We are less than twenty four hours away from kickoff, and our guys Brian Bowdier and Adam Rank will be here to tell you who could be the game changers on wild card weekend. Bill Belichick remains the head coach at the University of North Carolina for now, but the possibility of an NFL return Lingers. One of his former players, joins us with some interesting thoughts on his former coach,
who once traded him away. Meanwhile, more bad news for de Shawn Watson, who tore's achilles again and that was in jeopardy of missing the entire twenty twenty five season.
So what does that mean for the.
Browns plans to add a quarterback, perhaps with the number two overall pick. We will tell you the latest from Cleveland, and yes we're talking about playoffs. Welcome inside with the insiders alongside Mike Garafolo. I am Tom Pelisero. We are thirty days away from Super Bowl fifty nine. We are just one day away from the start of the playoffs. Fourteen teams still alive, two guys in plaid shirts, and we've only got one hour to talk about every bit of it.
Let's start out in court Phiadelphia Ware.
Yes, the Eagles will have Jalen Hurts back in the lineup. He officially has cleared the concussion protocol off the injury report. Of course, missed the tail end of the regular season. That gave him extra time to get through all these steps. Final clearance by an independent neurologist has come. Jalen Hurts is gonna be out there good to go Sunday against the Packers, and he's gonna have some help Mike.
He is.
Although Aj Brown and Devonte Smith both this practice this week. Aj Brown on Thursday, DeVante Smith on Friday. The knee for aj Brown something that he's been managing, going to have to continue to manage, obviously as long as the Eagles are alive here.
As for Smith, the backslash rest, well, I.
Mean yeah, they're resting him because he's got the back and also give him a little rest. He's got a back issue. But he is expected to play after not practicing on Friday. So we'll see how both of those two receivers fair. We'll see how Jordan Love Bears as well. After that little funny bone incident on Sunday, practice fully for the second straight day.
He was limited the day before that.
But full practice is expected to go against the Eagles, Matt Lafleur indicating that Love had a good practice on Friday, so the expectation is that he's a full go, ready to go, ready to rock.
Some others not so lucky for wild card weekend. Big loss for the Ravens wide receivers. A Flowers out because of that knee injury. Minor sanding is he's got at least a chance if they win, to be back for the divisional playoff week. You see several Chargers on that list. Josh Palmer out once again because of the heel, JK. Dobbins, Quinin Johnson both listed as questionable. I get the sense both those guys more than likely we'll go. We'll find
out for sure prior to kickoff on Saturday against the Texans. Also, Kate Gotten questionable for the Buck So is Atrooin Winfield Junior their safety. But it does sound like a cord to Todd Bowles he.
Is going to be good to go.
The Browns, of course, have been eliminated for almost as long as Deshaun Watson has been off the field once again, first tore his achilles tend and back on October twentieth at surgery. Five days later, now earlier today, the Browns announcing Watson retore his achilles tendon after complaining of discomfort
in his ankle after rolling it down in Miami. They did additional exams after his end of year physical discovered the retear doctor Robert Anderson, one of the leading specials in the country.
Repaired it.
But this is, Mike, the continuation of a unbelievable in many senses several years for Deshaun Watson, a guy the Browns gave up so much for, and now not only has he not played up to the money and the draft picks they gave up. What possibly twenty twenty five is going to end up being a wash as well.
Well, we're coming up on the home stretch here, I guess, well the last year wud be the home stretch. This is the far turn. Maybe I don't know. Ian's not here, he's our horse racing guy. The point is we're coming toward the end of this contract here, and if he doesn't play, yeah, that would leave one more season for him on the field for which he is under contract.
And this opens up a couple of things.
One we already knew from a potential veterans standpoint and free agency that the Browns were going to add some competition in the room for Deshaun Watson. This only seemingly further cements it. And then you've got the fact that they're holding the second pick in the draft here with the Titans at number one, who could use some quarterback
help as well. It's looking like quarterback quarterback. And then with the Giants at three, potentially quarterback quarterback quarterback in the draft here coming up here, and maybe they, you know, one of these teams says, you know what, we're not enamored with these quarterbacks. You can come up to our spot if you want to trade up to ensure yourself on we'll see.
But this just opens it up.
If you're behind the Browns and the draft order, like the Giants, and you need a quarterback, this doesn't help you in that regard because you would think that the Browns are going to start looking at more long term solution other than Deshaun Watson has not played up to that contract and now as a major health issue heading into twenty five the Sean.
