Merril Hoge Reveals the KEY to Winning Football Games | Monday Morning Quarterback

All right, welcome everyone. Another edition of MacDaddy week four NFL season, just about in the books. Monday morning here, Patrick McEnroe, Rich Big Daddy Selgado, is there. Did not attend apparently the New York Giants game. We got to get into that because that was a hell of a game yesterday. Big Daddy for your big blue to get it done. Our producer Lauren Emery in the house as well. And we are very privileged and lucky to be welcoming in Mr. Merrill Hajj, one of my all-time favorites ever at ESPN. I know I'm just blowing smoke your way, Meryl, but it's true. Watching for many years on the show. Yep, I'll send it to you anytime. I loved having you on there for so many years. Uh, welcome to the program. Uh Find a Way. Tell us a little bit about finding a way first before we get into football.

Well, I guess in simplest terms, you know, these words help me live a dream and fight to live, and a lot of in-between. Um, they started as a kid. Um, my vision and passion as a kid at eight years old was to play in the National Football League. Um, all I ever heard was, oh, you know how hard that is, you know, the odds of you playing in the NFL. Um, don't put all your eggs in one basket, and it's impossible. And um I trumped those those things that were being fed to me, um, which I have learned later now as I'm a little older, that those are other people's expectations of themselves, not of you. And um the words find a way turned turned into um uh a phrase that gave me hope, and they always challenge me to do something about my circumstance. And I I just I've lived by them. Um, it's helped me in every aspect of my life. Um, I do a lot of speaking now, and the the whole message is about what's possible for people, you know. Um, if you put your mind to it and you put a commitment to it, uh relentless commitment to it. There's nothing that uh that that is not possible for people. So that's what they've done for me. And that's a quick synopsis of it. But thanks for asking.

Yeah, that's pretty cool. No, I mean that's amazing. And I know what you've done, you know, on the field and off the field for your years in in broadcasting. How did you translate that, that mindset, right? That you over you overcame so many things in your in your playing days. Uh, how did you oh how did you translate that into what you did in the broadcasting business?

Well, you know, um uh this is part of uh I think everybody's everybody has a journey. Um I I think everybody has challenges, goals, and dreams. Um uh it isn't, I think, until um I try to tell people I found out who I am in the darkest, in the dark days of my life versus the light. And actually when my career ended in Chicago, my NFL pre prematurely, and the way it did, um, it really wrecked me. Um, and in all fairness, um, I know what depression's like, I I know what no hope is like, I know what laying on a couch um every day, pointing fingers, making excuses, and casting blame is all about. Um, that's why when I share, um, people who point fingers and cast blame and make excuses, you'll make your day easy, but your tomorrow harder. Um, at some point, you gotta get off the couch and you gotta take action. You know, this is I go back to the these words uh where they challenged me to do something about my circumstance. But I've lived in a uh a moment where you know you got to I had to start my life over at age 30, and um that was a hard journey. And but I learned so much about um what is possible again for people. And once I trans, once but once I got off the couch, I stopped pointing fingers, casting, making excuses. Once I got done with that, and I did that for months too, by the way. That's how I know I'm an expert at that. You know, I know what I know how much gets done by doing that. Zero, zero gets done doing that. But man, when you start asserting yourself and taking action and doing things um to help yourself, um, and then people, you know, I said I'm a product of a lot of people. Um, I've had to do the work, and everybody has to do the work, but people are still a part of our journey. And um, you know, I got an opportunity. Um, actually, Lynn Swan called me, and um, I went uh I'd been working on broadcasting during my football career, and I got an opportunity to um help launch ESPN to do college football at the time, and then I I I eventually went to to the NFL full time, and I took all of you know in the NFL. I learned this the first day of training camp. Um, coaches don't keep players they can't trust, and I think that is true in business. You can't keep people that you don't trust and are not doing their work and not and you can't. Uh first day of training camp, one of our running backs made the same mistake twice. They took him off the field, escorted him to the building. 30 minutes later, they put him in a white van. He disappeared. I never saw him again. And I was like, Oh my gosh, like every day you're living, you know, where you could get cut. It isn't like today where they cut everybody at the end, they're cutting people every day, and every week were we're gone, and the team got smaller and smaller. Um, so I really I learned so much about you know competing, um, and then focusing on what you controlled versus all these other um things that were going on around me that I had no control of, but how I did my job, how I prepared, and how I competed. And I really just took that into to ESPN, you know, and did those exact same things. The one advantage that I had there that um was the key for me still to this day is that we had access to watching coaching tape of the game. You know, I tell people TV lies and highlights really lie. You know, you can't really watch a game. You know, I guess I want to watch the Philadelphia Eagle offense. My perspective of their offense is completely different than just watching them on TV yesterday. Because I'm no different. I'm not I'm I can't sit there and watch TV. I mean, I may have some insight since I played and I've coached and I've done some, but to really know the truth, like you gotta watch tape on that. And to not be able to do that and share that with fans, I just would never do television without it. I would um you know, and people that can't that do do it without their, you know, they're it's speculative and it's guesswork most of the time, you know. Um, even if you played a long time, I don't care how long you played, I'm how successful you were. If you haven't watched tape in five years, you're you're irrelevant to what this league is all about and what's going on and um all the changes that exist and and how things evolve and what's really going on with a team, good or bad.

