Official Jets podcast is presented by win Bet. Betty is a team sport bet together at win Bet. Eric Allen here at One Jets Drive, joined by former Jets quarterback Mark San says, great to see your brother.
Great see you as well. Thanks for having me.
Jets Buccaneers practice. He took it all in.
It was like a family reunion.
It really was. Braylon Edwards was here, had a ton of former players, new Hall of Famer inductee Joe Clecco was incredible. I thought, it's it's so fun to come back and see the camaraderie, the fraternity that we got a chance to be a part of here. And seeing Leon Washington coaching, although he looks like a track coach now. I mean he's lost so much weight, he's so cut. My man looks like he's wasting away to nothing on me. I want to give him a cheeburg or something. He
looked awesome. And seeing other people from even from the Buccaneers. So coach Tom Moore, who's been around the league for ever, he was here with us in twenty eleven, I want to say, as an assistant and I actually just went out to see him like three weeks ago just to watch some tape and really pick his brain, and he put me onto some some really good stuff to watch this coming year. And I really appreciate him and our friendship and our relationship. So it was great to see a myria out of folks.
Did you talk to Eric Decker out there?
I did talk to Eric Decker. He had a son that was a surprise visit. That was a surprise visit, and we had you know, we had a war of words about who's got the better hair. Yeah, so we'll leave that to the fans.
Okay, you mentioned cheeseburgers.
Yeah. Before.
As far as Leon Washington is concerned, how many people Jets fans bring up Mark Sanchez and.
Hot dogs quite a bit. It's usually around National hot Dog Day, and it's usually because I don't change and so Zebra doesn't change his stripes. Eric, That's what I'm telling you is after games at US, there'd be at the LA Memorial Coliseum, there'd be you know, twenty five different little hot dog stands on the street, and the nice little Hispanic gals were cooking up the bacon wrap
hot dogs. So that's where they started. They were victory dogs. Okay, Well, The real issue with the hot Dog story was We're going into Oakland. We'd won our first three games, we lost our next three. I was playing like crap, giving the ball away way too much, and I was kind of like not kind of. I was down in the dumps and I couldn't eat before the game. I was
so in my own head. And it took Rex to get a clip from college, a couple of different college clips, and I think he worked with Eric Espinosa, a film guy at USC and he put this highlight tape together to kind of pump me out, yeah and remind me like, hey, dude, we drafted you number five for a reason. We never said this was going to be perfect. You're playing just take care of the ball a little better and go be this guy, and showed me the tape. Well after that, I'm re energized.
Boom.
We're playing a bad Oakland Raiders team at the time, and it was just what we needed. We beat them thirty eight, I mean beat the brakes off. It was like it was crazy. Reeves had a huge interception and it just blew the doors open. Right. So I'm so hungry. I didn't eat the night before the morning of the
game and I'm dying on the sideline. So I asked the guys in the white shirts and blue shorts who help, you know, shagging balls and doing everything on the sidelines and water and everything, Hey, do you got any food? And they're like, yeah, we got some datorade bars or this, that and the other. I was like, no, I need some like food. I'm like really not feeling good and I'm out of the game at this point. And he goes, what do you want me to do? Run up and
get you a cheeseburger. I said no, but I'll take a hot dog. I said, grab some mustard, you know, on the way out. And that's basically.
Have you realized cameras were gonna.
No, because they caught it during the time out. I even waited for a time out, and you see, I was all down, crouched low. And then I think it
was Deardorf and Gumbole who called me out right. And now I'm in the booth and so I'm like, if that's I've thought about this before, If that situation ever happens, do I say anything, like if they show me, Because sometimes the producer will go in your ear during breaks and you're talking to your partner or whatever in the booth and he'll say, hey, we caught this cool clip.
Check this out. And it's usually you know, guys talking smack to each other, or a coach pulling it, you know, Pete Carroll pulling in Geno Smith and giving him a pep talk. You know, when the cameras are off, supposedly right when the when the general audience is gone, you get this behind the scenes cut. Well, now I'm like, I don't know, do I give them their privacy because I would have appreciated the privacy at the time, but you know, it went the way it went, and now
it's around National Hot Talk Day. I get a great memory. Yo.
So you're calling games on Fox, correct, You're doing a great job as a color analyst. What do you do when you go to teams complexes and talk to the folks as far as the production meetings are concerned, Because you used to be the guy every week that they'd be asking to talk to.
