Burrow’s Turf Toe, 0–2 Chiefs, Tush Push Debate & Dolphins Drama

We open with Joe Burrow’s turf toe and Matt Ryan (who’s had it twice) details why it’s worse than it sounds, why surgery signals severity, and how second opinions actually work. Todd has a story about a second opinion that could have saved a life!

Would the Bengals chase a short-term QB like Kirk Cousins, or ride Jake Browning? The crew weighs cap math, timing, and locker-room dynamics.

Next: the 0–2 Kansas City Chiefs. Mahomes is still Mahomes, but the WR room is thin and the QB leads the run game. How do you win ugly through a brutal first-half slate? Aaron Donald breaks down why you never sleep on 15, even with injuries piling up.

We dive into the tush push: Dean Blandino is over it, Bill Cowher wants it gone, and Matt/AD explain why it’s a rugby-style scrum that’s hard to officiate, but beatable with the right plan. Down in South Florida, the Dolphins’ late-game penalties and “communication issues” scream indecision and why leadership and body language matter in crunch time.

Plus: Brandon Aubrey’s long-range heroics and how elite kickers shift win probability; Todd France on making Tyler Smith the highest-paid guard in NFL history (what O-line comps really look like); Real Talk on postgame quotes; AD’s “99 Problems”; and a rapid-fire Two-Minute Drill.

https://www.youtube.com/@TheInnerCirclePod

https://open.spotify.com/show/2HYa5USGooRmeXxKKGyT0l?si=4a20e67b0b864b8b

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inner-circle/id1837695806

Transcript

Zach Klein (00:00)
Hey, how we doing everybody episode three of the Inner Circle podcast is that Klein Todd France, Aaron Donald and Matt Ryan, we have every corner covered of the Joe burrow turf toe surgery situation. I mean, if you're the bangles, are you looking at Kirk cousins maybe for the next three months, we're gonna have reaction from our two MVPs on this plus 80 is gonna let us know if the tush push

can be stopped. Matt will weigh in on what's going on in South Florida, man. The Dolphins are having major issues there. And how about this? Our guy, Todd T. France, is buying everybody out there dinner as his client, Tyler Smith from the Dallas Cowboys, the now highest paid guard in the history of the National Football League. I'm curious, what kind of comps he uses for linemen in the negotiating process. We've got our two minute drill. We've got 99 problems. We've got real talk on the way. But first, gentlemen, it's been a week since we last talked.

Well, what's been the highlight for everybody? How we doing?

Todd France (00:52)
Let's get straight to it, Matt Ryan. You looked awesome on the CBS desk this weekend. I love the no sock look. Tell us about the no sock look. How did you come up with that?

Matt Ryan (01:01)
Well, to be honest with you, I just forgot socks. So it wasn't a planned deal, but you know, CBS and a shout out to Jack Victor, they do all of my suits. So a shameless plug right here, but they do all of my suits out of New York. And I leave all of my suits up in New York. So I don't travel with what I'm going to wear for that week. And since we were on the road week one in Green Bay, I usually take up a bunch of different color socks and stuff like that to leave up there for the season.

and my dumb ass forgot to bring anything. And so I was up there without any dress socks and just went barefoot for the day.

Zach Klein (01:30)
Ha

What's

in the suit rotation? You got a multiple colors, you just eventually pick it out for you. How does that work?

Matt Ryan (01:39)
It's unbelievable. So I had no idea at the beginning, you know, when I got hired up there last year, how it was going to go. And so I was asking them and they nicely connected me with Jack Victor. so last year I did kind of eight different combinations. I did four suits, four jackets and slacks and then did the same thing again this year. So I've got a pretty good rotation now of 16 different things. We can go with a different look every week. know AD likes that. Something fresh, something...

AD (02:01)
There you go.

Mmm, there you go.

Matt Ryan (02:07)
something different every week, but yeah, that's how it works. I go neutrals though. I like navies, I like dark colors, like grays. Nate Berlison who sits next to me, he goes with a little more, yeah, he goes with a little more color. It looks good, it looks good.

Zach Klein (02:09)
All right, so I love, so Matt's got.

Todd France (02:10)
⁓

It is.

Zach Klein (02:21)
He's a little wild.

AD (02:23)
little bit more color.

Zach Klein (02:26)
Matt's got the custom suit.

Todd France (02:26)
and eight.

Zach Klein (02:27)
A.D.'s got the custom suit. Todd, why don't you tell them the last suit you got for that bar bar mitzvah you went at where we went chopping.

Matt Ryan (02:32)
You

Todd France (02:33)
Yeah, I don't wear suits and I think AD wears shorts and t-shirts on Sunday. So I don't think he's wearing any suits or anything. He's retired all his clothes from pregame.

Zach Klein (02:40)
think Todd spent about $95

on a suit, think, or a jacket. He was...

Matt Ryan (02:44)
For one where? I mean, it doesn't make sense, right?

Zach Klein (02:46)
That's his that's

Todd France (02:47)
I mean, listen, I pull off whatever I can pull off. It's really more about the shoes. So that's what that's my focus.

Zach Klein (02:51)
That's true.

AD (02:51)
There you go. There you go.

Matt Ryan (02:54)
It's

the first thing you notice, no socks, right? You're looking at the shoes.

Zach Klein (02:57)
Hahaha!

Todd France (02:58)
I

just saw these white ankles just staring at me. was like, I don't even, I didn't hear what you said. AD started texting me on the side and he's like, what's up with my boy's socks situation? I was like, we'll ask him on, we'll ask him next week. I'm just kidding. Always support you do a great job.

Matt Ryan (03:00)
Hahaha!

You

Thanks for watching, boys. Thank you for watching.

AD (03:13)
Yeah.

Zach Klein (03:15)
That you do. How about the Chiefs, man? 0-2, we talked about it last week, you know, for the first time in Mahomes' career. Considering this is unprecedented, Matt, we start you with the quarterback. More pressure on him, or does he just go about this as just another week three, even though he's never been in this situation before?

Matt Ryan (03:29)
No, listen, it's different, you know, for sure for them, but it's not like he hasn't dealt with pressure and adversity and those kinds of things. And so, you know, as I kind of look at them, I think Mahomes is fine, right? And I think his kind of level-headed measured approach to getting ready week in and week out, he's going to be just fine. The fact of the matter is he needs help, man. They got nobody left at the wide receiver position. And so,

They gotta get guys healthy. Xavier Worthy has to get healthy. Rashid Rice, when he comes off of suspension, I think that helps. But they gotta find a way to be creative and win games ugly, like Philly did, really, like Philly did last week. And they were close, but they gotta find ways to win games ugly. And it doesn't get easier for them, right? They got the Giants this week, I think. then after that, I mean, it's Baltimore.

⁓ they've got a rough stretch in the first half of the season. They got to find ways to stay in the mix in my opinion. But I think Mahone's takes the same approach he always takes, which is level headed, get back to work, put in the work and try and, you know, find ugly ways to win in the interim.

AD (04:24)
Mm-hmm.

Todd France (04:38)
Do they, know, from a media standpoint, you know, they've had a ⁓ fairly obviously successful run here and they haven't been, you know, put to the test from the media. Zach, do you think like the media goes easier on them because, you know, they're losing and let's give them a free pass or do they sort of pile on? how does the media locally at least approach that?

Zach Klein (04:54)
Matt, I don't think they put, yeah.

I think, listen, I think to what Matt was talking about, right? I mean, they're not what they were in terms of their health. Rice out six games, Xavier worthy with the dealing with the shoulder injury. Then again, they lost only by three at home, the defending champs. And you know who the leading rusher is right now? The Kansas City Chiefs.

Matt Ryan (05:14)
Patrick Mahomes. It's not good. It's not good.

Zach Klein (05:15)
Patrick freaking Mahomes is the leading rusher, right? I mean, he's accounted

for all four of their touchdowns, two passing, two rushing, a young offensive line that's kind of growing into that. So no need to panic, but I think, I mean, it is what it is, right? I don't think you're killing them for not winning a game so far. So I don't think the media is, you know, asking for Andy Reid to be fired right now. I have to have a little patience.