So, what's going on with the Eagles uh offense then, since you since you watched the tape? What what can you tell us about that?

The first thing that I would lead to right off the bat, which I always I think it's the foundation of all teams, is their offensive line just got manhandled. I mean, they then they struggle in really three areas. You know, the Rams did a really good job of bringing pressure. Some of it was late pressure, so they dropped some. When I say late pressure, you know, somebody's in the secondary at 10 yards, okay? Now, oftentimes offensive linemen just there, that's not their vision. You know, they got a box and that they're focused in, and within a five-yard radius, they they count for people. But when you drop into a box late and you become an added number that they got to be responsible for, or the back does, because the back was responsible for some of this too. Um, they didn't handle that very well. Um, and then the Rams started to do a lot of twists and stunts on them, and they just didn't handle it. Their center struggled. Um, as a as a unit, they they struggled working together. Um, in the running game, they had very few runs where they won. Oftentimes they'd missed assignments, people were in the gaps right away, people are in the backfield. And I could tell you this the number one killer in the running game is penetration. From just studying it and being a running back for 22 years, it's the worst. When somebody's in the backfield right away, it disrupts everything that you're trying to do as a runner. Um, and it neutralizes how you can run the ball. They weren't under center very much. You know, they'd start on first and ten and they'd have some good success, and then they they got out of it, but they struggled first there. And then um, you know, they talked the third downs, the first first third down, and I mean Jalen Hirsch has missed. I don't even know why he didn't throw it. He looked right at the curl, it was wide open, uh, but he had drops, you know, and then those added pressures. They can't run the ball consistently, you know. Saquon left, you know, they got away from the commitment to that, and that I think really hurt him. You know, they got back in it really based on uh you know, a heck of a play, you know, by Jalen Hurts and a catch and then a pass interference. You know, aside from that, they never really controlled the line of scrimmage that well. Um, they didn't win on the back end very much when they were in man, and then when they did, you know, Jalen either missed them or they had drops. So you know, there's a lot of things they can fix, but the area that they will have to fix is just how their offensive line is so inconsistent. I mean, it's they just the Rams really, even though they had to come from behind, they just they never control the Rams controlled the game at the line of scrimmage, the majority of the game. And that's if you can do that, you got a chance to win every game in the NFL in that scenario. So they got a lot that they're gonna probably have to that they have to work on. But the first area that you start is you got to clean up that offensive line. That offensive line has got to get better. You know, you they won't they've been to what two Super Bowls? Three. They won two lost three in the last what eight years. You know, the thing that has driven, so we'll just use the last two, for example. You know, when they have gotten to the Super Bowl, it has always been about how well their offensive line played and how good their running game was. You know, when they missed that Super Bowl in between, yeah, they played like this. You know, that running game was not as consistent, it was not as dominant, and therefore they weren't as good. And um, you know, I could we could go on every team, we you could pick every team right now, and we could walk through them. And if you just talked about that area, are they good at it, would tell you probably what their record is and how good they are as a football team. How well their offensive line's playing, how well do they run the football? If you start there, because that goes to the two things that I I think are most consistent that you have to win if you're gonna win consistently in the NFL, is you got to control the tempo. And if you can't control the tempo, and that means you control the environment. That means you stop the run and you and you run the ball, you become a dictator. I'm gonna tell I'm gonna be able to do whatever I want offensively if I'm running the football because you are so worried about me running the football. You're doing everything you can to stop it, that you're taking people from the secondary to help out. Now you've limited what you can do offensively in this back end. I know that. Easy for me as a play caller. When you're controlling the line of scrimmage, like the Rams, we're now second and 10, third and nine, man, you got a lot of options on the back end. That's harder for me to throw the football. And then um turnovers. You just you win that battle, you win those two battles, you got about a 90% chance of winning. So I always look at a team like that. Are they doing those two areas? I mean, those two things. How are they doing it? How well are they doing it? And if we walk through every team right now and we just took those two, that formula, and that's all we looked at. You would you they'd tell you who they are, they'd tell you why they're two and two or why they're three and one or why they're all and four, and so forth. The Texans, you know, you know, their offensive line struggles in you know, really running the football with any consistency. You know, CJ Stroud is getting blasted. I'm like, CJ Stroud is a is a dynamite quarterback, you know. He gets his main receiver back a little bit different in the passing game, and their running game came around a little bit, even though they lost the game, they surely played a lot better, you know, than they have the first three weeks. You know, credit the Cowboys for being able to come, you know, how they played on the back end of that, you know, on how they played, because that defense is no joke. I think everybody knows that you know still but the more you put a defense going back to like I'm controlling the tempo, you know, usually at the end of the year, the best defense, the one consistent stat that they always have every year, no matter who it is, they play the least amount of snaps. You know, the best defensive football doesn't play the most snaps, they usually play the least, you know, because I don't care how good your defense is, you're out there. Let me tell you this you're out there 55 snaps, and you're a really good defense. There's a chance, those 55 snaps, majority may go your way. 70 snaps? Another 15? Yeah, these they don't care what your offense is, they they're gonna make plays on you, they're gonna still do damage to you. So going back to controlling the tempo and turnovers are such a critical component in winning consistently in this league.

