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O-Zone Podcast: NFL Media reporter Steve Wyche · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:08
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast, presented by by Star Credit Union,
0:13
Speaker 1: featuring Jaguar Serio writer John Oser and executive producer Dave
0:17
Speaker 1: to Canvas. I can't tell you how excited I am
0:21
Speaker 1: about this week. It's um It's funny when you've done
0:25
Speaker 1: this as long as I have, you get the opportunity
0:28
Speaker 1: to feel old. And I certainly feel old today because
0:31
Speaker 1: I'm My guest is somebody that I worked with twenty
0:34
Speaker 1: six or twenty seven years ago. He has gone on
0:36
Speaker 1: to much bigger and better things. Meanwhile, I have too
0:40
Speaker 1: in a way. But my guest this week is Steve
0:43
Speaker 1: Wish of the NFL Network. And I think people know
0:46
Speaker 1: Steve from seeing him on the broadcast in the NFL Network,
0:49
Speaker 1: but I'm not sure they realize how knowledgeable is about
0:52
Speaker 1: the NFL and how wide ranging his background is. Steve,
0:56
Speaker 1: we were just talking NBA big time in your background
1:00
Speaker 1: and college football, which we covered the University of Florida.
1:04
Speaker 1: I guess from a purely curiosity standpoint for me, how
1:08
Speaker 1: has all that helped? How did your NBA stuff help
1:13
Speaker 1: with the transition to the NFL. Because it's a little unusual.
1:16
Speaker 1: Most NFL guys have been NFL guys since they were
1:19
Speaker 1: in the business. Yeah, you know, I think you know,
1:22
Speaker 1: there are some of the NBA guys who are doing
1:25
Speaker 1: the NFL. And the biggest way it helped this isn't
1:27
Speaker 1: so much you know, the sports to competitiveness and things
1:30
Speaker 1: like that, but it's it's the interpersonal skills in the NBA,
1:33
Speaker 1: the access that you that I had two locker rooms,
1:36
Speaker 1: we had fifteen guys, We had access up until ninety
1:39
Speaker 1: minutes before tip off, right, and then you're also dealing
1:43
Speaker 1: with fifteen guys, three coaches, general manager, a couple other people.
1:46
Speaker 1: So you're around these people for eighty two games plus
1:49
Speaker 1: preseason and postseason. So how do you navigate that basically
1:54
Speaker 1: a big family for all that period um of a
1:58
Speaker 1: season and then in all season maintain relationships, dame trust
2:04
Speaker 1: and still be able to really serve the readers at
2:06
Speaker 1: the time of the newspaper. So that was the big
2:08
Speaker 1: transition because you come to the NFL, the access is
2:10
Speaker 1: and nearly what it was in the n b A.
2:13
Speaker 1: But you realize the NFL is king right. I mean,
2:16
Speaker 1: so many more people pay attention to the NFL when
2:18
Speaker 1: it's more about how to work a locker room, how
2:20
Speaker 1: to work a front office, how to work out coaching staff.
2:24
Speaker 1: When I say work it, it's not manipulate, it's how
2:26
Speaker 1: to navigate and established a human element of everything that
2:30
Speaker 1: really crosses all the boundaries of you know what you
2:33
Speaker 1: do you know in our job, because it is often
2:36
Speaker 1: a very fine line to cross that you never really
2:39
Speaker 1: want to get blurred. Yeah, it's uh. I did the
2:42
Speaker 1: Pacers when I was in Indianapolis. I did the Pacers,
2:45
Speaker 1: not nearly on the level that you covered the beat
2:47
Speaker 1: I was stringing for NBA dot Com, but it was
2:52
Speaker 1: It's an amazing difference. I had always done the NFL
2:54
Speaker 1: and college football before that, and the strangeness to me
2:59
Speaker 1: was talking to guys before the game because it was
3:04
Speaker 1: such a different dynamic and for the listeners, you don't
3:06
Speaker 1: really realize. In the NFL there's no access to players
3:10
Speaker 1: or coaches before a game. So that's always been sort
3:14
Speaker 1: of sacred territory to me, meaning you just don't talk
3:17
Speaker 1: to them. You assume that they are doing the most
3:20
Speaker 1: important things in the world before the game and you
3:22
Speaker 1: don't talk to him until you're getting reaction. And in
3:24
Speaker 1: the NBA, you go through a walk through in the morning.
3:28
Speaker 1: You can talk to these guys a couple of times
3:29
Speaker 1: before they even you know, lace them up in the
3:33
Speaker 1: in the evening. So the pace of that coverage, Steve
3:36
Speaker 1: was so much different to me that never quite got
3:39
Speaker 1: used to it. Your body clock is a different thing
3:41
Speaker 1: when you're covering an NBA beat as opposed to an
3:43
Speaker 1: NFL beat. And the thing I was always fascinated with
3:46
Speaker 1: was exactly what you talked about with fifteen guys in
3:49
Speaker 1: the locker room and maybe only three that matter. You've
3:52
Speaker 1: really got to do those relationships. They have to respect you.
