Peter goes deep on the Joe Douglas firing and what it all means for the Jets and their future. Tommy DeVito's agent, Sean Stellato, returns to the podcast and it's like he never left. Lastly, some thoughts on the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight.
What's up everybody. Welcome to the season with Peter Schreger. I'm Peter Schrager. I host Good Morning Football and NFL Network five days a week. Every morning can find us eight to ten am. Then we re air about a million times an NFL network all day in the airport wherever you are, you can see our mugs talking football. I also am on the Fox NFL Kickoff pregame show Sundays eleven to twelve Eastern and I live in New York City, which means I come in with a certain vantage point or disadvantage point when it comes to the football squads. It's been a brutal year for New York football Giants, entire offseason on Hard Knocks, every decision scene as it's being made, and then watching the season play out. Daniel Jones has been benched. Tommy DeVito is going to start this weekend against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Our guest today is Tommy DeVito's agent, the very colorful, the very charismatic, the very very good podcast guest Sean Stellato. We're gonna get the Stillato in a second, because I want to start with the other team in town, the New York Jets. They fired Joe Douglas. Joe was on a rare six year contract and this was the end of that deal and he was going to get either let go or he would have walked away at the end of the thing. He wasn't getting reupped anyway at the end of the season the way it was going. But they decided to rip the band aid off in week eleven of the NFL season, as opposed to riding it out. We don't usually see gms lose their jobs before the end of the season. In this case, it was done. And I think it's fair to say that they're doing this to get a head start on things. I head start on who's going to be the next faces and leadership of this organization. A lot of people killing Woody and Christopher Johnson and the ownership. That's to me, that's low hanging fruit. There's a lot of people saying, well, they've got a fire or the owner. That's not how it works. Jed York after they fired Chip Kelly, after Jim tom Sulla and Jim Harbough on consecutive years, Jed York was like thirty eight years old and stepped up to a microphone. They're like, why do you think you should be doing He's like, I don't know what world you live in. I'm the owner. I will not unless the team is forcibly taken away from me. I'm not selling. I'm not going anywhere like I want to win to That's how I feel with the Jets ownership. And to say just what he needs to go is it almost eliminates your your rational thinking as a as a person who's ever dealt with real life, you know, economics or the way that businesses work. He is a owner of the team and short of anything off the field that would cause him to lose the team that he's not gonna just give away the squad or sell it. If this is something he truly loves, and in Woody's case, he does truly love it is brother Christopher does as well. Now here's where it gets interesting. Although it hasn't been announced yet and it hasn't been decided yet. The last time Donald Trump took office, what he Johnson was the ambassador of the United Kingdom. Now a lot of people thought that job was going to go to Linda McMahon. She has already been appointed to something else in the Education Office, so that job is still open. And when wood he last left, he left for four years and his younger brother, Christopher took over, and seemingly things went far better for a little bit of a time period where they did bring in Joe Douglas, who was a hot GM higher, they did bring in Robert Sala, who was a hot coaching candidate. And then when wood He got back, obviously he didn't hire either one of those guys, and I'm not sure if he was ever on board with either one of those guys. So it goes the way it goes this season, and I wear it as much as anybody I've talked about this time and time again. It's unfortunate, but I came out and put my reputation on the line and said they're going to be a number one seed in the AFC and Aaron Rodgers gonna be the MVP. It could not have been more wrong. So I wear it. I wear it like a weatherman who comes out and says the weather's going to be awesome tomorrow and there's, you know, terrible weather, or I wear it like one of these political pundits who said it's going to go this way, but then it goes another way, I'll wear it. I was wrong. I thought it was going to go one way. I forecasted my numbers and it was wrong. That said, I don't know if I would advise them to do it any differently. This year they went all in. They went all in, and they went all in on Aaron Rodgers, and they went all in on Mike Williams, and they went all in on Tyron Smith, and they went all in on DeVante Adams, and then they went all in on all the different moves they made to take big swings. But when the actual product was revealed, and it was very evident Week one, this was not a Super Bowl contender. And it was very evident after the Broncos lost where they lost ten to nine in the pouring rain at home, that this was not a team that was going to compete in the AFC with the Chiefs and the Bills and the Ravens. Now. I could argue, if Greg's herline makes a couple chippy kicks against the Bills, if greg'szerline makes a makeable kick against the Broncos, if they don't have a slew of you know, terrible interceptions against the Vikings out of the gate in London. This might be a team that's in the playoffs, but the last two weeks have been inexplicable. And if firing Sola wasn't enough, they're going to fire Joe Douglas and now they'll move on. So you could read all the articles you want. Some of them have good stuff, some of them don't. And you could look at all this stuff, but the second someone says like get rid of the owner, I just dismissed that person because it's not the reality of the NFL. Owners don't come and go. Owners hold on to these things. They're the most profitable businesses in the world. The margin on their returns are insane. And there's only thirty