The Dave Pasch Podcast - Scott Hanson

because of the COVID nineteen pandemic. And how about the dominance. A complete game, not a perfect game, but a complete game. And if Kyler Murray plays like that, I've said this all along, the sky's the limit. He's that good. The Cardinals can be a championship team if Kyler Murray continues to play like that. Now, he's not going to account for five touchdowns every week. But it wasn't just what

he did on the field. It was his leadership. It was the intensity that we saw several times with him motioning and talking to his own guys on the sideline. Clearly the Cardinals have surrounded Kyler with weapons on offense, and I believe that Rodney Hudson might beat their best offensive weapon. You watched the tape. They didn't even get into the backfield against Rodney Hudson, in my opinion, the best center in the National Football League Chandler Jones. Is

there anything else that really needs to be said? Five sacks at a game, three in the first half. He completely controlled the game, and I'm really encouraged with what I saw from Isaiah Simmons played a great first game and the young corners looked like vets in particular Marco Wilson. Lock it up, Julio Jones. This week it's the Vikings.

You went from Derrick Henry, the leading rusher in the National Football League each of the last two years, to the second leading rusher in twenty twenty, Dalvin Cook, who had a big fumble in Week one that led to a loss against the Bengals at overtime. Let's see if the Cardinals can go too. And oh and it would be great to have the red seed back at State Farm Stadium. As for our guest today, it is Scott Hansen, host of NFL Red Zone, and he also is a

multidimensional broadcaster for NFL Network. He joined the network in two thousand and six, and since two thousand and nine, he's hosted every single episode of NFL Red Zone. That's well more than two hundred episodes, and he goes all day long without a bathroom break. Maybe the most impressive part of Scott's job. We'll ask him about that and much more on the Dave Pash Podcast. Scott, you've been

doing this for a long time. I was reading up on the broadcasting history since you joined the NFL Network and I didn't realize that NFL Red Zone debut in two thousand and nine, you've been doing over two hundred episodes. That means that's two hundred Sundays that you don't go to the bathroom at all. That's pretty impressive. Man. We're starting with the bladder integrity portion of my career. Hey, you know what day it is the thing, for better or for worse, that I have become known for. I

don't want to say famous or infamous. People can make their own determination there, but everyone thinks they're the first person that's asked me about the bathroom thing. And I

think it's because everyone can relate to it. People sit home and they watch an NFL Red Zone for seven hours, and they got their snacks and their beverages, and invariably nature calls that they get up, and they don't want to get up from the TV because not doing any commercials, the next great touchdown could be five seconds away, and so they don't want to go. But you know, invariably the biological needs went out, they go to the restroom.

They come back and I'm still talking and they go, wait a minute, when does Hampson go to the bathroom? And yeah, the answer is I don't. And thankfully the streak is alive, and here we are in season thirteen of NFL Red Zone. Well, I want to get back into broadcasting and your job. But since we're on the subject, because first of all, I don't know how you do it as somebody. I know you're one year older than me, so I got a year ago before I hit fifty.

But I can't go sometimes seven minutes without going to the bathroom. So how you do it for seven So do you not drink coffee or anything? You have like a period of time leading up to the show where you have no liquids whatsoever. One hundred percent. It is about managing, you know, without getting too descriptive. Input equals output, so it's managing my morning on Sunday morning leading up to the show. I don't drink coffee. I don't know

if you remember that. For those who are listening right now, Dave and I go back, Oh goodness, I mean we go back to college back in the early nineties. I know it's when I was thirty years by one or ninety two something like that. Yeah, but yeah, I don't know if you knew that about me. I don't drink. I don't need that caffeine to get me going. I'm naturally energetic and fired up, and I love my job, so the coffee issue isn't isn't there for me? But I cut off all my liquids about what would it be.

I eat breakfast at six forty five am on the Dot every Sunday morning during the football season, and that's the last bit of liquids that I have. The show begins at ten ten am Pacific, and sixty five to seven seven am would be the only time I would have anything. So three hours before the show, I cut

off everything. I use the men's room twice in the last hour leading up to the show, and then it's it's the willpower of a ninja after that straight hours, Man, I'm telling you every halftime football, basketball game doesn't matter. I am sprinting for that restroom. So I don't know how you do it. I can't make it an hour. You're making it seven Bro's. That's impressive, all right. Another thing is, as you know this as a broadcaster, is

keeping your your whistle wet, so to speak. You know a lot of people will drink because they feel like to get the best out of their voice, they need to constantly have liquids, you know, and whatnot. And that's the balance. For me, it's not so much Oh my gosh, I gotta go, I gotta go. It's not that it's being able to project and broadcast while my mouth is quite dry. But I've just learned to live with it and hopefully the hopefully it doesn't show up too bad

on air. Do you do anything to warm up your voice or to protect your voice? I sometimes take the singer spray. I stopped doing it recently, but I've used that before, or just you know, a lot of water. I don't know if there was any specific that you did. No, I don't you have a fantastic voice. I've always been been not jealous of your voice, but but admirer of your voice. You've got great pipes to use them so well.

