The Best of The Dan Patrick Show

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

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Speaker 2: Jamison Hensley has been covering the Ravens for the Mothership since twenty thirteen. And I played a piece of sound after the game and I thought it was a great question and telling answer. Let me play for play for you that question again and what the situation was after losing a tough game? Lamar Jackson's answer or non answer?

00:00:27
Speaker 3: Do you want to see John me and the coach rum here? You asked me about next year? Jamison, I'm so caught up in what just happened tonight, I can't. I can't focus on that right now. I just told you, like he asked me, are you stun? I'm stunn right now. I'm still strying the process.

00:00:43
Speaker 4: What's going on?

00:00:45
Speaker 3: I know we lost, but but you know that's.

00:00:48
Speaker 2: All the man who asked the question, Jamison Hensley joining us, Now, what made you ask the question in that moment?

00:00:55
Speaker 5: Just because Lamar Jackson's the peace of this franchise and his opinion carries a lot of weight. And when John Harball is in his eighteenth season and you have a super Bowl favorite team not make the playoffs, there's gonna be a lot of questions about John's Harball's job security. We've been asking John Harball about his job security for two weeks, and I just thought it was time for Lamar Jackson to have his chance to weigh in. And I believe if I asked him, hey, do you want Derrick Henry to be your running back? Do you want Zay Flowers to be a wide receiver? He was saying, oh, yes, I definitely want to play with those guys. But for Lamar to basically say, hey, you know what, I'm focusing on the loss. For him to not give John Harball go to confidence at that point was pretty telling too.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought so. I was trying to be fair to him because I don't know that separation of game ends cooling down period and then you go to the press conference. But you got to say yes in that moment just to you know, keep reporters like you off the scent there. But what if the field goal is good?

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Speaker 5: No, I don't think that changes anything, Okay, I don't. I think the news was surprising. I think everyone was bracing for change. I think it was more that everyone was thinking that it was going to be a change at the coordinator level and I know up until yesterday that John Harball was pretty comfortable that he was going to be proceeding as the head coach of the Ravens.

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Speaker 6: Things changed in that afternoon.

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Speaker 5: I've talked to a lot of people in this building here at the Ravens facility, still have not found a definitive answer. I don't think there will be one definitive vance. I think it's a culmination of things. But we're at a point now where the Ravens are searching for their first head coach since two thousand and eight. I mean, Dan, the last time I covered a coaching search, I think I had a flip.

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Speaker 2: Phone losing the locker room. Yeah, what does that mean? Is that a real story.

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Speaker 5: I've been in that locker room for twenty six years, and I was there for the past two weeks.

00:03:03
Speaker 6: I did not get that sense. I will say.

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Speaker 5: There were players in that locker room that were not pro John Harball, and I will say after the game, not only do we ask Mar Jackson, we asked running back Derek Henry. We asked offensive tackle Rynie Stanley do you want to see John Harball return.

00:03:20
Speaker 6: As head coach?

00:03:22
Speaker 5: And both of those guys said, Hey, we love John Harball, but that's not our decision. So it wasn't like this huge support for John Harball, but I think there was. If you look at the last couple of games at green Bay where it was a must win.

00:03:38
Speaker 6: At Pittsburgh was a must win.

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Speaker 5: If John Harball lost the locker room, they would have lost those games by a wide margin. They were still fighting in those and I think that is a sign that John Harball hadn't lost that locker room. But I will also say that there's a feeling that Harball, after years, eighteen years, he had kind of run his course here and he had Lamar Jackson for nine or eight years, three playoff wins. Maybe the perception was maybe it was time to give somebody else a chance because Lamar Jackson's not going to play forever. Maybe it was another chance to give somebody else see if they can take Lamar Jackson to new heights.

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Speaker 2: Are what are the Ravens plans?

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Speaker 6: Now? Yeah, that's my knee jerk reaction.

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Speaker 5: Once I heard John Harrball was fired, I was.

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Speaker 6: Like, Okay, who is next? Well, you look at this roster.

