On this episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast we discuss that the Silver and Black no matter what happens this season, this is NOT a team in need of a rebuild.
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00:00 Hi everybody, welcome back to Sports Illustrated's FAN Nation Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:07 Man, do we have a plethora of Raiders to talk about today.
00:12 And to have that conversation, we talked with one of my best friends on planet Earth.
00:16 We've been doing this now for, man, I keep forgetting, man, but isn't it like 14 years,
00:23 12 years?
00:24 How long has this been?
00:27 It's at least, I think, 12.
00:30 It started a year before Rutgers joined the Big Ten.
00:33 Yep, 2011, I think.
00:35 So I think it's 12 years, yeah?
00:37 Jiminy Christmas.
00:39 And it's been a wonderful ride having him with us.
00:43 He's a national writer at thespun.com.
00:46 It's a website that you really should put in your favorites.
00:49 I read it every single day.
00:50 It's kind of a, if I had to describe it, it is a pop culture meets sports.
00:59 And what I mean by that is it's everything sport, every sport you can imagine, if it's
01:05 something that happens that will get into the pop culture discussion, they cover it.
01:11 It's really kind of cool, but he's a better guy and he's a very dear friend, the great
01:15 Matt Heladik.
01:16 First, Merry Christmas to you and all of our listeners.
01:18 It's great to have you with us today, my friend.
01:21 Merry Christmas to everybody out there at Raider Nation.
01:24 You know, I love, love Vegas.
01:30 Michigan is my home where I'm from, but Christmas in the Big Apple, you just can't beat it.
01:38 Rockefeller Center with the Rockettes, the ice skating, the Christmas trees, the city.
01:45 I am not a big New York fan, but give me New York at Christmas time and I'm just a happy
01:50 camper.
01:51 It really does transform into, you know, a winter wonderland.
01:56 I know as corny as that sounds, but it really is a different vibe, a different, just everything
02:02 around the city, around this time of year.
02:05 It's awesome.
02:06 Shannon and I always like to fly to the Big Apple for a couple of days.
02:10 Can't do it this year, but rent a carriage, go through Times Square.
02:14 It's just romantic.
02:15 It's fun.
02:16 It's a good time.
02:17 So anyway, and then the best part for me is I get to see this guy.
02:21 And when you get to see one of your best friends on planet earth, it's a good day.
02:24 All right, let's stick into the Raiders now.
02:28 Nobody likes a late by week.
02:31 In fact, in all my years of covering, I've never heard anyone say they like one.
02:37 However, it worked out pretty good for the Raiders who were banged up and beat up, who
02:43 needed the help.
02:45 Great great time for the Raiders to get a bye week last week.
02:49 Yeah, like you said, I agree.
02:51 Ideally you don't want your bye to be too early or too late in the season when you see
02:56 the schedule when it comes out.
02:59 But there are times when it can be advantageous if it is a little bit later, especially if
03:04 you're either slumping or you're a little banged up and the Raiders have been banged
03:07 up, you know, coming off two losses, no shame on those two losses.
03:11 They were expecting to lose to Miami and Kansas City, but you know, you have five games left.
03:15 You're trying to finish the year strong under Antonio Pierce.
03:17 I think this is also a good opportunity for him to have his first bye week as an interim
03:22 coach and use that time to work with his team and really kind of cement, you know, his vision
03:28 and what he wants for the rest of the season and also to state his case more about how
03:33 he built things going into the offseason and next year if he's made the permanent head
03:38 coach.
03:39 So I do think this bye week, while not ideal, you know, if you're building the ideal schedule
03:47 from scratch, did help the Raiders with what had happened.
03:52 Mark Davis is not going to hire Antonio Pierce based on what you or I think or any other
03:56 media.
03:57 He could care less.
03:58 And I'm not saying he should, by the way.
04:01 We're not a couple of guys that feel like we're entitled to our opinion being more than
04:05 what it is.
04:07 But there is a groundswell of support around the National Football League players, former
04:15 players, executives for AP.
04:19 This is a guy that's universally respected, universally loved.
04:24 It's kind of cool to see this groundswell.
04:26 And if he continues to win, and I think they're going to win Sunday and then beat the Bulls
04:32 four days later, I think the groundswell could turn into a tsunami.
04:37 Your thoughts.
04:38 I agree, especially if they do rip off these next two wins.
04:42 I think that I believe I said this our last podcast.
04:46 You know, I'm not there watching and observing and talking to people every day like you are.
04:54 But looking at it from a bird's eye view.
04:57 To me, if Mark Davis has a name in mind that, or names in mind that are proven long term
05:04 guys that have been coaches successful in the NFL, or big coaches successful anywhere,
05:10 and he wants to get them, he believes he can get them, then I understand going and hiring
05:15 those people.
