Hour 3 - How Does J.P. Crawford Feel About Colt Emerson's Extension, Phillip Rivers

Get the freaking arrow! From the Quantum Fiber Studio, this is Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports. I don't read the internet guy. Take the bull by the hands. And Brooke, you are. Now here are your hosts, Brock Huird and Mike Saul. Cut the fire! Gee's funny. Gee, she just makes me laugh in general. Oh, is Gee gonna be on Hard Knocks? Oh, Gee's gonna be on Hard Knocks. Of course he is. I also just said something to him that I can't repeat, but it was very funny. He definitely laughed. So it was making me laugh. All right. What do you think it's awkward conversation time? Okay, I'm going to have some tonight, by the way. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Awkward ones coming my way tonight. Why? Basketball, banquet. Okay. Oh, oh, the coaches. Oh, yeah. And I am all for it. Ten years ago, Brock, not for it. Very uncomfortable. Yeah. Are you going to stand up and? Let it be known. Nearly 50 year old, Brock? Very comfortable. Well, I can tell you, just be careful. Having recently embarrassed myself in a public youth sports meeting, I will tell you that. I'm not going to drop a fire truck. I'm not going to do that. Don't do that. You'll have a hard time living it down. Trust me. All right, Brock, how awkward do you think it was last night? About halfway between second and third base in Tacoma. Is JP and Colt Emerson? Were together on the Rainier's, not just in the lineup where they hit second and third, but in the infield where they played short and third. Was it awkward? You know, it's funny. I we could make this one and we've been over our years. So I think unfairly deemed drama queens at times and potsters and looking for stories when there are unfairly maligned. Yeah, I think there's been times we've been unfairly maligned. Yes. And this, this is one where I don't, just because of the straight personalities because JP has been there and done it. Top-rated prospects, right? Made a little bit of money and then ultimately signed and made more money. Like he's, he's made good money. He's married. He's got kids now. He's got husky dogs. Like, and he's chill. We've been around. He's just chill. And then, and I really say this because of the way Colt handled it. If Colt had been Jared Kilnick and maybe this is unfair of Jared, but I think he's up at that press conference with his hair, Gerald and a nice, you know, necklace and his, and his videographer recording every moment. I've only known two people in my life to have videographers. Jared, Kalnick and G Scott. That's it. No, he's to West. Three people in my life that have had videographers follow them around. Jared, Kalnick, Russell Wilson and G Scott. Those are the three and really the big three of videography. I think we would all say all the reason I loved him when he was a prospect. I love the idea of guys putting out content. I think you're right, Brock. He would have been there and the fact that, you know, and then he would have come back to the clubhouse and to come up and high fives and bros would have said, smell you later, JP. Thanks for keeping the seat warm. But the, and that's just not this kid from Ohio. And I think the reality is, I don't think JP is really wired to be jealous or upset either. And I'm probably projecting my own self onto him with a salary of just a million dollars for this year. They really don't have to call up cult this season. I mean, just looking at what the numbers are, the Kramer put out yesterday million to sign. Yeah, but that's a signing bonus. That's, you know, right? He is. It's a one million dollar salary this year. Yeah. So like, there's no pressure to bring him up. There's no clock starting. He's getting a million dollars this year, whether he's up or not. He's getting two million dollars next year, whether he's up or not. Like there's no, there's no upside to the Mariners in bringing him up any sooner. It's not like you're letting money waste away in Tacoma. You're not. You're just choosing when to bring him up and when he's ready. So the idea that like, oh, he got this money. So now JP is going to be out of a job this year. I don't think it's going to happen that way at all. It's almost make it worse to know that it's going to end. For a long time that it's coming. Well, that is where it gets a little bit more interesting. But let's just on the, on the cult side of it, there is no reason to bring him up any sooner than you would have. That is that does not show up as a part of this thing now, which I think is good. There is no reason to start the clock. There's no reason to not start the clock. You can 100% just wait until he's ready because he's going to be here until two thousand thirty four, regardless of when you start that clock and when you call him up because there's no clock anymore. So if I'm JP, I don't need to feel threatened for this year, but it obviously puts an expiration date you would think on JP's time here. And thinking about that is a little weird. I wonder how he takes it. I wonder how his teammates take it. If I were him, I think I'd try to be very supportive, but it would still hurt my pride. It would still hurt my feelings. Everybody likes to find out that the organization is ultimately probably going to replace you. Now, Jerry was asked about JP yesterday. Obviously, the having JP is the longest tenured shortstop in club history because just these are good problems to have when you have good players all over the diamond. Now we have to find creative ways to make it work. And I do think that Donnie's versatility could potentially play a big part in that. As it works out, we're in no rush. We're going to let Colt continue to get his feet on the ground and do the things he's been doing in his development. Yeah. So again, for this year, yeah, if I'm JP, I'm like, yeah, that's all right. There's plenty of room. There's plenty of opportunity. I got to go out and hit and do everything else, but there's plenty of opportunity for next year. It does sort of make it feel like the writing is on the wall. And yeah, it's not just how he handles that, but how do his teammates handle that? Because he's been a leader in that clubhouse. He's been a big part of what they do. Yeah. Well, he turned 31 in January. He's in the final year of his contract. He made some money here, right? Not extraordinary, but