3:57
Speaker 1: You also have to have them realize that you're gonna
3:59
Speaker 1: write things they don't like. So I imagine walking that
4:03
Speaker 1: line was a much different dynamic than it was in
4:06
Speaker 1: the NFL, and quickly before we transition. I mean, it's
4:10
Speaker 1: the NBA was so cool because the players have guaranteed contracts, right,
4:14
Speaker 1: so in terms of them biting their tongue, that didn't
4:16
Speaker 1: really happen. I mean, these guys spoke their minds freely
4:20
Speaker 1: in the back of the nineties, right even back in
4:22
Speaker 1: the nineties and early two thousand's. Um, when I covered it,
4:25
Speaker 1: I'll never forget, you know, when I covered the Miami Heat.
4:28
Speaker 1: These are the first great run of Heat teams, you know,
4:31
Speaker 1: the Lonzo Morning Morning and Tim Hardaway and Jamal Mashburn
4:34
Speaker 1: and Dan Marley, Tim Hardaway, you know. Perennial All Star
4:37
Speaker 1: was like Steve, we know you can't always write good
4:40
Speaker 1: stuff about us, We get that, but if you're coming
4:42
Speaker 1: with a bombshell or you're coming with some really heavy stuff,
4:46
Speaker 1: let's let us know, like, hey man, I got I
4:48
Speaker 1: hate doing this, but this is coming you know, in
4:51
Speaker 1: tomorrow's paper or whatever, and they get it. It gives
4:53
Speaker 1: him a chance to respond, prepare or whatever. That's a
4:57
Speaker 1: lesson you know that that I really Yeah, any big
5:01
Speaker 1: guy that you really you know, always get both sides.
5:04
Speaker 1: Never ambush somebody, because that's the big Journalism has really
5:08
Speaker 1: turned a lot into ambush journalists right now, right so
5:11
Speaker 1: and to this day, I can't do that. It just
5:13
Speaker 1: doesn't sit well with me if I can't get in
5:16
Speaker 1: touch with someone in the NFL, because you get in
5:17
Speaker 1: the NFL has got so many more filters when it
5:20
Speaker 1: comes to you, like you only get quarterbacks once a week, right, John,
5:22
Speaker 1: Your quarterbacks once a week. When I come to the NBA,
5:25
Speaker 1: I get Michael Jordan's after every game, after every practice, right,
5:29
Speaker 1: so it's a whole different thing. So even if I
5:32
Speaker 1: can't get to Jared Goff or Deshaun watch whenever I
5:37
Speaker 1: gotta call the team say hey, look, I I gotta
5:39
Speaker 1: let you know this is coming out or somebody said
5:41
Speaker 1: this about your guy. That's good journalism. And too often
5:45
Speaker 1: right now, we're for the quick to get it up online,
5:48
Speaker 1: you know, get it out on Twitter as soon as possible,
5:50
Speaker 1: and we neglect that step. And that's how come we
5:52
Speaker 1: have so much you know, distrust, blurred lines, people picking
5:57
Speaker 1: sides and what we do in this business now. And
6:00
Speaker 1: I really hate how that part of a lot of
6:02
Speaker 1: professionalism has been co opted in the name of clicks
6:05
Speaker 1: or in the name of getting visitors to your own
6:08
Speaker 1: personal blog things like that. Yeah, I wonder if it's
6:10
Speaker 1: ever coming back. I could talk journalism all day. Obviously,
6:13
Speaker 1: if somebody has been doing as long as you have
6:14
Speaker 1: um the off season of the Jags, which for us
6:19
Speaker 1: here covering it, obviously, it's always the storyline. But I
6:23
Speaker 1: think what fans who are listening to this are curious about,
6:26
Speaker 1: how much different is it in terms of Jaguars being
6:29
Speaker 1: on your radar this offseason. I've got to think maybe
6:33
Speaker 1: as much as any offseason since you've been doing this.
6:36
Speaker 1: This team is on your radar. Between urban Meyer and
6:38
Speaker 1: between whoever they might take a quarterback seat. Yeah, good
6:43
Speaker 1: good Wait wait wait do you pro with that? There?
6:45
Speaker 1: John Taken Taken, Trevor lore Right when your new head
6:48
Speaker 1: coach Urban Meyer is in on planning his offseason medical schedule.
