Latest / Best of the NFL Podcast Network / The Season with Peter Schrager: Steve Spagnuolo, Kansas City Chiefs Defensive Coordinator

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The Season with Peter Schrager: Steve Spagnuolo, Kansas City Chiefs Defensive Coordinator · Best of the NFL Podcast Network

0:07
Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
0:09
Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio.
0:23
Speaker 2: What's Up, everybody, Welcome to another episode of the Season
0:26
Speaker 2: with Peter Schrager. I'm Peter Scheger. I'm joined by Aaron
0:29
Speaker 2: wang Kaufman, my wonderful producer. We are now a week
0:34
Speaker 2: and change removed from the Super Bowl and I'm just
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Speaker 2: flipping the I'm flipping the page. Our guest is gonna
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Speaker 2: be Steve Spagnolo, who has won his fourth Super Bowl
0:44
Speaker 2: as a coordinator, which is an NFL record in the
0:47
Speaker 2: history of the sport. No coordinator has won four different
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Speaker 2: Super Bowl titles. We're gonna get spags on in a bit,
0:53
Speaker 2: but before we do that, I wanted to look ahead
0:56
Speaker 2: to the Combine because if you're clicking on play on
0:58
Speaker 2: this podcast, it's late in the week during this President's
1:03
Speaker 2: Day week, which is kind of a dark period for
1:05
Speaker 2: the NFL, and then you might listen to on the
1:07
Speaker 2: weekend and then guys, before you know it, Monday, everyone
1:10
Speaker 2: descends upon Indianapolis and we already are on the draft season.
1:15
Speaker 2: And to me, the Combine is such a I think
1:19
Speaker 2: the viewers at home and the fans at home see
1:22
Speaker 2: it one way, but those of us in the NFL
1:26
Speaker 2: see it a different way. There is an art and
1:28
Speaker 2: a science to it. The science part is the actual
1:33
Speaker 2: player workouts, which will rule the headlines, and we'll rule
1:36
Speaker 2: the weekend coming up, spanning from Thursday to Sunday, and
1:41
Speaker 2: that's where you're gonna get all your quarterbacks. You're gonna
1:43
Speaker 2: get all your tight ends, all your defensivens, you're gonna
1:45
Speaker 2: get your freak show athletes, and you're gonna have them
1:47
Speaker 2: doing the forty and doing the past catching trills, and
1:51
Speaker 2: you're gonna have your amazing moments where someone's gonna break
1:53
Speaker 2: a record doing a high jump or a long jump.
1:56
Speaker 2: And that is the science to it. And if you
1:59
Speaker 2: talk to NFL teams, the drills really do matter. They're
2:02
Speaker 2: very significant, but so are the interviews which is earlier
2:06
Speaker 2: in the week which is unfilmed. Again, the science of it,
2:10
Speaker 2: this is stuff that you bring a player in. You
2:12
Speaker 2: get a feel for their intelligence, to feel for their vibe.
2:16
Speaker 2: You get a feel for what they can do on
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Speaker 2: a board if you had to have them draw up
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Speaker 2: a blitz, or if you had to have them draw
2:22
Speaker 2: up what they would do if they're being blitz and
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Speaker 2: they're the quarterback or the running back. How they would
2:26
Speaker 2: block it. They call it the train station, and that's
2:29
Speaker 2: the beginning part where teams can just meet with players
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Speaker 2: one by one, just kind of boom boom boom bom boom.
2:34
Speaker 2: Then you have your private interviews where players will walk
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Speaker 2: in and you've probably seen the footage of it before,
2:40
Speaker 2: where the most famous one is either the DK Metcalf
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Speaker 2: one where he walks in a room and it's all
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Speaker 2: the Seahawks guys and Pete Carroll eventually removes his shirt
2:54
Speaker 2: to show DK Metcalf his physique. But that is very important.
2:58
Speaker 2: That is where a fifteen minute interview and the teams
3:01
Speaker 2: request certain players to come in and they have an
3:04
Speaker 2: opportunity to get in front of the coaches, in front
3:06
Speaker 2: of the GMS, and there could be a wide array
3:10
Speaker 2: of ways those interviews go. Sometimes the head coach won't
3:12
Speaker 2: say a word and it'll just be a position coach
3:14
Speaker 2: running point. Sometimes it's the GM running point. Sometimes they'll
3:17
Speaker 2: go around in a circle and it'll be rapid fire
3:21
Speaker 2: the questions. I also remember, I want to say, I
3:24
Speaker 2: specifically remember an Eagles interview with I want to say
3:28
Speaker 2: it was Jalen Hurts and it was with Doug Peterson,
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Speaker 2: and that one was leaked to the media, and that
3:35
Speaker 2: one after the fact came out and was super informative
3:38
Speaker 2: on how on how Jalen Hurts handled his interview with them,
3:41
Speaker 2: Like it's it's so rare. We actually see the footage
3:44
Speaker 2: of these. Usually they come out after the draft when
3:46
Speaker 2: a player selected and that team will say, Okay, well
3:48
Speaker 2: this happened during that interview. That's all the science of it,
3:53
Speaker 2: all right, So I said art and science. The art
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Speaker 2: of it is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and it's in the hallways,
4:03
Speaker 2: and it's in these giant corridors, and it's these these
4:07
Speaker 2: wonderful restaurants in Indianapolis, in a back room or at
4:10
Speaker 2: the bar, and it's basically a free for all where
4:13
Speaker 2: you're throwing NFL coaches and not just the head coaches,
4:19
Speaker 2: NFL position coaches, NFL coordinators, NFL support staff, putting the
4:24
Speaker 2: entire front office, and you've got a lot of downtime,
4:28
Speaker 2: and you're putting them all together in Indianapolis, which is
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Speaker 2: a city that has about forty different restaurants and bars
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Speaker 2: in a one mile radius. And you also throw in
4:40
Speaker 2: NFL media, and you throw in NFL agents, and you
4:45
Speaker 2: throw in NFL league executives, and suddenly it becomes the
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Speaker 2: biggest convention in NFL yearly calendar you're going to have.
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Speaker 2: And me personally, as a longtime NFL reporter and someone
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Speaker 2: who really values boots on the ground, I found a
5:01
Speaker 2: way to get there for Monday and Tuesday. And it's
5:06
Speaker 2: important to be there Monday and Tuesday because a lot
5:10
Speaker 2: of conversations happen and it's not gossip, it's not This
5:13
Speaker 2: is where I filled my notebook. This is where I
5:16
Speaker 2: will tell you straight up who I'll meet with, Like
5:19
Speaker 2: we're gonna have spags on. I'm gonna have dinner with
5:20
Speaker 2: Reid and Veach on Monday Night. We're gonna go to
5:23
Speaker 2: a steakhouse that's the chiefs coach and GM. We're gonna
5:27
Speaker 2: do that Monday night. Monday Night. There's a gentleman named
5:30
Speaker 2: Bob Lamont who is an agent to all the top
5:33
Speaker 2: head coaches. He represents everybody from Doug Peterson to Andy
5:39
Speaker 2: Reid to Sean mcvayh you can go down the list.
5:42
Speaker 2: There are so many Lamont clients. He is a legend
5:45
Speaker 2: in his own right. He was Mike Holmgren's agent way
5:48
Speaker 2: back when. Bab Lamont and his wife they have their
5:52
Speaker 2: own agency, they both and he does a little private
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Speaker 2: dinner Monday night, late night, and I usually am one
5:59
Speaker 2: of maybe two media people ever at the table. It's
6:03
Speaker 2: it's a cool invite to get I like to always
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Speaker 2: hit that up. I'll make sure I get there. So
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Speaker 2: what's the value of being at a dinner with ten
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Speaker 2: NFL head coach? As well? There's drinks going, there's stakes
6:14
Speaker 2: being in, there's jokes being had, and just reading between
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Speaker 2: the lines, I could pill up a notebook on Okay, well,
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Speaker 2: here's how this coach feels about this player, or here's
6:23
Speaker 2: what this coach feels about this league issue, or here's
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Speaker 2: what this NFL GM here's who he was talking to.
6:31
Speaker 2: And I wonder why he was talking to that coach. Well,
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Speaker 2: maybe because that coach is a player that might be
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Speaker 2: a free agent. All right, Tuesday morning, I'll do Good
6:38
Speaker 2: Morning Football, and then afterwards, I've got a day that
6:42
Speaker 2: I've already booked, hour after hour after hours, so I'll
6:46
Speaker 2: talk to Joe Shane, the general manager of the Giants.
6:48
Speaker 2: We've got that in the books I've got Brendan Bean,
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Speaker 2: general manager of the Bills. We've got that in the books.
6:53
Speaker 2: I'm sure I'll link up with somebody from the new
6:56
Speaker 2: Chargers brass I've been texting with them, whether it be
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Speaker 2: Joe Hortiz, their GM, or whether it be Jim Harbaugh
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Speaker 2: or one of his many assistants that he's bringing with them,
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Speaker 2: Guys that honestly I don't no. I don't know Jesse Minter,
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Speaker 2: I don't know Marcus Brady. So if I get an
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Speaker 2: opportunity at the combine to introduce myself in a casual setting,
7:14
Speaker 2: I can add their phone number. We could continue a dialogue,
7:17
Speaker 2: whether it be for information, whether it be any way
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Speaker 2: that I can help, or whether it be them clarifying
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Speaker 2: something I say on air. That's very helpful. So that's
7:24
Speaker 2: a goal of mine. I got to get in front
7:25
Speaker 2: of some of those Chargers guys Tuesday night. I last
7:30
Speaker 2: year started this tradition. It's a dinner with Sean Payton.
7:33
Speaker 2: He came back to Denver last year. Mickey Loomis was
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Speaker 2: at our table, who I'd never really gotten to know.
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Speaker 2: We really hit it off. I'm hoping to do that
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Speaker 2: again this year and will solidify relationships and will solidify thoughts.
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Speaker 2: And in this case, if I get Mickey Loomis, well,
7:48
Speaker 2: what are they doing at quarterback for the future. We
7:51
Speaker 2: know Derek Carr's there, but what are they doing with
7:53
Speaker 2: that offense? What are they doing with all those frenzies?
7:55
Speaker 2: The Saints are into this weird crossshroads. I'd love to
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Speaker 2: fill my notebook a little bit. And this is where
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Speaker 2: you do it. Furthermore, beyond the science of the workouts
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Speaker 2: and the interview, we go back to the art of this.
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Speaker 2: There are twenty NFL coaches who are going to speak
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Speaker 2: on the podium during those first few days. There are
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Speaker 2: twenty six general managers who are going to speak at
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Speaker 2: the podium. There's a lot to be taken from those moments.
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Speaker 2: And it's local be reporters. There's also national folks asking
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Speaker 2: him questions. And if you're talking about we have a
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Speaker 2: free agency period in three weeks that's coming up, and
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Speaker 2: you also have the draft, you better believe there's stuff
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Speaker 2: to be taken from there. I really do value the
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Speaker 2: combine for that. I think the art of it is
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Speaker 2: what happens in the Wollway. Like I'll do Good Morning
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Speaker 2: Football and I think Tom Pellisaro's going to join me
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Speaker 2: on Monday, on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we're going to
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Speaker 2: do it from the conference center. And there's a walk
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Speaker 2: from the conference center to the hotel. You can't walk
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Speaker 2: two steps without bumping into a quarterback, coach, an agent,
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Speaker 2: an NFL PR person, and those conversations are all used
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Speaker 2: to help inform the next several months of what's going
9:04
Speaker 2: to be smoke screen season, but also information season. You
9:08
Speaker 2: the listener, you're gonna want to know what these teams
9:10
Speaker 2: are leaning towards it. Like I'm looking at the coaches,
9:14
Speaker 2: twenty er are going to speak. That means twelve aren't here.
