Mike Golic | Former NFL Lineman, NFL Analyst

Some fans gear up for game day, but some fans follow their team every day. That's why the Locked On Podcast Network has a daily podcast for your favorite MLB team.

Every trade, every overtime win, every game. Our local experts cover the biggest stories around your team every day. Search Locked On plus your favorite MLB team on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts. The Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Some fans gear up for game day, but some fans follow their team every day. That's why the Locked On Podcast Network has a daily podcast for your favorite MLB team.

Every trade, every overtime win, every game. Our local experts cover the biggest stories around your team every day. Search Locked On plus your favorite MLB team on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts. The Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

NFL vet, longtime NFL defensive lineman Mike Golick, who played in the late 80s and the 90s. Mike, I spent a good portion of Wednesday watching weather coverage on the Weather Channel or locally some of the various outlets in Florida. So thinking about that situation that has forced postponements and cancellations and sporting events to be moved, but also thinking about week three in Miami with the heat and the humidity and how it affected the Buffalo Bills, for instance. All kinds of guys getting cramps and dehydration and not able to play. So defections on the sidelines because the weather conditions were getting to them. So thinking about your career, is there a crazy or atypical weather situation you've played in or something like that where the elements really affected you and your team? So obviously this being a hurricane, as I'm sure you have noted and will, it goes well beyond sports and you hope everybody is safe where this is tracking through.

But from my side, there wasn't really any danger involved. Well, it was a little game Amy called the fog bowl that had a bit of an influence on me when I was at the Eagles and we played the Bears in Chicago in the playoffs and the fog rolled in and you couldn't see anything. But they didn't want to cancel the game or I should say postpone the game because it happened while the game was going on.

They didn't want to have to clear everybody out and then bring everybody back another day. I remember the referee on the 50-yard line, at least I believe it was the 50-yard line from what I could tell, and I could hear him talking to the people in the press box saying, yes, I can see both goalposts. And I looked at him, I said, are you out of your damn mind? I said, see both goalposts? I said, you can't even see 20 yards either way. I mean, that was, they just, again, they didn't want to postpone the game. So they were like, yeah, you can see well enough.

You can see well enough. And hell, if they ran a sweep away from us, you lost the running back once you started going to the sideline. So that was one of those, any team that was winning when that fog rolled in, as it turned out, because the fog stayed, had a good chance of winning and the Bears were ahead when that happened. And it was, that was one of, I mean, I played in mud and I played in rain and I played in snow, but, you know, and that's something you're used to doing because you usually do it multiple times. But I've never played where the fog rolled in and the field and players basically disappeared. Is it a badge of honor for you football players that you do play in all those elements?

Whereas when it comes to baseball, they'll cancel, they'll postpone. But man, football, like last year in Buffalo with the winds that were 60 miles per hour, you know, we think about the heat, but also the snow, we talk about Lambeau and those kind of extreme conditions. Is that something you guys are proud of? Well, I think partly, yes, you're proud of it because you're going to play outside of, you know, lightning or something like that. But for me, here's why I always enjoyed it. I enjoyed a nice rain or a nice snow because everybody then came down to my athletic ability. I was an average player and people were much better athletes than me.

But let me tell you what, your athletic ability starts to shrink a little bit when it's really wet or really slippery. So I appreciated the fact that that it even it's somewhat even the playing field for me. So I was happy about it.

Leave it to you to come up with that type of a reason for loving the weather. So, Mike, Philadelphia Eagles are playing really well right now. They're one of the teams that's undefeated. You played in Philly. The stories are legendary. What does it mean to be an eagle and to play for those fans? I mean, I love those fans. That was the three teams I played for.

That was the most of my career playing six, seven years. And they're the most fanatical, the most emotional, good and bad. And I mean, if you're playing bad or they can, you know, tell you don't really care or aren't really given a damn.

See, you know, Ben Simmons with the 76ers, you know, when he was there, you know, they will let you know about it. And, you know, that that's fair. And when you're doing well, man, they'll love it. It's a blue collar town.