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Speaker 5: I mean they have had a dozen of Pro Bowl players, They have a two time MVP in Lamar Jackson. They got to bring somebody with a big name established, you just can't. But then I also thought back to two thousand and eight when they introduced John Harball as the next guy coach. And this is a special teams guy. I mean he was the second pick to Jason Garrett after Jason Garrett turned it down and ravens Uner. Steve Ashatti made the point back then that he made a career in his business for selecting guys with resumes by hitting on those guys. And how do you separate yourself from the masses, This is from Bushati. How do you separate separate yourself from the masses, Well, you go against the green. You don't follow the masses, you don't follow the general thing. So I don'm sure he takes a coach that has been a head coach before. I think he takes great pride in selecting John Harball and having him have a Hall of Fame.

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Speaker 6: Type career here in Baltimore.

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Speaker 5: So it wouldn't surprise me if he goes for a younger coach maybe doesn't have a head coaching experience, because that has been his history.

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Speaker 2: Well there's Clint. Clint Kubianc. There's Chris Shula like, there's younger guys that have thing.

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Speaker 6: Jesse Minter as well, Jesse Mitchrill's are going to with the Chargers.

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Speaker 2: So I don't know if they're going offense or defense. Could you see them leaning one way or another of what type of coach they're bringing in.

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Speaker 5: I think they're looking for a coach, it doesn't matter if it's offense or defense. I think they're looking for some to reinvigorate this franchise. And I think it ain't kind of grown a little stale around here, and so I think they need somebody to to really kind of energize not only that locker room, but Lamar Jackson as well. And I think that is when whoever takes over for the Ravens, that is going to be the key. How do they connect with Lamar Jackson Because not only is he the face of this franchise, he is the leader and he as this team goes, as Lamar goes, this team goes. So I think that is going to be the priority. It's more not more of offense defense, but how do they connect with Lamar Jackson?

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Speaker 2: Where does John Harball end up?

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Speaker 6: That is also a very good question.

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Speaker 5: And as much as I think the Ravens now become the number one destination for any available coach, John Harball is the number one candidate out there for a guy who changed the culture here with the Ravens, who turned this team from yeah, a you know, good playoff team under Billock, you know, but they have you know, kind of gone off the off the tracks a little bit. He turned them into a perennial super Bowl contender. And I mean you look at his resume as being and he's adapted over the years. He'll acknowledge that he is a players coach. I've talked to players. They say he has his best when uh, you know, it's the it's tough times. So I think he would relish the chance to go to a New York Giants team that has a lot of good players, a great roster. But I also think there could be some teams out there that have had coaches. Yeah, maybe maybe Miami Dolphins where he could go there as well.

00:07:38
Speaker 6: I think John.

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Speaker 5: Harball being available changes everything. It changes even teams that have here. It just changes the coaching search immediately.

00:07:48
Speaker 6: You know.

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Speaker 2: The thing that really kind of surprised me with Lamar's non answer when you asked the question was nobody has had his back more than John Harbaugh did without doubt, found doubt, but it felt like there was a disconnect at some point.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, And I will say, Dan, I mean, like you said, no one has had the back of Lamar more than John Harriball.

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Speaker 6: I mean you go.

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Speaker 5: Back to that two thousand and nineteen playoff game, sorry, twenty eighteen playoff games, Lamar's first playoff game, and he's struggling, and Joe Flacco is on the sideline and there's fans chanting, chanton Flacco. Flaco, put this guy back in there your Super Bowl quidning and he did. He stayed with Lamar, and I think that was a big turning point, not only for this franchise, but also the relationship of Lamar and Harball. And I think they had a good relationship. I think for John, he was kind of the middle guy between where there was some friction between Lamar Jackson and some of.

00:08:52
Speaker 6: The coaching staff as well.

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Speaker 5: And I think he was the middle guy, and I think he tried to hold it together as well as he could. But at a certain point, if someone told me there's a certain shelf life when you're coaching, Lamar Jackson and this coaching staff reached the end of.

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Speaker 2: It if the Steelers had lost. Finish that sentence with Mike Tomlin.

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Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I.

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Speaker 5: Mean that's a very interesting question because I mean, you got the two you know, tenured coaches in the NFL, and and John Harball was even asked about that kind of Mike Tomlin and and him. Will this game be a referendum on your kind of both of your your your coaching, your job securities for both coaches?