6:54
Speaker 1: I think that a pretty good time on what they're
6:57
Speaker 1: gonna do. But I mean it's huge, it's huge, Maybe
7:01
Speaker 1: not as much as the teams who are I'll say two, three,
7:04
Speaker 1: and four, because that's where the action is gonna be, right,
7:07
Speaker 1: the number one pick. We know who it's gonna be. Um,
7:10
Speaker 1: it's gonna be an exciting time because of urban Meyer
7:13
Speaker 1: being there. Um, you know, the college coach and the
7:15
Speaker 1: head coaching experience has been out of the game, but
7:17
Speaker 1: he's larger than life personality. Right, You've got a quarterback
7:22
Speaker 1: going there. You've got a team like just a couple
7:24
Speaker 1: of years ago, was knocking on the door of the
7:26
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and ever since, you know, it hasn't been
7:29
Speaker 1: you know, torn down brick by brick, it's been torn
7:33
Speaker 1: down wall by wall with a number of good players
7:35
Speaker 1: who have departed, and so it seems like it's a
7:38
Speaker 1: change of philosophy organizationally there. So yeah, absolutely, the Jaguars
7:44
Speaker 1: are on the radar. Plus during the division, I think
7:48
Speaker 1: that's you know, super news worthy because of what's going
7:50
Speaker 1: on in Houston, because of the trade of Carson Wentz
7:53
Speaker 1: to Indianapolis and then the Titans being what they are,
7:57
Speaker 1: so you know that again the Jack's having two first
8:00
Speaker 1: round picks and being able to come up from the
8:02
Speaker 1: second round and push back, they're gonna be a lot
8:05
Speaker 1: of the straw the stars of drinking what's going on
8:07
Speaker 1: with how these other teams build their rosters. So you
8:09
Speaker 1: better believe the Jags more than what they have been
8:12
Speaker 1: And I don't want to be dismissed, right so nationally
8:14
Speaker 1: in the past kind of okay, it's the Jags. They're
8:16
Speaker 1: picking in the top five, who are they gonna take? Okay,
8:18
Speaker 1: let's go on to the next one. I think because
8:21
Speaker 1: of the Trevor Lawrence factor and the fact that they've
8:23
Speaker 1: got too many high picks and nobody really knows what's
8:26
Speaker 1: going on with them, there is a sense of intrigue
8:28
Speaker 1: that just hasn't been there before. You mentioned the NFC
8:31
Speaker 1: South um as strange and offseason in terms of quarterbacks
8:37
Speaker 1: in that division, that I maybe ever. I mean I
8:39
Speaker 1: would say ever because when you say ever and then
8:42
Speaker 1: all of a sudden people say, well, no, it's not.
8:44
Speaker 1: But Deshaun Watson, your gut on how that plays out,
8:50
Speaker 1: just I guess your thoughts on how it got here
8:52
Speaker 1: and how strange this is. Well, let's let's let's go
8:55
Speaker 1: to how it plays out. I think it's gonna come
8:57
Speaker 1: down to the game with Chicken. I don't think that
8:59
Speaker 1: nickos Siria of the Texans are going to trade him
9:02
Speaker 1: because teams as really closer to the draft, There's gonna
9:05
Speaker 1: be some teams that offer up a lot, right, there's
9:07
Speaker 1: gonna but there's gonna be some teams that also that
9:10
Speaker 1: may be like, hey, three first rounders, that's just too
9:13
Speaker 1: much capital to give up. So I don't think the
9:17
Speaker 1: Texans trade in now. The now the leverage point, the
9:21
Speaker 1: breaking point comes down to will Deshaun Watson have the
9:24
Speaker 1: gumption to ship out of season to pull a love
9:27
Speaker 1: Bell thirty that's thirty million dollars you're never getting back
9:31
Speaker 1: no matter what you do in life. That is it
9:33
Speaker 1: that is thirty million dollars you're never getting back because
9:36
Speaker 1: you don't automatically get it at the end. You don't, right,
9:42
Speaker 1: And look, I don't. I don't care if you invest
9:44
Speaker 1: in the most you know something five years from now,
9:46
Speaker 1: Bitcoin wise, it's gonna give him a billion dollars. It's
9:48
Speaker 1: thirty million dollars he'd be leaving on the table for
9:52
Speaker 1: the Texans. So I just, you know, I think I
9:56
Speaker 1: think it ends. I mean, it's so ugly right now.
10:00
Speaker 1: It's good that it's ugly now because it's February and
10:03
Speaker 1: you don't want to be at this point in August.
10:05
Speaker 1: But I think we're gonna get into some real ugly stuff. Uh,
10:08
Speaker 1: come training camp, and if he is able to, I
10:14
Speaker 1: guess broker his way there. I mean, then what they
10:17
Speaker 1: hired a head coach that nationally that the way people.
10:22
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a sacrificial land. No matter what happens
10:24
Speaker 1: in two or three years, he's probably gonna be gone.
10:26
Speaker 1: If they get better, someone else is gonna be hired
10:28
Speaker 1: to replace him. And if they get worse, then that's
10:31
Speaker 1: just what happens. He's gonna get replaced. So it's it's
10:33
Speaker 1: just it's a it's an ugly situation. John. So many
10:37
Speaker 1: of the things you hear about what's going on there
10:39
Speaker 1: are just almost unprecedented in terms of the way that
10:42
Speaker 1: they're handling their business. And I just honestly think, you know,
10:46
Speaker 1: I think Deshaun Watson ends up as a member of
10:48
Speaker 1: the team, But when we really take a snap in
10:51
Speaker 1: means to be seen, I guess the amazing thing. We
10:55
Speaker 1: had a similar situation here with Jalen Ramsey obviously, um
10:59
Speaker 1: and he's been a couple of years ago, and at
11:01
Speaker 1: the time my thought was, hey, you can't bend to
11:05
Speaker 1: the player because if if you've been to the player,
11:08
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, you're bending to every player.
