December 18, 2024 • 44 mins
Peter goes deep into the next few weeks of the NFL schedule and explains why the Bills could have a distinct advantage heading into the playoffs. With no short rest weeks, Buffalo can watch as the other six top AFC teams in the NFL duke it out and pluck each other off in the next two weeks. Then, ESPN's Seth Wickersham joins the show to go deep on Bill Belichick's decision to take over the UNC football program, Mike Vrabel's next landing spot, and Seth's upcoming book on quarterbacks.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, Everybody, Welcome to
another episode of the Season with Peter Schrager on Peter
(00:27):
Schrager host Good Morning Football on NFL Network Monday to Friday,
and you can see me on Sundays on Fox NFL Kickoff.
And there's been a lot of talk about Patrick Mahomes
over the last few days and his ankle and whether
he's gonna go. And I just find it so fascinating
because this year's NFL schedule plays out unlike any other
(00:50):
year we've had in the past. The NFL really dropped
a major, major fork in the road here with this
Christmas Day slate on Wednesday, December twenty fifth. And I
say that becase because it affected the weeks prior and
after in the NFL schedule and playoff seedings. You see,
(01:13):
by putting a game on a Wednesday for the first
time ever in NFL history, you end up really running
the risk of player safety and proper rest. And you
had to pair teams together that we're gonna have the
same amount of time off and the same amount of
time in preparation and the same amount of days in advance,
which means if you're gonna do two games, that's four teams.
(01:34):
It just so happens. The NFL was gonna go big
swinging here because Netflix is now the NFL partner, and
you're not gonna throw Jaguars, Titans and Saints Panthers on
Christmas Day. You're gonna go big ticket. So the NFL
wanted to give us Lamar, they wanted to give us Mahomes,
and they wanted to give us worthy opponents. Well, the Steelers,
they were always relevant, that's one of them. The Texans
(01:56):
have a cool story in CJ. Stroud and Miko Ryance.
Let's throw them in there too. Just so happens. These
are four of the best teams in the NFL, and
they're four of the top teams in the AFC. And
now they and they begin this little miniature tournament where
the two matchups are spread across two weeks and they
play each other before the actual AFC playoffs. Hear me out,
(02:19):
Let me detail this all as I record this on
a Wednesday. All right, you have seven teams in the
AFC playoff picture right now, and it's almost solidified with
Denver's win over Indianapolis. Now, a few weeks back, the
NFL went to flex programming with their Thursday night situation,
and Sean Payton said, sure, we'll waive that we don't
(02:41):
have to play two road Thursday night games. We'll play
on a Thursday night. The NFL said, let's move Chargers
Broncos to Thursday of week sixteen, and let's move Bengals
Browns back to the Sunday schedule. Fine, that's out. Now
you have six teams that are currently in the playoff
picture playing on Thursday and Saturday of this week in
(03:04):
the AFC. You have a Thursday night Chargers versus Broncos
game where both these teams are playing on five days
rest and are coming in weary and coming in banged
up playing against each other on Thursday night. Then you
have a Saturday slate which is six days rest, that
features Mahomes versus the Texans in in Arrowhead or I'm sorry, yes,
(03:28):
in Arrowhead. And then you have Ravens versus Steelers at
four point thirty with TJ. Watt all sorts of banged
up going on a short rest playing against the hated Ravens,
which could end up being the determinant for the AFC
North title. When it's all set and done, then these
guys have four days rest and those four teams play again.
You have Mahomes playing against the Steelers in the early
(03:52):
window on Christmas in Pittsburgh in the cold weather. So
Mahomes and TJ. Watt both injured last week. How do
they play over the next few weeks. We'll have to
play that out. And then you have in the night
cap in the afternoon on Christmas, you have Techans versus Ravens.
All right, let's just let's just on its surface. Mahomes
(04:15):
that ankle injury, but probably could play on Saturday. That's
a short week. Do you play Mahomes on a short
week up against Will Anderson, Daniil Hunter and the second
most sacks in the league in the Houston Texans Front seven.
Last decision you have to make. Do you save Mahomes
knowing you've got four days rest and then you're gonna
(04:36):
be playing Wednesday against Pittsburgh and you're gonna be doing
it on the road in cold weather and you need
these wins. These are decisions that are not standard because
it's not the typical week sixteen, we play on a Sunday.
Week seventeen, we play in a Sunday. Week eighteen, we
play in a Sunday. What's fascinating is that six of
the top seven teams in the AFC have these unorthodox
(04:58):
schedules the next few days Thursday night game on short
rest for two of them, and then this bizarre new
age doing what we can to service everybody Saturday Wednesday
situation for for the teams. I say all this to
point to Buffalo. Who do the Bills have over the
(05:18):
next few weeks. Well, the Bills, they had their gauntlet
National Television Sunday, lost to the Rams, National Television Sunday
on the road, beat the Lions. Now the Bills. While
those teams beat up on each other and have to
pick each other off and look at the scoreboard and
(05:39):
figure out or we played the Bills. It worked out perfectly.
The Bills play the Patriots, the Jets, and the Patriots,
barring a major spoiler or the Bills just completely overlooking
one of these games and resting on their laurels, the
Bills should be able to take care of business and
close out the AFC East and win three games on
(06:00):
Sundays on full weeks and have the ability to watch
these other teams pick each other off the Bills, And
it's no blame to the NFL, it's no blame to Netflix,
it's no blame to the schedule makers. You could have
never predicted it working out this way. But with six
of the seven top teams in the AFC all facing
off in the next few days, and some of those
(06:20):
teams doing twice against major fun, it's almost like this
mini AFC tournament that just doesn't include Buffalo. I don't
think the Patriots can beat the Bills. I don't think
the Jets, even with Rogers looking resurgent, can beat the Bills.
I think the Buffalo Bills, whether they have the one
seed because the Chiefs lost two times and gave up
(06:40):
that one seed that they had, or as the two seed,
will come in rested, will come in ready to go,
and we'll come in with a clear advantage over these
other teams, six of them that had to beat up
on each other for the Week sixteen and potentially Week
seventeen slates. Maybe I'm being overly dramatic about it, and
(07:01):
I'm just trying to look too far into it, but
I think that's the analysis you're looking for. Six of
the time, seven teams all will play each other on
short weeks in the next two weeks, two of them
doing so two weeks in a row. Meanwhile, Buffalo plays
two of the worst teams in the NFL on a
regular schedule Sunday Sunday Sunday. I don't know if the
(07:23):
betting markets have been adjusted based on any of this.
I think Kansas City has a gauntlet coming up playing
with an injured Mahomes against Houston or Carson Wentz against Houston,
then traveling to Pittsburgh on a short week, and then
finishing up with Denver. I think that's a lot more
difficult than what Buffalo has with Patriots, Jets, Patriots. Something
to consider as I'm someone who picked Kansas City to
(07:46):
go to the Super Bowl and win it all again.
I don't know if I'm getting a little nervous considering
what they have at the end of the schedule based
on their opponents the Buffalo Bills, who I assume they
will face when it matters most in the AFC playoffs.
Real quick, I watched the first episode of the Rogers
documentary Enigma. I really liked it. I thought it was
(08:07):
really good. If I can give an endorsement, I would
say watch it. I went in one of those saying
it's not a must watch, but I will give it
a watch because it's on Netflix and it's football, and
it's sitting there and I'll click play. And I thought
the first episode was awesome. So I know it's a
hot button topic. Rogers always is. I would say I
get my seal of approval on this. There's a lot
(08:28):
of documentaries I don't mention on here that I don't
think are worth watching. This one is. It did a
nice job, and I think you see a different side
of Rogers. I would also note the Jets, the Bears,
the Saints, they're all going to be in the head
coaching market, but the Jets are the only one who
is doing a full search for general manager as we speak.
(08:49):
You saw the names they've interviewed already. I believe John
Robinson was interviewed, Thomas Demetrov. I don't know if Lewis
Ridicck has had his interview. There's another name that's been
that I've gotten that I don't want to announce that
we'll be interviewing in the next twenty four hours and
you'll see that come out. I'm gonna let the Jets announce.
That's my place to do it. The Jets are interviewing
(09:09):
all the guys now that aren't currently with NFL teams.
Get those done, put the work in, start seeing those,
and then once the NFL regular season is over, I
think the Jets are going to do a really expansive job,
and they're going to be interviewing head coaches and gms
almost simultaneously, which is an interesting way to go about this.
But they want to make sure they uncover every rock
(09:29):
and uncover every stone, and make sure that they speak
to every possible person who can build that team back.
The interesting side of it is the Rogers aspect of it.
And I'm telling you, this guy's playing good football now.
The last two weeks he's looked really good, and Devonte
Adams looks really good, and they're both under contract for
next year. And I don't know what the alternative is.
(09:52):
If you're the New York Jets, are you definitely cutting
Rogers and cutting Devonte Adams and eating these giant cap
pits for what reason? Both those guys are playing well.
They have three weeks left, don't be surprised if Rogers
plays himself back onto this roster. And I would think
that a general manager and a coach would have a
(10:13):
significant say whether Rogers is back or not. But they
have three weeks, Rogers and Adams to show and give
the Jets fan base and the owners just enough taste
that they might want to bring it back one more time,
whether Jets fans want to hear that or not. Speaking
of the Jets, wasn't it interesting that Diana Russini came
(10:34):
out on Saturday with that article and that little nugget
that Belichick reached out to New York I found it fascinating.
