Michael Strahan on Championship Sunday, Super Bowl Predictions, Sack Records and Life After the NFL | EP 177

92%ers, welcome to another episode of New Heights brought to you by XFINITY. Today we are joined by Hall of Famer Michael Strahan! First, Jason and Travis debate the perfect sleeping setup, and we have a way for you to win some of our incredible new merchandise. Later, we are joined by Michael Strahan to recap everything from Championship Sunday. Do we believe in the Patriots, can Sam Darnold finish the job, and what is the most exciting matchup headed into Super Bowl LX? We also get some incredible Spags stories, his thoughts on the broken sack records, candid stories from the Giants' 2007 Super Bowl run, why he loved transitioning to media, his retirement advice, hysterical stories from his battles in the trenches with Jon Runyan, and so much more! Full T&Cs for our Pro Standard Giveaway: https://teamprostandard.com/pages/pro-giveaway Check out all of our brand new merch at https://amzlink.to/az0JVda6JMjOr Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights every Wednesday during the NFL season and follow us on Social Media for all the best moments from the show: https://lnk.to/newheightshow You can also listen to new episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. . . . Download the full podcast here: Wondery: https://wondery.app.link/s9hHTgtXpMb Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-heights/id1643745036 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1y3SUbFMUSESC1N43tBleK?si=LsuQ4a5MRN6wGMcfVcuynw Send something to the New Heights Mailbox. Don’t be weird though. C/O New Heights Productions 135 E OLIVE AVE, BURBANK, CA 91502 Support the show: XFINITY: Cheer on Team USA and keep the same internet price through the next Olympic Winter Games with the Xfinity 5 Year Price Guarantee. One price. 5 years. Guaranteed. Visit https://Xfinity.com/teamusa https://xfinity.com/teamusa to learn more. Restrictions apply. Select plans only. INTUIT TURBOTAX: File your taxes with TurboTax in the Credit Karma app. Learn more at https://turbotax.intuit.com/lp/ck2ttcampaign/1625/?cid=bn_wk_12 ABODE ACROBAT: Adobe Acrobat transforms your documents into shareable, AI-Powered PDF Spaces with access to easy content creation and trusted PDF tools that help you take any project from idea to done. Do that with Acrobat. ALLSTATE: Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://allstate.com/ CLAUDE: The AI for problem-solvers. Visit https://claude.ai/newheights to learn more. LIQUID IV: Tear. Pour. Live More. Go to https://www.liquid-iv.com/ and get 20% off your first order with code NEWHEIGHTS at checkout. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  To realize the future America needs, we understand what's needed from us to face each threat head on. We've earned our place in the fight for our nation's future. We are Marines. We were made for this.

• 0:15Speaker 01

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• 0:57Speaker 01

  because it keeps engines three times cleaner for better performance and gas mileage. By the way, Chacha Muldowney, she drove a pink car. Mobile. Legendary. Three times cleaner compared to mobile regular gas and port fuel injected engines. Actual results may vary. Visit mobilefuels.com for details.

• 1:13Speaker 02

  Thank you to our partner Royal Caribbean.

• 1:16Travis Kelce?

  Dude, have you seen this? Royal Caribbean just dropped the Legend of the Seas. It's the biggest cruise ship on the planet. Like, nothing's even close to being this big. And it's sailing out of Fort Lauderdale, starting this November.

• 1:31Speaker 02

  That's right. This thing is stacked. Seven pools, more places to eat than you can even count. I mean, they have something for everybody.

• 1:40Travis Kelce?

  Like, bring the kids, bring mom and dad, shoot, bring the whole crew. Everybody's got a spot. That's what makes it special.

• 1:47Speaker 02

  And the entertainment, Latin music, ice skating, full-on Broadway shows. It's pretty amazing. Pretty much everything you want in one place. Oh, and did I mention there's a water park?

• 1:57Travis Kelce?

  You didn't, and that's, that'd be the kicker for me.

• 1:59Speaker 02

  I love a water park.

• 2:00Travis Kelce?

  But the crazy one? Crown's Edge, a ropes course off the side of the ship. Not for the faint of heart, brother.

• 2:09Speaker 02

  They've also got Playmaker, sports bar, and arcade. So that means games on every screen. I love a good arcade sports place.

• 2:18Speaker 02

  Combination.

• 2:18Travis Kelce?

  All right, Catman, get the family on the new Legend of the Seas sailing November 2026 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

• 2:26Speaker 02

  Visit royalcaribbean.com to learn more.

• 2:29Travis Kelce?

  That's gonna be a fun matchup right there.

• 2:32Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 2:32Travis Kelce?

  Do young, up and coming, get both of them at the top of their game right now. I'm excited for that matchup.

• 2:37Speaker 04

  You know what's so funny, man? We're watching the game and JSN gets catches a touchdown. How he's like, Michael, it doesn't look like he's working. And I'm like, how in the world if you're gonna cover anybody, that's the dude. How's he get open? And you know what Howie said to me? He goes, that's the same thing we say about Kelsey.

• 3:01Travis Kelce?

  Welcome back to New Heights, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, a Wondery show brought to you by Xfinity. They got that best deal ever, five year thing. We're gonna talk about it later. We're your hosts. I'm Travis Kelce, my big brother Jason Kelce, rocking the same hoodies from the old New Heights clubhouse out of the University of Cincinnati, Cleveland Heights alum. Shout out to Cleveland Heights, well Cincinnati alum and Cleveland Heights alum. Subscribe on YouTube, Wondery Plus, wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with one S. Mentioned the Kelsey Clubhouse, that's a dot com. If you want to check out anything Kelsey, anything New Heights. Jason, why don't you tell everyone that's listening what we have coming up?

• 3:45Speaker 02

  90% is we got a great episode as we do every week. That's right. We're gonna touch a little bit of that championship Sunday as well as look ahead to Super Bowl 60.

• 3:55Travis Kelce?

  Damn, Super Bowl 60.

• 3:56Speaker 02

  Yeah. You know what else I like? Michael Strahan is here.

• 4:00Travis Kelce?

  Straight.

• 4:01Speaker 02

  That's right. The one and only, we're gonna talk his career, Giants Super Bowl run and so much more.

• 4:06Travis Kelce?

  Oh, yeah.

• 4:07Speaker 02

  Before we get into that. We're gonna start with some of that new news.

• 4:12Speaker 02

  New news is brought to you by Sleep Number.

• 4:16Travis Kelce?

  How about it?

• 4:18Speaker 02

  Such a comfy sleep.

• 4:20Travis Kelce?

  Every single time. Jason, do you know your, uh, you know your sleep number?

• 4:23Speaker 02

  It changes. I think right now it's a 55.

• 4:26Travis Kelce?

  Ooh, you are a soft sleeper.

• 4:29Speaker 02

  What are you, you firm?

• 4:30Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, I'm a little firmer. I'm around the seventies. I like a good 70.

• 4:33Speaker 02

  I fluctuate between 55, 65.

• 4:35Travis Kelce?

  Nice.

• 4:36Speaker 02

  All right, Trav, you're officially a mattress man.

• 4:39Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, baby. I am the mattress man. I'm selling mattresses worldwide, baby.

• 4:44Speaker 02

  And there's a song that sounds like Mattress Man. What is it?

• 4:47Travis Kelce?

  Minuteman?

• 4:48Speaker 02

  Minuteman?

• 4:51Speaker 02

  I'm thinking of like, I'm the mattress man, the mattress man. There's something, there's some type of song that I'm thinking of that's got that kind of melody and rhythm to it.

• 5:02Travis Kelce?

  It does. I don't know why. I can't think of it either.

• 5:03Speaker 02

  Muffin Man?

• 5:04Travis Kelce?

  The muffin man, the muffin man.

• 5:06Speaker 02

  That's it. The mattress man, the mattress man. How's the rest of the song go? I don't even, I don't remember this one.

• 5:12Speaker 05

  Free of charge, Sleep Number. That, you can have that.

• 5:15Travis Kelce?

  You can have that free of charge.

• 5:17Speaker 02

  I'm not thinking of Mattress Man. There's another one where it's like.

• 5:19Travis Kelce?

  No, you're definitely.

• 5:22Speaker 02

  The one I'm thinking of is definitely based off of Muffin Man, but it's not the exact same thing.

• 5:25Speaker 05

  You just did Muffin Man, though.

• 5:27Speaker 02

  It's not. It's slightly different. I gotta think of it. I gotta think.

• 5:29Travis Kelce?

  I'm pumped, man. I've been a huge Sleep Number fan for a long, long time. They, they actually have teamed up with the NFL for, uh, the majority of my career. Yeah, I feel like, and, um, yeah, since, uh, 2019 and, um, I've been a huge fan of all their products. I've been a big fan of, uh, all the Sleep Number, uh, products that I've received. I've actually handed some over to my dad and, uh, spread the wealth a little bit. And I just think it's, um, it's an amazing product. It's an amazing team. I believe in the vision that they have going forward and, um, I'm excited. I'm excited to be a partner as well as a member of the Sleep Number family.

• 6:04Speaker 02

  Good for you, Trav, because these things are the best. I love Sleep Number. It's hard going back to a regular mattress.

• 6:09Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, like a hotel and like a dude, it's so fucking different.

• 6:13Speaker 02

  Issues with the hotels, which don't give me fucking.

• 6:15Travis Kelce?

  But it's like the, the difference night and day, obviously.

• 6:18Speaker 02

  It's, it's the mattress. I mean, listen, you go to a Four Seasons, they got a nice mattress too, but I do prefer fours, uh, I do prefer Sleep Number beds now. But the other thing at the hotel, like dude. You want to talk about something that grinds your gears? These fucking goddamn temperature regulators and telling me how hot or cold I can put a room at that I fucking paid for? Fuck you! That's what I gotta say. Fuck you! Sleeping in this goddamn room sweating my ass off, not getting any sleep. It's fucking bullshit is what it is.

• 6:46Travis Kelce?

  I love you.

• 6:47Speaker 02

  It pisses me, it pisses me off so fucking bad. I'm under this fucking goddamn comforter, just fucking sweating profusely.

• 6:55Travis Kelce?

  Won't let you go colder than what?

• 6:56Speaker 02

  I don't even think it fucking does anything. I gotta try to put it colder. There's no way it's that temperature in the room. It's fucking hot as shit. I'm just down to the sheet and the sheet isn't comfortable just sleeping on that. I like a little bit more weight on top of me. It's fucking not, it's useless because I'm fucking sweating so bad. I try, I try to jimmy rig it. It doesn't even work. That's how I know these thermostat's don't even work. I take the hairdryer out of the cabinet.

• 7:21Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 7:21Speaker 02

  And I position it so that it's born right in the thermostat. So that it thinks the room's 98 degrees. It still doesn't get colder than that motherfucker. These thermostat's don't do fucking shit in these hotel rooms. The only way it works is if it has, if it's on a, um, what's, what are those called? The only way it works is if the hotels have the, um, what are the ones where the, the unit is in the room? It's not like a, a centralized air system. It's like mini splits. If there's a mini split in the hotel room, perfect. It should be a law requirement that you have to have a mini split in the hotel record, in the room.

• 7:54Travis Kelce?

  But this is why.

• 7:55Speaker 02

  I'm not running on the same AC that the hall is on.

• 7:58Travis Kelce?

  That's what I'm saying. Fuck that.

• 8:03Speaker 02

  Anyways, back to Sleep Number.

• 8:04Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, we, this is why I'm with Sleep Number. Sleep Number's thought about these situations that you find yourself in and, uh, they have temperature controlled mattresses now. It's, that's why I believe in the vision.

• 8:14Speaker 02

  What's your Sleep Number setup? Like top to bottom, what, what all products you working with? What's Travis Kelce's ideal sleeping system? What are all the things you're doing to sleep? You got a fan, you got?

• 8:25Travis Kelce?

  No, I'm just falling asleep. Put it at 67, 66 and go to sleep.

• 8:29Speaker 02

  I got the, the cooling system, Sleep Number. I got my, my sleep number is set up. It, I think it's either 55 or 60. I can't remember it honestly. I have to tell me, but then I got, you ever heard of Chili Pad?

• 8:39Travis Kelce?

  Of course.

• 8:40Speaker 02

  You put that thing over top, cool that thing down. Then I got the comforter on top of that. Then I got a fan blowing wind on my face and I am just in bliss.

• 8:50Travis Kelce?

  Nice.

• 8:51Speaker 02

  What kind of sleep position you go? Are you side, you're back, you're a stomach?

• 8:54Travis Kelce?

  You know, when I was younger, I used to be a stomach sleeper. I used to sleep on the stomach, but now I'm just lay on my back and just pass the fuck out.

• 9:01Speaker 02

  Yeah. Sleeping like Dolly Parton now. I get it. It's harder to sleep on your stomach.

• 9:24Speaker 02

  I fancy myself a side sleeper.

• 9:26Travis Kelce?

  So you're right side, left side? You just go back and forth all night?

