NFL Week 5 - Darlings in Dallas, TNF tweet and Dean applies for a job with the Eagles?

So we're gonna get to that a little bit later, but let's start Thursday Night football. And this is becoming a little bit of a thing. Okay, this is becoming a thing where either a future Hall of Fame quarterback or a current Hall of Fame quarterback's watching the game decides to go on social media, you know, either his his handheld devices phone or his laptop or whatever it is, get on Twitter and tweet something not so nice about the game. This week. A couple of weeks ago was

Tom Brady. This week it was our guy Kurt Warner, and Travis would a Kurt have to say what Kurt had to say. I just want to first off say it doesn't have the weight that it does. When Tom Brady tweeted because the number of tweets and retweets, I won't even get into because the numbers are staggering. But Tom, if you want to see more changes, make more tweets. Right, And well, here's what Kurt said. He said, these calls on quarterbacks are border bordering ridiculous. What in the world

are we doing to the game? Okay, so what and what Kurt was referencing to. There was a big call in the game late in the game Seattle was was was behind, they were driving and Clay Matthews got call from rough in the past or roughing what Russell Wilson and uh and you know the bottom line is it's it's not roughing and and Wilson was outside the pocket throwing on the run. Matthews lead with the shoulder contact

to the body, not to the headneck area. It wasn't late big penalty in the game ends up contributing to that drive which Seattle did score and eventually won the game, UM a one point game thirty nine. And so obviously Kurt is frustrated. As a former quarterback, you'd think he'd he'd want to protect the quarterbacks, but this is this is a situation where where it was not the correct call. But here's the thing, and there's there's a difference between

the quarterback in the pocket and outside the pocket. Inside the pocket you get full protection, meaning the strike zone is above the knee to below the neck. You have you have what's called the two step protection. So in the rule book it says the defender has up until his second step after the quarterback releases the past to make forceable contact. So if you hit him after that second step with force, it's a foul. Outside the pocket

on the run, you lose that two step protection. You also lose the protection of the knee area or below the theory being quarterback on the run defender potentially in chase mode, that defender has to be able to go low to make that tackle to prevent the quarterback from either throwing the ball or advancing it as a runner.

So you do lose protection outside the pocket. And and one interesting thing what we've seen over the course of time and my years at the NFL and Competition Committee is the percentage of injuries to quarterbacks that happened outside the pocket compared to inside the pocket. It's significant the quarterback when you leave the pocket. History tells us that the likeliho of getting injured goes up compared to being in the pocket. So just something to be to be

aware of. So that's Thursday night. It continued Sunday as we talked the Green Bay Dallas game kay Packers Cowboys. Not that anything controversial ever happens in those games, right, So we had a call Dallas is behind their driving call on the Packers. Rashaan Gary hit to the head of the quarterback called rough in the pass or Dac was actually starting to to run the football. He ended up scrambling on the play. And look, this is there was contact to the head neck area, it was to

the helmet. But the bottom line is if it's not forcible, it's not a foul. And this this rule, in this interpretation has changed. You go back ten years late two thousands, and there was a time in the league where any contact to the head of a passer while he was in a defensives posture that moved the head was a foul, and the Competition committee looked at we looked at a whole bunch of plays and said that is not a player safety issue. That head slightly moving is not a

safety issue. So they added the word force forcible. It has to be forcible contact, and uh, and I did not think that that was forcible in that situation. And that's a situation where I would imagine if Green Bay asks, and they do have that opportunity to ask during the week about plays, I would imagine that the league would come back and say that was not rough in the past, and we're gonna talk to coach Peterson about that process.

And he actually gets into that later on. Then we had two plays involving low hits to the past where we had in the in the Buffalo Tennessee game, Buffalo is Matt mLAN was blocked running back cut Milano. He was actually airborne, had no body control, had no control over his body. He actually he turned in the air and did hit Marcus Mariota in the knee area with force. But the rule says, if you're blocked into a low hit and you don't have control of your body, then

it's not a foul. And and I think we looked at that and felt that that was not rough in the passer. Again, I think that's something um to uh the league will look at. And then, um, not necessarily a big call in the game, but this was a big call in this game, Pittsburgh Baltimore game that ended up going to overtime and Baltimore winning on a field goal fourth quarter And and Travis, You're gonna have to help me with the name here. Um h ala sukanimi a Dinini? Is that Dinini? I tried to look it

up and I couldn't find it real quick. And Uh, I'm gonna say, yes, we'll get it. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure I would come up with the nickname. I would come up with the nickname um for him. But fourth quarter to Baltimore is behind and and Adnini comes in forceable contact above the knee, uses his arms to wrap, gets his body off to the side. I mean, I really look at this as a textbook tackle when you're coming off a block and avoiding a foul. And uh.