11:11
Speaker 1: But that's a different conversation with quarterback to me, because
11:14
Speaker 1: you're building a franchise around that guy. The cap ramifications
11:17
Speaker 1: are so much different. And face it, Uh, no matter
11:21
Speaker 1: how good you are at cornerback, the tenth best quarterback
11:24
Speaker 1: in the league is more important than the first best cornerback.
11:27
Speaker 1: So it's right. I guess My question to you is,
11:30
Speaker 1: is there no way the Texans could just go and say, hey,
11:34
Speaker 1: we've got to save this you're our guy, or has
11:37
Speaker 1: it gotten too far from that, but hopefully that's what
11:40
Speaker 1: they're doing. Yeah, I mean hopefully they are trying. Now
11:43
Speaker 1: there apparently has been no communication between the two, whether
11:46
Speaker 1: he won't pick up the phone or they're being stubborn.
11:48
Speaker 1: It looks it really seems so far gone. But look,
11:50
Speaker 1: if you're DeShawn Watson, you see them two years ago,
11:53
Speaker 1: trade away your best targeting DeAndre Hopkins, just let go
11:56
Speaker 1: of J J. Watt. There are people in the building
11:58
Speaker 1: who will tell you the player know what's going on upstairs,
12:03
Speaker 1: you know, in the ultimate hierarchy, like this is no
12:06
Speaker 1: place you want to be. Okay. Then you're also dealing
12:08
Speaker 1: with a situation where um, you know, the son of
12:13
Speaker 1: Robert McNair takes over. There was some issues from ownership
12:17
Speaker 1: to some players players felt were racially insensitive, and they
12:20
Speaker 1: feel that that's still coming along as well. So there's
12:22
Speaker 1: guys like what you know, Look because before a couple
12:25
Speaker 1: of years ago, Houston was a place that I wanted
12:26
Speaker 1: to go to, great city, no state tax. They're winning
12:29
Speaker 1: ball games and you've got this show on watch Now
12:32
Speaker 1: people are like, it's a play And again, I just
12:34
Speaker 1: have not seen this in the NFL because losters are
12:38
Speaker 1: so big there's so many factors are that are on
12:40
Speaker 1: play that you know people you know to say, z's
12:45
Speaker 1: what's going on here? So um, John, it's it's just
12:49
Speaker 1: it's it's a sad situation. But one thing you said
12:52
Speaker 1: that's interesting to me is I wonder if any owners
12:55
Speaker 1: are calling up kel McNair saying, no matter how bad
12:57
Speaker 1: it is, don't you bend to the player, because is
13:00
Speaker 1: the precedent that you will be setting, especially the rest
13:03
Speaker 1: of the end of it. At that position, Absolutely, the
13:05
Speaker 1: president you could set could really put all of us
13:08
Speaker 1: in a bind in future years. Tell me why Carson
13:11
Speaker 1: Wentz will work in Indie. Well, I mean, look there,
13:15
Speaker 1: there's there's the only reason I put it this way.
13:18
Speaker 1: The only reason he won't would be Carson Wentz. That
13:20
Speaker 1: means he's not he's not mentally strong enough to deal
13:23
Speaker 1: with some of the things that got to him in Philadelphia.
13:25
Speaker 1: He's going to and John again, there's no knock against
13:28
Speaker 1: our journalistic brethren, but he's going to a media market
13:31
Speaker 1: that it's far more kind to its athletes to Philadelphia, Okay,
13:35
Speaker 1: which is about anybody is right, just correct. He is
13:39
Speaker 1: going to a coach that he is familiar with he's
13:41
Speaker 1: going to a run heavy system with a good offensive
13:44
Speaker 1: line and a really good defense. Um that's ready to win.
13:50
Speaker 1: He's got wide receivers. You know, you've got Michael Pittman,
13:53
Speaker 1: h t Y Hilton's a free agent. Will see what's
13:55
Speaker 1: gonna happen there. But Chris Ballard has shown as a
13:57
Speaker 1: general manager how to build a team right. So organizationally,
14:01
Speaker 1: the structure we've talked about all the dysfunction of Houston,
14:04
Speaker 1: the structure in Indianapolis is vastly different. I mean all
14:07
Speaker 1: the way from the ownership down. They've got a really
14:09
Speaker 1: good model in their buildings. So he's going into a
14:12
Speaker 1: situation where he's going to be supported, He's going to
14:16
Speaker 1: have everything in his disposal for him to succeed. Again,
14:19
Speaker 1: this though, is a guy who felt uneasy with Salend
14:22
Speaker 1: Hurts being drafted, who felt uneasy with a couple of
14:25
Speaker 1: different coaches giving him different destructions instructions, so he couldn't
14:30
Speaker 1: get his mind around things. That's the concern people have
14:34
Speaker 1: as to what is Carson went is going to be
14:36
Speaker 1: mentally mature enough and mentally strong enough to go into
14:39
Speaker 1: a situation where he's gonna be expected to win. Because
14:41
Speaker 1: like I just said he's going to a ready made house,
14:44
Speaker 1: you know, a turnkey situation where they should be a
14:48
Speaker 1: playoff team. You talked to a lot more people around
14:51
Speaker 1: the league than I do, Obviously, I'm I'm Jaguar's focused,
14:54
Speaker 1: your NFL focused. Um, what's the buzz around the league
14:58
Speaker 1: on Urban? In terms? Is there a lot of interest
15:01
Speaker 1: to see if this works, if the college coach comes
15:05
Speaker 1: in and has success. Just what's the general field you
15:07
Speaker 1: get for that? Yeah, I think the college coach, the
15:10
Speaker 1: NFL thing is, I think that story's been written. You
15:13
Speaker 1: know once Jim Harball came in and one ball games,
15:16
Speaker 1: and we've seen other coaches. You know, people are really excited.