9:18
Speaker 2: Here are the twelve that are not on the schedule,
9:20
Speaker 2: and you can shame them. You can tweet at them,
9:22
Speaker 2: you can find their PR team and try to commit
9:24
Speaker 2: some otherwise. I don't like it. I don't like it,
9:27
Speaker 2: and I've said it before. Come to the combine. Don't
9:30
Speaker 2: be too cool for the combine. Come to the combine,
9:32
Speaker 2: and then speak at the combine. Mike McCarthy's not speaking,
9:37
Speaker 2: Brian Dabele's not speaking, Matt Lafleur is not speaking, Kyle
9:41
Speaker 2: Shanahan's not speaking. Sean McVay is not speaking, Mike McDonald's
9:45
Speaker 2: not speaking, Dennis Allen's not speaking, Robert Sala's not speaking,
9:48
Speaker 2: Gerrodmeo is not speaking, like Tomlin is not speaking, Jim
9:52
Speaker 2: Harbaugh is not speaking, Antonio Pierce is not speaking. So
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Speaker 2: I'm just looking at the schedule of who's going to
10:00
Speaker 2: be on those risers, and those are the twelve coaches
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Speaker 2: who will not be speaking at the combine. That's their choice.
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Speaker 2: I'm not trying to make news here. I doubt Sean
10:10
Speaker 2: mcvay's at the combine at all. He and I used
10:13
Speaker 2: to have some ripper nights in Indianapolis at High Voltage,
10:17
Speaker 2: which was a bar that was in the JW. Marriott,
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Speaker 2: which was a fun spot. But the last couple of
10:23
Speaker 2: years he has not attended, and that has not hurt
10:25
Speaker 2: their draft process at all. Robert Salah, I know Joe
10:29
Speaker 2: Douglas will be there. Salad didn't go last year. I
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Speaker 2: don't know if once you say no and you skip Indy,
10:37
Speaker 2: it's usually where you come back, And in a lot
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Speaker 2: of cases it's because the coaches rather have all their
10:44
Speaker 2: guys in the building back in their facility just grinding
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Speaker 2: on tape and working that way and then all the
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Speaker 2: workouts you get and all the interviews you can have taped.
10:55
Speaker 2: I don't know if there's been a big study done
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Speaker 2: on team success or draft success of teams that have
11:01
Speaker 2: sent their head coaches and sent their coaching staff to
11:04
Speaker 2: the Combine. In those two have not, but in recent
11:06
Speaker 2: years it's been a trend that teams have not been
11:08
Speaker 2: sending as many people. I see Kyle Shanahan's not speaking.
11:12
Speaker 2: I don't know if Kyle Shanahan's going to the Combine.
11:14
Speaker 2: Their season ended late, and yet Andy Reid, we have
11:18
Speaker 2: a dinner date for Monday, so he will be there,
11:21
Speaker 2: and their season and ended late as well. Art and
11:24
Speaker 2: a science. I think it's interesting and hopefully we'll get
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Speaker 2: upot I think in Aaron, I'm thinking we'll do next
11:31
Speaker 2: Thursday when I'm back from the Combine and I can
11:35
Speaker 2: empty the notebook here on this on this yere podcast
11:39
Speaker 2: viewer note if you're a Good Morning Football viewer, we're
11:42
Speaker 2: on all Monday through Friday. Kyle's on vacation, Jamie Erdall's
11:46
Speaker 2: on vacation, but it will be myself, it'll be Jason mccordy,
11:51
Speaker 2: and it'll be Colleen Wolf in studio in New York
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Speaker 2: on Monday. I'm gonna be in Indy for Tuesday Wednesday.
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Speaker 2: Like I said, just NonStop, forty eight hours. Will not sleep.
12:01
Speaker 2: We'll do as much, you know, hanging but also filling
12:04
Speaker 2: the notebook up as I can. And I'm coming back
12:07
Speaker 2: to New York for Thursday Friday shows in studio, and
12:10
Speaker 2: I'm flying back to Indianapolis to be there for the drills.
12:14
Speaker 2: We're all be on the broadcast with Chris Rose up
12:18
Speaker 2: on the second concourse, which means you've got Eisen and
12:23
Speaker 2: Charles Davis, and you've got Daniel Jeremiah on the call
12:26
Speaker 2: and then hey in pockets here shreger, what do you got?
12:29
Speaker 2: And I'll just give you all the good juice. And
12:32
Speaker 2: this is sentimental for me. Last year, I'll never forget.
12:37
Speaker 2: It was the Friday night of the combine. I had
12:39
Speaker 2: been there for five days, we were grinding, and it's
12:42
Speaker 2: when my wife gave me a text Friday night, and
12:45
Speaker 2: I'll never forget it was Will Levis Hawk. It wasn't
12:49
Speaker 2: even Will Levis working out, but it was Will Levis
12:51
Speaker 2: talk about of all time. And I've gone back and
12:54
Speaker 2: watching a clip of all topics it was Will Levis,
12:57
Speaker 2: how will he perform in the NFL, because when he
13:03
Speaker 2: lost Liam Cohen, who was offensive coordinator at Kentucky, his
13:08
Speaker 2: numbers went down. When Liam went to the Rams, Will
13:10
Speaker 2: Levis's numbers plummeted, did not have as good a season
13:13
Speaker 2: as he did the year before where he lit up
13:15
Speaker 2: the SEC. And then it was me talking about, Okay, well,
13:19
Speaker 2: what kind of offense will he fit in. He's obviously
13:21
Speaker 2: gonna be our first round pick. And my wife texts
13:24
Speaker 2: me and says, you've got to get out of here.
13:27
Speaker 2: You got to fly back home asap because we're about
13:31
Speaker 2: to have our second child. So I had to bail
13:33
Speaker 2: on the combine early. That was Friday, and then I
13:37
Speaker 2: immediately got out of there and took care of some
13:40
Speaker 2: family business. And we've got our baby, Betty. But I
13:42
Speaker 2: missed last year Saturday and Sunday because of things happening
13:46
Speaker 2: a little earlier than we anticipated. But Will Levis, I
13:49
Speaker 2: Aaron I lobbied to name our child Betty Levis Schrager.
13:54
Speaker 2: And it did not. It didn't, it didn't win. I
13:56
Speaker 2: thought that was a connection to football into Indianapolis and
13:59
Speaker 2: to Will Levis, not Betty High voltage. Oh, not Betty
14:04
Speaker 2: high voltage, Not Betty sat l Low's Betty Betty Levis Schregger.
14:10
Speaker 2: But Will went in the second round, you know that.
14:13
Speaker 2: And here he is starting quarterback. And basically Brian Callahan
14:17
Speaker 2: gets the head coaching job on the premise that he's
14:19
Speaker 2: gonna get the most out of Will Levis. Stag's gonna
14:22
Speaker 2: join us quickly. I'd just real small quick note. Adam
14:26
Speaker 2: Schefter had a tweet that was similar to a tweet
14:30
Speaker 2: that I had about two weeks ago, and it comes
14:33
Speaker 2: off of a really you know, it's not one that's
14:36
Speaker 2: going to move the needle at all. But interestingly enough,
14:41
Speaker 2: USC running backs coach Keil McDonald, who I don't know
14:44
Speaker 2: at all. I texted Cliff Cliff's like, he's the man,
14:46
Speaker 2: He's great. So he was a USC running backs coach
14:49
Speaker 2: under Cliff who was under Lincoln Riley at the USC Okay,
14:54
Speaker 2: he had a chance to be a college offensive coordinator
14:57
Speaker 2: and opted to not do that, not be a college OC,
15:00
Speaker 2: but instead to jump to the NFL and be the
15:04
Speaker 2: Chargers running backs coach. And shef there's tweet, and I
15:07
Speaker 2: think Adam's really good at hearing think from people but
15:10
Speaker 2: this this has spotted on. He says, a trend that
15:12
Speaker 2: has emerged this winter. Many college coaches are tired of
15:14
Speaker 2: the transfer portal, the nil money in the new NA world.
15:18
Speaker 2: Don't just prefer to work in the NFL. Many college
15:21
Speaker 2: coaches have already left, many more want to. I guys,
15:24
Speaker 2: I can't stress this enough. There's a mass exodus from
15:26
Speaker 2: the college game as far as coaches go. They don't
15:29
Speaker 2: want to deal with this anymore. And two good examples.
15:32
Speaker 2: Jeff Hafley was the head coach at Boston College, making
15:35
Speaker 2: millions and millions of dollars, and BC is a is
15:39
Speaker 2: an ACC school, and they've got all this you know, history,
15:42
Speaker 2: and Tom O'Brien and Tom Coughlin and all this history
15:46
Speaker 2: and Doug Flutie and Glenn Foley and all that, say Flowers.
15:49
Speaker 2: In recent years, Aflee left being a head coach to
15:53
Speaker 2: be a defensive coordinator of the Packers. That sounds like
15:56
Speaker 2: a down move, going from head coach and a major
15:59
Speaker 2: college program to a DC in the NFL. He did that, Kingsbury.
16:03
Speaker 2: So many faulty reports out there, and I was biting
16:05
Speaker 2: my tongue, but he's gonna get the Houston job. He's
16:08
Speaker 2: gonna get to Texas a and m job. Cliff to
16:11
Speaker 2: anyone who knew him, saying, I will never be a
16:13
Speaker 2: head coaching college again. Never will do that. That's hell
16:16
Speaker 2: to go, do you know, to recruit a high school
16:19
Speaker 2: kid non stop with money, the nil money, and then
16:22
Speaker 2: for the kid to commit, and then for him to
16:24
Speaker 2: decommit or then to stay for a year, then have
16:26
Speaker 2: to beg him to stay like that's not no one wants.
16:29
Speaker 2: That's that's not coaching football. That's that's a whole other business.
16:32
Speaker 2: Cliff says no to all that and decides to instead
16:35
Speaker 2: of being a college head coach, which he could have
16:37
Speaker 2: had several jobs, he says, I'll just be an NFL
16:40
Speaker 2: offensive coordinator. I'm good with that, and we'll see what
16:42
Speaker 2: happens from there. And in this case, you're getting Kill McDonald,
16:47
Speaker 2: who could have been a college offensive coordinator. He coached
16:49
Speaker 2: at Utah and USC and worked for Zach Moss and
16:53
Speaker 2: and other guys. You know. Before that he was with
16:55
Speaker 2: Marshawn Lloyd, who's a top prospect in this year's draft.
16:59
Speaker 2: He says, Nah, I'm good, I'll be a I don't
17:01
Speaker 2: need to be a college offensive coordinator and work up
17:03
Speaker 2: those ranks. I'll instead go there. And the last one
17:05
Speaker 2: was Chip Kelly, who I think made it very clear
17:08
Speaker 2: he was a head coach at that You can see
17:11
Speaker 2: LA he's still a head coach at UCLA and he's like,
17:13
Speaker 2: all right, does anyone want me as an OC in
17:15
Speaker 2: the NFL. Made it very clear that he was interested,
17:17
Speaker 2: having had his name tied to many teams throughout this process.
17:21
Speaker 2: So just an interesting thing to watch one of the fallouts. Yes,
17:24
Speaker 2: we all want the players to be taken care of,
17:26
Speaker 2: and we all want nil and we all want all
17:29
Speaker 2: these guys to get as much as they can. But
17:31
Speaker 2: from the coaching side, yeah, for years, for twenty years,
17:34
Speaker 2: we've said these college coaches have had a great sweet
17:37
Speaker 2: gig in that they can leave whenever and no one
17:39
Speaker 2: bats in an eye and everyone just gets paid and
17:42
Speaker 2: it's money, money, money, money, money.
