GMFB Saturday: Peter King, Cowboys Woes, and Ravens Outlook!

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Good morning, football.

All right, from his early days as a writer for the Cincinnati Inquirer and the popular Monday Morning Quarterback column in Sports Illustrated to his retirement in 2024, he's still not done yet. Our next guest spent over 40 years covering the NFL and delivering some of the league's most iconic stories. And today, we are pleased to welcome him to our L.A. studio at our breakfast table to talk about his latest book titled The Game, which dives deeper into some of the best stories he knows. This is legendary sports writer Peter King.

Let's go, Peter.

Let's go, baby. Thanks, Jamie.

Appreciate that.

Absolutely.

This is a true honor.

This is, as Kyle just said, and we all mean it really, like we can't wait to get our hands on this and dive into it because if you care about sports and the stories that really matter and that are really entertaining, like you got all the details in here. So this is 40 stories and it features one from every year beginning in 1984. What a fun way to structure the book. How did you come to decide on that's the way it should be and what inspired this?

A buddy of mine named Jeff Perlman, who I used to work with, and as I told me, he said, listen, you've been everywhere and seen everything. You ought to take your 40 favorite stories and go back and do some new reporting on them. And I have always felt a little curiosity about a lot of the stories I've done. Like, I really heard in 88 that Bill Walsh was cracking up.

Under pressure in his last year. And boy, he was.

And I always heard that maybe Reggie White didn't want to choose the Green Bay Packers. And I think there's a lot of evidence that he didn't and that he really wanted to go to the 49ers.

And I mean, there's a lot of stuff.

And one of the other things, one of the more modern stories, I really wanted to find out how in the world Nick Foles ever pulled off what he pulled off, scoring 41 points on the great Belichick, and out-dueling Tom Brady when Brady throws for 505 yards. How in the world did that happen? And I went back, spent time with him, and he said, you know, the key is, I usually don't write about religion.

I don't.

But in this particular case, religion, all this, the Corinthians, all of this stuff for Nick Foles was a gigantic part of why he said it was the most peaceful he's ever felt on a football field and allowed him to go out and play at his absolute best. So I had all of these questions raised. that I really wanted to have answered. And luckily, I had two years to be able to go get him.

Awesome, awesome.

Peter, last week, we lost Mike Ditka, who, great player, great coach. But also, he was a figure who represented something even more than football to a lot of different people.

You covered him.

You've been around him. What do you remember about Coach Ditka?

Hmm.

Uh kyle uh.

Good to see you by the way and i would just say this thing about this thing about ditka that i loved nothing was ever off the record with him nothing he never i mean he may not tell you everything he knows okay but the one thing i loved about i'll never forget in 1987 i went to bears training camp platteville wisconsin and he had just brought in Doug Flutie. McMahon was getting hurt a lot. He wasn't sure how much he was going to have him. He had McMahon and Mike Tomczak, and he wanted to bring in somebody else.

He brings in Flutie.

And after, you know, we spent some time talking, Jim McMahon has a golf cart that he's going to ride out to practice. Tomczak's in the front seat. There's enough room for Flutie.

To get on.

He walks out of the locker room, and McMahon floors it. And he leaves Doug Flutie there without a ride. And Ditka just blistered McMahon for being selfish, for not being a team guy. And he didn't care that I was going to write it. He didn't care about that at all.

He was true. to himself. He was true to his team.

And I mean, I'm like everybody else. I had great, great, great admiration for the guy.

That's so awesome, Peter.

Now, there's a quote that says, power isn't what you know, it's who you know. And over the years, you've had exclusive access to So many different teams that I know most journalists would dream of having.

Is there one story in this.

Book that when you look back at it and as you're writing it, you were like, man, I'm so lucky that I got to tell that story.

I mean, logically, the best one would be when I spent three days in a bus with John Madden going from Pleasanton, California.

To the Dakota in New York. He lived in this apartment building. next door neighbors.

With Roberta Flack, good friends with Yoko Ono, you know? And so, but we went along the way and what was so cool about it is that John Madden is absolutely exactly what you think he is from watching him on TV. He's maybe not quite as boisterous as you think, but he is who— I mean, he would stop— we stopped at a steakhouse in the middle of nowhere, Nebraska, and he's greeting everybody who comes to the table happily. He doesn't view it as a burden. We went to Clarion, Pennsylvania, and he just loved the fact— he just got out to take a little walk in the middle of a long day.

And he gets out, and there's a hippopotamus drinking fountain that kids are designed— that' s designed for kids. And Madden goes, oh, I got to have a drink there. And he goes there. It was a huge picture in Sports Illustrated. But he's exactly who you think he is. And, look, there's a lot of those stories. I absolutely love— my favorite story I've ever done is a week in the life of an officiating crew. And the reason I did that in 2013, because nobody had ever done it before.

