Hey everybody, and welcome back to the Dave Pash Podcast. I'm your host ESPN and Arizona Cardinals play by play announcer Dave Pash. We have been on a break, but we are back in a big way our Cards Camp Kickoff edition with Colt McCoy, the presumed starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, depending obviously on the health of Kyler Murray. And we'll talk with Colt about what it's like going into training camp as the starter.
It's a cool feeling, like I don't take it lightly that there's only thirty two guys to get to do this. I'm ready to go back and play football right I'm ready to see what this team can do.
Colt will also talk about Drew Petsing, the new offensive coordinator, and play calling, some of the differences in this offense compared to what he's used to, as well as some of the things that Colt did in the offseason, including broadcasting some USFL.
Games for NBC.
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Gambling problem Call one eight hundred, next step. All right, time for our conversation with Cardinals quarterback Colt McCoy. So, Colt, forgive me if I'm a little rusty, because it's been a while, not only since I've done a podcast, but since I've done a game. In fact, in the last two months, you have called more games.
Than I have.
My last TV game was Phoenix Denver Game six, and then I did Eastern Conference Finals for ESPN Radio. But still that ended before your two games for NBC. First, tell me about that experience. And I actually did NFL Europe like twenty years ago, and they would have current players as analysts.
Yeah.
A lot of guys after that were like, I'm never doing this again, or some were like I can't wait to do this again.
Where are you? Yeah? That is crazy. Yeah, I called a couple USFL games in June, and you know what, outside of the travel, I had to travel to Canton, Ohio and Memphis, both cool, little cool towns, but just you were in the middle of OTAs. So I would leave on you know, probably Friday, after a Monday through Thursday week. My wife loved that, you know, and just trying to navigate how to get there. A couple of
my flights got canceled. You know. I ended up getting to Canton, Ohio like two in the morning, and then we were there was a Saturday game at with a noon kickoff, and so I missed like the production meetings and you know, all the stuff that goes on before the before that actual game. But once I got in
the studio, I loved calling the games. Like I didn't know how I was going to feel during it or afterwards, but I just I really enjoyed, you know, that vantage point and talking to Paul Burmeister actually had him both times. He was fantastic. He helped me a ton along the way. Our verbal communication skills were pretty good. We we had a great time together and calling those games was fun. I just enjoyed seeing both sides of the of the field,
you're talking defense. You know, when you play a football game, you know, you go out there and try to execute everything as well as you can. Then you come off to the side and you know, you look at the iPad, you get a little break, you kind of talk about what's coming up next, and then you go back out there and do it and you know you might get seven,
eight nine drives a game. You know, during a broadcast, there is no break, like I had a two minute bathroom break at halftime, because in the TV timeouts, the producers in your ear at halftime, you're you're giving a recap, you're talking about what's coming next, all the pregame stuff. You're you know, you're prepping and your you got your board out in front of you and you're, you know, making sure you're good with all the names and you know what the talking points. I mean, it was a
ton of fun. Like I could see myself, you know, if I had the opportunity, you know, down the road to call some games, you know, I think I I would really enjoy it.
And you were saying that before the first game. I think we were texting about this. The power went out in the booth right before you guys went on the air. Everything went down.
Dude, there was there was a forty five minute delay of the kickoff because the the entire system was down. So you know, obviously the producers and those guys are in studio back wherever that is. But all the equipment at the game went out. The generator went out, the backup went out. I don't know what was. All I know is that the kickoff was to lay. Guys are ready to warm up and they go back inside. And you know, it was my first game and so there
was a I didn't really know any different. It ended up being me and Paul just calling the game like we saw it. You know, you can kind of throw
out all your preparation. You know. The cool thing about the USFL is you get the quarterback and head coach or play caller communication, so you can hear the play calls, and you can hear the quarterback step in the huddle and call the play and like, you know, as as a guy who's played quarterback for a while, you can, you know, by the end of the first quarter, second quarter, you can pick up like what some of these plays
are and be able to talk about them. And I had done some film study on both of these teams that had a pretty good idea of what their offenses were like, and that was out the window right the telestrator who that I had tried to practice on, and you know, you drop a few things and oh, I hear a play. I know what this play is. Let me let me draw it up out real quick. That was out. So me and paulog just called the game like we saw it, and I thought it went great.
