Latest / Hutton & Withrow Show / Hutton & Withrow: Titans Front Office Shakeup, Cam Ward Controversy & Stephen A. Smith Backlash | Hour 1

Transcript

Hutton & Withrow: Titans Front Office Shakeup, Cam Ward Controversy & Stephen A. Smith Backlash | Hour 1 · Hutton & Withrow Show

0:00
Speaker 1: We are out of the gates on sport and state.
0:03
Speaker 1: Glad you're with us. For Hutton & Withrow, he's Chad Withrow.
0:05
Speaker 2: I'm Jonathan Hutton. We are presented by Hard Rock Bet. Chad,
0:09
Speaker 2: I was just sharing the show on Facebook. I don't
0:12
Speaker 2: know if you're like me. I don't get on Facebook
0:14
Speaker 2: all that often. But when I do, I always do
0:16
Speaker 2: a double take. Because it's like someone from high school
0:20
Speaker 2: or from the hometown or whatever. They're like, oh, that's
0:23
Speaker 2: what they look like now.
0:24
Speaker 3: Yeah.
0:25
Speaker 1: You saw some people from the Southern Standard, the Warren
0:28
Speaker 1: County Sports Authority on there. It's like it is staggering.
0:31
Speaker 1: And you realize, you know, how many years have passed
0:33
Speaker 1: since high school because you don't notice yourself every day
0:36
Speaker 1: slowly dying in the mirror. Or maybe that's just me.
0:40
Speaker 1: I notice myself slowly dying every day in the mirror. Oh,
0:42
Speaker 1: for sure. But but when you see other people you
0:45
Speaker 1: haven't seen since high school and you see them like, damn,
0:48
Speaker 1: they got old. What what happened? You know, that's what
0:52
Speaker 1: I'm thinking. Like, man, they got really great. Gray, yeah,
0:55
Speaker 1: like really haggard in the eyes. Man, it looks way
0:59
Speaker 1: different than I remember them in high school. Facebook is
1:01
Speaker 1: fun for that. I love going to Facebook because I, too,
1:03
Speaker 1: don't go there very often. But when I go and
1:06
Speaker 1: see the messages I've received– on Facebook and I'm like
1:08
Speaker 1: 38 deep of different messages. And some of them are
1:11
Speaker 1: like people who visited town three weeks ago that were,
1:15
Speaker 1: Hey man, I'm coming to Nashville for a quick guy's trip.
1:18
Speaker 1: We'd love to meet up for lunch. If you're around,
1:19
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm sorry, man, I'm never on Facebook, but Hey,
1:22
Speaker 1: to all of you that watch the show that are
1:24
Speaker 1: on Facebook every day, we thank you. We welcome you.
1:28
Speaker 1: We praise you. Absolutely. Thank you so much. We praise you.
1:31
Speaker 1: We bow.
1:32
Speaker 2: That's how I date myself. I don't know if you
1:33
Speaker 2: do this, but like, they're like, I remember when it
1:35
Speaker 2: was the facebook.com. and it was just for campus only.
1:41
Speaker 2: Then it branched out, and then eventually you could do
1:43
Speaker 2: the state, and then eventually it was just college. And
1:46
Speaker 2: then the parents joined, right? And I've long said, if
1:49
Speaker 2: parents want to get rid of TikTok, there's one way
1:52
Speaker 2: to do it. Parents join TikTok, and the kids will leave.
1:56
Speaker 1: What Hutton is saying is it was Mark Zuckerberg, user
1:58
Speaker 1: number one, Jonathan Hutton, Middle Tennessee State user number two
2:02
Speaker 1: at thefacebook.com. I think he was in the first batch
2:05
Speaker 1: of people. The Winklevoss twins, I think, were two and three,
2:08
Speaker 1: and then Hutton was maybe number four in line for
2:11
Speaker 1: the Facebook. Yes, you were an early adopter of Facebook,
2:15
Speaker 1: for sure. I didn't get into Facebook until I was
2:17
Speaker 1: out of college. Really? I don't know how it worked.
2:19
Speaker 1: I still had my college email, I guess. Yeah, that's
2:22
Speaker 1: how it works. Because there was still a time where
2:23
Speaker 1: that was happening. So I had my UTK.edu, which I
2:27
Speaker 1: hate to this day that they had UTK as the.
2:30
Speaker 2: Moniker at Tennessee. Oh, I would hate it if it
2:31
Speaker 2: were longer than that, though. If you had to spell
2:34
Speaker 2: it out. You had MySpace, right? I don't even know
2:37
Speaker 2: what happened to my MySpace. That's the jhutten underscore 69
2:40
Speaker 2: that we talked about recently.
2:41
Speaker 1: I had a Nickelback song as the cover song for
2:45
Speaker 1: MySpace when Nickelback was still considered cool. Nickelback was new
2:50
Speaker 1: and cool. That's how far back I go with MySpace,
2:53
Speaker 1: was that the Nickelback song was completely unironic. There was
2:56
Speaker 1: no irony with me playing Nickelback when everyone went to
2:59
Speaker 1: my MySpace page.
3:01
Speaker 2: I mean, that thing recently sold out the arena. I'll
3:04
Speaker 2: tell you what, the Titans stadium will not be sold out.
3:08
Speaker 1: Speaking of irony, Hutton, how about Nickelback not being ironic?
3:12
Speaker 1: How ironic is it that the reporter... Show host Jared
3:17
Speaker 1: Stillman that got cut from his credential is the one
3:19
Speaker 1: who breaks the story about restructuring of the Titans front office.
3:23
Speaker 1: Good job. Well done. Yes.
3:25
Speaker 2: News last night, the Titans are having a restructure of
3:28
Speaker 2: their management team. Vice presidents, and it's like executive vice presidents,
3:33
Speaker 2: Adam News, Aaron Schwartz, Charles Jensen are all out. Schwartz
3:36
Speaker 2: was the head of the Titans' latest rebranding. Adolfo Burch
3:38
Speaker 2: is now the senior vice president, senior advisor to ownership
3:41
Speaker 2: from SVP and Chief Legal Affairs. There are other things
3:45
Speaker 2: structured here. But yes, Chad, the story within the story
3:50
Speaker 2: is that the guy who doesn't have a credential that
3:53
Speaker 2: they tried to keep out of the facility has the
3:57
Speaker 2: memo from the president of the Titans. Kowarski posted the
4:04
Speaker 2: memo at his site, paulkowarski.com. I mean, as soon as
4:08
Speaker 2: that thing was emailed out, it was out. And Stillman
4:11
Speaker 2: had it. Props to him. And here we go again
4:14
Speaker 2: with the restructure after hiring all of, yet again, more
4:19
Speaker 2: hires from Burt and Ihill that have now been fired.
4:24
Speaker 2: That's just what happens within the organization. That's why everyone's
4:26
Speaker 2: walking away. on eggshells there. When you lose, like they've
4:30
Speaker 2: been doing, no one's in a good mood. And that
4:33
Speaker 2: goes without saying, but I'm talking about looking over your shoulder,
4:36
Speaker 2: thinking that you're going to be fired because this happens
4:38
Speaker 2: routinely year after year. Yeah, because the people we're talking
4:42
Speaker 2: about getting fired now, these are not the people that
4:44
Speaker 2: were in charge of the decision to draft Cam Ward
4:47
Speaker 2: or to draft Falk. But they were big decision makers.
4:51
Speaker 2: Aaron Schwartz was over marketing that would have been a
4:54
Speaker 2: huge part of the rebrand. The uniforms, the whole structure
4:59
Speaker 2: of all of that, Chad. Everything down to the Ozempic T-Rack.
5:06
Speaker 2: She even was with Burke at a presser that was
5:09
Speaker 2: off the record, I believe, or no cameras allowed, to
5:12
Speaker 2: try to go through and answer questions about the rebrand.
5:14
Speaker 1: And now she's out as soon as they get things
5:17
Speaker 1: going this season.
5:17
Speaker 2: As soon as they're about to open the doors to
5:19
Speaker 2: the new stadium, Here comes more people in the door,
5:22
Speaker 2: and yet again, more people escorted out.
5:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right. Schwartz in charge of the rebrand out,
5:28
Speaker 1: which is odd to me because that was sort of
5:30
Speaker 1: the one bankability factor in this. At the Titans front
5:33
Speaker 1: office in Burke-Night Hill and everyone, they were going to
5:35
Speaker 1: go back on, hey, we've got a brand-new, beautiful stadium
5:38
Speaker 1: we're building. We've got beautiful uniforms we're putting on the field.
5:42
Speaker 1: The apparel for fans looks way better than it did before.
5:45
Speaker 1: That's the one positive thing in terms of momentum that
5:48
Speaker 1: we have moving forward. And now you're going to fire
5:50
Speaker 1: the person that was in charge of that rebrand. And also,
5:55
Speaker 1: this comes on the night of what, October? What day
5:57
Speaker 1: are we in right now? It's on the screen. October 7th.
6:01
Speaker 1: Before they play the Texans, not after. October 7th, getting
6:04
Speaker 1: ready for two winless teams to play each other, but
6:06
Speaker 1: also just middle of the season. This seems like something
6:10
Speaker 1: that you wouldn't do mid-season like this. You would make
6:13
Speaker 1: a move after the season, maybe right around December 29th.