15:18
Speaker 1: I think Matt Rule is going to turn things around
15:20
Speaker 1: in Carolina. So I think with Urban, I think, you know,
15:24
Speaker 1: it's really it's funny. There's not that much bus. It's
15:27
Speaker 1: kind of a wait and see type of thing, and
15:30
Speaker 1: that's you know, I think I think there's a lot
15:32
Speaker 1: more intrigue as to what's gonna happen, you know, with
15:35
Speaker 1: some other team with Robert Sale and the Jets again,
15:37
Speaker 1: they've got number two? Are they gonna keep saying Donald?
15:40
Speaker 1: Are they gonna? Are they so I think there's a
15:42
Speaker 1: lot more attention being paid to that, and I think
15:46
Speaker 1: with urban is kind of like, Okay, you know, Urban's
15:48
Speaker 1: got time. You know, they know that it is a
15:51
Speaker 1: rebuild type of things, So year one, maybe there's no
15:55
Speaker 1: snap judgments unless they come and have a lot of
15:57
Speaker 1: success out of the gate or it looks like an
16:00
Speaker 1: on a disaster out of the game. I think everyone
16:01
Speaker 1: just kind of like, Okay, that's that's a patient thing.
16:04
Speaker 1: But they're just there isn't a whole lot of conversation
16:06
Speaker 1: at the moment right now about urban Meyer himself, about
16:10
Speaker 1: the Jaguars draft situation, absolutely, but not so much about him.
16:14
Speaker 1: How often are we gonna hear between now April twenty
16:18
Speaker 1: nine that Trevor is not the guy? And I think
16:22
Speaker 1: what I mean by that is everybody's gonna make stuff
16:25
Speaker 1: up at this point, right So, I mean like they're
16:27
Speaker 1: gonna throw out Zach Wilson, They're gonna throw out Justin.
16:29
Speaker 1: You know, they're gonna look for reasons not to take
16:32
Speaker 1: him number one. Not this team necessarily, but people nationally.
16:35
Speaker 1: And that's just sort of that's what happens with a
16:39
Speaker 1: story like this, right Yeah, the the intriguing thing um
16:44
Speaker 1: that I think it's gonna be less than normal is
16:46
Speaker 1: there's gonna be no combine. Right, there's gonna be no
16:49
Speaker 1: national video evidence. Right if Justin Fields has a great
16:53
Speaker 1: pro day, great, the only story when a quarterback as
16:57
Speaker 1: his pro day the only time there's a real stories
16:59
Speaker 1: if he doesn't have a great product, like when Teddy
17:02
Speaker 1: Bridgewater didn't have a great product. These are all scheduled
17:05
Speaker 1: and set up away for everyone to succeed. You know,
17:07
Speaker 1: there's a certain roadmap. You're the one, you know, fifteen
17:10
Speaker 1: intermediate rounds, fifteen quick rowds, it's all set up, it's
17:14
Speaker 1: all rehearsed. So but the fact that there is no
17:17
Speaker 1: combine the fact that there's not gonna be a lot
17:20
Speaker 1: of national visibility for these quarterbacks working out. Yeah, we're
17:23
Speaker 1: you know, NFL Network and ESPN and one's gonna show
17:25
Speaker 1: their pro days. But other than that, you're not gonna
17:28
Speaker 1: hear a lot of buzz about their interviews unless somebody
17:31
Speaker 1: flops it and this and that. So again, I don't
17:34
Speaker 1: think there's gonna be there's just someone's gonna say, hey,
17:37
Speaker 1: the Jags, whatever I like to do. Yeah, maybe Zach
17:40
Speaker 1: Wilson or or Justin Fields is a better fit. But
17:43
Speaker 1: but no, I mean, it's just it's just it's it's like,
17:46
Speaker 1: it's like it's like Andrew Luck. You know, there was
17:48
Speaker 1: some conversation, Yeah, maybe Robert Griffin is is the guy,
17:52
Speaker 1: but there was more like, no, Andrew Luck was built
17:54
Speaker 1: for this. So Andrew Luck is gonna be the first
17:57
Speaker 1: overall pick. You know, That's what I would like in
18:00
Speaker 1: the Trevor Lawrence thing. And uh any thoughts on how
18:06
Speaker 1: he I guess necesari how he compares the Luck. But
18:09
Speaker 1: in terms of the to me, Luck was I can't
18:13
Speaker 1: miss I watched him in college and there was no
18:15
Speaker 1: way he could miss. Um. It feels like people think
18:18
Speaker 1: that Lawrence is on that level too, like they don't
18:20
Speaker 1: know what level he's gonna be at, great whatever, But
18:23
Speaker 1: there's very little chance of bust with this guy because
18:28
Speaker 1: of I guess just how ready he is. Are you
18:31
Speaker 1: getting that field as well or that already say at
18:33
Speaker 1: this point, well, no, I know you get that feeling
18:36
Speaker 1: a lot of it, Johns, because the game has changed. Okay,
18:38
Speaker 1: So remember Andrew Luck growing up going to Stanford played
18:43
Speaker 1: which we deemed back then the pro style offense, run
18:46
Speaker 1: first pre reads mainly under center. Um really could check
18:52
Speaker 1: you know, into into a second or third place. He'd
18:54
Speaker 1: get through his progressions blah blah blah. And it was
18:57
Speaker 1: that part that made you think there was no way
18:58
Speaker 1: he could miss, right, Yeah, I mean because that's what
19:01
Speaker 1: football was back then. And think about it back then,
19:04
Speaker 1: what's that nine years ago? Okay? So now, but now
19:08
Speaker 1: football is pre snapp read right. Okay, if the backside
19:14
Speaker 1: strong safe, your nickel is over here. If you're in
19:16
Speaker 1: an r P O type thing, which is what the
19:18
Speaker 1: Jags are gonna run, that stretch RPO offense with Trevor
19:21
Speaker 1: Lawrence Randy Clemson, Okay, then you're checking into a front
19:26
Speaker 1: side pass or maybe a backside run cutback option. Right.
