The Dave Pasch Podcast - Steve Levy And Brian Griese

two members of the ESPN Monday Night Football crew. Longtime SportsCenter anchor and play by play announcer Steve Levy and also former NFL quarterback Brian Greasy, who won a National championship when he played at Michigan also spent more than a decade as a quarterback in the NFL, including winning a Super Bowl playing behind John Elway with the Denver Broncos.

Stephen Brian are going to talk about what it's like to call Monday Night football games, also what it's like working with Lewis Riddick, the third member of their booth. They're going to discuss the games they're looking forward to most in twenty twenty one, they'll talk Arizona Cardinals and in particular their thoughts on Kyler Murray. So I worked

for four years with Greasy calling college football games. I could not have been happier when he got the call the promotion to do Monday Night Football, which certainly is one of the premier jobs in all of sports broadcasting. He Steve and Lewis had a tremendous year one under very challenging circumstances in twenty twenty, and I looked very

much forward to their telecasts here in year two. So, without further ado from ESPN's Monday Night Football, Steve Levy and Brian Greasy, well, fellas, I appreciate you guys doing this, first of all, and I'm not just saying this because you're sitting here, because I believe I told you both last year. You guys are awesome. I really enjoyed the

broadcast last year. I thought you two guys, and Lewis and Lisa, considering especially everything going on in the world, I got to imagine been very difficult testing every single game, doing all the meetings via Zoom, which we were doing for other sports as well. What was the biggest challenge for you guys last year in year one, kind of dealing with all the COVID protocols, not just for you guys,

but for the teams, the coaches and the players. Yeah, so there's, uh, it's complicated to unpack, right, there's so much and and and couple that with the fact of all the attention that had been on the Monday night football booth, right, so we're trying to get all the attention off the booth and get it onto the field and let's focus on the game. And you know, Greece and I had worked together doing the college games together

for four years, so we had that rapport. But you know, Lewis and Lisa didn't really know how we were going to fit in with that. And we couldn't hang out. I mean, there was no time that we were allowed to hang out. People are shocked, like, whatever hotel is ten minutes away from the stadium, we have to travel hotel to stadium separately, which is really weird. Weren't allowed on the field. We did not have a single drink or meal together. The four on air and the producer

director and knew as well. Really Lisa Salters was the only one who'd done it on a regular basis, So there were a lot of things. There are a lot of challenges. I was really fortunate that I wasn't starting from scratch with Bryan too, like, you know, that might have been too much, right, new producer, new director. Three in the booth, which can be tricky, has its own sort of issues. But in a year where you're not laying out for crowd noise, that was the season to

have three voices. Hey guys, let's fill some clock here. You know, after there's a touchdown, we need some people to start talking because there's no crowd shots. And so those are a handful of things, and you know, we tried to make it as good as possible, and we knew we knew we were going to be judged by whatever was coming through the television screen and the speakers. People didn't care that we didn't hang out right. People didn't care we came separately. They just want to enjoy

their Monday night football at home. And we were comfortable being judged by that. It was the season of no excuses. You know, there was a lot of reasons that we could have put not as good of a product onto the air, but none of us approached it with, hey, you know, we're going to use this as an excuse. We wanted to overcome what challenges there were and get better every week. To Steve's point, you know, we had

to get to know each other a little bit. And how we operated on the Air's a lot of air traffic control with three people in the booth and Lisa on the field and John Perry as well working from home, which was a challenge every time there was an officiating question to bring John and from his basement of his house.

So there was a lot going on. But I was really proud of the way that we came together and in the most important year to bring the game home to fans because they weren't in the stands to do it in a I was professional. And the other thing is, so this might be two inside, but we replaced people in the booth with monitors. Okay, because in an effort to keep your six feet distance, no spotter standing next to us, there was a monitor in the spot it

was in another booth, no statistician. Instead of statistician, we had another monitor in front of us. And so in essence, you know, you got to see the manicure of whoever was pointing to a place on the booth with their own camera. So it was a bizarre but we didn't know what to go off, right. It was our first year doing Monday night football together when I was still, you know, ready to jump out into space. I was so excited about it. I would have done it into

a tape recorder myself. Well, I've always felt when people asked me, you know, what are the keys to a good broadcast? Chemistry is at the top of the list. Well, how do you build chemistry? You spend time together. And if you can't spend time together, especially when you're away from the production meetings, you're you're not sitting there watching take together. You're just having dinner, having a glass of wine. If it's greasy, smoking a cigar. I don't know if