good money. They didn't sign like a three year, $60 million deal. So he's made good money and he's going to be incentivized just like Randy Rosarane in the final year, just like Josh Naylor was at the end of last year, just like Gino Suarez was when he was an impending free agent. Like this is the business. Like these guys know the business, been in the business for a decade. This is the business of baseball. Can you come up with another example though, Brock, where the person who was going to inherit the throne was signed to a deal of this size and the current occupant was hanging on for the rest of the year? Okay. So here's the key question. That's a little different. Here's the key question to that. And I guess the only kind of question in there is if JP goes out and is a four win player again and hits and does his thing and hits, you know, I mean, it's just JP, four, four and a half war player. Could you and would you have signed Emerson to that deal, projected him as a third baseman? Or does that deal tell you he has to be the future shortstop? I just don't see how he's playing third base for very long. Not that it couldn't be for a year, this year especially, heard for me to imagine that it just takes part of the part of his value away. Now look, I mean, if long. So the value of that deal. And I'm just asking, I'm not playing down here. But part of the value is that he plays a premium position, right? I would think so. I would think so. Yeah. Here's Aaron Goldsmith yesterday talking about JP as well. Even if he is not a Mariner next year and Randy de Rosarain is in the same boat, he's a free agent at the end of the season. There's still a lot to play for, right? On two fronts. One, this is a team with World Series aspirations. So there's one. And the other is whether it's with the Mariners or whether it's with one of the 29 other teams, both those guys are playing for a contract next year. So there's plenty of motivation on either side, whether it's from the team perspective or an individual perspective. Yeah, I'm not worried about motivation. No, and if JP, he's gonna be super motivated. Absolutely. Professional, everything else. He goes down as a great year. It'll be 32 next year. There's not much of a market. Hey, you know what? Maybe we sign him back for another year and play it cold to third base when he's 21 years old. Yeah, if it were me, I'm not JP. I'm not suggesting JP finds it awkward. I would find it awkward. It would hurt my pride. It would hurt my feelings. It would. I'm just trying to be honest. I don't, I'm not saying JP feels that way. I don't want JP calling up and being like, hey, I don't feel that way. You know, okay, I'm sure. Believe it. There was a day I was the biggest crybaby, pouty face, whining little, you know what? On the training camp practice field in Cheney, Washington, when the Seattle CIOX traded for Trent Dilfer. It was bad enough to trade for Matt Hasselback the year before. Okay, I can be the backup. And now you're bringing Trent Dilfer in and I was out there moping and whining and home green grab me. He's like, what's going on? I'm like, what do you think? Like you did. Like he's like, you know, 49ers. We had Steve Bono, Steve Young and Joe Montana. And I thought you had more character than this. I thought, I thought you were, I didn't, you know, think pride came before the fall with you. I mean, rightfully, I hope your answer was, well, those two guys aren't Steve Young and Joe Montana. Hey, once a Super Bowl champ, I didn't say it wasn't, but I would hope that you answered that's not Steve Young and Joe Montana. No, Matt Hasselback and Trent Dilfer. But it hit me between my wide spaced eyes. Like, you know what he would have said? And you're no, you're no Steve Bono. But you, and at that point, you still had hope. You still had hope to compete. Like with this deal, JP knows that the writing's on the wall. It's just awkward. If it were me, I would find it very awkward. I would find it very, very hard to deal with. I would be a malcontent, or at least I would try hard not to be, but deep inside, I think it would be hard. Like, oh, okay. So you think I'm done? Great. Cool. Thanks. Appreciate it. I've been put out to pasture already. And my, my season. Okay. But in this, but in this example again, to carry it forward. Okay. So Matt wasn't Joe Montana, but like, what if his skill set was that much greater? Like, okay. Yeah, I get it. Could JP not look at the dude next to him, watch the plays he makes at 20 years of age, look at the lack of strikeouts and look at the noise off of his bat and go, okay, yeah, I get it. I get it. The difference here is you're not starting in the meantime. In your scenario, you just go back to being the third quarterback. Like, JP's going to come back and start a shortstop for the rest of the year and be one of the leaders in the clubhouse, which apologies to you. You weren't at that time. I was always a leader. So it didn't matter what. All right. Let's take a break. Why you fuss, all right. It's everything you need to know next. I was a CX man of the year. Highlights don't win games. The full box score does. I'm Brock Huard and most business leaders aren't short on data. They're short on clarity. Numbers are scattered across ERP, CRMs and spreadsheets, making decisions reactive instead of confident. And that's not how great businesses are built. Marquee IQ brings all your data together into one clear view, even if it lives in disconnected systems or offline so you can see what's really happening and act faster. Stop running your business on highlights, get the full picture. Visit data. The wins.com to see what Marquee IQ can do. Stream every Seattle sports show with the Seattle Sports app brought to you by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Get new videos, podcasts and articles on the Seahawks and Mariners from your favorite Seattle sports personalities daily. Old windows cost you money and security. Lake Washington Windows and doors installs energy efficient, high security windows that lower bills and increased protection with leak armor installation and lifetime warranties. You're protected for life. Choose Lake Washington Windows.com today. Need to know 15 minutes past every hour with Brock and Salk presented by Marquee data. Here's what you need to know. First, yeah, kind of a crummy game for the Mariners last night. The