Big Daddy, what do you got about your Giants, man? What do you have about your Giants? Let's get what you what were you taking out of the tournaments yesterday?

Well, I'll tell you one thing. That was a big win for them. Um, it would have been very it would have been bad had they lost. But uh, hey, look, they've got the and look, they're in first place. Three and one. I mean, I know everybody's probably saying, ah, but at the end of the day, as of today, they are three and one and in first place. So you can see the change from new head coach, new environment, new thinking process. They are thinking like winners. And you gotta give kudos to Harbaugh, Joe Shane, and everybody else there.

Everybody talks about the coaching, Merrill. But what do you see on the tape, Meryl, about the Giants?

Well, you know, I haven't watched them today, and then I think the last time I watched them was actually probably against Dallas that I really studied them. But first game. You know, I don't I don't need to um, I mean, to know them and give you a specific answer how they played yesterday. I just know Harbaugh being in our the the Steelers, the the division with the Steelers, watching them for years and years. Now he knows how to win in this league. That isn't what his commitment is. I mean, you you saw that against the Cowboys. You know, they ran the football, they still run the football. And that's every game they're going to be committed to run the football. They do not deviate from that. And I can tell you, I'll give you a great example of a team that built like that, stayed like that, and it built them. They may have lost their window, but it's transitioned to another organization in just a second is Detroit. You when you saw the Lions start, you know, this is like eight years ago, and you know, they were they started with their new regime. Man, the one thing that they did, in fact, I called them the um uh the Ravens of the NFC because they ran the ball on everybody and they mauled you. Man, it was like power, counter. I mean, and they came at you and they ran it on everybody. They just found ways to fall apart at the end of games. But there was one thing for sure. You you're gonna be in a dogfight with them because they're gonna run the football, they're gonna keep it close because doing that does help you control the tempo and stay in games. That's why the Ravens are always good. Is it Lamar Jackson? No, it is how they run the football. Now, Lamar's part of that, but their ability to run the football is always gonna keep them in it. Okay, Chicago's won three three games with three different quarterbacks, and everybody's talking about the quarterbacks, and there's one thing that is the most consistent in all of their wins and how he has built, how he was in Detroit, and now he is in Chicago. You're gonna get a mouthful of football with a power O, a counter, inside zone, outside zone, over and over and over and over. And then they've now once they got you by the throat, they got you dictated, and now you've dropped the safety in the box. Now you're doing everything you can to stop the run. That is where your entire focus is because you're tired of getting smashed. Chunks of plays in the passing game. You know, um, it is it it's a some, you know, it's a simple formula from a perspective of how you win this league. But so many people, you know, even ownerships, they get caught up in oh, he's got a great passing game. You know, they throw the football all over the place. Do they win games? I mean, that's ultimately, and I will tell you this I will take a team like Chicago who runs the football like that, and you give me, say, Cincinnati right now. Um would you take their quarterback? I think about 99% of teams would take that quarterback, and the receivers that come with him, you'd take and you'd probably upgrade what you would say is on your team. Probably, you know, that's about a 90 percentile. You know, there's not many teams that are better than that. They're two and two, they struggle consistently on offense because they just lack that ability to stay committed to the running game. You know, they they lose this game, and they're talking about we need to throw the ball more. All right, I'm just telling you, I've never been in a huddle. I've been in I played this league, I've been played for 22 years. I never stood in a huddle in a national football league for nearly a decade. And if I ask my offensive lineman, I don't care what huddle it is, I don't care what team it is, do you want to run the ball five times or do you want to take five shots down the field in the passing game? Every one of them goes, let's run it five times. Yeah, all those offensive linemen, none of them go, hey, let's let's throw it down the field five times. Nah, man, that's passive. There's a reason they got pass on there. That's a passive approach to playing football. Whereas when you're running the football, it is aggressive, it is physical, it is dominant, and those five guys up front are built like that. That's what they want to do. Now you get them going like that. Well, yeah, the passing game is much easier because you got them on their heels, you know. They're not uncertain of what's going on. So, you know, Chicago, those quarterbacks are getting talked about, but is there a running game that is dominant? The Giants are not going to deviate from their running game, you know. I listen, I when Scatterboo came out. I mean, I wanted I thought I thought he would be the perfect steeler. I wanted the Steelers to draft him because he is just you know, well, you guys know in New York he's just he's a force, man. And he's he's gonna someone tried to tell me he ran too hard. I'm like, what?