I did a little bit of research on it, and
I've learned that it wasn't Woody Johnson, who I don't
think Belichick ever wants to speak with for whatever reason,
I don't know the binoxus of that, but does not
rot like or appreciate Woody Johnson. But he went to
Mike Tannebaum and he inquired whether the Jets would want
(10:55):
to interview him, and they went back and forth. I
think they had multiple conversations, and it just didn't seem
the timing was right because the Jets. They want to
do a full search and meet with everybody, and they
really can't do that until after the season. But I
thought that was a nice little extra wrinkled with this
Belichick thing, and I thought there was plenty more on
the play wear meat on the bone to Belichick. So
I wanted to call up Seth Wickersham, who had the
(11:16):
best article on the entire Belichick to UNC thing immediately
after the decision was made, and I thought he was
pretty good on Bill Simmons last week. Figured let's bring
Seth back on and let's really dig in to what
went down with Belichick, and then at the end of it,
let's talk Rabel a little bit. So with no further ado,
our guest this week is ESPN Seth Wickersham, one of
the better NFL reporters at the gain. Our guest is
(11:47):
one of my favorite people in this little NFL sports
media world. Always so so well researched, so well sourced,
and when he drops an article, it is one of
those where you rush to your phone, you rush to
your computer, and you just absolutely devour it because he's
got stuff that nobody else does. Longtime friend of mine,
(12:07):
mister Seth Wickersham, How are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I'm great. You know, I appreciate that intro. But I
don't know if you know, people rush to read my
stories quite as much as when like Bruce Feldman drops
a story about you, you know that he's been following
you around the Combine for three days. You know, I've
definitely spent three days with Bruce Feldman, but I've never
spent him with him following me around.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So yeah, Seth, you don't hire a publicity firm who
pitches these articles like I did. Know that was not
pitched Seth pitched me that or Bruce pitched me that.
And I was very flattered to do something for the
athletic around the Combine, which you know is still one
of the unminded, amazing places that somehow in a twenty
(12:51):
four to seven HBO Netflix documentary world, How has there
not been an all access Combine show yet? Done? I
have no idea.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Well, like if they ever did, like the stampede of
people rushing out of Prime into whatever bar no cameras
were at, would be you know, that would be the show.
But man, I mean it is interesting right because the Combine.
Of course, when I started going ESPN sent me maybe
(13:20):
my second or third year that I was hired, and
you know, there was like twenty people there, and it
was at the old Convention Center, and it was always
this really bizarre scene where there was always this like
cheerleading competition and so there was like all these cheerleading
teams around, these autograph hounds and scouts and reporters and gms.
(13:42):
It was just a very odd scene. Now it's a
little bit more formal, thank goodness, but you know it is.
It is interesting just how it's like changed over the years,
and as its popularity has grown, you almost find like
there's a there's an opposite reaction in terms of how
much teams get out of it.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, and so many of the coaches that we deal
with have just decided we're not going to go Like
I don't think McVeigh gone the last five years, Kyle
Shanahan doesn't go slid ever went as a Jets coach.
Matt Lafleur doesn't go like a lot of these guys
like I don't need to be at a bar until
two in the morning and see my quarterbacks coach talking
to a reporter like that's not something I'm looking for,
(14:22):
And yet you know we're mutual I guess not friends,
but like we both did with Sean Payton, Jean Payton
loves it. It is like the whole team's going and
we're gonna get in the mix, and this is where
you're gonna make connections and the combine is incredible. I
want to have you on because you were so good
with an article this week right after Belichick announced the
UNC move, and then you went on Bill Simmons last Friday,
(14:44):
and I thought we were just scratching the surface, and
you and I now that it's a weaker move, we
can really dig in. My take all along was Belichick
loves to coach, wants to coach, and there was no
sure thing waiting for him in the NFL. And when
Mike Lombardi, who's the general manager of the UNC program,
really behind the scenes, was working the lines on Bill's behalf,
(15:06):
presented this one as a possibility. It happened pretty fast,
and Diana Russini had the art had the report on
Saturday that shook everyone that Bill talked to the Jets.
I came out Sunday and said, well, Bill reached out
to Mike Tannabaum. He didn't call Woody Johnson so that
there's no love loss there and reached out to Tannebaum
and said, before I take this job with UNC, like
(15:27):
do we want to even go down this road? And
Tanna Ban's like, well, we're going to do a full
search and we can't even do that until January, and
Bill took the offer in hand. So the narrative out
of the Belichick camp has been and you wrote about
it so eloquently. It's his few to the league like
I'm moving on, I'm doing it my way and I
don't need the NFL. But so that could be too. Yeah,
(15:48):
there could be two truths, right, Like, I don't think
the NFL was banging out his door either. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
It was really a fascinating turn. And I think that
you know, you said he wanted to coach. He was
going to coach in twenty twenty five. I mean that
was his message all along. He was going to coach,
and so whether that was at Wesleyan or for the
Jacksonville Jaguars, he was going to coach in twenty twenty five.
And I think that the way that the college game
(16:17):
kind of crept up on him, I think was a
surprise to everybody. But in some ways it makes sense.
I think that, Like I'm not convinced by the way
that he wouldn't have gott an offer from the Jacksonville Jaguars,
but I think that.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
But he would have had to have waited for it,
and that might not been in the dealing with a
father so ownership group. Again, it might not have been
what he was looking for well.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
And he's always had a good relationship with Tony Cohn,
I think. But I think that like when you when
you look at things a year ago and Vanatta and
Jeremy Fower and I reported on it in April, you know,
he was going to fit himself to fit, to adapt
to whatever situation he could get right. He wasn't asking
for total control. He was open to working with exixty infrastructure.
(17:01):
I think that as he spent a year out of coaching,
he became a little bit more heart in in the
fact that like, if I'm to do this, I really
want to do it my way and spend my last
you know years coaching surrounded by people that I'm philosophically
aligned with, and you know, was what what jobs out
there were the right fit? You know, I don't think
the Giants were a right fit. I think that he
(17:22):
thinks that Brian Daball should continue in that job. As
a matter of fact, the Bears are probably the best paid,
you know, the best fit on paper. But like he
he wasn't going to get that job Jacksonville. Even if
you know, he gets along with Tony Kahan, even if
what Blake Embardi said on his podcast has some validity
and gets along with shod Cohn, you know, you don't
(17:46):
have to be a very astute member or listener to
his podcast to realize that he is far from sold
on Trevor Lawren. And what do you how do you
run a program like Belichick runs it if you've got
a quarterback who he's thinks the jury's out on in
terms of being a franchise quarterback, you know, with that
type of contract. And so when North Carolina came up,
(18:07):
I think it afforded him the space to do things
his way. But you know, that deal came, you know,
it took a week to get it done, and I
think that he was willing to walk away, and I
think that they were willing to walk away also, And
it was tenuous at times, and still it is kind
of it is going to be weird seeing him in
(18:29):
college because he just he spent his entire professional life
since he graduated from Wesleyan in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I think a lot of us are doing flips and
trying to now look at it in hindsight, like it
actually makes a ton of sense. And Edelman's on My
Show with Me on Sundays and he went on. Aaron
Lombardi actually tweeted out Edelman's video today, which makes me
think it was looked as like a ringing endorsement. But
Julian said, this is the most surprising thing in the world.
But now that I think about it, he loves coaching
football North Carolina. There's a connection to his father, He's
(18:59):
connected to history, and like this is another thing he
could say, like I built up UNC football and look
what I did. I did this. It's an actual accomplishment.
I still the day to day to me of dealing
with these kids. There's a great disconnect there because football
IQ wise, to me, Belichick's got I still don't know
(19:20):
if he's got the patients and the desire to deal
with eighteen year old kids. Nil and that whole world.
Now everyone tells me I'm wrong and he's gonna build
this thing. But like Seth, we've covered him for years,
like he's got no patience for both, and there's all
both all over college football.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
There's a lot. And I also think that, like you know,
he wasn't leaving the same NFL that he's worked in
all these years and decades in his opinion, I think,
you know, people every week, he and his former Patriots assistants,
all of whom are are currently unemployed, would get on
zooms and they would focus on teams, games, schematics, any trend,
(19:59):
any detail they could think of. And it's really kind
of an interesting insular group of men who changed football
and we're all out of it. And there is no
question that all year long it was geared towards the NFL.
What jobs might be open, what jobs might be interested
in Bill, and what jobs might he be interested in?
And you know, I reported in my story that he's
(20:21):
disgusted with a lot of the politics in the way
that he sees the NFL having. Right now, I think that, like, ultimately,
you know, he is someone who is there's an accountability
that's that's I think fundamental to his being and coaching
that he sees lacking from a lot of you know,
(20:43):
bad personnel decisions, bad draft decisions, coaching, whatever it might
be that's in the NFL. And it felt weird. Honestly,
I don't know how you felt, but it felt odd
to me to watch him explaining these game management situations
that coaches this year have screwed up, and he seems
so frustrated whenever he does it. And it's also like
(21:03):
he's had this stuff down cold for twenty years. He's
explaining these elemental mistakes that coaches are making as he's
out of the game. But yeah, now he's going to
be in college. I went back and I watched the
documentary that was on HBO that was he did with
Nick Saban, Yeah, and I think it was called The
Art of Coaching, and at one point they talk about
(21:24):
the things that are unique to college, and of course
that's pre nil and pre portal, but you know, there's
a little bit of a glimpse there and like the
challenge that he might like, and that every year in
college you are completely reinventing your new team and you're
playing against teams that have reinvented themselves too. So that's
a huge discrepancy from the NFL, and it wouldn't surprise
(21:46):
me if that's something that he you know, finds very invigoring,
invigorating and takes almost as like a personal challenge this year.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
And there's this other piece that like, yes, he'll coach
circles around some of these other young ACC coaches. There's
this other piece to me that just thinks he just
might want to just be Like it sounds like he
might just want to be happy, and like this is
a it's a low pressure situation. He's going to the
fourth best ACC team, He'll be on primetime television a
(22:16):
couple of times, they'll go they'll either have a great
year or they won't. And it's not like anyone says, say, oh,
Bellichick's you know target like he now it sounds I
mean he's got a let's just say, like he's got
a girlfriend who's twenty four years old who's attached the
hip with him, and like this is a fun new
adventure and a fun new chapter for them. And it's
not the sit in a room in a lab for
twelve hours game planning for you know, Taysom Hill and
(22:39):
how the Saints use him this week. Like I think
this might actually be a happier place for him than
the NFL.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
We'll see, I you know, I think we'll see how
that goes. But I do I do think that of
all the ways that he's going to, you know, all
the ways that he's going to be a presence in
college football, I'm really interested in his schematic presence. You know,
we've seen so many offensive players, especially quarterbacks, come out
(23:08):
of college with just insane statistics. And we know all
the reasons why the hash marks, the space, the air raid,
you know, all the ways that they figured out to
turn you know, quarterbacks who even weren't repiably recruited out
of high school turn into college stars and then kind
of turn into you know, players who can't stay along,
stay can't stay long, very very long, if at all.