Watson has played a grand total of nineteen games in a Browns uniform since being acquired. For all those draft picks getting the fully guaranteed contracts still do forty six million fully guaranteed in twenty twenty five, another forty six million fully guaranteed in twenty twenty six. Lebrowns do have an insurance policy on most of that money for twenty twenty five, so potentially some cash and cap relief if this goes the direction that it seems like it most
likely will. We also have questions about another non playoff team, and that is the Dallas Cowboys, who are very quickly coming up on the deadline at which Mike McCarthy's contract would expire and he would be able to join another team. As I reported this morning, they spent several days discussing
the twenty twenty four season and the future. At this point, Jerry Jones and Mike McCarthy are both open to moving forward together and the expectation was here over these next couple of days that they are going to open up talks on a contract extension and see if they can get a deal done to keep him in Dallas. If not, the Cowboys are going to have to look for a replacement, and you have to say based on what McCarthy has
done in the regular season. There's a lot of reasons that makes sense for Jerry Jones to want to see this through. Dak Prescott played the best football that he has Mike last year in his first year with Mike McCarthy calling the place. Twenty twenty four was a mess for a variety of different reasons here, but you understand why Mike McCarthy.
Also, if it does come to next Tuesday and they don't.
Have the contract done, he is going to have interest elsewhere because there just aren't many candidates.
With a track record like he has.
If you're the Cowboys and you want to get this, like why would you even wait until then? That gives your guy that you're negotiating with that much more leverage, Like, if you want to get this done, it's enough time to get it done. Coaching contracts are relatively simple. It's just a matter of agreeing on the number here. So look, they've spoken highly about Mike McCarthy. Everybody has players, coaches, personnel.
They blocked the Bear's request to talk to him, which they can do up until that Tuesday date, tom that you're talking about, and they haven't interviewed anybody else themselves, which they could conceivably do as well. So yeah, I would think at this point that everything's pointing toward Mike McCarthy returning, uh, and these sides trying to get this done over the next couple of days. It's just a matter of, as we say often, you know these deadlines.
You got to take it up to that deadline for both sides to feel like they've maximized their leverage on this one. But again, if I'm the Cowboys, I try to get this thing done well before Tuesday.
When it comes to money matters.
Jerry Jones has shown that he has no problem waiting until the last possible second, But there's reasons for everybody to have urgency. The whole coaching staff also has their contracts up. Mike McCarthy at some point is going to need to put together a staff to try to move forward here.
So a lot of.
Movies were up the other days from what I saw it, If yeah, sorry, if if Jerry has to get a new coach. He's also missing on opportunities to interview the guys who were on buys this week, So stay tuned for the latest odd of Dallas at this point. In other news around the NFL, the Vikings and Rams game, as we told you last night on The Insiders, officially moved to Glendale, Arizona. In light of the wildfires that
continue to rage throughout southern California. Amidst a variety of different statements and contributions from different NFL clubs, the NFL announced that the NFL Family is providing five million dollars to support communities affected by the wildfires in the Greater LA region, led by individual contributions from clubs and ownership crews from the Chargers, Rams, Vikings, Texans, and NFL Foundation. These funds will deliver vital resources to local organizations supporting
those affected by the wildfires. The NFL also said in a statement, we are all heartbroken by the devastation and destruction from the raging wildfires across the Greater Los Angeles region. Families affected by these fires urgently need support. Help the American Red Cross respond to and help people recover from these disasters. You can donate today to support relief efforts by going to Redcross dot org slash NFL. Coming up
on The Insiders, Love Hurts Part two. If you didn't get all those puns out of your system before the Friday night opener in Brazil.
Guess what, we're running it back. Who's got the edge in this game? Will be breaking all of that down, Mike.
Indeed, we will, and we will be talking about the rate the Steelers and the Ravens coming up this weekend. Saquon Barkley as well wild Card game changers and wreckers coming up later on the program. Here on The Insiders with Adam Rank and Brian Baldinger.
Actually it's next Jaden Daniels postseason bound in year one for him, part of an exciting wild Card weekend six pack. Welcome back to the Insiders, Tom Pilisero, now joined by our guys Brian Baldinger and Adam Rank. Baldy, let's talk game changers. Who's a game.
Changer here for these wildcard games?
Tom?
When I got this assignment, I said it to myself, I'm not going to overthink this. I'm not going to try to get cute. I'm not going to try to outdo Rank over here. I'm just gonna give it to you straight. Like I think Saquon Barkley, I think it's good enough to know that he's a game changer, right. I mean, I was there in Sam Paulo for that first game when he went twenty four carries for one oh nine. He scored three touchdowns, including a passing touchdowns.
Little weed to know that that would be the first of eleven one hundred plus yard rushing days for Saquon. I don't know just the timing and the rhythm that Jalen Hurts will be in the passing game this week after missing so much time, But I know this, I know the rhythm that Saquan has with his offensive line is pretty darn good, and I think it's going to be good on Sunday afternoon against the Packers.
