0:07

The Season with Peter Schrager is a production

0:09

of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio.

0:23

What's Up, Everybody, This is Peter Schreger. He goes

0:25

into the season with Peter Schrager. We're

0:27

doing this on a Tuesday morning. Very

0:29

unique weekend where you had two

0:32

wildcard rounds on Saturday, two Wildcard

0:34

round games on Sunday, and then two Wildcard

0:36

rounds on Monday. We're fresh on the

0:39

air right now on Tuesday morning,

0:42

and the Eagles season ended in complete

0:44

this array. This was a team that was

0:46

ten and one at

0:48

one point, and they fired their

0:51

defensive coordinator. Well, let's be honest, they

0:53

removed him from play calling duties, which

0:55

in so many words means get out of the chair

0:58

and you're being removed and replaced. That's

1:00

a team that all

1:03

season long, we had

1:05

talked about Super Bowl expects, the weight of

1:07

those expectations, the local media, all of these

1:09

things that were hanging

1:11

in the in the atmosphere, and yet

1:14

they were winning early on and they were resilient early

1:16

on. I could tell you

1:18

on this podcast the amount of

1:21

joy that people

1:23

take fans, some

1:25

people in the league of seeing

1:27

things end this way for that Philly team is

1:30

almost unseemly and they're they're

1:33

not villains individually. I don't think anyone looks

1:35

at Jalen Hurts and look at him as a villain, or anyone looks

1:37

at the recently retired Jason Kelsey

1:39

of the Gavillain. I don't think it looks at Nick Sirianni is

1:41

like, I don't like him. But

1:44

there's a certain bravado about

1:46

that Eagles team. And maybe it does start with Sirianni

1:48

when he's mean mugging the cameras during

1:51

the Giants wild card gay or

1:53

yeah, Divisional round game last year, or

1:55

after the Kansas City win when he's in the tunnel

1:58

and he's got some comments for fans and it was captured

2:01

on film. Maybe it's because of Big

2:03

Dom and you see this big guy, and you see Ted

2:05

Rath, who's their athletic trainer, who's going wild

2:07

on the sideline. Maybe it's because of the way everyone

2:10

responded to their draft, where you

2:12

know, they drafted Jalen Carter and they drafted

2:14

Nolan Smith, and they got Keelee Ringo and they

2:16

traded for Andre Swift and everyone just

2:18

said, well, the Eagles dominated the draft

2:20

A plus everyone else is in

2:23

second place and beyond, and then you

2:25

have a day earlier the Cowboys lows switch. If

2:27

you talk about how is it shouting

2:29

Freud? Shoten Freud, shot in Freud?

2:31

If you want to talk about shot of Freud? How about

2:33

the Cowboys losing? They were down twenty seven

2:35

to nothing against the Packers on Sunday

2:39

and you would think it was a party online

2:42

fans and Cowboys haters and

2:44

then media members going

2:46

just in on it, and then there's questions of everything

2:50

there that one goes from, Okay,

2:52

well, is Mike McCarthy ever going to get past

2:54

the division around let alone the wildcreft?

2:56

They win twelve games every year, but they

2:58

can't win playoff games? Like is this the guy to

3:00

coach the team? And then we had a really good conversation

3:03

on Good Morning Football. I think it was pretty rational

3:05

and sensible. Do you pay Dak Prescott

3:08

sixty million dollars because that's going to be the

3:10

going rate he's going into the final year of his contract.

3:12

Traditionally, quarterbacks get paid before

3:14

the final year. You don't want to go into the season

3:16

as a pure free agent and have

3:19

that looming, and Dak has

3:21

earned it. Every step of the way this regular season,

3:23

and then the playoffs come and for

3:25

the third straight year, in the biggest moment, Dak isn't

3:28

there or doesn't have the game. And

3:31

this case, it wasn't just on Dak. This was a

3:33

colossal failure and it

3:35

could go from the defensive side of the ball to

3:38

the play calling to Dak throwing some

3:40

terrible interceptions in this game that really hurt

3:42

them. The Eagles

3:45

and the Cowboys are out of the playoffs

3:48

and we're not even to the divisional round. These

3:50

are the two teams we talked about all season

3:52

long, the powers of the NFC East.

3:54

Who's going to take on the forty nine Ers in the NFC

3:57

Championship Game? Is gonna be one of these two teams. They're

3:59

both out and instead you have this

4:01

upstart, really fun, really

4:04

young Packers team with a quarterback

4:06

who looks as good as anybody in the league and Jordan

4:08

Love. And then you got this Buccaneers

4:10

team that no one thought anything

4:13

of. They rebuilt themselves on the fly, Cap

4:15

hell Brady retires

4:17

and they get further than they did last year with

4:19

Tom Brady under center. Let you throw in

4:22

the Lions as your third

4:24

other team, and they've got one of the coolest

4:26

stories in sports. So I

4:29

look at both Dallas and Philadelphia

4:31

as major, major disappointments. I

4:33

look at what we're gonna be talking about over

4:35

the entire offseason. They have big decisions

4:38

to make. Do you bring back McCarthy that's

4:40

number one? Two? Do you bring

4:42

back Sirianni? Three? Do

4:46

you bring back dak at sixty

4:48

million with a major contract

4:50

and the press conference and the whole thing,

4:52

or do you ride this out a little bit and

4:55

then with the eagle side of it, like, what

4:58

do we do with that entire

5:01

situation? Because Kelsey is the first

5:03

one to leave, it might be Brandon Graham, it might be

5:05

Fletcher. You might have a big

5:08

roster turnover. And I'll be honest,

5:10

Aaron, all

5:13

those picks that we praised, Jalen

5:15

Carter, Jordan Davis,

5:18

Nolan Smith, Keelee Ringo,

5:21

I didn't see them down the stretch.

5:22

They slowed down this season. They started

5:25

so hot, and yeah, those

5:27

rookies like they weren't as big

5:30

of a contributor as we got later into

5:32

the season and then into the playoffs.

5:34

Yeah, But Aaron, I do want to talk about the Detroit

5:36

Lions real quick. I feel like we were riding this

5:38

train well before everybody else

5:40

last year. That was kind of on it as they

5:42

finished the season strong. And then over

5:45

the offseason, we had Brad Holmes on the

5:47

podcast the general Manager, and

5:50

I was like, I am so into this dude,

5:52

I am so into his conviction. He told us his

5:54

story, which if you guys haven't heard it, we pumped

5:56

it to the top of the feed earlier this week on

5:58

the podcast. Brad Holmes is working

6:00

at Enterprise run a car at the Atlanta

6:03

Hartsfield Airport. He then got an opportunity

6:06

to be a PR intern with

6:08

the Atlanta Hawks. Going from

6:10

the Atlanta Hawks, he jumped to the Saint Louis

6:12

Rams to be a PR entry

6:16

level job, eventually made the move

6:18

to the front office, built up a career

6:21

in Saint Louis and then Los Angeles,

6:23

and then got the job as the Detroit

6:25

Lions GM two years ago. Comes

6:27

in immediately makes a

6:29

trade for Jared Goff that

6:32

everyone thought golf was kind of like a throw in,

6:34

but Brad Holmes made a point to say,

6:36

no, no, no, you're not a throw in, Like I want

6:38

you to be our quarterback because he was with them in Los

6:40

Angeles and with them in Saint Louis, and he

6:42

knew, you know, he knew. Now, I

6:44

don't know if Holmes ever knew

6:47

it could come to this, but it has. And

6:50

you add in the hiring a Dan

6:52

Campbell, and then you look at the way that front

6:54

office has built itself and

6:56

kind of, you know, gone about their business. It's

6:59

so you know, it is really inside the weeds. But like

7:01

we could talk about the football all day long. It's been great. But

7:05

Holmes gets there, Campbell

7:07

gets there. But they weren't the first two

7:09

brought in. So Sheila hamp Ford

7:12

is the real odor

7:14

of the managing owner Scott rod Wood,

7:16

who is the president of the Lions, who's been the president

7:18

Lions for a long time. What they felt

7:21

was necessary was to bring in some

7:24

actual culture

7:27

people more so than like we need the hardcore

7:29

football person. And no one screamed

7:32

culture more to them than Chris Spielman. Now,

7:35

Spielman does not do media. Spielman

7:38

does not get out there and is not out

7:40

in the open. But what's crazy is

7:42

that Chris Spielman, who might be the greatest Lions

7:45

linebacker of all time, was

7:47

my on air partner for three

7:50

seasons with the NFL on Fox. And

7:52

what's crazy is that Chris is one of the most

7:54

eloquent, passionate and best

7:57

communicators of football, but they kind of keep

7:59

him under wraps or he doesn't buy design and

8:01

his job is a bit undefined

8:03

there. But he's there, and he

8:06

was very integral in the hiring

8:09

of Dan Campbell. And

8:11

when he got there, it was him,

8:14

it was the owner, it was Rodwood, and then

8:16

it was a gentleman named Mike Disner. Google

8:19

Mike Disner real quick if you want a resume. He's

8:21

not a familiar face. He's not a

8:23

familiar name. But Michael Disner

8:26

worked at the league in their management council

8:28

group for a while. Then he went to the Patriots

8:31

and was super successful there. Then he went to the Arizona

8:33

Cardinals. And with the Arizona

8:35

Cardinals he was number two to Steve Kim. Now, the Arizona

8:38

Cardinals don't have forty

8:40

guys in their front office. The Arizona

8:42

Cardinals the couple people, scouts, salary

8:45

cap guy, a few different

8:47

people who work on the grounds there and like

8:50

Disney, wore all hats with Arizona. So

8:52

while in Arizona. He really rose to the

8:54

top. But he's a Michigan guy. He's from

8:57

I want to say Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

8:59

I might be wrong on the town. It might be Arbor

9:01

Hills might be one of those. And

9:03

when that Lion's opportunity came about,

9:06

he jumped and left. So you now have

9:09

Disner and Spielman, one of them who

9:11

is born and raised Michigan and

9:13

came back because it's his hometown team. The

9:16

other one is a

9:18

all time linebacker who had

9:20

seen the NFL first hand,

9:22

going stadium to stadium over the last five

9:24

years calling NFL games on Fox.

9:27

And then you have an owner and a president who had

9:29

been there and been through different hires, that saw

9:31

what worked and what didn't work. You take those four,

9:34

you bring in Brad Holmes as your general

9:36

manager, and then you hire Dan Campbell, who,

9:38

oh, by the way, there wasn't a long

9:41

list of teams looking

9:43

to hire Dan Campbell, who is the tight

9:45

ends coach from the New Orleans Saints. Campbell

9:48

comes in and he brings in this cast of characters,

9:50

a former pros. Look at that coaching

9:52

staff. It's Mark Brunel,

9:55

it's Aaron Glenn. It's

9:58

one former player after

10:00

another, and I think it's a pretty cool

10:02

mix of what they've done. You pair that with

10:05

one of the best draft classes in all all the football they

10:07

got this year, a former number one

10:09

overall pick who's been kicked to the curb and discarded

10:11

in Jared Goff, and then just tons

10:13

of late round talent that have delivered, whether

10:15

it be Amman, Ross, Saint Brown or Eli McNeil,

10:18

all these guys who have been really good.

10:20

And oh yeah, they killed it in the free agency game

10:22

too. I love the way Detroit was

10:24

built. I love the people behind

10:26

it. I love that they

10:28

did it the right way, and I love that these fans can

10:31

truly appreciate this moment. If

10:34

I'm negative on where the Eagles and

10:36

Cowboys are and I'm down on them, I am

10:38

so high on where the

10:40

Detroit Lions are. I felt like they built this from

10:42

the ground up and the culture was

10:44

the most important piece. Kudos

10:47

to Lions fans. This is truly an amazing ride

10:49

and you deserve every moment of it. Enjoy

10:51

a second second home

10:54

playoff game in the twenty twenty three playoffs.