weather got warmer, but the bats stayed cold. They did very, very little against their second straight lefty starter. No shame in not getting the max for you. Again, one of the best in the league, but a difference between what this lineup looks like, looks like against righties versus lefties. I would say there's some significance there and they just weren't really able to generate a whole lot offensively. Just four hits, one walk free. Just needed 90 pitches to go through seven innings. He was dominant. I was thinking last night's talk. What were you thinking, Brock? I was thinking about us. You and me, baby. You and me and more at the picnic table and you asking Logan how his year was last year, I thought that whole interaction, honestly, because I think the bar in the standard and the thought is that Logan's a Cy Young candidate. Like go take that next step, man. Go be that three next $300 million picture. Right. And then you see Max Fried, who is that guy and you're like, Oh, Oh, I mean, Logan's really, really good. He's really, really good. Days where Logan looks just like that also last night just wasn't one of them. That's true. That is true. Yes. You're right. If you look at last night and that was your of those days and more of their season, that's true. More of those numbers over the last few years where, you know, last year was with the elbow and everything else, a little bumpier. And then these first two starts, are they're good? Then a little, no, they have their goods yesterday was not. I mean, he gave him five runs and five on the third. Yeah. Like that was not a good start. I would say that's a well, Calvin help them. He may have gotten wiggled out of that and given up two runs in six innings. But that wasn't a good start. I think when it's all said and done, it would be hard for me to go there. JP, by the way, started his rehab assignment in Tacoma. He went over for with a walk and a strikeout. Here's the second thing you need to play next to Colt Emerson, one at short, one at third, we got the contract details. It's basically a million dollars this year, two million next year in salary. There is an eight million dollar signing bonus, but it's kind of cool. Like it's 20 million dollars he gets in the first three years, whereas he would have gotten maybe three if he had gotten called up during that time. And then during the later part of the contract, he's making like 15 million dollars a year. So that's a huge break for the Mariners during that time. Club option 2034 is for 25 million, but it really is a win win for both sides. It really is a good deal. Is the lobster shop still down there on Reston Way? I don't know because I'm wondering if, you know, these other I didn't realize that was a real question you were asking me. I thought that was just a retort. Remember that was the greatest meal I'd had at that point in my life. My senior year of high school. Sure. Yeah, I do remember was treated there and family members and everything else for a pretty fun award. Yeah. And I'm just kind of curious if Colt's going to have to, you know, treat his boys somewhere along the way. I would imagine they'll be a pretty decent meal coming people's way. Jerry DePoto said yesterday that we could see him this season, but it's a little complicated. How it all fits, especially with Leo being the only one who hits from the right side is a little more complicated. But I think that's where Brendan Donovan's versatility really plays a huge part in what we're doing. And I referenced it through the offseason or once we acquired Brendan, you know, Donnie's versatility made it such a priority for us to acquire him because he allowed us to do a lot of creative things with the other players on the field. And we didn't want to stop, you know, Colt's rise. His ascension to a premium position. We don't want to stop Colt from making an impact when he was ready to make an impact. Yeah. You know, it's interesting when you and I were growing up and even the years that followed us, it was like, oh, no, teach your right handed son, hit left handed. If Colt Amerson hit right handed, it might be a little different conversation. That clock might be sped up that much more with just the way the whole rest of the roster in the lineup is configured. Is that true? I know, but it would make the roster construction a little easier, I think, for sure. Yeah, maybe the timing wouldn't be, but the overall construction of it. Yeah, it'd be, yeah, we'll see how close this ends up being. But my take is we still see him about Memorial Day. Yeah, I think you're right about that. Here's the third day you need to know. If you really didn't like watching the Mariners offense last night, I hope you didn't double dip on the Kraken like I did, because it was not impressive. They get shut out as well. Three nothing in Edmonton, give up a couple goals early, never mounted much more. It's not even that great if a defensive team, they do have a ton of offensive firepower. They're just not a good defensive team. Yeah, that's a long road trip and they got now nine left and a couple points down. They're still thankfully, I know, but that was a waste, another wasted opportunity. That's just, it's rough. They got Utah tomorrow night. Jayden Schwartz came back. That was cool. Shane Wright is a hurt. So you have a nice scarred, you know, I don't know. That's a good question. Those guys are pretty well scarred in general. That's everything you need to know. Take a blade to the face. Yeah. He still couldn't really tell if it was the blade or the heel. Like it was a little funky. I must have been the blade. But yeah, it was it was. Yeah, strange, strange situation for Jayden Schwartz. Good to see him back out there. All right. Well, Brock, yes, Michael, you may not have been a leader on that. Seahawks team, but you're a leader on this show. Watch your mouth. You are a leader in this building and on this show. And you showed why this week when you said, Hey, I got an idea. Let's try to talk to a bunch of quarterbacks that played against this Seahawks defense this year and see what they saw. And who better to start with than the guy who came out of retirement as a grandfather, no less and said, Oh, I know, I'm just going to go and take on the Seahawks defense. Let's see what happens. Philip Rivers will join the show next on Brock and Salk. Highlights don't win games. The full