Transcript of Engagement Advice, Eagles Banner Night, Chiefs in Brazil & NFL Season Preview with Alex Smith | EP 152

In 2014, when you were a rookie with Travis, when he first arrived with the Chiefs. Let's start there. Yeah. Did you expect that we'd end up where we are right now? What were your expectations for a young Travis Kelsey?

Did I expect him to be what? Like a Hall of Fame career?

Yeah, that's the question.

That's a crazy question.

Hell, no.

What threw you off? Welcome back to No Heights 92%-ers.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, a WNDY show brought to you by Reese's Oreo Cups. And those things are tasty.

Yeah, baby.

Two of my favorites combined into one. We're your hosts. I'm Travis Kelsi. This is my big brother Jason Kelsi out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, University of Cincinnati. Grads, I'll tell you what, Bearcats, man, didn't end the way that we wanted to, but I'll tell you what, baby. We fought. We fought. That's all I wanted to see some fucking heart. And that's what I fucking saw. And we got a hell of a team, man. Let's go, baby. Take over the Big 12. Subscribe on YouTube, WNDYR Plus, wherever you get your podcast, and follow this show on social media @New Heights Show with 1-S. Jason, I think this is where you tell everybody what we have coming up next.

92 percenters. Football is back. We're going to talk about all the biggest news from last week, including the preview, the Chiefs heading down into Brazil. We're also going get into the fallout from the Parsons Trade and dive into the rest of the NFL season with three-time Pro Bowler and Chiefs legend, Alex Smith. Smith-ey. But before we get to all of that, we're going to get into a little bit of thatNew News. Travis, we got to talk about it.

I don't think we have to, but go ahead. Okay.

Well, in case you missed the Instagram post heard around the world, Travis and Taylor are engaged. That's right.

That's right.

Well.

And thank you guys for the congratulations that you sent out last week. You saw it? Yes, I did. It was very nice of you, Jason. Thank you. It was very nice of you. Although you had already congratulated me, you had to do it on behalf of New Heights.

It felt like you would have been weird if we didn't do it. We wanted to send that message.

What? No, thank you guys. And I appreciate everybody that reached out and sent something and all the posts and all the excitement that's been going on. It's been really fun telling everybody who I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with.

How was the last week, Ben?

Exciting. It's been awesome.

Isn't it? There's something different about calling somebody your fiancé? Yeah. There's a I'm not a median that has a whole bit about it, but I think they nailed it. I'm talking about my girl, it was John Mulaney, I think, is talking about girlfriend versus all of a sudden you're like, This is my fiancé or my wife. There's something way It's more official to it.

Yeah, 100%. I felt that at the game, actually. It was my first time introducing Taylor as my fiancé to a few of my teammates. There we go. Yeah, it was pretty cool.

Don't you get gitty saying it?

I did. Yeah, I still get gitty. I love it. It's exciting times.

Still fresh.

Do we have any advice to other 92%ers that might be popping the question?

Man, you got to know your gal. You got to know your gal or your significant You got to know them. You can't let how somebody else does it make you feel like you need to do it that way.

You can't read about it in a cosmopolitan magazine. Expect that they're going to know your person. You got to know your person.

Yeah. You might be able to get some ideas from how other people did it. Fuck that.

Fuck those other people.

I hear you. It might get the creative deuces going. There you go.

That's okay.

I got you. I would just say, know your partner, know who you're doing it for, and do it for the right reasons, baby. Everything else would be beautiful.

I cannot wait to hear more of the planning and everything that will take place. Travis, you are going to- It's going to go crazy. You are about to embark on the Wedding Planning phase of a relationship.

That is the next step. I've heard about that.

And get ready. It is a lot of fun. Have you ever heard Mike Leach talk about planning a wedding?

No, but that's a wild... Go ahead.

I can't even do it justice. You're going to have to watch that clip yourself. But Mike Leach is pretty... He's a funny man. No, it's a very exciting time trying to figure out where, dates, all of these things. There is a very important question that Jake and Brandon required me to ask on this show, which is, are they invited to the bachelor party?

Bachelor party, man. How do you even know there's a bachelor party coming?

I don't. I'm just asking this question on behalf of Jake and Brandon.

I haven't thought about it one second.

This is a good way to defer.

Well done. But I invite you guys everywhere.

Are they invited to the wedding, at least?

You know, we're going to see-Oh, We're going to see how it all shakes out because I don't want to put them at a table that they wouldn't mesh with. I would justLet's segue here. Probably not invite them at all if that was the case.

Let's segue here. Let's The Way here, 92% is for those of you that are unaware. Travis was not the only member of New Heights that has recently been engaged. Hey. Intern Brandon has gone in.

Let's go. Let's go.

Hey. So, Intern Brandon, I now flip the question on you. Are Travis and I invited to your bachelor party?

Of course. Yeah.

Of course you are.

I don't know what I'm going to do for it.

Are we invited to the wedding? This is news to me. Of course. I think we just strong-armed our way into this. You're in.

No, I'm fine. I have no shame. I am perfectly fine, strong on my way into this. A few of my friends texted me like, Hey, man, so congratulations. We're happy for you. Are we going to get to hang out with Jason and Travis? I was like, Oh, cool. That's what your second question is. Are Jason and Travis going to fucking hang out with us?

I'm like, No, not now.

But no, you guys are invited. We'll figure out what we're doing. Brandon, intern Brandon, got engaged in an ocean. I did. I did. It's truly fantastic. Can we put that photo up? My little head bobbing in the water like this, and the ring is floating, and then it gets fine. It's a great photo. Travis did it on land, which is much safer.

I did it in the middle of the ocean.

Land Mammal. I got warned. Brandon went aquatic.

I went aquatic. I once thought I would do it on water, but you did it.

He didn't do it on water. He did it in water.

Holding the ring while kicking your little feet, trying to fight the current, terrible idea.

Don't recommend it.

That's my advice. You showed heart.

Listen, that's the most athletic thing I've ever done in my life. Brandon, I'm sure you have had a lot of people reach out and say congratulations. Not as many as I think Travis had. Travis has had so many That's the way that I've had people reach out. That's been one of the more fun things is hearing from coaches and former friends of ours like, Hey, can you tell Travis congratulations? Nice, man. Sure. Absolutely.

We'll do. It's been so much fun hearing from everybody, seeing the internet go crazy. Cleveland Twitter page, the City of Cleveland, @cityofcleveland, put up there, Local Man, and his new fiancé, stunned an engagement picture. I thought that was absolutely hilarious. Local Man.

That's a great Localman is a great way to go. That's so good. We also got a great tweet from Awful Announcing. Nfl podcast host, Announces engagement to recent guest. Very, it's accurate. Accurate. Speaking of announcements- I guess that episode was pretty good. Speaking of announcements, congratulations again, Trev. Very happy for you, Ante, and can't wait to see what the future holds for both of you. Now we can transition to announcing another thing, which is the New Heights tailgate in KC. That's right. September 14th, starting at 11: 00 AM, the New Heights tailgate, sponsored by Audible, is coming to KC Live in the Power and Light district.

Kc PnL, baby.

Ultimate New Heights fan experience with food, of course, barbecue. Tons of contests and New Heights merch, giveaways, a photo booth to take your game day photos, DJ to keep the vibe going, cornhole. Who doesn't like- Come on now. Putting a sack in some corn holes? A cornhole game to compete with your a giant TV to watch NFL games live, and plenty of places to hang out for you and your friends. It's completely free. Free for all fans because we appreciate you guys so much, and we want to have a kick-ass time. Typically, more the merrier. So you don't need to sign up. You just show up. Capacity will be limited to first come, first serve basis. Let's go, baby. Wall Street between 13th and 14th, just outside of KC Live, the Powered Light district of Kansas City. Next week for the Kansas City Philadelphia Eagles game. It's going to be a barn burner. Oh, yeah. Little Super Bowl rematch.

Come on, baby. Yeah. Come on, baby. We won't get too far ahead. We won't get too far ahead. That's right. We're on this week. Just want to let you guys know. We're on this week. Just want to let you guys know that's what we got coming up. And make sure you show up and show out, baby. Kc always shows up. Kc PnL is always a good-ass time, man. I've never had a bad time there. And sure enough, New Heights is bringing it.

That wraps up new news. Let's get to Out of the House, Travis.

Out of the House is brought to you by Gillette. The best a man can get. I see you stroking the beard. You're feeling them Grays coming back in?

It's coming. Thank God.

Yeah, I see him.

My wisdom is coming back by the day.

You lost it for a second. Out of the house, the Kelsies hit up Arrowhead for the Cincinnati-Nebraska games. Shout out to Nebraska, but shout out to UC, man. No doubt. Nebraska played a hell of a game. Went down to the wire since he showed all the heart in the World, baby, and showed that we got some ball players, man. We got some ball players, and we can make some plays with the game on the line. And we got one play that we can learn from, and it's early on in the season. Can't let that game or that play define us. We got A lot to be proud of about that game and a lot to learn from as well.

It felt like a first game. It felt like a lot of just not catastrophic mistakes, just sloppiness, drop ball here, false start here. We had 35 Five yards passing, I think, up until the fourth quarter. But it didn't feel like Sorsby was playing that bad. He threw some really good fade balls. I don't know, it just was one of those. Hats off to Nebraska. Nebraska played a great game. They controlled the ball. I think they had 35 minutes or something like that, close to 40 minutes of time of possession. We just didn't stay on the field as an offense. We got behind the sticks. We'd run the ball really well, then all of a sudden getting a third and long. We had the turnover before half, and then obviously the turnover at the end of the game when we were going down to tie or win it. But I'm with you. I came away like, Cincinnati has something to them this year. Sorsby, I like him. I know it wasn't his, probably. He'd take back that last throw and maybe some other ones. But I liked him as a player in the game. I think they got the running game was great.

Walker, number three. Come on, baby. Come on. He was given this little... Putting that foot on the ground, making some guys miss.

He was doing it with his legs. He was. He wanted to show that he's a gamer. He's like, Listen, I'm going to find a way.

I'm excited about Cincinnati the rest of the way. I think they'll clean up a lot of these mistakes they had in this game. I also think Nebraska is probably a good team this year. Oh, yeah. I think since he's going to do well in the Big 12, I'm looking forward to watching them the rest of the way.

You know it, baby. I got to give this shout-out. My guy Terry Braden, man, he's a defensive line coach over there in Nebraska. He had been in Kansas City just about my whole career, man. One of my favorite guys of all time. That's awesome. In the building, man. And he's one hell of a coach. And sure enough, man, he's got them Kern Huskers, Rock 'n' Rollin' on the D-line.

