GBag Nation
Former NFL Linebacker Shawne Merriman joins the Nation to talk Cowboys Football & preview week 1 of the NFL
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How the heck are you? Hey, what's up, a man? How's it going? We're doing great. Let's start with the Cowboys. You know, what kind of a season do you think they're going to have coming off a last year's playoff disappointment against Green Bay? You know, so the talent there would I don't think that I've been a I think right now is what's the mindset in the locker room and the distractions because the contracts with with Dak and Micah. I mean, I don't think we've ever heard Dak speak this way in a press conference about possibly moving on to a new team and it's a business and he's prepared. You know, so you have those level distractions. It's hard to talk about the first game. It's hard to talk about the next game, the third game because people want to know about the situation. So it's really going to be the how they handle the distraction this year. It's not going to be the talent. They got all the talent in the world to get things done, but it's really how they handle the distractions leading into this year. Sean, so what was your experience during your career? You know, big contracts are out there for very important players. Does that have like a trickle down effect on on role players? And you know, what happens if a guy can keep it silent and professional? Is it is it possible that that benefits by making that, you know, key player extra motivated in a contract year? Yeah, you know, for one, but the guy like that price got you happen motivated. He is going to be self motivated. He wants to go out. He's a winner at heart, right? He's going to go out and get it done. I think the what happens is the questions are going to be asked by the teammates and the media and people outside of the building. That's where the distracts are going to be because you're going to have to answer those questions. They going to throw a microphone and Mike is, Mike is facing some point and ask them, Hey, how do you feel about your contract? And they're going to ask the teammates. They're going to ask another guy about how do you feel about Michael's contract? And so those questions are going to have to be answered. And that is how how they deal with what it's going to be that reflect on how the feed is going to go man. So I don't think it's a talent issue. I think they've been bringing them, you know, I think doubt, doubt, we cook right, they brought in down and they made some key late, you know, acquisitions, brain guys, then I think they got talent. But man, they got a lot going on. They have a lot going on that they have to battle through contract lives. Yeah, a lot of expectations around here, a lot of pressure in a team game like football, how fair is it to put postseason success on a quarterback shoulders? Well, we just quarterbacks now based off of championships, right? Well, we've got sort of the best quarterback in history and I play with one of them, you know, fill up. We'll always have that question mark. He was a great player. He's a great player. But he was always going to have a question because he doesn't have a ring because we value championships. We value how many times, you know, how deep you're going to play off and it's going to be no different from that. We know that that is going to give you the one of the best of regular season seasons we've ever seen. We know he's going to go off, put up big numbers. He's going to win a lot of football games, but he's never going to, you know, get that 800 pound gorilla off his back until he gets these guys to an NFC championship game at their minimum and in the playoffs. You mentioned Phillip Rivers. Did you ever have a teammate that came anywhere close to doing as much trash talking as him? No, you know, you know, the great thing about Phillip. So I think that I think now because with the mic up and we're starting a lot of cameras everywhere, I played against Phillip when I was in college at the University of Maryland. He was at NC State and I hated him. I just thought he ran his mouth so much. I was like, no, I can't stand this dude. I cannot wait to play him. And then you get a locker room with him. You get him a teammate and you just, you just realize he's talking to you. He's not, he doesn't curse obviously for one, but two, he's not saying anything negative or maybe you just not used to a quarterback tripping back with you. I hated it as a competitor appeared, but being a little locker room with him, he is probably the most competitive player I've ever played with my life. When it comes to all the quarterbacks entering this year, and we've talked to you, I mean, you mentioned Dak, Lamar Jackson, who's playing tonight. It's the postseason success that is kind of, hey, that's what they're still waiting on. Who do you think has the most pressure at the quarterback position? They have the most approved this year. I would say, I would say that man, because, you know, he's already gotten a big contract and he's won a lot of games. I mean, he's had MVP season, but that stamp is never really going to, he's never going to have that elite stamp until he gets those guys into an