Like I didn't have the equipment, but I was kind of nervous about using that kind of stuff anyways, And afterwards, you know, the producers and everyone were just like, it's never like this, like, don't worry about like that was really hard. I was like, hey, I thought I thought it was. I thought it was great, Like I enjoyed it.
Well, if you can get through that and you can do a USFL game where you don't know who a lot of the players are going into it and you can do anything, it gets I have always felt it gets much easier the higher level you do because you know who the players are as opposed to you may have known some of the names, but it's not like their household names, and there's probably not a lot of film on these guys for you to study.
Yeah, you're mostly just watching games. There's a lot of faces that you recognize though, especially from coaches. You see coaches that you've played against or maybe played with that are that are still coaching. And then there's there's four or five guys on each team that I had remembered, you know, maybe playing with in a preseason or playing against that you remember their names. Like, it's still good football.
You're used to having somebody in your ear as a quarterback, although fifteen seconds on the play clock that stops. How often did the producer talk to you right before you were going to speak and how did you handle having that voice in your ear?
Yeah, it's definitely unique, right because most of the time that he's talking to you, you're already talking. You're already you're in your six to seven seconds given the recap of what just happened on that play, and he's either talking to you about I want you to use the telestrator, tell me a little bit more expand on this highlight number forty eight whatever, like as you're talking. So that part is hard because you know, it took me a
first half probably to get used to that. But then it's almost like, Okay, I expect this, like let me just let let me follow whatever the producer's lead is and where he wants me to go, because he's certainly trying to take care of me. He's certainly trying to help me. He's not trying to throw me off. And you know, different than you know, if I have the the play caller calling a play to me right now, you know, into my headset like I can give one wave and just some I got it. You know, I
got I got to play like we're good. And I'm never stepping in the huddle and calling the play while he's still talking in my ear like I that would be that would be crazy. So the communication, you know, I think the more you do it, the more you get used to it. It was certainly there was some growing pains at first, but it was still a ton of fun. I mean when I got in the booth and I called the games and you know, you get in a flow with the play by play guy with Paul, it was fun.
So between the broadcasting and obviously the offseason work with the team and now did you get a chance to relax?
Do you feel refreshed.
Do you have a particular routine that you do in the off season leading up to training camp.
Yeah, Now I feel like I'm in a really good place. You know, I think there was a little carry over into this offseason from the end of the year last year, right played through a bunch of injuries, had the concussion against Denver, and you know, missed the last couple of games, and you know, then all your coaches get fired, you know, the front office, you know, a lot of those guys get let go. And I think there's just the NFL
is hard no matter how long you've played. I've played for fourteen years, and I've seen a lot of different things, and you know, last year was just really tough, Right, Like, we had tons of high expectations across the board going
into the season. Last year, we worked really hard, and you know, you just you guys start getting hurt, and you know, in key positions, and you lose a couple of games, and it just it just kept getting worse and worse and worse and worse all year, and then it ultimately ended with you know, some of my best friends and and people that I love and care about and and you know, are close with get fired, right, and so like you know, then you know, you have
a little off season surgery and like it just those things just add up emotionally, and I think when the off season started, I just I wasn't in a great place because I was, you know, physically, I was getting better and better each day and I felt better, but emotionally I just was still I don't know what the word would be, probably just like sad, you know, like it just a little bit of a little bit of a funk, a little bit of a fog, like you
work so hard to you know, make something happen. And I know that there's a lot of guys in this building who felt the same way. And you know you're just you're sad when it doesn't work out because you you give, we give our life to this, right. And so after the off season program like it was still good, Like I still you know, we're learning a new system
where we've got new guys, new faces. They're all great, Like love them all, and I love the energy that this new staff brings, that Moni brings like it by no means it doesn't have anything to do with that. It was just it's all new and there's a learning process that has to take place. And I think this break was really good for me. Right, I was able to get away and I was able to just spend
some time with my family. It's worked really hard, and it just allowed me to, uh just mentally and emotionally get in the right state of Hey, I know, I know what what it takes to you know, get ready for another season in the NFL. This is a hard game, this is a this is tough, Like there's nothing easy
about it. There's long days, there's there's hard days, there's good days, there's it's physical, it's emotionally draining sometimes like being able to like be above all that and handle all that in the workload, and you know, understanding that the ultimate goal is to go out there and win without winning like it's it's a it's not successful like that takes a lot. And I feel like this break really really helps me get into that mode. And and you know, I feel like I'm in a really really
good place as we as we get started here. And I'm also really excited good.
