Get some facts and come back and see Get some facts and come back and
Seebee. Don't throw up salaries or other things. Get some facts and come
back and Seebee. You can't handle the true now told our players you need
a bit more like a dog. We don't need a bunch of cats in
here looking in the mirror. But I look good. I got my extra
bands on, I got my other shoes. Be a doll. We don't
need no mouns. We don't need no cats. We need more dolls.
Were not at detain, Ah, You're not that detained. We weren't good.
There's no sense of asking me things about the game. I'm telling you.
We laid an egg. So I'm not gonna break it down for you.
He sucks, He sucks, but he laid an egg. That's all
I have to say. Guys, I'm sorry. I'm not gonna break it
down for you. Nothing went well for us. It's on us. We
have to figure it out, and we went dad final out of the program.
Welcome back Exues and Bros. Monday through Friday from six until nine.
We're live in our affiliate in Pataski the NBN one oh four point seven FM
thirteen forty Am the Ticket Northern Michigan. This hour of Exus and Bros.
Probably brought to you by Boyn USA, Boyd Mountain, the Highlands at Harbor
Springs Golf, Ski, Eat and Enjoy, Northern Michigan. The website is
Highland Harbor Springs dot com. It is so beautiful up here. Had a
fantastic meal last night. It's so picturesque. We were in yesterday. We
were in a store called Craig Ryan. It's a beautiful dress store for men's
clothing, all right. It's fantastic custom fits, best men's where you can
find all right, And you can go to Craigryan dot com if you're interested.
And they've got the locations all over the state. Really, I mean
it's Birmingham. They've got a chop in Birmingham. They're in Harbor Springs.
They're in a Grand Blank as well, and they're heresy. And we were
talking with Craig, one of the guys who was there helping us look at
things that we ended up not buying. But we're going back, all right,
we're looking at it. But we were talking with them, and I
was talking with Stephen Mullen. Stephen runs the shop. He is the face
of Craig Ryan. You can call him Craig if you want. But his
name is Stephen Mullen. And he said to me, he said he's really
originally from Boston. And he said he had people from the Cape Cod area
come to this area, Patsky Harbor Springs, Charlavoie, Gaylord, all this
northern Michigan gorgeous area and say they think it's better than the Cape. Now,
I've taken my family to the Cape every year for thirty years because it's
my wife's happy place. That's quite a compliment, because people out there on
the East they're a little uppity. They really are, I mean, between
you and me, a little uppity. They think their place is better than
any place. You get that compliment here, that tells you something. It
really does. So we're really lucky to be here at our affiliate here in
Potoski, WMB. And here's our poll question for the day. Our pole
question is Michigan State Football. Will they have six wins or less? Seven
wins or more? Vote as often as you want on our website or on
our Facebook. X'es and bros. And follow us on Twitter or x XP
Mornings we have one every day. Yesterday's was the most interesting storyline from Lions
camp. So Trent's going to give us the final results. Is it health
of the offensive line, the strongest position on this team. Is it progress
of the secondary the weakest part of this team? A year ago people would
say it was their past defense. Secondary gets blamed for that. Is it
the battle for the number three wide receiver position? Or is it the development
of backup quarterback Headed Hooker? Trent? What are the final results from our
poll question yesterday? Seventy four percent of voters say the new look secondary is
the most interesting storyline. Help me. Jam Line and Hooker's development got ten
percent each. In battle for wide receiver three only six percent, So most
of you as our CHP and I most intrigued to see what happens in the
secondary with Terry and Arnold, and it's Rakestraw, Carlton Davis, Ryan Branch's
development, all that stuff. That's what people are excited to see. Yeah,
that's really good stuff. And our poll question brought to you by Mammoth
Distillery in Bay Harbor, phenomenal place. Went there had the Mammoth gin yesterday
and it was really, really tasty bottom of the hour. By the way,
at eight thirty five, David Bierman, the chief content officer for Pro
Football Network, will join us. You can follow him on Twitter or x
David Bierman PFN. He's going to join us at eight thirty five. Trent,
I know we got some more techs. Let's bang those out and get
involved in the program by texting Sports Radio to twenty one thousand or call us
on the Meyer hotline eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three.
