The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: Burn The Tape

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

After reviewing the film from yesterday's Game 1 loss, the crew gets back on track by tush pushin' through a conversation about NFL rule changes. Today's cast: Domonique Foxworth, Andrew Hawkins, Chris, Billy, Charlie Kravitz, and Mike. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Okay, Martin, let's try one. Remember, big. You got it. The Ford It's a Big Deal event is on. How's that? Uh, a little bigger. The Ford It's a Big Deal event. Nice. Now the offer? Lease a 2025 Escape Active all-wheel drive from 198 bi-weekly at 1.99% APR for 36 months with $27.55 down. Wow, that's like $99 a week.

Yeah, it's a big deal. The Ford It's a Big Deal event. Visit your Toronto area Ford store or Ford.ca today. Now is a good time to remember where Tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented Tequila. Cuervo. What are you doing here? Cuervo.

Anytime someone says Cuervo, I show up. Well, I do know that to be true, but even during ad reads, like like Cuervo. I think he could lay out especially for one of our great partners. Sweet delicious Cuervo. Since then Cuervo has stayed true to its roots. The same family, the same land, the same passion. Cuervo. So enjoy the tequila that started it all. Cuervo. Cuervo. The tequila that invented tequila. Proximo. Cuervo.com, please drink responsibly. Cuervo. This is the Dan LeBataille Show with the Stookats Podcast. All right.

We back to the Dan LeBataille Show, Sands Dance, me and your boy Hawk in the building. We had a couple of changes to the shipping container. Jessica's not here today. Jessica's not here today. Roy's not here today. But for game two, we're bringing a big dog in. One of everyone's favorites. Look at him, locked in with the glasses on. There you go, a chest pal from Billy Gill.

What up, Billy? Welcome to the show, buddy. With his own intro music. Hey, guys. We got a flush. We got a flush with 24-hour rule. We flush game one. We're on to game two. We came to get a split. With his own intro music. Hey guys. We got a flush, we got a flush with 24 hour rule. We flush game one, we on to game two. We came to get a split, let's get a split.

We need big dog Billy in the building to get the split. How was game one? Because I just said, oh, I saw you guys had Kenan on. We got a flush, we got a flush game one. We got to review the film. So 24 hour, we already reviewed it. I reviewed the film last night. Technically 24 hours is like 21 right now.

But just the 24 hour rule is what it's called. I mean, even if it's not 21 right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but just the 24 hour rule is what it's called. I mean, even if it's not 24. I mean, we could go through it if you want to. I've reviewed the tape. I think Billy needs context so that he knows what to bring to game two. So first of all, before we get to that,

at some point we're gonna get into some draft stuff today. We're gonna refresh the Uber ratings, because we got some, the big T's, we got a means rating, guys. Get ready. So we're gonna update that at some point. I got a story for you guys about my racist cat. All this is gonna happen.

We're also going to discuss the tournament and the tush push rule. But before we do that, this is the last, we do the little film session right now. This is the last time we talk about it. If you wanna go into it, my assessment of yesterday's show was We got off to a good start. We were great. We got a big lead great stuff We were feeling good

And then they brought out a different defense that I wasn't ready for and as the point guard I got flustered by the defense So what are we doing? Yes? Oh like turn over turn over turn over to back. Oh, they were We didn't take a timeout. We didn't regroup, we didn't like huddle up, nothing. If you can't stop the opposition from scoring, take the timeout coach. That is like coaching 101, you don't just let it continue. As we discussed yesterday on the Dominique Foxer show, me and Charlie have a thing where we say accountability plays and you have to be very accountable when you mess up. And I accept that yesterday I was full of myself. I parachuted in and we got off to a great start,

I thought, Chris was ballin'. We did the intros, we had some good topics, we was laughin', we had that thread of Leroy. You hooked us up with that, we was goin'. I was like, man, I'm in this, this is easy. Hit it to my man in the corner, hit a wide open three. Fast break, ooh, great defense great defense rebound and then they start throwing Yes, I was like, oh no

Crazy It was crazy It got crazy for a second bill the only three things that I heard about yesterday was that you asked the caddy who could be in The PJ tour you started the Keenan interview with who did Morgan wall and call the n-word And then Keenan was with us on behalf of gird and then Mike made one of them for Mike made fun of him Miss read the room. He didn't like it. I was just ailment. Misread the room. He didn't like me. He said, why am I standing? I was like, I don't know. I never thought about it until he said that.

I never questioned why Mike is the only one who ever stands until Keenan Thompson said it. I only stand because Tony stands. So I'm not going to get alphaed that way. Yeah, that makes sense. And then we were finally getting Steve Williams' best answer, and we heard the middle'm gonna love it. Oh.