I love that pick, Baldy, Listen, I'm like you. I thought about Saquon Barkley. I was thinking about my fantasy team. Saquon Barkley was on a number of my championship teams. And another guy who was big for me this year was Ladd mccaukey of the La Charges. Now, obviously the Chargers traded away Keenan Allen to the Bears. They allowed Mike Williams to leave in free agency, and Ladd has
done a tremendous job in his rookie season. He's had at least fifty receiving yards in each of the last ten games this year, the longest streak by a rookie not drafted in the first round ever. Obviously, Milik Naghbors also did it, but he was a first rounder. Slot receivers have traditionally flourished in Greg Roman's offense, and Ladd has done just that. And he's got a pretty good
matchup this week against the Houston Texas. Now, the Texans have allowed just a fifty seven percent completion percentage the slot receivers this season. They've created nine interceptions to slot receivers. However, they've allowed fourteen touchdowns to slot receivers this year. An important note if you're looking for a guy who could score a touchdown at any moment, so.
To speak, Paudy, I know you love you love one thing more than game changers. That's game wreckerds. Give me one of those four wild card weekend.
Well, and this one I did think a great deal about it.
You know, von Miller is going to start his fourteenth playoff game in his illustrious career, and we've seen him wreck super Bowl games. In many of playoff games and while he's sort of flown under the radar, he does have six sacks this year. And I just was around him a lot this offseason at the Sack Summit up a training camp.
Like he knows how to close out a game.
He is an official closer.
We've seen him to do that in two Super Bowl games.
I think he's living for this moment, and I think he wants to put Denver to sleep, put them away, and move on to these playoffs. I'm looking for von Miller to come up and play big, especially in the biggest moments of this game.
I think we're at pretty simpatico on this one because I love that pick. And you know what it's funny is I was at Super Bowl forty eight, I was at Super Bowl fifty. The biggest difference for the Broncos in those two games was the defense, which is why right now I'm looking at the Broncos defense and I'm gonna look at Zach Allen. Now, obviously they've got some great players. They have three three first team All pros on this team, five all together, Patrick Sartin, Nick Bonito.
But Zach Allen led the NFL with forty quarterback hits this year the most sense Nick Bosa in twenty twenty two. He is an elite company. The only other guys who've had forty hits on a quarterback were of course Bosa, JJ Watt who did it four times, TJ Watt, and of course Aaron Donald. Zack also had a career high
eight and a half sacks fifteen tackles for loss. He also led all defensive tackles with sixty seven pressures on a quarterback according to our next Gen stats and listen, the Broncos were the only team that had three different guys get twenty pressures on the quarterback. Defense travels in the playoffs. So if you're upset minded, I look at this Broncos defense, and I'm picking the Broncos to up set the Bills in this one.
Of course, the nickname four Ustill love the Jack Allen is baby Jon baby jj w I mean, he's been living with that for a long time.
He seems okay with that.
He's he looks That's what I'm about to say, physically, like the huge elbow brace. Obviously, the number like he's actually looks like it's some type of a play action type of a Jamaldi rank enjoy these games this weekend.
Mike.
Yeah, the game start on Tomorrow at four thirty pm Eastern on CBS eight pm Prime Video Thursday on a Saturday, basically with our Prime video folks.
Uh.
The Texans at home in more ways than one, their home in Houston and also right in that four thirty slot that they're so used to playing on Wildcard Weekend over the years. You get the Lions at one o'clock on Thanksgiving, the Cowboys after that, and you get the Texans in the first game on Saturday for Wildcard Weekend.
That's how that's how it goes, and you get Jeffrey Kadia coming in on the end.
I here to provide some insight here on the Saturday slate of games. We're going to start with that first one and talk about Jim Harball. You know, I'm talking to people about this coach hiring cycle this year, and they're like, there's no Jim Harball. There's no guy that's going to come in and you know for sure you are going to be a playoff contender immediately, if not in the playoffs. We've seen the impact of Jim Harball. What kind of impact has he had on the Chargers overall this season.
I've seen this movie before, Mike. I saw it at Michigan. It's my alma mater. I saw it if the Sam Francisco forty nine Ers when he was there. He has a way of coming in and connecting with his players immediately and getting them to buy in. That's the best thing the Chargers have going for them going into this playoff game with the Texans. They really believe in what Jim Harbaugh is preaching and they've seen the results of it.
Limiting turnovers, taking care of the football, limiting penalties, running the football, playing great defense.
That's the formula and it travels well in the postseason.
So I really like their chances of doing big things in this postseason. On the flip side of this, the Houston Texans are a team that does not want to see the Chargers right now because they've been limping into the postseason, scoring nineteen points against the Chiefs and the Ravens in their last two wingless games, and really had a hard time protecting CJ. Shroud all season long, fifty four sacks given up.