Them Kern Huskers had Arrowhead Rock 'n' Rollin'.

They did, man. Nebraska showed up and showed out. You see what was there UC was there. You see was there. We had a... But when Nebraska is right down the street, man- You see was there?

What are you talking about? It was filled like 90% Nebraska.

But you felt that because both teams were red.

I felt that because it was 90% Nebraska. I mean, you see travels well, but let's be honest, that thing was... I mean, they could have been shucking. There was a lot of corn going on.

All right, you got me.

We also have a little thing that they have written in, Jason brought jorts for Jason with this.

Yeah, he did.

Yeah, except I didn't. These are Travis's jorts. I stole them from his closet.

But everyone liked them. They did. On Jason. That's all that matters right there.

But I did go on bussing afterwards with Will and Taylor. Oh, yeah.

We love those dudes. Pissed I didn't get a beer with them at the game.

But Travis had already been on, and I had never been on there. I also told a story of us drinking non-alcohol beers, which I don't think we... I mean, listen, if you're in the non-alcohol... It's just something weird when you think you've been doing something for the last hour and a half, two hours, and then all of a sudden you realize it hasn't been happening. You just feel How could I be so naive to not even check what that was? But yeah, I think- It was a crazy realization because that was the first one that caught it.

I'm sitting there, I had poured a real beer, and I had poured the non-alcoholic beer, and I found the taste difference. I was like, Hmm, this one's a little sweeter. That's crazy. It's actually a really delightful taste. And I looked at the can, I'm like, Oh, let me see what kind. What's zero? Because all I read at first was zero something. It had zero in bold letters.

I just saw a beer, and I just assumed it was beer.

I saw zero, and I'm like, Is that zero? What is this? Is it zero calories, zero sugar? I'm like, In my head, I'm like, That's the first zero-calorie beer I've ever heard of.

I saw a bunch of people comment, How did you not know? You weren't buzzing. I was drinking before I got in the suite. It wasn't like I showed up sober.

I did. I showed up sober, and I was sober going into the second half, and I was just like, What the fuck is-I was drinking all morning at the golf course. Let me drink two and get to where I need to be right now. Yeah. Knowing how that first half just ended. Either way, absolutely hilarious. I told Jay, we started dying laughing, and then she made sure to tell you.

Then I'm back there. Because we had been drinking the same beer. I had just gotten another one out of the fridge. Like, Mmm. Delicious. Oh, gosh. What?

Yeah, I do. What?

Zero alcohol. It was an electric experience. Airehead, fantastic job creating that environment. Nebraska, fantastic job. Good luck the rest of the way.

I got to give a shout out to UC one more time because they knew that they were going into Nebraska territory with that home game. They did. They knew that that stadium was going to be mostly Nebraska. So they took a home game, went to their territory, put up a fight, baby. I love them for I thought it was a ballsy move.

They got paid $2 million for it.

Oh, that's it?

All right. Did you watch any other college football this weekend?

I watched a whole lot of college football, and one of the most One of the most touching moment of this past weekend was seeing Lee Corso.

No doubt.

Hanging up, man. Just give it one time for Lee, man. I can't tell you how much of me is I fucking love that guy. Never met him once, but I fucking love that guy. How he drove the love for college football, for football in general. Man, I can't thank him enough for his efforts, for wanting to make it fun, for making it seem so effortless to enjoy this game. And man, what a remarkable career and went out on his terms, man. It was awesome.

I'm with you. I mean, an icon, an icon of our childhood, an icon of college football in the entire landscape. We're going to miss you, Lee. Congratulations on an incredible career. Went out swinging. I mean- Come on, baby. Calls the Florida State upset over Alabama. Come on, baby.

I know he did it.

I know he did it with zero expectation that was going to happen. But I mean, come on now. What a beast. What a freaking beast. All right, once again, that was Out of the House, brought to you by Gillette. The best a man can get. Real quick, before we get to the Alex Smith interview and some of the other things going on across the league, we're going to start with Bold Topics. That's right. Bold Topics is brought to you by YouTube because we've got some absolutely fantastically massive news. This Friday's Chiefs Chargers game is making history. It's being offered completely free around the world for everyone. That's fucking crazy. For the first time ever, there are no subscriptions, no paywalls, and no requirements. Youtube is bringing the NFL directly to you so you can watch on the big screen without any hassles, no matter where you are. So here's our suggestion. Cancel your Friday plans, gather your friends and family, and celebrate NFL kickoff weekend the right way. Let's watch them. What else are you going to be doing Friday night? You might as well watch the freaking Chiefs and Charges.

I mean, high school football is back in action, but you can watch it on your phone, YouTube.

That's a good point. You go to the high school game and then just stream the game live.

Stream the game live. We were doing them both.

This is why YouTube.

Dude, man, fuck me. All right.

Chiefs Charges in Brazil. Trav, how is this week different? Eagles traveled to Brazil last year. I remember a little bit of the talk, but what are you guys getting ready for?

This is the most unique, I think it's been in terms of traveling to a game. It's not like you're going to the other side of the world in terms of time zones and stuff. We're only going two time zones away, but we're traveling half a day. It's interesting. Typically, you would go to London and time it up to where you get in London or you get overseas in Europe and you have a whole day in front of you. You can sleep on the plane. You can at least try and get some sleep on the plane to take up the time of the flight. It's a whole thing right now of trying to get there and get acclimated without losing the sleep schedule, keeping you in tune with just the times you're waking up and the times you'll be at your peak, athleticism, throughout the day. It's a bit of juggling that. I know the stadium's two hours away from the hotel. That'll be a unique experience, driving to the game for two hours. It's the old college football way that we used to drive to Miami, even though that wasn't that far away. We were a delta hand, and we got to play it.

It is what it is. I think it'll be rewarding If we go down there and find a way to win, knowing that this is such a unique schedule and unique experience. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited to go down to Brazil, man.

Dude, it's going to be electric.

It is going to be so much fun, man. And the international games are always a fucking blast getting to see new fans and how they react to big plays and just how they show up to the game, how they act during the game, whether I'm going to hear chants and stuff. I'm excited for all of this. I already know that the Brazil fans are going to go fucking nuts, and it's going to be a blast, man.

I think what you're alluding to is there's no time zone changes, so you can't save time overnight and whatnot. You guys are going to lose a whole day Wednesday and just travel because it's a 12-hour flight and you're not gaining or losing. There's no way to manipulate it. You're just going to get up in the morning, fly down to Brazil, and get nothing in that day other than maybe some film on the plane or film when you land, right?

Yeah. You got to be smart with your time, a little bit more strategic with your days.

Get your Russell Wilson on. Start doing high knees in the aisle. Make sure you're moving around.

I don't know if I'll be doing that, but I got my Nintendo Switch, too. Nice. I'm going to be Mario golfing and Mario carding it up. They got Mario golf? Oh, yeah. Gosh. Get hip, guys.

I can't Dude, I'll be on it all day. I just know it. I got to stay out of it. I forgot that you have kids. I got to stay out of it. All right, let's move on. It went to have on a international division game. Is it weird to have an international division?

I mean, this would be my second one. We played the Chargers in Mexico City.

That's right. We only had one game international. It was London. I wish we would have been able to play more when I was there. I like the international games, personally.

It's a blast. This will be my fifth country I've played in.

Fifth country? It'll be your Second continent, right? Europe and South America. Well, third continent, I guess, North America, Europe, South America. You're just missing Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica.

Yep. So NFL, we got to We got to keep expanding.

Yeah, we got to keep going. We got to keep going, boys. Australia is coming. That one is not far off.

No, the Aussies definitely love some football. They love some competition, baby.

This counts as a home game for the Chargers. Sucks to suck. Do you expect more Chiefs or Chargers fans?

I'm not sure. I don't want to say I was caught off guard, but there were more Chargers fans, I felt like, in Mexico City than there were at the game in Los Angeles. So I'm not sure if because-It was closer to the border. Yeah, their original team, San Diego, was so close to the border that they had a bunch of fans built up from that. But I don't know how far down south into South America, their fan base goes, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have scheduled this if there wasn't a lot of fans for both teams.

We'll find out. Other chiefs have been weighing in on the topic in the trip to Brazil. Mckenzie Nelson. Everything Xavierworthy knows about Brazil, he says, comes from the Fast and Furious movie. That's one way to do your research, Xavier.

Okay, Alex. One way. Nice. I have to watch that on the plane.

Pat, let us know he had to explain to Travis how a globe works.

First of all, uncalled for, Pat.

I think more than anything, it was just explaining to some guys how far the trip was. Some guys didn't understand how far the travel was, Travis, even though he just was down there like last year. I was just explaining to him how the globe works.

Very uncalled for. Had no idea that Buenos Aires and São Paulo were that close. I knew Brazil was down there. I didn't realize it was that far there.

Argentina and Brazil are heated rivals, just so you know.

Yes. Just hadn't put those two together.

Well, actual football preview. The Chargers are in year two of the Jim Harbaugh experience in Los Angeles. What are the staples of a Jim Harbaugh coach team? I mean, freaking. They're going to- Tough. Yeah.

Tough as nails. They got hard. They're going to play all four quarters in every single phase. You're going to get a well-disciplined football team.

It's like your NFL. It's like your football's football team. It's going to be a lot of 12, 21 personnel. They're going to establish a run game, line up, play actions off of it. There are always physical teams on offense and defense. It's an old-school mentality that Jim Harbaugh's teams bring to the game, and it's refreshing in a lot of regards. I can't wait to see what year two looks like for the charges. I really can't. I hope they lose this first game, obviously, but I'm optimistic about how they do from here on I like that the NFL is doing this with week one opening games with divisional matchups. You got the Eagles versus Cowboys. We're going to get to that one in a second to start the season off. You guys in the Chargers. I'm going and doing the Monday Night Countdown with bears, Vikings. There's just a lot of good games in this week one. I can't wait to watch the games this weekend. It's going to be so much fun. We got some key matchups, potentially. We got Josh Simmons, hell of a rookie debut. He's got Kaleel Mack, one of the best pass rushers over the last decade in the NFL.

It's definitely a hell of a welcome to the NFL moment for the young buck. Chargers have added Najee Harris and Mekai Becton. Although I don't know if Mekai has practiced yet. I think he's been- Yeah, I think both of them have been up in question, but maybe Najee has got the thumbs up as of late.

