Games with Names - The Romo Snap Game with Colin Cowherd | Cowboys vs. Seahawks

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

Colin Cowherd is in studio! We're reliving the infamous 2006 NFC Wildcard game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks aka The Romo Snap Game. Colin joins us in the couch (3:15). We go bac...k to January of 2007 (42:34). We get into each of these teams (54:34). We dive into the game (1:07:33). We score it (1:23:57). We wrap it up by hitting the ol' hotline (1:29:25). Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties
Starting point is 00:00:12 you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app,
Starting point is 00:00:26 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume
Starting point is 00:00:47 women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry. Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. I'm Carrie Champion and this is season four of Naked
Starting point is 00:01:04 Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. History is filled with unexpected stories, and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing history's most curious tales on my podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities, such as the surprising country that invented the croissant
Starting point is 00:01:45 and the wrestling champ who won the White House. And now these amazing stories and many more have been compiled into my new book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at grimandmild.com slash curiosities. In California during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women did something no other woman had done before, try to assassinate the president of the United States. One was the protege of Charles Manson. 26-year-old Lynette Fromm, nickname Squeaky.
Starting point is 00:02:20 The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer, this season on the new podcast, Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeartTrue Crime Plus only on Apple Podcasts. If you pulled a seat up to a bar and you sat next to a guy for 10 minutes and he was right for 10 minutes, after about 10 minutes, you're like, he's kind of obnoxious. But if you pulled up to a guy that had an eye patch and he was telling crazy stories, you turn to your buddies and go, get over here. And you'd stay for two hours. Right is overrated. Interesting is what
Starting point is 00:03:03 wins the audience. Today, we have a very special guest. We have Colin Coward, broadcasting legend. He's on everyone's TV every morning. The host of The Herd on FS1 and the owner of The Volume. Why is it so big? And today we are looking at the Tony Romo snap game, 2006 NFC wildcard game between the Cowboys and the Seahawks. Oh, it is fumbled by Romo, and then Romo's going to run to the end zone.
Starting point is 00:03:35 But I thought it was so emblematic of Tony's career. Wild, ad-libbed, hold your breath. That was always Tony Romo's career. If Brady is all about details, free snap, Tony's the opposite. Unbelievable. How crazy is this? We also talk about what he really thinks about the Cowboys. I think they're a flawed football operation.
Starting point is 00:03:55 I argue it's about time to move off of that. Are they ever going to get past this curse? Games with Names is a production of iHe radio welcome to games with names i'm julian edelman he's kyler jack is back in north carolina but he dialed in he's blowing up the phone he's dialed in he's dialed in and we are on the search to find game it's a fun one 2006 nfc wild card game wild card game cowboys versus the seahawks with the host of the herd on fs1 and the owner of the volume broadcasting legend colinard smart man so smart we were all anxious
Starting point is 00:04:45 all morning making sure we were nice and tight because he knew he was going to bring it and he did bring it he brought it you know
Starting point is 00:04:51 he brought it I got nervous he just knows how to talk he just knows what he's doing so well we talk a little bit
Starting point is 00:04:59 about his like craft of like putting on a show and we were just like I was taking notes furiously because there's a lot of good stuff that he has and he's been doing it for so long.
Starting point is 00:05:07 And there's a reason why he's a pro. We also, we also talk about what he really thinks about the Cowboys. Sure does. Oh, he's, he's got some advice for all our Cowboy fans. Hey,
Starting point is 00:05:18 sometimes you got to take a teaspoon of cement with, with it. We'll toughen up. We'll toughen up his journey on becoming a master broadcaster yeah that's a fun story yeah obsessed you guys will understand and uh he even gives us a couple tips on being an analyst and how to formulate a show the key ingredient for a successful podcast key ingredients for a successful podcast i Key ingredients for a successful podcast. I need to eat those ingredients.
Starting point is 00:05:48 And then we wrap it up with the show of hitting the old hotline bling. Let's go. January 6, 2007. Quest Field, Seattle, Washington. Just over a minute to play, Dallas lines up for a field goal to extend their season. Romo takes a snap. He bobbles it! Oh my gosh, he's taking off for the end zone! This is the Romo Snap Game.
Starting point is 00:06:30 Welcome to Games with names today we have a very special guest we have colin coward founder of the volume which is an unbelievable podcast what is that a network network digital podcast gambling network and he's on everyone's tv every morning from 9 to 12 here out in L.A. on the Colin Coward Show. I watch every day. It's awesome to have you. And today we are looking at the Tony Romo snap game. The 2006 NFC wildcard game between the Cowboys and the Seahawks. Colin, why this game?
Starting point is 00:07:03 Well, I think it was a great era of football. Young Al Michaels on the call, all the energy. And Madden. And Madden. And Madden. It's in Seattle, which is Pacific Northwest, is the closest city to where I grew up. It was a real ping pong match back and forth.
Starting point is 00:07:19 Yeah, yeah. Two legendary coaches, Bill Parcells, iconic Bill, and one of the more underrated coaches of my lifetime, Mike Holmgren. And really old school coaches, like wisdom guys, mentors to many other coaches. Like not all coaches, Andy Reid's a mentor to many. And the game was great because two of the most underrated quarterbacks in my life, Matt Hasselbeck, who hits Jeremy Stevens to take a lead, and Tony Romo, who got a lot of crap,
Starting point is 00:07:48 but I always thought was a really good quarterback. But that play that symbolizes it, and Parcells said it made him so sick he got out of coaching. He went and took a Miami gig as a GM eventually. But Tony didn't fumble the snap. He fumbled the hold, and then in classic Tony style, he was so damn athletic, he almost grabbed it and ran in. And then it was Justin.
Starting point is 00:08:12 There was a defensive back for the Seahawks that literally grabbed his toe. Otherwise, Romo would have moved it in. But I thought it was so emblematic of Tony's career. Wild, ad-libbed, almost, really close, hold your breath. That was always Tony Romo's career. Underrated, all his games were fun, kind of off the cuff. If Brady is all about details, pre-snap, almost mechanical, Tony's the opposite.
Starting point is 00:08:43 Tony's sort of like, you know, I got about six plays I run, and some of this is just going to be by the gut. And that's how he played. And that to me, that play is classic Tony. He drove him down the field, he got him in position to win, and then he fumbles the snap, yet still so talented.
Starting point is 00:09:01 Almost takes that and runs in. He kind of had a little case of the the yips in there when he because it was a good good snap but then when you have this drill which i was watching and this is a parcel this is a parcel ran team so there's a lot of you know i'm into that because of bill and i'm sitting there he didn't call fire soon enough. So when you watch Tony Romo, fire, if something goes down, you call the fire call. You got the two guys, two wings are hitting the flag routes.
Starting point is 00:09:30 You got a guy hitting the flag. So he almost yipped it a little bit. He got surprised that he dropped the snap. And then that was like a second off. So I feel like it was too big of a moment. They weren't quite prepared for the moment. They weren't prepared for the moment. And that always felt a little bit, not a shot at Tony, that he was like Favre.
Starting point is 00:09:52 Probably spent a little less time in the film room, but was so gifted, he could win a lot of games regardless. Yeah, and Favre had Holmgren. Is this the greatest game of all time? No, but it's a game, you told me to pick a game that mattered to me. Yeah, yeah. And it's just an incredibly important game. And a lot of it's in my hometown.
Starting point is 00:10:12 You know, Holmgren got to a Super Bowl. Hasselbeck, they couldn't win the Super Bowl. Actually, it's the only Super Bowl where I thought officiating was really poor. I thought Pittsburgh got a couple of really fortunate calls. Pittsburgh was good, though. But I just always loved, I loved Romo the player and Hasselbeck the player. I loved Parcells and Holmgren, old school coaches. You can hear Madden and a younger Al Michaels.
Starting point is 00:10:35 It's really just great football. It was. And, you know, this was very, this was in my era of football. When I was like a kid, I was coming into college. And it was still a little tricky for me to see Parcells, who you knew as the Giants head coach with the Cowboys, the storylines of this game. And then you see Holmgren who came over.
Starting point is 00:10:56 He's in like his sixth or seventh year from the Packers winning a Super Bowl there with Brett Favre. Rebuilt the Seahawks. Rebuilt the Seahawks were a joke. A mess. A joke. And it was Sean Alexander was on the Madden cover, got hurt this year. There was just so many storylines when I was researching and doing this game.
Starting point is 00:11:13 I was like, man, this is when football was football. But one thing did hit me. When you watch this game, for two great coaches, there was a lot of sloppy football. Yeah. A lot of sloppy football. Yeah. A lot of sloppy football. Well, yes, because I don't think these were fully formed teams. There was a lot of backups playing.
Starting point is 00:11:33 They were beat up. Yep, yeah. And I think, you know, I always felt with your Patriot teams, we were talking about this yesterday on the show about foundational players. And the Patriots, for a defensive coach, I really viewed Tom's the second part of the dynasty. You, Gronk, and Brady were the foundational players, all offense. And offense is a timing game.
Starting point is 00:11:56 Football is kind of an aggressive, blowing shit up game. And it's really interesting. These teams, there were a lot of players. Both teams were beat up. It was late. The weather was a little choppy. Dallas is kind of a warm weather indoor team. They go up to the Pacific Northwest,
Starting point is 00:12:11 where, by the way, all those teams hate going in January. It's wet. It's gross. You'd rather get cold and dry than 48 and wet. And so it was, it's just, there's a, you know, a lot of the great games are imperfect. That's why they're great, drama. And I think a lot of your games,
Starting point is 00:12:30 when I would watch the Patriot games, you were the rare football team. I almost always knew what you were. I knew what you were on first down, on third down, fourth quarter, right after half. Not that Patriot games weren't dramatic. They were boring. Kind of.
Starting point is 00:12:44 Oh, you could say they were boring. You were an efficient dynasty. We wanted it to be boring. Yeah. We wanted it to be close to the very end, and then we knew that that team was going to break because we were, A, more mentally tough. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:57 B, we were in better shape. And you were situationally brilliant. And situationally brilliant, which I just had a call with Ernie Adams, and he's coming to do our show again next week. And he specifically, him and his wife are like, we want to get into situational football. We want to educate people what situational football is.
Starting point is 00:13:15 So coming to you guys soon, we got Ernie Adams, situational football guru, who honestly is one of the innovators of situational football. Well, I thought he in that 10-part series on the Patriots dynasty, I thought he was one of the more fascinating parts of it, elements. I mean, Bill Belichick didn't lean on a lot of people. I felt Ernie was – and this is such a great compliment by Bill, but it's a greater compliment to Ernie. Bill taught a lot. Around Ernie, he seemed to listen a lot. Like that's the ultimate compliment when smart people have their guy they lean on and they do a lot of listening. So, you know,
Starting point is 00:13:59 Bill's mostly imparting wisdom and intellect throughout the course of his day. Ernie's the time that he asked a question and listened. You know, it's just, Colin's a pro. You know, and that's why I watch your show, is because a lot of the shit that you come up with in your head, and I know the behind the stories. A lot of the times it's, I'm like, this motherfucker, does he know something? It's just how calculated and how you study behavioral, and you really do your work.
Starting point is 00:14:25 And that's crazy because that's really what it was with Ernie. Ernie was, Ernie's like a computer and bill knew how to communicate that computer. And he would go to that computer whenever it was situational, whenever it was a rule cause or, or something, whenever it was any kind of scenario that they were about to get into, and it could be in the middle of a game,
Starting point is 00:14:47 they were on the same wavelength where they would be sitting and talking the situation, and Ernie talked about this, and he goes, yeah, you know, we're down 14 points here. We haven't ran the ball very well. This, that. Kind of reminds me of back in 88 when we were playing against this team as a giant.