You're the type of broadcaster who I say, the really really good ones can hit the notes when when DeAndre Hopkins pulls down the Harold Mary Passy, you are on your game. And a lot of people sound awkward when they're doing that, when their emotions lead to that. But your your instrument is so strong. I'm pretty blessed too. My dad had a great voice, and I inherited that from him. But there's no real exercises or training I do. I avoid really really cold liquids because that'll constrict the

vocal cords a little bit. Um. You know, later in the season in December, if you're dealing with a cold or the flu or something like that, maybe some hot tea with honey and lemon. But other than that, it's just, Hey, this is me and this is how I talk, and hopefully it projects well. Last one on the bladder and then we'll get to the serious stuff. Okay, is there a backup plan, like if you get a stomach ache or you have to go and you I mean, besides, like a water bottle under the table. Is there a

backup plan? Is there another announcer standing by? There is no other announcers by for bladder considerations. If you really want the inside scoop, we do have people that are standing by at NFL Films Headquarters. Now I broadcast out of NFL Network or NFL Los Angeles they call it in LA. We have a brand new facility at Sofi Stadium where the Rams and Chargers play, So that's where

I broadcast out of. But Lord forbid. But if we had an earthquake and electricity was knocked out in Los Angeles or whatever disaster or something that knocked us off the air, there is a crew standing by in New Jersey suburban New Jersey outside of Philadelphia is where NFL Films Headquarters is located, and there is a pseudo backup team that is that is ready to go on should we get knocked off the air. But no for bathroom breaks.

If I had to take one, and it's not like I'm trying to be a hero, if I had to take one, they could they could say, look at Scott, We'll find at whatever. The buccanteers are on a drive right now. We think Tom Brady's gonna get some first downs. You got two minutes, go ahead, turn off your microphone, run down the hall, do your thing. I could do that if I had to. It's just that I don't want to because I don't want to miss the next great touchdown. So yeah, so that's how. That's how we

manage things. And we've got a good system. And my infamous or famous streak, depending on your perspective, is still alive here. Who knew that back then, when we were idiots at Syracuse drinking all that beer, that it was just practice. The drinking and passing out was practice to

hold it in over an extended period of time. All right, Let's let's get serious here, because I do want to get into your history because it's it's I don't know that a lot of people realize how you got into this business, what you were doing before you got into broadcasting, and then the multiple stops that you had, it's pretty amazing. And I've had a close up view of it being friends with you for three decades. So I do want to get into that. But give me your thoughts on

Week one. What stood out to you about the game Sunday the Arizona Cardinals, and I'm not picking the low hanging fruit, just being with you right now, but the Arizona Cardinals statement, road wind in the early window as well, you know, the whole time change. I'm a believer in that that some Pacific time teams have a hard time playing, and that ten am body clock window. But all the things involved and what we expect out of the Tennessee Titans this year, Arizona statement, and then of course the

New Orleans Saints pounding. I'll put actually i'll put that surprise in two categories, the New Orleans Saints looking as good as they did and the Green Bay Packers looking as bad as they did, because I don't think it was one hundred percent. New Orleans was just a steamroller and we weren't aware of that. And they're going to do this other teams. I don't think that's necessarily the case yet, although I thought New Orleans looked better than

what almost everyone anticipated. But the Green Bay Packers fell apart. They were just spitting up on themselves all throughout the game. That was a shock that Aaron Rodgers couldn't write the ship and you know, couldn't even get in the end zone. So that was a surprise. The NFC West that I and everybody else predicted was going to be the strongest division in football this year. Who looks like that is going to be the case. Yeah, And other than that,

it was just great to be back. The crowd noise was fantastic at all these stadiums, and the feel of real football being back for the first time, and it was over two hundred and fifty days since the last full NFL Sunday, not non playoff NFL Sunday. Just felt good to be back. So do you have a producer in your ear constantly telling you Arizona, Tennessee Red Zone? New Orleans, Green Bay? Is somebody consistently giving you direction

when you need to switch to another game? Yeah? Yes and no. It's a little bit like the coach to quarterback communication system how we operate on NFL Red Zone, except it's more of a two way street. Because my producer, Brian Nettles is in the control room watching all nine games in the early window, I'm standing in the studio four feet away from a wall of monitors watching all nine games and we bounce things off of each other. We're like, okay, hey, we're on this Cardinals drive right now.