19:32
Speaker 1: So these are the things that are my runs that
19:37
Speaker 1: more and more teams are running. And this is why
19:39
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence is a fit. If you're gonna try to
19:42
Speaker 1: squeeze him into that old school, pro school offense, our
19:47
Speaker 1: pro style offense, then maybe people say, well, you know,
19:50
Speaker 1: he he doesn't read this week, he comes off his
19:52
Speaker 1: first read too simple, blah blah blah. But now again,
19:55
Speaker 1: because they're gonna be running what he did in college
19:58
Speaker 1: more and more offenses are going to that you're not hearing.
20:01
Speaker 1: You're not hearing nearly um as much of Okay, this
20:05
Speaker 1: is a flaw. This is a flaw because he can run,
20:07
Speaker 1: he can throw it, he's tough. Um. You know, we
20:10
Speaker 1: we've seen all of those things. And that's why, in
20:12
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, I think the quarterbacks are transitioning
20:15
Speaker 1: quicker because of things you just said. I've been asking
20:18
Speaker 1: people every time I talk an talk to you about Trevor,
20:22
Speaker 1: I asked, well, can he do it before the snap?
20:24
Speaker 1: Can he read defenses for the snap? And I get
20:26
Speaker 1: a little bit of what you said. You know, there's
20:29
Speaker 1: no reason he can't, but he's probably not going to
20:31
Speaker 1: be asked to do it as quickly as maybe Luck
20:34
Speaker 1: was because the game has changed quarterbacks, aren't you know?
20:37
Speaker 1: My background was covering Peyton Manning for twelve years. Who
20:40
Speaker 1: is I think the best I've ever seen at that
20:42
Speaker 1: what quarterbacks aren't asked to do it as much anymore,
20:44
Speaker 1: so it's not as much of a factor. So you're
20:46
Speaker 1: right for Trevor if he's the guy, Steve probably won't be.
20:53
Speaker 1: I wouldn't think. I don't don't tip the pick pick well,
20:57
Speaker 1: I can't tip the pick. So it's uh, seventeen game
21:01
Speaker 1: seasons in the news. Is there any way that doesn't
21:03
Speaker 1: get done next year? I know you talked to people
21:05
Speaker 1: within the league a lot, so any thoughts that that
21:08
Speaker 1: doesn't get done. No, it's just gonna happen. I mean, um,
21:12
Speaker 1: you know, the Players Association seems to be on board
21:15
Speaker 1: with that. Um, seventeen games, Um, no additional buy. You know,
21:21
Speaker 1: that was the one thing I thought once they expanded,
21:22
Speaker 1: the players want to get a second by in there.
21:25
Speaker 1: But that's not gonna happen, right you maybe when they
21:28
Speaker 1: did that, Yeah, it didn't work. It was sixteen games.