NFC championship game or a Super Bowl. He's just not, he's never going to get the respect, right? Because he has number, number's wise. He's up there with the best. He's putting up, you know, godly numbers, but he's never going to have that stamp of being elite until he gets those guys to the next level. So you look at the rest of the quarterback to the league, I mean, who else has that pressure that already has in one at least one Super Bowl already? No one lights out Sean Merriman here with you in the nation. Hey, Sean, I was going to ask you about when, with Michael Parsons and, you know, and we're hearing, you know, him and, and, and Mike Zimmer, it seems the game along very, very well. And, you know, he's asking Mike to move him around a bunch. Is, is that something as a pass rusher as good as you did as well as you did that? Is that something that, that, that will benefit from him? Will he get benefit from it by always moving around? Or did you just like to kind of stay and work on one guy that you felt like you could take advantage of? You know, a guy like Michael Parsons, but that level of athleticism, explosion and, and the capabilities of things that he can do on a football field, it is a discredit to put him on one side of the field with his hand in the dirt. And I'm not, I don't want to take a shot at Dan point at all because obviously he had something in his game that he thought that Michael can do. But when I saw Michael lining up and he put his hand in the dirt at the end, it was like, man, it hurt my stomach because you know what he's capable of. You, you should never know what Michael Parsons is going to be lining up that when he calls priest not. And it was a conversation I had with him a couple of years ago, when he had a big year, a couple of years ago, I said, Micah, this year when you come in, you are target. Everybody's looking when that priest not, they're looking to see him when you line up that they're going to slide protect called the strong side, wherever you are, you get most of the pressure. Well, guess what? If they know what you are a priest not, because you've got your hand in the dirt, well, you just made it a lot easier for the offenses. And it never should be that name. One of the, I would guess the, the privileges I have playing for way Phillips, way Phillips, you didn't know if I was lining up that week, if I was lining up that strong, if I was going to come around on the jacklets and loop around today, you never knew where I was coming. It was led to me being one on one of the run effects, one on one with tight ends. That's the kind of situation you create. So Micah is smart, man. And I think Mike Zimmerman, he's been around for a long time. He loves nasty guys though. And he has a great defensive mind. He's going to know what to do with Micah, and that's not lining them up on one side of the football. If Zim does that, do you think Micah wins defensive player the year this year? Yes, absolutely. And there's no question about him. Because his ability, man, he's a 15 plus that guy. And more importantly with that, he has the ability to drop in the coverage if you need them to. He can cover up the flats. He can step up in the A gap and then, you know, kind of hang right there and spy protect. He can do so much. And it really made it, it painted the outside of the 37 holes. It was not called against him last year. That was his, that was just embarrassing. They had the NFL and the referee, they should be ashamed of themselves as much as he would get held the hell last year. But it just hurt my heart to see him lining up once more, once out of the field. How unique is Miles Garrett or the Cowboys? You're gonna have to match up with this week? Oh, God. I mean, look, and he's going to get to rookie tackle, man. I'm just like, you know, and I'm, and I'm feeling prayers and thoughts, man, to the rookie because, you know, you're coming up to a game and you're playing against the best. And Miles Garrett is such a freaking nature and what he can do on a football field. We just talk about Miles Garrett. I mean, we just talk about Michael Parson, what he's able to do. Miles Garrett is the same way, but he's bigger. He's a bigger guy. And so that rookie, man, he's going to have his hands full. That's, you know, this week coming out, but he's going to get a good test because if you can stand up, play well against Miles Garrett, you can stand up and play well against anybody. Hey, Sean. Okay. I was listening to talk like that. And I was just wondering when you, when you think about that, and you think that rookie's going to get all that help. And on the other side, Terence Steele, you kind of watch him and he'll struggle a little bit with power and that. Do you, as a coordinator, would you be tempted to say, I know that rookie's going to get all that help and rush. Dared on the opposite side and see if you can get more one-on-ones with Terence Steele. Yeah. Hey, look, you're not going to be going to cover him up all night, right? You're not going to be able to come up all day where you got a tight end anywhere. But you want to chip off the edge, maybe have the tight end to hit, hit Miles Garrett before he gets out of the rush. We don't have a clean rush, you