Go ahead. Yeah, we got some people playing along with our little
topic about best athletes from certain schools here in Michigan. Someone here is claiming
Michael Phelps as a Michigan Wolverine now chef. He did. His trainer,
Bob Bowman, was the head coach at U of M from two thousand and
four until I don't know when. So Phelps did attend classes. He didn't
pursue a degree. Does this count? I mean, if we're counting Dick
Enberg, can we count Michael Phelps? Yeah? You come, he trained
there. I didn't know he attended classes. I thought he only trained there.
I would he didn't graduate from there. No, he didn't get it.
He didn't even pursue a degree. That's just now. Maybe now,
maybe in fairness, maybe the other guys didn't either. Sure, maybe a
guy like Chris Webber didn't graduate from there. I don't know. I didn't
I didn't dive into that. I didn't realize Michael Phelps took classes. I
would say no to that. How about you, I would also say no.
But that is interesting. Michael Phelps. By the way, we talked
about the list of the one hundred greatest athletes since two thousand. He was
number one on that list. Yeah, and rightfully so. Yeah, the
best Olympic athlete I've ever seen. All Right, another one, Kirk Cousins
Michigan State, gets to mention good one. He's had a career, He's
made a lot of money. Yeah, debatable between him and Lorenzo White.
He's had a better career in the NFL than Lorenzo White. Not as good
as college career. Yeah, I think that's a really good answer, really
good answer. Okay, I did not. In fairness, I did not
think of that. I was stuck in the past and thinking of some of
the great Michigan State and Joe Dilama Lear came to mind as well. But
that's a good one anymore. This one is kind of a This one's satirical,
but we appreciate the sense of humor. So is Conter Stallion's at Central
Michigan. And then last, all right, last, but not least,
chef we got for GVSU football linebacker and d lineman Matthew Judin set the D
two record for sacks and in the NFL is a four time Pro bowler for
the Ravens and Patriots. You know what, that's the right answer. You
know, I thought about that. I'm like Matthew Judin, Brandon Carr.
There's a couple of Jeff Chadwick. I went with Brandon Carr, who played
as a cornerback primarily with Dallas. But he's right. I mean who or
she's right? Whoever texted that in is absolutely correct. It's Matthew Judin.
That would be the correct answer in football from Grand Valley. Thanks for the
correction. Appreciate your listening there on our Grand Rapids affiliate w MAX ninety six
point one FN the game. Okay, before we get to the bottom of
the hour, and we're gonna I'm really excited to talk to David Berman,
the chief content officer at Pro Football Network. I wanted to give you some
pro pre training camp power football rankings. I know Big Ten football is going
on right now. In terms of media day, Michigan State is today,
so Jonathan Smith will take the podium at some point today Tomorrow. It'll be
the Michigan's turn with other schools obviously, but all you really care about is
you know the head coach. So you'll see the schools represented over the next
couple of days. We saw it yesterday and on Monday as well, but
we'll talk we'll probably talk about that a little bit more later in the week.
But the NFL Power rankings and these can be very subjective. But you've
got five teams that have already opened training camp, the Lions being one of
them. So what they've done is the athletic took each team and they listed
them on power rankings before the season begins. Number one would be obvious,
the Kansas City Chiefs. They're the reigning Super Bowl champs. To think that
they would be anything button number one, somebody has to dethrone them. I
don't care that they won eleven and six a year ago. They're the Super
Bowl champs, and they still have the best player in the NFL coming back,
Patrick Mahomes. All right, San Francisco's number two. You can argue,
you can feel slighted if you're a Lions fan all you want, but
they represented the NFC in the Super Bowl, so they deserve to be ranked
number two until somebody knocks them off. And this year it will be the
Detroit Lions. Where does Detroit rank? Will give you that and where other
members of their division rank as well. That's when we come back on Exes
and Bros. Don't forget eight thirty five, we visit and talk more Lions
and NFL with Dave Berman, the Chief content officer of Pro Football Network.