two owners in the NFL thirty one if you include the Packers not having a true owner. And there's real prestige and there's a real place at the table for those owners. So Johnson family is not giving this team away. They're not selling this team. What they can do though, is try to hire the right people to write the ship. So who's next. Well, we're going to go through a process here. Now we haven't even seen or gottenn information yet because it's been so fresh but do they hire an outside firm to run this search, which has been the case for other teams in the past. I remember the Buccaneers after Lovey Smith and Dirk Cutter were like, what do we do next? They hired I want to say, Jed Hughes, who is an outside firm, and they went out and they hired Bruce Arians, who had recently left Arizona and taken the year on TV and was in CBS, and it was like, what are we going to do next? They went out hired Bruce Arians, Bruce Arians right at the ship. They eventually get Tom Brady and on we go. A team that had been terrible for fifteen years goes on to win a Super Bowl. These outside search firms, they have contacts with everybody that could be the way you go. Do they hire a I would almost say, a face of the football operation? And what does that mean? Well, Detroit went and hired Chris Spielman as a face of the Detroit Lions franchise as a liaison between the front office, which was eventually Brad Holmes and several other really talented guys up there in Detroit and the owner, which is the Ford family, and of course that has worked out perfectly. Do you hire a president that overlooks both the business and then the hind thing that The La Rams are the model franchise to me, Stan Kronki is the owner. Josh Kronki is the Sun. They are owners. We do not touch football decisions. Now, they'll weigh in on, you know, things that they might prefer and they'll obviously have a say and whether a team, whether their team goes big on a huge swing and a coaching higher and whatnot. But Kevin Demoffo we've had on as the as a guest on this show, is the team president. He actually is now the team president of all the kranky sports teams in the US, including the Avalanche, including the Rapids, and including the Denver Nuggets. But Kevin is sort of the point person up top from a business standpoint, but less Snead, Tony past Stores and Sean McVay sort of handle the football. So you've got a business operation where it's the owners, yes, but they hire people who can run the business side of it and then the football side of it, and then the actual coaching is done differently. The Jets right now, well, they've got a president Jimi El high who is very capable of his job, but isn't necessarily making football decisions. They have an owner, Woody Johnson, they have Woody's brother, Christopher. Those guys both they want the best for the team. And if you've read a lot of the stuff, it's as if wood he's pulled all the levers. I don't think that's true. I think Joe Douglas did have a lot of autonomy here. I think Joe Douglas did have the opportunity to make a lot of decisions. How much medaling was done is going to be for the articles that we write for you know, you know, the forty eight hours afterwards. But Joe Douglas was given five and a half years to field an NFL team, and he also was in charge of a lot of the business stuff. Do you put a more football president in there? And is that Curtis Martin who Gary Myers has suggested, is is that do you hire someone who does the GM job and is more of like a football president of operations, who who perhaps comes from another franchise, Like do you higher? I don't even you want to go down the list of different luminaries, but like, was that a job that maybe you look towards give me a name of a former player that is still involved in football here, a Chris Bielman type of course, but like a John Lynch, but like more than GM. Like you give someone that role where you're like, yes, you're going to be a part of it, but you're also going to be our front and centering face. Now the Jets in their history, Chad Pennington would be a name I would suggest, just had success, smart business guy, but hasn't really been in the NFL as much as like the alumni stuff that he does. Curtis Martin's a name obviously, but he's he's not in the day to day football stuff. I would look towards that to just have that voice maybe and someone that Woody Johnson trusts that he can talk to and say, okay, I just need your voice here to be the go between between the GM and the coach and us. Maybe that's a position, but at the end of the day, coach is what matters to me. And this is not dismissing the GM position. For me. If you find a great football coach, it can heal all wounds. And in Denver they were sputtering George Payton's a really talented GM. They were sputtering with head coaches left and right. They went to Sean Payton and said, here's twenty million dollars, fix this and go make things right now. I'm not saying you need to spend twenty million dollars or go find a former Super Bowl champion, but I do think a powerful and promising head coach is the way to go. And that could be a quiet guy like Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator of the Lions. You just pay through the nose and say, give me the best offensive guy. It could be a former head coach a Mike Vrabel. It could be a former head coach a Cliff Kingsbury. It could come from a lot of different directions. But I would like to think coach is the most important hire here, and GM as important as it is. The Jets had a really good scouting staff, a really good personnel. They've got players on that roster. What they need is the next coaching staff to come in and revite that thing. You tick off. The questions after that is Rogers coming back. I don't know. I don't know. I honestly don't. They don't owe him anymore. Guaranteed money after this year. So do you just say, hey, Aerin, it's been real, thank you, it was worth the shot. We appreciate your service, move on, or does Aaron himself say I'm good, I'm not sticking around for this rebuild. I'm out. That's a key decision. After that, you say, okay, well, Salah