Starting point is 00:15:02 You know, so, like, these guys are literally quantifying and just rubbing each other's minds like that and it's well it's true i think football coaches and players the great ones are compartmentalizers is that you can separate your emotion from your details it's a highly emotional game but uh it was like muhammad ali could situationally against George Foreman say, I'm going to let him beat on me. You go ahead. I'm going to let you wear your... That's hard as a fighter. I'm going to let you take shots at me. One of the things I always thought was so smart about New England, and I couldn't do this. My wife can do this. My wife will once a month say a line. I've known her 17 years. And I'll be like, well, where did you get that? She goes, oh God, I heard that years ago.
Starting point is 00:15:51 I said, you saved that until this moment. If I get a funny line, that shit's out at dinner. I can't hold it for a day. My wife can hold a line forever. And one day I made a mistake on something and she said, honey, you're right or you're learning. It's only wrong if you do it twice. And I was like, Jesus, could you have given me that 15 years ago? I could have used that 15 years ago. So I think what football, the really smart football coaches and players do is practice repetition, rote, so you memorize it, but you're able to store things. And yet, bring those out of the door, your pass against Baltimore, that's crazy to me.
Starting point is 00:16:35 That you guys practice that over and over, it's cold weather, you then as a receiver have to throw a perfect pass against an elite defense. That's the ability to compartmentalize not only mentally but physically. That, to me, is amazing. And the great coaches and players do that. Damian Woody always told me the story. He said, we practiced a third-down red zone play in New England for two years. He goes, I was so effing tired of practicing it.
Starting point is 00:17:04 And then we faced Kansas City. We bring it out in, like, week 16. And he goes I so effing tired of practicing it and then we face Kansas City we bring it out in like week 16 and he goes it works and he goes I remember walking back to the sidelines talking to a guy I'm like dude we're just smarter than everybody else we're just doing things different than everybody else you know and me and Matthew Slater used to have these things called state of the unions we were roommates We lived together for four or five years. And we'd be sitting in a team meeting, and Bill would lay out the keys, what we had to do that week in the game.
Starting point is 00:17:34 And he would lay it out. We had this, this, and this. If we do that, we will win the game, and this will happen. And there would be like four or five times in a season where he would do that. We would, like, after the game, we're watching film. We're like, oh, my God. He literally called the game out because we were prepared for everything.
Starting point is 00:17:52 And speaking of preparation, I want to know what's your prep going in to like a work day, like your day to day life when you're preparing for your show. Are you sitting at home when you get home from the show? I know you have a great relationship with your wife, and you hang out with her and your kids, but you always digest some sport that night or some kind of content that night. Are you watching that content thinking you're going into your show? Because you always pull something from what you watched the night before.
Starting point is 00:18:22 Is that all like, how do you prepare for all this, like a three-hour show? Well, I really prepare for a one-and-a-half-hour show. And then I usually have a guest in the last hour, and I let the show develop. So you can't prepare for the whole show, nor do I want to. I want to let it breathe. So my first hour is a lot of me just sort of erupting and giving you, you know, emoting, vomiting, here's my takes. And then I kind of, I tease stuff, top of the hour I do, calling to hear anybody else's opinion. I'll turn on music driving in or a news radio station.
Starting point is 00:19:06 I want to have, I'm kind of formulating it as I drive in. I drive in, I've got a big staff, and they lay out 20 stories. I pick five. I usually have the first two big takes of the day. But then it's about 90 minutes. We just pitch. I have guys say funny lines. I write a funny line down.
Starting point is 00:19:24 Yesterday, we didn't get our lead until the very last take. Somebody said something and I said, oh, that's really funny. And so a lot of times, instead of building out in, I'll build in out. So if somebody gave me a great line, I'll find the line and I'll figure out a way to build around the line. So a guy gave me a line a couple of days ago. I was talking about Tua looking small. And one of the guys in the room, I said, I like, I said, Philip Rivers. That's what I want my quarterback to look like. And the guy in the room said, you like your quarterbacks like you like your furniture, big and hard to move. And I said, that's a great line. I'm going to build around that line. So I didn't
Starting point is 00:20:06 have a topic. I said, that's a funny line. Let's build it to a topic around that. Because it was one of those topics I was like, I don't know if it's a topic. It's a topic. I like the line so much. That's the payoff to the audience. So sometimes I build out the big topics, Dan Hurley, we build it. Other times I just get a funny line and I think that's too good of a line. That'll go viral. That's funny. Let's make, and I had four friends text that to me, like in the building, they're like, that's good. So sometimes I have it, sometimes I don't, but we spitball in the morning. And I tell everybody, we're not into being right. I'm not interested in that. We want to get it right. Let's just have the right topic, the right story.
Starting point is 00:20:45 It's not about winning the room. Shit, I don't care if I'm wrong. If you've got a better take, I'll take it. And so I'm the oldest guy in the room. I have a lot of young guys without kids. They'll often watch every game. You know, I'll watch most, but, you know, on Sunday, I just sit down with a notepad.
Starting point is 00:21:02 But I like people sometimes to just, you know, hey, this game last night is fascinating. Here's a moment in it. I watch a six-minute YouTube clip. I play catch-up. We write stuff around it. So it's very collaborative. It's very much about the team. The team knows my sensibility, what makes me laugh, what doesn't.
Starting point is 00:21:19 I don't care about the guests until the show starts. It's about me. It's called The Herd. It's not called The Guest. So that's a Rush Limbaugh thing. You got to drive your show. The Guest is wonderful. Like if you're on, I'm like, oh, that's 20 minutes. We're going to get a number. But if I don't get a number in the first hour, the show doesn't rate. So I got to win the first hour. Then I'm going to tease you in the second hour. So I try to put my best guest at five after the second hour. I tease it.
Starting point is 00:21:48 I tease it. I tease it. And then you pop. Well, if my first two hours pop, the third's fine. So there's a real science to it. There's a methodology to it. It's situational TV, folks. Kind of.
Starting point is 00:21:59 It is. It's situational TV. What do you got, Kyler? Well, this is amazing. I love this. I'm soaking all this up because we're kind of new into the podcast media game and jules is not lying we'll have you on pretty much all morning and then i'll switch to mcafee and that's pretty much how our days are so you mentioned that you kind of like like to start with a nugget or like a line sometimes yeah so like let's see
Starting point is 00:22:19 you come up with the two is small now will you have something like that affect your opinion or will you say i think tua is x y and z as a as a like a just a personality or how you view the game and to a small is a good thing because he's in shape and he's ready for this season or two is not looking like is that i'm loyal you know bill morrow says this i'm loyal to the show i'm loyal to whatever the best content is yeah like when i lived in new england yeah you become there's an affinity with the team because I'm loyal to the show. I'm loyal to whatever the best content is. Like when I lived in New England, yeah, you become, there's an affinity with the team because I just like watched everything. So there's people you like and players you like,
Starting point is 00:22:57 and that absolutely shades your view on something. You know, I found myself, I liked the intellect of New England. I like the toughness, the resilience, the intellect. I like smart football. So yeah, that way. Or I would say every city I live in, I like UConn basketball. I would have never picked UConn. I like their grittiness, their toughness.
Starting point is 00:23:15 So we're loyal to the content. Whatever the best joke is or the best story is. So for me, I'm loyal to the show. I want Caleb Williams to be unbelievable and then all of a sudden detroit pulls back and you're like oh now we got a cat fight yeah now we detroit's overrated here comes and we're calling caleb a mahomes by week eight that's just good for the show yeah i talked about it today i I had to do some media outlets. That's the most interesting story to me is that NFC North. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:50 I mean, that's going to be a tough division. I mean, is Jordan Love for real? We got two months. Can the Lions actually as a favorite win? Can they win? Chicago, for the first time ever in the history of their organization, actually helped a quarterback around them and drafted a quarterback. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:24:13 And then also Minnesota with KOC. He knows how to get production out of offense. I'm a little worried about their defense and the quarterback, but that's going to be an interesting topic, especially being with Fox. We talk a lot about those NFC teams I've learned over the last two years. History is filled with strange, unusual, and unexpected stories. Stories about people who have accomplished extraordinary things. Pets that have gone above
Starting point is 00:24:38 and beyond. Events that have defied explanation. And I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing the most curious tales in history with millions of listeners around the world on my hit podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities. With well over 120 million downloads to date, listeners have been fascinated by such tales as the surprising country that invented the croissant, the stowaway-turned-hero who helped capture a Nazi spy, and the wrestling champ who went on to win the White House. And now, finally, nearly 200 of these amazing stories from the podcast have been gathered into one book. Curious to know more?
Starting point is 00:25:14 Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at GrimAndMild.com slash curiosities. Hey, this is Mike Wright from the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast. You heard that right. The Fantasy Footballers have officially entered the Dynasty space. Every week we bring you the same in-depth analysis and entertainment you've come to expect from the Fantasy Footballers, only now from a Dynasty perspective. Maybe you've been living in the dynasty fantasy football space for a while.
Starting point is 00:25:48 Well, we're here to take your game to the next level. Maybe you love fantasy football and you've been feeling that itch to jump into the dynasty format, but it feels a little bit intimidating. No matter where you're coming from, the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast has something for you, and you're going to have a Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast has something for you, and you're going to have a great time listening, I promise. Join me and the rest of the crew every Wednesday for a new episode.
Starting point is 00:26:12 Listen to the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot, the Rebels, into something everyone in the South loves, the biscuits. I was a lady rebel. Like, what does that even mean? The Boone County Rebels will stay the Boone County Rebels with the image of the biscuits.
Starting point is 00:26:44 It's right here in black and white in the prints of a lion. An individual that came to the school saying that God sent him to talk to me about the mascot switch. As a leader, you choose hills that you want to die on. Why would we want to be the losing team? I'd just take all the other stuff out of it. On the segregation academies, when the civil rights said that we need to integrate public schools, these charter schools were exempt from that. Bigger than a flag or mascot.
Starting point is 00:27:12 You have to be ready for serious backlash. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, you're from the Northwest. Yeah. How did this, were you, like, did you always, were you always into the broadcast world, or did you play sport?
Starting point is 00:27:31 How did this fandom come above? Yeah, I was, you know, little all-star, little league, year of college basketball, loved high school basketball. College basketball, what position? Shooting guard, gunner, terrible. Bad ankles. Went to Eastern Washington University. Probably shoot up a storm, though.
Starting point is 00:27:48 I didn't do anything up a storm. I was up a creek, basically. I didn't do much up a storm. I was a quarterback in high school football. Very marginal athlete. Small league. I made all-conference in basketball one year, I think. But, I mean, not a great athlete.
Starting point is 00:28:01 Tall and coordinated. And, you know, basketball hoop in my backyard, played all day, every day. But I, when I was eight years, seven, eight years old, I always remember my mom saying this. She said, you went from eight to adult. She is, you were eight to 44 years old. My mom always said, you just knew exactly what you wanted to do. I would get a tape recorder. I would do the games in my bedroom.
Starting point is 00:28:22 There was no, like when I went to college, there was a bunch of guys that were in journalism or radio TV, and I knew instantly it was different. This was all I was going to do. They were all nice guys. They were all kind of like glib or funny. I was obsessed by it. On a Friday night, I wouldn't drink. I would record AM radio on this big box I had.
Starting point is 00:28:43 I'd record baseball games and write notes. I was always obsessed by it. So it's like anything else. There have been guys that are bigger and faster than you, but you were at some level probably obsessed with football, either the learning, the route running, the physicality, even now the way you eat and take care of your body. There's an obsessive nature to a lot of successful people. Men, women, doesn't matter. And I think I got very obsessive about it by eight or nine years old. It's all I thought about.