10:56

I'd like to say no one saw it coming.

10:58

But Aaron I did

11:01

when even when Gibbs started the season

11:03

slow, you were still on it. You were saying, patients

11:06

gives offensive touch at the first

11:08

round.

11:08

Yeah, like the like the first game, and everyone's killing

11:11

me on on Twitter, like what I drafted

11:13

Gibbs in my face. I think Gibbs finished up one thousand

11:15

yards of scrimmage in ten touchdowns. If you took him

11:17

in the fantasy draft in the second round, he was well

11:19

worth it.

11:20

Yeah. I think I got him in like the third round

11:22

or something, and I was very upset in the beginning

11:24

of the year.

11:26

Gibbs, Laporta, Laporta, god

11:29

Brian Branch, Jack

11:31

Campbell an inside linebacker. Awesome.

11:34

Like, I really like

11:36

the Lions. They're favored by a lot of points against

11:38

the Bucks. They're

11:41

likely gonna take

11:43

care of business. I don't see them falling on their faces,

11:45

not now, not the way this thing is riding and

11:47

rolling.

11:48

I do think if if we didn't have Puka

11:50

this year, Laporta's year would

11:52

have felt more momentous because

11:55

he had such He broke all the records for a rookie

11:57

Titans and everything.

11:58

Yeah, I think I think he tied Gronk

12:00

for second most touchdowns for rookie Titan Number

12:03

one was Mike Diko. We should showed that graphic,

12:05

which is like from nineteen sixty one. Laporta's

12:08

story is great. The guy was hurt, was questionable,

12:11

doubtful. Then fourth and one, who's scoring the touchdown

12:13

in the big playoff game. It's Sam Laporta.

12:16

I look, there's

12:19

the four remaining NFC quarterbacks

12:22

right now, Jared Goff, Baker

12:24

Mayfield, Rock Purty and

12:27

Jordan Love If I mean, you

12:29

can't write this stuff, you can't. You can't

12:31

write this stuff all right as we

12:33

swing from playoffs. I want

12:35

to go through sort of the stuff in my notebook right now, which

12:38

is a fascinating time in football. As we're listening,

12:40

it's we're recording this on a Tuesday morning. It'll

12:42

post probably later Tuesday afternoon. Things can change.

12:44

So Belichick is now.

12:48

It's so funny. There was a tweet last night from the

12:50

Falcons that said we have interviewed Bill

12:52

Belichick for our vacant coaching And I'm

12:54

like, that is that how it went

12:57

down? Or is Belichick interviewing you?

12:59

It's almost like it's this celestial

13:02

being like all right, I'm picturing Belichick with a

13:04

resume, like, you know, handing it to Arthur

13:07

Blank and Rich McKay and Terry Fontano

13:09

and saying like, here's what I've done.

13:11

Tell us the time that you had to work from adversity,

13:14

Bill, tell us.

13:15

A time where you were down three scores

13:17

or more in a big moment, and how

13:19

that affected your team versus the opponent.

13:24

Is Belichick gona interview? Elsewhere is

13:26

Belichick? Does Belchick have to interview? That

13:29

one is wild? So

13:32

there's been a lot of talk about Dallas like to

13:35

empty the notebook, if you will. He's

13:37

got a really good relationship with Jerry Jones

13:39

and Steven Jones because Belichick's been going

13:41

to owners meetings for forty years

13:44

and is a very engaged

13:47

individual when it comes to voices in the league.

13:49

As far as rules go, committee meetings, all

13:51

that stuff. Belichick's very very much

13:53

involved. I said on Bill Simmons's podcast

13:55

last week that I don't think

13:58

Jerry would do that to Craft because it's like

14:00

there is honor amongst thieves, if you will,

14:03

and Jerry and Craft are leader.

14:05

And then everybody, including people in the league

14:07

who heard that, including Bill Simmons who was the

14:09

co host or was hosted of that podcast

14:11

and interview me was like, it's like, get

14:13

the hell out of here, what are you talking about. Jerry Jones

14:16

wants one thing and one thing only. He wants

14:18

to win. And Bill's

14:20

ull take was like, rich guys don't

14:23

care about stuff like that. Rich guys want

14:25

the biggest Yeah, they want the biggest Super Bowl ring,

14:27

they want all that stuff. The other part of it

14:29

is just Jerry's dedication to winning.

14:31

So maybe I was a little bit too

14:34

Pollyanna and a little too wide, I'd

14:36

say, and like, I don't think Jerry would do that to Craft.

14:38

I don't think Jerry's gonna pluck off Belichick

14:40

and then do Yeah, I was probably wrong on that.

14:42

We'll see if Jerry gets rid of McCarthy and if

14:45

that's the pick. I also think Vray Bill could be a really

14:47

good, interesting, just you

14:49

know hire in Dallas. So keep an eye

14:51

on that. Last night and we're

14:53

fresh, all the Eagles fans are tweeting me.

14:55

Everyone's texting me, could the Eagles

14:57

get Belichick?

14:58

I I don't know, Like that

15:01

that's a lot and like that would probably

15:03

mean there's a Howie Roseman Belichick

15:06

deal far as the roster goes, how he is

15:08

really good at managing that roster.

15:10

I don't know if how he's looking to then have Belichick

15:12

in the room as a voice. That would be interesting.

15:15

And then you go to any of these vacant

15:17

jobs and Belichick's name comes up. But I

15:19

think the more interesting thing is that Chargers situation

15:22

not for Belichick so much Harbaugh.

15:25

He interviewed with them all day on Monday.

15:28

I'm curious to hear out when. I'm sure I'll hear from

15:30

the Chargers folks at some point, or we'll hear from Belichick's

15:33

side. But I said when Pete Carroll's

15:35

was kind of dismissed or stepped away from Seattle,

15:38

Pete Carroll makes the most sense for the Chargers.

15:40

Pete Carroll is Southern California. Pete

15:42

Carroll has one at USC. Pete

15:44

Carroll walks in there. You have a local legend, and

15:46

there's this great heartwarming So Pee Carroll still

15:49

wants to coach, and I

15:51

think that moves the needle in that

15:53

market in Orange County, which where they're gonna

15:55

be opening a beautiful new facility, far

15:57

more than Harbaugh, who although will

16:00

bring what he brings and that's a national title and all

16:02

that stuff. I don't know if there's that connection

16:05

to that market. Either way, both make

16:07

a lot of sense, whether it's Harball or Pete

16:09

Carroll. Pee Carroll has not been

16:11

listed as a guy who's interviewing for that job yet.

16:14

I also curiously who the GM is there and how

16:16

those pieces work, because if Harball comes

16:18

in, I think Harball comes in with all his

16:20

guys on offense, the Greg Roman types, if

16:22

he's available to do so, his front office guys,

16:25

He's got a whole thing. Harboy comes in.

16:27

And now I remember Harball interviewed

16:30

twice with the Broncos. He interviewed with the Vikings

16:33

two years ago when they gave it to O'Connell. Those

16:36

were not the right fits. Is this

16:38

the right fit? Well, you say, justin Herbert,

16:40

of course. And what Harba does is

16:42

he wins right away. He did it at the University

16:44

of San Diego, which is your real fit

16:46

there, I guess, even though San Diego and Los Angeles

16:49

Chargers are not quite necessarily tied

16:51

together in any way, especially since the Chargers

16:54

moved. He

16:56

did it at Stanford, he did it at the forty

16:58

nine Ers, of course, and then of course he did it at the Colts

17:01

are at at Michigan. I said, the Colts,

17:03

that's where he played as a player and turned them around.

17:06

Harboaugh to

17:08

Chargers would make sense, of course,

17:11

but I kind of like that Pete Carroll wildcard

17:13

a little bit more, and just to see if Pete's

17:15

going to go somewhere else, that would be the place

17:17

other vacancies. Carolina

17:20

is currently interviewing GM candidates and

17:23

they're going to be meeting with head coaches throughout this thing.

17:25

They've got to kind of do the who we hire

17:27

first deal head coach or GM. I'm

17:30

told those interviews are going on in Carolina

17:32

as we speak. David Tepper's been funneling

17:35

through different general manager candidates and they've been

17:38

both in person and on remote and

17:41

I think it's going to be interesting to see what the structure

17:43

of that front office is. As they fired

17:45

their general manager, Scott Fitterer, but

17:47

Dan Morgan, former University

17:49

of Miami player, former linebacker,

17:52

is still technically employed by

17:54

the Panthers, and I'm told Tepper

17:58

thanks very fondly of the me as a personnel

18:00

guy and also as a voice in the building. So be

18:02

interesting to see if it's someone comes in

18:04

and works with Dan Morgan, someone comes in and it is their

18:06

own people, or if it's just Dan Morgan

18:09

outright. So that's your Carolina side Atlanta.

18:11

You heard about Belichick. They're also interviewing others. Kevin

18:14

Demoff, the president of the Rams, made a great case

18:16

for Raheem Morris last week. Who's

18:18

the defensive coordinator of the Rams? On

18:20

our podcast? I'm told that made

18:23

the rounds. If you saw Aaron

18:25

Jalen Ramsey tweeted out the clip.

18:27

Oh I didn't see that.

18:29

Oh nice. London Fletcher tweeted

18:31

out the clip. Who played for Raheem in

18:33

Washington? I

18:36

believe Aaron not Aaron Donald Now Andrew

18:38

Whitworth, oh tweeted out the clip. So

18:41

you had your your your people

18:44

who've played for Raheem come out and speak,

18:46

and those are the player's side saying, yeah, this is the

18:48

guy. You also have Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay

18:50

and the president of the Rams. I feel like he

18:52

deserves a shot. So he's he's being

18:55

rumored to go to Atlanta, Tennessee.

18:58

I believe is a possibility there, and

19:01

I think Raheem also is going to interview

19:03

for that Chargers job. So we watch

19:05

our Tennessee is interesting. It blew out Verbel Coach

19:08

of the year, the whole thing. It's like who they bringing

19:10

in curious to see? As you know these

19:12

coaches and these owners,

19:14

a lot of times what they do is they'll go from one

19:16

big swing to another, they'll go the polar opposite.

19:19

I remember the Jets did this twice.

19:21

It was like they

19:24

had Herm Edwards who was full of bluster in the stutehere,

19:26

and then like from him, they went to Eric

19:29

Manngini who was like not the big

19:31

personality, was more low key. Then

19:33

they went to Rex Ryan who was huge personality,

19:36

and then to Todd Bowles who was not and like was

19:38

more low key. I think it

19:41

depends on the building. But like from what I gather the

19:43

fit between the owner that what she

19:46

envisions with how voices should

19:48

be heard, and then

19:50

what Verbel had going on where

19:52

it was kind of like his way there, I

19:54

think you're gonna look at a different type of head coach

19:57

where it might not be as established a head coach,

19:59

or it might be somebody who's a younger

20:01

head coach in his first year or somebody who's

20:03

just willing to, you know, kind of take an

20:05

equal shiit with the GM or an equal share with the

20:07

owner and not be as loud a voice in the room

20:10

or as powerful voice in the room, or in

20:12

all these different teams. And I still think there

20:14

might be some more like I don't

20:16

know about Dallas, I don't know about New Orleans. I

20:19

know those guys are still there, but it's

20:22

okay. I don't know about Philadelphia. Sirianni's

20:25

there, but I could they

20:27

fired Doug Peterson two years after winning a

20:29

Super Bowl. These these

20:31

coaching hires are not necessarily always done,

20:33

and these coaching firings are not always necessly done

20:36

on the Monday after a game or the Tuesday

20:38

after a game. Sometimes they take some time and there's

20:40

some conversations. I will say

20:42

this, the Patriots pretty seamless

20:44

on their situation. I don't

20:47

know about the way the

20:49

rules in that contract were written, but they didn't

20:51

go through the interview process at all. They

20:54

were able to hire Gerd Mayo.