was a defensive coach. Do we now go offensive side of the ball. And if we do go offensive side of the ball, do we draft a quarterback with one of these top ten picks? If you were to draft a quarterback, well, you had a top ten pick last year, the eleventh pick. You took an offensive tackle when there was a quarterback rich draft, and you didn't do it last year. Do you kick yourself and say, all right, now, we didn't get bon Nicks, we didn't get Michael Pennix. We didn't get JJ McCarthy because we had Aaron Rodgers at forty years old, and we don't want to upset the apple cart. We wanted to give him somebody else. Well sign he didn't draft Rock Bowers either, who's on the board, And he didn't accept the trade that was offered for other teams to move up to get Brock Bauers, and you went and you drafted a sixth offensive tackle who may or may not be the next Walter Jones, but Olu Fashanu better be pretty good if you took him over all those guys. I say all this to say that the Jets they're back at square one. They're back at the ground level. And I'm not preaching to anybody because I have none of the answers. I have suggestions of who I would talk to. I think Mikey Greenberg in Tampa Bay, who's the number two there? A guy who managed a salary cap and kind of managed to bring back all those veterans even after Brady left. With Jason Light the GM. As a name, I would circle. He's a Merrick, New York native, grew up a Jets fan. Might as well bring him in talk to him as a GM. But coaches what matters most to me. So we'll see what happens. They have a head start here and we'll see who they use, who do they utilize. But hit rock bottom for the Jets, and it's been pretty bad for the Giants too. They got a new quarterback and I got his agent on We're gonna talk to Sean Stillado after this all Right. Our guest this week is a personal favorite of mine, and it's a guy that the rest of the country got a chance to get to know a little bit last year during the Tommy DeVito craze and the rise to stardom in New York. He's been a power for a long time. I really enjoy him and we love having him on as a guest. Mister Sean Stillado, Welcome back to the season with Peter Schreger.
I gotta chip my hat to that one. Peter, great to see you, my man. Excited to be back.
You are back, and Tommy's back, and it's like it's almost like we would like, all right, for the first twelve weeks of the season, we haven't seen much or heard much about Tommy DeVito, but he's been in the background. We see him on the sidelines and he's announced as the starter on Monday, and I immediately hit you up and I'm like, I gotta have you on just because it's like we're revisiting an old friend. You were a big part of our lives last year and the whole DeVito craze took over the Tri State area. But it's been almost on ice and it's it's now back. So take us through the last twelve months, since all the marketing deals, since all the big Tommy DeVito commercials, to now like, Hey, I'm just a quarterback playing football and I'm trying to get a chance to stick around in this league and maybe win some games to the New York Giants.
You know, Tommy's middle names is resiliency.
That's something he learned from the game and whoever's played it to be resilient. And he had a great offseason and it's a testament to his work ethic, to who he surrounds himself with is in a circle.
And I'm just excited.
He's you know, very obviously, got a lot of love for Giants Nation, got a lot of love for the franchise, his teammates, and let's face it, whether he's an underdog or he's just you know, a talented football player, he resonates with a lot of people, and he gives a lot of people hope. And I think we're in a very you know, a lot of people can form in society, and I think Tommy shows that he's resilient, passionate, and he's really locked into you know what he's trying to accomplish, and he wants to win. Man, He's really focused on this Sunday, and I'm happy for the young man, happy for his family, and blessed to have a minuscule percentage of all of it.
Yeah, and I think people appreciate you as his agent because you talk about conforming. There's a lot of agents and not in a lot of them are as personable or colorful as what you brought to the table with this the veto run. But you're represent a lot of clients and you've always had your own personal touch to it. We haven't seen you on the screen for a while. What have you been up to and what has the last year been with a little bit more of a national spotlight than he ever had before.
Yeah, very blessed, very humbled by everything that's happened, and you know, obviously being able to use that you know, small segment of stardom or exposure of viralness to segue opportunities for other clients has been phenomenal. You know, after that viral moment getting inducted into the National Italian American Sports All Famous, which was insane because going in there there was you know, two hundred people in a line. You know, hey, can we get a picture signed something? It was just like it was. It was weird, but that was cool. But that was actually the day I got to shrine was my grandfather's death date December fifteenth for squally, so it was almost like a moment. But I really got to kind of scale back there and then made a run through the playoffs with a Fatu Melifano who had a great a lions.
They almost caught to the chip and he really had a hell of a year.
Then I got to play in that flag football game NFL Honors.
Was fun.
You know, continue to work for my guys and obviously the draft guys. Last year my Elias Neil signed that made the fifty three undrafted with the Rams, which was quite the surprise. I got flown out for the final four weekend for Hoop. I got to come out of retirement to play with some street ballers RG three t O, and then I got my jersey retired at my prep school, which was the Gunnery, which happens to be a twenty seven years before John Tish and his brother both graduated from there. First time I met John was minutes before the viral moment, which I feel like he deserves credit for that. Kentucky Derby the first time was pretty special. And then obviously the Pope was just like.