Matt Ryan (05:37)
I was gonna say Todd

is five appearances in the last six Super Bowl. That's not good enough. Yeah, that's right. That's exactly right.

AD (05:43)
Yeah.

Todd France (05:43)
No, for me, it's good enough. know, again, let's go back to Zach and the delusional media that we always talk about. I just

AD (05:48)
Yeah, effects.

Zach Klein (05:49)
Always.

Todd France (05:50)
didn't know if he thought that they would come hard or what it would be.

Zach Klein (05:51)
No. No. Time and place. It's been two games.

AD (05:53)
And it's only been two games. It's still early. Two games.

We played two games. A lot of football left, man. A whole lot of football.

Todd France (05:59)
AD, would you be more motivated playing them? Like when you're playing the typical full strength Chiefs, it's probably not a fun task from a defense standpoint, you know, playing against that offense. But since they're a little beat up and missing guys or whatever, does it give you more motivation to think they're beatable?

Zach Klein (05:59)
But AD is it? Yeah.

AD (06:16)
Nah, you're go with motivation anyway. You're playing against Patrick Mahomes, you know. You ain't gonna never sleep on that guy, right? He's been doing it consistently every single year. You understand that they're having a little trouble right now. You hope they keep that same, you know, the same struggles when you play them. But again, you don't want to be the team where they turn the whole season around on you. So you're gonna go in there with the same mindset to go in there trying to dominate and keep them at, you know, that zero. So, nah, I think you can sleep on Patrick Mahomes, man. You go in there with the same mindset.

Matt Ryan (06:27)
100%.

Zach Klein (06:33)
you

AD (06:42)
Same game plan, you gotta find a way to bottle him up, get to him, even though they got problems other places, but that guy can destroy a game by himself if you allow him, so.

Matt Ryan (06:51)
do think though, you talk about the Baltimore Ravens, the Chargers, the Buffalo Bills, like they smell blood in the water. And so that's where I think it's interesting. Like I think the Chiefs are gonna find a way to get themselves back in the mix, but I also don't think they're playing in the same AFC they've been playing in for the last five or six years, right? Baltimore has been good, Buffalo has been good, Cincinnati has been good at different times.

But you get the emergence of teams like the Colts who are 2-0 right now. Denver, that Denver Colts game was back and forth and really good. The Chargers looking really, really solid right now at that 2-0 spot. They've got to find a way, if they're the Chiefs, just to stay in the mix until middle of the season when they get some of those weapons back.

AD (07:18)
Yeah.

Zach Klein (07:32)
Right.

Because you know what's going to happen. They're going to be the five seed. ⁓ shit. They're the most dangerous five seed in the history of football. Right. You know, because nobody wants to play. Right.

Matt Ryan (07:37)
Right, right. Yeah, they could be the seventh seed, right? Come in as the

seventh seed and who knows? Who knows what they did? No one would want to see them, you know, in the playoffs at that point.

Zach Klein (07:46)
In that game, Fox rules analyst Dean Blandino says, am done with the tush push. It is too hard to officiate. Love your guys thoughts on that. And AD, I mean, you're in the trenches. I don't know if you ever went against the Eagles in that situation with the tush push. Okay. So what are you telling you guys? Like, I mean, I know you're not giving up and say it's a first down, but it's almost like a first down. Walk me through it.

AD (08:01)
Yeah, they...

No, well, I think they just do a great job at it. You got to think, start with the, you know, your center and your guards, but your center as a defensive lineman, your job is trying to stay low and penetrate that and go low. But when you got two guys, a center stand low, pressing, keeping his feet moving, then you got a quarterback that can squat 700 pounds, and then you got to run it back in the tight end and pushing them. It is hard to defend, but it's not unstoppable. They just do a great job at it with the people they got and obviously with the quarterback they got. So.

It ain't something that you go out and and you practice in a quarterback sneak, but you prepare for it, you study it on film, you talk about it, understand what you need to do to try and slow them down and not allow them to do it. So I had some battles when I was in the trenches and I was the one under the pal trying to stop them and getting smushed in this time where they got the first and we did stop them before with the touch push, but it is hard to defend, but it is what it is. I think they just do a great job with

Matt Ryan (08:59)
I kind of think about it like I sit next to coach Cower every Sunday and he's been pretty vocal about saying like, he's not a fan of this. It's not a football play. It's kind of like rugby, like a scrum, whatever. And I hear him and you know, the more I watch it, the more I kind of agree. Like the offsides, they were offsides. I thought that was, I thought it came across, it came across like you could see it from that.

Todd France (09:18)
yeah.

Zach Klein (09:23)
so clear.

Matt Ryan (09:24)
kind of sideline view, it was so clear that they were offside. like, I don't know what they're gonna do with it, but you know, I often thought when we were playing like really good defenses that were excellent on third down, like go make first downs on first and second down. If you're an offense that's playing against a defense that's really good on third down, if you're a defense, shut them down on first and second down. Don't put them, don't allow them to get into third and two or three or less.

AD (09:44)
Yeah, sex.

Matt Ryan (09:48)
you know, shut them down on first and second down if you want to stop it. So that's, you know, that's kind of where I sit. I think it was just a few votes short of kind of passing at the owners meetings of getting it banned. I think the more we see it, the more we see comments like Dean Blandino's coming out, the more we hear guys like Coach Cowher talking about how, you know, this shouldn't be a part of, I think it's going to get.

think somehow, someway, it's going to get voted on and pushed out here at some point.

Zach Klein (10:16)
If you could have squatted 700 pounds, would you have run the tush push in Atlanta?

Matt Ryan (10:20)
I watched one of them. think it was, I think it was Chris Jones was on top of Jalen hurts back and he kept going and he kept going like kept going. I was sitting right next to Nate Burleson and he was like, man, he's strong. I was like, if that was me, dude, I would have immediately immediately collapsed to the ground. Right? His strengths. Unbelievable. It really is.

AD (10:26)
getting drunk.

laps is different, man.

Todd France (10:38)
You

AD (10:40)
I consider him and like, Dak, they got a strong ass, them limbs, like, there times I went in to try to sat Dak, he just duck his body, them strong ass legs and said, man, how the hell he ain't go down? It's just different, man, but yeah.

Todd France (10:56)
Strong trunk, strong trunk.

Matt Ryan (10:56)
You went at the collapsible chair

like me, where it just went, pfft. That's right.

AD (10:58)
Yeah, I would love that. I would love a quarter better go down easy.

Zach Klein (11:03)
One guy who went down, for not that reason, Joe Burrow, Turf Toe. You guys ever had it?

Matt Ryan (11:08)
I've had it twice. It's awful. So I had it my second year in the league. We were playing against Tampa Bay. Remember Styles G White, think, was who ended up on the back of my calf, went down and it pops your toe back. It's awful. And then I had it, I re-aggravated again my last year in Atlanta on a Thursday night against the Patriots. And it's brutal.

Zach Klein (11:17)
great name.

AD (11:21)
Hmm.

Matt Ryan (11:30)
You know, it's like it needs to be named something different because you call it turf toe and it doesn't sound all that bad. the tearing of the, it sounds like something you should be able to play through. But you know, really, you know, I'm no doctor, but it's, you know, it's, you've got these two bones in the bottom of your foot, uh, right below, you know, your big toe and this ligament that connects those two bones to the base of the toe. It's tearing of that ligament. Right. And so your, your toes just basically dead and you don't realize until you do it.

AD (11:35)
Yeah, exactly.

Mm-hmm.

Matt Ryan (11:58)
how much of your body weight is kind of supported by your toe. And so you just can't move. So it's awful. I was surprised, you know, having gone through, Todd, you could probably speak to this too. I don't know how many of your guys have had to deal with turf toe, but you know, at least when I went through it, I feel like surgery was a last resort and everyone's different. You we don't get to look at the pictures, but it's gotta be, you know, pretty severe for Joe.