That's fourth in the NFL.
He's without Tank Dell Stefan dis I just don't see how the Texans end up winning this game against the Chargers team that's really riding high right now.
All right, Jeffrey Jdia making his call on that game. So let's slip to the next game on Saturday night. Steelers Ravens, two teams that obviously know a bunch about each other. Steelers got to get some stuff together here, particularly at the quarterback position, if they're going to have a shot in this game. Your thought on this matchup of two AFC North rivals, You.
Know, I was really high on Russell Wilson and what he brought to that team when he got into the starting lineup, and you saw the immediate impact.
But man, the last five games, this team has really gone south.
They've only scored fifty seven points in their last four games, lost the Ravens, the Eagles, the Chiefs, the Bengals, and Russell Wilson. I mean, you thought when George Pickens came back in the lineup things were going to get better after he had that hamstring injury, and it's gotten worse. So I don't really know again how they're going to be able to deal with what they've got to go
up against, what their Baltimore Ravens. Even with the success they've had against Baltimore and for Baltimore, you look at what they're doing.
They're in a great position right now with where their defenses come around.
Justin Ticker's not Justin Tucker's not missing kicks anymore, but Lamar Jackson.
It's the heck of a road.
He's gonna have to go through a team that's had his number in the Steelers, and then he's gonna have to deal with probably Josh Allen and then Patrick Mahoons if he gets that part of the ASC Championship game. He is two and four in the playoffs. We all know the stats. He's an MVP cann for a reason. But I'll tell you what, this is gonna be a harder road as he's ever had in the postseason.
I think you call them Justin Ticker? Is that what you call them?
Tucker back?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, It's okay.
There have been worse slip ups when it comes to Justin Tucker. On this very program, John pellis, Oh, are you listening. We'll get to him after the break. Jeffrey to the excellent breakdown of both games on Saturday now let's get ready for those games. I think Tom's texting me right now. We've got the Broncos and the Bills coming up on Sunday. Our camera Wolf is gonna come in to join us after the Insiders to break it all down.
Okay, Phil, Smkia stand up, super Bowl and.
Nothing in all the way switching the playoffs up?
Playoff ready?
You don't need to ask the hand.
See she has clutched movie. So you're playing the Josh shalling. You'll think he is.
VP joint saying money that you'll be one one on his jersey.
He's in seventeen races. Hey, he's bigger peeing. He got the Bills, will fight you get better.
Believe the TDS are in the pot.
We need treating in need, Oh pretty much. I want to You need the seeds us.
Looking playoff tech, get up, get it blinking missed.
They made the playoff Ready you play already?
Who's not saying.
Seracs?
I am told there's one of those anthems for every team in the postseason. I'm gonna say we're gonna hear the Bills won a little bit more than the Broncos, at least leading up to this weekend's game.
Welcome back to the Insiders, Tom Pella Sero.
Joined by our guy Cameron Wolf, who will be at that game in Orchard Park Camp. Josh Allen and the Bills, even though it appears based on the All Pro voting today, he's not gonna be the MVP of the league. He's certainly been the MVP of the Bills with that remodeled receiving corps. What's the key for number seventeen to take over this game?
Tom?
The Bills are always led by Josh Allen, but this year has felt differently. And you mentioned the All Pro vote. I've got a feeling there will be some extra motivation from Josh Allen and the Bills to prove people wrong. No All Pro vote for a team that went fourteen and three and really overcame a lot of foster turnover.
And I thought it was interesting talking to Bill general manager Brandon Bean this week about the evolution of Josh Allen and he said the big thing for him was not playing hero ball in a level that he was in previous seasons. And when you look at the numbers, it really sells at home. The Bills are the first team in the Super Bowl Era to allow fewer than fifteen sacks and fewer than fifteen giveaways.
They are just not making mistakes.
And that's the matchup.
I can't wait in this game to see how Josh Allen and that elite Bills offensive line goes against an elite Broncos defensive front. The Broncos lead the NFL in sacks by far. Van Joseph has that group playing really well. Zach Allen, Nick Benito, and that group is going to try to get out of Josh. Get that after Josh Allen. I talked to Zach Allen, the Broncos defensive tackle this week, and he said, when we beat them last year, we didn't have any sacks, but we got a lot of
pressure kept Josh into the pocket. That's going to be our game plan. It's not always that first two or three seconds. It's how do we minimize his ability to make plays outside the huddle.
And that'll be the Broncos' best chance to try to pull out the upset against the Buffalo Bills.
On the flip side of this bow, Knicks has been one of the great stories in the NFL this season. The sixth quarterback taken in the draft he is one of just two that's going to be starting a game here as we get into the postseason. So how do the Broncos hopes play out here? For bow Knicks to do enough for them to poll will be a pretty big upset on the road.