We always get out of the country when I'm done, because I go like nine nine and a half months hard travel, uh, and so traveling for me in the US is work, so we try to get out of the country for a few weeks, and we do that pretty much every summer. But I always try to do one new thing, like learn something new or do something different each summer. I didn't this summer. One thing I thought about trying, and I've never liked it is country music.
Sell me on why I should start listening to country music as my new thing, because the summer is not officially overcult there's still.
Time, there's still time. Well, I'm a big country music guy. Man. Sorry to tell you, I know you are, but I will say that you know I grew up that way, right. I grew up listening to nineties country, and if any song of Brooks and Dunn or George Strait or Garth Brooks or Kenny Chesney, like, if any of that comes on, I know all the words, and that's just what That's just what we listened to when I was growing up.
And in fact, I think I probably like nineties country a little better than the country that's out there right now.
But all the all the folks are good, Like those guys you mentioned I have heard of. I just can't tell you any other songs.
I mean, you hear George straight on the radio, you gotta you gotta tip your cap. This is how it goes.
You do that while you're in the car. You're driving me, just tip the cap if you hear if he comes on his.
I make sure my kids see that too, Like you know what you're listening to here? Country Royalty. Yeah, for sure, he's king a country.
So should I start there or should I start with the newer country singers?
Well? Probably the newer country singers. I mean these guys are very talented. I mean country music nowadays has a little bit faster beat, a little bit better rhythm. You know, you can you know it's it's not pop, but it's you know, it's still still country. And then just dip your toe into like some of the old school stuff, like some of the nineties country. Maybe go a little further back and give you a little Willie Nelson and
Waylon Jennings and you know, go down that path. Just see what you allright, I don't think I don't think you be disappointed.
No, I mean, look, there's I just have never been able to get into it. But I haven't had a lot of friends that listen to it either. My wife doesn't listen to it. So I think it's just kind of part of like where you grow up.
Yeah, you know what you listen to as a kid, what your parents listen to, what your friends listen to, and then it kind of just go from there. All right, Well, I listened to a lot. That's something new.
You like it, Well, I said, I, that's usually each summer there's a goal of something different. I just summer's not officially over, so maybe we'll try it. One of the one thing you used to do in the off season back when you were younger, was at tend manning camp. And one of my best friends in the world, who was the same age as you, who I worked with for four years and has moved up the ladder at ESPN as the number two college football analyst, is Greg McElroy.
And I believe you, Greg, Sam Bradford, and Andrew Luck all roomed together one summer. And I also believe that two of the four were very delinquent and the other two and you were one.
Of these two.
We're at home sleeping as you should, getting your rest, being serious. One of the delinquents might have been Greg and the other might have been Andrew, is that true?
That is great? That is great that you dug all that up. Bradford was my roommate. Sam and I are the same class. I never actually attended the Manning Manning Academy camp like as a camper, but I did go as a counselor. They usually grab like, you know, four or five six guys maybe that are in their junior senior year to come out and work the camp. And I think that's a really really cool tradition. I know
they're still doing it now. I mean there's you're going out there to think it's Thibodeaux, Louisiana and it is hot, like we can complain all we want about Oh it's one hundred and fifteen degrees out here, Like no, it's down there. It is humid and hot, and the kids do not care. It's a ton of fun, and the Mannings do it the right way. I remember landing in New Orleans and Arch would would pick pick us up and when drive us down, explain to the camp, and
it's gonna be fun. You know, Cole, you and Sam are going to room together. And then all of a sudden, like you do the camp and then there's a lot of extracurricular activities throughout the rest of the week which had nothing to do with football. From what I understand, the only the only rule is you gotta you gotta be back ready for camp the next morning, like what
whatever happened. So there's a lot of a lot of a lot of fun stories, a lot of getting to know guys, and it's a it's a great time fair. That's fine.
You don't have to I know the story, and I can't. I can't tell it anyway, so it's probably better that you don't. Speaking of college football, Uh, let's start with Texas because obviously you're one of the Texas legends. You mentioned Archie I think you were talking about right before.
Oh yeah, I meant to say Archie. Yeah yeah, Archie.
