Welcome to the jungle. My name is Jim Rome. Great to have you here. The program brought to you by FanDuel. Every single day, my thanks to our pals at FanDuel.
Without them, this is not possible. Great to see you here. All right, lots to get to. Hey, let me just start right here. I want to start by saying the phone lines have been popping.
I mean, it's been banging. Keep it up. It's been a lot of momentum on the phones. I love it. Let me start you right there.
Phone number is 1-800-636-8686. Go ahead and use it. First interview is not until 12:40, so we are wide open between now and then. I love it. It's like a renaissance on the phones.
Love to see it. Toll-free, hit us up. Just make sure of this. There's going to be a call screener. The call screener is going to say: what's your name?
Where are you from? What do you want to talk about? Do not tell that call screener. I don't know. I'm just gonna wing it.
I'll just I'll figure it out as soon as I get on the air. No you won't. No, you won't. And by the way, do not be an adult. Call the program, tell the call screener, this is what I want to talk about.
And then, when I go to you, do not hand the phone to your 13-year-old son like that one knob did yesterday. Don't pass the phone to anybody, and especially not your 13-year-old son. That didn't do him or me or you or anybody any good.
However, You're 13. Yeah, I know you're 13.
Son, I can tell. And then I had to break the kid off. It had to be done. But that's your man's fault. That's not my fault.
You put me in an impossible position. It's not a kids' program. We don't like to have kids call. Kids probably shouldn't listen because there are certain things that you clones do, not me. I'm fully responsible.
But there are certain things that some of you do that no 13-year-old should ever be subjected to. Yet, this dad. is passing the phone to his kid.
Now I want you to pass the show to your kids ultimately. But maybe not a 13? Either way, do not pass the phone to a 13-year-old, but use it yourself. If you don't want to do that, find me on X at Jim Roam. If you don't want to do that, find me on email, roam at habitate.com.
If you do not want to do that, just jump in the chat. Yo, chat, chat has become kind of a singular thing. Like it or not, chat, no matter how many of you are in the chat at any given time, you're all one. We have grouped you all together. Like yo chat.
People call up and take a run at chat. Like it's one entity because it is.
So, whereas there may be several hundred of you or thousands of you in at any given time, you're all one, according to everybody else. It's you against the world, Chat.
Alright. All that said, I've got a couple of legends coming up on the program today. Coming up at 12:40, Jonathan Vilma. Former Pro Bowl linebacker. Also, a member of arguably the greatest college football team of all time.
Jonathan Vilma, 1240, 120. Hall of Famer Steve Atwater.
So two really good ones. And a big day tomorrow. All right, starting with, and I'm looking for your engagement, but starting with what we saw last night. Did that actually happen last night? What we saw last night, did that actually happen?
Was that actually a thirty eight year old third stringer who had not started an NFL game in over one thousand days Dit lit Soldier Field on Fire, along with the Eagles' defense, and completely outplayed the Super Bowl MVP from two years ago. Did that actually happen? Or was I just tripping?
Now granted, it has been a minute since Jalen Hurts looked anything like the Super Bowl MVP that he was two years ago. If anyone looked like a former Super Bowl MVP last night, it was Case freaking Keenum. If you need him. And the pairs did need him. And did this dude ever come through?
Not only did Keenum badly outplay Jalen Hurts. Dude nearly played a perfect game. My man's out here looking like Joe Montana and Pinky Manning and Tom Baconface all rolled into one. What a freaking pro. And what an all-time Prime time performance, and what a humiliation for ELGL ES Eagles.
E-S-E-R! E-L-G-L-E-S illiteracy. How do I describe the Eagles last night? How do I describe them? Let me think.
In a word. Ass. In all phases for all four quarters last night, just straight. Uh I've got no idea if anybody was doing any thinking. All I know is that the talent Did not take over.
