Into hour number two. What's going on? Having a great Friday. Hope you are too. I'm Jim Rome.
I'm in Southern California. As always, this show is presented by FanDuel. My thanks to my pals there. All right, if you're on hold, nice job on the phones. If you're on hold, stay on hold.
If you're not on hold, get on hold. First things first, though. We start our number two by having a conversation with the head football coach at SMU. He is in his fifth year. He has a record of 43 and 17.
Four straight bowl appearances. He led the Mustangs to an appearance in the. ACC championship game and the college football playoff in 2024. In fact, that year was the ACC Coach of the Year as well. SMU is five and one.
They're three and one in conference play. They are ranked 23rd in the AP poll this week, and they play host to Cal tomorrow. Of course, I'm talking about Red Lashley. Red, always good to have you on the show. Red, how you doing?
Hey Jim, always good to be with you. Doing well, good. Always good to have you. Good to see you. Appreciate you making time.
Listen, so far so good. You won five of your first six. You've won three in a row. As you look at the team so far, what do you think are the biggest reasons why the team has had such a strong start to the season? Yeah, I think we we obviously have one of the best quarterbacks in America, and Kevin Jennings.
I also think we just have a really good group of leaders. I think this is an accountable group. They've been that way all spring, all summer.
So you kind of always felt like we would be a team that would have a chance to win every game we played. We haven't done that, but we've we played well. We found a bunch of different ways to win. I don't think we played our best complete game yet, but you know, week and week out, our guys find ways to win, and I think we're getting better. You know, Ray, you went right to the guy that I was going.
Go to next.
Now, of course, is your quarterback Kevin Jennings. You have what everybody wants—an experienced quarterback. I mean, a fifth year, a senior. He's been on this show before, so it's very clear to me how much SMU football means to him. He's been with you since 2022.
How would you sum up what Kevin means to this team and to the program? Don't know if we have enough time in the show for me to do a good job of that, but I mean, to your point, in this new era of college athletics and college football, to have a third-year returning starter, to have someone who started his career here, finishing his career here, he's broken every school record except one. I think now as a quarterback, he's one touchdown pass away from tying the all-time record with most career touchdown passes. But he has everything else: yards, total offense, all those things. I think last week he became one of.
Eight active quarterbacks with over ten thousand total yards. He's just—he's a phenomenal player, but the leader he is, the ambassador he is for our school. It's such a time with us going into the ACC. A young man from Dallas chose SMU, chose to stay in Dallas, and and each of the last three years, he could have done whatever he wanted. He continued to choose to stay here, be loyal to SMU, build his legacy here, which is really helping our program.
But I think he's going to reap those rewards for decades to come. We are talking to Ret Lastry. I love hearing all that. Hey, Ret, I understand that he, especially Kevin, he's about the team and the program first. I also understand one day at a time, one game at a time.
But can you do this? How does his skill set project to the next level with the NFL draft in his future in the spring? It projects well. You know, probably the. He's not the top.
He's probably six foot six one, but what he can do is he can make every throw on the field. He can make throws from the pocket. He can make throws on the move. He can extend plays. He he's just he's got a great talent for winning.
I mean, he just does. He's a winner. He's played now, and once you once you get over thirty career starts, you know then the NFL starts say, okay, you've been successful for two, three plus years in the collegiate game. That really translates as well. He loves the game.
He's really smart, and he's a playmaker. And I think you start to see all the young quarterbacks in the NFL now. What are they? They're playmakers. He's a playmaker, and like I said, he's elite on the run.
He's really grown his game in the pocket.
Someone's going to get a really, really special talent. That all he's done in his entire life, from Pee Wee to high school to now college, is win. That's not going to change when he goes to the next level.
So, right to your point, you just said that like it always done is one win. Is it a talent? Is it learned? What comes first? I mean, are you a winner because of your preparation, or are you a winner because you've won?
Like, how is winning a talent? It's a great question. You know, I've always said it like winning's a habit. You know, you can learn how to win. I think that's something we've been able to instill in our program.