Oh. Hold on, one second. In Mike's defense. I thought we burned the tape. In Mike's, we gotta do a, we gotta bury it. We gotta bury it like Rex Ryan did back in the day when he buried the ball. In Mike's defense, I was the point guard

and I clearly couldn't point guard anymore. So Mike was trying to point guard. Chris, what do you got? That was another thing he kept doing. Chris, do you have a question for the guest? Mike definitely tried to bring the ball up for it. Chris, it is now your turn to ask a question of our guest. Please, sir.

I refuse to use the backroom communications. I want it on air. Mike was definitely an old, like a 90s five. Not like a today's, not like a yolkage and Mike was like, you know what? I'm putting it on my Ball at the court and pulled from the logo and they went way over the backboard but hand up I got to know my teammate Terrible entry pass. I brought up Jim Laranaga mistake

Derailed the show right there. You You gotta get it to Mike in his spot Just that Mike Michael Sweetney right there in the post man. Don't take every shot. He's still going at it this guy Now look I will say that what they always say yes 24-hour rule But they also say the tape is never as good as you think and it's never as bad as you think and I don't think the game film was as bad as we thought it to be when we left the game because Somebody asked Kenan Thompson that question yesterday and he answered it somewhere and it ended up on variety.com So maybe we shouldn't have came out the gate with that play Yeah, but you weren't wrong to see that opportunity in the defense.

That's why he was wrong, because he asked it in such an aggressive way that he wasn't going to get it. Before he said hello. We learned from our mistakes. He went for comedy instead of for journalism. Which I'm okay with that move with the comedian. It was a decision. It was a choice. A poor one. I think his response was, this is what happens when Dan's not here Which is like his biggest mistake thinking that it would be the less awkward with Dan in there But you know when when you're starting the series on the road, you really just want to take away home court advantage

I mean we all had our we had our down So like if we if we take game two we we got home court come back for game three So let's let's focus on one game at a time game two is right there in front of us We know where we went wrong and I mean even though the vine the Jim Larone go right there We're not gonna take it. It's rare in the first quarter of this game to were like can you guys believe that game one? That shit was crazy. No, I was trying to start game two and you guys wanted to do an assessment.

And one thing I'm not gonna walk away from is some good open criticism of me. Let's dive into it. So we good? Is it all out on the table? I did say two up, two down. For kidding. And I feel like we glossed over that.

We even forgot about that. And I also wanna raise my hand with accountability. There you go. Especially as one of the only two blacks in game two. They say I am ashamed of myself. I will be better today. Yeah, I mean two black people's not enough. We gotta get another black person.

Hey Carl, find me a black person to join the show today. Literally, two up, two down. That's what we are today. All right. So we're good? We're good. That was the third time I tried to put the show behind us and then someone else jumped back in. There was one positive that we can learn from game one and you mentioned the hot start, which was you guys were just calling full back dive. We had pigskin as America's pastime and we talked football to start and that was a good start that we had. So should we replicate that?

I think we should, I think we should. Perfectly done. Tush push, get that crap up out of the league. Am I right? Should we? You're not one of these guys. I'm just playing devil's advocate here, because I don't feel great about punishing somebody

for doing something better than everyone else. Because that is the name of sports, and it does, like we talked about, tie into the legal corked back situation going on in New York. They're not corked. It's something. It is also framing matters.

They're just a little misshapen, I guess. It's a design, it's not, because when you say it's a corked back, it's suggested they're cheating. Yeah, it feels like it. They just, what I don't understand, if we're moving over to basketball, I mean to baseball, what I don't understand is why everyone doesn't have a torpedo bat right now?

Like what are you doing? LA Delacruz busted a torpedo bat yesterday. Two home runs. Seven RBI's, two home runs. See? I think that I need a torpedo bat just to hold while I do the show. Yeah, it'll help us in game two for sure. So look I think that I need a torpedo bat just to hold while I do the show.

Yeah. It'll help us in game two, for sure. So look, the tush push. What happens, the only reason why I kind of agree is what happened in the Super Bowl, when the refs were like, we're going to give them a touchdown. And that's like, what do you use? Oh, they're in a conference championship game.

Oh, yeah, a conference championship. I thought that was compelling. I thought the commanders were really going out of their way and were effective Yeah, outside of that one time where they jumped off side like seven consecutive times. They lit up 55 points That's a commander's fan But I mean no it was they were showing that there was a path and like hawk alluded to