The ass did. And the real problem for Eagle fan is it's nothing new. How many times have you watched that same game, Eagle fan? How many times have we all been subjected to this same garbage? It's a miracle that this team is somehow two and one.
And that's the only silver lining here, the standings, even if they look nothing like and are playing nothing like a two and one football team. Yes, you are what your record says you are, unless you're the Eagles. Because I don't care what their record is. You can't tell me that's a two and one football team. And the problem is, it's the same problems.
And I know Philly is all over Sean Mannion, even though last night was only his third game calling plays. But for me, this isn't about that. This is way more about Jalen Hurts. The hell has happened to this guy. For me, this is not about the play caller.
This is not about learning a new system. This is not about A.J. Brown not being there. This is about a QB who does not look anywhere near Like the guy he did a couple of years ago. A guy who doesn't even look good anymore.
He's a flat line who doesn't make enough plays, who does not elevate anybody around him, who doesn't really do anything exceptionally well, and doesn't bring any fire to it at all. Unfortunately, for Nick Siriani, you could say a lot of the same things about him, too. Except for that fire part. Because Siriani is still really loud. He's still loud.
He's still getting caught on the broadcast calling someone a kitty cat. From across the field. You see, Siriani still makes plenty of noise. Just very little difference. He says a lot.
And he's animated on the sideline. It just doesn't seem to matter anymore. And when everything is going so wrong like it was last night, it gets really hard to tell exactly what it is that Siriani does around there. Which is why it's also not that comforting to Eagles fan when he goes to the mic after the game and essentially says, We sought. We were ass across the board.
We know it. I think we all have to own that loss right there. I don't think anybody coached well. I don't think anyone played well. It was a true team loss.
And when it's a true team loss, you know, I have to look at myself first. Like, we weren't ready to coach. We weren't ready to play. And that ultimately starts and ends with me. Yo, coach, thanks for the education on what a true team loss is.
My dude, feel free to actually do something. to help somebody. or change anything So you can avoid these true team losses. I don't know. Maybe you try a different approach where you stop having these games where everybody sucks and nobody's ready to play and the coaches don't do their jobs.
I mean, is that an option? Oh, and by the way, on the topic of true team losses where nobody is ready to play. What happened to that guy that we thought was a true pro? What happened to. The red rifle.
Hey, thanks for coming, Red Rifle. Yo, Red Rifle, thanks for bringing out that BB gun last night, bro. Because all the Eagles needed. All the Eagles needed The baby gun to do last night was just not turn it over. While Hertz was evaluated for concussion, But the BB gun was determined to show off that BB gun that he's got under his sleeve.
So, of course, this happened. Reminis motion. Dalton. It is picked off. Cam Ward can't believe how stupid that was.
Drake May can't believe how stupid that was. Rose of my meatball sob Tom Brady can't believe how stupid that was. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Justin Herbert cannot believe that meatball sub. PB gun?
I mean, the guy couldn't even go into the tent long enough to get evaluated without you turning it over at the five-yard line? Or within? I think Eagle Fan knew right then and there that it was never going to get any better last night. I think Eagle Fan knew right then and there that another true team loss was coming. Even if there was still an entire second half for Philadelphia to get their act together, it never actually felt like they had any chance of that happening.
And sure enough, Chicago goes out and shuts them down, shuts them out 17-0 in the second half.
So good job, good effort, Philly. But a ton of credit. A ton of credit should go to big brain Ben Johnson for staying aggressive and dialing up an amazing game and keeping his foot on the gas, then sticking his foot, no, his boot. On their throats, and then just stomping them out. Let's just say the Juxtaposition, or the contrast between the head coaches last night, was extreme.
Let's just say that rock Paper, Scissors, Siriani, trying to match Wits and coach against big brain Ben was a massive mismatch. If football is a game of mismatches or matchups, matchups, That was the biggest mismatch ever. But also, Nobody's remotely surprised by that.