I was a blue collar player. You know, I loved it, but and when we were doing well, they love you. So they have to just be ecstatic right now. I mean, we were never in my years able to bring them a Super Bowl. Obviously, they got a Super Bowl the last, you know, the last few years. But they are so passionate about their team because the last team I played for, I left Philly to go to Miami.

And my one year in Miami, we were nine and two, had the best record in football. And our games were blacked out because we couldn't sell out. I was stunned. I mean, I'm like, what the hell is this? I had just gone six, seven years in Philly where it sold out.

The people are crazy. And then I went down to Miami and it was a little bit different. And by the way, those are the two undefeated teams now, Philly and Miami. But Philly is just so well balanced now and those fans just got to be loving it. Even if their schedule hasn't been as challenging, 3-0 is 3-0.

So what impresses you? As Bill Parcell says, you are what your record says you are. And that's exactly right. I mean, they can't decide who plays in front of them.

That's what they do. So listen, we know that this is a big year for Jalen Hurts. Jalen Hurts and Tua Tonga-Vialoa, those are the two quarterbacks everybody talked about at the beginning of the year that said they're playing for their future with that team. Are they going to be the future quarterback? Or because we know this draft coming up, there's probably four quarterbacks that are going to go in the first round. And again, both these teams are undefeated and both quarterbacks are playing well.

So they're both answering the bell. Jalen, you know, we can do it with his legs. He's passing well. Now, he's not going to be a 35-40 touchdown guy. You know, but the key with him is make sure your interceptions, the goal usually for a quarterback is single digits with interceptions. So get yourself, you know, 20, maybe in the 20s touchdowns and under 10 interceptions, and that's what you want.

Then you supplement that with your legs. They brought in weapons for him. Obviously, A.J.

Brown was a monster get for him. Devante Smith's making some incredible catches. But their defense is playing solid. So they're a very, very balanced team.

I think that's one of the big things going for them. Mike Gold is a former NFL defensive lineman and is now a DraftKings analyst. And we're always excited to have him here after hours on CBS Sports Radio. As I was just thinking about you, you played in Philly, obviously, but you also played with Notre Dame. How does the passion compare when you're talking about that atmosphere? Oh, I mean, it's right there. And the passion, probably the biggest difference is the passion for Notre Dame is countrywide.

I mean, when we would go on away trips, I mean, the fans that met you at the airport or met you at the hotel. I mean, it was truly, it's truly a national team. One of the, you know, you know, they're independent, so they don't have the, at least at this point, the conference ties. So they are a national team and their biggest rival has been USC, which has, you know, been a kind of a national rivalry. So, yeah, I mean, it is it's again, not only in South Bend, Chicago area, but it is it is nationwide with Notre Dame. You and I just ran into each other in the press box in Lambeau for a Sunday night game against the Bears. That was my first taste of regular season action at Lambeau.

And I had the opportunity to go down on the field at halftime to be around the alumni as they were getting introduced. Those fans were obnoxiously loud, very passionate. It's kind of neat the way that you've got fan bases that are so invested, although sometimes that means they reserve the right to boo and tell you when you've completely screwed up.

Oh, yeah, listen, they're going to do that again. Fan is short for fanatic, so they like that. But I love playing at Lambeau. I'm glad my son, Mike, got to play at Lambeau. I told him it's such an experience. I mean, it is.

I mean, it carries just so much. So it is very it was great to play there a few times and then call games are obvious. Like I said, we saw each other there and just to be in that atmosphere. And I remember I was there for a preseason game.

Mike was playing in a preseason game and those fans is packed and they stay all the way through the entire game. Yeah, I mean, they're just they're just they're always there now. Some people will say, well, maybe there's not a whole lot not a lot else to do there, though. I have found myself losing money at the casino one night or there a bit occasionally.

So I find something else to do at times. But yes, they are a phenomenal fan base with the end. And that that parking lot smells so good with the brats when people are cooking them up before the game. Oh, yes.

Right of passage there for just three or four days. I had multiple brats while I was there with my family and then at the football game. Yes, still limited sample size, Mike. Such a roller coaster ride in these first three weeks. But what are a couple of other headlines, maybe teams that are surprising you good or bad to start this first month? Well, I'll tell you the two teams that are surprising me bad. Now, one just had a big win. The Colts just beat Kansas City.