20:56

Now, Rod Mayo is a person of color, so it's

20:58

like the Rooney rule in itself is kind of satisfied

21:01

by that. So you're not going to find anyone raising

21:04

their hand about that. But if

21:06

the point of the accelerator program that

21:09

the league does every year bringing in so

21:11

many different minority candidates to meet with

21:13

the owners is to get a chance to interact

21:16

and then ultimately get in the interview rooms, I think it would

21:18

have been beneficial for the league and for some

21:20

other coaches to have the opportunity to at least

21:22

interview for the job. That

21:25

obviously is not a matter of

21:28

significance, as they've already moved on. They have the press

21:30

conference Wednesday for Jerrodmeo.

21:32

But I did say, you know, if, wouldn't

21:34

that have been cool for everyone to interview with the crafts

21:37

or at the very least get an opportunity to meet

21:39

another owner. But it didn't happen.

21:40

I mean, you've talked on some of the other interviews, Like we

21:42

talked about the importance of Mike McDaniel getting

21:44

some of these interviews early on and like testing

21:48

what his I hate to say

21:50

performance, but like what his performance under

21:52

pressure of a big head coaching interview

21:55

would be. Like, So I totally understand, Like how

21:59

that's there are a ton of openings, but that's

22:01

one less opening that could be I don't

22:03

know eight people interviews.

22:04

Yeah, it's more like, okay, the Patriots are

22:06

in their right to say, well, we put this on this guy's contract.

22:08

He's a person of color. We satisfied

22:10

the rudy roll, and like we have to get started, like we

22:13

know our guy. Why would we waste anyone's time. From

22:15

the big picture, my only thing was like,

22:18

all right, so Mike McDaniel said,

22:20

he got, you know, the opportunity to interview

22:22

for jobs, or he wanted to interview for jobs,

22:25

like and just a chance to get in that room, and it helped him immensely.

22:28

It would have been cool to maybe have some guys

22:30

who haven't had the chance to interview for jobs meet with

22:33

a team and go through the process. But again,

22:35

this is really deep in the weeds stuff

22:37

right there. As for this

22:40

podcast, I thought there would be no person better

22:42

to preview Packers forty nine ers than

22:45

a guy who is the younger sibling of one

22:47

of the head coaches and a disciple

22:49

of the others. You can't make this up. Mike

22:51

Lafleur, who by the way, is

22:54

the current offensive coordinator of the Los

22:56

Angeles Rams and the guy who helped unleash

22:59

Puka Nakua and Kieran Williams

23:02

and what the Rams did down the stretch.

23:04

Is the younger brother of Matt Lafleur, the head coach

23:07

of the Green Bay Packers. He is also a

23:10

longtime coach under Kyle Shanahan

23:12

when he was in San Francisco. Well,

23:15

who's playing this weekend? Packers forty

23:17

nine Ers? I love Mike. I

23:19

think Mike is a great young coach in

23:21

his own right. He went from the forty

23:23

nine Ers, came with the Robert Solid

23:25

of the Jets, was the Jets offensive coordinator for a

23:27

couple of years, gets let go there,

23:30

and quickly goes to Los Angeles,

23:32

where not only does he put a stamp on what

23:35

Mike Laflora offense could look like, I think he shut

23:37

some people up in the New York area when they

23:39

saw what was going on with that

23:41

Rams offense this year. Mike's

23:44

a great dude, and I'm about to bring him

23:46

on.

23:53

All right.

23:54

If you listen to this podcast, you listened to us. We have

23:56

the best guests who are coaches, GM's decision

23:58

makers and also some of

24:00

the most relevant ones. I could not have

24:03

imagined a more appropriate guess

24:06

for this week, either a because of the

24:08

performance his offense put on

24:10

this year in Los Angeles, or be his connection

24:12

to the two head coaches of one

24:15

of the divisional round games. With no further ado,

24:17

it's the offensive coordinator of the Los

24:19

Angeles Rams, mister, Mike

24:21

Lafleur. Mike, what's up?

24:22

Man? What's up?

24:24

Peter?

24:24

Appreciate you having me, man.

24:25

Yeah, no doubt. Look, I remember

24:28

being on the sidelines at

24:30

the Super Bowl and it was Chiefs

24:33

versus forty nine Ers, and there's a little

24:35

rope there and your brother, Matt

24:37

had either just been hired by Green

24:39

Bay or maybe a week earlier, had gotten

24:41

the job, and he's sitting behind

24:44

a rope and he's like, hey, Shreg

24:46

Shrigg's And I'm sitting there with the credential because I'm one

24:48

of these obnoxious media guys that just walks around

24:50

like I belong on the field. And he's like, what's

24:53

up, dude, And like you came over to the sideline and there

24:55

was this awesome hug before the game because

24:57

you were an assistant with the forty nine

24:59

ers coaching in the Super Bowl.

25:02

And there's Matt Lafleur, the recently

25:04

hired coach of the Packers. And now

25:06

it comes full circle where the

25:09

forty nine Ers are back in a big game divisional

25:11

round and your brother is still

25:13

the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Where

25:16

are you going to be for this game? And when

25:18

you see Laflor versus forty

25:20

nine Ers and you have nothing to do with it, what's

25:22

your reaction?

25:24

It's wild? You know. It seems like the Packers

25:26

and Niners have played a lot of games over the last

25:28

five years, right, and it was a part

25:30

of a lot of those and obviously not anymore. So

25:33

trying to figure it all out. We are going to shoot up there,

25:36

my wife and I I

25:38

know my parents are gonna they're actually they're

25:40

going to fly over there breeding the boys are

25:42

going to fly down here for a night for whatever reason,

25:44

okay, and we'll end up shooting. We'll end up shooting

25:47

up there on Friday. So trying to figure

25:49

all that out. I mean, all this happened

25:51

so quickly. We you know, didn't plan

25:54

on not being a part of you know, this

25:56

upcoming weekends game. So we'll

25:58

figure it all out. But we'll be up there to sporting for sure.

26:01

We're going to talk that game in a second, But can we can

26:03

you humor me a little bit on just some rams talk as

26:05

we put a bow on what was it? Amazing unexpected

26:07

season that maybe you might say, well, unexpected

26:10

to you, but very expected to us.

26:12

You get the job after

26:15

things end in New York, you get the job in Los

26:17

Angeles. Mcveigh's texting me like,

26:20

I really like this Michael Floor. Obviously he knows

26:22

your brother real well and he knows you, and he's like, I

26:24

really think things are going to be special. And I'm kind of rolling

26:26

my eyes, like, no, I like Mike two, but with

26:28

what with what weapons? And then

26:31

we have this offensive explosion and I'm gonna mention

26:34

two guys and I want you to hit on both of them. When

26:36

did you know Puka Nakula was

26:38

going to have the greatest rookie season from a wide

26:40

receiver that we've seen in years.

26:43

Yeah, I mean to sit here and say that

26:45

when we drafted him, and then even as

26:48

well as he was doing an ots in training camp

26:50

to have the statistical year he had, maybe

26:52

lying to you, but you did know early

26:55

on that one this kid is extremely mature.

26:57

Two he's extremely tough. That's

26:59

that was evident from all his film obviously at Uyu

27:03

and he just he fit into this culture right away.

27:05

He's a maze and

27:08

what a cool resource he had in Cooper Cup

27:10

to kind of lean on to get him up the speed.

27:13

Obviously, when you have Matthew Staffords your quarterback,

27:15

you know, you want to be in the right spot

27:17

at the right time. And he understood that and

27:19

that's part of his maturity. So he

27:22

he stood out right away. OTAs

27:24

stood out when he put the pads on, probably even more

27:26

so once we got the training camp, and you

27:28

know, it happened right away. He had a great game against Seattle.

27:31

He ended up having twenty targets in Week two

27:33

versus the Niners, which was crazy cut

27:35

catching fifteen of them, you know, and he just

27:37

kind of and it never stopped. And you

27:40

know, he's he's a dude you root

27:42

for too, because he's just such a likable guy

27:44

and when he puts those pads on, he plays

27:46

the game the right way.

27:47

Yeah, we talk about that rookie wall all

27:49

the time, like it felt like it never came

27:52

for Nikua and he saved his

27:54

best for last. He had the most yards for

27:56

a rookie receiver in a playoff game in the

27:58

history of the sport on Sunday night, and

28:01

he did it on ten targets, nine

28:03

catches, And it's like everyone who's watching at

28:05

home was watching them all like, yeah, that that's kind

28:07

of what we expect from him. Was the

28:09

game plan going in, Let's feed Pooka and let's

28:11

get him the rock.

28:13

Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, it's our job to make

28:15

sure that the best players are touching the ball.

28:17

But but what's what's when our

28:20

offense is running at its best, It's not about

28:22

trying to force anyone the ball. You had you at

28:24

the coverage, dictate where that ball goes.

28:26

And you know, Matthew does as good as anyone

28:28

of spreading that ball around, reading the plays out,

28:30

true, you know, And I think that's why

28:32

you saw a lot of our guys, you know, particularly

28:34

that back half of the season with the Marcus and Higbee

28:37

making his plays like he always has here obviously,

28:39

Kyen, both in the run and the past game. Cooper

28:42

is always going to be Cooper, you know.

28:44

So to to

28:46

to two had a big, big play,

28:48

and TO two was making plays earlier in the year and

28:50

and you know continue to so that's

28:53

when our offense is doing the best.

28:54

But again, the best players

28:57

are going to find a way to touch the ball, and he did.

29:00

And yet you know, in the moments, it's like if

29:02

you had told me in August that Ronnie

29:04

Rivers was going to be getting key play in

29:06

this huge play. All these guys stepped up. I

29:08

really was impressed with the way the offense played.

29:11

Yeah, no, it's it's just a credit

29:14

to those guys. And again, it all, it all starts with number

29:16

nine. He is I heard

29:18

a lot of good things about him when I came in, and

29:20

it was almost undersold from people in Detroit

29:23

obviously, how Sean felt about him.

29:26

Incredible player, incredible quarterback. He's

29:28

not going anywhere. I won't let him go anywhere for I

29:30

mean, he's got too much good years ahead of

29:32

him. But he's even a better person

29:35

to work with. He is just phenomenal

29:37

and he's receptive. And you

29:39

know, you wake up and join going to work every

29:41

day because the a the building is incredible. But be

29:44

at that quarterback is just a He's a joy

29:46

to work with.

29:47

Talk about his toughness for a second, Are

29:49

you serious We're talking about an NFL

29:51

in twenty twenty three, where you know, some

29:53

people say that the rules have changed

29:55

and that there's you know, the guys aren't

29:57

as tough as they were. Harry Stafford

30:00

on Sunday Night Football, getting stepped on,

30:02

getting knocked getting you know, his hand

30:04

is completely severed. There's just out

30:07

there slinging just right back up and keeps

30:09

going. I thought, I thought you a loss.

30:11

It was the most heroic performance that

30:13

we've seen in recent Memoryes. He was awesome.

30:16

Yeah, he's that's what he is. I

30:18

mean, he's you know, he's going to get knocked down. He's

30:20

he's not uh, he's not Lamar out

30:22

there running away from you know, the big guys chasing

30:24

him in there. But he's going to stand in there with the best

30:27

of them, and he's going to keep getting up,

30:29

you know. And and that's just evident. That's not just

30:31

this year. Uh, he's not just

30:33

all of a sudden just gotten tough. That that dates back

30:35

to his rookie year, right, And I believe

30:38

it was his rookie year against

30:40

the man.

30:43

And so it's just it's not fake, right, And

30:45

it never gets old watching that. And yeah,

30:48

it's it's a prerequisite to uh

30:50

to be tough and be a you know,

30:53

a quarterback in this league. It's that's just part

30:55

of it. But he just takes that to another level, a

30:57

level that it's in my opinion, unmatched.

