The Dave Pasch Podcast - Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton

to the NFC Championship. Carson Palmer, who was recently inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and Drew Stanton, who currently is a member of the Cardinals broadcast team and has a Super Bowl ring being part of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers run to the championship last year. We get into a lot of stuff here on this podcast, including some of the fund that they had back in

the day playing for Bruce Arians. They used to have this game where they would throw a football into a trash bin and the loser would have to wear some crazy costume that was picked out by the winner. Carson and Drew will talk about some of their most embarrassing costumes and some of their favorite costumes from back in the day. It was a full polyester merman outfit. That's right, Yeah, and nipples were hanging out. Plus the dance that made

Drew Stanton famous, where did it come from? And what's their reaction to what Drew did on the sideline that the cameras happened to catch during a Cardinals win against the Seattle Seahawks. There was no rehearsal. That was raw emotion and like, those are my three moves, and they'll they'll come out at various times. They just all happen to come out at once, like something just got spit out,

like somebody threw up. Drew and Carson also talk about the twenty twenty one Arizona Cardinals and whether they can make a deep run in the playoffs, plus their thoughts on Kyler Murray and where he is in year three as the quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals. We are presented by bet mgm, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Hotels and Casinos. Sign up for bet mgm today using code cards one thousand and get your first bet risk free up to one

thousand dollars. New customer offer paid in free bets. Visit betmgm dot com for terms and conditions twenty one and over Arizona only please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem called one eight hundred. Next step. Here they are former Cardinal quarterbacks Carson Palmer, College Football Hall of Fame inductee and Super Bowl champion Drew stand So, guys. One of the reasons I wanted to have you guys on together, I think

this is episode twenty one. We've only done one other where we had multiple people on, and it was the Monday Night Football Crew. One of the reasons I wanted to get both of you together there is first of all, because of your relationship, but also how much of both of you meant to the Cardinals. Carson, Obviously, yours was more tangible being in the Ring of honor being the

quarterback of the NFC Championship game team. But Drew, you played obviously a big role in several games on the field, but also just your presence and your leadership and being a big part what the Cardinals accomplished over a five year span. When I decided to do this and I reached out to Drew to get his take on whether you'd be interested, he said, yeah, I think Carson will be interested. I said, okay, I'll text him. You didn't respond, and Drew said, don't worry about it. He'll get back

to It. Might take a while, but he's a little off the grid, but he'll get back to you. So I know you're in Idaho, Carson. What all you up to these days? Well, I mean outside of chasing four kids around and coaching two sports and just all the kid load that comes. Just I have a bunch of stuff.

I got my hands and a number of different kind of small things and whether it's brand representation for a couple of different brands, real estate development, a couple of different charity initiatives going, they're all things that I can juggle with my everyday life. They're non you know, full day commitments four days a week. Everything has a very minimal commitment a day or two a week so that I don't miss football practice and football games and you know,

horseback riding jumping that my daughter's doing. I got another daughter playing basketball or their son playing basketball. So I've got just enough going off the field, you know, away from being a dad and chasing kids around where I'm interested, I'm intrigued, I'm challenged. They're not full time commitments like broadcasting is and as you well know, the travel schedule that that comes along with that. So it's it's just enough.

I've got just enough stuff going to keep me challenged, to keep me interested, but also where I'm not missing out on, you know, the things that I missed out when I was playing in my kids' lives, like games and practices and performances and all those little things that come up with it. Or at two pm on a Wednesday, when you're playing football or you have a full time job,

you can't be at. But now that I'm at this stage of my life and in this stage of my career, I'm able to go and pull out of whatever I've got going and go and watch a performance at three o'clock, or go and coach my son's football team and call plays for the seventh graders at three o'clock. It's awesome. And Drew is dipping his toe in the broadcast waters of curious Drew, how much are you enjoying it? Is this something you really want to pursue and what else

are you up to these days? Yeah? I think it's it's the same type of thing where you know, I'm just trying to be strategic and what I put my time and effort into. You know, football consumed our lives for over a decade and we put everything we had into it, and there were sacrifices that had to be made. We're both fortunate to have amazing wives that were a part of helping raise our kids. But now we want to be in the forefront of that. So yeah, I

really enjoyed the broadcasting stuff. Again, it's been minimal from the standpoint of doing games here and their pre game mostly and just kind of interjecting what I see the trends of the NFL. And I'm not that far removed, so I know most defensive coordinators, I know players still on all the rosters. I mean, that was my job behind the scenes, is knowing the ins and outs and the scattering reports. So it's been fun to see that.

It wasn't so fun after the Detroit Lions, boss, but I got to talk to all of the people calling in. But you know, I think you also see the passion of this fan base and Carson I got to witness that firsthand of how passionate the Bird gang really is and the Red Sea and the benefit of being able to call that your home field so to be a part of it, to be around the game again, especially this organization that I held such high regard, It's been

really fun. And I get to go to work every other Tuesday, because that's my schedule to the Cardinal facility. I'm there for one hour and I leave, and again I get to go make sure I'm there for my daughters pick up at twelve forty five or my son's football practice. So all of those things, you know, are taking precedent right now, and as I navigate these new waters of retirement looking forward to what's in star. You guys get to Arizona the same season when BA and

a staff get here. Were you guys friends at all before then? Did you know in each other each other? Did your pass cross at all prior to that? Because based on what I remember, you guys were pretty close when you guys were members of the Cardinals. Yeah, I mean we knew of each other, but hadn't spent really

any any real time together. You know, we'd probably seen each other at an event here there over the years, because we were probably both in year six, seven, eight nine of our careers when we got there, But really we developed a friendship over a lot of bottles of wine, you know, spending time watching a lot of film together