Now, maybe you could say that Vic Fangio's defense getting carved and lit up by Case Keesum. Case Keenum, I should say. Perform? And that laser show was surprising. But nobody is shocked at the head coaching mismatch last night.
The shocking thing was the thirty eight year old who had not started in over one thousand days Badly outplaying a very recent Super Bowl MVP. But Is Kays Keenum reminded the entire locker room after the game, this ain't his first bleeping rodeo. Coming to you in three. Two and one. Love you guys, man.
This is a special night. This is a special night. This means a this means a bunch to me, man. This was taken from me a lot of times. And to have him call me and bring me back, so the love of the game again, man.
To have my family, my kids get the watch. Hey, I get to do it with this family right here. I'm telling you, we got something special here, man. Hey, next man up mentality. I'm telling you guys, this is a special group led by a special man with a special group of men over there.
And I told this to the guys beforehand: man, I may not be a cowboy. The same thing. All right, a couple things. Number one, that is truly a God-fearing man. That he went F-bomb right there was awesome.
Awesome. I might not be a cowboy. But this ain't my first effing rodeo. Just fired up. I loved it.
Number two. I know you. I know you clones. I know what you do before you do it. I know what you think before you think it.
I'd even extend this to the internet. Don't make this about something that it's not. Thanks for leaving that up, Lauren. That's important. If you're watching on the stream, do not make this about something it's not.
This is about, I'll tell you what it's about, and then I'll tell you what it's not about. It's about Case Keenum. It is not about Caleb Williams wearing the bear's robe in the background. Who the hell cares? I don't care.
It's a new Caleb scandal. He's rocking a robe and he didn't play. In fact, it doesn't matter what this guy says. Break your news! Break your news!
cut into your local programming. Caleb is wearing a robe and did not play and will not play next week or the week after. I mean, it doesn't matter what this guy does or says or thinks or wears. The internet's got an internet. Who cares, man?
Back to what really matters. Case Keenum, man. Good for that dude. Good for that team.
Now, how do you not pull for that dude? He's all about ball. He's all about the opportunity and the moment. And he made the absolute most of it. He did everything right.
Everything right. Did you see how quickly that ball came out last night? Did you see how decisive that guy was? Man, what a genius in that system Which is why I've got to imagine that you give that guy another start. You let that guy keep starting.
No way you send that dude. Who just went for Joe Montana on the Eagles, back to the bench for Tyson Bajant, no matter how much you like him? Although that discussion has already started. Why I've got no idea. Why would you not send Keenan back out there after what he just did to a Vic Fangio defense?
Now, the funny thing about the Ben Johnson case kingdom chemistry and the connection last night was that the case already warned us. He'd already told us. If you were listening to him in the lead up to the game, Case was already straight up effusive in his praise of Big Brain Ben. Golly, man, I mean he's he's He's gonna go down as Probably the best. Play caller, play designer.
Coach. All of the above, when it's all said and done. I mean, some of the stuff that that man does is unbelievable. And the way he sees the game, the way he's able to. Prepare guys, the way he's able to lead.
Man, I am the biggest Ben Johnson fan. I'm here right now. Because of him. Golly, man. That's what I mean about that F-bomb.
Golly, man. Hey, I'll tell you what though, that that is effusive praise. Case Keenum has seen every kind of defense, every kind of offense, every kind of scheme, every kind of system, and he's saying, I'm telling you, I've never seen anything like this guy. It's quite a statement. But after you saw these two operate last night, it makes sense why Keenum thinks that that dude is a genius and is so loyal to him because he brought him in.
And then I give this guy so much credit. I mean, obviously, he's going to prepare every single week as a third stringer as if he's going to play when he's never going to play, and then he is going to play. On a Monday night against a Vic Fangio defense and just shred and carve. It was awesome. And judging by Ben Johnson's career so far, there's a lot more evidence that last night.
This cat not only has a beautiful offensive football mind. There is so much more to him than that. an ability to lead and motivate to match. Which is not something that I would say about anybody right now. Associated with the Eagles.