(23:30):
In the NFL. I'm really interesting to see how he's
going to shut those offenses down from a defensive perspective,
and and you know, will North Carolina get you know,
the top talent. I mean, that's one of the things
that we always talk about. One of the big differences
between college and pro football is that like a lot
of college players play against, you know, teams that don't
(23:51):
have the top talent whereas in the NFL it's quite
a bit different. You know, how much will he be
able to scheme, what will be the players that he
needs that he doesn't quite have yet. All that stuff
will be fascinating.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
I'm not going to the name of the individual, but
I have a friend who's a former NFL player who's
got a really talented high school athlete football player, And
I asked him, I said, knowing what Belichick is as
a coach, like that, is that an advantage would you
send your kid? He said, well, how much is the
nil money? With a laugh? Like I think this feeling
(24:24):
that that Belichick's gonna sit down and that these players
of a different generation and these parents of a different generation,
parents are in their forties, of these college kids, like,
are they going to necessarily say, well that, okay, my
son just got to the highest level in high school.
They're throwing around millions of dollars to go to Ohio
State and go to Florida and these great SEC programs, Like,
but I want him to be more disciplined and learn
(24:46):
about time management and become the best technically sound football player.
Is that an appealing pitch? I I don't remember. I'm
too young to remember Bill Walsh's return to Stanford, but
I did a lot of work looking at that he
did three years after the Niners when he came out
of retirement, and the first year went really well and
then the last two years did not. They're like, I don't
I don't know, Like, do you think the young high
(25:07):
school athlete who's a star in Florida and Texas wants
to go be coached really hard by Bill Belichick? I
don't know if that's true.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah, not all of them. But I do think he
is a bigger pool and you know, his his name
recognition I do think will matter. I think that, like
you know, there's gonna be certain schools that will just
bid for players and he'll never really those guys will
never consider North Carolina. So, given what's left, can he
(25:35):
put together a winning team? That's gonna be one of
his big and most fascinating challenges. I thought it was interesting,
you know, he talked about the pipeline into the NFL
and feeling assured that he has you know, NFL contacts,
you know that he can vouch for his players, for
those who indeed have an NFL future. That will be
(25:57):
fascinating to watch too, because you know, the teams that
pick them the Belichick type player. You know, remember he
had a couple of thin drafts there, of course in
the middle of his time in New England, and a
lot of it was because so many people who are
running teams in the NFL had come out of that
building and there was a premium on that player, whereas
(26:17):
for years it was really just the Patriots looking for
that type of guy. So it'll be interesting to see
what teams draft out of North Carolina. Is it, you know,
the Harbas, you know, people that he has good relationships with,
you know, day Ball. If he ends up staying with
the Giants, obviously McVeigh came out and said that, you know,
he would definitely be looking at North Carolina players more doubt.
(26:41):
The NFL has shifted, I mean, you know, it happens
all the time, but it's transitioned to a new group
of coaches and those guys have studied Belichick and are
trying to take some of his lessons and lessons that
they've learned throughout the year from other places and evolved
it in their own way. So it'll be interesting to see,
like how that all fits in and does.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
He utilize that alumni base of players. Now, look, Brady
and him will play together for twenty years. When he
was prompted with a story about Belichick, it wasn't exactly
a glowing one on Sunday on the broadcast. I know
Belichick will get Brady's vote of a proove, Like what
do he have? I mean, Belichick is so much pride.
Is he gonna call Gronk and Belichick and ask them
to like talk to players like Jed Fish used to
(27:26):
fly in Teddy Bruski and Rob Gronkowski and have them
speak to the play I can't imagine without those guys
just openly volunteering, Belichick begging for favors from these players.
It's just not in his nature.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I think that like a lot
of powerful people will come through North Carolina just based
on its athletic history and just the power of the university,
and he'll bring it. He'll usher in those people also.
But again it goes back to like the type of player.
You know, a lot of these guys weren't born when
he was beginning to revolutionize Pro football and winning Super
(28:00):
bowls with the Patriots. And again, this will be one
of the most fascinating challenges. I mean, we haven't seen
this even when Bill Walsh came back, you know, he
had been out of the game for a little bit.
I think that like he wasn't coming back to necessarily
win championships. And you know, Belichick has has one gear,
(28:20):
and that's he expects to win every single game. And
you know he coaches and prepares and studies like his self.
Worth is at risk with what happens on Sundays, and
it has led to some of the most brilliant football
decisions and best games in NFL history. It at times
(28:42):
has been spectacularly unhealthy. But that's how he's wired. And
I don't I think that like being out of the
game for a year has indulled those instincts in him.
If anything, it's sharpened him.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I can't. I Before we move on from Belichick, the
Jets story did make a lot of waves here in
New York just because of how much he hates the Jets.
And that's assumed and that's not like that was not
leaked by them. They did not share that. Like that
story gets out. I'm trying to think of the mastermind
of Belichick and Lombardi and like how that story even
gets put out there, that there was a phone call
(29:27):
made and was the intention to embarrass the Jets that
they weren't even willing to interview him? Like, what what
do you make of Bill Belichick, who openly hates the
New York Jets ownership and openly hates that New York Jets'
logo would proactively call on his own behalf to inquire
about a coaching position.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yeah, well, I have a lot of respect for Diana,
so she can speak to you know, how she reported
the site.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
I wasn't even asking who gave it to her. The
fact that it even happens to me is amazing. And
then yeah, like where does that and the fact that
the story is seated out there? What was the intention?
And I don't know, I'm fascinated by the mental gymnastics
of it all.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah, And it's interesting because this year we got a
little bit of a glimpse of spicy Belichick. Right, he
was never going to go you know, full staff meeting
where he could just be ruthless and criticism of opposing
coaches players, whoever it might be his critiques. But you know,
this year we got a little glimpse of it when
he did the Maning cast Atlanta Falcons game. You know,
(30:26):
he was very critical of their defense. You know, that
was obviously the team that didn't hire him and didn't
place him in their top three candidates, according to our
story in April. And then you know, when Sala was fired,
and I think that everybody around the league, no matter
what you think about Sala as a head coach, saw
(30:47):
the timing and the rationale for that is just beyond inexplicable.
I mean, I get that they needed a sparkle, man,
my god, you know, but clearly he took issue with that,
and I thought that was really interesting, not only because
he had his ready fire aim line, you know, ready
(31:07):
to go, which he deployed it on a couple different
of his many media platforms, you know, but he had
the coaches back, and you know, Sola's Jets have played
the Patriots really hard and at times, you know, you
saw the difference in those games as being the Jets
horrific offensive production. And so that he would have a
conversation through Tannenbaum about the Jets. I mean, there's so
(31:30):
many interesting factors there, especially because tannonbamb was the main
person who blew the whistle on spygate, Mangini for the Jets,
and of course the Jets hired Tanne bomb back after
they fire him to conduct the search. But I think
he just needed to make sure that he has a
lot of respect for Aaron Rodgers. Obviously he you know,
he's been complimentary of some of the players on that team.
(31:52):
I think he just needed to make sure that there
wasn't one of those Mike Shanahan situations where we're going
to hire you, but we can't say it now.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah, And I do think that, like I do think
that Brian Flores lawsuit has played a factor in this.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I don't know what's the connection there.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Well, because owners do not want to communicate be well,
they don't want to be subpoena again. They don't want
to be part of this. This is a go down
league in three teams. They don't want to make it
four or five, six, seven teams, especially about a coach
that they're not completely convinced of. I think for a
while I was thinking that maybe this year would be
(32:27):
where teams were firing coaches early to get first first
crack at Belichick the way they did for Mike Shanahan
when he went to Washington. But the landscape has changed
and owners just cannot be on record in any way,
shape or form saying, you know, we're going to hire Bill,
but first we have to go through this thrill. They
just cannot do it.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
It's fascinating, you know, and it's It's also what put
the Jets in a bind. Even if they wanted to
meet with Belichick, they were seidfast that they cannot do
anything until the end of the season. He had the
North Carolina thing in his back pocket. Now, what's interesting.
