So that part of it. I just think that garden the

2:54

offensive guys just way too much and you're taking a

2:57

lot of the fun um and instincts

2:59

out of the game before ball Sean, do you

3:01

feel just a quick follow up, do you feel

3:03

like the NFL has made

3:06

it Obviously they've made it more difficult

3:08

on the defensive side of it. But do you talk

3:10

to other defensive players and say,

3:12

man, it's so obvious there's a

3:15

bias towards the offense in this league. It's

3:17

so obvious that everything is slanted

3:19

towards them. And if that like the NBA

3:21

where you can't touch anybody defensive exactly

3:24

exactly, Like, if that's the case, what

3:26

are you supposed to do? How are you supposed to coach

3:28

these guys up? When you when when, like you said,

3:31

you come anywhere near the head and you're gonna

3:33

get flagged and your team's out fifteen yards.

3:36

Well, I can tell you that it's just all depending on who you ask,

3:38

right, Because I had Roy Williams, who you

3:41

know, the safety for the Dallas Cowboys,

3:43

on my podcast about a month

3:45

ago, and you know that conversation

3:47

was deep, right because now you have a guy who played

3:50

the game four speed. He was gonna

3:52

lay you out no matter what. He wasn't going for interception

3:55

um. And so you know, it's just depending

3:57

on what era guys you talked to, because

4:01

you know, you might have some guys to say, hey, man, you

4:03

know, obviously there's a bunch of head

4:05

traumu and uh, you know, legal

4:07

hits and we're trying to protect guys. Then you got some guys

4:09

saying like that's that's b s. Right, I'm

4:12

going in to make a hit. I'm going to make a play. I should

4:14

have an equal opportunity to gonna make a play on the ball,

4:17

and and and and and have, um

4:20

you know, some some leadway to go out and make a

4:22

big play. So it's just a matter of what you

4:24

talked to. And I just hate sounding like the old I mean,

4:26

I know I've been retires some years now, man, but I

4:28

hate sounding like the old guy because when I

4:30

was playing, you have you got the guys to play in the

4:32

ages and nineties and like, oh you know they're that football

4:34

that they're soft. Now, we were leather

4:37

hell mints and we you know, didn't play with any

4:39

teeth, right, I mean, these guys just just like you

4:41

know, I don't want to come across as the old hater to the

4:43

younger generations, but there

4:45

there are us. There's just some rules, man.

4:47

It just it takes the fun out

4:50

of the game because you can't control

4:52

it. If if offensive linement is blocking you,

4:54

you're being held, you're reaching, you're scratching

4:57

and sprouting just to get the quarterback

5:00

showed the path and just throw him off a

5:02

little bit. And if you just grace

5:04

his upper half, you know you're going to

5:06

get a flag. And that's just told. It's just it's

5:08

pointless to me. Hey, Sean, you

5:10

said you don't want to sound like that old

5:12

guy, but we just took your comments.

5:15

We put him through our translator, and this is what you

5:17

sound like, all

5:22

right, Sean

5:24

Mary and of course the former All Pro linebacker

5:27

host of the Lights Out podcast,

5:29

joining us here on the odd couple. Uh

5:32

So, I why do you make up the Trevor Lawrence?