I just don't know what makes the Eagles special. Not right now. Not anymore, especially if the defense is going to no-show games like that and get their asses kicked by old men who have not played in years. It's like they said, hey, we're going to take away the run, and we're going to make that old man beat us because there's no way in hell that happens. And then that's exactly what happened.
I know you're two and one, Philly, but if last night is really where you're at, You're in for the same crappy conclusion to this season that you're now used to. Because Philadelphia can tell themselves they are what the record says they are, but they're not. They're lucky they're not 0 and three. They beat the Commanders by two, but had to stop a two point conversion late for that to happen. They barely beat the 0 in three Titans.
And don't look now, but the Rams are coming to town. On a short week.
So talent better start taking over pretty soon or this is going to get much worse for the E L G L E S Eagles. E S Eagles And then, if any gray goose bottles are going to get tomahawked, they will be in the direction of their own coaches and players. Players will be getting their cars jacked. at home from the players' parking lot. I don't know that you have any cheesy tricks left, Nick, but you better coach them the hell up, because if this continues to trend the way it is, you will be in Howie Roseman's office before you know it and it sure as hell will not be for a new contract.
true team loss. Yeah, we know dude. Wow. Wow. Wow, wow.
Well that's Karjack. He had a reason to be upset. Wow, wow.
Is that all how you all get down in Philly? You jack our cars. That's how y'all are getting down? When we're winning playoff games. Wow.
Wow, wow, wow. Even Oprah can't believe that. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. 1-800-636-8686, Philly fan. I would ask you how you feel this morning, but I already know.
I already know, but if you want to vent here. on a different platform, on a different show. I'm here for it. I'm here for it. And for the Bears, man, Ben Johnson, this dude, I'm not saying he's a revelation, but th th this is what you get when you combine a genius play caller With intensity that's off the charts and an ability to lead and motivate.
What an incredible asset. Perfect guy for that town. And that quarterback room. You know, and then one more thing before I go to break. There is a question.
We were actually banning this about off-air, but what do you get? What do you get when you have a guy that stands in, gets it out quickly, isn't doing crazy things that only Caleb Williams can do off-platform? You know, what would that say? What would that say about Caleb? And my point to that is KO is not changing.
I mean, he's improving. And he's more disciplined than when Ben Johnson first got there, but you don't wanna really change that guy because that guy can do things that nobody else can do.
So it seems to me you get the best of both worlds, right? You're gonna have Caleb, and he's gonna meet Ben Johnson. Actually, the two of them are gonna meet each other where they are, and then you're gonna get Caleb. But then if you need somebody like Case Keenum. Who's 38, who can't do those crazy things, but can run that offense perfectly?
You're going to get a game like that. against what's supposed to be a good defense.
So there you have it. Ben Johnson. Right when I thought that guy's stock could not go any higher. It spikes again. In Philly, I'm going to ask you one more time: what is special about you?
I'm not seeing anything right now. All right, some other things. We got to change up. In fact, I'm going to change up in two different ways. We've talked so much football.
Yesterday was NBA Media Day, so whether we're ready or not, We're going to talk some association. I'm at least going to recap NBA Media Day. Wait, there's more.
Something else you might not be ready to talk about? Major League Baseball. The postseason's about to begin. And then once it's over, we're going to have another month of this. But once it's over, who knows when we'll have baseball again.
So let's talk some baseball. We'll do that as well. You can find me in the chat. You can find me on X. You can find me on the email.
Your reaction when we come back. Jonathan Vilma at 1240. Steve Atwater at 120. Good to be here. Good to have you here.
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My dough never sees a freezer. Faye Hollis makes the biscuits at Hardee's. I'm up at 5 a.m. every day making biscuits from scratch. Easy there, biscuit lady.