AD (12:22)
ear.

Matt Ryan (12:22)
to immediately be going to do that surgery.

Todd France (12:24)
Yeah, know, it's like you said, people think it's it's a toe and how can you not play through it? you know, obviously all players, as you guys both know, Matt and Aaron, anytime a player is hurt as an agent, we always go ahead and ask for a second opinion. No doubt about it, because one, through the CBA, it's your right to do that. And so the teams expect that. you know, all the agents out there that represent players, they know the best back doctor, ankle doctor, who's the best foot and ankle guy.

Sadly, I know all these doctors all across the country and Anderson exactly, he was in Green Bay back in Charlotte, actually not even practicing anymore, but he is still reading film and doing all the opinions and stuff. So I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one who looked at that, but you great doctors across the country in various specialties with different parts of the body. yeah, I'm sure it was. yeah, unfortunately so have I, but.

Matt Ryan (12:53)
Bob Anderson, man.

AD (12:54)
Yeah

Zach Klein (13:08)
And for the record, he was. He was the doctor, his consultant, yes.

Matt Ryan (13:10)
He was the doctor who looked at it.

AD (13:10)
He was.

Matt Ryan (13:13)
Spent a lot of time talking to Bob.

Zach Klein (13:15)
you

Todd France (13:17)
for all the different players stuff. But yeah, you have a right to look at that. And then so they get the film sent and if they can make an opinion off the film and it matches up with the team doc, then great. You can proceed. If there's a procedure needed or there's a disagreement, then you got to make a different plan. I don't know about you guys, but a lot of players don't necessarily like their own team doctor performing the surgery because of sort of that conflict situation. And players sometimes don't trust the teams. Did you guys ever deal with that, whether it was you guys or any teammates and that type of stuff? But I, know, for me, I'm always looking for

the best opinion for the best path forward. And hopefully the second opinion agrees with the first opinion. will tell you one time I had a running back, Michael Bush, and he had ⁓ a broken rib and the team said, you're fine. You can play through it. And we'll just put like a little jacket there or whatever. Meanwhile, the second opinion told us you get hit wrong. You could die, literally die. That was the opinion because of a puncture situation. And so obviously we didn't play, but if you didn't get that second opinion and God forbid you did play.

AD (14:04)
Mmm.

Zach Klein (14:04)
Wow.

Todd France (14:13)
and something happened. What a disgrace, how horrible. just like in life, anytime you get an injury, you always are or an illness, getting second opinions is a smart thing to do.

AD (14:23)
Yeah, see, I ain't never have to worry about that. I kind of felt like our training staff, our doctors was pretty good. I trusted them to the point where anytime I had a little banged up, any type of injuries, I stepped with their regimen, man. They always got me back where I needed to be. So I never really looked at it like that, right? Because I was like, shit, they're going to take care of me, right? Because for me, they want, they need me on the field to be able to be productive, to help the team to win. And I trusted the guys, but...

I hear a lot of doctors and team doctors that they'd like, nah, they're not that good. And so I never got the experience that because where I was at with the Rams, man, we was always top notch when it pertained to that.

Todd France (14:59)
Yep.

AD (14:59)
Head trainer,

Reggie Scott. Yeah, man, I did. Not as bad as needing surgery, but, and it's different for a defensive lineman, right? Because I'm pushing all my power off my toe when I'm getting off every single play. So it's tough limping around. There was games where after that I couldn't even walk, know? can't bend your toes at all, but it's different for, I can't even expect how it is for quarterback. understand like,

Would you be able to get the ball back there, Matt? And just stay still and get the ball? Because I know for a D lineman, pushing off is like my toes like this. And every time, it felt like you cannot go. You just can't.

Matt Ryan (15:32)
Yeah, you just got, you can't go anywhere. Yeah, you

can't go anywhere. For me, it was hard. It was my right foot, right? And so there's so much pivot and torque that you kind of put right off that right toe when you're throwing, you know, it's that back foot and you're kind of spinning around on that toe. And I had to play like flat foot, you know, like I couldn't get my weight onto my toe and you adjust and

AD (15:45)
See ya, okay.

Yeah.

So when you threw the, you couldn't have the same

power throwing the ball when it toes like that too? I got you.

Matt Ryan (15:57)
Yeah, it's just different.

Like you gotta find other ways to create power. So that part was difficult. I missed two games when I did it. I missed basically three games. I got hurt at the beginning of the Tampa game in my second year and then missed two games after that. And at the time, was, they put me in a cast. They put me in a cast and like bent my toe.

AD (16:01)
Yeah.

Matt Ryan (16:18)
back like up underneath this way. And the idea I guess was to sandwich the ligament together to help kind of heal and grow back together. And it was most uncomfortable I've ever been kind of in that cast, you know, with that toe kind of bent back underneath. ⁓ But it's his left, which I think is probably better for him long-term, you know, in terms of like, I still have pain in that toe and mine

AD (16:22)
Hmm.

Zach Klein (16:29)
Wow.

AD (16:32)
Yeah.

Zach Klein (16:32)
⁓ Joe's Joe's toes is left foot magic. So is that

Matt Ryan (16:45)
As weird as it sounds, mean, we're probably talking about this too much, but my bones displaced down into my toe or into my foot, which is one of the concerns they have when you have turf toe is that these sesamoid bones kind of drift a little bit down into your toe. And my big toes, basically they call it hammer toe now because the bones shifted so far back, the ligament, you know, it's just got stretched to this point where

My toe looks like this and still bothers me. it's, that's why I was sockless. That's why I was sockless. I couldn't get into my dress shoes with the sock on because of the hammer toe.

Todd France (17:15)
Matt doesn't wear flip flops to the pool. He's wearing timberlands.

Zach Klein (17:18)
⁓ Toes yeah closed toe shoes. Yeah, he's not rocking sandals on

the set of CBS. Hey, what?

Todd France (17:27)
Zach,

after a game and a guy's banged up, right? And I don't even know if a player is made accessible to the media, but if he is, and you know he's hurt, clearly not in a good mood because he's hurt, do you tiptoe around that? Or are you going straight for the juggernaut and saying, tell me what's going on?

Zach Klein (17:43)
Yeah, no, you're asking if there are available to your point, though, if you know, for Drake London, for example, in that first game, Todd week one against Tampa Bay, he got that shoulder stinger and he was not available after the game because he did not finish the

But you're talking to teammates. Hey, how is he? How is he feeling? How is he holding up? What's going on? You're talking to the head coach. And listen, you know, it's amazing to me is some coaches will tell you right after the game. Yep. Torn ACL, you know, Achilles is blown. But other coaches will milk it as long as you can, as long as they can. And that's what you're trying to figure out. The severity of something's going on is a week to week.

AD (18:14)
Exactly.

Zach Klein (18:15)
know, if it's a star player and it's Joe and he believes the game is not

back, you're going to want to know. Right.

you're definitely trying, you're not going for the jugular top, but you're trying to ask and do your freaking job. She.

Matt Ryan (18:23)
And that but that's changed a lot to

Zach, right? Like you're seeing stuff on Twitter now faster than than ever before, right? And I feel like you're getting that.

Zach Klein (18:31)
I think there's one

doctor out there who doesn't know any of the medical information, but he takes what happens and says, according to my breakdown of this slow-mo frame that Fox gave us or CBS gave us, I think it's a grade two sprain. You're like, what?

Matt Ryan (18:35)
Yeah. Yeah.

AD (18:45)
He's just assuming.

Matt Ryan (18:45)
I think,

A.D., I think from the player's perspective too, you know pretty quickly like when you're watching. Like I was sitting next to Nate in the studio and he was like, is it ankle? What is they doing? It looked like a toe to me. It looked like a toe to me. So I think players have pretty good eyes for when somebody goes down, you kind of know exactly what it is.