But arch arch Manning is now at Texas. Quinn Yours is the starter. What are you hearing about arch What are you hearing about that room and that team because they have a huge game week two against Alabama.
Yeah, I mean I haven't stayed as plugged in as as probably people think that I have. I went back to the spring game this year, took my kids first time they had been in the stadium at ut which was pretty awesome. Like we we had a great time. They couldn't believe it. And the stadium wasn't even you know, fully sold out. It was it was the spring game, so it was still a ton of fun. But I've I got to spend some time with the quarterbacks, watch watch a practice or two, and uh, I just I
think their room is great. You know, I would say that, you know, good teams have good quarterback rooms and those relationships are competitive, but they're also supportive and that kind of infiltrates the rest of the team. And I think right now at U T, you got you got a couple guys, probably three guys that could that could play and and I think it's I think it's a great
healthy situation. I would think that Quinn would you know, kind of start the season and and be the guy and you know, build off some of the things that he did last year. There's some good and some you know, some stuff needs to get cleaned up. And I'm sure he would say the same thing. But I just think a good, healthy quarterback room speaks a lot about your team.
And I know Texas has that right now. And obviously, you know Arches, you know, the highest rated recruit of all time probably and a big deal that he's on campus and you know the name recognition and who he is, and I've got to spend good amounts of time with him. He's he's just he's just a class act and he's works hard, and you know it doesn't want any favors. And he's come into UT so much more prepared and
ready and like good head on his shoulders. Then I wasn't even close to that when I mean, I had to rid shirt like I was. I needed to mature, I needed to grow, I needed to spend a lot of time in the weight room like there was. There was a lot of things that needed to happen for me, you know, which ultimately did in order to play at UT. But I mean, I think if Texas needed ours to play right now, I imagine he could.
And that's Cooper's son, correct, That's correct. For people that aren't sure when they hear Manning, they don't know if they easily assume it's Peyton or Eli, but it's it's Cooper's.
Son, right exactly.
I had Texas last year at Oklahoma State. That was not a good day for Quinn. But I'm a big Sark fan, and I'm really curious to see how they do this year and then obviously next year. The best quarterback I saw last year in person was Caleb Williams for obvious reasons at USC. The second best that it was pretty close, and I did North Carolina twice, was Drake May. And obviously Mac Brown, who you're very close with, who was your coach at Texas, is the coach at
North Carolina. I don't know how much you've watched Drake May because there's a lot of talk about the twenty twenty four draft. Is it you know who's going to be the first pick? Are they gonna go one two? Kind of like this year with with Bryce Young and c J.
Stroud.
I don't know how much Drake May you've watched or how much you've talked to Mack about him.
Yeah, I know Coach Brown. Coach Brown loves Drake, He loves Sam Howe. I mean, he's had some good quarterbacks at North Carolina and coach Brown well speaking, I can only speak for myself, but you know, coach Brown expects a lot about your from his quarterback, and you know, if you're gonna play several years for him, Like you're gonna you're gonna get earfulls from from coach Brown. But you know, I was so fortunate to play for him for four years or really five because I red shirted
and have the same coach. Right, And I think those quarterbacks, Drake, I think Sam Howe like those guys are tremendous talents, but they're they benefit from having the same coach and helping them along the way. And but from from what Coach Brown has told me, you know, it sounds like, you know, Drake is super talented, very competitive, played early, uh his brother, you know, and I think his family are all like good athletes. I think his brother played
it played basketball in North Carolina. I think, yes, yes, he was on the national championship. Yes, that's right, right, So just coach Brown just says, like, you know, they're big tar Hills, like their whole family like bleed blue and or what do they call baby blue, Carolina blue. And so he's he thinks he's he thinks he's definitely
an NFL quarterback. And you know I know that they're you know, they changed coordinators, but they're expecting a really really big year and sounds like I think I read where college game days going there week one. Yes, they play South Carolina Carolina week one, so that'll be that'll be a good first test for those guys.
All right, last non Cardinals won and we'll start getting into this. But you and Kevin Durant to connect it all here this summer because you were at Texas the same time that Durant was. I've actually covered him since I did the McDonald's All America game like three years. One year was him with Greg Odin and everybody's talking about Odin and there's this skinny kid at the time KD was like six ' nine. Obviously he's sprouted. He's still listed. I think it's six ' nine, but he's not.
