The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Will Rodgers Win the MVP He Deserves? Titans the Fifth-Best AFC Team? Plus CFB Opt-outs With Trent Dilfer
Episode Date: January 3, 2022Russillo shares his thoughts on some NFL Week 17 results, including the Bengals beating the Chiefs, the unimpressive first-place Titans, Cowboys-Cardinals, and more (0:32). Then Ryen talks about some ...college players opting out of bowl games (11:31) before he is joined by Super Bowl champion Trent Dilfer to discuss Vikings-Packers, Aaron Rodgers for MVP, Joe Burrow’s throwback style of play, the end-of-season playoff puzzle from a player’s perspective, and more (22:24). Finally Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (59:04). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Trent Dilfer Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
today is awesome uh fired up for this podcast we're gonna get to trent dill for a little bit
later we'll do the borough stuff we'll do rogers as mvp because i think uh trent brings up a great
point i'm gonna do a little opener recap of week 17 and why I like so many AFC teams better than the number one seed, and then
the college opt-outs, and then life
advice, including
I guess we're getting a cologne talk there again.
Okay, a lot to get to here.
Week 17 started
weird. It was kind of like, what? Remember back in the
day of the ESPN, we'd have those radio shows
and a weekend would be like, what the hell?
Week 17. We title them all the time.
I always think of these stupid titles for them all the time.
But it
played this way earlier. Buffalo
looked like they were in a game with Atlanta. It looked like
Josh Allen was a jugs machine that was broken
in setting of 11, just firing
at everybody in that end zone possession there
where they ended up getting a penalty and got
a touchdown a little bit later. They pulled that game out. Not a big
deal. Tampa actually was just straight up losing
to the Jets. That wasn't fluky. It wasn't much a weird turnover, short
fields. They were just losing to the Jets in this game. And then Brady has an incredible run. We'll
get to Antonio Brown's retirement match a little bit later. Rams, Ravens, same deal. Another pick
six for Stafford. I think that's four in the year. He continues to turn the ball over. But I also
think the more backups are exposed and then we start to learn like why guys are backups with the
Ravens.
Look, this isn't even as specific to Baltimore.
There's just a lot of backups that have a week or two where everybody gets really excited.
And the longer they're around, they get exposed a little bit more.
And then Indy in Las Vegas, the way the Colts have played,
you're like, wait, is this a team?
Are they going to lose?
And they end up losing to them.
Kansas City and Cincinnati, though, is a different story.
My headline is that Tennessee is the number one seed today in the AFC,
with Kansas City losing that game.
I would take, I think, five teams in the AFC over Tennessee,
and we're going to run through that a little bit.
Two of those teams are Kansas City and Cincinnati.
I'm not really worried about Kansas City.
They're better defensively than they were when they were absolutely atrocious
historically to start the season.
Offensively, they're not off the charts like they were in 2018,
but they still convert third downs at over 50%,
which is the best I think I've seen in 10 years since the Saints were over 50%.
I think Kansas City this year is the only team over 50% conversion rate
on third downs that we've had in a decade.
So they're still doing some things right. When they have their three guys, it's fine.
It's weird that they were up 28-17 on the road at the half of Cincinnati and only scored three
points in the second half. That part of it's weird, but it really was a Kansas City defense,
again, that's been better just getting torched by Jamar Chase and Burrow, which is what these
guys do. Burrow has 15 touchdowns at 30 or more yards on the season,
which is almost double the number two guy. Brady only has eight. So Burrow leads the league in yards per attempt. That number is really good. He's going to throw some picks, but I'd say
collectively this year, you've had a lot of the guys throwing a lot of picks other than Rodgers
and actually Kyler Murray. Cousins hasn't had a ton of picks. Wentz actually hasn't either.
But like some of the other name guys that we always expect,
there's a lot of double-digit guys when you start sorting through the interceptions.
And then the other part of Burrow, as much as I love it, I'm scared to death.
He's somebody who I care about now and that I'm worried about every single week.
I mean, the sneaky part of this game is he's getting his ass kicked again,
which is partially his fault.
He has a little Wentz in him, but he's been hit more now.
Anyone qualifying with 600 dropbacks or more over the last two seasons.
He gets hit more than anybody. He's been
sacked more this season than
anyone, and then he was, I think, tied for
ninth last year despite playing only 10 games
and getting his knee blown out, and then he comes right back.
He's fine, but he got hit at the end of this game
where they had to bring in a backup when they were trying
to figure out whether or not to go for it or kick a field goal,
and Zach Taylor wanted to go for it I actually in the moment was like just kick
the field goal but then it ended up working out they got the penalty and they kicked the field
goal anyway to go ahead and win this game when they were actually going to go for a touchdown
tied up at 28 so I like Cincinnati and I still like Kansas City and I like both of those teams
better than Tennessee I like Buffalo better than Tennessee I like New England better than Tennessee
I can make an argument probably even for the Colts and Chargers.
Now, with Tennessee, we know one thing, and that's Derrick Henry.
And there's still this teasing that he was going to come back in December.
I was reading yesterday before kickoff, as he was ruled out of Week 17,
that there's still a chance he could do some Week 18 stuff.
But if it's not Week 18, it's going to be playoffs.
I don't really know what to believe.
We know that Tennessee, I think the Tannehill thing that we all
struggled with for years being like, wait, is this
guy really this good? Because statistically
you sort him and he is up there with some
of the best. Some of the EPA
stuff, some of the
scoring drive stuff, just some of the numbers
and you're like, is that really who he is? And it's like, no, he isn't.
He isn't. I mean, that's why we care
so much about Brady and Rodgers and we talk about
these guys nonstop.
Peak Russell Wilson, which has not been the case for the last 25 games or so.
I think even Deshaun Watson with what he did with Houston.
I mean, there's a handful of guys, and obviously Peak Mahomes,
you throw him in there too, that you can find ways to do things
when you don't have the pieces around you.
And Tannehill, I think we've learned this year,
which is what we always kind of thought deep down,
is yeah, the numbers are nice, but can you carry a team?
And yet, through the injuries to A.J. Brown, because it's a lot like with Arizona and Hopkins,
where they're two completely different teams with and without him,
I think it's the same thing with the Titans with A.J. Brown.
And now he comes back, and Tennessee beats a Miami team that won seven straight.
Can we just do a quick Miami thing, by the way?
This really is unprecedented. Miami's winning streak stops at seven straight. Can we just do a quick Miami thing, by the way? This really is unprecedented.
Miami's winning streak stops at seven games.
They faced these quarterbacks in those seven wins.
New Orleans, Ian Book, the Jets, Zach Wilson,
the Giants, Mike Glennon, Carolina, Cam Newton,
and P.J. Walker.
The Jets, again, Joe Flacco.
Baltimore, they did beat Lamar,
and then Houston with Tyrod Taylor. So, yes, again, Joe Flacco. Baltimore, they did beat Lamar. And then Houston with Tyrod
Taylor. So yes, like Tannehill, there's ways you can sort Tua's stuff and go, look, Tua's turned
things around. I still have a hopeful mind when it comes to Tua. But as tough as the NFL is,
which it is to win seven games, we just talked about the Chiefs putting together their win streak. That's an unprecedented run of horrible quarterbacks.
So I'm trying not to do a, well, Tennessee beat an awful Miami team
that actually won seven games straight.
Because if you're off, you're not going to win seven games straight.
That's just a crazy bad stretch of opposing quarterbacks.
So yeah, I'm just not on Tennessee.
They were 8-2 to start.
They're 3-3 since.
Their wins are Jacksonville, San Francisco, and a Miami team that again had a weird winning streak.
So I don't think it's actually crazy to like Cincinnati better. And maybe this podcast has
been way too faithful to Cincinnati. I think there's been some of that faith being rewarded.
Remember a few weeks back, I was like, man, they're the one seed. Then they get blown out
by the Browns. And that's what happens. I mean, we can go through every one of these teams and kind of, you know,
it's like that weird summer where you have braces and you have acting.
Remember when Cerruti was just hideous there in 2004?
You know, like every one of these NFL teams has kind of like a weird summer stretch.
Again, not in the summer, but a couple weeks, you're like, what the hell's wrong with them?
And I just feel like Tennessee, statistically, profile-wise,
my eye test is backed up by statistically where they're at if you look at who they are defensively um other than the chargers if you look at the weighted defensive
stuff they're worse than all of the teams in the AFC other than the Chargers, who statistically are just terrible except for Herbert.
Opposing yards per play, Kansas City is the worst.
And then there's a couple other teams that are actually worse than Tennessee on this one.
And then you look at some of the offensive metrics,
and Tennessee is just behind all of these other teams.
And I'm talking like six other teams.
Their point differential is sixth in the AFC. They are way behind four other teams there.
So they get Henry back.
I'm open to it.
But I think the Henry stuff has been really weird and kind of how vague and uncertain,
which maybe is part of the week-to-week matchup part of it.
But it's just crazy when you look at the seating
and you look at the AFC and you go,
man, Tennessee's ahead of all these other teams.
And I know I can go at least four, maybe five deep
of teams I like better.
I do want to touch on Arizona's win at Dallas
trying to write the ship here for an Arizona team that had a bunch of headlines that weren't great
the last couple weeks again you know Hopkins not being there like Brown same deal with the Titans
Kyler clearly hurt but I thought he looked better now this week with the way they ran and especially
to close out this game just getting design runs for Kyler because they couldn't run the football
with just straight handoffs in the typical fashion,
given that you're running back.
And I still feel like Arizona had a hard time getting the pushing the ball
down the field.
Hell Dallas did too,
which was kind of weird.
Like they had everybody back offensively,
even though they lose Gallup,
uh,
in this game to ACL tear,
which is bad news.
But when this game kicked off,
you're like,
all right,
Dallas is ready to go.
They got other guys.
They score a ton of points at home.
And Arizona was just a better team throughout.
Now, there's just stuff with Arizona, though.
And I don't know whose fault it is.
I know.