Our guys expect to win, so some of it's a mindset, some of it's your DNA. I mean, I think he's got that. You know, you hear people talk about it. What is it? I don't know, but you kind of know it when you see it.
He's got it. Whether it was what he did in high school, I mean, he won a state championship at a school that had never done it, and and a Dallas school hadn't. Won it in sixty years. He goes and wins it. He comes here and he wins.
Our, you know, his first career start, he wins a conference championship. In our first year in the ACC, we go eight and zero and make it to the ACC title game in our league. Like he just has that. Credibly, like quiet confidence about him that it kind of just permeates through the rest of the team, and everybody believes in him. He believes in himself, but he does it in such a way that it's contagious.
So, you know, probably some of it's learned, probably some of it's developed, but I think some of it he's born with. I think that's a great explanation. We're talking to Red Lashley, Red.
So, what about the other side of the ball? You have another guy, and both these guys are their own guys. But what about Alexander Kilgore? He's your leading tackler. He's another guy that's.
Been with you for several years. I mean, I don't want to say is he the defensive version of Kevin, but they've got similarities in that regard. In terms of somebody who can, well, who's been there, who can help you enforce the program's culture, uphold the standard. With so much turnover in the sport this year, or in the game right now, how important is it to have a guy like Alexander? It's huge, you know.
I think the way we've been able to do it in this—I mean, we still have transfers come in every year, and we still have a really talented freshman class.
So half our roster is probably new this year, but we have good remnants that have stuck around over the years that know the culture, that know how we win. You know, Alexander Kilgore's first his freshman year was our last year in the American. We won a conference championship. His his first collegiate play, he got a sack. You know, and he's now stayed here four years.
So you look at You look at Kevin; they have a similar path in that they came here, they had success early, they were here when we won a championship, when we went to the ACC, when we made the college football playoffs, and they've chosen to stay and help us continue to build this program and this culture. And so, having those guys and other guys like those two; those aren't the only two. Is why you know at the very beginning you asked me what is kind of the reason we've been successful this year. It's those guys. It's that just that that personal accountability they.
Have to each other that has bled over into the young players and the transfers that I think gives us a chance every week. Red Lashley joining us, and then you've got a running back I really like in Kendrick Raphael. He's rushed for over 100 yards in a couple of games this year. Last Saturday against Virginia as well, he's had six touchdowns rushing or six TDs overall this year. My point about this guy, I'm just on the outside looking in, Red.
I like the way he carries himself. How would you describe his mentality or his mindset and his approach to ball? Incredibly mature, you know. We kind of use the saying, "He's a pro before he's a pro," like that's just how he goes about his business, from the training room to his academics to meetings. And we have some young, talented backs that are getting to see how he operates.
And other thing, you know, Kendrick was playing for Cal last year in this new world, and and they beat us at the end of the year, kept us out of the ACC title game. Fortunately for us, he's from Florida, so he wanted to get back closer to home, and now he's. Playing for us, but the maturity he's brought has been really good for our offense because we got a lot of young, talented playmakers, and he's kind of one of those older guys who's able to kind of keep everybody in check. Red Lashley joining us, so right, you've got Cal coming up. Cal's interesting in that they're three and four, and they're led by first-year head coach in Tosh Lupoi.
I spoke to him in August, and pretty intense guy, like a lot of coaches, and it was clear that he's locked in on rebuilding his alma mater as you watch. The tape. What stands out to you about them? Man, their length and their athleticism—like this—is a really talented team. And it is year one for Tosh, and like everyone, they probably have a lot of new faces.
They got a lot of transfers that came in that are really talented. The quarterback's been banged up; they get him back this week. I think Jaron's one of the most talented quarterbacks in America.
So we got our hands full with that. But not having him for two, two and a half games—hard to get in a rhythm and a you know a new year with a new offensive staff, etc. Tosh is really good. He's got. Good pedigree, coming all the way back from Kirby Smart, Nick Saban, Dan Lanning.
Like he knows how to win. He knows what it looks like. He's going to get it going there. But when you look at it, besides the fact that their quarterback's a potential future first-round pick, in my opinion. Defensively, they are.
