We Talk Ourselves into Liking the Bills & Browns Coaching Hires

Hello and welcome to the MMQB NFL podcast.

There's Albert Breer in Mobile.

Mobile, is that where you are?

No, Boston, but that's all right.

Close enough.

Where?

Oh my God, you're just like planes, trains, and automobiles these days.

um.

I got home, uh, I got home at like 4 or 5 o'clock.

So now I'm back here for 2 days and then San Francisco on Sunday morning.

All right, Albert Breer in Boston, Connor Orr in New Jersey awaiting yet another, uh, life-altering snowstorm, apparently.

Um, before we get, I guess it's not gonna be as bad as they say.

But maybe that's just us.

So here's the thing, uh, I have a long standing tradition of leaving for the Super Bowl and then my house getting absolutely pummeled with snow, and, uh, this happened 3 different times , uh, when my wife was pregnant, which is not something that you want to happen.

Um, and, uh , this time it's when I left for Denver and you and I were stuck out there for a little while, um, that was also disastrous, but at least I learned from previous mistakes.

I loaded up the house with bread, milk, eggs, extra water.

for the for the dispenser, like all of it, you know, and, uh, and so that's what today is about.

We're taping this on Friday morning at 8 a.m. That's what today is all about.

It's stocking the house so that I don't get in trouble on the way back, you know, it's like storm Center 6.

Inciting panic, and then that panic lead everybody getting bread and milk at the supermarket.

Is that like, is that like the Catholic Church and the fish industry being tied together and being like, you just can't eat meat on Fridays during Lent?

Like, I wonder if like, Yeah, like WNEP 16 and like, and, and Garrity's are like, those are two supermarkets in my old hometown or or a supermarket and a TV station in my old hometown.

I wonder if they're just like on the phone with each other, like, all right, you ready for this?

Like, uh, you know, Tom Clark, the weatherman's going to go out there and say that there's going to be a bomb cyclone and then you guys are just going to sell.

You guys are gonna sell all the milk in the fridge.

Good for you.

Bomb cyclone is like, uh, it really sounds like, I think it sounds worse than it is, you know what I mean?

Like it's the reverse of turf toe.

It's the reverse turf toe, yeah, yeah.

I don't feel like.

I first of all, I don't think that bomb cyclones existed when I was a kid, so they were, it feels like they were invented or at least made more prominent.

That term has been made more prominent like recently.

Oh, that's what's coming this weekend.

That's what's, yeah, that's what's coming this weekend is a bomb cycle.

Every time you hear that term, like you, it sounds like, oh my God, like batten down the hatches, like board up your windows, and it's never that bad.

Like I feel like a nor'easter is worse than a bomb cyclone.

So can it be the same thing?

I, I don't know, I'm reading about it on USA Today and they're like, this phenomena, and I was like, how can it be a phenomena if it seems to happen all the time now, I guess, right?

A winter hurricane is what they're saying.

Yeah, I saw a bomb cyclone in Denver, Albert, like we were sitting in that press.

That was, that was, I mean, I, I'm, I tell, I've told people about this.

I've told those people this story a few different times so we can tell it here too, is that, and maybe we did, I can't remember if we did on the podcast earlier in the week or not, but like Connor and I were sitting there in the press box and like.

At halftime, I, I think it was right around halftime where I said to you, like, people have no idea.

People watching this on TV have no idea how bad this actually is cause we'd look up at the TVs and it didn't look that bad on the TVs.

And then, like by the 4th quarter, it was, everybody knew how bad it was.

Yeah, yeah, uh, totally wild.

Um, all right, so we're gonna wrap up.

We've had some news since the last time we talked, literally.

You and I taped an episode.

We started to go about our day and then the Bills hired their head coach.

Um, and I think that brings us down to 2, which is, or 3, I guess technically, um, which is not surprising, right?

I mean, oh no, 2, sorry, the Cardinals and Cardinals and the Raiders.

Um, and I think that there's certain, we know what that means.

I think in no uncertain terms , I think I can pretty safely predict.

Um, which two coaches are going there.

Um, but first, I want to touch on the Bills and the Browns.

The Browns hired Todd Monken as their head coach.

Let's start in Buffalo.

Uh, here's what I think is really interesting about this, Albert.

Um, I've rarely have I seen a situation where You, you essentially, uh, you, you, you, you sustain this heartbreaking loss and you make the jarring decision, the franchise-altering decision to fire one of the winningest coaches in the NFL and in recent NFL history.

And then you're basically like, we want everybody else back except for you.

Like, I mean, you, you, you promote the offensive coordinator and Joe did great in his first press conference.

I thought, I think I get it.

I know why they did it.

Um, but are the bills gonna be different enough on the surface to figure out everything else that ails them?

Yeah, and I, I, I, I think like that tells you that.

Whether it was right or wrong, that maybe the front office thought that the locker room just needed a new voice, you know, and that this wasn't like some sort of schematic thing, um, although, you know, the offense, the defensive coordinator Bobby Babbage is now gone too, so there will be some turnover on that side of the ball.

Um, I, you know, and I like one thing I heard pretty consistently over the course of the last, you know, 3 or 4 days was that That Joe Brady knocked like the CEO as head coach part of the interview out of the park, and that was really what they were focused in on was they wanted somebody who, you know, was gonna be able to kind of guide the ship from that standpoint and see the big picture of everything and you know , I, I think it's interesting because I've heard Joe Brady interviews really well in general and I so mean that was going back to when he was in Carolina.

Yeah, yeah, like before he got fired in Carolina, like the story I have is that like in Atlanta, when Arthur Smith was named the coach, and they had to compete to get Arthur Smith because there were a bunch of teams that were after him in 21 and Joe Brady at the time had only been an offensive coordinator in the league for a year and was about to get fired, right?

Like was about to get fired from that job and You know, they, they, uh, And uh they, they like, he goes in and like Joe Brady goes in and knocks the interview out of the park and he wound up, he was the runner-up.

Like if it, if it hadn't have been Arthur Smith, it would have been Joe Brady.

And so Joe Brady was there at that 0.5 years ago now, and then went through getting fired and had to kind of work his way back up in Buffalo where he went from position coach back to coordinator, now to head coach.

So, from that standpoint, it's interesting and Um, you know, look, like, to, to be fair to Joe too, like the job of head coach is way, way different than the job of, of offensive coordinator, you know, so, there's certainly a world where he's gonna be able to bring to you what you already had in, um, in a top-five offense the last two years with him as the coordinator, and Like he's gonna be really good at the other parts of the job of being, being a head coach.

