Joined now by Sean merriman Lights Out podcast with the I Heart Radio podcast network and Sean I thought coming into this season, maybe Brady plays this year, maybe he plays another year. After watching this season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I'm like, this dude's gonna play untill he's fifty years old. And I know he didn't have a spectacular game, but when you look at the whole aspect to go on the road, when three games out of the wild card now get to play at home in two weeks, It's an unbelievable accomplishment by Tom Brady, isn't it. You know what he said, Uh, a couple of years ago he wanted to play until he was you know what, he's six years old. You know, I just thought he was just talking crazy. I really did. It didn't sound possible, right, I Mean, we've seen some guys playing to their early forties, you know, Drew Brees and Brett Father some of these guys. But as you see how Drew Brees finished up the season didn't play well with it with injurial age. Um, I really believe he can play to the least forty six years old, and any problem that can play well because of how he's playing now, he's not getting hit as much. Uh, you know, he's learned how now to move around in the pocket heat. I mean, he's moving better right now that he did five or six years ago. And that's just kind of crazy to say. And as long as they keep those pieces around him in Tampa, why not? I just you know, why not? Why not? Played for forty years old? Is he the great We talked about this earlier in the show. In your mind, I think the greatest quarterback of all time? There's no argument anymore, right, I mean that that that ship has sailed. Maybe in ten years, if Patrick Mahomes continues to play like he is, maybe we can end up fifteen years having a debate between those two, or maybe somebody else is gonna come up and start to have, uh a level of success that we don't anticipate otherwise. But is there any doubt now about him being the great quarterback of all time? And I think he's ascended to the point now where you can argue he's the greatest American sports team athlete of all time. And you know, it was funny because I've planned against him, and obviously I've always had my thing against the Patriots, right, and they sent this home by the many playoffs to stop suvol things like that. So I've always had my grapes there. But I also always believe Tom Brady's greatness was partly due to Bill Belichick and you know, having an owner in the organization and how they just put all the pieces to the puzzle every single year. I was wrong, You know I was wrong. Man. I just now saying what he's doing in another organization, another team, another conference, another setting and older. Uh, there's not even a doubt, not even a one percent chance that he's the goal. But I'll take it a step further. I don't think there's anybody even close. Like you started naming your top three quarterbacks of all time, I don't even put anybody in a category with him, and how he's performing and how he's playing. Uh, you know, if he does go and win a ring, and he still has a chance to go into the next one or two years to win another one, we will never and you know I hate to say never, because never is the words had always come back and bite you in the ass a little bit, right, But we will never see another performance another quarterback like tom Brady again in this lifetime. I agree with you, And to kind of put into context how long he has been doing this. I saw stat and I was like, this is amazing. Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes on the other side in the a f C Championship game, they were in kindergarten when Tom Brady played in his first Super Bowl. I mean, if that doesn't blow your mind out there for everybody who is listening to us right now, kindergarten. He's been in the Pros, he was in the Super Bowl since they were in kindergarten. It's unbelievable. Well, you know a lot of these guys still got on diapers playing against him. I mean, you know that that's the way he's making people look. And you know, he also went against another quarterback who we also look at as great as one of the greatest. You know, he went against the guys who in ten years from now or fifteen years will be still calling him one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, in Aaron Rodgers. So you know, with that being said, man in the way he's winning and his level, uh and in intensity, I mean at some point in time, right and you know I watched you watching the economic Gregor fight the other night. I always fell like, Okay, you gotta you gotta enough money, you got your family, Your attitude and your demeanor starts to change when you reach a plateau in your life. I mean, it happens to the best of everybody. Your mentality change is just a little bit. And nothing changed about Tom. You know, it's not the same. It's not the money, it's not the all the rings, the winning. Do you still see then entity and the passion to one out there go and dominate that you've seen ten of fifteen years ago? And that that to me, and you know, kind of being a former athlete, you know, playing ball in my whole entire life, you get to a point where like, okay, well you did this, you did that, you did that. Your attitude, mentality changes over the course of time. And to see him still now compete and want to win as bad as he did ten of fifteen years ago is amazing. Man. I don't think I don't think we've ever seen anything like that. All right, let's go to the other side. Aaron Rodgers in the postgame press conference, him talking about yesterday's loss. You could just hear it in his voice, how much this is gonna weigh on him, and how incredibly difficult it is going to be. When you think you're on a team that's good enough to win a championship and it doesn't happen. What does that feel like? Uh, in the NFL, what does that feeling like? Right after the game you're dressing or in the shower, you talk to the media. I mean, I imagine you feel a little bit like you're in a fog because to your point, yes, you can