Levi you're in that group too. Or Cracker Barrel. We had pregame at Cracker Barrel. See Steve doesn't eat before the game, so you don't know, So passion, we had a pregame meal every single week and we'd always go to Cracker Barrel because we're in Tuscaloosa or we're in you know, Mississippi, somewhere it's Starkville. The only place to eat is Cracker Barrel, so that's where we would go

have our pregame meal. Did a lot of eleven am Local games, eleven am Central game, so you know, it's six thirty in the morning and our suits at Cracker Barrel. But didn't stick out. But the time, because you've mentioned, didn't really had that time. But you obviously worked together for four years, right because you went with Steve. When Steve you came to college football, Spielman left for Fox, McElroy came with me, so it was four years. So you guys had four years together. But I don't know

if you guys knew Lewis. I mean obviously you know, watching respected Lewis. He's great on the air. But now you're working with a third person and you don't get that time together. How do you guys make up for that lost time to because it felt like you guys were like when I watched and listened, the chemistry was good with the three of you. I it seemed as if you were spending time together the way it came

off on the air. Lewis hates you. First of all, he was wondering where his invite is by the way, okay, justosure here we go full disclosure. First of all, he couldn't care less, but I did email him several months ago, just him yeah before so Lewis will come on a future show, but we're not. But I figured, you know, I probably we're gonna spend the fourth quarter of the

game talking about this. By the way, if I didn't get you guys now between Levy, you know, not answering his phone, greasy, not returning text, I figure, if I don't get these two guys now when they're here, it's never gonna We're in the communication business, as as you know. The key of that is no. So um, my experience with Lewis has been Sports Center. I'd been on the road a little bit with Lewis, you know, we do the Sports Center at the Super Bowl all week and

done segments with him. But again not so so. It takes some time. It takes some time to figure out like we I mean as small as you know, can I call you lou kind of thing? Like no, he wants to be Lewis, Like you know, that's little stuff. We don't know. It's not really a nickname there and and the first you know, I just wanted to get him smiling, right, I wanted to get him cracking up, and uh, one of the highlights of the season. This is ridiculous, by the way, because it has nothing to

do with the game. It's week three. We have Kansas City in Baltimore, which was when the schedule comes out of April. Yeah right, I'm sure you know Fox and NBC and say, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on there? How did we get that game? So we get that game and Lewis is Pat Mahomes, Pat Mahomes, Pat Mahomes, and Missus Mahomes winds up tweeting out something his name is Patrick in essence his mom. Yeah, yeah, sorry, yeah man, yeah,

Missus Mahomes. Yeah, well here's another Missus Mahomes. Ok, he's married. Okay, fine, so I knew what he was talking about. I just want to make sure the fans at home. No, apparently he might have been his fiancee at the time. I don't know anyway, you knew what I meant. But that's that's what he does. See four years of it, so exactly, maybe there's a shelf life to him, right, it's a four years self life we're on six now, but go

ahead anyway. So, uh so we're in the break and and and it's being revealed to us to hey a Twitter social media. Patrick's mom is saying all this stuff, and I'm like, guys, we gotta throw it up on the screen. And you know, some people didn't want to do it. Hey, we're not making fun. Anyway, we wound up doing it. Lewis got hysterical, one of the maybe our best early moment of the season week three, and

we loosened everybody up. We cracked up, and I remember saying, you know, hey, you want him to be uh he wants to be called Patrick or you want to be called Lewis, Right, nobody's calling you. So he was lou for the rest of the year. So so it's but it's moments like that. You can't fake the stuff. You can't. It has to happen organically. We didn't have any preseason games as well, but I thought that was a really good jumping off point for the three of us in

the booth. Yeah, and I think that Lewis and I had no interaction or experience with Lewis prior to to last year other than playing against him. On the field. But I think that he brought a different perspective, obviously a defensive perspective and a general manager's perspective or not, or a front office perspective. I should say that was different.

That was useful that in certain points in the game, it gave us an opportunity to go back and forth on a point, So maybe we peel the onion back a little bit deeper than we would normally if it

was just the two of us up there. I can give an offensive perspective, he can give a defensive perspective, or in a game that was not a close game in the second half, like we had a game of Seattle in Philadelphia or the New England a game later in the year where we can dive in in the third and fourth quarters into some front office conversations the future of a team, how they should be built, you know,

looking forward. Just conversations that went deeper than they would have otherwise had we only had two guys in the booth. What are some of the games as you look at this schedule for this year that you're excited about. I'm sure you're excited about all of them, but are there any particular to stick out You're like, man, I cannot wait for that. Or Steve, you brought up last year. Yeah, you guys were surprised you got Baltimore, Kansas City any on this schedu You're like, oh man, we got this one.

I think overall the schedule is better than it was a year ago. But I don't think there is the one bam stand out game. We've got a lot of really good, high end games, especially in the NFC West. I think, right, we've got Rams Cardinals, Rams Cardinals, and then we Rams forty nine ers like two weeks later or something like that. So so I think we're really strong in what is probably the best division in football. You know, little argument there, but so those are some

of the games that jump out. I was really excited about Indie at Baltimore early on. I thought that was a sneaky, really good game, and now we have to see what happens. You know. I think Bill's Titans. I think it's Week three, maybe five. I think that's five or six. Week five is Baltimore Colts, Philly Dallas is week three? What was the one you just said, Bill's Titans? Maybe Tweks that's Week six. Yeah, so Bills Titans. I

think that's gonna be a great game too. Obviously, playoff teams from a year ago and they're gonna be right back at their again this season. And um so yeah, there's a and then there's some really late, good late divisional games, like you said, in the NFC West, and we get to jump into the Flex for the first time every week. So we get a week eighteen and we have been you know, guarantee, we get two games, doubleheader,

and we've never been in the Flex game before. It's kind of cool find out six days before we'll get a day game in a night game, I think on that Saturday, Yeah, Saturday. Yeah, So that's really cool. That's good for the network. Everybody back home at ESPN is really excited about that two hours of a week. Yep. So you guys were at practice, and you guys follow the Cardinals closely last year, do you feel like this team's better? Last year they were six and three and

they missed the playoffs. I said, this is my twentieth year, and I said, in nineteen years of doing this, that was the most disappointed I've ever been. And that's I mean, look, there were teams here, they weren't good, weren't competitive, and then there were teams like the team that went to the Super Bowl that exceeded expectations. Last year, through nine games,

