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Learn more at AmericanExpress.com slash Amex Business. Welcome to this week's edition of What the Football. Amy and Suzy with you as always. Amy, I went really deep for this booking today.
I really wanted to bring somebody exclusive into What the Football. I looked far and wide. I reached across international waters and then when the alarm woke up, I looked at my husband and I said, Rich, can you come into the studio today? And he said, I'm there every day, Suzy. I do a show there five days a week called the Rich Eisen Show. So hi there, Rich. What's up, ladies?
And it's also called the Rich Eisen Studio. So there's that. Listen, I was available. I made my schedule free. Here I am. I love when you're our guest.
I love when you're our guest. Sometimes we have to make life easier for ourselves and that rarely happens. And I thought to myself this morning, self, make your life easy. And here I am. What's up?
How are you? Plus, I had to be here today. Right. So there was that too.
No, no, no. I had to be here today because this episode of What the Football is going to give the people what they're asking for. Yeah, we really are.
Because Rich, let me just tell you what we like to do on this show. Yes. I know, by the way, I'm a consumer of what the football is.
I hope so. And if you are a consumer, wherever you are, please do tell your friends to download What the Football podcast. We have an Instagram handle, two people that I really check. Let me help you out on this. Let me help you guys out.
At WT football on Instagram. How did I do that? Look at you. That's cute. I don't even know who you are anymore. I know. And I'm sitting here between Rich and Suzy.
I'm almost wondering if we're going to be... Oh, wait, did I do that wrong? It's WT football podcast. Okay.
It's okay. Amy Trask, take two. Now you know what goes on at CBS. Amy Trask, take 18. Nice.
That would be WT football podcast on Instagram. I follow it. I hope so.
I do. But that's not what I mean by giving the people what they want. You want to give the people what they want because it's a happy day in the Trask household. Because every day the Dennis Allen gets canned is a happy day. No, no, no, no.
I was going to be a little bit more subtle and gentle getting to the subject matter. But I love Amy Trask when she gets fired up. You're going to get fiery, Amy, but with a very sincere statement ahead of time. I don't ever cheer when anyone is fired. Because people who are fired have children, they're in school, it's disruptive of their lives. So I don't cheer when anyone's fired. Now that said, I believe it was the right decision by the Saints.
And those two things aren't mutually exclusive. You cannot cheer when someone is fired, and I don't, but you can also think that in firing him the organization made the right decision, and I do. I will cheer when somebody gets fired, but that's a whole different conversation.
Oh my God, you won't do that. Stop it. What are you talking about? Who's firing?
Do you cheer? What are you talking about? Excuse me.
Oh, you're talking about politics now. Anyway, Amy, wait, wait, wait. For those people who are listening to us on all the places where podcasts are, as opposed to watching us on Rich Eisen's show YouTube channel, I want you to know that she's amazing.
I am sitting right between Susie and Rich. And I think that this discussion may devolve to the point where maybe I'm moderating. Not at all.
No, no, no. This is our podcast. We are interviewing. Oh, I'm just a guest for business owners like you, the American express business platinum card works just as hard as you do to help you pursue your passions with its world-class business and travel benefits. You can get more for your business wherever it takes you. The American express business evolves and you'll earn five times membership rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on Amex travel.com so that going that extra mile for your business is even more rewarding. See how the Amex business platinum card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved.
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That's O'Reilly auto.com slash E I S E N. O O O'Reilly auto parts. All right. So aim. So let's get right to it.
OK. You can't start this season winning two in the lose seven and expect to keep your job. Correct. I think that's a fair statement. OK. Plus, on top of it. Yeah. Look, you guys know and I've shared this on this podcast before and I'll share it again until Susie tells me. All right. And you already said that.
Don't share it again. But here I go. It's what the people want, Amy. Who are the people?
Everybody. For those who don't know, I overlapped with Dennis for a year in Oakland. He was there.
I was there. And so I had a firsthand opportunity to watch him lead the team. And I'm using the word lead in quotes because I don't believe he was a leader or stated differently.
I think what leaders do is best position everybody to be their best leaders, except all blame leaders attribute to success to others. And Dennis did none of that. Well, what what example happened in Oakland where that gave you an idea where you might have counseled the Saints from saying, all right, we'll take the D.C. from Sean Payton and elevate him? Well, and before I get to that, remember the movie Sliding Doors where the doors of the train slide shut?
The Gwyneth Paltrow movie with the great haircut. I didn't remember that part. And because the doors slide shut, someone doesn't make it on the train and lives change. Think about this. If you're a Saints fan, the Saints had two people on staff at the same time. Dennis Campbell, Dan Campbell and Dennis Allen. Dan is now leading the Lions and the Saints made Dennis the head coach. Think if that had been reversed. Think if there was a Sliding Doors moment there. You think Saints fans would be happier with Dan Campbell?
I'll tell you, Don Bowie, our producers in the back dying a slow death. Do you think he's crying? Do you think I made him cry?