I'll tell you what would take this hire for me and push it to like an 11 on the scale, and that's if, um, you know, because I saw Jim Leonard being circulated as a potential candidate for this job.

I mean, you know, and we'll talk about Jim Schwartz in a second for the, for the Browns.

That's another name that if, you know, all of a sudden he's like, well, screw you guys.

Let me out of my contract.

I don't want to be here.

And then high tails his way to Buffalo, which I, I, I don't know, he wasn't Jim.

Jim Schwartz was in Buffalo, but was he, was he, um, He was, I, I remember that coordinator was he?

I thought he, I think he was in Buffalo under, I'm trying to remember who that was, that was the head coach then.

Oh, good trivia question.

OK, ba ba ba.

OK, so.

OK, I know before it was before Rex Ryan, so would that have been Chan Gailly?

No Who am I missing in between Chan Gailly and and Doug Marrone?

Doug Marone, Doug Marrone, Doug Marrone.

There you go.

Yeah, what a staff there.

Doug Marrone, Nathaniel Hackett, Jim Schwartz, Todd Downing.

Well, it's a good stuff.

They went 9 and 7 that year.

I could see why.

Um, well, you remember that Doug Marrone did not get fired.

Doug Marrone, he opted out to try to get the Jets job.

And then that got.

Shut down for reasons.

That's a whole other podcast one day.

Uh, I need we're gonna have to do like an offseason Jets history podcast at some point.

Yeah, maybe I'll start drinking again to get through that.

Um, the, uh, so I think that they have a chance to, to push this forward.

The defensive coordinator hire is a big one.

It's going to be an early test for Joe Brady.

And I, I'm wondering, Albert, what your take is on this.

I just think, and again this is one of 32, someone took the Browns job.

Someone is going to take the Cardinals' job.

Someone's gonna take the Raiders job, so good candidates are going to take these jobs, um, but was there anything about how this.

Happened in Buffalo that you think threw some candidates for a loop because this search to me was strange.

It was almost like they wanted to end up with Joe Brady.

They kind of just flew through a couple of candidates.

They threw Philip Rivers in there and then like, it was not a comprehensive search.

And so I'm wondering if this is just where they wanted to end up all along, and they didn't care how they came off because they were gonna hire Joe Brady in the first place.

Yeah, I, I mean, I think Joe Brady was a strong candidate from the start.

I do think they went into it open-minded.

Um, I think Joe Brady had to win the interview, which clearly he did, um, to get that job.

I, I also think part of it was like they, I think they had an idea that this was not.

The deepest pool of candidates like this year was kind of a tough year like in that you didn't have like the obvious names that have been kind of circulating for a while, um, which is an interesting dynamic when you consider the amount of openings, you know, when you've got 10 openings and it's, I mean, I would say, and , and we don't know how like Be clear about this.

Like, we don't know how this could wind up being a great pool of candidates.

Like, in the, we don't know, you know what I mean?

But just on the, on the surface from a perception standpoint, from an experience standpoint, from a, you know, a like time on task and, and, and pelts on the wall type of perspective like this is, this just isn't a great group of candidates, you know, versus what we've had in other years.

And so they had to know that going in.

And I also think like kind of the way that this thing was handled on the front end, and like some of the things that we saw them do, including interviewing Philip Rivers, I think tells you that they really weren't planning on firing Sean McDermott.

You know what I mean?

Like this wasn't something where, like for the last two months, Terry Pegula had somebody collecting names or doing background or anything like that.

Like this really was.

Um, as Terry Pegula probably shouldn't have said but did say publicly, a spur of the moment decision to let Sean McDermott go, you know, and so this is sort of where you land after something like that.

It, um, I.

I'm, I'm changing my mind on it in a sense that like this started as, and, and, and we're a reactive society, obviously, and especially sports writers that, um, you know, when, when this whole thing happens, you're just like, my God, what a disaster.

How can you go out and say that about Keyon Coleman?

How can you go out and say this and that and the other thing at this press conference and don't they realize how bad they look?

But And, and, and this is gonna be, I'm, I'm doing a lot of work for the Bills here.

You're welcome.

The one thing that I keep going back to is they acted like.

An irrational fan would act if they really gave a shit.

You know what I mean?

And, and there's a difference between, and, and that's not always how, that's not always a good thing.

It's not always an excuse, but I would guess that there are some fan bases out there that would, that would want their owner to just to, to act that way, to talk that way, to be that way when all they're used to is like 8 and 99 and 88 and 99 and 8, whatever it is.

And so I do keep going back to that and I'm like, all right, like I could, I could buy in on the bills.

I don't think it's gonna be that hard of a buy-in, you know.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's gonna be interesting to see.

I, I , I think with Joe Brady.

Like what's gonna be interesting to see from a football perspective , right?

You know, Sean Payton.

Wasn't really.

Sean Payton until he got on his own, you know, if you, if you look at Sean Payton, I, I, I always remember the nickname that Bill Parcells gave him.

Do you know what the nickname was?

What?

Dennis the Menace.

Well, that's especially true right now, but yeah, and he called, he called him Dennis, and he called Sean Payton Dennis the Menace because Sean Payton had all these crazy ideas and wanted to do all these different things.

And you know, like I, I, Peyton was always with coaches to kind of put a governor on that, you know what I mean, like, and we're like, all right, Sean, like we can do this, but like, you know, let's not go crazy and you know, that's their own prerogative.

They're the head coach.

Like we need to, you know, we need to be careful here and here and here about that.

And then he gets to New Orleans and now he's playing inside the Superdome and he's got Drew Brees, and we started to see what the actual Sean Payton was, right?

There's a chance that happens with Joe Brady.

I think so.

I mean, Joe is a Sean Payton, uh, acolyte, uh, and he's part of the, part of the Peyton tree.

By the way, I, we're not going to do a whole segment on this, but just is sort of like an M-dash aside, Peyton's really, uh, he, he's, he's not doing all right these past couple of days.

Um, you know, I mean, from like, you know, kind of anger firing your, uh, offensive coordinator and then your offensive coordinator telling the Denver Post that like Sean's just kind of being Sean and then, Uh, talking about Bo Nix's ankle, like it's a predisposed condition and then Bo going on the radio in that town and being like, he probably shouldn't be doing that.

I think, I think Sean's going through it a little bit.

I think he was expecting to be in the Super Bowl.

Yeah, I think that was, I think the 4th down decision hit him a little harder than maybe some of the other things in the past, so I think that's fair.

Yeah, I, um.

Uh, that's, it was, uh, he's going through it.

But anyway, Joe Brady, uh, I, I, I think it can work.

