Here’s the Hall-of-Famer LeRoy Butler, unfiltered, on the
#Packers
/Rodgers divorce.
“I take it personal when you’re attacking a team that gave you so much.”
“He doesn’t let bullshit fly. We have our fun and everything, but we don’t let no bullshit fly.”
Alim McNeill brings Dan Campbell’s vision to life in Detroit:
These days, he hides in a meeting room to scare teammates. In his Raiders heyday? Diabolical. There are pranks. And then there are Taiwan Jones Pranks.
From our feature last week icymi:
We’ve got the
#Bengals
winning it all this season. One reason why? “Chido.”
The best corner you don’t know has a wild perspective. For starters, his grandmother was once kidnapped back in Nigeria. The harrowing story sticks with him:
“I’m dying to win. Losing is the fucking worst.”
They’ve been hanging at the door, finally, these
#Lions
are turning all the blood, sweat and tears into wins.
The Morning After ->
Bill Belichick used to mock Marv Levy, by saying he’d never hang on into his 70s as a coach. Well, here he is chasing Josh Allen and the Bills.
Why? And can he close the gap after a pair of curb-stompings? We asked
@MatthewFairburn
at
@HamburgBrewing
:
Through his 1,000+ days between college games, David White Jr. cared for his dying father, worked the 2 a.m. UPS shift, passed two classes, trained solo, lost his granddad, then lost dad on Christmas Eve.
“It felt like I was in a movie.”
Sunday read:
Good morn! It appears the
#Packers
are very, very close to transitioning to Jordan Love. Possibly hours away. Back when we launched in 2020, this was one of our first features.
Why the Love pick was genius all along... despite mass hysteria. ->
His life is a miracle. For the first, Zay Jones sits down to open up on... everything. From that night he nearly hurled himself through a window 30 floors high to today, to being an inspiration:
“He can throw, he’s smart, he's tough and he's young. People are going to rally behind a young guy.”
#Packers
teammates with high praise for Jordan Love. (They know better than anyone.)
When Brandon Beane returned to the
#Bills
draft room after the presser, he said: “Goddangit. You would’ve thought somebody’s dog died down there.” Nobody was that enthralled with the selection of Josh Allen in 2018.
One lesson stuck with Joe Schoen.
“That night was such a mysterious night for me…”
Zay Jones opens up on the near-plummet from 30 floors high five years ago — and how he found himself again, icymi:
Our three-part series on the No. 1 problem in Buffalo -- Sean McDermott -- is live at Go Long:
Part I: Blame Game:
Part II: Lost in translation:
Part III: Let Josh be Josh:
The Packers are an average team right now. The No. 1 reason? Their average quarterback. There’s still time to salvage the season, but this doesn’t feel like fall swoons past.
C.J. Stroud returns this week. If the
#Texans
beat the Titans and Colts, they're in. A potential game-changer in this wacky AFC? "He's a special kid."
From our trip to Houston earlier this season.
->
DeVier Posey researched why college athletes should be paid for a 30-min speech at Ohio State.
“I ended up not giving a fuck about the rules anymore. The veil was removed from my eyes.”
Posey, Pryor, others were a decade ahead of their time. Icymi:
Jordan Love is literally seeing a new game in Year 3. One eye is laser-focused one direction. The other? Somewhere completely different.
The (unbelievably) insightful
@ArmedDangerQBS
explains in great detail why the Packers QB is turning the corner -->
It’s a Josh Allen World into this 2022 NFL Season.
But how did we get here?
Go Long chats with four quarterbacks who have tracked his rise closely — Jordan Palmer, Rob Johnson, Rich Gannon and Warren Moon — for this virtual roundtable:
“You’ve got to beat him over and over and over and when you’re standing there you have to keep beating him.”
We sit down with the most underrated player in the game, D.J. Reader.
Good morn! Our 1 on 1 with Brandon Beane is now unlocked. The
#Bills
GM reinvented this roster around Josh Allen with the Super Bowl on his mind every day.
"It drives you. It eats at you. You want it so bad."
On Diggs, Allen, McD, 13 sec, everything:
Attempted suicide. A coerced marriage. 700K stolen. The story of Erik Kramer is gripping and a tale of true survival. Thanks to
@PFWAwriters
for noting our series. Icymi:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
The New England Patriots face a franchise-defining decision at No. 3 overall.
Maye? McCarthy? Auction off the pick?
Let’s get answers from
@PhilAPerry
.