6:17
Speaker 1: You make a move like this going into the offseason
6:19
Speaker 1: or after the season's over early January, but instead the
6:22
Speaker 1: Titans felt this was needed enough to go ahead and
6:25
Speaker 1: make this move now. And to cap it all off,
6:28
Speaker 1: somebody tips off Jared Stillman. Now, he could have been
6:31
Speaker 1: one of the three people fired. It would be my
6:34
Speaker 1: assumption that maybe they shot a text and said, go ahead. Look,
6:37
Speaker 1: I got the same treatment you did. So here you go.
6:40
Speaker 1: This is your story now that knows Jared from past.
6:43
Speaker 1: I don't know. But a lot of people jump to
6:45
Speaker 1: the conclusion that massive failure on behalf of the Titans.
6:49
Speaker 1: I saw Paul Koharski and other kind of hinting at
6:51
Speaker 1: this too. And I don't blame them for saying this.
6:54
Speaker 1: Not only are you firing people within your marketing business
6:58
Speaker 1: front office mid-season, but you're allowing the guy that you
7:03
Speaker 1: said was not worthy of a credential to to break
7:06
Speaker 1: that story and not getting ahead of it, and this
7:09
Speaker 1: is sort of how the game works, you should tip
7:12
Speaker 1: off somebody maybe even before you have the meeting with
7:15
Speaker 1: firing them and saying at this time you can post
7:17
Speaker 1: it so you prevent something like this from happening. Instead,
7:21
Speaker 1: Jared Stillman gets the scoop. And look, it makes everybody
7:24
Speaker 1: look bad. It makes the Titans look bad. It's a
7:26
Speaker 1: middle finger to them. It's a middle finger to everyone
7:28
Speaker 1: in that media room, and especially those that continue to
7:31
Speaker 1: carry water for the organization. that's in that media room
7:34
Speaker 1: so they can get their credential. What did that get you?
7:37
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're one of those people who continues
7:39
Speaker 1: to pander to fans and to that front office and
7:42
Speaker 1: that organization, what does all that pandering get you? It
7:45
Speaker 1: doesn't get you scoops. Well, Jared Stillman got that, and
7:48
Speaker 1: he doesn't even have a credential.
7:50
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's pretty clear that the eggshell game
7:53
Speaker 2: is being played here where it's like, okay, if this
7:55
Speaker 2: is happening, I mean, they're getting an internal memo. And,
7:58
Speaker 2: Jacob Lewis, I apologize. I just sent you a screenshot
8:01
Speaker 2: of one. That's going to say, you'll read from Burke Nihill,
8:06
Speaker 2: the team president, to keep this private.
8:09
Speaker 1: Here it is.
8:10
Speaker 2: Chad, this is how it concludes in the email. On
8:14
Speaker 2: an interim basis, our new chief business officer is on board.
8:17
Speaker 2: I'll oversee the team revenue functions. Jordan McCarron will oversee
8:20
Speaker 2: brain work. I'll share long-term.
8:21
Speaker 1: There you go. And then the second paragraph.
8:22
Speaker 2: As always, please keep internal updates like this confidential. And
8:26
Speaker 2: do not share them outside the organization without checking with
8:28
Speaker 2: your manager. Team, thank you for your flexibility and resiliency
8:31
Speaker 2: today and the future. That's why the standard says we
8:33
Speaker 2: adapt when it's good for the team. I'm confident this
8:36
Speaker 2: structure sets us up to do special things together as
8:38
Speaker 2: a business and as a culture in 2027 and beyond.
8:42
Speaker 2: Another part of this, Chad, was that they want to
8:44
Speaker 2: double their fan base going into the new stadium. Like
8:47
Speaker 2: that's the next goal is to double the size of
8:50
Speaker 2: their fan base. But just going back to the internal
8:52
Speaker 2: memo thing, like, I mean, that didn't last. I mean,
8:56
Speaker 2: Paul had it posted on his site soon after Stillman
8:59
Speaker 2: had the report. It didn't last 10 minutes in an inbox.
9:02
Speaker 2: It was already on the website. Yeah, I mean, and
9:07
Speaker 2: this is the other thing, too. Another part of this
9:10
Speaker 2: is key on the related updates here. Adolfo Birch, underneath
9:17
Speaker 2: his move, it says, Chad, Adolfo Birch will move into
9:20
Speaker 2: a new role as Senior Vice President, Senior Advisor to
9:23
Speaker 2: Ownership and CEO, supporting Amy, Kenneth, and me. So on
9:29
Speaker 2: the same line, Amy, Kenneth, and Birch. And I've said
9:33
Speaker 2: in the past, if there's a decision to be made,
9:37
Speaker 2: Birch Nihil is speaking on behalf of ownership, period. And
9:41
Speaker 2: I'm talking across the board when it comes to that building, upstairs, downstairs, whatever.
9:47
Speaker 2: He knows about decisions that are being made. And if
9:50
Speaker 2: you don't believe me, just look at the update where
9:52
Speaker 2: Adolfo Birch is now the senior advisor to ownership supporting Amy, Kenneth,
9:57
Speaker 2: and me.
9:57
Speaker 1: That's a great pull from you, Hans. to notice that.
10:01
Speaker 1: Did he marry an Adams? And we didn't know about it.
10:03
Speaker 1: Is he now a member of the family? It's like,
10:05
Speaker 1: welcome in. I feel like Burke Nihill is welcome at
10:07
Speaker 1: all family reunions of the Adams family now in Houston.
10:09
Speaker 1: Anytime that family gathers at this point. Because those are
10:13
Speaker 1: two dynasty family members who, of the ownership of the
10:17
Speaker 1: team that he's putting himself into with that statement. And
10:21
Speaker 1: I'm not saying he's inserting himself in there. I'm with you, Hutton,
10:24
Speaker 1: in that he's there. He's in that inner circle right now.
10:27
Speaker 1: He is their representative. So good for Burke Nihill in
10:31
Speaker 1: all of this that he has put himself in a
10:34
Speaker 1: position or garnered that favor with the family. that he's
10:38
Speaker 1: thought of so highly that he's basically a member of
10:40
Speaker 1: the ownership group at this point. That is a really
10:43
Speaker 1: good tell with the wording of that, that who Adolfo
10:46
Speaker 1: Birch answers to is owner, another partial owner, and him.
10:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's not a public statement. I want
10:54
Speaker 2: to reemphasize this. This is an internal memo. So if
10:58
Speaker 2: you're wondering who you report to, it's telling everyone Adolfo
11:01
Speaker 2: reports to ownership and me, but it's all in one line. So-
11:06
Speaker 2: And he put CEO on there. But again, just to
11:10
Speaker 2: reference that. And I'll be honest with you, man. A
11:12
Speaker 2: lot of these people that are listed on here, Dan Worley,
11:16
Speaker 2: Shannon Myers, a lot of these, Haley Davidson, are who
11:19
Speaker 2: I spoke with during the interview process for radio.
11:23
Speaker 1: Yeah. Adolfo Birch. Yeah. So they're all... There's a restructure.
11:28
Speaker 1: They're all getting fired for not having the sense to
11:30
Speaker 1: hire you, Hutton. So congratulations. No, no, no. You didn't
11:33
Speaker 1: hire Jonathan Hutton for this role. You did GTFO, my friend.
11:37
Speaker 1: They just got promoted. They just got promoted. I guess
11:40
Speaker 1: the overall sentiment, though, is— They're paying the price for
11:42
Speaker 1: not hiring Hutton. That's what's happening here.
11:44
Speaker 2: Here we go again with another restructure. And it's like
11:49
Speaker 2: there's no consistency. Hutton's organization is, let's get this deck
11:54
Speaker 2: of cards together.
11:55
Speaker 1: Let's build this extravagant house of cards. Let's knock it over.
11:59
Speaker 1: Let's blow the cards over. Let's get another deck of cards.
12:03
Speaker 1: Let's stack this house of cards up. Let's knock those over. Oh,
12:06
Speaker 1: that didn't work. Let's stack another. There's zero foundation with
12:10
Speaker 1: that organization right now. Foundation, organization, that rhymes. There's no
12:14
Speaker 1: foundation at all. And they continue to build house of
12:17
Speaker 1: cards upon house of cards, blow it over, try to restart,
12:22
Speaker 1: and nothing of substance really ever happens with that team.
12:25
Speaker 1: You know, media's mad that Stillman got it, and I
12:29
Speaker 1: completely understand. Here's what I'd be mad about if I'm
12:32
Speaker 1: local media, okay? And if I'm one of those media
12:35
Speaker 1: members that's carrying water for the organization, that's posting about
12:39
Speaker 1: ticket specials, that's coddling Cam Ward and coddling Robert Sala
12:45
Speaker 1: and telling fans to be patient and telling fans he
12:49
Speaker 1: needs two and a half years to develop as a
12:51
Speaker 1: quarterback in the NFL and all this and just wait,
12:53
Speaker 1: just wait, just wait. That's where I'm at. And I
12:56
Speaker 1: said this last night that if you're that person and
12:59
Speaker 1: I'm not here to throw shade or judge or do
13:02
Speaker 1: anything else, but if you're in a position where you
13:04
Speaker 1: think my livelihood and my coverage of a team is
13:08
Speaker 1: dependent on me playing ball with that team and making
13:11
Speaker 1: sure that I'm being not just fair, but I'm being
13:14
Speaker 1: over the top friendly to that team and how I
13:17
Speaker 1: talk about them, how I write about them. And this
13:19
Speaker 1: is not everybody who has a credential. Also, I'm not
13:22
Speaker 1: talking about everyone here, but if you were one of
13:24
Speaker 1: those people that, that you're doing that right now and
13:27
Speaker 1: you can't even get this scoop and you see, not
13:30
Speaker 1: only did you not get the scoop, but Jared Stillman
13:33
Speaker 1: got the scoop. I'm pissed. I'm pissed. And I'm thinking
13:37
Speaker 1: to myself, why do I continue to do this?