Uh, and, and there's no reason to believe it can't work.

The, the problem is going to be that there's a lot of vets in this locker room.

And I think that Sean, one of the things that he, I don't, I don't want to say did well, but he had kind of this cast of characters that he could call upon to sort of just band-aid up the defense and he's really going to need, I mean, He's gonna need Brandon Beane to work with that new defensive coordinator and really kind of inject some life into this defense cause it's gonna have to be not rebuilt from the studs, it's not, but they're gonna have to invest some money there, you know, and I know that they've they've invested some draft picks .

They've, they've gone in that direction.

But they really like maybe like almost like a Denver like offseason like they have to put some, they have to put some oomph into that yeah, I mean I, so you look at the guys who are paid on that side of the ball for them so they have Greg Russseau, Ed Oliver, Charl Bernard, Christian Benford, um, you know, some of the young guys that haven't been paid yet that I think like I think Cole Bishop is gonna be dynamite.

Like I think he, you started to see him on the edge of like really becoming a top shelf safety, um, so you have like I think you have like a foundation there, you know, with some young players that now are paid or will get paid, that like, I think, give you something to build on.

And yeah, I mean, like I think when you're, when you're looking at this now going forward, it's like, I think they have to add a receiver.

Um, that's pretty self-explanatory, um, um, and I think if you add one, if you, if you have a, if you, if you can find a way to add a great receiver there, I think everything else sort of falls into place , right?

Like Khalil Shaqir would be an unbelievable number 2.

Then you have the two tight ends.

You have Kincaid and you have Knox.

You have Cook at running back.

So if you, and people have been talking about the weapons around Josh, I think if you add a number 1, if you can find a real number 1, and I don't know where that's gonna come from, but if you can find one.

Then I think the rest of it looks really good.

I do too.

And so then it becomes, OK, like what do we need to add on defense?

And I think the easy thing to say would be a pass rusher, right, depending on what sort of scheme they're gonna play.

But if you can add a receiver and a pass rusher this offseason somehow, some way, um, and who knows what receivers are all of a sudden gonna wind up being available, you know what I mean.

That's why I would have advocated for them.

I would have said like, go trade for Chris Olave, you know, all of the season when maybe he was available.

Now I think the Saints are gonna try to pay him, and it's probably a moot point now, um, but when they were really in a rough spot, you might have had a window to go and get somebody like that.

They're gonna have to find somebody that they can.

They can project into that number one receiver role and then I'm with you on defense.

Like I think just it's gonna be whoever the coordinator is.

It's gonna get where they go with that.

Go get Jim Leonard, guys.

I'm not kidding.

Go get Jim Leonard.

Make Connor happy.

I like Leonard.

Yeah, I'm mean, I covered Jim Leonard.

Jim Leonard, uh, was a safety for the Jets, and he broke his leg.

At least the guys you covered as players aren't like the head coach in the Super Bowl now.

That'll make you feel real old .

That's true.

Um, yeah, Jim Leonard like broke his leg, snapped his leg, and then, uh, He was a great guy.

He's a great guy too, great dude, great player, and he famously, um, and this is like ancient history at this point.

There are probably some people listening to this who weren't even born when this happened, but in 2010, um, when the Jets got stomped by the Patriots, and then, It was the Bart Scott can't wait game in the playoffs .

They got the same team in the playoffs a couple of weeks later.

They got beat like on, on, it was a Monday night, wasn't it?

It was like 45 to 3 or something, 45 to 3, yeah.

So they get the Patriots in the playoffs and the, um, Jim Leonard had broken his legs and he was a safety on that team, one of the two safeties.

And he, um, he became like co-defensive coordinator for the week and Rex always said that was Jim's game plan that beat Tom Brady and the Patriots that day, um, in the playoffs and then propelled them obviously to the, uh, to the conference title game.

So that's my elevator sales pitch for Jim Leonard.

Um, but let's move to Cleveland because boy, I, I've gone back and forth on this one too.

Uh, my initial thought was, no, well, here, here, here's my thought.

I want to take everyone through it because it's like a kaleidoscope.

All options are still on the table for me.

My initial thought was this is, especially if they don't keep Jim Schwartz after all of this, even though that was such a part of the effort is that.

This is just another way of the Browns losing games to get more draft capital, to build back up for this tomorrow that will never come.

That was my first thought.

Then I saw that Monken's deal is for 5 years.

That's a lot of money to eat, if you're Cleveland, and you're only planning to like rent him a la David Cully.

And then my third thought was, Let's say they made this hire last year.

I would be, I would be on the tabletop for it, pounding the table, because I think that Todd Monken's a really, really good play caller.

Do I think he's gonna mesh well with Shado Sanders?

No.

But, um, but I think he's, I can't wait.

I can't wait for the first, like something that happens on social media with Shaddo that he's got answer for at the podium.

I mean, Todd, Todd is, I think he gets, he's a salty dog.

He's an old salty dog, you know, but like, so was Bruce Arians and maybe Bruce had a little bit more of a personality, but like I, I, especially if you could keep Jim Schwartz.

See , that's the tricky part, and that's the tricky part.

So you, you, you pick up the baton here and tell me how likely or unlikely that's gonna be.

Yeah, I mean, so Jim Schwartz has been telling people for a few weeks now like that.

If I'm staying in Cleveland, it's gonna be as the head coach.

He wants to be a head coach again, rightfully so.

He's done a good job as a coordinator, really everywhere he's been, you know, in Buffalo, um, Philly, um, you know, he worked for Mike Vrabel in Tennessee, um, and then, you know, as a coordinator again in Cleveland.

And, uh, you know, I, I think it's understandable.

I mean, people have said like, oh yeah, like he's stomping around, like, and, and he's being a baby.

Maybe, but like I also look at it like if you are, I think he's 58, right?

If you're 58 years old and you want to be a head coach again, and you're working for an organization that like maybe doesn't see you that way, you know, then I could see where it's like, well, then maybe it's just time for all of us to move on, you know.

So I would get that and I would understand that.

Now, he's under contract, they certainly want to keep him.

I think Todd Monken's gonna do his best to sell Jim Schwartz on the idea of it.

Um, but I think like if he does come back, it's gonna have to be within the context of Jim, you come back here and we're gonna, you know, we're gonna lean into your defense and we're gonna do our best to, to sell you as a head coach.

And every time I'm over at the podium in November and December, if things are going well, I'm gonna say like, people should hire you.

Like you gotta, you gotta appeal to them, I think that way, you know.

And so, um, yes, they want to keep him 100%, they want to keep him and rightfully so, they should want to keep him.