Okay, let's go to the Pope, all right. So Sean Stillatto, you're the agent for Tommy DeVito and then all these things lead to you meeting the Pope. Can you just tell the story?
Yeah, you know.
I obviously on the red carpet NFL Honors, a young girl asked me in an interview if I could change closets for the day, who would I want to change it with?
And I said the Pope and she was blown away. She says, that's a good one.
I said, well, you know, I love to be able to bless people and bring people together and.
Just help people those in need. And it kind of transpired.
Then a friend over in Italy I was you know, connected to, and I think it was a concoction of those two.
Moments, uh, you know.
And then there I am in Saint Peter's Square, get out of here, literally pinching myself. Tommy had the invite to but he was, you know, Tommy was locked in, he's working here, and he did and I was proud of him for that. He said, Hey, we're gonna we're gonna take a rain check, and we're going to do it in twenty five. He said, well, let me go over there and break bread with the Pope. I got to give him a ragallo. So I gifted him a custom football okay yep by Willson painted with the Vatican coat of arms.
And it was just one of those moments.
And honestly, Peter, as an agent, you're always tired to be in the moment because you're always working, always grinding, you're texting, calling, and I really just got to sit in his presence and have that moment and uh, you know the photo we took that you know, Adam Schefter post. It was just like it was incredible to be the closest to the holiness to God. And uh, my grandmother was just such an instrumental, instrumental part of my faith, and then my wife, my two older daughters teach Sunday school. It was just something I can't even put into words, but I really felt like and he said in a you know, Italian, thank you for bringing honor and glory to God through your work as an agent, which I thought was pretty special. So he had met he had me at Hello.
Yeah, he had you hat Hello at the Vatican. Uh. And then this year, you know, you and I are texting and you're like, hey, pretty cool. Thing was humbled again this this year your college at home. Take us through marriage, which I knew. I want to write it Bison Rick Smith's The Duncan Dutchman Maris. Take me through your connection to Maris and how they paid it forward to you this year.
That was in just one of those moments. You know, a lot of a lot of things happened at Maris. They're my career career. I played Division one football and basketball. You know, really I've met my wife, you know, who was my girlfriend at the time. A lot of dreams came true there. You know, got to be a Division one athlete, which was a goal first time flying was, you know, playing Pepperdine and college basketball.
Uh.
They end up reaching out and they were like, listen, we'd love to honor you and do something really unique. And boy did they ever. Uh.
If I could step on a screen for a second, I can actually show you the Dora.
Let's see it. Let's see if all right for the listeners at home. Sean is stepping out in his home office to grab a custom for Dora that I believe the first thousand fans at Maris's homecoming were gifted on Sean Stillado Day this year, and it is a custom fedra of Marist College that is red with a white ribbon. Sean, take us through it. What was it like?
It was one of those things where you know, look, a lot of things happened to me when I was there, But then fast forward a you know, nine to eleven, I was there playing college football, flying ten days after the attack, I had just so much got married on campus?
Did just get married on campus?
I did?
I did it and and it was a private, beautiful in a bust to Hutson they called Hobbin on the Hudson President Wyman, you know, Tim Murray, the ad. Really they've been doing remarkable jobs there. But walking through there, Peter, it was it was a nostalgic moment because I really feel like that chapter in my life is so imperative to where I am right now. The level of faith that I developed there, just some of my closest friends, and then to pay it forward with a fedora, A thousand folks you know, at fans, and I'm taking selfies and signing for doors for kids, and then the coin toss, which I was over one, and a coin toss Elver Milan. Granny King told me straight out two times Super Bowl champion. He said, Sean, that was the worst coin toss I've ever seen in my life. I said, Damn, Brandon, I've never even done a coin toss. Yeah, I got it done this time, and Maris got the ball. And then they did my jersey at halftime twenty number number twenty two. And you know why I wore at War twenty two. No Doug Flutie.
Yes the hell, Larry was eighty three. I'm gonna get here eighty four. So I'm assuming you were a kid up in Boston when that went down.
I was, I believe in first grade or kindergarten, and I'll never forget.
I'm in Wayloo's Salem.
Way Loose was like the mecca of a I know. It was an Italian restaurant and I'm sitting in the bar. My dad had me by the hand and he says, wait, let's watch this, and I look up. Sure enough, he rolls right, throws unleash his sixty plus yard bomb, failing catch, basket catch, and I looked at my dad, I said, Dad, I want to be a quarterback. And sure enough, the next day, what does he do? Buys me a football, gives it to me, says Sean. This is going to be a compass. Yes, it's going to bring you places you only dreamly go on. But you got to work hard and be honorable. And the crazy thing about that, Peter, as I wore twenty two, Doug actually did a testimonial video for my high school jersey retirement of prep school. But fast forward forward it to twenty and fourteen's charity celebrity flag football game. I get the naught to play. Who's that quarterback? That Doug Flutie. Who's a receiver right here? I'm catching that caught touchdowns that day.