It's third and eight and they're on the fifty yard line. If they don't get the first down, they're gonna punt. So we'll get away and we'll go to a different game. You know, Dallas is close to the red zone right now, they're on the twenty six yard line. Maybe we'll go to Dallas, but keep an eye on Seattle because they're in commercial break. And remember they're first in goal from the eight when they come out of the two minute warning time out. So we'll discuss all these things and

then whatever happens. Okay, the Cardinals didn't get the first down, Jeff, Cardinals are punting. You know what, Let's go to Dallas. They're close to the red zone. Wait, wait, wait, they just came out and break in Seattle. Let's go there right now. Russell Wilson first and goal from the eight. So we roll with it. It's like my produce will call plays in my ear, multiple plays, and then based on what I see what we have on the air, will audible and go to wherever the action is hottest.

It's absolutely fly by the seat of your pants, unscripted. We're reacting to what's going on in the NFL and trying to trying to spin as many plates and make it seem flawless or seamless, at least to the best of our ability. It's a it's a thrill ride, Dave. If you weren't busy on every NFL Sunday, I would have to have you out to the studio to see how we rock and roll. It's it's different than any other sportscasting than I've ever been around. Yeah, I'd love

to see it. I mean, obviously, doing you know, play by play is entirely different doing studio work or hosting a radio show or podcast. It's just the job you have is is so incredibly unique. So you're sitting there watching all these games on Sunday and I assume the cardinal game keeps catching your eye, like when do you make the determination? Okay man like Jones gets the force fumble, Corey Peters recovers it, it's a touchdown, but then it's overturned and now you're in the red zone. It's first

in goal. So how do you guys handle that, believe it or not? That one got us. As a matter of fact, that one caught us because we're trying to go bang bang bang from stadium to stadium so quick. When you get something that looks like something at face value and then all of a sudden, whether it's a coach of challenge or an automatic boots review that overturns it,

we're like, wait a second, wait a second. And what we'll do in those instances If we thought we saw a touchdown, like let's say a defensive touchdown in a game, but then the offense is back on the field, We're like, okay, wait a minute, you know what, let's just go to what's happening lies and we will take whatever the first down play is. And then during that play, we're looking

back at the video. Our folks in the replay area at NFL Red Zone, we'll be looking back at it and say, okay, yeah, you know what, it was a strip sack fumble with a recovery, but they didn't give him the touchdown. That's why the offense is on the field. And then before the forty second play clock runs out before second down for the Cardinals in this instance, then I'll interject and go, hey, here's how the Cardinals got

the ball originally. Okay, challenge Jones, strip sack, fumble, recovery touchdown originally, but they reviewed it down by contact and so this is why we're at second down for the Cardinals. It's I hope it sounds reasonable the people that are listening it. Listening to it right now, I think it

flows well when you have the audible. When I'm giving audible instructions or recap of what's going on coupled with the visuals, it's hopefully it's more coherent than what I just made it sound right there, because people are you know, we've got to sophisticated football audience too, and people understand that, oh okay, things might look one way at first blush, but yeah, replay overturned it or I saw that he was down by contact. So I understand where we're at.

But we want to catch ups. I've as possible. Eighty ninety percent of the stuff that we do is live. But when we can't catch something immediately, we have very very skilled replay folks, and our production crew is the best in sports television for my money, and we can get something back and just say hey, here's the context. Of why this team has the ball at this point right now, you've seen every great quarterback that's coming to the NFL the last two decades. And look, you played

football at Syracuse. We'll get into that a little bit later. Not many people know that that you were on the football team, so you're around good quarterback. Syracuse was actually very good back then. Every year they were good. Back then. They had first round picks all over the place. Although Chandler Jones, you know, even though it was you know, almost a decade ago, right was a first round pick out of Syracuse. But where does Kyler Murray do you

think right now rank? If you had Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady, most people are going to say one, two is Kyler Murray? Is he climbing the list in your mind? As he top five, as he still have work to do to depend on the team's success, How do you think you would rate him right now? Yeah? Right now now. I don't want to be a prisoner of the moment and say, hey, a five total touchdown performance game out of Kyler stamps him as top three, top five. Just yet. This will be the season that we get to see