But I was a bit surprised at how they I mean, they're sitting in one one and one. I thought with Matt thought Matt Ryan was a big upgrade from Carson when I said I believe he will be as the season goes on. Carson isn't tearing it up in Washington right now. But I thought that I picked that team to win the division. Again, as you said, it's an early sample size of Jacksonville. Kudos to them.

I'll get to them. But I was disappointed Indianapolis and the other team is the Saints. I thought the Saints would be one of the and the Colts would be one of those. You know, we talk about this every year, four or five teams that don't like the playoffs make it the next year. I thought these two would be two of them. But already, you know, because a lot of it I talked about James going 14 touchdown, three interceptions in the seven games he played last year. He already has five interceptions this year.

So kind of resorting back to that gunslinger trying to throw it through people a little bit and that could be an issue. So that surprised me a little bit on the good side. You got to look at Jacksonville sitting there two and one got Doug Peterson as their coach, a Super Bowl coach. They they're kind of growing how you want them to be. And I think the other team and I think if you don't have a huge rooting interest, though most people do, even though they're one and two, you kind of got to love the Detroit Lions. You know, in the way they're playing, they're scoring a lot of points. Dan Campbell, the emotion out of him.

I mean, that's it. But they're playing good ball. And so they're they and Jacksonville are both going in the right direction. I love to hear Campbell talk. I mean, he and Mike Tomlin are two of my favorite coaches to listen to. But whenever you have to preface a locker room speech with I'm not a lunatic, I'm not sure what that says to your locker room. Would you as a player prefer to play for a coach that seems like he's completely out of his mind, but brings that passion?

Oh, without a doubt. The only thing that is that could be an issue with guys here, like what type of coach you get when he gets named coach and he says, we're going to bite people's kneecaps and blah, blah, blah. The thing you worry about is in training camp, how hard are you going to be hitting and running? Heber flew the coach for the Bears. He came in and man, they ran a lot more. And guys that came with him from Indianapolis as players told all the bear players, hey, get ready to run.

And they did. So that's kind of what you think about as a player. You think about, man, am I going to be running more?

We're going to be hitting more in camp. And that kind of goes through your mind first. But I always love passion in the coach without question. How do new coaches earn respect in a locker room outside of those fancy speeches? Well, a lot of it, you know, a lot of it depends on if you played. If you played, there's kind of that instant credit that, OK, you were on the field, you know, you were doing what we did. So you understand that doesn't mean you're going to be successful by any stretch.

And then, you know, what is what does your resume say now? First time head coaches, you know, they got to prove because you see some of these head coaches, especially what there are for now from the Sean McVay tree. So what you're getting out of those guys who are offensive coordinators, remember, they weren't calling plays, though. So they're becoming first time head coaches and they weren't calling plays or that when they were Sean McVay. So you really kind of say, OK, how is this going to work? So you don't automatically get that respect as that first time head coach, especially if you haven't called plays or sometimes certainly even if you have you, you have to kind of earn that.

What's your personality? What do you what are you selling? The biggest thing a new coach wants to do is have the team buy into what he's selling.

Obviously, the best way to do that is winning. I mean, down in Miami, you think they're buying into McDaniel and what he's selling? Sure they are. But that's that's kind of how it works.

It all goes hand in hand. Mike Golick is an NFL vet, longtime radio host and football analyst now with Westwood One and DraftKings. And we're pleased to spend a few minutes with him and his partnership with Gridiron Grates.

And of course, our friends at Southern Recipes, Small Batch Pork Rinds. I really enjoy asking guys who played in different eras why this is important, because I don't think many fans realize how different it was. Unless you were watching, you know, years ago, decades ago. So why is Gridiron Grates an organization and a cause that matters to you? Oh, man, I mean, listen, I'm on the board for them. That's how much I think of it. You know, obviously we look to Mike Dick is our leader with that. You know, for the players that played, you know, decades ago and I played decades ago, but I mean, even before me, the you know what, how when they ended the game and their between their pension and the help available to them is not a lot. So Gridiron Grates, you know, this is the way I put it, Amy, is, you know, if you play football, you've gotten knocked down and many times and someone a lot of times your teammate will reach down and help you up or you're going to help your teammate up.