Talk about pulling back the curtain and seeing everything that goes into it, and remembering how much I used to hate those meetings, hate them because they just anything. No, you don't I mean, you don't say anything, right, there's nothing. You just kind of like do the song and dance.
And then if there's any guys who you know are guys or gals, whether it's you know, Sideline reporter or people in the booth or whoever who you like, know, like when Gruden comes to town, like he'll he'll kind of jam you up, like, hey, I've been seeing this
play you guys have been running. Tell me a little bit about this fake trap to Sean Green and throw a little sting route to Brailen Edwards right off the ear of that will linebacker man, I like that route, you know, And he give you that eye and you're just kind of like, well, shoot, I gotta tell him something, you know. And you've got to be able to trust those people. And so the most important thing is having
a relationship with people prior. If you're going in cold it's just like a cold call with sales, like, hey, you guys want some office space, we got twenty five hundred square feet. Like people are generally gonna say no, You're gonna get a lot more nose than Yes's. But when you have relationships with it doesn't matter if it's trainers or players or coaches or whoever. It just helps build a bridge to that player, and that's all you're
trying to do and remind them that number one. No matter what you say, I would never say publicly without like an okay from you, you know what I mean, because I don't want to I want to do this for a while. I don't want to be the guy
who just goes spewing information and whatever. So some stuff you'll check with the coach, like are you cool if we explain that story, And a lot of times the coaches or players will say, you know, I'd rather keep that close to the best, or hey, ask me tomorrow on the field and I'll let you know if I'm
comfortable with that or whatever. But it's you know, when you go into you know, talk to a player you've never talked to before and they're younger and they didn't watch the Jets in twenty ten, Like these guys don't care. What am I gonna say? Give my resume, I'm Mark Santa.
Yeah you haven't played with you.
Yeah, like a lot of guys will know, but some guys are just completely oblivious. And I don't blame it, like they don't need to know. I don't. It doesn't hurt my feelings at all. But you're just like, Okay, where's my ind with this player? How do I build a bridge with this player in these twelve minutes we have together? Right? It's nearly impossible, but you do your best with the relationships you have, and hopefully you can
a lot of times. You know, what really helps is when you say something the same way Gruden did to me. And this is probably why I've done it subconsciously, but when you identify something that they've done well and you can tell they worked on it. It's a specific pass rush,
it's a specific move, and you can identify it by name. Right, the players will immediately respect you because they know you're watching and they know you're not just surface level tree top bs, you know what I mean, Like this guy's really watching the tape. Damn. I worked on that move quite a bit this offseason. Now I got a lot to say about this move. You know where I got this move? I got this from my high school coach and we worked you know, in Boca Raton, Florida this
off season. Da da And now you get a cool story, whether it's from me, Kevin Cooler, Laura Oakman, like whoever explains the story. You just want to get the information and hopefully they're comfortable with it. And then you know how it works. You've been in the media game forever. Story sell you know that the yes, no questions, the black and white said blah blah blah, it doesn't work.
You want the color analyst stuff. And so that's kind of what you're digging for with a level of respect, right, you don't want to intrude on their privacy.
Up in the booth.
How do you balance being technical and taking people inside versus okay, right, maybe there are people out there that I'm talking to who aren't so much into that and all those of the game, like there are the hardcore guys who like, right, Sanchez, you better tell me exactly what's happening in thatch protection.
And so there's a fine line of getting very technical and in the weeds, right, going very insider. But you can't be there too long because you're also talking to the soccer mom. You're talking to, you know, the guy who or gal who lives in their parents' basement and has all the answers, you know, like you got to talk to them as well. You got to talk to the young kids, you know, talk to a wide range of personalities and opinions, and so I do my best to weave in and out of some of those things.