I'm like, I never heard how's that possible?

Listen, I played in Chicago. Um, Walter Payton. Um, I got to know Walter Payton. My rookie year was Walter Payton's last year. I met Walter by well, actually, preseason game we had in Chicago. Then when I got there, I got to know him better. And you know, we were talking one day. He used to come because he was on the board, the Chicago Bears. So he would come a lot of times to practice, and it was my my my most coveted time because um we had like 20 minutes of special teams where I wasn't on, so I got to talk to him, I got to um ask questions, learn more about him, get to know him as a person. But I remember we were talking one time, I think he missed one game in 13 years or 12, whatever, however long he played, one year or one game. And I was talking to him about you know what he felt the key was to that. And he really said two things he said irresponsibility, which he was this was what separated him, his ability to be prepared, you know, and train and be physically ready to play in training camp, every game, you name it. And then he goes, You play as hard as you can every second through every snap to whistle. You never blink. And I'm like, think about that. And then when I you know, the more I played, the more, you know, most of the time people get injured is almost in a uh in a passive state, you know. There's obviously a lot of times where you know people are trying to play hard and they they get hurt, but you're more inclined to get hurt if you're passive versus aggressive. It's just I just see I've seen it, I've experienced it. And I'm like, I just never seen anybody can play too hard. In fact, that is the way you stay healthy, you know, especially in his mind, and and he proved it. So um you guys got a you know, a tempo setter, you know, you guys are not gonna stop doing that. You're gonna build, you're gonna build a good team eventually because you stay committed to that, and he he's not gonna deviate from that. So you guys got great hope ahead of you.

All right, before I let you go, uh we appreciate the time here on Mac Daddy with uh the great Meryl Hodge. We gotta ask you about uh Edge NFL matchup because we have Susie on our show recently. Actually, took her to my tennis academy and gave her some tennis lessons. She's a pretty good good athlete too. I'll give her that. But you Jaws and Susie, for so many years, give us a little look back at at how much you enjoyed those those days and those shows.

Well, I will tell you this that that that show was the foundation of really my TV career because I had access. I go back to watching tape. See, look, watching tape is not it. You people have more access to it now. Um, I remember our producer, Greg Cosell, um, when the NFL was allowing you know some coaching tape out and fans could watch, and he goes, Oh my gosh, everybody. I go, no, and then some other shows were starting up. I said, Great, we've been doing this for like 20 years. Are you gonna tell me somebody is that's never watched tape is gonna be able to start watching tape and know what we've all been working on for 20 and sometimes 30 years?

Right.

Yeah, you're then you're not giving us us enough of credit for how hard we're we work and what we know and the experience. So I'm like, I ain't worried about it. And if they are, then we gotta get better. I'm not afraid of it. Now, that being said, Steve Sable was kind of the founder of that that show, you know, and the access that the league gave us to watching tape and being able to show fans it and explain it to them. That's what was I thought was so great about the show is you know, I could talk you to say, you know, they're playing quarters coverage. And you I mean, unless you're really a coach or a player and you've done it, you're like, Well, what's quarter's coverage? You know, if you're just kind of like a you like football, but you're not real detailed, but you would like to understand. What that is, that's what it gave us a chance to do. Show all those fans, okay, what quarters coverage is, you know, how you have four deep, a four-deep look on a three underneath, and how a coverage looked, and the things that go on in a play, and all the design and the things that need to be executed together in order to be successful. And you do that in a entertaining fashion. Um, is what we really ended up starting to do that that made that show so special. We had just great coaches, great awesome producer, legend, Joss. I mean, the standard Susie, like you just mentioned, uh we had incredible hosts. I mean, Susie, Mark Malone, um, Stuart Scott, you know, eventually came uh south South Pound Tony was kind of um held that that seat for a long time, danger uh 20 years. But to be able to share that access every week and that show was um none like it. And um I've I realized I will never do TV again. I won't try to I won't do any type of evaluation unless I watch tape on somebody because I don't think it's fair to the to the player or the opponent or the team if you haven't watched tape on them to make assessments of stuff that um that you really don't know for sure. You know, there's a lot of times we'll see a play, and I even make a note of it. Then I go watch tape and I'm like, oh my gosh, I wasn't right. I missed the details of it because I couldn't see it. You know, you can't the camera's like 30% of what's going on. You know, that's that's the problem with the highlight reel is just the good or the bad, but there's uh you know 120 some plays total in the whole game, so you're like, geez, once you look at the entire picture, then you have a better understanding of of the team, the scenario, and what needs to change, good or bad. Well, let me know.

Can I ask a yes-no question, Patrick, before we let him go?

Go ahead, because he's he's gotta go. We gotta let him run.