Starting point is 00:29:13 I can remember playing basketball with my friends, and I called it. Always. No exception. Jabbar over to West, Gail Goodrich, 18-footer. And people are like, they just, my friends after a while, just like that's just what Colin does. He talks to himself during the games. I was the weird kid who talks to himself during a basketball game.
Starting point is 00:29:32 No, that obsessive behavior is a huge part of success in at least my profession, because I was around guys that were obsessed with just getting the edge yes that was that was the term around new england when i was a young kid you'd be in and you'd see kevin falk teddy bruski troy brown would just be walking in working out not even on the team and these guys would be just yelling i'm getting an edge on you everyone was just trying to get better and then once you grasp that you become obsessed with all right i want to be like these guys tom brady he's working with the purpose he's caring about what he's eating and
Starting point is 00:30:12 it's one of those things where you you become a product of the environment if you have that in you you know what i mean like that's what i was i i wanted to be like those guys so then i transformed and tried to do everything I could to be like them because they stuck around for a long time. You also find over the course, I'm 60 now, you find over the course of your life that not that many people are. No. It's really most, you know, broadcasters are of a reasonable, reasonably similar in terms of talent, resonance, knowledge. Obsessive is the difference. It's not where you went to school.
Starting point is 00:30:50 It's not your ability to, you know, Brown knows a boss who's obsessed. And you find that most people, I've found, make a little money and then they're content. You know, you made a lot of money and then were driven by it. The paycheck does weird things to people. And like Tom always felt like the more he made, the more he was going to prove you were wrong years ago and passing on him. Aaron Rodgers has a little bit of that. He's still got a chip on his shoulder. And that's really notable. I think, I don't care if you're a playwright, a pianist, you've accomplished things. Most people then move, pivot into content.
Starting point is 00:31:30 And obsessive people don't, and I think that's the separator, that relentlessness of work that you're not satisfied with good. Yeah. No, I agree. And you said got paid a lot. I was just thinking, my mind went over to what the receivers are making nowadays. Oh, my God. I almost just threw up.
Starting point is 00:31:50 It's crazy. Sorry, I got a lot of bad ADT. And McCaffrey now almost makes half of Justin Jefferson. And I love Justin, but that he's undervalued. Yeah, but there's a number. When you touch that ball a certain amount of times. He's up against it. That's a lot of
Starting point is 00:32:09 innings pitched. That's a lot of innings pitched and those arms go. Yeah, they do. Especially when you're throwing 102. Now, Eastern Washington, awesome little alumni there. You got Jimmy G, you got Sean Payton. Jimmy G is East Illinois.
Starting point is 00:32:27 No, Cooper Cup. Cooper Cup. Yes. Kendrick Bourne. Kendrick Bourne. Yeah. What's up with the red turf? I heard you donated.
Starting point is 00:32:34 Did you donate to that red turf? Michael Roos paid for most of it. I paid a little bit. So Boise State had the blue turf. Yeah. And they just said, hey, would you give some money? And Eastern always had a good football program. I loved going to college there. So I grew up in the western part of the state,
Starting point is 00:32:52 which was wet and damp. And I didn't have any money. Child of divorce. It was like $3,800 a year. I worked my way through college to pay for it. So they had good sports. And it was a school where if you wanted to be a high school teacher, you went and a coach. And it wasn't that rigorous, but I loved my time there. Warm, warm spring and summers. That's where the Seahawks trained for years. And so I've always kind of stayed connected to some degree to the athletic department. And they called and I said, we're going to do a red turf. And I thought, that's fun. Well, we didn't really consider what happens if it snows because then the turf turns pink.
Starting point is 00:33:31 It's like putting a towel in with a red jersey. So that wasn't a great look on TV. But I grew up my entire college day, Eastern's always kind of recruited maybe a little northern Cal, mostly Washington State, good high school football area. Always had really good creative teams. I mean, we've played Washington State, Oregon State, very competitive. Wasn't Bellevue in Washington? Bellevue is by Seattle. That's a very rich, tony area of Seattle.
Starting point is 00:34:03 That was the team that knocked off De La Salle, and I was from Northern California. Yes, Bellevue. Great. They ran a quirky offense. And, you know, Washington State is really good high school football, really good coaching. They got good basketball, too, don't they? I've heard that, or is that... Seattle's a very good high school basketball arena. Jamal Crawford
Starting point is 00:34:20 played there. Yeah, I mean, Washington State's interesting. When I got a job at ESPN, there was a linebacker for the Jets. He was a broadcaster
Starting point is 00:34:34 for the Jets. And I remember telling him, oh yeah, this is where I'm from. And he said, oh, you're from way out there. And I remember thinking as I walked away, well, you're from way out there. And I remember thinking as I walked away, well, you're from way out there. But the truth is the Pacific Northwest is really isolated. You're surrounded by Idaho, Wyoming, these Oregon, these giant states without many people.
Starting point is 00:34:57 So you grow up sort of as an outsider in your own country. And I grew up two hours from Seattle. I mean, my high school had, my class had 26 people. Oh my God. So I was quarterback and shooting guard and, you know, smart Alec. I had all the roles defined, right? So sports editor of the paper. So you just got to fail a lot, you know, but you really are, you do feel like when you're from the Pacific Northwest, you're really an outsider up in that wet part of the country that you'll meet people out east and they're always like oh i i got on a ferry up there once that's amazing i saw a whale it's like you're on mars you know people
Starting point is 00:35:34 don't know quite how to relate to you no they don't but uh we had cooper cup on a couple weeks ago he said the turf was terrible though you it? I called one of his games. Which one? I think it was Sam Houston or something. They played a game. They invited me up. How was he? Good.
Starting point is 00:35:52 I didn't know who he was. They told me we have a really good wide receiver. And I don't remember that much about it. I was doing a color commentary on the game. I don't remember a ton about it. But I remember his draft class and i remember tom telesco was the chargers gm yeah and you know tom wouldn't give me too much but if i asked a question and say hey let's just this is one of these delete texts right
Starting point is 00:36:19 and i said what do you make a cooper cup and it was one of the few times Tom said we'd take him. He said he's probably second to third, he said, but if he's available, we would look at him. He's on our board, and the Rams got him. So he was one of those. He was like, yeah, he is sneaky good. They knew it. He's been an unbelievable football player.
Starting point is 00:36:40 I trained with him early in his career. We used to go run routes over at Golden West Community College with Tom House because they always have pro quarterbacks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you wanted pro arms. A couple times we threw golf and Stafford. Yeah. And he was always slick with his route running.
Starting point is 00:37:00 He ran it almost like Amendola where they would roll into their cuts. They would keep their body going forward always, and you could never tell when he was going to cut. That's a Jerry Rice trick. Jerry was good with his arms, very good with the arms and head, and he'd give you the head. But he had like a quicker than you thought kind of burst that he was developing.
Starting point is 00:37:23 He was coming off an ACL, so he was still a young football player. I mean, what he's done in these last few years, you know, when he's healthy. Yeah, he was banged up early. He also had his first year a few drops. I mean, you're going from Eastern to the NFL. But, boy, when he and Stafford are humming, it's like, wow. It's rough. How many more years do you think Stafford's got?
Starting point is 00:37:47 You know, Stafford, i have made this argument if you took mahomes out of football the last 10 years i think there's only two players aaron and stafford that you would say have comparable arm talent sidearm i mean stafford's sidearm stuff like before Patrick, nobody watched their games. They were in the 1 o'clock window. It's not even just that. It's also his toughness. I mean, he's played with some terrible offensive lines, and he gets his teeth kicked in,
Starting point is 00:38:15 and he gets up every time he still can find a way to make those crazy throws, which that's a part of being a great quarterback, being able to know when your offensive line isn't there, getting rid of the ball quick, being able to adjust your body according to your injury or whatever. Like Tom was hurt all the time. Yeah. And no one knew anything because he would adjust his game to how.
Starting point is 00:38:37 Remember when he ripped up his, what, this part of your thumb? Yeah. Gashed it. What was that? Was it the Eagle Super Bowl year? Yeah, they showed it two weeks later. It was disgusting. I couldn't believe he played.
Starting point is 00:38:51 He played with some crazy stuff, you know, that TB12 method. Did you ever, by week 10, were you ever feeling good? No. There's always some sort of bang or bruise that you had. But no, not week 10. Week 8 to week 12 is like the low period of the NFL. Guys are starting to get beat up. The yardage is starting to go high.
Starting point is 00:39:23 You know, less time to recover because of certain games and we were always on prime time games so we would be in an away game eight o'clock you fly in you have the hours get long you know you fly in you got a you got a team meeting at one o'clock you got in at five you got to run at two so that all adds up and no was always – but after that week 12, you started sniffing the playoff spot. You started sniffing that bye, and so you'd get rejolted. But those are the biggest dog days of the season, 8 to like 12, 13. Because after that, there's light at the end of the tunnel. You've got something you're going for.
Starting point is 00:40:03 They're all important. Don't get me wrong. It's July in sports radio. Yeah. By August, you can feel football coming. It starts smelling like football, the grass. Yes. July, those are dog days.
Starting point is 00:40:15 You come in on a Tuesday, boys, we got no stories. This is where we get paid. Yeah. Speaking of dog days, how did you... ESPN was interesting. I always felt like I was a coffee bean at Starbucks. Nobody knew who I was. So I was a local guy and they came and found me in Portland, a strange story that even this podcast doesn't have time for. It was a weird story. It was a snowstorm in Portland and some New York radio consultant got stuck there and heard me
Starting point is 00:40:43 and blah, blah, blah. And I always felt there, it was a gigantic factory and I was a coffee bean and it was a great place for me. But I did feel at the end, it was, it was a sports factory and I was tired of putting in a shift at the factory and I wanted to, you know, Fox came and about a year before I left, you know, I had, you know, they were like, Hey were like, hey, if you wanted to host a game show for another network, like Strahan, Aaron Andrews had been on other networks. They were much more amenable to do more things, production companies. But I'd never been to the East Coast and I love it. I have a place in Rhode Island. I love vacationing there. So I look at that more than just a job. It was where I raised my kids. And it's just a smart, principled, not morally flexible. People live a certain way.
Starting point is 00:41:35 And I always really appreciate it as a West Coast guy. No, yeah. Fox has been a dream to work for. I mean, I've worked with different networks, and the amount of time and resources they put into everyone that works there, it's very flexible. It's all about you going out and performing your best for one hour. They don't meddle. They don't meddle at all. It's all about the team.
Starting point is 00:42:01 It's very football-oriented, and I think it's because it was pretty much developed by what? Terry was a part of that early part, and John Madden, like a lot of the— Well, it's in Los Angeles, so it's very talent-favorable. They've dealt with movie stars. So they're very good to athletes and talk show hosts. They let you explore. You can make mistakes.
Starting point is 00:42:25 They defend you. Connecticut's different. Connecticut's like prep schools and accounting firms and insurance companies. A little more restrictive. I could always feel the Disney weight on the company. Whereas Fox is, hey, we're in LA. If you want to go home early, it's nice out.
Starting point is 00:42:43 There's a movie premiere. They treat you differently. That's a movie premiere they treat you differently like they just that's just the way they do they just there's a different culture to it also fox doesn't have the scale of disney it disney is the marriott right like it's this gigantic hotel fox is like a really cool boutique hotel in Santa Monica. Yeah. Like, you don't have as much space, but great pool, great cocktails. Great menu. Yeah, it's just a really easy place to work. I've said a lot of people have gone ESPN to Fox.