And unfortunately for Pittsburgh, the referee felt differently. And this is obviously it's a judgment call. It happens quickly on the field. We get the benefit of replay and slow motion and all on different angles, but a big, big call in that game extended the drive fifteen more yards and and Pittsburgh Um, the game ended up tied at the end of that drive. Baltimore kicked the field goals. So UM some definitely some debatable calls and and and

obviously people are frustrated. But the bottom line is, as we talked about players safety, I think the league will certainly live with some questionable calls if in the big picture, we're protecting the quarterback. Look, we've already lost raw Flisberger for the season, Drew Brees is out a couple more weeks. You you saw, and we're gonna talk about a hit on Roethlisberger's back up, Mason Rudolph. These are you know, obviously,

player safety is important at all positions. The quarterback is a premium position on on a team, and and I think the league is certainly um competition. He puts rules in place to protect the past or because he is

in a defenseless posture a lot of the time. And I think, again, those are debatable calls, their judgment calls and uh, and again we didn't agree with with all of them, but calls that we certainly did agree with is the erl Thomas hit on Mason Rudolph and and we were in the studio on Sunday watching it and just you know what was as as a fan, and you think about even a fan of of the Ravens, it's how do you feel when you see Rudolph get hit and the way he reacted and his body went limp.

It's just it's scary. I can't speak for a Ravens fan. They probably have a little more hate towards the Steelers that I do. But you don't want to see a guy go limp and fall to the ground like that, no matter who it is, what team they played for. And for me, you don't you don't ever want to see that as a fan. And and that that I think was Look, Rudolf had had left the pocket, he was throwing on the run. Thomas did hit him in the head. There was clearly contacted. Looked like to the chin.

Rudolf hit his head on the turf. It was just scary. He was obviously he was obviously out. He was he was unconscious for at least a period of time. And uh, and again that's something the league will look at Thomas was not ejected, and there was a lot of questions as to why. Look, we just saw Vantes Burfett get ejected and suspended for the year, and now you have this, this situation, the scary situation involving players safety, and why

isn't Thomas thrown out of the game? And the league, obviously New York can get involved in that aspect of its official strow flag on the field. New York looks at it and what they're looking for is did the player delivering the blow, did he have a clear path? Did he have options? Did he lower his head lead with the crown of the helmet like perfect did and uh or In this instance, I felt Thomas he may have had a clear path, but it looked like he turned his head to the side, was attempting to get

shoulder to the body. I didn't quite get there. So I believe that's why. I don't want to speak for for the folks in New York, but I believe that's why he was not ejected. But look, the league will look at this, and there's a process in place for supplemental discipline. We saw it with Vantz last week. The league will look at this and uh. And again what what's so important is that we understand officiating on the

field and even from New York. Whether we eject the player or not, you have to and it's hard, but you have to remove the aftermath. We can't sit there and look at look at Mason Rudolph and and the injury and let that factor into your decision whether to eject this play there, And that's difficult to do. You have to look at the act itself and say, Okay, was it a clear path, was it flagrant? Did he have an opportunity to do something other than attack to

the head neck area? And and again, scary situation, but the league chose not to eject. I would imagine there's gonna be something coming this week. I don't if it's up to me. I don't think it's gonna be a suspension. I know, I know Thomas has had some some fines in the past, certainly nothing to the extent of of perfect, but at the very minimum, I I would expect some

kind of a fine on that plan. This one's interesting because you see Thomas is going right at him and as he's as Rudolph is throwing the ball, he's kind of jumping and throwing and he comes down, so it's like he's he's changing his his strike zone a bit. But I don't know, it's tough. It's a tough one. But I think the other one though, in the in the Tampa New Orleans game, there was a bunch of

stuff in that game. There was an ejection in that game, and that was that was Carlton Davis who hit Jared Cook. Jared Cook was a defenseless receiver on the play, attempting to catch a pass. And if you watch that play, and I'd like, if you have an opportunity, go and watch the two plays side by side, watch what Thomas does and then watch what what Davis does. And Carlton Davis has a clear path and he clearly lowers his head and goes with the crown of the helmet to

the head of Jared Cook. And I think that was the clear difference as to why Davis was ejected and Thomas was not. And look, it looks scarier because Mason Ruolph was injured. Cook jumped right back up, and again you've got to try to remove that part of it when you're looking at whether to eject the player. But but again I felt that was a good ejection. It came from New York because the officials on the field through the flag and then and then after the fact it uh it did uh it did um come from

New York and he was ejected. One other side note on the route off play, it was you know, it was unfortunate. And and look this is something that the cart the medical card didn't work. And I've never seen that they were pushing the medical card and they couldn't put Rudolph on the car and they actually had to walk him um with his face mask removed and and so he looked like he was playing in like nineteen fifty five and his face mask removed and they took

him off the field. And because the electric card, I believe it was an electric car, probably electric, that's why it didn't work. And we want Joe's looking at me. But Joe, Joe just picked up a tesla this this weekend and and he's never ever he's gonna work camp because I've never heard more. I mean, Elon Musk should should hire this guy, because I've never heard anybody anybody more excited about about a car. And uh, then Joe and his tesla, but does it have that new car smell?

