# Flag Football Extravaganza!

An episode of [NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/680904259), 16 Jun 2026, 41 min.

Audio: https://pdrl.fm/91be81/podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/claritaspod.com/measure/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/9ce11dad-e86a-444f-ba83-ae27003475be/e210da8c-f644-46b6-9579-b46a0187343e/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=deff018f-4b51-4501-937c-ae27003475d1

Gregg Rosenthal and Jourdan Rodrigue are joined by DB Mike Daniels and DC Rudy Fernandez of USA Football's Men's National Team ahead of the IFAF World Championships in Germany. Gregg and Jourdan talk to Mike and Rudy about getting into flag football as a novice fan, the differences between flag and tackle football and some of the skillsets that separate the two, how the game has evolved and more! Mike and Rudy also talk about flag football becoming an Olympic sport and possibly becoming the first team to win an Olympic Gold Medal in flag football. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcasts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:04] Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we've got a flag football extrava.
[0:09] Speaker 2: Guyans.
[0:10] Speaker 1: I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Westling podcast studio
[0:14] Speaker 1: next to flag football expert.
[0:16] Speaker 2: I don't know if she's going by that these days.
[0:18] Speaker 3: Novis trying to become an expert by the Olympics, more of.
[0:20] Speaker 2: An expert than me.
[0:21] Speaker 1: Jordan Rodrigu who has helped to put together this program
[0:25] Speaker 1: and our esteem guests on this program, and we're starting
[0:28] Speaker 1: the show with him. We've got Rudy Fernandez, defensive coordinator,
[0:32] Speaker 1: assistant coach of the USA football men's national team. We
[0:37] Speaker 1: also have Mike Daniels, defensive back that does it all
[0:41] Speaker 1: on the field. We're going to get into what both
[0:43] Speaker 1: of these men do on the field and obviously as
[0:46] Speaker 1: a coach. But just to introduce for the listeners, this
[0:50] Speaker 1: is a long gest dating idea from Jordan here and
[0:54] Speaker 1: from a growing sport that we are trying to cover
[0:58] Speaker 1: and wrap our minds around here at NFL Media.
[1:02] Speaker 2: And I'm excited. Are you ready? Jordan?
[1:04] Speaker 3: Uh? Yeah, understatement me being fired up. I've been so
[1:07] Speaker 3: excited about this, you guys. I went to see some
[1:09] Speaker 3: of the Summer series last year I've written about this
[1:12] Speaker 3: a sport at the Athletic dot Com. I'm so excited
[1:15] Speaker 3: about the potential here and then also about you guys
[1:19] Speaker 3: representing us in the LA Olympic, because I know we
[1:21] Speaker 3: got a long way to go between now and then
[1:24] Speaker 3: when flag football makes its debut in the Olympics. But
[1:28] Speaker 3: I know I speak for a lot of people, like
[1:30] Speaker 3: millions of people internationally who are such big fans of
[1:33] Speaker 3: this sport, and our listeners and our viewers really love
[1:37] Speaker 3: getting in the weeds on stuff. I knew I could
[1:39] Speaker 3: trust our listeners on being interested in this topic because
[1:42] Speaker 3: we like to get granular, we like to understand things,
[1:44] Speaker 3: We need to explain things. Greg really likes to explain things,
[1:48] Speaker 3: and so we're so stoked to have you guys here
[1:50] Speaker 3: today to help us understand flag football a little bit more.
[1:52] Speaker 1: I'll start with you, Rudy, because like so you're you're coach,
[1:56] Speaker 1: and I'm looking at blag football right now. You can
[2:01] Speaker 1: just assume like I'm a novice and a lot of
[2:02] Speaker 1: the listeners I think in general, are going to be
[2:07] Speaker 1: relative novices. And so for those of us that I've
[2:10] Speaker 1: started to get more familiar, I've obviously read it. I
[2:12] Speaker 1: watched you know, you guys destroy the pros a little
[2:16] Speaker 1: while back. We can get into that. But like four novices,
[2:20] Speaker 1: what is it's a big picture question. But what do
[2:23] Speaker 1: you think like the not like new fans to the
[2:26] Speaker 1: sport or people that don't know much about it should
[2:29] Speaker 1: know about it, like the first time they're kind of
[2:31] Speaker 1: getting introduced to it.
[2:32] Speaker 4: Oh, entertaining and fast paced. That's the big thing is
[2:36] Speaker 4: how fast paced it is, how entertaining it is. And
[2:38] Speaker 4: it's a game that just show off your skills, right
[2:41] Speaker 4: you're receiving, you're throwing, you know, the way you cover.
[2:46] Speaker 5: It's it's a lot of fun.
[2:47] Speaker 4: It takes a lot of skill to be able to
[2:48] Speaker 4: play the flag football high level.
[2:50] Speaker 3: The thing that I find so interesting about like the
[2:53] Speaker 3: better you get at this is we know flag football
[2:56] Speaker 3: is an offensive sport, Like they love points. Mike, you're
[2:58] Speaker 3: a defensive player, and so I think for you, I know,
[3:01] Speaker 3: it's a point of pride that at this level some
[3:04] Speaker 3: of the nuances of defense and the skill players on
[3:07] Speaker 3: defense are just as strong as some of the things
[3:09] Speaker 3: that you guys see in the passing in the passing game.
[3:13] Speaker 6: Yeah, so, like you said, the biggest thing. The game
[3:17] Speaker 6: is revolved around offense, you know, being excited and scoring
[3:22] Speaker 6: a lot of points and doing everything like that. That's
[3:24] Speaker 6: why as defensive players, we take a lot of pride
[3:27] Speaker 6: and throwing those guys down and stopping them.
[3:29] Speaker 7: And our offense is really really good. So if we
[3:31] Speaker 7: can get.
[3:32] Speaker 6: Like one or two stops a game nine times out
[3:34] Speaker 6: of ten, like we're probably gonna win that game. But
[3:37] Speaker 6: we take so much pride in on our craft and
[3:39] Speaker 6: everything that we do and the schematics and everything preparing
[3:43] Speaker 6: for a team, Like we don't want a team to score, right,
[3:46] Speaker 6: so if a team scores on us, like it's like, oh,
[3:49] Speaker 6: like we get really really upset, even when we're not
[3:52] Speaker 6: really supposed to. Like coach does a good job at
[3:54] Speaker 6: you know, keeping us home, like it's okay for let's
[3:56] Speaker 6: they're gonna score, they're gonna do this. And he I
[3:57] Speaker 6: hate when he says that because I'm so competitive at no,
[4:00] Speaker 6: they're not, like they're not supposed to score, Like I
[4:03] Speaker 6: don't care what the game is supposed to be for whatever,
[4:06] Speaker 6: I don't want.
[4:07] Speaker 7: Them to score. Like if we can leave the game
[4:08] Speaker 7: one hundred to zero, MAPPI.
[4:10] Speaker 8: I love that.
[4:11] Speaker 3: I'm curious for novices watching for the first time, What
[4:15] Speaker 3: are a couple of things that people who are going
[4:17] Speaker 3: to be watching your games? First of all, internationally here
[4:19] Speaker 3: coming up Worlds is in Germany coming up. You guys
[4:22] Speaker 3: will be playing in that. But what people can watch
[4:25] Speaker 3: when they're trying to know what they're looking at, like,
[4:28] Speaker 3: what are some basics on both sides of the ball?
[4:30] Speaker 3: Rudy will start with you. What do people need to
[4:33] Speaker 3: see to understand this sport?
[4:35] Speaker 4: So one thing people don't understand when they watch it
[4:37] Speaker 4: for the first time is it's not ten yards to
[4:40] Speaker 4: first down, right, you start five yards from the end zone.