him blossom into everything that people had hoped for. He had a nice season last year, and if people had already known about his physical gifts in terms of being able to evade rushers like very very few quarterbacks on a design pass play, I would still say Lamar Jackson's the best running quarterback in the NFL. But being able to evade pass rushers, I say it like this. I don't know how you describe it. He looks like a

punt returner scooting back and forth. You remember Dante Hall, spectacular punt returner back in the day for the Kansas City Chiefs. He reminds me of Dante Hall. When the pocket collapses and he just just tries to well scoot left, scoot right, step up, step back, roll out this way, roll out that way, jukes, somebody either run or throw. Guys can't get there that Not only can't they sack him, they can't get a hand on him, and maybe because

of his stature too. I think it looks like a guy who just caught a punt where the gunners and the coverage team is trying to converge on him and nobody can touch him because he's that much quicker with everyone else. But the great thing about Kyler is and he'll grow even this year. I believe he was already very good at doing this, but I think he'll grow in this aspect of this game is being able to do that while keeping his eyes downfield and not losing

sight of his eligible receivers. That makes him lethal, lethal with his decision making. If he could evade pass rushers know that, oh it's third and eight, I could probably run for this first down with my speed and the angles that I see. But I can also still pick up d Hop or somebody else downfield twenty yards downfield and just it's like stopping to try trying to stop water with your fingers. At that point, forget about it.

And it would not surprise me at all if by the end of the year we are talking and universally talking about Kyler as a top five, top three quarterback in the NFL. The area that he needs to grow the most, and he's talked about this is leadership and

being consistent. Last year, he had games like Week one and in the middle of the season, after the Hail Mary against Buffalo, the Cardinals are six and three, everybody's talking about Kyler as an MVP candidate, and then he doesn't play as well, the team doesn't play as well. They missed the playoffs, So obviously being consistent is key. And look, he does things, Patrick Mahomes Scott, Patrick Mahomes, I don't know how you feel. He's the greatest football

player I've ever seen. I've never seen anybody that can do the things that Patrick Mahomes can do. Now, there are some things that La Murray can do that Mahomes can't. You talked about the quickness, the quick feat he's a better runner. Now will he ever? If he gets to that point, the Cardinals are going to be a Super Bowl contender every year? Do you think? And you talk, Look, you work for NFL network, You're talking to former players

all the time, You're watching NFL games every week. The weapons that the Cardinals have surrounded him with, do you feel like it's enough for him to help take that next step and get them to the playoffs? Yeah, yeah, I do. I like probably a lot of Cardinal fans

would say, show me the running game. Show me the running game as a legitimate running game, not just as like, oh yeah, we gotta balance Tyler taking a shotgun snap and doing what Kyler does with a legitimate first and ten run for five yards to get you ahead of the sticks against the defense. Show me that aspect of the game. And then a complimentary defense where that defense playing with the lead. And I'm not saying it's just

about playing with the lead. Of defense had to be good whether it's zero zero or thirty five, nothing but playing with the lead where the other team feels stress on offense. Oh, that's some complimentary football. And you know, we gotta see it when the NFC West schedule takes into the city, because I could I could be talking to you know, a Rams or a Seahawks or the Niners fan base, and everyone has reason to think we are the team to beat in the division. I mean,

look at it, it's not out of the realm of possibility. Mathematically, we got to see how it could end up. All four of these teams can end up been the postseason, all four of these teams. And I would say, in terms of the Cardinals growth and the Cardinals leap into an elite status in terms of a top ten or maybe even the top five team in the NFL, is not so much about the growth of Kyler and the support staff around him, although obviously that all plays into it.

It's how and they manage those division games that are coming up, because those six games, even in the seventeen game schedule, will determine A. Are they in the dance at the end and B do they get a home game at the end or how far can they go in the playoffs. Give me your thoughts on the Vikings the Cardinals week to opponent. You obviously were paying close

attention to the overtime loss against Cincinnati. I love Kirk Cousins as a guy, and I think he's a really good quarterback, but I don't know that he's a winning quarterback. I say that because he consistently puts up big numbers that entices you to give him the big contract because he's putting up these huge numbers, but he's not always winning big games. I don't know how you feel about him. Dalvin Cook clearly is an elite back and normally doesn't do what he did on Sunday where he fumbles the

ball in a key situation they lose the game. Are you buying the Vikings as a contender in the NFC North I was prior to yesterday. You lose to a Bengals team and the Bengals are much improved, more weapons, Burrow in the second year, and it was at Cincinnati. But but you lose to the Bengals, and the Packers are still probably the team to beat in that division, even though everybody, everybody's all and one in the NFC North. As you and I talk right now, UM, I don't.