and just trying to figure out the new offense. And Drew had such a great background in the offense that was coming to Arizona because he was the year prior he was in an indie with Bruce, so he had

already had that whole offense installed. So he was a great sounding board for me who was coming in and didn't know anything, and was able to really break some stuff down and show me the ins and outced the offense after he'd been through it with a rookie quarterback and Andrew luck which there's no better way to have an offense installed to you when you're a vet, when there's a rookie in the room, and it really is

day one installed from the jump. So he was a great sounding board and that's kind of how our friendship and our work relationship started. And then after that, of course, the families got to know each other. We went on multiple off season trips together and spent a lot of time with each other's families. He's a lot older than me,

it's what he's forgetting to point out. But it was six seventy, so I yeah, I was a senior in high school and went to the Lead eleven camp when he was a senior in college as the count as a counselor, and that was really where, you know, I was one of many high school kids that were there, but that's where I you know, started to see him and all that and followed his career and the other guys that were there, and actually knew his brother pretty well because we came out together, so you know, I

knew of Carson, but yeah, it wasn't until it was really training camp. You know, we got to know each other and there was a work relationship. But one night we were walking back from the hotel room and the door kind of opens and I look in and I see this bottle of opus one sitting on his counter and I was like, you like why and he was like, oh, I love whine and I was like, oh, this is gonna be awesome. And like he said, it was five years of you know, some really great football but also

some phenomenal memories. I mean, I learned so much from him as far as being a father and being able to do all these things. Because I was navigating new waters, I didn't know what life was like. And then the endless number of phone calls or facetimes that he would have on a bus, in the locker room, in the

meeting room, with his kids, with his wife. It just modeled to me what that looked like to be able to balance all those things, because a lot of people don't do it successfully, but he was doing it in a way that I was like, man, that this is special, and I'm so fortunate to be able to see that. On top of you know, the great football plays and

all those things. It was really a complete blessing to be able to spend five years there because you know, now my kids are old enough and to be able to see that and kind of pay it forward has been really neat. Do you remember, because Drew you got to Arizona first. Did you think when you got to Arizona that you were going to be the starter? And then the trade happened where Carson comes to the Cardinals?

And I think you got a pretty decent contract when you came out the Arizona if I remember, and obviously you had been with BA. What was your reaction, Drew when you got to Arizona and the trade was made for Carson? And then Carson What was your reaction when you found out you were getting trade from the Raiders to the Cardinals. Yeah, well, I didn't know Carson was coming. I knew when I got out there, bas okay, just signed. We'll work it out because I had a chance to

stay in Indianapolis with Andrew. I loved Indianapolis. Clyde Christensen was my quarterback coach there who was instrumental in a lot of different ways in my life, and didn't want to leave. But I got out the Arizona came on my trip and they're, okay, we're either going to sign Mike Glennon or we're gonna maybe try and trade for Ryan Mallett. And I'm like, awesome, I will compete against those guys every single day of the week. And you know,

it was a great contract. It was more money than I ever had, and I felt really good about it and wanted a chance to compete the start because that's what I was looking for. And then they traded for Carson, And you know, I'm not stupid. I was well aware of how good he was and how good of his career was and all of those things, so I knew there was no competition at that point. But I also have had faith in the course of my career and

tried to learn from everybody I have come across. And it was a complete blessing in disguise to show up here not knowing who I was going to go against, and there couldn't have been anybody else better to take a backseat too and really be able to just be in the background, because that's where I felt like I thrived and was most comfortable throughout the entire course of my career. Yeah, when I got to Arizona, well, I didn't know where I was going to go. I was

in Oakland. That was just, quite frankly, a dumpster fire. They had just Al Davis had just died, they had just fired Hugh Jackson. They'd brought in another coach and did a salon and then and I was getting ready to go into year two of Oakland, and then like the week before, a couple of days before, they said, hey, they want you to take a pay cut, they want to restructure your contract, and a whole bunch of very

team friendly adjustments that were going to happen. And at that point in my career, I was just I wasn't prepared to do that, and so I said, that's not going to work out for me. I can I can I can stay here with the current contract or can I find a trade partner? Said? So, they gave me a couple of days to think about it, and I said, you know, nothing's changed. I haven't. I haven't changed my mind, And they said, well, why don't you find a trade partner.

At that time, there was four or five teams that were that were interested, but at the end of the day, it came down to San Francisco and Arizona, both teams in the NFC West. And you know, I didn't know a bunch about San Francisco. I knew there was kind of it was kind of a tumultualius time in San fran with Harbaugh and Trent Balki that the GM at the time, there was a lot of kind of riff raff in the news and things I was hearing. So

I was hoping that wasn't going to happen. And then all of a sudden, I just got a call that I was going to Arizona, and I was on the phone with U, with BA and Steve Kim and Michael Bidwell and m Before I knew it. I was Arizona Cardinal and looking for a place to live and for a school to put my kids in in Arizona. You guys had some great moments here together, some incredible wins,

and a culture that was built here. But there are a lot of people that remember the fun that you guys had, and you know, I was talking to some guys that were part of that team recently about the costumes and the competition that you guys would have throwing a football into a trash can. The loser had to wear was at the cost who got to pick who wore? What? How did that play out? And what was the most embarrassing costume that each of you had to wear? Go ahead, Drew,

start us off. I have my fun. I just was talking to my son Flets the other night about one costume I put you in particular that I can't wait to talk about. But I'm gonna let you start us off. I don't. I mean, we can do a whole entire podcast on just this one subject, because I feel like it garnered so much media. It really started. So my career started in Detroit with John Kittna, who also was

in Cincinnati when Carson was drafted to Cincinnati. So we had a mutual friend in John Kittna that kind of brought us into the league and helped us out and showed us some of the ropes. So I learned the bucket drill from Kittna. And it wasn't until I was reunited with Carson that it became this competition. And then all of a sudden it just grew into this bigger and bigger thing of like initially we just had costumes and you would make shift and try and humiliate the

person and send them out for pregame warm ups. Like Matt Barkley had to go when we played the Colts and we put like chaps on him, did raid towels. His wife was so mad at us with like ug boots, and it was like, just however you could do it. And then all of a sudden, I think it was like year two. I was like, I'm going to step this up a little bit, and all of a sudden, the Halloween store right by the facility there on Elliott I was hoping. I walked in and just rated everything.