Here on Exs and Bros. Across the great State of Michigan, broadcasting live
from our Pataski affiliate WMBN one oh four point seven FM. This hour of
Exies and Bros. Brought to you by boyn USA. Back with you on
Xies and Bros. We are live here from our affiliate in Potowski and Charlovoi
w NBN one oh four point seven FM. This hour of Exies and Bros
brought to you by boy USA, Boyne Mountain, the Highlands at Harbor Springs,
and it doesn't get any better than that. David Berman, the chief
content pro officer from Pro Football Network, joins us at the bottom of the
hour. We're talking right now about the pre football rankings in the NFL by
the athletic Kansas City Chiefs. Number one makes sense, San Francisco, number
two, Trent Valley. Where do you think the Lions rank five? Nope,
they hot in the top but in the top five. Number three,
Okay, I love it. Yeah, here's what they here's what they write.
So the expectations the bring My reason I bring this up is because you
and I have expectations for this team. We talked to Justin Rogers yesterday and
he has high expectations. But remember when I asked him super bowler bust he
didn't necessarily agree with that. I believe if they're healthy, and that can
be subjective because you're gonna have guys miss games, right, But I mean,
if that offensive line for the most part is intact, you know,
if Frank Ragnow's starting playing in fifteen to the seventeen games, I would argue
that that is for the most part health. I think by the time you
reach week five. Most guys are bumped, banged, and bruised. But
I think it is important that the expectation is set high. So I got
the Lions super bowler bust if healthy, the athletic has them at three.
In other words, what they're saying is, I the two teams that made
the Super Bowl a year ago, who are ranked ahead of them unjustifiably so
because of what they accomplished a year ago. The biggest expectation for any team
in the NFL is the Detroit Lions, and that's refreshing. Here's what they
write. Lions have won more games since November sixth, twenty twenty two,
twenty two games than they did in the previous one thousand, six hundred and
ninety six days. So in other words, they really wanted to show you
just how well they were able to count on a calendar. These are giddy
times in Detroit, rightfully so, the Lions have responded by throwing cash around,
extending quarterback Jared Goff, offensive lineman pen A Seool, and wide receiver
i'man Rossain Brown a big money deals in the offseason. Maybe just as importantly,
Detroit retained offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. Remember we had that as a Mammoth
Distillery poll question earlier this year. What was most important in the offseason?
I said, retaining Ben Johnson. I believe most people thought locking up Pennay
Sool was more important. But I could be wrong there, but that was
one of the questions we had. We said, is it Jared Goff?
Is it is extending Jared Goff, extending Penny Sool, extending I'm on around
Saint Brown, or keeping Ben Johnson? Anyway they write, Ben Johnson led
the Lines to the fifth best offense in the league last year based on expected
points added per play according to True Media. So the Lions at number three.
Now, what did I tell you yesterday when we looked at the poll
for various teams? What do I always do? I always look at where
my team is first, and then where are the rest of the teams in
the division, And then I always look at the teams that are in the
bottom. And this is in reference to what we had yesterday of teams ranking
by quarterback, coaches, roster and so on and so forth. I forget
which website ended it out, but we gave you the worst coaching staffs.
We gave you the worst quarterbacks ranked for all thirty two teams. So I
immediately looked at where the Lions were then the division and who was dead last,
which were teams like New Orleans and Atlanta and Carolina and oddly enough the
Las Vegas Raiders. So with the Lions being at number three, where do
you think? Where do you think Trent Bally the rest of the division ranks?
Where is green Bay ten? You're close? They have green Bay ranked
eighth. Wow, I think that's a little high. What do you think?