Kyler Murray was an MVP candidate. The Cardinals seemed to have the the it factor with the Hail Mary to beat a really good Buffalo team here, and then at the end of the season they just ran out of gas. It's injuries, obviously, but just fell apart the home loss to the forty nine ers, which I missed because of COVID, and then the loss at the Rams, Kyler gets hurt, and it just was an extremely disappointing way to end the year. But they were a playoff team for most

of the year and didn't make the playoffs. Do you guys see them as a playoff team in twenty twenty one? I do, and I you know, we just talked with Kyler Murray and I asked them about how the last two games and how they went down felt and what it meant and how it informed how the off season was going to play out. And he said it was miserable, and that's that you want to hear from your quarterback.

And he was right off the tip of his tongue. Listen, you can't lose to you know, two division opponents that are playing back up in third string quarterbacks with the playoffs on the line. If you lose like that, that's going to leave a mark. That's gonna leave a stain, and it should on this organization. And I think there's a bigger sense of urgency this year because of that. I think you see them going out and trying to

find free agent players that bring leadership. Obviously, JJ Watt is at the top of that food chain, one of the best players to ever play the game and one of the best leaders to ever be a part of the National Football League. And we talked with him as well and in his attitude, his approach for one second, take on the field, stuff away with JJ okay, and let's just talk about how he's going to impact this team off the field. I don't think that you can

measure that. I don't think that you can measure the way that he interacts with guys, you know, like Zavan Collins, like Kyler Murray, young wide receivers, Rondeo Moore. I mean, you can't put a value on that, and I think this team needs that. I think that they wilted down the stretch a year ago, and we can there's a number of reasons why, lack of a consistent running game,

Kyler's nicked up, so on and so forth. Defense, But I think what they've done in the offseason as at least give themselves a chance to create the right chemistry. So there's no complacency in the first half of the season when you go six and three and you think that you've arrived and made it, and all of a sudden you don't work as hard maybe in the second half of the season. The leadership piece of it on

both sides of the ball. You bring in a guy like Rodney Hudson, unbelievable player at the center position, is still a top five center in the league, and he's interacting day to day with Kyler Murray and taking stuff off of Kyler's play from a protection standpoint, taking care of the entire offensive line. I mean, so you asked me, are they better? I do think they're better, But at the end of the day, they're in the toughest division football. You have to have a quarterback that's going to take

that next step. And what is that next step for Kyler? We know he's athletic, he can throw the football, he can run. It's getting to the playoffs. It's being able to grind through adversity, is being able to be detail oriented and lead. Now that Larry Fitzgerald is gone, he has to take that vacuum and run with it and be the leader on this team when the time is tough. Not just when things are going well, but when there's adversity, which is the thing he hasn't faced in his life

in high school or college. He's now facing it now. Good thing this is a podcast, because this is a game broadcast. The other team would half the ball by Now there's four and a half minute in these preseason games were good. We're good with that. Eat some clock. Let's go down to Lisa Salters. Let's talk to some of the fans that stands listen. I think that veteran leadership is very important. I remember seeing, you know, all the offseason transactions like the Cardinal stool, these big name

household household names. Now, how much do they have left in the tank? How much you know? Will they perform the field is one thing, but you get all these in I thought the Cardinals were going to dominate the national TV schedule. I thought they'd be in primetime even more than they actually are because of that. There's a star studded roster, it really is so so I think the veteran leadership will help this team through the through the rough patches, which are inevitable for every team around

the league. It sounds silly to say that health is such a factor because also that's you know, that's league wide as well. But you know, if Kyler's one hundred percent at the end of the season last year, they're probably in the playoffs, probably are a playoff team. So maybe that offensive line improvements will help his protection, actually protect him physically, not pass protect, you know, I mean, keep him, keep him healthy. We'll see how much he's

gonna run explosive wide receivers. I think the running game remains a question mark as well. But I think we're gonna find out something about the Cardinals this year, and if it's not a playoff team, Bud, I think this team could look very, very different the following season. Sure, I think coach coach Kingsbury knows this is a big year. The team him is not one he hasn't won. By the way, I think he's got five years dating back

to you know, Texas Tech without a winning season. So I think this is kind of a proven year for the Cardinals. And that goes for Kyler too. He's got to step out now. He's not just a kid anymore. Right now, It's time year three to step up and show everybody, and you can do it for the whole season. So Cliff was on this podcast and I asked him, you know, this is an important year for everybody in the organization. How do you handle those expectations? And he

told us. I thought it was a great answer. He said, you know, looking back, and Cliff's always been very humble, and actually brought up a time I think you and I were doing the game when Johnny Manziel was playing at B and M and he was the offensive coordinator, and you walked out of the meeting with Cliff and you're like, that guy's a head coach. Like his presence,