31:00

Yeah, and then he had the running back hire and I'm just gonna

31:02

hit on him because we've hit the other names. And obviously

31:04

the offensive line all stepped up this year, but

31:06

Kyed Williams, I think the stat was

31:09

he had the third most rushing yards,

31:12

like in the history of the sport for a guy who's missed

31:14

five games. There was some wild stat about

31:16

just how good he was this season historically

31:19

and before the year. I don't know if anyone drafted

31:21

him in their fantasy football.

31:22

League right now,

31:26

He's just another guy that again, he got

31:28

cut short a little a year ago, right he was

31:30

battling some injuries and stuff like that. He is a guy

31:32

that I know less. And Sean pinpointed

31:35

that, hey, this is a ram you know when

31:37

they took him in the draft in terms of his toughness,

31:39

in terms of his maturity. So he kind of fits in

31:41

that same bold I was saying of Puka, where

31:44

he just comes to work and he's ready to work every

31:46

single day, and so what he does on Sunday

31:49

really isn't that big dust because that's what he

31:51

does Wednesday through Friday when he's out on that practice

31:53

field. He's just showing up every single day. He's

31:55

such an enjoyable guy to be around. He's a guy

31:58

that, again kind of like Matthew, you

32:00

want to do your best for him as a coach, you know, And

32:03

you know, he had a magical run this

32:05

year, and I think that's his standard.

32:07

I think that's I know, that's

32:10

how he's gonna approach it, you know, moving forward, I.

32:12

Think the Rams aren't a very good place. I've

32:14

you know, I had Kevin Demo off the team president on last

32:16

week because he was talking about the Jared Goff trade

32:18

and the Stafford trade and going through it all, and

32:21

he went through some of those defensive names and then

32:23

the offensive players, and I just

32:25

love the way the story went this year. You guys,

32:27

you know, kind of written off by a run before this season,

32:29

and by the end of the year, I think you guys were one of the top five

32:31

to six teams in the league. And if things go a

32:33

different way, if you make one more play, if you get one call,

32:36

that goes differently, probably still playing today

32:38

and the team that nobody wants to face. I would just say congratulations

32:40

to you as a first year coordinator with this team taking

32:43

that offense to new heights. It's really awesome, dude.

32:45

Yeah, I appreciate it. Didn't didn't

32:48

plan on being you know, in

32:50

my house right here on a Tuesday. Was hoping to

32:52

keep this thing going. Like you just said, I

32:54

mean, it's credit to Detroit. That was what a

32:57

great game that was, and

32:59

it was it was, and it was an incredible

33:02

atmosphere. Had a lot of you know, all my family

33:04

basically still lives in Michigan, so we had a lot of a

33:06

lot of Rams fans there that you

33:08

know, just had to make the drive over from Grand Rapids

33:11

and Kilma Zoo. But you know, hey,

33:13

when you when you don't score touchdowns in the red

33:15

zone, that kind of was the story. We were oll

33:17

for three in the red zone. We were we were fourth in

33:19

the league going into you know, the playoffs,

33:21

But none of that stuff matters if you don't get it done on that on

33:24

that day. And I thought our guys played

33:26

great, They played tough, they they were in the

33:28

fight all day, and you know they made one

33:30

more play than we did.

33:31

You know me, I'm watching it and Stafford's thrown for

33:33

three sixty two and Nikua has got nine

33:35

cat and they had that red zone

33:37

shot to Cup and I'm like that that's nine

33:39

out of ten times Stafford to Cup. That's that's

33:42

usually. And I know it's killing you. I'm sure it's

33:44

killing you, and I'm just watching on my couch, but

33:46

I'm like, that's how close this game was.

33:48

It was the razor's edge. And I don't

33:50

want you to spend all off season thinking about what could

33:52

have been. I want you to a releast appreciate how great you guys

33:55

had had it going on because you guys were dialed

33:57

in.

33:58

It's a it's a fresh wound right now, so we'll

34:00

see, you know, well, we'll see.

34:02

Limit to me to bring it up, so

34:06

we all talk about that twenty thirteen Washington

34:08

staff, which included your brother and McVeigh

34:11

and McDaniel. But like, I look at

34:13

that twenty nineteen forty

34:16

nine Ers staff and I'm like, you want to talk about today's

34:18

coaches and all those guys. Can you go through some of

34:21

the colleagues you had on that twenty nineteen forty

34:23

nine or Super Bowl team that was just in the coaching staff

34:25

alone, because you look around the league, it's everyone

34:27

doing huge things right now.

34:29

Yeah, it's it was a really cool

34:31

staff. Kyle, you know, gets

34:33

a ton of credit and credit deserve for

34:36

being just so good schematically right,

34:38

getting guys open, getting his guys,

34:41

getting his best players of the ball with space.

34:44

But the thing that I think he does best

34:47

is he has an eye for coaching talent

34:49

and just obviously player talent. He's

34:52

incredible at it. He knows what he wants

34:54

from both sides. And you

34:57

know, we were the same staff in nineteen basically

34:59

outside of Caseric, who we brought into nineteen, who

35:02

was a huge, huge, you know, reason why

35:04

that D line does what it does. But eighteen

35:06

we were coaching the senior ball, you

35:08

know, and uh and didn't have the

35:10

year that we wanted. It was still all the same coaches,

35:13

and credit to John Lynch and Kyle

35:15

for for you know, just being great leaders

35:18

and keeping us on the right path. Obviously,

35:20

you know you had Mike McDaniel, who's doing great things.

35:23

I just said, Case Saric, who's who's arguably

35:25

the best in the business at at d line,

35:27

uh Salah, who is you know, an

35:29

incredible defensive coach uh and

35:32

and great friend. You know,

35:34

Bobby Slowick was a was

35:36

a QC on defense for the first two years.

35:39

Kyle said, I don't want to waste him on defense. Let's bring

35:41

him over at offense. He's got too good of a brain to be wasted

35:43

on the defensive side. Uh So he stolen

35:46

from Sala who didn't love that, and brought

35:48

him over. What about Demiko Ryans? You know,

35:51

he's just an incredible

35:53

incredible again,

35:55

you know, he's an incredible coach, but he's even

35:58

a better person and leader. And not

36:00

surprised, seriously, not surprised at all what

36:02

he's doing. It just was a matter of time.

36:04

And what a cool fit for him to go back to

36:06

Houston. I would say that's

36:08

probably the fairy tale, you know, for him to be

36:11

back there. Just a

36:13

lot of really really good good coaches,

36:16

but better better humans for sure.

36:18

I love it all Right, So this week you're

36:20

kind of torn. You've got your brother, You've got

36:23

your former you know colleague. Obviously,

36:25

I would imagine your heart lives with

36:27

with Blood and you're going with Green Bay on this

36:29

one, but their relationship, having

36:32

watched it from a from a close vantage

36:34

point, I think it's so interesting. Obviously they've had

36:36

already huge battles in the playoffs in regular

36:38

season, and of course Kyle's got

36:40

the best of Matt sometimes Matt's gotten the best of

36:43

Kyle sometimes. The dynamic

36:45

between Matt Lafleura and Kyle Shanahan from

36:47

little brother and ex colleague, what

36:49

what's your vantage point on it?

36:53

Disrespect? You know, I think

36:56

they have so much respect

36:58

for each other. They obviously, you know,

37:01

worked you know for quite a few years

37:03

together, starting in Houston when

37:05

Kyle was a very very young offensive

37:07

coordinator and obviously really good already,

37:09

and then then for him to bring him to Washington. They

37:12

had the one year where you know, they all got

37:14

let go in thirteen, as we all know, and then fourteen

37:16

they separated for a year. Kyle went to Cleveland,

37:19

that's where I met up with them, and Matt went to Notre

37:21

Dame and then able to have the two years

37:23

in Atlanta together and what a what

37:26

an incredible two years that was in fifteen and sixteen.

37:28

Obviously didn't finish that when the way we wanted,

37:30

but again Nonetheless,

37:33

they're both both incredible

37:35

coaches. They're both incredible people, very different

37:37

people, you know, So it's it's

37:40

gonna be it's gonna be a fun one up there. No one expected

37:42

Green Bay to be where they're at. Everyone expected San Francisco

37:45

to be where they're at for obvious reasons. And

37:48

you know, I think they're both playing their best ball at

37:50

the right time, and it's gonna be fun.

37:52

You've had a chance to watch from Afar Jordan

37:55

Love's maturation and development this year. Obviously,

37:57

your brother's been living with it for years, having them on

37:59

the bench with Rogers there and then finding

38:01

a way to get some time to devote to Love. I

38:04

think right now, now that Stafford's been eliminated,

38:06

now that Dak's been out of here, I could argue

38:08

that no quarterback in the NFC is playing better than

38:10

Jordan Love right now. You've had a chance to watch him afar,

38:13

obviously, but you're you're in those conversations

38:15

Jordan Love as you look at him as an opposing

38:18

coach, what's your take on his development,

38:20

how far he's come?

38:22

He just he he looks

38:24

like he just not looks he has this great

38:26

command out there you can just

38:28

tell it's the game has slowed down

38:30

for him so much, and that's a that's a fun

38:32

spot to be as a player and let alone

38:34

a quarterback, you know. And so you've been able

38:37

to see it not just from week one

38:39

to now, but but really kind of somewhere

38:41

in that mid, you know, middle part of the year. It felt

38:43

like it started when we played him in early November,

38:46

right before our bye week, where you could just

38:48

you could feel that it just was starting to look right.

38:51

And then I know, when we were on the by I was able

38:53

to watch the Green Bay

38:55

Steelers game, you know, live because

38:58

you don't get to see many games live obviously because you're

39:00

preparing for your own and they

39:02

didn't win, but it looked right on offense.

39:05

And see that's your saying, because everyone circled

39:07

that game and was like that's the end of the steel the end of the Packers

39:09

season, Like they lost to the Steelers, it's over. And yet

39:11

you saw it and you're like, wait a second, I see

39:14

something here.

39:15

It looked right. It looked right from you

39:17

could tell Matt was calling it in an aggressive way,

39:20

and usually when the

39:22

play callers being aggressive, it's because he has so

39:24

much trust in all his players, but more

39:26

importantly his quarterback. And I

39:28

think that's probably the biggest thing if you asked him, is

39:31

Matt trusts him because Jordan's

39:34

playing that way and he's playing aggressive,

39:36

he's playing smart, and it's been it's

39:38

been cool to watch. And I know, I know, and Bat's

39:40

been on record. I don't know Jordan. I've talked

39:42

to him probably once, but he's I know,

39:45

Matt really roots for the human he's

39:48

but he really likes the guy, you

39:50

know, and and the teammates really like the guy. And

39:52

so that's what's that's what's really been cool

39:54

to see from Afar.

39:56

It's really neat that whole story of the Packers.

39:58

They are so young. So here

40:00

we have all these established team. Packers are the youngest

40:02

team to ever win a playoff game. Your

40:04

brother takes a whole different crew of guys

40:07

on offense and overnight almost

40:09

package them together, and here we are. They're sizzling.

40:12

When you were talking to Matt over the summer, did

40:14

you think he had an idea that there was a shot that Dontavian

40:17

Wicks and Jayden Reed would be leaving them to the divisional

40:19

round.

40:20

I'll be honest, it seems like every week there's

40:22

new guys out there.

40:23

I don't even know where some of them, like Bo Melton showed

40:25

up in week seventeen and is now like a go to guy.

40:28

Right, And whoever's out there,

40:30

it's just working, you know. And that's kind of what I mean,

40:32

where it just it just looks right,

40:35

you know. It looks like

40:38

just a well constructed, well orchestrated

40:40

and again that you know, a lot of credit to

40:42

Matt and the coach is no doubt, but quarterback

40:45

is in command out there, and he's comfortable

40:47

and everyone else is found suit really really cool to

40:50

watch.