Look, if you don't like Cliff because you didn't like the hire in the first place, then
you're still going to blame him for everything.
I like Cliff.
I don't think he's nearly to blame for all the stuff that happens as much as everybody
else does.
I think some of these Texas Tech stuff that we've already been over, all this stuff, you might be right, I might be wrong.
I don't know, all right?
But they have the most false starts in the NFL tied with Detroit with 26.
League average is 16 at this point.
If you look at that game, that game was like,
I don't know how you can keep fucking it up that bad.
They had a goal line situation where they actually false started, and Dallas had called a timeout. So they got away with it. They had
another false start where they ended up punting a fourth and 28 and gave Dallas great field position.
They had another time where at the goal line where they false started and it backed them up again and
wiped out something they were trying to do. And then as they were so mad about all the different
false starts and Kingsbury even told the sideline reporter, like we're going to clean that up first
play and second half false start so
Arizona with their limitations
like a lot of teams you know they just got their center
back and not having their number one target and then
it looked like one of the running backs is pretty dinged up towards
the end of the game like a lot of teams dealing with
adversity just based on roster
availability they shoot themselves in
the foot as well and unless they clean
that up like that's going to that could have haunted
them yesterday in a game that
they looked like they were the better team of the two. All right. I don't know how much to do on
Joe Judge. The Giants completed four passes yesterday. I wish the Giants were blacked out
in all markets. I hate even having them in the mix on a red zone channel. When they come up with
that, it's awful. And then Joe Judge did did stuff i just don't know how anybody does this stuff anymore um he kind of went crazy and said a bunch of different
things how like giants players are saying they wish they could come back and all this stuff and
the way the weirdest thing that he did was like hey i was with this team in 2018 we're like dude
it wasn't the olden days all right this is an 1883 we know you were with the Pats. And he was like, you know, a lot of us thought we were going to get fired. No, you didn't. He's like, we turned around and won a championship. Like nobody was like, nobody thought you guys, what are you talking about? And of course, he's just been getting destroyed the whole time through, which sounded a lot like a guy who either the New York thing got to him because it's obsessive and has to be,
you have to be built different, right? Built different to deal with that as a head coach.
But it just was an absurd position or an argument to try to make. But it was very clear, like a guy
was going, I'm going to go out there and sell myself to this market and to ownership again
and try to come back one more year. He did not do a good job of doing that.
I want to talk a little bit about the opt-out stuff.
There's really not much with the playoff games.
I thought going back to the Bama-Cincinnati thing,
I didn't really think Cincinnati was going to win that game.
And it doesn't speak of the group of five
because other power five teams that were
awesome or we thought were awesome have been destroyed.
The playoff point differential stuff
in the playoff system
versus regular season. If you went top
five matchups, I think Matt Brown of the
Athletic had this tweet over the weekend.
If you look at the point differential
on top five matchups in the playoffs versus
top five matchups just in the regular season,
it's just way worse in the playoff.
And I don't know if that's a trend.
I just don't know that we do enough of going,
you realize that Bama is still 10 plus years of the greatest run
we've ever seen in the history of this game.
And if it weren't for Bama,
we would have been talking about this Clemson run prior to this year
as one of the all-time great, not the greatest,
but one of the great runs. So we've had two of these historic runs coincide at the exact same
time where Clemson sort of invited the second half of the Bama thing. And that's why I think
we're getting some of these lopsided scores. And Michigan, the thing they do best was the
thing that Georgia defends the best. I didn't think it was going to be that one-sided. We were trying to kind of talk ourselves into some kind of Michigan outcome
where it was competitive, but it wasn't.
So both weren't.
We could just go in circles about the SEC and everybody else.
I think I've said literally everything I could possibly say about it at this point.
And if you don't agree with me now, you're never going to agree with me.
And it doesn't mean that I'm right because the depth of the SEC,
again, do we go just by the bowl records?
I don't know. It's almost like sometimes I'll think, like, do the SEC. Again, do we go just by the bowl records?
I don't know.
It's almost like sometimes I'll think, like, do they have to win 14 games and have all the teams now?
But their start to the bowl season wasn't very good,
and they're going to end up with, depending on what happens with LSU
and the extra game, which I always hate that there's that extra game
that happens after everything happens.
We're like, hey, let's just throw another Tuesday one in there.
But LSU and Kansas State going into tomorrow.
So there's just not much.
I don't know.
I don't think there's a ton there.
And as I meant to say, yeah, like that's not a group of five knock really on Cincinnati
because we've had other top five blue blood schools get housed, especially in that first weekend of the playoff.
But I want to talk more about the opt-outs because this is a big topic over the weekend.
We had the opt-outs of two of the receivers for Ohio State, Olave and Garrett Wilson.
And Ohio State still put up ridiculous numbers with Njigba Smith, who's terrific.
And both these other receivers said, hey, he's the best guy.
It's tough for Utah because they lost their quarterback late.
But it felt like that game was shifting where Ohio State was still going to win it. They'd made a
couple of mistakes. They had a fumble going in. They had, I think, two picks in the end zone.
So I think the right team won the Rose Bowl there. And because it's the Rose Bowl, and I remember
being at ESPN when we would talk about different deals and different, not like I was being
involved in the conversation, but it'd be explained to me like, Hey, you know, one of the biggest reasons why we buy up all these bowl games
is you have to watch them live. The audience is live and there's like a Rose bowl branding where
the Rose bowl itself, the branding of it is far more valuable by going out and asking people like,
Hey, you know, I mean, this is crazy shit that happens. Cause we're so in it. We may not realize
this, but you just be like, you know, Hey, let's survey let's test people. Like, okay, which game is the most important game?
You're like, oh, you know what I love is the one with the parade in Pasadena.
Yeah, the Rose Bowl, the Rose Bowl.
And that's why the Rose Bowl has all this power
because it's probably the most identifiable brand in the entire bowl system,
even if it's out of the college football playoff rotation
in the national championship, right?
So the opting out part of this, you this, Matt Corral played in the Ole Miss
game, gets the high ankle sprain, comes out, and everybody's like, hey, you should opt out.
It's one of those things, another one of those arguments that almost feels political in the
extremes of both sides. Now, because I'm in it every single day, which isn't a bad job,
but I'm just in it all the time. I kind of joke around with some of my friends. They'll bring up
a topic every now and then. I'll be like, yeah, that was a big deal 10 days
ago.
I can find arguments
at the extremes where I can disagree with them
if I want to, and then sometimes I'll see it
enough where I decide, okay, this is what my
position is going to be. This is what the segment is going to be.
Here we go. This is
one of those conversations where the
arguments at the extreme I want nothing to do with.
I would opt out of the opt-out argument in this. So let's examine some of the stuff that happened this
weekend. We had Desmond Howard on set with Kirk Herbstreit. I don't know if Pollock was part of
both of them, but you got three older school guys, all right? An older generation of guys,
and you can even take it another step further and be like, all right, they're rich, and then
they work for ESPN, and ESPN's complicit in all this stuff. Again, as somebody who worked at ESPN for like 15 years, I have no reason, like I'm likely never
working there again. Right. So I, I don't have any reason to defend any, like if I wanted to be,
but I, I, I'm not going to be like wrong to make a point at some place that I don't work at anymore
because guys are out there representing college game Day and their job is a college football
analyst, just because ESPN has 40-plus
Bulls here and they want
more and more Bulls, it doesn't mean that it's like
Desmond Howard's fault.
If he says, hey, the Bulls, these young
kids don't think the Bulls are as important
and then there's other media members that do some sort of
victory lap, like Desmond Howard is the reason
that ESPN has a bunch of Bulls.
It's just fucking stupid.
It's not even fair to those guys that are up there. Now, as I point out some of the stuff
that they'd say that I kind of agree with, I don't think it's the worst thing if a bunch of guys are
like, you know what? I actually don't want to opt out of the bull. I want to be there for my
teammates and finish what we started. I think that's okay. I think we can allow ourselves to say, hey, that's an
admirable thing. But what I wouldn't do is be somebody that every time some kid opts out,
tell them that they're wrong. I'm fine with it. It doesn't bother me at all. It's a new world.
We evolve a lot quicker than we think on stuff like this. The transfer rule, I remember just
thinking it was okay to have somebody sit out of you.
They're like, yeah, you can't just have guys transferring all the time because then you're re-recruiting your entire roster.
Okay, well, that's what the money's for, right?
I'm sorry.
Oh, you have to re-recruit your own roster?
Well, guess what?
Your salaries have quadrupled in 10 years.
So figure out a way to keep some of your guys happy.
And guess what?
Some of them are still going to get picked off no matter what.
I guess you could be worse at recruiting so there'd be less competition on your roster, but I'm okay with that struggle for the coaches making this much money,
having to re-recruit their own guys. So I don't care about the transfer stuff anymore, right?
The graduate transfer thing, no, it's a free-for-all with the quarterbacks because the kids are on campus the entire time taking extra classes. So even though it seemed cool, hey, we'll get these
kids to graduate, like, yeah, but now they could just bail on you at the end and take a one-year run with another team that's positioned a little bit better than you
are. And the coach is like, oh, wait, that sort of backfired. You know, it's always been a messed
up system and people are realizing it's a messed up system more and more the entire time. But I
want to ask you something for those of you that are all about the opt-outs for everybody all the
time. And again, I'm telling you, I don't care if kids opt out.
Good for them. But I don't think it's terrible for a bunch of guys that played the sport to say,
hey, I don't love all of these opt-outs. That's how they feel. They're not doing that because of a business relationship because of the Bulls. All right. I know all three of those guys,
a couple of them pretty well, and they just love the idea of college football.
And like I said, they're from a different generation. I remember growing up when guys would leave after their sophomore year in college basketball, we were like, oh, those guys,
what's wrong with them? I mean, I was a little kid. I was like, oh, I can't believe Walter
Berry's going to leave this soon. What do you think? And then you evolve. And then they keep
the more and more. When Stefan Marbury got to Georgia Tech, I remember like, wait, this guy's,
he's saying he's going to leave after a year? Who's this guy think he is? And then they keep the more and more. When Stefan Marbury got to Georgia Tech, I remember like, wait, this guy's he's saying he's going to leave after a year.