The
#Bills
win over Miami came at a cost: Tre'Davious White tore his Achilles. Our
@monos42
takes you inside those 2017 draft meetings on the Go Long Show.
Full ep:
And when did
@boutdat_23
know
@JoeyB
had 'it?'
When he was seeing a different game presnap, as a rookie.
"He’d change the play. I’d be like, ‘Bro, why is he doing that?’"
In ‘08, with shareholders in his face demanding the return of Brett Favre, he didn’t flinch. Ted Thompson operated with courage and conviction.
These Packers need to take that lesson.
“He might as well of slapped me in the face. I would much rather have that. Like c’mon, man.”
Meet Reed Blankenship, who’s fueled by Nick Saban’s slight and had his tibia break through his skin. Philly’s real-life Rocky:
What a massive game for the Bills and Sean McDermott. It was always about getting back to this point — nothing in the regular season really mattered that much.
Keon Coleman, Brandon Beane & the 2024 direction of the Buffalo
#Bills
offense is dissected in full on the podcast.
We're joined by
@JaySkurski
.
Pod ->
Darnell Wright was a polarizing prospect with scouts in today’s offensive line takeout from
@BobMcGinn
. A theme this draft.
“Lazy, but he blocked Alabama, he blocked Georgia like it was nothing.”
This has been a bizarre offseason for the Dallas Cowboys.
However, the bizarre — awful timing on contracts, bypassing free agents, tales of the owner’s sexual escapades — has long been expected.
We check back with those who have a front-row seat:
Damar Hamlin returns home tonight. A reminder that he wants to save lives right around the corner, in McKees Rocks. He sat down with Go Long at
@bar_elmos
before his life changed forever:
"Anybody who feels we've lost Tom — and lost something — is going to be in for a rude awakening. A rude awakening."
Carlton Davis will make sure the
#Buccaneers
stay on the Super Bowl hunt in 2023:
When we sat down with Brandon Beane, the
#Bills
GM said this: “You’re not walking out there with 53 guys with the same scars.”
A column on this psychological reset and why what comes next — with HC Sean McDermott — is most important now:
It's the No. 1 question this draft: How much does Jalen Carter love football? Our
@BobMcGinn
talks to 15 execs across the NFL. (Some damning results.)
“They haven’t found a person yet at Georgia that wasn’t relieved that the season ended and he was gone."
“You can’t run from the fight. Mike Tomlin always breaks it down: ‘Do not seek comfort, seek solutions.’”
We chatted with Cam Heyward for this.
#Steelers
, as always, are still alive.
Caleb Williams paints his nails, wears dresses and sobbed in his mother’s arms after an L.
He also may be exactly what the Chicago Bears have been dying for these last 105 years. We examine it all.
Part I:
Part II:
After Patrick Mahomes (No. 1) and Joe Burrow (No. 2), the selection was easy for
@MatthewFairburn
at No. 3.
Matt on a turning-point year for
#Bills
QB Josh Allen:
Will fill the podcast feed up with a hell of a lot more this season, in addition to the hangs with
@monos42
.
Right now, you can catch the GL chat with Dawson Knox. He details his rise, his eye training & his plan to be amongst the “elite of the elite.”
The Eagles were pronounced dead in 2020, a 4-11-1 team that fired their head coach and was publicly scolded by Joe Judge of all people. Now, they’re in the Super Bowl.
On eliminating ego to win:
It’s
#Packers
-
#Bears
Week.
Icymi, the story of former Chicago quarterback
@EKPass
is surreal.
Erik Kramer put a bullet through his head, miraculously survived, and then the real fight for his life began.
All three parts are now unlocked at Go Long:
Loved the stories of
@BarrySanders
selflessness from
@BobMcGinn
in this week’s feature. His offensive linemen offered him 1,000 bucks apiece to spike the ball after touchdowns. He wouldn’t do it.
“There’s only one Barry Sanders:”
The Pro Bowl rosters were unveiled. We’ve had features on a bunch of ‘em, too. Will share here in a thread, icymi.
How this became a Josh Allen World. A roundtable discussion with those who know the
#Bills
QB’s game best:
Greatest comeback in NFL history? Thirty-three points? That’s the stuff Kevin O’Connell was envisioning way back in the summer when he started to rebuild these Minnesota Vikings:
“Some guys give off energy but it just doesn’t seem real. (Campbell) would say, ‘I’ll bleed for you guys.’ Or, ‘I’ll run through a damn wall.’ And you believed him. We said, ‘Man, he’s really about this.’”
