Welcome into the Official Jests Podcast.
Dangling a stake in front of the lion and you ain't got no cage in between you. He gonna get to that state. So let's go inside the matchup. Motivated Aaron Rodgers, Is It Dangerous? Aaron Rodgers?
Game Day and every day?
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Shine Bright, Do Good with Kendrew Scott. Mark. It's been a little while. How are you and the family doing in southern California?
Buddy? We're doing great, no complaints here. Just finished our season with Fox calling games, so this is this is the off season and what my what my wife likes to call Perry season, So it's really about her and Daniel and catching up with my good buddies in New York. So thanks for having me always listen.
How much do you enjoy being in the booth at Fox this year?
And can you tell us about all the games that you took in from a thirty thousand foot view as far as where's that NFL trending right now?
Listen? I love what I get to do. I'm so grateful for Fox keeping me around, and this is the total dream job, you know, and there's only so many of there's less broadcasters for games, then there are quarterbacks in the NFL. So I got to be one of thirty two for a little while and then you know, now we're one of eighteen or whatever it is. So I'm incredibly blessed and grateful to Fox. But this is i'd like to say, you know, the healthiest I've felt. You don't get hit in the booth, which is nice.
An occasional ribbing from your partner, whether it was Kevin Coogler or Adam Amein or Chris Myers when they want to talk and I need to be quiet, so I'll handle that. It's much better than getting sacked by Dwight Freeney or somebody like that. So that's nice. And you know, i'd like to think four years now, we're undefeated. Baby, we ain't lost the game in the booth, so I'm doing pretty gooft.
We've talked about it before, but you see the game in a different lens. How do you go about providing color to not only somebody who played maybe amateur football, or they play college football, but also connecting to the lady on the couch who doesn't have any football experience.
You know, I really do try and go back to some of my favorite coaches sayings, some of the coach speak, and those funny little things that have just found a way to ingrain themselves in my brain. You know, whether it's the way you groom a quarterback is like raising a child, so immediately you have a broad audience. Anybody watching that has a child can relate to what you're about to say. And a lot of times you tell that child, hey, buddy, I don't think you should touch
that stove. It's hot and you're going to burn yourselves. But what happens They go out and do it themselves. And quarterbacks are the same way. They go out and try and force the ball when you tell them not to. You tell them who the best player on the other team is, and hey, we're gonna try and avoid that guy for this game until we get to this situation and you know, your quarterback gets a little antsy, maybe somebody like me, and you throw the interception, you touch
the hot stove. So the best I can relate it to people, the everyday person who happened to be watching. And then at times when there's you know, a great opportunity to really dive into the x's and o's, then then I'll do that. But you can't do it all the time. You got to pick your spots. And you know that that little yellow crayon that we get and all those cool graphics we get to use on the
tellustrator from Fingerworks. They give us a lot of options, but it's about when to use them, how to use them, how much to use them. And that's that's the tightrope that I'm walking during games. But I think I think it's important there to try and give your perspective. I'm obviously gonna give a quarterback perspective. I don't want to be a quarterback apologist, but I also understand what goes
into that position. So if anything, you know, my favorite thing is I'll never look at Twitter, like during games, after games whatever, talking about announcing. But my brother Brandon, who you know, he'll he'll always text me occasionally, you know, like during the week or something, and we'll have Minnesota at Seattle, let's say, and you know he'll he'll see them at marked underscore Sanchez. Oh, you're such a homer for this. For the Seahawks. It's because you know Geno.
Oh that's that's so messed up, you know, and then he'll see another one. I can't believe you love the Vikings this much. It's because of Kevin O'Connell. And so I know, if I get heat on both sides, I'm probably right down the middle, probably right in the fairway where I need to be. So that's kind of my gauge, just you know, unofficially, and and fun between my brother and I, who's constantly and cheeking me as well. But
it's it's fun, you have. I have a great view of the whole thing, and I have pretty good experience on how this whole operation should look like and what it's how it's supposed to work and stuff, at least from my experience, and so I try and impart that knowledge, trying to be self defecating, trying to teach somebody something, hopefully make somebody laugh, and uh, you know, teach him a little football.
Who would have thought back in your playing days that you and Tom Brady would beat teammates Here are twenty twenty four, twenty five.
You can't make it.