Well, I mean, I don't think you made him cry because I think he's cried all the tears that he has left. But what gave you the indication in Oakland? Like what happened in Oakland where you're like, this guy is no leader? Well, again, he accepted no responsibility for things that went wrong. He never attributed any things that went right to others. And he didn't, look, I think good leaders do all they can to bring out the best in those that they are trying to lead.
And I'm referring now to what Dennis did not only within the locker room, not only with the coaching staff, but the organization as a whole. He diminished people. He left people in tears.
And look, let me make something very clear. People will push back at times and say, well, Aim, you know, he was a strong leader. He was a demanding leader.
Let me tell you something. I worked for Al Davis for almost 30 years. I know what it means to be a strong leader, to work for a strong leader, to work for a demanding leader. But I also know that Al did what the best do, which is he best positioned others to be their best and tried to bring out the best in others. And I never saw that from Dennis. Well, I mean, take that.
Let's just assume that he hadn't evolved. OK, because obviously there was a lot of time between your tenure and what happened with the Saints. When when you go to an O and I know Mickey Loomis, the general manager. Well, I mean, I don't know if you saw his statement today, but he basically, you know, said there were injuries and it's not really all Dennis's fault, which is what maybe somebody who put the roster together would also say. Certainly, if Gail Benson might be looking around thinking, I'm not done with a house clean right now, but that when you start to an O and then lose seven in a row and one of the seven is a home game in front of the whole country, and the guy who Dennis Allen is replacing is coming in with his new team and they beat the absolute tar out of the Saints on Drew Brees night. And did you hear what that visiting coach had to say after that game about the Saints? He didn't mince words, said they're a bad team.
I think also when you lose to Carolina by a point, I think that's also when you're thinking to yourself, we're not a football team playing in unison, we're not playing well. A lot of the players also said that they felt that they were held up to different standards. In fact, I read an article from Nick Underhill of New Orleans Football and he did a great article and everything that went wrong under Allen. And it sounds like a lot of players, I'm going to quote, they were tired of him saying play Saints football as the fact that I don't think they knew what Saints football was. And here's a quote, behind the scenes, cracks started to show during that season, players griped about a lack of accountability and felt that Carr was treated by a different set of standards than everyone else.
He often told the players to keep chopping wood and players started making fun of that phrase. Well, and you know, Rich, you raised a really good point, which is people, it has been quite a period of time since I was with Dennis in Oakland. And I'm the first to say that people can grow up on the job, they can grow on the job, they can learn from their mistakes. Look, I grew up, I not only grew on the job, I grew up on the job and I made a lot of mistakes. I like to think, however, that I learned from those mistakes. And what I saw of Dennis in New Orleans suggested to me that he did not learn from that which he did poorly in Oakland. You know, there was a game earlier this season where, you know, you could see the frustration of players and it just suggested to me that he didn't learn and grow from the mistakes. Look, we all make mistakes and you know what you do? You learn from them.
Well, again, like no doubt, you're gaining and everybody's making some excellent points here. But when you have a big night in the Superdome and everybody's fired up and Drew Brees comes back in with his family and you're going to fed him and you take, you know, earlier in the day, you're having events, Sean Payton's there, everybody's back again. And then Sean Payton's team, which doesn't look like a Super Bowl winner, but they're definitely improving. They're on the up and up with a rookie quarterback that's supposed to be the next Drew Brees in terms of being attached to Sean Payton's hip and going on a magic carpet ride together if it all works out, comes in and beats the crap out of you in front of a nationally televised audience.
That puts you on thinner ice. And then what you just said, Suze, the Carolina Panthers team they just lost to were the team they eviscerated in the opening day, 47 to 10. They were 37 points better. Now, I understand there's a ton of injuries that have happened between that day and this one. But this is a team that the Saints immediately put on the brink. They wound up benching their quarterback a week later after Jim Harbaugh had his way with him.
And then this kid now comes back and beats Derek Carr in his return and wins for the first time in a long time. It's one of those that has the – that's where an owner gets really pissed and maybe hears from all their friends, like, what's up with your team? And they're like, we got to do something. And particularly when they are home losses. And look, a loss is a loss is a loss is a loss.
And I'm not suggesting it's any easier when you're on the road. But for a team owner to be in the home stadium hearing the anger and the frustration and the booing from the fans makes it harder. Yeah, and this is the first time the Saints have lost seven straight since 99. They fired Mike Ditka then. Ditka, right. And their general manager. And yet they keep the general manager now. Well, I think, again, you know Loomis, right?
I do, and I like Mickey Loomis. But he's also involved in more than just the Saints, correct? Correct, correct. He's involved in some of their other holdings as well. Right, the Pelicans. And I love that he hired Swin Cash for the Pelicans. And I like Mickey.
And I don't know how this is going to unfold for him, but I certainly wish him the best. I'm sorry, go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Does anybody still understand that I'm sitting between the two of them and I feel like I'm sort of like...
It changes the subject matter and I'm the guest, not the host of this show. So that's why I'm like, you know, you go ahead if you were about to say something. No, I was just adding the fact that they now go with Rizzi and, you know, we'll see what happens as they build from there. But it seems like they have to have a cleaning of house with the relationship of the head coach and these players. You can't be too Butch Hobson about it, you know what I mean? Look at you going, like, Butch Hobson, like the Red Sox you're talking about? Yeah.