how intelligent he is, but also just his humility. And he told me during our interview for the podcast that getting fired at Texas Tech was the best thing that happened to him because and when you get fired at a place where you played and you're from Texas and everybody knows you there, so there's no escape, there's no hiding. Yeah, you have to deal with it every day for a while. He said that helped him become better and be prepared for an NFL job. I thought that was a really

interesting answer. You guys brought up Kyler Murray, and look, we all know how talented Kyler is. He said, he needs to grow and mature as a leader, and he's going to get that opportunity. Larry Fitzgerald is in here, at least not right now. One thing that a couple of players have brought up to me that I thought was interesting And I don't know if you can tell when you watch him and from your standpoint, Brian, it may not even matter based on our history together and

hearing what you think about quarterback play. But they said, when asked where is Kyler better? They said, his arm is stronger and it's a difference maker compared to last year. And I don't know how you feel about that, if you guys agree with that or if you think you know what that's I'm a list of important things for Kyler Murray to work on and become a franchise quarterback and an MVP caliber player. Arm strength is at the bottom of the list. It's all about the intangibles. It's

about growing as a leader. It's about being the guy in the huddle that people look to. It's about being the guy that runs the locker room. Yeah, I would say you're accurate in that and saying that I haven't changed from four years ago. On the list of things that Kyler needed to improve, arm strength was not one of them. He's got plenty of arm In fact, he throws one of the prettiest balls in the NFL. There's no question about that. I'll give you something to chew

on here. And maybe you've heard this or maybe you've seen it. Of all the free agent acquisitions that this team brought in in the off season, and I confirmed this with Cliff, I think that Colt McCoy might be the most important and and the reasons why we've talked about this a little bit, Dave, is the relationship between Colt and Kyler Murray. And Kyler Murray grew up in Texas kind of idolizing Colt McCoy, and I think when we talked with him about it, he says, yeah, man,

that was the guy he was at Texas. Kyler's dad went to an A and M obviously, so he couldn't, you know, put a poster of him on the wall all but but it was it was definitely a he

looked up to him. And now that he's in the room, he says, listen, that's Colt McCoy And he's in the room and he's helping me, and he's listening to me, asking me how I read things and how I do things, and he's giving me feedback on how other offensive coordinators that he's been around have operated in the NFL, and how how he's learned over time, and and he's a buffer between Cliff at times and Kyler. And we know that Kyler is not, you know, the most communicative quarterback

in the history of the game. UH. And I think there's an opportunity for Cole to impact his team both on and off the field in ways that I don't think the average fan at home might see. And so um, but that is it is true. Kyler. I think uh needs to grow. He needs to grow off the field. He needs to grow mentally. UH, he needs to grow from a leadership standpoint. And those are all things we know and by the way, every young quarterback needs to

do that. So, um, I think sometimes we want a microwave Kyler Murray into you know, a Patrick Holmes kind of player, because he is so talented and it is so unique and we haven't seen anything like it. But I think this is just a normal growing process. Now there will come a time when you know, you either put up a shut up, and we're approaching that time. But I don't think we're there yet. He's not. He's not stuck in the mud like we've all seen the process.

We saw him in college right, also in college, so how he acted there. We've seen him in his three years in the NFL too. He looks a year more mature to me every time I see him. So he is making the move. Is it going to be quick enough to satisfy some people? Is it going to translate to more victories on the field. We'll see. And uh, the backup quarterback Colt McCoy think is really interesting to me because you know, that's that's a great headline, right,

biggest free agent acquisition, and nobody's thinking Colton McCoy. But maybe cult McCoy wins one of those two games late in the season last year. Maybe you're in a better spot actually on the field too. Yeah, there's no question over Straveler, right of course. Yeah, so that's another reason to backup quarterback extremely underrated position or around the league. Steve, you mentioned earlier, and I agree that the NFC West is the best division. I'm not saying that just because

the Cardinals announcer. I think it's the best division. I don't think it's close. I think you've got four teams, assuming San Francisco is healthy and Matthew Stafford is without question an upgrade from Jared Goff. Now Seattle they always seem to be there because of Russell Wilson. But you have to wonder with this past offseason, are they growing tired of one another? And maybe is this the year

that it just disbands. But as you look at the NFC West, do you have a team and Brian, do you have a team that you say that's the team to beat or is it you know what, I could see one of three or one of four teams winning the division. I think the forty nine ers are the most interesting team in the division. No team got beaten up injury wise at the most critical positions that San Francisco did a season ago, so we're going to see

how the quarterback position plays out. I am fascinated by the forty nine ers, though they to be healthy coming into into the season now. But you know, everybody was wow on Trey Lance. But I think people are just forgetting about Jimmy Garoppolo a little too quickly. And to me, the best case scenario is Garoppolo gets them, you know, five six weeks in seven weeks in keeps them in the race, and then if they think Trey Lance is ready to go. But I don't know if they're the

best team. That's probably for Brian to say. But I think the forty nine Ers are among the most interesting stories league wide. There'll be a fun team to watch. I think anyone on the four teams could win the division. And I don't know if he would have said that last year. Yeah, I guess everybody was hoping that Arizona would be there at the end, but I don't know that how many people have actually believed it. I believe

they could be there at the end. I watched this team play San Francisco Week one last year and they handled them. Now you watch the last two games, of the year and the Rams hold this offense to seven points. So I do think that that did Cardinals offensively are going to have to continue to evolve and get better because the de defensive coordinators in this conference, in this division or now have a book on Kyler Murray and they're not going to allow him to run around and

do all the things that he liked to do in college. Um, So I think you're gonna have to continue to evolve. But I think there's no question the Rams, in my mind right now, with the addition of Matthew Stafford, are the cream of the crop in in the division. Can anybody see Seattle in the last place? I mean in your head you can, right, but it would look weird on paper right to see the standings see Seattle Seahawks last place in that division. But could absolutely could happen.