I don't think they're a contender in the NFC. But prior to yesterday, would have said, yeah, I think they could be. I think they could be a playoff team, but a contender to win the NFC. I'm not sure on the Cousins angle of that. I would describe it this way. I'm not so sure you will win because of Kirk Cousins, but you can win with Kirk Cousins. Does that makes sense? Fair? That's fair. He's not a he's not a Mahomesian talent or even a Kyler Murray could put a team on his back. Um, and he can't.

He can't win games like where it's like, well, the reason we won the game was Kirk Cousins. He that could be individually. I don't think that's sustainable over whole season. I don't think you will see that out of Kirk Cousins, but I think you can win with him. You don't. They aren't losing games because of Kirk Cousins, like exclusively, Like oh, if they had a better quarterback, everything else. The infrastructure is there to be a contender in the NFC.

So I think they've got they've got other issues. And man, they just shot themselves in the foot and whatnot. You better hope you get that version of the Vikings because they were Yeah, they were sloppy. They were sloppy, and they still could have won the game. It was an overtime, lass they still could have won the game. I would say this, Kyler d hop the rest of the receivers they ought to be licking their chops because the Vikings defense did not look as good as what a lot

of people have projected going into the season. They can be had in medium to deep passing pass patterns. They can be had in that area, and we've seen the Cardinals be able to exploit teams that don't have that strength in the back half. So you already took us through a Sunday in the life of Scott Hansen. I'm curious, Scottie, what did you think when the opportunity was first presented

to you. Do you remember how it went down when somebody came to you and said, Hey, we want you to host this thing called NFL Red Zone, where we're going to take viewers from game to game so they can see the best moments of a game and do it for seven straight hours on a Sunday because it's become a national phenomenon for football fans. Yeah, oh, I remember it. Like I said, we're in season thirteen, but I still distinctly remember that time in my life and

my career. And to be accurate about it, they didn't come to me at first. I went to them. I had heard a rumor in the summer of two thousand and nine, just office scuttle butt. I was already working for NFL Network as a roving reporter, so they knew about me and I knew about them, and I had heard that, Hey, you know, we're gonna start this channel up.

That's going to be every touch down from every game, no commercials, both the early window in the late window, so seven hours, right, And I'm like thinking, are you kidding me? Now? I'll add this as an aside, our friend, our mutual friend and fellow Syracuse orangeman Andrews Siciliano. I don't know if you have Andrew or you'll ever have him on the podcast, but we both know him and respect him as a broadcaster so much. He had been doing what's called the Red Zone Channel over on Direct TV.

Some people, I'm sure that are listening are familiar with this, but some people are always like, what, there's two of them? What there's the Red Zone Channel. Very similar concept but a different production, different studio, different hosts, different different execution, but a similar concept had been running on Direct TV, exclusively on Direct TV, which it still is broadcast on today, and so we borrowed some things from that when we

started NFL Red Zone. But when I heard about the concept, I was like, this thing is going to be a galactic hit if we could execute it the way that I think it can be executed. So I called them. I called one of my bosses, the talent coordinator at NFL Network, and said, who is this true? We're doing this? He said yep. I said who you got to host it? He's like, well, we're looking at some people. I said, is my name on the list? He said, yeah, your

name is on the list. And he kind of he kind of chuckled a little bit because he knew my enthusiasm, passion, hopefully my knowledge of the game and thought it would be a good fit. And we did. We did tryouts, we did auditions, and the average audition for television can get or take. Usually it's like fifteen minutes. They put

you up on their set. You know, you're trying to become the weekend sports guy in Denver, Colorado or whatever, and they put you up on set, want to see how you look, how you sound, can you do some cross talk with the co hosts, and can you handle a teleprompter or all these type of things. But because stamina is part of the name of the game. For Red Zone, the audition for NFL Red Zone was five hours long, and again fifteen minutes for those who don't know,

it's about the average. This thing was five hours. They ran one whole set of three hours of games, and then they started a second set of games and went the halftime of those games. So it's five hours long. I was flop sweating through my suit. What they did it was in the middle of the summer, there were no NFL games going on, so they took a random week from the season before and queued up eight games to the kickoff, pressed play on eight different machines at

the same time, and said, talk go. Basically, I'm like trying to follow everything, trying to identify every player, trying to do all this right without the benefit of a computer handling like live scoring and everything else like that. And I was nervous. I thought, I either I either got the hosting role because I put the best passion and energy and excitement into it that I could. I said, I either got the hosting role or I just set back my broadcasting career by five years. And I embarrassed