I know you gotta go. It's a yes-no question. The Chiefs lost Thornton and Rashi Rice yesterday to injuries. Obviously, they're 4-0 and looking great, but you know they've been in touch with Tyreek Hill. So should they bring the Cheetah back to Kansas City? What are your thoughts?

Well, I guess I think if he's healthy, um I don't think there, and he can run, you know, and he can play. They still think he can play. You know, anybody that knows who the environment, you know, I always think you you go to those type of people first, if they can help you. Um, but I don't know what his injury status will be or his health status is, but I wouldn't be shocked at that. I mean, um, and if I was him, I'd run there as quick as possible.

By the way, but what by the way, we want we want you to come back at some point, Meryl, because I need to have a I need to learn how to tie that knot, okay? That winds or not.

Yeah, hey, next time we do it, I'll I'll have more time. Next time I do have more time, and we'll uh I'll do a tutorial real quick.

Hey, hey, Myron, real quick, what do you wear in that shirt to give old Donald some love? I see Tennessee where where is this guy?

This guy I I sent him a happy birthday uh text on his birthday. Cricket.

I was there, I was in Nashville.

Is he is he is he is he still in Tennessee? Is he in New Jersey?

Is he international and he looks like he's too busy, he's too busy taking care of Big Daddy when Big Daddy went to see him there. Uh the great Merrill Hajj, everyone. We appreciate it. Have a great meeting and and thanks for coming on.

Yeah, thank you guys. Good seeing you.

Thank you, Meryl Hajj. Uh he's doing it all. Find a way, by the way, is the name of his uh I guess he goes around the whole country um giving that speech, right? Big Daddy, that's what he does. Yeah, pretty much he wrote a book and uh have it.

And uh, you know, Meryl and I have known each other uh since 1990, 91 actually. And uh him and Neil O'Donnell, who was my college roommate, they were really close at the time, uh back in the Pittsburgh days, and then uh I kind of got put into the mix, and uh, you know, funny story because here I am with Neil, then you meet Merrill, and Merrill was really tight with Bubby Brister. So you had this real, you had these two New York Jersey guys with a guy from Idaho, and you had Bubby from the middle of Cajun country in Louisiana. It was like uh it was like putting everything. I I don't it was just the weirdest mixture combination that you could find. And uh, but I'll tell you one thing about Merrill, I had a lot of respect for him because he did he trained hard. I mean, he worked hard, took care of his body, didn't drink. He was very, you know, he was uh very, very in tune back then when it's not like it is now, where you have every little every little part of your body has a particular um enhancement that could be done, or it needs like massage, or you need this and that. I mean, he was way ahead of his time when it came to the training and eating healthy and doing all the things right to make sure that he could perform at a top, at the peak, a top-level performance, you know, have a top level performance.

Well, he's he's obviously was at the peak of his performance on NFL Edge matchup, and all the all the homework he did there was obvious. By the way, we're presented by Volition America. I got my my Bose t-shirt on right here. We got the Dos Ombres that Big Daddy's got right there. Uh, we appreciate their support. Uh, fire department coffee, of course, getting it done for us as always. I got my fire department coffee right here. Nothing but the best. And uh, we're working it, uh Old Lauren. We're working a few more angles right here, which we hope to have some good news on fairly soon. Um, what else jumped out at you yesterday? Because obviously you mentioned the Cowboys. That was a big win over Texans. Uh, the Rams. I kind of wanted to pick his brain a little bit more about what he thinks overall about the Rams, but I think we sort of heard that from how he discussed them controlling the line of scrimmage, but they're two and two. Um, what else jumped out at you yesterday, Lauren, as just the the NFL Sunday fam?

Well, Merrill kind of took the words right out of my mouth when he was discussing running games and the teams that should thrive with a great running game. Detroit is the outlier there. They make no sense because they can run the ball, they have the best left tackle in football, and they're still not getting it done because they can't stop anybody. So that that was intriguing. I thought Carolina impressed me last night. McMillan um and and Dallas kind of rediscovering their mojo and CD Lamb just going crazy were the kind of standouts for me in terms of the the overall the way the league went yesterday.

Gotta get my guy here, Pepper, because you know, he's struggling with his uh his tracheal thing, you know.

So I got to Yeah, he was he was trying to chime in. I think he had something to say.

Yeah, no, yeah. He's just he's just he's struggling to see the breathing. Oh, the poor guy. So when he gets excited, Big Daddy, which is uh when I'm around, you know, you can't blame him for that. He gets a little, he's you know, he's gotta be super calm. So I try to pick him up. Sometimes that calms him down, you know.

Look, see that the animals, dogs are man's best friends.

You got that right. You got that right. So, what about the your giants? Because uh, I mean that was a pretty solid performance overall, and and and as uh Merrill said, they're gonna they're just running it down people's throats, and that seems to be working.