Yeah, the big thing for bow Knicks is even though he's a rookie, he doesn't play with that type of rookie spear.
He has a lot of starts in college.
And Zach Allen said, a lot of people around the Saints building who are now with the Broncos compare him to Drew Brees with his ability to have the poise in and outside the pocket, and they say that type of leadership is why they have confidence that their time is now. They're a young team. They feel like they're building towards many years of competing. But they don't think this is just Hey, this is our playoff run.
Be happy for it.
They think they can make some noise in bo Nix's playmaking ability is what they think can really call some issues from a Bill's defense that has had some up and down issues this year. And I talked to Von Miller this week about bo Nicks and he mentioned the fact that bo Nix's bab best skill set is that he doesn't have any limitations. He doesn't know what he doesn't know, and so he can throw the ball eighty yards with no fear. He can also run an RPO
or run somebody over. And the unknown is what the Bills are watching this week from the Broncos. What comes out of Sean Payton's bag this week? As this team is playing loose, they're playing fun, they're playing well. This is their first playoff game since twenty fifteen, oddly enough, where von Miller won Super Bowl MVP for that team. And Patrick Sartan, who keeps a really good relation to with von Miller, told him this week, our time is now. You guys had your time in Denver. It's our time now.
The Broncos had to beat the Chiefs backups last weekend just to secure that final playoff spot. Upset the Bills on Sunday. Guess what the reward is going to Kansas City. He played the starters for the Chiefs in the divisional playoff round.
Cam have a lot of fun. Stay warm out there, buddy, Mike.
Tom new Today the injury report, the final injury report for the Eagles Packers game, Jordan Love not on it. Well, he's on it, but it's his participation, not his game status. No game status, which means he is good to go after his second straight full day of practice with that right elbow, no funny business with that funny bone. He is going to start and play against the Eagles.
So is this guy.
And maybe early in the week you were concerned by the fact that he was still in the protocol. Nope, out of the protocol. Today we tried to tell you there's no rush to take a guy out of the protocol until the end of the week. So that's where we are. Jalen Hurts, just like Jordan Love, no status for this game on Sunday, which means he's good to go.
Stacy Daniel's good to go. She's gonna be.
There covering this game for NFL Game Day Morning for us on Sunday, Stace, let's talk about Jalen Hurts and the possibility like there's maybe a little bit of rust, right, but he's healthy.
He cleared the protocol, that's the good thing. Just hasn't played in a couple of weeks.
Yeah, I mean, he's got the green light.
He's ready to go.
I think all things look very promising. I heard Baldy's segment earlier, wondering, as you just pointed out, Mike, if there'd be that russ because the concussion happened, by the way, in the first quarter of their Week sixteen game against the Commanders in that loss, so he's had quite a bit of time, and by all counts, he is ready to go. Because the folks I've talked to, including second team All Pro Jordan my Lotta, what a season he has had at that left tackle spot for these Eagles.
But he told me that the communication this week has been even better than before Jalen Hurts had the concussion. He said, he has looked fantastic in practice, and remember they've been in pads this week, Mike. The hunger and fire, he said, are very clear, and it is playoff Jalen time. He told me, I said, what does that mean? He said, he knows the stakes go up, but he keeps We've heard him say the main thing, the main thing, but he keeps things very.
Basic for his team.
The focus, though, is incredible, and it's certainly great when you have a running back if you're Jalen Hurts like sae Quon Barkley. I heard Baldy talk about would they be ready to go? Absolutely, they'll be ready to go. He has been nothing sure of special this season, but his communication and vision with the offensive line just so good. He is the focal point for Jeff Haffley's Packers defense.
If you listen to Jeff Haffley this week, he said, you got to do it over defending him over and over and over again, so locked in, ensued, so detailed that you do it again and again and again. He's patient, he sees it. He'll make you pay for it. That's the focus for the Packers. And by the way, Mike, you know this better than anybody. This Eagles team has a massive chip on their shoulder after their exodus in the playoffs last year to Tampa. They got blown out.
They remember that and they want to rectify it on Sunday at home.
Yeah.
Well, they throw the pads on now.
They've rested in week eighteen, so you throw the pads on to get that feel again, to get that physicality again.
And that sounds like a team that expects to run the ball, which is not a surprise.
That's what they do.
As for the other side and a team that does have a good running back as well. Packers and Jordan Love Love again full participate in the last two days.
What do they need to do on offense against this Eagles team.