Oh god, it's I don't know, but just make sure you get a you need to borrow my my my iPhone charger? Do you need so for an extra charge? I'm saving my words. Okay, very good, very good, But you know, obviously, look but I don't want to joke about that part of it. It's it's you gotta that you're so concerned with moving that player, especially when there's a potential head or neck injury. Um that it just

was unfortunate that that that happened. But hope, how do we not get the huntred dudes that are super strong playing you know, professional sports to help push that card off the future? Put him on, push on, push him. I think that's I mean, we've all I've done that.

You see people on the side of the road where where the car runs out of gas or or in Joe's case, when he's when he when that charge, when he gets two hundred seventy one miles and that charge is done, and we're gonna have to push the the tesla, you know, to the to the charging station. UM, I can't wait for that. But anyway, be the first one I call. But please thank you make sure your phone is charged to when you call me. So let's uh, let's go to break and uh and when we come back,

we're gonna do our our weekly the high update. Alright, we're back on good calls. Let's get into just some stats things too, that we watch on a weekly basis as we talk about the game right now. And these are through week four, so we don't have the week five stats finalized, but through week four scoring was down forty four point four points per game. That's combined points. That's down just under four points per game from last year at this time. And when you look at potential

reasons why. The two things that I look at our offensive holding, an offensive past inferiance. Offensive holding through four weeks up seventy calls. Okay, offensive past inferiance through four weeks up twenty calls. Those those are significant increases. When you talk about holding an op I, those are ten yard penalty, those are first in twenties, those are those are second in twenties. Those those are hard to overcome, and those lead to punts and they lead to less scoring.

So as long as those numbers are up O p I offensive holding, I think we're gonna have a challenge with scoring now, at least through the games on Sunday. Unofficially scoring was up. Scoring was up just over forty eight points per game. I don't know where we are holding an an O p I, but we'll check on that next week. But again, scoring was up. The other thing we always look at, you want what's the what's the equation, Travis? Do you remember that? The equation? We

talk about scoring in margin of victory? Correct? So what what? Yeah? Correct one? What's the good? What's the good recipe? We want high scoring games that are closed very good. So we want we want high score and we want low margin of victory. Right, He'll get it, people, He'll get it. Joe was like itching to say something he had, like the kid in school. It's like, oh, re put his arm up, but he can't talk because he talked too much crap about Tesla this weekend. Okay, so passing, Yeah,

I know, past interference. Okay. Look, I think everybody we're gonna have to accept where we are with this rule. And I know there's a lot of frustration with this rule right now. And we saw it on Sunday in the Packers Cowboys game with Jason Garrett and and again I just want to talk quickly Packers Cowboys. I was getting a lot of heat on Twitter. Um. We shot a fun segment during the pregame, me and a bar talking to a Cowboys and a Packers fan breaking down

the des Brian play. Look, it wasn't my idea and and and this was the producers that Fox wanted me to do something. They want to have a little fun with it, but also educate talk about the play. So you know, when my bosses say do something, I'm in and uh. And we had a little fun. And obviously Cowboy fans weren't happy about that. But I believe me,

no one is gonna let me ever live that play down. UM, will will continue to talk about that until until who knows, still the Cowboys win the Super Bowl, probably right, I think that's when that's the statute of limitations. I alright, Well, I won't let it go. So what we saw was Dallas. There was a dp I on Anthony Brown in in

the third quarter. That was a big penalty thirty nine thirty nine yards and it it didn't look like a lot of contact, even even our you know, our colleagues Troy and Joe and Pereira Um, And I thought Mike did a good job. Look, it wasn't a lot of contact, but where we are, and what if it's called on the field, it's going to have to take something so obvious, meaning it's gonna have to be a whiff, right, it's gonna have to be no contact for it not to

be called past deference. And and I think this is where we're seeing some of the frustration because a little bit later in the third quarter, you've got a pass too to Marie Cooper at the sideline ruled incomplete. And you know, in Dallas, if you've ever been in Dallas, there's a giant video board that everybody can see. And this call went against the home team. So I'm sure there was a very clear shot right away that showed and and and Fox showed it on the air that