box score does. I'm Brock here at a most business leaders aren't short on data. They're short on clarity. Numbers are scattered across ERP, CRM and spreadsheets, making decisions reactive instead of confident. And that's not how great businesses are built. Marquis IQ brings all your data together into one clear view. Even if it lives in disconnected systems or offline so you can see what's really happening and act faster, stop running your business on highlights. Get the full picture. Visit data. The wins.com to see what Marquis IQ can do. We are Seattle Sports 7 10 a.m. on your radio streaming through the Seattle Sports app. Get new videos, podcasts and articles on the Seahawks and Mariners from your favorite Seattle Sports personalities daily. Old windows, costume, money and security. Lake Washington Windows and doors installs energy efficient, high security windows that lower your bills and increase protection with leak armor installation and lifetime warranties. You're protected for life. Choose Lake Washington Windows.com today. For decades, Seattle has lived and breathed baseball. The crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the memories made at the ballpark at Levitt Group Northwest Insurance. They get it because they call Seattle home just like you. They know this community and they know what it takes to protect it. That's why they listen, shop around and tailor coverage for your home, car or business. Call 877-4LEVITT. Levitt Group Northwest Insurance. You can count on season after season 877-4LEVITT. From the Quantum Fiber Studio, this is Brock and Salk weekday six to ten on Seattle Sports and 97 three FM HD two. No, this isn't an April Fool's joke. There are a lot of texts thinking this is just an April Fool's joke. That's not April Fool's. We actually have Philip Rivers on the show. It's not messed up. That's what we wouldn't do that to you guys. We don't do April Fool's jokes on the show. No, Philip Rivers is with us right now. Good morning, Philip. How are you? Hey guys, morning. No, that is really it. Was that a 206 of text? I had to be a 206 of text of that in. That's just awful. Some of these folks out there, Philip, you know, they're just very cynical at times. They don't know that we bumped into each other. What a week and a half ago or so through our sons and everything else. And then as I was driving through Alabama, through Florida on a wonderful vacation, I thought, you know what, I think it'd be kind of fun. As much as we talk about these Seahawks and analysts talk about it, how about some of these guys that actually played against them? So thank you for doing this. The first and hopefully a bunch of other fellows over the next few weeks and months leading up to the season that can speak to what you saw last year. And before we get to the football of it, Philip. Can you take us back to the first text, the first phone call, the first something that came from the three, one, seven and Indy that said, Hey man, I got a thought for you. Yeah. No, I think it's a heck of an idea to get to get to get some of these guys that played against that heck of a Seahawks defense and obviously Super Bowl champ. So I think it's a heck of an idea here from the guys that were in between the lines, but yeah, no, it was, it was one of them. I have a great relationship with Shane Stike and he coached me in San Diego LA. And, uh, you know, kind of the offense we've, we've, we've, we ran in my ladder years or what I also ran in Indy with Frank Reich. I mean, obviously it all evolves and changes year to year, but so I had a great relationship with those guys. I would check in with Shane every so often throughout the year. You obviously ended up pulling for your old teammates and you pull for your old coaches, you know, as you, as you've been out of the league. And, um, Shane just said, Hey, you think you can do it? And I was like, huh, I got to take a deep breath. You know, kind of move my shoulder a little bit. I was like, well, uh, yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, I think I can, but hold on now. Now I got to take a deep breath and, uh, and, uh, we, you know, visit Monday morning and I said, I need to get up there and throw and let y'all see if you think I can do it. You know, it's one thing for me to, for me to get, just to start having some, you know, get the, uh, blood for it a little bit and the competitors and they go, yeah, I can do it. And I said, you only just get me up there. And if y'all tell me, uh, no, no way, then I'll fly back home. Uh, but let me get up there in front of you. And then we kind of got that done Monday night and went from there. I'm just surprised he didn't say something like, no, no, we know you can throw once we want to see what you look like the next day. Like we know you can run around and, and, uh, and for a day, sure. I run around. All right. Well, yeah, easy, easy. Sorry about that. Yeah. But what, but what does it look like after you take a couple of hits? What was it like waking up that next Monday morning after the first game? Yeah. Well, I'll be honest. I, uh, I mean, I do Lee noted, and there's really nowhere to hide in a football uniform. I was a little heavier than I was. And, uh, you know, when I last walked off the field in Buffalo, however, I'd probably been about three months in to actually train him pretty hard, not training to play football, but, uh, just physically resistant stuff, you know, weight stuff. And so I actually felt strong and I felt good. Certainly wasn't the training to move away from Leonard Williams and Jenna and, and, and those guys. But, but I felt, I felt strong physically. So I wasn't as much worried about taking a hit and those sorts of things as I was about having to, you know, step over the pocket real fast or, you know, move up in the pocket and all of a sudden pop a calf or something. You know, I was more worried about that. But, um, so I didn't feel awful. I was worried about feeling awful Monday morning. I didn't feel awful that Monday morning. And, uh, actually the first hit I took in the early in the game in Seattle actually was refreshing in a sense. It wasn't a bad hit, but it was one of those I got knocked to the ground and I was like, Oh, all right. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah. Heck yeah. I almost kind of locked me into the game. So, uh, but it was a, it was a blast to say the least to be out there for, for those three weeks and be a part of it again for four weeks. And obviously disappointed we didn't win, win some ball games and getting the playoffs, but it was an absolute blast. It was kind of a, a bonus gift. I got a football that I certainly thought was long gone. Philip, this, uh, I should probably ask this at the end of it, but the audience knows I'll at times ask offensive questions because it's just what left hand and middle child, third string quarterbacks do. Um, my buddy, John Kittner got called back to the Cowboys, not quite as old as you were and not a grandpa yet, but got called back and he was like, Oh yeah, just give me my old pants and everything. And the pants didn't fit. You know, he needed a bigger size and everything else. It was a little bigger. If you were to have stepped on a scale, it's, it's a lumen field heading out to that game compared to what you were at the end. And as you mentioned, the Buffalo Bills, what did you play at 230? Were you 235 guy at the end of your career? Yeah, I hovered, I hovered between 28 and 34 probably, you know, throughout the course of a whole season and certainly later in my career. I, if I go on a scale as I entered the stadium there, I was probably 244. I was probably 10 pounds heavier. Yeah. And just not quite in the, obviously in the, in the, in the, in the shape cardio wise, you know, you start putting it in different places when you get in the forties, you know? Oh yeah. So funny you say that about one, your old pair of pants and everything. So yeah, I was like, all right, I got to get my, bring them my old short, my old stuff, you know, should I bring my old shoulder pads on? But I get in there, I get in there with the, uh, equipment guys and, uh, they said, Hey, we got your same jersey from, from, you know, when you're here in 20, you want the same, you want the same cut? I said, no, no, no boys. We got to, we got to let it a little out. Let's go with the relaxed. Yeah. Was that frog? Is frog still in the equipment room? Is frog still there? Oh yeah, frog. Frog is still there. Frog is still, still running the show. Unbelievable. That whole, that's great. So for me, going back there, it, there was a sense of, uh, I've been here before, you know, obviously I, because I had been, but when you have the whole same equipment room staff, the whole training room staff, you know, DT still with a, you know, player, you know, relations and the whole deal. And then, you know, I had 14 former teammates, 14 teammates from that 2020 team. So it felt, I'd been in the huddle with Quinn Nelson and, and Pittman and Jonathan Taylor and those, and Moe Alley Cox, I've been in there with them. So it felt like, oh yeah. You know, it didn't feel like I was a guest quarterback. It felt like, yeah, I've been, I've been, I've been in it with these guys before. Brock, I thought you were going to reference that big D tackle at the weight, who they had to weigh on the freight scale here. No, no, no. That was, for the Seahawks? Yeah. That was like 600 pounds. It's about 490 pounds. Yeah, no, no. All right. So let's get to why we wanted to talk to you. Phillip Rivers with us. Uh, you played against the Seahawks this year. What was it like to play against that defense? Well, obviously it goes without saying it's well noted and, and, and I've seen the tape and obviously the run they went on going into that game. You know, that, that for me, and I, I watch every Sunday and I, I, I didn't really get away from the game in the last, you know, five seasons. So I, I've watched fairly closely, not as I would if I was preparing, but I watched fairly closely. So I get in there that week, you know, and it's like putting your eyes on this defense and like, now you're going to be under center. You know, you're watching them a little different than you did when you're sitting on the couch at the house. But so, um, as that week, you know, as you're preparing throughout that week and kind of getting yourself back wired with your own stuff, you know, you, you know, Brock, right? I mean, you're early in a week and you're worried about yourself and your own game plan. And there for me, it was a crash course of that, which I was familiar with, but still different when you actually have to do it. And then it's like, all right, man, I got, uh, where's this thinking? Nickel, I gotta make sure I know where three is. It's in the game like a linebacker all the time. And then here's, there's witherspoon that obviously is the heck of a blitzer as well and a great DB. And then there's defensive front and wherever you, how do we want to handle Leonard Williams and what about Lawrence and Chenna and these guys rushing on the outside? So as you're going through the week and really felt like the box was, was their strength and you, and you felt like three was kind of the star. I mean, he would be the kind of the guy that I was star and say, look out, he'll wreck this game and he can play. He, he, he, he's a, he's as fast as anybody on the field, but he's also as physical as any linebacker and any guy in the box. Uh, and obviously that linebacker core, I just thought, uh, as a whole you know, there with Ernest and, and, and Drake Thomas and, and, uh, and then you throw in, you consider, you know, uh, and more as a linebacker, even though I know it's a safety, so it was a safety nickel kind of body, but they were, uh, really solid. You know, I think, I think the biggest thing is, and you, you, you see this with the best defenses, I think, and yes, they're good at disguising. Yes, they have some good pressures and yes, they got, they got, you know, coach, you know, Mike's unbelievable there and does a great job. But when they're, when you're really good and you got really good players, and, and, and good coaches, you don't have to do a whole lot, you know. And so I felt like you get as you, as I dove into it and then you play them in the game and it's like, well, they didn't do a bunch. It's not like they just were, just had you like, what in the world is coming next? It was, they're pretty, they're, they're really sound and, and they're, and they don't have to do a ton, but they do it all off of the same look. You know, they really like to start in that shell defense and then they have some, some pressures from there. Some of them are, those what, what nowadays, nowadays being called those