[4:43] Speaker 4: Then you have twenty yards to get to midfield and
[4:46] Speaker 4: you have four places to do it, and then four
[4:47] Speaker 4: plays to score after that, and then right before the
[4:51] Speaker 4: end zone there's a no run zone where you have
[4:52] Speaker 4: to throw the ball. And that's always you know something
[4:55] Speaker 4: that people that watch tackle football always ask, you're.
[4:58] Speaker 5: In the red zone, why aren't you running the ball? Well?
[5:01] Speaker 4: Can't, right, it becomes too simple a score from the
[5:04] Speaker 4: one yard line with a run.
[5:05] Speaker 8: The DB's probably love this role plays on the ball.
[5:08] Speaker 1: Oh yeah yeah, And it's I think for adults who
[5:13] Speaker 1: have kids there's going to be a generation of people
[5:17] Speaker 1: like myself because it's such a growing sport. You know,
[5:19] Speaker 1: there's twenty million people playing flag all over the world now,
[5:23] Speaker 1: and they're making it like a varsity sport, especially for
[5:26] Speaker 1: girls in a lot of states and everything, and a
[5:29] Speaker 1: lot of our kids are now growing up playing flag
[5:31] Speaker 1: and so we're starting to actually understanding like those sorts
[5:36] Speaker 1: of rules. But I do think if you're just like
[5:38] Speaker 1: an NFL fan who hasn't had much exposure to it
[5:42] Speaker 1: as a as a player, Mike, like, and you're watching
[5:45] Speaker 1: it for the first time, and we can get into
[5:49] Speaker 1: you know, what happened when you played the NFL players,
[5:52] Speaker 1: but what are some of the skill sets you think
[5:55] Speaker 1: just from a first place watching it, Because I realized
[5:57] Speaker 1: pretty quickly, like how little I understand about what's going
[6:01] Speaker 1: to make teams better, players better compared to tackle football.
[6:06] Speaker 6: Yeah, so the biggest thing about you know, skill set wise,
[6:09] Speaker 6: is there's a lot more not taking anything away from
[6:13] Speaker 6: like traditional football, but there's a little bit more finesse
[6:16] Speaker 6: that goes into flag football because the rules and intricacies
[6:21] Speaker 6: are a little bit different.
[6:22] Speaker 7: So you have to be you have to learn how
[6:24] Speaker 7: to be elite within.
[6:25] Speaker 6: The system of of flag football. So there's one the
[6:31] Speaker 6: biggest rule of them all. There's a lot less contact
[6:34] Speaker 6: than there is a traditional football. So you're telling me
[6:37] Speaker 6: as a defender, I have to cover in a very fast,
[6:41] Speaker 6: very elite route runner with really good hands and a
[6:45] Speaker 6: really wide range to catch the football. How am I
[6:47] Speaker 6: going to stop that guy within playing the rules of
[6:50] Speaker 6: the game. So there's a lot of finest that comes
[6:53] Speaker 6: into it. So there's a lot of like things you
[6:54] Speaker 6: have to do in your craft to learn how to
[6:56] Speaker 6: mirror somebody and be able to cover them, you know,
[7:00] Speaker 6: to the point where they're not making as many catches
[7:03] Speaker 6: or they're not as open as they should be.
[7:05] Speaker 7: It's tough.
[7:06] Speaker 6: That's why I said earlier, like we take a lot
[7:08] Speaker 6: of pride in stopping and slowing down these really really
[7:11] Speaker 6: good offices.
[7:12] Speaker 3: Yeah, you can't bump when you press, Like when you press,
[7:15] Speaker 3: you can't really press, right, Rudy, How does that change
[7:18] Speaker 3: how you call a game as a defensive coordinator.
[7:21] Speaker 4: Well, you know, going in we do a lot of
[7:23] Speaker 4: practice so we know there's not a lot of contact. Yeah,
[7:26] Speaker 4: so we just we work a lot on defending with
[7:28] Speaker 4: our feet, right, Just true fundamentals of football. As a
[7:32] Speaker 4: defensive back, you do a lot of coverage with your
[7:35] Speaker 4: feet staying in front, you know, on a man turn,
[7:37] Speaker 4: how you open your hips on the zone turn.
[7:40] Speaker 5: Just a lot of those things.
[7:41] Speaker 4: And these you know, these athletes, they put so much more,
[7:44] Speaker 4: excuse me, so much work into getting better at flag
[7:49] Speaker 4: football because a lot of them, like Mike, were so
[7:51] Speaker 4: skilled at tackle. And I mean Mike's a killer, right,
[7:54] Speaker 4: he loves contact, So he had to train himself and
[7:58] Speaker 4: kind of almost learn to play defensive back in a
[8:01] Speaker 4: different style to fit for football.
[8:04] Speaker 1: Yeah, it reminds me a little like a very very
[8:06] Speaker 1: briefly covered Arena League football and Rene League football was
[8:10] Speaker 1: similar in the way that like if you can get
[8:11] Speaker 1: one or two stops a game, it weirdly made defense
[8:14] Speaker 1: more important than offense in a way. Do you ascribe
[8:18] Speaker 1: to that as a defensive coordinator?
[8:20] Speaker 3: Oh?
[8:20] Speaker 5: Yeah, defense, that's wins championships, right.
[8:22] Speaker 2: I mean it kind of did feel that way though too.
[8:24] Speaker 1: If you if you had a defense and get two
[8:25] Speaker 1: stops you know a week, as you're saying or whatever
[8:28] Speaker 1: it's going to be, then that can be the difference.
[8:30] Speaker 2: Yeah, everyone has a good offense.
[8:31] Speaker 8: I have to say too.
[8:32] Speaker 3: Watching the tournament games against the pro is like some
[8:36] Speaker 3: of the most fun plays to watch. I know you
[8:38] Speaker 3: guys are such a powerhouse on offense, but there are
[8:41] Speaker 3: some high profile interceptions in that game, for example, and
[8:44] Speaker 3: just really great plays on the ball and great reads.
[8:47] Speaker 3: And I can't wait for the listeners. We're going to
[8:49] Speaker 3: break down some tape a little bit later, and really
[8:53] Speaker 3: excited for you guys to lead the way with us
[8:55] Speaker 3: on that. When you are thinking about what Rudy just
[8:59] Speaker 3: said translating certain skills.
[9:01] Speaker 8: You were a tackle football player.
[9:02] Speaker 3: You played at collegiate level at West Virginia, Mike, and
[9:04] Speaker 3: so translating those skills first, what that was like for
[9:08] Speaker 3: you retraining certain elements of your game, not just on
[9:11] Speaker 3: the field, but away from the field, some of your
[9:14] Speaker 3: off season training those types of things.
[9:16] Speaker 8: What skills you had to develop and follow up as well?
[9:19] Speaker 3: Rudy like, how do you continue to coach that all
[9:21] Speaker 3: the way through this professional level?
[9:24] Speaker 6: Okay, So within traditional football, there's a plethorail ways that
[9:30] Speaker 6: you can cover a guy, right, There's a million ways
[9:32] Speaker 6: you can skin a cat. So within playing man to
[9:38] Speaker 6: man versus someone, there's a technique called off man coverage, right,
[9:43] Speaker 6: which is what you see ninety ninety eight or ninety
[9:48] Speaker 6: nine point nine percent of the time in flag football
[9:50] Speaker 6: because there's no contact, so you don't see a lot
[9:52] Speaker 6: of guys crowd in a line of scrimmage, right, So
[9:55] Speaker 6: you're playing off for the most part. So it's still
[9:57] Speaker 6: offman technique, but there's no like you said at the
[10:00] Speaker 6: top of the route, there's no bump anymore. So how
[10:02] Speaker 6: do I slow this guy down when he's his momentum
[10:05] Speaker 6: is already probably at eighty to eighty five percent speed
[10:08] Speaker 6: by the time he gets to me, Like what am
[10:10] Speaker 6: I supposed to do? Like coach Rudy said, your feet
[10:13] Speaker 6: have to be You have to have really really good feet,
[10:15] Speaker 6: really really good hips, really really good eyes, and they
[10:18] Speaker 6: have to You have to train him to respond a
[10:20] Speaker 6: lot quicker than that of traditional football because flag football
[10:24] Speaker 6: the throws are shorter and quicker. Right, Like a in
[10:28] Speaker 6: traditional football, you someone may run a dig at fifteen
[10:31] Speaker 6: to twenty yards and flag football that dig is being
[10:34] Speaker 6: ran at about eight to ten.