Who's this guy think he is?
And I guess what?
More and more people do it.
They're successful.
It works.
And and then we're kind of fine with it.
Right.
And like anybody that's super anti opt out, the more it happens, the more you're going to be like, yeah, I can kind of get it.
And that's where I am right now.
I mean, Zion Williamson, which is really ironic, because when he got hurt at Duke and then he came back to play, there was a lot of people, not a few people,
a lot of people being like, why would this guy come back? Why would he go and play at Duke again?
This is stupid. He's going to be the number one pick. And then he was just like, hey, I want to
play UNC and beat him. And then we have a chance to win a championship and maybe go to the final
four. I'd like to do those things. That's why I came to Duke. It actually was one of the first
reasons why I fell in love
with Zion, not just his game, because of his personality,
which is weird, because it feels like a complete 180
now, who he is as a professional, because this
doesn't seem like he wants to play at all.
But, at that time, there was
an argument, like, what's he thinking? I'm like, hey,
what he's thinking is this is fun, and he wants to
keep doing it. And he's probably not going to do anything
that actually jeopardizes his number one
overall, you know, number one pick standing. And right. And he didn't, it didn't matter.
And last year he was terrific last year. And that's the other thing is that even if somebody
is a quarterback is going to get hurt, what's likely to give the kind of injury. And by the
way, you're also insured. What's, what's the chance that you're going to get some kind of
injury that all of a sudden you go from a top 10 pick to like a third rounder. It's not even
really going to happen. Now I'd'd ask you this question, though.
If you are anarchist opt-out across the board,
anyone that thinks opting out is bad is the devil,
what if Bryce Young was like, you know what, NIL,
I pocketed like two mil, we won an SEC title,
this playoff thing, like, I don't know,
it's like in three weeks, I got workouts.
And that'd be if Bryce Young, again,
is not eligible for the draft this year
because we still have the older rules of the NFL
than we do with the NBA.
What if Bryce Young were eligible for the draft
and was going to be the number one pick in 2022?
What if he, and again, not being paid by the NCAA,
which I don't know when that's going to happen,
but the NIL part of it where he's banked some serious money,
what if he was like, yeah, I don't want to do this?
Is that cool?
Because it doesn't feel cool,
but I can guarantee you if I went through my friends in this business,
I'd be like, well, this person would think it was cool.
This person would love it.
This person would love it.
And I'd ask you if you were like all about the opt-outs,
if you'd be like, all alright, that's a good one.
Van Lathan, who's my guy here
at the ringer. I know he loves the
opt-outs. What if Joe
Burrow two years ago was like, you know what?
You got this LSU thing turned around.
Won an SEC title game, but I'd
really like to go out to Arizona, do a bunch of box jumps
for the next couple months, work on my 40
speed, you know,
massage my hand, get that hand size out.
I'm not going to play against Oklahoma.
And then I don't want to play in the playoff.
I don't think Van Lathan would like that.
I think that would be an opt-out.
He'd go, ah, because he's a Baton Rouge guy.
I think I know him well enough to go,
okay, this opt-out is a little more challenging for me to accept.
It's going to happen.
It's going to happen at some point.
And that's why a lot of times with this, it's not all or nothing.
And I think the opting out argument is another example of that.
Always great to check you in on a Monday with with trent dilfer been doing it throughout the entire
season a lot of stuff that we'll always get to a little story time as well packers put it on
minnesota last night uh not surprising by the way before we get to the rogers part of it i don't
know if you saw mike zimmer and the presser today they're like hey do you want to see kellen mon
he's like, not particularly.
Somebody has a follow-up and goes,
is there, wait, like, is there any reason you wouldn't want to maybe see him?
And he's like, I see him every day.
I cannot imagine how frustrating it is
to be on the team side,
whether it was you as a player or as a coach,
and to hear all of us be like,
how come this guy can't get a look
when literally all you're doing is watching them throughout the entire week, going back, reviewing the
practice film and seeing it all.
Now, I do think there's maybe some, you know, the red light guys when it's real, that maybe
they're a different guy every now and then.
But I just thought that was a perfect, just it encapsulated the disconnect and the frustration
of like, and I've never been a big, bigllen mon guy to be begin with but just zimmer's like no why why do i need to see him in that game when i see him
now for months every day like why would i need to do that and people were like wait was that an
amazing answer well there's so much too that goes on outside of just throwing a football practice
you're right you watch the kid you watch your entire team every day all day um
but there's the other stuff too to be in the pro stuff there's the studying there's the meeting
time there's the understanding of the playbook game plans how they're handling walkthrough
i mean you're seeing all this and if you're not giving a kid a chance it's because that that kid's
not ready based on how he's handled,
not just practice,
but all the other stuff
that goes into the job.
All right, so let's talk Rodgers.
He's off the charts here statistically.
35 touchdowns, four picks
in a season where guys,
you know, as I said in the open,
starting to throw more picks.
Number one in QBR,
number one in QB rating.
The completion percentage,
he's at, I don't know. I mean, look, all the stats
are nuts, and the Packers are
maybe the best team
in the NFL. Is
there even an MVP conversation at this
point? There isn't, and he's playing hurt.
I think what's interesting about this,
and
it's going to be interesting. I mean,
there's really no second place, right?
I mean, who else would you vote for in the MVP?
And if you don't vote for Aaron Rodgers, is it because you don't agree with some stance he took earlier in the year?
Like you don't like his personality. You don't like how he handled the vaccine thing.
Like I think it's going to be really interesting because it should be pretty unanimous.
I just think it's going to be really interesting because it should be pretty unanimous.
I can't really see another candidate that takes a lot of votes away.
So I'm just kind of curious.
I'm going to be interested in seeing who doesn't vote for him and what the reasons for not voting for him are.
Yeah, I think at one point it felt like Lamar was the guy
because he was carrying Baltimore, hadn't played enough games,
and Baltimore falling apart
has more to do with not having him,
and then all the injuries catching up to him.
I thought Kyler had a chance there.
I think Brady was in the mix.
There was a push for Jonathan Taylor,
but as the Jonathan Taylor push was happening,
and by the way, he's 500 yards ahead of Joe Mixon,
who's in second place, so Taylor's at 1,700.
There's been almost, you're right.
I don't feel like, wait, does rogers like when the taylor
push started happening i don't remember anybody being like are we nuts are we not doing the aaron
rogers thing here and you're right like look he he fell all over himself in some of these covet
arguments i would i hated this stuff from the summer because it's just like look rogers this
is a good team you're you're acting like you're just sean watson down in houston so i didn't
agree with him there.
But if you have a vote at this point with a week to go,
I don't know who else you're voting for.
And some guys are definitely not going to vote for him.
Well, that's what I think is interesting.
Like, John Taylor, awesome player.
Great season.
Awesome.
I mean, it's nice.
Brady, obviously, every year you can mention Brady in the MVP race.
The Lamar thing, yeah, when he was carrying that much water.
Kyler Murray's fantastic.
How he ended the game yesterday against the Cowboys.
I mean, they're all really, really great players having really fine seasons.
But they're here compared to way up here where Aaron Rodgers is playing
considering the circumstances as well.
He's carrying that team.
Would they have four offensive line starters missing again? I mean, it's,
it's him and Devante Adams in a really nice run game.
They piece together that kind of falls off of the passing game and they're
dominating. It's going to go through green Bay again.
And I just think the interesting part of the conversation is what you said.
You didn't like how he handled some stuff.
I didn't like how he handled some stuff. I didn't like how he handled some stuff.
Some people, it's not just they don't like it.
They won't like him.
Like they're so emotionally attached to what they don't like about Aaron
that they're not going to vote for him as the most valuable player in the NFL.
I just think that's a very – it's going to be really interesting
to see who those people are.
That they can't detach their personal feelings about something, uh, from what their job is, which is to vote on who is the best player in the national football league.
Yeah, that's I, now I can't wait.
Now I can't wait to see how that vote comes out because, you know, I think if you have a vote, you're voting for the most value of a player in the NFL.
And that's, that's what you're voting for the most value of a player in the NFL. That's what you're voting for.
It really shouldn't be anything else.
Have you ever had anything like Antonio Brown happen?
No.
I'm sad for Antonio Brown.
I mean, listen, when it happened, I was like, what?
I'm like everybody else.
And I get the whole people, some people are outraged,
quitting on your team, you know, and I get all that. I mean,
as a coach and as a player for so many years,
there's so much of this team stuff and buying that something bigger than
yourself and you sacrifice. And I love all that stuff.
But when somebody goes off the rails,
like he has repeatedly, there's something really wrong. And I feel bad for the guy. I mean,
he needs some serious help. And that's where I land on this thing. And I'm just looking at this
thing from 30,000 feet after the two years that all of us have been through, there are some people that are just hurting in ways that you just can't comprehend.
And you see it come out in the oddest ways.
And we're seeing it come out in Antonio Brown that way.
And I'm beyond mad or frustrated.
I'm more sad than anything else.
And this kid needs some serious help.
I know I hadn't, I don't even think I put this in the notes but you would touch on it a second there with the
way Kyler closed that game against Dallas I've been watching for him like for two specific things
without Hopkins I think he's really hesitant to push the football you know he had one where he
was a little off with green on the completion he had another one to green where you know look AJ
Green's had an amazing career.
It felt like A.J. didn't make enough of a play on the football.
And then I also think Kyler dealing with this ankle thing has been limited as a run option to scare you.
And then it felt like Kingsbury and that group were like,
look, we can't run the football.
He looks a little hesitant.
We're up.
We can't blow this.
Like, we got to get a little creative here.
What did you think of the way they closed that game against alice where it looked like things were
turning against them oh it was brilliant i thought i can't remember who was doing the the game who's
now troy back and forth from a lot of different games and um yeah i think troy mentioned it like
what a heck of a coaching job to kind of scratch together a little run game here at the end when we got to close it off.
