Transcript of Hour 2: Who's That Guy? (feat. Brandon Marshall)

All right, kicking things off with Smirnoff, the official vodka sponsor of the NFL and the number one vodka in the world. Chris Cody, you're here. Smirnoff. Wow, you're on the money with Smirnoff. Chris, you know what goes great with Smirnoff? Yes, but I'm really talking about the game day fit. The style has got to match the vibe. All right, here's the deal. Game day is everything. And that's exactly why your fit has to match the occasion. Starting this December, Smirnoff is giving fans 21 and over the chance to score limited edition Smirnoff commission. Merchandise from some of today's top creators, including Kayla Jones, Gavin Matthew, and Aleyla May. Smyrnaf. Here's the kicker. One lucky fan will take home the grand prize, a trip to the biggest game of the offseason. Plus, one fan will win Aleyla May's one of one game day jacket. The merch will be dropped on select dates from December to January '21, and it's all courtesy of what brand? Smyrnaf. That's right, Chris. Fans, 21 and over, can head to Smyrnaf Socials to learn how to sign up. And don't forget to grab a bottle of Smyrnaf vodka, number 21, at your local retailer.

Smyrnaf. Please drink responsibly. Smyrnaf. Number 21 Vodka distilled from green, 40% alcohol by volume. The Smirnoff Company, New York, New York. Please do not share with anybody under legal drinking age. No purchase necessary. Must be legal. Us resident, 21 or older. Sweepstake starts 12: 15, 2025 at 12: 00 AM Eastern and ends 1: 23, 2026 at 11: 59, 59: 00 PM Eastern.

That's the official rules at program website. Du und der Moment. Alles passt. Dein Sound, dein Drive, dein T-Rock. Rockt. Der neue T-Rock. So klingt Weihnachten bei Rewe. Jetzt festlich sparen bei deinem Weihnachtseinkauf. Diese Woche bei Rewe, Ferrero Rocher je 200 Gramm-Packung, nur 2,99 Euro.

Außerdem, Mionetto Prosecco Spumante Doc, je 0,75 Liter-Flasche, nur 5,99 Euro.

Festlich This is the Dan Levatore show with the Stugatz podcast.

We were talking a bit flippantly earlier about Tua and brain injuries and the way that he is most associated with the idea that we do not know just how much damage is done to the human brain playing football. Jackson Dart doesn't know why or how he ended up in the concussion protocol on Sunday, but he has now started 10 games and has five times where the concussions have knocked him out of games. His playing style is going to welcome violence, his recklessness, his athleticism, his size, not great, not great size, not exactly Josh Allen, the centaur, not exactly Justin Herbert. And it wasn't that long ago that when Russell Wilson or Baker Mayfield were coming into the league, we were saying, That's not enough size for that position. But we were doing it because the linemen and looking over the line was the problem. We weren't actually doing it because, oh, their heads going to get batted around and there are all sorts of dangers out there. When I say Jackson Dart has played all of 10 games, I've told you we've got at least five concussions that we know about, concussion protocol situations that we know about.

Okay, situations, not five confirmed concussions.

He did not get five confirmed concussions.

That seems crazy.

Of the 10 games, he's got five times that he's gone to the Blue Medical Tent to get selected to concussion protocol, but he's also missed two games because of a concussion.

I don't know if you guys watched Kenny Picket at all last Sunday against Philadelphia, but that is offensive incompetence. Kenny Picket went through while Tua was going through his stuff. Picket was also getting an unusual number of concussions, but we skipped right past that because we didn't have the one game by itself on a prime time where you've got an arm spasming like it was a seizure and everyone worried about should Tua be out there. What do you do with what I just put in front of you as it relates to Jackson Dart, where he's woozy enough that he's getting sent to the tent and he's headed into a protocol while he's not missing three weeks like C. J. Stroud And while we don't know how this affects people while they're sleeping during the week, all of this stuff is kept quiet in terms of the details. I remember the first time. Do you remember the hit that Chris Chambers took against the Denver Broncos? Kenole Kennedy. Going across the middle, where he ended up missing six weeks, and we don't talk about the details of what it looks like to be in the protocol.

C. J. Stroud, on a Tuesday of his third week, was being ruled out. That means he's failing the tests. If If I put the details in front of you guys, do you imagine you'd be horrified by what the details were that the doctors are using to make someone fail a concussion protocol test? Yeah. Do you imagine that the details, because I remember the first time I was ever introduced to concussions at all, it was the old University of Miami, Defensive End, Bill Hawkins, who said, It's the first time I ever had any inkling what football could do to the human head. Bill Bill Hawkins was saying that he's on the field and he's pass rushing, and he couldn't stop thinking about M&Ms, that his brain was just scrambled, and all he was thinking about while he was running around out there was M&Ms. Troy Akeman, in the recent Netflix documentary about the Cowboys, says he played in an NFC Championship game he does not remember. He doesn't remember any of the details. He played in the entire game. He won the game, I think. I think he won the game. I think he played well without remembering it.