I mean it was like the Michel entire Man, the step off, like everything I could get my hands on that would blow up or humiliate somebody dressed up like a baby, anything that I could get, like, I was getting that, And then all of a sudden Amazon became more prevalent and we were ordering stuff. We had an entire locker in between us and the bottom shelf there. It got to the point where we had all of it just Okay, what are we going to make somebody else dress up in this week? Or we're all hoping

to always get Pat. But Pat would then pay money to get out of there. Then then yes, Patrick Peterson, Yes, would pay money to get out of it because he was so worried about his custom suit he had picked out with a matching coat with the handkerchief and the belt and the shoes to match, even though he dressed up like Buddy the Elf. He didn't even know who Buddy the Elf was, and he was like, I got so many likes on Instant or on Twitter at the time.

But he would do that. He would give us, like, you know, a decent amount of money and that would just go into our wine fund and we would be able to spend more money on wine, which was for the betterment of everybody. That's how it all kind of started, Oh, I figured you were going to ask about the favorite costume. If Carson already has his right off the battle, I'll

delegate to him. Yeah, I mean there were some really good ones, and just to echo some of Drew's points, I mean, really the goal was to make the person that had to dress up look like the biggest horses ass possible, Like how could you make them look how could you be as demeaning as possible without crossing the line.

And one of my favorites was, you know, the best, in my opinion, was when you would win on a road trip, because that would mean the loser had to dress up for the entire plane ride from Arizona to most likely the East coast. Get on airplane, fly on the team plane, get off the airplane, go back through the airport, go through the hotel. There's always fans at the hotel, and we would have to walk through the lobby of the hotel in this outfit. And my favorite

all time. And I was just telling this story to my son the other night. Was I we used to fly Delta back in the day, and I bought an actual Delta stewardess outfit online. I don't know how I found it. I logged on the Delta, I signed in like I was a stewardess and and put my sizes into their website. And this sure enough, this Delta full on Delta Ladies stewardess outfit, the white gloves, the little

neck thing. I don't know what you wear those next things all the time where that little next thing is the white gloves, the white gloves, a little purse, and he looked like a Delta stewardess. And then the best part was we get on the plane and Drew is wearing the same exact outfit as the stewardess is. They're showing us to our seats on the plane. So that was my all time favorite. What did you wear through? We had to walk through the lobby in Philadelphia, Philly?

What did I'll never forget that, I was gonna say, I don't remember what it was. I think I might have crossed the line with that one. It was definitely. I felt so good about it that I could not wait, like I had this picked out for the whole year. Just when he lost and by the time he came in, I sprint into my locker. After he lost it, it it was hanging his lockers just walked in him. He was like, yeah, it was. It was a full polyester Merman outfit. So

it was a mermaid. Yeah, and my nipples were hanging out. It was like cut off right here, and it was a full on mermaid tale. But it was made out of polyester. And we were flying from from Phoenix to Philly, so we had a four hour plus flight and then the bus and the airport and the hotel and I

would just I was drink, I was sweating. The thing started off as green and ended up like dark brown because it was just full of perspiration, unfortunately, and there was like a wedding going on downstairs right so, like we're walking through the lobby waiting for the elevator because it wasn't like we could go in the back way and strategically go to our room. We had to wait for the like the elevators in the front and everybody's sitting there, cameras are just snapping. Staff. Actually I took

pictures with the bride and groom in my mermaid. People are like kids that's future college Football Hall of Famer Heisman Trophy or Carson Palm are wearing a Burman outfit that is priceless. Do you think that's one of the reasons why you guys had success because of the chemistry, Because you guys had fun. I mean, obviously hit your job seriously, but there was a culture and Ba was about fun as well, and he wanted to win, of course, But how beut you guys think that played a role

in your success. I think there was a mentality of hey, when it's time to work, it's time to work. But there's also that camaraderie that goes into it, of like, hey, you have to relax and you have to beat yourself to go out and play well. And I think I mean, I'm a firm believer. Obviously I'm biased, but everything flows from the quarterback room and how tight knit those guys are and how well they are the leadership components of that, and Carson was so good at that. It really takes

on the mentality of the team in the organization. And yeah, I mean people saw the light hardness that we had at times, but the amount of work that went in Monday through Saturday, those endless hours that we put in and all of that stuff when nobody else was in the building. You know, that's what really created that bond over a course of five years. Yeah, I mean, I agree.

I think there's a time and place for everything. And just Davis, you know, the workweek of an NFL season as it really starts Sunday night, and you prep Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. That kind of mentality that the hay is in the barn when you get to Saturday. So the days that we were kind of goofing off and having fun with traveling attire and pregame attire, where we'd put the work in and we had done what needed to be done for us

to be successful in the field on Sundays. Now, if we were doing this on Wednesday, in the middle of install and all the things that come in on a Wednesday or Thursday or Friday, it would be a different deal. But I think be a respected that Drew and I and whoever else was involved in the quarterback game put our work in in the week and we were very serious, very focused, very concerned with dot and every T crossing, every eye, all the xs and o's, the game plan.