simulated pressures, you know, where they're really not bringing before and they're dropping an end, but it's eating up a back or it's, you know, they got, you know, some great disguise behind it. And, and so it was, it was, it was a challenge. Obviously, you know, we hung in there to say the least, but you look up and you go, well, yeah, we threw for 130 yards and rushed for whatever. It wasn't like we lit them up by any means, but gave ourselves a chance. We needed one more, one more score. We felt like if we could get one more touchdown, obviously we had to touchdown the downs early in the game, but if we could have scored one more time with the way our defense was playing, we felt like we'd have won the game. And then, and then really the last drive, if we could have got one more first down, we would have been kicking the walkoff as opposed to Myers kicking the walkoff, you know, 40 something seconds later. Okay. So take me back to that touchdown. So I'll go, you got it. We'll play the highlight. This was the touchdown and I'm curious from both a football and a human being element. Here's what it sounded like. Rivers from the shotgun on third down and three. A slot to the left side. Rivers wants to throw, stop, throws over the middle, touchdown Colts. Point is he make it look easy. And just running right away from Josh, Joe, who was in coverage that time. A seven yard touchdown reception. And the Colts now stretch their lead to 12 to three to a stunned crowd here at Lumenfield. All right, Phillip, two things. Give me the football perspective of that play. You kind of took apart the defense and won that one. And then the human being element is you're running off the field. And as you told me, some of your younger kids getting a chance to watch dad do something that they didn't get to see because you were done playing by the time they were around. Give me both of those elements if you wouldn't mind. Yeah. Well, well, Goosebumps as you play the replay, obviously you feel like you can go right back to it. We felt like, you know, they, they, they played some man covers down in the, down in the low red area. And so we thought there was a chance to get downs running away as we did. We had a corner out there to downs aside that we're kind of peeking, you know, and, and, and they ended up walking up and pressuring it there at the last second. And the office's line did a great job of picking that up and downs was able to just escape quickly with the kind of get interference with the. Or to receiver there and get across the field with some speed. So I want to get the ball in his hands as quick as I could and let him go score with it. There's a little bit on his back hip. If I was really being a critical myself, but he, uh, thankfully he was open enough. He was able to get in the end zone. And then you had the Q and L it was just, I mean, it was an emotional week. Shoot, I can get emotional right now. It was emotional week, but, and then to be out there and warm up and just look around and go, whoa, these folks, I'm standing here right now. You know, it was kind of, it was surreal to just be back, back in the, back in on the field. And, and so for us to score there, it was kind of one of those deals. You know, you weren't playing with a lot of pressure by any means. The expectations were low. I certainly didn't have them. They weren't low for myself, but I was like, yeah, I mean, what, did anybody really think I don't want to win him? No. So, you know, let's go, go cut it loose. And what, well, if you throw three picks, people are going to say, yeah, I told you so, you know, I mean, so it was one of those deals. I played free. I played, I played, I played conservative in the sense just because I wanted to play within myself and say, Hey, let's not get carried away. I can't just throw it all over the place like I could. I've come off four days of practice in the last five years. But so the human element when we score was just, yeah, as you saw, you, you spy that every now and then you go back to that 10 year old boy, which I kind of played that way my whole career, but just, just excitement. Obviously, yeah. And you mentioned my younger kids were obviously back home. My brother and my oldest son flew out for the game in son-in-law and the D coordinator at the high school. They flew out for the game. And so they were there and going crazy, but back home, I mean, yeah, they were excited. My seven year old girl, my 10 year old daughter, they don't, they don't really remember dad playing. They've seen the clips, but, you know, so to actually be like, wow, dad's out there playing. And my older girls now, my older girls were kind of like, you know, the, the emoji with the brain, you know, kind of going crazy. You know, your brain kind of crushing. They're kind of like, we don't really know what's going on. Like this is a little bit for us going, they were going back to their childhood, you know, like what is happening? This is what you did when we were 12. Now, now I have, I have your grandson. You know, I've had a son already. So anyway, lots of emotions. So is it like the Heard House where you show them film every Friday night to remind them what you once were? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Broke showing the U-Dub film and back at Puyallup High School. Hey, so Phillip Rivers with us. You were one of the rare quarterbacks to have some success against the Legion of Boom. Beat them in 2014 for whatever reason, you see again, I think in 2018, if I remember correctly, when they were still pretty darn good, you had some success against a really, really good defense. What was the difference playing that defense versus the Mike McDonald defense? How were they similar or different? Good question, Salk. Good question. Well, yeah, I think similar in this way. They're very, they're very sure of who they are and they're very on task, you know, with their assignments and how to play what they play. And those, you know, you mentioned the 14 and 18 team and the team won the Super Bowl that by a large margin in years past to beat the Broncos that year. They didn't do a whole lot. They didn't do a lot, but they did it very well. And they knew, they almost knew their defense so well that they could just play what they're seeing and play the Tennis of the offense. And I feel like that's the similarity. It's a different scheme. Kind