Dougl he just Dane.
I love Doug Flutie, everything he stands for.
We are the same height. I have to disclose this. So one thing about Doug he got about an inch on each finger.
Yeah big all miss, let's go back to the Vito because this is like last year. It was such a sensation and then fans are like, all right, that was fun. But now Daniel Jones is healthy and it hasn't worked out, and the Vito was kind of hovering because they signed Drew Locke for a big deal five million dollars to be the backup, and yet they're going to Tommy. I'm not asking you to break any Giants news or getting to the decision making, but what was Tommy's psyche like when it wasn't just hey, you're not going to have a chance to compete here Daniel Jones guy, And then we're also bringing in a guy who's a veteran backup that's likely going to be the number two. And Tommy, who had this spotlight and had this moment and had the commercials and had three straight wins, including one over the Packers last year, it's kind of being told you're gonna be number three. How did he handle that?
You know, he handled it honestly great and testament to Tommy. He's wired just you know, just a very unique individual. And with his he knew he was going to have to go back to the drawing board and he worked very very hard Pete this offseason. And let's face it, it's the most complex position on the football field, the quarterback. But The one thing is Peter, what were the odds of being a practice squad guy to getting elevated to becoming the starter and then winning three games like that as a rookie. So you know, he just that's the beauty of this game as you just never know. I mean, Drew Bledsoe gets injured, Tom Brady gets an opportunity. I mean he might Tom Drew doesn't get injured, Tom might not play for a while, right, So I think he just he trusted process and you know, coaching Joe have been very transparent ever since we you know, decided to go there instead of taking a big guarantee.
And you know it's crazy, is you know one of.
The things I missed to say was the SP's the SP's You know, we had brought us out there a great time, but you know people are partying out there. You know, Tommy DeVito at six a m. Was on the football field and guess who was receivers were myself and his brother Rax. And honestly, my hands are still sore. This gets throwing two hundred balls a day. He's working out, I mean he's in the gym. I mean that's you know, you got a trip like that guy's on doing that. But it's the little things. Look at he knows he's not a rookie anymore, and he's uh, he's excited for the opportunity to look at you. That's a very close quarterback room, uh in New York. And it gets along great with Daniel and Drew. And but it's look at all you can control is, as we know it might sound a little cliche, is the man in the mirror, right. I mean, you can't personnel decisions. All you can do is you got to make the most out of your opportunities. And I think he's ready for that challenge. And he's so walked in on Tampa Bay.
I have to think it was like the perfect storm in that right player, Tommy with the right demeanor who it's never been about him, It's never been about you know what he could do. Right market North Jersey where there is a huge Italian American fan base, but also the Sopranos as a television show in the background, having its roots in that market, and then the primetime games and the opportunities to actually shine that this became a not only football story, but a cultural zeitgeist moment. And then there's the come down from that. How has Tommy handled that in that you know, the spotlight was there, but when you're not the number one quarterback, it's not like it's kind of hard to say, hey, I still want that table at that restaurant, or I still want the court side seats of the Knicks. You'll get them, but it's not as natural or smooth a transition when you're not that guy. I would be so fascinated to hear how he handled that as a young guy, because that could be hard to.
Yeah, I know, And what I think one of the key components of that Peters Tommy has a high level of faith, and he's got a really tight Knitch family. And Tommy and I have always shared the vision ever since we first met, of looking at the glass half full. So many blessings and opportunities come as a rookie, and he was able to develop and learn, and you know, I really believe he's you know, he's a starting quarterback in this league. I do, you know, And I know he's got an opportunity Sunday, but he handled it with class and grace, and he trusts the process. He believes in that franchise. He believes in his coach, he believes in his OC believes in the front office, and he believes in the team around him. That you know, we're all in it for one reason, to see him succeed, impact lives and look at the jersey thing.
It's it is cool.
Uh, you know all that backstory, the Italian heritage is the root of all our dreams.
And and just to that to happen in that market.
I don't know what the odds of the probability of the statistics happening, but none believe that divine intervention and how everything's worked over the last twelve months. We're right right near where he needs, where he deserves to be, where he wants to be, and where we are and trying to embrace that because you know, through this you watch so many great players. They hit speed bumps along the way, they have adverse moments, and I think that makes the script that much better.
What is what is Tommy's contract status? Is he a free agent at the end of the season.
Yeah, he'd become a so pretty much he's an exclusive rights after this his two years and RFA, so I guess you got a tender so that they would technically.
Have inside his fate.
Yeah, exactly, yep, so he's.