What do you guys do with the Jackson dart information.

I don't know that there's anything to actually do with it.

I think this is the game. And as long as he ends up passing concussion protocol, whenever it is, he's going to go out there and play again. These guys chose this life.

I don't think there's anything to actually do about it.

If we could predict a proneness to concussions, it would change everything about the way we draft and think of quarterbacks and other positions. Dolphins never would have drafted Tua. Giants never would have drafted Dart. I mean, you can't foresee it coming. Unless there's a history in college, you just can't foresee it coming, and it is absolutely frightening. And that's the hard part about How to even talk about it is that we all know that the next serious concussion Tua gets is the end of his career. But yet we fault him when he's running for a first down and slides a yard short. Shouldn't have slid. Got to dive forward there. See, it's very difficult because we're playing both sides there. He's playing for his future, his health, his kids' futures, and yet he can't be the player we want him to be. It's super frightening, the whole subject.

Greg, on the two of situation, did he have a documented concussion in college? I don't know.

I don't think so. No, that was not something that he came out into the loop with.

It was the hip, it was the ankle, it was all those things. When you talk about injury prediction, obviously, we don't have that, it doesn't exist. But you would look at that and say, All right, his hip, his ankle, but not a concussion. In the pros, he hasn't had any issues with his hip or his ankles.

You heard his hip last year. The only predictive analysis you could do in terms of prone to concussions is size, and that's something that they take into account. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with the Jackson It's an indoor thing, but I know what the Giants should probably do, change his playing style. He can play from the pocket. He has a decent arm. I don't know how dependent he is on his athleticism to make the arm work. I think he's pretty good throwing the football. I tell him to change his style, see if we can work on that. That is something that you can work on with players. I evaluate the roster and I maybe bring back Jameis Winson. I make sure that I have a good backup quarterback because him being knocked out of the game seems to be the thing. He's averaging a half a visit to attend the game.

I remember it stood out to me at the beginning of this college football season when they were talking about Arch Manning and the advice that he got from Archie Manning before the season started, before that gave it Ohio State, because Archie Manning likes to run around. It stuck with me. The advice that he gives him on the phone before they hang up, every phone call when they talk about football, before they hang up, Archie tells Arch, Get down or get out of bounds. And that really stood out to me. That's what it is with these guys. Get down or get out of bounds.

Brandon Marshall is going to join us here in a little bit, and I'll ask him some of these questions about concussions because I am curious. I did a story a while ago with Bernie Kozar, where we were walking through his home, and he was just explaining to me the era that he played in where he's explaining what it's like to get sacked on the AstroTurf by Lawrence Taylor. And he's just going through his house and showing me where he keeps some of his teeth. His body has been destroyed by football. And I'm imagining when he talks about some of the dependencies to alcohol that he has had that have resulted in a liver transplant plant, I'm assuming that he's doing some self-medicating on pain there because you need something to make your body feel a little bit better if you're being sacked back then on astro-turf by Lawrence Taylor. You're not protecting the quarterbacks the way you are now. It is fairly amazing that during our lifetime, the moment that Tom braided got hurt is the moment that all the rules changed for the quarterbacks. It's also amazing to me that even though the rules have changed for the Jackson dart is still ending up in the concussion protocol five out of the last 10 games, which it's not just oxymoronic that you can't keep a violent game safe.

It's also a delusion to think that there are any rules that you could put in place for the quarterback that would actually protect the quarterback, given that every week we're looking at a call still that's ruffing the passer, where all of us are saying, That's not ruffing the passer. The lengths that they're going to to protect these quarterbacks, where you actually have Jeffrey Simmons coming in and coming in right up the middle and trying to put his arms at his side because he doesn't want to land the wrong way on a quarterback that he's been sacking the entirety of his life before the last three years. It looks so stupid. I know. I mean, think about what we're trying to do to protect these people, and yet still, it's impossible to protect them. Mike's sitting here saying, Change Jackson darts playing style. I'm like, Man, that's just going to be really hard to do. You can tell him, but once you're being chased by somebody, you're going to run out of the pocket. This guy's instinct, the thing that makes Jackson Dard, Jackson dark. The thing that makes him paint his face that way and want to be a New York star is that he's going to run right through to try and get to the end zone.

I don't know how you change that.