Um, you know, but this idea that was out there that, you know, going with Todd Monken.

Um, what, and I think part of their idea all along was, well, like, can we keep Schwartz under the, under the umbrella some way, somehow, and even if he's not the head coach, um, and this idea, I think that, that Monken, um, was more likely to be able to hang on to him than Shielhaus or, you know, say Grant Yudinsky.

I, you know, I don't know that it's really about those guys as much as it is about his own aspirations and where he wants to go from here .

Yeah, I, I, I feel for Schwartz, and I think that he probably was looking at this situation as his last great play for a head coach and maybe it impacted the way that he was, um, you know, trying to get other jobs.

It's tough for an older guy on the defensive side to get one, period.

And if.

I mean, look at, look at Vance Joseph, who looks like he's gonna get boxed out again.

I mean, how unbelievable is that after the season that he's had, and Jim is just another, uh, he's just another example of that.

Even Matt Burke, you know, and he's, who, I mean, had like a defense that was historic in a lot of different ways and has put in his time.

Like, I think, like that's a great example of somebody who 100% should be mentioned.

He got one head coaching interview, one.

And like how good were they defensively and Matt's Matt's not as old as Schwartz, but I think Matt's in his late 40s now, right around there.

He's around 47, 48, you know, so, um, you know, certainly I think for guys on that side of the ball there's definitely more urgency to strike when the iron's hot, you know, because the next opportunity is gonna come along, right?

Yeah, um, I, so here's the thing, and this is gonna sound like a, a bad thing, but I don't think it was a bad thing.

Um, if you pair Schwartz and Monken together and you can get them on the same page, that staff reminds me a lot of a hire that I actually thought was a smart hire.

It just didn't work out in theory, which was when you, when the, um, it was the year that the Broncos came down to Vic Fangio and Mike Munchak as their head coaching candidates and then just hired both of them and put them on the staff together.

And I, I guess we could effectively say that Monken and Schwartz were their final two.

if you can get a way to get them on that staff, because here's the thing, here's what, there was an interesting stat that The two teams in the Super Bowl this year, I think, are the two best teams in the NFL right now in, uh, like procedural penalties.

They don't do dumb things.

Um, they handle game situations really well.

And what's the kind of the thread that we often lose with some of our younger offensive-minded head coaches?

It's clock management, it's timeout usage.

It's when to challenge, and you could even say that about some of our older, uh, offensive play calling head coaches.

But when you have more of a CEO mentality, when you have a little bit more seasoning, when you've seen a lot of ball.

I think sometimes those little margins and those little edges end up going in your favor.

And I don't know what Todd will be as a head coach.

I know he could call a hell of an offense for almost any quarterback.

I mean we've seen him work with a lot of different players and do really well with those players.

But, and maybe this is just me putting old guys in a bucket.

But I also like the idea that maybe he's a also a a good game manager or has at least seen enough ball to be confident in what he's doing late in games.

Yeah, yeah, and, and I think that that part of it is.

Like having like that sort of coach is gonna help them, like, and I, I think a huge part of like that job now is going to be player development .

And, you know, I think, again, like this is something we don't talk about enough because like so much of, so many people are focused on just what they see on TV on Sunday, right?

Like, which is like the scheme and like how's the guy handling game management, that's stuff's all important too.

But player development is a different category than that.

And you like, just like look at their roster and what they're trying to do right now, and we've talked about this with Miami and kind of why they hired Jeff Hafley and why they wanted um and why they, why, why they wanted a GM like John Eric Sullivan.

I, I think with Cleveland, it's gonna have to be the same sort of thing.

So, it's gonna have to be a good Teach and develop staff, you know, and I think that's one thing with Todd Monken with his ability at different levels of football, um, or his experience at different levels of football, where he's done that at different levels of football, because you look at it right now, right?

So what's the basis of the Brown's gonna be?

Of course, it's gonna be Miles Garrett and Denzel Ward, but it's also like that rookie class.

It's Mason Graham, it's, uh, Quinshaw Judkins, it's Carson Schlesinger, it's Harold Fannon, it's Um, you know, it's Dylan Sampson.

It's the young quarterbacks, like can you get more out of them?

Um, and then it's gonna be next year, it's gonna be this year's draft class too, cause you have two first-round picks, you know, so, so much of where the Browns are going from here, is gonna be kind of contingent on their ability to develop young players.

And I think, you know, like Monk and, again, with his varied experience and, and being able to kind of maximize some of the guys he did in Baltimore, bringing, help bring along the young linemen there, help develop the young receiver and Zay Flowers, um, that's another area where I think Monking can be really, really good.

And like, even when we see it happening, you might not get credit for it, but I do think it's a reason like why this hire could make sense.

In fact, it was like one of the questions on their test was On their, um, that test that got so much, so much, I want you to talk about that in a second, yeah, yeah, but that, but that was one of the, there, there were 3 players that were involved in that was like, how do you, how was your plan to develop so and so, you know, it's a big part of what they were trying to do.

So I, I wanna go back to that because the, um, we saw a lot of reports about the test, the test, the test.

Um, and, and I, and I can, I think two things can be true.

One, we've seen other good teams give tests, not necessarily to this, um, not necessarily to this length, but, um, I forget what team it was, but they had a, Uh, like a game management, a whole game management setup that their coaches had to go through, which is good.

I mean, you want to do that.

This one, Albert, take us through it.

I mean, uh, the, what you would read on like the, the two-line thing on Instagram, like the LOL thing.

Like personality test or something like that.

What, what was it actually?

So there are three parts to it.

Um, one was a cognitive test, which, you know, whatever you, however you wanna term that, like an IQ type of test, what that, that sort of thing, right?

Then there was a personality test, which the test they use is what's commonly referred to as the Hogan test, um, and I think that that was sort of done to measure the EQ, the emotional, um, part of it, right.

Um, so you have those two tests, which are objective tests, and then you have like a subjective part of it, which is the, you know, like the, and people, uh, you know, I know Tom called this the essay, Tom Pelliaro, who reported on this stuff, initially called this the essay.

It wasn't really an essay.

It was more, here are a half dozen questions about the role of the head coach.

Um, I think half of them were Brown-specific, the other half were just general philosophy things.

And the idea behind it, and I think this, this part of it's interesting to me at least, right?

The idea, the idea behind it was Why is it that like, and it was them looking in the mirror and saying, why is it that when we have had home run interviews, that has not resulted in having great head coaches, right?

And you hear about these guys who have home run interviews and, and so there are examples where Hugh Jackson knocked it out of the park, Freddie Jackson knocked it out of the park in the interview, didn't wind up manifesting on the field.