Starting point is 00:43:17 Not a lot of people go Fox to ESPN. It's almost like if you go to New York, there's a lot of New Yorkers in L.A. If you can make money in LA, there's no reason to live in that weather, right? Like there's, you don't go to New York and say, oh, there's a lot of blondes. Yeah. Like, like you come out here, there's a lot of New Yorkers. And I think a lot of it is like Fox does sports right.
Starting point is 00:43:38 They do. They do. I mean, they let you have the volume, which is killing it. Yeah. Freedom. Freedom. I got a question. Who in the pre-podcast era as a player would be a great podcaster in this day and age?
Starting point is 00:43:54 Well, Muhammad Ali would have been the greatest ever. I mean, if you YouTube Muhammad Ali and you go to Muhammad Ali's best press conferences, you can't believe it. It's like watching Michael Jackson for the first time moonwalk. You can't believe what he's doing. He's going on these four-minute soliloquies, and you're like, where's the teleprompter? I'm a broadcaster.
Starting point is 00:44:16 How is he doing this? Ali today would look like Ronaldo, Ronaldo good-looking, Tom Brady successful, and Mahomes talented. He was everything. I mean, the looks, the talk. So I think Ali was born early. He would have been amazing. Generally, you know what you'll find? Podcasting is not broadcasting. Because when I started the volume, my broadcasting instincts were wrong all the time in podcasting. Just all the time. And it was funny.
Starting point is 00:44:54 I was like, man, I'm just whiffing on this, this, this. So I really like the, you know, I'm a pretty curious guy. I like to make mistakes. I like to screw stuff up so I don't do it again. So I made a lot of mistakes when I started the volume just thinking it was broadcasting and it's podcasting. What you find, two things always work with podcasting. Are you curious? Joe Rogan's curious. You're curious. Curious people succeed. And storytellers. That's why when you come on my show, one of the things I always say, like, hey, what do you want today?
Starting point is 00:45:27 What's your best story? Storytelling work. Nobody. We very rarely go to. You give us the questions before. I don't go to those. I know. I'm sitting there.
Starting point is 00:45:35 We go over them for like 30 minutes, and then you'll hit me with a question before we get on, and we'll dive into that. Authenticity, that always goes. Yeah, I want your best story. When I speak to young broadcasters, I always say, just be interesting. Like, if you pulled a seat up to a bar and you sat next to a guy for 10 minutes and he was right for 10 minutes.
Starting point is 00:45:58 After about 10 minutes, you're like, he's kind of obnoxious. But if you pulled up to a guy that had an eye patch, a hook on his hand, and he was telling crazy stories, you'd turn to your buddies and go, get over here. And you'd stay for two hours. Right is overrated. Interesting is what wins the audience.
Starting point is 00:46:18 Be interesting. Tell stories. The delivery. Incredible. The analogies. That's a pro right there. This is a pro. I was thinking like Dennis Rodman or something.
Starting point is 00:46:32 He's a little too out there. Yeah, but if he were to talk, the stories he would get with the audience. I think he would exhaust you. He wouldn't be as detailed. I think he'd be good for a podcast. What you're doing is a podcast business. Yeah. And so your traits, like a quarterback,
Starting point is 00:46:49 your traits are you work hard, you're curious, you tell stories. That wears well. Anybody can do a good podcast. Anybody can come on my show for a spot. You come on every week. So the really good people can come on every two weeks or week and it's like, God, he's good every time. A lot of quarterbacks,
Starting point is 00:47:10 Tebow had a six-game winning streak, seven-game winning streak. A lot of winning streaks in football that you're like, how the hell did that happen? Year after year. If you really think about greatness, Kobe Bryant's entire career, you game plan to stop him.
Starting point is 00:47:25 Your best defensive guy on him. Trap him. Get the ball out of his hands. Average 30. So people don't understand it. To be great, I mean, Jesus, all you do with Luka is watch film on how to stop Luka. He could drop 40 tonight against the world's best basketball players. The difference between great and just really good player,
Starting point is 00:47:45 there are just not many of them. People spent literally the entire division drafted against Tom. Edge rushers. The whole division was drafting edge rushers against Tom. None of it worked. No. For 20 years. Would you rather have a six-game winning streak
Starting point is 00:48:03 or circumcise a bunch of kids in the Philippines? Why not both? Oh, that's Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow. We'll be right back after this quick break. Hey, this is Mike Wright from the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast. You heard that right.
Starting point is 00:48:23 The Fantasy footballers have officially entered the dynasty space every week we bring you the same in-depth analysis and entertainment you've come to expect from the fantasy footballers only now from a dynasty perspective maybe you've been living in the dynasty fantasy football space for a while well we're here to take your game to the next level. Maybe you love fantasy football and you've been feeling that itch to jump into the dynasty format, but it feels a little bit intimidating. No matter where you're coming from, the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast has something for you, and you're going to have a great time listening, I promise.
Starting point is 00:49:01 Join me and the rest of the crew every Wednesday for a new episode. Listen to the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. History is filled with strange, unusual, and unexpected stories. Stories about people who have accomplished extraordinary things. Pets that have gone above and beyond. Events that have defied explanation, and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing the most curious tales in history with millions of listeners around the
Starting point is 00:49:34 world on my hit podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities. With well over 120 million downloads to date, listeners have been fascinated by such tales as the surprising country that invented the croissant, the stowaway-turned-hero who helped capture a Nazi spy, and the wrestling champ who went on to win the White House. And now, finally, nearly 200 of these amazing stories from the podcast have been gathered into one book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at GrimAndMild.com slash curiosities. How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school
Starting point is 00:50:21 to change their racist mascot, the Rebels, into something everyone in the South loves, the Biscuits. I was a lady Rebel. Like, what does that even mean? The Boone County Rebels will stay the Boone County Rebels with the image of the Biscuits. It's right here in black and white in print. A lion. An individual that came to the school saying that God sent him to talk to me about the mascot switch. As a leader, you choose hills that you want to die on.
Starting point is 00:50:46 Why would we want to be the losing team? I'd just take all the other stuff out of it. On the segregation academies, when civil rights said that we need to integrate public schools, these charter schools were exempt from that. Bigger than a flag or mascot. You have to be ready for serious backlash. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Starting point is 00:51:08 you get your podcasts. Let's go back to around January 6, 2007. This is a segment where we go and we discuss a little bit of what was going on around the game. Number one movie was Night at the Museum. You ever see that?
Starting point is 00:51:26 I loved it. I never saw it. Oh, it's fascinating. It's Ben Stiller, right? Yeah, it's a great concept for a movie. You ever watch a movie and you think, I don't know if the movie's great. What a great idea for the movie.
Starting point is 00:51:36 Yeah. Yeah. You go to a museum and all the animals come to life. It's like, this is a great idea. Somebody was high. Somebody was high and just came up with that. I mean, there's no way you did that. Or bored with their kids at a museum.
Starting point is 00:51:52 Yeah, it's just a great idea. Hey, it made half a billion and spawned two sequels. Yeah, it's a great trilogy, isn't it? Number one song was Irreplaceable by Beyonce. I remember this song. It wasn't my favorite Beyonce, but it was good. You remember that song? Yeah, it's like Beyonce I like Beyonce the iPhone debuts I remember this I went to a Walmart in Rentham Ohio no where was it it was Canton Ohio there's Amish people like
Starting point is 00:52:20 Amish people will go to the Walmart anytime I was there like this is my first time shopping a Walmart I was a Bay Area kid I never seen a Walmart yeah when I went to Ohio I started going to Walmart they're pretty badass if you ever been yeah and every time I go to this Walmart there'd be Amish people and I was like isn't this like contradicting what they believe the kids would be in the video game section
Starting point is 00:52:39 playing with the video games and stuff but it just brought me back I went and as I was, huh? Were they also waiting for iPhones? They were waiting for iPhones. Here's how old I am. I remember the first cell phone. So you're not old enough to remember.
Starting point is 00:52:53 They used to be. Blocks. Like a bar stool. You were talking on a bar stool. So I get one. I'm in Vegas. And I think I'm really cool. Do you have a holster for it?
Starting point is 00:53:03 In my Ford Explorer, which I got an Eddie Bauer bag for buying it, which I had for like 15 years. That was a badass Ford Explorer, though. The Eddie Bauer editions, those were cool. Was it a forest green? Mine was red, but they were cool. Yeah. So you put, this is a true story, I'm making nothing,
Starting point is 00:53:21 probably $12,000 a year out of college. You fastened it in right by your drive shift, right? You fastened the cell phone, you put it in, you clocked it in. I didn't know the first month. I thought you only got charged for calls you make. So I told people, call me, call me. I was taking calls all day. Well, you get charged for those.
Starting point is 00:53:41 My first bill was bigger than what I made a month oh my god one of the only times in my life i called my mom mom i need a couple hundred bucks she's like you're in vegas go gamble how do you what do you mean so i'm like i didn't know you got charged for incoming calls and these things were giant and gray i remember what what what tv show was it on was this was it like miami vice there was a t yes miami vice where they'd always have like the big old block that's what it was or uh or one of the most epic was um wall street with gordon getko that was the best uh in the sports world of 2006 2007 national champions were number two florida beats the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Starting point is 00:54:28 Heisman Trophy winner was Troy Smith who went to Baltimore. Yep. Which game was this? Who was the Florida State? This was one of those off years of Florida State. I think one of the back-to-backs. I think with Tim Tebow. Yeah, that was a Tebow team.
Starting point is 00:54:42 Oh, this is a Florida. Is it a Tebow team? Yeah, I believe so. Let me double check. It is it is is it i read florida state i was tripping florida this is with hernandez percy harvin all the boys they were stacked spikes spikes was the most unathletic looking guy he had like such a dad bod that laid the most wood i've ever seen in my life this guy would come down and we would watch on set nine on seven practices which is the run game so you you know it's a run so it's a cheat for the defense but i would sit sometimes and you know we'd be doing like routes and i'd look over and spikes would just be teeing off on the fullback. I mean, him and James Devlin would hit like four, five, six times in a row.
Starting point is 00:55:28 I'm talking like six-yard sprints where these guys were just banging, and he would blow guys up. He would knock big old 350-pound linemen back. I mean, he could lay the wood. Donald Penn. Remember Donald Penn? No.
Starting point is 00:55:44 He was an offensive lineman. He had the strangest body for the Raiders. I didn't even understand it. That guy just engulfed people. It's weird. When I first met Teddy Bruschi, I'm like, that's the Desert Storm guy from Arizona? He brought a briefcase.
Starting point is 00:56:00 I'm like, he looks like a bulky accountant. I mean, Teddy walks in. He looks like a middleweight boxer. He dropped a bunch of weight, though. Okay, because I'm telling you. Because Teddy was, you've got to look at his neck when he was playing. He was nasty. Nasty.
Starting point is 00:56:16 He's one of the five to six best college players I've ever seen. You could not block him at Arizona. People don't realize he was defensive lineman. You couldn't block him. Yeah. Undersized. could not get in front of him he was an incredible football player yeah teddy dick tommy desert storm they called it that defense my first day at new england in otas when the vets came teddy was on punt team like that's how teddy was he was practicing i was on the punt team he was on the punt return team. And I had to do a stab technique on him.
Starting point is 00:56:48 And I touched him. Like, that's the, you have to stab the technique. And then once the receiver. Belichick makes you. Yeah, makes you. And after that rep, he looked at me and said, hey, rookie, you ever touch me again, I'm going to cut your fucking arm off. So I had to go the next rep with him. I'm sitting there.