Cooper did get two feet and bound. So Jason had the challenge and he was he was fired up. He he definitely threw the challenge flag a little more forcefully than normal. He was definitely trending Sunday night, So I mean, he I would I would say the correct word was he spiked the challenge flag. It was not. I don't know if it was quite a gronk spike didn't get above the head, but but it was a spike of

the challenge flag. And I think in addition to that, you could tell I don't know what was said, but he said something to the side judge. Okay, So there was a pool report, So there was a discussion after the game with why the foul was called Travis what what did the pool reports say? The poor reports said he actually drew the penalty flag for use of language and spiking the challenge flag in front of the official. And then there was I believe, I believe Jason actually

made a comment. Yeah, he made a comment after the game and said I didn't handle that situation as well as I should have. We knew we were going to get to play because I saw it, okay. And then I think there was one other comment by Bye Jerry, Mr Jones. He actually weighed in and and this might be my favorite comment of the whole situation. He says, well, I hope the little darling's meaning the officials didn't hear something they've never heard before. So that's I think that's

that's kind of a Texas thing. Next to darlings Darling didn't hear something that's not me all right, but but I just I love that. So I think, look, Jason took uh, you know, he's he's holding himself accountable for what he did, um right or wrong. Look, he was penalized. It was for abusive language, and we move on. What was really interesting about that situation is it's a fifteen yard penalty, but it ended up being first in twenty five and people were questioning, hey, why is that first

in twenty five? Well, when it's a foul against an official, it's it's penalized, it's enforced separately. So what you do is you administer the play, you set the chains, and then you enforce the penalty. So what happens is Dallas wins the challenge, Cooper gets the catch. We put the ball down first and ten, set the chains, so if the catch was made at the forty, we're gonna put the front stake at the forty stretch ten yards to

the fifty. Normally first and ten, but guess what. Now we're gonna enforce the fifteen yards and it's gonna be for first and twenty five. Huge, huge, huge, huge penalty. U G E versus your normal dead ball foul, that would be first and ten. You'd you'd administered the penalty then set the chain's first intent, so it ends up being a first and twenty five. The other side note on this first of two on sports and light conducts. Coach could get disqualified if he has two of those

in the same game. So it applies to a player, it also applies to a coach, head, coach, assistant coach. What have you so? Really interesting? And uh, and I hope the hope the little darlings are okay, right, Travis exactly. Well, now we're getting into a little bit later in the game. Fourth quarter, we have an interception. Green Bay intercepts a pass Kevin King picks off Dak Prescott. And you had a lot of contact on this play and and it was I think you had potential illegal contact, you had

potential holding, and you had potential past interference. Um, nothing was called. It was an interception. So replay has to look at They can look at past inference. They can't look at illegal contact or defensive holding. Nothing was called. And you watched that contact, and you look at the contact that that they all don Anthony Brown earlier and and there's you can make a case that there was

more contact on the interception. And so the bottom line is is that what's happening with this rule is if it's called on the field, it's past an ofference. The same act that's not called on the field is not past an inference. I mean, that's what we're seeing and and I don't think that is an indictment on the decision making. I think that's the problem with making these

calls reviewable because it's so subjective. And if your standard is clear and obvious that if you're looking for Saints Rams NFC Championship game too to add a foul, you're not. You're not seeing that. But if we're looking for clear and obvious to pick up a foul, it has to be, like I said earlier, almost no contact. So that's where we are. We saw two plays to OPI plays one and third Thursday Night game where where Brandon Cooks extended an arm, Seattle challenged it. It was a past complete

to cook Seattle challenged it. There was contact both ways. Ruling on the field stood. And then we saw in the Tampa New Orleans game Michael Thomas which looked like he he pushed off on Hargraves and it looked like there was contact, clear push, created space, no call on the field. Coach Arians challenged it, ruling on the field stood.

And I thought that that Thomas play, especially, is a play where flag down, they're not picking it up, but the same exact thing is happening and they're not putting it down. I think that's where that's where the frustration lies. And again we saw coach Garrett, I think, and again I believe he was still frustrated about that that challenge yet earlier with the past interference and uh and he obviously said something not condoning that, but it was out

of frustration. And the other point is people don't know if people everybody understands this, but two on sportsmanlike conducts and you're out of the game, and that include the coach. So we haven't seen that, we've seen a player get too in the in one game. But if if he gets a second on sports my conduct and it's something against an official, it's throwing a punch and and there's no contact, any verbal abuse toward an opponent, two of

those in youar gone. So and that would include the coach as well, so um interesting interesting situation there with p I one other play from Tampa, New Orleans. This got a lot of social media attraction and and Bucks fans were not happy. And as per usual, when I go on the air and I explained something and I agree with what happened, they're angry with me. If I disagree with what happened, they're angry with me. But anyway, here's the situation. It was a punt. Bucks were punting

to New Orleans. Deonte Harris catches the punt, starts to return, it gets hit, ball comes loose, it ends up in a pile. Tampa, it comes out with the football, and I believe it was ANTHONYO. Claire on Tampa that that actually came out of the pile. But the ruling on the field was down by contact. Tampa challenged, we're outside two minutes. It's not a turnover. So that's a challenge situation.