• 9:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, I go back and forth. I, my shoulders get sore, so I gotta switch and switch it up. But I like sleeping on the side. I'm predominantly sleeping on the left side, but I'll switch over to the right side to even it out. According to these pictures, I'm not quite as curled up as a fetus and I'm not quite the, was that the urner?

• 9:47Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 9:48Speaker 02

  Somewhere in between a fetus and a urner is where I'm sleeping.

• 9:52Travis Kelce?

  Yeah. Um, I, I usually, I guess I'm more-

• 9:54Speaker 02

  Pillow in between the legs. Pillow in between the legs.

• 9:57Travis Kelce?

  I'm not the soldier, but I'm the starfish for sure.

• 10:01Travis Kelce?

  Like I'll go like, yeah, I'll go like, I'll sleep on like the outer hip and I'll still have my shoulders flat.

• 10:06Speaker 02

  And I sleep like that. My mouth is dry as fuck and it's usually because I've passed out drunk and I'm sitting in that position.

• 10:15Speaker 02

  Chalk drawing on the sidewalk where the guy's just dead.

• 10:18Travis Kelce?

  I don't sleep like this either. I'll sleep like here and here. You know what I mean? Like my, my, I'm not just like straight up.

• 10:25Speaker 02

  Are you a split down the, the middle of the sleep number? Or are you a full sleep? No.

• 10:30Travis Kelce?

  Full sleep.

• 10:31Speaker 02

  It's not the best for cuddling.

• 10:32Travis Kelce?

  I like the full mattress because I like to roll into it, roll out of it. And if we're both, if I'm sitting up, we're both sitting up.

• 10:39Speaker 02

  It's really good for getting actual good sleep because now Kylie likes to put her side up because she's, especially when she's been pregnant, she really enjoys the ability to set up top.

• 10:49Travis Kelce?

  There you go.

• 10:50Speaker 02

  And for me, when I snore, she can just raise my side and then I stop snoring magically. So there's a lot of benefits to independent top usage that we, we certainly enjoy.

• 11:00Travis Kelce?

  I'm excited about this, uh, this partnership with Sleep Number. Obviously believe in the product and I'm excited to, uh, to work with them in the future, uh, and create some fun, uh, opportunities with you guys. So.

• 11:11Speaker 02

  Oh, we're also gonna announce another huge announcement. Ha, new merch. That's right. We're doing a giveaway of some of our new Pro Standard sweats. I'm not gonna lie. They are incredible. I'm a big fan. I would tell you if I didn't like it.

• 11:26Travis Kelce?

  Jason, as you know, Jason is very open with his opinions.

• 11:29Speaker 02

  I think a lot of people like the soft, fuzzy, fluffy interiors. I'm out on the soft, like fluffy, fuzzy.

• 11:37Travis Kelce?

  I'm in on those two. I like this hoodie though. This is a good wear and tear. I like, I like, you could, you could go through some shit on this.

• 11:43Speaker 02

  This doesn't feel synthetic at all. It feels like a natural fiber that my skin doesn't feel at all weird about. I don't like the texture of those fluffy things. And then it's like, you know, it's just polyester and it's made of shit, but not this fucking thing. This thing feels real good. All right. Here's how to enter. Follow New Heights and Pro Standard on Instagram and comment your favorite moment from any episode so far on our giveaway post. And we're gonna pick three people, three people. Wow. Just giving these things away. All right. Pick three people and we're gonna send you a New Heights Pro Standard kit.

• 12:17Travis Kelce?

  I'm excited about this Pro Standard collab, man. They, they do it right. And it took like a few just like test runs on what they, what they have to offer. And man, I absolutely love it, man. It's a good gray too. It's a solid gray. I like it.

• 12:28Speaker 02

  The kit is gonna feature a New Heights merch as well as a Pro Standard NFL jacket from your favorite team. That's awesome.

• 12:34Travis Kelce?

  Make sure you guys check out this new merch and make sure you guys enter to win the kit that features, uh, the New Heights and, uh, Pro Standard merch. Um, and.

• 12:42Speaker 04

  And that about wraps up new news, which is brought to you by Sleep Number, my uh new exciting part.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  All right, let's get into some bold topics brought to you by Intuit TurboTax.

• 12:54Speaker 04

  I say we do it. Jason, you want to do the honors?

• 12:56Speaker 02

  All righty, our guest today is a six foot five defensive end from Texas Southern University. He is a seven time Pro Bowler, six time All-Pro, 2001 Defensive Player of the Year, two time Emmy winner, a Peabody Award winner, a Super Bowl champion, and a member of the Pro and College Football Hall of Fame.

• 13:14Speaker 04

  Damn.

• 13:15Speaker 02

  You know him from $100,000 Pyramid, Good Morning America, Fox, NFL Sunday. He's literally been to space. He is still the record holder for the most sacks in a 16 game season. 92 minutes. Please welcome Michael Strahan.

• 13:34Speaker 04

  I ain't gonna lie, man. That was the best introduction I've, literally, I say I've ever had.

• 13:38Speaker 02

  Come on now.

• 13:39Speaker 04

  Best introduction I've ever had. And honestly, I didn't realize I did all that shit.

• 13:43Speaker 02

  That's the best part, man. When you got this many things, it's easy to forget. But man, you've been on some incredible things, Mike.

• 13:49Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's been fun, man. It's been fun.

• 13:51Speaker 02

  What's your favorite thing on that list right there? What's your most prized?

• 13:56Speaker 04

  Football, Super Bowl, Super Bowl.

• 13:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's always.

• 13:58Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's a, you know what? Player of the Year, all that stuff and Pro Bowls is great. But as you guys know, when you win a Super Bowl, it's like you can celebrate that together with the guys. And I'm still on a group chat with all the guys on the D-line. Every day, we're hitting each other up. It's either questions, memes, support each other, you know, whatever, encourage each other or just flat out cracking jokes on each other like we did in the locker room. So.

• 14:25Speaker 02

  Hey, who's the biggest character in that group chat? Every group chat has one guy that's like really.

• 14:28Speaker 04

  It's just like, all right, here he goes again. Oh, man. You know, OC, you know OC the trip? Cause OC lives in London now. He does the NFL.

• 14:36Speaker 02

  What?

• 14:37Speaker 04

  He does the NFL broadcast. I'm very, very proud of him because he's, he's in London doing an NFL show. And he's won the equivalent of an Emmy in London for a year, years ago for the show. So it's equivalent of somebody here in the US winning an Emmy for cricket. We'd be like, what did that?

• 14:55Speaker 02

  Right, yeah.

• 14:55Speaker 04

  So OC's been amazing. But I've noticed every time I talk to him or I listen to him, all of a sudden he's got the deep English accent. I'm like.

• 15:04Speaker 02

  Oh, no.

• 15:05Speaker 04

  He went over there and just got a little just. No, you went to Troy. You went to Troy. You lived in Atlanta. Come on, man.

• 15:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 15:18Speaker 04

  Well, he's the character. All the guys have the character, then they're all right.

• 15:21Speaker 02

  That's great. I love that.

• 15:22Travis Kelce?

  Listen, the D-line is notorious for being the, the one room in the entire building that just has just one on top of another, on top of another, just different lifestyles, different, but different dudes and just some of the funniest guys ever, man. I don't know if you've spent a lot of time with Chris Jones, but he is one of my favorite people of all time. I guarantee you, he would, he would light up that group chat like no one else.

• 15:46Speaker 04

  But I tell you what, man, I, I, I got a chance to see Chris this season. We came to your guy, when you got, when you got played, um, the Eagles and, and on the road, we were in Kansas City and I got a chance to see Chris after the game. And I tell you what, man, I love the dude. I wish I could have played with him.

• 16:03Travis Kelce?

  I'm telling you, man.

• 16:04Speaker 04

  He's unblockable. And knowing Spags defense because Spags helped me win a Super Bowl.

• 16:10Travis Kelce?

  Oh, yeah.

• 16:10Speaker 04

  I would love, man, I love to play with Chris.

• 16:13Travis Kelce?

  Let's get into it, man. I gotta ask you, you already mentioned my guy, Coach Spags, man. He's one of my favorite guys. And one, because it's so challenging. Obviously, we get to work with him throughout the year, uh, in, in the off seasons and in training camps and stuff like that. I get to experience what it feels like, the frustration of how much he has in that, in that, that, that defensive playbook and everything. But he's also one of the best humans that I've ever met in my life. And off the field, on the field, he's one of the best motivators. Tell me, tell me, you got any good Spags stories that aren't out there, uh, from, from your days playing for him?

• 16:47Speaker 04

  Well, I would tell you, Spags is one of the nicest humans. His wife, Maria, they bake cookies for the team.

• 16:52Travis Kelce?

  Oh, yeah. I had some of the best limoncello I've ever had from, from the Spags household.

• 16:57Speaker 04

  Insane. What the thing is, you're crazy. I have no bad stories on here because he's such a good guy, but I will tell you this. The year of my life here in the league, we start out 0-2. We gave up 80 points in two games against the Cowboys the first week and then I think 45, then we gave up 35 against Green Bay the second week. And Spags comes into the meeting room on, you know. Guys, you think you're gonna sit up in that meeting room, you gonna just let everybody have it? You're like, oh, yeah, we garbage, we gonna hear how garbage we are.

• 17:27Speaker 04

  Dude walks in and goes, hey, I want you guys to know, just trust what we're doing. Trust the defense. There's not one of you that I would trade for anybody else out there in the league. Now, I know he was lying.

• 17:41Speaker 04

  I had a few guys, I'm like, coach, yeah, I got right there. But he made us believe in like, okay, you stick with him. Believe in the system, believe in this dude, believe in each other. And we just turned it around, man. And all that, I contribute all that to Spags and making us feel good when we should have. Most coaches make you feel bad.

• 17:58Speaker 02

  I do gotta ask you, because one of the things that stands out with Spags is his blitzes, right? He can give it from every single direction, zero zone blitz, man pressures, games, all that stuff. But I know as a defensive lineman, that's not always what y'all want to do, right? Especially when you're the great Michael Strahan sack leader. Coach, don't, don't have me slanting and angling, just let me beat the crap out of this tackle right here. What, what did you feel like playing in that system? I'm assuming he probably called less blitzes with you on the field. Probably didn't need to bring more than four.

• 18:30Speaker 04

  You know what, I'll be honest with you. I, I've always been a nice guy, man, I really am. But in the days of football, I was a different nice, right?

• 18:38Travis Kelce?

  There you go, there you go.

• 18:40Speaker 04

  You know, we all have a switch. We're nice guys, people know when I, but it's a switch. Like, I get out there, that I'm a whole different thing.

• 18:46Speaker 02

  Got to be.

• 18:47Speaker 04

  After the survival, I got, I got guys like you too. I can't, if you're trying to kill me, I gotta survive, right? So I, I, I hated the slants and stuff, wasn't my thing, but I would do whatever. But don't make me drop. Even though, even though I do have a few picks in my career, one against Washington, I could get more touchdowns. But don't make me drop. Why you, why you dropping the best pass rushers? And you got these little light in the ass dudes running in there getting rejected from the club?

• 19:19Speaker 04

  I mean, music getting thrown out of there like, yo.

• 19:21Travis Kelce?

  Don't come in the club with fake IDs.

• 19:23Speaker 04

  Yeah, but I just didn't like dropping. I love pass rush, you know what I love most though? I love playing the run more than I love. Up playing in the past.

• 19:29Speaker 02

  Really? That's surprising.

• 19:31Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 19:32Speaker 02

  I don't hear a lot of D N say that. What's so what? Why do you say that? Just because it was more like toughness, more like inserting your will? Like, what is it?

• 19:40Speaker 04

  100%. And I, I, I felt like it was toughness. It was asserting your will. It was literally, I can take the life out of a guy. I look in your eye and I could see if you wanted to be there or not. And that was important to me. I wanted to look in your soul. I wanted to take your soul. And I was gonna just go every play. I just looked at it like this. You and me, every play. I ain't gonna quit. Let's see what you gonna do. And when we turn on that tape tomorrow and we watching it, I will not be embarrassed in front of my teammate.

• 20:13Speaker 04

  I just will not.

• 20:15Travis Kelce?

  We gotta just jump into it, man. My guy Greg Olson, man. He told us an amazing story last week on our, on our episode with him about his welcome to the NFL moment. Where they decided to run power as a rookie, Michael Strahan.

• 20:29Speaker 06

  We had a home game, my rookie year in 07, and Michael Strahan is playing like a, I don't know if he was in a four-point stance, but it felt like he was like an eight-point stance. And he was playing, he was playing six technique, right? So he was like on my head.

• 20:45Speaker 02

  The worst.

• 20:45Speaker 06

  But he, the worst. And like, you go too far inside and he just caves you down. You stay on his outside shoulder and he just presses you back. And I'm like, I'm gonna bring everything I got. Everything I got. I'm bringing it. Well, he like two gaps me. He locks me out, presses me, head in the hole. He takes me into the fullback, into the backside pulling guard.

• 21:10Speaker 02

  Oh, no.

• 21:10Speaker 06

  And like, and I was like, I ran off the field.

• 21:14Speaker 02

  Swab the hole.