AD (19:04)
Cause definitely playing the game, had some similar injuries like that, right? So you see certain things, I can see an ankle and be like, that's a low ankle sprain or see how his pain, I'm like, that's a high ankle sprain. Like, cause we experienced that playing this game, you're going to get bumps and bruises and have some injuries and you know, certain things that you experienced you went through, you can just tell from how a guy's reacting, you know, how you're getting up, how he's moving. So I think that's just come with the nature of playing the game as long as we did, right?

Matt Ryan (19:29)
Zach, you brought up an interesting point though about Kirk. you know, like what does Cincinnati do here? Jake, Jake Brown, he played, he's played a lot of ball for them, right? Started, I think seven games and maybe 2023 when Joe was out. and he, he had some good, he had some bad, you know, in that game, but got the job done. You know, I think it is an interesting question. And like Todd, what, what does that look like, you know, from the Bengals right now?

Like, and you're sitting there and kind of hearing, like, what is going on in the Bengals building from a front office perspective, taking a look at, you know, maybe what's available in the league.

Todd France (20:03)
I mean, they don't want to. It's no different than when the Cowboys had when Dak went down or when any star player goes down, especially early in the season. They don't want to fold up and go home. They feel like they've got a good team and they got a lot of. Yeah, they get they are to know and they feel like they got a good team. They're searching every high and low. You know, all teams would. They're looking to see is there an opportunity to trade like a Kirk Cousins? Does that make sense? They got to see if it fits in to their financial model as well, because obviously, you know, Kirk's getting paid a lot of money. They got to look to see, you know, do they like what they have?

Matt Ryan (20:13)
They're 2 and 0.

Todd France (20:32)
already as their backup, where are they on the practice squad? They want to backfill. So there's a lot of moving parts out there and there's other teams that have needs and maybe they feel like they're a little deeper at a certain position and they could trade somebody. there's just a lot of moving parts, especially though this early in the season, they definitely don't want to just go with the status quo. They're going to be searching up and down and figure out what's the best path.

Zach Klein (20:52)
One guy who's, I don't think it's matter of his toe fell off, is still kicking 65 yard field goals. Brandon Aubrey becomes the first player in NFL history to kick a game-tying field goal at the buzzer, obviously in fourth quarter, and then a game-winning field goal at the buzzer in overtime.

What a weapon. What a moment. what does that do, Matt, to an offensive team as a weapon where you basically know you're across midfield? All right, we got three. He's automatic.

Matt Ryan (21:20)
I mean, it's the best, right? When I play with Matt Bryant, that was the feeling we had, right? Our number was different. I feel like there's going to be a 70 yarder this year. We saw it in the preseason, but we're seeing kicks go in from 60 plus. he probably had another 10 yards to where that football was good, right? With the 60 yarder at the end of regulation, it was good from at least another 10 yards.

But to get back to it, like when we had Matt Bryant, there was a sense of belief from the offense, from the team, from the entire sideline. If we got the ball back with 38 seconds, whatever it was, and we hit his number, which was the 35 yard line, we always felt like if we got to the 35 yard line, game was over. And it creates this kind of sense of, it's not overwhelming. We know, like we know we're not nervous. We know exactly what we need to do. Like I remember asking him one time,

Hey dude, we're gonna get it to the 35 yard line and like, which hash do you want? And he was like, I don't give up. He's like, just get it there. And that makes you feel like as a player, you're like, all right, man, like this is unbelievable because you don't deal with the specialist all week. They kind of practice at their own times. They kind of do their own thing. They're off the field when you're out there practicing and you might see them in the locker room a little bit, but when you need them, you really need them.

AD (22:17)
Ha

Yeah.

Matt Ryan (22:40)
And when you have a guy like Aubrey or in my case, a Matt Bryant, I think it changes the entire complexion of your team.

Todd France (22:47)
as an agent, can tell you it's unbelievable to represent a guy. If, if, if, if, for example, I represented a guy like Aubrey, it would be unbelievable to have a client like that.

Zach Klein (22:55)
For example, is this for

example, or is this you know, is he going to be the first $100 million kicker in the history of football? Todd, break it right here on our show, the Inner Circle podcast, Todd representing the best kicker in football $100 million after going Jerry Jones with right now is what you're telling us.

Todd France (23:11)
No, I'm not getting into specifics, but I do think he's a great

player and I think he's worth every penny that he eventually will get. Yes.

Matt Ryan (23:17)
There's incredible value to be able to knock it through the uprights when everything's on the line, especially from that kind of distance.

AD (23:23)
Hell yeah.

Todd France (23:24)
It's a game changer. I got to think it's a game changer from a defensive standpoint, A.D. when you know you're going up against someone like that, like knowing that you don't have the luxury to keep giving up these yards because you're getting close to his range. Matt, from an offensive standpoint, all of that. Do you guys mess with the kicker at all on the sideline? Do you talk to him leading up or do you kind of let him stay in his own little world and don't even don't even speak to him? I wouldn't speak to him if it was me. I would just kind of like not going to bother this guy.

Matt Ryan (23:48)
AD, you go first.

AD (23:49)
I'm letting them warm up just like I do any other guy. Before we go on the field, give them a helmet. Let's go, baby. Let's finish this. Let's go. That's it. I ain't going over to give them no rah rah speech. I'm letting them warm up, letting them be ready, but give them some pats and some love. Let them know, we confident that you gonna get this done, so let's get it done, man. So just like any other guy, if it was the offense going out, hey, let's go, let's get it done. If it's the defense going out, let's go get it done. Same thing if the special team just going out. Give them some little love and that's it.

Matt Ryan (24:14)
Yeah, my experience was different because I was coming off the field as they were coming on pretty much every time. So I was like, no eye contact, I'm not saying anything, 100%. This is like a no hitter. no, I just didn't want to mess him up. And usually it was like, you're trotting off and at least the guys I played with, right? Like, I think of Matt Bryant first and foremost, I played the longest with him. He was in his own world in that minute, right?

Zach Klein (24:23)
It's like a no hitter in baseball. think you're gonna freeze him or something like that?

AD (24:25)
Was you nervous?

It's cause you was nervous or you just didn't want to mess them up?

Matt Ryan (24:41)
locked in doing his own thing. He wouldn't have even made eye contact with me, but I do. I think there is a sense of that, you know, growing up around baseball and not talking to the pitcher when there's no hitter kind of thing. You just, you just let them do their thing.

Todd France (24:54)
Makes sense.

Zach Klein (24:54)
And he did it,

Matt Ryan (24:55)
He did, he was so good.

Zach Klein (24:56)
Congratulations, Todd France, $100 million kicker in the A1 portfolio, man.

Matt Ryan (25:00)
Yeah

AD (25:01)
Let's clip it. Let's clip

that hundred million dollar kicker. There you go.

Zach Klein (25:04)
Golly, well done.

Todd France (25:05)
No, I don't think that's a good clip.

Matt Ryan (25:06)
Speak it into existence.

Todd France (25:07)
Yeah, let's see. I'll speak something to an existence, But yeah, the the value of the kicker is tremendous. mean, you saw a coup, obviously, you know, a situation where didn't go for a team, you know, and they lost the game. And then you saw like even on the college level, Georgia Tech Clemson, no time left. Georgia Tech kicker comes on there, booms a 50 plus yard or wins the game. like, obviously, the kickers are extremely valuable, even though they're not an every down type guy. It's a huge, huge

Matt Ryan (25:20)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Zach Klein (25:31)
and down in South Florida, they can use any points, you know, defensively guys. mean that dolphin defense. They allow their opponents on the first 10 drives of the year to score on 10 possessions. I want you to play something. This is Mike McDaniel after the game where over the game.

Miami fans paid for a plane to fly by with a banner that said, Fire McDaniel. It's been two games and they're already calling for his ouster. And this is what Mike McDaniel, the head coach had to say after the game about the communications issues that they were having between he and his quarterback, Tua Tuckabay.

I just want to make sure you guys heard that before. To win games, you got to win the game, but we will play it again.