You guys, did some Trevor Lawrence's games at Clemson. I've done Trevor Lawrence's games, and Brian's probably gonna hate this, but like what else, I don't even know what you say. He's gonna hate it. He's happy, he has it all right, he has it all he looks, but as a guy too, not just as a player he made you know, Brian Greasy man, I look like Trevor Lawrence, but Trevor Lawrence by all the measurables a plus. Do you guys anyway, this guy is not an absolute superstar in the NFL. Yeah, yeah,

there's always a way. I mean, JaMarcus Russell look like an unbelievable player, right, I mean Ryan Leaf. I mean there's there's been a lot of them. I'm not I'm not saying that this kid is gonna be that, but there are no slam dunks when you come to quarterbacks making a transition from college to the NFL. And uh, I love what Trevor Lawrence brings to the table. Um. I think it's like, just like Kyler is unique, this kid's unique. We have never seen a guy that tall

with that kind of speed, right. I mean you maybe you talk about Josh Allen being the only real comparison, but listen, I've reserved judgment until I see a guy get hit in the mouth repeatedly. And he's gonna be on a team that's not gonna be as good from a talent standpoint. He's gonna get knocked down in the dirt time after time after time, and can he answer

that bell? Can he do what Peyton did? Okay in his first year at the Indianapolis Colts and they were god off and he threw more interceptions and any quarterback in the history of the game. Could he have that kind of a season and come back because it's not gonna go you know, all Roses and Champagne in Jacksonville. I want to see after that first year, how does

he come back in year two? But he has all the talent, no question, there's some Kyler's stuff there for me too, right, and obviously not the size and the way they play the game, but having no track record of losing, right, I mean, you know, I mean Trevor Lawrence in college, they're just killing everybody, right, there's no adversity for him, And I had that one stretch early on through a couple of interceptions. They clicked dabble, cleaned

that up and they went on from there. So, yes, how does he do when things will not go well and they could be a last place team in that division? You know, I know they've improved some of the talent around him or Houston's in that division, so they'll probably be second second. I sort of forgot about the Texas there. They've sort of dropped off the map a little bit. I don't know, and I don't know Coach Cully's putting together,

but he feel like I feel like Trevor. If anyone has been groomed to be the man, Trevor Lawrence has been that guy for a long time on everybody's radar, you know, since coming out of the womb. Lucan Bill's talking about him ten years ago exactly. And so let's see how they do coming out. But at least there's some buzz that's good for the league. Right, Let's get Jack you know, we're talking about Euston falling off the page.

Let's get Jacksonville back on the NFL map. Give him a little buzz leaves before you were doing Monday Night Football in addition to your college football played by play duties. You're doing Monday Night Countdown. Obviously you're still doing Sports Center. You've been doing Sports Center forever. So I assume you've known Tom Brady over the last couple of decades. Brian obviously played with Tom. It tells you how old Brady is. He played with Greasy, who played more than a decade

in the NFL. Brian's been broadcasting now for what thirteen fourteen years? And Tom's still playing? How long do you think this is gonna go? Because Brady wants to play till he dies? So how long is this was just forty five? Now it's till he dies? Isn't he forty five? Right now? It's two years younger than me. That's how I keep tracking. Listen, you know who's gonna doubt Tom Brady? Um? You know, I don't think there's any Super Bowl hangover in Tampa, not with him. I don't think he'll allow that.

I think he's figured it out. I think I think he's got a master plan that is better than everyone else's. And obviously that speaks to his talent, but I think the mental aspect, I think he knows how to lead. I think he's proven that. You talk about, you know, going through some adversity early on in the season, right, they didn't look great coming on in the beginning of the season, and we were there and there's a point like,

you know, I can't throw the deep ball anymore? Remember that, right, twenty five consecutive pass attempts of twenty or more yards without a completion or whatever like that. So you were throwing dirt on Drew Brees and Tom Brady in the first quarter of last year, remember, at the same time. So uh yeah, I think he can do it for as long as he wants. And he rounded by the right cast on the field and the correct head coach,

which wasn't Bill Belichick, which is Brusarians. I think. Let me ask you this question, if if you felt good and you could still do your job broadcasting, and you were around a great team, why the heck would you give it up? You know? So's Tom. I guarantee this. Tom's not even thinking about retirement. Is he the same guy like when you talked to him now Greece? Is he the same as he was in college? When I say that, obviously we all grow and mature, but generally speaking, yeah,

he's the same guy. No, he is the same guy. He was raised his parents. Um, I got to know them a little bit in college. They are wonderful people, and they grounded him. He had four old He has four older sisters. Who you know, any boy who grows up with four older sisters, you're gonna have, um some some tough days and nights. You know, but I think that he uh, he was raised the right way and he's got values. Listen, there's been so many, you know,