This play is available to all 32 teams in the league two teams do it exceptionally well and we're going to stop it because one team is a Super Bowl champion and really does it exceptionally well. No one else does it as good. So this is the, what happened in the commander's game was on the goal line, the Eagles were trying to do the tush push and the commanders were completely comfortable with jumping off sides in order to stop the tush push because half the distance to the goal is nothing

and six points is a lot. So eventually the ref suggested that you do it again, we just gonna give him six points. Which is come on man, we should have made a bigger deal about that as a society. What the hell are we doing? Who gives you the right? Who gave you the authority to award touchdowns

for plays that aren't touchdowns in the conference championship game? Wow, thank you, Tush Push. We had no idea that a ref could do this. What? I mean, it was such an exciting, captivating moment that we found out that the ref can do that. To answer your question, the NFL bylaws and rule book

give you the right to do it? There's no way that's legal. It is legal. I've never heard of that ever in my history of life. So I mean, I guess you have to take it out to the most extreme is if they just continue to jump off sides, the game would never end. So the ref has to have some sort of power at that point

because no time runs off the clock. The ball moves a smaller fraction of an inch every play. Like if we're talking about ending this game and having a game, if you're in that situation, the refs have to have some sort of recourse, right? No. I don't believe you. So you want that Bill Belichick to be like,

you know what, we're gonna jump off sides until tomorrow. We're gonna have a war of attrition. It's the only solve. To see who gets hungry soon enough. Who loses more in commercials by continuing to keep this play going? Was it not the most effective we've ever seen against the tush push?

In what? In that two minutes? It's a quarterback sneak. I don't understand. Just because it looks a little different than your conventional quarterback sneak, we're gonna outlaw it, then outlaw the quarterback sneak. And the argument is it doesn't look like football,

it looks exactly like football to me. It's a little like rugby. Yeah, it looks a lot more like a game. Which is a lot like football! McMay was like, it's not cause they're good at it, it just doesn't feel like football. All right, there's a couple different things, I think that there's a couple of different reasons

why I think it should be banned, and it's not because of how effective it is. The idea that it's not against the rules is kind of murky because you can read the rules a different way to suggest that you're not allowed to help pull or push any player in a league. It's always been against the rules to be able to do that. Recently they kind of de-emphasized it I guess because it's still technically in the rulebook. Isn't it that you can't aid and assist someone in that situation?

The reason why I don't like it is not because it's effective. I think people want to make it like, oh, you can't stop it, get it out the game. It's because it's the responsibility of the league to create the best product. And I think oftentimes, we think about rule changes as it relates to health and safety, which sometimes is true. But the rule changes, as we've learned in baseball recently, you got to tweak them and the NFL and even the NBA has been comfortable with tweaking rules in order to keep the entertainment quality there. And I think Mike is right. At this

point, the tush push doesn't bother me as far as like entertainment quality. There is some suspense to it, but I do think that it encourages us to a version of football that we don't like. Because if the rules aren't going to make it so you can't do it anymore, then the coaches and general managers have to design plays and draft players in order to stop it. And I think that sends us in a path that's less fun to watch. It's getting stopped. I mentioned that there are two teams that are really good at it. The other ones are Buffalo Bills.

Famously, in their conference championship game, they got stopped. I mentioned that there are two teams that are really good at it. The other ones are Buffalo Bills. Famously in their conference championship game, they got stopped. Now, it might have been a controversial call, but it wasn't the only time in that game. In a short yardage situation, Buffalo lined up and Casey was ready for it. I think teams just got to get better at it. And I did think towards the tail end of the season, you started seeing teams find ways around this. Ironically, one of the best teams at it is the Arizona Cardinals, with tiny Kyler Murray. So it's like we talk, there's all the, like every single discussion's like,

well, Jalen Hurts squats 600 pounds. Nah, five foot nine quarterback can do it. I mean, I've seen Kyler Murray run the ball. I'm not sure that he doesn't also squat 600 pounds. I was gonna say, that dude's got some power. He's probably all thighs, actually. But it goes to, people make the argument, like if you don't like it, you stop it.

Like it's a manly thing. Like my pushback from the defensive perspective is, why y'all gotta push? If we wanna do a quarterback sneak and you wanna go mono on mono, you're centers and guards against ID tacklers and linebackers, then do it. Tell Saquon to get his big quad ass outta there

and stop pushing. It's not as if McKay-Beckton ain't big enough. I wanna see that. That to me feels like a fairer matchup and a more interesting and a less lopsided play. Should a team draft Desmond Watson, the 464 pound defensive tackle from Florida, one of the NFC East teams just for tush push situations.

Yes, and so we can just run a jet sweep on exactly every time he's on the field just to say hey We took away 10 on 11. Let's go far left. So job finished by Desmond Watson. Good job, buddy Desmond Watson is not like a great college football player. He's just 460 pounds 464. Yeah, and he. And he wore number 21, which is funny. Perfect, perfect. I know it's like an old, thuggy take. I hate him running, though. He can't get them knees up.

464? Grande Pobloso, that guy sucks. Out there. It's like a seven foot nine college basketball recruit that's outside the top 100. What's going on here? How is that? Didn't he walk on?