It's hard to change those things. We talk about Diego Pavia situation. Diego Pavia got to where he is because he is like that. Asking him to stop being the way that he is is tough. You look at high and say, Yeah, he shouldn't have done that. But that's who he is. Jackson Dart is a guy who's going to be athletic. He's going to go out and try to be aggressive and get first downs and dive head first. How do you train somebody to not do what he's done his entire life?

You can retrain Jackson Dart and Tua to be different kinds of quarterbacks, but always to the detriment of the team. I mean, that's the big criticism is if your quarterback can't run on third and two with a likelihood of getting a first down, that's a huge problem in the modern NFL. And it is the big difference. One of the big difference is why Josh Allen is so great, why Patrick Mahomes has been so great. Those guys can run on third and eight, and you feel good that they're going to get a first down.

But the reason or one of the reasons that this has not afflicted Josh Allen. I told you earlier this season how weird it was for me to see Sauce Gardner come on a blindside blitz, hit Josh Allen in the back, and he just spun out of it because Sauce Gardner not big enough to do anything that actually hurts Josh Allen. In my lifetime, let me see if I have this right, because you guys, I understand how it is that you would come about saying, Well, just teach him how to play differently. In my lifetime in football, there have been two things that I could remember that had been coached out of a player. Tiki Barber used to fumble, and then they made him hold the ball differently, and he stopped fumbling. He no longer was a fumbler. Usually, if you're a fumbler, You just lose your job. You don't stop being a fumbler. You just get run out of the league. The other thing that was coachable is Josh Allen's recklessness. He is less reckless. He can still do it, but he doesn't turn over the ball as much. Do you guys have a lot of examples of a coach being able to coach the style out of a quarterback?

I have a couple, but sometimes the league legislates it with how they hit you. Ben Rathesberger stopped doing that because his body couldn't do it anymore. He grew out. Remember what he was when he broke into the league and what he was when he left the league. But Donovan McNab was a guy that leaned on rushing the ball a lot, and Andy Reid changed his style of play. He was a guy that could tuck it down and run if you needed him to, but he wasn't the scrambler that he was when he broke into the league, and certainly not the scrambler that he was in Syracuse.

Wasn't Josh Allen a little more reckless than he was a few years ago?

Well, you weren't listening at all to the show a second ago. What were you doing? Were you thinking about Kate?

I was I'm thinking about examples like Josh Allen.

It's a good example. But it's one of the examples that I gave.

That was probably while I was thinking.

It's worth reiterating.

Two examples.

The most recent example that he gave. That's on me.

Oh, no one's confused about that part.

So you admit it's a good example?

So you were right, Christopher.

Good job, Chris. Definitely not wrong, but I should listen better.

You were thinking about lunch, weren't you? I was looking, honestly.

It's not here yet.

All right, I'm going to stop now and wait for Brandon Marshall and see if I could do a show that the executive producer wants to listen to next.

What's happening? Juju here. The NBA on Prime is back tomorrow with another thrilling double header. It tips off with Tyrese Maxi and the Philadelphia Sixers heading up to Madison Square Garden to take on Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks. Then And the action heads to the West as SGA and the Oklahoma City Thunder visit Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves. And if you're not a Prime member, that's not a problem. Sign up for a 30-day free trial and get started today. The Sixers and Knicks, the Thunder versus the Wolves. Be there or be square. Coverage starts tomorrow at 6: 30 PM Eastern, only on Prime. Restrictions apply. See amazon. Com/amazonprime for details.

Marty Supreme, Christmas Day. Marty Supreme, Christmas Day. Marty Supreme, Christmas Day. Marty Supreme, Christmas Day. Marty Supreme, Christmas Day. Marty Supreme, Christmas Day. You know what I'm going to be doing on Christmas Day, and it's going to be watching Marty Supreme because I didn't even need to know that critics were calling Marty Supreme a full-throttled masterpiece and the best movie of the year. I already knew that was going to be the case. From A24 and starring Timothée Chalamet, alongside Side power housed cast Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa Ozion, and Tyler O'Koma. Marty Supreme, Christmas Day, only in theaters.

The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. 48 teams, these giant stadiums, the whole continent turning into one massive party. I cannot wait. But actually getting tickets to any of this? Yeah, that part? Brutal. That's why the Game Time app has been a total lifesaver. It gives the advantage back to us, of fans. You can track price drops in real-time. Get alerts when seats opened up. Grab tickets the second they hit the app all back by the game time guarantee. I'm on the app looking at World Cup matches in Miami because you know I am not missing that. I'm scrolling through every section in the building: behind the goal, midfield, lower bowl, upper bowl, and the deals are good. I had great seats locked in within minutes. The experience is so simple and intuitive. Two tabs and I'm done. And the price, no surprises. Fees are included. The seat views are my favorite feature, and you'll get a full panoramic look before you buy. Take the guesswork out of buying soccer tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code Dan for $20 off your first purchase.

Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code Dan for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download the GameTime app today.

Dan Levatard.

Cheaters never prosper.

Stugatz.

I ain't cheating. This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugatz.

What's up, Bimarsh?

What's up? What's up, man?

They told me to intro you like that. I was a little embarrassed to do it. I was going to say Brandon, but he told me to say B-Marsh.

I was a little devil over his shoulder.

No, it sounded bad. It sounded clunky. It sounded awkward. He told me to say BM.

I told him to say BM.

What a BM. That's a bow movement.

Listen, if this was three years ago, it would have been on point because I was a friend of this show. But, dang, guys, you haven't invited me on a show in about three to four years. What's up?

It's overly chummy, given that he hasn't been on the show in a while. He'd also be offended by the conversation that we were having before he came on because I'm like, this person is really close to being a Hall of Famer. If I'd given him a quarterback, if I'd given him a quarterback, I feel like Brandon Marshall would have been in the Hall of Fame. 12,000 yards in 13 seasons. That's pretty prolific. So it's nice to see you. Thank you for being on with us. Who was the best quarterback you played with?

Great question. It was Ryan Fitzpatrick. I mean, that's the easy answer for me. I had 22 guys throw me a pass Ryan Fitzpatrick easily was the greatest one. I was just on another show, and we were talking about Philip Rivers, right? When I was playing with Ryan, when I had Chad Pennington, we had Josh McCown go from substitute teacher to to back to the Chicago Bears and then lead the bears to the number two, number one Chicago Bears offense ever, I realized that the quarterback position was 80 % mental, 20 % physical. Now, if we're going physical, then I got to start with Jake Cutler. There wasn't a pass that he couldn't throw. I mean, he was one of the greatest athletes I've ever been around, but there was so much else going on around him, whether it's our team, maybe where he was at, where he never was able to elevate to where I believe Jay Cutler could have ended up on the quarterback list. But Ryan Fitzpatrick, man, was a beautiful guy to play with. There you go.

Yes, there go my baby. That's my baby. That's my baby. I should have mentioned, by the way, He'll be part of the in-studio team for Netflix's NFL Christmas Day double header broadcast. He'll be doing Lion, Vikings, live pregame show starts at 4: 00 PM. Before you came on with us, we were talking about concussions here, and I don't think that we have any real knowledge of what it means to have your head scrambled. Can you explain to us any of the details? I don't know if you ever had much experience with concussions, but the parts that people don't know about lack of sleep or how you actually get affected and scared, what can you tell us that people don't know?

The first thing that came to mind when you said, I actually got goosebumps and chills right now. As soon as you said that, the first thing I thought about was my only concussion, and it was in my contract year. And it was when I was in my sauna at home, and I was like, Oh, this concussion thing is real. It's when I just literally just put my head down, just closed my eyes. I wanted to sit a little bit, maybe 15, 20 minutes in the sauna. And as soon as I put my head, I almost tipped over. And then I jumped out. I didn't know if it was because of the heat, and that probably wasn't a good idea at the time. And I did not tell this to the team because it was my contract year. If I had lost games, I'd probably lost a big deal. And so I got out the sauna, then I got dressed. I went to go put on my shoes, and I fell over again. And that was two weeks after the concussion. I said, Then this is two weeks ago I had this concussion. And every time I would bend over to put my shoes over, close my eyes, I would just almost fall over.

It was very scary at the time, and I had to promise my lady that I would never do that again. But what I was thinking about was my kids that never came. I was thinking about my kids that I have now, Ziggy and Zo. I said, there's no way they're going to take me off this football field. I came too far from the poorest county in all of Pennsylvania, one of the toughest cities, poverty-stricken. There's no way I'm going back there. That's the only thing I could think about. So all I was saying is I'm finishing this year. Finishing the year, finishing the year. I end up finishing, having over 100 catches, another Pro Bowl year. And I went on to the Miami Dolphins, came down here with you, Dan. You did not invite me on the show at the time. I think you still was at ESPN. You was with the bad guys at the time. And, yeah, so that was my situation with concussions.

We recently talked about something that Quentin Jammer, I believe you played against Quentin Jammer. Quintan Jammer said in 2010, he played eight games just shit-face drunk. I'm like, That's not possible. You cannot cover Brandon Marshall if you're drunk. You can't cover him when you're sober. Do you think it's possible that he was shit-face drunk for, he said, eight games in 2010 or 2011.