• 21:15Travis Kelce?

  I guess you threw him across the line of scrimmage onto the other A gap. Do you remember this play?

• 21:21Speaker 04

  I do not.

• 21:22Speaker 02

  I was gonna say this no test.

• 21:24Speaker 04

  Yeah, that was just a regular Sunday. You know what I'm saying?

• 21:30Speaker 04

  You know, I, I don't remember the play, but I did have this thing where my first coach in the league, Earl Leggett, rest in peace, Earl Leggett. He was Howie coaches coached with the Raiders back in the day and that's why Howie and I have always been so tight. But Earl, man, he worked us more than anybody. I couldn't survive more than two or three years in the league without him because he taught me technique that lasted my whole career. And it, and I just couldn't rely on being athletic. But Earl had this thing. He said, if any tight end in this league blocks you, son, you should be ashamed of yourself. So anytime I saw a tight end, it was like, I'm, I'm going to literally, I gotta kill you. Like I gotta burn you right now. I cannot. I gotta watch the coach. And Earl would talk bad to you. Oh, he talks so bad to you.

• 22:16Speaker 04

  Oh, Kirk, you got to fight him. I can't go out there. I'm too old to fight for you, son.

• 22:22Speaker 04

  He would say some other things I cannot say on this podcast that give me in trouble. I love some good old ball coach, man. It literally made every tight end I lined up against made me like, like salivate because I knew I had to embarrass him. I couldn't be, be, be dealt with like that. But I'm glad Greg remembered it. That's what's important. There you go.

• 22:41Travis Kelce?

  That's right.

• 22:42Speaker 04

  But I love Greg either. He's the best too, by the way. Oh, the best. You know it. Yeah. That's too funny, man. I had to ask you about it. We mentioned earlier that you're the, you're the sack leader for 16 games. You made the comment, obviously congratulated Miles Garrett and gave him his flowers for, because unbelievable feat that he, he accomplished as well, being the sack leader for 17 games. But have you heard the claim that, uh, that Bubba Baker, Al Bubba Baker, uh, actually has the sack record from his rookie season in 1978? Okay. I dispute that.

• 23:15Speaker 04

  My question is, what, what would Michael Strahan be doing to an offensive lineman in 1978? Oh.

• 23:23Speaker 04

  Well, at seven years old, I'd be getting out there, getting beat up. You know what? He, he might. I don't, they didn't keep the records until later, which reason I dispute it is not for myself. When I was coming up, man, one thing that I loved is that I, guys I admired, like Bruce Smith, Reggie White, Chris Dolman, Dexter Manley, Charles Mann. Every time I got a chance to meet these guys, they like took me under the wing. And, and was really great to me, man. I couldn't believe it. But the one guy, the older of all of them, was Deacon Jones.

• 23:58Travis Kelce?

  Deacon Jones, man.

• 23:59Speaker 02

  That head slap, baby. Look out.

• 24:01Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 24:02Travis Kelce?

  My ears are ringing right now. When you said his name, my ears run. It was crazy.

• 24:08Speaker 04

  Deacon swore to me he had a hundred sacks in the season.

• 24:15Speaker 04

  I'm telling you. He swore he had a hundred sacks, man.

• 24:20Travis Kelce?

  Oh, that's fucking ridiculous, man.

• 24:23Speaker 04

  He swore by it. He's basically like, I don't even know what the debate is. I had a hundred once.

• 24:30Travis Kelce?

  Sometimes talking to those old school football guys, man, is just the fucking best, man.

• 24:34Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah. And you know, and even Bruce Smith is one of my favorites. And like my brother, man, and, and Bruce really took me on this wing, played a lot of golf with Bruce and just spent a lot of time with him. And Bruce orchestrated the 100 sack club. So at the Super Bowl, you get like all the guys that have at least a hundred sacks get together. And so Bruce gets in front of the room and Bruce goes, hey, I'm glad everybody showed up at the 100 sack club and everything else. I was gonna do a 200 sack club, but I didn't want to be here by myself.

• 25:03Speaker 04

  It only took you 25 years.

• 25:07Speaker 04

  We didn't want to play that long, damn it.

• 25:11Travis Kelce?

  That's too funny.

• 25:12Speaker 02

  You're naming all these greats. I gotta know, what's your Mount Rushmore of sack leaders? Mount Rushmore of defensive lineman getting after the quarterback?

• 25:20Speaker 04

  Geez. I mean, there were interior guys and there were outside guys.

• 25:28Speaker 04

  Outside guys, I would say Bruce Smith. I would say Reggie White. I would say Miles Garrett.

• 25:38Speaker 02

  You can put yourself on if you want. Feel free.

• 25:40Speaker 04

  You know what? I'll put myself honestly in the top two or three of all around defensive ends ever to play.

• 25:47Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 25:47Speaker 04

  Cause I played the run as well as I played the pass. It wasn't like hit a running back if he happens to have the ball on the way to the quarterback. So I'll put myself in that realm. But as far as, my whole thing is I started football late, man. I mean, I played one year in high school. Living in Germany. I wouldn't, yeah, I wasn't playing football.

• 26:03Travis Kelce?

  So you were in Germany all the way? Up until you were 18?

• 26:06Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, seven, 17, 17. And so I came over and played one year. My dad was like, gonna get a scholarship. And I think if you don't tell your kids what they can't do, they could do anything. And my dad acted like it was guaranteed. You're gonna get a scholarship. Next thing you know, I get one scholarship, the Texas Southern University. I was like, Dad, I don't know. He's like, what do you know? It's free. That's where you go.

• 26:30Speaker 04

  And then he's like, when you make it to the pros and when you do this and when you do that? So my dad was always that when, not an if guy, which was important. Like I do that with my kids, like win, win, win. Never if, never give doubt. So I came to this, the Giants. I mean, I was at TSU, man. I was just basically relying on athletic ability, just running and working until a guy got tired and then I would make plays. But I had no first three or four years. I didn't know the game of football. You know, I was always behind. So I always wonder what it would have been like had I had the opportunity to like learn football at an earlier age. But I'm kind of glad I didn't because it always made me interested, always. I'm always interested in football now. Like I watch stuff now. I'm still interested in the game.

• 27:13Speaker 04

  I didn't beat myself up. I feel better now than I felt when I retired. So, yeah, I got, I got lucky. I got really lucky.

• 27:21Travis Kelce?

  That's awesome, man. When you came over, when you were 17, 18, I believe you, you were with Art Strahan, right? Your uncle?

• 27:28Speaker 04

  Oh, my uncle, yeah.

• 27:30Travis Kelce?

  And he played, he, he played a little bit in the league, right? Did you learn like at least the basics and understanding, you know, the old put your forehead right through the chin or?

• 27:39Speaker 04

  Did I? Man, man, I came over to stay with my uncle. I didn't know, really, I was green. If there was a color deepest green you could find, that was how great I was. My uncle would take me in the front yard because he played seven years in the league, Oilers, Falcons, all that stuff. He would take me in the front yard, man. He would just be slapping me around. This is how you, this is how you fuse the art. And you know, my uncle was like six, seven, country ass strong, big old hands, man. He just beating this teenager up in the yard.

• 28:10Speaker 04

  But hey, I, I went through it and I look back, I can laugh at it. Uh, being at TSU, uh, Walter Highsmith, my head coach, who's son, Alonso Highsmith, the first round pick out of University of Miami, back in those Jimmy Johnson days. His dad was tough. He would make us run gassers in, you know, Texas, a hundred something degrees. The devil leaning against the goalpost, waiting for you to pass out. It's that hot. We're gonna run until somebody turns in their scholarship. No, give up your scholarship.

• 28:40Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 28:41Speaker 04

  Passing out, I would have fell out. I just said, okay. But no, give up your scholarship and we had, and we thought he was joking. Man wasn't joking. I mean, this dude was a beast. But when I came to the pros, it was like, you can't kill me. I've been to hell already. You guys are arguing though. You don't have shoes. I wore the same pair of cleats and practicing the game every season for, if it don't see that. I get new pair of the shoes every week. This is crazy.

• 29:07Speaker 02

  You are bringing up something. No, but this is, this is something I've thought about where there's so much sports science and like load managements and like stuff now where I, I feel like if you've never pushed yourself to the extremes, how do you really know how far you can go?

• 29:22Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 29:23Speaker 02

  Right? And a hundred percent, when I went to college, I used to think I knew what hard work was. And then a guy put me through a workout in the weight room, Jordan Roth, and I couldn't even lift my shoulders above my, my hands above my shoulders by the end of one of those workouts. And I was like, bro, what is this? I've never worked out in my life. I thought I was working hard. I don't know what hard work was. I think that's so important for young players or even something you gotta work out as an adult too. You gotta push yourself, man, right?

• 29:48Speaker 04

  And the harder I found it, I pushed myself playing football, the easier the game became. The more I studied, the easier the game became. I could, I would be the last one to get my stance because I'm just looking and look at formations going, I know they ain't gonna run this way. They're only gonna be able to do this out of that. Like you knew and if you got old, if you really paid attention, became the student, the game slowed down and became easier. But you gotta work at it and the harder I've worked in sports, like now, everybody goes, you work so hard. You're here, you're there. I'm like, you don't understand what hard work was. When you're in training camp and you guys know two a days and you gotta put those wet pads that are still wet from the day before on and run into somebody who you don't want to feel like running into again and fighting for the next two hours. You're laying on the ground to stretch and it's still got that cold morning dew on it.

• 30:33Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 30:34Speaker 04

  Yeah. You just, you can't think about, you trying to peel yourself out of the bed. That's hard work. Talking for a living? If I knew it was this good, I've done it a long time ago.

• 30:47Speaker 02

  That is so good. So perfect. Thank you to our presenting sponsor, Xfinity.

• 30:54Travis Kelce?

  Xfinity is a proud partner of Team USA for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games.

• 31:01Speaker 02

  Let's go, baby. I'm pumped to watch Team USA crush it as always.

• 31:04Travis Kelce?

  As always.

• 31:05Speaker 02

  I love seeing them every time I get a chance. One of the great regrets of being a football player is you don't get to represent your country. The Olympics are incredible. So happy to see Xfinity is sponsoring this segment and the Team USA Winter Olympics group going over to Italy.

• 31:24Travis Kelce?

  I can't wait to see them all lock in every single sport, every single event. Did you know that Xfinity can guarantee that your internet price will stay the same for five years?

• 31:33Speaker 02

  I did not know that. That is pretty awesome. Okay. One price for five whole years. Guaranteed no contracts or commitments. That's a pretty good deal, Travis.

• 31:41Travis Kelce?

  And I wonder if they could help us lock in on an event or a sport specifically to maybe get to the Olympics and be on Team USA one day.

• 31:50Speaker 02

  Well, if we're going winter, I tried curling recently and I don't think we can do that.

• 31:56Travis Kelce?

  All right.

• 31:57Speaker 02

  I tried bobsledding. They said I had some potential.

• 32:00Travis Kelce?

  We'll have to see about that. Xfinity, imagine that. Proud partner of Team USA.

• 32:05Speaker 02

  Restrictions apply. Select plans only. Alrighty. Thank you to our sponsor, Intuit TurboTax.

• 32:11Travis Kelce?

  Tax season is here, people. Filing just gotten upgraded.

• 32:16Speaker 02

  For those of you that use Credit Karma, now you can file your taxes with TurboTax right through Credit Karma app.

• 32:23Travis Kelce?

  How about it?

• 32:24Speaker 02

  And get your max refund. Wow.

• 32:26Travis Kelce?

  And when you get this year's refund, Credit Karma helps you take it further with a personalized plan showing how to make the best use of your money. It's all right there in the app.

• 32:36Speaker 02

  Whether you're looking to start building savings or improve your financial knowledge, Credit Karma with TurboTax supports you through the process so you could get your refund fast and make your money go further.

• 32:46Travis Kelce?

  This year, get every dollar you deserve. Get started now by downloading the Credit Karma app and navigating to the tax section up at the top.

• 32:56Speaker 02

  Thank you to our partner Adobe Acrobat.

• 32:59Travis Kelce?

  Oh, the Acrobat has been reimagined for powerful collaboration and to help you create high-quality work all at one place.

• 33:08Speaker 02

  Brandon, can you give us a hand here in showing the 92% of us how to use the incredible new features?

• 33:14Travis Kelce?

  I love it when Brandon shows us things.

• 33:15Speaker 02

  Please?

• 33:16Travis Kelce?

  Less work for us, more work for Brandon.

• 33:18Speaker 05

  Thanks, guys. I never mind doing more work for you. But that's right, guys. Adobe's got new features like PDF spaces, which basically helps you pull anything from the internet that you might want, and let's just call it a podcast, into one document and figure out where it goes a lot faster. Usually when we put together a show, we have to dig through a lot of articles, game notes, box scores, highlights, screenshots of tweets, whatever Jake was mad about the Jets doing that week. It's a lot of stuff that goes into making the show. And honestly, the segment that's toughest to put together is stamp of the week. There's actually a lot more nominees that we never really even show you guys. We look through everything from game highlights, what's going around the internet. I watched a bunch of clips of people in Philadelphia going crazy in the snow. That was my personal stamp of the week.