Ought to create the Hardee's $2 for $5 breakfast menu. Try the new Oscar Meyer bologna biscuit, sausage and egg biscuit, smoked sausage biscuit, biscuit and gravy, or a cinnamon roll. The $2 for $5 breakfast for a limited time only at participating Hardee's. I got up early. The least you can do is show up hungry.
Yeah, clones don't take this the wrong way, but for the most part, you are, if anything. Predictable. but not creative. I'm not even kidding. If I sat down and I just made up a bunch of handles, I could come up with these.
I could have already come up with what you were going to send me before you sent it to me. I could write it. Like I already know what's coming before it comes. As I said, predictable but not creative. I'll give you an example.
I can back up anything I say. I'll give you an example in a minute.
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Alright, so in terms of my saying, I know what you're gonna send me before you send it to me. As an example. I mean, I even try to cut it off. Don't do this. Don't do this.
Yeah, what do I see? And this is from one of our better clones, Gail Invalencia. Did anyone. Find Caleb's smoking robe a bit distracting during Case Keenum speech. Gail, did anyone?
A better question would be who not name me? Didn't find that a bit distracting. That's all any of you cared about was that robe. The quote smoking robe. Not a smoking robe, but a team-issued robe because I saw the team logo on it.
Santosa 831 live from Los Angeles. This is the Jim Robe show. Y'all act like you've never seen a bathrobe. Is that the first bathrobe you've ever seen? You've never seen one of those before?
They're for like when you get out of the shower. Oh You have a problem with a guy who didn't play in the game taking a shower. There's that too. Sean and Eliso Viejo, it's not a robe. It's a smoking jacket.
Sign Caleb. Like I said. It's like the internet and not just you and shot. But the entire internet has decided he's the one. Him.
He's him. No matter what he does, no matter what he says, no matter what he thinks, no matter what he eats, and no matter what he wears. We have something to say about that guy. Blue K1 D one H Caleb's mommy. Made him that robe.
No, she didn't. I could tell it's a team issued rope. Mikey Soriano, Jim, are you robe guy? All right, fair enough. See, that to me is an appropriate question.
Am I robe guy? Only in hotels.
Now I do have robes at home. I won't break out a robe more than once a year at home.
Okay, Rome, when? When is that one time a year? I don't know. I don't know. Just to change up.
Just to make Jano laugh, I dunno. I'll break it out once a year because she'll be like, what are you keeping flush?
Next time, I'm going to break out the cigar, so it is a smoking robe.
So to answer the question, not really. Not really. Once a year at home, and almost inevitably, whenever I'm in a hotel. Also, when I'm in a hotel, if I'm gonna break out the robe, I'm gonna also break out those really lame stupid slippers. You know, like if you rip the robe, they'll charge you for it.
They best not be charging for those flat little stupid slippers. They do nothing. The robe I can see has value. And why would I take a robe?
So, you're gonna charge me for a robe, a robe that 800 people have already worn. Why would I do that? Jay in Tampa, life is unpredictable. You're minding your own business, watching a postgame speech by a quarterback. You look and see somebody in a robe and boom, right in our face.
Sounds funny. That's a reach. That didn't work. Liz in Falls City. Right, Mike.
Leave Caleb alone! You're lucky he even plug... His eyebrows for you. Plug. Liz, you're getting worse, not better, no offense.
Lady clones. Have you ever plugged Your eyebrows? I love that. Tom didn't know who Liz was. I had to explain who Liz was.
Liz had this one classic take, no offense, Liz, that she's been living off of for years. Tom didn't know her. Tom's like, I don't know, dude. I think she's getting funnier. The worse she gets, the funnier it is.
Yeah, especially when she's talking about a dude plugging his eyebrows. I'm telling you, chat, if you're going to keep coming in here. With stuff like that. My reaction is going to get harsher and harsher because your takes are getting worse and worse. All right, when we come back, let me see on the clock.
Jonathan Vilma, next. Stay tuned. You're listening to the Jim Rome Show. My dough never sees a freezer. Faye Hollis makes the biscuits at Hardee's.