Your show is going to turn into something different because I'm about to give some bites myself. I played high one game, and I had three touch downs with Chicago Beers against the San Francisco 49ers. Now, I wasn't high off of no drugs or weed, or that type of drugs, no street drugs. I was actually high off of pain pills. The week before, we're playing against the San Francisco 49ers I had to open up their new stadium. It was like Sunday night football, Monday night football. I tore my ankle. I was supposed to be out six weeks. I said, no way. And I asked the team, just give me until pregame to prove to them that I could be good enough to go out there. And so, man, I take this thing up after a long week of just healing and recovery, flying doctors into Chicago to help me out. And I may have popped six pills, right? What is it? Codine or something, codine and hydrocodine. And then there was two other things. I got the horse shot, they call it, the one shot you get in your butt, I got that. The Toradol? The Toradol, yeah, there it was.

So at the time, they stopped giving us the Toradol shot. So what I ended up doing is going on the black market and getting Toradol pills. So I took two Toradols. I took maybe four or so hydrocodines, and I went out there and I felt nothing. And I scored three touch downs.

Well, career high.

Three So yes, a guy can go out there drunk for eight games and play pretty good football.

What do you remember about how your thinking was affected? Because you had five catches for 48 yards. You had the three touch downs. Do you have some cognizant memories of how it is that you felt, or you just felt nothing?

No, I just remember taking him right before we went out and just being like, Holy, I'm trying to stop cursing here, so I can't say that because my mom is watching your show. She's a big fan. But I'm like, Holy, what is happening? I was scared. I said, I may have made a mistake. I don't feel the pain, but am I going to be able to remember all these plays? But I was fine. I was fine. I really was fine. I was able to navigate through it. So there was no lax in that area. Brandon, the season opener in 2008 against the Chargers and Quintin Jammer. You had 18 catches for 166 yards. He was drunk. And a countdown.

He was drunk.

How do you give him 18 catches?

He was drunk.

No, no, no. No, it wasn't against Quitten Jammer. That was more so on Antonio Cromarty.

Bro, he had 11 tackles, though, Quintin Jammer. So you got to think, maybe there's a chance that was near you.

Yeah. So well, 2011, that was a different year. You got to ask, now, mental health is a real thing. When did he tired, right? Because 2011, the first time I faced Quentin Jammer, and I used to see him twice a year, was in 2006. And that was actually my welcome to the NFL moment was Quentin Jammer. So Coach Shannon, it was week six. So Coach Shannon called me on an off day, and he brought me in his office and he said, I'm putting you in now. He said, Here's your package and here's who you're going against. I think this is a great match up for you. You're 6'5, 2'30. He's slow, he's stiff. You're going to be able to dominate this guy, but this is your time. It's time to go. It's going to be about 20, 30 plays. You're the third receiver now. Okay, you ready? I said, Yeah, I'm ready. So I go out the best buy, buy myself a TV that I couldn't afford at times when there was Those big TVs was thousands of dollars. And I went outside my budget. I said, Man, I'm going to go buy this, so I got to pay it off, man.

I got to go go out, ball out on Sunday. Man, I get out there on Sunday, Quentin Jammer jammed me up. Quentin Jammer. I said, This is a grown man. I couldn't get down the field. I said, Man, what? Coach Shannon, set me up for failure. So that was my experience with Quentin Jammer, and there was so much respect for him after that. And those years after, they started to deteriorate a little bit. So maybe He was in a different head space in 2011.

Well, I remember the game that you had against Darrell Reevis because you were as formidable as there was at the position. Give me a guy that you went up against like that where you would put even ahead of Quentin Jammer, because that's at the beginning of your career, you then learn some things. But give me later in your career, you're established and you're going up against somebody and you're like, This is a problem.

Yeah, a couple of guys, right? So when I was young, there was always these grown men, right? I'm like, Oh, this is the NFL, grown men. Quentin Jammer was one of those guys. Another guy was Al Harris. Al Harris, a defensive back coach, I believe, for the Dallas Cowboys, maybe now. He used to play for the Green Bay Packers. He was a grown man, okay? Now, when you look at my peers, of course, you have Darrell Reeves out there. You have Akeib Taleb. You have Richard Sherman. He has some great matchups out there. But there were some interesting guys, too. There was guys that was like, Oh, I wasn't prepared for him. And there was guys I feel like made their career or started their career off of games against me. Gilbert, so Bump and Run Gilmore. So he was one of those young guys. I was like, Okay, he's interesting. I got to watch a little bit more film on him. Another guy was... I'm sorry, I'm missing his name. The defensive back, that coach, Belichick, benched in the Super Bowl. We all was like, what is that?