I think they had a little option play.
I think they tried the option play a couple of times.
They went to the zone read a couple of times, but they kind of,
it's almost like they drew it up in the dirt on the sidelines.
It was impressive.
Now equally disappointed for the Cowboys defense.
I mean, you can't stop those.
They had numbers, by the way.
It wasn't like they didn't have numbers.
They're caving in too much in the A and B gaps
and giving away the edges.
But yeah, he's such a unique competitor.
And I think Cliff gets it.
You know, you got to let a competitor like that
that has unique skill set, regardless of circumstance,
whether he's banged up, whether he's playing well,
whatever the circumstances are,
you got to put the ball in his hands.
I mean, he's a true guy that it's got to be in his hands,
run, pass, create in critical moments.
And that's what they did with him.
And it worked.
They closed that deal
it was it was pretty impressive let's talk a little joe burrow uh i i love the guy you know
when you when you try to figure out okay how's it really going to look on sunday that it factor
stuff that we're always trying to define ahead of time it feels almost an impossible exercise
uh whatever that is he has it the combination with he and Chase. But I'm scared to death that he has a little wince in him
where he still hasn't, even with the knee injury last year, Trent.
Look, he got knocked out of this game too,
and it kind of gets lost because they beat the Chiefs at home
in a huge spot for them in the playoffs part of it.
But put the whole package together of what you're seeing
and then maybe speak a little bit to my,
that I'm'm actually a little
worried about his approach and how they protect
him too because he gets his ass kicked every week
is my other point. He does.
I'll start with just the
player DNA. I felt
this way coming out. He was a really hard
study.
Some people are going to take this the wrong
way because idiots take things the wrong way.
He's talented, but he's not uber talented he he does nothing physically that is wow just to meet have me interrupt you would you say like herbert versus burrow physically is not even
close it's not even a conversation i herbert is exponentially when I say, I don't even want to do with talent
because to me, idiots will take that the wrong tech. Well, I'll say horsepower. Herbert has way
more horsepower. Um, but I love Burroughs true talent. His true talent is yeah. He's a good
athlete. He's really accurate. He's got a nice delivery. He's got a good athlete he's really accurate he's got nice delivery he's got a good
arm sees it great but it's all the other stuff that goes with that toughness leadership moxie
charisma um command i'll just start making up terms right and and you start layering layering
all those other things on a good solid talented player and now you're like that's the wow the wow is the
sum of the parts it's it's all of it together um part of the wow at Joe Burrow that makes him so
good all these things is his toughness um and you saw at LSU too now they protected him pretty well
but he would hold on to that sucker to the very last
second and then take it in the chin the year before the Heisman.
We didn't play very well.
I admired that most about his game was how tough he was and his, and his moxie and his
command and like the dude factor, right?
We call it DQs dude qualities.
Like he just has those DQs. Wasn't that good
the year before he goes off at LSU, but man, you admire him. You watch him
as a quarterback. You're like, oh, that's a dude. And he's going to be okay.
Now, we had no idea he was going to blow up.
At least I didn't. Most of the guys I talked to didn't.
And now you're seeing that in the NFL.
That's what I think.
That's what I love about him, too.
I've grown from liking him a lot to absolutely loving watching him play
and how he plays and what he stands for.
Now, that toughness piece can get him in trouble.
Same thing that makes you laugh, makes you cry in the NFL.
He's so dang tough and he's got such
great uh ability to stand in the last second and be accurate down the field and chaotic environments
and people are around him he the hits he takes aren't just uh because you really can't kill the
quarterback anymore but it feels like he gets killed still.
Like guys still fall on him and guys are still around his legs.
And he gets, and maybe this is what you're going to,
and I'm not watching every quarterback snap in the NFL,
but every week it seems like he takes the hardest hits
or the most awkward hits.
Would you agree with that?
Yeah, there's just a lot where I'm like, uh-oh, you know,
is he going to get up?
You know, I'm always, as much NBA as I watch watch and these guys at seven plus feet can they do what they do
i actually am surprised more of these seven footers don't get hurt all the time collapsing
on each other feet underneath feet going up for rebounds you know it happens way less than you
would think it would happen the reason i bring that up is that burrow feels like one of these
seven footers like oh is anthony davis gonna all right? And there's times where he gets hit,
and he's kind of like looking out from underneath this pile of limbs
and all this stuff, and I go, is he going to be all right?
And he was limping halfway through the game yesterday again,
and then they had to bring in Allen to even pull off
whatever it was they were trying to do at the end.
That was awkward. That whole thing was awkward.
I mean, you got to kick the field goal there, right?
Until you don't, you win the game.
They ended up, because, you know,
they reset the clock and everything.
I was going crazy.
I agree.
But yeah, I think that's the interesting thing
to look for with Burrow as we go on.
It might even be as soon as the playoffs.
And Tony Dungy kind of mentioned this a little bit last night on the
NBC show. Why you are giving him isolation
throws consistently is
mind-boggling. That's what he does better than anything
in his game. I would put him with the Rogers
and Brady's, the very best in his game. I would put him with the Rogers and Brady's the best, the very best in the game
now and of all time of being able to locate the ball outside the numbers and these isolation
throws, these back shoulders, these timing routes, these fade balls. Like he just has this unique
ability to locate it with the best of the best.
But you can take those away.
And what I'm getting at is you're going to see them see a lot of zones.
You're going to see a lot of just too high shells.
They're not just all cover two, but these too high shells with corners
that are going to reroute and try to rough up the receivers
with help over the top.
And Burrow's always been a guy that holds it a little bit.
So they're going to take away what he does best, those isolation throws outside.
And then, you know, if you look at his DNA, he likes to hold it a little bit.
That's why he gets hit so much is because he'll work deep through a progression.
He'll go boundary to boundary.
He'll pat the ball and climb the pocket.
All these can be good things.
In fact, I think they're really good things until you take, start taking more hits.
And when he faces a team that can get to him with four and play these two
high shells,
these loaded zones in the back end and make him hold the ball,
he's going to take more hits than the next guy. Cause he's not that,
I think why Tom Brady's been so successful for so
many years is regardless of coverage regardless of team he's going to get the ball out of his hand
he is not going to hold it too long uh and burrow does not have that yet in his game he will hold
it longer and and he's going to take more hits because of that now this is a bigger point though
too is i don't even know 10 years ago i would have cared. Like I would have just seen Joe Burrow get hurt and go.
I shouldn't say it that way.
Not caring is the wrong way, but it wouldn't be as big of a part of the conversation.
Like now we're just so used to guys being protected the entire time.
It's like, well, why are you allowing yourself to get hit?
Whereas I remember and maybe you'll speak.
Well, you will speak to this better than I will.
One of the greatest things about Favre, and I don't know if he was better than everybody in the
modern era at this but he would hold on to the football willingly to take that hit to get
destroyed knowing that his his receiver is tight end needed just that extra beat to get open and
instead of forcing the throw no and I don't really have a good chance let me give you know third down in the in the red zone all right here he comes here's that defensive end he's going
to put his helmet right in my chest plate and i'm going to take it and we admired all of that stuff
because by the way farve also got up every single time uh was far of the best to ever do with far
of hanging the longest taking the most punishment, not caring.
I guess maybe you'd argue you're second, but I don't know.
No, gosh, no, but no, I just think I'm going to,
I'm going to answer that question.
I'm going to take it a little bit of a full direction to with Joe Burrow.
I think, yes, you're absolutely right on far, but I put Marino in there.
I'd put Kelly in there.
I'd put Warren moon in there.
I'd put Aikman in there.
Kelly's a great one. I mean kelly spent looking at like i feel like he was looking back through
his ear hole all the time as they just kept getting first down after first down i'll give
you a weird one who really had about a five six year really good stretch that just took him on
the chin all the time with stan humphries joe burrow i in 1994, I get drafted and I go to a, some trading card,
uh, Donruss or tops, whatever we got our money from before we signed back then, uh, golf
tournament.
And it's all the hall of famers, right?
It's all the gold jackets.
They're not in the hall of fame yet, but Kelly moon, uh, Aikman, Elway, Marino,
Favre, all of them.
And they're just dudes.
Like, they're the best of the best of the best.
On the field, off the field, Joe Burrow should have played in that era.
Like, he is one of those guys the way he carries himself
the way he plays the game it's almost like he grew up watching that generation play he reminds
me so much of jim kelly uh people use the brady analogy and i see it i mean i can see you know
the full field scanning the stoic being stoic in the pocket, the quick delivery.
I see that piece, too.
But, man, go back and watch Jim Kelly play and then watch Joe Burrow play.
I mean, it's the same guy.
Moreno, you know, outside the incredible delivery.
Same thing you're talking about, right?
Like a little skip to the left, a little hop to the right.
Hold it just for the extra tick, wait for the guy to make the double move on the deep pad,
and then just rip it down the field and take this kill shot
and have a 300-pound land on you,
and then get back up kind of laughing,
and then smoke a cigar in the locker room afterwards.
I mean, that's just who Joe Burrow is.
That's why I love him so much,
because I grew up admiring those guys,
playing against them, watching them, getting to know them on and off the field.
I mean, he is just a throwback that way.
And I don't feel like I'm explaining this well enough,
but he is just – he's very unique in modern-day football
for how he plays the game, and I think that's what you're seeing.
And I think that's why getting circling back to the beginning.
I think that's why he takes more hits than everybody else.
Yeah.
And here I am talking about it as if like,
oh,
this is this bad thing where we would have praised it before.
And I think that's just how the quarterback,
it's one of the many ways the quarterback conversation has shifted.
Now we almost think you're an idiot now for taking any of these hits.
I think Brady is part of that, too, because as you mentioned,
Brady, I don't know what the numbers are.
I feel like he's gotten knocked around a little bit more this season
than he had in the last couple.
But for the most part, we understand his whole point.