They have some really long, athletic guys, and so you know it's been where they've been inconsistent. They had a tight game with UCLA to start the year, who's now looking pretty good at undefeated. They beat Virginia Tech two weeks ago, but then they've also had a few setbacks. You know, and that's a little bit more how it is in college now. You don't really know what you are going to get each week, but from a talent standpoint, you know this is.
We played Louisville on the road. We played Florida State early. There is some talented bunch. This group's as talented as those teams we played, and we have. Not played a quarterback as good as the one we're going to play tomorrow yet.
That's really high praise, Red. To what you just said, we don't know in college football what we're going to get from week to week anymore. I mean, is it me? I don't remember the game being this intriguing, this interesting, with this much drama and this many eyeballs. Like you say, what you want about the structure of the game and the need for reform, but the game itself and all the drama that comes along with it, the competition—I don't remember it being more interesting.
Is that just me? No, no, and I think look, there's a lot of good that has come with the changes. We just need a we need a little stability and a little bit of a framework so everybody can operate. That's probably what's missing. But to your point, with all the transfers, with all the movement, you don't have any super rosters anymore.
Nobody's stacking, you know, two and three and four deep at the top ten schools because those guys want to play. And if they're not playing, they're going to go somewhere else. And so I think the parity in college football because of the transfer. Situation has really changed, and then you start paying young men, and that has helped it change. But it also has probably led to some of the inconsistencies, because there's a lot of young men that are now 18 to 23 years old dealing with things they never had to deal with, different pressures, and so I just think it creates a lot of that inconsistency and parity.
But it's also what makes our game great. It's also why you start hearing we're probably going to go to 24 teams. You know, I hear people say, "Well, there's not 24 teams that can win a national title." You're probably right. There's also not 68 teams that can win it in basketball, but there's probably more than four. You know, there may be 10 some years, there may be eight, there may be 14 some years.
I mean, last year you could argue Notre Dame was good enough to win the national title, and they didn't make the playoff.
So I do think with the amount of parity we have and what you're seeing and how interesting and exciting it is that just about any given week anybody can beat anybody. You know that makes more sense on expanding the playoff, but also just think goes back to your original question. You just Buckle up! Every Saturday, you never know what you are going to get. You don't know; you never know what you are going to get.
You are going to get something. One last thing: What about your conference? We've been talking a little bit about the ACC.
So SMU is one of three ACC teams that are ranked this week in the AP poll, led by number one Miami. What do you make of the depth of the conference, and do you feel like you are going to get multiple teams in the playoff, like you did a few years back when you and Clemson represented the conference? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's obviously it's too early to tell. You know, a lot of us, especially the top half of league, have to keep winning.
You know, it's interesting. And anytime you're in this format where we are, where teams are selected and they don't earn it, not going to get into that tangent. But it's hard. I do think our league's really good, top to bottom. We may not be as top heavy as some leagues with two or three teams that are top five or whatever.
But like I think top to bottom, you see anybody can beat anybody on any given week. Look last week, Miami's number one in the country, and they went toe to toe and almost lost to Florida State in overtime, right? And You know we beat Florida State week one. You know Wake Forest played Miami well. Like there is so much parity in our league last year.
Us and Miami tied in a five-way tie for second. Neither one of us even made the ACC title game, and Miami goes on to play for the national title. Our league doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. Because of the brand bias, which is just real in there, and that's okay. There is some great leagues.
All four leagues are great. All four leagues probably deserve multiple bids, in my opinion. But sometimes we let the narratives run wild, and we don't. We don't give as much respect, like. Miami playing Florida State playing playing Miami the way they did shouldn't be was Miami as good as we thought it should be no Miami's really good and you know what a three and four team in the ACC is also pretty good like it's a competitive league just like some of the other leagues so I know this being in the league week in week out there's no easy games just like tomorrow we're playing a really talented team that if we don't play really well they're gonna beat us shoot Red I'm trying to let you go but you keep saying interesting things promise you one last thought.