myself with how I performed. But a couple of weeks later, after all the auditions were done and they auditioned a handful of would be hosts, the executive producer Eric Weinberger, the executive producer at the time of NFL Network, called me up and said, Hey, Scott, I want to offer you the hosting role of NFL Red Zone. And I was like, oh, that's great. You know, I'm I can't wait. I'm going to tear the cover off the ball on

this thing and whatnot. I said, So, Eric, so you watched the five hour audition, and he goes, Scott, I watched the first fifteen minutes and I knew you were my guy, and out loud I said, I said, oh, Eric, that's great man. I appreciate it. But I remember thinking in my mind, why in the you had me do five hours and think that I was like fallen on my face there. But all's well, that ends well, and there's not a day that goes by where we don't hear from fans that NFL red zone has changed the

way people watch football, which is very gratifying, very gratifying. Scott, I remember when you were out of television. I think there were two different stints. One early on you and I were at Syracuse about the same time, and then we reconnected about a year out of college when I was working in Detroit and you are from the area. So I think you got out of television to that

point and then got back in. And then I believe the last time you were at our house you were again out of television and doing full time mission work for Mother Teresa. Is that correct? And then how did that lead to getting back into television? Yeah, so you might you might joke that my current boss is Roger Goodell. One of my previous employers was mother Teresa. She was alive here on this earth. Yeah. Boy, it's hard to encapsulate,

but let me let me try for a second. So I grew up as a kid in Rochester, Michigan suburb of Detroit, and football was everything to me. Football was just it, And I was convinced when I was eight years old I was going to be an NFL football player and that was it. That was what I was gonna do. Right. Well, you know, you don't grow up to be six five, two fifty running a four to

five forty, so those dreams start to diminish. Even though I played football my whole life all the way through college and I was I was a good high school player, and I could have gone to like Division three college probably and been a significant or contributing player, like at a lower level. But when I knew I wasn't going to the NFL, I decided, you know what, those guys on TV sound like they're having a heck of a fun time calling the game. Maybe I could do that.

So I researched. My dad and I are research schools, and where could you get the best communications degree Syracuse University. Right, all the great sportscasters, Bob cost Is, Dick Stockton, Marv Albert len Berman, Marty Glickman back in the day, Mike Tarico, Dave Bash, all the Iron Eagle, the great the great broadcasters that we have seen in years passed and that

we enjoyed today. Got a Syracuse education set. So I'm going there and did well in school, you know, graduated with honors, walked on the football team, played there for four years. And you're an offensive lineman, right, Scott, You're an offensive lineman. Not exactly, Not exactly. I was a long snapper, so regard I would line up, yeah, on the line. You're an offensive line. Well know what I ended up doing is the way I can describe my

college football career was this. Did you see the movie Rudy, Right, everybody's seen Rudy. I was Rudy without the glorified sack on my last game as a senior, being carried off the field and under the shadow of the Golden dough. I was a walk on. I was a walk on, and I was I was a scrub to be honest with you. I was a scout team player, a scrub by the standards of Syracuse at the time was a perennial top twenty five, you know, ten win team each year,

upper upper echelon at the time football program. But I loved it. I ate it up because I love the game. I love my teammates, I love my coaches. I love being a part of that. And it was great. But I was at Syracuse to get the broadcasting degree that I ended up walking away with from from Syracuse and got into. And this is all I'm trying to encapsulate this. Like I said, it would be tough, and I apologize for going too long, but Dave's television and my TV

career was everything to me. It was what was going to bring me my fulfillment in life. It was going to give me my hope for the future. It was going to be everything to me. You could almost put it like TV was my god. It was an idol that I looked at that I was like that, that is what I want. I want to be the guy that people recognize when I walk into a steakhouse. I want all the girls to like me because I'm on TV. I want to be rich and famous and all of that.

And I was, and I was obsessed with it, Dave obsessed with it as a as a teenagers, as a young man in my early twenties, and at that time, about mid twenties, my life changed. And without getting into all the details on all of that, some folks what I say right now will understand. Other folks will be like, oh, maybe roll their eyes, and I get olive reactions. But I had an epiphany, an awakening, a rebirth as a Christian. Jesus Christ changed my life in my mid twenties and

continues to to this day. And again I won't go into the whole spiritual aspect of it and whatnot, but my whole life changed and my priorities changed. And there's an old hymn that says, you know, turn your eyes upon Jesus, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim. And not that I didn't care about television and sportscasting

and football, but they changed the perspective. The order in my life of those things became less, and my newfound faith was so fantastic and so wondrous and so amazing to me. I decided to leave television and explore and grow and serve. As I left television and grow in my faith, and so it ended up. I ended up with a group called the Missionaries of Charity, which was

the group that Mother Teresa founded. Everyone's familiar with her reputation, you know, serving the poorest of the poor, the lost, the broken, the worst of the worst. And I lived and worked full time with a group of what they call them religious brothers in the Catholic Church. It's they're kind of a male equivalent of a nun basically. And I lived and worked with these guys as a volunteer and serve people, and it was amazing grew in my faith and to try and put a button on the story.

