The Best of The Dan Patrick Show

00:00:00
Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: Kevin Stefanski, the Falcons head coach, two time Coach of the Year, joining us on the program. Coach, Congratulations, Where are your Coach of the Year awards?

00:00:16
Speaker 3: You know, one was on my daughter's bedstand for a minute. She liked it, and that one I think is somewhere in storage. And then the other one I gave to my cousin Steve because the night of that award. I don't know if you remember this, but I wasn't there, but the person that announced the award said Steve Stefanski. So my cousin, Steve, I'm very close with, he has that somewhere in his home office.

00:00:42
Speaker 4: Does it say Steve Stefanski on it?

00:00:45
Speaker 5: Now?

00:00:45
Speaker 3: The award itself has my name. Care never miss an opportunity to have a joke like that.

00:00:51
Speaker 4: What do those awards mean to you?

00:00:55
Speaker 3: You know, it means a lot to me because that's such those individual awards are such a reflection of the collective and I think about those. You know, one of them was from year one for us in Cleveland in twenty twenty when I went to the playoffs, won a playoff game and just that team and those coaches and how we battled. That was the COVID year, and everybody knows how unique all of that was. And then the one from twenty three was a great reflection on an amazing group of guys that fought and scratched and clawed our way to the playoffs behind unbelievable defense, behind multiple quarterbacks.

00:01:29
Speaker 6: And that's a credit to the coaching staff.

00:01:30
Speaker 3: I know the award says my name, but man, that's an award that goes to the coaching staff.

00:01:35
Speaker 4: How do you know you're wired to be a head coach?

00:01:39
Speaker 6: Great, I don't know.

00:01:40
Speaker 3: Good question, I don't. It's funny. I didn't set out to have this job. This was not a grand plan. I think fourth grade. I wanted to be an architect, if I remember correctly. But yeah, these type of things, they just what I try to do is keep my head down, do the job I have that's currently in front of me. I was so blessed on the way to be put in positions that where I could grow, and I can't tell you how lucky I was to be at the Vikings, for instance, for fifteen seasons and to move my way around that coaching staff I didn't set out for that.

00:02:14
Speaker 6: That wasn't the roadmap, but I found myself in this position.

00:02:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I've said before there are certain guys who were just meant to be coordinators. When you become a head coach, I mean you got to be your answering to everybody about everything. You got to be a CEO, and you get further away from what you really love doing and being a coordinator.

00:02:33
Speaker 3: It's very interesting, You're right, and I loved my time as a position coach. I loved my time as a coordinator. I remember when I was named a coordinator for the first time. I'm at practice and I'm walking around during individual periods as the quarterbacks are working and the tight ends are working over.

00:02:48
Speaker 6: Here, and where do I go? Where do I fit in here?

00:02:50
Speaker 3: And then as a head coach, now I'm helping out the defense or I'm watching special teams.

00:02:55
Speaker 6: So you're always trying to navigate where you can help.

00:02:58
Speaker 3: And certainly as you get far, as you get to the coordinator role or you get to the head coach role, it is easy to get.

00:03:04
Speaker 6: Farther away from that. So you have to work very hard to get.

00:03:07
Speaker 3: Involved in drills, get involved in meetings be intentional about that is important.

00:03:12
Speaker 2: When you interview with the Falcons. How much is you're interviewing them or them interviewing you.

00:03:19
Speaker 6: It's absolutely both.

00:03:21
Speaker 3: I was very fortunate over the last few weeks to go on some visits to have some zooms with different teams, and those were fact finding missions for me.

00:03:29
Speaker 6: I've been doing this now. I've been in the league for twenty years, so i.

00:03:33
Speaker 3: Know a lot of people. I know a lot of people I'm talking to, we have mutual friends. But I'm trying to find out about these buildings and find out who these people are and what they're about. Obviously, you make your phone calls and you certainly know who they are from other people. But then you sit across from somebody, I think you get a feel for somebody and you talk about what your values are, what they believe, and see if there's a mesh.

00:03:55
Speaker 4: There if you will, how do you use Matt ryan.