Well, they've got to clean it up. And thanks for reminding us. Saquon sat out last week, so he should be really ready to go. They've got to clean it up. Jordan Love has even talked about is he's been dinged up with that throwing arm. He got hit in the elbow. It was very numb after the Bears game and that loss where they had to take him out. So but they've had back to back losses now against divisional opponents, so they know each other a little bit better than
some other teams might. But the Vikings and the Bears, Jordan has talked about and acknowledged the accuracy, the footwork, the timing has to be better. They've got to get on the same page with their receivers and they certainly have to do it very quickly against the number one defense in football, Vic Fangio's group in Philly, number one total defense, number one pass defense. But by the way, they're preparing for a fully healthy Jordan Love. They know
they'll try to run the ball. That's been their mo as we watch it here on the b roll today. But Fangio of the quarterback understanding he's always going to go to the quarterback first, big arm, he could throw to every part of the field. He does have movement in the pocket, and he just executes what they do so well, which Mike is the run game and it's the play pass. So defending those two things, but they are just something to handle. That Eagles defense up front,
in the middle and on the back end. Really good group as they get ready to face a very hungry Packers team in the Wildcard this weekend in Philly.
Thanks, one more question for you before I let you go. Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe in the supernatural? Because you mightn't want to look behind you when you were talking earlier. Let's watch the replay here Gon roll it. Let's see here right on your right shoulder. Oh my goodness, what's just happened.
That would be Ruby, my dog and Jim.
That's not a ghost.
She enters and she goes in and out of her own own volition.
Mike.
Yeah, like j It's like Jurassic Park where they say, we're safe unless they figure out how to open doors, and then they cut to the door and the dinosaur figures.
Out open door.
Stacey Dale's thank you very much. Looking forward to seeing you on the field in Philly this weekend. Thank you very much. Coming up, a guy who played quarterback for the Patriots is on the show. Next, not that guy, Matt Castle, who served as the Patriots quarterback wile that guy was hurt. He's got a new podcast going to talk about Brady Beelachick, all things Patriots and otherwise.
Next, the newest NFL and iHeartRadio podcast is Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle, premiere today with Kurt Warner as the guest. Weekly show dropping every Wednesday. Wherever you get your podcasts, And what do you know, we have one of the hosts here. It's Bobby Bones. No, it's actually Matt Castle, who is with us right here on The Insiders with me, Tom Pelliicero as well as Mike Carrol Fullo.
I've been on Matt.
I think at least one, maybe two of Bobby's different podcasts. He's an entrepreneur, He's in a lot of different place. He has a crazy background. Tell me about this show and.
What made you want to do this particular podcast.
Yeah, it kind of came up out of the blue, to be honest with you.
The NFL contacted me and said, Bobby Bones wants to do a podcast through iHeart Radio and everything like that. And so I sat there and I read his resume they sent his resume because I didn't know a ton about him.
It was exceptional to read up on this guy.
And then I got a chance to go meet him and we immediately clicked and hit it off, and so we started recording some of these podcasts.
Obviously, we had Kurt Warner. That episode came out today. But it's been a lot of fun.
We've had Kurt Warner on, We've talked to guys like Jared Allen and Boomer Science, and then his connections to that entertainment world as well has been a lot of fun because we've got guys like Tim McGraw and Parker McCollum and country music come on and talk about their experiences their love for sports.
So it's just fun.
It's entertaining. We're talking ball, we're talking entertainment, we're talking everything.
It's we've got a lot to.
Say, you certainly have a lot to say about football. We want to dig in on some of that stuff. And look, just yesterday the Patriots announced that they had interviewed your former teammate Mike Vrabel for that coaching position. I think a lot of us from the jump after they fired girod Meo said, that's going to wind up being the guy. You've seen what Rabel's done over his playing career, over his coaching career. How good of a fit is this, because it seems like the perfect fit, right.
It would be the perfect fit. You think about Rabel, going back to him as a player and what he was for that organization. He's in the Patriots Hall of Fame and then a lot of people though associate him with this Belichick tree, but really he's branched out. He's been under Urban Meyer at Ohio State, he was under Billy O'Brien in Houston, and when you think and talk to other players that have been around him, he's just an exceptional coach. He's a player's coach. He's been there,
he understands what it takes to win. He did a great job here in Tennessee, and it's unfortunate how it ended here, but to have him come into that organization and he would be able to stabilize it, and with a young quarterback like Drake May, I think he'd do an exceptional job.
And I know that the Kraft family would love to have him come home.
You know, Matt, there's a lot of people who have played with Mike Rabel, played for Mike Frabel, coached with Mike Frable. There's only one guy I know of who's been traded with Mike Rabel. Two thousand and nine, You're coming off a remarkable season in New England in relief of Tom Brady. You get the call you're being traded with Rabel to the Chiefs. For a second, a pick yous take me through that sequence of events and what it was like in then one. It was a wild, wild circumstances.