We knew it inside. Now by the time we got to Saturday, it was our time to get ready to play and the game was twenty four hours away, and that's what we'd put them all the work for, and all the extra time watching film and Drew and I coming in early and watching film with guys and just you know, all the things that that it takes to feel great going to bed on Saturday night before you get ready to play on Sunday. We had done all

those things. We had done the mental exercises, the mental reps, the physical rep that when we got through that week, it was kind of like a big exhale. We got to compete in the bucket drill, we got to throw footballs in a trash can, We did our walk through, and then we got on the plane and went to play. And like I said previously, all the hay was in

the barn. So you know, if there was ever a situation and Bruce would be the first to put it into it where we weren't putting the time and work in and then goofing off on a Saturday, he would have put it into it. But I think he respected the way that you know, the quarterback room led the team and led the way we worked, led the way we practiced, led the way we watched you film and we're in meetings, and then when it was time to enjoy the fruits of our labor on Saturdays and Sundays,

we enjoyed the wins. We enjoyed the prep going to the games and flying to the games and going to these new cities. And we had put all the time and the work in and the week, and I think that was respected by the entire coaching staff in the organization where it never became a distraction or a problem

for the team. I do want to get into some serious stuff meeting football, actual football discussion about what you guys accomplished, but then also your thoughts on the Cardinals and some other teams in the NFL and some other players in the NFL. But one more question related to having fun, and this one was actually in a game. You probably know where I'm going with this one, Drew. In fact, you can't google Drew Stanton's name without Drew stanton dance first coming up. It was the sideline dance

in Seattle. Carson, had you ever seen? First of all, Drew, how did you come up with that? And Carson, did you like see before Noah was coming? Like? Hold on, let me let me interject here so we get done right where this is our vantage points wholeheartedly. We get into the locker room, we are so excited we just won, and we come over and Mark Dalton, who isn't part of everything communication wise for the air Zon and Cardinals, comes over and he was like, you went viral. And

I was like, why did Carson go viral? He's like, no, you did, and he's like, free your dance and I was like we both looked at each other. I was like, what dance? And what do you mean? What are you talking about? Goes No. They like were panning down on the third down where dre scored and they stopped right on you and you had an ICEO and I was like, really, I had no idea, So there was no rehearsal. That was raw emotion and like those are my three moves,

and they'll they'll come out at various times. They just all happened to come out at once, like something just got spit out, like somebody threw up. So that's how it kind of all transpired, and neither one of us had any idea until it was what it was. Yeah, I mean I was just as as surprised and shocked and as soon as I saw the video. I think I watched it on the way home from Seattle, probably eighty five times. Didn't you find that game though? You

got fined that game too right for some inappropriate misconduct? Ye? Yeah, I gotta fine that game. Did you get fined for that dance? You should have been fined for that dance. There wasn't quite enough. You didn't have enough hip rotation. You didn't have enough flexibility in your hips for liked and high enough. From my head, yeah, PG to PG thirteen where they find you, Well, it was cold in Seattle.

Too tight? Yeah's always tight, yep. With the playoffs right around the corner, and obviously the Cardinals they're going to get in. It's just a matter of when we all hoped it would be two weeks ago, but here we are still not officially in, but it's going to happen.

What do you guys recall from that run to the NFC Championship game in twenty fifteen, and is there a particular moment I think of the shovel, either the shovel pass to fits or just before that where Carson you bounce off of an offensive lineman and Larry's wide open on the far side and nobody's around him for Green Bay. Is it one of those two moments, guys? Or was there something else from that run that stands out to you the most? Um? For me, you know, there's you know,

it's never a play that that sticks out in my head. Um, it's just the guys. I mean, it's it's it's the group of individuals that were on that team. And you think about the secondary and and Shoddy and you can go on and on down the list that that locker room full of guys. I mean, there's plays in every game that win and lose a game. Um, And there's some that are highlighted more or some that are played

on Sports Center more on Instagram feeds more. But UM, you know, I just think back that group of guys, that secondary, that the leadership we had in the secondary, the leadership we had on offense and the offensive line, and then just kind of how the season ended and then the team kind of got blown up and we started all over again after winning twelve games or whatever

thirteen fourteen, whatever we won that year. You know, I think back just the group of individuals, the guys that Um that came in with ba Um like Drew, like a handful of other guys and the guys that were there before that, and we're there for the struggling years and just more more importantly, I just think about those guys and it's not a play from a game, it's

not a play from a practice. It's just collectively when you think back of that year starting and that group starting, and training camp and going through you know, that long month long training camp out there by the stadium, and just as the season went on and progressed, guys went down, guys stepped up, made plays. Drew stepped in a bunch of games and won games. You know, backups all over the place stepped in and made play. Those are the things that stick out my mind. Those are the memories

I have. Yeah, the Larry fitz shovel pass and all that jump out at you, but those are what the public seas what Drew and I saw firsthand. You know, the way that Tyran and Matthew grew up that year and came up and had an amazing year, an amazing season. Then to lose him in Week seventeen in Philly and just the he's come back, and I know Drew probably feels the same way. I'm so proud every time I get to watch Tyr and play. I saw him as

a rookie. I saw him as a late, you know, second or third round draft pick guy that was just trying to figure it out. So now he's an All Pro and a Super Bowl champ. And seeing the university he went through and the composer he kept himself with throughout the years past, those are the things that jump out to me. Yeah, I would say the same thing.