Nobody had ever.

Gone to an AP social studies class with the back judge in an NFL game. And, you know, on a Wednesday afternoon, nobody had gone home to see Dino Paganelli have to take care of his three kids as a single dad and then study film after everybody goes to bed. That is the kind of stuff that I just got such a kick out of over the years.

Peter, this is honestly inspiring.

I had a question I was going to ask you, but I'm.

Just genuinely curious. You mentioned this, Mantai. So many reporters want to have this access. Who wouldn't want to be on the Madden bus and do that for three days? What do you think you have? What is the thing that you're doing that's gotten you this access?

Isaac, the reason is because I came along at a perfect time. In 1989, when I got to Sports Illustrated, SI was huge.

I mean, and so at that time... I think just going and.

Being at Sports Illustrated when everybody wants to be in the magazine or wants to be on the cover, like, I really always felt like that was my biggest advantage. And I need to use that edge to be able to do some of these stories that I really wanted to do. And the other thing I think that's really, really important, I think you have to be genuinely curious.

And I think you also have to be able to say, like, I met Andy Reid in 1995, right? And Andy Reid, when he went to Brigham Young, you know what job he really wanted to do? He wanted to be a.

Writer for Sports Illustrated covering the NFL. I mean, if I can't use that to my advantage, I'm an idiot.

You know, come on.

So every time, you know, we'd always have these great conversations. And so the last three, I mean, the three Super Bowls that they won, I found myself alone with him in his office saying, after the game, breaking down the winning play in the game against the 49ers to chip wasp, you know, where he is just so excited to talk about this play.

They've got Tyreek.

Hill loose and somehow some way they were able to make this play. The great part of this play right here is that when Patrick Mahomes comes to the sidelines during a replay review and He says to Eric B enemy, do we.

Have time to run wasp? Andy Reed did not want to run the play.

Wow.

You know why he did?

Patrick said, let's do it.

Wow.

And that is why Andy Reed is a great coach to play for.

He empowers the players.

If he really feels that they want to run a play, he says, let's go.

And it pays off. It's paid off for the chiefs over the years.

Fascinating.

Peter, I'm doing some radio work on Monday nights with Westwood One, and I get to work with Kurt Warner and Kevin Harlan. And every week, the producers change around the call that says, like, and here's who you're listening to. Doug Peterson is on this show with us as well.

Oh, I love Doug Peterson.

And we never change Doug's call because what we always say for Doug's.

Voice is, you really know what we want to call it? Philly Special.

It's one of the best plays and it's what Doug is known for. It's what that Super Bowl is known for. Chapter 34 in your book is called Outsmarting Belichick. What did you learn more about the Philly Special that has just cemented it as one of those memorable plays in the NFL?

I don't know if you will remember this, but there was a different play called for that play and Doug Peterson didn't like it and he ran down the sidelines to call time.

And so.

Nick Foles comes to the sidelines and he goes, to run Philly Philly and Doug Peterson for like two and a half seconds he didn't want to run the play. But the exact same thing was reading Mahomes. He said, my quarterback wants it. I'm going to give it to him. But the best part of this is when Nick Foles ran onto the field. He knew that it was going to work. He has never caught a ball in an NFL game, and Trey Burton had never thrown a pass in an NFL game.

Now, he threw some in Georgia. I'm sorry, in Florida. He threw some in Florida.

But anyway, he comes into the huddle, and he specifically does not want to smile because he knows that he doesn't want to give any sign, oh, my God, we got him now. But the other part of it is you'll notice that– The thrower of the football, the tight end who had never thrown a pass in an NFL game has tight end gloves on.

He didn't want to have gloves on when he threw this.

The reason why he had gloves on is that Nick Foles did not want to give him any warning that.

The play was going to happen because he didn't want him to tighten up.

Yeah.

And so he threw this incredible pass with these big, thick, tight end gloves on instead of how he wanted to throw it with just his hand.

Yeah.

And so that all of that stuff combined just fooled the Patriots.

And knowing a Belichick coach team, that's the kind of thing that he would have seen and called a timeout and said, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Wait a second.

Why did this just happen? Jamie, that is exactly what Doug Peterson and Nick Foles were thinking. That's why they didn't want to give any hints whatsoever. And I just think that the other thing they did in that game that was so cool, they used pro football focus in that game to help them design the winning touchdown pass.

Zach Ertz, on Devin McCourty. Devin McCourty's a great player, but he's also seven inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter than Zach Ertz. And he was going to be singled against Zach Ertz. And the great part of that is NFL Films has Matt Patricia, the Patriots defensive coordinator. Hey, we got a double 86, double 86. And the defense didn't do it. What I have found over the years is that it's absolutely amazing. That play won a Super Bowl.