[10:35] Speaker 8: Now because the field is so much it's so.
[10:37] Speaker 6: Much smaller, So those routes are shorter and faster, and
[10:40] Speaker 6: you don't have as many steps to make up and
[10:44] Speaker 6: flag football than that of traditional football, because one step
[10:48] Speaker 6: can cost you. In traditional football, you may get a
[10:51] Speaker 6: step or two, ball has to travel maybe twenty to
[10:53] Speaker 6: twenty five yards depending on the route that's ruan. You
[10:56] Speaker 6: may have a couple steps to get back in the
[10:58] Speaker 6: phase with the receiver and you can create a little
[11:01] Speaker 6: bit of contact and you know, get a pass breakup.
[11:04] Speaker 6: And flag football is completely different, like how am I
[11:06] Speaker 6: going to get a pass breakup without creating content? And
[11:09] Speaker 6: then another thing is even if the receiver catches the
[11:11] Speaker 6: ball and he's extended away from his body, I'm not
[11:14] Speaker 6: allowed to come through and break up the ball.
[11:19] Speaker 7: You can't do any of that.
[11:20] Speaker 6: Once that ball touches his hand, it's either up to
[11:22] Speaker 6: him to drop it for the incomplete pass or I
[11:25] Speaker 6: just have to, you know, rely on putting the flag
[11:27] Speaker 6: at that point. So it's just it's a lot quicker,
[11:30] Speaker 6: it's a little bit tougher. But that's why, like I said,
[11:33] Speaker 6: I always go back to we take so much pride
[11:35] Speaker 6: in it, and we hold ourselves to like a super
[11:40] Speaker 6: high standard that you know, we continue to thrive and
[11:44] Speaker 6: we continue to get these stops and things like that.
[11:46] Speaker 6: A lot of We make it look easy, but people
[11:48] Speaker 6: don't understand what goes on behind closed doors to get
[11:51] Speaker 6: things like that done.
[11:53] Speaker 2: Yeah, we should, you know, take it back.
[11:56] Speaker 1: I love that we've just like dove right into like
[11:58] Speaker 1: the schematics we're going to. But just for you know,
[12:01] Speaker 1: some context. Why why are you here in southern California by.
[12:03] Speaker 5: The way, So we're here in southern California.
[12:06] Speaker 8: Besides for our show.
[12:07] Speaker 5: Just yeah, other than that we're here.
[12:10] Speaker 4: We have training camp this week at La Vista, so
[12:13] Speaker 4: we'll be into La Vista till Friday, and then we
[12:15] Speaker 4: have our summer series on Friday afternoon.
[12:18] Speaker 5: We play Canada. Okay, so it should be should be
[12:21] Speaker 5: a lot of fun.
[12:22] Speaker 1: So it's yeah, some exhibitions in the summer out here,
[12:25] Speaker 1: and then you're prepping, prepping for the IFAF World Championships
[12:29] Speaker 1: that is in Germany later this summer. Of course, the
[12:32] Speaker 1: La Olympics twenty twenty eight. Everyone's seen, you know, the
[12:35] Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts ad of him, you know, throwing throwing the
[12:38] Speaker 1: ball into the coliseum and like that it's happening. It's
[12:40] Speaker 1: it is two years away as an Olympic sport, like
[12:45] Speaker 1: when you like when you first started in flag Could
[12:49] Speaker 1: you have imagined that, like you would be doing like
[12:54] Speaker 1: the Olympics on home soil like this this tuone, No, Nope.
[12:59] Speaker 4: So I've been I've been in flag since two thousand
[13:01] Speaker 4: and three. I've been involved for a long time, and
[13:05] Speaker 4: I never saw I get into this level. It's a
[13:08] Speaker 4: I mean, I think I can speak for me at Mike.
[13:10] Speaker 4: I mean, we're living or dream in flag football, something
[13:13] Speaker 4: that the opportunities we're getting you can only dream of.
[13:16] Speaker 4: We're going to Germany to play in the World Championship
[13:20] Speaker 4: against many other countries best flag football teams.
[13:23] Speaker 5: I mean, doesn't get better than that.
[13:26] Speaker 1: And are you the favorites, Like do you consider yourselves
[13:28] Speaker 1: the favorites?
[13:29] Speaker 5: Yes?
[13:29] Speaker 1: Do you feel a little extra weight with the USA Football?
[13:33] Speaker 2: Sure?
[13:34] Speaker 1: On just that like, Okay, that's our sport we better represent.
[13:38] Speaker 6: I'm a little bit different the way I wire myself.
[13:42] Speaker 6: I go in as an underdog, mainly because it keeps
[13:45] Speaker 6: me hungry. You know, I'm going out there to hunt.
[13:48] Speaker 6: That's just my mentality. I just want to hunt. I
[13:50] Speaker 6: don't care what the naysayers are saying. I don't care
[13:53] Speaker 6: if we are the favorites. I'm gonna play as an underdog.
[13:55] Speaker 6: That's just me personally.
[13:57] Speaker 1: We can just talk trash and say you're not the
[13:59] Speaker 1: favorites and just feel like watch that for that German team,
[14:01] Speaker 1: like they don't mess around.
[14:02] Speaker 2: I love it.
[14:03] Speaker 3: Because though we saw this a little bit last year
[14:06] Speaker 3: at the Summer series, like some of the teams are
[14:08] Speaker 3: still very much figuring out how the sport works, and
[14:12] Speaker 3: some of the teams are watching you guys, watching your plays,
[14:17] Speaker 3: watching your concepts, and so you're sort of out running
[14:20] Speaker 3: innovation of your own creation.
[14:22] Speaker 8: Here.
[14:22] Speaker 3: At the same time, I'm curious, how much better have
[14:25] Speaker 3: all these other teams also gotten as the sport has
[14:28] Speaker 3: continued to grow.
[14:30] Speaker 5: They've got a lot better, Yeah, a lot better.
[14:32] Speaker 4: And you know the gap is closed, right, It was
[14:35] Speaker 4: a big gap, and the gaps closed because other countries
[14:38] Speaker 4: are investing time, effort, and money into the programs. So
[14:42] Speaker 4: they've definitely got it gotten better. And you know, like
[14:45] Speaker 4: Mike said, we stay hungry. We try doing new things
[14:48] Speaker 4: every year because the truth is everyone's watching us and
[14:51] Speaker 4: we get mimicked, right, So we're just just trying to
[14:54] Speaker 4: stay one step ahead. You know, it's hard, it's hard
[14:57] Speaker 4: to be a dynasty. That's why it's not very doesn't
[14:59] Speaker 4: happen very often.
[15:00] Speaker 3: I love that word for you guys because it is true.
[15:02] Speaker 8: It's very true.