And then you have in other scenarios.

Andy Reid only got one interview, right?

Like he had, he like his first interview was with the Philadelphia Eagles, right?

Like, and that was the first interview he'd ever had.

He gets the job, winds up being an awesome hire.

Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, same thing.

Nick Siriani in Philly, that's more recent.

Kevin Stefansky , his first interview was with the Browns.

So their whole thing was, why is it that guys that we've had who've knocked out of the park from an, from, from, from an interview, interview perspective, that hasn't translated to them being great coaches.

And then on the other side of it, you have all these guys who aren't in demand to be interviewed.

Who wind up being great.

And so it caused to kind of look at their process and the whole thing was with this was, all right, like this is stuff, these aren't on the spot questions like this is more like we want you to give this some thought and then that allows them to have a foundation for the interview where now you can go a little bit further in depth because you have the answers to those questions.

Um, and here's why it's problematic, by the way, sorry , this is long-winded, No, no, no, but why it's problematic is if the guy, if you're, you know , if you're Todd Monken and you only have one interview, it's fine, right?

If you're one of these guys who's got 7 or 8 interview requests.

Can you take the time that you need to, to, to do all of that, you know, that's a little different thing, right?

If you're Nate Shieldhouse, do you have time, you have 4 hours to set aside for a psychological exam, you know, uh, probably not.

Uh, that reminds me, I, I, I was up for a job once, uh, and there was a 20 question addendum to the end of one of the interviews and 3 separate tests.

That I had to take and I was like, is this really, you know, do you want me to work here or would you just like a bunch of my ideas served to you on a silver platter?

Um, I always think about that.

Um, with Cleveland, right, it's hard for me because this is exactly what I have been advocating for teams to do for so long.

There are so many good coaches, Albert, that are just not getting the chance and it's agent led.

It's, it's, I think it's fan led to some degree, it's owners caving to certain things and just wanting, uh, the right kind of attention, you know, you pick your poison.

It's, it's a lot of different issues here, but, um, Again, it's like Cleveland in particular, and this brain trust has gotten me excited so many times only to spectacularly let me down.

You know what I mean?

Like, I, I mean, I go all the way back to, I was reading something that I wrote the other day about Hugh Jackson and Sashi Brown for NFL.

com back when I used to work there and I was like, how can this not work?

You know, it's like this.

It's gonna be unbelievable.

And, and, and I was doing reporting on it and I'm like, oh my God, like they're setting this up this way and they're setting up this way, and, and Sashi Brown's past was as an arbitrator.

So he's gonna fix all the arguments that they have.

Well, uh, Albert, fast forward 10 years later, that's not exactly Say Brown's now on the business side, as the president of the Ravens, and Hugh Jackson is not in the NFL.

So, uh, yeah, and so.

Uh, you know, it's hard and then, you know, when Paul Deep Des came, came and it's like, OK, we're gonna, we're gonna tank and we're gonna, we're gonna get more draft picks and we're gonna, we have a timeline and we have to take this guy here and then, uh, you know, DeSean Kaiser and, uh, barely taking Miles Garrett over Mitch Trubisky.

Like, these are things that just kept happening and will continue to happen.

And God, I hope Monken is just like, Well, there are so many lessons from that though, and like seeing all this, but how fortunate are they that they were able to sustain that many lessons?

Like, you know, I know, and that that that's Andrew Barry's still there, but it's like, yeah, I mean like they went from being highly unconventional with, you know, Sashi Brown running the football operation to then making a very conventional functional hire in John Dorsey, who, by the way, Drafted really well.

Like those, those two years, like the Kevin Stefansky team, like the foundation of the Kevin Stefansky team that made the playoffs twice in 4 years was John Dorsey's draft classes, you know, on top of having Miles Garrett from the year before.

And so like I think it's, it's just, I mean, I, I, the way I look at it, like I think it's.

It's really it's, it's interesting to see like kind of everything they've been through and, and, and we'll see how this works out, you know, um, you can have a lot of good research and still pull the trigger on the wrong guy, you know, you have good, good research, good concepts, and then it just doesn't work out and sometimes those things can be fickle, you know , it can be, hey, you know, you drafted the right quarterback or the wrong quarterback, so we'll see what happens.

Really quickly before you, the, the quarterback thing is gonna be a huge thing for them, you know, I agree.

I mean, you, you reported this, and I think everyone should go check it out on SI.

com.

Part of the interview process was, how are you gonna develop Shador now, do you think, Albert, that that is, we're rolling with this guy this year ?

No, I don't think it's necessarily that so much as it is.

So, like the, I talking to people who interviewed there, what I got back was that it was more, I think the Browns would see it as a bonus if you could If you could make something out, get something out of him, yeah, right, like they, they would see it like, and I don't think that they were gonna force the door down anyone's throat, but I do think like, hey, like let's see what we have, you know, because maybe this isn't the best year to be looking for a quarterback.

It's for Fernando Mendoza and who in the draft, you know, like, so there's a chance like that.

You know, you look at Ty Simpson and you say he's, I mean, is he much better than Dylan Gabriel and Sharo San and Shado Sanders?

Maybe not.

You know what I mean?

Like, so now you're standing pat, and is there a quarterback in the veteran market that can upgrade you?

Maybe it's Kirk Cousins, I don't know.

I, I, I, it's Uh, you know, I just think you look at the totality of it for the Browns, and it was, and look, part of it too, I, I know this, like there were 3 players that were involved in that question, right?

So it's how do you develop Shadoor Sanders.

There's another player on there that was like, has been a little bit more up and down.

So, you know, it was sort of philosophical to what your role is gonna be in defend in, in developing players and then specific to like, how are you gonna develop a quarterback.

And Shador was kind of the example that they use is like, what is your philosophy for developing a young quarterback, but the fact that his name was on there and Dylan Gabriel's wasn't, is notable, you know, because they were in the same draft class and Gabriel was drafted higher.

The um I mean, if I was Monking, I mean, is this, you know, is this crazy to just be like, no, I'm good.

I mean, like, I mean, like, I, I think that that's part of it too, though, it's like, you know, if you're a new coach looking for a fresh start, So I mean Shaur just there's so much to it and he's and and there's some talent a long way to go.

He's got a long way to go.

Like I don't know that the talent is high-end enough to justify like some sort of huge investment in developing him and like there's all the stuff that comes with him, and some of it's not his fault, you know, like, but there, there is all the stuff that comes with him.

So to some degree organizationally, you gotta make the decision.