It's like he's going to keep himself cleaner than everybody else.
But at this point, it's by necessity, too.
He's just been brilliant with it throughout his career,
and it's just part of it.
But I don't know.
I mean, it's amazing.
Well, it's DNA.
Listen, and I think metrics, this is where all the analytics
and metrics and stuff that comes out every week are really good.
You know, Brady's been one of the quickest time-to-throw guys
for the last, I don't know, forever.
I mean, back when ESPN and, you know,
he asked for some critical numbers at the end of the weekend
and Brady's time to throw was always in the 2.1, 2.2,
like best of the weekend stuff.
Burrow's not that guy.
There's guys that just aren't, that's not in their DNA.
He's going to be a guy that is going to hold it a little bit longer.
I don't know how else to say it. He's going to work a guy that is going to hold it a little bit longer. I don't know how else to say it.
He's going to work a play a little bit more.
Might be a function of their offense too.
You know, they might not have a lot of these quick little option route,
you know, stick route opportunities in between the hashes.
They're more of a chunk passing team.
I think Zach Taylor and his coaching staff have done a good job in a short amount of time
of identifying what Joe's DNA is as a passer, too,
and building an offense around it.
So, again, I don't think there's a right or wrong.
I think there's a lot of good ways these days
of playing quarterback.
But Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady play it very differently
than Joe Burrow plays.
But those two guys get the ball as fast as it very differently than Joe Burrow plays.
But those two guys get the ball as fast as they possibly can,
and Burrow's not going to do that.
A little different because they're going into Week 18,
trying to figure it out, still some teams alive.
Do you have a good story from chasing it down,
which again back then would have been Week 17,
where you're going like, all right,
here's all these different things we need to have happen. Because it must be like can't, it must be like, I don't know if it's stressful.
I don't know if it's the anxiety part of it.
But as you're trying to control and get ready for what's a tough three hours for yourselves, on top of that, scoreboard watching everything else.
Yeah, and some of it just pisses you off, too, because you know you let one slide a few weeks ago that, you know, if you didn't let that one slide, then you wouldn't be in the situation.
I mean, ultimately, you can only control what you can control,
and you can go out and try to win that last game.
We're 98.
I think I'm going to be right here.
98 with Tampa.
We have to go to Cincinnati late in the year.
Last game of the year, we beat them.
But we lost to the Redskins the week before,
which is a game we should have won.
So we needed to go to Cincinnati and beat them,
and then we needed Arizona, I believe, to lose.
I think that's all we needed.
There might be more math to this.
But what I vividly remember is getting on the plane.
And, you know, this is 1998.
We don't have Wi-Fi on the planes.
You don't have little TVs you're watching.
You don't have direct TV in your seat.
So you're getting updates from the pilots.
We're in the back playing cards like we always did. And knowing that we needed Arizona to lose, we're getting updates from the pilots. We're in the back playing cards like we always did
and knowing that we needed Arizona to lose.
We're getting updates here and there.
And then we get kind of the two-minute drive
where Jake the Snake is taking Arizona down
in the scoring position.
And, oh, here we come.
And we're like, oh, no, he's not going to do it.
And he takes them down there.
And they kick a field goal, I believe,
to beat whoever they're playing to knock us out of the playoffs.
And it's just devastating to be sitting there on the plane.
You have the euphoria of winning your final game of the season
in Cincinnati playing pretty well,
but then the agony of figuring out that you've been eliminated
from the playoffs because another team in the 4 o'clock slot
won a game you needed them to lose.
So there's some regrets because as that happens,
you're like, man, that penalty against the Redskins.
I remember Daryl Green undercut a dig route on me.
I threw a pick on in that week 16 game that the receiver bled up field instead of coming downhill.
And if the receiver comes downhill, it's an 18-yard completion.
Instead of interception, you're playing those things in your head.
And you're like, man, if that doesn't happen, we're going to the playoffs.
It's hard to get to the playoffs.
No, it's not as hard now, obviously, but it is really hard to get in the playoffs.
It's a different style of football once you get there.
It's really where how careers are made by how many times you get to the playoffs.
You make more money.
It's harder.
You get better contracts.
Free agency is better when you go to the playoffs. There's a lot of things that are great with making the playoffs. You make more money. It's harder. You get better contracts. Free agency is better when you go to
the playoffs. There's a lot of things that are
great with making the playoffs.
When you don't do it because
another team did
something you needed them not to do, it's pretty devastating.
I'm trying to look this up now, by
the way.
It was
13-13 and the Cardinals kicked a field goal with three seconds left
and and beat the chargers so you were on you were on the plane it gets it looks too like
first of all um arizona was up chargers make a late run got it arizona kicks arizona kicks the game when he threw so that
was all happened no wonder you remember that 20 something years later because you're sitting
there thinking like okay this kick and the pilot the pilot's giving you the updates yeah you know
i'm in back there playing gin with brad cold pepper as we always did and yeah you grew playing
tonk and spades and and that you know that's kind of what you did on plane rides we had the one
o'clock slot obviously that weekend and we're on the did on plane rides we had the one o'clock slot obviously
that weekend and we're on the plane coming back and they have the four o'clock slot out west
chargers san diego at the time and cardinals and uh you're totally dependent upon some pilot that
i don't even know if he knew who we were right he's just like hey here you guys are interested
in this ball game going on in Arizona or San Diego.
And, yeah, Cardinals got the ball.
Oh, big completion, midfield.
I think there's 30 seconds left.
And then, oh, wow, okay, ball's down there.
It looks like you can – and I'm not saying that specifically how it's going to help,
but you're getting these vague updates.
Now all the card games are over and you're kind of sitting there and you're
looking at your buddy.
And some guys have playoff bonuses too, that are pretty healthy.
Like I don't remember.
I don't think I did,
but there's plenty of guys that might have $50,000 playoff bonuses,
a hundred thousand dollar playoff bonuses.
Like this is their living.
So they're like, well, he misses the kick.
I make a hundred grand.
He makes the kick.
I'm out a hundred grand. Like'm not 100 grand like these are real
and these are real things that happen and then oh he made it he just everybody i can
i can close my eyes remember where i was sitting with pep um because we always sat together playing
gin and i can i mean i could go to the plane he always sat by the. He always sat by the window. I always sat by the aisle.
We would take the thing down in the middle row,
set up a blanket over the top so the cards didn't slide.
And I can remember sitting there.
I can see the blue blanket on the tray in the middle seat.
The cards lay in there and me and Pep not playing cards,
just listening for this pilot's update and then just going,
Oh, we're not going to the playoffs. Okay. You touch on it for a second then. And this may seem
like a stupid question, but what is so different about the playoffs, the game planning part of it,
the adjustment, you know, the kind of go, I would imagine the, the risk calculations
are greater and like, all right, like we're not, we're not saving anything here. How different is
that part of the lead up install and then kind of figuring out how to change it, how quickly you'll
be willing to abandon things if you don't think things are working. I think there's a lot of
elements to it. The biggest thing that in 97, our first year going, so I'd played three years, we had sucked.
And then fourth year we get in was you're so tired at the end of an NFL season.
You're so beat up.
You're just mentally, physically, emotionally done.
And all of a sudden you go to the playoffs and everybody's perfect.
There's this breath of energy and enthusiasm and life that goes into your team and all of a sudden all the
booboos go away and you know something that you might have missed two games with an mcl or something
that doesn't hurt that bad anymore um i mean everybody's just on a different uh level i i
there's a there's more urgency to everything um coaches are, they're so wound tight. I think for the reasons you said,
because, um, they can't be wrong. There's no margin for error. Uh, so just a lot of,
a lot of heightened awareness. Uh, I think game wise that the biggest differences are
you get secondaries that are way more physical, less flags are thrown typically,
just more funny business going on in the game that isn't regulated as much,
at least back in our era.
Again, this is so many years ago.
But they definitely let you get away with more in the playoffs,
and it makes offensive football a little bit harder.
That's why defensive football travels.
You know what I mean?
It's always been, I get it, I love offense,
and I love how some of these teams can kind of offensively get it going
and dictate terms, but at the end of the day,
the team that's most physical on defense and can run the football
and do the boring old school things the best are the ones are successful because of how playoff football uh is formatted now less so in today's football but
for sure in the 90s and early 2000s it was uh it was a different season and and called differently
as well Trent before we leave here and something I touched on in one of the opens before we had you on, the opt-outs
going on in college football.
I'm fine with it, but I can
also understand in certain cases where you'd
be like, oh man. And I also understand
the old school part of it. It's like, you know, I
want to be there for my teammates or I expect my teammate
to be there for me. But we know that the college
student-athlete deal
has been exposed for what it always was, and it
was kind of an exploitive deal here. So not kind of, it is.
But at the same time, like, you know,
I also don't think it's a horrible deal for everybody that's a student athlete
either. So I don't know. I'm just kind of,
I know you're more of an old school guy,
but you work with so many of these quarterbacks and it becoming the top
recruits at all these colleges and top draft picks.
How do you see it now in 2022?
I see it like you do.
It came up in our house.
What day did Herbie make the comments that he got?
This weekend.
I've watched so much dang football on vacation.
They all run together.
It came up in our house.
Three daughters that are athletes., wife was a college athlete.
You can't opt out. Like, no, how do you give up on your team? I'm like, well,
well, wait a second here. Like, yeah, you can.
These guys, there are certain cases where the,
their future career earnings Trump being there for your team.
Like there is a true risk calculation here.
And I think the voice that isn't being talked about here is their teammates.
I think their teammates actually support them.
Like who cares what we think?
Like that's where my argument went was, I don't really care what you think,
Kirby. I love you. You're my friend.
You're one of the greatest TV personalities of all time.
I don't care what you think, Ryan. I don't care what you think. Yeah. I don't think you should care what I think.
I think what matters is their teammates. What do they think?