Starting point is 00:57:05 I'm stabbing the air behind him because I need to let the coaches know that I know what I'm doing for film because they're going to bitch at me if I don't. And it was just crazy. I never touched him again. I never touched him again. He's a tough guy. Oh, he eats nails. Super Bowl champions were the Colts.
Starting point is 00:57:18 I got clarification. That was Chris Leak was the starting quarterback. That's right. But Tim Tebow had two touchdowns. Yeah, he was the first. Yeah. Yeah, Leak was the undersized guy. 12.
Starting point is 00:57:27 Yeah, undersized guy. And then he ran with him. Yep, yep, yep. Leak is a classic college, not a pro player. 100%. But a really good college player. He had a sweet spiral. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:57:37 Charlie Ward had that. Like, that's a great college player. Charlie Ward. Yeah. Super Bowl champions were the Colts. This is when the Colts. We had Ernie on, and he talked about the AFC championship between the Pats
Starting point is 00:57:48 and the Colts this year was the Super Bowl. They were up 21-6 at halftime. And then next year they go and get Randy, Wes. Yeah. They were pissed about that whole thing. LT was the MVP, LaDainian Tomlinson. Miami Dolphins head coach Nick Saban resigns in the middle of a season right? After
Starting point is 00:58:08 returning to take the Alabama head coach job that was crazy if he gets Drew Brees if he gets medical clearance he never coaches Alabama he tried to get Drew Brees and the doctors would not allow it the Saints doctors cleared him
Starting point is 00:58:24 if not he never the greatest college football dynasty never materializes. He does not take that job. Because Nick would have won with Drew Brees. He actually, if you go back to his Miami tenure, he made a difference. He just didn't have the quarterback, which is, you know, that's, I mean, as Bill Belichick's proving, that's the sport. That's the league. That's the league.
Starting point is 00:58:44 Got to have the guy. Andy Reid's one of the few guys that won at the highest level with average quarterback play. That's like it. It's hard. Yeah, I mean... McNam was okay.
Starting point is 00:58:54 He was fine. He was fine. Smith at the end, he was a good game manager. Yeah. But it's hard to get to the NFC championships repeatedly. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:04 It was a soft division then. I still have a take that I think Bill owns Andy Reid. It depends on the culture. I've made the argument. But you've got to look at every time we played them, even when they had their highest of the high of the offense, we always had a great defensive plan, and then you've got to run the ball against.
Starting point is 00:59:24 I would say Tom. Yeah, Tom. I mean, that overtime game, you guys got the coin flip. Yeah, but that defense, like our defense in the first half shut them out. Yeah. You know, some of those calls. And then even the next year when I think Stidham went in there and they battled them, they held him zero points in the first half
Starting point is 00:59:47 or until the fourth quarter. Well, the best two coaches last 20 years are Andy and Bill. One offense, a play designer. One's the smartest defensive coach of all time. Yeah. Do you remember the Statue of Liberty game? Oh, of course. Boise State beats Oklahoma.
Starting point is 01:00:01 I'm from the Northwest. Boise State was always this little, I always used to tell people like, and you're in the Pac-12, don't schedule Boise State beats Oklahoma. I'm from the Northwest. Boise State was always this little, I always used to tell people, like, and you're in the Pac-12, don't schedule Boise State. No. You're their Super Bowl. You know, it's like, just don't do it. Not even that, though.
Starting point is 01:00:14 By this time, Boise State was, because I was in JUCO, and they were recruiting me really hard. They were taking a lot of JUCO guys, which were bounce backs from Florida. That's right. The ICC. And then they were getting, like, Pac- guys, which were bounce backs from Florida. That's right. The ICC. And then they were getting like Pac-12 recruits playing in the WAC. Yes.
Starting point is 01:00:31 You know what I mean? And well coached. Very well coached. Always. Chris Peterson. Chris Peterson. We did Zembranski, and we had Adrian Peterson to talk about that game. I mean, that was these three years of college football with this, USC and Texas.
Starting point is 01:00:48 This was when college football was at its highest, I think. It wasn't regional. You had a great Western team. Texas, SEC. Everybody was playing. Everyone was playing. That was the guy who proposed to his girlfriend afterwards. We have a whole scoring system we'll get to at the end of the
Starting point is 01:01:04 show. I still stand by that. I think this is the greatest football game ever played usc texas is way up there yeah it was so weird with the reggie bush lateral that's i was there that's one of the great game i'll tell you i went this year i went to oregon washington yeah in seattle the miss field goal. That's the second best college football game I've ever been to live. Wow. It was on Montlake. It was insane.
Starting point is 01:01:32 Every play felt like it mattered. First series felt like you were in the fourth quarter. Couldn't hear yourself think. Those are great rivals up there. Two pro quarterbacks. Like, 10 offensive players are pros. Like, just stacked. I think the only thing that the Statue of Liberty game
Starting point is 01:01:48 has on that USC-Texas game is the David versus Goliath. Oh, there's no question. That was still David versus Goliath. You can never call Texas David. It's Texas. Vince Young's maybe the best high school football player in American history. If you ever watch Vince Young's high school highlights on YouTube.
Starting point is 01:02:06 No, I haven't. He looks like a 12-year NFL veteran playing against junior high schoolers. And I'm talking Texas high-end football. He is bigger than all the defensive linemen and faster than the receivers. Oh, Cam. Cam was the same way, though. Yep. Cam Newton.
Starting point is 01:02:21 Go watch the LSU-Auburn game with Cam in it. He is running over linebackers lsu linebacker running over them defensive ends they're farming them the first day i met him when he came in to our facility he looked like a defensive end yeah like he was he's legitimately one of the most impressive specimen humans. Like just as far as how broad he is, how big he is. He's still lean. Like he's like a freak human. Like a 37 inch waist and his cut.
Starting point is 01:02:57 Cut. Like he's like a lumberjack. He's not built like human. No. I mean, he was fun to play with. Kyler, let's set the stage for this game. Let's hit the Dallas Cowboys first. So the 2006 Dallas Cowboys had a 9-7 record
Starting point is 01:03:11 and were head coached by Bill Parcells. This was his last season as a head coach, and this game that we're doing was his last game as a head coach as well. It is a season of bitter endings and hopeful new beginnings. T.O. arrived in the offseason. Also, the most accurate kicker in NFL history at the time was Mike Bannerjack. Came in. However, he did not finish it with Martin of Dramatica.
Starting point is 01:03:31 It was also a start of the Tony Romo era that he took over halfway through the season for a Drew Bledsoe. Kind of his last play was in reception in the second quarter of some week six game. We actually just had Drew Bledsoe in here. Great wine. Great wine. Double back. Great.
Starting point is 01:03:48 Prototypical first overall person. He could still throw. We went and threw the ball in the backyard. Yeah, no, Drew's. Drew looks like the number one pick. He 100%. He is like John Elway. He picks up a ball.
Starting point is 01:04:03 And then Brady used to talk about this. Because Brady likes his balls this, that. You know what I mean? Bledsoe could pick up any ball and just whip it. Because he had these big, just country-fed white boy hands that looks like he should be picking up hay or
Starting point is 01:04:18 something. He's just exactly what you said. What your number one pick should look like. And then, so this team team once tony tony tony romo took over they won five out of the six of the tony romo's first starts um they stumbled a little bit down the stretch we'll get to that uh we also just like talking dudes naming dudes the dudes on this team was drew bledsoe tony romo jason whitton flozel the hotel flozel adams uh roy williams miles austin demarcus weir and terry glenn also a
Starting point is 01:04:45 studded terence newman too he was a badass d-bag a studded coaching staff of just future head coaches we'll talk a little bit about later but that's the uh 2006 cowboys what do you remember about this era of cowboys the emergence of romo i mean i, I grew up with Staubach, Danny White, Troy Aikman. They bounce around, and then they find their Romo. And it's pretty rare that a big brand like the Cowboys get an undrafted quarterback. Usually a team like the Cowboys is such a big brand that you would have the quarterback ready to go,
Starting point is 01:05:22 or you just go buy one. For the Cowboys, that'd be like the Yankees' best player being in a 40th-round shortstop. You're the Yankees. You figure they'll just go buy a cleanup hitter. 100%. The Romos are real, for their brand, most of their best players have been free agents or first-rounders
Starting point is 01:05:41 or Micah and CD. And all of a sudden, it's like that O-line for years. That was all first-round or Micah and CD. And all of a sudden it's like, you know, that old line for years, that was all first round picks, Tyron Smith. Tony's undrafted. That's something like the Jaguars would get or the Panthers, right? But to be the America's quarterback of note and you played at a tiny school most people can't find on a map, it's pretty remarkable. Tony had a good career.
Starting point is 01:06:04 He did. He had a very good – he was exciting. I remember when he came in, he was just – he was a jolt of energy for them. He was making those athletic plays where he was ducking down. Guys would over-tackle him. He'd pop his head up and find a guy down the field. I just always remember he was kind of a shorter guy, but he used his athleticism in the pocket,
Starting point is 01:06:26 and he had like a flair with him where he was really good outside the pocket, and he was good at making a play within the play by manipulating defensive guys in the pocket, stepping up, sliding, and then finding the second play. I always feel Joe Burrow is a more disciplined Tony Romo. They look, they were the same number. They look alike, the play alike. Joe's just a little more, not mechanical, a little more efficient.
Starting point is 01:06:54 Tony's a little more instinct, go with the gut. But there's a lot of similarities. Tony's, you know, Joe's great. Tony on his best days was a highlight film. He was really good. He was really good. Wasn't it weird kind of seeing Parcells as the head coach? Did you think that was weird?
Starting point is 01:07:10 Well, I remember this whole thing happened. Only two Cowboy coaches have worked. Three in my lifetime. Landry, Jimmy, and Parcells. The latter two had Jerry as the owner. The ironic part is Jimmy and Parcells are exactly what the Cowboys need as a coach, and Jerry didn't like it. They need a strong-willed, defiant architect that knows the game, that pushes back on Jerry.
Starting point is 01:07:42 Jerry tends to hire people that need him. Jason Garrett, his first job. McCarthy was out of work. Chan Gailey. You know, Jerry tends to hire people that need him. Parcells and Jimmy didn't. Two best coaches they've ever had, and I just don't think Jerry... Jerry likes you...
Starting point is 01:08:02 Cowboys usually have the highest percentage of players on their roster that they drafted. And there is something about the Cowboys sometimes come off as like a family business, like the local general store in a very corporate league. But I always feel like Parcells and Jimmy, that's what they should have, and Jerry just can't. It doesn't work for very long.
Starting point is 01:08:25 So they go 12-5 this year? That's what they should have, and Jerry just can't. It doesn't work for very long. So they go 12-5 this year. I think they step back. They don't have a running game, so they'll be much more DAC dependent. They go 11-5 this year. I'll do 10-7. You do 10-7. I don't think they make the playoffs. They don't make the playoffs.
Starting point is 01:08:40 No, I think they're very thin at receiver and running back. I think they'll be more DAC reliant. I the nfc the last two years has been down the packers are ready to go the rams are not in a rebuild oh chicago's good uh like i mean if arizona is a five-win team that's a good five win team they got like some dudes they can they can be they can compete they do they got so what about belichick going there next year? Yeah, I could see that. Again, they would need a strong coach who's defiant, a great architect,
Starting point is 01:09:12 a culture builder, and it'll work for about three years. And then what'll happen? And then Bill will be like, Bill will get them to the highest level. I argue it's about time to move off Dak. Dak's good.
Starting point is 01:09:27 You can't pay him great. One thing we know doesn't work in this league, to have a good quarterback that you pay great. You can win with a rookie quarterback in a rookie deal. You can win with a great quarterback taking a bit of a pay cut. You can't be a B-plus quarterback and get paid A-plus. You're out of the Super Bowl bubble. And I think Bill knows that better than anybody.