But either way, if they don't play this game, they'll definitely contribute to that team. Both great players. Actually, it looks like that Harris will split reps with rookie Omari on Hampton. So getting him slowly back incorporated into the offense, I guess. Chargers left tackle, Rashaun Slater, unfortunately, is out for the season, man, the worst news you ever want to come across. Such a great player, man. And I mean, as much as that team is going to run the ball this year, having a healthy old line is a huge component, especially early, man. You just hate to hate to see that for such a great player, man.

Absolutely. I mean, even from his rookie year, he's been one of the better tackles in the league. He's a blast to watch, and hopefully the big guy can come back even stronger. They aren't the only ones missing a star player, though. Rashe Rice will officially start his suspension this week. He will be out for the first six games. I think everybody in KC is looking forward to seeing him back out on the field. Opens up a lot, but listen, This is what you're going to have to deal with, right, Trev?

Yeah. And I think the biggest thing is that, I don't want to say we saw it coming, but we've had to prepare for this, knowing that there's going to be some amount of games that he's going to end up missing and She knows that. And Rasha knows that, and he's going to attack these weeks and make sure that he's ready for when he's allowed back in the building. And you know what? I think it's going to create that much more love and that much more fight out of him. I think he's got a lot to prove still in this league. I think I saw a certain type of work ethic and attention to detail that he's taking it up a notch when he's out there in practice. So I can't wait to get that guy back in the building, but we're going to have to hold it down with I thought them down in Brazil, man.

Yeah. Travis, have you guys brought up any keys to the game? What do you think?

Of course we have. There's a fucking... There's a bunch of them.

Let me guess.

I'm not telling you guys any of our keys.

Don't turn the ball over.

That's a huge I love the keys.

I always love going in the keys of the game. All right, take care of the football.

Stats are stats, dude. Over the last four years, the amount of fumbles in the first week of this-Especially in the first week. It's insane. Amount of fumbles and amount of missed tackles. It's through the fucking roof.

It's always the same. Hey, take care of the football.

It doesn't matter where you are.

Take care of the football. Create turnovers on defense Take care of the football on offense. Stop the run. Eliminate penalties and mistakes.

Eliminate penalties. We got to be going forward, guys. We can't be going backwards. Eliminate those. Stop killing ourselves. We need to be playing the other team, not ourselves.

That's right. If we beat the Kansas City Chiefs, we'll beat them.

No, we can't beat ourselves.

Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. If we don't beat ourselves, we'll be out of here.

There we go. All right, let's keep this thing moving. We'll see you guys down in Brazil, baby. São Paulo, baby. Get ready to get this thing rocking.

Do you know any words in Portuguese?

No. But I'll make sure I learn some down there. Bring some back with you. I'll bring some good ones back.

The only two I remember are Obregado and And Synovasia.

Nice. Let's talk a little eagles, cowboys, baby. Come on now. First game of the season for both these teams. And man, what a matchup to get this thing going. A lot going on in the cowboys world and the defending champs.

I mean, could you think of a better way for the Philadelphia Eagles to start the NFL season, coming off of the Super Bowl, they're playing the Dallas Cowboys, to start the NFL season and dropping a banner?

In front of the boys.

Dude, the NFL is so good at these schedule of things. The environment this Thursday, I cannot wait. I cannot wait to experience this. It is going to be so fucking electric. It's going to be insane. It is going to be absolutely bedlam. It's going to be nuts.

I am pissed that I never got to go to you playing against the Cowboys. Fuck me. I only got to experience those on Monday night, Sunday night.

We got plenty of Cowboys, eagles games to go to, Travis. We got plenty to go to.

I don't need to be playing. I wanted to be in the stands as an Eagles fan with Cowboys fans around and feel that. You know what I mean?

It's a great time when you're in Philly. It's not as much fun when you're in Dallas, but it's a great time.

You don't know No, I do.

We lost a lot of games in Dallas, unfortunately.

Okay.

My bad. Anyways, I'm looking forward to so many things. There's a lot of guys that I think, dude, they've been putting in so much work, and they've been doing it now for all the training camp, and they're trying to stay focused at the task at hand to repeat and have another great season. I think the mentality has just been so good across the board, from the coaches to the players. They're returning so many pieces offensively. I mean, really, the only new piece is the other right guard, Tyler Steen, who's been there. Now, he's going to be starting. And that's it. I mean, the offensive coordinator is the other new one on offense. And the other one I'm really looking forward to is defense. I think Mora Jomo, keep that name in the back of your head. This is a guy that... And I know Brandon, intern Brandon. Shout out to intern Brandon. He knows who I'm talking about because he went to UT, and Brandon knows everybody from fucking Texas. But dude, this guy, you know when you can't tell when there's a guy balling out on scout team, if it's just like he's given great effort, so is he catching guys when they're tired, a little bit fatigued on a Wednesday and Thursday?

So you're like, All right, he's got some juice, but I'm going to wait to see how this goes. Then he just keeps getting better. And he has this great disposition to him that from the moment he's got there, he's been inquisitive and asked questions and is always trying to get better. And it brings me back to we had Kobe Bryant talk to the team in 2017. And one of the guys asked him, Do you have any advice to young players trying to make it in the NFL? And this is my favorite thing Kobe said, all speech. Other guys referenced some of the other stuff, but I really love this. He said, Be curious. Ask questions. Try and learn as much as you can. Stout always says it in a different way, knowledge is our greatest resource. He's always been asking questions. To some extent, annoyingly. Like, God damn, Morrow just keeps on talking to me and asking me questions. He has had a relentless effort when he's on the field. He's had a relentless effort off the field. He wants to be great at football. I think he's going to have a really good year for Philadelphia.

I'm putting it out there. He's playing alongside Jalen Carter, who's going to get a lot of attention because he's one of the best defensive tackles, if not the best in the NFL. I'm looking forward to seeing him play, and I'm looking forward to seeing... I'm just looking forward to being back at the link and watching the Eagles line it up again. A lot of guys going into their second year, especially on defense, or second or third year. We're seeing, are they going to be able to keep up? Are they going to be able to do it again? Vic Fangio. Yeah, I don't know, man. I'm just really excited to watch this first game.

I mean, it's going to be fucking absolutely insane of an atmosphere. Hopefully, the game resembles that, knowing everything that the Cowboys have going on with the first-year coach and getting their star defensive player traded a week before the season starts. They got a lot of noise. But the banner... I want to talk a little bit about the banner games, man. I've been a part Have you been a part of them where somebody else was raising a banner, and I've been a part of them when I've been raising a banner. You've been a part of them, definitely, when you've raised a banner. Have you ever been the team going into the stadium? I don't think so.

No. Well, I was in a banner game for not for winning a Super Bowl, but we played in New England, in New England, when they retired Tom Brady's jersey.

Oh, that was arguably bigger than a banner game. Big time.

It was a big-time environment. They almost won the game, too. That's what I'm saying.

It can go both ways. But at the same time, Coach Siriani said that the Eagles will not be on the field for the banner drop.

You beat me to it, too. I think they're handling it the right way. And I think-100 %.

You can't be out there. You got a game. That's last year.

It's last year. They've all turned the page, and you have to focus on this year. But the banner isn't for them. It's for the motherfucking fans. And they're going to be going absolutely crazy. And that's why I'm excited about it, because I'm not playing anymore. I could be excited about a fucking banner and watching the Cowboys. I don't have to worry about being in the moment in this season. But they're handling it the right way. I think Cam Jurgent said something similarly this week about not giving a damn a banner. They're all focused on this season and moving on from last year.

Give a damn about the next banner. That's right. Dude, this reminds me talking about banner games. I went to one of the most legendary days in Cleveland sports history. I got to literally be the biggest kid in the entire world. What's that? I went to the Cleveland Cavaliers banner game after After they won the NBA Championship. Yeah. And that same day, go to a Cleveland World Series game.

Holy cow. It's a hell of a day.

And I took dad, and it was fucking electric. Yeah. And as a little kid standing in Gunderina, knowing that I'm about to go and take my dad to the World Series after this, dude, it was insane. That's all I have for you. I just wanted to make sure you knew that I did that.

Well, I'm happy that you did it and didn't invite me, you fucking asshole.

That sounds like a great time. Yeah, that was another thing. It was during the season, so you were probably playing football, and I was on my bye week. Interesting. All right, so what are your keys to the game?

Take care of the football. Don't eliminate mistakes. No penalties.

We can't beat ourselves.

Yeah.

But seriously, hold on to the football. All right, here we go, boys. That wraps up BOLD Topics, brought to you by YouTube. Hey. Reminder to mark your calendars, hit up your whole group text, all your messages, all your group chats, and get ready to be part of football history. Coverage starts 7: 00 PM this Friday, September fifth, only on YouTube. Game available via YouTube globally, except Canada, unfortunately. Sorry to our friends up north and other certain countries, unfortunately.

The game will also be available on free, over-the-air broadcast television in local markets of participating clubs. Before we keep going, we want to say a big thank you to our partner, DraftKings. That's right. It's been a long summer Without football, but we're back, and we're ready to play some bets with our partners, DraftKings Sportsbook.

All right, single game parlay. We're going to look at the kickoff game for the season, Cowboys at Eagles.

Jake, with the first two picks of our single-game parlay, what do you have?

All right, so I wanted to pick one from each team. I know Jerry Jones has said that the Cowboys are very committed to stopping the run. I'm not sure that I believe him, so I'm going to be taking Saquon Barkley over 100 rushing yards.

They're going to commit. Whether they'll be able to do it is a different story. I think losing a star defensive lineman, even though they got Kenny Clark back, doesn't necessarily bode well for being able to stop the run.

Second Pig is a little inspired by Bier Bowl. I saw Cooper DeVine flying out there on the obstacle course. I know that Eagle's secondary is going to be going crazy. So I got Dak over 0.

5 interceptions. I think they catch a pig from Dak. There you have it, folks. I knew I had to make our pics based on beer bowl observations. That's insider information. That's insider information. I don't know if we're even allowed to legally do this. That man wanted that. He wanted it. Well done, Jake. All right, for the final two picks of the single-game parlay, I'm going to go with Jalen Hertz, Anytime, Touchdown.

I think Jalen is going to find the end zone one way or the other. I'm also going to go with Jalen Carter, over one sack.

I love Jalen.

I love betting on sacks. Jalen Carter is going up against the rookie Tyler Booker from Alabama. That's one of the matchups. I forgot to mention this up top. I'm looking forward to watching that one, this game, Because I don't know, man. That is our single game parlay for this game, which comes out to plus 1,000 odds, meaning if you bet $10 on this and the bets hit, you get $110.