stories and articles written about Tom Brady. I'm not telling anything you don't know, but he is the same guy. He's genuine, He cares about his friends and the people that are in his inner circle, and he has an ability to compartmentalize and really loves is passionate about the game. More so, we talked with players every week. Rarely do you find a player as passionate about the process and playing football as you do Tom Brady. And that's why

he's doing what he's doing. He is willing to sacrifice more than the guy he's playing against. And if you want to boil it all down, like, that's why Tom Brady is who he is. And it is the football, right. He still loves the game like they don't need the money, right, I mean, it's not about the cash, it's not about the glory. He's already the goat. We all know people will be chasing him forever, so he must still love the game and the competition. You think that would wane

on some people, not on him. I remember being in the bubble for the NBA a year ago or two whenever it was. It feels like thirty years ago. But I remember being in the bubble a year ago and Mark Jackson, who is you know, the top ESPN NBA analyst long with Jeff Van Gundy. Mark is a Brady fan, so he became a Buccaneers fan when Tom left New

England and went to Tampa. And I'm sitting there having a meal with Mark and Jeff and Breen and some of the other people down in the bubble, and we're talking about Bruce Arians and I said, you watch, it'll be at the most. Week three will be the latest, and BA will throw him under the bus to the media and it will work. Yeah, And they're like, no way,

he's not going to do that. To Bray said no, he will, and it will work a week two I think it was week one after they lost multiple games last year publicly whoa Nobody talks about Tom like that. But it worked perfect. When we do games for people that are listening to don't know the mechanics of the week leading up to a game of people think you'd just show up, put the headset on, do the game, and that's it and you go home. That's a big

part of it. But part of the preparation is having a meeting with the There are some people that just do you know, we're not going to talk about him and save their names, just name Water one guy's initials or b W work with on basketball Dot kidding. He actually does prep, but he does prep for things that Bill Walton we're talking about that have nothing to do with the game. They have to do with the city or you know, he calls Pullman, Washington the realm of

the Northwest. You know, seven hills versus four hills. Yeah. So one of the things we do is we sit down with coaches and talk about the game, talk about scheme strategy, talk about player evaluation. What are your production meetings like? With Bruce Arians, a lot of swearing, And that's been one of the really cool things for me, Dave being in the NFL, right, exposing yourself to professional coaches and Arians is right up there with my favorite Zoom of all the heads. He's like a regular guy

off the street in a lot of ways. Right, if I could have a beer with one guy, one head coach, I always had wanted to be ba of the current head coaches. I feel like he would have it with you. But when I texted him after they won the Super Bowl, the text I got back was the cocktail emoji. And then I texted him like a week later about something else, two cocktail emojis. He upped. Cool. That makes him regular guy, right,

that makes him the common man. That's what everybody does or should be doing after celebration or after a hard day's work. Um, I really respected Listen. I can get you know. I try not to get hung up on the xs and os, on these things like frees and Lewis ridd a candle. That stuff's wig over my head. I try to pick up, you know, maybe one thing a week. H And I'm interested in some of the

other things. And that's sort of you know, some of the fields and how you treat people and coach, how you coach players, and your philosophies on certain things, and so arians is one of the guys I really enjoyed talking to. All Right, I promised it would be thirty minutes. It's thirty five, but I got a couple more or gift certificate or something. Oh yeah, yeah, we've got dinneral end up. I guess I'm paying for it. Now, um,

two more things for you, Steve. I don't know do you have any idiosyncrasies that Greasy has made you aware of in terms of what you do when you call the game? Because he made me so self conscious working with him for four years. He claims, yeah, And I have not had another analyst confirmed this. Although we're gonna get Wolflee, We're gonna get Jim Almahndro, the producer who has been my producer for the Cardinals now for twenty years.

He says that it's true, but I have a hard time believing that it's true that when I make a call, I push away from the table. I throw myself back every play. No, no, big do you have because he does all these voice things. He's projecting his voice and does these voice warm ups and all these things and

the diaphragm and all this kind of stuff. Todd Christensen, My one of my first college fool part is he would belt out the national anthem during the actual anthem, and I mean belt it out, scream it out, and he did that for his vocal cord. What do you do exactly? He's making this up. I've never done anything that I don't think. I don't think I have anything again, I'm still trying to figure out this whole play by play guy thing. As you know, I'm really a studio guy.

Hey man, you've been doing play by play between NHL. Yeah, two stints of college football by football for twenty five years. So when people say leave, he's a studio gay sports o a guy. Just so you know everybody, No, he's not doing play by play for twenty five years. Thank you for that. I don't think. Listen when I get to the booth. I like to have a hot cup of black coffee, and in our four years to college, God help you if it's not hot, like you would think.