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Speaker 2: And I thought Tomlin was on the hot seat James, right.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, But I mean Harpball gave a great quote. He quoted Billy Jean King, the Tennis Hall of Famer saying, you know what, pressure is a privilege, and it's a privilege to be on the hot seat because it means you know what you're you're doing something that you love. And so I will say this about John Harball that for a guy that has been around for almost two decades and was kind of being asked some tough questions about his job over the last two weeks, he handled it very very well. And someone told me yesterday after the news had kind of broken that John Harball is at peace with this decision and he kind of feels that it's good to be a reset for nominally for the franchise for him as well.

00:10:20
Speaker 2: Great stuff, I know you're busy. Thanks for taking time.

00:10:23
Speaker 6: Thank you so much. Dan really appreciate it all right.

00:10:25
Speaker 2: Jamison Hensley ESPN Ravens reporter since twenty thirteen, been in the building for over a couple of decades.

00:10:32
Speaker 6: There.

00:10:33
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00:10:43
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00:10:47
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00:10:57
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00:11:03
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00:11:13
Speaker 2: Dan Orlovsky you can catch him on the NFL Live every weekday at four Eastern former NFL yukon quarterback back with us. Good to see you, buddy. I'm gonna let you pick. You're gonna be the offensive coordinator with these openings. The best opening as an offensive coordinator is where Atlanta.

00:11:36
Speaker 4: So much talent, so many weapons, a very good offensive line. I'd like to keep my offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford, who if you talk to anybody in the NFL, has done a great job down there and is one of the best offensive offensive line coaches in the NFL. I understand there's a significant question mark and void at the quarterback spot with the you know, Michael Pennix inability to consistently perform and to be on the field. What's gonna happen with Cousins. It sounds like he'll be a free agent. But Jean Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts. There's just too much talent and a good offensive line.

00:12:13
Speaker 2: But being a former quarterback, I would have thought the Raiders or the Giants. Now, what would spare you about the Raiders?

00:12:21
Speaker 4: Ah, that's the worst roster in football. There is such a lack of talent on the football team. I mean, the only person that you can confidently say you is a trademark foundational piece is brock Bauers, and he's outstanding. Jenti's still a little bit of a question mark. We don't really know how good he is, and it's not all his fault. The offensive line was very bad. I think they'll end up trading mac crosby just for value, and so I number one pick all that, there's just so many. I think it's three years from now before you really get the necessary pieces to have a chance to play consistently good offensive football. I'm with you on the that would be the one that was would be very close to me. Neighbors' health, huge Skataboo. I'm a huge Jackson Dark fan. I was coming out. Everyone knows that. So Atlanta is not this head and shoulders above the Giants for me. But I just think because of the pieces there and the division as.

00:13:17
Speaker 2: Well, best opening right now is where probably the.

00:13:23
Speaker 4: Two that it was just talking about, Atlanta and New York, you know, but they're different, and it's almost like a one to eighty New York. You have a quarterback, but you still need other pieces. The offensive line is not good enough outside of the left tackle, and then you probably need a second or third pass catching option. Theo Johnson had some moments, but you got a quarterback. The problem is it's a general manager who has to win now. He has to win now, and so it's a very short window that immediate success has to happen. Where in Atlanta. I talked about those pieces, you're also as a head coach going in the same timeline and as that general manager, and you're going to I think Atlanta would make sense to either Keith Kirker. I could see them adding maybe a second round draft pick at quarterback. But like you're in lockstep timeline wise with the general manager.

00:14:12
Speaker 2: And I'm wondering about John Harball and or Kevin Stefanski, how much say they would have. Liam Cohen goes to Jacksonville and says, I don't want that GM. The Giants got their GM already in place. How difficult is that to sell? Let's say, John Harball, Hey come in and we already have our GM.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I would imagine it's a challenge. You know that part of that is do those guys have a previous relationship, do they get along? Do they think they can work together? You know this just because we're friends doesn't mean we can work together. You know, what would be the plan? And I don't know if those are questions. I've never been in the situation Dan, where if John Harball wants the Giants job but wants to make sure that he protects his back with okay, if this isn't necessarily going great early on, I don't know even if you address that in interview questions with the mayor of family. But if you're the mayor of family in hardball, well what happens if you guys decide to move on from Joe Shane? Then do I get to pick the general manager? Do we have a list of people we're already planning on if that becomes the worst case scenario? And so I do think it presents a challenging situation, Kyle, I remember years ago went to San Francisco and then brought on John Lynch in his own you know, kind of decision. So you know, I don't sometimes a lot is made out of that, and sometimes I don't know if it's as big a deal as we make it out to be.