Yeah, the running game. I mean, Scoutaboo, uh, like he said, he goes, there's no such thing hard. I mean, yeah, he hits the hole, and I'll tell you one thing about that kid. He doesn't stop. Even when he gets, you know, he runs into people, he tries to run over everybody, even when he's in a crowd, though, he keeps his feet moving, he keeps going forward. He's not a side-to-side guy. He is definitely the guy that you want because you want five yards, you want ten yards, and you're only gonna get that by going straight. So kudos to them. Uh it's like you're watching the Ravens, you know, pretty much, because remember the Ravens, same thing. They used to run the ball down people's throats, and then you know, obviously, when they got Derrick Henry, that became even more obvious. But uh it's it's really that was a great win yesterday. Um, I I caught a little bit of flack because I wasn't there from certain people, but uh you know, I uh I enjoyed uh watching multiple games. I don't get to do that often, so it was fun to watch multiple games yesterday.

Is Jamus sustainable though? I mean, he he's he's really not that good of a quarterback, in my opinion. Is this sustainable? They have an easy schedule, but are the Giants are the Giants for real or are the Giants this year's Patriots with uh an easy schedule?

I think the Giants are for real because the change of mindset and attitude. Everything is different there, and you can see that's coaching? And that's coaching, yes, that is coaching. So, you know, you've got uh you got uh Matt Nagy's a great experienced coordinator, and I think with Jameis, you're gonna use him like the old uh the old saying is you want a quarterback that's not gonna lose the game for you. It's gonna take a whole three team effort on offense, defense, special teams, everything is gonna have to fall in line into play to make sure that they continue winning. You're not putting it all on Jameis Winston. You're gonna put all facets of the game have to come together, and he has them playing hard, meaning Coach Harbaugh. So uh three and one, here we are. Let's see what happens next. You're right, the schedule isn't the most difficult one, but the mindset is there. We are in first place, we are three and one, and they're undefeated at home. So keep winning.

If I if I'm a giant, if I'm a giant fan, Lauren, I'm I'm signing up for the Patriots what the Patriots did. They made it to the Super Bowl last year. Yeah, yeah.

Hey, hey Big Daddy, you know what? PMAX avoiding, we haven't talked about the Jets yet. That's gotta piss you off. That some kid from the country roads of West Virginia comes out and leaves that that's gotta piss we all were wrong, basically, right?

Yeah, I really thought they could win yesterday. I just felt that coming off that big high that they were at, not having their starting quarterback, and I thought the Jets defense would come into play. I mean, uh, and it was shocking to see that uh loss yesterday. I was shocked. I really was as much as uh everyone kept saying, ah, Big Daddy, you're just on the Jets bandwagon, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What bandwagon? They're not winning. I I'm I want them to win. And they didn't win. So I don't know what bandwagon some people would talk about, and this and that. And you know, you think they're right there, you know. Like you can, you know, the Jets last week were like right there. I think yesterday the outcome was uh obviously not what the three of us wanted, but uh, you know, it is what it is. It's just uh one game at a time.

The I guess the biggest surprise to me yesterday was what happened, speaking of New England, was New England going into Buffalo and sort of planting a flap. Like, you know, don't count us out yet. We're still here. Yeah, uh, that was a big time win for the Bills. Drake May had his best game of the season. Uh Josh Allen, I mean, uh, you know how much I love him, but you know, not playing great the last couple of weeks. And uh that was a surprise to me that the Bills lost that game at home. What say you, Lauren?

Well, do you know who they play next?

Uh no.

It's your two team, it's the two teams that you stuck your neck out for so far. So you got the you got Buffalo and the Rams. It's in a Rams. That's gonna be that's gonna be a really good litmus test for both those teams because the Bills, I think we all just took for granted that they were gonna run away with it. To your point, they haven't. And now you got the Rams at two and two. And and to be honest, I think they're scary. I think they've kind of figured it out. And uh, you know, again, the NFC West has sort of kind of made sure, make kind of clear to everybody that they're they're they are the best division, like we thought so. And you got the three and one, you know, Seahawks, you got the four and oh Niners and the two and two Rams, and that's gonna be a dogfight. So I can't wait for that Monday night game. What do you think about that one, P Mac?

Uh well, I think, you know, I think the Rams probably gonna win that uh at home because I think, like you said, I think they got it, they got it together um with the comeback win over Philly to win in Philly. You know, that's a great, that's that's a huge win on the road. Uh, I was impressed though yesterday, Big Daddy, because I actually picked the Broncos to upset San Francisco. Didn't happen. Niners now is as Lauren said, four and oh. Are they the most impressive team you've seen thus far in the four games?

The Niners, yeah, they look very good. I mean, granted, you know, Broncos had some injuries yesterday. I mean, uh, these injuries are starting to pile up for some teams. It's and you know, you're only four games in. But uh, you know, Kyle Shanahan, he's a he's a great coach, great offensive mind. They still have the pieces there, you know, in place that's that they've played with in the past that have gotten them to Super Bowls and whatnot. So um I'm very impressed with what they've done out there in San Francisco, especially with all the off-the-field distractions that they've had to deal with lately. And uh, but kudos to Kyle, John Lynch, and uh go Niners, right? Yeah, kudos.