Got a chance to do it. I would ask you, as an agent, did you see your business uptick and have you used the veto spotlight to maybe advance yourselves with these college coaches to try to say, hey, I can represent even more players from different positions. And you already had a find career as an agent, but this was a sensation last year, and did you feel like you maximized that for the next coming crops of draft classes?
You know what, It's funny when the viral moment happened. That happened kind of on the ladder end of recruiting middle of December, so a lot of guys kind of were situated, but from a visibility standpoint, and I think this year's recruiting process has been night and day since last year. You know, I look at it, I feel like I do a good job. But at the end of the day, I know talent and you know, look at the first second round guys.
They're unique dudes. Guys have been doing a long time.
Extremely competitive industry, a lot of talented agents out there. But I think in terms of my niche and what I've been able to build up the relationships I have. I'm proud of that, and I believe I know talent, Peter, I know guys that have the traits to play in this league and play for a long time. I've got great undrafted guys in year ten and eleven that you know that have walked the glass mounted barefooted, and then having guys that second and third round picks that have that have hit some speed bumps along the way, and uh, gonna be fine, but it's the nature of the beast. But uh, it has been interesting, you know, going out in New York and going to some stadiums, a lot of a lot of beautiful reception. You know, I'm very just grateful for it. And when I see a little kid come up to me and shows me a pitcher of him wearing a fedora, or hey, I'm undersized, but you know when I'm gonna play football, and you know, just the notes in that of inspiration has been for obviously for Tommy, he's the superstar, but then for my you know, even myself on a on a lower level.
It's it's cool.
It's just because hey, a lot of people out there got big goals, big dreams. Sometimes you know, you know, high school sports very political. College sports can be very political. Tom And that's the one thing I love about Tommy DeVito. He never pointed the finger at Syracuse and said, hey, he just you know, it was part of the journey, part of the process. He's grown from it, he's better from it. And you know he's grown a lot in the twelve last year. And I'm yeah, I mean, I think now it's using his experience from you know, what he did last year to just continue to be better.
Right, I wrote down walked the Glass Mountain barefoot? That is an incredible, incredible axiom. Is that a Shaun Stellato original? Or have you heard that from someone else before?
I honestly've never heard that from anyone else before. I probably I know, I know someone's gonna have a T shirt. You know, they're gonna they're gonna have a T shirt. Hopefully, if they're gonna do a T shirt, they at least throw my, uh, Tommy or my face on it or something.
Walk to the Glass Mountain barefoot it says so much. It's an impossible hill to get up, and now make it out of glass, and now go barefoot and go figure it out and guys.
Do it, they do, they do, and Tommy has done it. I believe he will continue to do it be you know, those are the that's kind of the you know, the landscape, the course I believe I have walked, uh and so.
Many of my guys.
I wouldn't want it anything other way, Peter, to be honest with you, I'm uh, I'm just grateful to be in the moment, you know, obviously, but look at a lot of a lot of work to be done still on both sides of the fence.
Uh.
But I don't know, it's uh, maybe that's the Sicilian and him of the Calibrazi and mea uh, you know, just want to be better, you know, are you better than when you were yesterday? And he's definitely Uh, he's on a mission and he's locked in. And I'm proud of him. Uh, you know, for how he's handed himself the fame, uh, the the ups and downs of the business of the sport.
Uh.
But he's also done a lot of great for a lot of people. You know, a lot of is inspired, a lot of charitable work. We did, you know, children of the City. He was there raising a lot of money for the unfortunate. He's going to do something next month. So did the Turkey thing last ye. We're going to do something during Christmas for kids. And that's the beauty of a Peter to be honest with you. Having this platform, well you can really, you can really change the trajectory on a lot of people's lives, especially kids. And he did his first annual camp, knocked it out of the park.
I mean, when was that summertime?
Yeah, that was so I I believe it was July twelve in Jersey.
He did up in Massachusey.
Yeah, he did his Jersey and then mine was the next day in mass Mine. I've been doing a long time. Mine was year sixteen. But I got to see my little my little first grade winter.
She was moving. But yeah, it was cool.
I mean, and he came back from the SP's literally got in the I think the morning, late night him next morning he was out there his Instagram. If you look at it, the pin photo of him with like his face naily to a little kid's face sums it out.
Love it. Hey, I hate to do stereotypical Italian American stuff, but I live in New York City. I have a lot of thoughts on Italian food. Your star player is New Jersey, New York based. When you are in New York City with Tommy or without, do you have a go to Italian restaurant that you prefer?
I think Tommy has a few. We did a collaboration with Yes Network. We're over at Patsy's where Frank Sinatra's favorite spot, which was kind of cool, which I thought. They did a really killer chicken cutlet with Walker sauce. And you know, El Tolino's is another spot. I know he likes car bones. I've kind of I'm embracing it all, but he's definitely. Tommy is a big foodie.
He really is, and I am.
I'm honestly a big foody too. I love feed pill I but I'm a little different. I six days a week, I die it hard.