Tampa challenge that it was a fumble. But you have to win both aspects, meaning it has to be a fumble and there has to be clear obvious evidence of a recovery, and a player coming out of a pile is not clear, and obvious evidence of a recovery. The reason why is that when the ball goes into the pile and the officials ruled down by contact, what are they doing. They're blowing the whistle, They're going into the

pile and saying ruling on the field is down. They're telling players to get off so that ball could change hands after that. So what the Competition Committee put in when they made that clear recovery part of it, they said, you have to actually visually see the player recover the loose ball. You didn't see that. I think Tampa recovered it, but since they ruled down by contech, there was no visual evidence and the call on the field stood in

replay and that's the correct replay decision. Look, it was a fumble. They got it wrong on the field. Initially it was a fumble, but because you have to see who recovers the football, it uh, it was not overturned and uh. And I think this is a situation where and I'm hoping to get him on the podcast. I think we will at some point, but this is one of those where b a as as as a lot of people that know him Bruce Arians, we we refer to him as b a Um. I would imagine there's

a cooling off period. He can't call the league office until until twenty four hours after the game. But I would imagine at twenty four hours and one second, the phone might ring, and it might be be a and there might be some profanity, just just maybe just a hunch. But how many of those calls did you take from him? Oh? My god, so so yeah. I think the first year I was I was in the league office as the head of officiating. The first year, he told me it

was like October. He said, I'm never calling again. That lasted two weeks. The second year, he accused me of betting on a game, Okay, betting on a game like I'm I'm gonna risk my career on the week six Rams Bucks game. That that that's that's what I'm risking my career, right, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna clean up on that game and give up my my career. And then the third year he accused me of not knowing the rules. So but we go way back. He's awesome. I love him. We'll have him on the show at

some point. Let's uh, let's go to break and when we come back, we'll go inside the brain inside the brain, and I love that. I love that trap. This is very Halloween too. We'll be right back all right, We're back on good calls. We're a few minutes away from our special guest, Eagles coach Doug Peterson. But right now we're gonna go. We're gonna have a little fun. But I do want to say, guys, how how do you guys doing the survivor pool at our Fox Rules Cube

Survivor Pool this one. I went out with the rams last week, right, Joe? You went out yeah, yeah, and allowed to talk during this segment. But I am, I am. I want again today. We're not gonna talk teams, but I want again today. So I'm still alive in the in the Survivor pool because again I'm a smart businessman and I purchased somebody else's pick um. So if you have a problem with that, talk to Luther, who I

purchased the pick fro him. He's to sell out, not me, and all those people that listen, let us know how you feel about that. Are you allowed to buy back in? Joe is okay with it. He's the one who brought my attention. I had never heard of that. You're only a smart business man. If you win it, that's right. I will win the luck I will win. I want to talk about this. I want I want to the

d M of the Week. I get a lot of I get a lot of really excited people on Twitter, and and i'd say the percentages, I'd say, ninety three point six seven percent is not good. It's it's it's pretty negative. There are there are the handful of people. Um, there's my boy, Dustin Poppa. Shout out to Dustin pop I gotta respond to him. He asked me how many

ice cream sandwiches I could eat in twenty minutes? Okay, and I'm I guarantee you I could eat at least maybe not two boxes of twelve I could, I could, I said, I said, in the heat of the moment. Four I'm gonna come down a little bit. Eighteen and twenty minutes. Eighteen regular size ice cream sandwiches I could eat. You haven't seen me in ice cream, So all right, eighteen is much more doable than twenty four. I was pounding the under. Okay, So the d M of the week.

This comes from my buddy Caleb Clemens. At Caleb Clemens and he said I hate you, and the thought alone of hearing your voice makes my and I'm not gonna use the word, but makes my blank itch having nice day. So I'm gonna let everybody else decide what what blank is. But but hearing my voice makes calebs itch. All right. So that's that's the d M of the week. Okay, thank you, Caleb. So let's go to um the random thought. Joe,

let's go to the random thought of the week. You gotta can you can something inside the brain of Blendino. That was kind of the first one. Yeah, the first one was kind of halloween e spooky. That was more like Joe Cocker like kind of you know, like a little little gravelly can you get you know, can you give me like a little next time, like I don't know, like a Michael McDonald, Come on, you gotta give it to me, you know, all right? What do you got? You? All right? So I've got to here, I've got I

kind of my finger landed on two. So I'm gonna let you choose one. Love it or list it. Hillary didn't do the upstairs bathroom, Okay. The second one is favorite type of sprinkler. Okay, So let's let's go Love It or Listed. Hillary didn't do the upstairs bathroom, so I love There's two things. I love h G TV and I love the Hallmark Channel. Okay, so right now Hallmark Channel, we are in the middle of Fall Harvest,

so it's all like Halloween, Thanksgiving, me movies. Christmas is gonna be off the chain this year with the Christmas movies. But right now we're Fall Harvest. Every Saturday night a new movie on Hallmark. They're amazing. But I'm gonna get West Brown on this show. Oh my God, Browns and Loves. You're a friend of mine. Hallmark character Big Saints, Fanta h Definitely, we'll talk football, will talk Saints and Hallmark.