After about a year away, and when I left TV, I didn't know if I would ever come back. Quite honestly, I was twenty five, twenty six years old, and a lot of people in my family and in my world had all different types of reactions to what I was going through. And even is Scott still in his right mind, you know, he was going to be this great future sportscaster, and he's saying, no, I want to go and serve

the poor and the homeless, you know. And I ultimately decided, through a lot of prayer, a lot of contemplation that I had been pretty I'd been blessed with some gifts that I thought I could use to grow in my faith and glorify God in my faith through my faith

in my TV career. So I ended up getting back into television and circuitous route, but ended up working for the NFL and now host one of the most washed and popular football shows in our in our country, and we're international, so people that consume the NFL around the world, many of them are consuming in on NFL Red Zone. It's a kind of a crazy, remarkable story. But I'm so thankful and consider myself a very, very blessed man for the past that I've been down through now fifty

years of life. Well, look, it is an incredible story. And as you know, if you call yourself a Christian, which you and I both do, whether you are working for Mother Teresa, NFL Network, ESPN, the Arizona Cardinals, working for APS or SRP, your job is to serve other people. That's our job, regardless, that's our vocation, regardless of what

our job is. And I've always told people when people ask me, Hey, who has had the biggest impact on me, Whether it's broadcasting or just in life and Scott, your name is always mentioned because you've had a tremendous impact on me, going back over the course of our thirty years knowing each other, going back just the beer drinking days at Syracuse to then seeing you a year later, like, what's happened this guy? He's totally different. And then you're

sharing the gospel with me. You know, you've run with the bulls in Spain, you climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, You've hyped the Great Wall of China, You've gone uh great White shark cage diving in various count incontinent. So if you were an NFL player, I don't know that the owner would be okay with that. How does how does NFL network feel about you doing these things? You know, that's a good question. Don't don't out me in that regard.

I want them to think that I'm out there, you know, like I'm violating some obscure claws in my contract here. But yeah, well, thankfully I don't. I don't. I don't need to have you know, ligaments, joints and bones completely all aligned and perfected the way NFL football players do. To perform my duties but yeah, I got bit by an adventure bug. UM probably my thirties or so. I'm like, this world is a wild, wide, wide wild place, and

I want to see some of it. Um. One aspect about my life that's different than yours is that you know, you have a wife and kids, and you've you've gone the family route. I'm a very family oriented person, but I am not married. I don't have kids. So I've had some free time in the off season and some disposable income where I can say, you know what, I can spin a globe and stick my finger on it wherever I land. Let's go to see a new country.

And I try and do that in the summer when the NFL players are on vacation June early July, and I'll go and pick a new country and I'll say, you know what, let me go serve some people there. My partner with a Christian ministry somewhere and say, hey, I'm gonna come and serve. I don't need I don't need anything to help me show me where there's need, and I'll come and serve folks there with whatever you've got.

And then I'll do that for about a week. After that, I'll I'll go adventure for a week, and whether it's climbing a mountain or getting up close and personal with great way sharks, are running with bowls or whatever. I've had some pretty good heart pounding moments in my life and and it quite it dovetails quite well with the television show Thrill Ride that I get to host Sunday.

Nothing being told and you're bladder for seven hours going Great White shark caging and various continents and hiking the Great Wall of China and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. That's nothing compared to hold in your bladder for seven hours before I get you out of here. Let's I just want to go back to football and talk big picture about the Cardinals, because I think everybody after Week one, the

Cardinals are the talk of the NFL. You touched on that for the Arizona Cardinals to be a Super Bowl team, other than the obvious staying healthy, getting breaks, what do you think has to happen for the Cardinals Because twenty fifteen was the last time they were in contention. They lost to the Panthers in the NFC Championship Game. The last time they were in the Super Bowl. You were just starting your gig with NFL Red Zone. What do you think has to happen for the Cardinals to be

a Super Bowl contender? Well, okay here, now I'm gonna sound a little bit boring or maybe cliche in what I'm about to say. To win in the NFL, you need to have excellent quarterback play. Elite level quarterback play it and you don't have to always that. We have seen teams win with quarterbacks that haven't been top two or three, but that's the thing that cures a lot of ills. And you need to take care of the football.