• 34:01Speaker 05

  But we can drop everything into one PDF space and this tool can take it all into one document, put it there, organize it. We can ask the AI assistant, hey, AI assistant, based on everything here, who is the strongest stamp of the week nominee and why? Do we end up just yelling out names to each other? Yes, but before that, we can actually have some kind of plan of attack.

• 34:21Travis Kelce?

  Well, thank you, intern Brandon. You're the best intern a podcast could ever ask. Faster prep and better picks so we can get more done together.

• 34:31Speaker 02

  That's right. Learn more at adobe.com/dodatwithacrobat. I know. All right, before we touch on more of your career, Mike, we want to talk, it's championship Sunday. Let's talk about currently. All right, we got the Super Bowl coming up. Let's talk about Patriots defeating the Broncos. What'd you think of the game?

• 34:48Speaker 04

  Oh, man. Oh, a Patriot Broncos game. I thought, I thought the Broncos should have won the game. I won't lie to you. Yeah, it felt like the Broncos should have won the game. I felt like Houston should have won the game. Houston had some bad bounces that went their way on some straps, strip fumbles and. All that stuff.

• 35:06Speaker 02

  If they recover a couple of them fumbles, Will Campbell, everybody wants to get on him. I give him a couple of sacks. He fell on those two fumbles and saved him.

• 35:13Speaker 04

  And I know nobody tries to play bad, but CJ Stroud just need to give him something, man. He had to give him something and I felt bad for the kid because I liked the kid. But in big moments like that is when you really need to show up. Like everyone talks about Eli Manning's record is 150, 150, whatever it may be. But in the biggest of moments, that cat showed up. He always showed up in the biggest moments and that is the mark of a, of a, of a real like, um, that's how you, you get over the hump and really like get yourself out there is those big moments you rise up. But against Denver, I thought that they should have kicked that field goal, gone up.

• 35:48Speaker 02

  I know, early on, man.

• 35:49Speaker 04

  Early on, take the point.

• 35:50Speaker 02

  You knew it was gonna be a low scoring game, just take it.

• 35:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, but I don't, I don't get these off these coaches now because fourth down now is automatic, go for it more than it's not. And I get analytics, but you gotta feel the team, you gotta feel the situation. You gotta, you know, I gotta back a quarterback and this weather is, weather's awful.

• 36:09Travis Kelce?

  I felt that naked coming from as soon as they thought about, you know what I mean? Cause I believe they called a timeout to think about it.

• 36:15Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 36:16Travis Kelce?

  I, I, I felt it from that point. I'm like, man, they're about to run a little play action boot.

• 36:20Speaker 04

  Yep. And I, and I felt bad for Sean Payton because Sean Payton coached me back in 2000 or something like that. I love Sean. And I talked to him the day before the game, very confident what they were doing. But in playoffs, I felt, I just take the points, man. Take the point, put pressure on, on, on New England, especially on the road to beat you with a great defense like they have.

• 36:39Speaker 02

  And their defense had been playing great up until that point, right? Like it was just like, man.

• 36:43Speaker 04

  And the Patriots defense ain't bad, so you need to take the points that you can freaking get.

• 36:48Travis Kelce?

  When you can, yeah, I hear you.

• 36:49Speaker 04

  And I think Seattle game was great. I mean, that was, that was a great game. The Rams had opportunities that fourth down stop on the, your fourth and goal. Yeah. The muff punt, that really was kind of big turning point of the game, even though the Rams came right down and answered. But I, I'm happy for Sam Darnold.

• 37:06Travis Kelce?

  So happy for that dude, man.

• 37:07Speaker 04

  Yeah, I played in New York. It, it's hard, man. And he comes in here, the third overall pick, doesn't go well, gets beat down mentally, physically. And then five teams in eight years and everyone thinks he's washed and then he goes to Minnesota, plays well last year, but then they get beaten the playoffs and they're like, he's done. This guy can't play. Why Seattle pay him all this money? Well, now you see why.

• 37:27Speaker 02

  I mean, it's been awesome to see the resurgence and to see him answer the critics again. Like you're always rooting for the guys that have been downed out and to answer that.

• 37:35Travis Kelce?

  His ability to take that heat from everybody and still be the calm, cool, collected cat that he is, the confident guy he is in his abilities, man, I'm fucking, I've always been a big fan of his, man. And it's cool to see him finally get it, dog. But I I'm with you. I thought the Broncos had a really, really fucking good chance, even with the backup, uh, Stidham in, man. They could have gone either way for him.

• 37:57Speaker 04

  But what do you feel about the Super Bowl though? What do you two feel about the Super Bowl? Are we allowed to talk about that now since you got to talk about it, Jason? You know, I've learned about this TV deal. You can't give all your speakers out right now. You got to hold some back.

• 38:12Travis Kelce?

  We ain't holding back over here.

• 38:13Speaker 02

  You know, I, I think it's obviously, you know, the Seahawks look like the favorite, right? Their defense has been so good all year round. That offense has been fantastic. Pat's offense has struggled throughout the playoffs. Now they played some unbelievable defenses, right? They played the Chargers. They played, uh, the Houston Texans, then they've just played the, uh, Broncos. They're going to get another test with the Seahawks who have another amazing defense.

• 38:35Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 38:35Speaker 02

  I don't know that people are giving New England's defense, including myself, enough credit. Like I thought the Broncos, I was like, I don't think the Patriots are going to move the ball on, um, on the Broncos. But I didn't really think about as much as like this, this New England defense, the last really three, four weeks is playing really good football.

• 38:54Speaker 04

  Well.

• 38:55Speaker 02

  The way they're blitzing, they're doing a good job of mixing, mixing up these max pressures and these zone drops and simulated pressures. And I just think they're doing a great job as a, as an entire unit right now. So if I'm picking, I'm going Seattle, but I, I'm looking forward to a good game. What do you think?

• 39:10Speaker 04

  Well, I, I mean, Travis, you're, you're still planned officially, so you can't say nothing. Okay.

• 39:14Travis Kelce?

  I can't say any, I, I'll say this, I'm, I'm at least interested in, in the, the big matchup on the, outside the numbers. Now that's gonna be a fun fucking matchup right there. Two young, up and coming, get both of them at the top of their game right now. I'm excited for that matchup.

• 39:29Speaker 04

  You know what's so funny, man, was we're watching a game and JSN gets catches a touchdown. He's just catching balls, converting, doing all these things. And we're like, he doesn't even look like he's working. How he's like, Michael, it doesn't look like he's working. So he catches that touchdown wide open. And I'm like, how in the world, if you're gonna cover anybody, that's the dude. How's he get open? And you know what Howie said to me? He goes, that's the same thing we say about Kelsey.

• 39:57Speaker 04

  I said, everybody know he's gonna get the ball. How the hell he get open? And I think I said that to you.

• 40:06Speaker 04

  I gotta help. But it's, it's, it's gonna be, that's gonna be a great matchup, man. It really is. I, I think Seattle had the edge. I feel like they're just, they're physically a dominant team. And Leonard Williams, these guys, I, I don't think it's gonna be a cakewalk because we all know from our win against the Patriots, one game, football's not like the other sports. We get the best of. If you don't show what you're best at one day, it's a rap. So I don't think, I feel like Seattle, but anything can happen, of course.

• 40:33Travis Kelce?

  Right there with you, dog.

• 40:34Speaker 02

  Let me ask you this. A lot of people complained about that Broncos game this past week because of the weather. Where do you stand on snow games?

• 40:41Speaker 04

  It's fun. What are you talking about?

• 40:42Travis Kelce?

  Are you kidding me?

• 40:48Speaker 04

  You know what? I was like, man, when you hit somebody, you just slide.

• 40:54Speaker 04

  Now, now, if you were to ask me, how is it to be like 25 degrees and raining? Uh, that's when I'm out there looking going, oh, when is this over?

• 41:04Travis Kelce?

  Cold rain is different than snow. That's a good point.

• 41:06Speaker 04

  Well, I prefer to, I prefer, I love, I love snow. I love rain, warm rain. Probably my favorite thing of all.

• 41:11Speaker 02

  Oh, interesting. I like sitting outside in the rain. I don't know why I just said that.

• 41:16Speaker 02

  Let's go. All right.

• 41:18Speaker 04

  Are you like in the rain or you were covered?

• 41:21Speaker 02

  No, I like being undercover.

• 41:22Travis Kelce?

  Garage open.

• 41:24Speaker 02

  Smell of rain.

• 41:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, I like that. I thought you just walking out there with sitting in the rain.

• 41:31Speaker 04

  I'm like, it seems like it's something that just needs a little deeper discussion.

• 41:37Speaker 04

  In a private setting with somebody called a therapist.

• 41:42Travis Kelce?

  That's too good, man. All right, let's throw it back to when you were in the Super Bowl, man. Did the 2007 Giants have the hardest path to the Super Bowl ever?

• 41:50Speaker 04

  Ever?

• 41:51Travis Kelce?

  Yeah.

• 41:52Speaker 04

  Yeah. Yeah. You know what? I probably would say, yeah. I mean, we were, we were a six seed. We had to go to Tampa. Wasn't too worried about Tampa.

• 41:59Travis Kelce?

  Had to go through John Gruden and the Bucks.

• 42:02Speaker 04

  Then once we went to Dallas, I ain't gonna lie to you, all my stomp you out speeches, if you look chronologically, chronologically, I was like, stomp them out, dude, they're talking all kinds of crazy. We got to Dallas, I'm like, yo, it's been a pleasure playing with you guys. Cause in my head, I'm like, this could be it. This could be it. 15 years, I'm done with nothing. And um, so that they, cause they were stacked, man. And then we go to Green Bay and you're in Green Bay and all your, it's like the history, the history, the history. They're like brainwashing you on TV and you're sitting in your hotel room. And it was so cold that you had a cup of water, warm water, and you threw it up and it just turned into like, like dust.

• 42:42Speaker 04

  That was so cold, man. But yeah, well, I think we had the toughest road. And then we played the only team, I mean, they were undefeated, 18 and 0. And they had a, a group of all-stars. We just produced this documentary on our 2007 Super Bowl team. That's coming, that's coming out. And I was watching a cut the other day and I was watching with a friend of mine, he go, Randy Voss, Tom Brady, Bruski, Sayow, Rodney Hare, he just started naming all these guys. And I'm like, eh, yeah, this team had, they were beyond that.

• 43:18Travis Kelce?

  And they were undefeated, yeah.

• 43:19Speaker 04

  Yeah, they were beyond. So yeah, I think we had the hardest path and thank God we won so I could retire.

• 43:25Travis Kelce?

  Went out on top, baby.

• 43:26Speaker 02

  What's the thing you remember most? From the run.

• 43:28Speaker 04

  When we bonded as a team, like we went to London, we went to London to play the Dolphins. And um, the we they were they hadn't won a game. I think they lost every game that year. And we were like, we can't be the team they beat, especially overseas. So we go to London, we end up beating the Dolphins and I hosted, I I like set up a party. Cause you know, I was the oldest guy there. I wanted the old guy, but I wanted to make sure I look out for the young guy. That to me, the best way, make sure we're all together. Like not this guy, we ain't a guy over there, especially in Europe. Half these guys never been out of wherever the heck they were born. So um, we had the best after party. Placico birds like Mike, why we had more that much fun since college? Like hell, guys slam dancing, next thing you know, shirts are off.

• 44:12Speaker 04

  If you would have walked in, if you would have walked in there at the wrong time, you probably would have thought it was some other kind of party. Cause he catch them naked, basically running.

• 44:20Speaker 04

  Y'all getting a little too hype up in here, but we had the best time. But it was just like that bonding and it got to the point of where we just didn't want to let each other down. I think we won because we didn't want to let each other down and disappoint each other. And we just weren't ready to go home. You know what I'm saying? We're not ready for this brotherhood to end. Yeah, when Tyree caught the ball off the helmet, even before they threw the touchdown to Placico. I realized we were gonna win the game because I'm like, there's no way you catch like that and the story doesn't have a great ending.

• 44:50Travis Kelce?

  I hear you on that, man. It just feels like it's so right.

• 44:53Speaker 02

  Did you guys think any type of way when you heard that Romo went on vacation?

• 44:56Speaker 04

  Oh, no.

• 44:57Speaker 02

  Was there any discussions now?

• 44:58Speaker 04

  No, I think I think what what got us, and it's in the doc. Jerry gave the team, each player their two tickets to the next game, NFC championship game. He had already given those guys their tickets to the NFC championship game like, oh, the Giants are pretty are done.

• 45:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:15Speaker 04

  So here are your tickets already. So we made sure that those tickets were invalid.

• 45:21Travis Kelce?

  Little bullets of board material for you.

• 45:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, exactly.

• 45:26Travis Kelce?

  Let's keep it in the Giants world. What do you think of the Harbaugh hire?

• 45:29Speaker 04

  I love it. I love it. You know, I think it brings credibility, accountability and accountability to the team. I just love the fact that he's an established coach. I think the second he walks in the door, he's getting respect.