I'm up at 5 a.m. every day making biscuits from scratch. Easy there, biscuit lady. Ought to create the Hardee's $2 for $5 breakfast menu. Try the new Oscar Meyer bologna biscuit, sausage and egg biscuit, smoked sausage biscuit, biscuit and gravy, or a cinnamon roll.
The $2 for $5 breakfast for a limited time only at participating Hardees. I got up early. The least you can do is show up hungry. He's not wrong. I am Jim Rome.
Good to be with you. All right, if you're on hold, stay there, or if you want to keep hitting me up in the chat or on X or anywhere else, go ahead and do that. But right now, we are joined by a Super Bowl champion, a three-time Pro Bowler, a national champion in college at the U. All told. He played 10 years in the NFL for the Jets and the Saints.
He was the 2004 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. He is an NFL and Fox game analyst. Of course, I'm talking about Jonathan Vilma. Jonathan, always good to see you, dude. How are you doing?
I'm doing good, Jim. How are you doing? Good, man. Good. Appreciate you.
Great to see you. Let me ask you about last night. 38-year-old Case Keenum led the Bears to that 27-7 beatdown over Philadelphia. Obviously, the Eagles came in, Jonathan, looking to get him or make him beat them, and that's exactly what that dude did. How impressed were you with what you saw from him?
And then, what were your other biggest takeaways last night? I was very impressed with him, but not surprised. He's been in the league for so long, 38 years old. And when you look at some of these backup quarterbacks that take the game week in, week out, as if they're going to play, and you can tell that that's what Case Keenum does.
So, mentally, he's always been in it. And you can tell he's just locked in. And then now it's just a matter of him taking the physical, going out there, and executing the game plan.
So, very impressed with the mental sharpness that he had. Very impressed, obviously, with the physical ability, but not surprised at all. And to answer the second part, some of the other takeaways I would say is the takeaways, right? The Bears' defense, led by Dennis Allen, he was my coach back at the Saints. He always preached taking the ball away, right?
That is like the single biggest factor in determining if you're going to win or lose a game. Always emphasize it in practice, individual periods, in team periods. And so it's carried over. Last year, the Bears. Led the NFL in takeaways.
They make it to the playoffs. It looks like they picked up right where they left off, and you can see the guys defensively. actively going for the football. That's good coaching. That's good play.
That's good execution.
So, right now, it's a good team overall. Jonathan Vilma joining us. You know what? You're right. It did carry over.
It carried over, but like I wanna say, is it sustainable? But it carried over. They're still doing it, man. They're still getting the rock. But is it sustainable?
It's sustainable so long as offenses keep going out there, not recognizing that they're going against one of the best defenses in taking the football away, right? They are very, very active from the defensive line to the linebackers to the secondary. They are targeting the football. First man in, I already know what Dennis Allen tells them. First guy, secure the tackle.
Next guy, you are going for the football. You are actively attacking the football. That's what they're being taught. That's how it looks on film. That's how they're being coached.
So until the offenses recognize that they need two hands on the ball at all times, once they have contact, the ball is going to keep coming out. The Bears are going to keep taking it away. Jonathan Villman joining us, Super Bowl champ, also a national champion in Miami. Jonathan, when you look at Jalen Hurts, what do you see? I get it.
A.J. Brown's not there. Sean Mannion's been there for three games, but does he look to you like the same quarterback that he was a couple of years ago when he won the MVP in the Super Bowl? He does. What's missing right now?
You mentioned AJ Brown, you mentioned a couple other guys. What's really missing, though, is the offensive line. When you think about the offensive line during the Super Bowl runs, they were able to rip off four and a half, five yards of pop, and it was almost effortless the way that they were able to do it. Saquon Barkley was player of the year, had a great offensive line. He was also a force in the passing game.