How in the world did the Patriots make that mistake with Bill Belichick? You got a double 86. We are going to double Zach Ertz.

Okay. And they didn't do it. And sometimes it is so human.

Football it can't be scripted it can't be overly designed because things happen in the heat of battle that aren't supposed to happen because you can't predict everything and you can't script everything that's of all the.

Things i miss about the game that's it that's it i.

Love what happens when the lights go on when the 42nd clock ticks down to zero and you gotta you gotta make a play.

It's why even the best to coach him up, the film still keeps him up at night because they can't quite figure it out and they have to let the game unfold.

This will keep you up at night, but in the best way possible. Peter King, please stay around a couple more minutes. Could you do that for us? Because this is all within the book and the history.

And the storytelling, but we're still playing a season in 2026 and we want to hear your thoughts on it.

But check out the game by Peter King. Get it for holidays. Get it for whoever in your life that needs to know more about the NFL. This is fantastic. We'll be right back with Peter King. If the commercials could talk, wouldn't you like to hear about it? Welcome back to GMFB. We're still hanging with our friend, veteran sports writer Peter King. He's got a new book coming out called The Game. 40 years with.

The Game before your retirement in 2024, Peter. But we've got to get caught up on what's been happening.

Recently in the NFL. And look no further than.

The final play, couple plays of the Commander's Giants game.

What?

I mean, in the 43 seasons I've been closely following the NFL, I've never seen anything like that. And Jamie, Jamie, imagine, you know how on social media after a football game, when it ends in a terrible way, everybody's got the answers. They say the coach should have done this. Quarterback should have done that. This guy should have done that.

They're all right. This time. This is unquestionably a.

Fan would be correct in saying that he should have either thrown the ball away or kneeled down something.

Anything.

But what really bothers me about this, what really bothers me, is that two things. David Blau should have said in his helmet, right? You know, when he's got his 40 seconds going down to 15 seconds, when the microphone shuts off in his helmet, he's got to say... You have got to make sure that, you know, you either throw the ball away or you kneel. And obviously he didn't do that. And then does his Jaden Daniels been playing quarterback for 10 minutes?

Yeah.

How as a quarterback, do you allow that to happen? It is a debacle, total debacle. And look, I'm not one to call for people's jobs, but I am one to say, if that is wrong, for a team and an organization. If you don't have that straightened out, then what else is wrong? What else don't you have taken care of? So I think if I was Josh Harris meeting on Monday, I would have just, you know, I would have want a full explanation and I would want to say basically, listen, If this ever happens again, I don't care what time of year it is or whatever, but I'm cleaning house. We won't allow this to happen.

Wow.

Peter, about a pitching wedge away from where you're sitting right now is where the Rams play their home games. And this is a very unusual team, very high profile team. And the results so far have been underwhelming. What are your thoughts right now after five games about the LA Rams 2026?

I don't think the house is on fire. I just don't.

I think that they lost a game in Denver where you could easily argue that the officiating went against them in a terrible way and in an unjust way.

But that happens to everybody. That happens to everybody.

And then you could easily argue on Monday they played a great team.

And sometimes when two great teams meet each.

Other, you know, it doesn't go your way.

And that's just the way it is. But, look, here's the thing I say.

You know, if you look at the next five weeks, they play four teams total, including Arizona twice, with a combined record of 6-18-1. And everybody said, oh, my God, they're 2-3. You know, the sky is falling. I think, if you're just asking me, I think they'll be 7-3. And this will be a distant memory. I picked them for the Super Bowl before the year. I still pick them for the Super Bowl.

Now, Peter, the Rams aren't the only team that played there. There's another team called the Chargers. Now, the Chargers are 0-5. It's not looking good. One, what are, in your eyes, what's the issue there? And then number two, how do they kind of get this thing turned around?

When I watch the Chargers, I see a team that is playing totally without confidence, led by the quarterback who's playing totally without confidence. Has he bought into Mike McDaniel's way? Has he bought into Mike McDaniel's system?

I don't know.

You know, Justin Herbert is a is, you know, publicly anyway, he's kind of a church mouse. He's a quiet guy. He just wants to let his play do the talking. Absolutely fine. But I mean, you go back to Christmas Day and this team is 0 and 8. And I think at some point, Jim Harbaugh really, I mean, he has been a word salad press conference guy for the last three or four weeks. He doesn't know what's going on.

And if he does, he's not saying. And I think at some point soon, if they don't play better on offense, he's got to take it away from Mike McDaniels.

Yeah, no doubt.

You wonder what's going to happen as a former Charger. I watch them closely, and I'm just like, something's got to give. When you say 0-8 since Christmas, and then their schedule's unforgiving.