21:35
Speaker 1: I mean we're seeing the physical toll, and we're seeing
21:36
Speaker 1: some of the injuries. I mean, I think not once
21:38
Speaker 1: you get to eighteen a second by yeah you almost yeah, yeah,
21:42
Speaker 1: if they get to eighteen, you almost have to do
21:44
Speaker 1: a plus. John not to push the super Bowl the
21:48
Speaker 1: President's Day weekend, which is a three day weekend, which
21:50
Speaker 1: a lot of people would love because you get an
21:53
Speaker 1: extra day advertising, you know, the fans get an extra
21:55
Speaker 1: day to recover from all the Super Bowl drinking that
21:57
Speaker 1: they're doing, X, Y and Z. Well, No, I think
22:01
Speaker 1: Memorial Day weekends, Dave and me, why not, might as well,
22:03
Speaker 1: might as well have the combine, have the combine right
22:05
Speaker 1: during the Baseball All Star Game, and and we could
22:08
Speaker 1: do all that, But no, I know it's gonna be
22:10
Speaker 1: seventeen in three. All indications are just want I guess
22:15
Speaker 1: the final question about how you think the season will
22:19
Speaker 1: look next year. I know there's a lot to predict
22:22
Speaker 1: in terms of covid um any early thoughts on that,
22:26
Speaker 1: are we too far away from it? Or how do
22:28
Speaker 1: you see the year playing out in terms of that? Well,
22:32
Speaker 1: let's keep our fingers crossed, you know, with the vaccination,
22:34
Speaker 1: the numbers coming down. Um, hopefully people just kind of
22:39
Speaker 1: not getting too far ahead of themselves, will see coming
22:42
Speaker 1: up in a couple of weeks in spring break. Um,
22:45
Speaker 1: what happens, you know, if we're gonna get too far
22:47
Speaker 1: ahead of themselves, but let's hope that. You know, the
22:51
Speaker 1: stadiums are full. Let's let's you know, John, you saw
22:54
Speaker 1: it was so weird having to cover a game with
22:57
Speaker 1: no fans. I mean, I don't I think covered one
23:00
Speaker 1: game in Miami where there were ten thousand fans and
23:03
Speaker 1: it sounded like a Roman lion fight, right, I was like, wow,
23:08
Speaker 1: because I covered games in the brand new Sofi Stadium
23:10
Speaker 1: with the rams and the charges out here in l
23:12
Speaker 1: A or you know, in some other venues in Seattle.
23:15
Speaker 1: You know a lot of stadium in the NFL with
23:17
Speaker 1: no fans and the fact that these players coaches can
23:21
Speaker 1: focus when you really are playing in silence um for
23:25
Speaker 1: four quarters, which was just amazing. So I would think
23:28
Speaker 1: hopefully that the fans will be back, We're going to
23:31
Speaker 1: have your typical game day situations, because if the fans
23:35
Speaker 1: come back, you're gonna have tailgating, um, You're gonna have
23:39
Speaker 1: all those types of scenarios. Now, I do think in
23:41
Speaker 1: terms of like what we do, I do think that
23:43
Speaker 1: at least some of the media situations will be virtual.
23:46
Speaker 1: I think I don't know forever, we're gonna be allowed
23:49
Speaker 1: in a in a locker room post game, right, they
23:51
Speaker 1: may have to bring people out into designated UM interview areas. Yeah,
23:57
Speaker 1: I would think they'll bring out people to designated areas.
24:00
Speaker 1: I do think it would be similar to that during
24:03
Speaker 1: the practice week as well. We couldn't necessarily get into
24:06
Speaker 1: locker rooms UM and maybe once and once or twice
24:09
Speaker 1: a week we're doing virtual interviews. Which I don't think
24:12
Speaker 1: even we in the media would mind, you know, on
24:14
Speaker 1: a Monday, which is typical, you know, there's not a
24:17
Speaker 1: lot of player availability, it's just a coach. Let's go
24:19
Speaker 1: ahead and do it virtually right. Monday, Friday can get
24:21
Speaker 1: away with. I'd hate to lose Wednesday and Thursday because
24:25
Speaker 1: you can tell, well hate that. And then plus building
24:29
Speaker 1: the trust we've gone to hold. Look, by the correct
24:35
Speaker 1: we went a whole season without having a face to
24:37
Speaker 1: face conversation with rookies, free agents, new coaches at any level.
24:43
Speaker 1: So it's all this trust is here, and that's a
24:47
Speaker 1: weird that's that's a weird dynamic. Especially to kind of
24:51
Speaker 1: go back to how we lead this off, like when
24:52
Speaker 1: the NBA, when you're such an intimate situation and you
24:55
Speaker 1: really build great relationships, could be negative whatever, but not
25:00
Speaker 1: having that which was a very odd thing, you know
25:03
Speaker 1: for me and you and I'm sure so. But in
25:06
Speaker 1: terms of the fans, you know, again, let's keep our
25:08
Speaker 1: fingers crossed that you know, we we get the vaccines
25:10
Speaker 1: and people that the statents could at least because I
25:16
Speaker 1: know they say something, you know, a fifty seventy five percent.
25:18
Speaker 1: I'm like, look, if you're talking, you're still talking people.
25:23
Speaker 1: I don't know the difference between forty and sixty if
25:25
Speaker 1: it's shoulder to shoulder or arms length to arms length.
25:27
Speaker 1: I mean that many people. You know, I don't know
25:31
Speaker 1: where you I mean, I just don't know where the
25:33
Speaker 1: where the difference um would lie. Um. But you know,
25:36
Speaker 1: more than aything, I really just hope you know, as
25:39
Speaker 1: as a nation, um, you know, we kind of come
25:41
Speaker 1: together and get this get this thing under control. Is
25:45
Speaker 1: not as much as I want to go to football games,
25:46
Speaker 1: I want to go see a good concert, like so so,
25:50
Speaker 1: so like, what what's the first concert you want to
25:52
Speaker 1: go to? What's the send me? Who you gonna trying
25:54
Speaker 1: to go see? My man? Probably little Wayne out of here?