17:44
Speaker 3: Yeah.
17:44
Speaker 2: I think a lot of these coaches are like, at
17:46
Speaker 2: the end of the day, I'd like to cut coach football,
17:48
Speaker 2: and I don't want to deal with the money, money, money, money, money.
17:50
Speaker 2: And it's amazing that the NCCA and amateur sports is
17:53
Speaker 2: becoming that while in the NFL it's just all right,
17:56
Speaker 2: coach ball, do x's and o's do it while you
17:58
Speaker 2: got into this thing. Speaking of coaching ball and axes
18:01
Speaker 2: and o's, I could not be more excited for our
18:03
Speaker 2: next guest. He is a four time Super Bowl champion
18:05
Speaker 2: as a quarter and he is a gem of a
18:08
Speaker 2: human being. And Steve Spagnolo joins his next It's my
18:19
Speaker 2: great honor and a pleasure for a guy I've gotten
18:21
Speaker 2: to know really well over the last few years. He's
18:23
Speaker 2: one of the most successful coaches in NFL history, and
18:26
Speaker 2: he is a super Bowl champion yet again. Uh, what
18:29
Speaker 2: a thrill for us here about ten days removed from
18:32
Speaker 2: his fourth super Bowl title, Steve Spagnola, Welcome to the
18:36
Speaker 2: season with Peter Shaker.
18:39
Speaker 4: Love it. P doesn't honor to be on this show?
18:41
Speaker 4: Are you kidding me?
18:42
Speaker 2: Yeah?
18:42
Speaker 4: Who the thug it?
18:44
Speaker 2: Look I'm looking at I googled. I googled something because
18:47
Speaker 2: I'm so tech savvy. Which coordinators have won the most
18:51
Speaker 2: Super Bowl titles? And what comes up is this The
18:54
Speaker 2: defensive coordinator who is one of the most Super Bowl
18:56
Speaker 2: titles is Steve Spagnolo, who now holds the record for
19:00
Speaker 2: any DC and NFL history with four. Washington's Richie Pettibaum
19:03
Speaker 2: Pettybone nineteen eighty two eighty seven one and Romeo Crnell
19:08
Speaker 2: won three to four each have three, but Spagnolo has four.
19:12
Speaker 2: When you hear that, what is your reaction?
19:15
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, I know those two coaches. I
19:17
Speaker 4: got a lot of respect for it.
19:19
Speaker 5: So I did an internship Pete way back, and I
19:22
Speaker 5: want to say it was the fall of eighty two
19:23
Speaker 5: or eighty three years after the Redskins when they were
19:26
Speaker 5: the Washington Redskins. Yeah, when their first well, and Richie
19:29
Speaker 5: Pettibone was the decoordinate.
19:30
Speaker 4: I got to know, I love coach. How about that?
19:32
Speaker 4: How about that?
19:34
Speaker 5: And then fast forward whatever that is thirty something years
19:37
Speaker 5: and uh, it's quite a not very humbling Listen. I
19:41
Speaker 5: think every coach will tell you, Pete that when a
19:43
Speaker 5: coach gets an award, it's not a it's not an
19:45
Speaker 5: individual award. I mean, you can't get coaching awards for
19:48
Speaker 5: winning or being successful on one unit without a bunch
19:51
Speaker 5: of players and a bunch of assistant coaches. So to me,
19:54
Speaker 5: it's just a it's a reflection of all the good
19:56
Speaker 5: people I've worked with.
19:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Deyonder to be lone guy in his story.
20:01
Speaker 2: It's for any coordinator too, because no offensive coordinator is
20:03
Speaker 2: one four. You're the loan, four time seer a champion
20:07
Speaker 2: as a coordinator, each different season tells the story, right,
20:11
Speaker 2: So you had the seven Giants, which you've been the Patriots,
20:15
Speaker 2: and then you've had these three with the Chiefs. What's
20:18
Speaker 2: ten days removed? What's the what's the story of this group,
20:21
Speaker 2: and what's the feeling you have removed? The takeaway of
20:24
Speaker 2: like what you look back on or what you do
20:25
Speaker 2: in the in the near history or the recent history
20:29
Speaker 2: of of what really stands out from this unit.
20:32
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll tell you what. What stands out I've said
20:35
Speaker 5: this a lot, Pete is the the tremendous culmination of
20:41
Speaker 5: a high IQ players. I mean I've worked with some
20:45
Speaker 5: real high i Q football players. I mean, you guys
20:47
Speaker 5: know Antonio Pierce is the head coach in the league. Now,
20:50
Speaker 5: you guy, I don't know if you were to be.
20:52
Speaker 5: I mean you remember the Jeremiah Trot James Lawernitis that
20:55
Speaker 5: I had. I'm thinking about all these linebackers that we
20:57
Speaker 5: worked with that we're really really smart. But the Sam
21:00
Speaker 5: Madison's you know, the the Kavika Mitchell's the.
21:03
Speaker 4: Guys that we had in New York.
21:04
Speaker 5: But as a as a group, as a unit, as
21:06
Speaker 5: a number, this was the highest total of high IQ players.
21:10
Speaker 5: Combine that with high character guys, really good assistant coaches.
21:14
Speaker 5: That's what sticks out like we were able peak quite honestly,
21:18
Speaker 5: to be multiple because we had guys like Nick Bolton
21:22
Speaker 5: and you know, guys like l J. Sneed and you
21:24
Speaker 5: know guys up front like Mike Dana, you know Turk.
21:27
Speaker 5: I mean, guys that they just get football, they love
21:31
Speaker 5: embracing football. Drew Trank, will you know all these guys
21:34
Speaker 5: that we had in line back in Leo Chanel.
21:36
Speaker 4: They just eat, drink and sleep at Pete.
21:39
Speaker 5: And when you have that and then you're throw in
21:41
Speaker 5: a bunch of good assistant coaches, I mean, it made
21:43
Speaker 5: it for a really good recipe.
21:45
Speaker 2: This is the craziest stat that didn't get enough love.
21:48
Speaker 2: The Chiefs were the youngest defense in the league this year.
21:51
Speaker 2: And you're talking about your naming guys like like l J.
21:54
Speaker 2: Snead and of course you know Danas, I think in
21:57
Speaker 2: his fifth year in the league. But Trenton McDuffie stepped up.
22:00
Speaker 2: Willie Gay was awesome when you guys needed them. There's
22:03
Speaker 2: so much youth on this roster, and yet all those guys,
22:07
Speaker 2: the mental errors were not there. They were Johnny on
22:09
Speaker 2: the spot every time they had to be.
22:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, Pete, it's funny.
22:12
Speaker 5: I think this time last year when you and I
22:14
Speaker 5: talked a little bit after the game. I mean, we
22:16
Speaker 5: were pretty young last year with I mean that secondary
22:19
Speaker 5: was specifically young with three true rookies and Trent, Josh
22:23
Speaker 5: and Jalen. But you're right, the the other guys that
22:27
Speaker 5: feel like they're veterans now have only been two or
22:30
Speaker 5: three years in the league. And so but I tell
22:32
Speaker 5: you what, Peter, I've said this before. When so when
22:35
Speaker 5: you make that statement or or we talk about that,
22:39
Speaker 5: you can't help but credit the assistant coaches for that
22:42
Speaker 5: because one person can't do it or coordinator can't do it.
22:45
Speaker 5: And players need to be fed all of this information.
22:49
Speaker 5: They need to embrace it, but it needs to be
22:50
Speaker 5: fed in a way that they understand it, they get
22:53
Speaker 5: it and they can play fast. And I got a
22:55
Speaker 5: great staff. I don't know how if you get a
22:57
Speaker 5: chance to get to know those guys, Pete, but shut out. Yeah,
23:02
Speaker 5: Dave Merrit Brendan Daily, Joe Cullen, Terry Braid, Rod Wilson,
23:07
Speaker 5: Alex witting Him, Donald Delacio. I don't think I've missed anybody,
23:11
Speaker 5: but it's a great group. I'll tell you to think
23:13
Speaker 5: so when you are blessed to go is fir in
23:16
Speaker 5: the playoffs as we have for these past five years.
23:20
Speaker 5: The downside is all of these guys who should be
23:23
Speaker 5: coordinated or should be moving up in the league. It's
23:26
Speaker 5: hard to do, Pete right, because the jobs are all
23:28
Speaker 5: washed up by the time you get done in February eleventh.
23:31
Speaker 5: And now, listen, it's a blessing to win Super Bowls
23:33
Speaker 5: and all that. I don't think any of these guys
23:35
Speaker 5: are going to give their rings back for a job,
23:37
Speaker 5: but I mean it's truly so. I just don't think
23:39
Speaker 5: they get enough credit, Pete, and I just want to
23:41
Speaker 5: make sure that we always recognize what they mean in
23:45
Speaker 5: the middle of this whole thing.
23:46
Speaker 2: I don't know if you get enough credit. I thought,
23:48
Speaker 2: I don't know if he saw and I know you're
23:49
Speaker 2: not living on Twitter one of the fortunate ones. I
23:53
Speaker 2: made a big case how absurd it was that you
23:57
Speaker 2: weren't being mentioned for head coaching jobs. And you're probably blushing, like,
23:59
Speaker 2: don't even go there. Kevin Demoff comes out of the cobwebs.
24:02
Speaker 2: I don't even know where he and he goes on
24:04
Speaker 2: a ten.
24:04
Speaker 5: Tweet any of this, Well, somebody sent it to me
24:09
Speaker 5: and I'll tell you what I and I did text Kevin.
24:12
Speaker 2: Let me give the context first, but the listeners them
24:14
Speaker 2: Off was in Saint Louis, where you were the head
24:16
Speaker 2: coach for three years, and Kevin listened about fifteen reasons
24:20
Speaker 2: why you had no chance to actually have great success
24:23
Speaker 2: because of the ownership change, because of things that were
24:28
Speaker 2: done before you got there, because of just the climate
24:31
Speaker 2: of what was going on in Saint Louis and the
24:33
Speaker 2: money and all this stuff. And Kevin wore it and
24:36
Speaker 2: was like, let maybe the first to tell you Spags
24:38
Speaker 2: would be an incredible head coach and should have been.
24:41
Speaker 2: He didn't have the resources or the opportunity that others
24:44
Speaker 2: had to really have success. And I thought that was
24:47
Speaker 2: pretty cool to get that from a guy who, for
24:49
Speaker 2: being honest, they fired you. And yet he's coming back
24:51
Speaker 2: ten years later and he's like, no, no, no, no, no, no,
24:54
Speaker 2: that was not on. That was not on. Steve.
24:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, well it was Listen, it was really nice of
24:59
Speaker 5: Kevin to say. I've always had a lot of respect
25:01
Speaker 5: for him. I think he's a real intelligent guy in
25:02
Speaker 5: this business. And listen, it was a challenge. I'd do
25:06
Speaker 5: it again because the lessons you learn, you and I
25:09
Speaker 5: both know this, right, The lessons you learned from failure
25:11
Speaker 5: usually or more valuable than the ones that you learned
25:15
Speaker 5: from success, and so I think there was some valuable lessons.