know, some kind of motion or some kind of a near set over there where, you know, bringing a tight end and a slide area. You don't want Miles Garrett having a clean rush, but there's going to be some points of the day that he's going to be one-on-one and he's going to have to man up. And you almost in the sense you want that he needs to be tested early that way he's ready for the rest of the season. But it's going to tell a lot, man. So if he can handle, you know, in those bad cases, what Miles Garrett, he's going to be going to block anybody. Okay. True or false, if Sean Merriman was playing against the Browns this weekend, he would have at least one or two massage jokes to throw at DeShawn Watson in the middle of the game. Oh, yeah. I mean, six, seven. I mean, you know, six, but with me, man, I look, I believe first of all, have a good time and two, I would do anything to get other people skin on the field. I said things, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, you know, all the greats. That's what this game is about, man. I know it's kind of got, I wouldn't call it soft, the game is different a little bit, but it's still football. You're still a mind game out there. And if I didn't go out there and crack some jokes or, you know, pull this child and help, you know, just little things and that's worth it. And I would love to be in a position to do that. Does Brady ignore you? Does Manning ignore you? Which one of those guys barks back a little bit? I would say that Peyton talked back to me the most Tom, just, you know, with his crazy eyes and look back at me like I wasn't supposed to hit him. But I would say Peyton, Peyton always got paid, Peyton always has some good words back. I used to love them going back to fourth repeat. Were there any quarterbacks that you just reduced to nothing like you got inside their head psyched him out? I think it was, it was Matt Castle actually, but it was with the cheese. He got to the point where he just almost four sprinted back to the huddle. So he did not see me. But you know, I had a couple of times and you know, that's one thing about it. And I watch launch the reason why I won number 56 because of Lawrence Taylor and the fear that he's struck into all the offenses. And I learned watching him a lot. And yeah, so it was great to do. Did you ever play against a player like Andrew Luck who would just slap you on the rear and be like a good hit, man. Really good hit. President. Yeah, I got I got Andrew Luck towards in this career. He actually got me with one at all when I was in Buffalo. And it was a weird thing. I didn't even know, you know, it kind of, when you put your guards down, man, it's like they have to be really safe and bad to this guy. He said that being nice and complimented, you know, everything else. And I'm so used to the opposite and going back and forth with Phillip. I couldn't realize that somebody was bent nice to me. And it's just so weird. Sean, you're a super beast, man. We cannot thank you enough for the time. This has been incredible. We're back to football. Life is good. And wow, as soon as I say that we're in pre season form here, it looks like well, check's got one more question for you. Sorry about that, Sean. What's your secret with the pork chops? What was that again? What's your secret with the pork chops? Would you be the secret? I have no eyes, Sean. I am just so sorry about that, man. We look forward to hopefully the next time getting to do this with a little bit more professionalism. But we're back to football, back to pigskin, pork's in the air. Enjoy yourself some football tonight. You got it, man. Makes you guys download light out sports TV as well. Makes you guys download light out sports TV. It's my new free ad support. It's sports streaming service completely free, available on every major smart TV, real cool Apple TV, Amazon fire, busy else. We've got anyone else major TV. We've got a big fight tomorrow. We're downloading light out sports TV. I love it, Sean. Thank you so much. Have a good one. There he goes. Lights out Sean. Mary Maryman here with you in the GBAG Nation lights out sports tv.com. What are these guys doing over here? It's a, you know, the poor guy comes on and he, you know, he's talked. The poor guy came on the poor guy came on. Poor guy came on and, you know, he's trying to offer some insight and then you're going to give him an opportunity to promote, you know, hey, Sean, what are you working on? But no, we're over here. You're like, you know, what's the secret to the pork chop? What's the secret to the pork chop? I've always felt like a good meat thermometer. Yeah. You know, you don't want to overcook that pork chop. You don't want to be dry. People wanted to know people get so fearful of the pork chop that they have to overcook it. Like you can have a little, a little bit of pink in there, right? You could grill it pretty good. Yeah. I think, I think it's pretty much the rules of steak, you know, like 130, really 125. You're good to go. Shout out to the quickness on Lucius there with the follow up question there. He's like, I'm sorry, come again. I was like, boom, there is pepper in that house. Let's do a top 10. Well, Chuck, what do you say? Yeah, let's do it, man.