• 45:40Travis Kelce?

  Immediately.

• 45:41Speaker 04

  I think he has a nice young nucleus of players. Dart, I think, could be good. Just got to teach him to get the hell down and stop taking hits. Scataboo. Scataboo, I thought, would probably get knocked out before he got hurt in the way he got hurt. I'm like, you can't run like this and have a long career. You have to learn to pick your battles. And then once you get neighbors back.

• 46:01Travis Kelce?

  A guy like that, you know that. You can't knock a guy out like he's just unknockoutable. You get in a fight with him, you just got to leave the fight.

• 46:09Speaker 04

  If he was knocked out, we would just never know.

• 46:11Travis Kelce?

  We'd never know.

• 46:13Speaker 04

  We want to know, dude.

• 46:16Travis Kelce?

  You ask him what day it is before a concussion, he doesn't know.

• 46:18Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 46:22Speaker 02

  No, that's how he is always. Don't worry about it.

• 46:24Travis Kelce?

  Every day is Sunday. He says this all the time. Every day is Sunday.

• 46:28Speaker 04

  But I love it that he brought a lot of energy. He and Dart brought a lot of energy, a lot of swag for these young guys. We haven't had that with the Giants. It's always been like conservative type stuff. But I love, we got a good defensive nucleus, I think, and just some pieces here and there. But I love Powerball because of the credibility, man, the respect that he's going to demand. And accountability because can't get away with some of that stuff. I think some of the guys were getting away with from what I've heard over there. I think he's going to make guys more accountable for their actions and make sure that they focus on playing the game of football, which is what it's all about. That's how you make your living. Focus on it.

• 47:00Speaker 02

  That's right. That's right. Heck, yeah. I got to ask you, this Super Bowl coming up, is there anybody in the game on the trenches that you're looking forward to watching? Who are the guys you're like, man, I love watching these guys play?

• 47:13Speaker 04

  I love watching Leonard Williams. I love watching Leonard, who was with the Giants. We see like we have great players, then when we let them go, they go on to be all world.

• 47:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 47:23Speaker 04

  I'm a litter.

• 47:25Speaker 02

  Everybody in Philadelphia knew how good Leonard Williams, I can tell you that.

• 47:28Speaker 04

  I thought you were gonna say Saquon, I was about to just slap.

• 47:31Speaker 02

  Well, that one too, that one too, but.

• 47:34Speaker 04

  But Leonard is a beast of a player, so I love watching Leonard. I just like watching, I like watching D-line battles. Cause you know, that's what those trenches is where I lived. So anytime I see a quarterback back there just bouncing up and down, no pressure, I'm pissed. I ain't gonna lie to you. I'm so pissed. I'm like, dude. And when I see guys running there and just go straight into a guy and they just hold on to each other and dance, I'm pissed. Like dude, look like you're trying to get there. You don't have to get a sack, but pressure, you make, just making them feel your presence could be a disruptor. And there are times, man, I wake up and I'm like, I one time, I ain't gonna lie to you, about two years ago, maybe even less, like, man, screw this, I'm coming back, man.

• 48:17Speaker 02

  No, no way.

• 48:18Speaker 04

  River's decided.

• 48:21Speaker 04

  My body feels good and ain't really no surgeries, no that and I'm good.

• 48:26Travis Kelce?

  You could get, you could give them a four, a good four or five games, huh?

• 48:29Speaker 04

  Well.

• 48:30Travis Kelce?

  Just a quick four or five?

• 48:31Speaker 04

  I did one workout and I changed my mind.

• 48:37Speaker 04

  It made me realize, oh, hell no, that ain't happening. I'm past my, that's done. Nope. Now I just, I tell Google me, Google me.

• 48:45Travis Kelce?

  There you go, yeah.

• 48:46Speaker 04

  Go on YouTube, look it up.

• 48:48Speaker 02

  As an all time great pass rusher, what would you say if somebody was gonna say like, how do, how do you rush a passer? What's the art? What are your like keys to getting after a quarterback, to beating the offensive tackle?

• 49:00Speaker 04

  I always tell people, pass rushing is about athletic ability and, and all it is, but it's about, it's like, it's like chess to me. That's why I love doing it. Is I was known as a bull rusher. You go back and watch me and John Runyon, it was like.

• 49:14Speaker 02

  Bro, I have seen those clipped over and over again.

• 49:18Speaker 04

  Yeah, but I had to have strategy against him because that was the strongest.

• 49:24Speaker 04

  Once he put them hands on you, I might as well just stay there until the next play. But I, I, I learned like, you know, and I used to do it to everybody. I know when you watch film and I self scout. Like I watch myself to see, but I know guys expect me to bull rush. So you know what I do? Bull rush the shit out of you. First three rush, the first three rushes up the field, first step, second step, plant, turn, head in the chest, lock out and, and don't stop your feet. Don't press and then start a run. Nope. Right through you the whole way. I don't even want to sack. I just want to make you hop and get back in your quarterback's face. And then after I do that, I'll look at you and go, hey, a little bit stronger than it looks on tape, huh?

• 50:05Speaker 04

  You knew it was coming and you couldn't stop it. So I hit you with that three, four times. I ain't worried about a sack at that point. Then big down comes up, I run up, plant, give you that same look. If you're a big dude, you don't want to get pushed back. So you squat and you lean and then I chop you, come across the out round, then I beat you, I make the play. And then in your head, you're like, oh my God, push me back. He beat me to the outside. Next time I come up, I give you that fake power to outside move. Then I give you a power, then I give you another fake outside and power to outside move. And then need another big play, give you the fake power to outside, make you think I'm going outside and club you come inside.

• 50:46Speaker 04

  Now I beat you straight over you. I beat you outside. I beat you inside and then I look in your eye and I see you don't want no more. You don't know what's coming. That was to me the strategy and the psychology of football, but I didn't talk much and let you talk to me. Oh, and that reminds me, Greg Olson play. I do remember that play. Oh, oh, Olin Cruz, the center.

• 51:07Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 51:08Speaker 04

  He had pissed me off.

• 51:11Speaker 04

  He pissed me off. He had pissed me off. I remember that.

• 51:15Speaker 02

  Cut you, he cut you on the TV or something like that?

• 51:17Speaker 04

  He did something and he was talking and I took out on Greg. I do remember.

• 51:23Travis Kelce?

  You gotta know who you're talking shit to, man.

• 51:25Speaker 04

  Yeah. He was a great player, the Olin, great player.

• 51:27Travis Kelce?

  Now that we're talking a little D-line, O-line, you brought up Runyon, uh, Cam Jordan, uh, one of my favorites, uh, to ever go up against, man. Recently just said that offensive linemen aren't athletic. What's your opinion on that take?

• 51:41Speaker 04

  If they weren't athletic, I love Cam, by the way. This is not a. He's one of the greats. He had a hell of a long career, but if they weren't that athletic, Cam would be like Deacon Jones that had a hundred sacks in a year.

• 51:55Speaker 04

  First of all, and I wish people at home who really love the game could get a chance to come down and watch like some plays from the sideline to see how big, strong, and fast these big dudes are. And footwork, I mean, these dudes are athletes.

• 52:11Travis Kelce?

  Jordan Mulatto, you want to talk about Google somebody, Google Jordan Mulatto back when he was playing rugby.

• 52:16Speaker 04

  And you know, so funny between Jordan and Lane, we do a lot of Eagles games, obviously, and in person, and I always look at Howie and I say, yeah, man, I wish I got that, I give him a run for that money. Howie looks at me, he's like, Michael, in my mind, I would give him a run for their money. But then I watched him abuse everybody else, but I'm different.

• 52:36Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 52:37Speaker 04

  Nah, dude, you know what's so funny? I literally laugh. I don't remember, like, I know I play football and all that stuff and accolades and you guys bring that stuff up. But it's so funny that it's very hard for me to even consider myself to even be like a great football player or, you know, people go, oh, you're a legend, you know, Hall of Fame. It's like, yeah, it's kind of weird to me because I played for respect. That's all I, you know, and I guess the respect comes from those type of things. But I did, you know, I played when you're young, you play, you're like, okay, I want to be respected, but I want to make some money. Yeah. But then after a while, you realize making money

• 53:18Speaker 04

  is not enough to keep you playing a game that's so hard. And it's great, but I wanted respect. I wanted that and I got that, but it still feels weird to me for all that stuff. I don't know. It feels, I feel uncomfortable with it, man. It's weird.

• 53:35Travis Kelce?

  You got the respect out of everyone. And I think that's the reason you've got all, yeah, they're showing you that respect by telling you you're one of the greatest to ever play, man.

• 53:43Speaker 04

  Well, I appreciate that. And me saying that, and I feel like I need one of those therapy sessions when Jason's done with his, I'm up next.

• 53:50Travis Kelce?

  Straight, you got it figured out. You already know, you got it all figured out, baby. It's been fun to, it's been fun to not only watch you dominate in the NFL, but dominate the afterlife of NFL, man. And you paved the Way for a lot of us in that regard too and gain that respect for a lot of NFL guys trying to trying to kind of walk that path after the after the game's over for him.

• 54:10Speaker 04

  Well, I appreciate it and I gotta say, Jason, you're doing a great job with it and and you know, Travis, I'm not even gonna get into what you're gonna do, but you're gonna be great as well. You're both are great with this podcast, which is which is incredible. And, um, you know, and and the one thing that I know and everybody tried to give everybody advice, and I'm not trying to give you advice here, but

• 54:31Travis Kelce?

  I'm taking all the advice from you, Trey, you know that.

• 54:33Speaker 04

  At some point, you never put on another helmet, you never put on another pair of shoulder pads, you never slide those pants on with the knee pads and thigh pads, you never tape your wrist again. It's final. There is no big three in the NFL, you know, there is no other league. So, um, I realized for me after 15 years, I'd done everything. There was no way that I was gonna cry at a press conference in my retirement because I knew I put everything I had into it. And as long as you know that's final, you'll never do it again, then great. That's how I looked at my career and everything that came after is kind of, I'm gonna say, kind of happened on accident from working hard and enjoying what I'm doing and just having fun,

• 55:15Speaker 04

  good things seem to happen. But, um, but yeah, man, it's, um, you guys are crushing it and everything that you do. I'm happy you invited me on to do this because I've been watching all these podcasts going, damn, when when do I get it?

• 55:28Travis Kelce?

  Come on now, come on now.

• 55:30Speaker 04

  You've been at the top of this. I gotta say, one more thing I gotta say, though, for people out there watching about character. Okay, both of you have character. You're raised right. Okay. And and Jason, every time I see you, you've been the nicest, your wife and everything that you guys, you've always been great. And and Travis, you may not remember, and you you probably do remember, but it said a lot to me and I tell a guy I was talking to highway about this with you the other day, is I was at the airport and I get out the car. And you come coming across the you got out of your car, you already in to come over and say what's up, which I didn't even know you were there. And most people sit in that car and be like, nah, man, let it go.

• 56:10Speaker 04

  But it's like little things like that show character and I always appreciate it. Appreciated that um from for both of you guys, man. And like little things like that, you think nobody's really paying attention to really mean a lot to a lot of people. And uh, you know, I'm always here for you guys. If you guys ever need anything. And I don't, I'm not saying that like we done podcast, so let's keep on going. Sorry.

• 56:32Travis Kelce?

  No, no, no, no, I appreciate that. And I still gotta take you up for some of that golf down there in Florida, man.

• 56:37Speaker 04

  Man, you know I got you.

• 56:38Travis Kelce?

  And you know, I remember that, right? I haven't forgotten any of that.

• 56:42Speaker 04

  Florida, Bahamas, I got your coat.

• 56:45Travis Kelce?

  There we go. You were kind of talking on the retirement talk and obviously I'm juggling it uh all right now. Did you know going in, it sounds like you kind of knew going into that 2007 season, that was the last hurrah?

• 56:55Speaker 04

  Um, I kind of felt like it, but I I will say had we lost to the Patriots, I really would have strongly considered coming back. I really would have because it's been like, man, this close, almost like I gotta get one more run. And I'm glad, I'm glad, trust me, I'm glad we won because that was kind of like, okay, what else am I trying to prove? My body feels good. I've won every individual award. Now I've won the ultimate award, which is the Super Bowl with my team. So there's nothing else for me to accomplish. And I had a deal already signed with Fox. Just had the deal in the drawer and nobody knew about it. So yeah, so I knew I had a gig after that. And so it it I was able to kind of ride out to the sunset on my own terms, which is very hard because most people um,

• 57:40Speaker 04

  they don't get to end their careers the way they want to end it. So whenever you have that opportunity, man, um, you're blessed. And so I realized I didn't want to stick around and be on the team and I had my heart wholeheartedly into the game. And just stick around for what a paycheck, stick around for one of these young guys and go, hey, I remember when you used to be. And I'm like, shit, I'm still here. What you talking about used to be?

• 58:04Speaker 04

  So, so yeah, man, I kind of went into it with the idea that that that was gonna be it. And I also went to the attitude that I don't care about a pro bowl. I don't care about sacks. I don't care about nothing. I just want to have fun with the guys for once.