13:39
Speaker 2: I will say like it, this is very, it comes
13:42
Speaker 2: across as like, uh, maybe Paul's right. Someone wanted to
13:46
Speaker 2: give it to, to Jared. Um, But credit him. I mean,
13:52
Speaker 2: he's clearly got people he's talking to there. And let's
13:57
Speaker 2: also say, like, this is like the business side of
14:00
Speaker 2: the Titans. This is the business side of Titans Entertainment
14:02
Speaker 2: that we're talking about. As far as breaking news coverage, like,
14:07
Speaker 2: I mean, how long would this have gone on without
14:09
Speaker 2: us knowing about it? You know, the internal memo, the
14:13
Speaker 2: memo that is emailed around. I mean, I guess that's,
14:16
Speaker 2: you really, I mean, that's going to be leaked at
14:19
Speaker 2: some point, right? Or the person that's out the door
14:21
Speaker 2: is going to say something. It's hard to keep that silent. And,
14:26
Speaker 2: you know, if it wasn't Jared, it would have been Paul.
14:28
Speaker 1: That's it. That's the only two, really, right? Yeah, and again,
14:32
Speaker 1: that's why I'm understandably upset if I'm Paul. Yeah, I'm
14:36
Speaker 1: sure he is. And he's posting about that, that this
14:39
Speaker 1: is an FU that makes the organization look bad, that
14:41
Speaker 1: the guy that you kicked out of having a credential
14:44
Speaker 1: breaks the story. There's a lot of different layers here.
14:47
Speaker 1: to all of this. It's more dysfunction. I mean, let's
14:50
Speaker 1: keep the main thing, the main thing. It just shows
14:52
Speaker 1: another level of dysfunction, another level of who can we
14:56
Speaker 1: roll under the bus next without taking any accountability. I'm
15:00
Speaker 1: not asking for everybody that's got a high-paying job with
15:02
Speaker 1: the Titans to resign because they suck on the football
15:05
Speaker 1: field for so long. They want to keep their job.
15:07
Speaker 1: I understand that. I get jobs and livelihood and all
15:11
Speaker 1: of that. But this is the cycle of the Titans.
15:15
Speaker 1: It's never my fault. If it's not my fault, then
15:18
Speaker 1: it's my deputy's fault or it's the person in charge
15:21
Speaker 1: of branding's fault. There's insulation. Or it's the person in
15:24
Speaker 1: charge of marketing's fault. or it's the deputy of the
15:27
Speaker 1: GM's fault, or it's the head coach's fault, or it's
15:31
Speaker 1: the fan's fault, or it's the media's fault for feeding
15:34
Speaker 1: stuff to the fans. It's always someone else's fault. And
15:38
Speaker 1: here's what I'm concerned with, and I think here's what
15:40
Speaker 1: we're concerned with on this show. The structure of the
15:43
Speaker 1: football team. And where you are. Because that should lead
15:48
Speaker 1: everything else. That should be your true north at all times.
15:51
Speaker 1: How's the football team doing? Who's in charge of the
15:54
Speaker 1: football team? Is the football team well-fed, well-rested, well-taken care
15:59
Speaker 1: of in our facility? Have they been given every option
16:02
Speaker 1: to win with their coaching staff and planning and everything else?
16:06
Speaker 1: And are we winning? And if the answer to this
16:08
Speaker 1: last question is to are we winning is no, never,
16:11
Speaker 1: which has been the answer for quite some time now
16:14
Speaker 1: for the Titans, then you have to start to take
16:16
Speaker 1: accountability in every facet of the organization. It starts with football,
16:21
Speaker 1: but it goes down. But instead, Hutton, we have people
16:24
Speaker 1: taking shots at each other. And I do think that
16:26
Speaker 1: leaking this to Jared Stillman is another example of that,
16:28
Speaker 1: of let's give it to the guy to screw them
16:31
Speaker 1: over that they kicked out of the media room. I
16:34
Speaker 1: think it all sort of feeds each other with this.
16:36
Speaker 1: Isn't it about just screwing over Nihil? That's how I
16:41
Speaker 1: take it. If you believe that Nihil is the one
16:46
Speaker 1: who kicked Stillman out, yes.
16:49
Speaker 2: Even if he's not the one, he approved it. There's
16:51
Speaker 2: nothing that goes on in that building that he doesn't
16:53
Speaker 2: know about or approve. Every small thing. He is the
16:57
Speaker 2: voice of ownership there. I just read the memo. Here's
17:04
Speaker 2: the organizational update as part of the memo, Chad. This
17:07
Speaker 2: structure accomplishes two critical objectives. I should say restructure. Efficiency
17:12
Speaker 2: at every level. Over the past decade, we've grown our staff,
17:15
Speaker 2: including the senior executive level, to meet new opportunities and challenges.
17:19
Speaker 2: The team has done great work during that time, but
17:21
Speaker 2: a healthy, evolving organization requires honest reassessment of how we've
17:24
Speaker 2: built for what's ahead. A streamlined executive vice president level
17:27
Speaker 2: will strengthen alignment across the organization, especially in how we
17:30
Speaker 2: communicate and collaborate on cross-functional work. Now, Here's your critical
17:35
Speaker 2: teams amplifying each other. Our marketing, revenue, and communications teams
17:39
Speaker 2: have distinct goals but share the same vision to win
17:41
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl and double our fans. Under the unified
17:44
Speaker 2: leadership of a chief business officer, these teams will be
17:48
Speaker 2: more integrated and united in attacking our most important objectives
17:52
Speaker 2: to win football and grow passion.
17:57
Speaker 1: Yeah. We've seen plenty of restructuring. Well, grow passion. The
18:06
Speaker 1: grow passion thing is just... Chad. You're failing. There's no
18:13
Speaker 1: other word to use than failure. If you're talking about marketing,
18:17
Speaker 1: growing passion, all these things, because all we've seen now
18:21
Speaker 1: is this... It's all disintegrating in front of us. What
18:25
Speaker 1: we knew the Titans to be in years past, what
18:27
Speaker 1: we knew the fan base to be, it is completely
18:31
Speaker 1: disintegrating now. into madness and to nothingness at this point
18:35
Speaker 1: with that, of the growing passion. I'm watching the lead
18:38
Speaker 1: singer for Blink-182 at a San Diego Padres game the
18:42
Speaker 1: other night before they get eliminated, and they're playing all
18:44
Speaker 1: the small things, and the whole crowd is screaming the
18:48
Speaker 1: lyrics to all the small things, and the camera guy
18:50
Speaker 1: gets on the lead singer and and he turns to
18:52
Speaker 1: the camera at the time and says, work sucks, and
18:55
Speaker 1: everybody goes nuts. The San Diego Padres have generated a
19:00
Speaker 1: moment of passion and something cool from seemingly nothing, from
19:04
Speaker 1: a guy who's a fan who goes to Padres games
19:06
Speaker 1: throughout the year. from Blink-182, and I'm thinking, the Titans
19:10
Speaker 1: have nothing like this. They've got nothing like this right now.
19:14
Speaker 1: And it makes me mad because it's a team and
19:17
Speaker 1: a market that should have plenty of.
19:18
Speaker 2: Things like this. The key to that, though, is the
19:21
Speaker 2: Padres are winning right now. You know, like the Titans
19:24
Speaker 2: have been... Well, right now they're out of the playoffs.
19:26
Speaker 2: But they're in the playoffs. They were in the playoffs, yes.
19:29
Speaker 2: The Titans are seller dwellers, and they have been. and
19:32
Speaker 2: this whole, like, we're committed to winning the Super Bowl,
19:35
Speaker 2: and all this stuff about wins. You cannot speak that
19:38
Speaker 2: into existence from a front office perspective. It starts with
19:42
Speaker 2: the general manager, to the head coach, to the coordinator,
19:46
Speaker 2: to the quarterback. And until they get that in sync,
19:50
Speaker 2: none of this slogan, BS, all the different phrases that
19:57
Speaker 2: come up, all the committed to collaboration, none of that matters.
20:03
Speaker 1: That's all fluff. That's restructuring.
20:06
Speaker 2: Chad, you know this. I like meeting for the sake
20:09
Speaker 2: of of doing, not meeting for the sake of meeting.
20:12
Speaker 2: This is meeting for the sake of meeting. It's just
20:14
Speaker 2: doing something to change things over. And what comes of it?
20:19
Speaker 2: I mean, we could still go to the decision makers
20:23
Speaker 2: are still there. You know, they've changed this up quite
20:26
Speaker 2: a bit, several times. And it's led to another 0-4 season.
20:32
Speaker 1: And, you know, I... You have to win.
20:35
Speaker 2: Winning comes first, and then organically allow these things to happen.
20:39
Speaker 2: No one wants a Titans Up chant whenever it's just
20:43
Speaker 2: forced upon you. That's just not how it works. The
20:47
Speaker 2: fans need to be a part of the winning, and
20:50
Speaker 2: then things will happen for the organization that grows passion,
20:55
Speaker 2: that distributes more likelihood of growing your fans. Parents bring
21:02
Speaker 2: their kids around. you don't do it by just saying like,
21:05
Speaker 2: we're going to double our fans because we're opening a dome.