Oh, it's so funny. We were both actually the same place for New Year's and he had a Saints game coming up, and so he hadn't had the Saints since like Week two, and this is his first season calling games, and what an improvement he's made. I think, you know, he's once again he's my teammates, so I'm always going
to speak highly of him. But you know, he's working hard at it, and it's not an easy thing to do, and it's not an easy thing to welcome a guy who kind of owned your division, not kind of, but owned our division in the AFC East for a long time. And you know that those were some heated battles against that squad, so you got to kind of check your
baggage and help your teammate. But I knew what he was going through and not seeing a team for nine, ten to eleven weeks, and you have him early in the season, and now you got him the last game of the season. They're trying to get in the playoffs whatever. That's really hard to catch up on all that film, all that tape, so you gotta, you know, kind of get through some stuff quickly and read through some of those games, watch the tape and you're blinking through tape,
so your eyes are almost bleeding. So it was just great to catch up with him and you know, talk to little Saints because I literally just came off a Saints game and I was like, dude, they got this guy in. This guy's been on IR since your game boom, and so it was nice to communicate like that. And I'm glad Fox gives us that, you know, team and family mentality and atmosphere where where we can really help
each other out. And you know, whether it's Vilma, Greg Olson and those guys, you know, you contact those guys and just hit them out. Hey, man, you had the Falcons game last week, buddy, what's the deal? Give me? You know, a couple one liners on this specific player. He just bursts on the scene. What's your take? What did you see? And what did you see a practice? You know, how did that interview go? We don't get to interview him this week. How was the that kind
of stuff. It really matters, and I think it comes across in the broadcast. The more information you have it always helps.
All Right, we got a lot of jets to get to.
But when you and Brady are together in that kind of situation and maybe you're having a soft drink. Did you ever talk about the memories of going at it that rivalry Jets Patriots?
No, we actually we actually didn't get into that. We were talking more broadcasting and more about different teams we've seen. And it's interesting when you get to see this many teams week in and week out, and you see certain teams on a Friday practice and they set themselves apart, right, they separate themselves by one, the talent on the roster, to the coaching staff they have, and the overall atmosphere
that you feel when you walk in somebody's building. So I relate it to if you've ever gone to like a dog breeder, and you got to look at all these puppies and there's fifteen of them in this litter. Well, one of them is gonna be the dominant puppy, one of them is gonna be really aggressive, one of them is gonna be a little more reserved, one of them is gonna be, you know, whining more than the others.
One of them is gonna be barking more than the So you just get to see them all together and you get to compare them in the same environment, so you really see what separates a lot of these teams. I mean, it's it'll be no surprise to you, but the Kansas City practice I went to on a Friday, it was before Christmas, not this season, but the year before.
I don't think the ball hit the ground until maybe like the second to last play of team, like the team reps and this is later in the year, so you're starting to cut down on reps, but they were still pretty heavy compared to some other teams. A lot of teams are walking through on Friday. Everybody's schedules a little different. But it was almost as if, and not almost the team knew that this practice was an elite
level practice and this was up to their standard. And when the ball hit the ground of the back of the back corner of the end zone, like right off the guy's fingertips, everybody, even me, go, oh, it's like as if we were rooting for the team in that practice because it was so good. And that's the kind of standard that Andy Reid and that entire coaching staff and the players that they've acquired the GM. I mean, that's the standard that they adhere to and there are
no substitutes for anything less. So you can see it across the league with these teams, and it's pretty lucky to get to see that.
You're the last guy who took a playoff snap for this franchise on a cold, wintry day with Pittsburgh, you know we had them too.
So but you came here.
You came here to training camp prior to the twenty twenty four to twenty five season.
You watch Rogers out there on that field.
When you see the Jets finish five and twelve, finish with an interim head coach with Jeff Albrick in interim GM and fell Savage, do a wonder how this all unfolded? How are we sitting here right now.
It's it's so hard to put your finger on one specific thing. But I will say, and I know that this isn't because it's the Jets, This is any team that's five and twelve. This is you know, look at the Commanders last year compared to this yere, look at Dan Campbell and the Lions a few years back as opposed to these past two years. Like it takes time. This whole thing isn't instant. Grits and I know everybody wants that. Just give me the answers, now plug and play.