How can Justin Herbert lose eight games in a row?

It's impossible. How does that happen?

Now, I think you have to have success in the playoffs before you're anointed.

I have no.

Idea why Jim Harbaugh feels necessary to say that Justin Herbert's going to be better than Johnny Unitas, Otto Graham, and Tom Brady combined.

I don't know why you do that. There is no reason to do that.

He must think that your quarterback has no confidence and I have to pump him up. But if I were Justin Herbert, I'd be embarrassed. listening to that stuff. Oh, coach, stop.

Stop.

Peter, if there was... Your career is fantastic.

The book is great, but you're looking at it in the rear view now. There was a young reporter trying to cut their teeth and make a name for themselves with their byline. Is there a story right now, something that has a low rumble to it in the NFL that you would say, hey, go sink your teeth into that, and why would it be the substation with the 49ers?

Just kidding.

Uh.

You know what?

I'll tell you the story that I would really want to do. OK, I'd want to dive very deeply into Brock Purdy.

And here's why.

Because I'm amazed when I hear smart people still. Find fault with Brock Purdy. Are you watching the games? Do you see him hold the ball to the last second before he's going to get blasted and then throw a pass on a dime to somebody?

I don't.

But what I would want to do because people. have done it with Tom Brady. What didn't you see? Why was Spurgeon Wynn taken ahead of Tom Brady? And what was this all about? I got a bunch of stuff about that in my book, too, about Giovanni Carmazzi, who was taken ahead of Tom Brady.

And anyway, but. What I would do is— here' s what I want to know with Brock Purdy.

I would want to go back to Iowa State, and I would want to talk about the value of playing big-time college football for years. And I would want to say, this is why it's idiotic to take a quarterback— not necessarily to take Mitchell Trubisky, but to take him so high in a first round— Because he's only played whatever it was, 12 or 13 games of football. Come on, since high school.

Let a guy, Bill Parcells says that is the biggest thing about quarterbacks coming into the NFL. He only wanted guys who have played a lot of football. Talk about that is the value. Go and talk to 10 people at Iowa State about Brock Purdy. I would want to, I'm going to spend two weeks on Brock Purdy in his past.

Mm-hmm.

You get sold on size, you get sold on potential, but sometimes experience goes by the wayside, and Brock Purdy is a living, breathing.

Example of that. Plus his mind. His mind.

He is so smart, and he's not afraid of anything.

So good.

Everybody, Peter King, thank you so much.

Unbelievable.

Thank you, Jamie.

Thanks, guys.

Thanks.

Wherever you get your books.

Kyle. Yeah.

Thank you.

Love you, Peter.

Can't wait for the book. See you later.

Absolutely.

Guys, thanks.

Congratulations, Peter. This is really cool.

Thanks so much.

All right.

Yep, absolutely.

We'll be right back.

I'm dealing.

With you. Good morning, football. Good morning, football.

Have you heard the Cowboys are bringing in Mike Pettin as their new senior defensive assistant to assist Christian Parker and to get the defense back on track because the defense is ranked 31st right now in total defense in the league. Now, head coach Brian Schottenheimer spoke about this decision recently.

To add Pettin.

I think Pettin's experience, not only in football, but his experience in this system of what we do, his understanding of, um, the 3-4 family. He has the awareness of some of our players, Kenny Clark, Rashawn Gary.

You know, he was the coordinator when CP was there.

So I think it's just a great fit and a guy that, you know, certainly brings a bunch of experience to the entire staff, myself included. If you think about it, you know, we have someone like that on the offensive side with Ken Dorsey. And so very excited to having Pat join us.

This is really unfortunate for the Cowboys because we had a high expectation. They go and they unearth Christian Parker from the Philadelphia Eagles, and he was supposed to be the game changer for this team. It's not been great, and they coughed one up to the Bucs at home on Thursday night, many calling it the worst loss to the Cowboys in a long time in the regular season. Dante, you know Mike Patton quite well. You played for him with the Cleveland Browns. You know what kind of influence he can have on teams or specifically more the defense.

So what do you make of this decision?

Well, Mike Pettin isn't changing that defense. You can go and bring in Bill Belichick, Dick LeBeau, and Buddy Ryan. If your players cannot cover, if they can't tackle, if they can't get after the passer, it does not matter who calls the plays.

And I just heard Schottenhammer tell a blatant lie on TV.

Oh, no.

He said that Mike Pettin has expertise in this system?

How?

Mike Payton got his system from the Rex Ryan brothers, right?

The blitzing, the attacking. You're at the point of attack, getting hits on.

Your quarterback, trying to force turnovers, tips and overthrows, and fumbles.

Christian Parker, he.

Assumed his defensive philosophy and structure from... Vic Fangio, a lot of four-man rush, a lot of two-zone, a lot of four-zone, a lot of different versions of cover three.

He rarely blitzes. So how does he have expertise in this system?

So I don't think that he'll make much of a difference when it comes to this Dallas Cowboys defense.

It's about the players.

Yeah. Look at the amount of money that they're playing these defensive tackles.

Mm-hmm. They're paying these defensive tackles. What's their names?

You know it. Quinn Williams.

Quinn Williams. And Kenny Clark.

And Kenny Clark. What, $ 57 million to do nothing? They have 27 tackles, one sack, and four tackles for loss on the season. The defense starts and ends up front. You have to stop the run with your defensive tackles. You have to get interior pressure, and it takes pressure off your secondary. Deron Bland, he's getting paid $ 23 million.

He's ranked 79th out of.

90 cornerbacks in the National Football League. If your players can't cover, they can't tackle, they can't get pressure, and they don't.

Take the onus of the defense, nobody's coming in to change.

Hasn't that been the story for the Cowboys the past few years? Defensively, it's like your highest paying guys just don't produce when you need them to. Well, I'm gonna ask you, Dante, you played under Mike.

How is he as a leader?

Is he somebody that can come in there and really put a fire under some guys?

Or is he kind of like a passive dude?

He's very passive. He's not the leader of men. When he was in our building, we were getting fired. Everybody knew that we were about to get cut, and the coaches were going to get fired.

And you know what they did? They brought players in the room asking, oh, what should we do to this defense? How should we tweak this? What should we do here? Once it gets to that point, it's like, oh, you were just a front runner.

You don't really have the answers to the test. So I don't think that he'll have the answers for that Dallas Cowboys defense either.

Well, the reason why I ask you that question is another thing that I saw with the Cowboys defense the past few weeks is a lack of effort.

Lack of accountability. There's a lack of just push. I mean, from the two main guys you just.

Talked about, there was a big play last week with Bucky Irvin just cutting up a defense, and you see guys walking.

Yeah.

Right?

And so I think this is it.

Right here.

Just watch Quinan.

Quinan just walked.

He's walking on the football field.

Guys on the ground.

Just walking.

That right there. There's a documentary out right now. If anybody wants to go watch it, there's a man named Nick Saban. I don't know if you heard about him. Just look at the difference, right? There's a reason why you need to be a certain character man to stand in front of a locker room filled with men, because when you need them to respond, you need them to perform, it takes a Nick Saban type of character to go up in there and light some fire under some people.

So....

If he can't get that juice, if he can't bring the technique, if his techniques are opposite over the techniques that Christian Parker is teaching them, I don't know how this helps.

A lot needs to change. There's a lot that needs to change. This team has no identity right now. Defensively, they don't have identity. A lot of people that they went and acquired this offseason have not been able to contribute due to injury.

Kobe Durant was out. Joey Porter Jr. was sick.

PJ Locke, Thompson at safety position. A lot of these guys Haven't been available to them.

That's not all defensive backs.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

So they're so they're hurting is with the front.

Let me address it.

So the back half has been compromised and they're literally playing guys who were on practice squad who have been moved up to play on the roster. These guys are being asked to do things that are outside of their current abilities and as it comes their scope, right? They weren't originally on the main roster. So they're being asked to do things outside of themselves. Working their way down to the linebacker position. DeMarvion Overshawn has been present. Dee Winters has, in my opinion, has underperformed. Jayshon Barham, your best linebacker right now, is a rookie. And he's learning it.

He's doing his thing as best as he possibly can. He's the most physical guy that you have over there. That's where they're at in the linebacker position. Work your way down to the defensive line. The first three weeks of the season, they were running what Christian Parker wanted to do, which was a two-gap scheme. The defensive linemen literally come up, they grab an offensive lineman, they peek-a-boo this way, they.

Peek-a-boo that way.

They pick whichever lane they need to go address, and then they go out there and try to secure a tackle. That's what was being asked of.

Those defensive linemen.

See, that's wrong, though, Zay.

It's a two-gap. You're playing two-gap. I understand that.

The linemen, you're playing the front side, and the linebacker's playing the back side. That's a really great area where it's like, No, you're a two-gapper, but you need to play one side of that thing.

But when you think.

About Vic Fangio's defense, it stopped the run with seven in the box. You need those guys up front to play two gaps. There's not enough gaps up there, but you also.

Need them to get penetration. You also need them to restrict space.

You also need them in rush blitzes not to create vertical gaps.

And lateral gaps. Everybody has to work at one.

You need Von Miller, who you brought in, who's been a double-digit guy in the league, is going to be a Hall of Famer, to not be rushing.

The quarterback on running plays.

Barham, how many times on film I watched this and Barham, the ball is coming on the power to the left and he backdoors it and runs through the B gap.

That's just the worst type of football that you can play.

This is why they're ranked 32nd and run defense. So right now on the back end, they're missing a lot of guys, but at least they're ranked 21st.

So the thing is up front though, these guys, they're changing weekly. This defense, you can't do that. I understand, but you're talking about our first time defensive coordinator that came in with the idea of what he wanted to do.

He tried to initiate that. It wasn't working.

He asked Quinn and Williams and Kenny Clark, two of the best defense, interior defense linemen in the league, to play his scheme. That wasn't working for them. Regardless of how it's worked for other people, it wasn't working for them. So then in week four, he said, you know what?

You guys go ahead and.

Do what you do. Go play.

Go make plays.

We're halfway through week three and week four.

So they started getting in the backfield, started getting penetration. But then you started losing discipline on the outside. Your outside linebackers in a 3-4, which pretty much had the line of scrimmage. You got a five-man front. Rashawn Gary's not really doing.

Much of anything.

Von Miller's out there collecting a check, right? He hasn't had any pressures. He said he's going to get.

Eight sacks off the couch.

No, he hasn't.

Haven't seen it, right? So that's not happening.

Donovan, Ezeraku, Malachi, Lawrence, your young guns are still figuring things out. So you don't have the discipline on the outside as outside linebackers to contain runs. Your linebackers only have two linebackers in the game at one point in time, and your defensive linemen are running out of the holes.

There's a lot that has to be addressed. It's not just one area.

So can.

Can Pettin come in and fix things?

I don't know.

But I do know that the Dallas Cowboys have so many assistant coaches and specialist coaches on this defense.

They have rush specialists.

They're young though, right?

Absolutely.

They have rush specialists.

They got interior D-line specialists. They got linebackers. They have a lot of specialists. it is not looking very special. So things have to change.

But you want to know why? Because they don't have an authoritative figure in the building.

There's not a place where a defensive tackle or two defensive tackles would tell Vic Fangio, we're not going to run your scheme. We're going to do it our way because we feel more comfortable. That means you'll be on the bench or they're going to trade you and get you out of the building. When you have Christian Parker, who's 34 years old, Von Miller is literally older than him.

Quentin Williams can tell him, hey, I make more than you. Don't tell me nothing.

Those are not the personality types that they bring into Dallas' locker room. I'm just telling you that just from the back end.

They don't bring in those type of players.

But when you don't listen to the coaching and you say, I'm going to do it my way, not your way, that's not how defense operates.

Have you ever walked into a meeting room and the player's like, no, coach, we don't want to do it like that. What are you talking about? That's not the way it goes.

It seems that if it went the way that you just explained it, Zay, it seems that the breakdown came to your point, Dante, that you brought in Christian Parker to run a certain style. Maybe the issue was you brought in the wrong person to apply it to the talent that you had in the locker room in the first place. And now you're trying to accommodate it five weeks in. But the fact that they just said, well, they just go out and do what you do best.

that's when you have breakdowns because the second a play extends for too long.

Nobody knows what they're doing and they don't know their job.

It's an adaptability thing, right? So like I said, I'm not making any excuses for them. They got a lot of work to figure out. But what I am saying is you come in with an idea. You've been behind guys, Vic Fangio. You've been sitting behind gaining all this wisdom. So you have it all mapped out.

I drew up my game plan. I came in with my notes and then I communicated to everybody.

And we go out there and I'm like, all right, I'm excited to see this.

And it's just not hitting. It's just not hitting. You're making some food.

It just doesn't taste the way that I envisioned it. Oh, and then, by the way, now I'm missing ingredients. All my main ingredients are gone. My whole back end is gone. My linebacker is gone. I'm missing a lot of pieces. So now I'm like, okay, now I don't have those guys. My system's not necessarily going the way I want to.

I don't even have everything I need. Let me change it up a little bit. Let me see what I could change so that we can be affected so that we can have an impact. And when that doesn't work now, it's like, oh crap.

You invoke the name Nick Saban.

Like we got a documentary out where guys are like crying. Honestly, probably pain because he held them to such a high standard when they were playing. But look at the teams and the products that he put on the field. Guys are crying in Dallas, but it's not because the product in the quality of the defense is so high.

So they'll get there. We'll play the games. I'm not going to promise you that it'll get figured out. That's why we watch. We'll be right back on TMFB.

Football.

We're so happy about this. Our next guest on GMFB joining us now. He's a cheat code on defense. He can play as deep safety. He can step down in the box or lock you up in the slot. He's fresh off a stellar performance and an overtime win over the Falcons last Sunday. Please welcome Raven Safety Malachi Stark.

Good morning to you, Malachi.

We're great. Great to see you. We want to talk all things about the Ravens, not only looking ahead to Sunday's game against the Browns, but also what I just referenced, which is a look back at your overtime Sunday night win over the Falcons.

You didn't have your quarterback.

You're on the road, explosive weapons on the other side, but you guys locked them up. How'd you get this done as a collective for the Ravens?

Yeah, I think the biggest thing for us that we've talked about since camp really is just being a unit, really playing to our talents and focusing on us and how we want to play as a defense. And I think we did that. I think we were able to really be as one and be a unit. And I think when you watch the tape, you saw guys flying around and having fun and being connected. And I think that was the biggest thing for us.

Well, when we did watch the tape, you played much closer to the line of scrimmage, Malachi, and you were extremely disruptive. It looks like you don't mind kind of rolling down in a box and getting your hands wet a little bit with the big boys.

How did it feel down there?

Yeah, I mean, it was nice. It really was.

I think.

I haven't really done that a lot since I've gotten to the league. So it's been fun. And, you know, I have such great guys to learn from, like Kyle and Marlon and, you know, all the guys that are in the box. I get to really just learn from them and watch them and see what they do and kind of add my own kind of style to it.

So I'm grateful for the opportunity.

Well, there's a lot of guys to learn from on the other side of the ball, too. You know, Malachi, a lot of times young players are asked about their welcome to the NFL moment.

Never mind that.

Did you have a welcome to Derrick Henry moment where you're like, oh, this dude's different?

I think. I think, honestly, it was the first time I got here and I just had saw him. I just don't think I've ever seen anybody that big that could move that fast. But I think when you're able to watch him... I mean, it's special. And I'm lucky I don't got to go against him on Sunday. But I think just to be able to learn from him and just ask him questions every now and then and just kind of, you know, get his thought process on, like, you know, defenses and, you know, how he does it.

I mean, because he's arguably the best to ever do it. So I think just to have him as a resource and have him on a team, we're truly blessed.

Well, how about that? So you show up, you're in the Ravens, and you had this great college career, and you're a celebrated guy, and oh my God, there's Derrick Henry on the other side. We haven't even talked about the quarterback. What was it like with Lamar? You're a football fan. You've watched Lamar for years.

He's a superstar.

Getting to see him for the first time, meet him, what's it like as a young guy, and there's Lamar Jackson?

Yeah, I think for me, for me, it was super cool. I think you always like have those moments, you know, where guys were like, you know, when I get there, like, I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna say that. And I was one of those people. I was like, when I get there, I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna say that. And I saw him and it all went out the window. I didn't really know what to say when I saw him because it was cool.

I think he's inspired so many people. When I was in high school, I played quarterback because of Lamar. And I think when I got here, it was so cool for me to meet him because he had such a big part in my experience growing up so it was really cool just to be able to you know share the field with him and um ask him questions as well you know he's he's a great leader um and i think anytime that i'm able to you know get some tips from him um i'll take them.

Malik i gotta take you back to a moment i want some insight on what happened there was a clip um in that overtime win that you guys had about the atlanta falcons when you saw tool come into the game and then the dbs were like oh Tua's in the game.

Let's go, let's go get him. Take me back to that.

What was that conversation on the sideline when you saw that Tua was coming in instead of Michael Penix and the excitement that we saw on the sideline.

For you guys?

Yeah, I think it started even like the draft before that. I think when we realized we were going to go over overtime, we all kind of decided and Kyle kind of got up and he told us that one of us, somebody in the room was going to end the game. And I think when we saw him come in, I think it was just, okay, Pennix has been playing the whole time, so he kind of has the flow of the game and how it's going. He just hasn't been in it that much, so I think it was an opportunity for one of us to step up in the game, and Kyle stepped up and hit it in the game when he needed to.

I love you saying Kyle Hamilton.

You got two Notre Dame guys sitting at this table, so when I start hearing Notre Dame guys.

Yeah, bro.

We won't go there. And he's got the jersey. Look at the lockers, how they're set up.

They're buddies there in that locker stall.

That's fantastic.

Notre Dame guys are buddies with everybody.

We're just nice guys. But you know what?

We won't talk about how inspiring he is. Let's talk about Tyler Huntley. I played on teams where the backup quarterback, and I put it in air quotes because Tyler Huntley is a great player.

They come in.

It's such a spark for the team because they bring this energy and you want to see them win. Can you just talk about having him at quarterback and what that's meant to this football team?