be successful, you can be making a lot of money, all those things, but the competitor in you is so desperate to win that I imagine it is just I mean, I think Aaron Rodgers described it as a gut punch to get to play at home. You know, he fully expected to win that game. He prepared to win that game. He was expecting to be getting ready to go down to Tampa and try to win a Super Bowl. And when you're younger, I imagine you lose a game, you think, oh, I'll be back there again. I'm sure for Aaron Rodgers, he's sitting around right now thinking this may never happen for me again. You know, I may never get to another Super Bowl, just like Brett Farve did. It's been a decade. He's had opportunities to get back, he hasn't done it. I'm not sure that he'll have another one. What do you think he felt like, you know, a gun a gut punch is a good word to describe it. But you know, when you lose those type of games. He started to look back at the off season programs, training camps, the times that you had to go out there in practice and you just didn't feel like it because something was hurting, or your ankle was swollen, or you had a you know, a tight lower back, or your hand strings and knees were bugging you, and you forced yourself to go out there. You start looking at every single thing over the course of the year that took you to get there, and that failure is is right as his gut punch and his heart has to be in his socks right now, just and walking around knowing that, uh that they may not have a chance to get back there. That's one of the things that I always said about my career. And also, you know, playing with guys like the Danny and Thomas and the Philip Rivers, and we had an all star squad and we were so good at a young gamee that we always felt that we had an opportunity to get back there. And then you start to realize that you have this short run of two to four years or somewhere in between there where your team could be really good, and you don't know if that team is ever gonna be a them would like that again, and I think Aaron Rodgers alluded to that. He said exactly, he doesn't know who who's gonna be here. God's got contract disputes, Uh, you know, maybe get cut new coaching staffs or you know, just new personnel is gonna be there, and you don't know that those guys are still gonna be around. And I think also the second part of that is I and I go back to saying this that they brought in another quarterback and whether that's for love to get on the field right now or two years from now, whatever that situation being, that had to that had to bother Aaron Rodgers. It had to and for him to go out and have one of the best seasons ever and not make it, well, you started to look back at, well, maybe you could have got us a first round defensive back. I mean, kid Sting was getting mosted. They kept taking on him the whole entire time. So maybe you go out and draft a cornerback or or slot, you know, something that gives him some extra help. And they didn't do that because that's what they needed this game. They king single handedly, uh, you know, really killed these guys in multiple different ways. And if you look back at the opportunity to go get a big name defensive back or a big namesake is something that will go out and help you to go and win a championship. That's what really hurts That hurts you at the end of the day more than anything else when you see the uh, it's it's kind of fascinating the endgame scenario because a lot of people will get to this in a sect, the decision to kick the field goal instead of go forward on fourth down, but the end of the first half in that scenario, as a defensive player, I don't know what exactly the play call was, but you're a smart defensive player, and so much of any smart athlete is playing scenarios and situations. It seems to me, I mean, it looked almost like Greg Williams at the end of the game against against I guess it was the Raiders. And when he was got fired by the Jets, why in the world would you be in that deep And so I went back and watched it. They were playing. Man, it looked like on both of the wide sides of the field, right um, And I mean whether or not you should ever let that guy behind you, why would you ever be in that perspective? I believe there were six seconds left and the and the Bucks had no time outs. So if you do anything basically other than if you just tackle him on the field, any player the halfs out, you give up no more points. To me, that was where the game was lost for the Packers in many ways. Yeah, no doubt about it. And that's that starts from the top, the starting to coach, and you can't put your players in bad situations like that. But also, I'll go back to king uh anything And this is football one oh one. This is not you know just because I played the National Football League, you know this is this is high school level UH scenario situations. When when is that much time in the clock, you're going into the half, you keep everything in front of you, period, You don't you don't let anything behind you. Uh, you don't care if you get path, but you cannot let it go for Eardie. Plus you get a guy in the ground, push him by the bound live to find another day. So you go back and you're gonna sit there. And I'm sure Aaron Rodger's gonna watch the film tonight on the on the plane. I'm I'm sorrying on a wherever he how how over he's getting home. He's gonna watch that til to night. He's not gonna wait to tomorrow. And he's gonna play that single play over and over and over, those two or three mistakes that happened in that game that change the course of them winning that football game. And is when he's right, it's a real gut punch because they had that game. I don't think Tampa. You know, Tampa makes some key plays and and I think tom played extremely well, but it was really two or three plays in that whole game that decided the outcome. It really is And for the the Aaron Rodgers of the world, do you think that he will be sitting back eventually when he has time to contemplate everything, knowing that