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Dude, high school. Oh, yeah. I had an aggressive chin strap. Yeah, I have no idea. I I think I'm just going to keep this look. It's getting a little furry. I might trim it down a little bit, but I think this is the look for the start of the year, at least.

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Let's do it. Jason, do the honors, please.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome three-time Pro Bowler from Helix High School. He was the first pick in the 2005 NFL draft, the 2020 NFL Comeback Player of the Year, the quarterback who threw Travis, his first ever NFL countdown. Please welcome Mr. Alex Smith, baby.

Let's go. Smithy.

Thank you. Thank you, Jason. Thank you.

Let's go, man. I appreciate that.

A little wide, shallow cross down in Miami. You Are you kidding me?

Was that the first one? I've actually never been introed with that accolade before as the first person to throw you a countdown. And it actually is not a bad accolade, man. I'll take it. I've been called worse, for sure.

All right, well, let's get into it. In 2014, when you were a rookie with Travis, when he first arrived at the Chiefs, let's start there. Did you expect that we'd end up where we are right now? What were your expectations for a young Travis Kelsi?

Did I expect him to be what? Like a Hall of Fame career?

Yeah, that's the question.

Fuck no. That's a crazy question.

Hell, no.

What threw you off?

Well, I mean, obviously, there's not many guys you come in and you have that expectation.

You think that right away.

Well, especially, I mean, third-round pick, right?

Yeah.

No, I mean, there's no third-round picks that come in. You're like, This guy's be the greatest tight-end ever. No, it doesn't. And there were some question marks about Travis and his professionalism coming in that were understood in the building. Dude, but no, this is the crazy thing when you think about, I'm sure everybody looks at Travis's career and is like, Oh, look, it was just so great and destined. I mean, he didn't even play his rookie year. Dude, I remember you out there trying to run through routes that summer hobbling around, bro. I remember you hobbling around on that knee, just trying to get through it. And I felt so bad. I'm like, This is a young guy, and he's dealing with knee issues already. No, they were huge question marks. Jason, For sure. I think there was a ton of positivity in the building. From the moment we drafted him, though, Andy Doris at the time, John Dorsey, the GM, they were like, We got a guy. That was the belief. Listen, We got a guy. In the third round. We're super hot. We feel like he can be a player, but he didn't play for a whole year.

That's crazy to think back about, right? A big knee procedure.

Yeah, 100 %. Huge knee surgery and micro fracture at that point in my career. I was lucky I was young enough to where it paid off. And in terms of the professionalism, it worked out in my favor because I got to see everything I just got to sit back and watch guys like you, guys like Fusano, then guys like Jeremy Maclin come in and be pros and show me how it's done at the professional level. I ended up catching on, not the second year or the third year, but eventually it clicked for me.

I say it in jest, like a half joking, obviously, about the professionalism. But I also think the cool thing is that I think in the same time that when you got drafted, I'll never forget. It was like, again, they think you're a hell of a player. This is going to be great. They also immediately understood like, who is he? He's fresh out of college. This guy's got to learn a little bit. It's going to be a process.

He's going to grow. He's going to mature. Yeah.

But that doesn't happen everywhere. I think that was the cool thing, especially about Andy. Andy doesn't... Yeah, Big Red. I'm saying there's no judgment. He remembers what it's like to be a 21-year-old kid. Hey, if you're late to some meetings, it wasn't the end of the world. And Trab happened. Trab got called to the principal's office a time or two, those first few years.

Just a tap on the shoulder, Hey, Andy wants to see you. I wonder why.

I tell people this all the time. I feel like Andy just has this aura about him that there's this presence that is downright, you're afraid of him in certain instances. He has that feeling. But at the same time, you always feel like he loves and just wants the best for you. He toes that line of being a disciplinarian and a player's coach better than anybody I've been around. He's not going to accept anything from you that isn't your best. But at the same time, he's forgiving to a fault. I don't even know how he's mastered both of those avenues, but it's hard to explain, but that's the vibe I always got from him.

No, I think you hit it on the head. I mean, that's what coaching is, right? Like tough love, right? You got to be both. You got to have high standards and hold people to them. But at the same time, I think the best thing about Andy is, again, the no judgment. If you mess up, if you air, whether it be on the field or in your personal life or something professionally, it's not the end of the world. So he will welcome you back in. I think you appreciate that as a player, for sure.

Hell, yeah. Do we have a favorite story from Travis, rookie year? I know we just said a couple, but like- Favorite story? Even if it's not Ruky, let's say second year. What's What's your favorite story from a young Travis, Kelsey?

God, let's try to think. For me, I can't get out of my head. I know maybe some tight ends had broken out into dance occasionally. But the first TD pass, no, I remember all of a sudden, he breaks into choreographed dance in the fucking end of it.

It was planned. It was pre-planned. There's no way you just do that.

No, I remember distinctly being caught off guard. I just didn't I see it coming. I knew he was talented, but not like that. No. And then every week, it was like a new one, right? Oh, yeah. From there on out.

I had him in the back pocket ready to go.

I don't know if, Trab, if you ever remember this play. I actually broke this down on Sunday Countdown at ESPN, but we were playing. It had to be your second or third year, and we were playing the Denver Broncos. And we called early in the game, you started out wide and we motioned you down and we ran strike, which Jason is just a little fake in and then come back out, on the third and three. And we converted it, right? He killed the guy, the DB. It was man. The guy came running down with him in the motion.

Like a little pivot thing where you come down, come back.

Yeah, so he fakes down, he comes out. Well, we save it and we come back to it in the second half, in the fourth quarter, in the biggest moment of the game. And I think we thought we were going to get him again. And the DB was pretty veteran. And we had the same look. It's man. And this guy just sits hard on the outside. Sits on the outside. He's not taking the cheese. Well, Trev just feels it. So he just keeps fucking running. Just runs all the way across the field. This is the NFL. You're supposed to go in and come back out. And he just saw the guy outside and was like, Oh, and just kept running across the field. And I threw him the ball for some reason, and it turned into a 30-yard game. Oh my gosh. And I think everybody on the field, including Big Red, it was like, What just happened? And it was the early dawn of Trab doing some of these things.

Trab, full disclosure, did you know it was a strike or were you running the wrong route? What was going on?

I knew exactly what it was. But All right. Well, we'll touch it on- The thing is, I get the first down, and I get pumped up. I do a first down, and then I start to slowly look at Coach Reid on the sideload. I'm like, Is he going to fucking... Come here.

This is the beginning of the moment.

Don't ever do that again.

This is the beginning of the moment where he started to get some leeway into doing these things. Is that what I'm hearing? Yes.

The early dawn of the trav improvisation, which, by the way, in every little route, there's little things you can do. I mean, this is a full... But not that. You're supposed to break right and you broke flat.

You're supposed to be in the flat over here, and you're all the way on the other side of the field. Yeah, big difference.

I knew Alex wanted me to do that.

Because you think about the game as a quarterback.

Did you like that he did it, Alex? He was like, Oh, heavy outside leverage. Don't love to strike against heavy outside leverage. That's right. Just keep going. Who am I hurting going across field?

Nobody.

And it worked. There's nobody over there.

That's what you got to do. You can't be selfish enough to ruin somebody else from getting a catch, which I've done that, and I've had to reel it back.

Alex, we've talked about it. I think we talked about it when I was with you guys before the Super Bowl. But what do you think of Travis's ability to audible? You just talked about the first time he ever did it. From a quarterback's From your perspective, how do you feel about somebody doing something that is not pre-planned?

Yeah, it's funny because as a young QB, you're like, No, I need to know you're going to run the line on the paper. I need to trust that you're going to be in the right place at the right time. And it's so funny. As you move on and you play longer, I want a guy that can separate. The number one attribute I want in somebody that's running routes is separation. That's all I want. I want somebody open. Be able to Great. And the crazy thing about a tight end is you got to know... And I actually think it's the second hardest position to play as a young guy on offense behind QB, just because you're involved in all the shifts of motions, you got to know all these formations. You're involved in the run game block, and you're involved, obviously, in pass protection sometimes. And then you got to run routes. But you're running routes against linebackers, you're running routes against safeties, you're running routes against corners. And to his point, you do have to realize what your advantage is versus all these different guys.

Thank you.

Dude, but there are all these... Listen, half the time, you're running a stick route. For everybody out there, the stick route is the most basic tight-end route. It's this little five-yard out. If you run the line on the paper, in the NFL, you will never be open. You just won't. And it got pretty quick. And I think the cool thing, I don't know about you, Travis, we were in the same division, obviously, with Antonio Gates, who also played with some of this.

100 %, yeah. You could tell. He would be on the same page. Yeah. Yeah.

But the routes you would watch it on film, you're like, that's definitely not what that looks in the playbook. He put a little sauce on it. He put a little wiggle on it. He ran it at one yard, not five yards. And so I think pretty quick, you got to the point with Trab that it was like, it's working. And I will never forget. I don't know if I told you this. This was later. This is probably your fourth year. We were struggling on offense. Maybe it was when we started one and five, to be honest. Do you remember when we started one and five? We were not playing good on offense. And I'll never forget, Nagui called me in Monday after the game. We just We lost, I think, the fifth game. Everything's looking bleak. And we watched every pass play on offense. And I'll never forget, looking for some tendencies, what can we do better? What are we missing? And the number one takeaway from the meeting was Travis doesn't always run the route like it's supposed to be, but he's always open. And the number one takeaway from this offensive meeting was like, Hey, when in doubt, we should probably just find this guy.

Because he'd be running a corner route and he'd be like, It's not supposed to be open versus look. But he would run a seven-yard out route instead. And it was like, Well, he was open. Everything had a twist. He wasn't just going to run and get covered. It was nice. No, and so to that point, once you trusted that and you developed that relationship, it was like, No, Travis is going to get open for me. Travis is going to work. Again, there's a maturity, and there's a lot of guts in some of that as a route runner to do some of that.

Well, we were talking, we're throwing a little bit of, not shade, but poking fun at Travis a little bit for being a little bit immature and being a happy-go-lucky free spirit. Who me? But I think that that directly plays into... You got to be a free spirit to just all of a sudden whip this out in the middle of a game. Anybody that's analytical, reading the playbook and showing up on time to meetings is not doing this. They're not taking a strike round going all the way across the field.

No way. You're totally right.