40:50

I say with great confidence that I believe, and

40:53

you don't have to be bashful. I believe you'll be a head coach in the NFL

40:55

at some point, you know. And if it's not getting interviews

40:57

this year or getting a job this year, it will happen

41:00

for you because you're already respected as one of the best

41:02

offensive minds in the game. And that'll

41:05

happen. When you look at Sean

41:07

and you look at your brother and you look at

41:09

Kyle at everyone always

41:12

says, well, they run like the Shanahan offense

41:14

or whatever it is. There are different

41:16

intricacies between the three though, right,

41:19

and you you could spot them out. You can identify,

41:21

like, here's what this one does better than the other. Here's

41:23

what makes this one unique from this one. You've had a chance

41:25

to obviously be with those guys for many,

41:27

many years in conversations both in

41:30

the building and I'm sure you

41:32

know, at a dinner table or at a bar or

41:34

wherever you guys are hanging in the off season.

41:36

Yeah, I mean, it's uh, you could

41:38

say that the nuts and bolts of the offenses

41:41

are are you know, similar, you know in

41:43

some aspects, but they all go within their own

41:45

personality, you know. And we

41:48

could talk for three hours about this, but

41:50

I loved it.

41:51

I would honestly, to be honest, Mike, I'd like to write

41:53

a book on this. Like I feel like this is like the coolest

41:55

stuff going in football right now. And seeing the

41:57

three offenses this year was really neat.

41:59

Yeah. And then and then throw you know, McDaniel

42:02

in there in Miami and and here here's

42:04

what I'll say that, you know, I feel like,

42:06

let's just say those four teams is uh,

42:09

it's fit to the players, you know, whatever

42:12

your player's skill sets are. That's

42:15

that's where the offense ends up going and

42:17

starting with the quarterback, but also the skill around

42:20

it, you know, so because

42:22

we can all run this system or whatever the

42:24

system is, but if it doesn't fit with the

42:27

players that you got, then doesn't

42:29

really matter, you know. And so we fit ours

42:31

in a way where we're going to use Kooka's

42:33

big body as as a fullback

42:36

sometimes and Cooper's you know, toughness

42:38

and smarts as a fullback sometimes back there

42:41

because that's really what they are at times,

42:43

which opens up the run game, which opens up

42:45

the play pass and all that. So again,

42:47

that's probably a conversation for

42:50

another day, you know, maybe

42:52

maybe somewhere here in La on the beach or something, we

42:54

can get together for a few hours and talk about

42:56

it.

42:58

Kyle as as like the coach

43:01

who has spawned the you know, with you and with

43:03

McDaniel and of course with your older

43:05

brother. Has Kyle's offense

43:07

changed over the years? Do you see it as

43:09

you study that forty nine ers tape saying like, well,

43:12

this is a different offense than the one that I was coaching a

43:14

couple of years ago.

43:15

Yeah, ass, it's it's evolved, and

43:17

you know, I think with with a guy

43:20

like Christian, you know, McCaffrey, they're doing

43:22

a lot of things where you know, they're not inempty

43:24

but they're they're inempty because

43:26

of where Christian lines up with Sean and

43:28

I call it he's in Jumanji out there like he's

43:31

not on the ball, but he's like outside

43:34

the cores five yards off, you know, and

43:36

it's like, what what is? You

43:39

know, something's going on over there, and maybe he's

43:41

a decoy, maybe he's not, you know, And that's

43:43

a guy that again that in

43:45

twenty seventeen when we went to the Stanford Pro

43:47

day, Kyle loved him. We all loved

43:50

him obviously, and uh, you

43:52

know it was we had to I won't even

43:54

get into the draft and all that all unfolded,

43:56

but he ended up in the long run getting them.

43:58

He got there and and he got there, you

44:00

know, and he probably got there at the right time, and you know, so

44:02

it's, uh, it's it's unique

44:05

to watch, but yeah, that Kyle's always evolved

44:07

in and the

44:10

defenses have evolved so much since

44:12

the play past days of twenty

44:14

fifteen and sixteen with Atlanta and

44:16

even early when we first got to San Francisco.

44:19

People are letting you get over top as much anymore.

44:21

And so now let's exploit in the intermediate

44:23

levels of the defense. And you know, I like

44:25

to feel that we we do it as well as

44:27

anyone, you know, our kind of group of coaches.

44:30

Yeah, what is the what is the off season

44:32

like tape for you? Is it you study

44:34

NFL? Do you study college? Are you one of these guys

44:36

that will go into a hole and just start learning

44:39

everything around the league, or are you more Here's

44:41

what we do, here's how we have to get better, here's our

44:43

personal I'm always fascinating because you talk to

44:45

these coaches and a lot of you guys on the offensive

44:47

side of the ball, it's hey, did you see what Eastern Kentucky

44:50

did this year? Or did you see

44:52

what they do out in Boise State? You know, it's

44:54

it's interesting and I know that some people curate

44:56

that stuff online, but we as fans

44:59

and me and the media like I don't necessarily

45:01

have that same nose for it

45:03

as the coaching set world does what do you do over

45:05

the off season better and hone your skills?

45:08

Yeah, unfortunately, the off season is here, you

45:10

know, and it was you know, last

45:12

year getting here, because again it's

45:15

not the offense we ran in New

45:17

York or it's not San Francis. I had to learn this

45:19

system, you know, and what the intricacies

45:21

of this one is. And so there was

45:23

less study in last year on other teams.

45:26

It was more, Okay, what do we got and

45:28

you know, here's what we did, and let's let's mold

45:31

it to the two thirteen rams for two twenty

45:33

three rams, excuse me. And

45:35

so that's what we did. And now this year you get

45:37

to you get to go out again and hey,

45:39

we got this system. Okay, now what can we incorporate?

45:42

What's the trends and flows of the

45:45

league and the defenses and stuff like that if we hadn't

45:47

picked up on it from just our weekly game

45:49

plan. And so that'll be

45:51

fun, you know, as far as like the colleges and

45:53

stuff like that. You study

45:55

so many of these guys coming out of the draft that you

45:57

inevitably are watching their skins too,

45:59

and some of them you did. I mean, you're like,

46:01

what is going on here? You know, And it's

46:03

it's unique. It's cool. It's a whole different game, the

46:05

college game. A lot of respect for what

46:08

they're doing it, but it's it's like foreign it

46:10

doesn't even feel like the same game half the time. But that's

46:13

where that's where I know me personally. That's where

46:15

you you know, if there's something schematically that

46:17

someone's doing, I'm not watching eighteen per

46:19

se, I'm watching the players. And then he that's

46:21

kind of cool and we'll fit. I don't

46:24

know, you know, you just kind of use your own brain

46:26

there and you go from there. But that's

46:29

kind of the process of what will happen up until

46:31

when the players get back.

46:32

You know, my relationship with McVeigh, I'm

46:35

not in the building every day, but we're just

46:37

friends and we've been friends for years and I respect

46:39

his coaching ability. What

46:41

did you learn from Sean McVeigh? What did you see

46:43

this year? Working for him

46:46

so much?

46:48

He is you know, he's

46:51

asked me, He goes, did you expect it to be like

46:53

this? And I don't know what I expect. I just expected

46:55

to come into a place where you're going to work

46:57

with really good people and starting from

46:59

the top. Our ownership, they're

47:02

awesome. That the La Rams building

47:05

is so cool because it's it's just ball.

47:07

It's ball and good people you know, and it

47:09

was it was extremely refreshing.

47:12

It's so fun to go to work every day because

47:14

of because of that building and lesson

47:16

Sean. He

47:18

Sean is is demanding.

47:21

He gets the most out of these guys. You

47:24

know, he's extremely urgent. Like

47:26

I've told him. Our walkthroughs

47:28

are the first walkthrough as a part of in Phase

47:31

two back in April or May whenever, it was, I go,

47:33

that's the best walk through I've ever been a part of the

47:35

first one, and it just was because

47:38

and it's the players

47:41

didn't know any better. That's just what they do here, you

47:43

know. And that's the culture he set up and

47:45

and there's there's never any issues,

47:48

you know. So he's got he's

47:50

got full command of this thing.

47:52

Uh.

47:52

He's such a great leader, he's such a great person.

47:55

It's obviously a good extent nose coach, no

47:57

doubt. But there's so much more that goes into it that

47:59

people don't see in terms of, you know, obviously

48:01

the leadership and the relationships he has

48:03

with these guys, you know, and

48:06

it's it's it was really cool. I don't

48:08

know what happened here in the past, obviously, I just know they want

48:10

a lot of football games. Yeah, but but I

48:12

know he's having a lot of fun and that's,

48:14

uh, that's cool. That's really

48:16

cool for for for me, and I think all the other coaches

48:18

watch him have fun and really enjoying this thing.

48:21

What'd you learn from Kyle? What was your

48:23

big takeaway from Kyle when you say I'm going to take this

48:25

on too all my next jobs, Like, what do you think, Kyle

48:27

Shanahan, What's what's the big the big give

48:29

me that I'm gonna bring that with you.

48:30

Yeah, it's kind of in that same mold of like

48:33

this league doesn't wait for you. You know, you

48:36

better be urgent, you know, and and everything you do

48:38

from a coaching and player perspective, and

48:41

because there's there's thirty

48:43

two teams and you know, everyone knows

48:45

what that end goal is. He doesn't overly talk about

48:47

winning or going to Super Bowls or any of that stuff.

48:50

It's just what do we got to do today

48:52

to be better? And the

48:55

way they practice up there, the physicality

48:58

that they bring on a daily basis that

49:00

that comes to fruition on Sundays, you know,

49:02

but it's not just you know once

49:04

in a while, it's it's just how they do things up there,

49:07

so fun of respect for him is again

49:09

I know I'm kind of broken record with saying it, but

49:11

he's an incredible.

49:13

These are two of the top offensive minds

49:15

in the history of the sport, like, and you've worked for

49:18

both of them as their right hand men. Like,

49:20

I think that's a pretty cool gig for you. And

49:22

I think it's really interesting to get your insights because

49:24

you have a different vantage point than us on the outside.

49:26

Whoor It's like, yeah, look at this play they drew up.

49:29

Yeah, no, it's the plays are

49:31

They're cool. But everyone can draw a cool place.

49:34

I mean, my daughter's over

49:36

here, guys, Like it's

49:38

kind of good. Got it from mad you know, it's let's

49:40

implement it, you know, and usually it will work with

49:42

Matthew, Stafford and Hook and Cooper, but

49:45

it's there. There's so much more to this thing and and

49:48

you know, and like you said, Kyle, Kyle

49:50

does it at a level that's that's awesome. And

49:54

you know, love him like a brother, you

49:56

know, so he's Uh, I owe

49:58

a lot to him.

49:59

I've got two more on like other coaches,

50:01

and I think you have to understand on this podcast, it's a

50:03

lot of coaches who listen. So anytime

50:05

we get insights on, you know, the dynamics

50:07

between then we love it when

50:09

when you and Mike McDaniel are both coming up

50:11

with the forty nine ers. Obviously there was the past game

50:13

coordinator, there's a run game coordinator, there was different

50:15

titles. He gets the job in Miami,

50:19

did you envision him, you know, doing

50:21

all this razzle dazzle and the motion stuff.

50:23

And I guess now two years in, would

50:25

you say you're super exciting for what he's become

50:28

and what he's got his offense doing.

50:30

Yeah, you know, And it's like he

50:33

looks so comfortable in his role too. You know, I

50:36

don't watch any of the hard knocks and stuff like that. I heard

50:38

it's pretty pretty entertaining. And and

50:41

but but the one thing that keeps coming out of from

50:43

those players in Miami that that

50:45

are open about is he is who he is. He's

50:48

not trying to be someone he's not. He's going to be the same

50:50

personality every single day. Obviously,

50:52

he has done some incredible things on

50:55

offense there, you know,

50:57

and it's it's not surprising he puts a lot

50:59

of time into it almost probably you

51:01

know too, much time when you know what time he

51:03

wakes up in the morning and stuff like that. But he

51:06

he's a he's a ball guy and he loves

51:08

it. And I know the players they got us

51:10

back there too.