You know, and, and I think like, honestly, like if, if he can just kind of be low key now, right, and he can, you know, quiet all the noise around, it would be hard for him to quiet all the noise around him, but if he can just go in and like, hey, my focus is off, I'm just going in to develop as a quarterback.

Like I don't think it does him anything like making the Pro Bowl, like the NFL shoehorning him into the Pro Bowl, right, like which is kind of weird, but I think they're doing it to get attention on an event that's not getting any attention, right?

Like, so let's shoe.

I guess that's 100% what happened here.

Um.

I don't believe that does him any favors either, you know.

I agree what's best for Shadur is, I look, I, I, I worked with his dad.

I like his dad.

Like what's, what's best for Shadur is for him to disappear and develop for the next 6 months, you know, because that, that's what's gonna give him the best chance.

What's not gonna give him the best chance is all this noise being around him constantly, you know.

And so, you know, whatever he can do to.

Again , be the, whatever he is now, the 40th player in the roster, the 35th player on the roster, just go in and develop like any other guy coming off his rookie year, who was drafted in the 5th round would.

That's it's hard, it's a hard ask when, when your last name is Sanders, you know, and your dad is who he is, but I think that, I think that like finding a way to get there with Todd Monken, I think would be, would be ideal.

So here's the thing, I mean, if I'm Monken, this is sort of my thought, and, and I know.

I, I get it.

And I, and I understand the people who are fans of, uh, of Shooor.

There's one account on, on, on social media that I'm thinking of specifically, but that, um, And I, and I get the defense of him.

I, I don't think he's been anything but a wonderful kid in the NFL, really.

I mean, like if you watch his press conferences, if you watch the way he handles things, um, he, I mean, he's done this show a couple of times, but for the most part, he, he , yeah, media savvy, all of that.

But if I'm Monking, I'm saying, I, this is just my internal calculus.

I've waited this long to get a head coaching job in the NFL.

I am, let's see.

I am 59.

OK.

This is never happening again.

OK.

This is it.

Uh, I gotta make this work.

I got a 5-year contract and then it's Key West, OK, after this, if I survive all 5 years, which I, you know, statistically, probably not going to .

And so I got this quarterback over here that every team in the NFL passed up for 4 different rounds, OK?

And if I cut him.

And I let him go Is, uh, maybe someone will pick him up, but what are the chances that that guy has a Saquan Barkley effect on me and makes me look like an idiot for cutting him, versus what are the chances that I'm stuck with him?

I gotta play him at some point.

He does something in a game that makes me look stupid, or the Sanders Inc.

Comes in here and makes me look like an asshole, right?

Like that's how you kind of got to weigh that if, if, if you're Monken, right?

I mean, that's my calculus is like, you know, yeah, and I agree with you.

And if it was Todd Monken making that decision in a vacuum, I, I, I, I think it's a real debate, um, but I don't think it's Todd Monken making that decision in a vacuum, right, uh, and I think that's part of the problem.

That's how we get here, um.

Let's , uh, just really quickly, we got the Cardinals and the Raiders openings.

Davis Webb just pulled his name from the Raiders opening, which usually means the white smoke will, uh, spray from the Vatican at some point here soon.

I would guess, Albert, if I was a betting man, and I am not, uh, that we're gonna see Clint.

Kubiak in uh Las Vegas and we're going to see Mike LaFleur in Arizona.

Then Nate Shieldhouse bumped up to offensive coordinator of the Cardinals or I think that's a, that's a realistic scenario that could very well play out.

I, I, I, I can tell you like Clint, the plan right now Friday.

8:58 eastern is for you know Clint to take Clint to take both interviews Saturday.

Um, I can also say this like I think he's genuinely like a little uncomfortable about this happening during a Super Bowl run.

Like I think he wants players to know like and this is not like coach.

Speaker or whatever, like, I think he is, and this is just who he is, you know, he's his dad's son in so many ways, like, this is who he is, like he, he really wants his players, the staff there to know, like his focus is on the Super Bowl.

So I do think like to some degree, he's uncomfortable going through this, but, you know, I think having the in-person interviews tomorrow in Seattle, um, I think there's a, there's a chance he's gonna have his choice of the two jobs.

Yeah, and I think if he has his choice of the two jobs, it's probably Vegas, and I would probably take Vegas.

Because of the path to a quarterback, and I, that's the way I look at it anyway, because I think Arizona probably has a better roster right now.

Um, Arizona, your timeline is messed up a little bit because you're jumping in with the general manager in Monty Osbor, who I think's done a decent job, but he's in his 4th year, right.

So you're further along from a timeline standpoint, whereas like in Vegas, you're joining a 2-year GM in John Spytek.

The roster is not good, but there are a few building blocks.

You've got a left tackle in Colton Miller.

You got a pass rusher who you could trade if you want to get more capital, right, in Max Crosby.

You have a tight end who looks like he's a generational talent, Brock Bowers.

You have a running back in Ashton Genty, so you have some things you can work with there, right?

And You, you got the, you have the quarterback.

You know, Fernando Mendoza, like, I think will be the first pick.

Um, and so the, how good that job is, is gonna depend on your own evaluation of Fernando Mendoza.

But if you think Fernando Mendoza can be the, the, the comp I've heard most is Jared Goff, like if you think he can be Jared Goff, uh like that to me is better than what you'd be dealing with a quarterback in Arizona, where it's Kyler Murray.

This year he's got guaranteed money.

Next year .

Can you dump him?

And what sort of implication is that gonna have on the way you build the team?

Now again, you're with a general manager in his 4th year.

Are you, like, it's just, I just like look at like Arizona is like, I, I, I think you'll probably win a little faster, but you've got more runway to build and the much easier path to fixing quarterback in Vegas.

It's weird, right, because visions, better quarterback situation.

All that divisions change in tenor all the time.

I mean, we're, we're like, what a behemoth the AFC North is, and then it's like kind of not.

And then, you know, what this, you know, the NFC North is Murderer Row and, and then it's kind of not, you know, and so it's weird because like, if you like pull one little lace out of the shoestring, like the NFC West looks like an absolute gauntlet, right?

Um, and you wouldn't want to coach there, but, So does the AFC West.

So does the AFC West.

But, so here's my point.

But what's to say like in a year, McVeigh is like, All right, I'm pulling my Gruden.

I'm gonna go raise my kids and I'm out .

And then Shanahan is like, you know what, I'm gonna pull a Sean Payton, you know, I'm just, I've, I've maxed out here and I want to go coach, you know, whatever the command.

Sanders or whatever it is, you know, right?

And, and then I want to go coach Jayden Daniels.

I'm out.

In 2 years, that thing could be a barren wasteland, right?