of comes from out of a different look, but they don't, they, they know what they're doing so well and they're playing in such sync together that it allows them to play, play with that speed. And obviously that they have that from a talent standpoint, but play with the speed from what they're seeing, you know, we kind of call that accelerated vision. You know, they have that accelerated vision of what's coming. They almost feel a step ahead of you. So I would say that would be something that's similar. And then the speed, I mean, which every team's fast, but these guys can run now. I mean, I mentioned three, I like calling by their jersey number. I know they all have last names, but the threes, the threes unbelievable. And I, the guy that stood out in our game, and I'm not just saying this because he's an NC State guy, but, but Drake Thomas in our game to me was like, God, Lee, he's everywhere. You know, he's everywhere. And it's like, you know, and the list goes on with just how, how, how cohesive those guys play together. But it was a, it was a heck of a game. It was a heck of a game and a heck of a challenge. And, you know, obviously there's no, there's no consolation prize and there's no, you know, trying to put a feather in my cap, but I would, I will say with you guys, as candid as I can, it didn't feel all bad to see the Seahawks win the Super Bowl and go, God, we had them on the rope. You know, it didn't feel terrible to at least be able to say that we had to leave with 42 seconds. That's cause Drake may as a Tar Heel guy. Yeah, that seems never, you never forget those. They weren't even competitive. It took a Jason Myers last second to beat me. No, I get it. Hey, last football thing, one of my last questions for you and Phillip Rivers here, super kind to take a bunch of time with us. There's a baseball guy called Pitchy Ninja, Phillip. And what this guy does is he kind of super imposes these elite pitchers and how, when the ball comes out of their hand and even halfway to the plate, it looks exactly the same. Right? Paul Schien's fastball to slider and when you got to make that decision, that accelerated vision you talk about, we hear about the Seahawks and just how hard their disguise is, their speed with which they play and then just how hard Kirk Cousins went in a great detail about it as well. How it's like, man, I don't even know, like I'm supposed to look for safety's rotation, but they show this and then they do this and they run across like it's man and then they bust that tendency. Like how difficult was it with their speed and with their disguise to play the position you played for nearly two decades? Well, that's a great question. And I think, I think that's the one thing people said, how different is it? People say the game's changed. How much does it change since you were out in 2020? And so I, in some ways I go, I didn't, I didn't feel a whole lot of change. You know what I mean? Shoot, it's the same as 11 guys out there. How many covers can you play? But here's where I thought at Seahawks defense, a handful of these teams have really important, the Jaguars I thought were this way as well is, you know, when there's one guy disguising or there's a guy that's like, oh, he's jacking with you and all that, but the other guys aren't in sync. It's kind of like, Hey man, I know you're not coming because this dude over here already told me what the coverage was. You know what I mean? And so, but the Seahawks defense, the Jaguars, and I say the Jaguars again, they were really good, but because I played them, I got to see them up close, you know, in that week, week 17 game, but they were in sync and doing it together. And it's like, man, these guys are on it. Like, yeah, it did look like man, and everybody made it look like man, not just two guys, you know, or these guys, but I thought they, it wasn't just witherspoon given the disguise, they were all given it. So can you tell me, hold on, I don't mean to cut you off, but can you explain to somebody like me who's never played the game at any sort of a high level what that means and like how you like, you give me an example of looking at two or three different players and seeing them do different things? Yeah, well, I just, just picture a nickel over a number two receiver, right over the slot receiver out there. And he's kind of, he's kind of doing his like starting to creep like he's going to, he's going to blitz, you know, and he's, and he's jacking with you. But yet the backside safety is already so, you know, hunkered in and it looks in the stone cold cover two over there, right? Or the Will linebacker is in the big gap when he should have been in the A gap, you know, it's kind of like, Hey, well, he's just jacking with me. You know, I know he's jacking with me, but when it's kind of like, well, he's jacking with me and that safety is starting to creep to the middle and the backers just like, man, maybe it is real. You know, maybe it is real. So it's those kind of things. And then like the Seahawks, you mentioned Kirk Cousins talking about man and his own, they did a great job of playing kind of what we call the, you know, the no show man, you know, not the corner's travel or the linebackers go with a running back. And so we had a few things we did in that game. One particular third down, that we ended up hitting the bullet, the bullet route to the tailback is we had a motion and formation in the boundary and all these things trying to get the tail of it being man. And I mean, nobody moved. No, nobody moves. We motion, we did this or did that. And they were all just kind of standing there staring at me kind of like, well, we're not telling you anything. Well, so something told me it was man, you know, is that feeling you've got to get that feeling and look, and I don't know something about their demeanor told me it's man. So we left the man play on and it was man. And we hit the, we hit the pass to the tailback for, you know, first down. And I remember coming off the sideline, if this isn't me saying, oh, look what I did, but coming off the sideline and then asking me how did, how did, and really the next morning, hey, how the heck did you know it was man? I was like, just felt it. I just, you just feel it. And I was wrong. I mean, there's times in those three, three games I played that was certainly wrong and, and, and, and, and that feeling, but