Jordan's loves there on the sideline that they drafted at first rounder. He said, all the right things is during the course of this season. But would it surprise you if he decided that he wants to go elsewhere and finish his career somewhere else because he can look at a guy like Tom Brady and say, hey, I think I've got three or four more years, Right, if I had the ability like Brady did. I know he's not a free agent, but to survey the field and see all of the possibilities. Matthew Stafford's gonna do it. Deshaun Watson's gonna do it. I mean, there are some really big time, playmaking quarterbacks who could be interested in moving on. How do you see this playing out? Well, I think we're seeing more of this than we ever have in the National Football League, Right, Guys forcing their way out and letting it be known. Hey, I want to be on the move. It's it's the closest thing that the n f NBA has been for years, right. Uh. Deshaun Watson was public about it. Um, it's you know, even though Aaron Rodgers didn't say it, it's short hells, sounded like he was. He was public about it. Um and whether or not he is uh you know, uh, you know, making a vocal or let it be known that uh be loved. Being drafted was a problem. It was, And I can tell you that being a former player got drafted in your position, it's a problem because that's the team that's not saying, hey, we need depth disposition. It's not a wide receiver of quarnerback in case somebody gets hurt. You drafted the guy early on. It means you want him to come and take your job. And now you got a coach that comes in and kick the field goal or uh when he shouldn't right and try to put both points on the board, and you haven't calling bad defenses in in different situations. You know, now you're just wasting one of the big greatest quarterbacks of all time. Now you're just wasting his years by not giving him just that answer push helped him out. This guy's had an amazing year. He's done so much for that organization, and you didn't do much for him and put him in situations to win. So, um, you know, I'm curious to see what's gonna happen. But as short as hells sounded to me that he wanted. He wanted his way out. What do you think about the decision to kick the field goal late in that Packers game against the Bucks? Uh fourth down from the eight yard line, kick the field goal your hope and to get the ball back? I always say, and I said earlier in this show, as a general rule, if the opposing team is excited about the choice that you have made, then you probably shouldn't do it. And I know there are a lot of people out there who are who are fans of the Tampa by Buccaneers probably listening to me right now. Like as soon as they took Aaron Rodgers off the field and said, yeah, we want to make it a five point game, they were ecstatic. What would you have thought from a player perspective? And I know you can talk about analytics and everything else, but one analytical thing I don't want to do is give Tom Brady the ball over the last twenty years with a chance to get a first down or two, and never give my guy a chance to get the ball back. What would you be thinking on the field and what would you have thought after the game when you had more time to think about it. You know, Clay, I've been on the old out today, right, give us tom Brady two minutes with the ball back in his hand and we're up, right, And so if we're down, we don't have we don't have a chance because you're not getting the ball back from Tom Brady with you two minutes left, you not um And you know, if you're in the team just kind of scratching your head trying to figure out what in the hell you're thinking. Then I understand that coaching is not easy, right. I mean, you got thirty seconds to make a play calls in certain situations scenario. But we're we're going back to football one on one. You got the greatest quarterback of all time on the opposed side of you. The chances are that he's gonna do something really good with the football. And the second part of it is and uh, I think we heard in the in the press conference with Aaron Rodgers saying that wasn't my decision, That wasn't my decision. He didn't he didn't defend the coach, He didn't defend that call. He said that I was not a part of that decision. And I think that you know Aaron Rodgers, he makes you know, he has like this dry comedy thing about him, Right, he has this thing where he talks and he kind of subliminally say certain things and it's funny and you can interpret it certain ways. But one thing that he is is he's in front, and he's honest. He speaks things when they comes when they come up. And when he said that that he wasn't a part of that decision, meaning that, hey, I wouldn't have called this, I wouldn't have this, this was against my will and wouldn't have done this. I don't feel good about this. So that just you know, that just lets me know that there's some problems there. And I'm not saying of problem with him and the coach or the organization, but there's something going on there, and I really expect Aaron Rodgers to somehow, some way be on the move after this year. All right, So looking ahead, now, we've got two weeks to talk about it, thirteen days, whatever the heck it is. Kansas City Chiefs Tampa Bay Buccaneers. How do you assess? And I'm sure we'll talk to you again before this matchup actually happens, but early read from you. First question, is it impactful to be able to play from home. How much of an advantage. We've never seen this happen in the Super Bowl before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They're already back down in Tampa. They know they have to go nowhere. They get to work out exact same routine as normal. They're literally next door practicing to the football field. How much can that actually be an advantage in your mind to be able to play the Super Bowl at home? Well, it's a great advantage. But you know, those guys are gonna have to be streamly discipline, right because when you're playing at home, Uh, that means you're gonna be there. You know, the