Like we're all talking about,
we're assuming certain things
about their team well what if their team's the one saying bro you are crazy to play in this game
like if i was you go be picket and go stand up go be in the press box and help oc call the game
like you know we don't think you're giving up on us like we're in this for you like we want to see
you be the first pick of the draft we want you to make 50 million dollars i don't i don't think
the desmond howard kirk thing was as sinister as people try to make it out to me i think it's two
big 10 guys a michigan and ohio state guy talking about the rose bowl yes going you know it is a
little weird that this generation doesn't care about the Rose Bowl because that's an impossibility for their generation, your generation.
Again, mine as a fan.
But that's also what's happened as we've just looked at like, look, I remember when some of the Oregon players like the Rose Bowl again because they weren't playing for a national championship or now if you're not in the playoff.
I mean, that just happens, which sucks.
national championship or now if you're not in the playoff i mean that just happens which sucks and i think that i think that had more to do with it other than people trying to make it out to be
this business incentivized like duplicitous oh look at the voices and faces of espn you know
admonishing these kids i think they're just a couple big 10 ogs that are like you guys don't
want to play in the rose bowl i totally agree agree. And when they said that, I wasn't offended by anything.
I think there are some kids in general that don't love football as much.
In general, right?
I don't think Herbie was saying that about everybody.
And I agree with you.
It was about they couldn't comprehend because the Rose Bowl in our generation
was why it's called the granddaddy of them all right like it's you just
you couldn't imagine not wanting to go to rosable i mean i i guess there's going to be younger
people listening to be like what's wrong with you guys but you don't get it like old people
that's what they like growing up i had grandparents or aunt great aunts great uncles who didn't talk about
football all season long you know we talked about who talked about we talked about holy cross in my
my family all right you know it was my grandfather and then my father and we go to hold that was my
new england football religion was holy cross football so the rose just like you said like
hey what are you doing oh let's go next door to
the neighbors or let's it was watching the rose bowl parade and then we're watching the rose bowl
and again because back then we didn't even have a bcs title game so you still you didn't feel like
you were left out and i think because they're in past nina doing that show i guess look maybe i'm
biased because i know the characters but i actually think I'm more informed because like you, I know the characters.
I didn't take it as a we are big, nasty corporation, ESPN, fuck these kids for ruining our product.
I really thought it had more to do with just a generational football approach and that game in particular, even though there were other opt outs that they were talking about.
I totally agree.
I don't go down the Twitter
hole very often. I mean, almost
never. That night I did
just because I was so... Sure.
Right. I was so
curious
why it became such a
thing all of a
sudden. And then Kurt's doing the
game and he's doing an apology on Twitter
while he's calling the game.
And I'm like, how did this get here?
And I think where I stand on it is both.
Both can be right here.
Like you can be right on saying, no, you stick with your team.
Matt Corral.
Like I loved how he handled that.
He's like, I wouldn't be here without them,
so I wanted to be here for them.
Basically his message, right?
I think that's awesome.
And Kenny Pickett was awesome.
And I thought some of the other decisions that were made,
Walker for Michigan State, he shouldn't have played in that game, right?
He's a running back.
He doesn't need the extra 35 hits.
No chance.
Right.
None.
I mean, Kenny Walker, like, if I were a friend,
I'd be like, you're not playing in this game.
Yeah.
And I bet you Mel Tucker said that.
And I don't think that's wrong either.
Like, I think both sides can be right here.
I just couldn't believe how visceral it got based on some comments that again and we're not i don't
work for espn right i know desmond and herbie forever i think they're amazing guys they're
incredible on tv they weren't doing that for pro espn reasons that was just like you said it was
kind of the they can't process i can't process not wanting to play in the Rose Bowl because our paradigm is us crotchety old farts.
Right.
Like you, we grew up knowing, oh my gosh, if I could play in a Rose Bowl, that'd be one of the greatest experiences of my life.
I mean, I was excited to play in the California Raisin Bowl at Fresno State.
I mean, California Raisins were a big deal back then.
Big deal back then. California Raisins were a big deal back then.
California Raisins, they had a nice run.
Oh, it was dope. Man, I had the little
bouncing raisin on the back of the car. It was sweet.
All right, man. That is Trent Dilfer,
and we will check in again. Thanks
as always. Enjoy your vacation. All right.
Bye.
You want details? Bye.
I drive a Ferrari.
355 Cabriolet.
What's up?
I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.
I have every toy you could possibly imagine.
And best of all, kids, I am liquid.
So, now you know what's possible.
Let me tell you what's required.
Life advice. The email is lifeadvicerr at gmail.com.
Quick marketing observation.
Deodorant prices through the roof.
Went to buy a couple sticks.
You guys gel guys?
Spray?
Nobody's a spray guy anymore, right?
I always see these Axe commercials and I'm like, who's still buying this stuff?
Are kids in high school still using Axe? I don't
know. Sorry to apologize to Axe. I'm sure you have
a great business model, but you know, I don't know.
Dude, Axe, the two-tone one, day or night?
Chocolate at night?
The pheromones completely change?
2012? Whoa.
Yeah.
I'm like a stick guy, not
a gel guy. You're a stick guy, so
just antiperspirant? Yep. No, not the natural stuff. You're a stick guy. So just in a perspirant.
Yep.
No, not the natural stuff that makes you smell even worse.
So, you know.
Ooh, shout out to the organics.
Kyle, you had an ax body spray face, right?
Yeah. Middle school kilo baby.
That's the only one or Phoenix was a big Phoenix guy.
But once I was out of the ashes, once I, yeah.
Once I, once I left middle school, I, I, I knew what the deal was.
Not don't do that anymore.
Once I left middle school, I knew what the deal was.
Not don't do that anymore.
That I was not a consent guy who then worked his way into polo.
Now I'm a Dolce & Gabbana light blue.
Oh, right.
Light blue.
That's got a real ocean vibe, all the marketing for that.
You just feel like it's outside, a little lemon on some arugula or something.
It's just everything's crisp.
It's fresh.
Yeah. Whenever I see the light blue, I know's just everything's crisp. It's fresh. Yeah.
Whenever I see the light blue, I know what you're talking about.
Okay, good. What about you, Saruti?
Now that we're on this topic, Saruti?
I'm not a big cologne dude, so I guess Polo Red is the one that I have, but I don't put
it on a lot.
That's a send problem.
I don't really go anywhere.
So, yeah.
All right.
So what's-
Canel got me Polo Red for Christmas a couple years ago.
True story.
Wait, Canel bought you cologne for-
He did.
I don't know why. I must have mentioned
it at some point. He remembered and he bought me another
bottle. I still have it. I haven't really used
it because I don't use cologne.
What signifies a Polo Red Knight?
I mean, it's been so long, but before
it was like West Hartford for sure,
Elbow Room, probably
downstairs, Borderline Blackout.
Yeah, that's the
i just got so excited i i mean wish we had a video component of the life advice like you
would have seen how i just got so happy on siree's behalf being like all right
where are where are we starting this would you eat in west hartford center before those big nights
i didn't have enough money then we that was a couple chicken breasts at home, grilled, and then just start pounding probably Bud Lights, I would assume, at that point.
And then continue to drink Bud Lights at Elwha Room.
Rooftop, it was nice out, too.
It's a weird place because it's kind of classy, but it's also really trashy.
That's kind of what that whole strip on West Hartford is,
even though we like to pretend that it's nice.
But yeah, no,
that was like 2015.
Great times.
But that's probably the last time
I sprayed that on.
Okay.
All right.
That's the last time
you put on Polo Red
was six years ago.
Yeah, I just,
I mean, I don't really,
you know, since I got married,
like I'm not really,
I don't really wear cologne.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry to Maddie.
I didn't like give up
like some guys do, but I just, just not a big cologne guy. I feel like I have a naturally good scent a... I don't really wear cologne. I'm sorry to Maddie. I didn't give up like some guys do, but I'm just
not a big cologne guy. I feel like I have a naturally
good scent, so I don't really need to wow
anybody when I'm going out.
Jesus, look at this guy.
Get a load of this guy with the natural scent.
I'll take a 250
milliliter of Cerruti, please.
That's right.
Travel size.
All right. I guess... guess so wait real quick what do you weigh now compared to what you weighed uh before you got married so we'll check uh within five pounds i'm i i don't gain a ton
of weight i don't really work out a ton uh so no but it's not like a it's not it's you know
where van peli's called skinny fat like i'm not in good, but I don't I don't carry a lot of weight on me
That's basically you just not in danger of letting it get away from you though
That's solid for a guy who's married and that wants to stay that way true
Yeah, I'm trying to you know, the Peloton's just to get some cardio get the heartbeat going a little bit heart racing and
But other than that no no lifting. No nothing. How much do you love the subscription for Peloton?
How much do you love continuing to pay for it?
well How much do you love the subscription for Peloton? How much do you love continuing to pay for it? Well, shout out to Spotify.
Because a little stipend there.
It's actually pretty great.
You work out like 12 times a month.
They'll refund you for a certain amount of it.
So actually don't pay for a ton of it.
So that's why we ended up getting it.
I would have never gotten it.
Yeah, there's some weird Spotify Peloton deal
where you can, if it shows that you're working out on the Peloton.
Do Spotify pay for the entire setup?
No, they like basically, I think you could do it anywhere.
You can go to like a gym.
You just have to prove that you worked out 12 times in a month.
Wait, what?
And like send them the paper.
Yeah.
We'll connect.
You're not in on this?
We'll connect.
Yeah.
I think the mask might be leaving one of my gyms soon.
So let's see.
Yeah. So I just like submit a piece of paper and there you go. We'll talk. I think the mask might be leaving one of my gyms soon. So let's see. Yeah.
So I just like submit a piece of paper and there you go.
We'll talk.
Refund for a certain percentage.
We were giving out advice.
We didn't even realize it.
So this is like a bonus one.
All right.
Let's get to a couple of emails here.
This one's tough for me.
I feel like I'm going to be a little harsh to the emailer, but let's go with it.
All right.
No kids at the wedding.
Ryan, Steve, Kyle, what's up?