I think that everybody thinks about those things, And there's no doubt I've never been in a stadium louder that that game against the Green Bay Packers when we were able to go down to win and the Red Sea was just absolutely going nuts. But really I think more than that is we went to Pittsburgh and we had like just an awful week. We say that the Greenbrier was bad weather. We went to Pittsburgh and lost, and Ba was just mad, you know, because he wanted to

be Pittsburgh so bad. And then we just started rattling off these wins and just rattling, and it got to a point where we were just expected to win. It wasn't hey like we want to win this week, if we do everything that we needed to do, we were going to win a football game. And we started building that confidence. And that's really where I think be A kind of changed his mantra of this is your guys' team. We're going to go as far as you take us

and the Frosty Rutgers of the world. Into Carson's point, all of us role players accepted our role and loved being in that role, and when called upon, we were going to be prepared to thrive in that role or try to do our best. So from there, that's really where our team was formed, and that's what it carried us on because that mentality was so unique, where everybody was unselfish. We went out there and it wasn't about Hey, I'm not making enough money, or I'm not starting, or

I'm not doing any of these things. We came together as a collective whole and pushed it all the way through to the NFC Championship Game and just lost to a really good football team, the twenty twenty one Cardinals. Being on the cusp of the postseason, what are your guys thoughts on where they are, because obviously Cardinal fans are unsettled right now based on the last two games. But you guys know, everybody goes through a stretch like this over the course of the season. I shouldn't say

most teams. Everybody has at least one bad game. Nineteen seventy two is the last time somebody went undefeated all the way through, and then he plays many games, and now you're playing seventeen games, so it's even more now an emphasis on trying to keep things together, which is hard to do, and also the unpredictability of the NFL week to week. I mean, you guys know about that. So there's still time to the Cardinals to turn it around. Where do you guys feel they are at this point?

Are you concerned about them being able to fix it and have a deep run of the playoffs? Well, I mean, I just I think I think they're one of the best teams in the NFC. I think there's a lot that needs to be found out and a lot that needs to be seen. I think for Kyler Murray to lose DeAndre Hopkins, his security blanket, his go to when things break down, he finds a way to get him the ball one way or the other, that's a huge loss. I think We're going to find out in the next

three or four weeks whether it's overcomable or not. But just watching the little bit that I saw a last week's game, you know, the thing that concerns me is some of the leadership deficiencies that I've seen. I mean, some of the body language I've seen from Kyler. When you're down in Detroit, you just can't do you You need to keep even though you're faking it. You need

to keep ra ra face on you. There's just certain things you need to do as a quarterback that He's still young, he's still learning, he's still working his way through. But I don't think the season is lost. I don't think the season is over. I think everything's out in front of them. I think they need to totally adjust the way that they go about the next handful of weeks because DeAndre was such a big part of their offense.

And I know he was gone for a week here and a week there, and a hamstring and different things. But now that you know he's not coming back, now that you know he will be on the sideline in a sweatshirt and sweatpants, that just changes your mentality from a quarterback standpoint, that changes your your mentality from a play caller standpoint, that changes your confidence in that offensive huddle. There's a guy in that huddle that can that can

just flat out win a game. And when you take DeAndre that guy out of that huddle, it changes the dynamics the huddle. And I just really look to see what kind of leader Kyler is going forward, because now it's really all on him. Now it's really on his shoulders. And I know Chase Edmonds is back, and they've lost some other guys, and there's been some leaders that have fallen to injury and some older guys that are no longer on the team, like Larry Fitz, But now it's

on Kyler. Can Kyler lead this team? Can he find a way to shake that, you know, just bad body language that we've seen the last couple of weeks. Can he find a way to lead this group of guys? Can he find a way to overcome some some adversity that they're gonna have to overcome again. They're gonna be down multiple scores again like they were last week in Detroit. Can they overcome it? Um? I have absolutely think Tyler's

capable of doing it. I absolutely think Kyler has the ability and the god given athleticism, the arm, talent, all of that he's got at all. Now he needs to prove it. Now he's at a really, really important turning point in his career. Let's see what he can do. I can't wait to watch him play. I cannot wait to watch this team play because it's now solely on

his shoulders, and he's got enough talent around him. He's got playmakers on the defensive side of the ball, Guys that can create turnovers, guys that can get to the quarterback, create sack fumbles, all of that. The team is very well built. The team, in my opinion, it's an extremely talented team. They don't have the depth that some teams have, but there are playmakers all over the place, and they've lost a couple in DeAndre and some other guys, but

there's enough talent to overcome it. And I can't wait to watch these next couple of weeks unfold. Yeah. I think a very similar thought to Carson of the quarterback position is so important and to save Grace is having somebody like Colt McCoy in that room. I think somebody that Kyler can trust that he can look to that

he can feel comfortable talking stuff through with. But now is the time to really, you know, screw everything down and say we got to start playing our best football because the first portion of this season they looked unstoppable. They really they had so many answers for anything anybody throughout them and whether there was a team that wanted to run the ball, if they jumped on them early and took them out of what they did best. They

haven't been able to do that. So how do you go to a plan B or C and still find a way to win a football game? They haven't been able to do that. I talked about it before. I think it's extremely difficult if you're a play caller and also a head coach, because those are two very important roles, and sometimes you don't have a pulse of what's going on on defense or you need to, hey, maybe we need to call special teams, play here, a fake punt, something to flip momentum back in our favor. And so

it's hard. I think that the era is not pointing up, but I also don't think it's pointing down either. There's nothing to hang your hat on. They have a chance to get in the playoffs, and when if you get in the playoffs, everybody's level playing field at that point. And so to Carson's point, I think they have a bunch of veteran guys. I don't know how many quote unquote leaders they have. I don't know how many Carlos Stansby's there are on defense. And he'll get up there

and ra rod and get everybody to go. And you know the Tyron Matthews of the world that will call out a secondary you know Patrick Peterson or a Larry Fitzgerald that would just lead by example. They have those kind of guys, and those guys are great. You need all different types and different forms of leadership. But I want my quarterback. I want to be able to look at him on the sidelines and I want to be able to tell if they're up by forty or down

by forty. And everybody, to a man yesterday or has talked about this different days about Kyler's body language, and if it's not apparent to a fan watching on that, think about the effect that it's having on his teammates around him. And he probably knows it. He's never had to truly deal with adversity and I said this post game. I said, losing at this point doesn't show character, build character, it reveals it. And we're gonna learn a lot about