We got Aaron Rodgers wore winning a Super Bowl. Sure that sounds good. It doesn't always equate to that, right, the theory versus the practice idea, and so it's it's hard to put your finger on it. But I'm telling you five and twelve is I mean, we're talking a couple of plays throughout the season, a game, a bounce, an injury that you go from five to twelve to twelve and five. And I know it sounds crazy. I promise you. I know it sounds crazy. And oh you're
saying that because it's the Jets podcast. I'd say it on any team's podcast, thirty one other teams, i'd say it. And it really is. I mean, Kansas City was struggling for years until Andy Reid came in, So what's the difference. And I think it's tough when you go through one the injuries. I mean, nobody can control that. Everybody tries to do their best to mitigate those things and hopefully you get hit if you do early in the season
and guys come back they're not season enders. And you get everybody healthy and you kind of crescendo into the playoffs with your playing ability and availability. But these are difficult things. You get decimated by injuries. You fire the coach after week five and the two games prior it's a one score game. You know, I don't know a team and maybe there has been, but I don't know a team that's made the playoffs after finding their coach after five games or midway through the year, when you
have an interim head coach. And that I had nothing to do with coach Olbrick, nothing to do with Robert Sola. I mean, that defense has been excellent for the last few years. So it's really hard to put your finger on it. And I'm just telling you the margin is they're not that far off. I know it seems at times you read stuff that fans say and oh man, there's not a tent big enough for the circus and this is a dumpster fire, and well, hold on now,
pump the brakes. Let's eliminate some of the emotion here and get to some And you got a quarterback that played all right, you know, better than al right. He played better than his last year in Green Bay, coming off of an achilles injury. So say what you want about the guy, but he had you into the ball games, and you know, you got to figure out how to help the guy playing quarterback, whether it's me, whether it's Aaron, whether it's anybody in between. So I think there's there's a lot of work.
That needs to be done, no doubt about that.
And the Jets GM and head coaching searches well underway. We're going to hear about a number of candidates here in the coming days and weeks. But from your perspective as a guy who played quarterback, who played quarterback in the AFC Championship Game consecutive years for this franchise, what's most important when you're talking about GM, head coach, quarterback.
Well, I think those three are the holy trinity of the NFL, and it's an owner that can find those guys and they all have to be essentially in lockstep or close enough to where they understand when they disagree, it's okay, But we're going to continue rowing the boat in the same direction and at least hopefully have a similar lens to where they view things, or if they have different lenses, then lenses that they can respect and stuff that they can glean from each other to work together.
The perfect example is what they have going in Kansas City, Right, you draft your quarterback that you want, he gets to learn from an all pro in Alex Smith, and then lights the world on fire because he's got a head coach and a GM that believed in him, found him in the draft, and put a ton of resources into making sure that guy's life and his learning curve was the right speed. And you know, they've done it, and
that's they're the anomaly, they're the outlier. But that's what everybody's searching for, whether it's you know, we mentioned those conversations with Tom Brady and we talked about different organizations and even if him and Bill Belichick didn't agree at times, they still knew which direction they were going. You don't always have to agree. It doesn't always have to be perfect. Bill Belichick's way isn't the only way to win games. Right.
There's other coaches who've had sustained success. Pete Carroll has a different, you know, mode of operating than Bill Belichick. So does Andy Reid. So there's different ways to attack this thing. But you got to get people to buy in, and it's got to be you know, one direction, everybody rowing in the same direction, and it's really really hard
to get that. I think when we're talking specifically with the New York Jets, you know, because this place is so big, because the media is such a force in the New York area and nationally, I think it would help to have a coach that might not be their first time, hopefully it's maybe their second or third rodeo, if that makes sense, with head coaching experience, hopefully some sustained success, maybe not you know, incredible success for a long period of time, because a lot of times those
people aren't available or they've aged themselves out. So who's out there with that experience? I mean, I understand the argument for and against Rex Ryan, you know, I completely get it. And as one of his former players listen, we love playing for Rex was an excellent coach. He did an excellent job for us, and he can't argue with the success we had. Now do I think everything was perfect? No? But I wasn't perfect. Rex wasn't perfect. Mike Tannebaum wasn't perfect. So where can those things have
gotten cleaned up? How much has he learned from being away from the game these few years being in Buffalo for the couple of years he was there. I mean that's a big factor. And then having you know, a GM and coach that are you know, understand exactly what it looks like. What are we trying to find here? What kind of players are we looking for? What's our mentality? Look at the Chargers, I mean, Jim Harbaugh, this team to the playoffs this year, and I mean you look
at their roster. I don't think the Jets have a worse roster than the Trucktures. If anything, I had to say the other way around. But these guys somehow found their way in the playoffs. So what's the difference.
You know, That's why the season, that's why the season has been so maddening. This past season was so maddening for the fans because you talk about the talented roster, and then and you mentioned before as far as how close it can be.
Sometimes the Jets were what three and seven and one score.
Games and they had six leads in the fourth quarter where the other team ended up winning.