I was asking for something outlanders, like a quarter cup of splendor. I just wanted the black coffee to be hot. Is that a lot to ask? And it became a thing every week, and I thought they were doing it to me on purpose. Now you know, lukewarm or it would be hot, it would be a quarter of the cup full. You know, no top bot it. So it became a thing. But same with soup, by the way, you know the soup has to be piping. I'm a

temperature guy. Cold food should be cold hot. Do you tell me Grease, do I have something other than the coffee and the soup. I'm just saying I don't think I have any traditions. I don't you know. I don't put my jacket on one way. The headset could go either way. On the microphone, I like my space in the booth. Yeah, he doesn't want he doesn't like to be touched. I don't like to be touched or people tapping you on the shoulder. I'm trying to do the

game over here. We did have the line of demarcation Ben Boma or an executive spotter he would put used to put We used to put tape down in between us, and I did not want Greasy crossing over. My charts are really big, and they're a mess, and I need my space and Grease he's not looking down right, he's watching the field right, He's doing the football. I need, I need the other stuff. So but I don't think

I have a push off. I don't think I'm paid enough to do this job next to the Do you know how lucky you already had the two of us consecutively. The charts are important, like the spotting broadcast boards, like when I worked with Macroyd always always asked him, if I left my bag in the car, did you lock the car? My boards are in there. I feel like I don't care about the computer. I don't that can

all be replaced. The game board cannot be replaced a whole week with your life, right, and if it's gone, listen, I don't know what your memories like, but I'm not remembering any of that stuff. So I'm just glad he stopped writing so much stuff on his board. I mean, if you look at his board two or three years ago, I mean, there wasn't a centimeter of white space on

the board, every piece of it. And then and then you get to the end of the game, you feel like you feel bad because you put all this stuff on your board and you didn't get it in. Um. So he's he's I mean, listen, I think the thing that makes our duo work is we don't bring the ego into the booth, right. We're there to call the game, and we have a respect for each other, and we bring different opinions and ways of broadcasting a game and what we find interesting. And I told him, which is great.

He never hesitates to ask me a question about anything, because if if he has the question, then the fan at home has the question too, And and Steve brings a joviality to the booth that is, you know, second to nine, and it lightens things up and has a great way about him. So I'll get over the line of demarcation and the touching and the hot coffee and the hot soup. As I said, you guys are awesome last year, and I'm looking forward to year two of

hopefully a ton for you guys together. The guy that I think of that had the strangest other than Bill Walden idiosyncrasies working with and Steve. You may have worked with him, I can't remember. It was Chris Spielman. Chris would, first of all, he'd have Kleenex stuck to like under his nose where he blues nose. He'd come into the boot purpose he'd take it. So I worked with Chris and Brian's dad. So I've worked with Brian. I worked with Brian's dad, Bob for two years. And I did

a game with Brian and Bob. The only game what year? That was two thousand and nine. It was at Purdue, Yeah, at Perdue like Minnesota Purdue, and I reached out and I said, hey, I'd love to do a game with my dad. Knew my dad was going to retire, and so we did a game at Purdue, my dad's alma mater, and uh, and Dave was the lucky one that was stuck in between dad and his and his son and uh, it was awesome. I still have the photograph. We went down on the field before the game and did a

Sports Center hit before on the field. Really cool, it was, really But but Spielman was a mess. Yeah, that's true. Did did the picture? Was I in the picture? And so did? I? Adhere and proof of it. We went to some restaurant and apparently it was. It was a bar, and there was an apartment right above the bar. And that's where Kyle Orton lived. Yeah. The chocolate shop is the chocolate shop in West Lafayette. I have heard of that place. They call it the chocolate Shop. It's really

a bar. But you know, when you call home to moms, she asked where you are you at the chocolate shop? The Library college bar? Yeah? Yeah, um, but yeah, Spielman would take his but your dad, Bob Greasy would always just he laughed, he couldn't stop laughing, like Spielman would be dragging his suitcase and the coat would be stuck under the suitcase and just dragging on the ground. He coming to the he throw his coat. You know you they have hangers for us, and then you hang up

your coat. He'd take it and throw in the corner. He'd be. You'd hear during production meetings you start to hear this rustling in his pockets. And he'd have candy bars and he and when he eats food, he and golfs it. One year it was me Chris and Urban Meyern. Urban nicknamed him the addict, cos there goes the addict every thirty seven seconds, something's going in. Listen. You know

you're how close I came to that Spielman experience. So I get back in the college game, I guess five years ago, whatever it six years ago, and I'm told Chris Spielman's my partner for college football, and I mean the next day, Mark Rose calls me Spielman's out. I'm like, I didn't do anything like it's one day. You know, I've already googled him, I've researched, and now, okay is my next partner. And I was told, well, who am I getting We'll get well, we'll give you a greasy

I'm like, do you have to say it like that? Wait, Greasey's getting promoted that high up though? That was quick. Look at how much you avoided a Spielman dip spit on your boards. Oh yeah, boards were finished, They had no shot. Those lines of demarcation would never have been placed in. All right. The last thing, because I have to ask you this, grease and Steve, maybe you have a memory. You may have been doing Monday inn accountwn.