I mean, it, it could.

It, it , and so, I guess everybody that's saying that Clint needs to avoid that division.

I mean, yes, in, in, at least now, in the next year, sure, um, in the future, I don't know.

And I guess the AFC West doesn't really scare me all that much either, and I know that's a crazy thing to say, but You're facing the Chargers who just lost Jesse Minner, who's a major part of their success, and they got to rebuild.

You got the Broncos, who I think they're in line for a little bit of regression, Albert.

I don't think that's controversial to say that they won 14 games this year.

I don't think they can be as good this year as they were last year.

Um, the Chiefs are obviously going to be the Chiefs, but, I don't know which one of those divisions would you, I don't think you could look at either one of those divisions and say, right, I agree.

I agree.

I look at like the other three teams in both those divisions have phenomenal coaches, right?

So for now it's Sean McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan, Mike McDonald in the NFC West.

It's Andy Reid, Sean Payton.

And Jim Harbaugh in the AFC West.

All 6 of those teams also have relatively stable quarterback situations.

It's Mahomes, it's Knicks, and it's, um, and it's Herbert in the AFC West and the NFC West.

It's Purdy, it's Stafford, it's Arnold.

Now, Stafford might be a little bit of a moving target because he's older, could retire, all that, but I, I just I , I think you, I think it's close enough where you have to, you know, sort of look at that piece of it as as as equal.

What I do think is interesting, so, has anybody brought up like the fact that the So, the connections in Vegas, I don't know if people have like kind of dug into these.

No one gave the Tom Brady Patriots more problems.

Than Mike Shanahan.

And so now you have Clint Kubiak.

John Spytek, the Raiders general manager.

Won a Super Bowl in Denver, who is the head coach?

Mike Shanahan, Gary Kubiak, Gary Kubiak.

Yeah.

So, so like there are just these connections there and I just, I don't know, I, the, the fit, I mean, I, I, Davis Webb was in really good shape in Vegas.

The fact that Davis pulls his name out.

To me, just, I mean, I like, I think he had a real good shot at that one.

I do too.

And then you have the Joe Lombardi firing, right?

Like, and there's just all of these puzzle pieces coming together where it's like.

Uh, you know, Sean Payton wants to hold on to Davis Webb, promote him to offensive coordinator, cause the Ravens and Giants are interested in him.

And You know, Davis Webb looks at it and says, do I, am I really, am I still the front runner with Vegas or has what Clint Kubiak has done in the playoffs plus his connections with some of the people in Vegas or the ties there, it's just Kubiak to Vegas makes so much sense.

It makes a ton of sense to me.

So I think that the Cardinals take their swing, but, you know, I, I, I think, I think Clint's probably gonna wind up with the Raiders, as presuming he takes one.

Yeah, I agree.

And then, but he could not , I mean, that's a piece of it too, like, I do think he's like, again, he's like a really smart, well-raised guy, you know, so this is not gonna be like a knee-jerk, I gotta go be a head coach decision for him either.

Yeah, I mean, we could have a Ben Johnson situation where these teams are waiting at the altar and he's like, and, and, and, and listen, these big games, like, Let's say the Seahawks lose in a heartbreak or whatever, and we'll get to that in a second.

But like, I mean, I remember talking to people close to Ben Johnson about like him coming home from that loss to the 49ers and just being like, I can't leave like this.

I can't leave the team like this.

I just can't.

And so sorry, Commander, sorry everybody.

Else, I'm, I'm just, I have to, I have to see this through and credit to him.

And sometimes these emotional decisions, just, they come at the last second.

I mean, look at Liam Cohen, like all the, like there's a lot of stuff happening in these guys' lives.

Um, we got like 10 minutes left.

Uh, give me, we're gonna do 5 minutes on each team.

How They can win the Super Bowl.

What kind of game needs to take place for both of these teams to win the Super Bowl?

And we'll start with New England, Albert.

I think we watched, um, At least the attempted formula set up in, uh, in that game in Denver before the weather.

They wanted to be able to take Drake May out of situations where he was in 3rd and forever because you put Drake May in 3rd and forever, he's gonna get sacked.

That offensive line just can't, it, it can't hold up right now.

It's not good enough to, to, it was during the season when you're playing lesser pass rush now.

You're seeing teams attack it like in different ways, and Seattle will, Seattle is gonna throw a lot of ball.

There's gonna be a lot of different looks, you know, Mike McDonald, you know this, Mike McDonald is going to constantly change the picture on, on him, yeah, I mean, this is gonna be a huge, by the way, have you seen the graphic?

It's just so funny, and I have to read it, um, that speaking of the Patriots schedule, so, um.

Here are their opponents, uh, in just kind of a different context, OK.

Uh, week 1 versus a fired, a coach who's been fired.

Week 2 versus a coach who's been fired.

Week 3 versus a coach who's been fired.

Week 4 versus a team from the NFC South.

Week 5 versus a coach who's been fired.

Week 6 versus a team from the NFC South .

Week 789.

Fired coaches.

Week 10, NFC South.

Week 11, Jets.

Week 12, Bengals without Joe Burrow.

Weeks 1314, 15, fired head coaches.

Week 17, Jets, week 18, fired head coach.

What a run.

Um, anyway, this team has more than proven that they're more than the schedule.

I'm not saying that, but I just thought that was hilarious.

Um, but we saw in Denver that they're just trying to keep Drake out of 3rd and long.

A lot of inside zone stuff, a lot of, they were just trying to get.

That running game moving against the Broncos, and that was a struggle, but it was a struggle for both teams.

And I think in an ideal world, this Patriots game is like a 20 to 14.

It's a, it's, it's a really muddy affair where, you know, maybe, Maybe some Darnold turnovers.

We get the bad Arnold game and we can just kind of control the clock.

The Patriots, so I think there are really a couple of things here, like, so I think they have to run the ball well.

Like I think, and, and maybe that's self-explanatory, but the Seahawks, if there's one crack there, it's interesting.

I kind of, I look back at this, right?

So, both the, both the teams that they played against thus far in the playoffs have gone over 100 yards rushing.

Now, the Niners is a little bit more cause that game was out of hand so fast, you know.

And to some degree, like the quarterbacks made plays with their legs in those games, right?

So, you had Brock Purdy, he rushed for 37 yards on 5 carries.

Stafford had the, the 4th and 1 run where he really gutted it out.

He had a 13-yard run, he never runs, and he had a 13-yard run.

Um, and the Patriots have made it happen to some degree with Drake May, you know, as a runner in the playoffs too.