Kyler Murray. And that's what Carson was talking about. We're gonna have a great sense of where this team is because they're only going to go as far as Kyler is as capable of taking them. But he has the weapons to do it. In aj Green, he has the weapons to do it with Chase Edmonds and James Connor. I mean, I know this team so well, probably better than I ever have, because I've started to study and talk about them. I mean, the offensive line and all

those things. Sometimes it's just a matter of rewiring your brain. If you get hurt, hit early in the game, I'm saying, i gotta stay in this pocket and make plays. I've got to be on time, in rhythm and making these on time throws so the ball is coming out regardless of how the rush is. And that's just it's a hard trait to learn, but it's a necessity to be able to understand that and situational football as you move forward.

So along those lines of putting the onus on Kyler Murray to play great because usually the team that wins a Super Bowl has the quarterback that's playing the best, and Drew, you were that last year Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't win their division wildcard team it was this week last year. You get signed to the practice squad, so you're a part of the team for the run to the Super Bowl, and then you're activated on game day so you're out there for the championship.

What was that experience? Like Drew and Carson, feel free to jump in on this, I'm curious as two guys that played the position, what is it about Tom Brady? Men? Look, he obviously has incredible skill as a passer, but his leadership, the intangibles. Why is he so this guy's almost forty five years old and he's still doing it at an elite level. Why do you guys think that is well? I mean getting a chance to see how he operates

and how he prepares it's meticulous. I mean it is so structured, almost to a play where it's robotic in because this guy human. I mean the structure in which he goes about everything, but he also is he has everything so calculated on how he does things. I mean, what he eats his You know, he has the Alex Guerrero who's his massage guy or also a workout guy, Like he has a guy that's constantly working on him.

All of these things, so he has everything set up exactly the way that he wants it to feel most comfortable. But again, as Carson was talking about earlier on the show, everything is a build up to Sunday, a build up mentally, physically, emotionally, you know, all of these things. And he is a tremendous leader. But there are some guys, to be quite honest, that can't play with him because he demands so much.

I mean, if you look at the game Sunday night, that poor running back that had to go in there, he didn't know what he was doing. You could see Tom just glaring at him with these eyes, and this kid's confidence just goes just like it plummets. So there's certain people that can handle that, and there's certain people that can't. But Tom has a tremendous ability to pull

people along with him. And seeing the way that he connects to everybody within that locker room when I got there and saw it for six weeks, much like Carson, right like, you don't have to go around and tell somebody you're a leader. If you have to tell somebody you're a leader, you're not a leader. And the most important thing about leadership is followership. So you better to

make sure everybody's following you. And all those people when we got to the playoffs, thought we were going to win, even on defense, but man, we've got Tom Brady like everybody to have t because he had been there, he had done that, and they knew what it was going to take for him to be successful and the team as a collective hole to be successful. So it was great to see it and just be a part of it and have it culminate at the very end because I mean, going into Green Bay they said there was

ten thousand people in the stands. I mean they either don't know how to count in Wisconsin or they let anybody in that had a heartbeat, And they had these boards that they were hidden against the stands. It was so loud. After going to New Orleans, which was so eerie because it was dead silent in there. I mean it was I'm used to that place. I've been there

the playoffs, have been there for regular season. Going into New Orleans in a regular year, it would have been really difficult to try and come with when especially we've seen the struggle Stamp has had against the Land since Tom's tenure. Anything Carson that you've noticed playing against Brady over the years that makes him probably the greatest ever

played the position. Just everything, I mean every attribute you know, his ability to stay healthy, accuracy, toughness, leadership, all those things. But I mean I also think so when I was a buddy of mine, Matt Castle played in New England, and I would always reach out to Matt to get his scouting report from New England, like, hey man, simmon what you got on Buffalo? Hey Man, simmon what you got on the Jets? We're getting whoever I was getting

ready to play that I knew played New England. I would always try to get the past scouting reports because it was so in depth. And I don't know if Brady was a part of that, typically a quarterbacks not that's a coaching staff thing. But I think Brady is

the greatest to ever play. I think he played for a great, great coach, most likely the greatest coach to ever play, And kind of what Drew was talking about it as it's it's it was very meticulous with him, every build up that that's probably that foundation, which probably started in New England and probably from Bill Belichick. So you combine one of one of the most meticulous, toughest, most accurate, best, best thrower in adverse conditions with the

best coaching staff. I mean, you look at Bill Belichick's coaching staff. It's not a bunch of his buddies. He's not a bunch of his boys from high school or somebody that gave his kid a scholarship in college. Whatever that is. He interviewed and he vetted all of his coaches and it wasn't about anything other than their ability to teach, and not their ability to coach, but their

ability to teach. And you just look at that staff, and I know he hasn't spurred off a ton of great head coaches, but he's coached and been the head coach of a bunch of great, great coordinators and position coaches. And you know, I just always think back I was always hitting up Castle, sending them a box on wine, doing whatever I could to get his scouting reports, because his scouting reports made our scouting reports look like they

were the JV. Football team, and so you combine, you know, all of the attributes that Brady has with all the attributes that Bill Belichick has, and then he transitions right into a Bruce arians organization where Bruce has brought in his coaching staff and built I mean, you look at Todd Bowls and on and on down the line the coaches that he's brought into Tampa. Great players and great

teams win football games and win championships. And you combine great players and great teams with great organizations and great coaching staffs, and that's the rest to be for championships. I had about ten more questions, but I know you guys have dad duty, So just a couple more, we'll get you guys out of here. Carson, congratulations on being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Very well deserved.