And we were watching this guy, uh and again in high school like this dude is unbelievable. And then he did some of the Texas games that year, including a game when he had thirty seven points and twenty three rebounds at Texas Tech coached by Bob Knight. And then I've done his games, you know, in the NBA, and I've always had a I always like Kevin. My daughter who's now twenty five, but her favorite player is Kevin
Durant for her sixteenth birthday. She wanted to meet him, so she came with me to do a game in Oklahoma City and got to meet him, and he could not have been nicer. So it's like people say, don't meet your heroes, don't meet your idols, but yeah, she loves him even more.
But you've known Kevin for a long time, you get a chance to connect at all. Yeah. No, we were definitely acquaintances in college. He came in the year after me, but we lived in the same dorm, you know, where all the athletes live. Like, you know, I just remember like this super tall, skinny guy coming in and you know, no one really is saying much although he was like one of the highly touted recruits. Oh yeah, coming out
of college. He came up, you know, from way up in the Northeast, and you don't really know much and you go to like the first game over at the Irwin Center and he drops like forty points and you're just like, oh my, this guy took the game over. I mean, just a phenomenal basketball player. And obviously like he's you know, one World Championships, he's won MVP, like he's He's amazing and we have not connected here in Phoenix. We've we've talked to each other back and forth a
little bit. You know. Hopefully I can get out to a game next trame. I did go to one of the playoff games, saw him play. It wasn't good for us.
Was it the Game six lost to Denver? Yeah, because that was that was the game we did. That game that was that was rough.
I mean, yeah, Denver was just gonna be hard to beat regardless. But I'm glad he's in the valley and he's a great dude, you know, and Longhorn stay together.
It was I hope for the Sun's sake and Sun's fans sake that that that was an anomaly. I he barely played in the regular season because he got hurt. I had a coach tell me after that Game six loss that they were a little concerned because he They thought this, this coach thought he was struggling to get by people. And so my question was, have the injuries caught up to him? And this coach again his opinion, it's very possible. So I'm curious because he's thirty four,
thirty five. He was eighteen when he came into the NBA. He was I think seventeen the year he was at Texas, so he's young. But I'm curious have all the injuries caught to him. I hope not, because obviously living here in the valley and want the sun to do well. All right, go ahead, Were you going to say something?
No, I mean maybe, I don't know. I know that if the ball is in his hand, he's going to find a way to get in the bucket. I mean, one of the lost his step or not. I think he's still one of the best at scoring.
He's one of the greatest scorers in the history of the game.
All right.
In terms of the Cardinals, you talked about you're in a good place mentally that the summer was very beneficial for you after friends, seeing friends, let go, teammates not back. What's your mentality going into this camp knowing, first of all, the Kyler's hurt. How do you going into camp as the starting quarterback? How do you handle that? I don't how many times that's happened in your career where you've
gone into camp as the starter. Obviously, you don't know whether Kyler is going to be back, when he's going to be back. But what's that like for you?
Yeah, I think I think you know a few years early on that was the case, right, and then I think you're always chasing that again, right. It's it's it's a cool feeling, like I don't take it lightly that there's only thirty two guys to get to do this right. And you know, at the same time, like whenever Kyler's healthy, like Kyler, Kyler's going to step back on the field and take over, right, and he's in the meetings, he's working hard, he's he's doing his rehab like nobody knows
when that day is. And so for me, it's very similar to the role I've been in the last two years. It's like always being ready, always studying, always learning, always preparing, always asking questions, you know, you know, making sure that you know I'm in the best shape physically and mentally to step out on the field and play however long you need to play and do whatever I need to do, because I want my teammates on the field to know that when I step in, like we're okay, Like he
knows what he's doing. He's gonna get us in the right plays, the right calls, the right checks, and we're gonna We're gonna be just fine. And you know, that's exactly how I'm approaching it. And I think you you hit it right. Like a ton of my closest friends are gone right. Some of all the old linemen guys, the Rodney Hudson's, the Justin Pughes, like those guys that you're close with, they're closer in as to you that you just you know, the toll that this game is
taken on their body. But you know everybody loves it. They're they're just gone right. And you know, Cliff and Cam and just I could go down the list like that. That's a hard process to go through emotionally and mentally. And now I feel like through this break, I'm just I'm in a way better place and I'm ready to go back and play football right. I'm ready to see what this team can do. And we're going to go
build this team in training camp. And you know, I'm certainly all in, and I'm fired up for the new staff and for Coach Gannon and Coach Petsing, these guys who are implementing their new systems and you spend a lot of time with them, and I believe in them and Manty have had good, great conversations with MANI like, they are a great staff and they have great energy, and this is a totally different team than the team
that we had last year. But I think we're all excited and we're all ready to go build this thing and see what we can do. And you know how very many games I get to play, Like, you know, I understand, you know the opportunity that that is, and I'm going to go give it my all.