Oh, come on, you know she drops in Boston references. No, I understand that, but that's like you can't just be tight with the player. Listen, this season's lost. It's over. Okay, you can't say that. And it'll be interesting between, you know, and this may get dated because the trade deadline is going to happen after we record this and maybe before people take in the show.
Rich, what the football is never dated? Understood. It's just the knowledge we drop here doesn't have an expiration. Okay, so dated might be the wrong word, but, you know, if I'm the Saints, I'm like, who wants who?
And you've got to replenish with a new start. And then the question is, whoever you were going to hire as the next person, that person usually likes to bring in their handpicked general manager. And certainly if you want to go and get Bill Belichick to come to the bayou, I don't know if that's what will happen, then clearly you're going to have to remake an organization in a way that nobody would for Bill coming off of last year's final year in New England. But with him having a remarkable run already as TV pundit right now, I think he's now resetting his market and he will be able to come in and make any situation his own with an owner basically saying the floor is yours. I don't know if New Orleans is that situation.
You might be too busy reeling in mermaids on the Nantucket beach. You know, the other thing that'll be really interesting to see is how the team responds to the firing of Dennis. In other words, is this team now going to show us something we have not seen in the last umpteen games? Interesting. And that's a big tell. Because that can happen a lot.
You're absolutely right, Amy, where the team responds quickly by winning and the team that wasn't performing suddenly becomes a whole new team. It's a big tell. Didn't hammer the Jets until this past week.
They finally won one for their new interim head coach. And you know, I'm always fascinated by this. You know, you were the Jets and you were the Patriots. And you know what, America and the world, this shows we really can get along with people with whom we disagree. Because I would love to know what goes on in your home when those two teams play one another. Nothing. You know why nothing goes on?
Because they both suck this year. No, it's not just that. But honestly, when our children were born, our oldest is 16 years old. How did that happen?
Isn't that amazing? Wasn't he just born like three years ago? Science. Science.
Um, oh, I thought he was, how did it happen? Like that Susan and I had children. Oh my God.
Oh my God. How did 16 years go so fast? 16 years. Yeah, it's gone by that fast. Good Lord.
Jake Felley liked it. What are you thinking? It's a joke. My goodness gracious.
This is fun. Yeah. So at any rate, um, that when our oldest was born and the Patriots were winning and the Jets were not, and Brady, the Michigan man was the quarterback. I'm aware of that. Okay. Sorry. The quarterback, Thomas Edward Brady, Michigan man extraordinaire, now a minority partner, right?
Of the Las Vegas Raiders. What am I going to say? No, you gotta, you gotta root for Ray Lucas. Is that what I'm doing? You know, the ground, get out of here.
People we can disagree agreeably. Understood. Is Tom Brady really in trouble for making a comment about the, uh, about the officiating after signing his deal? Apparently they're not going to do anything.
They shouldn't do that. I mean, he's taking, and by the way, that was, uh, he was absolutely in the right to say what he was saying at the time. He has to say that as, as. That they should not have ejected Brian Branch from that football game. That's his job. I don't understand how he could possibly. Because you're not allowed to disparage officiating. I know, but he's going to have to walk a very fine line. I had no issue with what he said, and I don't think he should have been penalized, but he is going to have to walk a fine line. He could have been far more strident.
Correct. And I think he was, I'm not saying he was pulling a punch. I was saying he was just not as strident as others might be. Uh, and I don't know if he's sitting up there thinking, uh oh, if I say that the, uh, New York, uh, officials that decided to eject Brian Branch, like he's playing for Alabama, like this was a targeting rule where you just take a look at what the helmet was doing and where it hit the player. And we're not taking intent into this situation.
I don't think Brian Branch was intending to harm anybody. Um, I was surprised he got ejected. That's a 15 yard penalty. Yeah, but we're ejecting him from a game, from a game that the entire country is watching between the first place lines and the second place Packers. You're going to eject the best defensive player for the Detroit Lions in the middle of the second quarter of this game. So Tom Brady, as the guy who is sitting there in front of millions of people who want to hear what Tom Brady has to say, I think he did the right thing.
And I hope he is not going to be, apparently they're not going to, at least I read that. And you know, they do anyway. How do you, how would you know about how you get fined and stuff as a, as a minority owner of the national football league?
Okay. So, um, we never had a minority owner fined during my years with the team, but we did get fines. Um, did you ever get fined personally? It was the, Oh, no, I never did. I got letters from the officiating department and letters from, I got one from, I know I should have mentioned that. And I got one from executives at the league. Amy, we are aware of your behavior in the press box. What did you do? I simply voiced my opinion, um, strongly to, I don't know that there might've been.
Um, but look, the NFL sends to every game. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm back.
She dances around. No, no, no. Did you say an F bomb? Wait a minute. Let me give the setup for people that aren't familiar with this in a game. The NFL sends to every game, an observer of officials and that observer of officials sits in the press box.