00:03:59
Speaker 3: Man in a lot of ways, and Matt being here in this role was a huge draw for me that pulled me to this building. Matt's somebody that I've known about for a long time. We both grew up in the Philadelphia area. I've known who Matt is about what he's about. I know exactly where he is in terms of how he feels and sees this game, and that was important to me because Matt's somebody that I'm going to rely heavily on on a day to day basis, on a big picture basis as a thought partner. You know, we hired Ian Cunningham last night as our general manager. So within with myself with Matt, we're gonna put our heads together as we move forward here. But having a person like Matt that knows this city, that knows what winning is about, that that's such a huge deal for me.

00:04:47
Speaker 2: Kevin Stefanski the Falcons head coach Kirk Cousins situation, trying to understand what happened either yesterday or day before. His future with Atlanta is what we'll see.

00:05:02
Speaker 3: That's why we hired Ian Cunningham. You know, I just got in last night, so we'll see on all those type of decisions.

00:05:09
Speaker 6: Obviously, it's no secret Kirk and I have a relationship.

00:05:12
Speaker 3: I think very very highly of the person, I think very highly of the player. All those type of decisions are something that Ian we'll get in here and again we'll put our heads together on all those type of things. But no secret that you know, Kirk, somebody I have a tremendous amount of respect for.

00:05:27
Speaker 4: Do you have uniform approval?

00:05:31
Speaker 3: That's not my not my contract. And I'm one of those guys Dan like whatever is in the locker I'm wearing.

00:05:37
Speaker 6: So let's go.

00:05:39
Speaker 2: Oh man, those eighty throwbacks public public sentiment here, coach.

00:05:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love as you can say, as you can see. I love these colors. I love this logo. But I'll stay in my lane. I'll let those the smart people make those decisions.

00:05:54
Speaker 4: Can we have your old Browns gear? You could have.

00:05:58
Speaker 3: It's given away already though, so you're gonna have to go find it, fight it from some other people.

00:06:02
Speaker 5: You know.

00:06:02
Speaker 6: The hardest thing is what these teams do.

00:06:05
Speaker 3: An amazing job of the equipment staff in Cleveland unbelievable, the equipment staff here unbelievable. But what they do is they put your name in every article of Clotland. Yeah, so you gotta be careful.

00:06:15
Speaker 6: You don't want that to show up at good Will and someone's pulling out, you know, Kevin Spanski's sweatshirt.

00:06:20
Speaker 3: So I try to give those away to some friends and family in the Cleveland area. But sure enough they'll pull the tag and show you that that was my sweatshirt.

00:06:28
Speaker 2: I watch your press conference, your introductory press conference. I know you didn't want to talk about the Cleveland Browns, So you want to swap this way you can. But was it fair to Shador and Dylan to be put in a situation like that as rookies.

00:06:43
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, that I would tell you I have zero ill will towards anyone in that building. Dean Jimmy Haslam treated me unbelievably, treated my family unbelievably, So I have no ill will towards all those type of things. As it relates to decisions like that. That's not fair for me to comment those two young players. I love those guys. I loved coaching them. I love their development as a coach. Why we do this is you take a player and you try to get a little bit more out of them, and you try to develop them. And I want to get this guy better at that And I think both those guys, you can point to their rookie seasons and say, man, they got better in these areas. Ultimately, we want to continue to improve in those guys. Both of them will, but I think very highly of those two young men.

00:07:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just tough, you know, no matter how old you are to play that position in the NFL, let alone to go win there and get you know, thrown into that. And I just wondered, you know, you're the head coach, and you know you're an offensive minded guy, and trying to put them in a position to succeed as rookies had to be, you know, one of the more challenging things you probably have gone through.

00:07:52
Speaker 6: I'm happy to have gone through it. You know.

00:07:54
Speaker 3: It was one of those unique things, trying to find out ways to structure the offseason, find out ways to make sure you're bringing them along. You know, developing young quarterbacks is something that we want to be, you know, want to be at the forefront of souh Again, love those two young guys and they'll continue to improve.

00:08:10
Speaker 2: Once again, he's Steve Stefanski. He is the new head coach. Yeah, I'll answer to that anything.

00:08:19
Speaker 4: Thank you, coach, and uh appreciate your time.

00:08:21
Speaker 6: Yeah, I appreciate you guys.

00:08:23
Speaker 4: That's Kevin Stefansk.

00:08:26
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show week days at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

00:08:36
Speaker 7: Hey it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallero. Mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking, what in God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's a spin off of it Ben Maler Show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world will. We chat with captains of industry in media, sports, and more every week explore some amazing facts about human nature. Listen to the Fifth Hour with Ben Maller on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

00:09:05
Speaker 2: We bring in Rich Eisen, NFL game Day morning host on NFL Network and host of The Rich Eisen Show on the mother Ship. We were looking for storylines Rich when.