The first podcast for this was with Kurt Warner, and Kurt mentioned on this podcast, and I think he had probably said it elsewhere, but I I wasn't one hundred percent sure that that's not the first time I heard this. He said going into two thousand and nine, he knew he was done because that was his last game, was the Bounty Gate game in the playoffs against the Saints. He gets blindsided and ended up retiring, and a lot of people thought it was because of that, but he
had already made up his mind. The reason I bring that up is after the hit in Denver, which was really scary. I'm sure scarier for you, but just for us seeing it like you rarely see a guy get.
Up and then collapse.
And I don't know what all you remember, But did you start to think, given you've had other concussions right prior to that, and you're in your mid thirties, you've been doing this a long time. How long did you think, hey, you know what, maybe it's time or were you like, you know, I want to I want.
To finish strong. I don't want to go out that way. Right. Well, I think ultimately I was protected by a lot of people in the building by not playing late in the season, right, And then you go through the process of you know what, what you kind of do every year is just evaluating how your body feels. Like I did a lot of cool treatments. I say cool, it's just newer technology and things that they can help you with as far as
you know, after concussion. And you know, I just was reacting to how my body felt, how my body responded to some of these treatments. And again, you know, that's all part of this process of figuring out, Okay, what
does this next year look like? Right? All, a lot of my boys are gone, like a lot of the people in the building are new, Like you're coming off of concussion, like you know, you had little elbow stuff like, but at the same time, like I prayed a lot about it, right, you know, I think I lean on my faith more than anything else in my life and definitely want to uh follow that and understand like, okay, like there's there's always a time and a place for everything.
What is this season? And I feel like everything in my life pointed back towards getting myself healthy and then seeing what happens and this all is part of the plan. And I feel stronger, I feel better, my arm feels good, my mind is is ready. You know. I know there's
gonna be challenges. There's challenges in every year, right, but I'm I'm in a place where I'm ready to take on those and and plays as well as I can and and go into this training camp with the mindset of, you know, being the best version of myself and leading this football team to the best of my ability for however long they asked me to do that. And I can't wait. I'm excited and I'm thrilled. And it's all new, right, this new system, new coaches, new players like that. It's
it's it's in my mind. It's just I'm hitting a refresh button and let's go see what happens here.
What are your biggest takeaways about the offense so far.
I've I've enjoyed learning this system, right. I've learned a bunch of systems in my career. Right. I think my first five years in the NFL had new coordinators, which is always tough. But at the same time, you know, you you turn things into a positive. And you know, I've I've seen a lot of different systems and different philosophies and different ways to do different things. And I feel like the way that that Drew Is has presented
his offense to us is is great. Like he has a plan, he has a he has a purpose, he has a reason every time I ask a question. He's a very good teacher. Uh, he's smart's first time calling plays, but he knows what he wanted to look like. And you know, he's assembled his offensive staff and they're all on the same page. And you know, there's never a there is never a doubt of what we're doing or what we're trying to plish, you know, when we have the ball in our hands. And so, uh, it's been
it's been great. And I think he's going to be very multiple. You know, he's he's not going to be just you know, you're not gonna We're gonna play in a lot of different personnel groups. We're gonna utilize all the guys that we have, you know, I think you know, in this league in fourteen years, like it's it's players, not plays, and a lot of teams do the same
same stuff. But for us, I'm just I'm excited going to training camp knowing that, like we all trust in in what Drew has has brought us, we learned and chipped away it a lot of different things in the in the offseason, I think a lot of it will will take shape and we'll figure out, you know what we're really what's really going to be our bread and butter as we get into the season.
I heard you say in a recent podcast that the footwork is a lot different, and you know, for the fans, for us, that doesn't it's hard for us to understand, Okay, what does that mean? What does that look like?
So? Why is that so?