H G TV is is another passion of mine, and Love It or List is one of my favorite shows. On the premise of Love It or Listed. As you get this, this family couple, whatever it is, they live in a current house, the house. One person thinks they've outgrown the house. It's not. It's not working for them space wise, layout wise. The other person wants to stay and thinks if we just renovate, we'll be fine. They get Hillary, who's the interior designer, comes in. They give

her a budget, she fixes it up. They get David who's the real estate guy. He shows them other houses. At the end of the show, they either love it, stay in the house, or they list it, sell the house and go to what David And I'm a big listed guy. I love when they list it because all they do is complain about the house and and they're like,

the upstairs bathroom doesn't work. It needs to be it needs to be you know, updated, We need an open layout, the backsplash, all the key real estate catchphrases, you know, open layout, the whole thing. And literally of the time they love it. And I'm always get frustrated because I'm like, Hillary didn't do the upstairs bathroom and they still love it. And David showed them this amazing house under budget near there where their preferred neighborhood was as everything they want

room to grow, and they still love it. So that is that random thought. Okay, the writers just have you sucked in. They have just sucked in. Okay, sucked in. Before we get to Doug Peterson, I do want to talk a little bit about SmackDown Friday Night. Okay, I was lucky enough the people at Fox WW were gracious enough to invite some of us. You guys didn't get the end. We didn't. I did, and we went to SmackDown. They had a blue carpet. We walked the blue carpet.

I met Rick Flair, whole Cogan, I met, I met mc foley, Kurt Angle, the Rock was there. But what I want to talk about is forget that. I want to talk about the best officials in all of sports. Can we call them w W E referees? You don't. I don't think you have appreciation. We were all sitting together. It was me, it was Matt Leinert, it was Brady Quinn, it was Rob Stone, it was Urban Meyers. So the big new kickoff, almost everybody was there. I honestly had

more fun. We had more fun. I said, you guys have to watch the referee. Trust me, just watch the referees reaction what he does. And they were loving it. I was like, I don't know what was more fun though, watching them watch the referee or watching Urban Meyer try to make sense of what was happening. He I mean, he looked like what is going on? It was amazing. As a coach, this is not Michigan, Ohio State right now.

This is definitely a little bit different. But the referees are amazing in w w E. There, they are certainly the most in Hazard's way. I mean they they should get combat pay for what happens to the referees. The ability to when you're when you're doing a three three pin count, the ability to stop your hand two inches from the ground when the shoulder comes up, tell me that that reaction time isn't the best in sports. The

only problem easily distracted. I will say that definitely easily distracted. A little shaky on some of the rules applications, especially when it comes to wrestler safety. But I mean when you have a you know, when you have a ladder match and you can you know, body slam people off the top of the ladder. I don't know how much we can, you know, focus on player safety, but all right, make sure you watch SmackDown every Friday night on Fox.

All right, we're joined now by our special guests. This is a guy that has won a Super Bowl as a player and as a coach, one of only four people in NFL history to do that, head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Doug Peterson. Doug, thanks for joining us. How you doing doing well, Dean? Thanks for thanks for having me on. I didn't really realize that one of one of four people in the National Football League. That's pretty pretty special. Yeah, do you know who the other

You know who the other three are? Can you guess? Tony Dungee? That's one. Um, that's too, that's too yet one more, of course, of course me. And who's the fourth one? Chuck Nol? Now not Chuck Noll. He coached with the Raiders. This guy he coached with the Raiders. He was head coach of the Raiders. Um, oh, that's it's what's his name? I know it's Uh, you got it? I know you got it. Tom Flores. Who you think I know who it is? What's his name? Tom Flores Flores?

That's it's right, that's it. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. All I could think of was the hair. That's yeah, he did have He did have amazing hair. He had great hair, and he didn't you have good hair, but you hide it in that in that visor. I don't know. I think I need to know. All right, let's let's

let's talk. You know, we're talking about officiating and rules and for from your perspective, How important is it that your players understand the rules and what and what structure do you have in place at the Eagles to ensure that they're playing within the rules. Yeah, I think I think it's very important that you know, we instruct or, I instruct our our team, you know, with all the different points of emphasis every year or rule changes or

modifications that come out of the spring meetings. You know, I do think it's important. And so UM, I feel like that taking time in the off season, UH this past year to educate our players, show them video, showing clips, even um, you know, even take them through you know, some practice sessions when the officials are with us in

the spring and summer. I think it's important you know that they understand because you know, if the if they don't understand, if something happens, then you know, UM, it's it's kind of on me as a head football coach, you know, to uh to to keep them to keep them informed. But we do it that way. UM, you know, we've show them video, We're show him the clips, we