So I'd say the difference is that the opportunities to get downfield with these big plays were all predicated on the run game and the offensive line and what they could do early on. And that led them to a Super Bowl. They don't have that right now. They're getting there. Offensive line is good, don't get me wrong, but they're not at the level where everyone was so afraid of stopping the run defensively that you would leave, you were forced to leave an AJ Brown open on the outside, Devontae Smith on the outside.
Right now, you can't do that. You're allowed the opportunity to say, all right, we can kind of cheat here and go seven and half in the box, put the safety at eight yards instead of bringing him all the way down the box, be able to shut down Saquon and then get in those passing lanes.
So what I'm seeing is a quarterback. He's still conservative. He's always been conservative. He's not going to take chances down the field if they're not there. And unfortunately, those opportunities, they're not as many as there were before.
Jonathan Vilma joining us. Hey, Jonathan, does everything go to hell when A.J. Brown goes down? Look at New England. Look at Drake May.
So he loses A.J. Brown, and then all of a sudden Drake May is not Drake May. But then again, you could go back to the postseason where he struggled last year. You tell me, when you look at the film or you watch him play, what do you see with Drake May? Why is he having so much trouble?
Oof. Good question. I will start with When you see a lot, you see nothing. Right, and so that's where I think the issues are coming for Drake May. We used to talk about quarterbacks that they see everything, right?
They think they see everything, and then all of a sudden, you really are seeing nothing, right? Because you're chasing ghosts, you're trying to anticipate is this safety going to come down? Is this going to be a robbed defender? Blah blah blah, all this stuff, right? And you just need to go through your progressions as you did in practice, understand the defense.
He rarely, rarely has his back to the defense.
So when the ball snapped, the safeties are going to tell you one thing or another, the corners are going to tell you, the backers are going to tell you. It's up to him to figure out which one he's supposed to look at and the read that he's supposed to go off of it.
So, if it's supposed to be a first read as a slant, well, then take a look at what that outside backer safety is doing. If your next read is supposed to be a seam route, well, take a look at the safety. Did he bust out in cover two? If it's cover four, you know, you don't have it.
So, I'm looking and saying he's trying to read everything and he's trying to anticipate everything. And it's really got him caught up right now. He's hesitant when he throws, and then when he does, unfortunately, he's making poor decisions.
So, that all makes sense to me. How do you go from being a guy that nearly wins the MVP award to seeing ghosts, not trusting what you're seeing, seeing everything and seeing nothing? Like, how did that happen? I think you might have just stumped me, Jim. I don't know how that happens.
When I think about. I immediately started thinking about all the good quarterbacks I've either played against or fortunate to play with Drew Brees, Hall of Fame quarterback, and they never regressed, right? The next year, they said, okay, we kind of got over this first hurdle of identifying defenses.
Now we want to go to the next phase of how can we manipulate a defense? How are we able to get our backside basic route open versus cover four and try to manipulate a safety or the outside backer, right?
So, and I think about Matt Ryan when I played against him a bunch of times. I think about Aaron Rodgers, his progression, like every really, really good quarterback, future Hall of Fame quarterback, they all took that next step where it wasn't about the offense anymore. It was more about manipulating the defense and getting your guys open.
So if Drew Brees wanted a backside dig, he was going to manipulate the defense to get a backside dig 15 yards in with the wide receiver.
So I. I can't tell you what the issue is. All I would say is, he needs to go back to basics. He needs to just focus on the main thing, keep the main thing, the main thing. I always tell, I used to tell my guys that.
And it's really about figuring out the process of how to win games. Forget how many yards you have, forget who you need to kind of feed and. Get involved in the game. It's about how do you win this game? What's the process that I'm taking weekly to make sure we win?
We're talking to Jonathan Vilma. I know I appreciate that. And I'm really glad you brought up Drew Brees because those who know know. And then those who don't necessarily know might think of Drew Brees and think, yeah, well, yeah, Tom Brady, this, Drew Brees, that. Drew Brees lost his job.