Yeah? To put them ahead of Buffalo and Philadelphia is a little surprising
to me. Yes, I don't think saying the Packers are a top ten
teams a stretch, but they're towards the back end of that, which I
guess they are in this list, But I would have them right around ten,
maybe even eleven or twelve. Eight seems high to me. Likewise,
obviously, the win in Dallas has left a big impression on people, and
you could argue they probably should have won the San Francisco game. At least
there was a point in time where I thought they were gonna win the San
Francisco game. I really thought the Lions were going to be hosting the NFC
championship game. It would have been unbelievable. You have a right. So
the Packers are an eight. I know this year, but trust me this
year? Right where where is Chicago and Minnesota? Go? Chicago twenty three,
Minnesota twenty five, Chicago fifteen? Oh wow, yeah, Chicago fifteen,
Minnesota twenty three. Okay, the Chicago thing that kind of makes sense.
I think that's a little high. But I always go back to the
Sheep. They're not your typical number one overall picking team, right they went
seven to nine the year before that, they had the number one overall pick
two. I mean they so they've got a great defense, a good defense.
I should say. They added Keenan Allen. They've still got Dj Moore
rookie quarterback is what concerns me. But they were a seven win team a
year ago and they essentially got better in every facet. So I think fifteenth
a little high, but it makes sense to me. They also ended DeAndre
Swift, did they not? They did good ball? Yeah, they were
seven and ten a year ago with one of the better defenses in the league,
right Sea games. Yeah. Yeah. The problem is, and this
shouldn't you shouldn't penalize this year's team for what past teams have done because rosters
switch over so much. But you know, they haven't had a winning season
but once since twenty twelve, they've made only they've only got one playoff win
since two thousand and six. Now, who are we to criticize the Chicago
Bears as Detroit Lions people? But you get the point. Okay, so
you've got the division. Who do you think is let me just give the
last two teams in all of baseball. To ask for the last five is
probably unfair. Give me the last two teams in the NFL where the athletic
feels they should be ranked. Carolina has to be in there, right.
Carolina is last two and fifteen. Missed the playoffs a year ago, Bryce
Young, so much was laid at his feet and the problems and stuff.
Well, guess what the problem with him is the number of sacks that were
allowed. I mean that. Yeah, no quarterback is going to be successful
when you're getting sacked as often as Bryce Young did a year ago. So
Carolina is number thirty two? What's number thirty one? Do you think this
one surprised me just a little bit? Arizona. That's who I would have
guessed. So when I look at these things, I write down where I
think the Lions would be, where the rest of the division would be,
and who the last two three teams would be. I had Arizona second to
last. They've got Denver and Denver went eight and nine. Now, considering
the love affair people have with Sean Payton, right, I mean so many.
When he was in New Orleans, people thought he was the second coming
of George Allis slash Vince Lombardi, Yeah, slash Bill Walsh. They thought
he was the greatest thing going. He goes to Denver and I'm not saying
he's not a great coach, but go to Denver. He wants to make
sure he gets Russell Wilson out of there. There are certain players he wanted
out immediately, and who can blame him considering Denver struggled as much as they
did. But this is a year where it starts to you know, if
you're the smartest guy in the room, at some point you got to prove
your brilliance. Hi, Jim Schwartz. Jim Schwartz thought he was the most
brilliant guy in every room. He stepped in when it comes to football.
If that's the case, let's see it. If I give you a little
bit of leeway in year one, then at least in year two, start
to turn the tables a little bit. Start to show me why you're the
smartest guy in the room. That never happened. That might be the case
for Sean Payton. Remember his winning in New Orleans came with one of the
better quarterbacks of his era and a Hall of Famer and Drew Brees. Now
he needs to prove that he can win without him. Fair or unfair.
That's the label. Bill Belichick had to wear it. Bill Walsh had to
wear. George Seaffort had to wear it. Remember they went from Montana to
Young There are different coaches throughout all of football that have had to make that
transition and prove it. Sean Payton is the latest. When we come back,
David Berman, the chief content officer for Pro Football Network, will join
us. He's going to be talking about the Lions and the NFL and what's
expected as we broadcast live from our affiliate IMPATASKI WNBN one oh four point seven
FM. This hour of Exes and Bros. Brought to you by boying us
say, the NFL does it better than any other sport. They keep them
their teams and their players. Stop mind awareness. There's so much to report
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much better website than Pro Football Network dot com. That's Pro Footballnetwork dot com.