An observer of officials? So I, in our press box in Oakland, one week in particular, I remember I was so angry at that, which was going on on the field. And yes, as Pereira said last week, when I would see a call I didn't like, or if there was a call I thought should have been made that wasn't, they did a countdown in New York and the officiating control center, the countdown to how long it would be until I called Pereira. You know, sometimes it was five, four, three, two, one.
Sometimes it was 10 or 20 seconds. One time in particular, I was so angry. You didn't even call New York. Oh, I did. You went straight to the triple O. But after I called him, I went straight over to that observer of officials. And as soon as, I think there were F bombs involved and I just went off on them.
I'm like, I just was, it was incomprehensible to me what the official on the field did. Well, apparently said observer of officials ratted me out. And I got the letter from the league office the next week saying that my behavior was inappropriate and it was a warning letter. Did Al get a copy? I was so proud of it.
I walked into Al's office. Did it have to do with Tom Brady? Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
It was, I don't even remember the game because I did this so often. So Tom would get a letter is what you're saying? Like somebody in the comp, like what the... No, this is, this is very different because... What's the entity that would send him a letter?
Well, that's the thing I'm about to say. It's a different situation with Tom because he's got fiduciary responsibilities to Fox. That's his employer. And he has fiduciary responsibilities to the Raiders because he's a limited partner. And so it's a, it's a little bit of an odd dance. Does the league send the letter to Fox or does the league send the letter to the Raiders or does the league not send a letter at all?
And my guess is it's a third. In my case, the league always sent me the letter that I was behaving poorly. And it reminded me of growing up when my mom and dad would always get the she's a behavior problem letter. And, you know, we're going to put her in detention and we're going to... Can you imagine little Amy, now we're doing therapy here. I got the, you know, we're going to, she's in the corner. We're going to suspend her. We're going to detain her.
She's going to get demerits. Well, I got those letters from the league office that if I didn't start behaving differently with the observer of officials, they were going to find me. And I showed it to my husband and he's like, you know, do what you want, but could you not get us fined? Amy, I got called into ESPN one time for behavior. What was your behavior? It was my day off. Was this what you were wearing?
Yeah. It was your day off. It was my day off. I went to a Yankees game because it was, I think it was Rob Butcher. I think it was the Yankees PR guy at the time. He's the one who looked like Pete Rose, right? Oh, did you wear like a shirt that said F the Yankees? No, of course not.
She wouldn't do that. I wore a shirt that might've been today considered maybe midriffy. And it wasn't even midriffy. Like it was just a slightly shorter shirt and like a pair of jeans. But you know, back in the day when I worked at ESPN, it wasn't exactly kosher, if you know what I mean. It was like the wild west, right? And so, you know, do I just say it?
Sure. I mean, like I was one of the only- No, no, no. Don't say that. Look, here's what I'm going to say. I got called into the office saying that what I was wearing to Yankee Stadium was not appropriate for an ESPN employee.
Okay. You know what's so amazing about that? Do you see what people wear on TV now?
I mean, are you kidding me? Like me, and you know how I dress. I wore suits to cover NBA games. I wore suits to cover like college football.
I'd be freezing, but I wore something appropriate because I don't like looking like I'm going to a cocktail party covering a game. So I got called in and Jim Cohen was in there. Oh God. Oh God.
It was edgy. Oh God. So the woman says to me that what you wore to Yankee Stadium was inappropriate. And I look at her and I'm like, what?
Like I am- I'm from Boston for Christ's sake. I don't dress inappropriately ever. Ever. So she leaves and I look at Jimbo. I'm like, well, maybe she's jealous because she can't wear what I wore. It wasn't very nice. It's not nice. It wasn't nice. It wasn't nice.
But this is absolutely- I don't know. Because I got called in. How did we get- How did we get- Because that was the only time I've ever gotten in trouble in my life. Because I got called in. Because you got called in. I've never gotten in trouble.
And that was my only demerit. Like the only time I got sent to the principal's office. I've never- And they may have made a snide comment, but whatever. I've never had that comment. I found up at my parents' house when I was going through something that they saved every single report card on which it was written.
My mother had- Behavior problem, behavior problem, behavior problem, behavior problem. Oh God. Oh yeah. That's why Ellen and I got along so well. I never did.
I never- Which Richard never had a behavior problem. I can't do the accent. I don't know what we're talking about. Damn it. Okay, you want to talk about- We're talking about what?
Let's talk about your game in Munich. No, no, hold on a second. No, I want to tell you something really happy. We're going to turn this to something very happy. It made me so, so, so happy yesterday to see what Bill's Mafia did at the end of the Bills game.
Tyler Bass kicked a 61-yard game-winning field goal with five seconds left. Right. And he is a very, very ardent supporter of an animal rescue organization focused on cats.
I believe it's called 10 Lives Saved. And Bill's Mafia did what Bill's Mafia does. They swamped it? They immediately started swamping it with donations, many of them $61 each because they were 61-yard field goal. And let me tell you something. And this is coming from a girl who sat there in Buffalo the day that they beat us 51-2-3.