week's leading up to it. Uh, you got family and friends and everybody trying to be a part of what you're doing, and so you really have to be disciplined. I think that with Tom Brady being there, uh, he's really gonna be the enforcer, right, I mean, you know, grabbing guys up. You can't go out too late, you know, you know, curfew. I mean, there's there's gonna have to be something in place because there's a ton of distractions, uh leading up to those weeks and everything. I mean, look a bit of this this is the busiest week of some of those guys lives and everybody's gonna be pulling that you interviews, I wanted you to come out to this place, you know, and and so much gonna be involved. So it's really how discipline those guys can be. And I'm not talking about the h I don't want to get to the fan aspect and playing in front of your home crowd, all those things are great, But I'm talking about leading up to the game. UH, playing in your city. I can only imagine the type of distractions that's gonna happen and things that they have to deal with leading up to the game. So whoever the leaders are, and I want to point to Tom Brady because I think that we heard a lot after after they won at the press conference when they won the field and UH coach Arean saying, look, Tom Brady came here with attitude and changed his culture. You know, he's been a leader and a vocal leader, and he's gonna have to beat that UH leading up to this game in order to keep those guys on track. You said it, I've said it. There are one of the great debates for sports for the last twenty years has been who's more responsible for the New England Patriot dynasty, Tom Brady or Bill Belichick. I didn't think there was any way that in this year we would find an answer to that question. I'm sure even for normal fans, this was a debate I bet among NFL players sometimes you guys would get together and debate that as well. It's kind of a foregone conclusion, now, isn't it. With Brady going to the Bucks winning three road games with them in year one, and it's not like he went to a team with some incredible culture of winning in the NFC, you know that had been there year after year after year. He almost feels like he's single handedly willed them there. You've never seen this in the NFL. You've never seen one guy go to an organization and slip the script as he did. We've never seen it. We've seen an NBA. You know, Lebron goes to a team you know they're gonna win a lot of games. You know you're gonna have James Hardens somewhere's gonna win. Oh, Katie, someone goes where they're gonna win a lot of games. We've never seen in the NFL one guy goes for organization and flip everything they've done. Uh And like I said, I I hate seeing and use the worst never because those are extreme words. Uh well, I just don't think we'll never see anything like it. We just won't. I mean Tom Brady for for years and playing against him, I've always worried about not only playing Tom Brady, but going they're playing and coaching from the mind of Bill Belichick and him, you know, being able to switch uh you know, autiboy games and and switch up. You know some of the things they're don't make an endgame adjustments, those all coming from Bill Belichick. What we're seeing now is that Tom he was the key to their success and because he was there for so long a winning Bill Belichick took a lot of their credit for. I mean, they didn't happen this year. Look what's happening to the team. Tom Brady's gone, He's gone to the organization. Look what he's done there. So if you look at it across the board, man, I just you know, they call him to go. It is really Ah, it's not enough, right because you know, we got a lot of the greatest of all times and thinks. But now you gotta you gotta make up I don't know what that word is for Tom at this point, going to you know, conference, going to another team, to the coach of the organization and winning just as he did for twenty years somewhere else. Uh. We gotta see you got a new word for Tom. I don't know what it is yet, but we could spit out. We're talking to Sean Merriman Lights Out podcast. Last question for you, and it's not football. I watched Connor McGregor fight on UH. And I know you're a big UFC guy as well, and I know a lot of our listeners are what did you see from the McGregor fight. How much, if anything does he have left in UFC in your mind? Well, you know what, Clay watching that um watching that fight? Uh, And and kind of being around Connor's camping and knowing where he trained and know his trainer and team and staff and everybody's around him. He trained hard to heal. He looked great walking into the fighter. Wasn't a lack of training. But I can tell you right now, when you get kicked that much in your leg, especially in your calf and your front leg, you can't put that thing down because it's when it's describe exactly what it feels like. It feels like your leg is swelling up with blood and you put it in the ground, but it's not giving you anything back, almost like you're a peg leg. And so once I've seen that, he got a couple of a nice calf kicks in there, and I've been there. I've got my ass kicks a few times. You got my legs kicked. You just cannot put that leg in the ground anymore. You're almost destined to sit down and eat punches. There's nothing you can really do. I thought that, you know, Dustin putting put together a hell of a game plan to fight playing against him. Um, you know, and you credit he got with the first time around. He came back with a different mentality. He got much better than a fighter. He had more time in the octagon, and he was ready to go. I've got no doubt on my mind that Connor will be back uh with a big splash, and he'll be back on top. And there might take him a year or so to do it, um, but he's not done by a long shot. Shawn Merriman, I appreciate you, my man. We'll talk to you maybe next week. A little bit of Super Bowl preview, but in the meantime enjoy things you got it You too That Shawn Merriman Lights Out podcast with the I Heart Podcast Network