Malcolm Butler.

Malcolm Butler. Malcolm Butler shut me and Al'Shon Jeffrey down when we were in Chicago. This dude came off the bench. He looked like he came out of the bar, and he just shut us down. And then there was another guy, Xavian Howard from the Miami Dolphins. Xavian Howard was a dog, right? So there were some guys out there. But of course, the Big Dogs, Champ Bayly, Dareil Reevis, those were some grown men and some really cool matchups. And another one that I probably never beat this guy, or I had some great matches against Dareil Reevis, but Charles Woodson. Charles Woodson was 50 years old, and I couldn't understand why he was still keeping up with me.

Fluid hips. Well, you mentioned Malcolm Butler. That body, you're just looking at that body, and you're like, That can't cover me, correct?

Correct. 100 %. He looks like your guy over there. What's this guy to ask me the question about? What's his name over there? Zazlo?

Zazlo.

Bimarch, he's got a big head, right?

And his soda drinker's body.

Zaz, how long have you been on the show? Like eight or nine months now. How long?

Eight, nine months.

Yeah, you're a new guy. You're the new guy. You're the rookie. You're the rookie. Yeah, this show has been around 20 years, buddy, okay? Earn your stripes, buddy. I'm trying my best. I'm trying to fit in. Eight, nine years. Get out of here. You're still in your first year. Get out of here. Do you have it, guys, over here? Been on this show for 10 years doing the same thing, getting Dan's coffee. You over here, and now you're going to give him TV time? How dare you give him TV time in the first year. I regret bringing up your 18 catch game.

Hey, everyone. It's Jeremy here. Happy holidays. I know that during the holiday season, my personal favorite part is getting to spend time with family, spend time with friends, reminiscing over years past of the holidays we spent together before. But in my case, there have been some years I haven't been able to be around, mostly because of work. I'm lucky to live near my family. But I know for some of you, that might not be the case. And if there's distance between you or even if it is a work conflict, you don't have to feel disconnected from your family during the holidays. And a great way to stay connected is one800 flowers. Com, because they make it easy to bridge miles, to bridge distance, to bridge time with gifts that just say, I'm thinking of you. So that the people who have always made your Christmases magical still feel close even when they're far away. As I recently ordered the Peppermint Rose Bouquet for my wife, it was gorgeous. Super vibrant, looked freshly picked, and it instantly brought this burst of holiday cheer into our household. It was really wonderful. It made her really happy. Beat the holiday rush and save up to 40% off Christmas bestsellers at one800flowers.

Com/dan. That's one800flowers. Com/dan for up to 40% off Christmas bestsellers.

It's a holiday season and the 50th anniversary of Miller Lite. The holiday is all about spending time with friends and family. Why don't you sit back and toast a few Miller Lites? Make your holiday time Tiz Miller Time. And with the 50th anniversary of Miller Lite, you get to remember and reflect on all the good times that you had with your trusty buddy by your side, Miller Lite. Brewed for flavor with simple ingredients like malted barley, rich balanced toffee notes, and that iconic golden color. And at 96 calories and 3. 2 carbs per 12 ounces, It lets you enjoy the season without weighing you down. The original light beer since 1975 and still hit and different 50 years later. The best holiday beers are the ones you don't expect. Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to millerlight. Com/dane. Com to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tis Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3. 2 carbs per 12 ounces.

Folks, listen up. You know my holiday pattern by now. Every single year, I tell myself, Listen, Chris, you're going to be thoughtful this year. You're going to get good gifts. You're not going to be lazy. You're not just going to get gift cards. And this year, guys, I have news. I pulled it off. No panic, no sad little card. You know what I gave? I gave an aura frame. Why is it so hard to find a personal gift these days? It's for the people I'm closest to, my parents, my wife, my in-laws, my kid, the most important people in my world. I have no idea what I'm supposed to get them as a gift. But one thing I know, people light up when they get photos. People love photos. So I loaded up my aura frame with all the moments I know they'll love, my daughter being adorable, random selfies, group pictures where none of us are looking in the same direction. I kept adding them because aura lets you send unlimited photos and videos right from your phone anytime. And the best part, you can preload the thing before it even ships. So when it's open on Christmas morning, all the memories are already there.

I'm telling you guys, this is a great gift. And folks, for a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes. Com to get $35 off Aura's best-selling Carver Mat Frames, named number one by Wirecutter, by using promo code DLB. This deal is exclusive to listeners, and Frames sell out fast. So order yours now and get it in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply.

Don Levatard. How are He is Captain Slappy?

Stugatz. Is this Chumbucket?

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugatz.

Do you have a good Taleb story? Because he was scary. Taleb was scary.