You know what it is, though, is that the strike route actually comes off of another route. It's like the complementary route to flank or drive. In my mind, it's like that's the... Yeah, those two go hand in hand with each other. It has evolved since then to understand what else is around you and to understand, I don't know, what the quarterback's seeing versus certain coverages, where the coverages are weak, and where the holes are in the defense and things like that. But it 100 % was the luckiest instinctual decision I made that really paid off because, like Alex said, it started to unravel into, Oh, in practice, I'll just try it in practice. And if it doesn't work in practice, then I won't put that on the quarterback in the game. I'll try my hardest not to, I don't know, catch him off guard. And it just turned into, well, just be definitive.

Professor Traff here, dropping knowledge. Dude, the other thing, I don't know if you remember this, to that same point, if you were running a shallow cross, right? It was for everybody out there, again, you're just running across the field as fast as you can. But if there was a corner running on you, you constantly would... You would do what you did in that tape. You would dead leg him and try to... Oh, yeah.

No, I'm fucking with him until...

And again, none of that was on the route. None of that was installed. And again, it was your way of like, Listen, I got to win some way. I got to separate and get open.

100 %, man. Seven-step timing. Getting to understand the quarterback's progression and footwork, it's like a It's like a Timer going off in your head. You know what I mean? And don't let it get to that third second. If I can feel that the quarterback is at the top of his drop and gets two hitches, I'm botching the route anyways, because what we call it isn't working, and he needs to get that fucking ball out. So I'm doing something else anyways. Oh, shit. Thank you to our partner, YouTube. Hey, NFL fans, history is about to go down in São Paulo, Brazil, and you've We got a front row seat to watch yours truly, and the Chiefs, right from your phone, tablet, or TV. The Kansas City Chiefs are taking on the Los Angeles charges. Man, I remember playing these guys in San Diego. Now we're playing them in Brazil. This is crazy. Down in South America, and here's the best part. For the first time ever, it's completely free and streaming live on YouTube for the entire world to watch. Mark your calendars for Friday, September fifth. Coverage begins at 07: 00 PM Eastern with the game at 08: 00 PM.

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Tear, pour, live more. Go to liquidiv. Com and get 20% off your first order with code new heights at checkout. That's 20% off your first order with code new heights at liquidiv. Com. Let's rewind. We're all in Alex Smith, Kansas City era, Travis, Kelsey. Let's talk about Alex Smith, San Francisco era. Was there anybody else that operated like this in Sanfran? What was your time in Sanfran like?

It took It took me a long time, Jason. I battled being the number one pick and signing... This was before the rookie weight scale, so I signed a massive contract, right? Yeah. Being a first-time professional and the number one pick and going to the San Francisco 49ers, right? I felt like I had to be Joe Montana, Steve Young. I'm also the number one pick, so I got to be Peyton Manning and John Elway, and I got to be all those things right now, right? Right now. It was like I carried around so much weight as a young professional. I felt like I had to be perfect. Also, this is real. It was real imposter syndrome, right? It was like, How long Jason until they find out that they made a mistake? Especially playing right away, and this was the crazy thing, Travis. I played week three, my rookie year. There weren't a ton. It wasn't until a few years later, I actually got to be around some veteran quarterbacks and actually see what it was like to be a NFLQB, preparing Monday through Saturday, what it takes. Just had no idea. So it was rough.

It was rough. A lot of late nights by myself just watching film and having no idea what I was doing.

Trying to figure it out.

Yeah, no clue.

That's tough.

So you go to Andy Reid. Yeah. Why was it so much more successful? The Chiefs, before you got there, we were just talking about this. They had a great defense, but they had not been successful, really, at all. So what is it about Andy Reid and going there that all of a sudden you enjoyed, probably, I think, safe to say, the best- Oh, For sure. For years of your career. Oh, for sure. Yes. And then also as a team at Florist. What is it about the system, the coach, all of it?

I think a couple of things. One, the fact that it's not a system. Again, think about all the QBs that Andy Reid had over the years from Donovan, Brett, before that. And they all play well. Obviously, Michael, me, Pat. And there's a bunch of guys in between, too, that he had for Little Stents, and guys that all have different strengths, very different strengths. And I think that's the beauty. Andy doesn't run some cookie cutter playbook. We're not running the stuff that you guys were running in Philly. We're not running the stuff that they were running in Green Bay before that. Patrick's not running the stuff that I was running. He's going to tailor it to your strengths. He's going to put you in a in a position to succeed. And then I think there's, again, I just talked, obviously, about for me, my mentality at that point, again, it was heavy when I was young. And then you get to Kansas City and there's a lightness to Andy. Again, I didn't feel like if I messed up, it was the end of the world. He constantly was like, Let your personality show be you. He constantly in the QB room, his favorite saying would be like, Hey, when in doubt, go deep.

I'm sure some of that he felt in me. But again, that's the beauty of his coaching. It's not the same for everybody. He morphs it and changes and adapts to who he's got in front of them and what they need.

Let's talk about a little Jim Harbaugh. Oh, yeah. Let's talk about Harbaugh, man. I'm going down to São Paulo. You guys are pulling in. Yes. I'm going down to São Paulo to see him for the second time as a charger. Obviously, we saw him a little bit when he was in San Fran still before he went to Michigan. But I remember meeting Jim in San Fran when I was getting drafted, and the guy is just wired different, man. He eat, breathes, and sleeps football all day, every day. And that's what you want out of your head coach. But how are some of his coaching methods different than Coach reads?

Yeah, I mean, again, dude, both these guys. I mean, Jim definitely had a huge impact on my career. Huge impact. Before he arrived here in San Fran, honestly, I'm probably walking around with a bus label at this point, and he has me back, signs me back. He's coming from Stanford. But this is a guy that played 15 years at quarterback in the NFL. I mean, he definitely understands. Crazy part is he played for the Chargers, and I grew up in San Diego, so I remember watching him play as a kid. But you're dead on. Jim's different. It's like a real-life Ted Lasso a little bit. He's like off the wall saying. You quote you Shakespeare. He just has so much gratitude for football, to your point. This guy loves football. I'm not just saying that. I remember at times, he told me his life aspirations were to play football as long as he could, then coach football as long as he could, and then die. Life's gold.

He's got to figure it out, baby. That's a very simple man right there. He's not overcomplicating this.

I'll never forget my first game again. I love it. Here I am getting ready to play.

I think you're being a bit dramatic, Coach.

Have you seen what he does before the game to the quarterbacks?

He's got the gloves and he's playing catch.

Right before kick off, dude, he comes over, and I'll never forget the first game we're playing, and he comes over and he's got this look in his eyes. And again, he's like, he's so happy for you that you're going to get a chance to play football. And he starts smacking you around in the helmet, and he starts jacking up in the chest. And I remember I could just feel... I could feel how much... It was funny for me at this time because I think I, in some ways had taken it for granted, but it wasn't going to last forever. And I remember seeing that in his eyes, how much he would give to play one more time, right?

Oh, yeah.

And it wasn't a glory Days type of thing. But again, it was real. It was like, Oh, man, it was infectious when the head guy just loves ball that much. And then for me, Again, he took so much pressure off of playing quarterback. Prior to that, I'd always felt like I had to stretch or do something special or make a play. And with Jim, it was like, No, man, just run the offense. If it says to throw the flat, if the read is to throw the flat, just throw the flat. I never felt like it was the first time in my career that I felt like I could just be me. Again, I didn't have to do anything remarkable.

Well, who are you taking? Chiefs, Chargers, Brazil, week one. Chargers have made immediate impact with Jim. I mean, immediate. This is going to be a big one.

Dude, I'll tell you what, he'll always have a tough football team. They're always going to be well-coached.

It's the culture of how he coaches. You already know.

Physical. And it's funny, these two coaches, two of my favorite things about them are actually pieces of attire that they wear. So I don't know if you guys have seen this. Again, it was one of my favorite things when Jim came to Sam Fran because he gifted every guy on the team these blue collar shirts. And so you would get your own blue collar shirt and it had your name on it. And he told this whole story of what is a blue collar shirt? Somebody in our life, someone in our family paved away for us and worked one of these jobs. And again, going back to this gratitude of playing. And then the night before every game, Big Red is wearing an Aloha shirt. And it just sets the tone. Night before the game, he's got the Aloha shirt on. It just calms everything down a little bit. So we got the blue collar shirts versus the Aloha shirts going at it in São Paulo.

I love that blue collar shirt. Dude, I would get so fired up for a blue collar shirt with my name on it. I can envision him giving this speech. I'm getting goosebumps thinking about this right now. Dude, we used to be wearing blue-collar shirts and not suits. Suits to away games? We're working men. I'm not a businessman. Yes.

Thank you. Dude, I hated wearing suits to games. I felt so like, again, it was almost personified the weight of the professionalism. Again, when I was struggling with it, and I could just put on my blue collar shirt and a hat, go to work, man. That's all I needed. Let's go.

Bring the lunch pail.

You actually want a prediction for this game?

No, you're good. I don't even know why I said it. That's fine. We're not going to put you on the spot. I'm just excited to watch it. We talk about coaches and your time in KC. Let's talk about the introduction of Pat Mahomes. He credits you very often with welcoming him to the and being that mentor. What was that relationship like for you right away?

I'll never forget when I first talked to him.

It's the frequency, dude.

It's different. We were a good football team. We'd won a bunch of divisions. I was gone to Pro Bowl. We'd obviously won a playoff game, I think, the year before. So your party was wondering, who are we taking in the first round? To go help us? And you're never expecting, obviously, to trade up. We're trading next year's first round, too, to go up and get a quarterback. It's not what anybody wants to hear. I mean, that's not... For sure. But I think the crazy part is, again, going back to my experience of having been the number one pick and an early pick. You have no control. You're thrust into this process. You're a cog in the All expectations. You go where they tell you to go, pick number, whatever. Even now, you sign the contract that's slotted for that deal. I mean, obviously, there was some empathy still for me as being an early pick. Obviously, Pat didn't pick this. I didn't pick this. The powers that be. Again, I'd spent so many years alone, my first few years in the league. Again, watching film on my own and just had no idea what I was doing.

And remember how much that sucked. It sucked. And so to fast forward to when we drafted him. Also within that, too, I had spent early part of my year, distracted myself. I mentioned the imposter syndrome and the self-doubts and was I good enough? And dude, I'd be going out there to play, and my mind would be like, What if I throw a pick? What are they going to write about me in the paper tomorrow? God, what if they start booing me? I had distracted myself with my own internal dialog and doubt. I was determined when I got to Kansas City, I'm not going to be distracted anymore. And so even once we drafted Pat, too, there was almost this great challenge. Again, everybody pitting us against each other. Am I going to look over my shoulder and be distracted? Andy still had told me, Listen, I got the keys to the car that year. I don't know. So there were all these conflicting things going on emotionally. I think the other thing that just comes out with Pat, and I try to tell people this, you give respect, you get respect. From day one, Pat came in, and there was never a prima donna ego.