• 58:17Travis Kelce?

  How about it, man?

• 58:18Speaker 04

  Cause all the, a lot of the other years, man, the other 14, I'm so worried about winning.

• 58:22Travis Kelce?

  Goal driven, yeah.

• 58:23Speaker 04

  If guys are on their, on their game and I started saying, hey, we're all grown. You gotta be on your game. I could motivate in every way I can, but guys are gonna have to show up on their own and they did. Thank God.

• 58:33Speaker 02

  You mentioned you already had the Fox deal inked. At what point did you know you were gonna go into broadcasting?

• 58:37Speaker 04

  Ah, man. You know, I started just doing stuff cause it was fun.

• 58:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 58:42Speaker 04

  Yeah, I was with you. Hey, Mike, you wanna do this? And back then they had a show called Best Damn Sports Show, period.

• 58:47Travis Kelce?

  Come on, yeah. Come on, yeah.

• 58:50Speaker 04

  That was an incredible, like, breeding ground to, like, get your, your, your feet wet. Television. And so I would go on it on a bye week. I would go and host a week of it. I tried to deal my last year or so where every Monday I would go sit in front of a camera and I would have to do the show every Monday, win or lose, always showed up. Cause you know, I signed up to do it. You show up regardless, but doing that show kinda gave me a vibe for broadcasting. Let me know I could, I would like it. I did a Super Bowl for ESPN when I was still playing, ABC. I did CBS, I did Fox, I did all the networks. And I didn't really know guys made a good living doing it, to be honest with you.

• 59:30Speaker 04

  I thought football was like, man, this is, this is the best, well, opportunity I'll ever have. That's the opportunity I ever have. And so broadcasting was never on my forefront of my life and I'm, I'm very much like this. When I'm in something, you get everything from me. It's my primary. All the other secondary stuff, I, I, and, and I'll make it work, but I'm not affecting my primary gig. So broadcasting was just a secondary to me. And I, I think I got a call from one of these network executives who asked me to go to breakfast with him. So I meet him at breakfast and the first thing out of his mouth was, how much longer do you wanna play football? And I was talking about it. And that let me know, damn, they're looking at me to actually have a job and I'm done playing, commentating and. I went to Fox out of all the networks because it was the most fun.

• 1:00:15Speaker 04

  It was the most fun and it's like I hang out with my teammates and we laugh and we joke and we had more fun off camera as much as we more than we have on camera, which we have a ton on camera. It's it's more about personalities and um and to be honest with you, we don't. It's entertainment, you know?

• 1:00:34Speaker 02

  Right, for sure.

• 1:00:35Speaker 04

  People sit in meetings all week. You want to watch the football show if like you watch another meeting? Or you want to?

• 1:00:39Travis Kelce?

  You're gonna make it fun, man.

• 1:00:41Speaker 04

  You want to have fun with. So that's why I ended up with Fox, but I realized probably my last two years in the league. That there was an opportunity for me outside of the game, but forget about sport and all the other stuff after that, I had no clue.

• 1:00:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's what's dude, that's what's really the most eye opening is how much you've done in TV. Like you start, you're doing the Fox and all that. You do morning shows, you got game shows like what is your faith? What brings you the most joy that you do on television?

• 1:01:08Speaker 04

  Football.

• 1:01:09Speaker 02

  Still?

• 1:01:09Speaker 04

  Not to whatever changed that. Nothing.

• 1:01:11Speaker 02

  I love it.

• 1:01:12Speaker 04

  And you don't get me wrong, like I love doing the news. I love, I love it. I it's so, you know what? Because it keeps me interested in the world. It keeps me engaged with so many things that are going on and keeps me very aware of what's going on, which I think is important. Uh, and I get to talk to interesting people. I get to travel the world to do interesting stories. Uh, so that part I love. Uh, I love the game show was great. Um, and but we shoot a whole season in a week or two.

• 1:01:39Speaker 02

  That's what's crazy about that stuff.

• 1:01:41Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:01:41Travis Kelce?

  It's rapid fire, man.

• 1:01:43Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:01:43Speaker 02

  And you and Travis know, because I was telling Travis, I watch your show. You're great.

• 1:01:48Travis Kelce?

  I dove in a little bit, man. You already know, those shows can get crazy, man. And it's I got more comfortable as it went on, but um, that's a different world that uh, that you know, I have fun with and I and I'm sure you did too, man. But um, I think, I think I'm right there with you, man. There's just something about talking about football and being around the game and given, given the expertise that you've gathered over, over the years.

• 1:02:09Speaker 02

  It's also this, and I want to, I, I, I'm sure you would back this up, Mike, but. One of the things you miss most about playing is just being around the guys. Like nothing replaces being around football players. I don't know why it is you miss that locker room. Like, like that's the thing that you miss most about the game, or at least that's what I do. And once you're back on a set talking ball, it's not even that you're, it's kind of talk of ball, but it's also just being around like minded guys that think about the game the same way. The sense of humor is the same and you get flashback to that, you know, sitting at the cafeteria table, making fun of, you know, whoever it is or talking about, do you see what that guy did last week? I don't know.

• 1:02:48Speaker 04

  Oh, we're on a group chat. I don't want to show you.

• 1:02:52Speaker 04

  I don't want to show you what they already said since we ended on Sunday, but

• 1:03:00Speaker 04

  we're on a group chat and we've got to talk year round. Even Jimmy's still involved on it because he's part of the history of the show. And the crazy thing is there is no age gap when we're all together. You know what I mean? Jimmy is 80 something, Terry is 70 something.

• 1:03:16Travis Kelce?

  And you feel that when you're watching it. You do. You really do feel that.

• 1:03:20Speaker 04

  There's no age gap that we can make fun of each other and we play off each other, but we respect each other. And everybody has accomplished more in their life and in football and in sports than we ever imagined. So this is like gravy and we're so grateful and there's no, no attitude. There's no anything about any individual. We're very much about our team and about, you know, loving each other and making sure we each are, all of us are, are taken care of and validated and happy. And, and I think that's a big part of why our show works. And, um, you know, but I, you had a group chat and all the other stuff. And I found like the older guys, Terry, Jimmy, they're the least mature of all of us. They're their age, man. When we be back in the green room, they be saying some stuff you going, dude, you can't. That guy didn't say that on air.

• 1:04:06Speaker 02

  Don't say that with the mic on.

• 1:04:10Travis Kelce?

  They grew up in a different era.

• 1:04:11Speaker 04

  Yeah, exactly. Well, there's the end of Fox NFL Sunday.

• 1:04:16Travis Kelce?

  I gotta ask you, you talked about the Fox family, the addition of Robert Gronkowski. Gronk joined the Fox family not too long ago, man. You gotta tell me what it's like working with Gronk, man.

• 1:04:26Speaker 04

  You know what I always say, and it's kind of like Terry. People think that Terry Bradshaw is this crazy, Terry's one of the smartest people I know. I said, Terry, you, you've done better in your life playing the dumb guy than anybody I've ever met.

• 1:04:39Speaker 04

  Terry's a brilliantly smart guy and then the businesses, the horse business, all these other things that he does. And, and I think I feel the same about Gronk. Gronk is incredibly, first of all, he's probably the sweetest human being on the planet. The dude is like one of the nicest human beings. And one thing I, I realized from my experience of coming in the Fox after they've been on the air for 20 years or whatever, 18, 19 years without having anybody else come in. And here I show up. It's intimidating because you're looking at guys that you watched, that you were a kid and you admired who are now you're sitting next to them. But it's tough fitting in. And Gronk has done an incredible job of fitting in, first of all. And secondly, I think that Gronk has done a great job of fighting his lane. Cause that's the hard part. But you've

• 1:05:23Speaker 04

  got personalities where established, what's your lane? This is my lane. That's your lane. But he's getting more, and I love he get more comfortable because he's still not quite comfortable. And I don't blame him. But he gained more comfortable. And I always tell him sometime, dude, don't wait for us to wait for the jump in. You've got something to say, just jump in. We're like very casual. Guys will shut up and let you have your take. No one's worried about you getting more words than the next guy. We don't do word count here. It's like, we just want you to be comfortable and happy because you're helping the show. And um, yeah, Gronk, I love it. We flew back to New York together and uh, on Monday, yesterday. Just a salt of the earth human being, man. I love working with him.

• 1:06:00Speaker 02

  That was Bold Topics brought to you by Intuit TurboTax.

• 1:06:05Travis Kelce?

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• 1:06:08Speaker 02

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• 1:06:12Travis Kelce?

  That's right. Not checking your tee time before heading to the golf course? Not smart.

• 1:06:17Speaker 02

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• 1:06:26Travis Kelce?

  Ooh, that's the worst. Missing the first hole, two off the tee. You don't get two off the tee in the second hole. Yeah, checking first is smart. So checking Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds? Really smart. You're in good hands with Allstate.

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• 1:06:49Travis Kelce?

  Ever notice how quickly people want answers these days?

• 1:06:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:06:55Travis Kelce?

  Right.

• 1:06:56Speaker 02

  It's all shortcuts, I guess, huh? But the best solutions don't come from taking the easy way out.

• 1:07:01Travis Kelce?

  No, no, no. While other AI gives you fast answers and keeps you scrolling, Claude's built for the people who want to work through the complexity.

• 1:07:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, like tackling the hard problems and the why behind the answers they're searching for.

• 1:07:15Travis Kelce?

  Man, I tell you, this is right up my alley. It's for the people who are up at 2 AM because they can't stop thinking about something until they solve it, not just checking a box and going about their day, you know?

• 1:07:28Speaker 02

  That's right. Well, whether it's building something with purpose, diving deep on a complex decision or feeding genuine curiosity about understanding something, Claude's built to expand your thinking, not rush you past it.

• 1:07:40Travis Kelce?

  Breakthroughs versus shortcuts. That actually makes sense.

• 1:07:45Speaker 02

  Check out claude.ai/newheights for problem solvers who keep thinking. Thank you to our partner Liquid IV.

• 1:07:53Travis Kelce?

  As two guys that have been there, we know that hydration is crucial when you're getting ready for the big game.

• 1:08:00Speaker 02

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• 1:08:06Travis Kelce?

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• 1:08:19Speaker 02

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• 1:08:26Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, there is. No matter what you choose, it'll hit the spot.

• 1:08:30Speaker 02

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• 1:08:36Travis Kelce?

  And don't be scared to go big. Orders over $90 get a free limited edition Liquid IV Tailgate Kit while supplies last.

• 1:08:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, baby. Tear, pour, live more. Head to liquid-iv.com and get 20% off your first order with code NEWHEIGHTS at checkout.

• 1:08:53Travis Kelce?

  All right, Stray, before we get you out of here, we always end our conversations with a little segment called "We Gotta Ask," but you don't have to answer, you can just tell us to fuck off, but "We Gotta Ask" is brought to you by Allstate.

• 1:09:06Speaker 04

  Oh, boy, you do not have to answer?

• 1:09:08Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, you can tell us to fuck off.

• 1:09:09Speaker 04

  I'll be honest with you, it's kind of hard, kind of hard not to answer, though. I kind of, I kind of like skating on the edge, man.

• 1:09:15Travis Kelce?

  There we go.

• 1:09:16Speaker 04

  All right, here we go.

• 1:09:17Travis Kelce?

  We'll talk about skating on the edge of the atmosphere. What was it like going to space?

• 1:09:21Speaker 04

  Amazing, dude. Crazy, because the whole thing was like 12 minutes, boop, boop, felt like hours.

• 1:09:26Travis Kelce?

  What? Really?

• 1:09:27Speaker 04

  To be in the light and you're looking up at space, looking at the darkness up there, and then the rocket starts taking off, and it's not like Apollo 13 movie with Tom Hanks. It's kind of, it's just gradual, like a gradual push, and you're looking at your little screen, because these seats have a little screen, tells you the altitude, the speed, you're like, oh, 40,000 feet, I've been in a plane. Then you're looking down, then you look back, it's like, you're 200,000 feet, you're 2,000 miles per hour, something crazy, and you're going, oh, my God, this is real. And the design of the ship is amazing. When it goes up, it's designed to twist, so you don't have to turn your head, just look out your own window, and you get to see the full 360, because there's an emergency booster in the middle, so you got to keep your

• 1:10:12Speaker 04

  head back, because something happens, and that shoots you off, that shoots you off at nine Gs. When you're going up, there's like three and a half. Yeah.

• 1:10:23Speaker 04

  Like your Top Gun or something. But the gradual push up is like three and a half Gs, I want to say, coming down, it's like five Gs. But when you get up there, and they release the main rocket from the capsule, and it go poof, and then you realize, oh, my God, my arms are flowing. And then the lights go off, you can undo your belt, put your belt up, and you, but you push as hard as you two, your two fingers, like holding the cell phone, like that kind of pressure. And then, I'm doing flips, man. My, my big ass has never done a flip, I haven't done a flip since I was a kid.