Don't take the 2 a.m. time stamp to think I'm in a state of utter inebriation right now. Sober as
a judge. I do look at some of these emails that roll in and then I'll get done reading it and I
go, Kyle, this guy sent it at 3 a.m. Like, okay, this is why. And then we'll have some guys. I
mean, this is what's really funny about it. We don't expose this. We'll get it at 7, 3 a.m. Like, okay, this is why. And then we'll have some guys. I mean, this is what's really funny about it.
We don't expose this.
We'll get it at 7, 8 a.m. next day.
Check in and be like, hey, can you not read that email actually?
So we're getting not drunk texts.
We're getting drunk emails at times.
And then, you know, if somebody, hopefully, you know, you send a follow-up quick enough, we won't read them.
We won't read them if you ask. So we try to be nice about the whole thing. All right.
But as you can deduce, I have had many sleepless nights over the following. Let's dive in. 32,
64, 190. Nice. This past spring, got engaged to an amazing girl. She's my best friend. I'm very
excited for our future together. Our wedding is set for early fall 2022, and the wedding planning
has been a bigger pain in the ass than I anticipated. And let me assure you, I anticipated it to blow. You see my fiance's mother and sister are, and there's no
other way to put this, Ryan. They are, woo, that's a harsh word. All right. I think we can all be on
the same page of what that one is. I'm not going to say it. They've never been a fan of mine. We
swore so much last week on that last life advice that I actually felt bad for some of the parents
that will listen to this. I mean, we will drop, we'll let it fly every now and then.
That was a lot of swearing.
So the kids in the backseat, my bad.
They've never been a big fan of mine.
So this is the fiance and the sister.
Fiance's mother and sister.
I guess the fiance is a fan.
She said yes.
They've never been a fan of mine
throughout the duration of our relationship.
And honestly, it doesn't bother me.
I've never done anything other than treat their daughter
and sister, mye um really well uh just come
a little structure there come to the conclusion that inevitably they'll just get over whatever
fucking problems they seem to have so here's the issue the sister let's call her dolores
she likes to be the center of the show uh as always and the mother let's call her satan
she tends to side with dolores and alienate my fiance
it's a messed up dynamic uh dolores was supposed to get married in 2020 but there's this crazy
virus yeah i heard about it uh so that her wedding got postponed long story short her and her now
husband did a micro wedding with the intention of having their big wedding in 2021 the wedding
never happened because dolores got pregnant and the big wedding they had planned was canceled.
With our wedding
on the horizon, Dolores and Satan
have been pretty manipulative. We aren't allowed to
have an engagement party because our friends who offered
to throw us one wanted to have the party a week
before Dolores' child's baptism
and according to Satan, that wasn't cool.
I guess probably because of COVID,
I imagine.
The engagement party is literally the best part. And according to Satan, that wasn't cool. I guess probably because of COVID, I imagine. All right.
The engagement party is literally the best part.
A lot of times it's better than the wedding and the rehearsal dinner.
I would rank the wedding fourth, reception third, rehearsal dinner second, engagement party one.
And that's coming from somebody who's been engaged zero times.
So maybe you shouldn't listen to me.
zero time so maybe you shouldn't listen to me uh it feels as if they have all this pent-up energy from dolores's wedding not happening and unscratched itch for dolores to put herself in the center of
attention here's the main issue here though because i feel like i'm dragging on don't worry about it
i do it we don't want dolores's baby or any child at our wedding oh a child-free wedding can it be
done um there are many reasons but the main ones from where my fiance and i are sitting are as free wedding. Can it be done?
There are many reasons,
but the main ones from where my fiance and I are sitting are as follows. Number one, the kid is going to be
13 months old. It's going to have no recollection
of our wedding, so what's the point of having it there?
That feels a little harsh. The Disney World
argument. Yeah.
Honestly, it makes sense.
I knew Sir Rudy was going to love that
one.
That's me in my 20s.
I'd be like, kid's not even going to remember it in six hours.
My 20s, if I had gotten married, plate cost would have definitely been an issue.
Most importantly, this is number two, this day is supposed to be about my fiancée.
I want her to have her day in the spotlight.
I don't want this baby being there to create a platform for Dolores to go out of her way to seek attention, which I know she will.
Looking for advice as a best handle list.
Dolores has already been sending
my fiance flower girl dress options
for the baby.
Totally unprompted, I might add.
I can tell because you're not asking for him.
I want to nip this in the bud
before it gets out of control.
Realize this might not be exactly
in your wheelhouse.
No.
The first thing I thought of
was maybe like a Lollapalooza second stage.
So, you know, the wedding set up.
Yeah.
Like the hearth.
I believe your people call it a hopa.
Um, I don't know why those costs so much.
If you gave me a six pack, some lattice and a nail gun, I could get you a backdrop in
45 minutes.
All right.
and a nail gun, I could get you a backdrop in 45 minutes. All right. Now you could do like a second hearth, a second stage for Dolores, Satan and the baby, Satan's grandchild. And that way she can
have all the attention in the world. What I'm telling you though, is that's not going to work.
This isn't going to happen. The kid's coming to this wedding. All right. The kid's coming to this wedding. And what I would say to you is that you should let the kid come because that way Dolores will be focused on her 13 month old. The flower girl thing's fine. Okay. It's kind of cute, man. 13 months. I wouldn't go down this road. I, you know, even if you're not going to have that much interaction with your in-laws and you already don't really like them and they don't like you, that's a big
ask. I actually, if you do do this and ban a 13 month old from the wedding, please follow up with
us immediately and let us know what other things you're amazing at. Cause I don't think a lot of
guys would even try this. I'm telling you to not try it. And I do think that the baby being at the
wedding is a good distraction for the sister-in-law because the sister-in-law without her daughter at this wedding actually might be a worse deal to sign up for.
Because at least if she has a 13-month-old there, that's the thing that's going to focus.
That's going to be the attention getter.
If you're worried about a baby stealing attention away from your wife, who gives a shit, man?
I mean, people like babies you know like hey this wedding's an eight but it would have been a nine if the kid
wasn't here having people take pictures and hold them i mean it's just what happens it's a it's a
family gathering it's a friends gathering people but do you really want your sister-in-law there
with her child being banned do you want that personality combination there for the day?
Because I think you actually,
that would be a much worse deal
than her center attention seeking vibe.
I think her by herself would be a worse deal.
So I don't really have more to add to that.
Kyle?
I think it would feel good to make something
that she wants not happen.
I think that's probably his major motivation is like i just want her to not win one i just want her to not win one in the trenches
when she makes it ugly or threatens to make it ugly or the the threat is there of her possibly
making something ugly i get why he wants to do it but yeah probably i mean at the end of the day if
this goes uh badly and your wife's unhappy isn't that like, isn't that the worst part of the whole thing?
I would imagine.
So, you know, if it's going to, if it's going to make things easier or better for her, I guess do whatever needs to be done.
I will say I'm pretty sure Bill and Carrie, my aunt and uncle had a no kids wedding.
And so I don't know how it went over, but I mean, Bill's, i think an only child and carrie has brothers that are
cool so i don't think anybody was there to object but um what about jeans did people have sensible
jeans on i don't know wasn't allowed to go you weren't allowed to go how old were you kid i mean
i think they got married in i don't know around 99 98 so i would have been like a i mean probably seven that it was it was like oh
three okay then i would have been still still definitely considered a kid i was 10 you want
a 10 year old that was you were probably worse yeah yeah then at six kyle watch the gps watch
the early gps's if i'm if i'm kidding but um I just know I wasn't allowed to go.
My parents came back. I was like, where'd you go?
They were like, we were out wedding.
There was no kids. That just stuck with me forever.
You were mad at the time, though.
Absolutely.
You were probably home playing GTA or something.
Carrie was my youngest aunt.
She's still probably the coolest.
If I'm drinking with one, it would probably be her.
Wow. How about a drive-by
to the other wives?
Love you, Auntie Noelle.
Love you, Auntie Noelle.
I think we had a no-kid.
See, but the difference is, I think we had a no-babies policy at our wedding, not a no-kids policy.
There were a couple kids running around, but they were, you know.
What is wrong with you?
Do you put that on the invitation?
How does it get communicated?
Do you put that on the invitation?
How does it get communicated?
I think it was communicated through our moms to be like, hey, if you've got
kids, this is kind of an
adult-only wedding. We did invite...
I think it was probably a 10, a 12, and 13,
14-year-old on my wife's side
that I know well and I wanted them to be
there. That's fine. But babies,
you're right. But here's the thing. Why would she even
want to bring her baby to the wedding?
Don't you want to have a good time at the wedding you can't have a good time
if you have a 13 month old at this wedding and like i get maybe you're living through your baby
and everyone's going to pay you attention and she's going to get some sort of like satisfaction
out of that that's probably what this guy's talking about but if i was this if i was uh
dolores like well i the only thing is like maybe you show up for the pictures because everybody
wants the baby in the family pictures right that's probably the biggest deal at the wedding
but then after pictures done if i'm dolores i'm like you know give babysitter can wants the baby in the family pictures, right? That's probably the biggest deal with the wedding. But then after pictures done, if I'm Dolores,
I'm like, you know,
babysitter can take the baby away and I'm going to have a good time
at this wedding.
So again, for this guy,
I think he's actually,
you guys hit it on the,
hit the nail on the head.
Like he's kind of dodging a bullet here.
She's going to be preoccupied
with the 13 month old
the entire time.
Yeah.
I just wonder,
is the fiance on the same page as well?
It sounded like she was.
Yeah.
I don't think this is out of nowhere.
So, I mean, let the fiance have like she was. Yeah. I don't think this is out of nowhere.
Let the fiance have that conversation with her sister, but I still think
if she's this terrible of
a sister-in-law, I think
we're all on the same page. She's going to be worse without
her kid than she would be with because she's going
to be distracted. All right, let's get to another one here.
Biggest decision of my life.
6'2.5",
194.