You mentioned Wake Forest. You mentioned Wake Forest. I think Jake Dickert man, that's a hell of a coach right there. That's a hell of a coach right there. Do you think when you look at the ACC, what do you make of the coaches around that league, and what's it like going head to head with the likes of that and some of the others?
Yeah, I think the coaching's elite. I think that's one of the reason I think our league is is slowly raising our level. And you know, if we can continue to do it year after year, we're maybe going to start to get the benefit of it. But we got Bill Belichick in our league. We got Dabo Sweeney, who's one more national titles than just about anybody who's active.
We got James Franklin in our league. We got Mario Cristobal. Jake Dickert is coaching as well as anybody. Manny Diaz, Tony Elliott. You could go on and on and on.
Tosh coming in this weekend's like, and that's what. Makes it a challenge, you know. We're challenged with the players, with the talent. We're challenged with the coaching and a coast-to-coast league, and and that's why we're really thankful at SMU to be a part of the league. Yeah, man, I I like the comments a lot.
And by the way, the goat apparently the goat's not dead because Carolina's playing some ball now. All of a sudden, Ret Lashley joining us. Ret, what a great conversation. I appreciate you.
Sorry to keep you so long, but I appreciated the conversation so much. I couldn't let it go. Great to have you on. Good luck this weekend. Hope we can do it again soon, Ret.
Anytime, thanks, Jim. Appreciate you, dude. Rhett Lashley is great. What a great conversation. Good stuff.
ACC. You know, it's always Big Ten, Big Ten, SEC, Big Twelve. Even man, don't sleep on the ACC. Really interesting conference. With some really good matchups.
All right, when we come back, phone lines are still open. You know where to find me one eight hundred six three six eight six eight six. And yes, the World Series. How about the World Series? If you want to talk some baseball, I'm more than happy to.
Actually, no, I'm not. That last caller covered the whole thing for me. He covered forty years of Brewer baseball for me. But he wasn't wrong. O'Reilly Auto Parts can help take the guesswork out of your check engine, ABS, or maintenance light with O'Reilly VeriScan.
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All right, so I'll get to the Knicks in one minute, but first I want to talk to you about a company we use, a small business which is absolutely awesome.
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That's G U S T O.com. Gusto.com again. Sidebar: We were using them before they became partners on the program.
So when it was brought to my attention that we were going to have them as a partner, I couldn't have been more pumped. We were already using them before. I didn't start using them after. That's how much I love that company. All right, so let's talk about the bricks.
I know they are the defending world champs, but bricks are gonna brick. That will never change because James Dolan is always gonna James Dolan. That will never change, and I would call his latest stunt. Unbelievable, except it's extremely believable. It's about as on-brand James Dolan as it gets.
You see, Dolan thought that it would be a good idea to send his employees an email with the subject "Congratulations, your employee championship ring is here." Quote end quote, and that actually seems normal, right? Employees in championship organizations typically get rings. Everybody probably was expecting an email like that. Probably waiting on an email like that.
Well, if they were expecting that email, they were in for a brutal reminder of exactly who they work for, because any MSG employee who clicked into that email to claim their employee championship ring immediately got redirected to a mandatory cyber security class. Fact. Essentially, if you clicked on that email to claim your championship ring, James Dolan dropped an LT hammer right on your head. You don't like that. I don't like that.
I mean, what a jerk move! At least it wasn't a link to a JD and the straight shot performance.
So it could have been worse, but still, I mean, that is a jerk move. A phishing test—that's what you turn these ring emails into. Why the hell would any employee think that that email was fake? They just won a championship for the first time in fifty years. Why would any of these employees think that there was anything suspicious about that email at all?
Doan's like that's the problem. These people forgot who they work for, so I had to remind them. Hey, idiots! If you get an email saying that I'm going to do something nice for you, you definitely should not believe it because there's no way in hell it's real. Because why would I do anything for you, people, idiots?
How and why is this the time to test your employees' cyber security awareness? You're effing with the people that help bring this franchise its first ring in fifty years by not letting anyone actually have a ring by redirecting them into a cyber security educational course. How the hell does that make sense? And it's not just Knicks employees; even the Knicks coaches apparently got snubbed. At least they did at that fraudulent ring ceremony on Tuesday night.