25:18
Speaker 5: There were some tremendous relationships pulled from there, and there's
25:21
Speaker 5: some things that we're really proud of. I mean, the
25:23
Speaker 5: overall record wasn't great, but I really enjoyed our twenty
25:26
Speaker 5: ten season. We went from the twenty two thousand and
25:30
Speaker 5: nine where we were one and fifteen, and we drafted
25:32
Speaker 5: Sam Bradford, who I thought was really really good. He
25:35
Speaker 5: was exceptional, and that he was the offensive rookie of
25:39
Speaker 5: the year. In twenty ten, you know, we were one game,
25:42
Speaker 5: last game of the season. If we win, we're in
25:44
Speaker 5: the playoffs, so that we're proud of. And then it
25:46
Speaker 5: kind of fell apart in twenty eleven. And listen, we
25:48
Speaker 5: all get this business and it's about winning, and we
25:51
Speaker 5: didn't win enough game, so it happens. But nice Kevin
25:53
Speaker 5: to say that's all in the past. Now, listen, I'm
25:56
Speaker 5: blessed to have the things happen after that. And you know,
25:59
Speaker 5: God puts us on these these trails and these journeys
26:01
Speaker 5: for a reason, Pete, and all of it's been very
26:03
Speaker 5: valuable for me.
26:05
Speaker 2: Yeah. Obviously your career, it is so decorated with different players.
26:10
Speaker 2: You were mentioning the Jeremiah Trotters and the Kavika Mitchells,
26:13
Speaker 2: but also legendary coaches. You and I texted when you
26:18
Speaker 2: guys had headed over to Germany. You're like, you know,
26:20
Speaker 2: I used to coach in the world link and here
26:23
Speaker 2: we are and I'm going back and I'm coaching in
26:25
Speaker 2: Germany and this is thirty years ago. Take us through
26:29
Speaker 2: some of your mentors coaching wise, who really get a
26:32
Speaker 2: few opportunities to elevate your career and move in this
26:35
Speaker 2: amazing path and have this journey to win four titles.
26:37
Speaker 2: The defensive coordinator.
26:38
Speaker 5: No, a great question, Pete. I'm glad you asked it.
26:41
Speaker 5: I love talking about it. If I go, if I've
26:43
Speaker 5: moved backwards, I mean, how blessed am I to worked
26:45
Speaker 5: with what I considered two Hall of Fame NFL coaches
26:48
Speaker 5: and Andy Reid and Tom Coughlin, and then you know,
26:51
Speaker 5: in a close friend of mine, John Harbor, I spent
26:53
Speaker 5: two years in Baltimore with which was there was some growth.
26:57
Speaker 5: You know, listen, you know when your peers, when you
26:59
Speaker 5: get to watch your peers do of it, and you
27:02
Speaker 5: know exactly what he's thinking and doing, and you're able
27:04
Speaker 5: to pick.
27:04
Speaker 4: Apart his brain. That was too valuable years.
27:07
Speaker 5: But you know, and then they go all the way
27:08
Speaker 5: back to college where I don't know if you remember
27:11
Speaker 5: this thing, Pete, but Jack mcnell was the head coach
27:13
Speaker 5: of the Boston College Eagles when Doug Flutie was the
27:18
Speaker 5: quarterback there and had that miracle down there in Miami.
27:21
Speaker 5: But I worked for Jack in one of those years
27:23
Speaker 5: in NFL Europe. And you know, Dick Curle was the
27:27
Speaker 5: head coach of the Franklin Galaxy to what you were
27:29
Speaker 5: talking about, And Dick was nice enough to hire me
27:33
Speaker 5: his defensive coordinator. But you know, as much as the
27:36
Speaker 5: head coach Bill Russo, I worked for Tom Jackson in Connecticut.
27:39
Speaker 5: I mean, the list goes on and on. Tim Murphy
27:42
Speaker 5: who just retired at Harvard. He's the Harvard head coach.
27:45
Speaker 5: He was head coach at Maine at one time and
27:47
Speaker 5: I worked for him for a brief period. But you know,
27:50
Speaker 5: as much as the head coaches, Pete, you know, we
27:52
Speaker 5: learn and grow from the guys we work with as
27:56
Speaker 5: assistant coaches across the board.
27:58
Speaker 4: And I love that part of it.
27:59
Speaker 5: I mean, one of the things John Harburn I used
28:02
Speaker 5: to do when we were back in Philadelphia were together
28:04
Speaker 5: for eight years, both assistants. He was a special teams
28:07
Speaker 5: coordinator and I either have the secondary linebackers, whatever year
28:10
Speaker 5: it was, but we would evaluate each other, Pete, so
28:15
Speaker 5: he would spend a day, you know, as a special
28:17
Speaker 5: teams coach, he could watch all the other coaches. I'd say, John,
28:20
Speaker 5: just watch me for a day and then just give
28:23
Speaker 5: me feedback at things that I need to work on.
28:24
Speaker 4: And then I would do the same for him.
28:26
Speaker 5: I'd go out watch a special teams practice and then
28:29
Speaker 5: we used to bounce those things off of each other
28:31
Speaker 5: all the time. And so I think when you do that,
28:33
Speaker 5: the growth is just greater than just what you might
28:36
Speaker 5: get from a clinic or from working from the head coach,
28:39
Speaker 5: but just the relationships to me or with what Terrrish and.
28:43
Speaker 2: Of course the late great Jim Johnson had such an impact.
28:46
Speaker 2: Talk about who he was and what he.
28:48
Speaker 1: Did to the game.
28:50
Speaker 5: Listen, I don't think any of us and you know
28:53
Speaker 5: the list Pete of the guys that worked for the gym, myself,
28:56
Speaker 5: Ron Vera, Leslie Fraser, Sean McDermott, John Harbor. I think
29:00
Speaker 5: the list goes on and on, right, and the influence
29:03
Speaker 5: he had on all of us from a defensive perspective,
29:05
Speaker 5: he was. We were at the Combine one time and
29:09
Speaker 5: I remember, so, I'm I don't know, I'm early forties,
29:13
Speaker 5: and you know, Jim's into his mid sixties and he's
29:15
Speaker 5: kind of at the end of his career, but he's
29:17
Speaker 5: doing great. You know, We're kicking butt in Philadelphia defensively,
29:21
Speaker 5: and one of his buddies, who's probably the same age,
29:23
Speaker 5: comes up to him and says, hey, Jim, I see
29:25
Speaker 5: you finally got your retirement defense in and so we
29:29
Speaker 5: didn't really know what he was talking about, so we
29:31
Speaker 5: asked him. He goes, well, Jim's wanted to do all
29:33
Speaker 5: of these exotic, crazy defenses, and now he doesn't because
29:37
Speaker 5: he figures if they didn't work, he's retiring anyway, right,
29:40
Speaker 5: I thought that was the greatest line in the world. Yeah,
29:43
Speaker 5: because one of the things Jim did do, and you
29:45
Speaker 5: know from watching it, was he would take he would
29:47
Speaker 5: take some real chances at what we did and overloaded. Yeah,
29:54
Speaker 5: it's not as much of a chance when you got
29:56
Speaker 5: Brian Doctors doing it. But I'll tell you what, there
29:58
Speaker 5: were the things we did that were a little unconventional.
30:02
Speaker 4: And we still do him today. I mean we don't.
30:04
Speaker 5: Yeah, we offensive offensive is pretty smart now, so they'll
30:07
Speaker 5: hurt you if you get too crazy. But because of
30:10
Speaker 5: his influences where I'm going, I think a lot of
30:13
Speaker 5: us have things that we wouldn't have had had we
30:15
Speaker 5: not worked.
30:15
Speaker 2: With Jim Giants era. You go there two thousand and seven.
30:19
Speaker 2: Obviously you guys have all this incredible playoff front. Talk
30:22
Speaker 2: about that defensive front and working with talking o C
30:25
Speaker 2: and straighthand and of course Jay Alford and Dave Tollison
30:29
Speaker 2: and I love I love that O seven Giants defense,
30:32
Speaker 2: And if you can give us a little color on
30:34
Speaker 2: preparing for that offense, which at the time was the
30:36
Speaker 2: greatest offense the NFL had ever seen, and having those
30:39
Speaker 2: teen days to build some sort of defensive game plan.
30:42
Speaker 4: I remember Pete.
30:45
Speaker 5: In the lead up to the game, you know, looking
30:46
Speaker 5: at them as you watch the tape, and Tom Brady
30:48
Speaker 5: and the weapons they had, Randy Moss, all of them.
30:51
Speaker 5: I'm just saying, oh my god, if we could just
30:53
Speaker 5: hold them under thirty five, you know, maybe we gotta
30:57
Speaker 5: Maybe we got a chance to be If we don't,
30:59
Speaker 5: we got no chance. But I mean, that's how dynamic
31:01
Speaker 5: they were. But you led this thing with those naids
31:05
Speaker 5: up front, and any defense has to start up front.
31:08
Speaker 5: So but I will say this, I'm going to go
31:10
Speaker 5: back to Antonio piss. He was the glue in the
31:13
Speaker 5: middle that.
31:15
Speaker 4: Really kept it all agether like he could. He could.
31:17
Speaker 5: That's why he said, a good head coach now he
31:18
Speaker 5: could connect all the rooms because he can speak the
31:21
Speaker 5: language of the dbs and the linebackers and the d line.
31:24
Speaker 5: He can go over to the offensive guys and he can.
31:27
Speaker 5: I mean, he can rile things up and he knows
31:29
Speaker 5: how to get people.
31:30
Speaker 4: And that's why he's so good at what he's doing.
31:32
Speaker 5: Now.
31:32
Speaker 4: I knew.
31:32
Speaker 5: I told his dad five years ago when he got
31:34
Speaker 5: in the league's assistant I said, heyp the head coach
31:35
Speaker 5: in five years.
31:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, he beat it by two years because that that's Antonio.
31:40
Speaker 2: But do you remember he was an NFC Championship game.
31:43
Speaker 2: He has a hit on either Ryan Grant or Brandon
31:47
Speaker 2: Jackson and it's up in green Bay and Antonio Pierce
31:50
Speaker 2: saves a touchdown on a third and long and a
31:51
Speaker 2: little screen path. It's one of the greatest defensive plays
31:53
Speaker 2: the Giants ever had.
31:55
Speaker 4: Pete great memory. He would it off too.
31:58
Speaker 5: There was nobody there if he gets blocked by green
32:01
Speaker 5: Bay's offensive lineman. I mean, he would have been in
32:03
Speaker 5: the in the end z on his huge play. I
32:05
Speaker 5: mean it was that might have been Pete. It might
32:07
Speaker 5: have been one of those risky calls that you say,
32:10
Speaker 5: shot here and Antonio saved us. But then you go
32:15
Speaker 5: back on the back end there you know Sam Madison,
32:18
Speaker 5: who's coaching now that with the Miami Dolphins, he was
32:20
Speaker 5: a corner, Corey Webs That, James Butler, Jabelle Wilson. I mean,
32:25
Speaker 5: we had a bunch of guys that just, you know,
32:28
Speaker 5: not household names, not superstars, you know, but they it
32:31
Speaker 5: was just another group that played like that high IQ.
32:35
Speaker 5: It was a little rough early in the year, but
32:37
Speaker 5: because they all stuck with it, and they believed in it,
32:39
Speaker 5: and they believed in each other.
32:40
Speaker 4: They got better and better and better.
32:42
Speaker 5: And then in that game, I mean, the biggest thing
32:44
Speaker 5: in that game for us Pete was we didn't allow
32:47
Speaker 5: I don't think we allowed to pass completion over twenty yards.
32:50
Speaker 5: In other words, we didn't allow the explosive pass play,
32:53
Speaker 5: which is the same thing that happened in this past one.
32:55
Speaker 5: And I think when you do that, you know, and
32:57
Speaker 5: you can make a play here or there, you can
32:59
Speaker 5: keep the point total down.
33:02
Speaker 4: And you know, we certainly did it in that game
33:03
Speaker 4: and obviously in this past one too.