Starting point is 01:09:45 And I think they'll figure out a way to redraft, re-sign the quarterback position, and pay a quarterback along the lines of that. Either a young guy, little money, or an older guy, more reasonable money. You don't think they're going to, are they going to re-up DAC this year, you think? I don't.
Starting point is 01:10:02 I think they're going to let it go, and then they're going to go get a coach, and the coach will sit down with Jerry, and the coach can be the bad guy. Jerry doesn't want to be the bad guy. Yeah. Kyle, let's break down these. Hold on.
Starting point is 01:10:14 Before we move on from Dallas, I just want to mention some of these coaches on this staff. So Sean Payton, he just left the year prior. On this team is running backs coach Anthony Lynn. Mike Zimmer's back. Mike Zimmer's defensive coordinator. Secondary coach is Todd Bowles. Wide receivers and passing game coordinator is Todd Haley.
Starting point is 01:10:33 The tight ends coach. Running back coach. Freddie Kitchens. Offensive line and running game coordinator is Tony Sperano. Pretty good. RIP Sperano. We used to battle him in Miami a bunch. He's had a good plan.
Starting point is 01:10:49 Let's get into these Seattle Seahawks, Kai. So 2006 Seattle Seahawks. We still have a few years left in the Mike Holmgren era at this point. This is a Seahawks team that was hoping to build off their Super Bowl run the year prior in which they went 13-3. They signed Nate Burleson in the offseason. They gave him the bag. They traded for deon branch after week one and they were looking to give matt house back some weapons um and hoping that they could do another super bowl run maybe get
Starting point is 01:11:13 over the hump uh unfortunately for this season nine offensive player nine offensive players miss games sean alexander who also got a bag um got bit a little bit by the Madden curse. Are we buying the Madden curse? Not really. Didn't it stop after Patrick or something? I think it's dead now for sure. But it was there. It was there. It might have been there.
Starting point is 01:11:35 This team couldn't stay healthy. No. Matt Hasselbeck, you mentioned, missed four games with an MCL sprain. So Seneca Wallace had to step in, who also had a reception in this game, this playoff game. We had the same agent. Don Yee, he pitched me. You could be like a Seneca.
Starting point is 01:11:52 You could play a quarterback, receiver. It's like, no, you have Tom Brady, bro. I'm signing with you. So this team finished 9-7 after starting 4-1. And also, I just want to mention Sean Alexander the previous year. He was MVP. He rushed for 1,880 yards and 27 total touchdowns. A couple of dudes. Nico Koudavidis is on this team.
Starting point is 01:12:14 And Tutupu. Yeah. He lives in Foxborough still. His dad was like one of the first Patriots. Also on this team, Walter Jones, Marcus Trufant, Deion Branch, Nate Burleson, Sean Alexander, Jeremy Stevens. What a big game. I always remember him always coming up with those cover twos.
Starting point is 01:12:29 Like they hit in this game, big tight end down the middle of the field when they were running those Tampa twos all the time. Stevens used to catch a lot of those. He was a Husky. Great high school player in the Olympia area. I followed his whole career. He had some stuff off the field, but he was a huge high school recruit. He was a great player.
Starting point is 01:12:46 He was a big guy. Long, fast, like a physical Jimmy Graham. Like if Jimmy Graham blocked and was tougher, that's what he was. Wow. What do you think of this Mike Holmgren era Seattle Seahawks? Well, Mike is really smart. Mike has an Andy Reid quality where he's not only a coach, but he's a mentor. You know, his coaching tree is impressive. And I always thought, you know, Mike Holmgren's one
Starting point is 01:13:10 of the old school coaches that may have been born too early. He'd be great today. He'd be great today. His era was mostly you were allowed to grab and pull and jam. And, you know, he grew up in an era where all the rules leaned defense. Mike Holmgren is one of the older coaches that I think if you put him in today, he would be Andy Reid. He was super clever, great multiple offenses. Those Seahawks teams did not have Super Bowl rosters.
Starting point is 01:13:36 They had a Super Bowl coach. I mean, if you go back to that Seahawks team that made the Seahawks, they had some really nice offensive pieces, but not one of the more impressive Super Bowl rosters. Was the 12-man thing there when you were a kid? Well, it was always, Husky Stadium was always one of the loudest stadiums. And the Kingdom was always loud because of the reverb.
Starting point is 01:13:54 So Seattle was always known as just a really loud place. And again, I always feel like in Seattle, because we're so isolated in the Pacific Northwest, we always feel like we have to prove that we love sports. And so there were a lot of local breweries. You'd come in lubricated. It was tailgating central. We only got good weather briefly.
Starting point is 01:14:14 So when you got it in the early fall, you went on the boat, you came up to the games at Husky Stadium. Seattle's always been just a great football town with a really raucous, lively, engaged fan base. Yeah. Mount Rushmore of Seattle Seahawks then. Steve Largent. Largent.
Starting point is 01:14:30 Jesus, he was Godfather. Him and Dewey Largent. They're a lot similar how they play. We just had Cooper Cup here. We were talking about that. That's a good question. Steve Largent. I love Cortez Kennedy.
Starting point is 01:14:41 Cortez Kennedy, what years? Wasn't Cortez there for years? I loved him. Sean Alexander's probably on it. I mean, let's be honest. Richard Sherman? Sherm? Camp Chancellor?
Starting point is 01:14:52 Go Hokies? Cortez Kennedy, yeah, he was there. I thought he was so good. I would say, oh, no, no. Steve Largent, Walter Jones. Boy, that's a good question. I think Sean Alexander has to be on it. Did you put Holmgren in there just because you got him to a Super Bowl?
Starting point is 01:15:09 No, because Pete Carroll did as well. Marshawn Lynch? There's so many good defensive players. Marshawn Lynch is – They had some really good defense alignment. Yes. Richard Sherman? Richard Sherman's really close.
Starting point is 01:15:23 Earl Thomas? I'd put Richard. Richard was a really close. Earl Thomas? I'd put Richard. Richard was a bigger personality. Also, he made so many big plays as a cornerback. He really defined late-round pick, overlooked. He was the Pete Carroll team. That's a great question. Seattle's Mount Rushmore.
Starting point is 01:15:38 Hell, I could put Jim Zorn on it, the left-handed quarterback. I mean, it was so funny. Tampa Bay and Seattle were expansion teams. Tampa couldn't score. Seattle couldn't tackle. If you had combined them, you'd have a playoff team. Seattle had Sherman Smith, Jim Zorn, Steve Largent. They were wild games.
Starting point is 01:15:56 But Largent was their first really elite all-time player. Jim Zorn was quarterback coach of the Seahawks team. Yep. Yep. And a really decent guy nice guy yeah all right kai guy let's break down this game all right for the lead lead up this was two 9 and 17s looking to get hot maybe catch some fire go to the super bowl uh neither of them uh really were going into the playoffs very hot yeah but they made it in and their hopes
Starting point is 01:16:20 were still alive um there was some real pressure on Bill Parcells to do something after missing two years of the playoffs and all that Cowboys energy. Each team lost three of their last four games. Holmgren owned the tuna. He got them in the Super Bowl. I forgot about that. You're talking about great coaches. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:16:41 And they're very similar in that they were both high on wisdom, good teachers. Now, Holmgren isn't as New Jersey cranky, not as sort of smart-assy as Parcells. You know, Parcells, he's got like Belichick. He's got an East Coast edge to him. Holmgren, more Midwest sense of humor, but like comparing Andy Reid and Bill, like different sensibilities a little bit I feel like Andy Reid and Holmgren are very
Starting point is 01:17:11 similar yeah and I know mentors yeah teacher teachers but even just their their demeanor like it's funny if you look at Belichick's coaching tree I've always theorized this proximity to brilliance doesn't make it brilliant. Proximity to wisdom does make you wise. So Andy and Holmgren offer wisdom, and coaches can take that and use that. Bill's just brilliant. I could work next to Einstein. I'll never be smarter. Bill literally was a super brain, and that's why a lot of his assistants, you can't take Bill's brilliance, his day-to-day situational brilliance, and you can't duplicate it. But you could take a really good teacher.
Starting point is 01:17:53 You know, like a lot of the great athletes aren't great coaches. Yeah, that's true. Right? That's true. I mean, if you look at these two coaching trees, I mean, these are like the trees where all the trees all the branches they come come from yeah i mean it's really bill walsh and parcells and homerun comes down and then he creates his but yeah like these are the two different systems right here it's could you
Starting point is 01:18:17 argue anyone else no i think homerun parcells bill walshh, I think Andy Reid's become that. I think he's got a really good tree. But there's a teaching proposition to it. You know, was Bill teaching or Bill just smart? I mean, obviously, Ernie Adams almost had some educational qualities. Like, he was more wisdom, right? Like, because of his experience. But maybe, by the way way maybe that's why bill leaned on him bill had this high iq but sometimes wanted that sort of almost avuncular uncle smart
Starting point is 01:18:53 uncle experienced wisdom he sought wisdom bill smart enough to know what he didn't know or what he couldn't see it's not that bill didn't know stuff but sometimes when you're kind of in the authoritarian chair people don't always give you honest feedback yeah right like and ernie could give him really honest feedback ernie didn't need him ernie didn't you know he didn't owe ernie anything like bill and ernie's relationship is the perfect kind where one guy's rich powerful in control of it but he's smart enough to know, Ernie's the one guy that doesn't need me. He'll be the most honest to me.
Starting point is 01:19:29 And that's a hard thing to get when you're in control and power. Yeah, I agree with that. Like I said, I agree with a lot of his takes. I don't know that to be true. That's just what it feels like to me. Don't you think the more power people have? Like if you were a president and hired a vice president, what you'd really want is somebody that was honest with you. You wouldn't necessarily need
Starting point is 01:19:51 the smartest person because they may be intimidated or challenged. You gotta have a no guy. You gotta have a no guy. Ernie could be a no guy. Exactly. There's a parallel here with the end of the Patriots dynasty and Belichick with kind of bringing in people like Matt Patricia and like maybe not the best role for an offensive coordinator but maybe there's a trust factor there to that so maybe there is a downside to that maybe there is a upside to that but something to consider yeah we'll have another time for that one we'll have another time for that one now let's have another time for that one. Now, let's break down the game, Kai.
Starting point is 01:20:26 Oh, so here's the game. On the call, as we mentioned earlier, John Madden and Al Michaels. Referee was Walt Anderson, which you wanted to specifically mention. Also 44, Cloudy. He was like a stickler. He always had relationships with certain refs. Walt was the type of guy guy he just didn't want he you know it's a give take thing hey how you doing and then you feel it if you could bark at him he
Starting point is 01:20:51 wouldn't let you bark he's a principal yeah there's some guys that just like that my bad cutting you off kyler no you're good uh first half was a battle of field goals two from seattle from josh brown and a 50 yarder from martin dramat. But there was a late, late half drive. Tony Romo punched it in with Patrick Creighton for a touchdown to put Dallas up 10-6 at half. These last two minutes were crazy. Those last, like, four minutes are crazy. What do you think about when you think of this game
Starting point is 01:21:19 other than the fumbled snap? Two beat-up, really flawed teams that put on a classic television showcase. It's classic NFL. They were not great teams. They didn't play well down the stretch, but give you a wildly entertaining game, iconic coaches, underrated quarterbacks, crazy environment. That's why the NFL is king. You don't need great teams to have dramatic games. It was situationally wild. It wasn't a clean game. It was situationally wild. It wasn't a clean game.