Yes, the players got their rings, and then the coaching staff each was handed each member was handed a ring box. Problem is, reportedly, when they fired open the box, the ring box was empty. Got you again. What was the matter with you, Dolan? Is that not the most Nick thing ever?
The coaching staff standing around during the Knicks' long-awaited ring ceremony—a 50-year-awaited ring ceremony—they're handed boxes that are empty. I guess James Dolan just could not resist being like, "Here's your ring box. Why don't you open it up and see what's inside?" It's like all those like snakes flying out. You don't like that. I don't like that.
Gotcha. No, really. Where's our ring? You don't get one. The Athletic can't even confirm if Mike Brown himself has a ring.
All they got was the following statement from an MSG Sports spokesman: "Quote, we are not disclosing anything about the rings." Yeah, I wonder why. What do you mean you're not disclosing anything about the rings? How about you disclose that every member of the coaching staff got one? They're the coaching staff. What are you trying to hide?
We're not disclosing anything about the rings. The hell do you have to hide? This is not a hard question. Did the head coach get a ring? Because if the head coach didn't get a ring, did Jalen Brunson get a ring?
Did Cat get a ring? What do you mean we're not disclosing anything about the rings? Why is that classified information? Because you're the Knicks. Because you're owned by Dolan.
Way to make the most innocuous thing ever an enormous controversy. Thankfully, plenty of employees were willing to disclose information about the rings, everything about the rings. In fact, anonymously, but to the athletic, they did so, which is why we know all this insanity went down. And I'm well aware that sometimes all the championship rings are not ready for the opening night ring ceremony. That would not be unprecedented.
I get that. That'll happen.
However, most employees for an NBA championship team get their rings eventually. They don't get redirected to cybersecurity education. They don't get tricked or hooked by some fake phishing email.
Now we've been told they won't be getting one. Even long-time MSG employees are being snubbed. And again, this is after Dolan jerked with everybody and got all their hopes up with an email featuring the subject line: "Congratulations, your employee championship ring is here." A.K.A. Congratulations, your employee Lt. Hammer is here.
Man, what a place to work! What an amazing place to work! Who would want to work for James Dolan? Only that guy could ruin the best thing ever by being himself. Only that guy could make such a likable team.
Hard to actually like because of the guy who owns the team. This is why everybody hates you, dude. It's because of garbage like this. Everybody goes a half a century without winning. They finally get their championship, and you do everything you can to ruin it for everybody.
And for who, for what, are you so cheap that you can't hook up your employees with the rings that they have earned, or are you just that petty? Seriously, what is the point of any of this? You know, Dolan is probably like, "Hey, by the way, why are you all coming at me? Why do any of them even need rings? I'm the only one who deserves anything.
Why would any of them?" Get a ring. There will be one championship ring, and it will be mine. One championship ring on one finger, mine. The rest of you all can get your asses to cybersecurity classes, and you are welcome. Like some dudes were misunderstood, not this dude.
Not this dude. This dude is exactly who and what everybody says he is, including his own employees, who couldn't wait to tell the athletic about all this nonsense. Man, it's a miracle he ever got anywhere near a ring in the first place.
Meanwhile, Doan's like, "Hey, man, just be happy that Link." Brought you to a cybersecurity class and not a three-hour JD and the straight shot live performance. But if you keep leaking my emails to the media and speaking to the athletic anonymously, I promise I will make every last one of you sit through a seven-hour performance of the rain in Shambala. Listen. I get that cybersecurity is a concern and could cost your company a lot of money, but there has got to be a better way to educate your employees on it than by bleeping with your employees, especially over the greatest thing that ever happened to any of them professionally. Educate them, don't bleep them, Dolan.
You bleep all. Oh, oh, oh! What do you know? A statement. A statement has been released.
The statement reads as follows: The company had previously sent out an email. To its corporate team, as a simulation of a phishing attack designed to strengthen our security against hackers, MSG was recently hacked and extorted using an employee login and password obtained through a similar phishing attack. Using the rings as a lure to gain employees' attention was an unfortunate mistake. Um. Yes, it was.