21:07
Speaker 2: We're gonna have more events. That's just, that's not it.
21:11
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, there's a lot of things that could
21:13
Speaker 1: be done that that would be better, but it all
21:15
Speaker 1: does go back to make the football team better. Yeah. Higher, higher,
21:20
Speaker 1: better coaches draft, better quarterbacks. I mean, it, it, it sounds,
21:26
Speaker 1: people are going to hear this. Oh, that's lazy. That's
21:28
Speaker 1: it's not, it's more complicated. It's really not more complicated
21:30
Speaker 1: than that. You've drafted poorly. your free agents have not
21:35
Speaker 1: worked out in large part. Right now, the coaches, it's
21:39
Speaker 1: very early, but haven't worked out. And this is the
21:41
Speaker 1: risk you take when you hire a once-failed head coach. Hey, Chad.
21:45
Speaker 1: As your head coach. I mean, I don't think anybody
21:48
Speaker 1: can look around and be like, boy, I'm shocked that
21:50
Speaker 1: Robert Sala is not winning as a head coach in
21:51
Speaker 1: the NFL. He didn't win with the New York Jets either. So, again,
21:55
Speaker 1: I'm not completely out on that structure of Sala over defense. No,
21:59
Speaker 1: I'm not either. Day ball over offense. I'm not saying that,
22:01
Speaker 1: but it ultimately comes back to decisions that the decision
22:05
Speaker 1: makers have made that are not working out. And how
22:09
Speaker 1: do you change that?
22:10
Speaker 2: Well, you make better decisions and ultimately you got to
22:13
Speaker 2: hire better people. And Chad, if you're, if you're Sala,
22:16
Speaker 2: if you're Borgonzi, if you're anybody that's new, right? Not
22:21
Speaker 2: that wasn't here prior to last season. You're looking around going, man,
22:25
Speaker 2: why is everyone so on edge?
22:27
Speaker 1: This is why. This is why.
22:31
Speaker 2: Because as loss is mount, you think you're the next
22:33
Speaker 2: person that's getting called in to Burke's office. You're getting
22:37
Speaker 2: called in.
22:37
Speaker 1: By the Turk. Do you think this is solely Burke's decision,
22:42
Speaker 1: or do you think that Amy calls Burke and says,
22:45
Speaker 1: we suck, fire two people?
22:47
Speaker 2: No, I don't think that it's just that abrupt. I
22:49
Speaker 2: think this is clearly thought out, but this is Burke's structure.
22:54
Speaker 2: I mean, it's not like Amy doesn't know about this happening.
22:57
Speaker 2: But I don't think she just woke up on the
22:59
Speaker 2: wrong side of the bed and said, you know.
23:01
Speaker 1: I need three scalps. You get to pick which scalps.
23:03
Speaker 1: Go ahead. Fire someone. Yeah.
23:06
Speaker 2: These were people that, I mean, and let me also say, like,
23:10
Speaker 2: not everybody, not everyone's a bad person there. I'm not
23:14
Speaker 2: saying that at all. Not everything they do is awful.
23:18
Speaker 2: But the perception is there's just no organizational structure. They
23:24
Speaker 2: can't make up their mind on what path they're going
23:26
Speaker 2: to go down and who's leading them. But there's one leader,
23:30
Speaker 2: and it's Burke. To me, that's clear here. There's a
23:35
Speaker 2: separation between business and football. But trust me when I
23:39
Speaker 2: say that Borgonzi still speaks to Burke, and Burke is
23:44
Speaker 2: the voice of ownership.
23:45
Speaker 1: That's not just public-facing. Well, and speaking of someone else,
23:50
Speaker 1: Paul said he.
23:51
Speaker 2: Reached out for comment and he wasn't allowed comment, which
23:54
Speaker 2: is also just strange. There needs to be more of
23:58
Speaker 2: a resounding voice of clarity in times like this. Instead
24:04
Speaker 2: of just going mute and releasing a paragraph statement, that
24:07
Speaker 2: really doesn't tell us anything. Because here we go again,
24:10
Speaker 2: just talking about who's doing what. It's not like fans
24:14
Speaker 2: know these names very well, but They constantly get turned over,
24:18
Speaker 2: and they're laying off people, and you're thinking, like, who's
24:21
Speaker 2: still there? Well, no one from the past. You know,
24:25
Speaker 2: it's about the Titans' future.
24:27
Speaker 1: Well, a name that fans do know is Cam Ward. Oh, yeah.
24:30
Speaker 1: Let's flip-flop here. When we come back, let's get into
24:33
Speaker 1: Cam Ward's presser responding to the viral moment where he
24:37
Speaker 1: looked like he was not happy about media not being
24:40
Speaker 1: in the room. Let's do it. And we'll respond to
24:42
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25:59
Speaker 2: I'm curious to find out where you side on the
26:02
Speaker 2: Cam Ward deal from yesterday where he addresses the whole
26:05
Speaker 2: postgame podium deal because– I feel like we may come
26:09
Speaker 2: at this a little different angle, so to speak. There's
26:13
Speaker 2: no doubt that he had thought through this. This was
26:18
Speaker 2: a little bit rehearsed. But, I mean, honestly, I think
26:20
Speaker 2: I would probably do the same thing if I were him.
26:23
Speaker 2: I thought it was a smart approach. I thought he
26:26
Speaker 2: handled it okay. But, Chad, before we play it, did
26:29
Speaker 2: you come down the same way?
26:32
Speaker 1: Let's play it. Let's play it, and then I'll respond.
26:36
Speaker 1: Kind of blew up.
26:37
Speaker 3: I mean, they talking about that, that's something for them
26:40
Speaker 3: to talk about. They need something to talk about. We'd
26:42
Speaker 3: rather them talk about that than, you know, our performance.
26:44
Speaker 3: And so we just trying to put good product on
26:46
Speaker 3: the field.
26:48
Speaker 1: It wasn't us, for the record.
26:51
Speaker 3: What?
26:51
Speaker 1: It wasn't us talking about it. It don't matter to me.
26:55
Speaker 3: It don't matter.
26:55
Speaker 1: More just about that whole podium thing last week. When
26:58
Speaker 1: you see something like that blow up the way it did,
27:01
Speaker 1: how do you react to that? Do you just kind
27:02
Speaker 1: of shake.
27:03
Speaker 2: Your head and say, that's just the world we live
27:04
Speaker 2: in today?
27:06
Speaker 1: How did you react to how that thing just kind
27:10
Speaker 1: of blew up?
27:11
Speaker 3: I actually didn't know until I got sent it. So
27:16
Speaker 3: a lot of times I really don't know anything was
27:17
Speaker 3: going on. whether it's for myself or another teammate, but
27:22
Speaker 3: they're going to say something at the end of the day.
27:25
Speaker 3: I attack the same progress that I have, getting better
27:27
Speaker 3: each and every week, and at the end of the day,
27:28
Speaker 3: they can say whatever they want about me. The people
27:31
Speaker 3: in this locker room know what type of person I am.
27:32
Speaker 3: My family know what type of person I am, so
27:34
Speaker 3: what any fan or other person out there on social media,
27:39
Speaker 3: what they think of who I am as a person
27:41
Speaker 3: will never have any meaning because at the end of
27:43
Speaker 3: the day, they don't get to step up here and
27:46
Speaker 3: play a sport for a living. They go do their
27:48
Speaker 3: job that, you know, some of them may hate. I
27:51
Speaker 3: get up here and I love to do this. I
27:52
Speaker 3: love to go out here and work with my teammates.
27:54
Speaker 3: So it has nothing to do mentally with us because
27:58
Speaker 3: we know it's something that's out of our control. And
28:01
Speaker 3: with it, it's fun because it's just somebody else you
28:03
Speaker 3: get to prove wrong.
28:04
Speaker 1: So you love talking to us. You know, it's a
28:07
Speaker 1: yes and no.
28:08
Speaker 4: It's a yes and.
28:11
Speaker 5: No.
28:11
Speaker 1: You get to talk to y'all.
28:13
Speaker 3: I say I love talking to y'all because, you know,
28:16
Speaker 3: with y'all, y'all know the real y'all, and y'all know
28:19
Speaker 3: some of the stuff that we just got to say.
28:22
Speaker 3: But with it, I mean, who wouldn't want to get
28:24
Speaker 3: up here and get to do this? We get up
28:26
Speaker 3: here and get to do stuff that, you know, people
28:28
Speaker 3: dream of. It's the reason why we're the 1%. So
28:31
Speaker 3: if you can't come up to a podium, you can't,
28:33
Speaker 3: you know, get on your phone after a game, if
28:35
Speaker 3: you can't handle some criticism, in my opinion, I mean,
28:38
Speaker 3: you're in the wrong profession.
28:39
Speaker 1: You're not going to be able to do nothing in life.
28:41
Speaker 3: So you got to be accountable, be an accountable person,
28:44
Speaker 3: take accountability, whether it's from the fans, from the coaching. And,
28:46
Speaker 3: you know, if you can do that, if you're a mental,
28:48
Speaker 3: you know, strong-minded person, you know, a lot of stuff
28:49
Speaker 3: is going to go your way.
28:50
Speaker 2: All right, Chad, your reaction in real time from yesterday?
28:57
Speaker 1: I thought he did fine. I thought that was a
28:59
Speaker 1: good way of handling the controversy around it and everything.