After the season, there was some uneasiness about Brady and the recovery going on with his knees. So then all of a sudden they franchised me. I was like, what does that mean exactly? So I was on the franchise tender there and then all of a sudden, out of the blue, I'm sitting in the parking lot. I just came out of the grocery store in California and I get a phone call from Coach Belichick and I'm wondering what this is about. Well, I got traded to Kansas City,
and at first I didn't say anything about Brabell. He's like, look, you're going to Kansas City. We've made the trade. We want to thank you for everything you did. And then minutes later I get a phone call from Brabel and start to understand he's coming with me, and Brabel's my.
Boy, so I was like, yes, this is going to be great.
I don't know if he was excited as I was about the trade, but ended up being neighbors right there in Kansas City, lived literally two houses down from one another and still have a great relationship to this day.
And I was it actually put me at ease when I went to.
Kansas City and made that transition, to have not only a friend, but a guy like Brabel who's a leader, to come into that organization and help try to rebuild that place.
You know, as I see this and you hear this, and you think about the juxtaposition of you playing alongside him, getting traded with him, and you see a lot of the former quarterbacks that were in the league now making their way up the coaching ranks. You ever get that itch, Do you ever ever feel like, you know what, I could be a coach in the NFL and start climbing these ranks quickly because you're.
Clearly no ball.
I one hundred percent would love to do it. I just believe that it's not just the time commitment during the week, but it's also the coaching profession itself is so volatile from one year to the next. And I've got five children from a freshman in high school down to a kindergartener, and I just wouldn't want to put them in that position to where, hey, honey, this year, we're in Philly.
Next year we might be at the RAM, whatever it might be.
And that was the difficult part for me, because as a player and somebody that loves the game and loves to not only teach the game, but also would love to coach the game, that part is always appealing to me. But then the other aspects of it and the lifestyle for your family, which they went through fourteen years of my NFL career and we moved around a lot. At the end of my career, it would be difficult to say, Hey, we're going to go back into this thing again.
You know, sometimes a coach can spend fifty years in the NFL, half of those in one place, and then pop up at seventy three years old at college in North Carolina. You know, sometimes weird things happen in the coaching profession. Are are you a believer? Number one, the Bill Belichick is actually going to coach at North Carolina before an NFL team comes called Number two, that he can succeed coaching college ball.
Oh, there's no doubt that he can succeed.
And that's the thing about coach Belichick is he wouldn't do anything where he's just dipping his toe in the water. He's going to go there and try to be dominant. I think he's in the right division there in the ACC. He's a guy that's going to give it it's all. And it'll be interesting because just imagine as an eighteen sixteen, seventeen eighteen year old kid, Coach Belichick, the greatest coach
of all time, walks into your living room. I mean, the recruiting process will work just on namesake, and he'll be able to bring guys in and develop them and put them in a position to get to ultimately where they want to be, which is the NFL, and he
knows how to do that. Now, the longevity of how long he's at UNC will be interesting to me because I think that he still wants to coach, and there's going to be suitors out there in the NFL that say, need to give this guy another shot, because I mean, he's coach Belichick and he's unbelievable at what he does.
I think about your podcast with Bobby Bones lots to say, and I'd say, can you get Belichick on the pot, like that'd be a great get, But the.
Guy is everywhere anymore. Like he's a media darling.
Year that's true. Who's the dream guest for you?
Like, who's the guy we got it?
Is it Tom Brady?
I mean Tom does enough media himself, But who's the guy that you got to get on the lots to say podcast to hear.
What he has to say?
You know, it's so funny you brought up to Belichick. Sorry, because when I was covering college football this year for NBC and I'm out in Washington and so Coach Belichick. I run into him and I was like, Hey, I would love to talk to you tomorrow, maybe before the game, just talk about Steven Belichick, the fact.
That he's here, You're here, this, that, and the other. He's like, anything you need.
Well, the next day I started texting him just crickets, nothing, and I was like, coach, what's up man?
He told me anything I need, told me.
That literally yesterday, and then just to give it ghost me like, no discussion, nothing like that. But I would love to have him on and hopefully during the off season and right now we can get him on just to talk about the fact that he's made this transition, what went into it, because obviously it's a fascinating story for anybody involved in football, but also getting Brady on there. Yeah, I've talked to him throughout this year and he acts
like he's the busiest guy on earth. But let's be honest, he's probably not. He's down there at the beach with his shirt off taking Instagram photos all the time.
I mean say that.
To shoot him forget the tex text, time to shoot a direct message on one of the various social media platforms so easy to reach now, so you check out lots to say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle right there, I'm pointing at it right there. That's the QR right there, that's hold on the magic right about there. Yeah, Mike's gonna subscribe right now.
Scribe.