Um. Where? Where is? We're sorry. Where?
Where's the apology in that? They also claim that they're coming up with 275 rings.
So I guess some of the snubbed employees are getting their rings. Let me let me guess. No way in hell they would have come up with two seventy five had this not gone down. I'm guessing had this not gone down, they probably would have manufactured. I don't know, fifteen.
If this didn't go down, Mike Brown would have been lucky to get a ring. Dolan's probably like, I get a ring. Jalen gets a ring. Cat gets a ring. Ah, screw it.
Give all the players rings. That'd be a bad look. I get mine. The players get theirs, and let's just cut it off there. Um, Mr.
Dolan, how about the coaching staff? How about the employees? What about them?
Now they can go to cyber security traffic school on Saturday. That's what they get. You're welcome.
Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Stop. Here's what I'll do for the coaches. I'm going to give them a ring box, and if they repeat, maybe we'll put a ring in that box. But for now, they just have the box, and let that be a reminder.
Let that be a reminder. Bring me a second ring, and maybe I'll put that ring in that box. Damn, Dolan! Way to screw up the best thing ever just by being yourself. When we come back, Evan Williams joins us.
In fact, I'm running over. That's that's on you, Dolan. I would have been out on time. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Jim Rome Show.
All right, welcome back in Southern California. I'm Jim Rome. Once again, great to be with you on a Friday. Great to have you here. If you're on hold, stay there.
Right now, though, we are joined by a safety for the Green Bay Packers. He is in his third season. He was a member of the Pro Football Writers of America All Rookie Team in 2024. This year, he has a team high 52 tackles. He's got a couple of picks.
He's got a sack. The Packers are four and two. They've won three straight. And they've got a big one Sunday. They take on the Lions.
I'm talking about Evan Williams. Evan, appreciate you making time. How you doing, dude? Yes, sir. I'm doing well.
How are you doing? I'm doing great. Really good to see you. Appreciate it.
So, as you get ready to head to Detroit or take on Detroit, let me ask you: How is practice gone this week? And then, what's the vibe like in the facility as the Packers have gotten this thing turned around in one three straight? Yeah, practice going well. Vibes good in the locker room. I feel like all the guys are really just buying in, understanding what we're capable of.
You know, with each game that goes by, and yeah, just looking forward to you know taking advantage of those opportunities for sure. Bro, you cold? Good look. But are you cold? We're good too.
I've been wearing these all day though. I know it, dude. I'm a California guy too. Is it cold? Nah, it's not that bad right now.
It's probably a cool fifty-five, maybe. It's not terrible, though. Did I know, dude? We sent our son. My listeners know this, and viewers, but we sent our son to the University of Wisconsin, and we've got a place in the North Woods.
It gets cold, dude. It gets cold for South. Oh yeah, I am well aware. What was that like for you when you first got there? Oh man, it's definitely a little bit of a a weather shock, a weather and culture shock.
I'll say, but no, I mean you get adjusted, you find ways. People always ask, you know, like how do you get used to it? You know, how does that happen for you? And I say, you never get used to it. You just find ways to deal with it.
You know, you just find ways to you know layer up during practice and you know get get through it. Oh, you don't get you don't get used to it, man. You don't get used to it. You you deal. With it, you manage it, you play through it, but I don't think you get used to it.
In terms of culture shock, I've also told this story. The first time I ever went to Green Bay was way, dude, maybe before you were born. I went back in '96, and I just couldn't believe what I saw, man. Like I loved it, but I'm like, wow, this is a time warp. Like I've never seen from LA.
I've never seen anything like this. When you talk culture shock, what was it like for you? And do you like being around there, or do you got to bust out once in a while and go to Milwaukee or Chicago and kind of get out? How do you? Approach it.
Yeah, I mean, you find times to get away, you know, every now and then. But at the same time, you learn to appreciate, you know, all you have around you. You know, it's a pretty, as you said, it's a pretty unique town, pretty unique community. Like everywhere you go in this town, people are going to have your back, and everybody knows about the Packers. Everybody's backing the like.