Starting point is 01:21:48 It was just great television. Very wild. I mean, 93-yard kickoff return, touchdown by Miles Austin. Yep. Like, if you do that, your percentages of winning are like 94%. So let's kind of get into the last eight minutes because I think that's really where the bulk of this game kind of happened.
Starting point is 01:22:07 Seattle was trailing 20-13. Hasselbeck goes to the end zone and gets a pass interference. The ball's on the one, but they can't punch it in. There's a turnover on downs. The spot. Remember that spot? I don't. The Witten spot? It would have been a first down.
Starting point is 01:22:22 That's why they had to kick the field goal. They gave them the first down,'s why they had to kick the field goal they gave him the first they gave him the first down and then they took it away yeah it really wasn't conclusive after i watched it because where he caught the ball it's where he caught the ball it looked like it was over and it was kind of rigged i feel nfl is scripted i don't know about rigged but it's it's hard to overturn a spot in that moment when it was on the field. They overturned it.
Starting point is 01:22:47 It probably was short, but was there enough there to overturn it? This is still pre. Keep going. So that was the last. That was a part of the play right before because that was a fourth down that led to the botch snap. But before that. The safety.
Starting point is 01:23:01 So then with six minutes left, six minutes, 42 seconds left, Dallas takes over on the one, and we have a Terry Glenn fumble that goes out back of the end zone for a safety. It looked like it might have been a touchdown, but one of the players, while he was touching it, barely, I think it was, he stepped out of bounds, so it was a safety and not a touchdown.
Starting point is 01:23:19 And then Seattle stops Dallas, and then with five minutes, 45 seconds left, Matt Hasselbeck leads Seattle downfield and hits Jeremy Stevens down the middle for a 37-yard touchdown. They go for two, which you had thoughts on. Yeah. So if you looked at their fourth down play when they lost it on the one-yard line, Seattle,
Starting point is 01:23:37 I hate when teams cut off the middle of the field in like a low red area play, like a got to have it play. Yeah. So like on the two-point conversion, they were running like a drag and they were flooding the zone over on the right. So if the defense has everyone over there, there's no backside look. There's nothing there for you to do. So you're cutting off half of the field.
Starting point is 01:23:59 They did the same thing on the two-point play. Like I just didn't understand it. So they missed the two-point, leaving the just i didn't understand it so they missed the two point leaving the door open only going up 21 to 20 so with four minutes 18 seconds left tony roma takes over a little bit of opportunity to be a hero there's an eight play three minute and 10 second drive down to the seattle two which was as you mentioned before that with jason whitton looks like a first down might not a first down challenge the spots spot's removed, so it's fourth down. And that's when the infamous Tony Romo botched snap, if you want to talk through that play a little bit.
Starting point is 01:24:33 We were talking about it earlier. I mean, when you watch the play, he looked like he got a case of the yips. It looks like he didn't call fire, because I'm sure they have a fire play whenever there's a bodge snap. Like you practice this on Friday practices. Like, all right, guys, let's run the fire drill.
Starting point is 01:24:53 And then for a second, I thought he was going to get in. I remember watching this as a kid. I was like, he's going to run it in. I thought he was going to run it in. Yeah, well, it is kind of your vintage Romo that he screws up and is so athletic he almost makes the play of the year for the Cowboys. That's so Tony. He didn't even need the score.
Starting point is 01:25:09 He just needed to get the first down, too. I think the real question here we were talking about earlier during our prep was why was Tony Romo even still the holder at this point of the season? This kind of revolutionized the game because this was the last time you really saw backup quarterbacks holding the field goals. Plus analytics has moved. The PAT is now harder. Analytics have come in.
Starting point is 01:25:32 So the traditional PAT just doesn't. So much has changed. For just a simple play that used to be a go get a beer at the fridge play, like the short field goal, the PAT now has drama. It's what they're doing to the kickoff rule yeah the nfl figures out where you know these this was is usually in my life that's a 99 game winning kick that just that ends it uh and so with that failure it makes people re-evaluate situationally what you're doing with a quarterback taking the snap yeah which is weird you have all that if you think about it it's a precision play.
Starting point is 01:26:06 You have all this energy. You're on cloud nine. You're probably the worst guy I want taking a snap. I want a guy that is just like, come off the sidelines, ready to go. That's all I do. Tony's got a million things going through his head. He's tired. He's exhausted.
Starting point is 01:26:23 Now he's got to get down to a special team situation in crappy weather. It's tougher than you think. No, it's very. I was a backup holder. It's very tough. The holder and kicker, or the kicker, and now the punter usually holds for the field goal guy
Starting point is 01:26:37 or the field goal kicker. And those guys are practicing that operation all day long. They know how to snap it the snapper knows how to snap it to where the laces are in the right area for the hand of the the holder like that's how precise it is nowadays it's just i mean this is it's crazy to see a backup quarterback or now you're starting quarterback even a quarterback holding it, and this wasn't even that far along. Are you a Seahawks fan still? Not really. Not really.
Starting point is 01:27:14 I'm kind of a show fan. Who's the most interesting? We're the show fan. What's best for the show? What's best for the show? They have a rookie coach, a new staff. We don't know him. Geno's sort of a guy
Starting point is 01:27:26 so they're not they're not you know the teams that Kansas City Baltimore with Lamar people love them or don't Harbaugh now Niners Eagles with Saquon Cowboys brand Packers with Jordan Love you know there's there's seven or eight teams that are more interesting then you get into the Seattle's Tennessee's I mean Seattle can win eight games, and they're still sort of nondescript. Yeah. Can you walk us through this play? What was going through your mind when you're watching this actual play?
Starting point is 01:27:55 Well, I thought at the time, in this game, I wanted the Seahawks. At this point, I'm thinking, yeah, I'd like the Seahawks to win. You know, my friends are Seahawks fans. And I thought, oh, that's a bummer. Again, in that era, that was just you were going to make it. I can remember just being like, because I always loved Parcells, I can just remember thinking, Jesus, has that ever happened before? Has that in the history of football, that ever happened?
Starting point is 01:28:25 The snap is good. It's caught. Then it's bobbled. It's a very unique play. And if you watch him right before the play, Parcells, he's like yelling like, it's not over yet. Like he. Oh, he's animated on the sidelines.
Starting point is 01:28:41 Oh. We're not seeing it here, but I remember the game. He was barking. Oh, yeah. And what gets lost in the sauce a little bit with people animated on the sidelines oh we're not seeing it here but i remember the game he was barking oh yeah and what gets lost in the sauce a little bit with the with people remembering this game is there was a moment after this there was about a minute left dallas was able to stop seattle it was a bad punt and they actually had a hell yeah they yeah they had a really good hail mary yeah it were they had exactly what they wanted the diamond in the end zone with the guy in the middle, and Romo made time to let his guy get downfield,
Starting point is 01:29:07 and it just didn't happen. Yeah, Mike Holmgren said, you end up seeing about everything. One more thing for the journal. It's really an all-time gaffe. And Seattle, Dallas hasn't gotten past the divisional round since. No, they haven't. Final score, 21-20 seahawks average teams
Starting point is 01:29:27 beat up teams classic game sounds like a dallas game kind of it does what's the aftermath you know parcels never coaches again parcels never coaches again dallas hasn't gone past since the divisional round since home green was there for what three more years two or three more years three more years yeah and then they went with? Two or three more years, yeah. And then they went with Pete, I think. This has got to be one of their top-ranked losses of all time. It's one of Rumble's more memorable plays. Well, I'm talking about the Cowboys.
Starting point is 01:29:57 Yeah, it's one of the ugly ones. Are they ever going to get past this curse? What do you think? How many more years? I think they're a flawed football operation. Too beholden to their own picks. Too insular. Not enough exterior voices.
Starting point is 01:30:15 Not willing to hire a coach that pushes back on Jerry. I just think they're a flawed business operation. It's like the Lakers. They rely on Kobe's agent runs the franchise, former players in the building. Big brand brand but kind of flawed operationally i'm i'm a big believer in hiring outside voices for a business to test you and challenge you and question you and dallas doesn't do that you got it gives you new perspective you have to bring in people outside the building i think the downfall of the patriots late is bill going back again and hiring people,
Starting point is 01:30:46 Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, and I think you need fresh eyes. We had Jed Fish. What are you talking about? Jed Fish, head coach of Washington. You need perspective, new perspective, outsiders. Now, what do you think in the comparison of the Holmgren era versus the Pete Carroll era of Seattle?
Starting point is 01:31:03 Well, one was very much about elevating offensive players. The other one was about running game, stay low on turnovers, and win with intimidation and defense. I mean, a lot of what USC was is just great linebacker play, great pressure, liner, not a lot of turnovers, a good strong run game, Bush, Lendale, White.
Starting point is 01:31:25 That was the Seahawks. Yeah. I mean, that's... That's Seattle Six, they call it. Their defense that they all run. Yeah. It got a little outdated, but I think Pete's era was... Everyone uses it, though.
Starting point is 01:31:35 That's what everyone uses. They don't play man. It's a matched man. It's like a zone man. We have any leftover questions over this crazy game that Tony Romo wishes he forgot? I got a couple corrections and additions. There's more corrections than I can handle.
Starting point is 01:31:52 We usually have Jack, our researcher guy here, so I'm filling in. He's texting me like crazy. But I want to add that the Bellevue Wolverines absolutely dismantled the country's top team, De La Salle, in Concord, California, sending the mighty Californians home
Starting point is 01:32:06 with a thorough 39 to 20 beating in front of 24,000 fans for the second annual Emerald City Kickoff Classic in 2004. So good memory
Starting point is 01:32:15 with that. Well, you know that they wouldn't they weren't in a division in our area. They would go play state champions.
Starting point is 01:32:22 They would go to Texas and play their state champion the year before. They would go to Florida and play their state champion the year before. They would go to Florida, and they would beat up on those teams for 20 years. It's got to happen soon. We'll be right back after this quick break. History is filled with strange, unusual, and unexpected stories.
Starting point is 01:32:39 Stories about people who have accomplished extraordinary things. Pets that have gone above and beyond. Events that have defied explanation. And I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing the most curious tales in history with millions of listeners around the world on my hit podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities. With well over 120 million downloads to date, listeners have been fascinated by such tales as the surprising country that invented the croissant, the stowaway-turned-hero who helped capture a Nazi spy, and the wrestling champ who went on to win the White House. And now, finally, nearly 200 of these amazing stories from the podcast have been gathered into one book.
Starting point is 01:33:19 Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at GrimAndMild.com slash curiosities. Hey, this is Mike Wright from the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast. You heard that right. The Fantasy Footballers have officially entered the Dynasty space. Every week we bring you the same in-depth analysis and entertainment you've come to expect from the Fantasy Footballers, only now from a Dynasty perspective. Maybe you've been living in the Dynasty Fantasy Football space for a while. Well, we're here to take your game to the next level.
Starting point is 01:33:57 Maybe you love Fantasy Football and you've been feeling that itch to jump into the Dynasty format, but it feels a little bit intimidating. No matter where you're coming from the fantasy footballers dynasty podcast has something for you and you're gonna have a great time listening i promise join me and the rest of the crew every wednesday for a new episode listen to the fantasy footballers dynasty podcast on the iheartartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. into something everyone in the South loves, the biscuits. I was a lady rebel. Like, what does that even mean? The Boone County rebels will stay the Boone County rebels with the image of the biscuits. It's right here in black and white in print.
Starting point is 01:34:52 A lion. An individual that came to the school saying that God sent him to talk to me about the mascot switch. As a leader, you choose hills that you want to die on. Why would we want to be the losing team? I'd just take all the other stuff out of it. Segregation academies. When the civil rights said that we need to integrate public schools, these charter schools were exempt from that.