Why is that such an adjustment for a quarterback when the footwork in the system is different.
Well, I was thinking about this during this break, So I started playing football in seventh grade. So seventh and eighth grade plus four years of high school, five years in NFL or five years in college, and fourteen in the NFL. That's twenty five years. I think I went to ut with my math's good. I went to Syracuse. I can't help you, sorry, So I mean just just
for you and for the fans. Like you know, as a quarterback, like everything is rhythm, everything is timing, everything is like when you get out of that, like bad things happen. But I've played with my right foot forward in the shotgun or underneath the center for twenty five years since seventh grade. And we were running shotgun in seventh grade. I ran, you know, the speed option, you know,
get get off the midline right like. But then as you get older, like you just you develop, like your comfort and and your stance and like it becomes second nature. You don't think about it. Well, this offseason, Drew really wanted me to go with my left foot forward in the shotgun. And when I tell you, that's not easy, it's not easy, but I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with it. You know, it's something that Drew really believes in,
and you know, I want to do it. How he wants to wants to do it, and and so I've just I've really really worked countless hours making sure that like that becomes second nature. And I and you know, by the time I get into training camp, you know, next few days, I'm going to do my best not to even think about it.
What's it like to have a coach that's your age up? Petting is the offensive coordinator, You're the same age. And I know you're close with Sean McVay and in Washington, I think Sean probably at the time was maybe five years older than you.
Well, he still would be, right, No, Sean, Sean's five months older than me. That's it. Yeah, Sewn and I are you know, we're basically saying.
We're saying, why does it feel like Shawn's been around forever yet he's still thirty six years old? I didn't really for some reason, I thought he was older than you by a few.
He's thirty seven now, but he's We're we're like six five or six months apart. How about are you older than Drew? Have you figured that out? Older than Drew? I'm about a year older than Drew. Okay?
Is that weird to be older than your coach.
I was older than Cam last year, Cam Turner. Oh yeah, Kevin O'Connell and I are like really tight. Kevin's I think two or three two and a half three years older than me. So you're used to this. Yeah, you're saying this is not a big deal. I actually think it's it's not as big a deal as what people
may think. Like, Drew's been around a lot of football. Yeah, he's He's had he's learned from the best that's ever done what he's doing right, And I don't think there's any sort of like problem with him coaching me hard or or getting on me or no, this is what
I want. Like that relationship has been has been great. Right, There's there's an ultimate respect factor from me and from everybody just because like again I mentioned it early in the podcast, like there's nothing easy about this league, right, and you know guys who get to the top like this, Like there's there's a there's a respect factor there that just is you know, it's it's it's there, I mean. And and our our relationship has been has been solid.
Because you have a new coaching staff, you have a first time head coach, first time offensive coordinator, are you more involved? Are you more involved do you think in game planning, in talking to your teammates. I mean you're always very vocal, very encouraging and positive. But do you think there will be more of that since you're one of the few holdover leaders of not just the team but the organization.
Yeah, I think I think we'll see, right, I think, you know, as you get going in training camp and as you start putting those first game plans together, I think that it will all be done together. But at the same time, like you know, my goal going into this campus to is to know and learn the offense as best as I can before we go out there for week one. Right, that's still a work in progress, and so I don't know that like my ideas and
what I want. You know that I was involved, you know, to an extent, especially the last two years with Cliff and with Cam and those but you knew the system. Well. I think we're getting to a point where we can we can get there. But any plan that gets put together, whether it's Kyler or me or whatever, or on any team I've been on, you know, there's always that you know, coach to quarterback like hey, Okay, here's our third down menu.
You know, what do you feel most comfortable with? Like, there's always that communication like that, and that's crucial right to the play caller and the quarterback to be on the same page of what we like and don't like and what we're seeing and being able to adjust in games. Like the goal is as we as we build this thing over the next month, is to be able to get on that same page, and that's when things click.
I watch Flight Plan. I don't know if you got to see it at all, and you know Kyler, you know as well as anybody, but watching him there, I was really encouraged by his maturity. Seems like he's grown in a lot of ways. I don't know when your conversations with him or watching him rehab what you've been able to glean because obviously it's a big year for
him coming off an injury. It's as much adversity is he's probably facing his athletic life coming off this injury and having to learn a new system, the footworking different, and it's got to be a challenge I would assume to be able to, you know, watch it and know that you have to do it and then actually be out there doing it and then do it in a game. What are some of the things you've been able to glean from kind of watching Kyler go through this and in your conversations with him.