00:15:36
Speaker 2: Well, then you got the Brown situation, like how attractive is that job if with ownership and you got the GM in place?

00:15:47
Speaker 4: I don't find it overly attractive. I think Andrew Berry has done a nice job. I do. All of us analysts can't talk out of the both sides of our mouths. We have, for it feels four or five years now, talked about the Brown and said, man, this is such a good, young, talented roster if they could just figure out the quarterback position. So we can't say that over the course of what feels like four or five years. But then also not or say, how is Andrew Berry still there?

00:16:14
Speaker 6: You know?

00:16:14
Speaker 4: And I do think he hasn't been perfect, but I do think he's built a good football team for the most part. But then you've got the ownership and they just fired a coach as a two time Coach of the Year, that assumption on my end, but by all accounts was forced to have a quarterback signed to a ridiculous contract. He's when was the last time a coach won in Cleveland?

00:16:36
Speaker 6: You know?

00:16:36
Speaker 4: And they just move on from him. And so I understand that there's two first round picks, but you know, I think there's other places that are much more desirable.

00:16:45
Speaker 2: But you got Deshaun Watson, you're paying him, was healthy enough to practice, So why don't you open up the opportunity for him to kind of try to prove himself for this one year.

00:16:58
Speaker 4: Oh that shit is sailed. I mean, Deshaun. The last time Deshaun played good football I think was five years ago, twenty twenty one. And I would tell you, Dan, the thing that stood out the last time I think we saw him playing on the field, which I believe was maybe twenty twenty three, was he looked like a shell of himself athletically. I mean, Deshaun's dealt with some injuries now. I mean he's he's got I think at least two, if not three ACL tears. He's got the achilles, he had the shoulder. I mean, I think just physically his body is just kind of started to break down. I just don't think athletically he's what he was five six, seven years ago.

00:17:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, he stopped running, you know, And you're right, he kind of lost that athleticism or that willing willingness to take a hit. I brought this up before with Lamar Jackson. He went from eleven rushing attempts to a round five. And I don't is that a concerted effort on his part or the offensive coordinator collaborative, but it running quarterbacks. Mobile quarterbacks do eventually stop trying to run as many times as you know they did when they're younger. Is that what happened with Lamar?

00:18:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, but collaborative it's the smart thing to do. It's the right thing to do from a coaching perspective of not asking that player after he's you know, kind of built up the career that he has and has taken hits to continue to do that six seven, eight plus years into your career, specifically in September, October, and November. Now as you get into December and playoff football, you probably ramp it up. And I think that's what a lot of people expect from like the Philadelphia Eagles and the Buffalo Bills as they get into these playoff runs. And then I think it's certainly part of the player to sit back and go, all right, availability my health. I got to be at my best when it's needed the most. It's a long season. That one game that's been added. People probably think it's only a small thing. It's a huge deal for these organizations and these quarterbacks. They expect to be playing nineteen twenty games, maybe twenty one, and so I do think it's a self preservation reality, and Lamar was banged up this year to begin with. We were talking about it consistingly on NFL Live that he was getting tackled in one on one situations more than I had ever seen. And so, yeah, it was one of the storylines for the Ravens this year.

00:19:21
Speaker 2: Can Josh Allen limit his I mean, he seems consistent, He's running seven times a game.

00:19:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, I just think it's situational when Josh has done it. You know, it's Josh used to run seven times a game, and five of them were just to go do it and try to run through the whole defense. It seems a little bit more strategic nowadays for Joshu, where you know, I'll do it on a third down, I'll do it in the red zone, I got the conversion, I'll go out of bounce, or I'll side and not necessarily try to prove how tough I am. And so it seems to be a little bit more of a concerted effort to be situational and strategic.

00:19:55
Speaker 2: Talking to Dan Orlovsky of The Mothership, Adam Schefter reporting that the Giants will interview Mike McCarthy, I was just mentioning his name. You know ten minutes ago that he's kind of off the radar, But I'm wondering why he's off the radar. His resume is similar to Sean Payton, Mike Tomlin, and Harball.