It's got great stuff there. We strongly suggest you check that out.
David Berman is the chief content officer for Pro Football Network and it is a
busy time, but it's always busy for David because when you're the chief content
officer, you got to come up with great content and he does that.
You can follow him on Twitter on x at David Berman PFN and he joins
us here on x'es and bros. Dave, thanks very much, great work.
As always, we appreciate it, and we appreciate the time. We
know you're only with us for a short period of time. Before we jump
into Lions talk, tell us where Jordan Love and Hassan Reddicks stand with their
holdouts and where in the world Jordan Love gets the goal to hold out after
starting just eighteen games and winning nine in his career. Hey, thanks for
having me. Welcome to the National Football League. That's it's all about the
market nowadays. And you've seen some offseason craziness with the quarterback numbers going higher
and higher and higher. And you're one hundred percent right about Jupperdan Love thinking
he can get any will get this money. The same could have been said
from Trevor Lawrence a few weeks ago and some players before that, because you're
not going to sit here and tell me in any metric or in any world
or any eye test, that Trevor Lawrence is the highest paid quarterback in the
National highest paped player in the National Football League, and it's going to be
Jordan Love. And if you blink, it might be too a good attack
of my low up. Oh, it could be Dak Prescott. And then
it's just going to keep doing on and on. The salary cap keeps going
up. Where they going to pay it, They're going to pay it at
the quarterback premium price. So Jordan Love's going to get somewhere in the neighborhood
of fifty five million dollars a year, which is just laughable. And I
said the same thing on a couple of shows about Trevor Lawrence, not that
Trevor Lawrence can't be the best player in the NFL. But even beyond the
eighteen games and Jordan Love has played, what is Trevor Lawrence shown us?
Then he's worth the top of the market. But that is where the market
is right now. And as Arizon Reddick, that guy doesn't seem to be
happy unless he's unhappy, so he wants more money wide receivers holding in and
holding out across the board, and the NFL has the money to do it,
and now the owners are basically being strong armed into paying these prices.
And it's a really good point. I mean, even though Trevor Lawrence has
played three full seasons and started three full seasons compared to Jordan Love, it's
a really good point because he hasn't proven that he's worth the money, but
he gets the money anyway, and those are the way things work. It's
all about timing in sports, not just the NFL. Do you think the
league worries at all about the perception of guys who are holding out when most
people in life don't believe they've earned that right just yet. I mean,
this is the capital market that they have put together, and the NFL saw
it coming, which is why they sort of tried to take away holdouts as
much as possible, even though it doesn't seem like they've been successful. Jordan
loves doing a quote unquote pulled in, which seems to be the newest thing,
and the NFL's got to be concerned because these numbers aren't going to go
down, but they're a victim of their own success. As the TV dollar
goes up, the salary cap goes up. As the salary cap goes up,
so do the player salaries. Unfortunately, he seems to just be focused
on the quarterback market and the wide receiver market behind it, because the running
back market has disappeared. It's gone. He saw that last year with all
the blue aja the running backs holding out. Now it's the quarterbacks and wide
receivers that want to get paid, and again the cap is telling them that
they can get it. So here it comes. What was your impression of
the Lions extending Jared Goff, Penney sel Am on ros Saint Brown for the
money that they spent. There's a lot of money, but at the end
of the day, you have a team that you know was within a player
two of going to the Super Bowl. You have the weapons, see might
as well lock them up. I don't necessarily mind them doing it for an
offensive lineman or a key wide receiver. I was surprised that Goff was able
to get the money that he got at the state of his career. And
now, granted he earned it and he had a career a couple of years,
but that is a lot of money to give a guy that had not
proven it before he got to Detroit. But if you're a Lions fan and
you don't want to do the math, you got to be happy because your
guys are locked up for the for suitable future and you have, you know,
one of the top seams the NFL, and this is only going to
keep it that way for a while. And Jill, you know, the
bill comes to David Bierman is the chief content officer for Pro Football Network.