33:05
Speaker 2: You've coached all these two was just you've won four,
33:07
Speaker 2: but there's other games that you coached in there. The
33:10
Speaker 2: super Bowl week, I thought Mahomes had such a subtle
33:12
Speaker 2: little comment that didn't get enough pickup, and I went
33:15
Speaker 2: big on it. Good Lord football. He said, yeah, and
33:17
Speaker 2: I'm doing my pat voice. Yeah, you know, it's we're
33:20
Speaker 2: just gonna I'm just gonna do what I always do
33:22
Speaker 2: this week. I'm gonna stick to my routine. And I said,
33:24
Speaker 2: what a subtle flex that he has a super Bowl
33:26
Speaker 2: week routine, like so many players just just desire to
33:30
Speaker 2: get to one and he's got a superw week routine
33:32
Speaker 2: that he does. You must have it too. When do
33:35
Speaker 2: you start cracking open the books on a Niners offense?
33:37
Speaker 2: Does that start the second you get home? After you guys,
33:41
Speaker 2: you know, beat the Ravens on Sunday or you take
33:43
Speaker 2: a couple of days and then you know you're a
33:45
Speaker 2: mastermind and you're gonna be humble about it. But when
33:48
Speaker 2: do you start employing like, here's how we stop this team?
33:52
Speaker 5: Well, it does happen that Monday, Like we did not
33:56
Speaker 5: do very much with the previous games, so we we
34:00
Speaker 5: win the we went in Baltimore, right, we have the
34:03
Speaker 5: tell you what was different, Pete, was we had a
34:05
Speaker 5: plane flight after an AFC Chanir.
34:08
Speaker 4: We had been home, so that was a.
34:09
Speaker 5: Little bit different. That was enjoyable and normal, No flex
34:16
Speaker 5: It just kind of popped in my head. But you know,
34:18
Speaker 5: normally on the plane after a game, I would watch
34:21
Speaker 5: the game that we just played on the iPad.
34:23
Speaker 4: I didn't do that. I just I just forgured that
34:24
Speaker 4: was time. Let's just enjoy this.
34:26
Speaker 5: But the minute we got out on Monday morning, it
34:29
Speaker 5: was right into San Francisco. And the way Andy does
34:33
Speaker 5: things is we we kind of keep a normal week
34:36
Speaker 5: for that first sweek Peete. The only thing that's different
34:39
Speaker 5: is getting ready with tickets and all that. But but
34:41
Speaker 5: he pushed it back one day. So when we finally
34:44
Speaker 5: got to Wednesday during that week, it was an NFL Tuesday,
34:47
Speaker 5: and then Thursday was an NFL Wednesday, and we got
34:49
Speaker 5: on a normal flow, so that by the time we
34:52
Speaker 5: got on the plane on Sunday, really eighty eighty eighty
34:56
Speaker 5: five percent of the work is done. Now there's some tweaking,
34:59
Speaker 5: and that's where coaches can get themselves in trouble.
35:02
Speaker 4: Other week. Yeah, and that goes on too.
35:05
Speaker 5: And I always tell I told the defensive staff, make
35:08
Speaker 5: sure you put a put some rains in on me,
35:09
Speaker 5: because if I walk in here and say, hey, we
35:12
Speaker 5: need to put this in, you know, give me the whoa,
35:13
Speaker 5: whoa whoa, we might not need to do that. And
35:15
Speaker 5: so that's a challenge that that second week is a
35:18
Speaker 5: challenge for a lot of reasons. You know, keeping the
35:21
Speaker 5: guys focus, which I guys do a great job of
35:24
Speaker 5: making sure you're not putting too much in because you
35:26
Speaker 5: have the extra week looking at too much film.
35:28
Speaker 4: I have to stop myself from watching film.
35:30
Speaker 2: One are you one of those film junkies, and I
35:32
Speaker 2: don't know that about he's what like, I know, I
35:34
Speaker 2: talked to McVeigh a lot, and he'll be up at
35:35
Speaker 2: four in the morning looking at like nineteen ninety eight film.
35:37
Speaker 2: I'm like, what are you doing?
35:38
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, well I listen, I don't. Every once in
35:42
Speaker 5: a while you go back and have it. Oh I
35:43
Speaker 5: got to go back and look at such and such.
35:45
Speaker 5: That's where you drive the video people crazy. Right, he
35:47
Speaker 5: can get me the get me the fellow out feed
35:49
Speaker 5: Eagles two thousand and one whatever, and then they got
35:53
Speaker 5: to go digging for it. Uh. But yeah, I think
35:56
Speaker 5: we're all built like that, Pete, because that's where it begins, right,
35:58
Speaker 5: That's where your ideas and formulated. That's where you can
36:01
Speaker 5: and this is listen, this is a big barrow and
36:03
Speaker 5: still defense. I mean off borrowing field love that no
36:07
Speaker 5: beg bar.
36:07
Speaker 4: And steel profession. We all do that.
36:09
Speaker 5: Like you'll see a You'll see and I don't what
36:12
Speaker 5: did they do? And you might tweak it a little bit,
36:14
Speaker 5: but you're stealing it from something, right, because nobody's got
36:16
Speaker 5: an original idea anymore. But that's what the beauty of
36:20
Speaker 5: this game is. It ghosts in cycles, right, I mean,
36:22
Speaker 5: we're seeing some running football coming back now after years
36:26
Speaker 5: and years of all the spread and throwing it all
36:28
Speaker 5: over the place and uh, and you just try to
36:30
Speaker 5: stay ahead of the cycle.
36:31
Speaker 4: But I think we all enjoy.
36:32
Speaker 5: If you don't enjoy grind and tape, then you're probably
36:35
Speaker 5: not in the right business.
36:36
Speaker 2: I said, the biggest X factor is going to be
36:38
Speaker 2: Spags versus Kyle Shanahan. And they had their big plays
36:43
Speaker 2: like McCaffrey got his you know at points, but you
36:45
Speaker 2: got it was Ben but don't break. For the most
36:46
Speaker 2: part for you guys, Yeah, the challenge of preparing for
36:51
Speaker 2: that offense. What was that like going into this thing?
36:53
Speaker 5: Well, not only do they have all those weapons like
36:55
Speaker 5: you and I know, but I mean Kyle, Kyle is
36:58
Speaker 5: really good. He made everything look the same. You know,
37:01
Speaker 5: that kind of goes all the way back to his dad.
37:03
Speaker 5: I've always thought that that was a hard offense to defend,
37:07
Speaker 5: and with all those weapons, it was just one of
37:10
Speaker 5: those games where you couldn't say, okay, okay, we just
37:13
Speaker 5: need to take that away because the minute you did that,
37:15
Speaker 5: he had so many other places to go. And then
37:17
Speaker 5: Kyle figures that out but it did begin with the
37:20
Speaker 5: running back. I mean, we couldn't let Christian McCaffey and
37:22
Speaker 5: he got you know, he he poked away at a
37:25
Speaker 5: couple of runs and you know, and had a pass
37:27
Speaker 5: completion that we just couldn't get there in time. Like
37:30
Speaker 5: Edward was almost made the tackle, but then they sped
37:32
Speaker 5: out because he that high step that un do he
37:36
Speaker 5: just right, Yeah, I think I've seen you do that before.
37:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's in the streets of New York. That's me
37:43
Speaker 2: running from the top.
37:45
Speaker 5: But I mean with that offense, I mean, that's why
37:47
Speaker 5: they were so good all year long. There just but
37:49
Speaker 5: I will say this Ore what really helped us was
37:53
Speaker 5: l J. Trent, whether Josh and Jalen was in there,
37:56
Speaker 5: because we did have to switch in the middle of
37:59
Speaker 5: that game to play a little bit more.
38:00
Speaker 4: Man.
38:00
Speaker 5: I just didn't think that his own coverage was was
38:03
Speaker 5: tight enough, and they had a couple of completions that
38:05
Speaker 5: those in breaking that they always get. I thought our
38:08
Speaker 5: linebackers could get deep enough and our quarter safeties would
38:12
Speaker 5: be there.
38:12
Speaker 4: But they're just so good they and I think rocked
38:14
Speaker 4: pretty Uh. I think he's terrific.
38:18
Speaker 2: Watched you watched all the games and you know there's
38:21
Speaker 2: guys on TV me included who poke holes and pies.
38:24
Speaker 4: No, you got to watch the whole Yeah, I didn't
38:27
Speaker 4: find many. I did tell you.
38:28
Speaker 5: The other thing that that stuck out was and those
38:31
Speaker 5: you know, so we played tour, we play, uh, Josh
38:35
Speaker 5: Allen play with Jackson, and you've got to worry about
38:38
Speaker 5: those guys always running football. So we get now it's
38:40
Speaker 5: going to be San Francisco. We haven't watched a lot
38:42
Speaker 5: of film with them, so I don't really know him. Okay,
38:44
Speaker 5: it's a backup quarterback. Okay, maybe he's not a runner.
38:48
Speaker 5: Maybe we maybe we can get a little break here.
38:51
Speaker 5: I turned the film Lin and then he's ripping Green
38:53
Speaker 5: Bay and Detroit with a couple of you know, the
38:55
Speaker 5: run plays that were against the Troit And I said, okay,
38:59
Speaker 5: here we go. We got another one. I will I'll
39:01
Speaker 5: tell I'll be honest with you. I just texted Brock
39:04
Speaker 5: the other day. I tried to track down and sell number.
39:06
Speaker 5: I just wanted to tell him how much respect I
39:09
Speaker 5: have for him. Well, dude, I love a terrific game
39:12
Speaker 5: he played. I mean, and he's he's such a quality guy,
39:16
Speaker 5: strong Christian man, and I respect all of that, and
39:19
Speaker 5: I'm happy for all his success.
39:21
Speaker 4: I'm glad he didn't have quite.
39:25
Speaker 2: But let's get Let's get to the big spot because
39:26
Speaker 2: it's third and four, and if Perdy converts a first down,
39:30
Speaker 2: the game is essentially over because Patt doesn't get the
39:32
Speaker 2: ball back and you send McDuffie on a blitz. Now,
39:35
Speaker 2: I've watched this play and I haven't spoken about it
39:37
Speaker 2: on television or I haven't spoken to Kyle about it.
39:39
Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting they had Kittle in the
39:42
Speaker 2: backfield as the blocker and not McCaffrey, who's traditionally back there.
39:47
Speaker 2: Did that Did that raise a red flag to you
39:49
Speaker 2: and say, okay, we've got something that What was your
39:51
Speaker 2: thought on third and four coming out of a huge
39:54
Speaker 2: stop to play beforehand, because if they get the first down,
39:56
Speaker 2: they belave the clock kick a field goal, game is over.
39:59
Speaker 4: I think that was Did Trent make that play on
40:01
Speaker 4: the kid on that it was a great tackle. Well,
40:05
Speaker 4: here's what happened, Pete.
40:06
Speaker 5: So if you remember on that play, there was about
40:11
Speaker 5: two twenty or something or two fifteen when they broke
40:13
Speaker 5: the huddle. So we made a call because I didn't
40:17
Speaker 5: know if he was going to let it come down
40:18
Speaker 5: to the two minute or not, and they decided to
40:20
Speaker 5: let it come down. We made a particular call. And
40:22
Speaker 5: then when I went to the two minute warning, of course,
40:24
Speaker 5: with the with the Super Bowl.
40:26
Speaker 2: With these times, big break to discuss.
40:28
Speaker 4: Big break, huge break. So that's when the wheels go
40:30
Speaker 4: like this.
40:31
Speaker 5: And so it was at that moment, you look, okay,
40:34
Speaker 5: this is really In my mind, I said to my
40:36
Speaker 5: this is really this is a fourth down play.
40:38
Speaker 4: This is not a third and four or five what
40:40
Speaker 4: it was. This is critical. I had a thought.