00:20:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's a good coach obviously, Mike McCarthy's had a lot of success. I think that there's there's places that make sense. You know, last year I was like, man, I would entertain him in Chicago to get Caleb to play a little bit more on structure. There's a part of me that feels that way with Jackson Dart. But I also think Jackson Dart probably has to live and should live in a little bit more of a of a Josh Allen, Patrick mahomes Lamar Jackson A create a creative world where that's emphasized. I would also say this, it has to make the Giants take a little bit of a step back and go, wait, why did our offense in Dallas look the way it did stretches in twenty twenty three and twenty four, and I know there was no George Pickens obviously, and then it looked like the way it did under Brian Schottenheimer in twenty twenty five, where it was one of the best offenses in football. That has to be at the forefront of the Giants. And if this conversation is a real thing between them and Mike McCarthy.

00:21:19
Speaker 2: Give me the quarterback under the most pressure in the playoffs.

00:21:22
Speaker 4: I'm not giving you Josh because Josh is the clear, runaway, obvious answer. Okay, I'm gonna say it's Trevor Dan I called Monday Night Football in twenty twenty four. Let's call it fourteen months ago. On the road. He was playing up in Buffalo. They got destroyed and he was awful, and I remember being on the call, not even on the call in the meetings before him, being like, something just seems off with him. He just doesn't have the confidence right now. And then you watched it play out in the game and in the booth, I'm like, oh my gosh, is this the beginning of Trevor Lawrence being an afterthought in the NFL? And it was just you could tell he did not have any belief in himself. And then they hire Liam and there's a little bit of friction maybe early on in the season, and there's the moment against the Bengals, pinning on his chest and everyone's making a big deal out of it and whatnot. And then right now, he's the hottest quarterback in the NFL going into the playoffs. It's the hottest pass game in the NFL going into the playoffs. They've got him thinking less, they've got him reacting more. He thinks he's the best player in the field every time he steps on the field. And so you're watching you play out in real time of like, this is the guy, this is the guy you were at Clemson, this is the guy you were drafted, be the number on overall pick you're playing this weekend. It gets the guy that people thought you could be like. And so I would say, just the way he's played this year. You know, guys going to different groupings and different areas when they go do what they've done in the regular season in the postseason. I say, Trevor.

00:22:55
Speaker 2: Lawrence, the coach under the most pressure. Sehan McDermott, Is he coaching for his job?

00:23:03
Speaker 4: I hate answering this question, Yes, but my job is to be honest. Yes, And I think the world of coach McDermott. I think he's a great football coach. But what we're watching in the NFL right now is these organizations that have high expectations. If those expectations are not met, these people move off from ready And I just watched the Ravens move off from one of the great coaches in the last two decades. And if Buffalo falls flat and does not win this weekend, is it outrageous to think that they decide to move on from Sean McDermott. Maybe they hire John Harbaugh. Maybe that's the coach that they choose to go and replace that move But yeah, I think so because just the expectations are high.

00:23:52
Speaker 2: I mentioned this at the top of the hour, that Indiana is a great story. Fernando Mendoza is a great story. But I got to separate great story from are you a great player? And it feels like Fernando Mendoza, who his Heisman numbers were probably middle of the pack, if you know, if he didn't throw interceptions.

00:24:13
Speaker 6: But.

00:24:15
Speaker 2: How do you how should we evaluate him and Dante more since they're the two quarterbacks who are above everybody else, but that I don't know if they're just the best quarterbacks this year, So I don't know how good they are.

00:24:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I would say with Fernando, I think the starting point is can you see it? And can you throw it? And those boxes are checked. Yes, that's a clear declaration that he can see it and he can throw it. Those have to be foundational traits for quarterbacks.

00:24:45
Speaker 2: Explain that though, see it, throw it?