I guess my only Taleb story was getting this podcast business last year. So I went through a lot, had a breakup on our podcast, and then I was like, I'm going to put the team back together. And so this is my third time taking a shot at it. Akeib comes down, and he gives his speech to everybody who was there, Martellus, Bennett, Ted, Prescott, all these guys, some legends. And he's like, We got our brothers back. I believe in team, team, team, team, team I can't show up. It was a good speech. And now he's on Gilbert Arena's platform doing a phenomenal job. But this is exactly what everybody saw, because years ago, he was taken off in the booth, and then he had to step aside for a couple of years. But he's one of the bright spots in sports media now. I'm excited for him and sad that we missed the opportunity to build a platform together. But he's going to do well.

I don't know your age off the top of my head. I assume you're younger than Philip Rivers. When you're watching Philip Rivers not come, not play for five years and then play that way, your assessment was what of that performance on Sunday?

Not surprised at all. Not surprised. I was excited. I wanted to see the ratings. That's why I wanted to see how many people was actually going to turn on a TV just to see. Very curious. I didn't expect him to go over 150, and I think that may have been the line. So I wasn't expecting that. But I was expecting him to operate at a high level. You guys got to think, he goes way back with this head coach. This head coach was on his offensive staff when he was still playing. And And, quarterbacks, they know what they can do and what they can't do. It's not like they're going through the whole playbook at him. So the Saturday before the game, you get the call shoes. Like, I like this, I like that, I don't like that. So he's going to be in a comfortable spot. The question was, was he going to be able to bounce up from a hit? And they protect the quarterback now. I said this earlier when we talk about the quarterback. The quarterback position is 80 % mental. Okay? Payton Manning, at what? Forty-something years old as well?

With a broken neck. He won the Super Bowl. He couldn't make a throw of the ball past 25. Who's this guy over here shaking his hand?

Who's this guy? That's Tony.

What I was going to say is the defense really carried him. He went nine He's got to have a breakdown 17 pics. I see him, Brock Osweiler also hopped a little bit. But no, I agree.

Hold on. I like you. I like you because you're in a daily shirt. I love those guys down in Miami. Come on.

Those are my guys.

Those are our guys. Yes, my guys. Yes, shout out to Chris. But then also, you know you're stuck because I was going to go there. But you cut me off when you doing a little hand gesture. Great defense. They can run a ball. They could do it all. Brock Osweiler, that's where you missed me. Brock Osweiler, they paid him all that money, and he stunk it up. He was trash. I agree. He stunk it up. He stunk it up. But Payton Manning was able to do his job. That's all you need out of some of these quarterbacks. Just do your job. Don't mess up the game when you have all those other pieces around them. They happen to have potentially this year's best back in football. They got a good defense. Just don't mess it up. Just don't mess it up. I like you, though, man. How long you been on this show? Five years. You're an O. G.

You're O. G. Better than Zaz. Big-eye head Zaz.

Why does Zaz got the better seat than you? That doesn't make any sense. You guys should switch right now.

.

Talk to him. Switch, switch, switch. The man said, Switch, switch, switch.

Switch, switch, switch.

Give me what you got on Tua and the dog.

Hold on, go back to that camera. Last camera angle. Who's that guy?

Who are you pointing at now? Greg Cody? Are you pointing-No, not pop, so don't do that.

I got a question for Brandon, though.

No, go to the other camera angle where we just switched. No, no. Black guy. Uh-oh. Dei. That guy right there who's not smiling. Hawky, Roy. Go back. No, no. Go back.

Got to be Mike Ryan.

That guy. Who is that guy? Why doesn't he smile? He needs to have his own show. Why aren't you smiling, buddy? You okay? It's Christmas.

I no longer believe you're a big fan of our show.

He's been around for longer than most of the people around here. I do appreciate you coming in here and calling him pops and respecting the generational talent. Off of last night's game, Tua and the Dolphins, we have been pretty hard on the idea that there's been a regression there. Your thoughts on what the Dolphins need to do at quarterback?

Yeah, it's just... Man, I hate to talk like this, man. I guess it's part of our job, right? My job now that I'm on this side of the line with you. If you want to win a Super Bowl, Tua is not the guy who's going to help you win a Super Bowl, but Tua, you got to respect the couple of years that he came in here and gave some stability and had some phenomenal years. But something's off there. Call it concussions, call it relationship with Tyrie Keel. Tua is an interesting one. I think that that decision is going to be on if the general manager decides to keep Mike McDaniel. Mike McDaniel will have to decide, does he want to keep Tua? But we got to realize this, too, Guys, is that relationship between a dog, number one receiver, and a quarterback is everything. There's been times I've been in the locker room as that dog, number one wide receiver, and man, I was in my quarterback's head. When I was young and how I approach situations, it tore up the whole offense aside. Our offensive quarter, they can't think. They're holding the cards like this every day shaking because they're like, Man, if I don't call the right plate and Brandon Marshall is not in it, I got to hear from him.