I mean, so those those kind of examples. Look at O'Connell's first year in Minnesota, they won like twelve one score games. So sometimes you get to bounce a couple of those games. Sometimes you're just so in tune with those end of game mechanics and end of game situations that you're going to out execute other teams. And really you just don't give it away the other Most teams lose games, most teams don't go win them. A lot
of teams are given away. If you got the lead in the fourth quarter, you got to be thinking, all right, boys, let's put a bowl on this thing and knock these guys out. Let's go finish this game. We got to learn how to finish. And it takes time to instill that in a team, in a ball club, and it takes offseason and reps. It takes you know, live reps where you get to go in the situation, either succeed or fail, come back to the very next day, watch
it as a team. You got to understand exactly what made it work or exactly what made you fail, or what you did to give the game away, and what you allow because you're either coaching it or you're allowing it to happen. Right, And that's that's the big argument. When when you look at this ball club with all those fourth quarter leads just find a way to finish. I think a lot of that too, is special teams. It's it's not just the quarterback, it's not just the receiver,
the O line, the D line. It's a collective unit and those three phases offense, defense, and a lot of times more importantly special teams. Just ask Jay Feely, Nick Folk. Those guys hit some clutch, clutch field goals for us, for the teams.
I was going now on field goals still to this day, That's.
What I'm saying. So like that wasn't just hey, Sanchez won the game, No, we won the game. I made a couple of play. Revis made some plays. Mangold made the block, he had the strain that kept me in the pocket, one extra half second to find Braylen Edwards down the field. Santonio Holmes streaking across the middle. Like those kind of things happen when everybody starts to come together, when it when it really starts to gel. And you
know the kicking issue. You go through four kickers in one year, and you start with Zerlin, sorry's five there you go. I mean you start with Zerlin and he was nails last year and then goes through his struggles. Then you bring over a couple of different players. You get Carlson, the brother of the kid in Vegas. The kid in Vegas is an absolute stud. Carlson gets drafted
to green baylight last year in the sixth round. Remember green Bay the youngest roster in the league still but last year went to Dallas on the road, waxed them. Then they go to San Francisco, who ends up in the Super Bowl. Had the Chiefs on the ropes. They have them on the ropes. I mean they got their foot on their throat ready to end this game in San Francisco and Carlson misses the kick gets cut boom.
Now he's on the Jets. Has a rough year. I mean those games, those three points, when you know you got a kicker like that, it completely changes your offensive mentality. You know, as soon as we cross the forty boys, we got points. Now it's got to be good. It's got to be really good. Or we don't need to force anything downfield. Two hands on the ball, play it smart, play conservative. Our defense has got our back. Special team is gonna win us field position and they're gonna get
us points. Like those kind of things like special team's got to be a weapon. And you know, we were pretty fortunate to have not just the coaches like our guy west Off, even though he talked to a bunch of snack about me and who else, Benny Kottwika Howika was the man. I mean, getting guys to buy in finding the brad Smiths and you know, using special teams as the weapon, whether it's Peeley or Folk. That's that's a big part of this whole operation. And that group,
I mean, they're not just special team, they're special forces. Man. They got to go in and do the dirty work. They got to do stuff that other people don't want to sign up to do, and they got to do it with a smile and a toughness and an attitude. And that's you know what I think the team was missing a ton last year because it's not just offensive defense. Those guys got to win some games for it.
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How do you go about whomever this new leadership is?
How do you go about instilling a new culture because there's a lot of talent here. We mentioned that, and you have young guys who are dogs, Garrett Wilson, Breese Hall. You got an offensive line that's got foundational pieces. You can flip it to the other side of the ball. And so you gotta Quinn Williams. You gotta Quincy Williams. You know Jamie it's sure what his contracts up, well to see what happens. But you got Sauce Gard in the defensive backfield. There are pieces here.
But how do you go about coming in and stilling a winning culture because some of these young guys that I just mentioned, they haven't experienced winning yet.
Right, and they haven't experienced it since college probably, and some of them are not even college. But like you look at Sauce, you look at Garrett Wilson, I mean, these guys are they got to decide on their fifth year option because they're entering their fourth year. Brinese Hall a little different because he was the second rounder. But those first round guys, you need to make some decisions on them and that kind of affects their mental entering
the year. Does this team really want me or am I on a one year proven deal, and there's something to be said for both of that, right for each side of that. Keeping guys hungry but also making them feel a part of the team, and that is a tightrope walk across Niagara Fall. That's hard to do. So, no matter what, the person coming in has to command the respect of this ball club and guys have to want to be there. Then once you get that, you get guys there in the offseason, get guys around each other.