And if you'll notice a lot of times on our broadcast, you won't see a ton of all twenty two okay for a reason because a lot of people haven't seen that. When you see that, it's like seeing like maybe not like a police body cam, but like some sort of weird camera angle that just kind of catches you off guard. Yeah, and you're you're like, whoa, how do I even identify who's who? In the zoo? Here? Like this is crazy? What is this satellite photo of this game? You know
what I mean? So we do it every once in a while when we're coming out of a break. You'll notice, coming out of a break, I have a chance to explain, and you don't want to explain too much because if you're explaining, you're losing, almost like a debate, Right, I
gotta explain myself. I'm getting my butt kicked. So there's like fine points in or specific points rather in a broadcast that you can really dive deep right out of commercial when you know the football people are locked in wanting to see that play and want a reason for that play working not working. In the interception, the touchdown, what set up the big play? Boom, Mark, go ahead, b mark like you're in the quarterback room in twenty ten,
and tell me why that worked. The rest of it is a lot of in and out, a little bit of predicting, a little bit of you know, diagnosing formations and personnels and kind of narrowing down what the offense or defense might do in a situation. And then the other part is make the audience the quarterback, pull the curtain back, sit them next to you at a barstool at a beer at a beer hall or a pub or something, and explain the game. Hey man, this is
a two minute drill. You know what the most important thing in a two minute drill is the first play. Get a positive play on first down. That's huge, huge little things like four minute offense. You got the the game in the bag. Game's basically over. You got to milk the clock and run this thing out. Running backs, two hands on the football, avoid balancing the ball outside because you get closer to the sidelines than it stops
the clock. Now my only caveat to that is if you can get a first down, but you have to go out of bounds, are you're going to get me four more downs to waste clock? I'll let you go out of bounds. That's the one asterisk to never go out of bounds. Informant stuff like that that people want to know, and they pick things up like that and they're like, oh, that was cool. So I hope My only hope is you try and please everybody. It's nearly impossible, right.
Tom Moore actually taught me this. Jesus Christ couldn't even please twelve people, right, and he's arguably the greatest guy to ever live, right, So you can't please everybody. But I'd like him to walk away with a little bit more football knowledge, right, and to laugh a little bit, whether it's at my expense or somebody's expense, all in good fun. And to have a genuinely entertaining experience watching a football game, a game that I love.
How much do you genuinely enjoy doing that?
You know?
It's funny. Somebody asked me that right now. And I don't think I fell in love with it till this past year, really till my second year the first year, I genuinely felt like I was treading water. I was really nervous. I was scared to misdiagnose the play. I was scared to pronounce the name wrong, and there was there's a lot of nerves in there because you feel like you have to be this expert, right, you have to be like perfect in there and call it perfect,
and it's so not true. And once you start watching the game, it kind of unfolds for you. And if you put in the prep, you shouldn't be nervous. You should be anxious and want the thing to happen, just like when you were playing. I can't wait for kickoff, not because I'm scared, because I want this dang thing to be over. I've been studying my butt off for a few days now, like let's let's go play this thing and win it and get out of there. So that's kind of how I started to feel really after
those two London games last year. I thought Kevin and I and Laura as well, really got into a groove. And when you're in a good back and forth dance with your partner and he's explaining you know the who and the what, and I'm explaining the why and the how, and you can kind of get in and out in between plays. You feel like you're in a groove. It's just like playing ball. It's just like, dang, we converted
like six third downs in a row. We are rolling byes like, let's keep it going, keep dialing them up, you know, And so that's when it gets really fun. But I think after last year, I really really started to enjoy it more.
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You're recently married took place in Mexico. Correct, new hardware, gratulations, new hardware. All right, how has it been the first a few months? And and do you have any funny story from the wedding?
Fun stories from the wedding? Yeah, because Nick Mangold's not here, I have a good story from the wedding. But if anybody needs any marriage advice, I'm you know, two months in, I got all the answers, so just let me know, hit me up on Instagram or just kidding. Do We're figuring it out just like everybody else. But I'm very lucky, very fortunate, very blessed, and Perry planned a hell of a wedding. I'm just glad she invited me. So that's kind of my line now because it was. It was incredible.
But at one black and white photos they're cool.
Yeah, really, that's all her too. I mean she did the whole thing. Yeah, she she every detail, she nailed it, and I was really proud of her. So she's great. But so Nick Nick Mangold is at the wedding. My oldest brother is also named Nick. Before so, Perry did her dance with her dad, I did my dance with my mom and then there was like this little lag time and Edda James. At last the song came on and I know that it's my brother's wedding song. That's like his song with his wife Pela. So I started
screaming across the thing. There was like two hundred plus people at this deal, and I'm screaming over the music. Nick, Nick, you know, Nick, come here. And so Nick, my brother, and my sister in law, his wife Paula, they go up and have their dance and it wasn't planned, but I was like, dude, just jump in, like let's roll. This is your guys' song, Like nobody else is on the dance floor. Enjoy this because you guys are coming up on like twenty years together. So it's really cool.
