00:00It's hard to relate at times to these guys making millions of dollars
00:03and what they're doing, but at the end of the day,
00:06when you're the best of the best, it's because every day you go in
00:09and put in the same amount of effort, the same amount of work,
00:12and that's what their work week is like.
00:14And that's why you see these teams in college football.
00:17We always hear Kirby, and Urban Meyer was big on this,
00:20and I think Saban had his own version where Tuesdays are their day
00:24where they absolutely just go in,
00:28and it's because then you kind of reacclimate.
00:32Your body gets kind of back to where it is,
00:34and by the time you play on Saturday, you're fresh again,
00:37but you had that work.
00:38The harder you practice, the easier it is when you go to do your job.
00:42It was an interesting thing when Mike Shula was our head coach.
00:45He liked to practice on Sunday, like Sunday evening,
00:49and it was almost like an active recovery, and then Monday you'd have off.
00:52And when Saban got hired, we were kind of like,
00:55oh, okay, is that going to switch to Sunday being off?
00:59Guess which day we had off?
01:00None of them.
01:03None of them.
01:04You're going to be here Sunday to get your optional lift in
01:07and your active recovery, and you're going to run a little bit,
01:09and then Monday we're going to practice.
01:11And it was like, oh, okay, I guess that's – there you go for that.
01:14So, no, you're right.
01:15It's a mindset.
01:17It can be hard to relate, but I think that when you realize how much goes in
01:24to getting their bodies right and preparation and all the detail
01:27that comes down to game planning, it's like that's a very high bar
01:31to continue to set for how many months does it last
01:34from the time they get to training camp to the time the Super Bowl's over.
01:36Like that is – it seems impossibly high.
01:39So there's going to be lulls here and there,
01:41and you just have to make sure you stay consistent.
01:42Well, there's so much building up to this game, of course.
01:44We've got the rivalry going on with the Katrina anniversary,
01:46and the Saints are coming off a loss to the Raiders,
01:49so they're going to be looking for a win.
01:50But Kevin Stefanski also got into looking for areas of the Saints to exploit.
01:55Sure.
01:55I think every team, to your point, Mark, is you're learning about your teams
01:59in September and October for sure, and I think that's true of every team.
02:05There's also little things that come up in a given week.
02:09You mentioned tendencies.
02:10These tendencies aren't the worst thing to have because now you know
02:13that they're out there, and now you can build off of them
02:15and you can exploit them potentially.
02:16So every team has tendencies.
02:19Every team's trying to play that cat-and-mouse game with the other team
02:22and say, hey, we've done this.
02:25Now we can do that.
02:27But I think if you just look across the field at the Saints,
02:30it's a really, really well-coached team on all three sides of the ball.
02:34They have playmakers really throughout the roster.
02:36So it's going to be a great challenge for a football team.
02:41I was looking at their defense, and, Mike, I don't know how much you looked at it,
02:45but I mean I haven't gotten to see them on film yet,
02:49and I'm interested because you just look over their roster,
02:53and they've got some guys.
02:55Our old friend Caden Ellis, who's doing what Caden Ellis does,
02:59leading the team in tackles.
03:00Because Chase Young, to me, has had his best – he's been his best in New Orleans.
03:08And this stop in his career has been the one that he could be defined by.
03:13Honestly, if you take away that being that number one,
03:18the second pick overall that year in the 20 draft.
03:22But they've got Kool-Aid McKinstry.
03:25They've got guys, and we all know what Cam Jordan has done against the Falcons.
03:29So defensively, I do think they have some spots, but it's not as –
03:35it's an NFL roster, and none of them are as bare as we want to think
03:38when we just look at how we perceive teams without ever watching them.
03:43Yeah, I've started to dip my toe in the water of watching those guys.
03:47I'm aware of who – obviously Kool-Aid McKinstry and Martin Emerson,
03:52they brought over who I'm pretty sure was with Stefanski in Cleveland
03:56for most of his career, Anthony Jennings they brought over,
03:59who was the pass rusher that spent a number of years at New England,
04:03Tyree Wilson, who we scouted heavily as far as a draft pick goes,
04:06Chris Miller, who we scouted heavily as part of the depth with their defensive line.
04:11But you're right, I don't quite know what that unit is just yet.
04:17I think that they're a team that can throw the ball.
04:19I think when you look at what Olave's done, it's going to be a tough matchup for us.
04:23But defensively, when I look at them and start breaking down who –
04:27what Caden Ellis' role is and how they're using Pete Werner these days,
04:30I'm not sure.
04:32I'm not sure.
04:33I do think that there's going to be the opportunity if the Falcons play their game
04:36to gain those rushing yards much in the way you did last Thursday.
04:39But it just continues to be seen.
04:42Stefanski bringing that up, talking about tendencies, he's completely right.
04:47Things change about your team.
04:49A lot of things that you feel like you rely on right now
04:52or that you thought you would rely on going into the season
04:55will be completely different by the time November, December comes around.
04:59And you have to kind of learn along the way
05:01and remake some of those decisions in the moment.