take them through it. Obviously educate our players. UM, we do it XS and os anyway, UM, and I feel like it's important that we do it with the officiating as well, and and we saw, you know, the league obviously took a pretty drastic step and and suspended Vontes Burfick for the rest of the season. Is that something have you or will you address with the team at

some point? You know, I try to avoid sometimes some of those things because I know that's that's a situation that has kind of been ongoing and there's history there with those Now I don't mind. And I have shown the team clips of those types of hits, and I know, you know, from a league standpoint, we're trying to remove that from you know, our game and try to keep

the game as safe as possible. And and that's the one you know, only downside is those repeat offenders like that to continue to um not break their own cycle, you know, of of hits. But you know, I think it's important to show the team those things. But I don't get into necessarily the suspension stuff. I let the league handle that sure. And and we mentioned, you know, you were a player. Was that something during your playing days? How much time did you spend studying the rules? Was

that something? Was that a focus? Obviously it's not a primary focus, but was it something you spend time on. We spent a little bit of time on it as players, I would say, obviously, now as as a coach, I'm spending a lot more time. There's a lot more data and research available to us as coaches and players now, you know, to understand the cruise each and every week, and and so we actually put that in the scouting reports.

It's something that we feel that's important that our players understand, you know, who the crew is, the types of calls that they potentially could make in the game. But you know, back when I played, we we weren't as probably informed as much um you know, and this was the late nineties early two thousands that I think just now with the more information than data, we can definitely educate our players a little more each week on on who the

crew is. Yeah, and you mentioned you mentioned kind of the the analysis and the and the data that that we're collecting today. And obviously scouting is such a big part of what you do with the NFL. You're scouting players for the draft, you're scouting potential free agents, you're scouting your upcoming opponents. You mentioned scouting the officiat and cruise.

What goes into that. How how much detail when you're when you've got a crew coming in for your game, you know, how much detail is going into that that scouting report. There's there's quite a bit. It's just it's

no different than than scouting our opponents. UM. You know, we have everything from if there's a crew member change, if there's a new you know, a new crew member, to that to that to that staff, to that referees, UH crew We will will note that we can go back to three years on cruise and and and and

pull data. UM. So there's historical data that we use UM and then obviously aren't current data with the with the you know, three or four games that we've already played this season, and having having that information available to us and we can we go back and we study every flag that is that is that is put down

on the field. UM. Is that data is collected and UH, and it's everything from not only just fouls committed, but also challenges, you know, and having having the red flag that that having those challenges even UM scouted and to see if this crew either you know, upholds a challenge or reverses a challenge. That information is available too. So

there's just a ton of information. We scout it just like we do our opponents, and and have a good feel heading into you know, weekend Sunday games on on what we can or possibly could expect and and not that you're gonna not that you're gonna coach anything that is illegal. But is is it as simple as hey, this crew they're they're they're pretty strict on holding, So we've got to we've got to keep our hands inside the ram or this this cru is a little more liberal.

Is that the kind of communication going back to the players? It is? And and I actually take time on a Saturday morning to sort of educate the team on on who our crew is. We show them, we show them clips of you know, league wide clips out of the first you know, four games of the regular season that could be maybe a point of emphasis or hey, this has been this is a foul that's occurring more and more,

you know, in the National Football League right now. But but being able to utilize that data and then and then express to our team, Hey, listen, you know, defensive backs, this is a this is a crew that you know calls more d P I S or I c T s. You know, defensive holding calls. It might be something like that, and we just just sort of put that out there to them because I don't want them to worry about, you know, sort of handcuffing them on game day. You

still want them to play loose and play free. But if they have that knowledge going in um, then they can keep that in the back in the mind when they play. Now, is there what what's the hallmark for you of of a good of of a good crew, of of a well officiated game. You walk away from a game and you say, you know what, those those guys did a good job. What what are some of the things that stand out. I think the number one

thing is is you don't notice that they're there. And I say that in a positive and you know, where where it's not affecting the outcome of the game, they kind of let the players play. I mean, you know, there's there's been games where you know, there's like a ton of flags on the ground and it's like, oh man, we can't really do anything, you know, either side, and

both teams kind of feel that way. Where then there's those games where man, you you come away with it and you're like, okay, maybe there were six penalties but they really didn't affect maybe the outcome or you know, you as an offense, defense or as a team, and you kind of walk away going, man, that was a that was a clean game, that was a well officiated game. When you feel like they weren't affecting or a part of the game, um from the standpoint of outcome, you know.