[15:03] Speaker 3: And I think the world is going to get to
[15:05] Speaker 3: see it on a on a global stage here very soon,
[15:08] Speaker 3: right down the street. We hope you guys are playing
[15:09] Speaker 3: it at Sofi Stadium down the street. You know it's
[15:13] Speaker 3: I don't want to shave this team, okay, so I
[15:14] Speaker 3: won't say. But one of the teams I watched last
[15:17] Speaker 3: year competing against you guys in an exhibition was converted
[15:21] Speaker 3: rugby players for the most part. So they take the
[15:24] Speaker 3: field and maybe minus you might because you played dB
[15:27] Speaker 3: and you're what six foot two hundreds, right, So that's
[15:31] Speaker 3: what your roster page said, So that's what we're going with.
[15:34] Speaker 3: And but you're tall, and you know, you're very tall
[15:39] Speaker 3: and not as slight as some of your teammates, right,
[15:42] Speaker 3: so I would say you're on more maybe on the
[15:43] Speaker 3: more on the bigger side of flag players, at least
[15:46] Speaker 3: for Team USA. These guys were converted rugby players. They
[15:49] Speaker 3: took the field against you guys, and it was like
[15:51] Speaker 3: looked like it was shaping up to David versus glathe
[15:54] Speaker 3: at least on paper. And then you guys just started
[15:57] Speaker 3: running circles around them, and it was very clear that
[16:00] Speaker 3: maybe some of the rugby qualities weren't quite converting over.
[16:04] Speaker 3: So I'm curious what traits do convert over the best.
[16:08] Speaker 3: You've obviously found a way to apply your tackle skills
[16:11] Speaker 3: and your abilities at the highest level in the flag
[16:14] Speaker 3: but like, what are the traits that best carry over
[16:17] Speaker 3: to the way you guys want to play flag football?
[16:20] Speaker 6: So, in my opinion, there's like to be an elite
[16:24] Speaker 6: flag football player, there is a very unique set of
[16:28] Speaker 6: skills that you have to possess. Like offensively, there's different
[16:33] Speaker 6: it differs from defensively, so I'll speak more so on
[16:36] Speaker 6: the defensive side of the ball. Like I think one
[16:39] Speaker 6: of the biggest things that two of the biggest things
[16:41] Speaker 6: that helped me transition over to flag football a little
[16:44] Speaker 6: bit faster and maybe some other traditional football players, like
[16:47] Speaker 6: I said earlier, the offman like being able to cover
[16:50] Speaker 6: someone playing off the ball compared to putting hands on
[16:54] Speaker 6: them impressing them. It helped me a little bit better
[16:56] Speaker 6: because it's like, okay, I can't touch you. Find I'm
[16:58] Speaker 6: used to it, like I've done it playing up times before.
[17:01] Speaker 6: So I'm used to it. And also hand not coordination
[17:05] Speaker 6: when it comes to like stopping the offensive players.
[17:08] Speaker 7: You know, for progression, to be able to.
[17:09] Speaker 6: Snatch a flag at full speed, that is a very
[17:13] Speaker 6: unique skill, Like it's not something that can be taken lightly,
[17:17] Speaker 6: because in traditional football, how do you get a tackle?
[17:21] Speaker 6: Like tackles aren't easy to make. That's a required skill
[17:25] Speaker 6: to be an elite defender. So in flag football, plan
[17:28] Speaker 6: at the highest level against all these very talented guys,
[17:31] Speaker 6: no matter what country it is, you have to possess
[17:34] Speaker 6: a certain unique set of skills, like you can't any
[17:38] Speaker 6: I don't care who it is. It can be US players,
[17:42] Speaker 6: international players. If you're just going to try to just
[17:45] Speaker 6: walk into the sporting be like, oh, well I've done good.
[17:47] Speaker 6: And let's just say rugby, I'm pretty fast and I
[17:51] Speaker 6: can carry a ball and I can make some people
[17:53] Speaker 6: miss and do that and that and so forth. You're
[17:55] Speaker 6: going to struggle and fly because you have to be
[17:57] Speaker 6: elite within these out of rules, not rugby.
[18:02] Speaker 7: So it's a little bit different. Not to shade the.
[18:05] Speaker 6: NFL guys at all, but I think they had their
[18:07] Speaker 6: wake up calls, so like, oh, this is a little
[18:09] Speaker 6: bit different. Yeah, we saw Yeah, like those guys were
[18:12] Speaker 6: telling us like, yeah, it's not what we thought it was,
[18:15] Speaker 6: and that's like that's all. That's the only message we
[18:17] Speaker 6: want to get across. It's not what everyone thinks it is.
[18:19] Speaker 6: I think a lot of people are just like, it's
[18:21] Speaker 6: football at the end of the day.
[18:22] Speaker 7: Yeah, it's the same.
[18:24] Speaker 6: It's the same spheroids, spheroid or object that we use
[18:28] Speaker 6: with the rules and a load of intricacies and skill
[18:31] Speaker 6: sets are a little bit different. Like that's what separates
[18:34] Speaker 6: the game from NFL pros and Pro flag football players.
[18:39] Speaker 6: Like that's the only thing that we wanted to get across.
[18:41] Speaker 6: So yeah, that it requires a very unique skill set.
[18:45] Speaker 3: Yeah, Rudy, you're on some of the talent id stuff too.
[18:48] Speaker 3: I mean I know you you're on the circuit, like
[18:50] Speaker 3: you're looking for the next the next guys and women
[18:53] Speaker 3: who are coming up and playing the sport at the
[18:54] Speaker 3: highest level.
[18:56] Speaker 8: I saw a move I think.
[18:57] Speaker 3: It was Isaiah Calhoun did it at the Summer Series
[19:00] Speaker 3: and it was my first time in person ever seeing
[19:01] Speaker 3: a hip drop.
[19:03] Speaker 8: It blew my mind.
[19:04] Speaker 3: I mean I remember the first time I saw like
[19:05] Speaker 3: Matthew Stafford throw a no look pass, I said some
[19:08] Speaker 3: curse words, right, but that I don't understand how the
[19:11] Speaker 3: human body can can do that, frankly at full speed
[19:14] Speaker 3: to explain to the to the listener, at full speed
[19:18] Speaker 3: in order to avoid getting his flagpool pulled. At the
[19:20] Speaker 3: Summer one of the Summer Series Exhibition Games last year,
[19:23] Speaker 3: Isaiah Calhoun was the ball carrier after a catch or
[19:27] Speaker 3: an interception or interception Yeah, and and basically at full speed,
[19:32] Speaker 3: dipped his hips. I compared it to like when motorcycle
[19:35] Speaker 3: racers go around a curve, like all the way to
[19:39] Speaker 3: the ground, but like his feet were just d d
[19:41] Speaker 3: d d's still.
[19:42] Speaker 8: Going and avoided the flagpole.
[19:44] Speaker 3: How do you id that? Like, how do you find that?
[19:49] Speaker 3: I don't understand.
[19:50] Speaker 4: Yeah, So we're looking for for quickness, fast, fast twitch
[19:54] Speaker 4: or like it's really hard for like a rugby player
[19:55] Speaker 4: to transition, right, but if you got maybe you know,
[19:58] Speaker 4: like a striker and soccer or forward and lacrosse, they
[20:02] Speaker 4: already kind of have that fast switch, you know going.
[20:05] Speaker 5: That's really what we're.
[20:06] Speaker 4: Looking for, is that fast switch and that flexibility because
[20:09] Speaker 4: what these guys do you know quick? Funny story when
[20:11] Speaker 4: we were playing the pro guys Luke Keickley came off
[20:14] Speaker 4: the field and he was like, do you guys even
[20:16] Speaker 4: have kneecaps? Because the way they were doing the hip drop,
[20:20] Speaker 4: Like and I was laughing on the sideline because He's
[20:22] Speaker 4: like if I did that, But you know, it's what
[20:25] Speaker 4: these it's what they do, right, they practice it. And yeah,
[20:28] Speaker 4: definitely if you do a hip drop in tackle football,
[20:30] Speaker 4: you gonna.
[20:30] Speaker 5: Get your head take it off.
[20:31] Speaker 3: Yeah, and then you hear a lot of popping because
[20:33] Speaker 3: the kneecaps just burst into flames in that right in
[20:36] Speaker 3: that moment.
[20:36] Speaker 1: That's amazing in that game was do you think it
[20:39] Speaker 1: was more from your perspective in those games against the
[20:42] Speaker 1: NFL players, do you think it was more the offensive
[20:45] Speaker 1: players or the defensive players that were like struggling more
[20:50] Speaker 1: to adjust to match up with your guys.
[20:53] Speaker 4: I think the biggest adjustment, what they had the most
[20:56] Speaker 4: hard time was was with flag bowling.
[20:58] Speaker 5: M hmm. I think that was the hardest part.
[21:01] Speaker 4: Yeah, we got you know, we got Pablo and Voue
[21:04] Speaker 4: and Hush.
[21:05] Speaker 5: They're aldy about five seven, five eight.
[21:09] Speaker 4: They're running full speed and they hip drop and their
[21:11] Speaker 4: knees half an inch off the ground and I just
[21:15] Speaker 4: think they weren't like they weren't ready for that.
[21:17] Speaker 1: Immediately everyone's going to kind of think too because you
[21:20] Speaker 1: know it now, I think people understand how talented you
[21:24] Speaker 1: guys are with usc FO and we'll see, like obviously
[21:27] Speaker 1: that the tryouts for the Olympics team that that hasn't
[21:30] Speaker 1: happened yet, that's that's in the future. But it seems
[21:33] Speaker 1: like the best players are going to be flag. And
[21:35] Speaker 1: yet you can imagine the idea that you know, you
[21:38] Speaker 1: would want to have some pro player potentially make the
[21:42] Speaker 1: team or if they can can earn their spot. Is
[21:45] Speaker 1: what is there any players that stand out to you
[21:47] Speaker 1: how that have a skill set from the NFL. It's
[21:50] Speaker 1: the typest skill set that transit translates the flag at all.
[21:55] Speaker 4: I got one, Yeah, Brushard Smith from the Kansas City. Okay,
[22:00] Speaker 4: oh he actually he actually played flag football my program
[22:03] Speaker 4: in Miami when he was ten to fourteen years old,
[22:07] Speaker 4: and like he's unbelievable in flag, right, like that kind
[22:10] Speaker 4: of skill set, kind of like a scat back. Christian McCaffrey, Yeah, maybe.
[22:14] Speaker 1: Like a power He's a running back that played wide
[22:16] Speaker 1: receiver literally, so he's already kind of and a little
[22:19] Speaker 1: lower to the ground and stuff in the quickness.
[22:21] Speaker 8: I'm a purist though, because I like the guys they
[22:24] Speaker 8: got right.
[22:25] Speaker 1: I have a feel like that might not happen at all.
[22:27] Speaker 1: Just it just crossed my mind if anyone stuck out
[22:29] Speaker 1: to you.
[22:30] Speaker 3: But I feel like this is the part. This is
[22:31] Speaker 3: the time where I mean explain this to us. You
[22:34] Speaker 3: guys are narrowing this down. This is two years from now,
[22:37] Speaker 3: and so this upcoming Worlds tournament, this is one of
[22:40] Speaker 3: those tournaments that does qualify other international teams to for
[22:45] Speaker 3: the Olympics, although you all have already secured your birth
[22:48] Speaker 3: in the twenty twenty eight Los Angeles Olympics. So, like,
[22:51] Speaker 3: what is the training? Like a lot of people don't
[22:53] Speaker 3: know that you guys balanced a day job, for example,
[22:56] Speaker 3: with all of this training and what the timeline is,
[22:58] Speaker 3: can can you kind of the listener in on what
[23:01] Speaker 3: they should be looking for tenth pole events and things
[23:03] Speaker 3: like that coming up.
[23:05] Speaker 6: Yeah, So in terms of training, just to get a
[23:10] Speaker 6: little bit off topic, I want.
[23:11] Speaker 7: To say this before.
[23:12] Speaker 8: We love that on our shows go for I forget.
[23:14] Speaker 6: So what a lot of people I think tay for
[23:17] Speaker 6: granted is our preparation that we put into competing, we
[23:22] Speaker 6: I think the hardest thing for me and I just
[23:25] Speaker 6: from my perspective, and I'm sure my my teammates can
[23:29] Speaker 6: attest to this as well, But we really go at
[23:33] Speaker 6: each other in practice, like we really compete, and I
[23:37] Speaker 6: think that like when you have iron shopping and iron like,
[23:41] Speaker 6: no one's ever content.
[23:42] Speaker 7: Like we may go out there and yeah, we may be.
[23:45] Speaker 6: You know, we play with a lot of confidence because
[23:47] Speaker 6: we prepare we like, we really go hard. And I've
[23:51] Speaker 6: like I've played traditional football on a few teams. I
[23:54] Speaker 6: had the pleasantries of you know, making it to the
[23:56] Speaker 6: NFL level and you know, practicing with.
[23:58] Speaker 7: Those guys as well.
[23:59] Speaker 6: But when I tell you, I've been around elite preparation
[24:04] Speaker 6: and this is like the way we prepare is like
[24:09] Speaker 6: top top notch. Like when we compete, like you have
[24:13] Speaker 6: a team full of competitors, no one wants to lose.
[24:15] Speaker 7: And like I told you before, I don't want to
[24:16] Speaker 7: give up a touchdown.
[24:17] Speaker 6: I don't care regardless of what the game says that
[24:20] Speaker 6: the office is supposed to do.
[24:21] Speaker 7: I don't want these guys to score.
[24:23] Speaker 6: And then being at the juggernaut that our offense is, like,
[24:25] Speaker 6: I feel like if we can stop them consistently, we
[24:27] Speaker 6: can stop anybody in the country.
[24:29] Speaker 7: So it's like when we like that preparation right there.
[24:32] Speaker 6: I love it because I'm very, very competitive, So I
[24:34] Speaker 6: know that if I can, if I can dial in
[24:39] Speaker 6: on this and just really go at it with my
[24:41] Speaker 6: offense and you know, get some stops here and there
[24:43] Speaker 6: and make those guys struggle.
[24:44] Speaker 7: When we go into competition, it's going to be that
[24:47] Speaker 7: much easier.
[24:49] Speaker 6: Not saying that though the other teams won't be prepared,
[24:51] Speaker 6: but man, we're just give us, give us your best.
[24:53] Speaker 7: We're ready. It's all I'm saying, Like like.
[24:56] Speaker 1: The NBA Dream Team when they were practicing up against
[24:59] Speaker 1: each other, like it wasn't going to get any harder
[25:01] Speaker 1: than it was in practice leading up to those Olympics.
[25:05] Speaker 1: Thinking about like the schematics of it all. This is
[25:08] Speaker 1: something where I know you guys are going to get
[25:10] Speaker 1: into it, and Jordan alluded to it. But for our
[25:11] Speaker 1: audio audience who's listened to the podcast, everyone go check
[25:15] Speaker 1: out the videos that we're going to be putting out.
[25:18] Speaker 2: They'll be on our YouTube channel.
[25:19] Speaker 1: We'll get them out on socials and everything too, but
[25:21] Speaker 1: especially on YouTube where Jordan's going to go through some
[25:25] Speaker 1: plays with you guys, and you can help explain like
[25:28] Speaker 1: how flag football really works. So we like on this
[25:31] Speaker 1: show to kind of understand the game, you know, intellectually
[25:35] Speaker 1: as well as just like enjoying it. But for our
[25:38] Speaker 1: audience that's listening to this show here, I am curious
[25:40] Speaker 1: as a coach, like how the schematics of the sport
[25:45] Speaker 1: have evolved and what are the what are some of
[25:49] Speaker 1: the things that like a new fan can kind of
[25:52] Speaker 1: look for in terms of like the schematic approach of
[25:55] Speaker 1: where flag football is now and how it's different.