05:16 But here's the thing.
05:17 If he's just starting from scratch with his coaching search or, you know, wanting to cast
05:21 a wide net, so to speak, I would look really hard and long at keeping Antonio Pierce if
05:30 things continue to trend well towards the end of the season.
05:33 Because I mean, you might as well take a chance on a guy who's been in your buildings, worked
05:38 with your players, you know what his philosophies are, you know his beliefs are, you know how
05:44 he's going to conduct business, as opposed to going outside of that for something unproven.
05:51 Now to be fair, when he hired, well actually I take that back, because look at the last
05:59 time he hired Josh McDaniels, who he believed was going to be an upgrade, and he had his
06:06 reputation from Denver, now you had said he improved from some of the negatives from Denver
06:10 and things like that, he wasn't the same guy, but the results were the same.
06:15 So this was with the groundswell of support for Rich Passaccia.
06:20 Now listen, again, Rich Passaccia replaced John Gruden.
06:24 John Gruden was a guy who had won with the Raiders, won at the NFL level, and Mark Davis
06:29 felt comfortable with giving the reins of the franchise.
06:33 If there's someone like that out there this offseason, by all means go hire him.
06:38 If not, I think you got to take a look at Antonio Pierce.
06:42 It's going to be fascinating to me.
06:44 As you know, former college football great, NFL great, Braylon Edwards was on my show
06:50 earlier this week, Tuesday.
06:53 He was phenomenal, Matt.
06:55 You know this because you and I are friends privately, he and I are very close friends
06:58 privately.
07:01 He knows AP super well.
07:03 He was just sharing, he shared with me along the way how he always thought AP would be
07:09 a head coach, and on the show he talked about it.
07:13 The thing that I think Mark Davis needs to be thinking about is this is going to define
07:21 his legacy this higher.
07:25 Up to now you could say he didn't have the money in Oakland, didn't have the stadium,
07:30 didn't have the facilities.
07:31 All those things are true and all of them hurt the Raiders.
07:36 None of them are true now.
07:37 Best stadium in the NFL, best training facility in the NFL, flushed with cash, nearly $7 billion
07:45 valuation.
07:46 They're flushed with cash.
07:50 Now it's just win.
07:53 There are no excuses.
07:55 You could come up with legitimate excuses, and we're not getting political, but there
07:59 were free agents that didn't want to sign with the Raiders before because of the taxes
08:04 in California.
08:05 It was a significant raise to go to, I know free agents that didn't want to sign with
08:10 them because, and the Rams, because if they go to a state with less or no income tax,
08:16 it's a humongous raise.
08:19 Facilities in Oakland, terrible.
08:23 The stadium was terrible.
08:24 The training facility was terrible, horrible.
08:28 Guys not wanting, I mean there are none of those excuses.
08:30 You couldn't give the contracts that other teams could because you didn't have the cash.
08:34 It's not an excuse anymore.
08:35 There are no excuses, and you have a franchise that's motto is just win baby.
08:40 You've already turned on Rich, not turned, but didn't hire Rich when your players wanted
08:44 him.
08:46 You want your franchise to be something where the players matter, and it does to the Raiders.
08:51 It doesn't in most places, but it does with the Raiders.
08:55 If AP continues to win and that groundswell continues, you're in a legacy defining, and
09:01 if you go out and hire another guy, let's say that AP gets his team to nine wins.
09:05 I don't think he's going to get them to 10.
09:06 He could.
09:07 Gets them to nine or eight wins, and everybody wants AP, and you don't hire AP, and that
09:13 next coach fails, which is a very good chance they will.
09:22 If you hire AP and AP fails, then your legacy is, listen, I listened to my players.
09:29 Now I'm going to go back and get another guy.
09:31 It buys you more time.
09:33 If you go get another guy and ignore him, this will define.
09:37 I don't care if you fire him after two, it doesn't matter.
09:39 Your legacy is going to be, you didn't listen to your players twice.
09:43 You had two coaches that took you to the playoffs.
09:46 You fired them.
09:47 Where am I wrong?
09:49 I'm trying to be fair.
09:50 No, I agree.
09:52 I think that if there is a, and listen, you don't want to always listen to your fan base,
09:58 and you don't want to listen to your players on everything.
10:00 You can't let them run or dictate things, but you have to take that into account.
10:05 I think especially if you have players vouching for an interim coach like that, and you believe,
10:12 independent of what they're saying and what you're seeing on the field, you believe from
10:16 interacting and observing him that he has what it takes to do the job full time.
10:21 If that's the case, and I think they're going to finish with eight wins.
10:24 We'll get to predictions later on, I'm sure, but I think they're going to finish eight
10:27 and nine.
10:28 I think he's going to finish pretty well down the stretch here.
10:30 That would put him at five and four, I think, as a head coach interim, because he's two
10:35 and two so far.