You can follo him on Twitter on X at David Bierman PFN. He's joining
us here on x's m Bros. Have the Lions in your mind done enough
to leap frog San Francisco. You could make the case of Philadelphia from a
couple of years ago as an nfcchampions to be the prohibitive favorite in the conference.
I would say that the favorite. In my estimation, I'm going to
rank them higher in the power rankings when we do that, when we redo
them before the season starts on Pro Football Network. I think they're the better
team. I think they're the best team in the NFC, and to me,
it's their conference to lose. Yes, the Niners beat them last year.
Yes, the Niners have been to two of the last four Super Bowls.
I personally know whom he said this many times over the season. Am
not a big fan of Kyle Shanahan. Has shown in the Super Bowl with
how they messed that one up at the end, and quite frankly, the
Lions outplay them for three quarters in the NFC Title Game. So I think
the Lions are the better team to begin with, and I think the Lions
will represent the NFC in the Super Bowl this year if they play it right
at the end of the year and you know, not to remind the listeners
of what happened there, but not blowing seventeen to nothing leads I think you
wand up in the Super Bowl. What do you like best about the way
this Lions team is made up? Personally? It's their offense, you know,
it's the same thing with Miami obviously, you know, knowing that we
cover the Dolphins on a daily basis at PFN, it hits the offense.
They have the weapons across the board, but more importantly that they have it
in the lines. You know, you look at teams like the Lions and
the Dolphins who have all these weapons, but can they use the weapons by
having a strong offensive line. And the Lions have that, they have soul
and company and to give Jared Kopp protection to get it out there to the
playmakers what it's all about. And you see on the opposite deside, the
Dolphins struggled with the offensive line for years, which is factored into them not
being able to protect to or with injuries. YadA, YadA, YadA.
But I think it's the long as the Lions are good in the trenches with
both offense and defensive line, where you really need to build your team.
You got Sewell one year, Hutchinson another, surrounded with weapons and there's really
not many holes. You could argue that maybe the secondary wasn't the best in
the league last year, but you know, they did the right things in
the offseason to make sure they have a stronger secondary this year. So I
like the Lions. In the top five offense and a good enough defense,
the schedule's not overwhelmingly difficult, even though they have a couple of rough stretches,
like every NFL team does. I do think the Lions win the division
and get the top seed, and it's just whether they can win those playoff
games or not. When you talk must win seasons or breakout years, oftentimes
to the immediate thought is Mike McCarthy with Dallas, this is it, man,
You've got to win or you're out of a job. Who are the
players on your list? Maybe just a few who you think have to have
good seasons, breakout seasons before they're looking for work. Who know the coaches
or players players on the Lions, any team players that need to I mean
you got to start in at the wide receiver position. For all the guys
who are are are looking for more money, I think they're going to get
their money. But someone like Ceedee Lamb hasn't gotten to camp yet, and
he's a guy that if he doesn't get that deal, is going to need
to play for it. If they don't, if they don't extend too well,
I think he's someone who needs to have another MVP year, so you
get contract next year, and really, anybody in a contract year is someone
you're gonna want to do it. At the running back position, there's a
lot of guys that were in a position where they may not be resigned the
year. So I look at running back as a position where our players were
looking, like, say Kwan last year had to have a good year.
So we'll see what happens with players that know their contracts up this year.
Yeah, it's amazing a guy like for example, when you look at Lamar
Jackson, I mean, he's got two MVPs, but people want more from
him, and rightfully so for postseason play, Kirk Cousins is probably on a
little bit of a hot seat there in Atlanta. He's got to be better
than he was a year ago. Sean Payton in Denver needs to elevate his
game, Deshaun Watson in Cleveland. All those are those players we should be
watching out for. Not that they're going to necessarily lose their jobs, but
there's going to be a lot more asked of them this year maybe than in
the past. Yeah, I would say Deshaun Watson for sure. Not so,
I mean the Lamar situation, as anything. Lamar is who he is.