51-2-3. I love you, Bill's Mafia, for what you do. You support the charities that are important to your players and the players around the league. When there's a player around the league that you want to support, you flood that player's charity with contributions. And by the way, Haley Bean and Brandon Bean of the Bills, very, very, very big animal rescue advocates. Nice. And they created something called Bill's Mutt-Fia.
Oh. And for every touchdown scored by the Bills in Buffalo, it has to be a home game, they pay for the adoption fee for an animal. Dogs, cats, but sometimes other people, they want to adopt a turtle. They'll say, okay, we'll pay for the turtle.
You know, maybe a squirrel. They support animal rescue. Bill's Mafia, Bill's Mutt-Fia, I love you. Nicely done.
Very well said and very well, I didn't know about that. That warms the heart. Now let's talk Cowboys. Because I'm interested in your guys' opinion about this. Because, you know, we've been talking about, and it kind of brings full circle everything we're talking about with Dennis Allen. And clearly what you were talking before, lack of respect for the coach.
Where he either didn't earn it, he wasn't receiving it, however you want to put it, it wasn't working. And I love Mike McCarthy. I think he's great. I've enjoyed meeting him, but we've been wondering for months how the Jerry Jones all-in philosophy was going to manifest itself once games were played. And how a team, where the two guys on the screen on our YouTube channel feed, it's Dak and CeeDee Lamb, $96 million a year of quarterback to wide receiver combination once the contracts begin to kick in.
How this team would respond to a lack of supplementing to its roster during the free agency period. AKA Derrick Henry. That's the way I always go with it. TJ, you know, on the flagship show, on the main show around here, was saying the offensive line, it wouldn't have looked the same way as it looks in Baltimore.
Fine, be that as it may. I would push back on that, but he's the Cowboy expert around here. But the reason why I'm bringing this all up is part of the all-in strategy was not extending Mike McCarthy. And sure enough, prior to this Atlanta Falcons trip to Atlanta, where they lost and now they are going to lose Dak for a couple of games at least, it seems with a hamstring injury that came out prior to this taping, that is more serious than believed at first. Zeke Elliott isn't on the plane because it's a disciplinary reason and it's all been also reported out that it's a mutual decision to not come on the plane, whatever that means, because he's missed meetings. And I'm wondering that are we seeing a team that is not responding to this all-in strategy well at all, and that now that they're losing and now that they're now three and five and the guy that they, instead of Derrick Henry, brought in from the old Dallas ways to try and I guess what maybe set an example to teach the way things work. He's the one who's missing meetings and is now being disciplined by being sad at home. Like, isn't that a sign of disrespect towards the coach?
And of a team that's given up. Let's talk LinkedIn people and small business owning. I'm a small business owner. Yeah, I might host the Rich Eisen show, but I run it too.
Rich Eisen Productions is a small business. And when you're hiring for small business, you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role. And that's why you've got to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs has the tools to help find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. It's not just a job board, this LinkedIn. LinkedIn helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else, even those who aren't actively searching for a new job, but might be open to the perfect role. In a given month, over 70 percent of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites. So if you're not looking on LinkedIn, you're looking in the wrong place. LinkedIn knows that small business is wearing so many hats and might not have the time or resources to hire.
That's why you've got to use them. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash Eisen. That's LinkedIn.com slash Eisen to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Everybody, let's talk about game time tickets if you haven't noticed. Basketball season's right around the corner, and I'm really looking forward to seeing all the great action. And now with Game Time's new feature, Game Time Picks, it's even easier to see your favorite teams play live. Game Time Picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets.
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Again, create an account, redeem my code E-I-S-E-N for $20 off. Download Game Time today. What time is it? Game time. Well, and before we get into the issue you're raising as a whole, I will just tell you I take big, big, big issue with teams that sit players for disciplinary reasons. I understand the importance of disciplinary action in some circumstances, but I don't agree with sitting a player because then you're not simply punishing that player.
You're punishing the entire team. And I've made that point in the past when we discussed our Super Bowl loss to Tampa Bay. I won't go into it now, but the man could have played the head coach and Bruce made the decision. Robbins, you're talking about? Yeah, Barrett Robbins. He came back in time to play that game?
I saw him that morning in the lobby of the hotel. I had a conversation with Barrett the morning of the Super Bowl. He was absolutely able to play.
And I know there's some people who think he shouldn't have played because of the emotional distress he was under. That's not a point I'm talking about right now. Al Davis gave the decision to Bruce Allen and Bill Callahan as to whether to play Barrett or not.
They decided not to. And my point is that didn't just punish Barrett. That punished the entire team. That was the first game we played that season in which we did not have the same five starting offensive line. Barrett was the center.
Barrett gave our quarterback confidence. My point is not to delve into that again, but to say that is a prime example. We're making a decision not to play someone for disciplinary reasons. And that's why they did it.
There are people that say, well, you know, Aim, he had, you know, emotional distress issues. That's not why they sat him. They sat him to discipline him. And that's not fair to the rest of the team. Agreed a hundred percent. It's a team game. That's right. And if you are sitting and, you know, look, people can disagree as to whether Zeke would have helped them yesterday or not.