AD (26:10)
Buh.

Zach Klein (26:27)
So me get this straight, final 69 seconds of the game, the Dolphins have back to back penalties, a false start and then a delay a game. Both McDaniel and Tua saying there were communications issues. No shit. So how does that happen?

AD (26:38)
No

shit. That's bad ball, man. That's bad ball. It seems like they're all over the place right now. know, from the coaches, well, I'm not, I'm an outsider looking in, right? So I don't really know what's going on inside the building, but I feel like just, ain't like, everybody's not on the same queue. I think there's a lot of problems inside the locker room with the players, it seemed like, on happiness and just trying to figure things out, man. And as that defense has given up a lot, man, somebody got to...

Somebody got to step up as a leader and speak up, man. I think that come down to leadership, right? And really, you know, trying to get this thing to go, it's still early. It's only two games, right? And you can be like, all right, it is what it is and let the season go to shit, or you can pick it up and change the whole season around, right? It's still early, man. And I think it come down to leadership really balling up and it started at practice. You you practice the way you play. You got to come in with a certain mindset, man, working.

You know, if you have Fess in that practice, the leaders gotta call the guys out, hold each other accountable, And if that's not getting done, man, it's gonna be a long season for them, man, a real long season because it's just a scene all over the place to me from an outsider looking in, so.

Matt Ryan (27:42)
Yeah, I mean, unless you're in there, unless you're in the meetings, unless you're in the building, you don't really know. ⁓ But, you know, what we get to see, you know, the Sundays from one to four, to me, listen, frankly, I think the offense played better in week two. I really do. I think they looked better in week two than they did week one, which is a step in the right direction. But you talk about those communication issues at the end of the game.

AD (27:47)
Yeah.

Matt Ryan (28:06)
I always felt as a quarterback, play caller, head coach, in those kinds of situations, it was more important to be decisive than correct, right? And I feel like in those kinds of situations, there's indecision and that's what it feels like when there's communication issues or it's slow coming in or you're taking time, it feels like they're indecisive on the headset. And I just feel like,

You got to make a decision in those. It doesn't have to be the perfect play call. Give us a call. Let's go execute it. Let's make the play come to life, right? That's the player's responsibilities. You don't have to have the perfect play call or the perfect scheme or any of those things. You just need a call. Be decisive, sell it. And that's the same thing you're trying to do as a quarterback when you're in the huddle, right? Whatever comes in, you're trying to sell that to the guys. Hey, we got to go execute right here. Here's a call. Let's go for it. And it just seems like...

They're waffling. And I think that's some of the issues that you're talking about when it comes to kind of communication issues. The other thing I think is body language is important. the body language, and I know Mike, Mike was with us in Atlanta for a couple of years and I like Mike. He's a good guy. He's a smart football coach. There's no question about that. But when you're in leadership positions, body language matters.

AD (29:07)
Yeah, yes.

Matt Ryan (29:21)
Right? Like how you carry yourself matters. How you present yourself in front of the podium matters because everybody sees it and everybody, everybody feels it more importantly. And the body language of that football team right now and the body language of Mike, think needs to be much improved.

Todd France (29:35)
Do these distractions like flying over that, like Zach said, I think the banner flying over, does that affect the players? that the, does the media circus, the yo-yo where, you know, that they're talking about one week that, you know, Russell Wilson is cooked the next week he's dominant that one week they're talking, JJ McCarthy is the answer the next week. It doesn't work out that, you know, he doesn't have a great game, whatever it is, like to all these up and down emotional roller coasters, do the players even pay attention to that type of stuff or is it very by player? How do you guys look at that?

AD (30:03)
No, the thing about football is the best thing about the game, if you play bad one week, the best thing about it, you got next week to make it up, right? So, you know, the media needs something to talk about. So sometimes they blow things up and make it bigger than what it is, bad, Zach. But that's the truth of it, right? Because some things you'd like, it's not even that serious. And they talking about something, we in a locker room, it's not even what they think. They're not, you know what saying? So it comes down to, you know, the guys, you know, know what they need to do, right? So I think the media blow things out of proportion.

⁓ out of the water a little bit sometimes and make things bigger than what it is.

Todd France (30:34)
feel like that's a consistent

theme in our podcast so far is from week to week.

Zach Klein (30:38)
You know three episodes in and I feel like it's ganging

AD (30:39)
You

Zach Klein (30:41)
up on me AD I thought we were boys man come on stick with Z Yeah, right Matt. He's he's come over the dark side

AD (30:43)
No, we...

Matt Ryan (30:44)
Zach, I'm in the media world now, man. I'm with you, right? These are real storylines, boys.

AD (30:47)
so I should have said Zach and Matt, my

bad. I left Matt out too, cause Matt's in the media too. So you guys be blowing shit out.

Matt Ryan (30:49)
That's right. These are real storylines. No, listen, think guys hear it. Like, I think there's no escaping it now, right? The world we live in, the access that everybody has to just constant, you know, storylines. Like, guys hear it. There's no question about that. But...

Zach Klein (30:53)
Yes, they are storylines.

AD (31:03)
social medias.

Zach Klein (31:09)
There was one

instance when you were, I don't remember when Shanahan was your coordinator and correct me if I'm wrong on this, the whole narrative kind of going to the weak guys was get Roddy White the ball. Roddy wasn't getting the plays. Nobody was going to Roddy, wasn't going to Roddy. And I think Shanahan was so tired of saying, I'm not getting the ball to Roddy White. I swear to God, I think on your first four plays, you threw Roddy's way every single time. And you could kind of see Shanahan giving that middle finger to the crowd. Like he didn't do it, but like, yeah, all right, you want me to throw to Roddy? There you go. I just threw it to Roddy White.

Matt Ryan (31:39)
Well, let me say this, I love throwing to Roddy White. right. I love whether it was four times in a row or for eight seasons, however long I got to play with him. I love that guy, man. He's the ultimate competitor. Shout out to Roddy. He's awesome.

Zach Klein (31:41)
Yeah

AD (31:42)
You

Zach Klein (31:50)
Shout out to Roddy.

right, Todd's got a hundred million dollar kicker and he also has the highest paid guard in the history of the National Football League. Dinner on T. France. Congratulations. Now he's quiet.

AD (31:59)
Ayyyy

Matt Ryan (31:59)
Todd.

Todd France (32:00)
I'd like to give

all the credit though. I my partner, Joe Panos and I, yeah, Joe Panos and I did it together and he took the lead. He's a former O alignment himself in the league. He's got unbelievable success at the position doing different guys like Penne Sewell and others. And so it was great working with him. He took the lead. So give the credit to him, but most importantly, just happy for the player.

Matt Ryan (32:03)
It's a good week, Todd.

Zach Klein (32:19)
Four years, 96 million. I'm curious about the comps, right? Obviously, if you're going in the quarterback position or the defensive tackle position, you're looking at sacks, you're looking at quarterback pressures. When you are out there negotiating for your clients that are linemen, what are you using to convince the teams that they are worth X?

Todd France (32:36)
Well, first of all, stats are overrated, period. mean, you can look at a linebacker and tackles aren't even an official stat. So you can look at three different sites and they're going to have different numbers. again, if it was all about stats, Zach, I would sit here and say, well, then this guy should be paid this, this guy should pay this. It's just not how it works. As an offensive lineman, there are no true advanced analytics that necessarily move the needle. So there is truth to that for the interior guy.

but you look at this kid as a guy who's been to multiple Pro Bowls. He's been to an All-Pro in three years, two Pro Bowls and an All-Pro. He's super young, his durability was ridiculous. And then so you start looking at comps as to see who he's comparable and how other teams view him. And when you start putting that all together and you paint the picture to the team, you're asking to be the highest paid guy ⁓ and it's pretty obvious. so you look at all those different variables when you're doing a guy like him, again, comps is a huge thing across the board at all positions.