• 1:10:54Speaker 04

  I'm doing like flips, we had a little mini football, you do like that, and it just go. It doesn't, none of it, it's just, and blowing in one's face and doing like the cartoons where you're flapping, does nothing. You'll just sit in one spot. And then, um, it's just amazing to float around. You're looking back at Earth and it's like you're watching when you leave your, um, your, your, your Apple TV on too long.

• 1:11:16Speaker 04

  And it was literally you, I wonder the best parts with Sean was kind of creepy is that you have to come to terms with death.

• 1:11:26Speaker 02

  Oh, wow.

• 1:11:26Speaker 04

  And by that, I mean, before you take off, you become so relaxed and free. Best way to put it. You just come so free. If it's God's will, this is what it is. This is how I go. And believe me though, I was happy to come back. But, but everybody on the ground was crying and stuff for my mom. My mom was like, your dad did worse. He was jumping out of planes all the time.

• 1:11:53Speaker 04

  Paratrooper. I'm like, well, damn, mom, you know what? Come on. But everybody else was crying, but all of us on there were just so happy, man. So filled with joy. And it was, it was, um, it was one of the best things I've ever done in my life without a doubt.

• 1:12:09Speaker 02

  Wow. That is incredible.

• 1:12:10Travis Kelce?

  That's what I wanted to hear, baby.

• 1:12:12Speaker 04

  And that was a long explanation, but I.

• 1:12:14Travis Kelce?

  No, I loved every second of it, man. I'm so in.

• 1:12:16Speaker 04

  I tell you, you would love it. They do an incredible job from start to finish. And, um, I, I would highly recommend it. If you get the opportunity to do it, I would jump on it in a heartbeat. It's life changing. In a lot of ways, it makes you realize how insignificant you are on this in the world. But it also makes you realize how important you are to the people that matter the most to you because I'm on there thinking about my family and like, I'm not ready to leave them and they're not ready for me to leave either. Like it really puts a lot of things in perspective.

• 1:12:48Travis Kelce?

  That is beautiful, man.

• 1:12:49Speaker 02

  You've done so much, Mike. What's next? What is the next thing for Michael Strahan?

• 1:12:54Speaker 04

  A retirement.

• 1:12:57Speaker 04

  Like full, just all around.

• 1:12:58Speaker 02

  Nah, man.

• 1:12:59Speaker 04

  I don't.

• 1:13:00Speaker 02

  What are you talking about?

• 1:13:01Speaker 04

  Come on now.

• 1:13:02Speaker 02

  There's no way.

• 1:13:04Speaker 04

  You know what? Yeah, there is a way at some point, some, some, some, some point, man. You know what it is? I love Fox. I absolutely love that. But I just wanna, he works so much and then I wanna go here, I wanna go there and I can't do a lot of things because I got these commitments and schedule stuff. And I, I think at some point I have to look at time lived and time left.

• 1:13:26Speaker 02

  I got you.

• 1:13:26Speaker 04

  You know?

• 1:13:27Speaker 02

  I hear you.

• 1:13:27Speaker 04

  And you guys are young, man. Y'all, y'all, y'all enjoy. You got more time ahead of you than behind you. I got more time behind me than ahead of me. So I'm starting to look more in that vein of life. And I'm not just gonna completely disappear. But another thing is I love business and I got a lot of other businesses that I do. And I'm, and those things interest me like football did because I had, had to learn them. Like I had to learn football later. And I love doing those things and I, I think I could get a lot of, you know, validation or out of just, you know, not, not feeling completely retired and doing nothing. But that gives me enough and on top of that, I was still, I, I'd do Fox until they throw me off of Fox.

• 1:14:10Speaker 04

  Man, I don't wanna be 80 years old on Fox, but you know, I stick around a little bit longer.

• 1:14:14Travis Kelce?

  You got some fun stuff coming up on, on, with Smack Entertainment, right? You guys got some docu-series coming, coming out, right?

• 1:14:21Speaker 04

  Yeah, we got a docu-series coming out, Coach Vic. And this is the second one we did with, with Mike. Cause Mike, we did the evolution of the black quarterback with Vic.

• 1:14:29Speaker 02

  Yup.

• 1:14:30Speaker 04

  And which, which Andy Reid, your coach, played a big part in that doc because think about the quarterbacks. He, McNabb, Vic, all these guys that he really brought in and gave a chance. When other people probably wouldn't have. So he's been very instrumental in that. So that, um, document, I mean, that, that, and now we have Coach Vic and his, his, his, his foray into coaching at Norfolk State.

• 1:14:52Speaker 02

  Norfolk State, baby. Him and Deshaun Jackson going at it right there. Two former Eagle greats.

• 1:14:57Speaker 04

  I came down for GMA and I was at the stadium and we had both of them there because they were doing the game there and at the link. And I'm like, um, I felt out of place in Philly, man. All that Eagle stuff.

• 1:15:10Speaker 04

  I'm like, we could have done this at a neutral site. Don't bring me over here to interview these guys like this.

• 1:15:17Speaker 04

  But yeah, so we got, we got, um, Coach Vic coming up. We also, we have a movie coming out too. I'm going to screen it, uh, right after we get done here and, and that one is about John Madden. We did the documentary on the Madden video game, Don.

• 1:15:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:15:31Travis Kelce?

  Oh, man.

• 1:15:32Speaker 04

  And then we did Bill Belichick on the Madden, Madden Cruiser for the Super Bowl in New Orleans. We produced that and now we're doing the Madden movie with David O. Russell directing. Christian Bale plays Al Davis, uh, Nicholas Cage plays John Madden. And so that I'm going to screen now, cause that's coming out.

• 1:15:51Travis Kelce?

  I can't fucking wait, man.

• 1:15:52Speaker 04

  That's gonna be good.

• 1:15:53Travis Kelce?

  That looks awesome, man. That looks so fucking awesome.

• 1:15:56Speaker 04

  It's gonna be incredible.

• 1:15:57Travis Kelce?

  And obviously John Madden is, he's one of the biggest personalities that I, I, I like, uh, he was the world when I was growing up and I can only imagine what it was to actually be like, be in a room with him and, uh, and to enjoy who he was as a person, man.

• 1:16:12Speaker 04

  But you know those pregame meetings? I mean, imagine doing those pregame meetings and you're meeting with John Madden.

• 1:16:17Travis Kelce?

  Yeah, that's crazy.

• 1:16:20Speaker 04

  And then you're at the stadium and that bus is sitting there and you're like, oh my God, John Madden. That was more pressure than freaking John Runyon.

• 1:16:31Speaker 02

  I gotta ask, you, you brought up John a couple of times. I do gotta ask you this. I see the highlights and I see a lot of Michael Strahan highlights. I know you've always given John his credit as being tough, physical, but what was, what was it really like? How, what was it like for Michael Strahan going up against John Runyon?

• 1:16:48Speaker 04

  Tough, easier when he first got there, cause he was in, he was in Tennessee. And then when they brought him to Philly, the whole thing with, oh, we brought him to Philly to stop Strahan, which pissed me off. So I studied John Runyon more than I probably study anybody, anybody. I could tell what he was gonna do before he can do it. Um, I could tell he was gonna fart before he farted. That's how.

• 1:17:09Travis Kelce?

  That's how much John knew that can, right?

• 1:17:12Speaker 04

  But I will say, as we played each other more and more over the years, the tougher it got, the more savvy he got. He and Eric Williams with the Dallas Cowboys was my number one toughest guy. Um, John Runyon and Leon Circe, um, who was the offensive tackle played at Pittsburgh and then at Jacksonville, what he, or two, two A and two B. And so freaking strong and tough and smart. And I love John because John made me a better player. Those, those three I named made me a better player because playing against them made everybody else seem easy. And even at the super, at my Hall of Fame induction, John came, which meant the world to me. And I had to give him a shout out. I had to give him a shout out.

• 1:17:54Speaker 04

  So I said, John Runyon, six, seven, 350 pounds, whatever of, of, um, of, of twisted steel and no sex appeal. So.

• 1:18:08Speaker 04

  You gotta go give him a compliment. Oh, no.

• 1:18:12Travis Kelce?

  Could you have ever called out that he was going to be the VP of rules and, and policy? And handing out fines for guys with, that are given late hitting cheap shots?

• 1:18:25Speaker 04

  You know, it's kind of like, what's that catch me if you can character? That's exactly what it is. You hired a guy who does the crime so that you know how, who the catch do on the crime. John, man, I couldn't believe it. I'm like, how are you finding anybody? We should go and retroactively find your ass for what you were doing.

• 1:18:47Travis Kelce?

  Oh, man, that's so fucking good. All right, man. We're gonna, we gotta wrap and get you out of here, big dog. No, we appreciate the time, but we, we always end these, uh, these interviews or these talks with, uh, a welcome to the NFL moment, man. What was your welcome to the NFL moment, Stray?

• 1:19:01Speaker 04

  Oh, man. I've had, well, I, one was I was actually playing in the game. The other one, I was just actually a rookie at the game. As a rookie at the game, we were playing the 49ers in the playoffs. In San Fran, and I just remember being there and I'm coming from Texas Southern, man. I'm watching Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Ricky Waters, all these guys. And I'm like, can I have your autograph? That's what I wanted to do. I want your autograph. A lot of those Jerry Rice coming out there running like a damn stallion. It was, that was the most amazing, amazing thing. But my welcome to the NFL moment was playing the Cowboys, playing against Eric Williams. And we're out there and we're fighting, man. We're battling.

• 1:19:44Speaker 04

  And I'm like, you know what, mother? You wait till next time. I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna do that. I would do that. He looked at me and he said, let me tell you something, young fella. That may happen in the future, but right now, you just take this whipping like a girl. You should take this ass whipping like a man. You just take this ass whipping like a man.

• 1:20:03Travis Kelce?

  Whoa, okay.

• 1:20:06Speaker 04

  And he was right. You gotta take that ass whipping like a man. And that was my welcome to the NFL. There's some bad boy down here. You know, always king of the jungle.

• 1:20:16Speaker 02

  I love that. That is so good. That's similar to mine. I've told this, we probably won't even put it in the episode, but I gotta tell you this after that. I got a Jay Ratliff with the Cowboys. And it was my first time playing like a head up nose or 5-0 and everything. So it's me and him one on one. And he was whooping my ass. Like, I could not block him. He didn't have, he didn't have a sack. I get a holding call later in the game and I'm, and I didn't think it was a good call. I started yelling at the ref. And I look back at Jay, I'm like, man, you know, that's some bullshit. He's like, son, I've been whooping your ass all day. I had to figure I deserve one of them.

• 1:20:53Speaker 02

  You know what? I ain't got nothing to say. You're right.

• 1:20:57Speaker 04

  But we all have that one guy, man.

• 1:21:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:21:01Speaker 04

  We all got that one guy and we all had those moments. But hey, if you didn't have those kind of moments, you didn't play football.

• 1:21:07Speaker 02

  Seriously.

• 1:21:08Speaker 04

  Travis, who was yours? What was your moment?

• 1:21:10Travis Kelce?

  I had about five of them. Uh, I had, I had a guy, I had one of those guys on every team, actually. It was, you know, the one I saw twice a year was Von Miller, though. Von, Von in those, when they had, they were, they were. They were on those Super Bowl runs with, uh, with Peyton, man. Von was, he was, he was a beast and he was mean, man. I've learned, I've learned to know Von, Von is like you, he's a great guy. Like just a, just a A1 human being, but man, when he in between those whistles, he was trying to embarrass you.

• 1:21:41Speaker 04

  I tell you what, man, I was, I was in the Bahamas and Von came over to hang out. I'd never seen somebody with legs that big.

• 1:21:49Travis Kelce?

  Oh yeah, he's, he's, he's, he's an animal now.

• 1:21:52Speaker 02

  Really? I wouldn't have expected that.

• 1:21:53Speaker 04

  I didn't either. I didn't either. I was like, I mean, I should be commenting on other man's ass and legs, but I was like,

• 1:22:05Speaker 04

  if I was built like that, you know what I'm saying?

• 1:22:11Speaker 04

  Yeah, he produces some torque, man. With that being said though, before we go, I gotta, I gotta give a shout out to my guy, Miles Garrett though. He had an incredible season, unstoppable, unblockable player, man. I've never, you know, usually a guy has like one move or something like that in a counter. There's nothing he doesn't have and it's like you're watching, I ain't going, ah, how could a guy that big be that fast and lean that low? How could a guy be that big and that's strong and run somebody over? How's he open after hips and come inside?

• 1:22:39Travis Kelce?

  Such a savvy ball player too, man. He knows what's coming.

• 1:22:43Speaker 04

  But yeah, congrats to Miles, man. A credible season. I'm so happy for him and he really is a good dude, man. I've had a chance. You know, have lunch and spend some time with him and, and hit him up and talk to him before and after that. And I always try to encourage him because as you guys know, we play and pretty soon we're just another guy who played in the league in so many ways. And it's time for the next generation and, um, you just gotta encourage them because I always had guys that encouraged me and I hate to see when, when, when, you know, old guys, we tear down these young players. Game's different, pay is different. All these things are different. It's part of the game. I remember making three million bucks a year and I was the highest paid defense to have been in the league.