Joined now by Sean merriman Lights Out podcast with the I Heart Radio podcast network and Sean I thought coming into this season, maybe Brady plays this year, maybe he plays another year. After watching this season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I'm like, this dude's gonna play untill he's fifty years old. And I know he didn't have a spectacular game, but when you look at the whole aspect to go on the road, when three games out of the wild card now get to play at home in two weeks, It's an unbelievable accomplishment by Tom Brady, isn't it. You know what he said, Uh, a couple of years ago he wanted to play until he was you know what, he's six years old. You know, I just thought he was just talking crazy. I really did. It didn't sound possible, right, I Mean, we've seen some guys playing to their early forties, you know, Drew Brees and Brett Father some of these guys. But as you see how Drew Brees finished up the season didn't play well with it with injurial age. Um, I really believe he can play to the least forty six years old, and any problem that can play well because of how he's playing now, he's not getting hit as much. Uh, you know, he's learned how now to move around in the pocket heat. I mean, he's moving better right now that he did five or six years ago. And that's just kind of crazy to say. And as long as they keep those pieces around him in Tampa, why not? I just you know, why not? Why not? Played for forty years old? Is he the great We talked about this earlier in the show. In your mind, I think the greatest quarterback of all time? There's no argument anymore, right, I mean that that that ship has sailed. Maybe in ten years, if Patrick Mahomes continues to play like he is, maybe we can end up fifteen years having a debate between those two, or maybe somebody else is gonna come up and start to have, uh a level of success that we don't anticipate otherwise. But is there any doubt now about him being the great quarterback of all time? And I think he's ascended to the point now where you can argue he's the greatest American sports team athlete of all time. And you know, it was funny because I've planned against him, and obviously I've always had my thing against the Patriots, right, and they sent this home by the many playoffs to stop suvol things like that. So I've always had my grapes there. But I also always believe Tom Brady's greatness was partly due to Bill Belichick and you know, having an owner in the organization and how they just put all the pieces to the puzzle every single year. I was wrong, You know I was wrong. Man. I just now saying what he's doing in another organization, another team, another conference, another setting and older. Uh, there's not even a doubt, not even a one percent chance that he's the goal. But I'll take it a step further. I don't think there's anybody even close. Like you started naming your top three quarterbacks of all time, I don't even put anybody in a category with him, and how he's performing and how he's playing. Uh, you know, if he does go and win a ring, and he still has a chance to go into the next one or two years to win another one, we will never and you know I hate to say never, because never is the words had always come back and bite you in the ass a little bit, right, But we will never see another performance another quarterback like tom Brady again in this lifetime. I agree with you, And to kind of put into context how long he has been doing this. I saw stat and I was like, this is amazing. Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes on the other side in the a f C Championship game, they were in kindergarten when Tom Brady played in his first Super Bowl. I mean, if that doesn't blow your mind out there for everybody who is listening to us right now, kindergarten. He's been in the Pros, he was in the Super Bowl since they were in kindergarten. It's unbelievable. Well, you know a lot of these guys still got on diapers playing against him. I mean, you know that that's the way he's making people look. And you know, he also went against another quarterback who we also look at as great as one of the greatest. You know, he went against the guys who in ten years from now or fifteen years will be still calling him one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, in Aaron Rodgers. So you know, with that being said, man in the way he's winning and his level, uh and in intensity, I mean at some point in time, right and you know I watched you watching the economic Gregor fight the other night. I always fell like, Okay, you gotta you gotta enough money, you got your family, Your attitude and your demeanor starts to change when you reach a plateau in your life. I mean, it happens to the best of everybody. Your mentality change is just a little bit. And nothing changed about Tom. You know, it's not the same. It's not the money, it's not the all the rings, the winning. Do you still see then entity and the passion to one out there go and dominate that you've seen ten of fifteen years ago? And that that to me, and you know, kind of being a former athlete, you know, playing ball in my whole entire life, you get to a point where like, okay, well you did this, you did that, you did that. Your attitude, mentality changes over the course of time. And to see him still now compete and want to win as bad as he did ten of fifteen years ago is amazing. Man. I don't think I don't think we've ever seen anything like that. All right, let's go to the other side. Aaron Rodgers in the postgame press conference, him talking about yesterday's loss. You could just hear it in his voice, how much this is gonna weigh on him, and how incredibly difficult it is going to be. When you think you're on a team that's good enough to win a championship and it doesn't happen. What does that feel like? Uh, in the NFL, what does that feeling like? Right after the game you're dressing or in the shower, you talk to the media. I mean, I imagine you feel a little bit like you're in a fog because to your point, yes, you