Yeah, like, how are you seven foot nine and not one of the top 100 high What's going on here? How is that? Did you walk on? How are you a 7'9' and not one of the top 100 high school basketball players? Florida has a 7'9' guy too, Olivier Roux. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Hand out my bag. It's alright. We'll bounce back from that. I know it's an old foggy take, but there were people that were doing this for forward passes. You know, it's just, it's, I don't understand it. There's, it's available to everyone. So first of all, everybody could do it. What if they just tush push all the way down the field? What if they're averaging three yards a clip and they just say, you know what?

We're just going to tush push this entire drive. I'd love to see that. You're acting like there isn't other unfair things in the sport. I think Patrick Mahomes is pretty unfair. Let's outlaw him. See, this is amazing, Mike. Your two takes, NFL executives agree.

This is an anonymous NFL executive said that if these guys were around during Johnny United's years, they'd be banning the forward pass. And Mike Frable literally said, well, I guess Lamar Jackson's unfair without like ironic. Let's talk about something that makes watching college hoops even better. Evan Williams bourbon. It's game day's number one pour.

The perfect addition from tip off traditions to buzzer beater celebrations. This award winning bourbon is extra aged for a taste that's smooth, rich, and easy to enjoy. Whether neat, on the rocks, or in a classic cocktail, personally, I like to drink it on the rocks. So, whether it's a pre-game pour or a post-win nightcap, make every game day moment even better with Evan Williams. Visit EvanWilliams.com to find a bottle near you. Evan Williams Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Bardstown, Kentucky. 43 to 45% alcohol by volume.

Enjoy responsibly, 21 and older. Hey audience, you know it's that time of year where everyone is debating who the number one pick is going to be. Well, let me tell you something that is undebatable. Who the world's number one vodka is. That is Smirnoff and as fun as it is to debate whether or not the team with the number one pick goes pass rush or wide receiver quarterback. One thing

that we all know is we're going with Smirnoff as our number one vodka pick. Isn't that right Dano? Smirnoff rules! Smirnoff rules! So while you're over there hosting your draft parties you know one thing in particular you need well there's two things that you absolutely need. The draft on TV. That's a must. But number two, what is it, Dano? Do you like Dano? Support the people who support us. Smirnoff supports us. I like Smirnoff. I don't like Dano. And thanks to Smirnoff, God Bless Football is doing their first ever watch along live stream in front of a live audience in Nashville, Tennessee. Join God bless football during round one of the draft on the Levitard show YouTube channel

on April 24th. More details to come. Please drink responsibly. Smirnoff, number 21 vodka distilled from grain, 40% alcohol by volume. The Smirnoff company, New York, New York. Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age. Hey friends, it's Jerr Bear here, and I'm here to tell you all about Boost Mobile, which is now a legit nationwide 5G network.

So I must take a break from the jokes here for a second and put on my serious voice. Because I would never ever joke about a 5G network that has invested billions building 5G towers across the country. Not even once. Not even if Mr. Boost Mobile himself asked me to. There is nothing funny about it. Boost Mobile is now a legit nationwide 5G network and also provides coverage across 99% of America.

Seriously. Visit BoostMobile.com or your nearest Boost Mobile store location to learn more. The Boost Mobile network, together with our roaming partners, covers 99% of the U.S. population. 5G speeds not available in all areas. Don Lebatard! Cheaters never prosper! Stugats! I ain't cheatin'! This is the Don Lebatard show with a stooge ads

Nick Sirianni should start next season if they don't ban it the first drive of the first to push the entire drive to see how far they can go. With just a tush push. He has nothing to lose. He won the Super Bowl. I think his fan base who hates him would love him for doing that. His fan base who hates him. He won him doing that. His fan base who hates him. He wanted him to support him, but they still don't like him.

So Desmond Watson looks like Big X to plug while he is jumping and running, by the way. Did he not? He did look like Big X. He also played college football. Did he? He wasn't any good, obviously. I think he went to a D2 school, D3 school.

I've seen Big X on stage. I'm pretty sure he don't look all athletic. He don't be moving like he could he don't got a lot of like That outside zone would again big X hell push push push though Oh big X would have plugged might have been the plug for the commanders So the the thing I would push back against you Mike you're saying I think it's fair all things that you're saying is fair however The thing I would push back against you, Mike, what you're saying, and I think it's fair, all the things that you're saying is fair. However, it doesn't address the point that I was making. My point isn't about it's not fair. You know why you don't outlaw the forward pass?

This is awesome. You know why you don't outlaw Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson? This is awesome. This end, it encourages people to get faster, more athletic, more fun to watch people onto the field in order to compensate for Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes and also the forward pass.

You gotta get a more aerial, more fun game. And I feel like some of the rules changes in football were partially about moving us away from a more physical game in the 90s, but also encouraging passing because it's more fun to watch. And that is my argument for why I don't love the tush push because you end up in a situation where you start to increase the value of players like Desmond Watson,

which no disrespect. Okay with that, honestly. I'm serious. I know you are. Like the big guy, like I don't mind, I don't want it all the way down the field, but I don't mind a package where it's like, okay, you got your tush push,

where they're bringing in their two 400 pound guys. I like specialists and there's something to be said for it. They leaned into their identity. They built an entire roster for those situations and it kind of got all boiled down to that one play. It took every single guy on that side of the ball to basically buy in and execute that play better than everybody. And now you're going to change the rule and you have to look at your roster and try to figure things out. I don't think it's fair.