He's an MVP candidate every single year who hasn't had the great playoff game.
So like again, he has to have that playoff game to be able
to cement his legacy. But I don't you know so and somebody I would
look at it. Aaron Rodgers like the guy seems to be year to year
to year. He seems to get what he wants whenever he wants it.
But if he doesn't have a good year this year, and keep in mind,
the last time he saw in Rodgers actually playing, he didn't have a
career year to ended up in the leaving Green Bay. But he needs to
have a good year for Robert Sala. If Robert Salad the Jets don't do
well, I think they get rid of Salah and they might have to start
all over again. You don't start all over again by paying a quarterback fifty
million dollars. It's a great point, all right, last thing, because
I know you got to get going. What's Dan Campbell done better than you
thought he would have when he was first named head coach of the Lions.
Probably get a universal buy in by every single person in that team player organization.
And city. He always knew he was a fiery guy. He knew
he was a guy, but he started he was sort of a joke.
He was a punchline. He's the guy that wants to bite kneecaps, He's
the guy that just seems like the big jock. But he turned out to
be a pretty darn good head coach, leader of men, and a guy
that the teams want to rally around and listen. He made mistakes last year,
call it what it is. He even the great game management skills,
and there's a couple of games that went the wrong way because of things that
he did, going for two, not going for two, going for on
fourth aun end of the day, he had a seventeen point lead in the
NFC title game, And you know that's more than just a guy who wants
to bite kneecaps. So I think him turning into an actual respected coach that's
going to get ten to twelve wins out of his team every single year is
not something I expect that as Dan Campbell, even as a Dolphins guy who
wanted to keep him after he was the introim coach there. Dave enjoyed the
conversation. Have a great season. I hope we get a chance to talk
again. Thanks for the time today, absolutely, Thanks for me on and
have a good one all right. Thanks. David Berman the chief content officer
for Pro Football Network. Follow him on Twitter or on ex David Berman B
E A, R M A N PFN, David Berman PF and good stuff.
I think I think Dan Campbell has had a bit of a challenge of
getting away from the breaking knee caps thin because you know, he said it
was a punchline. That's because we chose to make it a punchline. Well,
and that was his first impression too. I mean he's something that was
literally his opening press conference. This is introduction to the city, to the
world as head coach, Dan Campbell. Yeah, how many do you remember
Matt Patricia's opening press conference? No, but I know he put a pencil
behind his ear and made it a big deal. And yeah, I mean
that's that's just true. He was Do you remember Jim Caldwell's first press conference?
I do not. Jim Schwartz, No, Sir, Steve Mariucci,
No, sir, so Steve Mariucci's opening press cons We're building something good here.
You know, there are certain I'm not blaming David or anybody else.
There are certain lines from certain situations that people just remember about athletes or about
coaches, And for Dan Campbell, he's having a hard time living that,
you know, kneecaps type reference down because people probably had never heard it before
and they thought it was outrageous. This is the bottom line. They thought
it was outrageous that a coach would come in to Detroit, where it has
been a perennial loser and start talking like that when all along and then he
brings up the fourth down and going forward or on a two point conversion.
Listen, that's who he is. People have to recognize that. It's what
made you fall in love with him slash the team in the first place,
and now you want him to change to your liking, You're not going to
get that. That's who he is. He's gonna stick to his guns.
It is a foxhole guy. He wears his heart on his sleeve. I
know those cliches kind of get overused and stuff at times, but here's what
I want to know. It's living proof. Here's what I want to know
from members of the national media. And next time we had David on he
was really good. Next time we have mommybe we can talk to him about
this if I can remember it. But if he doesn't go for it on
fourth down or first of all, why is it always the coach's fault to
go forward on fourth and one or fourth and two and not get it.
If I go forward on fourth and one and I'm on my opponent's forty five
yard mind, I don't want to kick that long field goal. I go
for it. I can't get a flipping yard. Are you kidding me?