Yeah, I think Coach Menderhans said something that nobody in the league has the faith of a backup quarterback like we do, and I think it's true. I think I've never doubted Huntley. We've always had faith in him, and just for him to be able to go out and execute and make the big plays when he's needed to and just go perform at a high level, I think it's awesome. It's just his energy as a person. I mean, it's so... It's so contagious. Like when you see him and he's smiling, you have no choice but to smile.

So I think just his leadership and the way that he goes about his business on a day-to-day basis, I think that's the reason why a lot of guys have faith in him for sure.

Malachi, everybody knows this.

The longer you're in this game, the more you know people and the more overlap you have. But your connection with Todd Munkin, it doesn't just extend to his time in Baltimore. You were in Athens, Georgia together winning a national championship.

I believe.

So what do you.

Remember about what a Munkin offense looks like and what do you guys prepare him for with the Browns this weekend?

Yeah, I think it's explosive. It's explosive. It's direct. He has a great mind for play calling. And I think he really knows how to attack defenses. So I think we just need to really focus on us this week and just realize that we have to play to our talents and kind of take the flow from last week and kind of run with it. And I think that'll be huge for us.

Malachi, one of the things that we have appreciated about your time as a professional is you're very honest about all the things that you've been through in your life. Well, you're doing a road game this weekend, which means you're getting on an airplane. Am I to learn that you don't love, while you're a great football player, you don't love the part of the travel that comes with being a professional?

What's this about?

No, the worst part is definitely getting to the game. And not because we don't have a great system. We have an amazing system. I think for me, my first time flying was my first away game in college and we had turbulence, but nobody told me what turbulence was. I was like, I was like, I was freaking out.

And I mean, everybody was just kind of like chilling, but I was freaking out. And since then, it's just kind of been a thing that I, me and flying don't really get along, but it's part of my job. So we make it work.

That's hilarious.

So listen, you're not alone, man.

There's a lot of people.

Listen, John Madden famously wouldn't fly, like wouldn't get on planes. He's like, we don't belong up there.

That'd be his quote. You got to do it.

So when you're on your first flight at maybe 18, 19 years old and there's turbulence, are you like, We're going down. Like, this is it.

Like, praise Jesus. Like, what was that like for you?

Like, no, like, when I tell you I was freaking out, like, I was freaking out bad. And, like, it was a late game. It was a late game in Missouri. And, like, we almost went into overtime. Like, it was just, it was not a good experience. Because, like, nobody, like, nobody told me what turbulence was. Like, I was thinking the worst things ever. And it ended up not being that bad when I look back at it. But in the moment, I thought it was tough.

Okay, so how do you get through it now?

Do you have, like, a teammate that is very understanding and you've got to, like, grip his arm?

Yeah, how do you go through this?

Not really. A lot of people actually mess with me, which is okay.

Yeah, what do they do?

Because it's making me tough. But I take medicine to go to sleep. I take, like, a Benadryl or whatever to go to sleep. But sometimes it doesn't work. Like, when we flew to Brazil, I took my medicine and I was probably asleep for three hours and I was up for the rest of... the center or however long it was.

I was hoping to hear that Marlon Humphrey when he goes around on that post game little live that he has on your guys playing will help you out a little bit.

I'm gonna give you this opportunity.

I know Marlon is a great teammate, but he has a Marlon Humphrey show. He always has that post game thing where he goes around to everybody's seats. He usually spills some secrets about his teammates. This is your time brother to give it back to him.

Do you have anything on Marlon?

I got a lot on Marlon. The one thing I will say, he's one of the people that likes to mess with me. I think like one of our first flights, once he figured out that I didn't like flying, he came to me before we took off and he was like, yeah, they said the engine is not working on the plane. That was pretty bad, but he's one of the people that messes with me for sure.

Malachi, on this show, we date check oftentimes when someone tries to say MVP this or defensive player of the year that. But coach of the year, we always welcome this conversation. Take us inside what it's been like with Jesse Minner in the building so far in your time with the Ravens.

It's been great. I think his ability to really just step into that leadership role and really have an open conversation with a lot of people in the building. It's easy for people to follow him. He does such a great job. He's very defensive-minded, so it's always good to have, especially defensive back, so it's really good to have the head guy giving you what he sees and what he wants for the game and throughout the week in the game plan. I think it's been awesome, and I think uh because of the type of person he is a lot of guys want to follow him and i think he's doing such a great job and just the step that he's brought in as well i mean it's been.

It's been amazing Malachi, I'm going to make an executive decision here and say you can come back to GMFB anytime.

And I'm just happy for you this weekend.

My man, you're a great interview.

Great job.

We love you.

Quick little up and down to Cleveland, all right? Quick little up and down. It's not too long, okay? Just have somebody drive you.

Make Marlon drive you.

I agree.

Thanks, Malachi.

Take care, brother.

Thank you.

God bless you. Good morning football.

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