00:09:17
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, mango habannaro?

00:09:19
Speaker 4: Yes, what else?

00:09:21
Speaker 5: You went too fast? Okay, because you went you went too fast.

00:09:24
Speaker 4: Mango habernaro, glazed porklin.

00:09:27
Speaker 5: Oh wow, perfect for me on a on the Shabbat.

00:09:31
Speaker 2: Uh huh, okay, schabata and shalom.

00:09:35
Speaker 5: Thank you appreciate that. Yeah, you went too fast, but.

00:09:39
Speaker 4: Okay, now maybe you could do a show, a Jewish show.

00:09:45
Speaker 5: The bottom line, that's next level.

00:09:51
Speaker 4: Thank you, good on, that's next level.

00:09:54
Speaker 5: Wait a minute, No, that's that's the that's the score scroll at the bottom of the screen. Yeah, on a Friday night into senadays. The bottom line, you Dan, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was just taking notes.

00:10:10
Speaker 6: Thank you.

00:10:12
Speaker 2: The The one storyline that the commissioner, you know, during a State of the Union next week, is there is there an overriding topic that you think because normally there is something the commissioner will be responding to about ongoing, but is there something this year?

00:10:32
Speaker 5: I guess it'll be probably officiating. It always is, certainly coming off of a Bill's Broncos game that left an owner in the NFL steaming about it, and there there's always that there's gambling what the NFL feels about that, what else could possibly be. He'll definitely be asked about Belichick, even though he has nothing to do with it, zero to do with it, and so that'll be that'll be of interest, certainly since people think that a lot of the voters who did not vote for Bill Belichick feel that spygate is front and center for that and clearly that was something that he was taken care of for the for the NFL. So I'm sure that'll be brought up to him. I don't know, uh what, whatever, whatever else is on the minds of of the media. Maybe bad Bunny bring that up one more time, run run that back.

00:11:35
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, So.

00:11:36
Speaker 5: I don't know, but that that that might be the greatest tits. We'll see you next week, tp uh.

00:11:42
Speaker 2: I remember asking the commissioner and I said, where are the tapes for spyga, right, And he said, we destroyed them.

00:11:49
Speaker 4: M Why he said, well, we had no.

00:11:53
Speaker 2: Use for them when you love to at least be able to see what exactly it was.

00:12:00
Speaker 5: Is that why he hasn't been back on that.

00:12:02
Speaker 2: I think that was the last time PAULI was at the last absolutely the last time.

00:12:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's looking for the mango habanero. Yeah what grand Portlin, Yeah yeah, yeah. This is all going to be brought up again. And it's interesting because the last time the Seahawks and the Patriots played one another, it was full on deflate Gate. It was full on Belichick dropping Mona. Lisa Veto references to say, go ask Tom what's going on? Like that was the last time these two teams played each other, and now Belichick not being in the Hall of Fame is going to be front and center. I'm sure the last RG one about that next week. Yeah, I'm trying to figure this out. That and as I said yesterday, it's your vote. Whatever you do with your vote, find just tell me how you came to your conclin I might not agree with it, but it is your vote.

00:13:02
Speaker 2: You've earned the right to vote on this process. The problem that I'm having is when you find that some voters thought, well, Kenny Anderson, Roger Craig, else Greenwood, they're not going to get the required votes, maybe I vote for them because Belichick and Craft are eventually going to get in. I don't want you changing the rules mid stream. You can change the process after the voting. I just don't think you should be saying, well, this is how I'm going to do it. You're told vote for Hall of Famers, not this guy might not get in and this guy we know is going to get in.

00:13:37
Speaker 4: I have a problem with that.