Patrick, you know, one thing about the Niners that I think is so impressive, and what I think they've done so well in terms of the way they built their team, because they also have a lot of injuries, particularly to their receivers. But you take the receivers they have and that the veteran core of Debo, Mike Evans, and then you throw in Kittle, who I understand is a tight end, but he but he is almost like a receiver for them or an uh an H back kind of guy. They all block, they all pull, they all support the run game, and it's it's a special, it's a special unit barring injury.

And you know, Mike Evans, man, he they they didn't think he was gonna play. I mean, like I think he had some broken ribs and whatnot, and they had to put a special vest on him to come out there. And you know, he's in his latter years. I mean, that guy doesn't have to prove anything to anybody, but still has the heart to go out there and you know the old saying, sometimes you gotta play hurt. Well, he's going out there playing real hurt. You gotta give kudos to him.

Speaking of saying they gotta go to Seattle, P-Mac.

Yeah, yeah. Speaking of an old guy that doesn't have anything to prove, as Lauren mentioned him quickly at the top, I gotta give a quick shout-out before we just brush up on the Yankees and think about their chances in the playoffs. Novak Djokovic beats Alexander Zrerev yesterday, or was I think I watched it was actually yesterday morning, uh, in Beijing, where he's never lost still at that tournament. Something like 32-0. Uh, but at 39, after having a disastrous summer with getting sick at multiple tournaments, uh, he goes out and he comes from a set down to beat Alexander Zrerev, who's obviously been you know red hot, flying with confidence. Uh, so Novak's still getting it done. I haven't checked the results yet today. It actually might be on right now, come to think of it. Um, but that was a remarkable performance. And he and and and many people are saying one of the matches of the year, uh, that three-set win for Novak uh over Zrera of 6'4 in the third in that one. All right, Lauren. Are Yankees up against it? I mean, they're down one zip. They got a uh play again tonight against Tampa. Um, they lost game one, you know, one zip. Uh brilliant performance by the Rays pitching uh pitcher. Uh, what how big of a night is this for the Yankees? I mean, is is this about as big of a must-win as you could have?

It it it feels like that, sure. Because if you look at San Diego and what happened to them getting a walk-off win against them in Milwaukee, they feel like they're done, right? They're down 2-0. Uh, you kind of in a five-game series, you can't go down 2-0. So, yeah, it is a must-win for the Yankees, I think. But they're not our Yankees, they're your Yankees.

They're my Yankees, sorry. What about what about you, big daddy? Who's your baseball team? Probably Mets, right? Well, I I don't really have one, to be honest. He knows the owner. Oh, okay. Excuse him. What?

Well, look, I I got it on both sides. Randy Levine is a good friend of mine as well, and uh, you know, so I don't really have a baseball team. I do cheer for New York team, so uh go Yankees.

What about the Giants now? Who's next for the Giants, Big Daddy?

Uh off the top of my head, I don't even know. I guess um I haven't even got to. Yeah, because the Jets are home. So I'm gonna go.

I think it's New Orleans, if I'm not mistaken. No, no, no. Yeah, yeah, I think it's I think it is in New Orleans.

I'll check. Jets are playing the Browns this weekend, which uh I'm gonna go there.

That was gonna be good.

Um you said you said P Mac that you may go. Uh you should have you know you should you should meet me there.

I yeah, I think I actually gotta go up to Dartmouth with my daughter, actually, but she's going to visit her boyfriend, so I think I'm going up there to sort of you know be the dad, you know what I mean? Hovering around, you know what I'm saying? So I think I think my dad duty taking over. Yeah.

Giants are at uh in our nation's capital this weekend, by the way. Oh, they are okay.

DC. All right. Well, it should be interesting, and uh that should be an easy dub. By the way, that was the easiest interview I ever did with Meryl. I mean, the guy's unreal. He just literally just threw him like one question, and he just goes on for you know 12 minutes and then one more question, and we're done. Interview's done. I mean, this guy's fabulous.

Listen, he's uh the consummate pro and uh he he does his homework and he leaves uh no stone unturned, and you could see that from every explanation. He's like uh he's your he's like Baldy, you know, but in two different in two different ways, you know, because Baldi gives you the lineman point of view, and Merrill gives you the running back point of view, but uh you could tell, and he's a hundred percent right. When you're an offensive lineman, he that I loved how he explained this, and people I'm sure took this all in when they watched this. When you're an offensive lineman, you definitely want to run block more than pass block. Because when you're when you're run blocking, you're you're you're you're bringing the force to them. You're right, you're trying to run down their throat, you're trying to break people's wills, because when you're consistently running the ball and getting five yard, six yards, four yards, seven yard, eight yard, whatever the yardage is, it works, it works in your favor. And then the passing game becomes easy because, like you said, all of a sudden they're bringing the safety down and they're trying to put eight and nine people in the box to try to stop the run. That opens up the passing game. So his explanation of that one.