From
@BobMcGinn
, a profile:
“He wasn’t Mr. Irrelevant. He was a No. 1 overall pick. He signed a $150 million contract.”
A fine point made by Alex Anzalone. These two QBs come from different worlds.
“That Ohio State game, man, he was, like, ‘This is my game.’ He went against Harrison Jr. and those guys, and he was good. He talked shit to those guys. The whole game.”
#Giants
might’ve nailed this pick.
More on Deonte Banks:
A special podcast tonight.
The great
@MatthewFairburn
will join us at
@HamburgBrewing
to discuss all things Patriots, Bills, raising toddlers.
Reminder that all eps are wherever ya consume pods:
This Go Long Twitter account is still fairly
#new
and we’d love to grow it so bang the RT button, sign up for free at , and we’ll upgrade 10 folks to paid memberships for one month. A ton brewing at the site.
Thanks, all.
Telling Belichick to “shut the f— up” ahead of the first Super Bowl. A “Chevy Chase”-like deadpan humor over beers with Rob Ryan.
One relentless obsession with the game.
Don’t miss the
@BobMcGinn
story on Titans head man Mike Vrabel at Go Long:
Jaire Alexander, naturally, dominated the discussion of this week’s Ty & Bob Pod. Here is McGinn’s scathing analysis from the Packers-Panthers game. Tape, as they say, doesn’t lie:
David White Jr., pride of Western Carolina, describes himself as an indomitable force. (“I became kind of unstoppable.”)
But there’s good reason for it.
How an exile from the sport created this year’s draft steal at wide receiver:
Jordan Love was never the cause for concern with these 2023
#Packers
. It was the defense and… a few other things. Can it get fixed?
Our column from Atlanta:
Our resident scout,
@monos42
, is high on the Buffalo Bills again. But he's worried about O'Cyrus Torrence and the right side of that offensive line.
Full ep:
Bountygate! It's been a while since we even thought about it. Ben Leber was on the wrong side of the
#Saints
scheme in the '09 NFCCG... but he has zero problem it. He wanted to smack their quarterback just as much. (1/2)
Ep:
Yes, it's 'Super Bowl or Bust' for a
#Bills
team hoisting Lombardi Trophy banners in its fieldhouse. (Not the regular season.)
Full ep:
Pod clips on the YouTube page:
Our Happy Hours are about you. Is there a player you’re dying to throw back a drink with? Subscribe to and let us know. Members have asked for
@olin_kreutz
,
@leap36
,
@68INCOGNITO
and
@EKPass
. All a riot.
Incog now live on the pod:
Why did the Indianapolis
#Colts
choose Peyton Manning, and how did that decision in 1998 shape the NFL? The next
@BobMcGinn
feature at tells the tale. Fresh interviews with Bill Polian and others.
Live tomorrow for our paid subscribers.
The
#Jaguars
hit a (very) rough slump. But beat Tennessee and they're both the AFC South champs and the No. 4 seed. From Day 1, nobody's hid from the 2023 expectation.
"Who cares if you say you’re going to win a Super Bowl? We have the balls to try.”
“He’s doing it the best he can. Some of the people I’ve talked to have said that he’s getting fed up with it a little bit.”
Former
#Cowboys
personnel man on Mike McCarthy.
Our story on a bizarre offseason in Jerry’s World, icymi:
Good morn! A huge thank you to everyone out there adding “The Blood and Guts” to your library and Christmas wish lists. Beyond grateful. This project was a wild ride.
Thinking about a Go Long sub? Join *annually* right now and we’ll send B & G to you:
Geno Smith's career arc is unparalleled in today's NFL. Here's our
@BobMcGinn
on the quarterback who needed to sign *seven* one-year contracts to reach this point.
From the scouts' take that 2013 draft to today ->
“I bring my own juice.”
On the cusp of t-camp, Isaiah McDuffie eats wings with Go Long to take folks inside his climb at linebacker. (He confirms it’s Super Bowl or bust again in Green Bay, too.)
Today at Go Long, meet the menace who drags opponents into his own dimension:
#Patriots
star Matthew Judon.
“This isn’t an ‘Uh-oh, excuse me, pardon me’-type of job. This is, ‘I’m running through somebody’s face.’”
For two years, Jaylen Wright didn't have a home. He slept on a floor of a friend's house. Now, he's one of the most explosive players in the 2024 NFL Draft.
“He’s going to definitely be a Hall of Famer. I’m telling you.”
Our story, icymi: