The Fifth Hour: "An Eagle & a Packer" Mail Bag

Maller starts right now. N alright is the Fifth Hour with Ben Mallard and Danny g as we continue all weekend long here from Super Bowl fifty seven the iconic Radio Row and Danny g. No need for a big open right now, because we have a big name here. This guy came on like game busters this year in the NFL and he's slumming with us now. He really did, and he could be in the middle of the desert for four days of darkness, but no, he's at media

Row instead. That's right. His name Christian walk into the Green Bay Packers and he joined us here in the fifth Yeah, what this year? You know, you would admit we were doing that great and then all of a sudden, like around what week ten you went Gamebusters? What happened? Like? What was different at the end of the year for you. Uh, just find found a little more consistency, you know, I found found that confidence that I need to play at

play at a high level. Uh and just just contentt off. Yeah, and you like you like doing this media stuff here, parading around all the different radio shows and podcasts and all this. Uh you know, I mean it's crazy. Uh, it's hectic, it's a lot, but uh, you know, I've been enjoying it. I've been enjoying it. Do you have your own podcast yet or are you doing your own thing or not yet? I do not not yet, not yet.

Maybe maybe one day in the future. But but as I write out now, so you're just starting your career, you do you have a vision like down the line. I don't know how long you plan on playing for. Do you want to get into the media or anything like that when you're done, or do you you want

to completely leave that in the past. I mean, I haven't put too much thought into it, but you know, I have a strong passion and love for football, so uh, you know, I'm sure you know once I'm once I'm done, whatever that is, I'm sure I wanna I want to be around it some way, Uh, some in some some forms. So we'll see. Ben, you said vision wrong packer. He doesn't take ayahuasca, he's not doing not doing what do you think about what's going on with your QB situation?

And I'm just I'm just letting him do him and then whatever whatever he needs to do to to you know, come to a decision and uh, you know, figure out what he needs to figure out. Uh, let him do him. And so I'm not putting too much thought into it. Uh just just you know, controlling what I can control and doing doing what I can do. Now, um, take

us behind the scenes. So you were obviously a young player, but we're guys busting his chops on the ayahuasca and all that in the locker room or they was that we're boating or were they having a good time with that? Uh, you know, I don't think there's anything too crazy. I mean, if anything, you know, not not directly to him, but you know, there might have been a few chirps you know, here and there, but uh, you know, no, it was

it wasn't anything crazy. Uh you know, I don't think uh anybody was you know, overwhelmed, you know what he had going on. You know, I think that. Uh you know, everyone you know loves Rogers, every everyone uh uh you know has a really good connection with him in the locker room. So uh, you know, we we we didn't we kept that off the field. Was it was it awkward?

Like because I'm assuming being a receiver and you didn't know where you were gonna be drafted, and you're drafted there and you're like, uh was it What was it like walking in and dealing with with a guy who's one of the legends and your sport and your business of football. Uh? Yeah, I mean it was crazy. There was definitely a little bit of star struck no to to seeing you know, seeing him for the first time and uh, you know, just being on the football field

with him. Uh. But I mean for me, I just kind of looked at as a as an opportunity to to grow, uh and and get better and and you know, be able to pick his brain because yeah, obviously there's there's not a lot of opportunities out there to to you know, play and learn from you know, a player of his caliber. Absolutely, Now let's switch it up and talk about the big headline that happened this week kind of trumped the whole Super Bowl thing for a hot minute,

k d coming here to Phoenix for the Suns. I know you're an NBA fan. I see your Kobe shirt. You have good taste. Danny, my guy, Danny's jealous because this guy the biggest Kobe Bryant fan that I know. Yeah, I like that shirt and Lakers had a couple of good moves too. What do you think about the movement going on in the NBA? Oh, you know, I actually I've I've been pretty busy, so I haven't been able

to dive too deep into it. Uh, you know, I definitely, I definitely watched the games once they once they get good a little a little later in the season, uh. I mean, and like a lot of us, when there's no no more NFL games, super Bowl exactly, we switch our attention to the NBA exactly. But you know, I haven't haven't dove into it too much. But obviously, you know, I've seen that there's been quite a bit of commotion

going on with it, so it's been crazy. Yeah. So you you're from Florida, right, you grew up in Florida, but you went to school in North Dakota. Is now you're in Green Bay, is uh what's going on North Dakota versus Green Bay? What better play? Better environment? Uh? Not known as party places either one of those locations. Uh you know, I mean I've honestly, I've been joining enjoying Green Bay a little bit more only because the winters are a little bit less Harshly you frozen tundras

easier than when you went to college. Yeah, No, it's it's definitely definitely a little a little more chili in North Dakota. So I've been uh, you know, I I don't want to say enjoy, but I definitely been enjoying it more than I enjoyed the North Dakota winters. But I mean it's it's a small town vibe and and you know, I feel like everything revolves around the packers.

So it's a It's a nice place to be. But growing up in Florida, you're used to the warm weather and all that stuff, So how it's gotta be crazy for you still you're in college and now in the NFL, you're like cold, cold places. Have you adjusted over the years and they're used to it now? Uh? You know, I definitely adjusted. Uh you know, I don't think I will ever be you know, used to it. But you know I've I've learned to cope with it, you know,

layer up and Uh. I know that if I step outside, just be outside for as little as possible, uh and do what I need to do. But you know I've adjusted. I'm I'm getting there, I'm getting used to it. Yeah. Was that the first time you would have had ever seen snow? Uh in North Dakota? Yeah? It was. It was were you like trying to maybe get back on the plane and go back to let me change my

my decision on that. I mean I stepped outside, uh when it was snow for the first time, and I enjoyed it for maybe like three minutes, yeah, and then went inside and haven't enjoyed it since. But no, I hear you just weird. My my brother and I grew up in l A. We do the show from l A. My brother moved to Appleton, which is right near Green Bay, and so I went to visit him, uh last year actually, and I was like, whoa, it was a whole a whole different world and all that. Uh. Do you do

you go out much of you? You mostly just stay at home when you're in Green Bay? I mean you have you you were there last year? Do you have your routine down? Are you pretty much just a home body? You know. I mean I've always been a home body, you know. You and then Tampa. Uh, never you know, got out too much. You know, I enjoyed just uh, you know, chilling obviously. You know when I'm when I'm

doing you know, football stuff. When I was doing school stuff, school and football, it was always you know, super busy. So you know when whenever I had some free time, I I always enjoyed just no chilling at the crib. Uh. But I mean if I needed, if I need to step out, uh you know, grab something to eat or you know, find something fun and doing green behind me that there's there's stuff to do. So I've enjoyed it. Great cheese, the cheese creates very good. The pizza not bad.

It was a good pizza the Mars Cheese Museum. And you're talking about that on the podcast. You got to drive down there, too much of a drive. Exactly which of your packer teammates would we find you hanging with the most often? Um, honestly, I would just say the whole wide receiver group. You know, I feel like the the entire wide receiver core was was really tighten it. Uh, you know, any time you know one of us are a couple of us were hanging out, it was it

was honestly all of us. Uh so, uh, you know, the the entire wider super corp was was was pretty close. I gotta give you credit. Now, Christian Watchings is here and normally the way this works, Danny is you have like you hold up a product and you're not doing I love that You're just here to talk some football and hang out with us, and I'm just, yeah, what do you think of all this? Uh, it's it's it's

it's craziness, but uh it's dope. It's obviously my first time in METEA row and then doing stuff like this for the super Bowl. So I'm having a good time. Awesome, what's great to meet you. Thanks for coming on with Oh that's right. Yeah we are we are contractually obligated by the powers that be. And you have an opinion on the game. Who do you see? Um? You know, I'm I don't you know, care too much about who wins. I just want to watch a watch a really good game.

But you know, I've just been staying in NFC. I'm gonna go with the Eagles. Okay, you know, you know, like go to a big party. What's the plane You're watched by yourself with family, and I know I'm just gonna watch the at home with my fiance. Just probably makes some advertisers. Make some food, uh, and enjoy the game. You gotta break the diet, man, it's the Super Bowl. You gotta pick out. I know, your professional athlete, but

you gotta live. You gotta live life, Christian, I can, I I can put on a few pounds, exactly, Man. You don't have to worry about it for a couple of months. What's your what's your go to like? Your favorite Super Bowl food? Honestly, probably some probably some caso chips in cases or like or like a buffalo chicken dip. Yeah, what about the guacamole? Always promote guacamole this day. I'm not a big wak guy. I'm not. I enjoyed guak by definitely. I definitely prefer prefer a case over a

solid move told you he had good tastes exactly. All right, Well, Christian, thanks to come up by man, I appreciate it. Good luck to you with the packers and we'll see what happens. Thanks many, thank you. All right, that was very cool Christian Watkins hanging out with us here in the fifth hour. Yeah, nice guy. So I guess I now have to be a Christian? Do I have to suck up to him

now because he came on the podcast. I don't know how this works, Dad, You know, if he drops an important past next season, you're gonna say this, moron pass, No, I will, I will actually do that, you know you that wasn't a good looking Kobe shirt that yet. Uh. Now we have another big name that is popping up here. We cannot say who. But in the meantime, this being the Sunday Podcast, Now, this is a great testimonial to the fans, the p Ones, Dandy g in, the Mallar

militia that love this show. Because I did not promote the mail bag and and I was like, I always have this neurosis when I don't promote things. Well, no one's gonna send questions. And we we got a bunch of questions in the mail bag, people that do not send them in on Facebook, that emailed them in. And so we'll do some of that right now. I think we should do that right now, what do you say, Well, have a mall or mail bag and we don't need

Ohio all this week. Right, We're good on that. Wow, you get the week off to just enjoy the Super Bowl festivities wherever you maybe exactly all right, So the mail bag, these are actual questions send in by actual listeners. If you'd like to be part of the mail bag for next week, you can send your questions in right now. You don't have to wait. Send them in care of Real Fifth Hour at gmail dot com. That's Real fifth

Hour at gmail dot com. And we may make you podcast famous and that boy who doesn't want to be podcast famous? That is big. That is absolutely big. Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two a m. Eastern eleven p m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio ap uh So. The first question comes from Pierre in Springfield, mass home of the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame, and that is where Muffett mcgraws and trying. He says, Hey, Bannon,

Danny Gee. He says, as someone who lives far from civilization, I often struggle doing cost benefit analysis and whether or not to drive for takeout as a recovering large man, Ben, how far will you go to pick up take out? The closest this decent option to me is twenty to thirty minutes away. All Right, So that's a great question, Pierre, and and you can answer this is what we like it.

We like a nice meal. Um. I'm now at the point, since I've started learning how to cook where I would rather invest the time on having making what I want in in the kitchen myself. Um. So the answer the question is no, I would not drive thirty minutes unless it was like rare and appropriate. But if it's something I can go to it anytime, Like I'm here in Arizona. One of my favorite restaurants is from Wisconsin. We had Christian Watkins on Culver's, which is a Wisconsin chain. I

think it's great. My wife hates it, but I love it. And uh and I was like, oh, you know it's they don't have in California. So we'll go, we'll hang out, we'll have some of that and all that. But um, but that's because we're traveling, but back back home not doing it. What about you, Danny, Yeah, especially when you get into a serious relationship. Whether or not your girl can cook, that's one thing. And also and in in

your case, Ben, you're a good cook. I'm not. But the farthest my girl will go for food outside of our own kitchen is ten minutes away. There's a ten minute rule. It's a ten minute rule. It's the fish grill. It's ten minutes away. You gotta get on the freeway to go there. And she acts like that is going to northern California. Well, and I have to say to Pierre, when I was at my fattest, I'm the guy that we'd be like, you know, I want Taco Bell, but I kind of like some fries, and I think I

feel like Carl's Jr. Fie man. So I would go through multiple drive your own accommodation. But then I'm like do I I would like, do I get the Taco Bell first? Do I get the fries first? You know? What do I do? I always would go taco is a fatast move right me at my heaviest I could understand that a little bit because I remember going through one drive through and it not being fulfilling because I'm thinking, yeah,

but I was also craving this. Always get a short order here and then I'll add on to it there. And I think, what's your record three places I have done? I have done three? Yeah, I have done. If you've gone over three, you might be on a TV show on the TLC channel with a crane. Yeah there, Well, the chance to make some money on that, you can cash in on that. Who is next on the mail bag? We've got Kevin in Kansas who writes and he says, dear Ben and Danny g cleaning out my shirt drawer

last week. Well, that's the kind of thing we need an update on that. That is what Kevin is doing. He says. I realized how many old school shirts I have in Polos I own. He says, T shirts Polos and all that. All of them were given to teachers by the school. That makes me wonder how much company gear you own? And what's the nicest company gift you've ever received? So your here right now? No, yeah, this is probably this is probably up there, but but no back I'm trying to be like back in the back

in the day. Let's see, we got a backpack that was pretty I gotta I gotten more than one. Oh man, I have so many different backpacks you have, you have a ge backpack. I have I have because every year for the these radio stations don't know what they give. They give bags out every year, you know bags uh, a cell phone charger one year, remember got we got that,

the speaker, a bluetooth, remember the speaker. Those are all things Fox has given out that I would say the most valuable thing that we ever had when I started. When I left San Diego and I was working at the mighty six ninety and they started Extra Sports eleven fifty in l A. They had this huge marketing budget and so they had this huge campaign. They billboards up and all this. I was not in any of the billboards,

but they gave us for photos. You know those letterman jackets you'd get in high school at the really expensive letterman jackets with the patches, and so they made for the radio station. They made a letterman's jacket. It was the right size and everything. Yeah, I know it fit. I still have it. It's still in great shape and it's held up and I have if you want any

old T shirts, hats, any of that. Danny from radio stations, my wife we when we moved the last time, and to you, Kevin um, she wanted to get rid of that stuff. And I don't know I should have gotten rid of it, but I just kind of held on it. I don't know, it's I'm the same. I feel like that's the stuff you need to save and it's better. That might be better than my number one answer on the board maybe five years ago at our Christmas party, remember when our bosses had the prostitutes up on the

seventh floor. That was a great well. And that's the gift that keeps giving, because you know, that's a surprise. When you get done with the the prostitutes're like, whoa wait a minute. They they've got a special gift for you that pops up a couple of days later. All right. Next up on the mail bag, we've got Mike from Fuller to no relation to fur Dog Danny. This is

not this could not be furg Dog. This is Mike from Fuller To in in southern California, home of the Titans, the cal State Fullerton Titans, whose rival is you see Irvine be and Eaters Mike and Fullerton rights. And he says, hey, Bannon, Danny, g did you guys hear Mexico banned all shark cage tourism. I did not hear this, is that true. I didn't hear that either. He says, you regret not getting in the water with a great white shark while you had the chance. And speaking of the ocean, do either of

you have any good fireboat stories. I'd love to hear one. Oh, yeah, there you go, man. Yeah. Last week, last week you mentioned you had some San Francis. This is all time great stories. Look at that. We're running out of time. We're gonna have to blow off. I guess this is a better story. So I'm gonna go way back. I'm gonna date myself. We're good. They don't need no, We're

all right, we don't need nothing. We're solid. So I'm gonna go back to when they opened up the new ballpark in San Francisco, the Giants new stadium, which at that time, yeah, it was called pac Bell at the time. At open. So I was doing local radio and we thought Dodgers and Giants, great rivalry. This was a huge deal. The Giants had played at Candlestick Park for a long long time. The new ballpark, beautiful stadium, and so we did a promotion. The Dodgers opened up the stadium against

the Giants, and so we all went up. The marketing guys had this great idea, We're gonna go in a pirate ship and McCovey cove outside the but we didn't know it was McCovey Cole. We just we're going the water outside the ballpark and we're going to you know show where we're with the Kings of the Giants ballpark or whatever it was. So I'm on a boat with Dave Smith, the guy that I did the show with, Vic the Brick and uh, who's a big radio star

at M five seven. If you're not familiar with Victor Brick around the country, he worked at Fox Sports Radio. So Vick was there. There were some of the other hosts that were part of this, and there were a bunch of sponsors. And so the bit we were broadcasting live from the pirate ship and we're going around the water. There's beautiful. It was perfect. It was a day game,

it was perfect weather. It was awesome. What could so And of course Vic and I believe it was a Martinez who has become a big star in public radio. He does like public radio and nationally, I believe, but a Martinez and vic were dressed up as pirates, and we are cruising through and everyone's having a great time through the waterway right there outside the ballpark, and we

see a San Francisco fireboat off in the distance. We're like, okay, whatever, and the fireboat comes at us and it turns on the all of the hoses from the fireboat to flood to flood our boat. So you see people, these are big time business people who are big sponsors of the radio station, jumping underneath trying to get away from the lord. You do. I had no idea, Danny. I admit I'm naive on this one. It looks when you were looking at a fireboat, it looks really majestic. The water streaming out.

It is an insane amount of money when it's raining, when it's coming down on top of your head. There the water from the fire hoses. It's nuts. It's absolutely insane. Because can b R had I don't know whether they knew somebody at the fire department or something like that. They thought, okay, radio rivalry. Yeah, so we're gonna get these idiots dressed up as fire as it was the funny vic the brick. I will never forget to my

last breath here Vix one of the great characters. I'll never forget him standing up in a totally disheveled in a pirate costume, soaking way and in furious first shower weeks. Oh my goodness, it was nuts. So it was absolutely nuts. So, uh, Danny, and so that is my fireboat story. On the mailbag, A good job by you, Mike Cei. I was worried if somebody didn't bring that up. I was not going to. I was not gonna bring it up. But but he did. Next up on the mailbag, we have Barry in Nashville,

the Music City. Barry writes in he says, yo yo mo, Benny. I'm sure you have told this story, but I don't recall it. Can you tell us how you ended up meeting and befriending the great Fred Dryer? Yeah. Well Fred was actually a listener to the show, and we have mutual friends, and so that's that's how that that happened. Fred was like, he's up late sometimes and he was listening, and uh. And then a friend we had a mutual friend who introduced me, and then we had Fred on

and Fred's come on a few times. It was great having him on this week some of those old school stories about the seventies and the eighties is that he was doing was awesome. It was amazing. Well, that's good for the mail bag right now, right, yeah, I think we have a guest stepping up. Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Alright, and that guest is

here now, that's right. And New Orleans they want super bowls with both those teams, and and now he's hanging out on radio row or was it media role? That doesn't sound as good to be there. He is right there, Malcolm, welcome, what's going on? Yeah, I appreciate you put some respect on it. That's right, the one and old there is no sequel. Yeah, yeah, you're enjoying this. How many of

these things have you done? Too many? I'm like, let's see, if I played thirteen years, I played in two Super Bowls, so that means eleven, it would be twelve, now twelve, So you're gonna go to You're not gonna go autopilot on us, right, No, no, no no, no, I just had a coffee. I'm good. You didn't study like sports cliche dot com back when we were playing at all. You didn't get into that. You kept it real there. So you know, you've obviously just played it not that long ago.

You're now done, but you still know a bunch of these guys, right, is it? Is it awkward you're pulling for Philadelphia? I would assume yeah, yeah, but it's a different team. Like you know, it's only the guys that I played with. You got the Kelsey Um, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Um, a few of the younger guys Vonte Maddox, uh sees are Gonna Johnson I was with in New Orleans and UM super excited about what he's doing in Philly. But you know, other than that, everybody else is kind

of actually I'm lying. Josh Sweat was there, Marcus? Is this a lot of the young talent, the new guys? You know? I don't know, but um, they've had a strong core of players that you know, have been there and been able to kind of, you know, keep the culture, uh intact. Yeah, so I have someboddies to do radio in Philadelphia. They tell me, I didn't I heard you were coming up. They the love affair between the Eagle fans and you in Philadelphia. What not that they didn't

love you in New Orleans? Right, you played there multiple times. But what was it like for you, because there was like this bond, the way they loved the way that you played in Philadelphia? What was that like? Well, I'm from New Jersey, so so I understood, you know a few things about what it means to you know, grow up in that kind of area. Um and I embodied that in my play. And so you know, I knew

trying to come and play safety for Philadelphia. The automatic thing people are gonna do is compare you to Brian Dawkins. And when I looked at what he did, he just played with phenomenal passion. You know, I wasn't afraid of anybody. Was a smaller guy. Um well, he played like a giant, but realistically he was, you know, not the biggest safety out there, but played like a giant. And so for me, you know, I made up my mind that I was just gonna do me. I was gonna talk trash, I

was not gonna back down from any body. I fight if I need to. And those are the things really that Philadelphia values. That's their fan base, right, and I think that's what made that connection so special between me and the city. And then obviously all the things that I've I've dove head first into trying to make, um, you know, an impact on that city in a positive way in the community and in every aspect that I could, and and it came back to me, you know, with

with love. So I think it's the reciprocity there that, um you just don't get to see with you know, a ton of players, and for me, it's been phenomenal. Where do you spend most of your time since playing? Yeah, so I'm split between New Orleans and Philadelphia. My kids are down in New Orleans, so I'm there most of the time. But I'm finding every opportunity that i can to get back up. What you think about Derek Carr and the Saints and maybe it working out for for