10:36 I think it would put him doing a pretty nice job overall.
10:44 To me, I think if that's what happens, I think you really have to think about hiring him
10:48 long term.
10:50 Unless you have something that is really a can't miss out there, because like you said,
10:56 if you go with something that you have conviction on and it doesn't work, if you go and hire
11:04 the next hotshot up and coming assistant, or you hire a guy from another team who's
11:10 maybe coached before but hasn't been overly successful, like a Josh Daniels, but you think
11:15 it's going to work in Vegas and it doesn't, then you're really going to be behind the
11:19 ball more with your families.
11:24 Prior to the trade deadline, the Raiders' rule of thumb was we would not trade Max Crosby
11:29 for anything in the world.
11:32 And they shouldn't.
11:33 He is a, I think, and please hear me out, I think he has the chance to be one of the
11:43 greatest all-time Raiders of all time.
11:47 He has the work ethic, the commitment to his body, to keep himself, I mean there's some
11:53 great Raiders who didn't take care of themselves, probably could have played a little bit longer.
11:59 He's got, I mean, Matt, this guy's amazing.
12:03 He has a work ethic of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Irving "Magic" Johnson.
12:06 I mean, I've never seen, I mean, every sprint, I'll stand there practicing, he's winning
12:12 sprint and winning sprint against the team, not the defensive line, the team.
12:20 And his work ethic, off the field, great husband, great father, great, I mean, he is everything
12:29 you want in your franchise.
12:32 Devontae was another guy that, you know, somebody's going to have to do something stupid.
12:38 Now I could see the Jets saying, "We'll give you our first and Q, the defensive tackle,
12:46 Quinn Williams, we'll give you them for Devontae."
12:50 If that's the case, I love Devontae, but you've got to do what's best for the Raiders, and
12:55 you get a first and Q, boom, deal, done, take it.
12:59 But it's got to be a stupid offer like that.
13:02 You know, it'll take a first-rounder to get AJ Cole or Daniel Carlson.
13:07 But there's, other than Max, there's no untouchables.
13:13 Do you agree with that?
13:15 Or do you think it should be no, I mean, Devontae wants to be here, he's not looking for a reason
13:21 to leave, but if he had a chance to go to New York and the Raiders could pick up a first
13:26 and Q, I mean, I don't know how you don't do that.
13:30 But there's a lot of building blocks here.
13:32 You've got a Robert Spillane, you've got, you know, that defense is playing well, your
13:38 special teams is awesome, you've got a Josh Jacobs, you've got Devontae, Jacoby, Michael
13:43 Marek coming, Hunter, there's a lot of great pieces on this team.
13:48 This is not a rebuild at all, and anyone who turns it into one, or anyone that says it
13:56 is, in my opinion, that is just fundamentally wrong.
14:06 Your thoughts?
14:07 Well, I agree with you in terms of the trade market.
14:13 I think, obviously, you know, Max Cruz is a guy, he's your best player, he's someone
14:17 you build around, you build your team and your franchise around.
14:20 Devontae Adams, I understand, obviously, you want to keep him.
14:23 I think the Jets are going to push very hard for him in the offseason, especially if Aaron
14:28 Rodgers is back, he's playing, because I think the Jets are going to be even more desperate
14:34 than they were coming into this year, coming into next year, because they're going to go
14:37 another year with no playoffs.
14:40 I think, based on what's being reported, it seems like the GM and head coach are safe.
14:47 I think maybe Aaron Rodgers' injury buys them another year.
14:52 But they're going to be under pressure going into next year, and even if one or both of
14:59 them were gone, whoever replaces them is going to be stepping into a situation where they're
15:03 going to want to win as soon as possible, considering the playoff drought the Jets have.
15:06 So I can see the Jets making an offer that the Raiders can't refuse, whether it's a first
15:11 rounder and a really good defensive player like Aquinan Williams.
15:15 I think they prefer to keep him, but they might give the Raiders just enough draft capital
15:22 alone, or if they don't give him Aquinan Williams, they could give him draft capital and another
15:27 good defensive player.
15:28 There's a lot of good, young defensive players on that Jets team where the Raiders are having
15:33 no choice but to take it, not turn it down.
15:37 Other than that, I don't know.
15:40 I wouldn't trade Colton Miller as a left tackle.
15:43 I wouldn't trade a guy like Ryler Spillane, who you signed for a couple years to be one
15:48 of the key figures in their defense.
15:51 Jacob's situation, obviously they have to figure out what they're doing with him long
15:54 term.
15:55 But I think that you see that there's a lot of pieces that are still going to be here
15:58 next year, and whoever the head coach and GM are, they're going to try to augment that
16:02 roster with additions in the offseason and build on whoever this year ends.