can be successful, you can be making a lot of money, all those things, but the competitor in you is so desperate to win that I imagine it is just I mean, I think Aaron Rodgers described it as a gut punch to get to play at home. You know, he fully expected to win that game. He prepared to win that game. He was expecting to be getting ready to go down to Tampa and try to win a Super Bowl. And when you're younger, I imagine you lose a game, you think, oh, I'll be back there again. I'm sure for Aaron Rodgers, he's sitting around right now thinking this may never happen for me again. You know, I may never get to another Super Bowl, just like Brett Farve did. It's been a decade. He's had opportunities to get back, he hasn't done it. I'm not sure that he'll have another one. What do you think he felt like, you know, a gun a gut punch is a good word to describe it. But you know, when you lose those type of games. He started to look back at the off season programs, training camps, the times that you had to go out there in practice and you just didn't feel like it because something was hurting, or your ankle was swollen, or you had a you know, a tight lower back, or your hand strings and knees were bugging you, and you forced yourself to go out there. You start looking at every single thing over the course of the year that took you to get there, and that failure is is right as his gut punch and his heart has to be in his socks right now, just and walking around knowing that, uh that they may not have a chance to get back there. That's one of the things that I always said about my career. And also, you know, playing with guys like the Danny and Thomas and the Philip Rivers, and we had an all star squad and we were so good at a young gamee that we always felt that we had an opportunity to get back there. And then you start to realize that you have this short run of two to four years or somewhere in between there where your team could be really good, and you don't know if that team is ever gonna be a them would like that again, and I think Aaron Rodgers alluded to that. He said exactly, he doesn't know who who's gonna be here. God's got contract disputes, Uh, you know, maybe get cut new coaching staffs or you know, just new personnel is gonna be there, and you don't know that those guys are still gonna be around. And I think also the second part of that is I and I go back to saying this that they brought in another quarterback and whether that's for love to get on the field right now or two years from now, whatever that situation being, that had to that had to bother Aaron Rodgers. It had to and for him to go out and have one of the best seasons ever and not make it, well, you started to look back at, well, maybe you could have got us a first round defensive back. I mean, kid Sting was getting mosted. They kept taking on him the whole entire time. So maybe you go out and draft a cornerback or or slot, you know, something that gives him some extra help. And they didn't do that because that's what they needed this game. They king single handedly, uh, you know, really killed these guys in multiple different ways. And if you look back at the opportunity to go get a big name defensive back or a big namesake is something that will go out and help you to go and win a championship. That's what really hurts That hurts you at the end of the day more than anything else when you see the uh, it's it's kind of fascinating the endgame scenario because a lot of people will get to this in a sect, the decision to kick the field goal instead of go forward on fourth down, but the end of the first half in that scenario, as a defensive player, I don't know what exactly the play call was, but you're a smart defensive player, and so much of any smart athlete is playing scenarios and situations. It seems to me, I mean, it looked almost like Greg Williams at the end of the game against against I guess it was the Raiders. And when he was got fired by the Jets, why in the world would you be in that deep And so I went back and watched it. They were playing. Man, it looked like on both of the wide sides of the field, right um, And I mean whether or not you should ever let that guy behind you, why would you ever be in that perspective? I believe there were six seconds left and the and the Bucks had no time outs. So if you do anything basically other than if you just tackle him on the field, any player the halfs out, you give up no more points. To me, that was where the game was lost for the Packers in many ways. Yeah, no doubt about it. And that's that starts from the top, the starting to coach, and you can't put your players in bad situations like that. But also, I'll go back to king uh anything And this is football one oh one. This is not you know just because I played the National Football League, you know this is this is high school level UH scenario situations. When when is that much time in the clock, you're going into the half, you keep everything in front of you, period, You don't you don't let anything behind you. Uh, you don't care if you get path, but you cannot let it go for Eardie. Plus you get a guy in the ground, push him by the bound live to find another day. So you go back and you're gonna sit there. And I'm sure Aaron Rodger's gonna watch the film tonight on the on the plane. I'm I'm sorrying on a wherever he how how over he's getting home. He's gonna watch that til to night. He's not gonna wait to tomorrow. And he's gonna play that single play over and over and over, those two or three mistakes that happened in that game that change the course of them winning that football game. And is when he's right, it's a real gut punch because they had that game. I don't think Tampa. You know, Tampa makes some key plays and and I think tom played extremely well, but it was really two or three plays in that whole game that decided the outcome. It really is And for the the Aaron Rodgers of the world, do you think that he will be sitting back eventually when he has time to contemplate everything, knowing that Jordan's loves there on the sideline that they drafted at first rounder. He said, all the right things is during the course of this season. But would it surprise you if he decided that he wants to go elsewhere and finish his career somewhere else because he can look at a guy like Tom Brady and say, hey, I think I've got three or four more years, Right, if I had the ability like Brady did. I know he's not a free agent, but to survey the field and see all of the possibilities. Matthew Stafford's gonna do it. Deshaun Watson's gonna do it. I mean, there are some really big time, playmaking quarterbacks who could be interested in moving on. How do you see this playing out? Well, I think we're seeing more of this than we ever have in the National Football League, Right, Guys forcing their way out and letting it be known. Hey, I want to be on the move. It's it's the closest thing that the n f NBA has been for years, right. Uh. Deshaun Watson was public about it. Um, it's you know, even though Aaron Rodgers didn't say it, it's short hells, sounded like he was. He was public about it. Um and whether or not he is uh you know, uh, you know, making a vocal or let it be known that uh be loved. Being drafted was a problem. It was, And I can tell you that being a former player got drafted in your position, it's a problem because that's the team that's not saying, hey, we need depth disposition. It's not a wide receiver of quarnerback in case somebody gets hurt. You drafted the guy early on. It means you want him to come and take your job. And now you got a coach that comes in and kick the field goal or uh when he shouldn't right and try to put both points on the board, and you haven't calling bad defenses in in different situations. You know, now you're just wasting one of the big greatest quarterbacks of all time. Now you're just wasting his years by not giving him just that answer push helped him out. This guy's had an amazing year. He's done so much for that organization, and you didn't do much for him and put him in situations to win. So, um, you know, I'm curious to see what's gonna happen. But as short as hells sounded to me that he wanted. He wanted his way out. What do you think about the decision to kick the field goal late in that Packers game against the Bucks? Uh fourth down from the eight yard line, kick the field goal your hope and to get the ball back? I always say, and I said earlier in this show, as a general rule, if the opposing team is excited about the choice that you have made, then you probably shouldn't do it. And I know there are a lot of people out there who are who are fans of the Tampa by Buccaneers probably listening to me right now. Like as soon as they took Aaron Rodgers off the field and said, yeah, we want to make it a five point game, they were ecstatic. What would you have thought from a player perspective? And I know you can talk about analytics and everything else, but one analytical thing I don't want to do is give Tom Brady the ball over the last twenty years with a chance to get a first down or two, and never give my guy a chance to get the ball back. What would you be thinking on the field and what would you have thought after the game when you had more time to think about it. You know, Clay, I've been on the old out today, right, give us tom Brady two minutes with the ball back in his hand and we're up, right, And so if we're down, we don't have we don't have a chance because you're not getting the ball back from Tom Brady with you two minutes left, you not um And you know, if you're in the team just kind of scratching your head trying to figure out what in the hell you're thinking. Then I understand that coaching is not easy, right. I mean, you got thirty seconds to make a play calls in certain situations scenario. But we're we're going back to football one on one. You got the greatest quarterback of all time on the opposed side of you. The chances are that he's gonna do something really good with the football. And the second part of it is and uh, I think we heard in the in the press conference with Aaron Rodgers saying that wasn't my decision, That wasn't my decision. He didn't he didn't defend the coach, He didn't defend that call. He said that I was not a part of that decision. And I think that you know Aaron Rodgers, he makes you know, he has like this dry comedy thing about him, Right, he has this thing where he talks and he kind of subliminally say certain things and it's funny and you can interpret it certain ways. But one thing that he is is he's in front, and he's honest. He speaks things when they comes when they come up. And when he said that that he wasn't a part of that decision, meaning that, hey, I wouldn't have called this, I wouldn't have this, this was against my will and wouldn't have done this. I don't feel good about this. So that just you know, that just lets me know that there's some problems there. And I'm not saying of problem with him and the coach or the organization, but there's something going on there, and I really expect Aaron Rodgers to somehow, some way be on the move after this year. All right, So looking ahead, now, we've got two weeks to talk about it, thirteen days, whatever the heck it is. Kansas City Chiefs Tampa Bay Buccaneers. How do you assess? And I'm sure we'll talk to you again before this matchup actually happens, but early read from you. First question, is it impactful to be able to play from home. How much of an advantage. We've never seen this happen in the Super Bowl before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They're already back down in Tampa. They know they have to go nowhere. They get to work out exact same routine as normal. They're literally next door practicing to the football field. How much can that actually be an advantage in your mind to be able to play the Super Bowl at home? Well, it's a great advantage. But you know, those guys are gonna have to be streamly discipline, right because when you're playing at home, Uh, that means you're gonna be there. You know, the