40:43
Speaker 5: I looked at my list and I said, I need
40:45
Speaker 5: to ask Nick about this. This is the trust I
40:47
Speaker 5: had in Nick Bolton. So Nick's on the field now
40:49
Speaker 5: he can't he can't talk to me, but I'm staring
40:52
Speaker 5: right at him. I clicked the button and I said, Nick,
40:55
Speaker 5: what do you think about this? All I wanted to
40:57
Speaker 5: do was see his reaction, and he just stided yes, yes, yes,
41:02
Speaker 5: and he did the signal and it he was like
41:03
Speaker 5: he was all in. And so I knew I know
41:06
Speaker 5: when he was all in that we should change it
41:08
Speaker 5: to that. So changed personnel and put a different call
41:12
Speaker 5: in and it was a fourth down call or or
41:14
Speaker 5: what we had on our fourth down list, and it
41:17
Speaker 5: was for the critical situation and fortunately for us, you know,
41:21
Speaker 5: our guys executed it really well. I mean to Mario O'Connor,
41:24
Speaker 5: if you go back and watch it, Pete, he kind
41:27
Speaker 5: of goes back.
41:27
Speaker 4: He at first he was a little.
41:29
Speaker 5: Bit confused because the to the point that you're making
41:32
Speaker 5: about Kittle being in the backfield.
41:34
Speaker 4: But the guys unwounded, and uh, Jay Reid was critical
41:37
Speaker 4: in it. Trent was critical, and you.
41:39
Speaker 2: Know, and Tred hits that hole and comes right in
41:42
Speaker 2: and does he tip the pass or is he just enough?
41:46
Speaker 2: He did?
41:46
Speaker 4: He's really good at that.
41:47
Speaker 5: I mean, we you know, we we're all about trying
41:50
Speaker 5: to find free runners, right however we can dissect it
41:53
Speaker 5: and can't always get them. But in that play, we did,
41:56
Speaker 5: and I you know, I watch it and I thought
41:59
Speaker 5: our man coverage Dean Bush was in it because we
42:02
Speaker 5: had if you watch it, I think there's eight DB's
42:04
Speaker 5: in there or something, only have two lines, and it
42:07
Speaker 5: was something that we had. But you know, I think
42:09
Speaker 5: Dion's gonna I think theon's going to make a break
42:12
Speaker 5: in such a way that I maybe he knocks it down.
42:14
Speaker 5: So I just got the guys the way they played
42:17
Speaker 5: it was, they executed it perfect and.
42:20
Speaker 2: You get the ball back and on that moment you
42:22
Speaker 2: go to there, everyone's coming to the sidelines. Are you
42:24
Speaker 2: guys just freaking like, Yes, we did it, like we
42:27
Speaker 2: need to make a stop work and we did it.
42:28
Speaker 2: Like that's got to be the coolest. You change the
42:30
Speaker 2: play call at the two minute warning, you get the
42:32
Speaker 2: play and now you give my homes a chance, and
42:34
Speaker 2: you have to have the utmost confidence that, oh, well,
42:36
Speaker 2: this dude's going to get it done.
42:38
Speaker 4: Well, there's no question about that.
42:39
Speaker 5: Now, we'd rather not put him in that situation, you know,
42:43
Speaker 5: because that's got to come down and tie it. But
42:45
Speaker 5: all the confidence in the world and Patrick and our guys,
42:48
Speaker 5: I think know that if we could have just I
42:51
Speaker 5: think I think early in that particular drive we're talking about,
42:56
Speaker 5: they hit they hit one of their longer passes early
43:00
Speaker 5: in that drive. Now that you know, we're talking about
43:02
Speaker 5: the good one, but I'm always thinking about the one
43:04
Speaker 5: that it should change. And then there was one and
43:07
Speaker 5: then the one that that sticks out is the third
43:09
Speaker 5: and thirteen in overtime that we got the penalty on
43:12
Speaker 5: tr hold little tug. Yeah, and uh, you know they
43:15
Speaker 5: called it, so that's the way this is. But it
43:16
Speaker 5: would have been nice if we could have sent Patrick
43:18
Speaker 5: Heldea right, yeah, and then kick a field goal. But
43:22
Speaker 5: that's okay. I mean, it was dramatic for the public.
43:24
Speaker 5: We wanted we wanted the public to have a dramatic game.
43:27
Speaker 2: It was pretty I guess my next question is, you know,
43:32
Speaker 2: with with that victory and you guys are are celebrating
43:35
Speaker 2: and the deal liked, do the players do they you're
43:39
Speaker 2: talking about McDuffie now has two Super Bowl rings in
43:42
Speaker 2: two years and Sneed's got three trips to the Super Bowl? Like,
43:46
Speaker 2: do the players recognize just how special this is? Do
43:49
Speaker 2: you think they understand just how absurd it is what
43:52
Speaker 2: you guys are doing.
43:53
Speaker 5: That is a great question, probably better question for them.
43:57
Speaker 5: I mean you're trying to remind them. But in the
43:58
Speaker 5: middle of it, you know, me all the dancing in
44:00
Speaker 5: the locker room, and I was just enjoying the moment.
44:03
Speaker 5: I think that we all will someday, you know, be
44:06
Speaker 5: able to to kick back and say wow, because look
44:09
Speaker 5: at and here's his the beauty of these elite athletes.
44:13
Speaker 5: I'm talking about Patrick and Travis and Trent and l
44:15
Speaker 5: J and all these guys and Chris Jones. The minute
44:19
Speaker 5: you know we're in the middle of that celebration, they're
44:21
Speaker 5: talking about trying to win the third one, and it's
44:24
Speaker 5: just I mean, for Patrick to to think of that
44:28
Speaker 5: on the field, I'm like, man, I need a break.
44:31
Speaker 5: He's talking about one to the third one. But isn't
44:33
Speaker 5: that the beauty of these elite athletes. That's how they're wired,
44:36
Speaker 5: that's how they're built.
44:38
Speaker 2: That's a good transition. I went on Fox Sports once,
44:42
Speaker 2: so usually I'm an NFL network, but we're off for
44:43
Speaker 2: the week and they asked me if I wanted to
44:45
Speaker 2: come on Fox Sports one. I went on it yesterday
44:46
Speaker 2: with Nick Wright, who's a fellow Kansas City. Yeah, big thought.
44:50
Speaker 2: He's a big fan. Nick's a great dude, and he
44:54
Speaker 2: was at the parade and all this stuff. And we're
44:56
Speaker 2: on the show and we're talking about Chris Jones and
44:58
Speaker 2: I'm not going to ask you about where you think
44:59
Speaker 2: that contract and all that is. That's not your job
45:01
Speaker 2: and you just coach the guys and you don't have
45:02
Speaker 2: to worry about that. But I said, if he never
45:05
Speaker 2: takes another snap again, I think Chris Jones is a
45:08
Speaker 2: Hall of Famer. And I'll go further. When they did
45:10
Speaker 2: the Coach the Defensive Player of the Year voting, he
45:13
Speaker 2: didn't get a single vote. Eleven other players did. We're
45:16
Speaker 2: talking guys like Deron Bland and Dexter Lawrence are getting votes,
45:19
Speaker 2: but Chris Jones didn't get a single vote. I think
45:21
Speaker 2: he might be the under the most underappreciated player of
45:25
Speaker 2: this entire Chiefs run, and maybe the most underappreciated defensive
45:29
Speaker 2: player of his generation. You've coached him the whole way
45:32
Speaker 2: through Chris Jones, talk about what he brings to the table,
45:35
Speaker 2: how much he's come a long way too. In the
45:37
Speaker 2: last he's now a leader on this defense, which I
45:40
Speaker 2: love to see.
45:42
Speaker 5: His growth just even throughout this year was just awesome
45:46
Speaker 5: to watch and see. And I told him that we
45:48
Speaker 5: had our exit interview and we talked to him a
45:50
Speaker 5: little bit. But you know, I don't know, Pete. Maybe
45:53
Speaker 5: because he's been so good and so dominant, do people
45:56
Speaker 5: just get used to it so when it's you know,
45:59
Speaker 5: when it's only ten only right, when you get that
46:01
Speaker 5: a half sacks, that's pretty good as an interior alignment.
46:04
Speaker 5: And yet people I think just I don't know, maybe
46:06
Speaker 5: maybe the same maybe that happens with these elite athletes.
46:09
Speaker 5: But I'm with you, Pete the year he had, the
46:13
Speaker 5: impact he has for us defensively, the things that we're
46:17
Speaker 5: able to do because we know people are going to
46:18
Speaker 5: double them, you know, and you're anticipating that, and so
46:21
Speaker 5: you do other things. That opens up for some of
46:24
Speaker 5: our other guys. But I mean, we love him. I
46:26
Speaker 5: hope we don't lose him. I mean, he knows that,
46:28
Speaker 5: and I think I know he'd like to stay. We'll
46:30
Speaker 5: see what happens, you know.
46:31
Speaker 4: How this league is.
46:31
Speaker 5: I mean, it's it's one of the Yeah, it's one
46:33
Speaker 5: of the reasons during the course of this run of
46:35
Speaker 5: the playoffs that, uh, you know, and I'm a Christian
46:38
Speaker 5: guy and I have my prayer time, but I was
46:40
Speaker 5: always praying, just give me one more week with these guys.
46:44
Speaker 4: I just want to work with them one more week
46:45
Speaker 4: because it's going to change.
46:47
Speaker 5: It's it's going to change, and that's the reality of it.
46:49
Speaker 5: But the relationships remain.
46:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, as we turn the page, when do you kick
46:55
Speaker 2: it back up and say, Okay, I'm looking at a
46:56
Speaker 2: prospect from Kansas State or TCU. I mean, do you
46:59
Speaker 2: give yourself that grace period of guys, Can we just
47:02
Speaker 2: enjoy this for two weeks or do you get right
47:03
Speaker 2: back into combine mode.
47:05
Speaker 5: Well, the I think we got right back into it
47:07
Speaker 5: was evaluating our own guys, because we've got to, you know,
47:10
Speaker 5: we visit with Brett vieach who's the best. And then
47:13
Speaker 5: I'll be honest with you, I have not done these
47:15
Speaker 5: last four or five days. I have not done much.
47:17
Speaker 5: This was all Maria time. This was all is all
47:20
Speaker 5: Maria time. And when we get to Monday, I think
47:23
Speaker 5: we'll be kicking it right back into full mode and
47:26
Speaker 5: we need to do that.
47:26
Speaker 4: We're behind a little bit. That's what happens when you
47:29
Speaker 4: go on these long playoff runs.
47:30
Speaker 2: But we'll get caught up two questions and then we'll
47:33
Speaker 2: let's just enjoy the last couple of days of freedom
47:36
Speaker 2: before we get back into football. But yeah, you mentioned Maria,
47:41
Speaker 2: your lovely wife, and I think Chris Jones had some
47:43
Speaker 2: really cool stuff about her cooking and what she provides
47:47
Speaker 2: the team. That was the first time I'd heard that.
47:48
Speaker 2: Maybe I just not in the Kansas City day to
47:50
Speaker 2: day Chicken parm or was it veal parm?
47:53
Speaker 5: What special Okay, you name it, she can cook it.
47:58
Speaker 5: She's still she does soul food. She does everything. It's
48:01
Speaker 5: not just the Italian. She's full italianed and she's a
48:03
Speaker 5: great But you know what, Pete, she loves to do it.
48:06
Speaker 5: It's her way of She'll say this all the time.
48:09
Speaker 5: It's her way of connecting with these guys, and it's
48:11
Speaker 5: her way of showing her love full of them. Like
48:14
Speaker 5: I mean, everybody needs to and these guys are all away,
48:16
Speaker 5: you know, for the most part, away from home, right,
48:18
Speaker 5: they don't they don't get home cooked meals.