29:03
Speaker 1: I don't know if he was coached up on that
29:06
Speaker 1: before he got there on how to address it and
29:09
Speaker 1: all of that. I mean, look, I still listen to
29:14
Speaker 1: him talk about– you love talking to us, right? And
29:17
Speaker 1: those jokes and everybody hee-hawing. You know it wasn't us.
29:21
Speaker 1: It wasn't us. And his response was, yeah, I mean–
29:25
Speaker 1: I love you guys. How do I love you guys?
29:27
Speaker 1: Why do I love you guys? Y'all, I mean, he
29:31
Speaker 1: doesn't like the media. He doesn't like doing that. He
29:35
Speaker 1: doesn't like talking to the media. He's not this playful
29:38
Speaker 1: jokester all the time. that gets along with everybody. I
29:42
Speaker 1: don't get the sense of him even during that spiel
29:45
Speaker 1: where the media is trying to make it a yuck
29:47
Speaker 1: fest with everybody laughing and dropping little lines here and there.
29:51
Speaker 1: I mean, I come away more annoyed by the questions
29:54
Speaker 1: that Yeah.
29:55
Speaker 3: Yeah.
30:13
Speaker 1: Everyone's addressing it. People are mad at me and Stillman
30:16
Speaker 1: for being mad at it. People think the Titans media
30:19
Speaker 1: is too soft about it. You've got all this stuff
30:21
Speaker 1: going on. Manti Teo is speaking on Good Morning Football
30:24
Speaker 1: about it, saying it's a bad look and he needs
30:26
Speaker 1: to handle himself better with the media. So that's where
30:29
Speaker 1: I fall on it, Hutton. I thought he did fine
30:31
Speaker 1: yesterday discussing it. I did too. I thought he was fine.
30:34
Speaker 2: And I think the national pundits, the coverage has shown
30:37
Speaker 2: how disconnected they are from his organization. with the assumptions
30:40
Speaker 2: that this coming from internal leaks, it's like, that's ridiculous. They,
30:45
Speaker 2: they coddle this guy.
30:48
Speaker 1: Absolutely. They do.
30:50
Speaker 2: But I mean, he's the French, he is, he is
30:52
Speaker 2: the franchise quarterback for them. They, you know, you've got
30:55
Speaker 2: Salah saying, you know, in a few weeks, all this
30:58
Speaker 2: will be, you know, we'll be looking back and thinking,
31:00
Speaker 2: I mean, we, he's three and what? 20, three 19.
31:06
Speaker 2: The time is now Jack. I mean, I've, All this while,
31:10
Speaker 2: let's play out the season. You're allowed to. This is
31:14
Speaker 2: about winning. This is about playing better than just one
31:18
Speaker 2: game and then here and there. Open to criticism is
31:22
Speaker 2: one thing. It's not like everyone's trying to be extremely critical.
31:24
Speaker 2: He's the number one overall pick. This is not a
31:29
Speaker 2: second-round flyer or a backup who's in. This is the
31:33
Speaker 2: number one overall pick in year two with Brian Dable.
31:37
Speaker 2: who was hired specifically to correct the accuracy issues. Have
31:42
Speaker 2: we seen that take a huge turn?
31:45
Speaker 1: No, we haven't.
31:47
Speaker 2: And that's not being critical. That's being truthful. There's a
31:51
Speaker 2: difference between that. And for whatever reason, there is a
31:56
Speaker 2: lack of just like any negative comment. It doesn't have
32:00
Speaker 2: to be negative. It can be telling the truth. It
32:02
Speaker 2: can be honest. But there's the shudder of, oh, you're
32:08
Speaker 2: just not– you're showing your bias. That's what Salah said.
32:11
Speaker 2: He goes, if you can't say we're showing improvement, then
32:14
Speaker 2: you're showing– well, I mean, improving for what, man? You're 0-4.
32:19
Speaker 2: You lost to the Jets, the Giants. I mean, you just–
32:24
Speaker 2: this is ridiculous. He was talking about December prior to
32:30
Speaker 2: the season starting.
32:31
Speaker 1: We played that.
32:33
Speaker 2: I would rather win right now if I'm him. And
32:36
Speaker 2: I haven't, I mean, it's all pushed down the road.
32:40
Speaker 2: And I just don't agree with that. The urgency needs
32:43
Speaker 2: to be right here, right now, not Christmas time. You know,
32:47
Speaker 2: we're not going to hand out gifts and stuff the stockings.
32:51
Speaker 2: It's time to win now. You're facing an 0-4 team
32:55
Speaker 2: who's coming here thinking this is a get-right game for them.
32:57
Speaker 2: Their head coach is taking back play callings. And all
33:00
Speaker 2: I hear about is, oh, just wait until you see
33:01
Speaker 2: down the road and we get one win and we'll
33:04
Speaker 2: see a snowball effect. I want to see results before
33:10
Speaker 2: I buy in. I have not seen results from Cam Ward.
33:14
Speaker 2: And that's not being overly critical or having it out
33:18
Speaker 2: for the guy. That's just what it was. That's what
33:21
Speaker 2: we said about Will Levis. I mean, that's what we
33:24
Speaker 2: said about Rusty Smith.
33:26
Speaker 1: Yeah. Zach Mettenberger.
33:27
Speaker 3: No.
33:28
Speaker 1: Let's take it on the field and off the field.
33:30
Speaker 1: We can continue all of.
33:31
Speaker 2: This, but it is a result, Chad, of only hearing
33:38
Speaker 2: from a player or a coach who stands behind a podium.
33:41
Speaker 2: That's what this is a result of, not knowing anybody,
33:44
Speaker 2: because there's nothing to do other than just a group
33:46
Speaker 2: setting interview anymore.
33:49
Speaker 1: Well, and yes, and all this talk about, well, if
33:52
Speaker 1: you knew him, he's just joking and this and that. Well,
33:54
Speaker 1: we don't really know him. for that very reason that
33:57
Speaker 1: you're talking about. And on the field and off the
33:59
Speaker 1: field with this. On the field, none of it's good enough.
34:03
Speaker 1: Even the most diehard two-tone blue Titans fan would have
34:06
Speaker 1: to acknowledge it's not good enough. He's not good enough.
34:10
Speaker 1: The team isn't good enough. The front office isn't good enough.
34:13
Speaker 1: None of this is good enough based on their track
34:16
Speaker 1: record over the last four to five years. I would
34:19
Speaker 1: also say that off the field and what we see
34:23
Speaker 1: in media settings is not good enough. From Cam Ward,
34:27
Speaker 1: and you failed to get the benefit of the doubt.
34:30
Speaker 1: When I hear you, when you're asked a direct question
34:31
Speaker 1: about your play, you roll your receivers on the bus,
34:34
Speaker 1: talk about them flattening routes. When you have a snippy
34:37
Speaker 1: little exchange with someone who asked you a fair question,
34:40
Speaker 1: and you throw the question back to them and then
34:41
Speaker 1: fail to answer the question. When you tag all these
34:45
Speaker 1: things on top of each other, and then you see
34:48
Speaker 1: the play on the field... and you put it all
34:50
Speaker 1: in this one big beef stew of what's going on,
34:53
Speaker 1: you're not going to get the benefit of the doubt.
34:55
Speaker 1: And I don't apologize for that. You don't get to
34:58
Speaker 1: come back after Sunday and everybody saw you with the
35:02
Speaker 1: camera on and a hot mic and just say, I'm
35:04
Speaker 1: just kidding. He's just joking, guys. He's a jokester. He's this.
35:08
Speaker 1: If we had seen that from Cam Ward a bunch
35:10
Speaker 1: of times before, or we hadn't seen him roll his
35:13
Speaker 1: receivers under the bus, or go back at Jarrett Stillman,
35:16
Speaker 1: or other things that we have seen, then I would
35:18
Speaker 1: probably give you the benefit of the doubt and say, yeah,
35:21
Speaker 1: that's just Cam being Cam. He's joking around with a
35:23
Speaker 1: Titans employee, and I give him the benefit of the doubt.
35:25
Speaker 1: You don't get that benefit of the doubt when all
35:28
Speaker 1: of this is happening. And I'll also say this to
35:30
Speaker 1: Jim Wyatt, I know who went on 104.5 The Zone yesterday,
35:35
Speaker 1: and blasting people who are talking about this as people
35:38
Speaker 1: who are just clickbait people. Everybody's in the clickbait game.
35:42
Speaker 1: I don't know how else to express this with people. Now,
35:45
Speaker 1: being clickbait, let me finish this on this one because
35:47
Speaker 1: I think everybody needs to hear this. To me, being clickbaity,
35:52
Speaker 1: ragebait person is saying something you don't believe in order
35:56
Speaker 1: to get more exposure. or get more views. That is
36:00
Speaker 1: not something that we do on this show. That's not
36:02
Speaker 1: something that I do. I don't think it's something that
36:04
Speaker 1: Jared Stillman does, who I think Jim Wyatt was directly
36:07
Speaker 1: talking about when he was mentioning that also, and not
36:10
Speaker 1: as much of us. We say what we believe. I
36:13
Speaker 1: can't speak for Jared. I can speak for us. We
36:16
Speaker 1: say what we believe, and if people have a strong
36:18
Speaker 1: response to it, great. But also, we're all in this business.
36:22
Speaker 1: Jim Wyatt doesn't really have to be in that business
36:23
Speaker 1: because he's employed by a team. He's employed to give
36:26
Speaker 1: the positive spin to on what's going on with the team.
36:30
Speaker 1: That's fine. Everybody can make a living however they want.