00:24:47
Speaker 4: Yeah. So a lot of times with quarterbacks it's can you see what the defense is presenting you? He was on with Pat the other day and he uses the phrase every play is a puzzle, and I have to figure out what that puzzle is. I often say every play the defense presents to you a question, and you have to know what that answer is. And the question is often do you have a problem. What's the front, what's the coverage, where's the blitz, what's the weakness of the cover. So you have to see kind of all of that moving in a very short period of time. Can you see that? Or are you a guy that can't because some guys can and some guys can't. And then Dan, there's levels to it. What happens if you can see it, but it takes you two tenths of a second too long. That's an eternity in the NFL. Rock Perty's one of the greats to do it. I can see exactly what you're doing. Brady was talking about it years ago when he was going into the Super Bowl. I think into the Chiefs he was like, I knew exactly what they were doing before they knew what they were doing, you know. And so Fernando can see it. And I think that's one of the things that's become clear the more that people have watched him, is like, if you allow him to know what you're in, you're dead. He's gonna carve you up. So can you see it? And then can you throw it? I hate the phrase this guy can make all the things. I don't care. There's thousands of people on planet Earth that can make all the throws. You have to make the right throw at the right time. So that's what I mean by that. This eighteen yard en route versus Cover three is a different throw. Versus Cover two is a different throw. Versus Cover one is a different throw. When I have to move in the pocket is a different throw in the backside linebackers two yards more into the middle field than he is. And so that's deep, deep football talk. So I think he can do that. You know, how great is he when it comes to the plus plays? How great is he when to come. He hasn't necessarily dealt with a ton of adversity at Indiana this year, and then with Dante Moore. You know what, Dante Moore, Dan, he reminds me of Matt Ryan a little bit. If it's in rhythm, it's lovely, it's lovely, it's pure, it's rhythmic. It's like the consistency of that. It's very smooth. When he has to move, when he has to be off time just a second, I think that person becomes a little bit more realistic and average. Matt had this really sudden athleticism in the pocket that allowed him to play at a consistent level. Dante's got to develop that, but he's very pure.

00:27:16
Speaker 2: We were talking about this pre show. If arch Manning was in this year's draft number one overall.

00:27:23
Speaker 4: Not even close, not even close, not even close, you'd be the runaway number one pick. Arch Manning is kind of like the throwback nineteen seventy quarterback with modern day training and nutrition. I'm a huge fan of this guy. He's physically remarkably gifted. He's intelligent when it comes to the football, understanding of speed and space, all that. I think he's wired the right way. He's when you watch him on a sideline, he's ultra competitive. I think he's weathered a lot. He's going into the NFL, or when he does, he's gonna have weathered so many different storms. And we know that's a huge deal, so many different finger pointings and adversity and hype and falling short and getting punched and getting backed up. You got to have that skill, you have to have that trait to be elite outside of the physical things. And so yeah, he would be number one Runaway.

00:28:26
Speaker 2: Well run Away, Okay, I thought he would be a top ten pick. But I you know, when we had this conversation before I was told that, you know, NFL scouts said no, he would be the number one. He would be the number one pick Runaway, Dan Runaway didn't show that he wasn't that company, and you just said he'd be the number one pick.

00:28:47
Speaker 4: And add in the context of this, the one to two pick are Las Vegas and New York. I mean these are huge markets, you know, obviously organizations when it comes to like at least visibility, and so yeah, number one.

00:29:04
Speaker 2: Run Away and then he'd have Brady as the owner in Vegas, and.

00:29:08
Speaker 4: It the pit would already be made.

00:29:10
Speaker 2: Great to talk to you as always. Thank you, Thank you, sir Dan Orlovsky. The mothership 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 Tony Dungee Hall of Famer.

00:29:29
Speaker 6: He'll be uh.

00:29:30
Speaker 2: They're working Sunday night, Chargers Patriots AFC Wildcard game for NBC and Peacock kickoff at eight eastern ton. Good to talk to you again. I saw where the John Harball situation really bothered you. Why.

00:29:45
Speaker 9: Well, we were at.

00:29:48
Speaker 7: The game, Dan covering the game Pittsburgh and Baltimore, and leading up to it, all we're hearing is whichever coaches loses the game is in trouble. And I'm thinking, here's the guy who's been there nineties years, and now the guy's been there eighteen years. They've been to Super Bowls, they've been in the playoffs. Why are you in trouble? Well, I interviewed Mike Tomlin Saturday. I'm in Art Rooney's office and I sit for thirty minutes with Art Rooney and I come to the conclusion Mike Tomlin is not in trouble. I just i'd sense it from talking to Art Well. Baltimore loses the game, their kicker misses the kick. Otherwise they'd be hosting a home playoff game. And John Harbor gets fired. And you look at the stats and what they've done, winning twelve games, thirteen games in the last three years, going to the playoffs. I just don't understand it. I get it, it's happened. It happened to me. We won, We went to the playoffs three times, and I got fired. That's life. But I don't know what these owners are thinking. Sometimes hopefully they get a better coach than John Harbaugh.