You've got to have some sort of success. You gotta. It's once again, it's like raising kids. You got to You gotta set them up for success, watch them go through something, have the success, then they come back to you for more. Hey, you told me this. I went out and did it. It worked. I got the catch, I made the throw, I made the block. I used your technique and made the tackle. You know. I tackled through the football, got the strip sack, we got the ball,
kicked the game winning field goal. That was awesome. Coach, give me more. I need more, And so I think a little bit of success early helps. I'm not saying you got to start ten to zero, but there's gotta be these little wins along the way. Whether it's the actual game winning or incremental improvement to where guys want more information, want more knowledge, want to be coached, and
coach hard It's easier said than done. It's really easy on a podcast like this to talk about, Yeah, man, we're gonna establish the culture and they're gonna respect it and we're gonna win games. Well, yeah, that all sounds good,
but what does that look like? And it's somebody with the real plan, with the blueprint, who's, in my opinion, done it before, had that success, something that these players can look back on and say, Man, I remember playing against that guy or man that position group when he coached that group, they were tough. They're always tough. They always led the league in this, you know what I mean. Like you get a basketball coach that comes over and you watch their old tape. Man, these guys are on
the ground for every loose ball. These guys used four of their five fouls every game. You know, this is a tough unit. So that's what Hardball brought to the Chargers, right and you could see it every place he's been. He has that blueprint. So whoever you're bringing in, they're gonna bring in their personality. And then they got to get the guys buy in, have a little success early,
so they keep coming back for more. Then now you're not only fighting you know, the adversity of losing for so long, Then you gotta fight the adversity of winning, right the Sometimes that's harder. Then, you know, once you have the success, there's adversity to success in a weird way. Right now everybody's the reason for the wins instead of that collective group that got you there. Now everybody wants theirs and everybody wants to get paid, which I respect.
But you know, how long can you harness that pure love for each other for the game, for the practice, for the film, for the weightlifting, for the running and conditioning, the stuff you don't see on Sundays? Like how much do you love that? And how many of those guys on that roster are you going to fill spots with the love that? So I think that's the crossroads that the Jets are at.
Fair Enough, Jets Nation will sign up for those kinds of problems, winning problems, And there are.
Dudes on both sides of the ball. I didn't even mentioned Jermaine Johnson.
Coming back from Achilles, I talked to him the other day, chomping at the beat. Will McDonald broke out in his second year. I mean, but let's talk about the quarterback. Aaron Rodgers statistically had one of the best seasons in franchise history.
He started all seventeen games.
He gotta give him a ton of credit at forty one years old, coming back from the Achilles battling through ankle, knee, hamstring ailments to start every game. With that being said, you're gonna have new football leadership here. He Aaron asks his side what he wants to do. The Jets have
to decide what they want to do. From your perspective, what are your thoughts what Aaron's going to go through, and what are your thoughts would the Jets have to go through because not only right now do they have Rogers under contract Tyrod Taylor, you also drafted a young kid out of Florida State who was working to get his get back, and that's Jordan Travis. And then people look at the draft and say, hey, the Jets are probably going to be looking at a another young pastor.
We'll just see how that all unfolds.
So I think when you talk about the quarterback position, there's you know, the there's a production aspect, there is the contract aspect, and the financial aspect, and then there's the atmosphere and leadership aspect. So if we're talking straight up production and stats, you know, almost thirty nine hundred yards, twenty eight touchdowns, eleven interceptions, sixty three percent completions. This
is better than his last year in Green Bay. It's not as you know, back to back MVP years or as two MVP ers, whatever they were, but that's I mean, you can win with that. There's definitely some winning football in there somewhere because those stats are better than half the league at forty one years old coming off an achilles. So I don't know whoever comes in has to decide on if that's enough for them and what that means. But that's going to play in to the next point,
which is the financials. And it's a big number. It's a big number for a guy who's forty one. But if you like that production and you're willing to pay him that much, well don't forget. You know, he sat his terms, the team agreed to those terms, and that's what you get when you make an agreement like that. That's what happens, So you take the good with the bad.
Nobody expected him to be out after a couple of plays the very first year he starts, and who knows what the narrative is if he plays that whole season, So there's stuff to figure out with that contract. Do you take you know, the dead cap hit with the
money and get rid of him. Do you use him as your bridge guy and draft his successor do you keep the current right and then wait for the next draft class where they think there might be some better quarterbacks available than this draft class, right because you missed last year's there are quite a few good ones that looked like So what does that mean financially? And I'm not a cap specialist, that's not my you know, I don't dive too hard into the financials. I just know
it's a little messy with that situation. So they're gonna have to have a plan for that. And then the next thing is just the atmosphere his leadership, you know, do the guys respond to them? And I think for the most part it's yes. I know, you know recently, and it's an easy place to become the villain. Unfortunately, and you know, he's been villainized in a way. There's certain things I think each side probably could have handled
a little differently. Anytime you look at you know, you go back and look in hindsight and it's always twenty twenty. But you'd say, yeah, maybe the organization could have done this, And you know, maybe Aaron could have showed up to the to the mini, maybe it could have been there for more OTAs. Maybe he had his own rehab stuff. Maybe there's other circumstances that I don't even know about.