Stats are no stats for sure

Zach Klein (33:29)
you just show the opposing team, hey, this is why we're asking for the moon because he went one on one with Aaron Donald and didn't need a double or triple team on the offensive line.

Todd France (33:39)
There's no video evidence that exists of anyone going one-on-one with Aaron Donald. If you find it, please send it to me. that's bad game planning. Yeah, there's no, I actually have, it's funny. Cause when I talked to other players and they get frustrated when they get double teamed, I swear, and I have so many picks of you being double and triple team that I send it to them to say, Hey, well listen, that's not as bad as this. And the best find a way. And then it's true. Yeah. I mean, the best find a way. The reality is if you're the best, find a way and,

Matt Ryan (33:44)
That's bad game planning, man. That's bad game planning, if that's the case.

Zach Klein (33:44)
you

AD (34:02)
That was my life.

Todd France (34:08)
AD became AD and he was double and triple team, you know, and he was relentless and found a way and the best players find a way because obviously everybody game plans against the best players.

Matt Ryan (34:17)
And that goes to your point too, why stats are irrelevant at times when you're doing contracts, right? Because if AD had one-on-ones every time he went out, his stats would be much different, but his impact on winning, right? And that's ultimately what it comes down to is how much are you impacting winning for an organization?

AD (34:29)
Yeah.

100%.

Todd France (34:35)
The last time I saw Aaron

Donald one-on-one was at the senior bowl when I was there watching him. I'm not kidding you. It was one-on-one. I don't claim to know a lot about football. I mean, I obviously am an agent. know the basics, but it was so obvious that he was blowing. It was just boom, boom. mean, it was like one quick move and just crushing the tackle down me. was actually

Matt Ryan (34:41)
You

All right, can I tell a quick AD story? Can I go with a quick AD story here? All right, so we're playing the Rams in the playoffs out in the old Coliseum.

AD (34:58)
I come with it man.

Todd France (35:00)
Please.

Zach Klein (35:01)
Let's go.

Todd France (35:02)
That's awesome, yes.

AD (35:07)
My first

playoff appearance in my career too, yep.

Matt Ryan (35:10)
Yep. So your first playoff game, Steve Sarkeesian, the head coach at Texas is our offensive coordinator. And we go through this whole game plan. You know, we've got all of our situational stuff up and we play the first half and somehow we've got a lead, right? We're up a little bit at halftime and he comes into the locker room in the Coliseum and he goes, all right, listen, that whole game plan we put in has done. He goes,

I don't care what the down and distance is, the rest of the game, we're throwing quick game, screens, or we're running the football. That's it. Because if we do anything else, we can't block this dude. And it's the only time, the only time in my career where something like that has happened. Where we changed, we scrapped the entire plan. We didn't care about down and distance. We didn't care about anything the entire second half, other than either running the football right at him, because we get our double teams on him, maybe get a run.

or throwing screens or quick game because we're going to block them at pass protection. was unbelievable.

AD (36:07)
Sheesh. Hey, do you remember this? You probably don't. My first, I remember you was backed up. I think it was like the first series in the game. I remember getting through, boom, chasing you down. You get rid of the ball. I start barking at you.

Matt Ryan (36:07)
Sorry, I did.

Yeah.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

AD (36:25)
was a blackout, but remember I got a kid in the ass. You probably didn't hear that, but I was chasing your ass barking.

Matt Ryan (36:27)
I was running for my life, dude. Running for my life.

Zach Klein (36:28)
you

Matt Ryan (36:34)
I was probably breathing so heavy because I was gassed trying to run away from you that I couldn't hear anything. That's great though. You're barking at

AD (36:38)
You

Todd France (36:40)
Matt, what

would you do if I heard someone barking at me like him? That would throw me off the rest of the game for sure. I'm like, I had no way I wanted this guy coming out.

Matt Ryan (36:47)
Yeah, luckily, luckily I didn't notice it. You're in your own world out on the field, you have to have the presence of mind, you know, as you're barking coming after my ass. mean, we were playing a different game. I was scared to death and you were just out there having fun.

AD (37:00)
⁓

Todd France (37:03)
That's awesome.

AD (37:03)
⁓ shit.

Zach Klein (37:05)
I have a clip here speaking of talking trash. This is at the end of the Philly game against the Chiefs. I don't know if you guys picked up on this. Let me see if can play this right here.

AD (37:15)
I said...

Matt Ryan (37:20)
You

AD (37:20)
Hahaha

Zach Klein (37:21)
Alright, so one more time it's end of the Philly end of the Eagles game one more time.

AD (37:34)
Yeah.

Zach Klein (37:34)
So that was Jalen Hurts taking a knee Chris Jones as her talking some trash as someone I think it was Saquon saying basically you don't even a hundred yards and then Jalen says man, shut your ass down. We just won the game. What's the appropriate time to talk? Obviously in the middle of the game for AD talking with Matt, but at the end of the game when you just lost, is that acceptable? Is there a code right there guys?

AD (37:57)
Nah, a little mad, a little frustrated, then they taking a knee right on you. It be like that sometimes, man. It be like that sometimes. But again, ain't much you can say when you lose, right? Ain't much you can say, but...

Zach Klein (37:59)
You

Matt Ryan (38:06)
No, my favorite part of the whole clip is him getting right back into the cadence after he says it and taking the knee. It's perfect, right? He said exactly what he needed to say. Then he's like, hey, here we go, turbo, turbo, sit hut.

Zach Klein (38:11)
you

You

AD (38:18)
Talk all that shit, I'ma just shut the door on your face. We won. Bang. That's it.

Matt Ryan (38:21)
Correct.

Correct. Bam. There's nothing more you can say.

AD (38:24)
Not there.

Zach Klein (38:24)
We got the 99 problems coming up. We got the two minute drill coming up and I want to talk some real talk. Your reaction to what guys are saying immediately following the game. First up, we are going to cue it. is Mr. Jared Goff. We have Jared here after his 335, four yard, five touchdown performance against the Chicago Bears and his former offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson. Here is Mr. Jared Goff in the, in exchange with reporters after the game.

What Jared really want to say.

AD (39:21)
damn stats. Now shut y'all ass up. How much we score? 52 what? Okay. That's it. That's it. Ain't nothing you gotta say. The stats speak for itself.

Matt Ryan (39:30)
I agree. Listen, think he, number one, he handled it really, really well. But like, what else do you want me to say? I think that's what he's like. What do want me to say? I just went out there and I did that. and I'm going to do that because that's who I am. Yeah, exactly. That's who I am. And listen, Jared, good for him, man. Good for him. Good for him for, for going out there and perform rebounding. That's what good players do. Right. They had a rough week one. He goes out there and he performs the way he can week two.

Zach Klein (39:42)
through for five touchdowns.

AD (39:53)
Yes.

Matt Ryan (39:56)
and basically telling them to shove it up their ass.

AD (39:59)
And again, that's the media blowing things out of one game, of one week, and then he come back the second week and dominate, and it's like, off one game, huh? Okay. Yeah, I'm talking. There you go.

Zach Klein (40:06)
But to be fair, Matt is a member of the media and last week he said slow your roll and Jared Goff. That's what he told us last week. So Matt, thanks for representing. I appreciate

Matt Ryan (40:14)
That's

right. That's what I was saying. Slow your roll on the slander. He's going to come back.

Zach Klein (40:15)
you.

Todd France (40:15)
Hey,

Zach, before you go to the next one, I want to go back.

Zach Klein (40:19)
Yeah.

AD (40:19)
Hahaha

Todd France (40:20)
Exactly. Good spin job. ⁓ Real quick, AD, I forgot to ask you when we were talking about Tyler Smith and unbelievable guard, real talk. What guards did you respect when you played in the league? Real talk.

Zach Klein (40:21)
What were you saying T France?