00:13:39
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't blame you. I have a similar problem with it. Listen, the voting just needs to be changed. I understand the Hall of Fame doesn't want the induction ceremony to go start from noon and everybody's got a pack of dinner, you know. And I understand that there's five candidates get in due to if you will, regular order in their initial years of eligibility, and then there's only room for three more. They don't want any more than eight. But basically, if you're going to have three senior candidates, have an up and down vote on those three. If you're going to have one coach candidate, one contributor to candidate, have an up and down vote. Don't lump them all together. And if there's ten people who get inducted, so be it. But that's a different story. Is Bill Belichick worthy of being a Hall of Famer? Yes or no? Don't say that he's eventually going to get in. I want to give a shot to somebody else. Is he worthy of enshrinment in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? And even with all this stuff that you and I were talking about, just for the last few minutes, to flake gates, spygate, whatever gates you want to bring up, I wasn't sitting there thinking this is going to be disqualifying for Bill Belichick. When his time to be enshrined comes up. His numbers are absurd to the point where whenever you feel the need to actually bring them up to make a case for it him, you feel silly doing it. You know. It's it's nuts that he is not a first ballot Hall of Famer, regardless of the reasons why. And you know, I know one writer said that these three senior candidates are are up now, they may never be up again. That's why I'm going to give them their shot. Bob Kraft is eighty four years old. Yeah, I know, you know, so. I mean, it's it's kind of nuts, and it's going to be even more glaring with the Patriots being in the Bowl when Belichick's not standing on the stage in six nights. Yeah.

00:15:35
Speaker 2: It's like an actor up for an Academy Award, but we're not going to give it to you because you did that terrible movie. You know, it's years ago. Yeah, like, yeah, you're Eddie Murphy and you did Orbit. I'm sorry we can't honor you.

00:15:49
Speaker 5: Well, that is disqualifying, Dan. I mean, let's be honest. I never saw up here.

00:15:54
Speaker 2: I never saw Norbit with with Eddie Murphy. But we're talking to Rich Eisen to the Rich Eisen Show on the mothership NFL gamed a morning host on NFL Network, Coaching moves any We're still waiting for Raiders and Cardinals. Feels like Clint Kubiak is probably getting one of those jobs.

00:16:16
Speaker 5: It's all, it's all just a big shrug emoji to me, Dan, You know there there there seems to be a now what portion of this with coaches who have been around a long time and have a track record of general success as the floor and excellent seasons that wind up short of the ultimate as the ceiling. And the question is, and I love Jesse Minter. You know, he's a guy who was the defensive coordinator from my champion Wolverines a couple of years ago. He's outstanding. And you take a look at Joe Brady and what he was able to do in his college time as a passing game coordinator for LSU's sixty touchdown Joe Burrow season and what he's been able to do with Josh Allenson's getting his hands on the playbook there. But when push comes to shove, if they are so fortunate to get to an AFC Championship game, what is going to happen that we'll get them over the hump in a way that John Harball was held accountable for and Sean McDermott was held accountable for in Buffalo. Do we know that? Absolutely not? This past weekend is a perfect case in point. Sean McVay is as good as they come. There were two snaps inside the red zone, third and fourth downs, the execution wasn't there, and an outstanding RAMS season goes down the tubes. Do you hold Sean McVay accountable for that? Will we see at one point, you know, a perturbed Stan Kronkey in front of a gathered media saying, at the end of the day, we just didn't get where we wanted to go for too long, and Sean McVay is now on the mark, which would be nuts case in point. We just don't know. I don't know. Some hires feel good, some some feel off, but I just don't know how it's going to play out, nor to the owners who just made these hires.

00:18:13
Speaker 2: Well, okay, when Mike McDonald got hired in Seattle, yes, nobody was going, oh my god, they got this Guy's unbelievable. He's low key defensive coordinator, didn't know much about him, and he's done a great job. I don't know if Todd Monkin is going to be good in Cleveland. Liam Cohen did a great job. We goofed on him with his opening press conference. You know, I still don't know if Nick Siriani's a great coach. Jonathan Gannon is out, Like you just start to look around and you go, I have no idea.

00:18:55
Speaker 5: I have no idea, which is why I have no problem and give all the in the world to the packers, Like, Okay, we know who we have in Matt Lafleur, we know what he can do, we know what he has done, So why are we going to throw all of that overboard and start from scratch? Why would we do that?

00:19:15
Speaker 4: Now?

00:19:16
Speaker 5: You know, if there was somebody like Vrabel, who was a complete no brainer last year for New England to go grab him, and that was even in advance of clearly knowing that they were just going to be seventeen regular season weeks away from a Super Bowl journey in the playoffs, but that you know, Ben Johnson was another one. There was just really nobody that was out there right now that's just oh, I get it, and we may see one of these coaches turn into Mike McDonald and or Liam Cohen, and obviously we'll say great hire. But right now it is, as I said, just one big shrug emoji, have no idea none.