[25:58] Speaker 5: Yes, it's a good question, Yeah it is.
[26:00] Speaker 4: The game has completely changed the last few years, especially defensively.
[26:05] Speaker 4: You know, three or four years ago, everybody was playing
[26:07] Speaker 4: really just two maybe three different defenses, a variation of
[26:12] Speaker 4: a Cover two, Cover one, and then a cover zero.
[26:14] Speaker 5: Man.
[26:15] Speaker 4: Right now it's changed, Like we're at the point with
[26:19] Speaker 4: USA that we almost call our defense like an offense.
[26:22] Speaker 4: We're changing each play, right it could the concepts are
[26:26] Speaker 4: very similar. But if we're playing the cover two, who's dropping?
[26:30] Speaker 4: Sometimes you know, we don't do a traditional drop. Maybe
[26:33] Speaker 4: we'll bring the safety down into the box right, kind
[26:35] Speaker 4: of go invert. So it's just really changing, because our
[26:39] Speaker 4: whole goal is to take the quarterbacks first read away.
[26:44] Speaker 5: Right. Our rusher is his name is Flash, right.
[26:47] Speaker 8: Obviously fans good name for a rusher.
[26:49] Speaker 5: Yeah, I always tell him right, we want Flash, not
[26:52] Speaker 5: Barry Allen.
[26:52] Speaker 4: Right, So we always say if our defensive backs take
[26:57] Speaker 4: away the other quarterbacks first read, that our rusher gets
[27:00] Speaker 4: to get to work because in flag football, the rusher
[27:03] Speaker 4: is seven yards away and he can't be impeded. He
[27:05] Speaker 4: has a straight line to that court. So that's really
[27:08] Speaker 4: what we do, you know, schematically is what we try
[27:12] Speaker 4: to do is give the quarterback different looks, take away
[27:14] Speaker 4: their first red, and then let our rusher let flash
[27:18] Speaker 4: dough would flash us.
[27:19] Speaker 3: I think what a lot of people will be surprised
[27:21] Speaker 3: by too when they watch, and pleasantly surprised. I would
[27:24] Speaker 3: say for novices learning about the game is you guys
[27:28] Speaker 3: do a lot of atsnap rotations of your coverages, and
[27:32] Speaker 3: there's so much spatial manipulation on both sides because obviously
[27:36] Speaker 3: when you change mathematically, they have outlets for it do
[27:39] Speaker 3: they have rules for what they want to do, just
[27:41] Speaker 3: like in tackle football offense defense colliding, but it has
[27:45] Speaker 3: gotten so much more complex to your point where you're
[27:49] Speaker 3: able to move guys around at and post snap in ways,
[27:54] Speaker 3: Guys are passing coverages, off guys are doing all kinds
[27:57] Speaker 3: of things that really dictate the of what an offense
[28:01] Speaker 3: can do. And I love that because flag football is
[28:05] Speaker 3: happening so fast. That's what I love about this is it.
[28:09] Speaker 3: I like to call it a game of speed, math,
[28:11] Speaker 3: and space because you're you're basically designing equations against each other,
[28:15] Speaker 3: just like how you would in traditional and a lot
[28:17] Speaker 3: of sports really, but it's happening so so so much
[28:20] Speaker 3: faster and the processing has to be so much faster
[28:23] Speaker 3: for that reason.
[28:25] Speaker 7: Yeah, so what we like to do and I love it.
[28:28] Speaker 6: Like when coach Rudy came aboard and he kind of
[28:30] Speaker 6: we kind of had to talk about, you know, the
[28:32] Speaker 6: things that he wanted to do.
[28:34] Speaker 7: He was like, man, we think a lot alike. And
[28:36] Speaker 7: I'm just like, yeah, man, I love it.
[28:37] Speaker 6: I can't wait to like, you know, put this, put this,
[28:40] Speaker 6: start implementing this stuff and we can start doing it.
[28:42] Speaker 6: Because my biggest thing is, like I said before, I
[28:45] Speaker 6: don't want the offens to score.
[28:46] Speaker 7: The more they struggle.
[28:48] Speaker 3: If we're gonna remember one thing about my Dan, it.
[28:50] Speaker 6: Was offense is not supposed to score. That's that's my rule, right,
[28:55] Speaker 6: But I like to I like to I like to
[28:59] Speaker 6: disguise of stuff, Like we may play like the same
[29:02] Speaker 6: traditional the same traditional calls every other team is flying,
[29:05] Speaker 6: but we may disguise it a little bit different. I
[29:07] Speaker 6: want to play chess with the quarterback, Like I don't
[29:10] Speaker 6: want him coming to the line of scrimmings like oh,
[29:11] Speaker 6: I know they're in three one, I know they're in
[29:13] Speaker 6: two two, I know they're in two to one. Because
[29:15] Speaker 6: this is what everyone does when we line up like this,
[29:17] Speaker 6: Everyone does the same thing. We may still be playing
[29:20] Speaker 6: that same coverage, but we may disguise it a little bit.
[29:22] Speaker 6: So now he's thinking like, okay, Hud, is this really
[29:25] Speaker 6: Oh no, it's not that Oh it is that it's
[29:27] Speaker 6: too late, like he said, like Flash is one of
[29:30] Speaker 6: the fastest guys on our team, if not the fastest guy.
[29:32] Speaker 6: Like he can run, he can run a twenty yard
[29:35] Speaker 6: sprint and under three seconds, well under three seconds. So
[29:38] Speaker 6: it's like, if I'm a dB, I love that because
[29:40] Speaker 6: if you're telling me I only got a cover for
[29:42] Speaker 6: like three three seconds.
[29:43] Speaker 7: Max, Like, oh man, that's you.
[29:45] Speaker 6: You relax me a little bit, and now I'm more
[29:47] Speaker 6: eager and more the percentages of me making a player
[29:51] Speaker 6: a lot that much higher.
[29:53] Speaker 5: You know.
[29:53] Speaker 6: That's just a little the little stuff that I you know,
[29:55] Speaker 6: the little things I do in my head pre snap.
[29:57] Speaker 6: But I'm just like, if we like coach rudiye, we
[30:00] Speaker 6: can take that first rate away. The offense is in
[30:03] Speaker 6: trouble because our rusher is right up on you now,
[30:07] Speaker 6: and now you have to make a decision. Are you
[30:08] Speaker 6: going to take a sack? You're going to try to evade,
[30:11] Speaker 6: which isn't all that easy, right, not saying as impossible,
[30:14] Speaker 6: but it's not. It's pretty difficult to evade when you
[30:18] Speaker 6: got a pretty good rusher and a flag puller. And
[30:20] Speaker 6: now what if your guys aren't open, you know, because
[30:23] Speaker 6: on the back end, we're giving them pretty tight coverage.
[30:25] Speaker 7: Like what do you do in that case?
[30:27] Speaker 6: That's where we excel at the game of flag football.
[30:31] Speaker 3: Yeah, and NFL Daily listeners know we love defense on
[30:34] Speaker 3: the show, like we we geek out over it consistently,
[30:38] Speaker 3: and it's a safe space to talk about defense, and
[30:41] Speaker 3: like a lot of places, but I'm curious from an
[30:44] Speaker 3: offensive schematic perspective, like what is different that you're seeing
[30:48] Speaker 3: now for people who don't know. Obviously, a lot of
[30:51] Speaker 3: the skill guys play both sides of the line of
[30:53] Speaker 3: scrimmage offense and defense. But I'm curious, what's different now?
[30:57] Speaker 3: What are you seeing now as teams maybe prove or
[31:00] Speaker 3: what do What do you guys do that works in
[31:03] Speaker 3: your offensive schemes.
[31:04] Speaker 5: So that's a great question.
[31:05] Speaker 4: So what we've seen the game changing is you got
[31:08] Speaker 4: to plan for two or three quarterbacks in the field
[31:10] Speaker 4: at the same time, which.
[31:12] Speaker 8: Is something nightmare.
[31:14] Speaker 4: You don't see it you don't see in traditional football, right,
[31:18] Speaker 4: so we got to plan, we got to identify who
[31:20] Speaker 4: the quarterbacks are. Like for example, Mexico always has two
[31:23] Speaker 4: quarterbacks in the field, right, first one receives he sieves
[31:26] Speaker 4: a snap, the second one drops back where they can
[31:29] Speaker 4: you know, receive a throwback, and then they become the quarterback.
[31:33] Speaker 5: So you have to be prepared for all of it.
[31:35] Speaker 5: That's what the offense are doing.
[31:37] Speaker 4: Even us, we have two quarterbacks a lot with Pablo Pablo,
[31:41] Speaker 4: excuse me, we have Pablo, Nico and Hoosh that all
[31:43] Speaker 4: play quarterback and sometimes all three are in the field
[31:46] Speaker 4: at the same time. So other countries are doing that,
[31:49] Speaker 4: so we have to on a defensive side, we come
[31:51] Speaker 4: up with rules on what happens when when another quarterback
[31:55] Speaker 4: drops back. And actually those videos you'll see where I
[31:58] Speaker 4: made a horrible defensive play call.
[32:01] Speaker 5: A touch shot on us.
[32:02] Speaker 3: This is the kind of humility that we don't often
[32:04] Speaker 3: have on this show, is that you guys are showing
[32:07] Speaker 3: us what went right and what went wrong and how
[32:09] Speaker 3: you how you're fixing it, which we we love that.
[32:12] Speaker 3: It's a great guest move. It's like a very It's
[32:15] Speaker 3: like we love the humility there. You don't have to
[32:17] Speaker 3: have it. This is a dynasty we're talking about.
[32:19] Speaker 1: I've got an I've got an idea for you. If
[32:21] Speaker 1: everyone's going three quarterbacks, let's let's go four.
[32:24] Speaker 2: Let's you know.
[32:25] Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys ever saw that Onion article,
[32:27] Speaker 1: like adding the razors on is like for their going
[32:31] Speaker 1: and two verts. That is insane because you have to
[32:36] Speaker 1: just in your nightmares think about, well you get there
[32:39] Speaker 1: at the Olympics.
[32:40] Speaker 2: Hopefully you guys are you're there.
[32:42] Speaker 1: You're realizing the stream in the Olympics and there's a
[32:46] Speaker 1: world where some country out there comes up with just
[32:49] Speaker 1: some kind of crazy schematic advantage early in that tournament
[32:54] Speaker 1: that you guys have to adjust to that you maybe
[32:57] Speaker 1: have never seen before. And that, to me is what's
[33:00] Speaker 1: really cool about the sport. It's it's such a new
[33:03] Speaker 1: sport where you guys are learning and and you're also
[33:08] Speaker 1: you know, do you have a day job right now?
[33:10] Speaker 7: Yes? I do?
[33:11] Speaker 1: You do? And so it's a lot and that's typical
[33:13] Speaker 1: of a lot of Olympians. It's not, it's not rare
[33:16] Speaker 1: for Olympians, but it sort of harkens back to like
[33:18] Speaker 1: when you know, traditional football was just starting out.
[33:22] Speaker 3: Like Marlon Olsen l A. Ram was an actor and
[33:25] Speaker 3: worked at.
[33:25] Speaker 1: A wash, right, like all the packers are. You know,
[33:29] Speaker 1: everyone's got like off season jobs and everything. So have
[33:31] Speaker 1: you allowed yourself to dream, you know about a world
[33:36] Speaker 1: where maybe y'all didn't even need to.
[33:38] Speaker 2: Have day jobs?
[33:39] Speaker 1: But also have you let yourself dream about what that's
[33:41] Speaker 1: going to be like in a couple of years to
[33:43] Speaker 1: try to get to that Olympic stage.
[33:45] Speaker 7: I think about it a lot. I think about it
[33:47] Speaker 7: a lot.
[33:47] Speaker 6: I'm like, Okay, my biggest thing is what do I
[33:50] Speaker 6: have to do to make show them there first? And
[33:53] Speaker 6: like that that's a goal of mine now that ever,
[33:56] Speaker 6: since that came into conversation, like, oh, that's pretty cool. Like,
[33:59] Speaker 6: you know, my son who looks up to me, he's
[34:02] Speaker 6: my best friend and he's always like rooting and cheering
[34:04] Speaker 6: me on. So I think it'll be pretty cool for
[34:06] Speaker 6: him to see, is that, you know, host up a
[34:09] Speaker 6: gold medal.
[34:09] Speaker 7: So that's extra motivation.
[34:11] Speaker 6: Like I really really want to do it now, but
[34:14] Speaker 6: I think about it quite often. I'm like I know personally,
[34:18] Speaker 6: like what it's going to take to prepare, Like I can't.
[34:21] Speaker 6: I know what it's going to take to prepare and
[34:23] Speaker 6: having a job cannot get in a way. Yes, but
[34:26] Speaker 6: as an adult, we have to be really good at
[34:29] Speaker 6: time management. We have to manage our time. We have
[34:32] Speaker 6: twenty four hours to make to do the best we
[34:34] Speaker 6: can right, we can. We can only do so much.
[34:37] Speaker 6: My biggest thing is you can have an excuse or
[34:42] Speaker 6: you can get it done. I'm a very black and
[34:45] Speaker 6: white person. My fiance hates this about me, but I
[34:47] Speaker 6: just I don't know how to see the world right
[34:50] Speaker 6: because you can either get something done or you don't.
[34:52] Speaker 7: At the end of the day, did you get something done?
[34:54] Speaker 7: Did you get it done?
[34:56] Speaker 5: Right?
[34:56] Speaker 7: So I try to.
[34:57] Speaker 6: I try to get in, get in where I can
[34:58] Speaker 6: fit in, Like, I try to try as much as
[35:00] Speaker 6: I can. But like you said, in a couple of years,
[35:03] Speaker 6: there's an opportunity that rises for the sport that allows
[35:08] Speaker 6: us a little bit more leisure time to get some
[35:11] Speaker 6: more training and preparation and stuff, and I.
[35:13] Speaker 7: Would love that.
[35:14] Speaker 3: I have one question. I'm sure that you guys have
[35:18] Speaker 3: thought about a lot. You guys are ambassadors for this
[35:22] Speaker 3: sport globally, really, but there's also this there's only going
[35:28] Speaker 3: to be one first time gold winner, gold medal winner
[35:31] Speaker 3: of this first time Olympics, Right, how do you balance
[35:35] Speaker 3: that ambassadorship?
[35:37] Speaker 8: Like how do you carry that? That's and you guys
[35:39] Speaker 8: have kids, Both of you guys have kids that.
[35:41] Speaker 3: Look up to you and are going to be old
[35:42] Speaker 3: enough to remember this, like you mentioned, And what is
[35:45] Speaker 3: it like to walk in that space when what's in
[35:48] Speaker 3: front of you is such an uncharted territory.