And that was my senior year of high school or whatever. So so Mangold comes running up to the dance floor. He's like, what's up, bib, What can I do? What can I total Mangold fashion, Like what do you need, babe? Cause he's the best of all time at times like a Golden Retriever, like just like so loyal and so awesome and same kind of hair as a golden Retriever, which is nice except for the shedding. But he runs up and it's like, what do you need? What do
you need? And I was like, what are you doing here? Like not that why are you at the wedding, but like why are you on the dance floor? This is for Nick? And he goes, I'm Nick, and I'm like you are Nick?
Oh? Nick got it and then he had just.
Into the abyss. All right.
Thet's soft Jets got a new quarterback, Aaron Rogers.
I heard, I heard what did you think about what you saw today? And when everybody in the building wasn't coming up to you and talking to you, so it's probably hard to take in no practice, Yeah, what did you see?
I thought one of the best throws I've seen in a while, and it's no surprise that's coming from him. Was that ball down the middle in two minutes towards the end of the day, Randall cop Holy smoke, And I mean it makes total sense because they've done it
for so long and he makes it look effortless. But that is like I can't wait for the coaches to watch it on tape with the players and see the younger players like that's it, because that's what you're searching for in training camp, right, You're trying to find your identity. You're trying to, you know, see who can make it, who can play man coverage, who can block, who can hit,
who can tackle, who can run, who can catch? But you also want to get good tape on film, and coach Sola says this the silent tape when you watch it, who are you? And you want to be able to put together some teach tape, meaning the tape that you're going to use later on in the season to install plays. Hey, remember way back in August when we ran this play in two minutes. We're thinking about activating this one again. Here's what it's supposed to look like. And that's the
curriculum for that play. And that's cool to watch because the guy's been doing it for almost twenty years. He's been doing it for almost a decade with Randall Kopp, like it makes so much sense. And then you see the young guys like, Okay, I got it. That's the blueprint. The guys who are studs already that are coming into their own like Gara Wilson, Okay, that's it, right, I want to do that next. You know what I mean, like,
it's my turn now, boom, let's do it. And that's that creates the camaraderie, that creates the relationship you want between quarterback and receiver. That's that just puts it on display for the whole team. And if Aaron is accountable that way, the whole team is unnotice you know what I mean. And that's that's amazing.
How do you like the way he handles himself out there on the field.
He's very like I know him pretty well right from growing up and interacting with some great investment ventures and ARCS three. But he's he's a relational guy. He's not like a ton of surface level type guy, you know what I mean. He's not like a small top kind of guy. He will be if he has to, but like he's much deeper than that. He wants to know why, he has questions about things, and to some people he
can be polarizing. I'll tell you what. The best thing that's maybe happened to him for his career and post career if he ever ages because he looks is hard knocks because it humanizes him and shows who he really is. Because he has this and we talked about it before practice, but how do you be his teammate and also a fan of his, you know what I mean, those are two different forces kind of colliding.
It has to be intimidating for you, and it's.
So intimidating for those young guys. So what does he do. He drops his guard and brings him in, puts his arm around you, says, congratulates you on something, or praises you for something. Like these guys run around in some ways, you're like a little bit of a puppy, like you just want a little praise. You know. Some guys need to be patted on the butt a little bit. Some guys need to be kicked in the ass a little bit,
you know. And he's out there playing quarterback coach psychologist to try and build bridges with all these new players who he knows are going to help him play well and the team win. So it's he's doing a masterful job. And it's I mean, it's a great case study on being the quarterback and all the hats you have to wear or you choose to wear by signing up for that position. And there's arguable nobody better. I mean, he's unbelievad talent wise. I mean, it's a thrower of the
football until Mahomes came along, Like nobody touched this guy. Yeah, so, I don't know, what do.
You appreciate most of what he's already accomplished during his career eighteen year run there in Green Bay.
I mean the longevity number one, the health, the way he's been able to take care of his body, the youthfulness and joy you can see he gets. I mean, clearly he's on the back nine of his career, right, It's not like he's got twenty more years in him. But he's appreciating all the little things that a lot of young guys take for granted. You know that you just assume this is going to keep going and it
doesn't always keep going. And so when you watch a guy like that really lean in to the young guys and remind them, you know, the little details, the nuances they're going over playfakes last night and which is a run? Which is a pass? That was cool? That's that's like gold for Zach and Boil and like that is that is training camp. That they're in a capsule in a
vacuum is training camp. The things you're gonna miss most Remember that time we were bagging on Aaron for his fakes, and they're gonna be talking about that until they're fifty. Like that's such a cool experience for them. So I'm I'm proud of him. I think he's he's a stud. And listen, it's I see it both ways, right, I see this thing starting off amazing and like four and two, five and one, And then you look at the schedule too, You're like, dang, there's some good ball clubs in there.