But if you assume for the moment that he would, then by disciplining him, you're harming your entire team. And I don't think that's right. But in the case of what you're saying, there was one game left to the season. Right. And it's the biggest game of everybody's life.
Right. So if you make the exception of, yeah, you went off to Mexico the night before you broke curfew and, you know, it, it, it's, it's a bad breach of protocol and team rules. But if you want to over look it, cause it's the super bowl then, and then you can say to everybody, Hey, next time you go to the super bowl, you take off for Mexico. We're not going to be as lenient. Like you could do that in this situation though, Amy, like what do you do?
The guy's missing meetings and you're going to say he missed one on Friday. Why not? Why not?
Why not just find him a ton of money? Why not just do make it fiscal? And you've got to do that within the collectively bargained rule. I agree with you, Susie. And there are some limitations on that person, you know, in accordance with collective bargaining rules. But I agree with you entirely. And my point, Rich, isn't that a player might not deserve discipline. It's that by sitting a player to discipline him, you're hurting the whole team. If you're the guy, Rich, you're, let's say you're the tackle on that team and you do every single thing right. Why should you be penalized by sitting a player who could help you win? Let me go a step further. Does this say to you guys that this head coach is no longer in control of this team?
Absolutely. And why wouldn't they replace him now? If the saints are replacing their head coach, why not just make the move now? Because you're not saving your season by getting rid of Mike McCarthy.
But you're making a statement that you're not willing to give up. He's also your play caller, though, too. He's calling the plays on offense. So you're now not just losing your head coach, you're losing your play caller on offense as well. But what if you lose your players because you're not making a statement? Then you should have signed him to a long-term deal. Then you should have extended him one year. And then instead of this all-in craziness, it's just absolutely beyond that you're going to, I don't know how many, did the Raiders ever have a guy go into his walk here as a head coach?
I kind of think the answer is probably yes, but I don't remember. But let me ask you a question, Rich. You're asking for it. Okay, but here's my question. So you have three choices if you're Jerry. Yes. Jerry Stevens, Charlotte, Jerry Jr., good decision makers.
Yes. One, you let him play in his final year with no extension. Which is what they did.
Which people would call a lame duck year. Two, you give him an extension, but then you're thinking to yourself, if I extend him for one year and I fire him after this year, am I willing to eat that salary? That's a question to consider.
You're making money hand over fist. Yeah, I was going to say. Okay, but that is a consideration some people would make.
Understood, right. Or three, do I sign him to a two-year, but then I don't know that I necessarily want to eat that money, so I'm going to keep him for two years. Or are you just sitting there waiting to see if maybe you bring Belichick in after all this other conversation? We talked about it with the Saints. Dallas has one more win than the Saints, so maybe in the back of his mind he's thinking, you know, I'm going to clean house and bring in Bill, and Bill's going to crack skulls and get things together. He had that option last January. But it seems like Jerry's uncharacteristically waffled on a lot of big decisions.
No, I think what Jerry's done, and I have the temerity since he's one of the 32 of 33, including the commissioner at whose service I'm working at his pleasure pretty much right now, that he could not handle, grasp, process getting smoked by Green Bay in last year's playoffs, and had 24 to 72 hours to figure out, do I want to make a change at the head coaching position, decided not to do that, and then at some point said, I'm not paying these guys until they can actually win a playoff game. Well, you know, you made a point, Rich, I'm sorry to interrupt, but you made a point when I said you could sign him for another year, but then if you want to fire him, you're going to eat that salary. How much is that, eight million bucks? It's the cost of what Derrick Henry would have been. Ten million?
I don't know. On a relative basis, you're absolutely right, but that's the point. Some team owners, and I don't know where Jerry stands on this, but there's a huge revenue gap between the highest revenue clubs and the lowest revenue clubs. It's a huge gap.
Well, he's at the top end of that, isn't he? But some owners don't want to eat sunk costs as much. I don't know where Jerry falls on that, but some owners are loathe to eat sunk costs. There's two different ways since we're talking sliding doors. I feel like this is the sliding doors episode of What the Football. There's two ways this could have gone. The way Jerry handled it or after it was over saying, if I'm staying with McCarthy, if I'm not going to go, I don't want to go into the coaching pool.
I don't want to start dating new people. I don't want to do that because I was sitting in there. I was sure we were going to beat Green Bay. I kind of love this team and I love this coach. So the best way I'm going to go about this is I'm going to keep the coach. I'll extend him for a year because I cannot, I cannot have him go into this season without the other year because there could be a problem.
Hold on a second. And then the other aspect, what I would do is I know we needed the help in X, Y and Z. I know we were losing to Green Bay for X, Y and Z. I'm going to shore up X, Y and Z in free agency. And in order to do that, I'm going to sign Dak and CD right now and make sure that I'm not going to have other people set the market. I know Tua is going to get a gig. I know Jordan Love is going to get a new contract, get a new contract. I know Trevor Lawrence is getting a new contract. I know Jared Goff is in line for a new contract. I am not going to let Shad Khan or Stephen Ross set the market for me with my guy. I'm going to sign him now. I'm going to make him more cap friendly for me now. And I'm going shopping in the free agent market to get one or two people because it's exactly what my quarterback needs, what my defense needs, what my offensive line needs. And I'm going to go into the draft and I'm going to go and hit that too.