Derek to go there to New Orleans. I mean it's a good situation, you know. They they are looking for just some stability at the quarterback position, a veteran who's proven that can do some things, good locker room guy, um because because to have a hell of a defense and they for the last three four years, they've had a defense that's only really gotten better. They just need, you know, some some balance to be able to play

complimentary football weekend and week out. And I think, you know, it's been rough the last few years between Drew retiring him, you know, being a little bit older in his career, him getting banged up, and then two years in the road they've had quarterbacks banged up. Has just been rough. So yeah, I mean, quarterback is obviously something they need to address if the Saints want to have any success. Yeah, I want to go back to the way that you played.

Like the NFL, it's changed, It's changed as you've been playing. It's changed. Like what do you think is gonna happen five years from ten? You if you were in charge, what would you do it? If I was in charge, I would find quarterbacks and ball carriers for getting knocked out and getting hurt, because like I would always get mad when they throw a ball across the middle of my job is to not allow you to catch the ball. But then I get fined. Well what about these rules

with the tackling? Like how are in real time? I don't know. I mean, I I played high school football. You play really good, but I don't understand, Like, how are you supposed to do at a millisecond? It's a joke, I mean, But but realistically, the NFL always responds to his fan base, right, So when things happen, t O got hurt way back in the day, and what they do. They banned horse collar tackles, all right, the wrong the

star player gets hurt, they'll change rules for that. Uh. You know, when things are coming out and the game gets a little bit too violent, they will change the game for that, right, just because the fans, whatever they say, they'll respond to in the league. The NFL does that better than any league or business out there. Spends the narrative, changes it so people can feel connected to the game and still watch it and feel good about it, um,

regardless of what it really means for the players. Yeah, but when you were when you were some of those penalties you your reaction, You're like, you're looking at the officials, like what did I think? At the replayers? But but some of those things are necessary. Like and like you said, it's changed a lot even while I was playing. I came in two thousand nine, and you know, it was still a little bit of old school where you're trying

to like tee off on guys. Uh. And I realized that, like I was hurting myself a lot trying to hurt other people, right, And then you see what Seattle was doing, and they changed more to like a gator role type of tackle, a rugby style tackle that gets your head out of the way. And I changed to that, and next you know, I didn't miss a game for eight straight seasons just because I played the game different, more cognizant about my own health and it's important. So I

think there's a little bit of balance. But I do think some of some of the things that they do don't make any sense. Uh, even you know when they did the whole heads up football campaign, playing with your head up, save your neck. Not that don't stop you from getting but it makes us feel better about it. But is there really away, Like we talk about this on the radio show Idea, you can't totally make football. There's always no it's not a safe What what are

we doing here? There's no safe way to play the game. You will get hurt. It's a re rate. Every single player who plays football will get hurt. You have to and then so it's just about the severity, uh, and the types of injuries that you have. We can deal with muscles and lower extremities, but we talk about your quality of life moving on from the game. That's where you're looking at your brain, UM, your your organs, and the way you take care of your body, what you

put into your body. Those things I think are very important. And brock Purty found that out real fast. Do you think they're gonna get to my homes often? I mean, do you know that's the game plan right he's I mean, obviously we'll see what his health looks like with a larger gap now two weeks off before having to play another game with that ankle. But you got to imagine that the Eagles entire game plan is going to be get to Patrick Mahomes as fast as possible. But I

think you know, patter smart man. Patrick knows what he's doing. He knows how to get the ball out of his hands, he knows how to manipulate the defense. UH. And and I think what the Eagles need to do mostly is keep him from extending to play if they can keep him from going off schedule, UH, and get pressure on them that way. I think they'll be. I think they'll have, you know, all the success that they want. What about Jalen Hurts here? Because he's not in some of these

playoff games. He hasn't played particularly great. The numbers aren't wonderful, The numbers a small sample size. He plays the game the way it needs to be played. He's not worried about the stats or the only stat that matters is did they win? And how much? Did they win? By? A lot? So it's like, if you're the quarterback and y'all win by twenty four or more, what do you mean? You're punching back, Malcolm against the criticism of Jalen Hursts.