There was never like, he's the man. He came in humble, ready to work. Just like a good kid. It was pretty quick. It was like no big deal, honestly. No big deal.

That's what I give Pat so much credit for that year of just being a He was a great teammate. Yeah, totally. He came in with, like you said, that ability to just like, You know what? I'm just going to make sure everybody's having a good time today. Yeah, totally. We're going to find a way to get better at football. But he was, I I think seeing you as the leader of that football team, as the leader of that offense, how the offense had started to really change into this air raid, this down the field offense with Tyreek and all the weapons that we had with D-Rod, with Chris Conley. It was starting to play more downfield, and it was fun to see you take that offense to the next level and then just hand it off to Pat after that year was over with me.

Let's be very clear. First off, I get way too much credit in the Pat development story. No chance. Way too much credit.

We need more credit. We need more credit here.

Could Pat have played that year? Clearly. But again, to the point, the beauty of what Andy set up and the QB structure, and this is the beauty of the QB room, and it's not like this everywhere. You do everything together, everything together. You eat together, you live together, you rehab together, you watch film together, you obviously practice together. And come season, I'm spending more time with the QBs than I am with my family, given weeks. And so it It was a cool way. Pat, I was in year 13 at that point. I had three kids. I had the week down to the minute of what I needed to get done on a given day to prepare to play well on Sunday. And so the cool thing is Pat, for a year, got an up-close look, how I did it. And again, when he finally got his opportunity, obviously, to roll, he could take what he liked. He could build off it. It's obviously not all for him. And then when he did start playing, and this is the beauty of taking a quarterback early, they did everything in their power that when Pat stepped foot on the field for the first time, he was going to be successful.

There was no rolling the dice, let's hope this goes well, cross our fingers thing. Obviously, it's rare in the NFL. There's only a couple of organizations that have done it like this.

It drives me crazy. And watching high draft value, and then I a defensive head coach being selected. Are we not trying to put this guy in the best position to be successful? I get a veteran quarterback that's been around. Yeah, let's get a defensive guy. Let's get this guy a defense. But a young player, we just put so much stock and value into this position. Why are we not allocating everything we can to make this guy successful? It blows my mind when I see that across.

No doubt. Yeah, just fucking rolling the dice.

I do want to touch on this because you brought up for the second time now imposter syndrome, self doubt. One of the things, one of the important things I think a person could give to another person is belief, right? And mainly a belief in yourself. All of us remember those individuals that were around. You mentioned Jim Harbaugh and how he made you feel gratitude towards the game. I think I remember the coaches Jeff Stoutland, Howard Mud, Paul Longo, all these guys where when I had self-doubt in my career, these guys were there to reaffirm me and make sure that I knew how good I could be and how good I had the potential to become. I had to mention that because I always get fired up hearing about... Every player goes through that. Any player that says they don't go through it is full of crap. It's because you're surrounded with great people, great teammates, great coaches, that you end up coming out of that. I'm going to transition to this. There's a lot of rookie quarterbacks from last year that are coming up on their second year this season. Who does Alex Smith have belief is going to take that next step forward?

Who's going to be the best of the bunch to have breakout seasons?

Yeah, dude, I think the rookie class from last year, to be clear, the second-year group- Yes, sorry. The second-year group going in this year, I think is going to go down as one of the greatest QB classes of all time. Oh, wow. Maybe the best of all time. I think it has a chance. I mean, we just saw literally Jaden Daniels. It is the greatest rookie season, I think, in all of American sports.

It was electric. It was very electric.

I mean, unbelievable. Bo Nix. I mean, you saw it live, Chad.

Bo Nicks is a baller, man.

A baller, right? He's the sixth guy taken. I mean, to think about that. He's crazy. There's a few guys on that note that I'm really excited about. I'm excited for Caleb, again, another number one pick. Getting Ben Johnson. I love the Ben Johnson higher. I think Fire me up. I think you're going to see aside of Caleb this year. I think he's going to flourish in it. I think they need it, again, the next several years, he'll get to play in this system that is so good. And I think he's really going to take off. They got a bunch of weapons. That division is a monster. That division is a monster, though.

It is. That's the problem.

By the way, so is yours, Travis.

Yeah. No, I'm very aware. You get a bunch of legendary coaches and throw them in a division. You're going to get some competition in there, man.

I don't know if I told you this. Do you know it's the winningest division in NFL history when it comes to the head coach's records? I have not heard that.

That's a crazy stat. That is crazy.

Anyway, here we go, boys.

Buckle up.

Dude, but I think Caleb is going to have a great year. The guy we haven't seen is JJ McCarthy. Playing for Kevin O'Neill, who I was lucky enough to... Another San Diego guy I go way back to high school with. I played for him. He's one of the best QB minds, I think, in the game. And then think about what he's throwing to, right? You got Jetta, you got Jordan Addison, T. J. Hawkinson. They got a lot of weapons there. I think he's going to have a big year. And then, Drake May. I like Drake May a lot. I'm basically naming all of them, so I get that. But I think New England, I love Vrabel getting hired. Josh McDaniel is coming back as the OC. I think he's also an unbelievable offensive mind. I really do. I love all these guys. I didn't even mention Penix, who might have the best supporting cast from weapons standpoint.

I just think- There's a lot of guys everywhere.

I love it. I think all these guys are going to take steps this year.

Awesome. All right.

Well, what about- Is that just the worst answer ever? I just named all of them. No.

First of all, it just got me fired up for football. I'm going to the Chicago Bear's game for Monday night. I can't wait to watch Kyla Williams and freaking JJ McCarthy go ahead to each other. I mean, that's going to be a blast. All right, what do we got? What about the rookies this year?

It's funny. It's slim pick-ins. And this always happens, right? After a big year, the next year course. All eyes are going to be on Cam, number one pick. Sure. I think he, by all accounts, was the consensus guy there that was the most ready. The thing I like about him so much is he's a gamer, man, the craftiness. He's the opposite of what I look like as a rookie. I was so stiff. This guy has played a lot of football. He's played at three colleges. He's played in multiple systems. He knows what he does well. He's got a great skill set, does a little bit of everything. I think he's going to play good. And then we'll see if any of these other young guys even play. Jackson Dart may not play. So I like, again, Cam. Cam is the guy we're all going to be watching, in my opinion.

All right. Fair enough.

We had some crazy new News break last week in the NFL. Micah Parsons finally got traded. There was a lot of debate on whether they were going to get a contract done, and then it just became war between him and the owner. Very challenge, baby. Yeah, Jerry Jones. And Michael Parsons is officially a packer. What was the first reaction when you saw the news?

Couldn't believe it. I just could not believe they actually traded him. I felt like it was like deja vu, right? He had a contract dispute with Dak, and it It got done in the last minute. He had the contract dispute with CeeD. It got done last minute. And it just seemed like, well, here we go. They're definitely not letting Micah Parsons out of the building, right? And I could not believe it when it happened.

I still can't believe it, man.

And now that I've had a little time to digest this thing, I don't think it's insane to say if you wanted to move him, right? Listen, this is a generational past rusher. He's 26 years old. The next five years for him are going to be ridiculous. The best five years of his career, like coming up. And if you wanted to move him and you were going to get a Herschel-Waaker type trade, if you were going to get just somebody offering So much that you couldn't turn it down because you wanted to press reset. I could understand it. But to just to get what is going to be two late first-round picks, and I'm nothing against Kenny Clark, but- Kenny is a good player. To put this in perspective, the Niners traded three first-round picks for Trey Lance, three, for a guy that had never played a snap in the NFL. And you're telling me that, again, they're talking about him like Reggie White. He's had 12 sacks. He's the only guy since Reggie White to have 12 Sacks to start a career this many years. Again, he's a monster. You guys know this, right? Even if he doesn't get the Sacks, the pain he is to game plan for, when you come in on Wednesday morning, the giant circle that's around Micah Parson is like, We cannot let this guy cost us the game.

The run game is going to revolve around where he is. The past game is going to revolve around where he is. We're going to chip him and double-team. Hey, Trab, you're always going to be lining up where he is to try to give an extra gap for the tackle. You bend over backwards for this guy just to try to take him away. It's crazy. I think it is a horrible trade. To be very clear how I feel about this.

There is a chance that it can work out if one of these first or both of these first-round picks are successful. But statistically, the chances of that happening are so low that you're going to find somebody that affects the game like this. That's what I think recently has been things coming out like he's not great against the run. I'm not normally a guy that cares that much about sacks. I think that number sometimes gets overblown somewhat. This guy affects the game on a level that maybe only two or three other guys in the NFL do across the league on defense. He is that big of a difference maker. Your entire game plan. We played the Cowboys without him. It is so different, so different. I love Kenny Clark. Kenny Clark is a great player, and I feel bad that he's a part of this and being compared to Michael Parsons because as a detackle, he's really good. But it's just he's not affecting the game the way that Michael Parsons is. The way they're trying to sell this I think, is funny because they have to at this point. But the real reason this isn't happening is flat out egos.

And it sucks that that is the reason why this whole thing is happening.

You're spot on. The only way this ever, 10 years from now, this looks good is if they draft two Hall of Famers with these two picks. The odds of that happening when you're going to be picking probably like pick 24 or higher, it's not, again, not looking good for them. I couldn't agree with you more. This is all about feelings and egos. And on this note, this whole idea of Jerry negotiating directly with this guy. He's 25 years old. He's never negotiated a contract in his life. He has professional representation that everybody knows he has to have hired to do this for him. And you're the... How old are you, Jerry? You own the most valuable sports franchise in the world. You're the GM, and you're going to go... The power dynamic of this, that you're going to go negotiate directly with this guy. It makes me... I feel dirty. It makes me feel icky. Come on, man. That's so wrong.

I can't disagree with anything you're saying right now. I feel like it's never happened in Philadelphia. Apparently, this has been known to happen in other places. What do you mean? I'm talking about a GM in a Which I mean, you'll- Oh, I thought you were going to say somebody traded away your star player, because it definitely happened. No, that's happened everywhere, buddy. This one feels different, though. It's not like a monetary thing.

Kansas He traded away their star player in 2018, just to be clear.

Yeah, they did.

Yeah, they did.

He's showing everybody he can throw it downfield. He's throwing a touch down. God, man, fire me up. All right, we'll move on.