36:33
Speaker 1: But for people to come at me and say, did
36:35
Speaker 1: you hear what Jim Wyatt said? Are you going to
36:37
Speaker 1: apologize now? Are you going to retract your opinion on
36:40
Speaker 1: that video because of what team employee Jim Wyatt said
36:43
Speaker 1: about what happened? Absolutely not. And I wouldn't expect somebody
36:46
Speaker 1: to come back who hates Clay Travis and say, hey,
36:49
Speaker 1: did you hear all the nice things Chad Withrow said
36:51
Speaker 1: about Clay Travis? Are you going to retract your statement
36:54
Speaker 1: about Clay Travis because of what Clay? Clay pays my bills.
36:58
Speaker 1: The Titans pay Jim Wyatt's bills. So, of course, he's
37:03
Speaker 1: not going to come. And also, Jim and everybody else,
37:06
Speaker 1: you understand the media now. Everybody's in this pool together.
37:10
Speaker 1: The water is warm. Jump on in. That's our business.
37:14
Speaker 1: We want more views. We want more clicks on a story.
37:18
Speaker 1: We want people watching our clips specifically wherever we get it.
37:22
Speaker 1: As Jacob Lute says, we're live wherever we do business.
37:25
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I'm, you know, I don't have
37:27
Speaker 1: a job teaching journalism somewhere at some college in Nashville,
37:31
Speaker 1: but I feel like I could on the baseline level
37:34
Speaker 1: of here is what journalism is now. Here are what
37:37
Speaker 1: shows are now. It is stating an opinion and hoping
37:40
Speaker 1: people enjoy it or don't and watch your show regardless.
37:44
Speaker 2: That's the business we're all in. And I mean, honestly,
37:48
Speaker 2: whenever I saw this on Sunday, I'm thinking, he's three minutes.
37:53
Speaker 2: You know, like I came in on Monday and I
37:54
Speaker 2: told you, they're lucky they got him, the media got
37:58
Speaker 2: there within three minutes. Because I know the protocol of
38:00
Speaker 2: all this. You know, why they're in the locker room,
38:03
Speaker 2: they're speaking to a player, they're coming back over, whatever.
38:06
Speaker 2: And it's the timeline of all these different things that
38:10
Speaker 2: led me to have that conclusion. That's an honest reaction.
38:15
Speaker 2: That's not just looking for something to rip Cam Ford.
38:17
Speaker 2: We actually said he played his best game.
38:21
Speaker 1: Okay, great.
38:24
Speaker 2: By the way, if I'm him, I would hate doing
38:26
Speaker 2: this too because he's losing. You know, like that's the thing.
38:29
Speaker 2: It's like the 0-4 thing. And to partially, maybe he
38:37
Speaker 2: likes this, maybe he doesn't. He's the only one that speaks.
38:42
Speaker 2: I mean, I know there are other players that speak.
38:43
Speaker 2: The locker room is open one day per week.
38:45
Speaker 1: It's game day.
38:48
Speaker 2: And, you know, he's the guy that's at the podium
38:50
Speaker 2: on a weekly basis, other than Sala. Chad, I mean,
38:57
Speaker 2: I tend to lean down. It's more, it probably was joking,
39:00
Speaker 2: but that doesn't mean that the opinion is any way
39:05
Speaker 2: false or constructed or fake. That would be like putting
39:11
Speaker 2: a fake headline on a story, and then, you know,
39:13
Speaker 2: we've seen this before, you click on it, it says, oh,
39:15
Speaker 2: never mind, it's actually the opposite.
39:17
Speaker 1: Just joking.
39:18
Speaker 2: I mean, that's not what we're doing here. It's authentic,
39:21
Speaker 2: it's real, and look, it's also going back to just
39:25
Speaker 2: the play on the field. Why the need to just
39:28
Speaker 2: continue to kick the can down the road?
39:30
Speaker 1: Why the need to just buy into the fact that, oh,
39:32
Speaker 1: let's see what happens in December. Let's see where we
39:34
Speaker 1: are at the end of the season. I mean, that's fine,
39:36
Speaker 1: but what happens now still matters. I don't think he
39:39
Speaker 1: was joking. We can agree to disagree on that, and
39:41
Speaker 1: that's fine. If people believe he was joking, I'm fine
39:44
Speaker 1: with that too. Here's also what I'll say. I saw
39:47
Speaker 1: a ton of the same Titans fans that are coming
39:48
Speaker 1: after me for having a problem with Cam Ward.
39:50
Speaker 3: Yeah.
39:51
Speaker 1: Going all in on Calvin Ridley and Carnell Tate laughing
39:55
Speaker 1: on the sideline after a fumble. Immediately after, they're joking
39:58
Speaker 1: about it, and they're laughing, and Carnell Tate was asked
40:00
Speaker 1: about it, okay? Time and place, all right? You lose
40:04
Speaker 1: that game, and you're Cam Ward, and you're now 0-4,
40:06
Speaker 1: and you're number two, and you're 3-18 as a quarterback,
40:10
Speaker 1: then it's okay to have a problem with them looking
40:13
Speaker 1: like he looked– like a brat, quite frankly, and joking.
40:19
Speaker 1: And look, people have a problem with my demeanor. People
40:21
Speaker 1: have a problem. I coach little kids, and there are
40:24
Speaker 1: times where my wife will tell me, your reaction on
40:26
Speaker 1: third base when you were coaching was not good if
40:29
Speaker 1: players were seeing your reaction. I own it, okay? I
40:32
Speaker 1: don't always come across the best, or I don't have
40:35
Speaker 1: the best reaction to things. But that is not the
40:37
Speaker 1: time or place to joke around, even if he was
40:40
Speaker 1: joking around. Also, it was a poor attempt at a joke.
40:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, but ultimately it comes down to he ends up
40:49
Speaker 2: doing the whole presser. It didn't come across as a
40:53
Speaker 2: jerk during the presser either.
40:56
Speaker 1: If he did, we would know. That would give more context.
41:00
Speaker 2: And if he was abrupt and quick answers, he did
41:05
Speaker 2: what he needed to do.
41:08
Speaker 1: But again, they were there.
41:10
Speaker 2: They showed up soon after, whatever. And they were also
41:12
Speaker 2: updating them where the media was, to your point. But
41:18
Speaker 2: this goes back to the whole thing about the Stillman
41:21
Speaker 2: thing and the Paul.
41:21
Speaker 1: Thing with him.
41:22
Speaker 2: It's not like he had a quick... Asking a rhetorical
41:26
Speaker 2: or a follow-up question on his behalf, that's not that bad.
41:31
Speaker 2: Those interactions were not that bad. I have seen Pac-Man
41:34
Speaker 2: Jones go after Frank Wycheck during a Jeff Fisher presser.
41:38
Speaker 1: And, you know, Pac go inside.
41:42
Speaker 2: Right?
41:43
Speaker 1: You know, cool it. Jeffrey Simmons went after Buck Rising. Sure.
41:47
Speaker 1: At one point, too.
41:50
Speaker 2: But the whole thing about this being a back and forth,
41:56
Speaker 2: what did the guy say yesterday on the Bomani Jones show?
41:59
Speaker 1: Why is it so hostile? This isn't hostile.
42:04
Speaker 2: I mean, the assumption that it's... The question was, how
42:07
Speaker 2: would you assess your preseason performance? And what makes you
42:10
Speaker 2: a good quarterback is basically what Paul asked. And then
42:13
Speaker 2: there's a back and forth.
42:15
Speaker 1: The only person that would create, even seemingly create, an
42:21
Speaker 1: aura of hostility was kicked out of the press room.
42:25
Speaker 1: That covered the team daily. Yeah.
42:28
Speaker 3: Right?
42:28
Speaker 1: I mean, right now, that's it. There's another guy. Well,
42:31
Speaker 1: to the point of, like, yes, and that guy and
42:34
Speaker 1: Paul has done it in the past, but to the
42:36
Speaker 1: point of, you know... The Bomani Jones show saying it's
42:41
Speaker 1: a toxic, hostile environment in Nashville with a quarterback. Guys,
42:46
Speaker 1: they're 3-18. I would argue that based on the play,
42:50
Speaker 1: those that cover the team regularly are extremely civil with
42:54
Speaker 1: Cam Ward and everyone else on that team and in
42:56
Speaker 1: that locker room based on the results. And I'm not
43:00
Speaker 1: going to apologize for having an issue with watching the
43:04
Speaker 1: quarterback and studying him at all times. Because Cam Ward
43:07
Speaker 1: is right. I thought he handled it well yesterday. I'll
43:09
Speaker 1: give him full credit for that. And he said it.
43:11
Speaker 1: We're the top 1%. There are people watching this right
43:14
Speaker 1: now that probably hate their jobs. Yes. That are either critical.
43:17
Speaker 1: I will raise my hand and say I love my job,
43:19
Speaker 1: by the way. Yeah. But people that are critical of
43:21
Speaker 1: him that hate their job are people that love him
43:23
Speaker 1: that hate their job. And he gets to play quarterback
43:25
Speaker 1: in the NFL, which is really, really cool. I'll echo
43:28
Speaker 1: what he said there. Completely agree with you, Cam. And
43:31
Speaker 1: because of that, you constantly have a spotlight on you.