There's, it's such a united effort, and you know, just the community and Lambo's. You know, dropped in the middle of it. You know, you got it's a bunch of neighborhoods around for. Real and people are just walking the streets, you know, excited to see Packer football.
So you learn to appreciate that, you know, appreciate a little bit how slow it is, a little slower than you know California can get. But yeah, every now and then, for sure, you got to you know dip out to a little major city, Chicago or Milwaukee, and or back to California to see the family. That's it, man. Nothing wrong with any of that. I like that.
Evan Williams joining us. Speaking of California, so here's something else I feel strongly. As a California athlete, okay, Jordan loves California guy. I always do this. I feel like it's my job as a California native to rep California athletes.
I don't like this rap the California athletes have. They're like we're laid, not we, but y'all are laid back. Y'all are a little bit softer. I mean, come on, man. Like Jordan, Jordan might be laid back, but that doesn't mean he's not coming for your soul.
Now, how would you describe how competitive Jordan is? And then, do you have to set folks straight about that? Cali narrative about California natives and how we get down here. Yeah, I'm. I'm thinking it's more of a probably like a beach town cultural stereotype thing than you know rather than really who we are because you know a lot of people that that you know are from the Bay Area that from all of California for the most part competitors and I mean Jordan is no different.
You know we had to. I feel like when you grow up in this type of area, you have so much competition. You know, trying to go to the top and it's kind of under recruited. Valued area, in my opinion, at least you know, Northern California, and so. Yeah, but you know, you you got to fight through a lot of competition, a lot of good football to you know rise the ranks.
And yeah, Jordan Jordan is you know no different. He's a competitor at heart. You know, every time he goes against us in practice, you know he's trying to kill us. You know, he's trying to take the top off every time. And so, just getting to go up against somebody like that day in day out, just see what you know what makes him him, all his habits.
Yeah, it's fun to see and. I don't know if we're we're killing the stereotype about the the laid back thing of you know Cali kids, but. We puts the pedal to the metal when it matters. Y'all do, absolutely. You do.
You do. Northern California. I I'm in Orange County, so believe me, right down the road, I've got Long Beach. My wife went to Long Beach Poly, so you know you got ballers coming out of there. We've got we've got Monterey down the road.
I've got St. John Bosco down the road. I mean, there there are ballers here. I will always always defend that. Let me ask you, dude.
You got a red zone pick in the win over Dallas on Sunday night. I'm gonna try. There it is. I'm bring the video up. Can you take us through the play?
And the film study that you do, how much did that help you in reading this and making this play? Yeah, I think it helped me a lot. Honestly, like before each play, we we like to say each play has a life of its own, and you kind of just gotta make some assessments of the entire situation, and you know. Take some calculated risks, you know, at times, especially on these big downs and big situations.
So yeah, film study, you know, told me whenever you know Dak points at me, you see him do it. I don't know if you see it in this clip, but before I'm, you know, while I'm on the line of scrimmage, he's sending the the protection to me or sending the back to me, so I know he's probably not counting me in the coverage per se. And yeah, also, I mean, you have a premium like CD at three. To the field, you know they're probably trying to, you know, get a mismatch on the backer or, you know, something on the inside, and yeah, I mean, all of that. You, it, those are split second decisions, right, that that go on in your head, but ultimately, it put me in a pretty good spot to, you know, go go snag that one.
My man, you've done your homework. Evan Williams joining us. I bring this up because your D coordinator, Jonathan Gannon, was raving about your prep work and your film work, and that nothing catches you by surprise. You made a point of saying that out loud. I'm kind of curious.
Did you always prepare like that, or did that start maybe at Fresno State, maybe at Oregon? Before then, did you ramp up once you get to the NFL? When did you really get like obsessed with film study and prep? Obsessed? Is that too strong?
Is that too strong a word? No, I mean it takes obsession to be great, right? Like that's something that I've learned over time. I would probably say obsessed, like if I am right now. I still think there's another level that you know I could get to with it, but would be yeah, my first couple years in the NFL, seeing you know guys at the All Pro level, getting to have somebody like X in my you know room constantly, and seeing.