Sorry, Jason. No, You're good because it segues in nice with what Travis was saying. Has there ever been a trade like this before? We have some names. We've definitely got some in front of us which are cheating.

Sure. In history, I mean, what? The Red Sox traded Babe Ruth, right? I mean, there's been trades, big trades. I mean, Dallas obviously knows it well here recently. Luca on the move.

Luca.

I'm trying to think his quick call. I mean, obviously, Kaleel Max, probably the closest thing. You to a difference-making edge rusher getting traded for a bunch of pics. I don't know. Micah is different, man.

Yeah.

He's so talented.

There's a name on here, but it's not a trade, which I would assimilate this, too. This is how bad it can look if this doesn't work out for Dallas, which is the Saquon going to Philadelphia last year. That was a free agent. They let him go and he got signed, so not at all applicable. But if If Micah goes out and balls out this year in Green Bay, which it probably will happen, and Green Bay gets substantially better, the optics of it are just going to be so, so, so bad.

That's if they don't go out and they don't perform. You're talking about Dallas? Yeah.

If Dallas goes out and plays football- I think Dallas. They got some good receivers, and Dak is a good quarterback. I just think defensively, they're... And I like Matt Ibraflus. He's a great decoordinator. That was the guy eye on the defense. That was creating all of the issues.

To be clear, if you're going to do this again, I don't mind the idea of a full reset. But you do this in the offseason, and you don't do this in the quiet. You announced this to the world, that this guy's available. You created a bidding war. There's 30 teams that would have, I think, given up a similar bounty as this. I think there's plenty more that would have gone overboard. I just think it was so rushed. It seemed so quiet. It in last minute. I don't know. It feels like- It didn't maximize what they could have got for this, in my opinion.

It honestly feels a little bit like Jerry was like, What's the coldest, most miserable place I can send Mike Apart since? Green Bay is willing to give us this. He's like, perfect.

But you send them to now... Some people think they're like a... I mean, a huge expectations in Green Bay now, right? Yeah, for sure. And some people already... They may be Super Bowl favorites in the NFC, right? Some people already... Are they now one of the two, three best teams in the NFC with this?

To that point- To make a move for them.

Trade them to New Orleans. Maybe you get a top five pick. Maybe you get a top five pick. You trade them to Green Bay, you might be getting picked 32.

You might be watching them all playoff's long. Yeah.

Sorry, New Orleans fans. I didn't mean to- Yeah.

I didn't mean to throw shade.

All right, here we go. So you were just talking about the Cowboys maybe just pressing the reset button. New coach. A lot of first-year coaches coaches. There's always that turnover in the NFL. But Dallas is one of them with Schadenheimer. We got Ben Johnson with the bears that we already talked about, Vrabes as well. Back over there, obviously not first-time head coach, but first year over there in New England. Aaron Glenn over with the Jets. Liam Cohen, Kelen Moore with the Saints. Who are you taking for the most successful year one coach?

There's seven of these guys, right? Seven, I think. Yeah. Dude, this It was tough. I think, again, I want to be clear, I love the Ben Johnson hire, but that division, again, is stacked. I think it's great. I don't know how many wins it's going to directly go to this next year. The Mike Vrabel. So much of this is your division and what your division looks like. The Mike Vrabel hire in New England. I know, obviously, Buffalo is awesome, but the rest of that division is wide open, in my opinion. I think that, again, Drake may as a guy. By the end of the year, I think they're going to be promising. The sneaky one, I think, as I wonder about, his first time head coach is Liam Cohen. I think Jacksonville, from a roster standpoint, is closer to winning a lot of games. And again, This AFC South, you got Houston. It's a little wide open after that. I like Trevor Lawrence. I think he's super talented.

They got two great edge rushers down there, young edge rushers.

They got Brian Thomas Jr. Is a baller outside. I could see them getting good fast.

And they're doing something right now that I think between what Canales then did in Carolina, Baker goes down there. He has a rejuvenation of a career combined with other great talented players, and he's a great talent. Then all of a sudden, Bryce Young is playing well in Carolina. I like some of the schematic things they're doing. They flood different zones or utilize fly motions into the flat, distress flat defenders. They're doing some really cool things. I'm excited to I watch William Cohen in Jacksonville as well. I'll say this, too. With Ben Johnson, with the bears, the other one is... I think Dennis Allen is a really good defense coordinator. He always gave me fits down in New Orleans. He can scheme things so well, especially he can stop the run in a shell by moving the D-lineman and having the linebackers play a certain way. It was always an issue, and I respected the heck out of it.

Totally agree. I know Dennis Allen hasn't had a ton of success as a head coach, but as a D coordinator, to your point, and it's unorthodox. How he gets to things is unorthodox. For me, as a quarterback, I hate it going against that. I love textbook defenses, right? It was always a pain in the ass to go against these weird ones.

And then obviously, I got to give my man Chip Kelly some love. Back in the NFL, offensive coordinator for the Raiders. I cannot wait to see Chip Kelly back in the NFL.

Yeah, we forgot to mention P. Carroll with the Raiders.

Yeah, he's one of those seven. How about that? How old is I mean, it's crazy. He's in his 70s.

You want to talk about a positive mindset. Have you ever been around Pete?

I mean, he's one of the guys. One of his core fundamentals is joy, just bringing joy. I mean, it's amazing. Just Still chewing on gum.

Still chewing on gum. Do you have a sleeper pick? Who's your sleeper team to compete for a Super Bowl title?

A sleeper for the Super Bowl?

Yeah.

Well, I guess just sleeper team to overachieve.

Let's say All right. I'll give you a little bit of both. When I think about who's poised to have a big turnaround, I think the New York Giants could definitely have a big turnaround. I mean, they went three games. Dexter Lawrence, maybe- You're going to tell me. Best player nobody knows about. He's unbelievable. And they've got... How many edge rushers do they have at this point?

They've got the Abduh Carter kid.

They've got- Obviously, they still have Brian Burns.

I mean- Brian Burns, yeah, from Carolina.

They got a bunch of guys. I think they got a chance for a big turnaround. To me, again, it's some of these where I go to these divisions, and it's like the NFC South, right? I think the Bucks, I think the Tambay Bucks are so good.

That's my sleeper team.

I think they can make a real run.

Another one of those stacked rosters when you really look at it.

Dude, before Mike Evans got hurt and Godwin got hurt, they were competing with anybody. They were right up there at the top of the NFC, and then they took a nose dive a little bit during that little downturn.

But then they found that run game, that two-headed Running back, really, that they had. They found that more once the wide-runs were going down. Running back, Bucky. Bucky, perfect. All-player, man.

Man.

You get them with a one-on-one matchup, man.

They barely lost to the commanders in the playoffs. They beat the Eagles last year. I mean, in the regular season.

Pretty handling, too.

It was early.

The Eagles got a lot better throughout the season.

The other division I think that some team is going to come out of is the NFC West. Like the Rams, I love the Rams. I love Stafford. Come on, Stafford.

Come on.

Jared Verce is a problem. Dude. A problem. Man child.

They came up to Philadelphia. It's a big something. There's a lot of noise about Jared Verce and really the whole D-line, and they run games really well, and they do all these things. And I'm like, Man, they're playing Philly's O-line. This isn't going to be... They're not going to even affect the game. They got after us in the snow, which everybody knows. Snow is usually to the offensive line's advantage. And I'm like, Dude, I got a lot of respect for these guys. They're coming. And Jared Verste was talking on some trash before the game, backed it up during his play. And whenever that happens, I'm like, Dude, respect. You start yapping off coming into Philly and then come and play your ass off? All right, I'm taking notice.

There were a couple of clips with him and Milata going at it, and those are two big cats. For sure. He won a few of them. It was super impressive. But then I think, again, in the same, the Cardinals got a chance to be good. If the Niners stay healthy, I think they got a They're not really under the radar. They're not a sleeper.

Yeah, but I do think the Niners are a little bit less talked about this year because of the way the season went last year. And you forget that they have one of the best coaches in the NFL, George Kittle, McCath. They have all these pieces in place. The defense took a downturn last year, but they've been one of the best evens in the NFL for the past five years.

They got Robert Salah back. I think a big get for them.

Come on, Matthew. Let's get some Benge on that back. I want to see the Rams doing something this year. Let's go.

I'm losing it. I think he will. I think he's going to be all right.

No, he's definitely a Benge guy. He's a gamer. He's not an Icy hot guy.

He's not an Icy hot. He's not an Icy hot guy.

Let's get to some no dumb questions. Smeedy, we asked 92% as our fan base here to send their preseason questions. So let's check out this preseason edition of No Dumb Questions, because there's no such thing as dumb questions, Alex. Just dumb ass people. That's it, man.

Two of us, really. We got I have a list here. Which rookie will shock everyone. We already did that a little bit. Nfl Soft. I don't know. Who knows what that means?

Yeah, let's do that one. Let's do that one. I like that one. Nfl Soft. Alex was a part of the years where you could really take someone's head off. I'm just intrigued about that. Hey, Jason.

Recent news, NFL got rid of the smell of the salt.

This week's gone soft, man. What happened to the wing teeth? What happened to these Patrick Willis personality? Jack Lambert. All the big hard hitter, L We can't forget that LP. Now we got all these prima donas, don't want to be a team player.

And we got freaking, rivalries don't mean anything anymore because everyone wanted a jersey swapping everything. What happened to smash-mouth football? Now Now, football.

Just run through a motherfucker's face.

Now, we just spread it out. All this is great. Marshawn Lynch.

I just can't stand it.

Nfl doesn't mean anything. I don't No, man.

I just want to get that off my chest.

Thank you, Jason.

Thank you, Jason.

Why was that only- Why was that only- Excuse me. He was addressing me. Let me answer the man. I cannot tell you how much I love that that rant started from the NFL banning smelling salts. We went from Smelling Salts. That's just a nonstop rant about this game has changed over the last two decades.

Did he drop Patrick Willis' name in there? He did.

Okay, let's go.

Oh, yeah.

Just in the mystery, these old timers, just like Lawrence Taylor, Patrick Willis. Patrick Willis only retired like six years ago.

Yeah, no, but he was a part of that. Hall of Famer.

I'll tell you what, I'll tell you, I think he is spot on on one of these things, and it does not sit right with me sometimes, is the post-game public jersey swap. I think if you're going to do the jersey swap, it so often was like, if you saw a guy after the game, you could talk to him, and then you would go to the locker room and you would send it over. You would sign it and the equipment guys would take it over. I do think sometimes in big game, it is weird to see these guys taking pictures with their jerseys post game on the field. One of you just got your ass kicked, and I don't know. There's part of that. I think the optics of it, it should be more old school, like the clubhouse, just send it over. No one needs to know. I don't know. You don't have to do it for the grand or anything.