00:20:00
Speaker 2: Darnald wins the Super Bowl, Yeah, and wins the MVP. Can we take away blame from Sam Donald for good blame for.

00:20:10
Speaker 5: What taking too long to develop? You know you know what I mean? Like again, You've had so many quarterbacks on your show, Dan over the years, and so many of them were like Drake May I'm sure where it's clear, straight out of the box he's the guy. And then there is a bunch of them who are like Sam Darnald. I've once asked Jared Goff how long should a quarterback get to prove he's NFL franchise worthy and he said five to six years. And this is a first overall pick. Kurt Warner talks about this all the time, that we always throw names out there as busts because they aren't in the right spot where they're they're not performing well in a certain spot, but at the end of the day, they're not in the right spot. I mean Todd Bowles to Adam Gase to Robert Sala with a second overall pick. Let's take a new kid. That's why Sam Donald didn't work out in New York, not because he was trash. Goes to Carolina, there's Matt Ruhle, He gets bounced, COVID happens, you know, and then he winds up in San Francisco, winds up in Minnesota who went ahead and drafted somebody the year that they snagged him on a flyer and he took off. And Seattle is is getting the benefits of getting Sam Donald at the right time, with the right coach and the right setup.

00:21:33
Speaker 2: But this is why I'm concerned about Mendoza going to the Raiders, right And I said, this isn't an indictment on him, It's an indictment on the organization. You don't have an offensive line. And I've seen this many many times. I would be open to trading that pick because I need help. I don't want to find my franchise quarterback before I find my offensive line before. I mean, you win with offensive and defensive line, and I just worry about You're going to bring him in there and he may be running for his life like David Carr did with the Texans.

00:22:08
Speaker 5: Right, and but you could see how if you draft the right guy, and then you draft the right people as well, and then you make the right free agent moves, in two years, you could be the new England Patriots in Super Bowl sixty two.

00:22:21
Speaker 4: But I have to trust that the Raiders can do that.

00:22:25
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's true. And you know, this past year wasn't a great first step for the new administration there, to say the least. But at the end of the day, you have to take a look and say, we're in Las Vegas. Should we go ahead and snag a guy who's done what he's done at the collegiate level, who we know will be in bed by curfew in Sin City every night, you know, Like I don't see Fernando Mendoza clubbing it up, you know, and having to be disciplined by having to sit out the first drive like a couple of Dallas cowboys had to be in Vegas this past year. So you have to make those moves, you know, if you can. How long is the pregame, as you know, Dan, it started five minutes ago. Why would you even ask that question. I'm late for it eight and a half hours. Yeah, yeah, buddy, yeah, so it'll start. We'll all have to be dressed in for winter weather at six am Pacific and then I'll be in sleeves and it's and sunglasses by the end of the show at two thirty Pacific five thirty easterns.

00:23:28
Speaker 4: Where you have an outfit change. Oh, I'm full.

00:23:32
Speaker 5: On, j Lo. I'm gonna get it done. I'm all set, man, you know me. I have a plan. I have a pressure plan. I got a plan.

00:23:40
Speaker 4: Great to talk to you always. Thanks for joining, I got you.

00:23:43
Speaker 5: Thanks again. Save me some of that pork point, yeah, please pork absolutely. Yeah, I'll take Fritz's portion.

00:23:52
Speaker 8: Yeah, I'll share.

00:23:53
Speaker 6: That's cool. Thank you, Thank you.

00:23:55
Speaker 5: Rich.

00:23:55
Speaker 1: That's Rich Eisen. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.

00:24:08
Speaker 2: We make way for the Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold in his eight seed season in the NFL and taking his team to the Super Bowl.

00:24:17
Speaker 4: Let me start there.

00:24:18
Speaker 2: First recollection of a Super Bowl growing up was which one.

00:24:24
Speaker 9: Oh man, I think one of the first ones that comes in mind.

00:24:30
Speaker 8: You know, it's got to be Colts Bears, that one with Peyton Manning, Rex Grossman.

00:24:37
Speaker 5: You know that.