5:34

You know, the quotes came out like it's not

5:37

the end of the world. I'm not obsessed

5:39

with football. I do my job, I

5:41

study, I do everything I'm supposed to. The guy lost

5:44

two games in college, looks like he cares

5:47

about winning, but a lot of people

5:49

made a big deal about it. Would you rather a

5:51

guy say the standard

5:53

quotes that people want to hear and lie

5:56

or or be honest and just you

5:58

know, tell people who he really is. Which one

6:00

which one do you want? No? I

6:02

love it because when I saw that, the first thing

6:04

that came to my mind is, Hey, I'm number one,

6:07

and it doesn't matter whether I love football like

6:09

it, Hey there's or anything in different. I'm going to but one no

6:11

matter what. Right, And that's that's just the

6:13

truth. And no one not one

6:15

of the thirty two teams and sitting back and saying, uh,

6:18

you know, Trevor Launch uh is not committed

6:20

to football. Let's you know, let's think

6:22

about passing on them, right, Um,

6:24

not one. And I don't either if he came into they

6:26

you know, football is not a big deal to me, and I just playing

6:29

because I can and I like to make a lot of money. He's still

6:31

going number one no matter

6:33

what. Uh. And that was point. That was point

6:36

proven. I think that a lot of a lot of people

6:38

need to understand this too. This is the

6:40

drive, you know, from the combine to the drive that

6:42

this is the process, right, this is the

6:44

same thing while we're seeing uh, you know all the things

6:46

that about justice, about fields

6:49

and everything else. That's the point where people

6:51

start to nippick. They started nippick on

6:53

your character, They start a nippick on every

6:55

quote or everything you still work at.

6:59

You know, they're epic. This is the time to do it. So

7:01

I'm not gonna I'm not. It wasn't. I

7:04

wasn't shocked when he came out and made a big

7:06

deal about what he said, because they want

7:08

him to say, Hey, I love football, I

7:10

eat, sleep and breathing. I go home and I think

7:12

about my playbook, that that's doing

7:14

this process. That's what a

7:16

lot of gms and and coaches

7:19

in front office, that's what they're looking for you to

7:21

say. But he know in his heart of hearts

7:23

he's going number one no matter what,

7:26

so he can say that, Sean

7:28

Merriman the last one for me before we let

7:30

you go. What's it gonna take? All right, I'm gonna

7:32

slide a blank contract

7:34

across the table. How much is it gonna take for

7:36

you to get in the ring with Jake Paul

7:39

and and do what many people have been wanting

7:41

to do for a long time and shut that guy up? How

7:43

much is it gonna take? You know what?

7:46

To be honest, man, I've trained with Jake and

7:48

uh and I like the kid a lot.

7:50

I just think he's he's bringing so much

7:52

attention to himself, and it's

7:54

a good thing him because attention in this

7:57

game means you're gonna get big pay

7:59

checks, right, People pay for attention.

8:02

Um, and he's always gonna have that until

8:04

he goes out and fight the

8:06

guy that uh that's been doing

8:08

it for a long time. But if I'm Jake Paul, I'll be doing

8:10

just exactly what I'm doing. Pick and choose in my

8:12

battles until I'm ready. You know, I don't know

8:14

what he made maybe five plus millions last

8:16

fight, Go and make another five and two million,

8:18

and then fight somebody when you're ready. Until then,

8:21

um, you know, just sit back and watch me

8:23

and keep getting attention. Yeah, good for him,

8:25

man, good for him. I just don't drink

8:27

any water around the cooler around

8:30

him. I'm just people are going down left

8:32

and right, all right there? What is

8:34

Sean Merrivin? I appreciate

8:37

it. We appreciate you stopping by giving

8:39

us some knowledge you're under couple. Thanks buddy,

8:42

you got it. Man, appreciate it. Thanks Sean.

8:45

You know what I'm saying. It might be a little sleepy

8:47

juice in there. No, maybe, Oh

8:49

is this the uh, it's just like when

8:52

they used to spike drinks back and then what

8:54

I'm saying, what

8:56

was what was the guy's name? Was it Aaron?

8:58

Remember? Aaron Pry remember the boxer

9:01

Aaron Dryer, who, by the way, was a

9:03

savage, a great boxer.

9:05

Remember Panama Lewis was his trainer,

9:08

and I think Panama Lewis there

9:11

was reports that he had put something in his

9:13

drink like that was that was one of the

9:15

reports out there that it has always been

9:18

about that in boxing, back in the old days,

9:20

when you know a cooler was just sitting there, you

9:22

know, easily exactly.

9:25

Yeah,