Even just for the optics of it.

I was with them on Smell and Salt. I was with him. I'm definitely with him on Smell. As soon as he said that, I was in on it.

But I don't get the story behind that, by the way. I mean, it's universally loved. I don't know anybody that doesn't like smelling. Was there somebody that put in a complaint?

Well, I think the only reason they banned him is because there's probably an argument. I mean, the reason they were on the sideline initially was for guys that got their bell rung to do a little smelling and then go back out of the field.

Travis in the play-off game.

Well, I would do them before every first series of the game, in the first series of every half, I would do one just to get the system going again.

Dude, when you play on the West Coast and you play the one o'clock kickoff on the East Coast, it is early. Man, it is my first eight years of my career, you go there, bro, you're waking up at 5: 00 AM your time. You're eating pregame meals so early. So the smelling salts pregame, you had to have them. Get yourself going.

Yeah. And now you got it on the sideline where it's like a fucking drug deal. Guys are pulling them out of their pockets and shit.

What are we fucking doing? What are we doing? The team stopped providing them, and they acted like there was a shortage on smelling salt. And it's like, I don't think there's a shortage on smelling salt. I'm pretty sure you guys are just trying to-They put a tariff on the smelling salt. I think the NFL has been trying to move away from anything associated with concussions for a long time now.

The real veteran move. Did you guys ever stuff, like 80 of them in a water bottle. Oh, yeah, for sure. You can get it in a bottle and you shake it up, and then you could like-That's the only way to do it? Little squeeze.

You could feel like just like burning your-It would lighten you up. Yeah. You turned into Macho Man, Randy Let me finish for a second. No, it was... Man, I don't know, man. I think we all agree on a certain extent that the game is changing, and sometimes you're not always happy with how it's changing, and you miss the barbaricness of it. I miss the wedge unit, locking arms and running down like a human wall. But I also acknowledge that we probably shouldn't do that anymore. It was just absolutely terrible for those individuals. I missed the hits going over the middle. I'll be honest. I think about these. I loved watching somebody get completely obliterated going across the middle as a fan. But I think we can all acknowledge that it's probably best that we've moved on from this as part of the...

As somebody His leg was broken on national TV, it's still a fairly physical game.

Yeah.

The guy named JJ Watt, just pretty big dude.

All right. Let's do another one. Let's do another one. Nfl Running Back plus Average Fan, O-Line game, One Yard. We've done that one a thousand times. Oh, wait, no, that's a different one.

Let's do- That's a different one? Let's do that one.

Well, I... Yeah, go ahead.

Hey, boys. It's Gravy from Wisconsin just calling in. You guys talk a lot about doing a average person getting a one yard in the NFL. I want to know how many of the NFL A lot of running backs could get a yard with the average people playing their offensive line.

From center, guard, tackle. That's actually pretty good. Do you think- It's terrible.

The majority of the NFL running could get a yard with average people playing their offensive line. Is this assuming that there's NFL defensive line? Yeah, I think yes. If that's the case, there's precisely a zero % chance this is going to get a yard.

It doesn't matter who you give the ball to.

You can run the push-push, you're not getting a yard. And there's nothing you're going to run that's going to get a yard with average guys playing a line. Unless you maybe if you run some gadget play or a toss crack with an actual legitimate players blocking on the perimeter. But outside, I just... Not a chance in hell that's getting a yard.

No, I agree. There's not a single running back. I mean, King Henry, nobody's getting a yard. They're going to get hit. We're going to They're going to get hit five yards deep. Correct. They're not even- By the offensive lineman who's going to get Dwarf thrown into him from...

Well, then answer this question then. What is the most exciting position to make an average person play.

What would I want to watch? I'd like to watch an average person play D-line, a defensive tackle. Watch it. Put an average guy in nose guard. Let's see how that goes.

If each team had to play with one average guy, where would you put him?

Where are you throwing him?

For the most exciting. When you turn on that film the next day, you're like, I got to see this.

If you put middle linebacker, if you put average Joe, Mike linebacker, you It's-watching that?

Just completely lost.

Put the GoPro on him. It'd be good TV.

Oh, my God.

It would be a fucking beautiful. I'm just picturing a guy just lost. Holy shit. That is so good.

Just getting launched.

In the middle of the field.

Have your head on a swivel. Just getting crack blocked.

Boom. Let's do one more.

All right, let's do it.

Let's do this Twitter question from Aaron Clinton. Who taught you how to watch film and how long did it take to recognize coverage live in-game? Alex, you want to take that first?

Oh, sure. Well, I mean, I've obviously talked about. I watched a lot of film by myself. Taught yourself. A lot early on. The crazy thing is Back in the day, and you probably saw this, too, you used to get these textbook coverages. Teams either played cover two, and it looked like this is how every team plays cover two, and they played cover three, and then they played man, and there were all these very identifiable, like they fit in a bucket thing. And then it was probably like halfway through my career that all went out the window, and everything were these hybrid coverages, and you couldn't even really tell. You're like, Is that cover three or quarters? Is that rotation? I don't know. All these combination coverages, weird fronts.

And it could change on the fly, like a motion to a three by one. Yeah.

And so it was way harder to identify what the hell is going on pre-snap from a quarterback's perspective in that regard. I mean, you still can to a certain extent, but not as easy. Who taught you guys how to watch them?

I was going to say, what about you, Jay?

I feel like I talked to Jeff Saturday early in my career because Howard Mudd coached him, and I thought it'd be good after my first year to go meet with Jeff in the offseason. I definitely learned a lot of things about how to study defensive linemen technique, their foot back in particular, like a head up guy. You think he can go either way, but a lot of times, his stance dictates what his foot is going to step with first. If you really watch and tape how guys get in their stances, what techniques they're in, what the coverage is behind it, a lot of times that can dictate where these guys all end up and everything. I think that Talked to him a lot about you watch first and second down Wednesday, which you do as a team anyways. My thing was I always wanted to maximize my time, and I didn't like going back and watching stuff that I was just going to watch with Stout anyways. First, second down tape, I knew I was going into a Stout in the meeting room. I always knew that we were going to struggle getting to two-minute scenarios.

What are the games that they like to run? And what are the down and distances that they like to do that stuff? Are there any tells that the lineman give away on third and long as to what games are running or if they're doing a three-man game or a two-man game. Coverage is all I cared about with coverage was what the box look was going to be like, or if they were tipping away pressures from a safety standpoint. If the blindbackers were stacked, there was a good chance it was either going to stay, some type of shell, quarters, too high look, or the nickel was going to pressure. If the backers were bowed or bossed, somebody's coming into that space. I love it when we're watching film and it's all these coverages and you're trying to break them down from a quarterback's perspective.

You're like, Jason, how about you? And you're like, Well, if his right foot was a little further back, I knew he was going left. The game is so simple at the line, the O&D line. And you're like, Well, his knuckles were white. So I knew he was really going to come off the ball.

I asked this. We would have an alert call from the tackle, right? And the tackle would be like, All right. And there'd be nothing telling me that the nickel was pressuring. And JP was the best at this. He would just be like, Hey, give me the alert that they're going to blitz over there. And I'm like, Dude, there's no way they're blitzing. And sure enough, it'd be a blitz. I'm like, JP, how the hell do you know he's blitzing? Oh, the end was tighter. That was it. The end was a Snugger alignment, and that was all he was operating on. I'm like, Dude, keep letting me know that information because I'm not going to see that.

For me, it was an eye-opening experience. Don't get me wrong, I've, over the course of my career, understood defenses just from being in the QB room and then hearing a guy like Doug Peterson talk about it, hearing guys like Matt Nagui. Then when you're out there running these plays, you hear the conversations I had with you and with Pat. Then you start to identify why we're calling these things and how I can run my routes differently and how I can manipulate guys, keep guys froze so I can open up windows and things like that. But early on in my career, I was like, I think this is my second or third year in the league, and I had just started to like, I think I'm a starter and I'm having success. I'm feeling like, Yeah, I got the hang of this now. You know what I mean? I'm rolling and everything. Then I walk into the training on a Tuesday after a game. And my guy Mike DeVito, Big Mike DeVito, D-Lineman. He's sitting there just getting his ankle worked on. And one of the guys from the defensive side come in with a spreadsheet, and he hands him a spreadsheet.

And it's like everything the team that we're playing that week does out of every formation. And he had it categorized. And I'm over here playing at such a basic level compared to getting a spreadsheet every Tuesday. Then I would look at that and I was like, I got a fucking long way to go. I'm not even thinking about their percentages of the coverages that they're running. I'm just trusting Coach Reid that when he dials up Shallow Cross, it's man. You know what I mean? I'm just looking at the pictures on the install of the concept we're running. And shout out to Mike DeVito, man. He was always one of the most prepared and ready to go guys. And how he attacked every single week, I just grabbed that one day in the training room, I just grabbed it. I'm like, Man, this will make that guy accountable. He understands this to the point of, yeah, it's like a scheme that he understands. And I was just like, Man, I didn't take it to the point of getting an Excel sheet. But every single time I looked at the install now, I look at all the percentages and all the numbers and everything they got for you.

Well, good deal.

To be clear, Mike DeVito is a defensive tackle, but the100%. What are the chances Mike was... I'm almost positive. Is he from New Jersey? I think he's from New Jersey. I think he's with the name? I don't even know. He's fairly positive. He's from New Jersey.

All righty. That wraps up our discussion with Alex Smith. Round of applause, Alex Smith, everybody. Alex, you're the man.

Appreciate it, fella. Thanks for having me on, man.

Thank you for coming on. This is awesome. Thank you.

Always fun to catch up with you, brother. I appreciate you. Best of luck.

Down in Brazil, bro.

Go get them. I appreciate it. Let's go.

And that wraps up another episode of New Heights. That's right. Next week, we will be bringing back stamp of the week. So hit us up on social with your nominees. Make sure to subscribe to the New Heights channel on YouTube and follow New Heights on the WNDYRI app or wherever you get your podcast. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights early and ad-free right now by joining WNDYRI Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcast.

Once again, New Heights is a Wondery show brought to you by Reese's Oreo Cups. Thank you guys for always tuning in 92 %. And thank you to our production for making us look way better than what we are. We'll see you guys next week after the first week of the NFL, baby.