[35:51] Speaker 4: Still, Yeah, so we are ambassador of the game, right,
[35:54] Speaker 4: all of us were trying to help grow the game
[35:56] Speaker 4: in different countries, So we're pretty much helping our competition
[35:59] Speaker 4: get better because we want we do want the game
[36:02] Speaker 4: to grow. We wanted to get bigger and then yeah,
[36:06] Speaker 4: obviously we're all looking towards that gold medal, and it's
[36:09] Speaker 4: it's tough because we all get opportunities to go to
[36:11] Speaker 4: other countries and help start programs while thinking about, well,
[36:16] Speaker 4: we're helping these guys out. It's going to be our
[36:17] Speaker 4: competition in twenty two eight. So so yeah, it's really
[36:21] Speaker 4: you know, it's it's a lot of fun. I'm really
[36:24] Speaker 4: excited to see once some of the smaller countries now
[36:29] Speaker 4: that it's Olympic sport and they get funding from their
[36:31] Speaker 4: Olympic body and their sport on how they're going to
[36:34] Speaker 4: grow and just keep getting better, you know. And you
[36:37] Speaker 4: talked about you know, plays and cool plays. I mean
[36:40] Speaker 4: every time we played Japan, they bring out something cool
[36:43] Speaker 4: I've never seen before.
[36:45] Speaker 3: He is actually about to take a trip there, so
[36:47] Speaker 3: maybe you can do some dance scouting for you.
[36:49] Speaker 1: Yeah, tell me where they're they're practicing, and I'll like
[36:52] Speaker 1: put my iPhone.
[36:53] Speaker 3: He's also a Patriots fan, so you don't want to
[36:54] Speaker 3: be too serious about about sending him off to you know,
[36:58] Speaker 3: I look at other teams.
[37:00] Speaker 2: I'm getting very into Flag. I could see it.
[37:03] Speaker 5: Oh there.
[37:03] Speaker 4: I mean, China's invested a lot right now. But Japan,
[37:06] Speaker 4: to me, has the most creative playbook that that I
[37:10] Speaker 4: had to coach against. Wow is Japan, and it's it's
[37:14] Speaker 4: it's you know, all of their athletes are smaller and
[37:16] Speaker 4: very quick, so they designed an offense exactly to their
[37:20] Speaker 4: skill sets.
[37:21] Speaker 3: It's like a ball movement heavy or a lot of
[37:23] Speaker 3: ball move Yeah, okay, with a side snap so you
[37:26] Speaker 3: don't have to snap it directly to the quarterback.
[37:28] Speaker 4: You can snap it to the receiver in the slot
[37:31] Speaker 4: on either side, right, so they'll they'll snap it. They'll
[37:35] Speaker 4: do like a side snap to receiver in the slot.
[37:37] Speaker 4: The quarterback comes around, gets a pitch, the original center
[37:40] Speaker 4: is now running a wheel.
[37:43] Speaker 5: It's just it's a lot of fun.
[37:44] Speaker 8: That's fun.
[37:45] Speaker 5: It's a lot of fun.
[37:46] Speaker 8: That must be fun for you to think about it.
[37:48] Speaker 2: Yeah, Japan is.
[37:49] Speaker 7: One of my favorite teams.
[37:51] Speaker 2: Why is that just?
[37:52] Speaker 7: It's like, I love challenges. I don't know.
[37:54] Speaker 6: Maybe I'm now just a defensive mindset, but I do
[37:58] Speaker 6: not like saying the same things over and over and over.
[38:01] Speaker 6: Then I like, I like, I don't know what word,
[38:05] Speaker 6: I'm looking past it right, Like I I like to,
[38:08] Speaker 6: you know, dig into my brand, like Okay, how can
[38:11] Speaker 6: we get this figured out? You know, And and they
[38:14] Speaker 6: do a really good job at you know, just always
[38:17] Speaker 6: keep you guessing.
[38:18] Speaker 7: I think that. I think that makes the game a
[38:19] Speaker 7: little bit more fun.
[38:21] Speaker 6: And they and they are trying to beat us, Like
[38:23] Speaker 6: I love getting the best of a team.
[38:25] Speaker 7: I love that, Like that's one of the things I
[38:27] Speaker 7: love about playing with USA.
[38:28] Speaker 6: You're going to get the best of every team that
[38:30] Speaker 6: plays you because they really really want to beat you.
[38:32] Speaker 6: And Japan just always brings it and it is always
[38:35] Speaker 6: something new and exciting, like coach, isn't it. And I
[38:37] Speaker 6: think me just as a defensive player, I just love that,
[38:40] Speaker 6: Like a lot of people are like, man, I don't
[38:41] Speaker 6: know if I want to play those guys. They get nervous,
[38:43] Speaker 6: but I get excited. I don't know, It's just a
[38:45] Speaker 6: competitor in me, I guess.
[38:46] Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's what makes to me watching the
[38:48] Speaker 1: sport great.
[38:49] Speaker 2: And sometimes it's spent.
[38:50] Speaker 1: A weakness with the NFL is when you get a
[38:53] Speaker 1: little too copycat. If you can get as much schematic diversity,
[38:56] Speaker 1: and you're seeing it right now in the World Cup
[38:58] Speaker 1: being played in just a few hours here across the street,
[39:01] Speaker 1: that like that that's what makes it exciting is seeing
[39:04] Speaker 1: all the different styles. So yeah, I can imagine, man,
[39:06] Speaker 1: if they ever made that like a high school sport
[39:08] Speaker 1: or something in Japan. I've seen my buddy was a
[39:11] Speaker 1: basketball coach there, and yeah, his whole team's just doing
[39:15] Speaker 1: the practice without the coaches even saying anything.
[39:17] Speaker 2: I was like, this is a high school team. This
[39:19] Speaker 2: is the most insane thing I've ever seen.
[39:21] Speaker 1: I hope that our listeners, I know, you guys are
[39:24] Speaker 1: gonna tape these these video segments, which everyone should really
[39:27] Speaker 1: check out because I think they're going to be really
[39:29] Speaker 1: interesting in the excess. But I hope our listeners feel
[39:31] Speaker 1: a little more connected now to USA football. I do
[39:34] Speaker 1: too that now we're we're rooting on Mike Daniels, we're
[39:38] Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna make We're gonna be celebrating when you
[39:40] Speaker 1: when you make the team, and then hopefully when when
[39:43] Speaker 1: we're you know, covering the Olympics, I want to be
[39:45] Speaker 1: covering you guys, Well, we'll have to ask our bosses
[39:50] Speaker 1: to go cover it. That that would be you know,
[39:53] Speaker 1: someone so that they have sort of a point of contact,
[39:56] Speaker 1: a connection of be like we're rooting for him and
[39:58] Speaker 1: We're also rooting for Rudy Fernandez as a defensive coordinator
[40:01] Speaker 1: coach here of the USA national team. Appreciate you guys
[40:06] Speaker 1: joining the show and uh yeah, I'll let you guys
[40:08] Speaker 1: do the hard work here with Jordan get in front
[40:10] Speaker 1: of the videos.
[40:11] Speaker 2: Appreciate you all.
[40:11] Speaker 5: Oh, thank you.
[40:12] Speaker 1: Thanks guys all right for NFL Daily. Like I said,
[40:15] Speaker 1: keep an eye out on those videos.
[40:18] Speaker 5: This was a special show.
[40:19] Speaker 8: Thank you Jordan for everything.
[40:21] Speaker 2: To get it going. I love it.
[40:23] Speaker 1: And it won't be the last time we ever talked
[40:24] Speaker 1: about Flag, that's for sure. But this was kind of
[40:26] Speaker 1: our intro two Flag. More in this space coming, and yeah,
[40:30] Speaker 1: more NFL Daily Show is coming.
[40:31] Speaker 2: Later this week.
[40:32] Speaker 1: Patrick Claibon and I will be covering the end of
[40:35] Speaker 1: Mini camp season on Tuesday.
[40:37] Speaker 2: We'll see that

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