51:11

Did you think his personality would work as a head

51:13

coach? And the big knock and hear the question was,

51:16

how is you know? He's just like really curious thinker.

51:18

He's got this long drawn out of it and yet the players

51:21

absolutely love him. But I remember coming up they were like, I

51:23

don't know if the players are going to be able to connect with Mike McDaniel.

51:25

I would say, I don't know. If that's the case, I think he actually might

51:27

connect with them better because he's himself and he's authentic.

51:30

He's authentic. That's the exact word I was going to use.

51:32

He's he's true to himself. And I mean

51:35

leaders come in all shapes and sizes, right, and

51:37

as long as you are who you are, you're

51:40

true to yourself. You're not some you're not trying

51:42

to be someone that you're not. Players see that.

51:44

They can see through BS. I mean they're

51:46

professionals. They can see through BS at an elite

51:48

level, you know, and I know Mike just goes

51:50

in there and his main goal is He's very

51:52

smart, obviously, but his his main goal

51:55

is to maximize these players. And

51:57

if if the players feel that and know that,

51:59

which they do, they'll they'll play for you,

52:01

you know, they'll play hard for you, and they'll and they'll respect

52:03

you, and you know, so that's it's

52:06

been cool to watch because Mike hasn't

52:08

changed. It's the same guy he was, as

52:10

you know, a receiver coach in Cleveland and when

52:12

I first met him, when he was in Houston. Obviously

52:14

he's just gotten a little bit older. And you

52:17

know, it's not surprising at all.

52:19

And there's most of your former player having

52:21

twenty one touchdowns as a Miami Dolphin, and you're

52:23

like, yeah, I could see that totally.

52:26

You know, it's what

52:28

a what a cool story for him. Gosh,

52:31

you know, cut five six

52:33

times, I don't know. And then twenty eighteen,

52:35

he obviously at the back end of the twenty nineteen

52:38

year, on our way to the Super Bowl,

52:40

he statistically I think was

52:42

the top you know, I mean it seemed like he was averaging about

52:44

one hundred and twenty a game. But

52:46

even in eighteen he had some games where, you

52:48

know, I remember going up to Lamba when he played

52:51

really well there and it was just putting

52:53

it kind of all together. And there he was in nineteen

52:55

doing that. And you know, obviously

52:58

him and Mike have a really really close relationship,

53:00

unique relationship, and it's been cool

53:02

to watch him, you know, over there do his thing.

53:04

I had Sala on the podcast last

53:06

season and he told a great story about him

53:09

and Matt were roommates together,

53:11

but they were living in like a one bedroom and they

53:13

were eating you know, Domino's pizza every

53:15

night, or might have been whatever, Little Caesars,

53:18

whatever, the Detroit style delivered whatever's

53:21

in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, where Central Michigan

53:24

was, and that like for warm, hot

53:26

meals. They would come over your house and like

53:28

you would like you and your I guess it was your

53:31

wife or a girlfriend a time, I don't know. You guys would

53:33

cook them meals and be like I got you even though you're

53:35

the younger sibling. I know how

53:37

tight you are with Sala as well. What was

53:39

it like working with Robert and for Jets Vans

53:41

listening? Obviously you're now with the Rams,

53:43

but like if they were wondering, like, well, what do we gotten a

53:45

head coach? What would you say about Salah?

53:49

Extremely extremely smart? Like it

53:51

like he finds a way.

53:54

And yes, they would come over when

53:56

we were in high school. It was my girlfriend at the time

53:58

obviously my wife now, and yes they

54:00

would take over the TV and

54:03

it just was like, can you guys just get out of here so

54:06

we can just do our thing. But anyway,

54:08

that's for another time as well. But he

54:11

is the thing that solid does so well,

54:13

is uh he he can

54:15

he makes things very simple for I

54:17

think the players, like it's you

54:20

could tell you know, his thought process

54:22

and then he makes it where it's extremely

54:25

easy for the players to understand exactly what

54:27

what what he's asking from them, and not just from

54:29

a defensive perspective, but from a team perspective.

54:32

His team meetings or are awesome. I

54:34

know, the players love it, the stories that

54:36

he gives and how he ties it all together, uh

54:39

with with you know, whatever week

54:41

we're playing, and the players that that he has.

54:43

So there's a lot of factors

54:45

that go into what's going on right now. I won't

54:47

even you know, won't get into all of them, but a

54:50

lot of respect for for Robert and uh,

54:52

you know, as long as they're not playing the rams,

54:55

you know, I wish them all the best.

54:57

Obviously, that's cool and that's mature of you. Obviously.

55:00

All right, real real quick, you yourself.

55:03

So your older brother is in coaching, you're in

55:05

coaching. What was the floor household

55:07

like as kids? And was this

55:09

like your destiny? Like I don't even know it was? Your pop's

55:12

a coach? Like how did it come to be? It's so cool

55:14

that two siblings from Grand Rapids,

55:16

Michigan. Is that where you guys grew up?

55:18

Were we grew up in maltplus you grew up.

55:19

In Mount Pleasant proper? Okay? So Mount

55:22

Pleasant, Michigan? How did this happen?

55:24

And it was like, were you like football in a

55:26

crib type deal? Or is this you guys who both independently

55:28

loved it?

55:30

Yeah? You know, everyone

55:32

in our family as coaches, starting with my

55:34

grandpa. He was a high school head coach

55:37

at mostly a

55:39

school down in KILMAZOOKELMA was and Lloye RKS, but

55:41

he was a head coach at other places as well.

55:44

And so my mom obviously grew up just

55:46

in and around football, and then when

55:48

she went to Central Michigan, my dad was there playing

55:50

and obviously started dating and got married,

55:53

you know, and Da da da, and then my dad, once

55:55

he got done playing, ended up coaching

55:57

at Central Michigan for twenty some odd

55:59

years, and so that's what we grew

56:01

up doing. You know. I got asked because

56:03

we were going into fort Field, how many Detroit Lions

56:06

games went to I went to zero growing up because

56:09

my dad was coaching at Central, and so we didn't

56:11

know anything better than Saturdays and MAC

56:13

football. That was before MAC was played

56:15

on Monday through Friday. It was Saturday

56:17

one o'clock games.

56:19

Like Dan Lefever, Like, who are we talking

56:21

about? Like I go back before.

56:23

That, it's even before that, long.

56:25

Before JJ Watt. We're talking yeah,

56:27

oh.

56:28

Yeah, yeah, this is uh

56:30

gosh, I couldn't even give you some of the names,

56:32

but Brian Prewitt and Joe

56:34

Youngblood and uh, I mean,

56:36

Matt would actually probably be the one better because

56:39

my dad got let go when I was in fifth grade, but

56:42

in which my brother was a senior, so

56:44

he had all eighteen years,

56:46

you could say, of being there on the

56:48

sidelines with my dad. Just football,

56:51

chip AWAF football, you know, and that's

56:55

who is your favorite team? Michigan, Michigan now Central

56:57

Michigan.

56:57

Yeah, that was it.

56:58

That was the only team, you know, and uh so,

57:02

you know, and then when he got like, oh, he ended up being the

57:04

high school head coach for a few years and then an assistant

57:07

and stuff like that. So never had a move. Matt

57:09

and I grew up in the same house.

57:11

What a blessing, right as you and Matt have jumped

57:13

from place to place just pursuing a career, which

57:15

is all noble and it's been great. What a

57:17

cool deal that you guys grew up in the

57:19

same town in a coaching life. It's unheard

57:21

of.

57:21

Same house, same town,

57:25

you know, So you had the same friends and you

57:27

know, like we were just saying, I met my

57:29

wife at you know, in Mount Pleasant.

57:31

We started dating in junior high and

57:34

had a little hicc up there in around eighth grade or

57:37

something like that, but got back together in early high school

57:39

and eighth.

57:39

Grade dance was intense though, like a lot of things

57:41

happened. There's a lot of drama. There's the other Yes,

57:44

I get it.

57:44

Dude, I had to figure some things out, obviously.

57:46

But they started dating again in high

57:49

school and ended up going to college together

57:51

and got married and dah da dah. You know. So her

57:54

dad actually played at Central Michigan

57:56

when my dad, she was there, you know, absolutely, Yeah,

58:00

he was a receiver back in the day when they put

58:02

their hand in the dirt there in the seventies and

58:04

eighties. So yeah, it was

58:06

Yeah, it was really cool though. We got to be in that same

58:08

house. And ironically, Matt finally

58:11

moved them out of there a year ago. And

58:14

you know, they're they're obviously retired there

58:16

and you're supposed to go south, and he

58:18

moved them to Green Bay just to have some built

58:20

in babysitters. Yeah, don't let them tell you no.

58:22

No, That's exactly why I get it, dude.

58:24

I was thinking you were going to say to Naples, Florida,

58:27

or to Palm Springs. No, green

58:29

Bay, You're coming here. You're gonna help out.

58:32

Like I'm going I'm supposed to go see the grandparents,

58:34

but I'm not going to Green Bay

58:36

to go say, like, you guys want to come out here, come out

58:38

here. This is a vacation, all

58:41

right.

58:41

And then you get through college and it's like it's

58:43

a no brainer, or did you have you know, I know

58:45

everyone's got like, well, at first I was doing pharmaceutical

58:48

sales sometimes like did you take other lanes

58:50

or was it coaching from the go?

58:52

You know? So Matt

58:54

always we both knew we were going to be

58:56

coaches, obviously, And if you ask Matt

58:59

you know today, and

59:01

I'd say the same thing, like He's like, man, if I could ever

59:04

just be the quarterback coach at Central Michigan, like I've

59:06

made it, you know, Like what a cool gig that would be. And

59:09

so that we I mean, there was

59:11

no aspirations of anything other than just

59:13

trying to be the best you can be and wherever you land out,

59:15

make it the best you can. And

59:18

when I got to college, I went to a Division

59:20

III school in Chicago called Elmhurst and

59:23

it was not state tuition, and my parents

59:25

were teachers, and so they made that very known

59:27

and they said, hey, if you're going to go to this school, why

59:29

don't you like go into business or

59:31

something or economics. I'm like, yeah, you

59:33

know what, maybe I will pursue that. And

59:35

I got through about the first two months of those classes

59:38

and I called my mom. I said, I can't do that.

59:42

This is not for me. I'm not smart enough

59:44

to be doing these things. So and

59:46

she goes I was waiting for the call.

59:49

Shot.

59:51

I gave it a shot, and

59:53

I went to change it to education. And

59:55

knowing that, you know, I'll get my

59:57

education degree and try to land on as

59:59

a grad assistant somewhere. I guess when

1:00:01

I, you know, got out and never

1:00:04

even g eight and I got right to Division

1:00:06

two squad. I hadn't even graduated yet,

1:00:08

and I got offered a job at a Division two

1:00:10

school and a little place in Indiana and that

1:00:14

it's called Saint Joseph's College. Don't look it off

1:00:16

because it doesn't even exist.

1:00:18

And it really shut down for real.

1:00:19

It's not just the football program, not this

1:00:22

is a costure of Raheem and the whole school

1:00:24

just just gone. And

1:00:27

unfortunately, I had some someboddies that were

1:00:29

still coaching every time, and you know,

1:00:32

they all landed on their feet and all that. But so

1:00:34

we're there for three years. That was the first three years.

1:00:36

And I don't want to say the most fun

1:00:39

three years, but it was really

1:00:41

fun.

1:00:41

Isn't that?

1:00:42

Isn't that amazing? You say it's fun, you're making no

1:00:44

money. I mean, you're working there, and it's like

1:00:47

Saint Joseph's College, and yet here

1:00:49

you are, you were the offensive coordinator of the New York Jets

1:00:51

and the Los Angeles Rans. We're like, that's my pure

1:00:54

joy was just coaching football, you know it

1:00:56

was.