And then I'm going to hit the ground running and we're going to run it back. And that's my concept of all in. And the other way, it's just, there's no other way to put it.
It's just weird. But all in was getting Derrick Henry. Ask TJ. That's what I would think.
But again, they think it wouldn't have worked or what have you. To me though, I, you know, all in being a poker player, as you know, it's interesting that No Limit Hold'em is from Texas. So you'd think somebody from Texas would know an all in strategy is to say, I've got everything here and I'm going all in, meaning I'm going to do every last thing possible to win this hand. Not saying I'm going to take all in I'm going to shove all that I currently have right now.
And not 100% if I lose the hand say it's everything I got. All right. I'm going to take issue with one position.
Sure. And it's not the all in concept. I, first of all, I absolutely positively believe that Jerry wants to win. And I note that because some people think, does he really care about winning? I don't believe that either. He wants to win.
I know that to be the case. Here's what I take issue with. And it's not just as to Mike McCarthy. It's as to any coach who goes into what is referred to as a lame duck year.
I don't think that should be a factor. Let me tell you something. If someone says to you, you know, this is the last year of your contract. I'm not going to renew you right now. People in football and in sports look at that as a negative. Oh, man.
This is a challenge. Yeah. If you're in your last year of a contract, isn't your response, I'm going to be so good this year that if I'm not renewed here, someone else is going to renew me. If someone says to me, this is your last chance to prove yourself. Well, then I'm going to go prove myself. Why do people think it's a negative?
Or Jared Goff? I cannot push back on that more. Good. We're going to agree to disagree. Well, yes.
That's why it's called what the football was. Susie and Amy, you've got your own show. I just thought, nice. You got Jay Felley with that one.
I heard him laugh off camera right there. Thanks, Felley. No, no, no, no, because that's just not the way it works in the National Football League.
Irrespective of whether it does. Oh, my God. Did you just mansplain that to Amy Trask? No.
A former president of the Raiders? That's not how it works? No, and I said, and she knows that. But no, here's the thing.
And you know that not everybody is self-motivated when they come to work in a National Football League locker room. That's the point, Susie. Irrespective.
Irrespective of whether it works. Get out of here. What? That didn't mansplain a thing to you. A little mansplaining. OK, here's the deal.
Irrespective of whether it works, it should work that way. I don't care, Rich. If someone says to you, you're in your last year of your contract. I haven't decided whether I'm going to renew you. Well, then your your reaction should be, oh, I'm going to damn well prove to you you should renew me.
And if you don't, then someone else will want me. But invariably, there will be a player. Not because he is unable to self-motivate or isn't viewing the world and the manner in which you're viewing it. The two of you properly viewing it.
There is a view. If the head coach doesn't have more years left on the contract, as you as a player do, you're sitting there saying this guy doesn't know shit. Unless they like the coach enough that they want to play for him.
So which is what I'm saying. Maybe this is about the coach. Or unless the coach is just very open and honest in the locker room and says, OK, you all know I'm in my last year and you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to prove to this team or any other team how good I am. And the way I'm going to do that is by getting you to play your best.
Unless they don't have the right personnel. Or the player says, I know I've been a veteran this league. I know how to win here. Literally, if this is the case of what Zeke Elliott is doing right now. And I don't know.
So I'm treading on thin ice out on a very thin limb here because I don't know. I'm ascribing what I believe might be happening is what I'm saying is that he might be sitting there saying, I know what works. I know how I can be in this position. I know I could get the ball more.
I know how this offense and the route concepts are not being schemed properly. I know better than this guy. And my last year here is going to be judged based on what this guy is doing. He doesn't have any more years left, more time left on his contract than I do. So I'm going to speak up. I'm going to say something.
I know exactly what should be done around here. Not this guy. Which is what happens when you don't extend your coach. These things can happen. Then he should have dumped him last year and moved on with the new coach. And they should have regrouped with a new sense of leadership and a new sense of purpose. And maybe brought in Derrick Henry.
And all I'm saying is irrespective of whether he should or shouldn't have renewed him. If I am in the position of being in the last year of a contract, then I'm going to do every single thing I can to prove that you should extend me. And if you don't, that someone else should hire me. I think that's what competitors do.
I think that's what people who want to be the best do. I think I just got that Amy-splained to me. That's the way I'm feeling right now. Trask-splained. You should have a new segment here.
I like that idea. Trask-splained. I do want to say that I- It's got to be sponsored to have- Listen, I hate to say it, but I enjoy your sponsorship.
And I do too. You know I will never mention a product on this show. She will never say a thing without sponsorship. We could be eating candy on this show.
I take the wrapper off because unless that candy company is sponsoring us- I don't. I'm just fishing for sponsors. I'll basically say anything.
I'm not giving anyone free advertising. Rich, I like when you explain things to me because I like when I explain things to you. Because that's what good people do. Oh, I love it when he explains things to me. Oh, my God.