Lombardi is obviously a big part of this, and if
you know Micha Lombardi from his many media things, he's
also former NFLGM. He's on staff. Freddi Kinchins is on
(33:08):
staff in rapport referenced Scott Turner, Norf's kid who's currently
oca the Raiders. He might be in there, but like
I assume the next day, Steven Belichick, Matt Patricia, Mick Lombardi,
Josh McDaniels been like, it hasn't happened so fast. So
I'm also interesting to see what staff he brings along
and where that is all at, because I assumed he
(33:30):
was bringing the whole, the whole dream team with him,
but the guys who are on the zoom calls, but
they haven't yet.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
He hasn't yet, And I think that some of that
will probably shake out in the next week. I think
that for the first week they were recruiting, you know,
I think they were like using this way for what
it could And I think that like in the next
couple of weeks, he'll fill out that staff. And I'm
fascinated to see like what he wants to do. I mean,
there are things schematically you can do in college that
are just harder to do in the NFL. And he
(33:58):
is going to keep the Dabo Sweeneys of the world
on their toes. I mean, remember when I think it
was a Monday night game that they play the Bills
in Buffalo. It might have been like a really bad
weather game, didn't.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Pun and it didn't pass. They only they attempts, you know,
exactly three attempts.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Yes, I mean I could see that that card, you know,
that that club in the bag being taken out at
various points where he basically just runs the entire game
and puts no passes on film. Whatever it might be, Like,
I said, I think that from a schematic standpoint, we
might be underappreciating just how fun this season might be
really quick.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Do you have any insight on Vrabel and what he's
up to and what the words are there?
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Well, I think that I can tell you that, like
when Rabel didn't get a job last year either, in
some ways it was more surprising than Belichick because of
how successful he's been, and obviously he had run out
of champions in Tennessee. And they bring in, you know,
the kind of different regime, one that we're kind of
(35:01):
used to seeing where you kind of switch directions from
more of a hard asked to someone who you know
is more in the.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Quarterback Friday collaboratory, and like, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
They've lost something. I mean, that team isn't as tough
as they used to be, as they were a year ago.
You know, Will Levis Rabel knew how to protect quarterbacks,
he knew how to win in the playoffs, not relying
on the quarterback. And I think that that Will was
in a better situation a year ago than he has
been this year. Even though Brian Callahan, you know, might
(35:34):
end up being a really good coach. So I think
that he will definitely be. I interviewed a lot. Now
where does he land? Does the NFL want someone like him? Again?
It's like it kind of goes back to that thing
that Belichick was talking about and some of the things
I reported in my article where it's like, you know,
what does the NFL become? And you know, I don't
(35:56):
know where it lands for him. I mean, I think
he's an excellent coach. I think he's He's one of
the few total head coaches in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
He's not out, can walk into any room and talk
to any position group.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
He's not a glorified coordinator. And like, I just go
back to that game where his Titans beat Brady and
Belichick's Patriots, and what turned out to be their last
game together, where the fourth quarters coming up, the Titans
have to punt at midfield and you're thinking, here we
go again, Brady's getting get the ball, four passes to
Edelman and the game's over, And instead he deployed that
(36:27):
rule loophole that belichickainst the Jets earlier this year, where
earlier that year where he just melted the clock and
Bill went nuts on the other sideline. You watched him
do it he was so angry, and that to me
showed someone who really studies coaching well and hard and
was sophisticated and confident enough to pull that out at
(36:49):
the exact moment where it would work. You just don't
see that from a lot of coaches. And like, in
my opinion, he should be in the league.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
And I would go to a Sunday night in Kansas
City two years ago when he had Maline Willis and
they took him to overtime, and I think Willis through
for eighty yards and he went to to Toway. Rabel
is a great coach, but it's not ex's and o's,
it's necessarily personalities. And whereas Rahie Morris and Brian Callahan
are maybe a little more digestible for the building than
(37:18):
Mike Rabel, who could be a threat because he comes
in with, hey, I know how to do this, let
me kind of run point. Not everyone wants to see
the power anymore.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
No, there's no doubt. And I think that, like you know,
work isn't always fun, you know when you're working for
Bill Belichick or you're working for Brabel, but they always
come back and you know, talk about the fun is
in the winning and that's where you get the joy
you see Brady. Remember when Brady left, I mean he
wanted something new. I mean he was fed up with
(37:48):
that system. And of course he goes from like you know,
Harvard to Florida State Internation of Culture. Right, and then
you saw what happened earlier this year when when Baker Mayfield,
you know, talked about how when he came to Tampa,
he kind of provided that levity and levity and like
kind of helped put people at ease and made it
a little bit more jovial and Belichick Brady responded like
(38:11):
would Yeah, he said, I find joy and winning. You know,
that's exactly something that Belichick would have said.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Yeah. All right, So September is a faraways away and
we're literally nine months in advance. But I know you've
been sitting down with all these quarterback legends, and I
have read all your books and all your articles, and
I know you're in the midst of putting to bed
a book that you've been putting a lot of time into.
Can you tell us about the project that you've been
working on and how he can order it ahead of
(38:38):
time so I could read it when the season starts.
In September.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Yeah, thanks man. So I've been working on my second book.
It's called American Kings. It's a biography of the quarterback.
And I really spend a lot of time getting into
this unique, you know, American job with very unique responsibilities
and roles. I get into it with legends like Elway
and Moon, and you know, guys who want to be
(39:01):
legends like Arch Manning and the entire Manning family and
Caleb Williams, and even guys who are no longer alive
and their families like the United family, the Waterfield family.
What I'm trying to do here is get at every
facet of what this job builds in these guys, what
it strips away, what it's like to do, the parts
(39:23):
of it that they love, what they hate, and how
it came to be. You know, how how did this
weird job of throwing this football come to be celebrated
on a level where you know, Peyton Manning is on
stage with Larry David and their their cultural peers and
the answer goes back to eighteen eighty five, interestingly enough.
But and then, you know, I spend a lot of
(39:46):
time in the book talking about what it's like to
have done this job at a high level and be
a Hall of Famer and live with that the rest
of your life and the ways that it gives you
blessings and the ways that it's incompatible with regular life.
So I'm really trying to tell a story about this
job that people care about. That's the hardest job to
do in sports in a new way, and I hopefully
did that. But yeah, you can pre order it anywhere
(40:08):
you get books. It'll be out in September. I will
be bugging you to be on your podcast again at
that point, but I really appreciate the books.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
On a napkin. If you have to write how many
quarterbacks you spoke to, what would be the number?
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Oh man, I have a map on my wall of
the country and I have like little note with each
one of them. I mean it was at least thirty.
There's a lot of guys who you know, I spent
a lot of time with. You get their moment on stage,
but they're not on stage the way that like in
l Way or a moon or those.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Types of Give me an example, like are we talking
like a Josh McCown, like a case Keno. I mean.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
I mean everywhere from like you know Kirk Cousins, you know,
he won the Athletes and Action Award two years ago
at the Super Bowl for his faith, and I kind
of wanted to know exactly ways that faith helps you
with this job, not in the trite kind of like,
you know, thank you God for this touchdown passway, but
(41:04):
in a real way, like.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
How it helps you devoting yourself and how that really
plays a role. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Absolutely, because all these guys, you know, they're all trying
to control a job that they can't control, and they
all need some sort of outlet, whether it's you know,
beer or social media or Tom Brady avocado ice cream, yeah,
whatever it might be. And for Kirk Cousins, it's religion.
So I really wanted to understand that on the deepest
level that I possibly could.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
I can't. It's such a mountain of a project. I
would think you can do a full book on any
of those top quarterbacks if you tell me you're doing
a Warren Moon book and Seth Chrisham's writing it like
I'm reading it three undred pages, so to see how
you weave all their stories into one, I can't wait.
And I know you've been working on it, dude. Thank
you for joining me. This is so good, and we'll
both be at a UNC football game next year.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
I'm certain, definitely i'll see you, man. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Good stuff from Seth. I will be getting that book
and we will have them on again. And I started
thinking about all the different quarterbacks I speak to, and
they're so different. To write a book on the quarterback position,
I feel like you could do a six hundred chapter
book and be like, here's the Jim Everett chapter, here's
the Bobby Abar chapter, Here's the Michael Vick chapter. Oh,
and we also spoke to Chris Chandler and here's Greg McElroy. Like,
(42:25):
I don't know how you make a book out of
the quarterback position, but if anyone could do it, it's Seth.
And I can't wait to see what he gets. And
Elway doesn't do a lot of media, so I'm fascinating
to hear what he got from Elway. The season with
Peter Schrager Delivering Results is presented by Uber Eats, and
it's time for delivering results presented by Uber Eats, and
I would like to give the award for the best
(42:46):
performance to a Tampa Bay buccaneer named Mike Evans. Evans
had nine catches for one hundred and fifty nine yards
and two touchdowns, and did it against the number one
rated defense in the league, the LA Chargers, and a
must win for the Buccaneers last week. Evan's fantastic. He
goes from you know, not making it even a realist,
(43:06):
sick possibility for him to get a thousand yards this
season in the last two weeks, has these two huge
games that now all he's got to do is average
eighty five yards over the next three seasons and he'll
get his eleventh straight one thousand yard season, the best
start to any NFL career. I have long said that
Mike Evans is a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He's
just never discussed in his conversations as the best wide
receiver in the sport. Just every year puts up the numbers.
(43:30):
Mike Evans did it when they matters most, and he'll
do it again this weekend. It's just what he does
that was delivering results. He done about Uber Eats, where
you can get the best deals on game day food
all season long. It's the official on demand delivery partner
of the NFL. Order Now good week ahead again, weird
Thursday night decision from Sean pay and he's like, I
(43:50):
want to play on Thursday night. I want my guys
to be in primetime, despite the fact he could have
waived that and stayed on Sunday due to the NFL bylaws,
but he said, give me a second road Thursday night
game and then let's take a nice long break after that.
That's your Thursday night game, and then two big ones
on Saturday, Chiefs versus Texans and Ravens versus Steelers, and
(44:12):
then those two teams will mix it up. Those four
teams will mix it up, and they all play again
on Christmas. I believe we'll be doing a pod next week.