Yeah, Kyler is, I mean, he's in. He's the ultimate competitor, So I mean, I think he's attacking his rehab. He wants to be out on the field. He's good in meetings. You know, there are some things that are going to be different, Like we are we are going to huddle, we are going to call plays in the huddle. We're going to use like you know, a lot of different mechanics than what we did last year, right, And so there's a I mean, just from the very beginning, there's
a lot of things to learn. But Kyler has jumped right in. He's he's doing the things that he can do without actually being out there and call the plays and run the place. Right. But I bet he's out there sooner than later would be my guess, just because he's a competitor and wants to be and this is new, and so I'm excited for him. I think anytime you go into something that's new, right there, it takes some
time to learn and to feel comfortable with. And you know, we talked about footwork and we talked about just the just the overall operation, like those are things that you know he's gonna have to learn on the fly, you know, because the moment that he's ready to play, he's he's gonna go play. And so a lot of anything that I do or what what Drew coaches or sometimes like you know, some of the conversations we had this spring were like, hey, like we haven't done this before, I
haven't done this in a long time. This was this was a little I need more reps at this. So as you're going through your rehab, you know, this offseason, like remember that this play is a little bit tricky. Like maybe it was the footwork, maybe it was your eyes, maybe it was like the throw was you know, got to be more up and down than on a line, Like different things that I could tell him after getting the rep that you know, remember this right. And so
our communication has been has been really good. And I just I recognize and know that like injuries are hard. They're hard emotionally, they're hard physically, they're hard mentally, and you know, you're all your energy most days are going
into fixing that. Right, we've all had significant injuries. I think for him, like we'll know when that that light bulb comes on, like Okay, I'm getting over this and I'm ready to like really soak up this information that the moment I can get out there, I'm going and I'm excited for for him when that clicks.
Last one and most important one, where are we with the family dog situation? Because my wife and I we are one year away from being empty nesters. We've talked about it because we have not had a dog, and I don't think we're gonna go down that road because I know this is something that the kids have pushed you on. Correct, but you said it's a retirement thing. You worry about it much much.
Ter well, I mean, listen, my kids can't even clean their rooms. I think they can't already make their bed. It's like without us just hounding them to do it, like pick up the toys, clean your room, like make your bed, like there's some response. So I mean during football season, there's no chance. I love dogs. I love dogs.
I grew up with labs, Like, there's no chance we're gonna have a dog right now, right, I mean and I've told my kids and some of them cried, and I'm just like, someday, like, go play with the neighbor's dog. That's great. Like enjoy that Justin Pugh has has two Golden Retrievers. He brings them to the house all the time. The kids love and they run, they play, and then
they cry because I won't get them a dog. I'm like, God, someday, I would love to get a dog, But until you can prove to me that you can make your bed and clean your room and not have you know, me and your mommy picking up everything behind you, Like what makes me think that you can clean up after a dog or make sure that the dog lives by giving it water and giving it food. Like there's so and so. I just ended up saying, Guys, when I retire, we can talk about having a dog. And so half my
kids want me to retire. Half my kids want me to play. Well, we hope you keep playing. Colt.
It's always fun talking to you. Thanks for spending some time with me. Appreciate it.
You betcha man.
Thanks always a pleasure to talk with. Colt, one of the great guys in sports, been around a long time. You're fourteen, now in the NFL, been with a lot of different organizations. Third year with the Cardinals, thirty six career starts. Will it be thirty seven come Week one against Washington, which would be interesting from a lot of perspectives, particularly the Colts been a good part of his career
in Washington from twenty fourteen to twenty nineteen. It was good to get an update on Coletealth, also get his thoughts on Kyler and the growth maturity that we've seen from Kyler over the off season, and also good to kind of get the perspective from a quarterback on what it's like to make the transition to broadcasting, something he's toying with and obviously got some experience this summer calling
some games for the USFL. We are presented by BETTMGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by HeLa River Resorts and Casinos.
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By going to your podcast platform tell us what you think. You can also check us out on Twitter at pashpod. Thanks again to our guest, Cardinals quarterback Colt McCoy, and also to you for listening to another edition of the Day Pash Podcast.