Right. Well, I mean, Howie Roseman's roster construction strategy is something that Charlie loves because it's pretty plain and simple. Him big, him fast, him strong. Him an eagle. Him an eagle, right? Him Georgia Bulldog. Yeah, yeah. Because I believe Kirby Smart also has the same strategy. He's like, hey, get the biggest, fastest, strongest guys.

And so I don't think the two- Who drive really fast. Yeah. They gotta drive super fast, man. Can we talk for, this is a small detour. Georgia had a receiver named Nitro Tuggle driving 107 miles an hour. That rules.

He should not get a ticket if your name is Nitro. He's gonna make a great eagle. Yeah, so I think what I'm having a hard time with is when I present my reasoning, no one refutes the reasoning that I've suggested. Like you keep twisting it back to something else that I don't think matters. I will refute it.

I like watching a team try to stop an unstoppable play. And I think that there was high drama in those conference championship games because Washington did make Philadelphia think about it. Philadelphia was hopping off sides. Philadelphia was trying to do different things out of it because Washington was providing an issue. And in the AFC Championship game

against a team that is second most famous for doing this, there was a play that decided the game by Kansas City stopping it. So I think it's high drama. The, I'm sorry, go ahead. I was gonna say, I don't think you think there was drama in the AFC Championship game or the Super Bowl. As a commander.

The second Saquon Barkley took that first run to the house. Fair enough. The Super Bowl was over in five minutes. Well, what I'll remember forever is the seven straight plays that my guy from the commanders hopped over the line of scrimmage. Frankie Lewis. The official to say, hey, you keep doing this. I'm just going to give him the touchdown.

That was amazing. That was crazy talk, man. I still don't think, I don't understand where that ref gets off. I'm pissed't think I don't understand where that ref Ref have a different number. Okay, mine's six then I'm giving it to you for me. It's ten I'll wait for ten I think the refs should have names in the back of their jerseys and we should they should get on the podium after the game And go through the game tape like we had to do today There's no accountability for you just to say hey

I'm all of a sudden the touchdowns are, and I'm just gonna decide you get a touchdown and you get a pick over there, because I like the way that you've been paying attention this game. No, that's not how this works. I was with you until we handed out interceptions. That's what I'm saying, when does it stop, Dom?

I'm on board with handing out picks, so I'll take a couple more. I'm pretty sure Charlie has the answer for this, but what makes a tush push the tush push? Having a big running back push your quarterback sneak? So that's specifically what you outlawed because you're not gonna outlaw the quarterback sneak, right? Because a white guy was really good at it,

and Tom Brady, so we're not gonna do that. It's the scrum formation too. It's even some of the linemen get pushed so you get a bigger push forward from inline tight ends and full backs. But I'm just saying, how do you legislate it? How do you? No, you cannot,

I think it's already in the rule books. You cannot help a runner. You can't push from behind. You can even add to it that you can't push a guard from behind. But linemen do that a lot. I love when there's like a slum. I love when the pile moves like nine yards.

You see like a guard come flying up and it pushes it across the first down. That's a great plan. Yeah, I want that still. That's in the course of the game. I don't mind that as much. And I think that when it's an obvious thing that's clearly bad for the game, the decision is easy.

In the course of a game? All of this is. The torch push is also in the course of a game. No, I'm saying that it's in the course of a play, a normal play. It's like a slot receiver catches an out, and the guard just hauls ass downfield to help out. That's different than lining up.

That's different from lining up. It's not a different play. They're all football different than lining up. That's different from lining up. It's not a different play than, they're all football plays. I get what he's saying. I do, but like they say, said hood and they snap. His explanation is tough.

I'm trying to, no, I know exactly what he means. Everyone gets it. Will they still have that? What we were just talking about, if they ban the tush push, will the linemen still be able to do that? I would prefer them not to,

but I'll make the concession that they can. Get out of here. The guy has the ball. Let him run and tackle. You flying downfield throwing your fat ass body into a group of football players feels stupid and unnecessary. I've gotten hurt multiple times, by the way.

Get out of here. Stop it. Your job is to block. Somebody protect me. But whatever. What I don't like is the push push formation. And I think that it's easy when there's a rule that is obviously bad for the game.

I think it's hard when you have to project how it will impact the game going forward, which is why I agree with you, Mike. Last year, the tush push, it's overpowered, but it doesn't bother me near as much as, I guess, and this is my fault, what I'm projecting it will do. Cause people, if you don't outlaw it,

and I know you said some people found a way to stop it, it's overwhelmingly unstoppable. If you don't do something about that, then the teams have to do something about that, which I think pushes us in a direction that I thought we were staring away from, and we love the way football is played now. I like your point about the formation.