48:20
Speaker 4: So we make it fun. We have what we call
48:22
Speaker 4: the Cram Award, you know, and the guy that.
48:23
Speaker 5: Has the big hit it's the Big play Deposta, and
48:27
Speaker 5: she makes stuff on Fridays, there's always everybody always gets,
48:31
Speaker 5: you know, either the banana pudding or some kind of
48:33
Speaker 5: cake or something on Friday, and then Saturday wee give
48:36
Speaker 5: out the award.
48:36
Speaker 4: But I think the guys enjoy it and we like,
48:38
Speaker 4: we love doing it too.
48:39
Speaker 2: I love it. And my last one is you mentioned
48:42
Speaker 2: the head coaching stuff, and I think everyone takes it
48:44
Speaker 2: for Greade, like, oh well, he wouldn't want it. I
48:46
Speaker 2: thought it was interesting you said that you'd be interested
48:48
Speaker 2: in again and then to maybe become my head coach again,
48:51
Speaker 2: And I don't think it's out of the out of
48:52
Speaker 2: the picture. Is that something you still aspire for and
48:57
Speaker 2: something is a goal or is it just if that
48:59
Speaker 2: happened to happen, you'd be happy. You're blessed either way.
49:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, I do feel that way. I know the avalianswer
49:04
Speaker 5: it the same way I always do. We're prideful men
49:07
Speaker 5: in this business. I mean, we want to win and
49:09
Speaker 5: we want to show that we're capable of doing things right.
49:11
Speaker 5: So I'm no different than the player. Would I love
49:13
Speaker 5: to do it?
49:13
Speaker 2: Yes?
49:14
Speaker 5: If however, I always fall back on this and this
49:17
Speaker 5: is always to follow up. If that never happens, I'm
49:19
Speaker 5: okay with it. I put these things in God's hands.
49:22
Speaker 5: It's if his, If it's his will to lead another
49:25
Speaker 5: team and young men and mentor and teach, which is
49:28
Speaker 5: what coaching is all about, then that I'll walk right
49:31
Speaker 5: in it and full bore. If not, I'm so I'm
49:34
Speaker 5: so blessed pede to have the job I have to
49:37
Speaker 5: work with the guys that work.
49:38
Speaker 4: With Andy Reid.
49:39
Speaker 5: I mean, come on, you've got to be kidding me,
49:40
Speaker 5: so I don't lose sleep over it. But the answer
49:43
Speaker 5: to the question would be yes, I would, but if
49:46
Speaker 5: it never happens, I'm okay too.
49:48
Speaker 2: It's a great answer, and you're at piece with it
49:50
Speaker 2: either way. And guess what they can ever take away
49:53
Speaker 2: four different Super Bowl titles from from you? One more
49:56
Speaker 2: do you get in the full five finger tree? And
49:59
Speaker 2: it got a wall you can you can do it that,
50:02
Speaker 2: I quickly will say. You and I we've gotten to
50:05
Speaker 2: each other in last couple of years pretty well. Well,
50:07
Speaker 2: I'll never forget. You were the interim coach with the Giants.
50:10
Speaker 2: I guess after Macadoo got let go? Was that what
50:12
Speaker 2: it was? And it was Giants Eagles and everyone was
50:15
Speaker 2: and it was it was after the Wents injury, so
50:17
Speaker 2: Eagles were coming into town and everyone's like, all right,
50:20
Speaker 2: we're not sure what the Eagles, but the Giants they're done.
50:23
Speaker 2: And the way you got those Giants fight after the
50:27
Speaker 2: coach being really and that was a good game. And
50:29
Speaker 2: I remember the production meeting. You were so conscientious of
50:32
Speaker 2: finishing the season strong and you were so hell bent
50:35
Speaker 2: on getting the most out of these guys. And Eli
50:37
Speaker 2: what was his future? We don't know he couldn't sing
50:40
Speaker 2: higher praises of you. I think that's as commendable as
50:43
Speaker 2: winning these these titles as a coordinator with this loaded
50:46
Speaker 2: Chiefs team. But like, hey, that Giants team was going
50:48
Speaker 2: nowhere and we're playing the Eagles in week sixteen and
50:50
Speaker 2: we're going to give them hell.
50:51
Speaker 5: And I love that, you know, Pete, that's a I'm
50:54
Speaker 5: glad you. But that's a great memory. It was a
50:56
Speaker 5: hard time. It's not easy to do the interim head
50:58
Speaker 5: coast thing in the middle of the seat, and it's
51:00
Speaker 5: not easy on different guys. You haven't really had time
51:03
Speaker 5: to put your spin on it. But that particular game,
51:06
Speaker 5: I thought I guys fought harder. I think we we
51:08
Speaker 5: might have went for a fourth thout something at the end.
51:10
Speaker 4: It was really close.
51:11
Speaker 5: We could have scored and won the game. But you don't, Pete,
51:14
Speaker 5: when you were taught. When you were saying that, but
51:16
Speaker 5: jumped into my mind. I've been blessed with these Super Bowls,
51:20
Speaker 5: playoff runs, the whole thing. We won that that year.
51:25
Speaker 5: We beat the Washington Redskins on the last game of
51:27
Speaker 5: the season and the game meant nothing.
51:29
Speaker 4: It meant nothing to them. And then but I will
51:32
Speaker 4: tell you this, I love winning that game.
51:34
Speaker 5: I walked into that locker room, I was excited about
51:37
Speaker 5: winning that game as any I'd been a part of,
51:40
Speaker 5: just because of what we had been through and just
51:43
Speaker 5: the locker rooms celebrasion on any win especial. I mean
51:47
Speaker 5: when you it's hard to explain what it's all about.
51:50
Speaker 5: But guys that are in the business, players of coaches
51:52
Speaker 5: or personnel know how hard it is just to win
51:55
Speaker 5: one game in this league. And I just I cherished
51:58
Speaker 5: that moment ended up with a you know the guys,
52:00
Speaker 5: the equipment guy's got me a game ball and that
52:02
Speaker 5: goo ball that meant nothing right is as valuable to
52:05
Speaker 5: me as is any that. So thanks for bringing that up,
52:09
Speaker 5: because that was that was a special time.
52:11
Speaker 2: That's so awesome. And my last story is probably five
52:15
Speaker 2: years ago. You had just joined the Chiefs. You hadn't
52:17
Speaker 2: even coached a game with the Chiefs yet it was combined.
52:20
Speaker 2: It was late. I went to dinner with I'll name you.
52:22
Speaker 2: The name was Joe Thomas, the offensive tackle who is
52:25
Speaker 2: now getting into TV. It was his first foray into TV. So,
52:28
Speaker 2: like I was at dinner, this gentleman named Mike Mariano,
52:31
Speaker 2: who is now running Amazon's football stuff. Gentleman named Mike
52:34
Speaker 2: Connor who's still with the NFL network, and a gentleman
52:36
Speaker 2: named Charlie Yuk who's with the NFL Network. And we
52:39
Speaker 2: go to dinner at one of the states, probably Shoola's
52:41
Speaker 2: in the Weston. And afterwards, because we're fat pigs, we're like,
52:45
Speaker 2: let's go get a milkshake from Steak and Shake. And
52:47
Speaker 2: we walk in and it's empty. Steak and Shake is empty.
52:50
Speaker 2: I get a banana milkshake. I'm so excited. It's literally
52:53
Speaker 2: one am. This is terrible for my body and soul.
52:56
Speaker 2: And then walked two bodies, Steve Spagnolo and Andy Reid,
53:00
Speaker 2: walking in at one am, and I'm so excited. I'm
53:02
Speaker 2: so excited to see what happens. I spilled my entire
53:05
Speaker 2: milkshake all over myself and you and Andy Reader just
53:08
Speaker 2: looking at me like you freaking kluts.
53:10
Speaker 4: I remember that, Hey, that's to be expected, that late
53:14
Speaker 4: at night in the place like that, right.
53:15
Speaker 2: Come on, that's what it is. But you're grateful to
53:19
Speaker 2: me then, and you've been great to me, said, I
53:21
Speaker 2: appreciate these forty minutes. I can't wait to see you.
53:23
Speaker 2: We'll hang at the combine for sure, but congratulations another
53:27
Speaker 2: super Bowl ring. But as we've learned in this interview,
53:30
Speaker 2: it's not just the Super Bowls, it's the entire journey,
53:34
Speaker 2: and I think you appreciate that more than anybody.
53:36
Speaker 5: Yeah, very much so, Pete, appreciate to having me on.
53:38
Speaker 5: This is great man, a lot of fun.
53:40
Speaker 2: The best. All right, guys, thank you, SPACs, appreciate it.
53:43
Speaker 4: Coming back to guys, thank you.
53:52
Speaker 2: The youngest defense in the league, they win a super Bowl,
53:56
Speaker 2: his fourth as a coordinator. It's the only four time
54:01
Speaker 2: Super Bowl champion as a coordinator. And he's a hell
54:03
Speaker 2: of a guy. What'd you think of s bag there?
54:05
Speaker 3: You know, I wanted to dislike him, you know, the
54:08
Speaker 3: best bill as a Bills fan, keep running into him.
54:11
Speaker 3: As soon as he jumped on the call, I was like,
54:13
Speaker 3: this guy's he's he's great. Yeah, I'm really unhappy with
54:18
Speaker 3: how much I enjoyed him.
54:20
Speaker 2: Awesome and like the love he has. And what I
54:22
Speaker 2: like is that he mentioned names like Kavika Mitchell and
54:25
Speaker 2: James Butler and even on this defense Mike Dana, Like
54:29
Speaker 2: these these are not household names, but you could tell
54:32
Speaker 2: the love he has for all of the players. And
54:34
Speaker 2: then when we talk about Chris Jones, of course he
54:37
Speaker 2: goes big on you know, like I love Chris, but
54:39
Speaker 2: it was no different than he has for Leo'shane. I
54:42
Speaker 2: love that it's almost like a galitarian like that they're
54:44
Speaker 2: all his guys.
54:45
Speaker 3: And no no hesitation to call out his entire staff
54:49
Speaker 3: like this is nice. The first thing out of his
54:52
Speaker 3: mouth or whatever was like, anytime you have this kind
54:54
Speaker 3: of success, it's not a one person thing. There are
54:57
Speaker 3: so many members of the staff that help. And then
54:59
Speaker 3: his entire interview was him giving real examples of that,
55:04
Speaker 3: like where his the p he's working with are helping
55:07
Speaker 3: making Hanim communicate.
55:08
Speaker 2: Yeah totally.
55:09
Speaker 3: So yeah, he was great.
55:11
Speaker 2: I thought the last part of it when he says
55:14
Speaker 2: he's a competitive guy in a competitive industry and he
55:17
Speaker 2: would love to be a head coach. Again, it's interesting
55:20
Speaker 2: zero head coaching interviews, not only this year but last
55:23
Speaker 2: year as well. I think the time for a guy
55:28
Speaker 2: in his sixties who is the defensive coordinator has passed
55:30
Speaker 2: in this league. And if Belichick can't get a job
55:32
Speaker 2: at seventy two, why would Spags get one? And then
55:36
Speaker 2: I say screw that. Look how the young guys play
55:40
Speaker 2: for him. Look how the young guys respond to him,
55:42
Speaker 2: and maybe maybe this is a great oversight that Spags
55:47
Speaker 2: didn't get head coaching interviews, and maybe his head coaching
55:51
Speaker 2: career is not is not done. I'm very feel, very
55:54
Speaker 2: passionate about the fact that he deserves another shot. Yeah.
55:59
Speaker 3: I mean again, as a Bills fan, I'd love for
56:02
Speaker 3: him to go somewhere.