When you're alignment, right? If you're like, you know, if you got to go back, then you guys are borrowing down at me for protecting the quarterback, right? In the passing game. So I can understand if you're one of those guys, you just want to go forward and hit people as opposed to guys coming after you, and they're gonna try to hit you or get around you. Uh, great show. Merrill, tremendous. Baldi, I'd love to get him back again. We've had Sal Powell, we've had Sulzi Culver. I mean, Big Daddy, you're bringing it with the guests. We appreciate it. Uh going next level. We'll continue to do that. We'll be releasing uh uh our interview this week. What who's coming out this week, Lauren? Who do we got on Wednesday?

I and I got I'm gonna give you that, and then I got a quick question for you, P Mac, because it's kind of up your alley uh just before we go. Uh so we have actually a bonus episode because uh the Nigerian violinist, self-taught violinist with millions of followers, Damola, is gonna be a special episode. But our our main episode on Wesley is gonna be uh the amazing conversation that you guys had with Rocco Despirito at Bar Rocco. So we're very much looking forward to that. And then in terms of uh before I want to I wanted to get your opinion on this, P-Mac. Um, first of all, Max and Merrill, love the fact that we keep having these survivors on this show. I think the resolve of the people that we get has been fabulous. So again, Rich, thank you, Patrick Shreit. Follow us on YouTube. But I, Patrick, before we go, there's a couple official controversies in the NFL yesterday. And I'd be curious to get your opinion on this, right? So Trey McBride got into it with an official. It looked like he cursed at Trey McBride, which was a little unusual. It's caught on film. There was a couple of incidents with officials. So my question for you would be: do you think the officials should have some sort of press conference or some sort of commentary after games to kind of explain to people about things that that happened on the field? Do you would that be out of line? Or do you think maybe the officials should have their own press afterwards?

I I think there should be a press conference with the officials after every game where you know it's it's it's it's controlled. It's for a few minutes. The officials have to answer some questions. Um, you know, there's so many questionable calls now, with especially with you know, past interference. And uh, I don't mind, by the way, the the official getting in the face of a player. If a player says something nasty to an official, I don't mind them going right back. I mean, this is football, so these are tough guys, and that's the way it is. And sometimes that's the way to get these players' attention. But I do think that would be a good idea. Um, and and I'm kind of wondering why it hasn't happened. I mean, would you don't don't don't they sometimes, big daddy, like make officials available? Is that something that happens once in a while? You know, in my view, it should just happen automatically. Here's you, you know, the press gets 10 minutes with the with that maybe it's the head official, you know, who who's responsible for the whole crew.

That's what I was gonna say. When you have, you know, the officiating crews are big, so it's like, okay, who do you pick out? You know, is it the head guy? Is it the linesman? Is it the back judge? I mean, that's where I think probably that's where I think maybe the reason why you're not interviewing the officials because there's too many of them, although you do have one head guy that has to be responsible for the whole group. I I I think I I don't know if you'll have the time to set aside uh to you know do the officials. You know, those guys, they run them out of there right away, they get dressed, they have their own security coming from the locker room to a bus where they get shoveled off to the airport because most of them don't live in the city uh that the game that they're calling. So, you know, the one thing that really caught my eye yesterday was remember uh you you had to see when the player got pushed into the ref and the referee got knocked down, and all of a sudden it was Eric Wilson on the Vikings. Yeah, he got up and like I I would have loved to have heard what he said to him.

That would have been that was awesome, T Mac. I don't know if you saw it, but he was giving it. I didn't see that. No, I didn't see that it was fabulous.

Yeah, yeah, I came out of left field because you would have it looked like the ref wanted to kick the crap out of the uh player, you know, being knocked down like that, and it wasn't even his fault.

Yeah, he tried to help him up, he apologized. The guy was pissed, he was livid.

Oh yeah, he was pissed. But hey, listen, the referees are part of the field. You know, they are a part of the field. Everyone knows that. So you you know, you know, the player, hey, he gets shoved into somebody, you know. Look, you're gonna fall down if you get hit by one of these guys.

Yeah, you got that right. I'm not gonna I'm not looking to get hit by you anytime soon. I can tell you that. All right, we are Mac Daddy, I'm Patrick Macron. That's Rich Big Daddy Selgato, Lauren Emery as well. Thanks to Merrill for joining us today. Thanks to Andy, our tech man setting everything up again. Presented by our there he is, presented by our friends at Volition, presented by uh we thanks Fire Department Coffee and of course uh Dos Ombres for being loyal sponsors to MacDaddy on Wednesday. Rocco Despirito, everyone. Oh, and the vittles there, we're tasting it.

Oh, I want to go back there just to do another show. We'll see you Friday, everyone.

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