week's leading up to it. Uh, you got family and friends and everybody trying to be a part of what you're doing, and so you really have to be disciplined. I think that with Tom Brady being there, uh, he's really gonna be the enforcer, right, I mean, you know, grabbing guys up. You can't go out too late, you know, you know, curfew. I mean, there's there's gonna have to be something in place because there's a ton of distractions, uh leading up to those weeks and everything. I mean, look a bit of this this is the busiest week of some of those guys lives and everybody's gonna be pulling that you interviews, I wanted you to come out to this place, you know, and and so much gonna be involved. So it's really how discipline those guys can be. And I'm not talking about the h I don't want to get to the fan aspect and playing in front of your home crowd, all those things are great, But I'm talking about leading up to the game. UH, playing in your city. I can only imagine the type of distractions that's gonna happen and things that they have to deal with leading up to the game. So whoever the leaders are, and I want to point to Tom Brady because I think that we heard a lot after after they won at the press conference when they won the field and UH coach Arean saying, look, Tom Brady came here with attitude and changed his culture. You know, he's been a leader and a vocal leader, and he's gonna have to beat that UH leading up to this game in order to keep those guys on track. You said it, I've said it. There are one of the great debates for sports for the last twenty years has been who's more responsible for the New England Patriot dynasty, Tom Brady or Bill Belichick. I didn't think there was any way that in this year we would find an answer to that question. I'm sure even for normal fans, this was a debate I bet among NFL players sometimes you guys would get together and debate that as well. It's kind of a foregone conclusion, now, isn't it. With Brady going to the Bucks winning three road games with them in year one, and it's not like he went to a team with some incredible culture of winning in the NFC, you know that had been there year after year after year. He almost feels like he's single handedly willed them there. You've never seen this in the NFL. You've never seen one guy go to an organization and slip the script as he did. We've never seen it. We've seen an NBA. You know, Lebron goes to a team you know they're gonna win a lot of games. You know you're gonna have James Hardens somewhere's gonna win. Oh, Katie, someone goes where they're gonna win a lot of games. We've never seen in the NFL one guy goes for organization and flip everything they've done. Uh And like I said, I I hate seeing and use the worst never because those are extreme words. Uh well, I just don't think we'll never see anything like it. We just won't. I mean Tom Brady for for years and playing against him, I've always worried about not only playing Tom Brady, but going they're playing and coaching from the mind of Bill Belichick and him, you know, being able to switch uh you know, autiboy games and and switch up. You know some of the things they're don't make an endgame adjustments, those all coming from Bill Belichick. What we're seeing now is that Tom he was the key to their success and because he was there for so long a winning Bill Belichick took a lot of their credit for. I mean, they didn't happen this year. Look what's happening to the team. Tom Brady's gone, He's gone to the organization. Look what he's done there. So if you look at it across the board, man, I just you know, they call him to go. It is really Ah, it's not enough, right because you know, we got a lot of the greatest of all times and thinks. But now you gotta you gotta make up I don't know what that word is for Tom at this point, going to you know, conference, going to another team, to the coach of the organization and winning just as he did for twenty years somewhere else. Uh. We gotta see you got a new word for Tom. I don't know what it is yet, but we could spit out. We're talking to Sean Merriman Lights Out podcast. Last question for you, and it's not football. I watched Connor McGregor fight on UH. And I know you're a big UFC guy as well, and I know a lot of our listeners are what did you see from the McGregor fight. How much, if anything does he have left in UFC in your mind? Well, you know what, Clay watching that um watching that fight? Uh, And and kind of being around Connor's camping and knowing where he trained and know his trainer and team and staff and everybody's around him. He trained hard to heal. He looked great walking into the fighter. Wasn't a lack of training. But I can tell you right now, when you get kicked that much in your leg, especially in your calf and your front leg, you can't put that thing down because it's when it's describe exactly what it feels like. It feels like your leg is swelling up with blood and you put it in the ground, but it's not giving you anything back, almost like you're a peg leg. And so once I've seen that, he got a couple of a nice calf kicks in there, and I've been there. I've got my ass kicks a few times. You got my legs kicked. You just cannot put that leg in the ground anymore. You're almost destined to sit down and eat punches. There's nothing you can really do. I thought that, you know, Dustin putting put together a hell of a game plan to fight playing against him. Um, you know, and you credit he got with the first time around. He came back with a different mentality. He got much better than a fighter. He had more time in the octagon, and he was ready to go. I've got no doubt on my mind that Connor will be back uh with a big splash, and he'll be back on top. And there might take him a year or so to do it, um, but he's not done by a long shot. Shawn Merriman, I appreciate you, my man. We'll talk to you maybe next week. A little bit of Super Bowl preview, but in the meantime enjoy things you got it You too That Shawn Merriman Lights Out podcast with the I Heart Podcast Network