• 1:23:23Speaker 04

  And that was a big deal because I was making as much as more than Bruce Smith and Reggie and all those guys. And then I, then I ended up jumping up like eight million bucks a year and that was unheard of. Now, five times that'd probably be the going rate, but you can't think back because back then like that was. That was doing well in those times. So I always want to encourage these young guys. I always want to encourage these older guys, encourage these young guys, man. Don't just look at them as if you didn't play in my era and you couldn't play. Okay, okay, fine. They weren't born. What can you do? Lame the parents.

• 1:23:57Speaker 02

  No doubt, no doubt.

• 1:23:59Travis Kelce?

  We can go ahead and leave it right there. That was beautifully said, big dog. And I can't thank you enough for the wisdom, just you being you, your personality.

• 1:24:06Speaker 02

  Seriously.

• 1:24:06Travis Kelce?

  I'm telling you, man, what you've been to just me as a, as a player and, and, and always reaching out and being kind, man, I can't thank you enough for being you, big dog.

• 1:24:14Speaker 04

  Well, I appreciate you both for having me, man. And really, in all sincerity, I think you two are, are the best. So keep on doing it. And I love the brotherly love. And I love the fact that you guys are just who you are and you're being yourself. And that's your, that's, that's the magic of the Kelsey brothers, man.

• 1:24:30Travis Kelce?

  Come on now. Thank you, big dog.

• 1:24:32Speaker 02

  You're the best, brother.

• 1:24:35Travis Kelce?

  Straight, you're the best, man. Appreciate the time, dog. Once again, that was We Gotta Ask, brought to you by Allstate.

• 1:24:40Speaker 02

  All right, let's wrap up this episode with some stamps of the week. Stamp of the week is brought to you by Adobe Acrobat. Jets fans finally have a quarterback sort of in the Super Bowl.

• 1:24:54Speaker 02

  Look at this, Jake Chatsky. I hope the Patriots get fucking shit rocked in the Super Bowl.

• 1:25:03Travis Kelce?

  That's an hilarious tweet, though.

• 1:25:04Speaker 07

  I'm fully biased. I fucking hate the Patriots. They've ruined, they've ruined the majority of my football watching life.

• 1:25:11Speaker 02

  You're putting the Patriots at fault for the Jets being an awful organization?

• 1:25:14Speaker 07

  As a Jets fan, I don't like the Patriots. So you, Jason, like, you don't like the Cowboys?

• 1:25:20Speaker 02

  I understand how fandom works.

• 1:25:22Speaker 07

  Right.

• 1:25:22Speaker 02

  I'm just saying, don't blame the Patriots for your guys' malpractice of what football has been played.

• 1:25:27Speaker 07

  Well, and all, yes, I agree. Fine. Those are separate issues. But when one of the teams that is like my bitter rival has six Super Bowls and all this success, and then I have to hear about Patriots fans like going through a hard time in their rebuild of what, four fucking years and two quarterbacks? And that's it? Yeah, it's bullshit. And so I hope that they get fucking shit rocked in Super Bowl. It, to me, it is. To me, it is. Like, I

• 1:25:55Travis Kelce?

  I don't think it's bullshit. I think they went out and got a great head coach and then they found a great quarterback. I don't think it's bullshit.

• 1:26:03Speaker 07

  I mean, yeah, that that's well, it's just I can never have nice things. The Jets just keep fucking up and like.

• 1:26:09Travis Kelce?

  You can have nice things. You could just turn in that Jets green for some Patriots gear. And you can have nice things.

• 1:26:18Speaker 07

  You make me puke. No, I would not.

• 1:26:19Travis Kelce?

  That's so good. That's gonna make you puke more than your your experience with the Jets over the past however many years.

• 1:26:28Speaker 07

  I'm a loyal guy. I will be loyal to the Jets until the day that they finally kill me, which is probably how I'll end up dying. But I will not turn my back on the team, even though they keep making dumb decision after dumb decision. And if the Patriots weren't smart enough, they'd probably have Gerard Mayo and we'd have Mike Vrabel. So like that makes it even worse is that I have to watch Mike Vrabel, who is in all likelihood, probably going to be the Jets coach. Last year, go do this with the Patriots. It's just, it's a nightmare of errors. We should have had Sam Darnold. He should still be our quarterback, but no, he had to like go to five different teams before he could go to a Super Bowl. And now I just have to root for Sam Darnold to avenge his ghosts and let me have like a slight win in the fact that Patriots fans will not be happy.

• 1:27:11Speaker 02

  How many great Jets players are playing in the Super Bowl? You have Sam Darnold, another one people don't want to talk about Leonard Williams. Leonard Williams was a standout with the Jets.

• 1:27:19Speaker 07

  Yep.

• 1:27:19Speaker 02

  Who else? There's gotta be some other names that I'm not even thinking about that are playing in the Super Bowl that were Jets.

• 1:27:24Travis Kelce?

  I lost to Leonard Williams in the Jets, yeah.

• 1:27:25Speaker 07

  I can't think many off the top of my head, but.

• 1:27:28Speaker 02

  Well, all I'm saying is it doesn't sound like you can blame the players or the Patriots.

• 1:27:31Speaker 07

  I I just don't, I don't want good things to happen to that franchise. In particular, like the people who root for that franchise are like people who have been tormenting me personally for 30 years. And those people don't change. You know what I mean? Like the Patriots fans who are rooting for Tom Brady and being like, ha, ha, ha, fuck the Jets. They're the same people who get to enjoy Drake May now. So I understand it's like a different team, but I will not be happy for them.

• 1:27:58Speaker 02

  All right, that's understandable, understandable. Who you rooting for, Trent?

• 1:28:01Travis Kelce?

  I probably, you know, I like, I fucking love a good Mike Vrabel story, man. I love, I love Vrabel. He's always been the fucking best, man. It just felt like he would have been an awesome coach to play for. But I do love the Sam Darnold story. I love, I, I got a lot of guys over in Seattle that I admire.

• 1:28:20Speaker 02

  It's a tough one. There's a good, there's a good storyline on both of them.

• 1:28:23Travis Kelce?

  Cincinnati Bearcats got Kobe Bryant over there playing DB. I'm rooting for him. I'm rooting for A.J. Barner, another Cleveland kid, both of those guys out of Cleveland. So I don't know. Sam Darnold is, uh, I, I like that story right now. And, and to see him flourish would be pretty damn cool to see him go from where he's been to winning a Super Bowl.

• 1:28:46Speaker 02

  I like Sam Darnold. I love this Seahawks defense. I like the way they play. There's just a certain amount of respect that you have. Kenneth Walker, the way he was running this last game. Oh my gosh.

• 1:28:56Travis Kelce?

  He's a beast.

• 1:28:56Speaker 02

  But then there is something like, I like Drake May. I like the rookie quarterback.

• 1:28:59Travis Kelce?

  There's nothing to not like about the Patriots. It's just the, the story.

• 1:29:03Speaker 02

  The defense, I like, I don't know, man. I like that defense over there in New England. I like, uh, Milton Williams, my former teammate. Mac Hollins, my former teammate. Yeah, it'll be interesting. I, I, I can't wait to watch it.

• 1:29:15Travis Kelce?

  Mac Holland is like Anderson Varejo.

• 1:29:17Speaker 02

  He is, which you know, I was a big Anderson Varejo fan.

• 1:29:20Travis Kelce?

  Who wasn't, if you were a Cavs fan?

• 1:29:23Speaker 02

  I do think, I think teams overthink the third receiver sometimes. I think Mac.

• 1:29:26Travis Kelce?

  Dude, he is a, he's been amazing everywhere he's been. He really has.

• 1:29:31Speaker 02

  Saying, they, they, I feel like they're always trying to get like this shifty, like route runner. It's like, dude, it's so much better.

• 1:29:39Travis Kelce?

  The guy that just plays ball, man.

• 1:29:41Speaker 02

  Dude, get into 11 personnel and have a guy that can do all these things that you can do out of 12 if you want to play nickel. And I, I don't know, man. I just think he, and then he's also like a mismatch height wise and size wise for a lot of the safeties trying to guard him like. Anyways, all right, let's get back on track. Stamp of the week, stamp of the week, stamp of the week.

• 1:29:59Travis Kelce?

  I'm gonna go our, our old Cincinnati GA. Yeah, Jesse Minter. Obviously, his father is a well-renowned coach in the college and NFL, and Minter has been unbelievable since he's been with the Chargers, really since he's been at Michigan under Harbaugh, but now is the new head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Has some big shoes to fill over there in Baltimore, but happy as hell for you, Coach Minter, and good luck in the AFC next year, brother.

• 1:30:27Speaker 02

  That's a great one, Trev. I love that, that one. I'm gonna go, I, I mean, we just talked about hating the Cowboys and Jets, Jake hating the Patriots. I'm gonna go with former Cowboy DeMarcus Lawrence.

• 1:30:39Travis Kelce?

  This is a great quote, man.

• 1:30:40Speaker 02

  Dude, he called this back then, and I, when he said it, I was like, this is a bit much, but goddamn, I gotta give him credit now. DeMarcus Lawrence said back in March, when he signed in Seattle and left Dallas Cowboys, where he'd been his whole career.

• 1:30:54Travis Kelce?

  Yep.

• 1:30:54Speaker 02

  He said, Dallas is my home, but I know for sure I'm not gonna win a Super Bowl there. And DeMarcus Lawrence is now going to the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks.

• 1:31:02Travis Kelce?

  God damn it.

• 1:31:03Speaker 02

  And it's aged very well. He also got into a back and forth with Micah Parsons over this, where Parsons was kinda calling him out on his podcast or whatever platform that was, and T-Law shot some words back at him.

• 1:31:16Travis Kelce?

  And now neither are in Dallas.

• 1:31:17Speaker 02

  But yeah, there's one common denominator. But either way, yeah, DeMarcus Lawrence is, you know, this has aged very well, aged even better if they end up pulling the win off against the Patriots. And maybe I should wait on this. Should I wait until after the Super Bowl to make this the stamp of the week? Is it not good enough until he's won the Super Bowl?

• 1:31:36Travis Kelce?

  Nah, I see. You gotta, you gotta cash, yeah, you gotta cash in on that when you can.

• 1:31:39Speaker 02

  T-Law, just, just the fact that you called this in your, in it is enough for me.

• 1:31:42Travis Kelce?

  And that wraps up Stamp of the Week, brought to you by Adobe Acrobat.

• 1:31:47Speaker 02

  And that wraps up another episode of New Heights. Thank you to Michael Strayhead.

• 1:31:53Speaker 02

  We've also got some more New Heights coming this Friday with a Super Bowl edition of Heights Hotline that you're not going to want to miss. So make sure you subscribe to the New Heights channel on YouTube and follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on app podcasts.

• 1:32:10Travis Kelce?

  Once again, New Heights and Wondery Show brought to you by Xfinity. Make sure you follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with Y S. Thanks to the New Heights production team for always making us look amazing and making our jobs so much easier. And we really appreciate what you guys do. And to all the 92%ers, you guys should appreciate them too, because we appreciate you. You guys should appreciate them. And we love you guys. We'll see you guys, uh, sounds like Friday.

• 1:32:43Speaker 02

  TikTok was trying to ban me, Trav. Only three ticks in, they were trying to talk me.

• 1:32:46Speaker 05

  What'd you post?

• 1:32:47Speaker 02

  I think it was because I had TikTok in my username. My username was at Jason Kelce hates TikTok.

• 1:32:51Speaker 05

  And they were like, we can't have that on the platform.

• 1:32:53Speaker 02

  It didn't really give me a lot of good answers. And then when we reached out, it was like, you can't have TikTok in your name. So I thought about doing like Jason Kelce hates this app. And I was like, you know, it's not worth it. Let's just get Jason Kelce.

• 1:33:03Speaker 05

  That's why Jake's best in the biz. He said, just use your name. I'm getting banned like tomorrow.

• 1:33:07Speaker 02

  What'd you post?

• 1:33:07Speaker 05

  I sometimes leave comments and sometimes those comments aren't what people would call helpful.

• 1:33:12Speaker 02

  Give us a mundane one that isn't going to get you in trouble.

• 1:33:15Speaker 05

  If it's a front-facing video and you're in your car recording it, I know I'm in for a bad time. The second you get this and it's like, all right, guys, let's talk. I'm like, I'm already furious. If the car is moving and you're talking into your camera, furious.

• 1:33:26Speaker 02

  I'm not a big selfie taker, but my TikTok right now, I have two that open up on my face. And I think they're funny. So I gotta break that trend?

• 1:33:33Speaker 05

  You'll be fine. You're, it's ironic when you do it. It's funny when you do it. When people are generally want to see their own face is when I get disgusted.

• 1:33:40Speaker 02

  Why are you this self-confident?

• 1:33:41Speaker 05

  What is wrong with you? You shouldn't feel this good about yourself.

• 1:33:44Travis Kelce?

  All right, I'm gonna yell into this camera. Let's do this.