that's what they cause you to do. It's like, okay, here's your systematic way of knowing man or zone. It's kind of like, well, none of those worked. So what did you, what do you do? Well, you go with what you feel, you know, and it's like, and so there's that element of that. You've done that as a young player. Yes, but not as well. That's where I was going to say that's where that's where 250 games comes in as opposed to 15 games, you know, it would have just said, well, nobody ran with an emotion. It must be zone. You know what I mean? It's that simple when you're a second year quarterback as opposed to, you know, 44 years old, you see it a little different. And you have those feelings, you know, there was another time where they didn't pressure. They didn't, they, they, they, they did pressure and, and, and, and that, but it was like, ah, but I, you hear, you hear, I heard, I heard Drake and, and Ernest, I couldn't hear them audibly, but you see them communicating like, Hey, we got to go. You know, I see Ernest tell Drake, we got to go. And it was like, Oh, must be in this nickel's coming. Yep. He is. You know what I mean? It's stuff like that. So that's why I was asked. Cause I was thinking of someone like, I was thinking of someone like Sam, Drake May and the Super Bowl. Yeah. Well, no, I, well, no, I was actually thinking of someone like Sam Darnold or before him, Geno Smith or, or this whole new conversation that we're having about these quote unquote, reclamation project quarterbacks and how just, just no substitute for experience. And maybe it's not that biggest surprise that these guys are finding their way back to it, given that they were always talented, first or in some case, second round picks who, who weren't in the right spot or didn't get it early and then eventually figured it out later in their career. Yeah. No, I, I do. I think there's something about experience though. You mentioned, you mentioned Geno and I got to be a teammate with Geno. You know, I see that for the Jets and then it came to us in LA and then obviously, uh, has gone to do a lot of good things. And now he's right back with the Jets, you know, and really has had a nice career after what, you know, is tough. You mentioned Sam Darnold being Daniel Jones is in Indy, Baker Mayfield, you know, some of these guys, the path they've been on, everybody has their own journey. And it's really those guys that have been through and been hardened, you know, they've been hardened as kind of like, what can phase them now? You know, what can, what can phase those guys now a bad game or somebody saying they're not very good? Like that ain't gonna bother those guys. They've already been, they've already been through it all. So it's kind of cool seeing those guys kind of go through those, those hard, those hardships and kind of come out on the other side of it. But there's the game within the game, you know, and you think about, you know, obviously I'm biased to the guys that I was in their with with, you know, Aaron Rodgers still going, but, you know, Drew and Peyton and Tom and Eli and Ben and Stafford still rolling. And I'm not making comparisons to those guys. I'm just saying it's the game within the game that the book doesn't tell you. And it's like, well, how did you know? How did you feel that? Why did you do that? Why did you sign on that? It's like, hi, he's been playing like this all day. You know, there's all those little things that, like you said, there's no substitute for experience. And then it's that confidence that comes with that experience and that understanding what all these little nuances and these little conversations that DB and D-Lime may have or why does he put his other hand down? He never puts his other hand down. He must be dropping all those things, all those things that come with time and then come with being just absolutely loved the preparation part of it. You know, and I think that's a big thing that would be a question for me for a young quarterback. Do you love preparing during the week or is it just like, yeah, I'll watch a little tape because if you don't love preparing, I don't know how you can do it for a long time. You can have some spotty success, but to do it for a long time, you got to love the preparation part. If you're going to do it at a high level, you got to love the preparation part of it. Philip, this was beyond even my expectation. Yeah, you want to hear some of the text response here? So fun. There's some pretty good text response. Sure. Can we please get Philip on again sometime next year? I could listen to him all day long. No, too busy. He's coaching. Great interview with Philip Rivers. He just seems like a good dude. Wow, what a great interview. What a likable down-to-earth, transparent guy. Dad Gummett, he's good on the radio. Man, Philip Rivers is completely destroying my perception of him. I always thought he was this or that, somebody I didn't like, but he's a pretty cool guy. I love this interview. So wow, how about all of that? Thank you, Philip. This is really great. Much appreciated. A whole bunch of time. Thank you. And I will be rooting on your boy Gunner, your oldest son, who you said was out at that game. And my son got a chance to hang out for a couple hours in the truck ride. So thank you for that. And we'll be rooting big time for him as he goes on to NC State. He'll be a senior this year, right, Philip? Yeah, be a senior. Yeah, same for Titus. Yeah, he got two more to go, right? So yeah, he'll be a senior. It'll be fun. It's been a blast coaching him. They all grew up too fast, as you know, bro. They all grew up too fast. But so no, enjoying the heck out of that. And I appreciate you asking me to come on. I enjoyed, enjoyed, enjoyed talking with you. It was a lot of fun. There you go. There's Philip Rivers, Brock, who may be the first guest in the history of the show to say, as you know, Brock, but not refer to something in the NFL or in football. This was just about about kids. This wasn't even about the NFL. Your mind was spinning a bunch of different. It was. Yeah, there were a couple things that Yeah, there are a couple of things. Football standpoint too. And just that, you know, they're a little game within the game. Yeah, there was a bunch in there. You want to do that next? I think I pretty much have to. Yeah, I don't know that we have a choice. It's next on Brock and Sal.