Everybody else can as well. Matt, thanks a lot, best luck up with the pod Man.
We'll be listening. Appreciate you. I appreciate you, guys. I have a greatable one.
Wild Card Weekend wraps up with the Rams and Vikings playing in Arizona. Matthew Stafford, Sam Darnold, who's got the edge with everything on the line. Our Bridge at Condon will be there the first. She'll be here with us on the Insiders next Rams and Vikings Monday night, wrapping up wild Card Weekend. That game has been relocated to Glendale, Arizona, in light of the wildfires that continue to ravage southern California. Our Bridget Condon is going to be covering that game
in Arizona. Bridget, certainly, we are all thinking of everybody in that area of the country, in that state who is dealing with whether it's property loss or evacuations, or being worried about loved ones.
Here.
The Rams are among that group, some of their family members too, you were at the facility yesterday when the Kenneth fire broke out. How are they handling the hotality of this week with in relative terms it a very important game Monday night as well.
Tom, I want to break this down for everybody who was maybe disappointed that the game got moved from so far to Arizona. I was at practice yesterday and we were interviewing Sean McVay and other than some added wind, it felt like a normal day in Woodland Hills. But then you kind of turned you see it right here, that was behind the facility, kind of off to the side of the practice field, all that smoke coming in. The RAMS players shortly after that did take the field.
We were told that that was, you know, the departments putting out a fire. It was nothing new, so you thought at that point, okay. And then after practice we walked out of the front of the facility and a completely different fire had erupted. That was the kindeth fire that you just talked about, and some of the family members, staffers from the RAMS organization actually had to evacuate their home.
So at that point it felt like, how are they going to play this game in Los Angeles and Kevin Demoff spoke to reporters today about the decision to move the games, saying it came down to whether or not they could adequately staff the game in terms of local public safety officials and firefighters that we know have been
working around the clock. He said it actually was a conversation before that Kenneth Bier broke out talking to fire chiefs and public officials, hearing that they were going through so much. He said, you could hear it in their voices, and they just knew at that moment that the best thing for everybody would be to move the game. Of course, he's done an incredible job on social media on x
trying to arrange buses. You saw that the Cronkey family is donating a million dollars, so they're trying to do everything possible. But he just, you know, he went on to say, this is bigger than football, and it's one of those things that nobody wants to be in this situation, but they felt like that was the right decision.
Tom an extraordinary situation for everybody involved with it here, including the quarterback Matthew Stafford, who talked yesterday about the fact that they always play for LA and This is another example of it. They're in the playoffs for the third time in Stafford's four seasons. How was he embracing this moment under tough circumstances.
He's embracing it.
Tom.
You talk about him being in the third playoffs in four years with the Rams, Well, when he was with the Lions, he played twelve seasons there, only made it to the playoffs three times. He talked about, you, you don't know when these playoffs are going to come, like, you have to take every opportunity you get and run with it. It was their Week eight matchup that kind
of turned their season around. It's funny that we're talking about the Rams hosting a wild card game, obviously now hosting it in Arizona, because in the beginning of the season that wasn't the case. Matthew Stafford had just three touchdown passes going into that Week eight matchup against the Vikings. It was that game where he threw four touchdown passes. Things haven't gone great for him the end of the season. He had three games where he threw for less than
two hundred yards. But Sean McVeigh I asked him about it. I said, how do you get that back and he said, well, Matthew Stafford, what he does best is shine in bright moments, So they're hoping that his experience can kind of spark this team. And with everything happening around the city of Los Angeles, and I know there was like something up in the locker room that you might talk about later that's motivating them as well. So a lot of things helping this team get extra fired up for Monday night.
Well, there is a spice to this matchup here. You got Sean McVay against his old assistant Kevin O'Connell. They won a Super Bowl together. Here you've also got a comment made by another head coach, Dan Campbell, who was on the hot mic the handshake after week eighteen.
He said, some lie lines I'll see you in two weeks. That's been printed out.
It's in the RAMS locker room, and they have one more reason to want to get this w more insiders after this. Snoop Doo Douvileg set to host the NFL Honors presented by Visiligned Thursday, February sixth Mike Garafullo, your thoughts on Snoop as the Honors host?
Yeah, listen if you could do as well as Nicki Glazer did at the Golden Globes.
In the opening monologue, I'll be very impressed. But Snoop's got a different kind of humor? Is he sneaky?
Funny?
I like this one.
I think it's gonna be a good show. You know, Kender Klamar has got the halftime show at the super Bowl. He took a shot in like the first three bars on his new album at Snoop, do we have beef in New Orleans?
I know this.
We've got a YouTube show Monday, and we're back on the network on Tuesday.
Enjoy wild Card Weekend. Everybody see it.