You guys, last year, I say you, guys, the Cardinals last year were a if I remember about the middle of the pack, takeaway giveaway team. In fact, what I'm looking them up right now? You know what you guys were plus minus last year, not knowing me to put me to put the Cardinals guy in the spot here. Zero. Yeah, Cardinals were right in the middle your plus minus you were zero. Now you get up into the double digits. Those are playoff teams. When you're plus ten plus eleven,

plus twelve, that's elite. You have to take care of the football, more important to not give it away. Than it is to take it away. But turnovers are going to happen, So if you're taking it away from the other team at a little higher clip than giving it away,

that's a formula for success, right. And then it comes down to there will be two to three on average division games that are coin flip games going into the game, and they're coin flip games at the two minute warning in the fourth quarter, and someone out of those twenty two on the field needs to make a play. That is the difference between winning and losing. And coaches will

tell you one play doesn't win or lose a game. Well, yes and no, because there will be the way the engine, the way the NFL is engineered for parody, and every team legitimately has a shot. The Cardinals are going to find themselves in a game with the Rams, in a game with the Seahawks, in a game with the Niners where it is tied up or a one point game or whatever, and the teams the team's gonna have the ball with a chance to win the game, do they do it or don't they do it? And I can't

tell you and you can't tell us, David. You know the Cardinals better than anyone. But it's gonna come down to that, right Their roster is such where they will be in those games, in my opinion, And then do they break through, do they win more of those and lose more of those? And could they win the division?

Get the home game, which this year would be unbelievable right at down there in Glendale, and then make some noise because guess what, and even if they don't even if they don't win the division, remember the reigning Super Bowl champions were a wild card team last year. The Buccaneers did not win the NFC South, So figure a way to get the dance and then make a run.

So that that might sound cliche, but the cliches are true in that regard excellent quarterback at play, take care of the football, win your division, and then let's see what happens in mid to late January. It's extremely hard to make the super Bowl, but the formula to be a Super Bowl team is pretty simple, and you just outlined it. So great job, man, you nailed it. Hey listen, man, you continue to inspire me with how you live your life,

your faith, and how you do your work. Again, it's such a unique position in broadcasting there's no other job like it, and I know you do a lot more things for NFL Network than just hosting Red Zone, but it is. It's near miraculous what you do, the energy you have, how you're able to do that every single week for five straight months, it's just it's fantastic. So appreciate you, Scott. Thanks again, Man for spending some time

with us. Well, Dave, you wouldn't end an interview this way usually, but since we've known each other for about half our lives twenty five years or so or more. I love you, brother, I love you man, and all the best this season. Thanks a lot for having me on the podcast much success. I love you too, Bro. Thanks Man. So great to catch up with Scott, somebody that I've known and respected and admired who's had such a big impact on my life in so many ways

over the last three decades. His job in broadcasting is one of the most unique positions in this industry, and for many of you who spend your sundays consuming NFL football, Scott is the voice and the face of NFL football for so many of you because of what he does as the host of NFL Red Zone as well as being a multidimensional broadcaster for NFL Network going back to two thousand and six. For more, you can visit NFL

dot com slash red Zone. I just thought the process, the mechanics that go into his Sunday, the preparation that he goes through to host, and then during those seven hours of commercial free live programming, the conversations that go on between him and his producer, how he's constantly monitoring every game, making split decisions about which game do we go to, what do we risk missing if we switch to another game, And if we don't switch to another game,

if we stay in the game that we're currently on, what are we missing then? So it's just a interesting perspective on the NFL broadcasting world. So very grateful Scott could spend some time with us and not only talk about that, but talk about the Cardinals. He believes, like most of us do, right, the Cardinals are going to go as far as Kyler Murray takes them. Everything else, defense, the kicker, the offensive line, all those things are important.

But ultimately we've learned over the last two decades that it's very rare that you're a super Bowl team unless your quarterback is phenomenal and if Kyler Murray plays like you did Week one, I can't wait to see what the future holds for the Cardinals. We're sponsored on the Dave Pash Podcast by bet MGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals and Hilo River Hotels and Casinos. You can keep up with us on Twitter at Pash pod to get information on future guests and also relive

some of the highlights from previous guests. Our thanks once again to Scott Hanson, and we'll talk to you next time on the Dave Pash Podcast