43:34
Speaker 1: That would be the lesson from all of this. Everything
43:37
Speaker 1: you say. is going to be looked at. Your demeanor
43:40
Speaker 1: is going to be looked at at all times. If
43:42
Speaker 1: you're breaking tablets on the sideline repeatedly for a guy
43:45
Speaker 1: who's never won NFL games, then that's going to be
43:48
Speaker 1: looked at. When you're going back at reporters having not
43:50
Speaker 1: done anything in the NFL yet, that's going to be
43:52
Speaker 1: looked at. Your receiver room is looking at you when
43:55
Speaker 1: you talk about their lack of flattening out routes. When
43:58
Speaker 1: you're asked a direct question about your poor play and
44:01
Speaker 1: missing wide open throws, that's going to be looked at.
44:04
Speaker 1: When you're joking with Jared Puffer, allegedly, Which, again, I'm
44:07
Speaker 1: going to come back and say I'm joking whenever anyone
44:09
Speaker 1: doesn't like anything I say. That's my new line around
44:11
Speaker 1: this house. Daughters or wife doesn't like something I said? Guys,
44:14
Speaker 1: I'm just joking. It was a joke. I didn't mean
44:16
Speaker 1: to scream at everyone in the house. I was just joking.
44:19
Speaker 1: But again, that's going to be looked at. You are
44:22
Speaker 1: under the microscope at all times. As the number one
44:26
Speaker 1: pick franchise quarterback, you have the entire market's hopes in
44:30
Speaker 1: your right hand. Be better.
44:33
Speaker 2: Hey, Chad, the number one pick... is given more time here, period.
44:39
Speaker 2: Let's just be honest with that. If this were happening
44:42
Speaker 2: in New York, you think this is hostile?
44:48
Speaker 3: Come on.
44:49
Speaker 1: We barely even touch the tablet thing. That's not even
44:51
Speaker 1: really a topic. There would be 1,500-word think pieces on
45:03
Speaker 1: breaking the tablets in Philly or in New York or
45:07
Speaker 1: in any of those markets. So GTFO with this hostile
45:11
Speaker 1: market stuff, I mean, come on.
45:12
Speaker 2: Well, that's the national– again, that guy was just making
45:16
Speaker 2: stuff up. This is not how you do media or whatever. But, Chad,
45:20
Speaker 2: good discussion. Now let's see how he plays, because D'Amico
45:23
Speaker 2: Ryans is now calling plays for that Houston defense. More
45:26
Speaker 2: on that coming up. Speaking of national media, though, when
45:29
Speaker 2: we come back, Stephen A. Smith steps in it. We
45:32
Speaker 2: discuss that straight.
45:33
Speaker 1: Ahead here on Hutton and Withrow.
45:37
Speaker 2: Thinking of the players who wear number 10, we saw
45:40
Speaker 2: Jeff Locker do that, Mitch Young. We did have a
45:44
Speaker 2: rookie of the year performance, and we saw what Vince
45:47
Speaker 2: did in the National Championship game chat. That was a
45:49
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45:53
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46:07
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46:10
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46:13
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46:15
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Speaker 1: not a promise to make alone. The speed talker that
46:48
Speaker 1: there is, Chad Withrow.
46:50
Speaker 2: Chad, I'm guessing not a perfect 10 moment for Stephen
46:53
Speaker 2: A coming up here?
46:55
Speaker 1: Not a perfect 10 moment, Hutton. There are a few times,
46:58
Speaker 1: you know, we do this for 10 hours a week
47:01
Speaker 1: and sometimes more, right? So you're going to say a
47:04
Speaker 1: lot of words over the course of 10 hours a week.
47:07
Speaker 1: And there's not a lot of times in all the
47:10
Speaker 1: things as controversial as Stephen A. Smith is and all
47:13
Speaker 1: of his hot takes and everything else, there's not all
47:16
Speaker 1: that often that he steps in it to the level
47:19
Speaker 1: he was stepping in it yesterday. And watching this clip
47:23
Speaker 1: on first take of the entire panel, watching a slow
47:27
Speaker 1: motion clip car accident happen in front of them and
47:30
Speaker 1: not wanting to be the one who steps in and
47:33
Speaker 1: makes him look even worse by just outright cutting him
47:36
Speaker 1: off in the middle of his spiel. This is painful
47:40
Speaker 1: to watch. Here is Stephen A. Smith discussing the abrupt
47:43
Speaker 1: retirement of Lane Johnson, who said Lane Johnson basically because
47:46
Speaker 1: of mental health and wanting to spend more time with
47:48
Speaker 1: his family and not being fully committed to the game.
47:51
Speaker 1: That's why he retired so abruptly. Here was Stephen A.
47:54
Speaker 1: Smith's response.
47:55
Speaker 5: That was virtually non-impressive at the very least to begin with.
47:59
Speaker 4: And now Saquon Barkley got a hamstring injury, a passing
48:03
Speaker 4: game that wasn't that great to begin with. You lost A.J. Brown,
48:07
Speaker 4: Devontae Smith. Now he gets injured. Nine starters, you finish
48:11
Speaker 4: the game without. And now the brother sat up there,
48:14
Speaker 4: one of the all-time greatest in offensive line. And what
48:17
Speaker 4: did he do, Shaq? What did he do, Jordan? He
48:18
Speaker 4: went like this.
48:19
Speaker 1: You know what? I'm going to call it quits.
48:22
Speaker 4: Now he calls it quits.
48:23
Speaker 1: Not fourth season.
48:24
Speaker 4: Not offseason. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. After being subjected.
48:27
Speaker 2: To this, he said, life is a little bit too short.
48:31
Speaker 4: I need to focus.
48:33
Speaker 1: What did he say?
48:34
Speaker 4: His mental health? Am I making it up?
48:36
Speaker 1: No, you're right.
48:36
Speaker 4: Did he say that? I'm just being short. Four games
48:41
Speaker 4: in to the 20, to the 2026 season. A dude
48:45
Speaker 4: that has been in the league forever sits back and.
48:49
Speaker 5: Says, I need to focus on my mental health.
48:52
Speaker 4: And as an offensive tackle, Lord, you know it's bad.
48:56
Speaker 4: There's no way. You're undefeated. You're winning football games. You're thriving.
49:01
Speaker 4: Everybody's got Super Bowl in their sights. You walk away.
49:04
Speaker 5: You walk away because it's a very, very, very bad situation.
49:09
Speaker 5: And it doesn't look to be getting any better. And
49:12
Speaker 5: this brother say, hey, my life matters.
49:16
Speaker 1: It's time.
49:18
Speaker 5: I'm going to call it quits. My mental health, my mental. Lord,
49:23
Speaker 5: that's trouble for the Philadelphia Eagles. And everybody in the
49:26
Speaker 5: city of brotherly.
49:27
Speaker 4: Love knows it.
49:30
Speaker 3: Agreed.
49:32
Speaker 2: Lane had contemplated retirement earlier. for a while, right?
49:38
Speaker 4: So I'm not surprised. I feel like you're making light
49:42
Speaker 4: of the situation. I'm making light?
49:45
Speaker 2: Like, oh, playing with this team is what has set
49:49
Speaker 2: him and said, I can't do this anymore.
49:53
Speaker 1: He is a player who has contemplated retirement for a while.
49:56
Speaker 1: That is true. This was his last year. He said
49:58
Speaker 1: that before. This is going to be the last season regardless.
50:01
Speaker 1: I wasn't expecting that from Stephen A there. Making light?
50:06
Speaker 1: I love how he needed like a fainting couch next
50:08
Speaker 1: to him, like me making light of mental health. And
50:11
Speaker 1: he almost falls back on the fainting couch.
50:13
Speaker 2: He probably sounds like many Philly fans, you know?
50:15
Speaker 1: Yeah. There's nothing to believe in. Look, it was too much. Like,
50:18
Speaker 1: I'm not here to, you know, I'm not offended by things.
50:22
Speaker 1: I'm not really offended by his take there or anything
50:25
Speaker 1: that he's saying. But he did go over the top.
50:27
Speaker 1: And this kind of goes back to the Cam Ward
50:28
Speaker 1: discussion also. You give Lane Johnson the benefit of the doubt.
50:31
Speaker 1: The guy's a first ballot Hall of Famer. It was
50:33
Speaker 1: going to be his last year. If he says, guys,
50:36
Speaker 1: my heart and my head's not into it, and you're
50:38
Speaker 1: into the season, I'm just going to back away because
50:41
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I'm helping anything right now and
50:42
Speaker 1: I'm going to spend more time with my family. Who
50:44
Speaker 1: are we to judge that or criticize that would be
50:46
Speaker 1: my response. I have zero criticisms of Lane Johnson or
50:51
Speaker 1: his career or his decision to step away right now to–
50:54
Speaker 1: spend more time with his family or focus on his
50:56
Speaker 1: mental health or whatever it is. You've certainly earned that
50:59
Speaker 1: right when you're Lane Johnson. Here's what I'll say about
51:02
Speaker 1: Stephen A. Smith. You can be on camera too much.
51:07
Speaker 1: You can be overexposed. The dude does too much. The
51:12
Speaker 1: dude works too much. Well, is that his show? He
51:16
Speaker 1: is in our feed too much. I think... I think Hutton, yes,
51:22
Speaker 1: McAfee's a great example. Now the difference with McAfee is
51:25
Speaker 1: if you watch him on Monday Night Countdown versus College
51:27
Speaker 1: Game Day versus WWE work, he's totally different. Like Monday
51:31
Speaker 1: Night Countdown, he dials it down with those guys. He's
51:34
Speaker 1: more of just a standard analyst. He's not screaming at
51:37
Speaker 1: the crowd the whole time or screaming at the desk
51:40
Speaker 1: and doing all those things. He can play a different character,
51:43
Speaker 1: so he doesn't risk overexposure quite as much because on
51:47
Speaker 1: his daily show– versus game day, versus Monday night countdown,
51:51
Speaker 1: versus wrestling, he could be a different guy. Stephen A.