So you know, it's pure speculation here, but you'd like to have an environment where your guy wants to be there all the time, and there could be reasons that he didn't want to be there. I don't know. I'm not saying he's a horrible person for doing that whatever, just i'd like to see moving forward a coach, a GM and a quarterback that all three of those guys at Holy Trinity of an NFL ball club are all
on the same page. They all want to be together as much as they can offseason, during the season, whatever it is, whatever our max hours is, we're trying to steal every second of those hours we're allowed to be together. And you know, this year. It's think about it. You get a new coach, you get two mini camps. One of them's mandatory. I'd like my quarterback to be at both. You know, that's just me. If I'm the new coach,
I'd love him to be there. It makes my life a little easier because if you're trying to set this culture that we talked about, well, he's got to be the number one culture guy. He's gotta exude all of your fundamentals and your ideals in establishing that culture or else it kind of falls on deaf fears because if you're telling you know, fifty three on the roster, hey,
you got to do this, but this guy can do that. Now, listen, there is an argument for you know, I'm gonna treat you, if I'm the head coach, I'm gonna treat you fairly. You're not all gonna get treated equally, you know what I mean. The old Revus rule, the bus leaves at two thirty unless you're durell Reevs will wait, you know what I mean. So there's some to be said for that, But you also have to have the right culture and guys that understand that and guys that don't take advantage
of that. So bottom line is you need your best players to be your hardest workers. And if that's the case moving forward, I think there's plenty of meat on the bone when it comes to Aaron Rodgers and his ability as a player. I think the contract issue and then the atmosphere leadership issues are things they need to hash out the new coach Aaron. But I mean, if
you're talking playing ability, the guys still got plenty. He's still one of the most amazing passers in the league, so I think there's plenty of wins left with number eight.
It's all very interesting because he was here throughout OTAs that was the voluntary portion of camp, obviously referring to that mandatory mini camp there prior to training camp.
And then you mentioned the REVS rule.
You can go back to Bill Parcells who said that I think about treating players fairly, that doesn't mean you treat them equally.
Did REVS really have in separate bus rules. I didn't even know that.
No. Rex just made that joke one time. He said, you know, the bus leaves at two thirty, talking about we're going to the airport for a road game, and he said the bus leaves at two thirty unless you're Durell Reevs. Meaning you know, we'll wait for Darrell, And then he broke down that you know, jets on three one two three jets And then as we're walking away, it's like, if you have to think about if we'll wait for you, we ain't waiting, you know, like that
means you're not that good. So it was just, uh, but that's that's one of those things you get to because we had so many veterans, you know, Yeah, Like we had guys that could take that kind of sarcasm that could understand that kind of humor. The Mangolds, the Brandon Moore's, our entire offense, like Alan Fanica. You know, those guys were through pros and had been around a lot. They'd seen a lot. They've seen winning football, they've seen
losing football, so they can understand that. Now you've got a whole new group of teams and rookies and you ain't making that joke. It's just not you got to read the room. You can't do that. But with our team, other than me, we had veterans everywhere, so it was it was it was a fun time and in a different atmosphere.
Getting back to the head coach search, you talked about maybe having a preference to somebody who had experience in that role before. Can you just speak to somebody who played here as someone who played here, who's in the media now, how unique this situation is.
Whoever comes in to one Jets drive.
What is it like to be a part of this franchise in New York and with this starving fan base? Because man, when you came in, you were a kid and you experienced winning.
Right away, no doubt. And I think I was, you know, baptized by fire in a way. Remember you got to remember my journey. I'm coming off a Rose Bowl MVP. I'm the fifth pick in the draft. The first season was pretty rocky. We got into the playoffs. We were nine to seven, you know, we win our first three, we lose like four straight. Then it's kind of up and down, not sure if we're going to make the playoffs. At one point, I think after the Atlanta game, we
thought we were out. Then we come in the building the next day and we're live. We got to win and get in. We got to win two games and get in whatever it is. And so that moment kind of galvanized that team to become something special and make some noise in the playoffs. Now, we didn't end up getting to the super Bowl, but we were damn close. And after that, there was a hunger and there was that culture that we talked about where once we got
in that playoff mode, guys just got closer. It's not that their home lives and personal lives didn't matter, but they knew for the next couple months, it's got to be a hyper focus and a singular focus on what we're trying to do. And that is really takes precedent right now, and you know, not to diminish and minimize anything else going on at home. But there was a collective shared struggle there that was really paramount in our lives,
it felt like, and we grew closer. We were always at dinner together, we were always watching extra tape together, we were always getting reps after practice together because we wanted to win. We tasted something, We knew there was something out there, and we got to go get it, man, And it's gonna take everything I got and I'm gonna make sure that other guy's given everything he's got. And if we're not, we need to have a conversation because it ain't fair to everybody. So I just felt like
to get to that we experience it. Then I go to year two and now we're it feels like we're lighting the world on fire. We're winning these fourth quarter games that we didn't win my rookie year. We're winning fourth quarter, two minute comeback games. And this offense is starting to evolve. I'm getting to throw the ball a little bit more. It's not just run run, run, run, okay, occasional rollout pass. Now we're throwing it a little bit.