I'm curious your thoughts on Lincoln Riley, the new head coach at USC when it happened as somebody that I don't do a ton of Pac twelve college football, but a lot of my college basketball games are Pac twelve games. So I'm very interested in the conference having success and getting into the College Football Playoff, which it's been a while since it's happened, do you think this is a game changer, not just for USC, but for the Pac twelve and maybe for college football as a whole, that

there is now a powerhouse coach. Yes, he hasn't won a national championship, but got to the College Football Playoff. I think it was three out of four years, one of those years with Kyler. Do you think that this means USC is back and that the Pac twelve then is back in the College Football Championship? Hunt, Well, we're not back until until we're in it and we're playing for the championship. But believe it or not, Drew's actually

the one that broke me the news. I didn't know until I got a text from Drew saying something about Lincoln Riley, and I was like what, And I blogged onto my phone and realized what had happened. So Drew's a little mini Adam Schefter. Watch Out, Watch Out, Dave Carroll. I sent it to your PO box though the PO box in your town and smoke screens. I sent out to you and idahouse just to yah, you broke me

the news. Kudos to you, not that I'm following everyday Twitter feeds and all the all the intricate social media platforms that you're following and getting tidbits of information from. But that came to me from you. I did not know what happened. Um, well done. Um, But no, I mean they're not back until they're back. I mean, it just just signed him to a long term contract. Doesn't mean anything until he proves he's worthy of that contract. But absolutely, I mean, it's just it's the same thing

in the NFL. The NFL is better when the Cowboys and and Pittsburgh are quality teams. Um. The NFL is not better when the Bengals and the Bills are great. College football is better when Alabama and Texas and USC and Michigan and Michigan State. Um. But but the bigger teams throughout all of all of the power conferences, when when those teams are the best, it just seems like

that's when college football is the most respective. And when you have unfortunately you know, Cincinnatis or Boise States playing in the playoffs, it just kind of doesn't feel right. But when you have these Power five conference, these these dominant, massive endowment universities playing in the championship or playing for a championship in the playoffs. It just feels better, it

feels right. So I absolutely think it's a great thing for college football, absolutely and proud that he's our coach. I think he is. We could not have had a better hire Drew. As soon as Drew sent me that text, I was texting him back and it's like, man, we were both coming back and forth like what a great hire. And it came out of nowhere. It came out of absolute left field. Nobody was even really there were no whispers of maybe Lincoln Ryan Riley would leave Oklahoma. You

just couldn't fathom that. But I just think it was a ten out of ten higher. And that's you know, twenty percent of the work done. They have eighty percent of the work done, which is getting those recruits on campus, coaching them up, getting them on the field, and proving them to be successful. So there's a lot of work

to do. But absolutely, I think it's great for USC and more importantly, it's great for college football because when US season it and the Power you know, the top teams in the Power conferences are are the top teams in the country. It's the same thing in the NFL. It's like all the big markets. You want the New York's and the Las and Chicagos and these big market cities playing in the playoffs. You know, for from the NFL standpoint, you don't necessarily want these really small market

teams playing in the playoffs. You want the best, the best, the biggest, the biggest. And I think when SCS in it, and when SCS competing for a championship, it's great for college football. Not saying that Michigan State started this whole thing, because obviously there have been coaches that have been getting long term, major contracts for a wild Jumbo Fisher, Nick Saban,

two names that come to mind. But this year anyway, Michigan State electing to sign melt Tucker in the middle of the season to ten year almost one hundred million dollar contract. That started to turn. I have to manage it. For Brian Kelly, the wheel started spinning. He even said, look, I'm not leaving Notre Dame and less at job comes along where it's just crazy money. Well it did. It

happened with LSU Lincoln Riley. I don't know that Lincoln was looking to leave Oklahoma all of a sudden, huge money, which he would have been able to get anyway. But because of what happened with Mel and Drew tell me to disagree with this, it felt like the floodgates really open. And now you got coaches leaving teams that were still in the hunt for the college football Playoff and teams

that are playing major bowl games. Coaches are bailing because they're getting those basically contracts that you're going to retire from me. You could even if your last two years, you got ten years guaranteed, you're set for life. Yeah. Well, or it's like Norman Oklahoma, LA Private Jet. Whatever Lincoln's deal was, it was pretty sweet. But yeah, I mean what I saw those numbers throw around for Mel Tucker, I was like, I mean, if he's gonna get that at LA, see you then go to LSU. I mean,

we're Michigan State. We've we've hung our hat on being a blue collar school that has always kind of played second fiddle. And they started talking about ten years, ninety five million dollars. Now it helps to have a booster that's a billionaire that was a walk on for Izzo in matt Ishpia and he just wrote the check apparently, so I need to get in touch with him or It also had me contemplate should I get into coaching, because that would be a pretty nice pay day. I

can only imagine, you know what that looks like. But you know, I think it's great for college football to be able to get a household name at a household university because if you look around at the landscape of college football now, I think you know, Sarka is going to get everything corrected at Texas, But the Floridas, the Florida States, the Miami's of the world. I mean, even you know, Michigan is now back, but there's not a perennial powerhouse or a household name like the Joe Paternos

or Bobby Bowdens of the world anymore. But the Carson's point, because Carson and I later in that same conversation, we're talking about if you become a winner, the university will back you through those and downwards through the money, and they'll make that money up tenfold by support of people that want to jump on the bandwagon. And USC will gladly welcome that because they have the people out there willing to do it. But you're not going to back