00:24:38
Speaker 8: I'm sure there was one that happened before that that you know, I could vaguely remember, but that was the that was really the one that was edged into my memory just because we had a party, a Super Bowl party with like all my Pop Warner football team and it was really fun. I think there might have been a bounce house or something right outside the house, and I just remember having a ton of fun. You know, it was it was a good time, and uh, you know, I'm sure all the adults we were having a great time as well. So, uh, now that that was one that was kind of etched into my memory just because of you know how fun that experience was. Just being able to celebrate, you know, having a good Pop Warner season with my teammates and then uh, you know, being able to be able to watch the game and all the fun things that come with the Super Bowl, you know, the halftime show and all that.

00:25:23
Speaker 2: What how does it feel to be the first USC quarterback to play in the Super Bowl?

00:25:29
Speaker 5: Yeah?

00:25:29
Speaker 9: I saw that.

00:25:30
Speaker 8: I saw that after the game going around social media, and uh didn't didn't realize that obviously, but yeah, it's great to be able to represent the university and you know, hopefully just represent them proudly at the game.

00:25:43
Speaker 2: How do you make this a regular week? I know it's the biggest week of your life, but you find coaches will say or quarterbacks will say, we just try to make it normal.

00:25:53
Speaker 4: How do you go about doing that?

00:25:56
Speaker 5: Yeah?

00:25:56
Speaker 8: I think, you know, trying to keep thirteen the same throughout the week, throughout the week leading up to the super Bowl, and then getting getting a lot of game plans stuff in this week, you know, because understanding that you know there's gonna be a lot of media going to be some media responsibilities the week of the Super Bowl that that'll take most of some of the time that I spent studying. So I think doing some of the game plan stuff this week, and and really studying, doubling down on kind of what the Pats do, what they like to do defensively in certain situations, and kind of get ready as if the game were to be this this upcoming Sunday.

00:26:32
Speaker 2: You know, But are you going to learn more from watching Denver against New England or what you guys did against the Rams?

00:26:42
Speaker 5: Yeah?

00:26:42
Speaker 8: I think, you know, it's It's interesting, right because that game was it was a blizzard, right, you know, it's it's and sometimes it's kind of even tough to see what they're doing on tape just because of you know, how windy it was and how snowy it was at times. But no, I think you know, you learned a time just by one the other team. Obviously, there's there's times where you can go back and learn a ton by watching yourself, watching some tendencies that maybe you've shown throughout the year, and uh, you notice some things watching for sure of yourself. But I think you know, being able to understand kind of what they're doing, especially being you know, in a different conference and not being able to watch any New England tape throughout this entire season.

00:27:20
Speaker 9: Like we just came off of stretch these last two games.

00:27:23
Speaker 8: We've played these teams three times throughout the season, so we had a really good idea of kind of what these defenses looked like, and you know, I think that goes for a whole team obviously, So we just got to do a really good job of understanding what New England presents on defense and and you know what they're kind of what their core is what they like to do and then kind of what their wrinkles are in certain situations.

00:27:44
Speaker 4: Who reached out to you after the win that might surprise.

00:27:47
Speaker 8: Us, Oh, shoot, A cool one was, uh was Luke Combs. I had a couple of country country singers reach out. Luke Combs, Kenny Chesney. Those are some cool ones. Obviously, you have former quarterbacks that reach out there. That is always really cool to to be able to hear from guys like that.

00:28:06
Speaker 9: But yeah, I think the the.

00:28:09
Speaker 8: Celebrities and the country music singers and and different celebrities that kind of reach out to you throughout that whole process that maybe I talked to at you know, a Super Bowl a couple of years ago when I wasn't playing in it, or uh, you know at a you know, going to the Masters in augusta like I might have bumped into a certain person and forgot that I gave them my number.

00:28:29
Speaker 9: You know, Like just guys that, guys that reach out like that.

00:28:32
Speaker 8: It's uh, it's so cool to be able to you know, just continue to get people to reach out because you know, I think that kind of makes me understand too, like how how important that game was, how important winning the NFC Championship was and going to the Super Bowl, how big of a deal it is. And you know, I think there is there's a balance there, right because you want to understand, okay, like it's just the next game and it's a process.

00:28:55
Speaker 9: But at the same time, like I want to enjoy this.

00:28:57
Speaker 8: I want to enjoy every single moment with my teammates and these coaches and even the media, like doing all the media, you know, leading up to the game, Like I want to be able to enjoy it because you never know when you're gonna get back here. So you know, there is there is that double edged sort of kind of understanding to enjoy it, enjoying every single moment, but also kind of preparing and understanding that is it is a process and we're going to treat it like the next game.