We're getting in empty sets, we're using motion, we're using shifts. This thing's getting to where we want to go. And so I got this taste of the NFL, like, oh man, not that it was easy, but this is this is how it's supposed to go. This is kind of how you know, you script it, like we're we're knocking on the door of the super these first two years. Third year, come on, we got it. This is the one. This is the one. And then we go eight and eight,
miss the playoffs and it's like whoa. And then you really experience New York and I had only seen one side of it. I'd seen little glimpses of oh, we lost the game or we're on a three game losing streak or whatever, but then we get back on a heater. I didn't experience it like that, where the whole offseason was just man, you know, you blew it, you're no good whatever. That's the way it is there. It's feast
or famine. It's superlative media. And so having a coach that's been through it before, I think is important to handle that because you need somebody to just steady the boat right like steady stabilize and get everybody once again, to get the blinders on, put your phone down. The narratives in this building are more important than anywhere else. Let's lock that, you know, knock that stuff out, lock into what we got. And that's that's one of the
most difficult things to do. Just so you know, on this media side, you know, for people watching, there's when you when you put together a TV show, when you construct a show, there's your first thing out of the gate is called your a block. Cowboys jets. They're going to lead to a block on almost every show across the country. Now that you know it, like you'll see it more. I didn't realize it like that until I really got into TV. But that a block is the
heavy hitters. And oh, by the way, we'll talk about Kansas City. They're back to back super Bowl champs. But did you see the Jets game yesterday? It's like, whoa wait, what? How does that work like that? So just for the coaches to understand that and have been through that kind of fire, I'm not saying necessarily in New York, but being the headman, I mean, you're catching strays, You're catching a lot at all times, and that guy's got to be stronger than kevlar. So it's it's a different animal
in that market. And I'm black to have played there, learned a ton about people, business football myself, and that's that's really what that market's all about. So you got to find a way to to block it out, and you know winning, winning is one way to do it.
I'd be real mess if I didn't ask you about the playoffs here. Well, Kansas City is trying to do, attempting to do. We've never seen it before, even though that New England had a dynastic run themselves, But you're talking about a team going for three straight titles. In terms of the Jets, how should their fan base be viewing the playoffs Because I'm looking at Kansas City and saying that team's not going anywhere. You're looking at Baltimore and saying that team's not going anywhere.
And Buffalo's won five consecutive AFC East titles, and those.
Are the teams that you're ultimately going to want to compete with.
Yeah, but just remember however many years ago it was in nine and ten, it was the Patriots, it was us, you know, it was the Steelers. I mean, these things change over time. Now a lot of these teams sustain success. They get in the playoff tournament every year. That's really where you want to be right around there and keep drafting and developing guys. But you know, the thing can flip fast. So it's not you know, the end of the world, and you've got to build and construct a
team to win your division. And then you got to look at, Okay, what else do we have. We're gonna need some pass rushers because the AFC quarterbacks are insane. Just Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen, I mean those three right there. We need somebody to sack that guy. We need somebody. You can't ever stop them. Those guys are you know, uh, superstars like in the NBA. You're never gonna stop Steph Curry. You're never gonna hold them to zero points. But can we just limit his touches?
Can we find a way to somehow hold them to less than twenty? Would be amazing, you know what I mean? Like, Okay, now, how do we do that? Who do we have to really make that happen? And that's where you know, our defense was so good in O nine and ten that you know we get after players like Tom Brady, like Ben Roethlisberger. You know, not every time they got the better of us, but there were some times now where
we could catch them on a couple quarters. And now offense, you got to turn it on special teams, flip the field, give us a chance. And so I think if you get too concerned about the outside, you got to be aware of it, right, you can't be completely ignorant to it. But if you get too concerned about it, like how can we beat these guys? How can we beat these guys? They're so good, they're superstars. Well that's what they thought
about some of the guys on our team. So you know, we pick up some big time free agents and Ladenian Thomlinson, Jason Taylor. I mean, you bring in a couple boom they they add to the roster. Jason Taylor picks up a couple of sacks like, oh man, here we go.