AD (40:33)
Man, listen, I don't like giving no credit to no offense alignment, right? And my situation was different, because I got a lot of double and triple teams, man. So I really never got the experience, really, like, a true one-on-one consistently, right? You got one-on-ones, you know, but I did what I was supposed to do. Sometimes you make the wrong move, and you lost. a lot of people ask me that. It's like the, I probably had a hundred different people ask me this question, and I always say,

Matt Ryan (40:37)
you

AD (40:57)
I got doubled and tripled a lot. So I really never got the experience enough when I wanted to be like, guys, you respect all of them. And even the ones you watch on film, you be like, I'm going to whip his ass this week. You're going to respect him because every week is a new week, But you respect guys in the league. I guess Zach Martin was a pretty solid guy. Who else?

Matt Ryan (41:15)
I'll ask

this, I'll ask this, how about a unit, right? Because I do think offensive lines are kind of the sum of the parts are greater than the whole. Correct. Just put that in there, right? Todd, terrible question. Which unit did you go?

AD (41:19)
Now that, and that's, see that's a better question to ask, right? Cause you play like, yeah, there you go.

Zach Klein (41:23)
Stay in your lane, Todd. Sit down.

Todd France (41:26)
And just for the record, was you

guys texted me and told me to ask that exact question. So I do it. And then you teed me up for a crushing. just I didn't come up. I'm not a football guy. Go ahead, Matt.

Zach Klein (41:30)
Ha ha ha!

AD (41:31)
You

Matt Ryan (41:34)
That's right. What unit?

AD (41:34)
Yeah, so for me, it's hard to

just pick, it's hard to pick one guy, but Eunice would be like the Eagles always had a great game plan against me. Later in my career, I think the 49 started doing a good job of containing me and having a game plan, running away from me, making sure they had three guys on me all the time, blocking me. I think the Saints, a couple years we played the Saints in NFC Championship, they always made it tough with.

Matt Ryan (41:36)
Yeah.

AD (41:58)
over setting the goal, sliding the center and then choking down with that tackle punching. So it's really a triple team. So the tackles, so you don't got no B rush, no A rush, only thing you could do is power work games that made it tough. Like it was teams like that. But the Eagles was always with Kelsey man. Like soon as he snapped, he's running over full speed, right? And it's like.

Matt Ryan (42:04)
Mm-hmm.

AD (42:16)
As soon as I, I can't even get in my chop club, I'm mid air, he's grabbing me already and made it tough, man. So it was guys like that that always had two hands or four hands on me right away or three guys or chipping through the B gap or chipping through the A gap, made it hard, man. So that's a better question, Matt. The unit's better than asking a fucking, fucking one-on-ones I was getting. I ain't get enough one-on-ones, Todd, to answer that.

Matt Ryan (42:32)
Thank you. Thank you.

Zach Klein (42:34)
Well done.

Todd France (42:40)
Hey, if you realize what a good agent I am, I actually teed that up because I know you don't get one-on-one. So I wanted you to have the to say that. It's like I walked you right into it. It's like, it's, yes, thank you. Thanks.

Matt Ryan (42:40)
That's right.

Zach Klein (42:50)
Well done T France always getting

Matt Ryan (42:45)
Hehehehehe

AD (42:46)
Hahaha

Ha ha.

Zach Klein (42:52)
out of every corner. All right. Next up here on real Talk, we have the Pittsburgh Steelers, their head coach, Mike Tomlin after a loss to the Seahawks. And this was tough guys, a three point game in the fourth quarter. and Caleb Johnson turned his back on a live football on the kickoff that resulted in a Seattle touchdown. Here is Mike Tomlin following the Steelers loss.

AD (42:54)
You

BAAA-

You want me? I was about to say that. He did. He did.

Matt Ryan (43:33)
think Mike said exactly what he thinks. I think he said exactly what he think. I think that was

as real as you can be. I mean, every day of our lives, every day of our lives, we work on that.

Zach Klein (43:42)
Short and to the point.

AD (43:43)
or beat, or we just gotta be fucking better. That's stuff we work on, we gotta be better at it. He know that, and we bounce back. you know, he said it. He did leave me speechless. I'm trying to think of something right now off the top of my head, but.

Matt Ryan (43:53)
Shout out to Mike T for leaving us speechless in the real talk segment. He said it exactly like it needed to be said.

He said it like it needed to be said.

Zach Klein (44:01)
I love him.

And finally here on Real Talk, going back to that Super Bowl matchup rematch from a year ago, Chiefs had a chance to take the lead guys in the fourth quarter, but the throw from Patrick Mahomes bounced off the hands of Travis Kelsey, hit him in a bad spot, right in the hands. Intercepted by Philly, they go on to win. Here's Mahomes after the game when asked about that throw that hit Kelsey in the hands.

AD (44:44)
I guess he got a kesk with his chest too, not just his hands, I guess. I love the guy, but hey, you got to make those plays, but what he really wanted to say is, I just got to put it more in his chest so he could use a little bit more, you know, chest and hands, not just hands, I guess, you know, so, shit.

Matt Ryan (44:59)
mean, honestly, Patrick speaking the truth, though, like we would talk about this all the time at the front front end line. We talked about throwing it towards the belt line, right down and dirty to protect those guys to get down at the end line. We're talking about putting it at the at the hairline, right? So it's a it's above the head. Those are things we do work on as quarterbacks and all of that. But at the end of the day, it's a play Travis is going to make right. And it's a play that I think Holmes trust Travis to make no matter where the ball is.

But there's so much, I think there's so much mutual respect there, given what these guys have done, that there's no way, there's no way, you know, Patrick's going to say anything other than that. And that's why I have so much respect for him. No, 100%, 100%. I mean, it's, he, for sure. And,

Todd France (45:31)
Yeah, I agree.

Nor should he. They've been an unbelievable combination. ⁓

AD (45:40)
And that's a trust factor too. Yeah, they had a lot of success together. Yeah. But he expect them to make them catches though, right? You expect them to make them catches. You got to make

them catches. And I know he's, he's, he's beating himself up that he even dropped that, right? But you know, we all make them plays, them plays you watching for him. Like how the hell did I make this player? It happens, man.

Matt Ryan (45:53)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

You

Zach Klein (45:59)
All right, that's all I got. I'm gonna move on to two minute drill. We got 99 problems. What do you guys want to hit first?

Matt Ryan (46:02)
Either way, good with me.

AD (46:04)
I'll do the 99. I already got three of them real quick, man. So we might as just hit it off.

Matt Ryan (46:06)
Okay.

Zach Klein (46:06)
Whoa.

Matt Ryan (46:07)
Three. ⁓

AD (46:08)
Hahaha

Matt Ryan (46:09)
I like it.

Todd France (46:09)
Number one.

AD (46:11)
99 problems, but Malik, Neighbors is not one. I think they had a great performance. Russell Wilson looked good, our offense looked solid. And he had a day. A lot of chaos last week that was going on week one. Came back week two and did what he was supposed to do. know, dominated. And standing in that division, 99 problems. But Dak Prescott and our offense is not one. I think they was making some plays.

Playing good ball, run game looked a solid, nice little one-two punch. That made a one bad throw, but overall, man, I think they did enough. He did a lot of good things with his feet. Played smart ball, found the way to win the game. And my last one. It was an interception. He threw an interception though.

Todd France (46:46)
I don't know about the bad throw.

Zach Klein (46:48)
You

Todd France (46:51)
Guy ran the wrong route. Go ahead.

Matt Ryan (46:53)
Hahaha

Todd France (46:55)
kidding I have no idea.

AD (46:55)
And the last

one, I got 99 problems, but Cam Ward is not one. I think Cam Ward with the Titans, man. I watching that Rams game, he was doing some things, man. Just sending some plays, moving in the pocket, making some horror throws across his body. He looked confident, he looked comfortable, man. So I think if he continue to work, man, continue to, you know, obviously build the team around him, I think he gonna be a special player in this league.

Matt Ryan (47:09)
Yeah.