Man, Drew Brees was such a great player and such a great dude, still is, and such a great leader. Can you talk about him for a minute? What was he like to play with and what made him different?
So Drew Brees, I've said it before, he was the best teammate I had, ultimate competitor. And when I say, oh, let me rephrase that. Besides Ed Reed in college, Drew Brees, best teammate I had. Ultimate competitor in the sense that Defensively, we're known to be loud, brash, violent, right? We're the aggressors.
And it's usually the quarterbacks that are supposed to be calm, you know, even keel. And you never really know where the competitive drive is for some of the quarterbacks, right, until they get hit, right? And then you kind of find out what they're really about. And I'll never forget the practices that we had. And Drew Brees, he was so adamant in not just running his offense, but frankly, kicking our defense's butt.
Like that, that was his goal. He was like, Yeah, I'm going to run my offense. And I got awesome wide receivers, and I got Shocky at tight end, and Jimmy Graham at tight end. But today, I want my defense to feel like crap. Like, literally, at the end of practice, be like, hey, guys, this was a bad practice.
We need to get better, right? That's Drew's mentality. And I think he doesn't get enough credit for how competitive he was, how much he wanted to win, how much he put on himself, the responsibility that he had. And he still produced, man, game in, game out. He still produced at a high level.
So I never. Like to compare Brady and Breeze. I'm always biased. It's going to be Breeze all day long. But the similarities that they had at quarterback, the chip on their shoulder, the way they prepared, I mean, it's like one A and one B.
I love that. So if Ed Reed was the most competitive guy or teammate you ever had, Jonathan, that 01 Keynes team, if Ed was the most competitive, who was the best pure athlete on arguably the best college football team ever? Damn, Jim.
So I'm laughing because I knew the question was coming, and I still had to think, and I was like, man, who was it? I can't give you one. I have to give you like top three or four. Can I do that? You can do that.
All right, let me do it anyway. All right.
So I'd say in no particular order. I would go. Andre Johnson. DJ Williams, number one recruit, the only player that Madden said could have gone from high school straight to the NFL. I will go Vince Wilfort.
He is the only guy over 300 pounds I've ever seen stop. A fourth and one by jumping over alignment from a four-point stance. And then I left Sean Taylor for last because I got a good story about Sean. He was said he played at about 215, 220. And I'll never forget that my senior year, his junior year.
Coach Shannon was our defensive coordinator. He says, Hey man, you need to lose weight. He's talking to Sean Taylor. You need to lose weight. You're getting fat.
That's what he told him. And I was like, What is he talking about?
So I kind of just acted like I didn't hear it. And so I started kind of watching Sean to see, you know, what was Coach talking about?
So all of a sudden, Sean goes over and he weighs himself. But before he weighs himself, he kind of looks around to make sure no one's looking. And obviously, I did like one of these to make sure he didn't see me looking. And then he steps on the scale.
So I promise you I will never forget this gym. He stepped on a scale. I took a look from afar. He was 242 pounds. John Taylor was playing safety at six foot two, two hundred and forty two pounds.
This was The man. The man. He was something else.
Something else. That's incredible. That is incredible. I would have never, if you had asked me, what do you think he went? I would have never said that ever.
Jonathan Villman, we got to walk off on that. What a great story that is. Dude, you are the absolute best, Jonathan. I appreciate you, man. Great to have you on the show.
Thank you so much for doing it. You are the best, dude. You are the best. Jonathan Villman, man, he was such a great player.
So intense, so heady. Super Bowl champ, national champ. Great guy to wrap with. My thanks to Jonathan Vilma, Sean Taylor, man, 245. All right, hour number two, straight ahead, stay tuned.
My dough never sees a freezer. Faye Hollis makes the biscuits at Hardee's. I'm up at 5 a.m. every day making biscuits from scratch. Easy there, biscuit lady.
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Mm.