You got a rock solid body, my friend. I don't think in the road, the rolls in the that I am every night.
You know, Peter, I am six days regimented, but that day seven I eat, like.
Where's your cheap thing? Is it Sunday Saturday? And you do a book Sunday dinner?
You know, a big Sunday dinner. Usually my wife makes Uh. My daughter has Sili Act disease. We wrote a actual picture book which is underneath here, which is kind of cool. Uh, and that's to raise awareness to kids with Silly Act disease autoimmune diseases. Uh, why bring that up? Is uh gluten free, you know, which is a little challenging. But my wife's a phenomenal cook, very fortunately. Yeah, she's Italian and Sicilian, so she's got it down. But I do like my my thin pizza.
Do you do pizza? Have you had okay, have you had Luke Colli in Brooklyn? Have you had all yet?
Have you heard about it? I haven't. I'm gonna write this down right now.
Well, you might need help getting get in there. You might need to show that commedy DeVito.
Yeah, bring one of these in.
Yes, I think that's right. Uh Lukali l u c A l I l you would say, ye lu a l i in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.
Uh.
The guy's name is Mark, who owns it, and it is I think it's the best pizza in the world. L u c A l I l I Okay, followed closely, I'm gonna give another pop to another Brooklyn spot. Feenie pizza. Have you had Feenie pizza? F I N I F I N I have not finn Williamsburg. But if we're going Jersey, I'm a Jersey guy. Freehold, New Jersey. Federici's Pizza Ta, I think Federici two Ce's Federici's. I think it's the best pizza in the world.
Pizza, New Jersey. Where you said, free.
Freehold Center, Central Jersey. Have him do an autograph signing at the Freehold Mall, make about five to ten k there and then spend it all on pizza.
That's that's good. That's a unique night.
I got, you know, and I can see this thing. You can throw me a slice.
Hey, I love you gotta.
I mean, man, we're fans of yours and we appreciate all the love last year. That would be pretty special. I do have a Fedora that's gonna drop line uh in the next probably week.
Okay, you might wanna. I want to get it out before Sunday. Let's get the buzz going here.
Well, yeah, so I'm gonna I'm gonna have to. Uh, you don't worry, You're gonna I'm gonna have.
To get you one because I'll be wearing it, you know, I'll wear it on Good Morning Football, and I'll give you love I always do. And I think if you if you listen to this podcast and you see Sewan on the Monday night football kissing Tommy's dad and the whole thing, you think one thing. And then I talked to you, and like, I think you have the biggest heart in the world. I just love you, dude. I appreciate you coming.
On TIPEA that family as mutual, and I appreciate all the support for my guys, for Tommy and myself and uh, best to your family.
I hope to see you, my man.
You're the best, dude. Good luck and enjoy this weekend. You know, these quarterback starts, they don't come off. And when you get the opportunity, make the most of it. And Tommy's got another chance. I'm happy for him.
I got M and M seized a moment in my head playing every day.
That's it, your opportunity to blow. Don't don't don't don't, uh, don't throw it up like Mom's spaghetti.
Now, Okay, everybody's family's excited and Tommy's locked in, and yes, should be fun.
Weather looks good and uh yeah, we'll be ready to go.
All right, dude, Thank you as always, pal My pleasure. Aaron wan Coffin, my producer. I take special joy in having Sean Stillado on. It's not a publicity stunt for him, it's not a grab for clicks for me. I actually enjoy talking to him. I think he's like a ray of light in a.
Dark, dark world, and he's coming up with great catchphrases or slogans or whatever you want to call us.
What did he say climbing barefoot up a mountain of glass?
Yeah, and that is Don't you feel like you're doing that every day? Trying to make it in the world? Right, Yeah, this is us. Look, I don't know if Tommy DeVito lasts a half three quarters a week, two weeks, three weeks. And it's very controversial that they're going to him over Drew Locke, who they signed for a lot of money. But I enjoy the Tommy DeVito experience. I enjoy Sean Stillado and it's it's not just off the field and the goofiness of like the memes and all that stuff. I think Tommy could play. And I interviewed him last year for Christmas Day's game on Fox between the Eagles and the Giants, and like, I was in the building just that day, and maybe I've learned my lesson after my several days in the Jets building and thinking they're going to be the seventy six Steelers. But I was in the building that they the players like the veto a lot, like they love the veto. And he's he's a you heard the story. He goes to the SP's at six am. He's probably at a high school field, thrown to his agent, Like, I don't know, Tommy's cool, see how it goes. It's hard for me to see them beating Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers, but the Bucks have lost four games in a row and we'll see from there. Aaron I, we got a sponsor and it's Uber Eats, and it's time for delivering results presented by Uber Eats. I'm gonna discuss a team or a player that delivered from the week's past games. I'm going bone Knicks. Bone Knicks went twenty eight thirty three through four touchdowns, had zero interceptions against the Falcons, team that's likely going to the playoffs. Bon Nicks was the sixth quarterback taken in the twenty twenty four NFL Draft, the sixth guy taken, and yet the Broncos are right there in the thick of the playoff chase. They would be a playoff team at the playoffs for today and bo Nix is getting better every single week. What I liked about bon Nicks They lose in this crazy fashion to the Chiefs on the blocked extra point and it's like, how do you our blockfield goal? And they're like, how do you recover from that? Goes and has a career day and lights up Atlanta. Boon Knicks is our guy, and he delivered last week. That was delivering Result presented by Uber Eats, where you can get the best deals on game day food all season long, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order Now Real Quick, Aaron, did you watch Jake Paul Mike Tyson?