I'm with you on that one, man. think Cam's going to be OK. And the biggest challenge for him is going to be weathering losing, right? And at no fault of his own, right? Like, I think he's got to have more talent around him. But you said it. The first touchdown pass of his career, man, the way he scrambled to the right, the vision to throw it back to the left, but also the ability to just flick it, flick it back that far. ⁓

AD (47:30)
Yeah.

Exactly, 100%.

What? What? Perfect pass.

Matt Ryan (47:46)
Yeah, perfect pass. It was special. It's a challenge though. I really do think that for young quarterbacks, I was lucky, you know, high draft pick and we won a lot of games and went to the playoffs my rookie year. But for the guys that are in positions where they're not, I think of like a Matthew Stafford who you played with. Being able to weather those storms as a young player, knowing you're not getting the results you want, but you're putting performances out there that you can build off of.

AD (48:09)
Keep stacking.

Matt Ryan (48:10)
Yeah, keep stacking those performances. I think that'll be the great challenge for him. But through two weeks, I love the competitiveness, love the poise, and some of the throws he's made have looked really

AD (48:21)
talking trash a little bit with Verse. I see Verse was talking stuff to him a little bit and he talking about like, shut your ass up. He threw that test out. Man, what? I like.

Matt Ryan (48:25)
Yeah. He took his helmet off after he's going to learn though.

He took his helmet off after that. He's going to get a little, little FedEx on Wednesday. ⁓ yeah. ⁓

AD (48:33)
Yeah man, I just like that though. I like that. I like the competitive

attitude, man. It's mindset, man. I like that. I love that type of shit.

Matt Ryan (48:41)
Yeah, that was good.

Zach Klein (48:43)
All right, Matt, hit us up. We got two minute drill.

Matt Ryan (48:44)
All right, let me start the clock two minute drill. Let's be decisive. Don't worry about being correct. Todd, there's no timeouts here. All right, so you got to answer it. No cuts, no edits. We're going all right, let me get the clock going. All right, the order is going to be Zack, a D, Todd, okay, Zack, a D, Todd, let me get my clock.

Todd France (48:52)
Okay.

AD (48:52)
Ha

Matt Ryan (49:04)
All right, we've got the clock here. Here we go. Ready and go. All right, Zach, there's a difference between being in studio and out in the stadium live. What do you prefer, an in studio hit or a live from the stadium hit?

Zach Klein (49:06)
Let's do it.

live from the stadium without question. The energy, the excitement, whether you're at Neyland Stadium, 100,000 strong, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, or even the high school ranks, guys, anytime, any place, take me live in the field.

Matt Ryan (49:26)
I'm with you. All right, AD, Rams, back-to-back games on the East Coast. Did you prefer to stay on the East Coast in that situation or did you like to fly back to LA, get back in your own bed, then fly back East the following weekend?

AD (49:39)
Get my ass back home, let me chill with the family, prepare myself and I'll fly back to the East Coast, baby.

Matt Ryan (49:41)
You

You're not worried about the time zone change. I love it. I love it. All right, Todd, we talked a lot about contracts that you were a part of this week. I'm curious though, when you got veteran guys like that, that are signing maybe a second deal or an extension, is that more fulfilling or some of the young guys that you're dealing with in the NIL world, that it's their first contract that they might ever had or their first deal, what do you find more fulfilling?

AD (49:46)
Hell no.

Todd France (50:08)
That's a very tough question. They're both very fulfilling. think it's different ends of the spectrum because the amount of money is different, but it's real money that neither of them have seen because if it's a veteran, he's had some sort of money as a rookie. And obviously it's a whole nother level as a vet and as a guy.

Zach Klein (50:22)
Well, maybe a little bit

different money at Pitt and Boston College, but at Georgia, Alabama, Texas, probably the same amount of money.

AD (50:27)
Hahaha

Matt Ryan (50:27)
It's real money.

Todd France (50:29)
Zach, think this is you're eating into our two minute part, but go ahead, Matt. Go on the next one. Go ahead, Matt. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead.

AD (50:29)
Money's money, baby.

Zach Klein (50:32)
Sorry, my bad, my bad.

Matt Ryan (50:33)
Let's go, we got 30 seconds left. I hear you, good answer Todd. All right, Zach, here

we go. Two Monday night games this week. Are you a fan of the two Monday nights? ⁓ Yes.

Zach Klein (50:41)
No, that cuts

you off. Not even close. Old school. Give me Monday night. One team. All One game, two teams. Let's have that at prime time,

Matt Ryan (50:48)
All right, 15 seconds left. AD, AD, you gotta skip a workout one day. Are we skipping legs or are we skipping upper body? It doesn't look like you skip many, but which are you skipping?

AD (50:56)
No,

I'd rather skip legs. You see my upper body a little bit more.

Todd France (50:59)
Me too, AD, me too.

Zach Klein (50:59)
Ha ha.

AD (51:00)
We skipping legs.

These auras looking good.

Matt Ryan (51:02)
Time, that's two minutes, two minutes.

We got two minutes right on the dot. Well done. We only got through five or six, five questions, whatever it is. Todd, you got let off the hook.

Zach Klein (51:07)
Let's go.

AD (51:10)
Man, it was Zaxxful, he cut Todd off, man. It's Zaxxful, he messed up the time, man. Damn. ⁓

Todd France (51:10)
Perfect. I like that. Thank you.

Zach Klein (51:11)
Good questions. Yeah, I bet I was trying to help him out. He's been killing me

Todd France (51:15)
Zach's going

Zach Klein (51:16)
as

Todd France (51:16)
in the.

Zach Klein (51:16)
the evil media man for the last three weeks. I had to help my guy out, show him some love though. I love you T-France, because you're buying dinner this week. All right, let's wrap up here episode three, Inner Circle Pod. What are we looking forward to this week,

Todd France (51:20)
Unbelievable. We'll put Zach in the penalty box next week. Perfect.

AD (51:23)
You

On week three, my Rams going to Philly, know, playing the Eagles. I'm looking forward to that game. It's just a get back game. And they playing in Philly, so hopefully they pull this one off.

Matt Ryan (51:38)
I'm looking forward to, we got a throwback show in the studio this week celebrating 50 years of the NFL today. So we're gonna have some special guests, which would be really fun. Todd, you're gonna love my outfit, man. It's a throwback outfit. Yes, vintage, we're going vintage. It's gonna look good. The studio is gonna look exactly like it did back in the 70s.

Zach Klein (51:48)
I was about say, you're going vintage on that? You're going like, nice.

Matt Ryan (51:58)
So it's gonna be a ton of fun and looking forward to putting on maybe a little mustache

AD (52:05)
go.

Todd France (52:04)
that'll be distracting from the white ankles. So that'll be good.

Zach Klein (52:05)
I think Sarah might say keep your man.

Matt Ryan (52:08)
I'll have socks on this weekend. Don't worry about it.

Todd France (52:10)
Perfect, that's good, because everyone will be focused on the stash. For me, it's same thing as I say every week, guys staying healthy, guys being productive, same across the board. Taking the kids to the homecoming football game Friday, I don't know. ⁓ All right, there you go. All right, there you go.

Matt Ryan (52:18)
Come up with something new, man. You gotta be looking forward to something different.

There we go. There we go. That works. That works. How about you, Zach?

AD (52:26)
There you go, there you go. I like that. I like that, Todd. I like that.

Zach Klein (52:27)
All right.

There you go.

Look at Lions and Ravens, two elite quarterbacks, two elite teams, possible Super Bowl preview. We're looking forward to that. So it's going to be lot of

Todd France (52:40)
Yeah.

Zach Klein (52:40)
And Matt,

enjoy the reunion, man. Or whatever it's gonna happen out in New York, the 50th anniversary, man. That was part of my childhood. I'm a lot older than you guys, but the legends that they had in the studio back in the day, Irv Cross, know, Jimmy the Greek, the originals, man. They were the original shows. lot of fun, guys. Much love. Appreciate you always. We'll see you next week for episode four of the Inner Circle podcast. We'll see you.

Matt Ryan (52:52)
Yes, one of the originals. Yes.