00:30:50
Speaker 9: I'm not sure they will.

00:30:51
Speaker 2: Well that's just did it feels like the fans won't change. But then who are you bringing in who's better than Mike Tomlin. Are better than John Harball, But do you sometimes need a change just for change sake? Because it's been the same thing eighteen years, nineteen years.

00:31:09
Speaker 9: I don't believe in that. I think if you're an owner, and maybe.

00:31:12
Speaker 7: That's what happened, maybe Steve Asaudi says, I look at this, it's not going in the direction I want. And I've got a change, and that's his prerogative. That's good. But hopefully you're not changing as a reaction to the fans or our fan base is upset or our locker room's upset because we lost this game. Hopefully it is a well thought out decision, and sometimes it works out great. The Bucks fired me, they went to the super Bowl the next year. I went to the Super Bowl in India and Appolis, So sometimes it works out.

00:31:41
Speaker 2: Well, why were you fired?

00:31:44
Speaker 9: I was fired because they didn't think.

00:31:47
Speaker 7: They didn't like our offensive style, and they didn't think I was a guy who could take it to the next level.

00:31:53
Speaker 9: When I got there, we'd had thirteen straight losing seasons.

00:31:56
Speaker 7: We win, We go to the playoffs four years out of six, where you know, two minutes from a super Bowl.

00:32:02
Speaker 9: But they didn't think I could take it to the next level. And that's fine.

00:32:06
Speaker 7: That's their prerogative, John Gruden, And that's what I will say this about Baltimore. If you're Steve Bashatta, you better get a guy who's ready to take this roster that's set up to win and win now, don't train and coach for five years from now and all of that. You better get somebody who can do it for you right now?

00:32:26
Speaker 2: What's the right fit for John Harbaugh?

00:32:28
Speaker 7: You know we were talking about that on our NBC podcast. I look at Atlanta right now, and you've got a couple of quarterbacks there. You've got, I think, the best running back in football. You drafted some young defensive players that an't that defense up. It's not a great division, and you won. You beat all the people in your division the last couple of weeks. You came on in December. I think that could be a very very attractive spot.

00:32:53
Speaker 2: Could you pass on the Giants if you're John Harbaugh?

00:32:57
Speaker 9: I don't know about John.

00:32:58
Speaker 7: I would pass on the Giants because I don't want that New York drama. I can do a lot of things to coach a lot of other places. Besides have to have those press conferences. I've seen Aaron Glenn, I've seen Brian Dabole and those Monday press conferences in New York.

00:33:12
Speaker 9: I don't know if I would want that.

00:33:14
Speaker 2: Okay, so Atlanta you like a lot, Yes, what other position?

00:33:20
Speaker 9: There's a couple of teams there. You know, you have to look at the Giants.

00:33:23
Speaker 7: You got a young quarterback there who looks like the quarterback of the future. The Titans look like they've drafted their quarterback in the future. It's not a great division either. I would be worried about, you know, what's really going on in the front office in Nashville and are they going to give me a chance to succeed. You had a pretty good coach in Mike Rabel and you let him go. I think he's a pretty good coach, so that that might worry me a little bit. But you know any place. When I went to Tampa, they told me not to go to Tampa. Oh, it's a death knell for coaches.

00:33:53
Speaker 9: Don't go.

00:33:53
Speaker 7: So you've just got to get comfortable with the organization there, with the people that are going to be your bosses and make it work.

00:34:01
Speaker 2: And the Brown situation would make me nervous that you've kept your GM. I don't trust the owner, you don't have a quarterback.

00:34:10
Speaker 9: That's that's a pretty dicey threesome there. Yeah.

00:34:15
Speaker 7: You And although we're getting that way with a lot of these franchises.

00:34:19
Speaker 9: Then you look at the Raiders.

00:34:20
Speaker 7: I saw a thing that they're paying all these coaches, say eighty million dollars. They've had different coach every year, what's the game plan? When are you going to say this is my guy and I'm going to stick with it. That's it was so refreshing to be an art Runey's office and I told him about how his grandfather impacted me and Chuck Nole and you know he's sitting there and they've had three coaches in sixty years, and you know, this is how we do it. We pick a guy, we support him, we stand but behind them, and it just doesn't seem like we're getting that now.