You're gonna blame the coach? Well, it's probably the play call. How
about the execution of the lack thereof right? It's number one? Push up
front, right, get a push for crying out loud? So that's number
one. Number two. At what point do you or any leader of anything,
I don't care who you are, You can run a radio network for
crying out loud? When do you start to change? The reason you became
successful as a leader is because of what you've done so far, the people
you've hired, what you've allowed them to do, all those things, the
way you interact with people, all those things are what made you successful in
the first place. And now you want to change because why what got Detroit
to the NFC Championship game? Aggression? Aggression? Okay, sure, it
was the best offensive line in football arguably I guess you could say the Eagles,
but arguably the best offensive line in football. But the aggressive nature in
which Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson worked proved to be part of the difference on
why they got to the NFC Championship game, on why they won the NFC
North, and on why so many people are picking them today as Super Bowl
favorites. How about now you're going to say saying it's Theirs to lose the
conference? Is the Lions to lose? How about that? Yeah? And
now you're going to say I don't like the way he did the In other
words, you're gonna nitpick the hell out of him. That's what you're doing.
I want you to put on a damn headset and tell me what you
do. Not I'm fourth down, because look, you can talk about all
you want. Time out. Okay, Now I'm gonna during the Dorito's commercial,
during the Tostitos commercial and a Pepsi Cola commercial and Charles Barkley promoting the
NBA, you're gonna tell me you're gonna decide what you're gonna do at that
point. Wrong answer. That's not what you do. You do it when
it's first down or second down, even before that, on the drive previous.
If we get to this point, this is what I'm going to do,
and this is the plays I'm considering. You're looking five, six,
seven plays ahead, you're looking two drives ahead. You're not living in the
moment. So it drives me crazy when people say, well, Dan Campbell
really cost him this because he was too aggressive? How many games did he
win because he was aggressive? How much did he win over the clubhouse slash
locker room because he's aggressive? How much did he win over the organization?
And as David brought up, how many fans did he win over because he
was aggressive. You can talk about the kneecaps all you want. You can
blow snot on the field, you can bleed on the field, you can
do push ups with the team, you can bench pass with the team all
you want. But it's about who you are more than anything else. And
that team knows exactly who their head coach is. That's the beauty of it.
What Dan Campbell brings to this team. I'm not saying he's the best
coach in the NFL, all right. I don't even know if he's a
better game day coach than Kyle Shanahan, who lost in the Super Bowl and
who has been a little bit of a disappointment in San Francisco. For the
most part, I don't know that, and I don't think many of us
in the media truly do. But here's what I do know. It's really
hard to I know it's a cliche, but rebuild a culture or create a
culture. It's really hard. And as David brought up, you get all
those guys to buy in. And it's not just the guys who are in
the locker room. I've seen fractured locker rooms. I've seen coaches walk through
a locker room and players just shake their head and say, that guy's a
jackass and it's hard to play for him. That's not the case with Dan
Campbell. It's not just the clubhouse slash locker room. I say clubhouse because
sometimes it's baseball, and I'm using it in generalities. It's the front office
too. This is the way we're going to do things now. Brad Holmes
is a big part of that too, But this is the way we're going
to do things. I want players who do this, who give me that.
Remember I always talk about the gas level, to give a blank level.
That's what you have to have. If you want to be successful,
that's what you have to have. But in order to get players who are
type A personalities to follow you, you have to be real. Dan Campbell
is as real as it gets and it's a big reason, the primary reason
why Detroit is probably the favorite in the NFC. Our thanks to David Berman,
the chief content officer for Pro Football Network, for joining us. Thanks
to Trent Ballely for producing our program today, Thanks for all your techs and
our thanks to the great folks here at WNBN one oh four point seven FM
here in Potoski for allowing us to broadcast live from here, and those who
sponsored our show here today. Craig Ryan and our friend Stephen Mullen out there
putting on some great duds American Spoon, Kilwin's Fudge, and Mammoth Distillery.
We'll be back with you tomorrow morning, six o'clock here throughout the great state
of Michigan on X's and bros. Have a great Wednesday, Everybody,