Trying to get down to 180. I checked in at 237 the other day by the way i don't feel fat but that we might be approaching not just jacked
there's no way i put on that much muscle at this stage of my life right so yeah 237 though i may
just caught it on the wrong way in.
Is your scale okay?
Yeah, I was going to say.
When's the last time it's been calibrated?
That's a great question.
It is the new year.
I should get that calibrated.
I would say.
Just bring it into a place.
Be like, hey, you guys do calibrations here?
Like, this is Jiffy Lube, sir.
All right, the important stuff.
I'm at the crossroads of my
career i teach and coach basketball to high school and everything's fine i'm rather content
the last few seasons coaching have been a struggle i'm an assistant varsity coach and i realized that
our head varsity coach is not one to coach up his assistants when i asked him about his mentality
when he calls certain sets and why he makes in-game adjustments the way he does, he totally blows me off.
Okay.
When I've been the head coach of our JV team during summer tournaments,
he refuses to sit down with me and talk about game plans.
He tells me he's too busy for a five-minute conversation.
He's also completely hands-off
when it comes to off-season training,
recruiting kids on campus to come out for the team,
checking in with players about their academic eligibility,
and I pick up that slack. I don't mind doing the extra stuff i know it's important but it's frustrating
when he acts like no one is putting in as much time as he is when that simply isn't the case
there's a head coach i've gotten to know in a few district a few districts over who seems like a
good dude someone who wants his assistants to be the best they can be and will coach them up to
become better he said if i ever want a spot at his staff it's mine in order to do this i'd leave my
current school district which means starting over to new school for the first time in 10 years and giving
up tenure which i can earn back in two to three years but you know change plus telling kids i
coach that i'm leaving is tough understood i don't know when i'll ever be a head coach myself but it
feels like i can't get there if the guy running my program doesn't help his assistants learn and
grow it just feels like i'm stuck in my current position and coaching is becoming joyless.
Any insight you can shed about making a big career change would be appreciated.
All right.
Well, look, it sounds like you want to be a head coach more than anything else.
And even though it would be emotionally, I don't even know if challenging is the right
word.
It's just something you don't necessarily want to go through and tell the kids that
you're coaching ham in a bounce.
At some point, if you're in the coaching profession, that's exactly what's going to happen.
And you're not going to be with these high school kids forever. You get them for a couple of years
and they cycle out and you move on to the next group. So if you truly want to be a head coach,
then you got to leave this guy because it's clear it's one of two things. He's so stuck in his ways
that he finds you really annoying. For you to go, hey, why did you do that? What was your philosophy
annoying. All right. Like for you to go, Hey, why did you do that? What was your philosophy with this set? What, what are some of your in-game adjustments? If you're getting nothing
back from him, he doesn't want to talk to you about any of those things. Now that could mean
that he's an asshole. Okay. Um, it also could mean that he can't believe that you're asking
him these questions because he's like, dude, I'm the head coach. I've been here a while. Like just,
you know, be the assistant and then that's it. And don't worry about it.
So you're never going to get what you want out of this relationship with the current
guy that you're with.
It's just never going to happen.
You've proven that with just a few sentences, because every time you try to ask about this
stuff, you also don't respect him.
So I don't know what his version of you would be if he were talking to other people.
Maybe he doesn't even have one.
It doesn't care because he, however, he's gone through his coaching profession, he doesn't see you.
He doesn't think his role involves any of the things that you think are important.
And you already have a job offer somewhere else or somebody else.
So if coaching is the most important thing for you to be a head coach, this is a no-brainer
decision.
You have to leave the current setup because the current setup is never going to change. This guy isn't all of a sudden going to start opening up
to you. And chances are, like, I can probably guess that he can't believe like, why does this
guy keep asking me all this shit? And your, your heart is in the right place. Your intentions seem
like they're right. But I mean, you're just going to run across this with every work relationship
that you have is some people are going to be very receptive to making sure that everyone around them feels wanted and then there's other people just gonna
be like hey do your job and i'll do mine and that's fine and like i said in the current setup
you're never going to be it's never going to change if this is the reaction you're getting
to some of this stuff where the guy's completely blowing you off and you don't even think he works
that hard first place um another season with him is just a waste of your time.
Facts. The nightmare is if there isn't another job, right?
That's when people like hate what's going on and don't necessarily see a way out.
So, I mean, you never know.
That guy might not even who gave you the offer might not even be there if you wait too long.
And then it's like, oh, well, now I've got no option.
So, yeah, I would take that.
And then, too, it sounds like he works for a school district, which means that that's in the same state, which means that the stakes are pretty low. He's still going to be able to retire on time. And it's not like he's going to lose any of his, you know, I know when teachers go between states, sometimes they lose stuff as far as years towards retirement or whatever. But I mean, just outside of tenure, like that's like the stakes are low. Yeah, do it, man. That's fun. And he just said if he hadn't said himself, like, yeah, tenure, but whatever, I can get it back in two or three years. So he's he's already done the calculus to know that that's that's part of it that he's fine with.
It doesn't matter.
I mean, again, I would ask you very simply, like if there's other factors you left out that I don't know.
But based on the information we have here, you want to be a head coach.
You want to work with somebody who's going to help you grow.
That's never going to happen.
You just proved it with everything that guy said. He said he has zero interest in you,
to be honest with you. So yeah, two, three years of tenure. I mean, that's not that big of a deal,
I guess, in the grand scheme of things. And, you know, just going back to his like wanting
to learn from somebody. And I didn't like realize this when I was younger, but I did realize that
on a few different shows that I worked on when I was trying to become a producer and working radio
and trying to figure out what my career was.
It is important to have people that believe in you that are like above you.
Right. Like, Ryan, you always believed in me, which is great.
And I feel like it like spurred on my career.
Will Kane, same thing.
There are a lot of talent that I work with that like believed in me and actually trusted me.
And that's a really important thing for someone young and trying to figure out what you want to do in life.
So but if you work with somebody who has no value of your opinion, even if you feel like you're
doing a good job, that actually, that really does fuck you up and stunt your growth. So I think you
need to get out of there. Like, I think, I don't think there's anything for you there. There's no
value. You're not going to learn anything. Even if you're, even if you're, here's the thing,
like you can be given this coach, terrible ideas, but he's not giving you any feedback on that.
Right. So if you go to this new opportunity, he could tell you, Hey man, this is wrong. Here's
why. And you can learn and grow. So I think this is a no brainer. I think you got to bounce, dude.
Yeah. Honestly, I think you made the best point of the entire podcast right there
is that if you're younger, you are always kind of hoping there's going to be somebody that believes
in you. And, um, and it's real though, you know, like there's plenty of people out there. Like
I've told this story before, but we had one friend who a couple of years after graduation, you know, started doing
the tech thing startup before we even knew what the hell it was, you know? So it might've been
like 2001, 2002, and he'd moved out West and we were like, what's going on with him? He's like,
oh, he's with this company. It's going to be amazing. And we were just like, wait, really? Like, he's going to make all this money? Because like, we didn't understand, right? Now everybody understands startups and IPOs and, oh, the founder and here are all your stock options. And here's what you can be worth on paper. I mean, that's, it was a little more obscure, even though I know it was the norm
of the financial world, you got to understand like, we're just 23, 24, 25 going like, what,
let's see, how does this work? And, you know, I had a good buddy and I was like, well, what's it
like at this workplace? And he was like, oh my God, my manager believes in me so much. And the
manager, now I look back on some of the stuff that he was telling me that this manager was saying to
him, it was all bullshit. It was just motivational ploy stuff. You know, these sales managers that set these, these markers at like ridiculous numbers, knowing almost
everybody's going to fail, but it's like, well, if I just ask for it, I don't think I can even get,
it's going to drive you that much harder to reach these goals. And it's like, okay,
like I know what you're doing. I understand the point you're making. So anyway, back to
Cerruti's point of like having somebody, whether it was me or Will Kane or whatever, Cerruti would always know that it was sincere.
I wasn't just going around and telling 20 young people that worked there, but like, you're amazing.
You have unlimited potential.
You have no idea how high your ceiling is.
You know what I mean?
Because if you have half a brain, you're like, wait, this person doesn't really take any interest in me whatsoever, just told me I'm fucking awesome.
me whatsoever just told me i'm fucking awesome um and so for our coach guy here or anyone else like there's there's an incredible value where you start going all right i i think i'm on the
right path but when somebody who's good at this and has what you want tells you hey keep coaching
here's how this works all these different things like It can feel, I mean, it sucks in life
because it can feel like we'll all have phases of it
no matter how successful, unsuccessful you are at the time
where you can be in these spots and be like,
wait, is this actually going anywhere
if you are determined to keep growing?
And there's plenty of people who are just like,
hey, look, I'm going to ride this out.
Look at my 401k every month in 30 years.
Like, fuck it. See ya.
There's also that, which can be a lot less stressful too.
So I think that's it we have anything else new year's now frolic room
still there i recall i retweeted a little bit yeah what was going on there i just loved it
you loved it i just liked what you had to say you
you were just like all right it's on and then there was like a headbanger sitting by himself
did you know he's being videoed no no but he wouldn't care he's a good guy he's a regular
he's a regular he was just what were you guys listening to ronnie james i don't know he put
that on i don't know what it is all whatever he's running the show it all sounds like metallica to me i don't know what it was he's always constantly like yo man i you know i just don't
like rap but i'll respect it i was like okay we don't have to talk about it just playing
and then you know he'll then he'll then he'll you know bump himself up onto some sort of uh
some sort of metal headbanger music but um he even like you know he'll respect 70s rock it's like yeah i know guy
it's the best kind but um whatever he's a nice guy he's great he's never said a bad word and
sometimes he just fucking bangs his head at the bar without a drink at the end i don't know i gotta
get up there and i gotta get up there soon i gotta yeah honestly i feel i feel bad that i haven't
after the content you were tweeting out this weekend, I was like, I got to stop by this place, check it out.
All right.
We'll be back on Wednesday.
Happy New Year, everybody.
Thanks to Kyle and Steve.
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