You'll be like, ah, where are they going to be at the break? You know, And so I'm very curious to see how things pan out. But I mean with that guy, you always got a chance. That's the bottom line, and everybody feels that, right, no matter what, we're gonna give eight the ball. Yeah, I like our chances. Let's roll.
How do you describe that personality?
You talked about attentionality, like how he's above surface level conversations. He comes across as a very confident person. Oh yeah, but also at the same time he's super intelligent. But also you combine all that with all his physical prowers, he's still humble.
Totally humble, he really is, And I think that's what's so great about the show is it's humanizing him and showing his real personality, joking around with the players, joking around about himself, being self deprecating, like that's Aaron, And I'm glad people get to see that. I'm glad that it's really shown up. I think it's good for the other players to see that, yes, you're this guy, but you're also one of the guys, you know what I mean.
And you walk in the room head and shoulders above everybody. You know, Okay, that's our guy, no doubt about it. But he's also one of the guys. And there's a unique art to that, and it is not easy because you're you're the guy and one of the guys. That's It's a lot going on there.
So how quick can this come together?
Because when's September tenth, eleventh? But Monday night? Right?
And also what is he entering as far as what are the twenty.
Well, shoot, I mean you said it right there. I said the tenth. Because our first game is rams at Seahawks.
Yeah right, you'll be on the West coast.
But they're gonna be Monday night, Monday night. Hey, welcome to New York Man, Hard knocks Monday night football game one. You know what I mean, Like it's just and it's so New York. Yeah, so the way it should go. But it's just a reminder like, Okay, here we go beat.
But have you ever taken it in a theater with him?
No? But we need to because I know he's been. He's seen a bunch of shows. I got to see a couple more. Use every off season I usually try and get four or five in so I gotta hustle. I was on honeymoon, dude ruined everything.
Remember the headline when you were drafted. I said, from Hollywood to Broadway today Sanchez, oh boy? But from Green Bay to Broadway.
I mean Chico both small town. Like that's so curious about his thoughts. And I know he's taken in a lot of what the city has to offer. And I'm happy he ass like once again he gets it. He's on your eighteen nineteen like he knows that that time in the off season is valuable. It's not like you can't be seen out because you're the young quarterback and you just need to be in this cave studying your playbook.
One that's not realistic and two he's above all that, like he's you know what I mean, he's doing it just right.
All right, we gotta let you roll. You're always gracious with your time. Let's end here. We've talked a lot about Rogers. What do you make of the landscape of the AFC? When you talk about Josh Allens inside this division mentioned Patrick Mahomes, before you got Joe Burrell, you got Justin Herbert. The list goes on as far as you can talk about the young quarterbacks. Trevor Lawrence, you got de Shaan Watson.
Yep, and she's stagged now his bottleneck. What do you think it really is?
What do you think of the quarterback position?
Well, I think the best thing that Rogers has to offer is his experience, and the only one with even close to that, probably, I'd say, is is Mahomes, right, because he's been there twice now, been there three times, one two of them with Super Bowls. So that's a guy who knows what it feels like, taste like, smells like, looks like like. That guy gets it, so does Aaron. I'd argue that those two are the most experienced in
the conference. But the biggest thing too, and we've had two case studies on in the last three or so years. But when Brady went to Tampa Bay and re energized that Sleeping Giant and that defense and the skill positions they had, sounds familiar. Yeah, same thing with Matt Stafford going to LA that defense, the skill positions they had. I'm just saying it's a very similar blueprint. Plus you
just signed Dalvin Cook. I mean, that's gonna be problems for defenses with those two backs in the backfield, between Breese Hall and Dalvin Cook, that's gonna be a problem. It's gonna be a matchup nightmare for a lot of teams. And you're gonna get a nineteen year Veta. They're calling the plays and dialing up Okay, what do we want to do versus this specific package? I like it. I
like my shot there. I know there's a lot of young studs and young guns in the AFC, but experience at the end of the day, with the way he's throwing it still, that's that's pretty scary. Great senior brother, Great, see you as well.