It's great. We explain things to one another. We're just sharing thoughts. We're not splaining. We're sharing thoughts. By the way, the fact, just as a perfect example, just to bring this up here on this pod.
Uh-oh. I mean, the other day, Susie is a coach of a team that my daughter, our daughter is on. This is so rude. This is so rude.
No, I came up to her after the game. I'm like, I have some thoughts. I'm in the stands. Oh, no. I have the ear of the coach. Oh, no.
I have some thoughts about what should be done in practice. Did you make notes during the game? I did not. Mentally, I made notes. So I walked up to her. Well, this is after a win, by the way.
After a win. Oh, God. She just didn't want to hear it.
She thought- Well, maybe you could have given it an hour or so just to let it percolate. Let me ask you a question, guys, out there listening. Oh, my God. Let me ask you a question.
Oh, my God. WT Football Podcast. Let us know if you- Is that really the proper- WT Football Podcast at Instagram.
Let me know if you're picking up what I'm putting down. Is that the right way to say it? Oh, no, no. I did the app thing. Wait a minute.
It's at WT Football Podcast. Yes, right, right, right. Leave us a little- Oh, God.
Leave us a little note. Do you think that I knew what he was going to say about the one kid who possibly doesn't see the court? No, no. You don't have to call the girl out on the pod right now. I'm not calling the girl out. There's seven girls that played.
We had a very limited amount of players. By the way, a great tightening of the rotation. You did a great job.
I thought you and Goldie crushed it. Thank you. I had a couple of suggestions. I suggested one thing. Apparently, she's already addressed this before, which I didn't know. Many times.
Which I didn't know. And it's not like when I bring it up, I'm assuming you're not noticing in the point like I was trying to be helpful. Rich, the final buzzer hadn't finished sounding before you said to me, I have some notes. I'm like, you do? Everybody in America, I want you to know I'm sitting between them right now.
The final buzzer was still sounding. And Rich said, I have- Let me answer this. First of all, I did- The girls had not handed out their mini oranges.
Now that's true. Okay, excuse me. First of all, I did it wrong. It's all for one.
Yes, Dawn. It's at what T. Okay, I did it wrong again. Here it is. It's at- It's at WT Football Podcast. At WT Football Podcast.
That's on Instagram. Yes. Number two, Rich. Yes, Amy. I would just have maybe waited till you were home having a glass of wine. Because now at that point in time, there's so many other things that we're now we're off to five other things. Because we have two other narcissists at home. But maybe just striding over to her on the court on the, you know, maybe just the timing wasn't great.
I'm just saying. It wasn't- Amy, I hadn't even finished going through the high five live. Good game. Good game. Good game. Good game. Good game. Good game.
That is false. America, I am sitting between the two of them right now. Nice. Okay.
How are you? And I love them both. And nobody's explaining anything to anybody. We're just sharing thoughts.
I was going to add something, but I forgot what it was. And when we disagree, we do so agree with Rich. I'm not suggesting- I'm not suggesting- I think my husband's in the green room. Is he really?
I think so. Hi, Rob. Hi, Rob. Also, if you want to tweet at us, I don't even know how you do it, but do it at Rich because I looky-loo on his Twitter. Hello.
Am I not a person? At Amy Trask. At Amy Trask. Thank you.
She's as active on Twitter as anybody else or acts or whatever. All right. So you're going to Germany. I am.
Not soon enough. Okay. Just so you know. Okay. All right. All right.
Let me help you out a minute. When you're in Germany, if you want to order a beer, it's Einbieru. No, Einbier. I just did Japanese. Oh, my God.
You practiced it. You've got to get this. It's Einbierbitter. Bitter.
Einbierbitter. Yes, indeed. Have fun.
Bring us some pretzel bread back. I will do that. Yeah.
Have a safe, safe trip. Giants and Panthers. Please watch.
Isn't it violative of international law that we're sending them Giants and Panthers? I don't know. You've been in membership. How does that get decided?
Do we know? Some teams lobby for the option to go overseas. Some teams, and I worked for one, affirmatively lobby against it.
And it wasn't my decision. Al didn't want to go on the overseas trips. Not because he didn't like them, but you know, the travel. So some teams don't want to go overseas.
Because the tracksuits were not weather appropriate. Is that what you're saying? Oh, Rich, don't be mean. I'm not being mean. And by the way, when Myers in the league, it was a pre-season game.
We played pre-season games there, not regular season games. I'm not being mean. Amy, he loves a tracksuit. No, he has, he has several, nothing rich loves more than a matchy-smatchy tracksuit. A matchy-smatchy? Yeah.
The hoodie's going to match the bottom. You make it sound like it's a granimal. That also sounds a little bit inappropriate. Hey, thanks for taking you in this edition of Watch the Football. I'm going to leave it on the fact that I may have said something that sounded a little bit racy. Very nice.
So let me leave that to your imagination. This has been fun. This has been so much fun.
I'm just going to hold down the fort here in the U.S. Please do it. Please do it. We'll be back next week.
Hey, Rich. Hope you come back on What the Football sometimes, dude. Anytime. I'll move around. Thank you. Thanks for taking in this edition of What the Football.
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