What if you have to declare that you're gonna tush push and then the defense gets their team ready for the because the real fear is that you can't commit too much to the tush push because they'll throw it deep but if you want to do the tush push you declare you get your tush push team ready we get our tush push team ready and we just the head coach the head coach like hits his butt to signal it yeah and it's like our tush push team ready and we just the head coach the head coach like hits his butt to signal it Yeah, and it's like yo tush push team. It becomes a special to make it look less like football How about it's just four guys on the line

Trent Richardson would have had a 10-year NFL as a tush push specialist coming under center for one play That's really what it is. It's special teams. That's why we're missing it. We just cracked the code. It's a special teams play that doesn't fit within the other course of plays, much like all the other special teams plays. I would say that one thing about the tush push that I like is it encourages more aggression from coaches on fourth down.

It does somehow though discourage aggression on third down, which is like we don't take that to account. Also, when it's third and sixth, one of the great beauties about being on defense, third and sixth, we know you throwing, here comes our best blitz, here comes our nickel and dime package. Now it's like third and sixth, y'all gonna run it again? And I get what you're saying. That's whack. What do you mean it's whack? Wow, you're making defense harder. Come on, man. That's whack. What do you mean? It's like a while. You're making defense harder

Football that's not the argument I'm making Mike you love course you like Defense It's already really difficult to stop these offenses and now we're gonna change obvious passing situations just because they're good at running that's a That's actually the best probably take for in in What am I saying Because here's my thing really quick I've been flip-flopping back and forth arguing both sides that take nobody's noticed No, no, no, what's your what's your I? So I forgot which take I was arguing for in that moment. I know you said that I was really right with something.

I've been there. So what you gotta understand is, I think that you came in today thinking like, hey, I got my man. I'm gonna be everything for my guy today. But don't worry. I'm doing a lot of jobs right now. Don't worry. I gotta get back into my system.

I got this hosting thing under control. You do. I got it under control. Maybe we get rid of motion too. That's hard to cover. See, now you're being sarcastic, I feel like. You like declaring plays. I hate that.

Like I hate that they have to declare on-site kicks now. Yeah, I don't like that portion, but I do like the idea to even the playing field because there's no way you can stop the tush push in a way where it seems fair for both sides and the argument Mike was making that well he was saying it in jest but in sarcasm but it's true all the rules do benefit the offense so now you give them another one I can't when is the last defensive rule not now you know what it is is they re-emphasized

illegal man downfield is they had like a whole season of RPOs where the offensive lineman would be four yards downfield and the quarterback would pull it and throw a slant. And defenses, like you may think that we look to see if the ball's handed off, we get our run past keys from the offensive lineman. So like it was really unfair to be like, hey, we're running the ball, look at this tackle who's three yards down the field. Psych your mind.

So they also made, did they take away cut blocks completely? Yeah, they took, that was a health and safety thing. Not completely, but you can't cut block from the outside in anymore where you used to be able to do that. They also took away the defender's ability to cut. So as a cornerback, they will run screen passes. That plays into this as well, because in the tush push, if I'm on the D line, can I just dive at the office of line's legs? You can.

Okay, so they didn't take that away. All right, well I got nothing for you, Nick. I wish we had like an evolution of the tush push, right? Like I'm looking at formation here, and I feel like if we had like a wildcat come out of the tush push, right? Where like Jaylen's down there, they hike it to Jalen, and then he just like passes it between his legs

to someone else who just like pitches it out to Dallas Goddard who's like wide open because everyone's just expecting the tush push. The problem is, it's so effective that they don't need to change the play, right? Like if they were blocking it, you could start experimenting and stuff like that, but they don't even need to

because they just get the first down and they get four more downs. They've had a couple plays off of it that they just do just because but to Mike's point if I were to switch sides of the argument my position would be someone should stop it because then it would lead to something else, but What do you think about it? My thing is Mike you are noted non NBA ball watcher Because the game has gotten boring and redundant and homogeneous You're asking them to do that into the NFL. Just make it a more boring game.

I don't think that that play happens that often where it's every time down the court they're looking for threes. Every play, every snap, they're not looking for a tush push. So I understand the point and I understand why people are fearful, but it's been around for three years now. And so like one team's doing it all the time,

they're famous for it, none of the other teams are doing it as well. They're in my division now, that's a problem. So my point, and maybe I'm wrong, but I think that's an excellent analogy that you bring up, the three point line, when it was introduced, it took decades before it became a homogeneous

part of the game. My point is, we keep getting back to why this matters in competition and saying, whoa, defense is just being soft. My point is, and it's a hard thing to do in professional sports, it's a business with two goals. It's one to win, and well, actually, it's probably one to make money, and two to win. And I agree wholeheartedly, if we're focusing on the winning part of it, yeah, that's fine.