Starting point is 01:35:15 Bigger than a flag or mascot. You have to be ready for serious backlash. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's name the game. What would you name this game? I would say the Romo Snap Game. You've got to put Romo's name in the title.
Starting point is 01:35:37 I would call it the Romo Snap Game. The Romo Snap Game. Let's score the game. Is this the greatest game of all time? Let's score it. Stakes 1-10 in a divisional round, Colin. Decimals are okay. What are the stakes this game?
Starting point is 01:35:54 Oh, 1-10. The stakes were low. Probably a 4. It is a playoff game. It meant a lot for Parcell's career. Let's go 4.5. We got an integrity-type score going here. You guys scored too.
Starting point is 01:36:05 I would say like a 6.5. It's still a and a half. We got an integrity type score going here. You guys scored two. I would say like a six and a half. It's still a playoff game. Dallas hadn't won a playoff game in a long time. Seattle, there's a lot of stakes because they had a shitty season. They just went to the Super Bowl. They're battling the Super Bowl slump. So star power in this game, one to ten. Not a ton.
Starting point is 01:36:23 Parcells may have been the biggest name. Tony Romo second. A running back was big. Very little star power in this game, 1-10. Not a ton. Parcells may have been the biggest name. Tony Romo second. A running back was big. Very little star power, about 4.5. Again, the crowd felt like as big a factor. Parcells was the star of the game, really. Yeah. You got two Hall of Fame coaches.
Starting point is 01:36:38 I'll go with a 6, a flat 6. The gameplay of the game. Sloppy football, but a lot of excitement. Oh, the play of the game's a nine. A nine. It's one of the craziest. I mean, it's like the David Tyree catch. You've never seen it since.
Starting point is 01:36:53 When you have a play in football and you're like, I've never seen that. That's all-time stuff. That's like people in the living room screaming when that happens. Both sides are screaming. A lot of times you get one side screaming like cowboy fans are screaming and seahawk fans are cheering like that's a wild play
Starting point is 01:37:10 this is about our 60th game and you just made us think of something i never thought of before which is we've always just used gameplay as just a single game but i think there's a difference between an audience's version like opinion of the gameplay and it coaches because this game a coach might be like gameplay dog shit but an audience is like that last fourth quarter that's incredible back and forth yeah this is that's what we do at games with names we bring an outside perspective to try to make our business better score it was also shocking most touchdowns aren't shocking most great plays aren't shocking yeah that's a shocking play a gimme yeah dav. Yeah. That's a shocking play. A gimme.
Starting point is 01:37:46 Yeah. David Tyree, that's a shocking play. That was a very shocking play. I'm going to go with the game play 7.5, 7.5. The name of the game, I mean. Well, I mean, in the history, there's been the Raiders, Steelers, the Bradshaw, Franco Harris isHarris is one of the, it's probably the greatest name.
Starting point is 01:38:09 Maculish reception. Probably the greatest name out here. I'd put it a five, five and a half. It's the Romo snap game, but it is memorable. Very few games can you use three or four words and everybody knows what you mean. Oh, everyone knows this game. Yeah, the Dez Bryant non-catch game. That that's you know what that means yes you do the david tyree catch game
Starting point is 01:38:32 without a doubt i'm gonna go with that his point just made my points go up yeah the cultural relevance of the cultural relevance of this game is is huge so I'm going to go with the 7.9. 8.3, 8.05, 7. There you go. And where does it stand in our games? Probably low. This is above the 2031 game, 1995 Angels-Orioles-Cal Ripken-Ironman game. And then just below the 2011 Stanley Cup Final,
Starting point is 01:39:07 Game 7, Bruins-Canucks. We do an insane disservice to hockey on this podcast. Yeah, everybody does. Game 7 is right above this. We love hockey. Botched snap game. But I got to see guys running on field or courts. It's too fast.
Starting point is 01:39:24 I can't follow the puck. Colin, you want to add anything about this game? No, I got a company called The Volume. Check it out. Google The Volume. Proud of it. Got a great staff. Work hard.
Starting point is 01:39:35 Shannon Sharpe's on it. He's a big deal. Draymond Green obviously gets people all worked up. Jason Temp, John Middlecoff, former NFL scout. Love it. Great. Up to 40, 42 employees growing like crazy good people yeah DraftKings big sponsor so feel lucky feel lucky lucky guy very grateful well we're
Starting point is 01:39:55 grateful to have you here in the Nuthouse doing games with names it was honestly a pleasure I've learned so much from you just being in out of football and in the Fox world for a little bit you know I really do watch your show and how you compute things and you're able to communicate things with your analogies and bringing in pop culture to ultimately
Starting point is 01:40:18 bring it to a sport or your point is like I look up to that it's awesome I appreciate you coming doing the show i have a good route tree man that was an awesome show he's he's just he's a really calculated smart man he could talk and be interesting for i think consistently like the entire day like you could just be just hearing something from him and it's interesting and you're engaged forever. It's,
Starting point is 01:40:45 it's an insane skillset that he has curiosity, hard work. I gotta be more curious. Now he said, I'm curious. So you're curious. All right, let's hit the hotline.
Starting point is 01:40:57 All right, let's hit the hotline. Uh, remember guys, the number is four, two, four, two,
Starting point is 01:41:03 nine, one, two, two, nine, zero. Let's hit-291-2290. Let's hit the old hotline. What's going on, fellas? Jules, I want to hear you talk about that touchdown you scored on special teams
Starting point is 01:41:20 off that fumble recovery that kind of like just popped in your hands. Diehard Pats fan since 96. Love the podcast. Let's fucking go, go pack man that play thank you for the call that play was awesome that was um thanksgiving i believe 2012 in new york the butt fumble game it was a butt fumble game uh mccordy went down and hit mcknight and i was i was flying down the field, converging, and the ball, it was like out of a dream or something, just popped up, and I saw it and caught it in stride and went in.
Starting point is 01:41:55 I mean, it was just a weird play, but awesome play. We've been circling that game for a while. I've been talking, flirting with Mark Sanchez, flirting with Vince Wolfork. This game's hard on us. We want to do this game. Patriots win 49-19 on Thanksgiving Day. Yeah, that was a bad game for them.
Starting point is 01:42:15 I think we scored like 21 points or 19 points in like 35 points in the second quarter. And there was like the back-to-back. There was a back-to-back-to-back. I think Fireman Ed, I think he retired he retired then they brought him out of retirement he's back he's back it's good for the game we need also i know this is real early i don't even know if i should be saying it but there's some whispers of some stuff about doing some episodes from the jet stadium with some people it just got thrown thrown on me. That's all I can say. Oh, my God. But let's just say it'll be worth it if it happens.
Starting point is 01:42:49 It's not the Jet Stadium, first off. That's how Asaf said Jet Stadium. Even in that moment when he said that, I was like, it's Giant Stadium, idiot. Well, it's not even Giant Stadium anymore. It's MetLife Stadium. It's the MetLife Stadium. The old Giant Stadium.
Starting point is 01:43:02 I played in the old Metal Lands for a start. I love that highway that just drives by, and it's really just a fucking swamp just off in the distance. Yeah, but it's so cool. When you get off the plane and you're driving towards your hotel, we used to stay at the airport hotel for no distractions, obviously. Flying the Newark. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:43:24 And you drive and you see the city on the right, and then you see big old Meadowlands on the left. You see, like, the ski park. You see a bunch of crazy Jets fans. It was awesome. You played some games against the Giants there, too, right? Yeah, I broke my foot there. That was that with the last-minute field goal, yeah.
Starting point is 01:43:44 2000. Deion Lewis, too. All right, next one my foot there. That was that with the last-minute field goal. Yeah. Deion Lewis, too. All right, next one. Thank you. So going back to the Seahawks Super Bowl with the Patriots, obviously they ran a lot of single high stuff. Without getting too technical, I was just curious from a viewer's standpoint, they ran a lot of single high stuff, which is like cover one, cover three.
Starting point is 01:44:07 How were you guys able to identify the one versus the three during the play? Because it seemed like you had a lot of post-snap adjustments or Billy O'Brien calls them side adjustments. How were you able to identify that stuff and snap routes off to the proper positioning where Tom was able to time things up and hit things where they needed to be? That's a great question. positioning where Tom was able to time things up and hit things where they need to be? That's a great question. That was the old Seattle Six.
Starting point is 01:44:33 Dan Quinn was the head coach, or the DC. And the one thing about Seattle and that defense and the Legion of Boom, they did what they did. They rushed four, and they played like this match zone on the backside with their secondary, and they had really good football players that all played on a string. So if one guy went somewhere, another guy went another where, another place. It was pretty easy to see man coverage versus zone coverage. That's why you saw a lot of times we'd have Gronk way outside.
Starting point is 01:45:04 So if you saw a linebacker win over have gronk way outside so if you saw a linebacker went over with gronk you knew it was man coverage they weren't going to put you know a linebacker out there to play cover three if they put a you know if the corner was out there on gronk or through a formation indicator or some sort of motion and it was it would be a corner out on whatever player that shouldn't have a corner then you knew it was a zone of some sort. But it was tricky with them because their zones played like matched man zones. You know, the outside guys, you know, they play with a less fear factor because they had things coming to break on the under of them,
Starting point is 01:45:42 so they were able to jump routes and keep their eyes in the backfield. That's what those defenses get to do. And they only do that was because of Bennett and all the interior guys that they could get after the quarterback with just four guys. So you need to have a really good defensive line in order to do that. And they also just so happen to have one of the best secondaries of my era. So it was a crazy good defense, but we knew what they were going to do. We knew, and they were a team that did what they did.
Starting point is 01:46:13 They knew you knew what they were playing. They said, we're going to run it, you beat it. That was their motto. We just had a lot of good stuff dialed up for them. Love it. I also just realized you're wearing a seahawk shirt right now too i know i'm wearing a seahawk shirt that's the afc seahawks this is afc seahawks i'll do one more last one hey julian hey guys how you doing so i'm in my car on my way home from work listening to this video when all of a sudden i felt like calling
Starting point is 01:46:48 and asking you julian what is the best piece of advice you've ever received best piece of advice you've ever received the one thing that comes to my mind is my dad when you're green you grow when you're ripe you're rot You always got to keep learning. You think you got all the answers. That's when you get picked. When you get picked, you ain't live no more. You're dead. You're done.
Starting point is 01:47:16 When you're green, you grow. When you're ripe, you rot. It works in every facet of life. I use it all the time now, too, because of Frank. Mostly just to you. Yeah, but it's an extension of frank it is man what an episode thanks again to call in that's been another episode of games with names subscribe on apple podcast spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast comment a game
Starting point is 01:47:39 you want us to do and remember rate and review Oh, Jules, you're so small. Oh, you know why he's mad? Because it's usually Jack that does it. He doesn't have a line. I just don't want to do it. He doesn't have a line. He doesn't have a line. Remember to follow Games With Names on YouTube, Instagram, X, TikTok, and Snapchat.
Starting point is 01:48:01 Leave a message on the old hotline, BLE Bling at 424-291-2290. We will see you guys next week. Games with Names is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 01:48:23 Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadson. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do,
Starting point is 01:48:41 like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese.
Starting point is 01:49:04 Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports.
Starting point is 01:49:30 Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 01:49:54 The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. History is filled with unexpected stories, and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing history's most curious tales on my podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities, such as the surprising country that invented the croissant and the wrestling champ who won the White House. And now these amazing stories and many more have been compiled into my new book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at GrimAndmild.com slash curiosities.
Starting point is 01:50:31 Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford, and I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life, Because the more we know about what's running under the hood, better we can steer our lives. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.