You may have actually been here for the Monday Night meltdown in two thousand and six Bears Cardinals Brian was the backup quarterback to Rex Grossman and the Arizona Cardinals are doing something called cards folk Tales, telling stories from some of the great moments in Cardinals history, going back to the Super Bowl year Pat Tillman a lot of different things, and one of them is the Monday Night meltdown, not just the game, but the post game, because that's

when Denny Green did the whole thing of the Bears. Who thought yes from your perspective, because I've told the story when they interviewed me and talking about the game, I told the story, but I want you to tell the story of what it was like at halftime when you guys are down and did you think you were going in the game. Oh yes, I was, like I mean, I was ready to go on the game. Just so

to refresh people's memory. This was Rex Grossman was the quarterback for the Bears, and we had ultimately end up going to the Super Bowl that year. We had an unbelievable defense, top two or three defense in the NFL, and we had Devin Hester and and so that was we All we had to do on offense was just not mess it up and get out of the way. Um. And Rex had a a an awful game. UM, and I think that I think that what was the score at halftime? We were down at least at least three touchdowns.

That's what I that I remember. And I was Matt, by the way, was starting a quarterback. Kurt Warner was the backup rup day anyway, and I'm and I'm thinking to myself at halftime, like like this is this has got to be it. And you know, Lovey Smith was our was our coach, and he had a commitment to Rex, and I think what he said at halftime he said, listen, you know, get ready if if things don't work in the first drive, you're going to go in and um.

And so I'm just thinking, there's no way that we can come back in this game if if we don't score at least twenty eight points, you think on offense and our defense holds them to one touchdown. But the way that the game ended up being decided is we didn't score an offensive touchdown and we still came back and won the game, which is just like defensive scores. Devin Hester, I mean, and and Denny Green was right after the game to say the Bears are who he

thought they were. He thought they were good defense, great special teams, and the offense couldn't get out of the way. And that's who that's who we were, that's who we ended up being. And um, but that is still to this day the most unbelievable crazy game that I've ever been a part of playing or calling a game up. To think that we would come back without scoring, you know, on offense and win that game, it just mean if I was a Cardinals fan, I would I would be

pulling my hair out. It was twenty nothing at halftime. It was twenty three to ten going into the fourth quarter, Edrin James fumble Charles Tillman returns at forty yards for a touchdown, and then two minutes later Scott Player punt returned Devin Hester eighty three yards Devin Hester for a touchdown twenty four twenty three. That sounds like twenty eight three in the Super Bowl, right, the Patriots coming back against you know, the Falcons. In that kind of game,

you just need everything. I mean, that's even worse. And that was I think late third quarter at twenty eight to three. So I was not here for that, but Brian has has told me that story multiple times. I think every time we walk around on the field down here, oh that night, that's great comeback. So it's a good story for sure. I don't know why Cardinal fans will want to relive that. I know it was awful. I

remember I think that was Mike. I think it was a first year ESPN had Monday Night Football and it was Mike Tariko. But we can't end on that story. One of my positive stories about coming here was after

September eleventh, two thousand and one. The first game that we played after nine eleven was was here in Arizona and to see the fans in the stands and Pat Tillman was still on the team at the time, obviously, and so that that memory is also seared, uh into my memory banks about being being here and the other one about Arizona. While I'm dumping them all out. We were supposed to play I was playing with the Dolphins, were playing the Chargers on a Monday, on a Monday.

It wasn't a Monday, it was a Sunday game that was canceled due to fires UH in San Diego, and so we went to Tempe UH to play the Chargers it turned out being a Monday night game and that the stands were open. You guys, remember this is stands were open to all the ASU UH students and that's still to this day was probably one of the most raucous and rowdy fan bases because as you can imagine, all those college students coming straight from the UH fraternity

house without having to pay to get in. I think all the tickets were free if I recorded correctly. Yeah, like anybody could go. So, yeah, it was. It was pretty crazy. Did Tillman light you up in that game, by the way, Uh? Probably, Yeah, yes, sure, a good chair. Yeah he was, man, just a canned answer. Yes, that's when I asked you if something me he was? He was.

He was unbelievable. He was. You know, even before he gave up football and went into the military, he was so well respected across the league, not only from his team but from opponents. And so you just knew about Pat Tillman. Everybody knew his story. And then when he did what he did, obviously it just went to another level. Go eat lunch. Thanks guys for doing this. Really appreciate

you both. And yeah, man, let's speaking of lunch, you know, continue to get your free lunch or doing these podcasts from the Cardinals. That's that's awesome. Let's do this every day. What are you doing tomorrow? It's fine by me. I gotta record like fifty of these, So all right, tellas, thank you, Yeah man, have a good season. Good luck to the Cardinals in the playoffs. Pretty strong takes from Greasy and leaving on Kyler Murray, the Cardinals and the

NFC West. Can't wait to watch my friends called Monday night football games again this season. Also, how about the perspective that Greasy had on the Monday night meltdown. Just think, if the Cardinals beat the Bears in two thousand and six, Greasy probably replaces Rex Grossman and maybe leads the Bears beyond what they accomplished that year. And remember they went to the Super Bowl that year, losing to Peyton Manning and the Colts. Instead, Greasy stayed the backup thanks to

the bears miraculous comeback. That'll do it for today's edition of the Dave Pash Podcast. You can follow us on Twitter at Pash Pod to get the latest on upcoming podcasts and also a look back at previous episodes of the Dave Pash Podcast, which include guests Cliff Kingsbury, Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, Pro Bowl safety Buddha Baker, and ESPN analyst Mina Kimes. We are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, as

well as Hila River Hotels and Casinos. Until next time, I'm Dave Pash. Thanks for listening to Dave Pash Podcast. The rep do be listing limp