But if you're talking about the make money part of it, I do believe that this is a step in a direction that I could be completely wrong. Maybe if we allow this to keep going, it does not go down a path that makes the game less entertaining or less interesting. But to the point about three pointers, let's add three pointers, they're fun, this is cool, this is different. Now we're in a place

in modern basketball where the three-point shot has taken over to the point where some people complain about it. Okay, no, I'll listen to that NBA point because it's a good one. Look, the Phoenix Suns were really exciting because they kind of saw the the inefficiencies out there. D'Antoni, then Darrell Moore, and then after Phoenix had their success with it, it took a couple of years, but then every team in the NBA started playing like the Phoenix Suns and having more possessions. Literally in every level of football, one team's doing this to this level.

You're not really seeing it in college football. You're seeing it, well, high school football, who knows? You get all sorts of kooky offenses there. But in terms of football top down, it's the Philadelphia Eagles. We haven't gotten to the point where it's been oversaturated and every team in the league is doing it and ruining the game the way that the Phoenix Suns revolutionized the NBA and to a degree kind of ruined it to the point that I'm here saying that we got to back up the, we got to make the courts bigger. We got to back up the three point line because they've mastered this. They've cracked the code. Baseball, they cracked the

code and then baseball had to come in and correct it. I don't think we're at that tipping We gotta back up the three-point line because they've mastered this. They've cracked the code. Baseball, they cracked the code, and then baseball had to come in and correct it. I don't think we're at that tipping point. It's one thing to be fearful of a tipping point, but when one team is doing it that much better than everybody else, it kind of feels like sore loser-dom. Let's not get to the tipping point. To me is my point, but can we,

are you think you're capable of switching sides of the argument? Yeah, yeah, if every team is doing the tush push but can we, are you think you're capable of switching sides of the argument? Do you think if I? Yeah, yeah, if every team is doing the tush push and it becomes like, oh man, this is so boring every play, like this is so predictable, like I'll come around on it. I used to love the reason I hate the reason. I'm not asking if I can convince you to.

I'm asking that if I decided that you are a lawyer and it just so happens that your firm decided that you're gonna argue the other side, would you be capable of doing that? I wouldn't take the case this year. I wouldn't recommend it. It was a tough go around for me this morning. I was trying to go back and like,

hey, I'm opposition, I think it's great for football. I only take cases I can win. I do, so I was gonna try to do that in order to put me on the other side of the argument, but because I wanted to make the point that I think what I am, the trap that I could be falling into is I could be trying to protect against something that is not going to happen. So like if the element of the tush push stayed the way it was this season, I don't have a problem with that. I agree with you. It's entertaining. My concern is what it then leads to

from an entertainment standpoint. And a lot of the reason why the NFL has not found itself at this tipping point for so many different issues is because you know what happened? When things happen that impact the entertainment value of the game, NFL address it. When Tom Brady gets his knee hit at the beginning of the season, I'm in the league as a defensive player like,

that's terrible. You're doing everything, you're making it so hard, where can we hit him? Hit him between here and here, it's not good. But when we have Tom Brady's career extended and we have quarterbacks healthier longer, I recognize that that is better for the health and the interest of the game.

And they didn't wait until four quarterbacks got their knees torn up. And that's just the point that I'm making is, you stay ahead of these things. This would fall into category for me, you stay ahead of these things. This would fall into category for me of them staying ahead of these things. And the reason why, the trade-off for me is, all decisions are about trade-offs.

And so, if I see this, and if we're willing to understand that the tush push has a 10%, 15%, 30% chance of metastasizing into a version of football that we don't like, is that worth it to save the tush push? I would say the tush push is not fun or interesting or exciting enough for me to keep in the game if I'm willing to accept that where it could go in the future is somewhere that makes football

less like the football that we enjoy. That's a great argument. That's a damn good argument. I would just say let's wait till it gets to that point. Like yeah, let's wait till it gets to that point. Yeah, let's have it actually tip. But what is it in place of? The tush push.

Conventional sneaks? Or a punt. It's more fun than a punt. It is. And if it extends an offensive drive, which means it's more point and more often. It's making offensive more aggressive. Isn't it technically making it more entertaining?

You said it's more fun than a punt because you scared to return punts. No, I'm a gunner. Yeah, I'm also scared to return punts. Punts are fun. But so is more aggressive offenses and knowing that you have four downs to play with. Fair catches.

It's like, we all go to the bathroom on punts, man. By all means, you are right. But I don't think that that's what would happen. In this version of NFL where Coaches are being a lot more aggressive on fourth down You're saying that now on fourth and one if we take the tush push away all these hyper Aggressive coaches who are going for it on fourth and three in their own territory are good all of a sudden say oh Well, we can't push guys. Well, we can't push that one yard is so scary now. Like I don't think that's gonna happen.