They've been bouncing around a little. They wanted to look a certain way, but Jalen Hurts his game has never looked like what people wanted to look. And that's what that's really the whole rhetoric around him. And that's why I really enjoyed his ability to just stay poised and focused on what matters right, and the winds are all that matter right and and all this all he's done every single day is show up, answer the questions, go to work and perform and win. Speaking of what matters

you're an author. Yeah, congratulations, that's uh. You've got a new books coming out this week? Is this all right? We announced it this week, it comes out. It comes out in November, but people can preorder it now any major book retailer Amazon. It's called What Winners Won't Tell Your Lessons from a legendary defender. It's just in the can now you've already written it, or because I wanted to write a book, I've been talking to people. It's a pain of the blood to do this right, and

it is a lot of work. It's a labor of love for sure, but man would have almost all pictures. But as you know, the hardest part is there coming up with what you want to say, like what is your message and understanding that like, not everything's gonna fit in the book, right, it's not my whole life. It's

not an expose, a or a tell all. But realistically, I just finished a thirteen year career, done a lot of different things in that span of time, have a lot of different experiences, and it's like, how do I contextualize and crystallize all of that and and be able to disseminate that in ways that can help people. So you know, I'm a single father dealing with you know,

all of the pressures of being a dad. People can relate to that, you know, whether it be athletes who want to understand what it takes to be great, or the business side of sports. People want to know those things leadership. Um. You know, there's so many different things that I've learned, and what I've done is taking all of those lessons and and just really telling my story kind of through this this uh weave of my family,

my career, uh in business. And you've got Tom Brady, he's doing the how did you get he's he's doing the beginning the four That was a long shot. You know, He's been by far my favorite person to compete against my entire career. Just I've got so much respect for who he is as a competitor, what he's done and and it's not really until he just retired where you really sit back and take inventory, but the fact that I got to compete my entire career against probably the

greatest quarterback that will ever play this game. Um, And so you know, when I reach out, it was definitely a long shot. UM. I think the last time, I think it helps that the last significant game we played he won, right, That helped a little bit, But no, I think I think we we have a mutual respect for, you know, each other's game and how we approached the game, how we approach our locker rooms, our teammates, and just what we mean to the game of football. Yeah, you

think he's gonna come back and play a game. I think he's done for really three months from now, We're not going to see him back, you know what. I can't say for a hundred percent, but I think I would if I was a betting man, I would say, I think he's I think he's finally putting it down. What about the TV stuff? You think he'll he'll do that? Really he'll go forward with that? Yeah, now that stuff,

I don't know how long he'll like that. Yeah. Yeah, A lot of these guys were struggling with it, you know, like even he saw Drew had a plan and he stepped down from it. It's you know, it's one of those things that I think as players were in it, and so it's very easy to talk about the game, but television is a little different. When you gotta start criticizing guys and coming up with hot takes. And all those things like Joe Montana couldn't do it way back.

You didn't want to criticize. I didn't want to criticize. And that's that's part of you, like you know your little us, right you got, I got to give a gap. But I'm the same way. I don't really. I know how hard it is. I know how hard these players work, I know how competitive the talent is, and so it's hard for me to say how this person sucks. So this person is not good. And it's because it's all relative, right, it's relatively to the best in the world. To Davante Adams, Yes,

that guy looks sure for sure. All right, well we'll get you out of here on that, Malcolm. Thank you. And again the book if you want to get it not available to November. You can prepreder preorder book. It sounds like a great book. What winners won't tell your lessons from a legendary defender and a beloved Philadelphia Eagle and a bunch of Pro Bowls and all that. Speaking of that, I know you're gonna pick the Eagles. You gotta score them. I don't think it'll be close. I

think they'll win. I think they'll win. Actually, I think they'll win by a touchdown. I don't know what school. They'll win by a touchdown, but it won't be close though score and a late score that will make it within seven, but I think they'll be in control. I'm gonna put my son's college money on that bag there it is. Don't come looking for me Jenkins h and that will do us for us anything. Radio row where we are out of here. Now back to the reality of the day to day grind. That's right, see you

back on Fox Sports Radio. You'll be back on talking about the Super Bowl tonight on the overnight uh all over the country there at two am to six am Eastern Time coast. Yes, and I'll be back on Afternoon Drive with Covino and Rich on Monday afternoon, and then the podcast will jump back into effect next weekend, so you can't wait for that. Absolutely, have a great rest of your day, enjoy the Super Bowl, and we will catch you next time. Later, Skater,