No.
I had had dinner with some friends and we went to the bar. We're gonna watch it, and we were like, what time does it start? Eight o'clock.
We get there at eight o'clock and it was like, wait, there are three or four fights before this. It doesn't start until eleven, So I didn't watch it.
I read about it. The next day.
I watched a couple things. It seemed like I watched more conspiracy theories. Then there was actual real discussion on it the day after.
Okay, it was a horrible fight, that's what I heard. Mike Tyson didn't even take a punt. I can't even attempt to win this match. He was in there and whatever. I think it's the first cultural zeitgeist sporting event that's been non football that I can remember in some time. And that's my takeaway on it. Now, the textuff it didn't work for a lot of people. You saw the immediate articles how the NFL is probably freaking out. I don't know if that's true. I watched it from the women's fight on to the end of the Jake Paul Tyson fight, so I watched for about two and a half hours on my phone.
And I heard the women's one before. It was incredible, was I heard?
This was great? Awesome, And I look, if I'm going to be sports media critic, I didn't need Rosie Perez as the announcer. I didn't need Cedric the entertainer. But I don't know what I wanted instead. Like I don't know, you know, and it felt sort of it felt a little bit like stunt type stuff. But all things considered, when Mike Tyson's coming out of the tunnel and he's got no one walking with him and it's just him in his shorts and he's like, let's go, Like I had a rush and some nostalgia, and I had about thirty different group text chains talking about this fight, thirty different Like we're talking NFL people talking friends from high school, friends from friends from New York City, like, and it's one in the morning on a Friday night. So I guess my takeaway is that like platform matters. I don't think that's the case if that's on Amazon or Hulu or behind a paywall on ESPN Plus. Like the very next night, you had the UFC, similar hours, similar appeal, and there was a lot of buzz around that and Trump being there with Elon and RFK and the whole thing like became the cultural zeitgeist moment. But I didn't feel like everyone was rushing their phones to watch or talk about John Jones in that fight. It was more about the stuff surrounding it, but the fight itself, Like and it opens up doors. I was with Gronk on Sunday and Shaq, I don't know what he was going for, but he's like, I'm gonna fight Gronk. Basketball was football, and like I had several people be like, is Gronk fighting Shack? Because I would watch that. And I talked to Gronk the next day because he flew into LA on Saturday, and I'm like, are you fighting Shack? He's like no, Like I had no idea where he was going. Then we had fun with them, like would you fight Shack? He's like maybe if the payday was like appropriate, But I'm like, I'm in on that, Like I would watch Shack versus grom could I don't know. I don't know. I think Netflix as for as much crap they got for like buffering issues, I thought it was a major win like big, big viewers and kind of captured the cultural zeitgeist in a world where everything is so fragmented and I.
I mean, I said, I had a couple of friends that we we went and had dinner beforehand. We went to Speedy Romeo's and other great great pizza Brooklyn Pizza place, and then we went and tried to watch it I don't think in my six seven years of living in New York, I've ever had someone reach out to me like do you want to.
Watch and watch? Do you want to watch a game?
Like yeah, I mean like I'll go watch football games, basketball game.
But that's like yeah, yeah, yeah.
So the fact that it was even a thing people were interested in, that's a big deal.
Yeah.
And I didn't even know there was a UFC fight the next night, so clearly that.
Didn't the same, no doubt. Okay, so let's see Netflix is the Christmas Day games? We had Annie Boson last week talking about them to major games, Steelers versus Chiefs, followed by Texans versus Ravens. I think all four of those teams are going to the playoffs. A lot of memes about buffering issues, but I bet bet you this, bet you everyone's watching.
They'll have it figured out by then, for sure, Like anything we'll.
See across our fingers. Yeah. And if they don't, they don't, Yeah, Like all right, the game will still be played. Aaron wan Kaufman, great stuff, Sean Stillado, thank you. Another monologue about the Jets, a three and eight team. I didn't even talk about my Eagles and Rams matchup that I'm going to Sunday night. I cannot wait to be there. I though that's a fun game. I'll be there in Los Angeles. Thanks for listening, everybody. Let's keep it rolling the season with Peter Schreger