Now we got a shot, baby, And so you know, you pick up an extra possession along the way, steal a field goal along the way, and that's how you piece it together at the beginning and then hopefully end up where Kansas City is and you're just amazed that they've held it together so long. They have a core group of guys once again who believe in the ethos of that team and the philosophy of that team, and they have something to fall back on good bad wins, losses.
We have something that we subscribe to believe in and can always fall back on. And that's you know, going to evolve a little bit over time, but those hardcore values and beliefs that should be should be a constant.
Kansas City is an anomaly this year though, because they're not scoring.
They're not scoring thirty every week these other.
Teams, and it's find it's it's formula so so. But for the Jets, well, look at the Patriots. Look at the Patriots early Tom Brady career, late Tom Brady career. You know, one year he throws whatever, it was, fifty touchdowns and you know Randy Moss is lighting up to score. Well, he didn't do that the first year he started. The first two years he started, it was fulk out of the backfield. It was you know, tight ends making catches.
It was defensive. You know, Mike Rabel running the show on defense with Bruski and you know, I mean they had ballers now on defense and that was a defensive team. And Brady played a different brand of football than he did at the end of his career year twenty when he's seen everything under the sun. So understanding what you're trying to construct, who you're trying to be, what division you need to win, Okay, what does that look like?
And then also understanding your personnel. What are we good at, what can we do, what are we trying to do, and what do these players respond to? So I think that's part of the battle. But that whole algorithm is you know, if I had the exact answer Buddy had, I don't know if we'd be talking on this, I don't know if you could afford.
Me mark multiple ways of skinned cat that's what you're saying. Hey, listen, Kansas City, they found a way to win differently. This Buffalo scored more than thirty points a game every week.
Baltimore scored more than thirty every week. Detroit is scoring at astronomical numbers.
You saw what your buddy Koc was able to do there in Minnesota, you know. But they're pairing it up with that blitzing defense with Flores, who's going to get head coaching looks himself, and Philadelphia as well in other prolific offense.
So it's just interesting as far as the friends are concers.
Some of those guys you're talking about, like those are second opportunity maybe third opportunity quarterbacks in the big and mayfield in the playoffs. Like it's Sam Darnold went right through New York, is there not the right atmosphere, didn't
play as well as he wanted to. Goes through the whole, you know, quarterback rehab process, whatever you want to call it, and he becomes this reclamation project, lands in a place with an excellent defense, weapons on offense, a solid o line and the guy looks like, you know, a pro bowler, and it's like, WHOA, what's the difference between this guy and that guy? Was it just the environment? Is it his development of or time? Is it both? It's a lot of those things, and the same thing for coaches.
Just you know, the name I was shocked. You know the name I was really shocked that didn't get any run in this cycle was Jason Garrett. I mean, talk about a guy who's dealt with a circus in Dallas.
Are you kidding me?
That's just as tough, if not tougher than New York. They're Chicago, the Giants, the Jets, the Cowboys. I mean, those are tough places to coach the quarterback to be the GM those are some of the toughest places in the world. So you know, this guy held him right here for a long time, ripped off thirteen wins with
a rookie quarterback in dak Prescott in twenty sixteen. Like, I don't know, that might be somebody i'd want to talk to, just saying I'm not like I got no dog in the fight here, but somebody who's handled a situation similar to the Jets. I don't know.
Oh, look at you throwing out another name because the Jets are gonna cast a way they don't listen long enough.
Yeah, seriously, sucking the link.
Is like a CVS or see bro, it's gonna continue to grow up.
Man.
We love catching up with you. Many blessings to you and the family. Anything you want to anything you want to say to your fan base back here in New York.
Oh, geez, listen. It's always like your first love, you know, It's it's We've had some of the most incredible times, really difficult times, and that's what made it fun. And I appreciate them accepting you know, you know, maybe not everybody right away. Gary Vee, you know he bowed me on Draft Day and I'll never forget that. Now we've since squashed that beef. No, I don't hold grudges. I don't even think about it, but he, uh, you know, stuff like that. I mean, it's just it's an incredible
experience playing that place. That's That's one thing I'll say for whichever coach GM and quarterback is there. And I think Aaron experienced that. He's talked about it. You know that this is a special place you can feel there's there's energy in that building, in that in that city and with that fan base, and you to find a way to harness it. It is. It is a special,
special feeling. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to play there, and that is that has only helped me the rest of my entire life, not just professional but personal life. And so I'm I love the Jets, and you know, I'm obviously yeah, I can't be biased on TV, so I got to call it straight. But and I hope it doesn't come across like I'm too biased. But you know, they're always your first love. They gave me my first opportunity in this league.
Okay, next time in New York, Dinner on me or you.
On Ovens on Chris Ovans. All right, thanks brother,