All pro habits look like, like that was everything for you know my development and yeah in my film study journey, because obviously you do your film study in college and I like to think that you know those are that's part of the game that you know I excel at or you know I I can take another step in as far as just being able to see things and recognize patterns and offenses. You know that that's what the greatest safeties do, and so. Yeah, it started, you know, early. Obviously, played with some great teammates in college as well, but it really, you know, kind of kicked off for me when I saw X and just all the cutups he's looking at. You know, just everything that goes into a week in the NFL, and you know that leads to those big interceptions, those big plays that you see on Sunday.
There's something to be said about learning how to be a pro, right? Evan Williams joining us. All right, so when you look at the cutups and when you look at the film study this week, you got the Lions and the Lions are. Still, the Lions, man, they're still lighting it up offensively. They're still lighting up the scoreboard.
They've got a league high thirty-two per game. What is the key to slowing this crew down? Yeah, I would say first and foremost, stopping the run. A lot easier said than done, but. Yeah, being able to you know if you can just eliminate that threat from the game and you know try to make an offense like that one-dimensional just because you know they have so many playmakers and if they get to a especially with you know the four-down offense that they are especially, but if you get them to you know if they're able to run the ball effectively, you essentially got no no shot and you know being able to defend all the drop back, the play action, everything that comes off of that.
So definitely stopping a run is. Gonna be crucial. Takes all eleven, you know, running to the ball at any given time, but yeah, first first stopping the run and then just being, you know, the more physical group. That's always, you know, what it comes down down to, and you know, these type of division matches, it's you know, whoever has something to play for and is going to show up, you know, with the most force. Yeah, that divisional matchup is always serious.
One last thing, Evan, I appreciate you. Josh Jacobs was back in practice. He he apologized for his actions and expressed remorse. How does he look to you? Physically, and then what's it mean to have the pro board back in the mix?
Man, he looks great, man. I've heard some of the noise about my boy, which is kind of crazy. But no, he he he looks, you know, elite. Just like you know, we've gotten used to back in Green Bay, and it feels great to have him back in the lineup. I mean, being having somebody like that who's such a vocal leader and a leader by example, you know, somebody that just practices at a high level, has the right habits.
Again, I talk about habits all the time, but you know that that's what really Makes a player. He he treats practice like it's the game, and when you know he he goes out. On Sundays, like he's looking to you know tear the defense up and looking for any opportunity to you know make a play, and I've seen it time and time again. You know he'll he'll be out for a week or you know down with the ankle going through it, and then next game he has you know two hundred and three touchdowns.
So it's like I've kind of grown to get used to it almost at this point. He's a pro's pro, and it's it's good to have him back. Yeah, and I'm going to say this: we got about. Thirty seconds. You say.
I say habits a lot. I say you can't say habits enough. Habits determine the quality of your life, your entire life, don't they? No, absolutely, absolutely. I'm a big believer in, yeah, just the process.
You know, it feels like everybody. I mean, naturally, everybody wants, you know, exactly what they want in life, whatever to be all pro, to be this, to be that. But ultimately, it comes down to focusing on what you're going to do every day to improve and get closer to that. You know, you you could have a goal, but a goal without without an action is just a goal. You know, just a dream.
So that's what Nick Saban said on his talk the other night. Like it takes what it takes, but are you willing to get yourself to do what it takes? It takes what it takes. All right, Evan, listen, dude, great to have you on the show. Really appreciate you.
Great job. We'll do it again soon. Absolutely, absolutely appreciate you having me, man. Job, dude.
Well done, Evan.
Well done, man. We to represent Cali like that. Hour three next. The games just ended. The conversation starts now.
The NFL Digital Reaction Show, and without further ado, Player of the Day, Play of the Day, Game of the Day, Team of the Day, and the Fan of the Day in the NFL. No wait, no breaks, no time to waste. It's NFL Instant Graham with Josh. Live Sundays at 7 p.m. Eastern on YouTube, and listen anytime on your favorite platform.