1:00:57

And still have incredible

1:01:00

relationships with a lot of those guys. You

1:01:02

know, still text with them, you

1:01:04

know all the time. You get a lot of text

1:01:06

of those guys on Sundays and stuff like that. One

1:01:09

of the guys we that that's currently on the

1:01:11

New York Jets staff, Billy vander Murky's QC

1:01:13

there. He's just needs an opportunity

1:01:16

to get a position job because he'll kill it. He

1:01:18

was. He was our quarterback there at Saint Joe

1:01:21

and he'll he'll tell you threw ten touchdowns

1:01:23

in the game. I think it's I think

1:01:25

it's still a D two retired the

1:01:27

record that, yeah, it was. It was pretty And

1:01:29

the funny part about it was, I won't go too far, but

1:01:32

he, uh, the week before

1:01:34

he didn't play very well, and I was, in my mind, I was

1:01:36

right a bench.

1:01:36

It was done. Philly. It's happened.

1:01:38

He was done. He had he had this one last op

1:01:41

and he made the most of that up.

1:01:43

I love that all right, and then your

1:01:45

first NFL gig was where

1:01:48

the Browns in fourteen? Who

1:01:51

gave you that call? Kyle gave you that call? Or it

1:01:53

was from from who Mike Petton had

1:01:55

it all work together when he ended up in Cleveland.

1:01:57

Yeah, it was my brother calling me. I

1:01:59

was down at Davidson and

1:02:02

we were just we just finished signing dates,

1:02:04

so you're like you could kind of breathe, you know,

1:02:07

and we were kind of just

1:02:09

Loren and I were just kind of planning our

1:02:11

next couple of months, like, all right, we know our weekends

1:02:14

are somewhat free, there's no more recruiting and stuff

1:02:16

like that. And

1:02:18

then I got a call it like ten o'clock on a Sunday night,

1:02:20

saying that I was going to Cleveland. I

1:02:22

didn't really had no choice to go to

1:02:26

You're going to Cleveland, I thought, I go,

1:02:28

and I thought Matt was talking about himself. I

1:02:30

go, So I thought you were going to Notre Dame.

1:02:32

He goes, No, You're going to Cleveland, I said, when he goes

1:02:34

tomorrow morning. So I packed up my stuff

1:02:37

trove from Charlotte to Cleveland and

1:02:40

that was that. And then saw Kyle in the office and

1:02:42

there we were and that.

1:02:43

Was it, and that's it's so crazy. So you

1:02:46

go up there to Cleveland, it's that wild

1:02:48

year where Kyle was there, and it's Johnny

1:02:50

Manzel at quarterback and it's Brian

1:02:52

hohere I want to say, was the other qb? Right,

1:02:55

you guys start off like six and three,

1:02:57

it's the talk of the town and then it goes kind of off

1:02:59

the rails. But an

1:03:01

opportunity to get in there at that junior level,

1:03:03

What would be your advice to somebody who's starting

1:03:06

off an entry level job in the NFL as far

1:03:08

as like soaking it all in And you were coming from

1:03:10

Davidson, which wasn't exactly Notre Dame Ohio

1:03:12

State, but you'd had some coaching experience. A lot

1:03:14

of these young men and women come in straight

1:03:17

off, you know, not having any experience

1:03:19

at the college game. What would be our advice to them kind

1:03:21

of getting in the NFL building.

1:03:23

Yeah, I mean, obviously, be who you are, Be

1:03:25

true to yourself, don't you

1:03:28

know. You got to do your job at the

1:03:30

best of your ability. All cliche stuff, no doubt,

1:03:33

you know. But the other thing is like kind

1:03:35

of know your role too, Like keep

1:03:37

your mouth shut a little bit too, when you know, like it's

1:03:41

you all got great ideas. I'm sure kai

1:03:43

annoyed Kyle talking too much about what

1:03:45

we were doing in college.

1:03:46

Would you would you be that way? Would you be like, hey, look what we did

1:03:48

at Davidson, Let me show you this pot.

1:03:50

No. No, I probably did one

1:03:52

or two times, and he probably looks back at that. But

1:03:54

I don't know. But you know, it's

1:03:57

it is. It's hard to get your foot

1:03:59

in the door, no doubt, you know. And when

1:04:01

you do, you just obviously, like you do anything else

1:04:03

in life, you go attack it and you be the best you can

1:04:05

be, and you know, stay in your lane and

1:04:08

went afficable and then go from there.

1:04:10

All right, we're gonna wrap, but before

1:04:12

we do, I just want to thank you. I think

1:04:14

you're an awesome coach in your own right. And then now

1:04:16

you've got this, this opportunity to go watch

1:04:18

your brother play, Kyle. I think they've faced

1:04:20

in the playoffs three times

1:04:23

so far, right, I mean, you

1:04:25

guys beat them twice

1:04:27

back to back years, and then they went up

1:04:30

to Lambeau and beat

1:04:33

the Niners, beat the Packers. So this is one

1:04:35

of those games.

1:04:36

Where this is this this will be the third

1:04:38

because we beat him twice in nineteen in

1:04:40

the regular season.

1:04:41

Then then beat him in the playoffs.

1:04:43

And then and then in twenty one, after

1:04:46

the first year in the Jets, we ended

1:04:49

up going out to Lambeau and that was that was Nike.

1:04:52

That's why Kyle, Kyle has Trent

1:04:54

Williams running in motion like he's a

1:04:57

wide receiver and they beat they beat the Packers.

1:04:59

As you look at this one, this is the first time where

1:05:02

Matt's the big underdog and it's it's

1:05:04

always been that. It's always been Rogers coming in and you

1:05:08

look at this game, like your brother, you gotta

1:05:11

be so proud of what he's done with this group. As

1:05:13

you know, they've won fourteen games and regular seasons

1:05:15

and he's been awesome and won all these games.

1:05:17

But like, this has been a really cool season for your older

1:05:19

brother.

1:05:21

It's been it's been really fun. It's uh,

1:05:23

and I know he is. I

1:05:26

don't know if he's having the most fun he's ever

1:05:28

had, but it sure seems like he's,

1:05:30

you know, just absolutely loving going into work

1:05:33

every day with these guys, these coaches, and

1:05:36

like we were saying, I mean, it's a lot of

1:05:38

guys stuffing up. They don't even know any better, right, I

1:05:40

mean, these all these guys that haven't

1:05:42

played in these big games, they're just out doing

1:05:44

their thing right now. And what a credit to these

1:05:46

players. And again, what what Jordan's done. It's

1:05:49

it's been really fun to watch from afar.

1:05:51

Is there a vacation after the season where

1:05:54

the families get together and maybe you invite

1:05:56

Sala, maybe you invite Kyle, maybe Sean mcveaghat's

1:05:58

an invite this year? Like what's the hang

1:06:00

session in the downtime and who

1:06:02

is the crew?

1:06:04

Yeah? It's uh, last year,

1:06:07

you know, last year was wild with everything going

1:06:09

on, but ended up we

1:06:11

had a really fun one. We had to the Bahamas with

1:06:14

Raheem and Nikki kids who

1:06:16

are who are the same age as uh, you

1:06:18

know, my kids. And then obviously Matt and Breather two kids

1:06:20

were down there, so we ended up doing that. That was

1:06:22

awesome. We always

1:06:24

kind of get together, Sean, Sean's gonna have a little.

1:06:26

Bit of different, Yeah, a little in

1:06:29

the mix.

1:06:30

I said, get used to get used to your house, buddy,

1:06:32

because you're not gonna be leaving there as much, you know.

1:06:34

Funny McVeigh and Veronica used to go to

1:06:36

Cabo right after this season and they would go

1:06:38

to like the the mal Dives, or

1:06:40

they'd go to the French riviera. I'm like, you've

1:06:43

got a five month old, nobody enjoy

1:06:45

Enjoy being at home my friend, and go go find to

1:06:47

me on Netflix.

1:06:49

I think it's going to be more like Santa Barbara Trips,

1:06:51

which again love that, but let's

1:06:53

not act like this is a you know, this is

1:06:55

a pretty cool place down here. So yeah,

1:06:58

we'll end up getting somewhere, you know right

1:07:01

now, it's we'll get there next

1:07:03

week, and you know, at least it's

1:07:06

so it's up at Levi's post Lamba

1:07:08

as much as Matt would probably rather have it at Lambeau.

1:07:10

Yeah, I'm happier it's up there.

1:07:13

Hear you, Michael Floor. This was

1:07:15

awesome. We're gonna have you on again in the offseason. We'll

1:07:17

do a deeper dive. We'll go through everything.

1:07:19

But I love that you would hop on, especially a

1:07:21

couple of days remove from what was a

1:07:24

a heartbreaking loss. But be like, dude,

1:07:26

an awesome football game, and I know it's the

1:07:28

wounds are fresh, but I think you'll be able to appreciate

1:07:30

that in the months that come.

1:07:32

Yeah, I appreciate you having me on. And

1:07:34

it should be a fun weekend of games. Huh.

1:07:36

All right, Lafloor Verus Shanahan Part

1:07:39

four? Is that what we agreed on? Or three

1:07:41

or something like that.

1:07:42

I don't know four or five. We had a COVID

1:07:45

game too, but it was everyone's just kind

1:07:47

of yeah, I forget it.

1:07:48

Was a Thursday night COVID game. I remember that one.

1:07:50

That was it. That was all right, Mike. I appreciate

1:07:52

you, bro, Thanks so much for joining the podcast.

1:07:55

Thanks Peter, appreciate you man.

1:08:03

Aaron, what do you think of Michael Floor.

1:08:07

I love getting coaches

1:08:09

that like can

1:08:12

talk about the interescase. I mean, all the coaches

1:08:14

clearly can talk about a play or a

1:08:16

player, but hearing him talk Stafford was

1:08:18

so cool. Like the story

1:08:21

was Puka this year, the story was Kiren,

1:08:24

and for him to just so

1:08:27

be so on board with Stafford and like talk

1:08:29

about how tough he is.

1:08:30

I love that.

1:08:31

I love hearing good stuff about, like, you

1:08:34

know, when a coach is just all on board with the player.

1:08:36

I think I've said that plenty of times on the show too.

1:08:38

But no, I love that, and I love your appreciation

1:08:40

of it. I think you're really good when you listen to

1:08:42

these guys, you come right out of it and you have like the right takeaway.

1:08:45

I think the Stafford thing was huge. I also the

1:08:48

twenty nineteen forty

1:08:50

nine ers staff. In my head, I'm

1:08:52

like, oh, he's coach all these guys I thought would be a good one. But what

1:08:54

I found really interesting is like, yeah, well, a

1:08:57

year earlier, we all coach in the Senior Bowl, which,

1:08:59

if you're not aware, he is usually reserved for

1:09:01

the first or second worst team in the NFL. So

1:09:04

those same guys, those same young coaches

1:09:06

were coaching as the thirty first

1:09:08

and thirty second teams in the league.

1:09:11

They were the same ones that we're looking at now, Like, Wow,

1:09:13

what a coaching staff. And to repeat what he said,

1:09:16

it's him Chris Casarah, who he kind of mentioned

1:09:18

as just like a given. You might not know his

1:09:20

name. He's a defensive line coach for

1:09:23

the forty nine ers. Think about their defensive line over the years

1:09:25

with Bosa and Ormstead and Buckner for years,

1:09:27

and now it's Hargrave and and of course

1:09:29

you've got Chase Young. Like they're always the most dominant.

1:09:31

He's their defensive line coach. Then

1:09:34

in that same room with Bobby Slowick, who

1:09:36

started off on the defensive side of the ball, they went to officer

1:09:38

the Bobby's now the offensive Cornerata Houston

1:09:40

probably gonna get a head coaching job this year. Mike

1:09:43

McDaniel, Demko Ryans, Robert

1:09:46

Sala. I want to say Wes Welker was on that staff,

1:09:50

John Embry, who's now doing big

1:09:52

things with McDaniel down in Miami.