That to me is what Gridiron Grates is. We're helping our guys that have played years ago that are struggling. We're helping them up, whether it's with their mortgage, whether it's at the dentist, whether it's a major surgery, things like that. That's what the money that we raise is used for.

Those players that need the everyday things or things even bigger than that. So that's why I've been part of this for years now and I'm proud to be part of this. We're going to start to get a younger generation of players involved in it as well.

And you mentioned it's other recipes, small backs. They've been so good. This is their 14th year of it. The biggest football day is pork rind appreciation day on Super Bowl Sunday. And so what what they want to do is they want to trade like sacks for snacks, which is a pretty cool. That's a pretty cool thing. I give everybody the site. It's pork rind appreciation day dot com. And basically you go there and you pick any team you believe is going to get sacks. And each week, one randomly selected entry is going to win a case of pork rinds for every sack that he gets.

Grand prize is five thousand dollars in a year. Pork rinds. And certainly, again, money raised there goes is going to go to the Gridiron Grates as well. So it's good pork.

They're fantastic. They're at at small southern recipes. Small backs are such good people aligning themselves with Gridiron Grates.

So we're looking looking to raise a lot of money to help some of these players. Sacks for snacks at pork rind appreciation day. Mike Gold has got some sacks on his resume. So before I let you go, Mike, what's it like to bring down a quarterback? Amy, I haven't done it very much. So here's the way I look at it. I played nine years and I have eleven and a half career sacks. Some call that pathetically bad. I call it consistent. That's a little over one. It's a little over one a year. I like to look at the glass half full.

It's listen, when you get there, it's great. My biggest day was I think it was eighty nine the first time when I was in Philly. Our first game against Dallas, we had twelve, eleven or twelve sacks. I actually had two and a half sacks, which I mean, my God is almost a quarter of what I had for my entire career.

So it was it was a big day for me. So if I get anywhere near the quarterback, I'm going to hit him. I get in so much trouble today with fines because if I got close, I was hitting him and I was land on it, landing on because I never knew when I was getting back and dance.

Do you do the dancing thing to dance dance? I was enough. I lost my wind.

You know, I was too busy trying to get wind back in my lungs to work on this. And now if I would have ever scored three interceptions, if I would have ever scored a touchdown, I probably would have danced. But I never got close to the end zone.

So, no, I had no sack dance, nor did I deserve to have a sack dance. Oh, goodness. These are the stories that we love when we get Mike Golick on the show.

So you can find him on Twitter at Golick and hear him now on Westwood one on Sunday Night Football, as well as with DraftKings and obviously a longtime radio host and NFL defensive lineman. Hey, man, you lasted for nearly a decade. That's saying something. Yeah, you know, I guess at the end of the day, I know I'm pretty self-deprecating, but but nine years. Yeah, I am very, very proud of that, no doubt. We appreciate having you and we'll catch up again. Thanks so much, Mike.

I look forward to the next time our paths cross, Amy. It's happening a lot now. Some fans gear up for game day, but some fans follow their team every day. That's why the Locked On Podcast Network has a daily podcast for your favorite MLB team.

Every trade, every overtime win, every game. Our local experts cover the biggest stories around your team every day. Search locked on plus your favorite MLB team on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts. The Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Some fans gear up for game day, but some fans follow their team every day. That's why the Locked On Podcast Network has a daily podcast for your favorite MLB team.

Every trade, every overtime win, every game. Our local experts cover the biggest stories around your team every day. Search locked on plus your favorite MLB team on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts. The Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Some fans gear up for game day, but some fans follow their team every day. That's why the Locked On Podcast Network has a daily podcast for your favorite MLB team. Every trade, every overtime win, every game. Our local experts cover the biggest stories around your team every day. Search locked on plus your favorite MLB team on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts. The Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.