00:34:52
Speaker 2: I brought this up many times that if I was taking a job, I want to know how involved my owner is going to be, because they built their money to buy this team, but they didn't build it by being a football guy. And sometimes you come into those situations and look, I know Jerry Jones played college football at a high leveled Arkansas, but most of these owners didn't play. They're not football guys. And being able to delegate is really important, and I think it's hard for these billionaires to do that.

00:35:25
Speaker 7: Yeah, And the other thing is you have to have a sense of what the owner is looking for. I can remember talking to Dan Rooney and he told me, you know, his blueprint. We're in Pittsburgh, it's cold weather, it's blue collar. So I want a defensive coach. That's how we're going to build it. I want a young guy because I don't want to do this every four or five years. And I want a teacher and a communicator, because that's how I learned. So that was his blueprint. Give me a young, good, communicating defensive coach. So nineteen sixty nine he hires Chuck Nole as a thirty year old something that nobody they'd never heard of. And then twenty three years later he hires Bill Cower, and then sixteen years after that he hires Mike Tomlin. All this he knew what he was looking for. I talked to owners now and then some they asked me, well, who's good out there?

00:36:15
Speaker 9: What are you looking for? I don't know.

00:36:17
Speaker 7: Just tell me who's good. No, that's not it. What do you want? And I remember my conversation with Jim Mercy. Hey, we've got a young offense. It's in place. I want you to come here, get our defense going. I also like the way you connect with the fans and the fan base. We haven't been here that long. We need to connect with Indianapolis. That's what I'm looking for. In fifteen minutes, he had sold me on what we're going to do because I believe what he wanted that I could deliver that for him. It's more than just money. It's more than opportunity. It's more than Hey, you're a good play caller.

00:36:50
Speaker 6: What do you want talking to?

00:36:53
Speaker 2: Tony Dungee Hall of Famer? And you can watch Chargers Patriots in Foxboro Sunday night on NBC and PECO. They get their festivity started. Football Night America's seven thirty Eastern. Which quarterback's under the most pressure this weekend?

00:37:09
Speaker 9: Wow?

00:37:10
Speaker 7: Josh Allen for one, I think you can look at it and say, Kansas City is not in This is your year to go to the playoffs. You're gonna be on the road, but we expect big things. You've been superman in the past. We need superman again. Justin Herbert in our game, He's played great, He's played lights out. They don't have a very good offensive line in front of him. You're gonna have to go on the road and try to win a game. Those two guys in the AFC for sure. On the NFC side of it, Matthew Stafford. You went to Carolina a month ago. We thought you had the best team in football. You turn the ball over three times. If you don't turn the ball over, everybody expects you to win this game. Go into your playoff mode and produce.

00:37:57
Speaker 2: Feels like Sam Darnold's going to be under pressure when when the Seahawks play, because we keep waiting. Yeah, we're waiting to see. Is this a different Sam Darnold. I think Trevor Lawrence being at home playing at a high level, and we've bought into Trevor Lawrence and the Jags feels like there's a lot of pressure there as well. What about most pressure for a coach in the playoffs?

00:38:24
Speaker 7: Oh, I think right now Mike Tomlin for sure. I mean, and not from his ownership, but from his fan base. Oh, we're tired of this nine.

00:38:31
Speaker 2: But can you imagine if they lose, they're they're underdogs at home, Tony.

00:38:35
Speaker 7: Yes, and if they lose, it'll be Ah, it's the same narrative. We're not very good. Forget about last week, forget about this last month. You lost another playoff game. And I know his players don't want that. They want to win for him. I sense that Uh, the other most of these other teams, you've got new coaches, new faces, everybody's just excited and ramped up.

00:38:58
Speaker 9: Maybe Matt Lafleur.

00:39:00
Speaker 7: Uh, you've been in the playoffs a few times and you've you've had some upsets earlier on.

00:39:05
Speaker 9: But now where are we. Let's let's let's get this thing going.

00:39:08
Speaker 2: Great to talk to you, Happy New Year. Great to see you again.

00:39:11
Speaker 9: Thank you, buddy. I always good to talk to you.

00:39:14
Speaker 2: Tony Dungee