1:09:54

Like they have a loaded coaching

1:09:56

staff from that twenty nineteen San

1:09:59

Francisco forty nine ers team, and they've all been

1:10:01

placing different places and are all succeeding elsewhere.

1:10:03

I love that coaching tree stuff in there, with that graphic

1:10:06

of the twenty thirteen Washington

1:10:08

Redskins coaching staff, which was McDaniel

1:10:11

and lafleur and McVeigh

1:10:13

and Chanance almost dated. You almost have to update

1:10:15

it with this one. That's the new version of it.

1:10:18

And I also love, I mean,

1:10:20

along those lines with like them doing this the

1:10:22

Senior Bowl. I

1:10:24

like to hear when coaches or players

1:10:27

or gms whatever have had a rough

1:10:29

year or a rough two years and

1:10:32

then go on and the immediately the next

1:10:34

year succeed and so that was

1:10:36

just like that's a cool thing too, Like you didn't you

1:10:38

guys talked about it like he was in New York and then

1:10:40

he wasn't all right.

1:10:42

So, if we want to be candid, he got fired

1:10:44

in New York and kind of was the scapegoat,

1:10:46

like and sala Is one of his best friends,

1:10:49

and the whole thing was really awkward. And then it almost

1:10:51

was seamless because they brought in Rogers, who then brought

1:10:53

in his own guy, and it's like, well, Mike, you

1:10:55

know, it's better off with Sean McVeigh anyway,

1:10:58

But like, it sucks to get fired, and we didn't hit

1:11:00

on it. Maybe I should have hit on it. I was I don't think the conversation

1:11:02

was going that place, but like that's

1:11:04

the dark side of coaching. Yeah,

1:11:07

the Jets offense wasn't great last two years.

1:11:09

He also had a rookie quarterback in Zach Wilson

1:11:11

and then a second year quarterback in Zach Wilson, who

1:11:14

I think we see Zach Wilson now. I don't think

1:11:16

he's necessarily going to be a starter anywhere in

1:11:18

the league next year. So a lot of

1:11:20

things could be said about his time in New York, but all

1:11:23

right, McVeigh said, I believe everyone

1:11:25

who's coached with you thinks you're the guy.

1:11:27

And I think their offense was awesome this year, and

1:11:30

he's being humble, but Michael Floora is

1:11:32

very responsible for what that offense was. And

1:11:35

I don't know if Puka Nakua has the greatest rookie

1:11:37

wide receiver season ever if the offensive coordinator

1:11:39

isn't dialing it up and giving him the confidence to be

1:11:42

that guy.

1:11:43

And him saying, you know, I think

1:11:45

you asked, you know, like was it the intention to get

1:11:47

pook at twenty targets in Week two kind of thing?

1:11:50

And it was like, no, you know, if we're we're

1:11:52

doing everything right, we're not forcing it to anybody,

1:11:54

but great players are going to get the ball

1:11:57

and we're gonna make and you just rattled off

1:11:59

like we're gonna get to to the ball, We're

1:12:01

gonna get Kayra into the ball, and like he these

1:12:04

were weapons that they had last other than Pooka, and

1:12:06

I guess Kyrien because he was injured last year. These were weapons

1:12:09

that were already on the team last year. And

1:12:11

we're not making huge waves and then

1:12:13

he comes in and now all of a sudden,

1:12:15

the Rams offense was were world

1:12:17

beaters on a down year?

1:12:19

A cup too? Like that was yeah,

1:12:22

yeah, yeah, that was awesome.

1:12:24

All right, I'm gonna quickly,

1:12:26

right, is there anything else NFL wise as we head towards

1:12:28

an awesome divisional round week? You want to hit like, I'm

1:12:30

trying to think if there's anything. We start off in the monologue

1:12:33

and I don't know. I just this

1:12:35

is my real favorite weekend. I could smile and

1:12:37

talk about it on Good Morning Football. How much I love Wildcar

1:12:40

Weekend? I do, But this is where

1:12:42

the big dogs come out, those one seeds come out, and it's

1:12:44

almost like the royal rumbo, where all right,

1:12:46

who's next into the ring? Oh? Those guys

1:12:48

are still around, the Niners and the Ravens, who are by

1:12:50

far the two best teams all all season

1:12:52

long. They're gonna be hosting

1:12:54

playoff games against the Packers and the Texans,

1:12:57

respectively. I might go

1:12:59

to Baltimore and this is like, who

1:13:02

cares? But I wouldn't be working. I'd

1:13:04

be going I don't have the Fox pregame

1:13:07

show this weekend, and I Baltimore is a train

1:13:09

ride away, and as sick as I am, I kind

1:13:11

of want to see the Ravens in person,

1:13:13

either this week or if they win, maybe the AFC

1:13:15

Championship game if I'm not working for Fox that week,

1:13:18

because I want to take my son to see

1:13:20

Lamar in person. It's his favorite player. So I might.

1:13:22

I might be in the building. It might be too cold. I might just

1:13:25

watch it on my couch, which is fine.

1:13:27

Yeah, speaking of too cold, I mean, we

1:13:29

had a snow game in Buffalo

1:13:32

yesterday. We're gonna have another snow game probably

1:13:35

this weekend.

1:13:35

There.

1:13:36

Shout out to my uncle who was in the stands wearing

1:13:38

an electric heated jacket to

1:13:41

stay warm for the whole thing.

1:13:42

What's your uncle's name.

1:13:43

Neil, Neil, Neil Kaufman.

1:13:45

And he was, you know, we we

1:13:48

when I was up in Maine with my dad, we facetimed

1:13:50

with him after a couple of the games, and he was

1:13:52

there last night, and uh, you know, we

1:13:54

don't we don't have to talk about the Bills game. But

1:13:57

yeah, I'm very excited they did. They did really

1:13:59

well. Love seeing that Shakir touchdown

1:14:02

and playing. Well, oh that's

1:14:04

great.

1:14:04

They're injured though, Yeah, every

1:14:07

week.

1:14:07

You could say that, so you know, I know nothing.

1:14:10

Shout out to Neil, shout

1:14:13

out to the fact that game is in Buffalo. I can't wait

1:14:15

to watch that one that's on Sunday night, Aaron, would you

1:14:17

go to that Sunday night in Buffalo? Would

1:14:19

that be interest to you? Or no? If I went to Saturday

1:14:21

in Baltimore, would you go to Sunday in Buffalo? Sure?

1:14:25

Yeah, of course I'm not would

1:14:28

of course, yeah, of course I

1:14:30

wouldn't. I I mean, other than

1:14:32

like having to get there. Yeah, that's the only

1:14:35

thing, right, Maybe we make that

1:14:37

happen. I you know, I

1:14:39

have not been to a Bills game.

1:14:41

Since what do you need for me? I need?

1:14:43

What?

1:14:43

Like, you need me to help you with a credential and then you need me

1:14:45

to buy a flight in Like what do we need the NFL

1:14:47

to do here? Because I think that would be great first person experience.

1:14:50

I think I need. I would also

1:14:52

probably need de Vito's agents walk

1:14:54

in closet. I want a room full

1:14:57

of suits.

1:14:57

By the way, top that off topic.

1:15:00

If the Melafan Wu is one of these

1:15:02

defensive backs of the Lions making plays all

1:15:04

over the place, his agent is

1:15:06

on Stillado, Stellato posted a photo

1:15:08

of himself in like a royal blue suit,

1:15:10

all lions down. He's still doing

1:15:12

it, you know. F the haters,

1:15:15

Stellato's now forget DeVito. He's on

1:15:17

too. I female fon wou And by

1:15:19

the way, as we all celebrated, you

1:15:21

know Tommy DeVito's mature decision to move on

1:15:23

to a different marketing agent. I don't exactly

1:15:26

see Tommy DeVito at the met gala. By the

1:15:28

way, I think I think the Vito did a did

1:15:30

a fine job with marketing with Seawan Stillato, they

1:15:32

got some things done. Yeah.

1:15:34

You know, that was a great moment

1:15:36

in a season that's had a ton of really

1:15:38

good quarterback moments. And you know,

1:15:40

like you were saying earlier, we now have the

1:15:42

CJ. Stroud Jordan Love stories.

1:15:45

We move on. Yeah, yeah, we move on. Let's

1:15:48

go to the season with Peter Shaker delivering results

1:15:51

by Uber Eats. It's time for delivering

1:15:53

results presented by Uber Eats. I'm gonna

1:15:56

give a player an award for

1:15:58

who delivered the most this past week,

1:16:00

and I'm gonna give it to Jordan

1:16:02

Love. I thought Jordan Love was amazing,

1:16:04

absolutely ripped apart the Dallas

1:16:06

Cowboys. They were big underdog seven seed, and

1:16:09

Love looks like the best quarterback in football right

1:16:11

now. He's got a big task ahead

1:16:13

going up against San Francisco in their defense this

1:16:15

weekend. But after seeing what he did Dallas,

1:16:17

I have no doubt that he has what it takes

1:16:19

to get it done. They just need to put it

1:16:21

all together this weekend. Jordan Love

1:16:24

truly awesome story this season. They were

1:16:26

two and five at one point, they were three and six at

1:16:28

one point, and now they're knocking on the

1:16:30

door to the NFC Championship Game. Jordan

1:16:33

Love is our winner of the Delivering

1:16:35

Results Award presented by Uber Eats.

1:16:38

That was Delivering Results presented by Uber

1:16:40

Eats. We can get almost almost anything, the

1:16:42

official on the man delivery

1:16:44

partner of the NFL Order.

1:16:47

Now, all right, everybody, we'll see you next

1:16:49

week. By that time, maybe Belichick's coaching the

1:16:52

Dallas Cowboys, or the Philadelphia Eagles or

1:16:54

Atlanta Falcons. Maybe Jim Harbo's coaching

1:16:57

the Chargers, or maybe Pete Carroll's coaching

1:16:59

a CFL team. I have no idea. We don't

1:17:01

know what it's going to be. Hopefully we'll get some more clarity,

1:17:04

but we will be down to our final four and then itampionship

1:17:06

weekend. Cannot wait. It's football season on

1:17:09

behalf of Aaron Wan Kaufman, Jason English

1:17:12

and oh, by the way, real

1:17:14

quick, we're going to leave this in to

1:17:17

our two producers out on the West Coast. Good

1:17:19

guys, Matt Schneider and Jason Kleinman. They

1:17:21

are Arizona Wildcat diehards.

1:17:25

Sorry about Jedfish. I think

1:17:27

the Jedfish to Washington move is

1:17:29

not looked wonderfully upon

1:17:31

by the Arizona Wildcat fans. I think on Friday, Jed

1:17:33

said he's not going anywhere than on Saturday, except that a fifty

1:17:35

five million dollar deal to go work for the University

1:17:38

of Washington. We take a lot of

1:17:40

pride and that we helped put Jed on the map a little bit

1:17:42

nationally with his interview in August. He

1:17:44

went and had an amazing season and now

1:17:46

he's a lot richer than all of us combined and

1:17:49

with a lot more successful and hopefully he'll come on the podcast

1:17:51

again, but he will not be coaching the Arizona Wildcats,

1:17:53

and I apologize for that to our two producers,

1:17:55

Matt and Jason, who are great guys. They're on the

1:17:57

West Coast. Sorry. Boys. Also,

1:18:00

I want to pick everyone else involved

1:18:02

who does the stuff here on the podcast.

1:18:05

We've had fun this season. Complain it's

1:18:07

been great until next week. The

1:18:09

Season with Peter Schrager. The

1:18:19

Season with Peter Schrager is a production

1:18:21

of the NFL and partnership with iHeartRadio.

1:18:24

For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio

1:18:27

app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

1:18:29

you get your podcasts.