Try to find the right time to do it. But
in the meantime, go enjoy your holiday shopping and get
ready for the airport and the train station and the
bus terminal. It'll be chaos. Enjoy the football, everybody. The
(44:38):
Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL
and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.
The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, Everybody, Welcome to
another episode of the Season with Peter Schrager on Peter
(00:27):
Schrager host Good Morning Football on NFL Network Monday to Friday,
and you can see me on Sundays on Fox NFL Kickoff.
And there's been a lot of talk about Patrick Mahomes
over the last few days and his ankle and whether
he's gonna go. And I just find it so fascinating
because this year's NFL schedule plays out unlike any other
(00:50):
year we've had in the past. The NFL really dropped
a major, major fork in the road here with this
Christmas Day slate on Wednesday, December twenty fifth. And I
say that becase because it affected the weeks prior and
after in the NFL schedule and playoff seedings. You see,
(01:13):
by putting a game on a Wednesday for the first
time ever in NFL history, you end up really running
the risk of player safety and proper rest. And you
had to pair teams together that we're gonna have the
same amount of time off and the same amount of
time in preparation and the same amount of days in advance,
which means if you're gonna do two games, that's four teams.
(01:34):
It just so happens. The NFL was gonna go big
swinging here because Netflix is now the NFL partner, and
you're not gonna throw Jaguars, Titans and Saints Panthers on
Christmas Day. You're gonna go big ticket. So the NFL
wanted to give us Lamar, they wanted to give us Mahomes,
and they wanted to give us worthy opponents. Well, the Steelers,
they were always relevant, that's one of them. The Texans
(01:56):
have a cool story in CJ. Stroud and Miko Ryance.
Let's throw them in there too. Just so happens. These
are four of the best teams in the NFL, and
they're four of the top teams in the AFC. And
now they and they begin this little miniature tournament where
the two matchups are spread across two weeks and they
play each other before the actual AFC playoffs. Hear me out,
(02:19):
Let me detail this all as I record this on
a Wednesday. All right, you have seven teams in the
AFC playoff picture right now, and it's almost solidified with
Denver's win over Indianapolis. Now, a few weeks back, the
NFL went to flex programming with their Thursday night situation,
and Sean Payton said, sure, we'll waive that we don't
(02:41):
have to play two road Thursday night games. We'll play
on a Thursday night. The NFL said, let's move Chargers
Broncos to Thursday of week sixteen, and let's move Bengals
Browns back to the Sunday schedule. Fine, that's out. Now
you have six teams that are currently in the playoff
picture playing on Thursday and Saturday of this week in
(03:04):
the AFC. You have a Thursday night Chargers versus Broncos
game where both these teams are playing on five days
rest and are coming in weary and coming in banged
up playing against each other on Thursday night. Then you
have a Saturday slate which is six days rest, that
features Mahomes versus the Texans in in Arrowhead or I'm sorry, yes,
(03:28):
in Arrowhead. And then you have Ravens versus Steelers at
four point thirty with TJ. Watt all sorts of banged
up going on a short rest playing against the hated Ravens,
which could end up being the determinant for the AFC
North title. When it's all set and done, then these
guys have four days rest and those four teams play again.
You have Mahomes playing against the Steelers in the early
(03:52):
window on Christmas in Pittsburgh in the cold weather. So
Mahomes and TJ. Watt both injured last week. How do
they play over the next few weeks. We'll have to
play that out. And then you have in the night
cap in the afternoon on Christmas, you have Techans versus Ravens.
All right, let's just let's just on its surface. Mahomes
(04:15):
that ankle injury, but probably could play on Saturday. That's
a short week. Do you play Mahomes on a short
week up against Will Anderson, Daniil Hunter and the second
most sacks in the league in the Houston Texans Front seven.
Last decision you have to make. Do you save Mahomes
knowing you've got four days rest and then you're gonna
(04:36):
be playing Wednesday against Pittsburgh and you're gonna be doing
it on the road in cold weather and you need
these wins. These are decisions that are not standard because
it's not the typical week sixteen, we play on a Sunday.
Week seventeen, we play in a Sunday. Week eighteen, we
play in a Sunday. What's fascinating is that six of
the top seven teams in the AFC have these unorthodox
(04:58):
schedules the next few days Thursday night game on short
rest for two of them, and then this bizarre new
age doing what we can to service everybody Saturday Wednesday
situation for for the teams. I say all this to
point to Buffalo. Who do the Bills have over the
(05:18):
next few weeks. Well, the Bills, they had their gauntlet
National Television Sunday, lost to the Rams, National Television Sunday
on the road, beat the Lions. Now the Bills. While
those teams beat up on each other and have to
pick each other off and look at the scoreboard and
(05:39):
figure out or we played the Bills. It worked out perfectly.
The Bills play the Patriots, the Jets, and the Patriots,
barring a major spoiler or the Bills just completely overlooking
one of these games and resting on their laurels, the
Bills should be able to take care of business and
close out the AFC East and win three games on
(06:00):
Sundays on full weeks and have the ability to watch
these other teams pick each other off the Bills, And
it's no blame to the NFL, it's no blame to Netflix,
it's no blame to the schedule makers. You could have
never predicted it working out this way. But with six
of the seven top teams in the AFC all facing
off in the next few days, and some of those
(06:20):
teams doing twice against major fun, it's almost like this
mini AFC tournament that just doesn't include Buffalo. I don't
think the Patriots can beat the Bills. I don't think
the Jets, even with Rogers looking resurgent, can beat the Bills.
I think the Buffalo Bills, whether they have the one
seed because the Chiefs lost two times and gave up
(06:40):
that one seed that they had, or as the two seed,
will come in rested, will come in ready to go,
and we'll come in with a clear advantage over these
other teams, six of them that had to beat up
on each other for the Week sixteen and potentially Week
seventeen slates. Maybe I'm being overly dramatic about it, and
(07:01):
I'm just trying to look too far into it, but
I think that's the analysis you're looking for. Six of
the time, seven teams all will play each other on
short weeks in the next two weeks, two of them
doing so two weeks in a row. Meanwhile, Buffalo plays
two of the worst teams in the NFL on a
regular schedule Sunday Sunday Sunday. I don't know if the
(07:23):
betting markets have been adjusted based on any of this.
I think Kansas City has a gauntlet coming up playing
with an injured Mahomes against Houston or Carson Wentz against Houston,
then traveling to Pittsburgh on a short week, and then
finishing up with Denver. I think that's a lot more
difficult than what Buffalo has with Patriots, Jets, Patriots. Something
to consider as I'm someone who picked Kansas City to
(07:46):
go to the Super Bowl and win it all again.
I don't know if I'm getting a little nervous considering
what they have at the end of the schedule based
on their opponents the Buffalo Bills, who I assume they
will face when it matters most in the AFC playoffs.
Real quick, I watched the first episode of the Rogers
documentary Enigma. I really liked it. I thought it was
(08:07):
really good. If I can give an endorsement, I would
say watch it. I went in one of those saying
it's not a must watch, but I will give it
a watch because it's on Netflix and it's football, and
it's sitting there and I'll click play. And I thought
the first episode was awesome. So I know it's a
hot button topic. Rogers always is. I would say I
get my seal of approval on this. There's a lot
(08:28):
of documentaries I don't mention on here that I don't
think are worth watching. This one is. It did a
nice job, and I think you see a different side
of Rogers. I would also note the Jets, the Bears,
the Saints, they're all going to be in the head
coaching market, but the Jets are the only one who
is doing a full search for general manager as we speak.
(08:49):
You saw the names they've interviewed already. I believe John
Robinson was interviewed, Thomas Demetrov. I don't know if Lewis
Ridicck has had his interview. There's another name that's been
that I've gotten that I don't want to announce that
we'll be interviewing in the next twenty four hours and
you'll see that come out. I'm gonna let the Jets announce.
That's my place to do it. The Jets are interviewing
(09:09):
all the guys now that aren't currently with NFL teams.
Get those done, put the work in, start seeing those,
and then once the NFL regular season is over, I
think the Jets are going to do a really expansive job,
and they're going to be interviewing head coaches and gms
almost simultaneously, which is an interesting way to go about this.
But they want to make sure they uncover every rock
(09:29):
and uncover every stone, and make sure that they speak
to every possible person who can build that team back.
The interesting side of it is the Rogers aspect of it.
And I'm telling you, this guy's playing good football now.
The last two weeks he's looked really good, and Devonte
Adams looks really good, and they're both under contract for
next year. And I don't know what the alternative is.
(09:52):
If you're the New York Jets, are you definitely cutting
Rogers and cutting Devonte Adams and eating these giant cap
pits for what reason? Both those guys are playing well.
They have three weeks left, don't be surprised if Rogers
plays himself back onto this roster. And I would think
that a general manager and a coach would have a
(10:13):
significant say whether Rogers is back or not. But they
have three weeks, Rogers and Adams to show and give
the Jets fan base and the owners just enough taste
that they might want to bring it back one more time,
whether Jets fans want to hear that or not. Speaking
of the Jets, wasn't it interesting that Diana Russini came
(10:34):
out on Saturday with that article and that little nugget
that Belichick reached out to New York I found it fascinating.
I did a little bit of research on it, and
I've learned that it wasn't Woody Johnson, who I don't
think Belichick ever wants to speak with for whatever reason,
I don't know the binoxus of that, but does not
rot like or appreciate Woody Johnson. But he went to
Mike Tannebaum and he inquired whether the Jets would want
(10:55):
to interview him, and they went back and forth. I
think they had multiple conversations, and it just didn't seem
the timing was right because the Jets. They want to
do a full search and meet with everybody, and they
really can't do that until after the season. But I
thought that was a nice little extra wrinkled with this
Belichick thing, and I thought there was plenty more on
the play wear meat on the bone to Belichick. So
I wanted to call up Seth Wickersham, who had the
(11:16):
best article on the entire Belichick to UNC thing immediately
after the decision was made, and I thought he was
pretty good on Bill Simmons last week. Figured let's bring
Seth back on and let's really dig in to what
went down with Belichick, and then at the end of it,
let's talk Rabel a little bit. So with no further ado,
our guest this week is ESPN Seth Wickersham, one of
the better NFL reporters at the gain. Our guest is
(11:47):
one of my favorite people in this little NFL sports
media world. Always so so well researched, so well sourced,
and when he drops an article, it is one of
those where you rush to your phone, you rush to
your computer, and you just absolutely devour it because he's
got stuff that nobody else does. Longtime friend of mine,
(12:07):
mister Seth Wickersham, How are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I'm great. You know, I appreciate that intro. But I
don't know if you know, people rush to read my
stories quite as much as when like Bruce Feldman drops
a story about you, you know that he's been following
you around the Combine for three days. You know, I've
definitely spent three days with Bruce Feldman, but I've never
spent him with him following me around.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So yeah, Seth, you don't hire a publicity firm who
pitches these articles like I did. Know that was not
pitched Seth pitched me that or Bruce pitched me that.
And I was very flattered to do something for the
athletic around the Combine, which you know is still one
of the unminded, amazing places that somehow in a twenty
(12:51):
four to seven HBO Netflix documentary world, How has there
not been an all access Combine show yet? Done? I
have no idea.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Well, like if they ever did, like the stampede of
people rushing out of Prime into whatever bar no cameras
were at, would be you know, that would be the show.
But man, I mean it is interesting right because the Combine.
Of course, when I started going ESPN sent me maybe
(13:20):
my second or third year that I was hired, and
you know, there was like twenty people there, and it
was at the old Convention Center, and it was always
this really bizarre scene where there was always this like
cheerleading competition and so there was like all these cheerleading
teams around, these autograph hounds and scouts and reporters and gms.
(13:42):
It was just a very odd scene. Now it's a
little bit more formal, thank goodness, but you know it is.
It is interesting just how it's like changed over the years,
and as its popularity has grown, you almost find like
there's a there's an opposite reaction in terms of how
much teams get out of it.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, and so many of the coaches that we deal
with have just decided we're not going to go Like
I don't think McVeigh gone the last five years, Kyle
Shanahan doesn't go slid ever went as a Jets coach.
Matt Lafleur doesn't go like a lot of these guys
like I don't need to be at a bar until
two in the morning and see my quarterbacks coach talking
to a reporter like that's not something I'm looking for,
(14:22):
And yet you know we're mutual I guess not friends,
but like we both did with Sean Payton, Jean Payton
loves it. It is like the whole team's going and
we're gonna get in the mix, and this is where
you're gonna make connections and the combine is incredible. I
want to have you on because you were so good
with an article this week right after Belichick announced the
UNC move, and then you went on Bill Simmons last Friday,
(14:44):
and I thought we were just scratching the surface, and
you and I now that it's a weaker move, we
can really dig in. My take all along was Belichick
loves to coach, wants to coach, and there was no
sure thing waiting for him in the NFL. And when
Mike Lombardi, who's the general manager of the UNC program,
really behind the scenes, was working the lines on Bill's behalf,
(15:06):
presented this one as a possibility. It happened pretty fast,
and Diana Russini had the art had the report on
Saturday that shook everyone that Bill talked to the Jets.
I came out Sunday and said, well, Bill reached out
to Mike Tannabaum. He didn't call Woody Johnson so that
there's no love loss there and reached out to Tannebaum
and said, before I take this job with UNC, like
(15:27):
do we want to even go down this road? And
Tanna Ban's like, well, we're going to do a full
search and we can't even do that until January, and
Bill took the offer in hand. So the narrative out
of the Belichick camp has been and you wrote about
it so eloquently. It's his few to the league like
I'm moving on, I'm doing it my way and I
don't need the NFL. But so that could be too. Yeah,
(15:48):
there could be two truths, right, Like, I don't think
the NFL was banging out his door either. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
It was really a fascinating turn. And I think that
you know, you said he wanted to coach. He was
going to coach in twenty twenty five. I mean that
was his message all along. He was going to coach,
and so whether that was at Wesleyan or for the
Jacksonville Jaguars, he was going to coach in twenty twenty five.
And I think that the way that the college game
(16:17):
kind of crept up on him, I think was a
surprise to everybody. But in some ways it makes sense.
I think that, Like I'm not convinced by the way
that he wouldn't have gott an offer from the Jacksonville Jaguars,
but I think that.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
But he would have had to have waited for it,
and that might not been in the dealing with a
father so ownership group. Again, it might not have been
what he was looking for well.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
And he's always had a good relationship with Tony Cohn,
I think. But I think that like when you when
you look at things a year ago and Vanatta and
Jeremy Fower and I reported on it in April, you know,
he was going to fit himself to fit, to adapt
to whatever situation he could get right. He wasn't asking
for total control. He was open to working with exixty infrastructure.
(17:01):
I think that as he spent a year out of coaching,
he became a little bit more heart in in the
fact that like, if I'm to do this, I really
want to do it my way and spend my last
you know years coaching surrounded by people that I'm philosophically
aligned with, and you know, was what what jobs out
there were the right fit? You know, I don't think
the Giants were a right fit. I think that he
(17:22):
thinks that Brian Daball should continue in that job. As
a matter of fact, the Bears are probably the best paid,
you know, the best fit on paper. But like he
he wasn't going to get that job Jacksonville. Even if
you know, he gets along with Tony Kahan, even if
what Blake Embardi said on his podcast has some validity
and gets along with shod Cohn, you know, you don't
(17:46):
have to be a very astute member or listener to
his podcast to realize that he is far from sold
on Trevor Lawren. And what do you how do you
run a program like Belichick runs it if you've got
a quarterback who he's thinks the jury's out on in
terms of being a franchise quarterback, you know, with that
type of contract. And so when North Carolina came up,
(18:07):
I think it afforded him the space to do things
his way. But you know, that deal came, you know,
it took a week to get it done, and I
think that he was willing to walk away, and I
think that they were willing to walk away also, And
it was tenuous at times, and still it is kind
of it is going to be weird seeing him in
(18:29):
college because he just he spent his entire professional life
since he graduated from Wesleyan in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I think a lot of us are doing flips and
trying to now look at it in hindsight, like it
actually makes a ton of sense. And Edelman's on My
Show with Me on Sundays and he went on. Aaron
Lombardi actually tweeted out Edelman's video today, which makes me
think it was looked as like a ringing endorsement. But
Julian said, this is the most surprising thing in the world.
But now that I think about it, he loves coaching
football North Carolina. There's a connection to his father, He's
(18:59):
connected to history, and like this is another thing he
could say, like I built up UNC football and look
what I did. I did this. It's an actual accomplishment.
I still the day to day to me of dealing
with these kids. There's a great disconnect there because football
IQ wise, to me, Belichick's got I still don't know
(19:20):
if he's got the patients and the desire to deal
with eighteen year old kids. Nil and that whole world.
Now everyone tells me I'm wrong and he's gonna build
this thing. But like Seth, we've covered him for years,
like he's got no patience for both, and there's all
both all over college football.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
There's a lot. And I also think that, like you know,
he wasn't leaving the same NFL that he's worked in
all these years and decades in his opinion, I think,
you know, people every week, he and his former Patriots assistants,
all of whom are are currently unemployed, would get on
zooms and they would focus on teams, games, schematics, any trend,
(19:59):
any detail they could think of. And it's really kind
of an interesting insular group of men who changed football
and we're all out of it. And there is no
question that all year long it was geared towards the NFL.
What jobs might be open, what jobs might be interested
in Bill, and what jobs might he be interested in?
And you know, I reported in my story that he's
(20:21):
disgusted with a lot of the politics in the way
that he sees the NFL having. Right now, I think that, like, ultimately,
you know, he is someone who is there's an accountability
that's that's I think fundamental to his being and coaching
that he sees lacking from a lot of you know,
(20:43):
bad personnel decisions, bad draft decisions, coaching, whatever it might
be that's in the NFL. And it felt weird. Honestly,
I don't know how you felt, but it felt odd
to me to watch him explaining these game management situations
that coaches this year have screwed up, and he seems
so frustrated whenever he does it. And it's also like
(21:03):
he's had this stuff down cold for twenty years. He's
explaining these elemental mistakes that coaches are making as he's
out of the game. But yeah, now he's going to
be in college. I went back and I watched the
documentary that was on HBO that was he did with
Nick Saban, Yeah, and I think it was called The
Art of Coaching, and at one point they talk about
(21:24):
the things that are unique to college, and of course
that's pre nil and pre portal, but you know, there's
a little bit of a glimpse there and like the
challenge that he might like, and that every year in
college you are completely reinventing your new team and you're
playing against teams that have reinvented themselves too. So that's
a huge discrepancy from the NFL, and it wouldn't surprise
(21:46):
me if that's something that he you know, finds very invigoring,
invigorating and takes almost as like a personal challenge this year.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
And there's this other piece that like, yes, he'll coach
circles around some of these other young ACC coaches. There's
this other piece to me that just thinks he just
might want to just be Like it sounds like he
might just want to be happy, and like this is
a it's a low pressure situation. He's going to the
fourth best ACC team, He'll be on primetime television a
(22:16):
couple of times, they'll go they'll either have a great
year or they won't. And it's not like anyone says, say, oh,
Bellichick's you know target like he now it sounds I
mean he's got a let's just say, like he's got
a girlfriend who's twenty four years old who's attached the
hip with him, and like this is a fun new
adventure and a fun new chapter for them. And it's
not the sit in a room in a lab for
twelve hours game planning for you know, Taysom Hill and
(22:39):
how the Saints use him this week. Like I think
this might actually be a happier place for him than
the NFL.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
We'll see, I you know, I think we'll see how
that goes. But I do I do think that of
all the ways that he's going to, you know, all
the ways that he's going to be a presence in
college football, I'm really interested in his schematic presence. You know,
we've seen so many offensive players, especially quarterbacks, come out
(23:08):
of college with just insane statistics. And we know all
the reasons why the hash marks, the space, the air raid,
you know, all the ways that they figured out to
turn you know, quarterbacks who even weren't repiably recruited out
of high school turn into college stars and then kind
of turn into you know, players who can't stay along,
stay can't stay long, very very long, if at all.
(23:30):
In the NFL. I'm really interesting to see how he's
going to shut those offenses down from a defensive perspective,
and and you know, will North Carolina get you know,
the top talent. I mean, that's one of the things
that we always talk about. One of the big differences
between college and pro football is that like a lot
of college players play against, you know, teams that don't
(23:51):
have the top talent whereas in the NFL it's quite
a bit different. You know, how much will he be
able to scheme, what will be the players that he
needs that he doesn't quite have yet. All that stuff
will be fascinating.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
I'm not going to the name of the individual, but
I have a friend who's a former NFL player who's
got a really talented high school athlete football player, And
I asked him, I said, knowing what Belichick is as
a coach, like that, is that an advantage would you
send your kid? He said, well, how much is the
nil money? With a laugh? Like I think this feeling
(24:24):
that that Belichick's gonna sit down and that these players
of a different generation and these parents of a different generation,
parents are in their forties, of these college kids, like,
are they going to necessarily say, well that, okay, my
son just got to the highest level in high school.
They're throwing around millions of dollars to go to Ohio
State and go to Florida and these great SEC programs, Like,
but I want him to be more disciplined and learn
(24:46):
about time management and become the best technically sound football player.
Is that an appealing pitch? I I don't remember. I'm
too young to remember Bill Walsh's return to Stanford, but
I did a lot of work looking at that he
did three years after the Niners when he came out
of retirement, and the first year went really well and
then the last two years did not. They're like, I don't
I don't know, Like, do you think the young high
(25:07):
school athlete who's a star in Florida and Texas wants
to go be coached really hard by Bill Belichick? I
don't know if that's true.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah, not all of them. But I do think he
is a bigger pool and you know, his his name
recognition I do think will matter. I think that, like
you know, there's gonna be certain schools that will just
bid for players and he'll never really those guys will
never consider North Carolina. So, given what's left, can he
(25:35):
put together a winning team? That's gonna be one of
his big and most fascinating challenges. I thought it was interesting,
you know, he talked about the pipeline into the NFL
and feeling assured that he has you know, NFL contacts,
you know that he can vouch for his players, for
those who indeed have an NFL future. That will be
(25:57):
fascinating to watch too, because you know, the teams that
pick them the Belichick type player. You know, remember he
had a couple of thin drafts there, of course in
the middle of his time in New England, and a
lot of it was because so many people who are
running teams in the NFL had come out of that
building and there was a premium on that player, whereas
(26:17):
for years it was really just the Patriots looking for
that type of guy. So it'll be interesting to see
what teams draft out of North Carolina. Is it, you know,
the Harbas, you know, people that he has good relationships with,
you know, day Ball. If he ends up staying with
the Giants, obviously McVeigh came out and said that, you know,
he would definitely be looking at North Carolina players more doubt.
(26:41):
The NFL has shifted, I mean, you know, it happens
all the time, but it's transitioned to a new group
of coaches and those guys have studied Belichick and are
trying to take some of his lessons and lessons that
they've learned throughout the year from other places and evolved
it in their own way. So it'll be interesting to see,
like how that all fits in and does.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
He utilize that alumni base of players. Now, look, Brady
and him will play together for twenty years. When he
was prompted with a story about Belichick, it wasn't exactly
a glowing one on Sunday on the broadcast. I know
Belichick will get Brady's vote of a proove, Like what
do he have? I mean, Belichick is so much pride.
Is he gonna call Gronk and Belichick and ask them
to like talk to players like Jed Fish used to
(27:26):
fly in Teddy Bruski and Rob Gronkowski and have them
speak to the play I can't imagine without those guys
just openly volunteering, Belichick begging for favors from these players.
It's just not in his nature.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I think that like a lot
of powerful people will come through North Carolina just based
on its athletic history and just the power of the university,
and he'll bring it. He'll usher in those people also.
But again it goes back to like the type of player.
You know, a lot of these guys weren't born when
he was beginning to revolutionize Pro football and winning Super
(28:00):
bowls with the Patriots. And again, this will be one
of the most fascinating challenges. I mean, we haven't seen
this even when Bill Walsh came back, you know, he
had been out of the game for a little bit.
I think that like he wasn't coming back to necessarily
win championships. And you know, Belichick has has one gear,
(28:20):
and that's he expects to win every single game. And
you know he coaches and prepares and studies like his self.
Worth is at risk with what happens on Sundays, and
it has led to some of the most brilliant football
decisions and best games in NFL history. It at times
(28:42):
has been spectacularly unhealthy. But that's how he's wired. And
I don't I think that like being out of the
game for a year has indulled those instincts in him.
If anything, it's sharpened him.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I can't. I Before we move on from Belichick, the
Jets story did make a lot of waves here in
New York just because of how much he hates the Jets.
And that's assumed and that's not like that was not
leaked by them. They did not share that. Like that
story gets out. I'm trying to think of the mastermind
of Belichick and Lombardi and like how that story even
gets put out there, that there was a phone call
(29:27):
made and was the intention to embarrass the Jets that
they weren't even willing to interview him? Like, what what
do you make of Bill Belichick, who openly hates the
New York Jets ownership and openly hates that New York Jets'
logo would proactively call on his own behalf to inquire
about a coaching position.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yeah, well, I have a lot of respect for Diana,
so she can speak to you know, how she reported
the site.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
I wasn't even asking who gave it to her. The
fact that it even happens to me is amazing. And
then yeah, like where does that and the fact that
the story is seated out there? What was the intention?
And I don't know, I'm fascinated by the mental gymnastics
of it all.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah, And it's interesting because this year we got a
little bit of a glimpse of spicy Belichick. Right, he
was never going to go you know, full staff meeting
where he could just be ruthless and criticism of opposing
coaches players, whoever it might be his critiques. But you know,
this year we got a little glimpse of it when
he did the Maning cast Atlanta Falcons game. You know,
(30:26):
he was very critical of their defense. You know, that
was obviously the team that didn't hire him and didn't
place him in their top three candidates, according to our
story in April. And then you know, when Sala was fired,
and I think that everybody around the league, no matter
what you think about Sala as a head coach, saw
(30:47):
the timing and the rationale for that is just beyond inexplicable.
I mean, I get that they needed a sparkle, man,
my god, you know, but clearly he took issue with that,
and I thought that was really interesting, not only because
he had his ready fire aim line, you know, ready
(31:07):
to go, which he deployed it on a couple different
of his many media platforms, you know, but he had
the coaches back, and you know, Sola's Jets have played
the Patriots really hard and at times, you know, you
saw the difference in those games as being the Jets
horrific offensive production. And so that he would have a
conversation through Tannenbaum about the Jets. I mean, there's so
(31:30):
many interesting factors there, especially because tannonbamb was the main
person who blew the whistle on spygate, Mangini for the Jets,
and of course the Jets hired Tanne bomb back after
they fire him to conduct the search. But I think
he just needed to make sure that he has a
lot of respect for Aaron Rodgers. Obviously he you know,
he's been complimentary of some of the players on that team.
(31:52):
I think he just needed to make sure that there
wasn't one of those Mike Shanahan situations where we're going
to hire you, but we can't say it now.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah, And I do think that, like I do think
that Brian Flores lawsuit has played a factor in this.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I don't know what's the connection there.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Well, because owners do not want to communicate be well,
they don't want to be subpoena again. They don't want
to be part of this. This is a go down
league in three teams. They don't want to make it
four or five, six, seven teams, especially about a coach
that they're not completely convinced of. I think for a
while I was thinking that maybe this year would be
(32:27):
where teams were firing coaches early to get first first
crack at Belichick the way they did for Mike Shanahan
when he went to Washington. But the landscape has changed
and owners just cannot be on record in any way,
shape or form saying, you know, we're going to hire Bill,
but first we have to go through this thrill. They
just cannot do it.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
It's fascinating, you know, and it's It's also what put
the Jets in a bind. Even if they wanted to
meet with Belichick, they were seidfast that they cannot do
anything until the end of the season. He had the
North Carolina thing in his back pocket. Now, what's interesting.
Lombardi is obviously a big part of this, and if
you know Micha Lombardi from his many media things, he's
also former NFLGM. He's on staff. Freddi Kinchins is on
(33:08):
staff in rapport referenced Scott Turner, Norf's kid who's currently
oca the Raiders. He might be in there, but like
I assume the next day, Steven Belichick, Matt Patricia, Mick Lombardi,
Josh McDaniels been like, it hasn't happened so fast. So
I'm also interesting to see what staff he brings along
and where that is all at, because I assumed he
(33:30):
was bringing the whole, the whole dream team with him,
but the guys who are on the zoom calls, but
they haven't yet.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
He hasn't yet, And I think that some of that
will probably shake out in the next week. I think
that for the first week they were recruiting, you know,
I think they were like using this way for what
it could And I think that like in the next
couple of weeks, he'll fill out that staff. And I'm
fascinated to see like what he wants to do. I mean,
there are things schematically you can do in college that
are just harder to do in the NFL. And he
(33:58):
is going to keep the Dabo Sweeneys of the world
on their toes. I mean, remember when I think it
was a Monday night game that they play the Bills
in Buffalo. It might have been like a really bad
weather game, didn't.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Pun and it didn't pass. They only they attempts, you know,
exactly three attempts.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Yes, I mean I could see that that card, you know,
that that club in the bag being taken out at
various points where he basically just runs the entire game
and puts no passes on film. Whatever it might be, Like,
I said, I think that from a schematic standpoint, we
might be underappreciating just how fun this season might be
really quick.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Do you have any insight on Vrabel and what he's
up to and what the words are there?
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Well, I think that I can tell you that, like
when Rabel didn't get a job last year either, in
some ways it was more surprising than Belichick because of
how successful he's been, and obviously he had run out
of champions in Tennessee. And they bring in, you know,
the kind of different regime, one that we're kind of
(35:01):
used to seeing where you kind of switch directions from
more of a hard asked to someone who you know
is more in the.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Quarterback Friday collaboratory, and like, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
They've lost something. I mean, that team isn't as tough
as they used to be, as they were a year ago.
You know, Will Levis Rabel knew how to protect quarterbacks,
he knew how to win in the playoffs, not relying
on the quarterback. And I think that that Will was
in a better situation a year ago than he has
been this year. Even though Brian Callahan, you know, might
(35:34):
end up being a really good coach. So I think
that he will definitely be. I interviewed a lot. Now
where does he land? Does the NFL want someone like him? Again?
It's like it kind of goes back to that thing
that Belichick was talking about and some of the things
I reported in my article where it's like, you know,
what does the NFL become? And you know, I don't
(35:56):
know where it lands for him. I mean, I think
he's an excellent coach. I think he's He's one of
the few total head coaches in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
He's not out, can walk into any room and talk
to any position group.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
He's not a glorified coordinator. And like, I just go
back to that game where his Titans beat Brady and
Belichick's Patriots, and what turned out to be their last
game together, where the fourth quarters coming up, the Titans
have to punt at midfield and you're thinking, here we
go again, Brady's getting get the ball, four passes to
Edelman and the game's over, And instead he deployed that
(36:27):
rule loophole that belichickainst the Jets earlier this year, where
earlier that year where he just melted the clock and
Bill went nuts on the other sideline. You watched him
do it he was so angry, and that to me
showed someone who really studies coaching well and hard and
was sophisticated and confident enough to pull that out at
(36:49):
the exact moment where it would work. You just don't
see that from a lot of coaches. And like, in
my opinion, he should be in the league.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
And I would go to a Sunday night in Kansas
City two years ago when he had Maline Willis and
they took him to overtime, and I think Willis through
for eighty yards and he went to to Toway. Rabel
is a great coach, but it's not ex's and o's,
it's necessarily personalities. And whereas Rahie Morris and Brian Callahan
are maybe a little more digestible for the building than
(37:18):
Mike Rabel, who could be a threat because he comes
in with, hey, I know how to do this, let
me kind of run point. Not everyone wants to see
the power anymore.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
No, there's no doubt. And I think that, like you know,
work isn't always fun, you know when you're working for
Bill Belichick or you're working for Brabel, but they always
come back and you know, talk about the fun is
in the winning and that's where you get the joy
you see Brady. Remember when Brady left, I mean he
wanted something new. I mean he was fed up with
(37:48):
that system. And of course he goes from like you know,
Harvard to Florida State Internation of Culture. Right, and then
you saw what happened earlier this year when when Baker Mayfield,
you know, talked about how when he came to Tampa,
he kind of provided that levity and levity and like
kind of helped put people at ease and made it
a little bit more jovial and Belichick Brady responded like
(38:11):
would Yeah, he said, I find joy and winning. You know,
that's exactly something that Belichick would have said.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Yeah. All right, So September is a faraways away and
we're literally nine months in advance. But I know you've
been sitting down with all these quarterback legends, and I
have read all your books and all your articles, and
I know you're in the midst of putting to bed
a book that you've been putting a lot of time into.
Can you tell us about the project that you've been
working on and how he can order it ahead of
(38:38):
time so I could read it when the season starts.
In September.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Yeah, thanks man. So I've been working on my second book.
It's called American Kings. It's a biography of the quarterback.
And I really spend a lot of time getting into
this unique, you know, American job with very unique responsibilities
and roles. I get into it with legends like Elway
and Moon, and you know, guys who want to be
(39:01):
legends like Arch Manning and the entire Manning family and
Caleb Williams, and even guys who are no longer alive
and their families like the United family, the Waterfield family.
What I'm trying to do here is get at every
facet of what this job builds in these guys, what
it strips away, what it's like to do, the parts
(39:23):
of it that they love, what they hate, and how
it came to be. You know, how how did this
weird job of throwing this football come to be celebrated
on a level where you know, Peyton Manning is on
stage with Larry David and their their cultural peers and
the answer goes back to eighteen eighty five, interestingly enough.
But and then, you know, I spend a lot of
(39:46):
time in the book talking about what it's like to
have done this job at a high level and be
a Hall of Famer and live with that the rest
of your life and the ways that it gives you
blessings and the ways that it's incompatible with regular life.
So I'm really trying to tell a story about this
job that people care about. That's the hardest job to
do in sports in a new way, and I hopefully
did that. But yeah, you can pre order it anywhere
(40:08):
you get books. It'll be out in September. I will
be bugging you to be on your podcast again at
that point, but I really appreciate the books.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
On a napkin. If you have to write how many
quarterbacks you spoke to, what would be the number?
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Oh man, I have a map on my wall of
the country and I have like little note with each
one of them. I mean it was at least thirty.
There's a lot of guys who you know, I spent
a lot of time with. You get their moment on stage,
but they're not on stage the way that like in
l Way or a moon or those.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Types of Give me an example, like are we talking
like a Josh McCown, like a case Keno. I mean.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
I mean everywhere from like you know Kirk Cousins, you know,
he won the Athletes and Action Award two years ago
at the Super Bowl for his faith, and I kind
of wanted to know exactly ways that faith helps you
with this job, not in the trite kind of like,
you know, thank you God for this touchdown passway, but
(41:04):
in a real way, like.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
How it helps you devoting yourself and how that really
plays a role. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Absolutely, because all these guys, you know, they're all trying
to control a job that they can't control, and they
all need some sort of outlet, whether it's you know,
beer or social media or Tom Brady avocado ice cream, yeah,
whatever it might be. And for Kirk Cousins, it's religion.
So I really wanted to understand that on the deepest
level that I possibly could.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
I can't. It's such a mountain of a project. I
would think you can do a full book on any
of those top quarterbacks if you tell me you're doing
a Warren Moon book and Seth Chrisham's writing it like
I'm reading it three undred pages, so to see how
you weave all their stories into one, I can't wait.
And I know you've been working on it, dude. Thank
you for joining me. This is so good, and we'll
both be at a UNC football game next year.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
I'm certain, definitely i'll see you, man. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Good stuff from Seth. I will be getting that book
and we will have them on again. And I started
thinking about all the different quarterbacks I speak to, and
they're so different. To write a book on the quarterback position,
I feel like you could do a six hundred chapter
book and be like, here's the Jim Everett chapter, here's
the Bobby Abar chapter, Here's the Michael Vick chapter. Oh,
and we also spoke to Chris Chandler and here's Greg McElroy. Like,
(42:25):
I don't know how you make a book out of
the quarterback position, but if anyone could do it, it's Seth.
And I can't wait to see what he gets. And
Elway doesn't do a lot of media, so I'm fascinating
to hear what he got from Elway. The season with
Peter Schrager Delivering Results is presented by Uber Eats, and
it's time for delivering results presented by Uber Eats, and
I would like to give the award for the best
(42:46):
performance to a Tampa Bay buccaneer named Mike Evans. Evans
had nine catches for one hundred and fifty nine yards
and two touchdowns, and did it against the number one
rated defense in the league, the LA Chargers, and a
must win for the Buccaneers last week. Evan's fantastic. He
goes from you know, not making it even a realist,
(43:06):
sick possibility for him to get a thousand yards this
season in the last two weeks, has these two huge
games that now all he's got to do is average
eighty five yards over the next three seasons and he'll
get his eleventh straight one thousand yard season, the best
start to any NFL career. I have long said that
Mike Evans is a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He's
just never discussed in his conversations as the best wide
receiver in the sport. Just every year puts up the numbers.
(43:30):
Mike Evans did it when they matters most, and he'll
do it again this weekend. It's just what he does
that was delivering results. He done about Uber Eats, where
you can get the best deals on game day food
all season long. It's the official on demand delivery partner
of the NFL. Order Now good week ahead again, weird
Thursday night decision from Sean pay and he's like, I
(43:50):
want to play on Thursday night. I want my guys
to be in primetime, despite the fact he could have
waived that and stayed on Sunday due to the NFL bylaws,
but he said, give me a second road Thursday night
game and then let's take a nice long break after that.
That's your Thursday night game, and then two big ones
on Saturday, Chiefs versus Texans and Ravens versus Steelers, and
(44:12):
then those two teams will mix it up. Those four
teams will mix it up, and they all play again
on Christmas. I believe we'll be doing a pod next week.
Try to find the right time to do it. But
in the meantime, go enjoy your holiday shopping and get
ready for the airport and the train station and the
bus terminal. It'll be chaos. Enjoy the football, everybody. The
(44:38):
Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL
and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosts And Creators
Jamie Erdahl
Jason McCourty
Kyle Brandt
Peter Schrager
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.