at Clay Hilton. I mean no offense to Clay Helton, but it's harder to do that, and it's a harder sell at that point versus a Jimbo Fisher type of a guy or Brian Keyler. I mean, I saw Brian Kelly like doing like the dance with some guy like recruit. I'm like, this looks so awkward, but that's what you do now, right to get top level recruits. And you have to do all this crazy stuff because you're catering and your livelihood is attached to seventeen and eighteen year

old kids. All right, last one, we'll get you out of here. You guys have touched on your love of wine several times. I'm not going to ask you what your favorite wine is because for those that are listening, it's probably very expensive. So give people out there who may be interested in wine or thinking about starting to become interested in wine. What are some good value buys for people out there that you would recommend. I could tell you Carson does not even say what's mine? Camus.

Camus is a good one. Yeah, but that's hold on out. That's everybody. You said value line, good value, good value, like less expensive within I mean, Camus, you're talking about anywhere between seventy five one hundred dollars just for that's a value line. For Carson, that's like a Tuesday. That's like a Tuesday, like Carson the listener that probably to spend one hundred bucks on a Tuesday night on an every day Katta, do you really don't what you're saying.

What you're saying is all you guys do is drink expensive wine. There are oh no, no, no no. I would back up and start saying, what do you like to drink? First of all, right, like if you like to drink cabs because NAPA has just gotten so out of control and everything is expensive, right, But if you're open to drinking different varietals, then I can recommend a lot of different stuff like pianos or different stuff of

that nature. You know, Carson, I am talking most recently about getting more into like grenashes and suras because the Napa Valley cab is just taken off and whether it was you know, just a crazy year like it wasn't seventeen, or they have smaller surplus where they didn't make wines like all of those things, NAPA has just gotten out of control with the cab where you can find really good value wine, but it's more so. And that's why I love wine and love talking about wine, and Carson

and I enjoyed it. It's so subjective, right, what do you like in wine? And when I introduce people are trying to educate people on how I learned. It's a lot of Okay, well, what region do you like? What tasting see like? What don't you like? That's equally as important as what you do like? So I mean I can nerd out on this. You can have a part two of this podcast and start talking about it, because I think it's so fun for people to hone in

on what they really like. And I don't think it's a price point because you can get enamored with ratings and Robert Parker can tell you how something should taste or what it tastes like, or um. I have been told I have an amazing mid palette by multiple people in Napa Valley. So that's true. So beyond that, what does that mean? In Layman's terms, have a very sophisticated mid palette. It's uh, it's the creme de la creme. Carson wishes he had it, but we're still working on it.

To develop it. But it's not the front, and it's obviously not the back where all the tannins are. Um. So it's just one of those things that you either yeahta or you know. And I uh, I've been told multiple times by some wine makers, some small yas, some wine owners in nappa Um that they thought I had a really good min palette to be able to taste some of those things. So let's, you know, teach his own. Drew teaches own. But that's just a second kind of

what Drew saying. I mean, I don't know. I like to drink wine. I don't. I don't really care about where it's from, what region it's from, what vintage what. I don't care. Um. But I just think, you know, there's a handful of really good pinots if if I live at high I live at nine thousand feet altitude now, so I can't drink cabs anymore. I don't drink cabs anymore.

If I do drink wine, it's peanuts, um, and peanuts just a great substitute for for cabs, because, like Drew's talking about, a decent cabs one hundred plus bucks a bottle, you can find a really good pino like um like William Selman or William Sellium. You know you know that that brand drew right, William Selman black and red label. It's like sixty bucks a bottle, solid bottle, delicious bottle.

But at the end of the day, I mean, I really don't care where it's from, what region it's from, who the winemaker is, as long as it as long as it tastes good and the bottle's not empty, I like it. Yeah, Sea smokes a good pino too. That I found out that's Michael Bidwell's favorite pino is Ce Smokes. I made sure to get him some see smoke when my contract was expiring. It's a smart man. I was told at a winery when I first started to kind of get into it that you taste wine basically with

your nose. And as you guys can tell with my schnaz, that's a good thing. So yeah, it's always the second sip too, the first sip. Don't don't take that into account. You always have to get the second sip to truly taste with the one. Is like all I know is awful. When I got COVID last year because I couldn't I couldn't smell it even with this thing, this big nose ruins. Well, hey, guys, I really appreciate you guys doing this. We could definitely have touched down a lot of other subjects, but I

appreciate the time, fellas. Thanks so much, Thanks Dud. Yeah, thanks David. Was a lot of fun. Had so much fun with Carson and Drew. We could have gone another hour. There were a lot of questions I had that I didn't get to, but we kept those guys long enough. How about Drew saying how complimentary the folks in Napa Valley were about his mid palette and what exactly that means.

Hopefully you guys enjoyed that, and hopefully if you out there are interested in wine, actually were able to glean something from Drew and Carson talking about how expensive their wine tastes are. Hopefully there was something you could get out of that for a more value purchase at the grocery store. Of course, they had some very interesting thoughts in Kyler Murray and the Earlshunt of Cardinals and whether

they could make a deep run in the playoffs. It was great to get Drew's perspective on Tom Brady being a part of that championship run and just hearing Carson talk about what it was like to lead that Cardinal team back in twenty fifteen to the NFC Championship game. Those two guys were so important to the Cardinal's success and the culture that was built here. And hopefully this Cardinal team can get as far as that Cardinal team

maybe father. We are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Hotels and Casinos. Thanks again to Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton. We'll talk to you next week. The legendary Al McCoy sons broadcaster for fifty years, will be our guest on the Dave Pash Podcast