51:54
Speaker 1: Smith is one dude all the time. Whether he's on
51:58
Speaker 1: First Take, whether he's doing his daily podcast show, whether
52:01
Speaker 1: he's doing everything, my warning to ESPN and whoever is,
52:06
Speaker 1: you can be overexposed. And at times, overexposure can lead
52:11
Speaker 1: to you just saying things that you think is normal
52:14
Speaker 1: that it turns out, in this case, was not normal. And, Hutton,
52:18
Speaker 1: you could tell by the reaction of everybody on that panel.
52:20
Speaker 1: Those cutaway shots of even Mad Dog. And everyone's just like, oh, boy. Oh, no.
52:26
Speaker 3: Oh, no.
52:28
Speaker 2: I mean, to me, I notice McAfee a lot more
52:30
Speaker 2: than Stephen A right now. That's the football problem. But
52:33
Speaker 2: he's on every major property. Stephen A's on during the day.
52:37
Speaker 2: So is McAfee.
52:37
Speaker 1: But, like, every major property. Yeah.
52:42
Speaker 2: I mean, when they moved into the money I counted,
52:44
Speaker 2: I'm like, man, this is literally every single thing they
52:47
Speaker 2: spent a billion dollars on.
52:50
Speaker 1: Yeah. And look, you're paying those guys a ton of money.
52:54
Speaker 1: Like you want them to work and be on as
52:56
Speaker 1: much as possible. I understand the motivation of ESPN. I
52:59
Speaker 1: just think overexposure is a real thing. I don't hate
53:01
Speaker 1: Stephen A. Smith. I, I agree with certain things that
53:03
Speaker 1: he says. I think he's good. I don't think he's
53:06
Speaker 1: a bad guy. I think he knows his stuff. He's
53:07
Speaker 1: a very good on-camera personality of what he does. I
53:12
Speaker 1: think that for the most part, he's very prepared when
53:15
Speaker 1: he's on air. And again, I'm not going to hate
53:18
Speaker 1: the guy for an opinion. That's anti-sport and state. That's
53:21
Speaker 1: anti-what we're going to do. Here, right, is everybody's entitled
53:25
Speaker 1: their own opinion. I'm not going to cut you out
53:28
Speaker 1: on social media or or DM you bad things about
53:31
Speaker 1: you because you have an opinion on something. I'll just
53:34
Speaker 1: say I disagree with his opinion. Sure. It was it
53:39
Speaker 1: was for him to come back. And I know that
53:42
Speaker 1: he apologized on his podcast, but basically started crying and
53:48
Speaker 1: talking about his own mental health issues and how he
53:51
Speaker 1: doesn't ever make fun of mental health. while also explaining
53:54
Speaker 1: to the audience that you were the ones who were
53:55
Speaker 1: wrong and that you misperceived what he was saying and
54:00
Speaker 1: that you didn't understand what he was saying. So it
54:02
Speaker 1: was really a non-apology. Basically, you should be ashamed that
54:05
Speaker 1: you responded the way that you did. But we saw
54:08
Speaker 1: the video. I mean, he is making light of mental health.
54:11
Speaker 1: And then he's talking about mental health in that. So,
54:15
Speaker 1: I mean, just own it. If that's your opinion on it,
54:18
Speaker 1: own it and move on. If it's not your opinion
54:21
Speaker 1: on it and you feel like you went too far,
54:23
Speaker 1: then apologize and move on. It's going to be a
54:27
Speaker 1: non-story two days from now. But in that moment, I
54:31
Speaker 1: think it created this cringy live TV moment with him
54:35
Speaker 1: and everybody at that desk. And I'll just go back
54:38
Speaker 1: and say, there's such a thing as overexposure. You can't
54:41
Speaker 1: be on TV too much. Yes, but I've considered, like,
54:47
Speaker 1: I don't know. Like, McAfee never apologizes.
54:49
Speaker 2: If he said it, he wants to stand by it,
54:52
Speaker 2: we misperceived it, then just say that.
54:54
Speaker 1: Don't apologize.
54:54
Speaker 2: Like, I like Stephen A because he doesn't really come
54:56
Speaker 2: across as fake to me. You know, like the whole
54:59
Speaker 2: first take deal, it's about the shows. When does McAfee apologize?
55:03
Speaker 2: He apologized about calling Caitlin Clark a white bitch. He
55:06
Speaker 2: apologized to her and on air about that. I think
55:10
Speaker 2: he apologized.
55:11
Speaker 1: Didn't he apologize for something Aaron Rodgers said, maybe about
55:14
Speaker 1: Jimmy Kimmel one time, or that's when he stopped coming on?
55:17
Speaker 1: I feel like he had to read an apology.
55:18
Speaker 2: But he came on the very next week, though, remember?
55:21
Speaker 2: They said he wasn't coming back on, and then he
55:22
Speaker 2: was back on.
55:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm legitimately thinking about the times he had to apologize.
55:30
Speaker 1: I think it was twice. Ryan Clark, before he got fired, remember,
55:33
Speaker 1: had to read a forced apology every quarter. Every three months,
55:36
Speaker 1: he was reading a forced apology once. that ESPN made
55:39
Speaker 1: him apologize for on air. I mean, Stephen A. Smith
55:42
Speaker 1: isn't to that level. Pat McAfee certainly isn't to that level,
55:45
Speaker 1: but I'd be interested to know how many times Pat
55:49
Speaker 1: McAfee has apologized for something on air. We've been forced
55:52
Speaker 1: to read one apology on air in our career. I
55:55
Speaker 1: know that I'll always remember that because there's been one
55:57
Speaker 1: forced apology read on air for us. But, um, And
56:02
Speaker 1: maybe some of our loyal diehards. I'm in the YouTube
56:04
Speaker 1: chat right now. I wonder if anybody can guess what
56:06
Speaker 1: we had to apologize for. We're not going to say it,
56:09
Speaker 1: but if you can guess, bonus points for you for
56:11
Speaker 1: sticking with us for many years. Because this was something
56:13
Speaker 1: that happened years and years ago that we had to
56:16
Speaker 1: apologize for.
56:17
Speaker 2: Was this 2014, maybe? No, 20... When was this? I'm
56:22
Speaker 2: trying to date myself now when this was going down.
56:25
Speaker 2: I think that's about right. That sounds about right.
56:28
Speaker 1: 2014, 2015-ish, maybe? Maybe. Yeah, but if you're a day
56:33
Speaker 1: one season ticket holder, you can nail this. That's impressive.
56:37
Speaker 1: I'm asking because David in the YouTube chat says, not true,
56:41
Speaker 1: McAfee apologizes all the time. I'm legitimately asking when, other
56:44
Speaker 1: than Caleb Clark.
56:46
Speaker 2: Not for the stuff he said about ESPN in any way.
56:49
Speaker 1: I don't know how many times he's had to apologize
56:51
Speaker 1: for things or has apologized. Has he clarified? Remember the
56:55
Speaker 1: whole him smoking a joint? It looked like on air,
56:57
Speaker 1: but he said it was sage. Well, that's like burning sage.
57:00
Speaker 2: I guess that's like all these NFL players saying that
57:03
Speaker 2: they're chugging up. They're not, they're not pretending to be
57:05
Speaker 2: drinking beer. They're drinking like a, what is it like
57:08
Speaker 2: a high C.
57:08
Speaker 1: Or something like that? Well, he was wasted in Ireland
57:12
Speaker 1: on one of his shows, but it was just funny.
57:14
Speaker 1: Like he didn't do or say anything. He didn't apologize
57:18
Speaker 1: for that. They're the two faces, man. They're the two
57:20
Speaker 1: faces of ESPN. Oh, for sure.
57:23
Speaker 2: But I'm seeing like they, they are, They've got the
57:26
Speaker 2: money and they've got the investment to where, I mean,
57:29
Speaker 2: they don't have to apologize. I apologize for absolutely nothing,
57:32
Speaker 2: as Conor McGregor would say. Chad, does Ronald McCudia, does
57:38
Speaker 2: he owe you an apology?
57:39
Speaker 1: I want to get to this performance. Yes, and he
57:46
Speaker 1: owes me a personal apology. Much like Stephen A. owes
57:48
Speaker 1: Lane Johnson a personal apology, I expect Ronald Acuna, through
57:52
Speaker 1: his translator, to apologize to me personally on this show
57:56
Speaker 1: if he could ever join us. Rough go for Ronald,
58:00
Speaker 1: a player who I like throughout the postseason. Let's hit
58:02
Speaker 1: this when we.
58:03
Speaker 2: Come back because I want to get to the statutes
58:05
Speaker 2: you said about the Braves in the postseason. I also
58:10
Speaker 2: am bummed because our guy lost his huge parlay.
58:14
Speaker 1: That's not it. That's who Ronald Acuna owes an apology
58:18
Speaker 1: through his translator, is the guy at Hard Rock Bet
58:20
Speaker 1: who was relying on the Braves World Series Championship to
58:23
Speaker 1: bring home that parlor.
58:24
Speaker 2: The $ 1 bet to win $ 85, 000. Sutton and Withrow presented
58:27
Speaker 2: by Hard Rock Bet.