Then you go to your quarterback. Your quarterback is frustrated. He can't go through his progressions. So the offense out of whack. You want those guys to be out there calm, cool, collected, and just going with the flow of the game, how they see the game, not saying I have to force it to someone. Tyreek Hill has been phenomenal over the last couple of years. But Tyreek Hill is also one of those dog number one receiver that can present some challenges, some management challenges. So I was looking for more after Tua, after Tyreek went down, thought he was going to actually take his game up a notch, and that didn't happen. So that was surprising for me. But remember how they started off this year. Tyreek Hill, he was saying he wanted out. Then he said he's coming back. Then he wanted out. And then he comes in. He apologizes his team. I'm working on my leadership and doing all of that. Tua says that he broke some relationships within not only the office, but the entire building. That's a big problem. So when we think about why guys aren't performing at a high level, sometimes it's about the things that happen off the field, not on the field.

He's part of the in-studio team for Netflix's NFL Christmas Day double header broadcast. Tony has said the Christmas Day is now- Tony, you look good in that seat, baby.

Thank you, brother.

He has said that it is now Christmas Day is now an NFL day. It is no longer an NBA day.

I mean, NFL is now the Games aren't great. Okay, obviously, Patrick Mahomes isn't there, the Commies and the Cowboys, whatever. But you look at the NBA, they got a bunch of good games. Just feels like any time the NFL is on, we got to watch it. There's a bunch of great games in the NBA, but I'm going to be locked in on the NFL.

Brandon, what are you excited about being part of this coverage here? Because Netflix hasn't done this, and you haven't done exactly this.

Two phenomenal brands coming together, right? Like the NFL. I mean, this is a national holiday at this point every single Sunday. So being a part of the NFL, playing, and now on the other side of it, covering it, and still having amazing relationships on that side of things, that's a huge honor, man. Sometimes you take that for granted in your youth, but looking back, it's like, Man, I played in a National Football League. I get to cover the National Football League, and then Netflix jumping into the game. Oh, my goodness. You got two beast of brands and companies coming together, and I'm sitting right in the middle. So it's gratitude, right? And that's some of the things that I'm thinking about, when we open up and you got to say certain, I'm preparing already, like some of the things I want to say, and it's gratitude. I had an opportunity to play on Christmas Day as a player. You know how many people were watching me at home on Christmas Day, catch a countdown or catch a ball? Man, wow, God is so good. And now doing it on the other side on Netflix, just gratitude, man.

Even what you guys are doing, man. You trailblazed this space for us, bro. You left traditional. You left linear to come on this side and say, No, I'm doing it this way because I think it's better for me and my voice and what the fans need in the entrepreneur spirit that you had, bro. You understand? You trailblazed this place for people like us, man. You just gratitude and just being thankful for what we have. People don't know how hard it is to do this or to get these opportunities. Look at this. I'm messing around with your staff, but you're employing how many people? Giving so many people opportunities. How many people have been launched off your show?

Too many people.

I can't preach all day. Too many.

Too many.

Who's that guy?

Who's that guy throwing us a love sign?

Who's that guy? We've got to go, unfortunately. No, don't go.

He's a star.

I love this guy. You are right that God is good, but he could have been better. He could have given you a quarterback better than Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Go nice, Brandon.

Good seeing you, Brandon. Thank you for making the time. I do appreciate it. 1,200 yards in 13 seasons, 900 catches, six Pro Bulls. He was damn good. He would have been in the Hall of Fame if he had a quarterback, a quarterback, one quarterback.

Tony, how's it feeling there?

It feels great. I was going to actually say that he's massive. I saw him in person, Dan.

Oh, no.

He is. He's big.

Being in that room.

He's hard to cover.

Brandon Marshall, I saw him at the Super Bowl in LA, and I walked by and I was like, damn, I'm 6'4, 230. I was like, damn, that guy's huge.

He was hard to cover. Holy shit. There weren't a lot of cornerbacks who could cover him.

It's hotter on this side, by the way.

It is, isn't it? There's more pressure here. Zaz, you feel a little uncomfortable back there? He really bossed us around there. He moved things around.

I didn't like that. He's standing or he's sitting back there. I can't see.

Yeah, there's a tears coming down Zaz's eye.

Mike is pissed Mike feels disrespected.

Who's that guy?

Fan my ass.