26:00
Speaker 1: Uh um no, probably Uh you have a country music
26:05
Speaker 1: guy now you know as I've gotten older, so probably
26:09
Speaker 1: Jason Isbell is not quite country, but uh you know
26:12
Speaker 1: drive by Trucker's Jason Isbel something along those lines. So
26:17
Speaker 1: uh yeah, that's sort of my jam is it? As
26:20
Speaker 1: the young kids say, now, yeah, I'm actually I mean
26:24
Speaker 1: to go to a good Leon Bridges, Okay, show you
26:26
Speaker 1: actual Leon. You know, I'm not trying to be out
26:29
Speaker 1: there at Coachella style, bro working, no doubt. Two final things. First,
26:35
Speaker 1: tell me about your podcast you got to do with
26:37
Speaker 1: Jim Trotter. It's a fascinating you know, it's so it's
26:42
Speaker 1: The Huddle, the Huddle and Flow podcast where you can
26:46
Speaker 1: find on Spotify, iTunes, wherever you get your podcast. But
26:48
Speaker 1: it's Jim Trotter and I. You know, we've got god
26:51
Speaker 1: probably at least three decades four decades of covering the
26:55
Speaker 1: NFL in there, but you know, we were a little
26:58
Speaker 1: Fortunately we've we've gotten some major heavy hitters on this podcast,
27:02
Speaker 1: ranging from uh, you know, Patrick Mahomes to Arthur Blank,
27:08
Speaker 1: the Falcon's owner, to Pelhoadad O'Brien, Chuck d of Public Enemy.
27:13
Speaker 1: We cover a lot of issues, a lot of ground.
27:16
Speaker 1: They're all kind of sports centered within the tentacles really
27:20
Speaker 1: spawn off to society news, uh, journalism, kind of whatever.
27:25
Speaker 1: The topic of the day is. Our most recent one,
27:27
Speaker 1: we had Kelvin Beach him, you know, he's kind of
27:29
Speaker 1: a backup, has been an offensive lineman inventor for years,
27:33
Speaker 1: but he's one of the leaders of the Players Coalition
27:35
Speaker 1: and we're talking about them bridging the digital divide to
27:39
Speaker 1: educate people in this country because you know, you have
27:42
Speaker 1: a lot of folks who can't even have WiFi or
27:43
Speaker 1: don't have laptops, so they're supposed to educate their kids. Virtually,
27:48
Speaker 1: I can't do it. So it's a really great discussion.
27:50
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean it's it's been real successful. We've
27:53
Speaker 1: got a lot of great feedback, so I appreciate you
27:55
Speaker 1: bringing that up. I know we're way away from even
27:57
Speaker 1: a season, but Jaguars re build, how fascinating will it
28:03
Speaker 1: be to you? And how long do you see it
28:06
Speaker 1: taking before they sort of get their meaning get back
28:08
Speaker 1: into the flow. Well, Trevor Lawrence is what he is.
28:11
Speaker 1: It's it's not gonna take too long. Um. I just
28:14
Speaker 1: I really hope they don't do anything like crazy knee
28:17
Speaker 1: jerk like saying, Okay, let's go out, let's pay three
28:20
Speaker 1: major contracts to to wide receivers and one to a
28:22
Speaker 1: corner Well, you know it might be a two or
28:24
Speaker 1: three year deal. You want to find people who are
28:26
Speaker 1: gonna fit what Urban Meyer wants to do with this
28:29
Speaker 1: coaching staff wants to and to fit the personality. Build
28:33
Speaker 1: up those trenches, man, you gotta build up that D line,
28:35
Speaker 1: that front seven um as we saw the Buccaneers showed
28:38
Speaker 1: how valuable you know, having that does. And I think,
28:42
Speaker 1: I think you really need to work on an offensive
28:44
Speaker 1: line and the defensive line to be able to stop
28:47
Speaker 1: the run in this division. You know, the Colton Titans
28:49
Speaker 1: are coming with it. That's not going to change and
28:51
Speaker 1: they be able to block and protect Trevor Lawrence and
28:53
Speaker 1: run the ball yourself. And I think again that steady,
28:56
Speaker 1: that steady progress. And John, we've seen the NFL. It
28:58
Speaker 1: doesn't it doesn't take long, right, it does not take along.
29:01
Speaker 1: I mean I think about the Ramp. It took to
29:03
Speaker 1: two years under Sean McVeigh. You know where we're seeing
29:06
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur knock on the door of the Super Bowl
29:08
Speaker 1: two years head coaching. So it doesn't take long. Um,
29:12
Speaker 1: if you build things the right way and don't try
29:15
Speaker 1: to go for the short term. Fis Steve, I could
29:18
Speaker 1: talk to you all day. I know you're a busy man.
29:20
Speaker 1: I can't thank you enough for joining the Other Dune podcast.
29:22
Speaker 1: I hope people will listen to Huddle and Flow. Thank
29:25
Speaker 1: you for joining us. Steve White, Hey, John Omshan, Thanks
29:28
Speaker 1: so much. Brun