00:29:20
Speaker 2: I'm talking to Sam Darnold, the Seahawks quarterback. Have you played with a chip on your shoulder at any point in your NFL career?

00:29:29
Speaker 8: You know, Dan being honest with you, like, I don't. I don't ever felt like I had a chip on my shoulder. I just don't think that's really my personality. I've never been like that, you know, at any point in my life. You know, I've always just I've always just worked hard and treated every single day as its own day.

00:29:46
Speaker 9: You know, I've never you know.

00:29:48
Speaker 8: Because I feel like just with me personally, like if I got too high or if I got too low, that affected me, that affected performance. So I feel like I was always just better if I just stayed right here, just even keeled, and uh, you know, that's that's just kind of who I am, so I think, and that's what you learn throughout your career, right, you learn who you are as a person, and and you know what works best for you and preparation and all those things. So for me, it was it was it's really important for me to just stay even keeled.

00:30:17
Speaker 9: And and you know, I see and I.

00:30:19
Speaker 8: Understand what people say throughout the years, and you know, I understand that. You know, there's some things that have been said about me, and people are saying, oh, you've proved the doubters wrong. But that's that's not for me to say or for me to even really pay attention to because that at the end of the day, like that doesn't matter and it doesn't affect my performance at all. Like I just got to go out there and do my job every single day. And because if I do anything other than that, if I think about the doubters or proving anyone wrong, like I feel like I'm doing my team a disservice because I'm thinking about the wrong things.

00:30:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I everybody wants to talk about your journey, and you know, right after the game, you ask about your journey and you're like, you know, my journey continues. I don't know how many people sit there and go, I just won something. Now I got to look back on what happened prior to this. And I thought your answers were mature. But I don't know how you you know, you take those questions of let's talk about the Jets, or let's talk about Carolina, let's talk about all of these you know, rough moments there when you're trying to focus on the game at hand, the you know, the job at hand.

00:31:29
Speaker 9: Yeah, for sure.

00:31:30
Speaker 8: It's uh, you know, I think just being able to handle it at this point in my career too, it's I feel like even mentally, like I feel like I handle it a little bit differently internally than I used to, you know, because I realized, like it is a part of the journey and it is a part of.

00:31:46
Speaker 9: Who I am was.

00:31:49
Speaker 4: Internally.

00:31:51
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think like I gave.

00:31:53
Speaker 8: It a little more thought than I had to, Like I paid a little bit more attention to it, and I guess, you know, I tested a little more thought into kind of what happened in the past, and I tried to you know, okay, like I threw this pick against this coverage, you know, back in twenty nineteen, Like I'm not going to do that again. It's like, no, sometimes mistakes happen, and you know, you learn from it, and you know it's you don't want to make the same mistakes again. But sometimes throughout your career, especially if it's a long career, like those things are going to happen, but just being able to move on and to learn from those experiences, but move on, and you know, the the days in New York, the days in Carolina, like those were those are part of my journey and they're part of my experience. And I loved it, every single part of it. Like, yeah, there were some loaves that sucked. I'm not going to lie to you, you know, and that's part of it, though, Like I learned so much from that and you know, I'm able to move on. And it's it's funny like after every single you know, after every single game we lost or things that didn't go well, like I was able to wake up that next day and see the sunrise and go into the building and see my teammates and have fun with my coaches, like you know that that's that's a part of life. And you know, I think being able to realize that at this point in my career, like it allows you to to kind of take it one day at a time and enjoy every single little moment that you get with with your teammates, because as we all say, like we're never with the same team, you know, year and year out. Yeah, you might be with some of the similar guys, especially if you stick with the same team, but you know, there's there's never all seventy that are the same throughout a season, So you just try to enjoy it as much as you can.

00:33:31
Speaker 4: Did you keep all those jerseys?

00:33:35
Speaker 9: Yeah? I have all all my jerseys framed. I don't know if they're framed.

00:33:42
Speaker 8: They're they're definitely not all of them are are framed, but yeah, I got them somewhere.

00:33:46
Speaker 2: They're up in the attic somewhere explain the luxury of throwing to jsn.

00:33:54
Speaker 9: Oh Man.