56:03
Speaker 2: Out of the division. Yeah, go out of the conference,
56:05
Speaker 2: go coach someone else. Real quick housekeeping stuff. Like I said,
56:09
Speaker 2: Good Morning Football, We'll be on all the next week
56:12
Speaker 2: this podcast. I think we're gonna do it Thursday morning,
56:14
Speaker 2: when I'm fresh off a Combine trip about to get
56:17
Speaker 2: to the Combine. Maybe we'll do a little bit more
56:19
Speaker 2: of a Combine preview. I'll have more stuff on these players. Obviously.
56:26
Speaker 2: My weekend, I am Saturday afternoon taking my son to
56:32
Speaker 2: the Harlem Globetrotters at the Madison Square Garden. Have you
56:36
Speaker 2: ever seen the Globetrotters lives.
56:38
Speaker 3: As a young kid, Yeah, because you know, growing up
56:41
Speaker 3: in Connecticut, we would our basketball team, like our rec league.
56:45
Speaker 3: Every once in a while we would get to go
56:47
Speaker 3: into was it the Trotters or was.
56:49
Speaker 2: It the Wizards? I got the I'm not trying to
56:51
Speaker 2: knock the Harlem Wizards, but there was like a you know,
56:54
Speaker 2: like Oreo and Highdrocks. There was a Yeah, there was
56:57
Speaker 2: there was a there was a Harlem Wizards said. I
57:00
Speaker 2: used to always see in our town and the Harlem
57:02
Speaker 2: Wizards would come and I'd be like, oh, but they
57:04
Speaker 2: weren't the Globe Trotter.
57:05
Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure it was the Globetrotters, Okay, especially if
57:09
Speaker 3: I was if we were coming into the city to
57:11
Speaker 3: see it wasn't that. Probably wasn't the Wizards. Like the
57:14
Speaker 3: farm team that's the travel Maybe they.
57:17
Speaker 2: Would come to Freehold, New Jersey. The Globetrotters weren't coming
57:19
Speaker 2: to Freehold, New Jersey.
57:20
Speaker 3: I think we saw the Globetrotters.
57:22
Speaker 2: I have a vague memory, and I got to ask
57:25
Speaker 2: my friend Ryan if this is true. When we were
57:27
Speaker 2: in elementary's school, this is not a fit. They had
57:32
Speaker 2: Freal Township, which was the town I grew up. Then
57:33
Speaker 2: there was Real Borough and at the Freehold Borough High School.
57:37
Speaker 2: This must have been nineteen eighty nine, nineteen ninety the
57:41
Speaker 2: New York Giants with oj Anderson and Stephen Baker, like
57:46
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl champion Giants in nineteen ninety came and
57:50
Speaker 2: played either the high school like faculty, or they played
57:56
Speaker 2: the Wizards, or they played the Jets. Like I have
58:00
Speaker 2: this vague memory of like a football team coming to
58:03
Speaker 2: our hometown that would never happen today.
58:05
Speaker 3: A football team playing against your school faculty. That thinks,
58:09
Speaker 3: that sounds like a mess.
58:11
Speaker 2: I have to look back on this, like that stuff
58:13
Speaker 2: kind of happened back then, Like could you imagine like
58:16
Speaker 2: the Chiefs going to play against the Kansas City High
58:21
Speaker 2: School science teacher's that's a memory. I have to go
58:25
Speaker 2: check it out. But like the Harlem Wizards were who
58:28
Speaker 2: we got. I've never seen the Globetrotters live. My son
58:30
Speaker 2: is into it. Go on to the garden, and then
58:32
Speaker 2: I have one of the coolest deals. Because I've been
58:35
Speaker 2: on this Chiefs bandwagon and because i have done the
58:40
Speaker 2: big Slick charity function, I've become kind of embedded in
58:44
Speaker 2: this Kansas City celebrity world. We've had Paul Rudd on
58:47
Speaker 2: the podcast, We've had Eric stone Street. Well, I have
58:50
Speaker 2: never asked anything of any of these people. I finally
58:55
Speaker 2: asked for a favor, and it was to Heidi Gardner
58:59
Speaker 2: Saturday Night Live cast member. She's fantastic in that movie
59:04
Speaker 2: Hustle with Adam Sandlers. She's got commercials now. I think
59:07
Speaker 2: Heidi's one of the funniest what. She lives in Brooklyn
59:11
Speaker 2: and I have her number because we did the Big
59:13
Speaker 2: Slick Tournament, Big Slick charity function and she and I
59:16
Speaker 2: were at Children's Mercy Hospital visiting kids and we hit
59:20
Speaker 2: it off. Friend, you know, through the chief stuff, but
59:23
Speaker 2: also just love that she's in Brooklyn and I finally
59:27
Speaker 2: sent the text, Is there any way I can get
59:32
Speaker 2: a ticket for Saturday Night Live this week. I'm a
59:35
Speaker 2: huge Shane Gillis fan. He's hosting SNL and I get
59:39
Speaker 2: the email yesterday on Wednesday afternoon, here's your ticket Saturday
59:46
Speaker 2: Night Live. Arrive at ten pm Eastern. Come to SNL.
59:51
Speaker 2: I will be there for twenty one Savage and Shane
59:54
Speaker 2: Gillis at thirty Rock on Saturday Night. Do I go
59:57
Speaker 2: to the after party?
59:58
Speaker 4: I'd like to.
59:59
Speaker 2: I think if I could stay awake, I will have
1:00:00
Speaker 2: a big day of Harlem Globetrotters earlier in the afternoon.
1:00:03
Speaker 3: Ere I'd like to imagine you like, for some reason,
1:00:09
Speaker 3: you know, you get pulled onto the court with the
1:00:11
Speaker 3: Globe Rudders and you're playing with them, and then that
1:00:14
Speaker 3: night you're like you're regaling people at the SNL after
1:00:17
Speaker 3: party with like, well, you know, actually, earlier today I
1:00:19
Speaker 3: was playing against the Globetrotters, and I.
1:00:22
Speaker 2: Was thinking, more more likely I won't get on the
1:00:25
Speaker 2: court with the Globetrotters. But I always love it at
1:00:28
Speaker 2: the end of SNL where like they'll have like other
1:00:30
Speaker 2: people show up on stage. I'd be like, here's Billie Eilish,
1:00:33
Speaker 2: but also Alec Baldwin showed up and oh my Rudolph
1:00:35
Speaker 2: stop by. Yeah, that I could just I'm not going
1:00:37
Speaker 2: to be invited to come on. I'm just going to
1:00:39
Speaker 2: walk on stage and I want to be on that finally,
1:00:41
Speaker 2: and I'll be I'll be hugging twenty one Savage.
1:00:45
Speaker 3: I'm trying to think of who do you think like
1:00:48
Speaker 3: they'll like because Tony one Savage could have guest artists
1:00:51
Speaker 3: on suree the Weekend could have could have some you know,
1:00:56
Speaker 3: comedian friends that are just jumping in, Like is there
1:00:58
Speaker 3: anyone in either of their New York circles that you
1:01:01
Speaker 3: think will be a surprise guest who will be there.
1:01:03
Speaker 3: That's always a cool thing too, like, I.
1:01:06
Speaker 2: Don't know the Gillis like, all right, So if you're
1:01:08
Speaker 2: not familiar, Shane Gillis is the stand up comedian who's
1:01:11
Speaker 2: been crushing it. He was hired by SNL in twenty eighteen.
1:01:14
Speaker 2: He was fired by SNL when some old stuff came
1:01:16
Speaker 2: up from his old podcasts that they fired him. Now
1:01:19
Speaker 2: he has since come around and he's been from what
1:01:23
Speaker 2: they say, he and Warren Michaels have hit up a friendship.
1:01:25
Speaker 2: He has been to various tapings, he has spoken to
1:01:28
Speaker 2: all the cast members and he's doing it all now.
1:01:30
Speaker 2: And it's like, you know, you could cancel people and
1:01:33
Speaker 2: then at the end of the day, like people could
1:01:35
Speaker 2: be redeemed, and in this case Shane is this is
1:01:38
Speaker 2: like the full circle moment. He's coming back as the
1:01:40
Speaker 2: host after being fired as a cast member. And I
1:01:46
Speaker 2: don't know if he's like like to me, Shane Gillis's
1:01:49
Speaker 2: buddies and we talked about it with Dan Sodar, like
1:01:51
Speaker 2: Christian McCaffrey and Gave Davis and Burt Kreischer. I don't
1:01:53
Speaker 2: think it's like Daniel day Lewis is coming out. So
1:01:56
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what kind of, you know, level of
1:01:59
Speaker 2: celebrity you're expecting. I'm going some with Shane Gillis fan
1:02:02
Speaker 2: and I've always obviously been a historian of SNL and
1:02:05
Speaker 2: love it and I can't wait to be there. But
1:02:08
Speaker 2: I don't I don't think Shang Gillis is, you know.
1:02:11
Speaker 2: I don't think Ethan Hawke or you know your name,
1:02:15
Speaker 2: Julian Louis Dreyfus is coming out to see Shane Gillis.
1:02:18
Speaker 3: I do really hope though, that CMC or gave Davis
1:02:22
Speaker 3: show up and you're at the after party with them,
1:02:24
Speaker 3: and like, no one knows who gave Davis is and
1:02:27
Speaker 3: you're like, wait a minute, we got to talk about
1:02:29
Speaker 3: you know, the fourth and long and yeah, that would
1:02:31
Speaker 3: be very funny.
1:02:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
1:02:33
Speaker 3: I do one question for you, Peter. There was one
1:02:36
Speaker 3: problem I had with the guest interview. You've got a
1:02:38
Speaker 3: banana milkshake.
1:02:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, what a weird order, right. Yeah, I've never been
1:02:44
Speaker 2: to Steak and Shake, and that's not some great crime.
1:02:46
Speaker 2: I grew up in New Jersey, New York. They don't
1:02:48
Speaker 2: have it, and it's like they have like a thousand flavors,
1:02:50
Speaker 2: and for whatever reason, banana and Creams sung to me.
1:02:54
Speaker 3: Hey, I had a banana this morning. I love banana.
1:02:56
Speaker 3: I just I'm thinking, like, if it's a milkshake late
1:02:59
Speaker 3: at night, I'm probably just chocolate.
1:03:01
Speaker 2: Chocolate, vanilla or straw. Yeah yeah, yeah, banana and it's
1:03:04
Speaker 2: spilled all over me.
1:03:06
Speaker 3: Still even know how it was.
1:03:07
Speaker 2: How about that Andy read at one in the morning,
1:03:09
Speaker 2: comes walking in and you know as a cheeseburger at
1:03:14
Speaker 2: one in the morning from Steak and Shake. I love it. Aaron,
1:03:17
Speaker 2: great papod, good one. This one's gonna break all the records.
1:03:21
Speaker 2: I'll see you next week. I hopefully will have a
1:03:24
Speaker 2: full notebook. I keep on saying that Term'm going to
1:03:26
Speaker 2: fill the notebook. I'll have lots of stories and hopefully
1:03:28
Speaker 2: I can share them here on the podcast. Thanks to
1:03:30
Speaker 2: everyone who listens on behalf of Aaron Jason English, my
1:03:35
Speaker 2: man John Syke's over at die Heart. That's my dog
1:03:38
Speaker 2: now he runs iHeart. We met at the super Bowl.
1:03:40
Speaker 2: That's my dog, John Sykes. If you're listening, love you
1:03:43
Speaker 2: burrow to everybody else back listening, enjoy the combine. We'll
1:03:48
Speaker 2: have plenty of stories, and remember it is an art
1:03:52
Speaker 2: and a science. Till next time.
1:04:03
Speaker 1: The season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
1:04:05
Speaker 1: NFL and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
1:04:09
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.