And and I think, to me, that's just uh, you know, the crews that and and they're on top of things. There's great communication on on game day between me and the referee, or me and a side judge, a back judge, align judge, whoever it might be. There's great communication, there's great dialogue, um. And and to me, that's that's a sign of a good crew, a crew that's that's really working for the players, working for the teams. And and uh, you come away feeling like, uh, you know, honestly, they

weren't they weren't even there. And we we talked about so we talked about before the game, during the game, after the game. There's a system in place for for clubs to communicate with the officiating department where you'll submit questions uh into the officiating department to get some clarity on situations. How important do you view that process and how do you approach it as a staff? We take

that very important. We take that very seriously. It's a very important part of educating our players, even me as a head coach, in understanding the rules better to be able to submit plays and and I know sometimes they're probably more directed at our opponent, but sometimes they're even even you know our own you know our own players, and we want to get feedback from that so we can continue to coach and educate our players and and and show our players that hey, this is a foul

or maybe it wasn't thrown during the flag, wasn't put on the ground during a game, but we can come back and say, hey, you know, this is what these guys are looking for. This will be a foul, you know, moving forward. So I I think that that that those questions that we submit, the answers that we get back, I mean, sometimes we may not like the answer, but at the same time we can we can use that information to continue to educate our players and coaches on

the rules. And so is it it's not you know, because I know some coaches have have used that in a different way and more of like a gripe session, but you're looking at it as more of a productive Hey let's get that. Let's get that explanation, so we can now coach to that to that explanation. Yeah, I think I think you can. I mean, I can understand going the other way where it can be kind of a grape session where we didn't like a call, you know, in a game, and we want to get a ruling

on something. I understand that, And that's that's part of it too. But I think more and more importantly, it helps It helps educate the officials, and it helps educate us and and this is what these these crews are looking for. Um. And sometimes there's a trend as the season progresses, there's a trend in you know, a certain or type of call, so we can we can use that information positively, I think in educating our players as

as we go through the season. Now, the league past, obviously it's been a topic of conversation past, and inferiance is now reviewable. It's a one year change. But I know the Eagles, you you guys were part of of another proposal in the off season with some other clubs that would have made hits on defenseless players reviewable and I know there's there's still it's early with past inference, there's some kinks to be worked out. But do you where are you in terms of that propose in players

safety hits on defenseless players? Is that something that that you're still interested in and maybe exploring going forward? And just where do you see us going with replay in the future. Well, Number one, I don't want anything that will slow down our game. I don't want anything that's gonna just drag on a three hour and in five six minute game to make it any longer than it

already is. That's that's the first thing. So, and I do feel like replay is is helping and it's an aid uh to get plays right, to get calls right on the field, and this game is fast. These officials have a tough job. We understand that, UM and so

replay is aided uh in those in those calls. And and of course we don't understanding the technology and world over cameras or you know, we can slow it down to the nth degree and really see you know, fouls or or where the ball placement is, things like that, you know, uh, During during the course of the game. But I think the bottom line is we don't want to slow or the pace of play. We want to maintain the pace of the game. UH. That way, the UM as far as the defenseless player UH fouls, you know,

I think everything is about player safety. UM. From from you know, hits to you know the head or to the to the knees of quarterbacks or an arm or a head you know, a hit to the quarterback on a pass rush that sometimes get gets missed. UM. Again, if if we don't slow it down, I would like to see some of those things. Again, our game is violent. UM. There are a lot of eyes on the field seeing certain plays. UM. And if we can get those plays right, then then we can we can make our games safer

and we can still educate our players. So I think that's something that we would continue to explore moving forward with with instant replay. Now, do you have I know most if not all teams have someone that that helps the head coach with replay. Do you have somebody that helps you you know, when to challenge you know, just dealing with officiating issues, handling those coaches questions, but specifically more on game day, when when should you challenge. Do

you have somebody like that, I do. I do. Um. John Ferrari is his name, And uh, he's obviously very tied in with the officiating, the officials officiating crews with with Al river On and you know, and he's got a good handle on the rules and he studies that and that's to me, that's a that's a big help. That's a that's a burden lifted lifted off of me because it takes that aspect away from me where I can just coach football and and then and then he

can educate me on rules. So he does now standing job. He's communicating, you know, whether it be replays or you know, to challenge you know, a certain play um in game rules, things of that nature. Things we talked about during the week, things that come up maybe on a Monday night or a Thursday night game that we see from from the league. So John does a great job that way with me and and really really eases my, uh my stress level

on game day. Now does he what what's his record on challenges because if he's not, if he's not doing well, you know, I do have a little background in this area. I could come in and step in for John, if you want, has he gotten you a p I challenge yet this year? What you know what? We got a p I challenge in preseason this year we missed. We missed one in Green Bay, uh last Thursday night, but uh, um we got one in preseason that uh uh was actually I think he was three for three in that

game and it might be a record for challenges. We've got three challenges, so uh, his streak is uh in, his streak is intact, but like like like wins and loss, his preseason doesn't matter, but we'll we'll go with three. You're right, preseason does not matter, so that's we throw those away. But uh, Doug, thank you so much for your time. I know you're busy, and uh, we really appreciate data and good luck the rest of the season. Dean, thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Good Calls with Dean Blandino is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.