They're gonna do an actual football play. They're gonna hand it to Saquon Barkley. And I'm gonna be like, hey, this is fun. That might go for 60. This is cool. When Bill Goldberg was in WCW and he started out his career with this undeniable streak. We didn't just outlaw the spear and the jackhammer.

Kevin Nash got a taser and did what he had to do to end the streak. Scott Hogg. Well, Scott Hogg. That's how you stop a football play, with a taser. Well, what I'm saying is, can I see someone stop it? I think it's going to be high drama when a team, and the day is going to come in a big moment where a team

finally has an answer for this, and that'll stand the test of time. Especially if it's in a big moment where a team finally has an answer for this and that'll stand the test of time. Especially if it's in a game of import, like that's going to be a moment in time. I like that take, I love that take. That's a good take. If you could promise me, if you could guarantee me

that that is how the tush push ends, I would sign up for it. But what you're saying is- Let's have a loser leaves town, Matt. However, the point I'm making is maybe that's not how it ends up. Maybe no one figures out how to stop the tush push. And then maybe every other team in the league

starts to draft in order to run their own tush push and to stop the tush push. And then we end up with a league where one Tony Saragusa, awesome. We end up with a league where everybody got three Tony Saragusas and we like, why they don't throw the ball no more. Come on, man. Dominique, I'm conceding that I don't want to see that either.

And you're saying wait until it happens. Wait until we start seeing that. I don't mind it. I'm okay because I like now there's another entertainment factor. Hold on, the smallest guy in football is now like, I want more of them big dudes? I want more physical nature on the field, man. I miss it. It's the one thing you don't get in corporate America. There is no 40 under 40 that can get, you know, hit that.

I miss it, man. All right, so I need it in my football. But I do like the entertainment version of it. Yes, the game, entertainment in and of itself. But I think the thing that we a lot of times miss is like the character arc of football. Meaning like we go through the draft, what did this guy run in the 40,

or how did this guy perform in college, when he transferred here and there, he's a five-star recruit, does he perform, and over time you learn the characters, and with Lamar Jackson, we've been covering the story from the beginning, and it's a documentary or a movie playing out right in front of us. And as you look at football, and to Mike's point,

there's also an arc of like the game, of like okay, here's something new that someone can't stop. Or Lamar Jackson comes onto the scene, how will they stop him? Wimby is like this kind of athlete we've never seen. How does this develop over time? Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't to your point, but I do think that is entertaining of itself

to see the teams try to stop it over the next couple of seasons. We do have some breaking news on the rule change in the NFL. Now both teams can possess the ball in overtime, but amended to 10 minutes. In the regular season, because that was the case in the playoffs.

Yeah, yeah, in the regular season, and expanded replay assist has also passed. Yeah, regular season, because that was the case in the playoffs. Yeah, yeah, in the regular season. And expanded replay assist has also passed. Yeah, I didn't like that. The changes to the overtime rules, never loved it for another time conversation, I guess, argument. I think your point is perfect though about the evolution of the game.

Understanding that we also, while we're viewers of the game, the factors that caused the game to evolve, they have influence on it also. So we need to accept that they also have influence on it and take responsibility for your influence. And don't just wait for the game to change. And that's the final point.

We should probably wrap up here for a second, in a second. But that's the final point that I would make to you, Mike, is that you would argue that they want, wait until it gets to that point before we do something. And I would point to these other sports and say, once you get there, it's too late. I mean, they were so hesitant to change. Major League Baseball was famous for trying to,

and the NBA struggled with this. The NFL has been pretty on top of it. When they hit rough patches, they change rules. When Seattle Seahawks are doing their thing at the line of scrimmage with their cornerbacks. The NFL like is pretty quick to change things. When Josh Allen doesn't, when Josh Allen doesn't get the ball in the in the playoffs against the Kansas City Chiefs, what did the NFL do? They changed it immediately. So the league is pretty good about that. And I think we should give them some credit there. Weather is starting to warm up. Regular season

starting to wind down. Games of consequence in sports starting to ramp up, regular season starting to wind down, games of consequence in sports starting to ramp up. I know what you're gonna need by your side. It's by my side already. Miller Lite. Yeah that's right, I'm making my spring time a Miller time. I'm making my sports time Miller time. Going to a car race Miller time. Gonna see some tennis Miller time. Gonna chill in the backyard with some friends and make some memories Miller Time. Gonna see some tennis? Miller Time. Gonna chill in the backyard with some friends and make some memories? Miller Time. I love Miller Lite because it's got taste that I know I can depend on. No games, no gimmicks. It's that simple folks. It's just a great beer for people who like beer. Miller Lite is brewed for taste. It hits different than the other light beers. It's got simple ingredients

and at just 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces, Miller Time is always a good time. The original light beer since 1975 and still the very best one. Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin 96 calories 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.