So, I think they're gonna have to be able to make plays on the ground both conventionally and off schedule, um, because that'll help manage those, those longer down and distance situations.

And this is gonna sound simple, but The Patriots are a really good defense when they're in 3rd and long.

The Seahawks, for one reason or another on offense , haven't been great on 3rd and long.

And so, you know, I think, you know, finding a way to get the Seahawks off schedule is gonna be really important.

And I, the one thing I, I look at like the Seahawks' roster is so well balanced, and, you know, across the board there are just aren't holes except for in the interior of the offensive line, right.

And so I like where you're going with this.

Yeah, so I, I like look at their offensive line.

So Grace's Abel has been phenomenal, all pro at, at, at left guard.

Alan Bradford and, and Sundell at center, uh like that to me is like where I'd be a little worried if I were the Seahawks, cause the Patriots have Christian Barmore, Milton Williams, Kyris Tonga, and so like I think it's the interior of the pass rush pushing the pocket and that happening on 3rd and long when you're not doing everything off of play action, you know, and so, um, I think that's sort of what it is, is like for the Patriots, it's, it's running the ball effectively to create the sort of game you're talking about, right, muddy it up and create the sort of game you're talking about.

And then it's gonna be, uh, I think, finding a way to exploit the matchup on the interior there by putting the by, by knocking the Seahawks off schedule.

Yeah, I, I mean, this is going to be such a game for uh Christian Barmore, for Milton Williams, um, you know, and they had, they got such a performance out of that interior defensive line against Denver, and they were able to make just a couple massive plays that completely changed the, that completely changed everything, right?

And I think that that needs to, you know, it's like, it's hard to say, OK, do this again.

But when you're facing a Shanahan style system, the one thing that does really eff up the rhythm and the timing of everything is interior pressure, right?

And so, can you have the Milton Williams game of his life, the Christian Barmore game of his life in the Super Bowl?

Like, let's say they're running outside zone, 2nd and.

5 on the first drive, and then one of them just gets through early and causes a fumble and all of a sudden, the Seahawks lose their first possession and this goes from a surefire blowout to, whoa, let's wait and see what happens.

Um, because the flip side of this, Albert, is obviously, I just see more paths to victory for Seattle, right?

I don't think that's a that's a controversial, yeah, uh, I don't think that that's a controversial thing.

I know I said this on Tuesday.

I sort of feel this way like I.

I think there are 3 possible outcomes here.

Patriots went close, Seahawks went close, Seahawks blow out.

OK, yeah, I could see that.

I don't think it'll be a Patriots blowout.

I think the other three are possibilities, and like, I I, I, I just like I, I, I don't think we, you know, when we did talk about this earlier in the weeks, we don't need to go too in depth into it, but like I do think that there's a possibility that this is the game where we find out just how good they are, you know, we've been playing in that division and they beat the Rams twice and they beat the crap out of the Niners in the divisional round and like you just look at the amount of young players and the talent they have, right?

Like and I just I, I, I really think that Seahawks roster is, you know, we, we talked about this in the summer, right?

I went back and I looked at some of the stuff I wrote in the summer and um I, the one thing I, I, I, I, I did, that, that, that I, that I could remember vividly was telling a lot of people like that I, I was grouping the Packers and Seahawks together, right?

And my, my premise there was they both have a lot of very good players.

This is before the Packers traded for Parsons, right?

So, they both have a lot of very good young players, and what's gonna really make the difference for them is whether or not those very good young players can become great players.

If they all become great players, this team could be really good.

And I remember saying that over the summer, and what happened .

Ja, great tackles in football.

Byron Murphy's evolving into a great player.

Devin Witherspoon's a great player.

Nicky Minwari, Gray Zel, home runs with their first two draft picks, right?

So like I, I look at it like this is like, yes, it's about Sam Darnold, but it's also about like this amount of young players on their roster that elevated all at once.

And I mean JSN was a really good player in 2024, right.

But I don't know that anybody thought he'd be the best receiver in football.

Kenneth Walker, really good player.

He's been dynamite in the playoffs, you know, dynamite, and like, and, and such a good big game player.

So like I just kind of like look at them across the board.

It's like.

Are we maybe missing the boat the same way where we were, we were on the 13 Seahawks, where the, those Seahawks beat a 49ers team that had been in the Super Bowl, um , That um the year before, right?

And then a 49ers team, and that was a war, like in the 13 NFC championship game.

The Seahawks finally get it done, they get over the hump, they beat the 49ers, and then it was like punch the gas and go.

Is that the same thing that's happening now?

Yeah, I mean, I think that's, I, I, I think that's totally realistic.

I mean, the team is built that way.

I think it makes sense.

And again, it's, it, you know, I hope I'm wrong.

Um, for Patriots fans who've been upset with me, I've picked against them literally every single week of the playoffs.

Patriots fans who've had, who've had to wait so long.

To be on the stage.

I know this is tough for them.

Everything they've been through, yeah, I know they haven't gotten a chance to be a haughty asshole in what, 4 years, and, uh, so you're a sports radio host here who I love.

Mike Felger is his name.

I you're familiar with Felger, right?

Of course, yeah, yeah.

So Mike Felger made the comment last week.

It's like, The country, he's like, he, he said, he's like, this is a very likable Patriots team.

He's, you know, talking to the audience.

He goes, they don't hate that, they don't hate the team.

The rest of the country doesn't hate the team, they hate you.

It's so true.

Uh, please tell him I said thank you for , uh, for his public service there.

Um, all right, Albert, well, you and I are, uh, you're gonna drive home from Boston.

You're probably gonna get 6 more Dunkin' Donuts today.

Um, I got a big old, uh, cup of coffee waiting for me upstairs.

Yeah, it's been a long week.

And then we're going to wake up call.

I'd wake-up call this morning for radio.

I've got a wake-up call tomorrow for a box lacrosse tournament in Connecticut.

Box lacrosse.

And then I've got a wake-up call for my flight on Sunday.

So, and then we, then we got the time change.

So here we go.

Oh.

By like, I, I, I'll, I'll get one sound night of sleep like the night before the Super Bowl and then my whole biorhythm will be thrown off again.

But that's the life we chose, that's the life we love.

Thank you guys so much for listening and we'll see you out there.

In San Francisco, baby, so that will be in person, right?

Yes, so here's the thing, uh, scheduling note here.

I'm guessing, just based on how everything is gonna happen here, we're gonna have our equipment out there.

Whether we can get together on Monday, I'm not sure.

We might fold everything into like a big midweek preview that we're gonna do live in person on Radio Row.

So be sure to check that out.

It'd be a lot of fun.