00:33:55
Speaker 8: Yeah, he's just a special talent. He's he's someone that you know, is very quarterback friendly. You know, he he allows you know, with his body language and the way that he runs routes, he's very friendly to throw to. But he doesn't It doesn't make it easier to cover him, if that makes sense.

00:34:11
Speaker 9: Like it's easy for me.

00:34:12
Speaker 8: To kind of feel what he's thinking and what he's doing on the field, and to read his body language whether he's going to come out of a route at full speed or if he's going to come out of a route and maybe wrap the corner and show me his you know, numbers and maybe slow down a little bit. But you know, that doesn't, like I said, that doesn't make it any easier on the defense. Like he makes everything look the same with all the different routes and the different stems that come off those routes. So he does a really good job of that. He's really like, he's really smart. He's really cognizant of how he wants to run routes. We're always talking and you know, the dialogue that we share to be able to you know, just talk about the little intrinsic intrinsics that you know, come with running routes and with me, like sometimes I'm like, hey, dude, like that route might be sweet, but that's going to take too long and I'm not going to be able to hold onto the ball that long. So I think those little conversations that we'd have, uh, you know, are are very important obviously to to our success. But he's uh, he's a special, special player to throw to. But you know, I think the secret sauce that makes it work is is the other guys in that receiver room as well, you know, the guys that are able to step up, whether they're you know, playing special teams or whether they're gonna, you know, have a special role for us, you know, catching touchdowns.

00:35:19
Speaker 9: So you know, that's a it's a really special group.

00:35:23
Speaker 8: Js N obviously is a huge part of it, but it definitely is a is a special receiver group.

00:35:27
Speaker 4: What about that one handed catch that he made unbelievable.

00:35:32
Speaker 8: I don't know if I don't know if the camera has caught my my reaction on that, but I was kind of looking at our sideline like that really just happened.

00:35:40
Speaker 9: But I don't know. It should never surprise us anymore.

00:35:43
Speaker 8: You know, he makes so many of these special catches, and especially one handed catches. I always, you know, if he reaches out with one hand and he drops it, I usually blame myself for not throwing a spiral so he could judge kind of where to put his hand on the football. So he's a he's a special he's a special player.

00:36:00
Speaker 2: Man who's taking care of the tickets?

00:36:04
Speaker 9: Beyonce? Oh oh yeah, Katie my fiance.

00:36:08
Speaker 8: So she's, uh, she's got a big I probably shouldn't have said that just now, so she's probably gonna get bombarded. Uh but uh, she's uh yeah.

00:36:17
Speaker 2: How many how many tickets are we gonna account for?

00:36:23
Speaker 6: I don't know.

00:36:24
Speaker 9: We'll see, we'll see what happens.

00:36:25
Speaker 8: I might, you know, may be able to get some people in a suite, hopefully.

00:36:30
Speaker 9: But you know, it's.

00:36:33
Speaker 4: Lose money.

00:36:33
Speaker 9: I think it's I think it's upwards of twenty So.

00:36:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't want you to lose money playing in the super Bowl.

00:36:39
Speaker 5: You know as well.

00:36:41
Speaker 8: I don't think I gotta lost you. We don't have to worry about that. We don't have to worry about that. Dan, that'll be that'll be all right.

00:36:45
Speaker 5: All right.

00:36:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, poor fiance, she's got a tougher week leading up to the game than you do. Put it that way, you're gonna, yeah, no doubt, a lot of friends, a lot of a lot of people.

00:36:55
Speaker 4: It is who we're saying they're your friends.

00:36:58
Speaker 9: Yeah, exactly. It is an underrated response possibility.

00:37:00
Speaker 8: But that was the biggest That was the biggest you know, part of kind of this whole super Bowl thing is being able to figure that stuff out earlyly this week so I don't have to worry about it next week. But I also, you know, all the people that are coming to the game are loved ones that have known for a long time, and they're not there for the wrong reasons.

00:37:16
Speaker 9: So that's that was also a very important part of that.

00:37:19
Speaker 4: Well, congrats, you're taking the right approach.

00:37:22
Speaker 2: Enjoy it, you don't know when you'll be back, if you'll be back, and absorb it all you can because it's going to go by so quickly on Sunday and win or lose. You know, you had a marvelous year and uh my best to your parents.

00:37:37
Speaker 9: All right, Thanks Dan, I appreciate you.

00:37:40
Speaker 4: Sam Darnell