16:09 I agree with you, but here's my point.
16:13 And I don't believe Champ Kelly would say this, so I'm not pointing at Champ, but if
16:19 he did, if Champ Kelly got the job, or if Mark goes in a different direction and hires
16:26 a different GM, if Mark or whoever the GM says this is a rebuild or they treat it like
16:33 one, that is football malpractice.
16:38 There are some holes that need to be filled, but this is not a rebuild in the least bit.
16:43 And anyone that says it is, is covering their incompetence, because that's not what this
16:48 roster is.
16:49 And I know that's a very strong statement, but I stand by it.
16:54 When you look at Dylan Parham, a bright young offensive lineman who's coming, you look at
17:00 Colton Miller, who is one of the best left tackles in all of the game of football, you
17:05 look at Patrick Graham and his merry band of misfits and what he's doing on defense,
17:10 just don't touch it.
17:11 Leave it alone, add to it, add pieces to it, but don't mess with it.
17:16 When you look at the receiving core, and you look at Josh Jacobs, when you look at the
17:21 tight ends, I mean there are so many weapons, yep, go grab some linemen on both sides of
17:30 the ball, do some little bit of adjustments, but dear God, this is not, it is, again, football
17:36 malpractice, if anyone treats this like a rebuild or calls it one, that's just buying
17:41 time and it's horse crap and I'll call it out.
17:43 All right, I want to move to Josh Jacobs.
17:45 I believe, with the way he's played this year, now, I don't want to be a revisionist, and
17:55 I'll take full accountability for what I said, I would not have given Josh the fifth year
18:00 extension, because up until then he had not shown the ability to stay healthy, and I said,
18:08 you know what, let him play out year four, and let him show you his health, and then
18:14 you go to a deal.
18:15 They did, he was phenomenal, he comes into camp, well, at the end of camp, he's been
18:21 really good this year.
18:22 If I'm the Raiders, I go to Josh Jacobs, and I believe this deal would fly, and say, listen,
18:27 we're going to give you a two year deal right now, or we'll even give you a three year deal,
18:32 but here are the numbers you've got to hit in year one and two to guarantee year three,
18:37 and I don't think they need to be difficult numbers, just put a thousand yards, but if
18:43 in year one and two you get a thousand yards, it automatically extends in year three.
18:49 Year one of the extension, 12 million.
18:53 If you get certain incentives, year two is, it's a 12 year deal automatically, two years,
18:58 12 million guaranteed.
19:00 With incentives both years, it can get it to 14, and if you hit a thousand in year one
19:08 and two, year 13's fully guaranteed for 14 million.
19:12 I think that's a fair deal, I think it protects them against a running back falling off, and
19:19 the deal's done, you don't have to worry about it, you got one of the best running backs
19:23 in the NFL locked up.
19:24 What do you think of that deal?
19:26 I think that the way that he's played this year, the way he's showed up, carried the
19:31 ball, and answered the bell on a contract year, especially when there was a little bit
19:36 of acrimony coming into the year about not getting a long term deal, does say a lot about
19:43 Josh Jacobs.
19:44 I think the Raiders would want to build around him.
19:46 I think it's a similar situation to what the Giants are dealing with out here with Saquon
19:49 Barkley, where their running backs drafted, well Jacobs was actually drafted a year after
19:56 Barkley, but they played out this year on the one year contracts, and they don't have
20:01 any long term deals.
20:04 I think that's a smart structure, I think it's something that doesn't tie you in too
20:11 long term if you're the Raiders, where you're really regretting giving a four or five year
20:16 deal to a running back who's going to be around 30, 31, or around when it's over and you look
20:23 foolish where you're going to have to eat a lot of dead money.
20:25 I think the structure is sound, and I think that Josh Jacobs, it seems like he might be
20:31 amenable to that, depending on how he feels about the Raider organization.
20:36 I also think that if I'm a Raiders and I go to him with that, he doesn't take it or is
20:41 willing to test the free agent market, I don't necessarily think that's the worst thing in
20:45 the world.
20:46 I think you still have to be careful with how you pay running backs in the NFL, even
20:51 ones as productive and reliable as a Josh Jacobs.
20:55 Yep, and again, I'm very impressed with him.
20:59 I've always liked him, I liked him going back to Alabama because as you know, my relationship
21:03 with Alabama and some of the coaches and stuff, but I always liked him.
21:09 But there's a real maturity in him now.
21:14 He was a kid, and sometimes we forget, fans forget, because they don't know the guys personally,
21:22 they see the helmet, the warrior, but sometimes they forget.
21:26 These are kids, and he's really matured.
21:28 I'm really proud of what he's become as a man, just he's really growing up, he's a good
21:33 kid.
21:34 All right, moving on now, I want to talk to you about Patrick Graham.
21:39 He is given, the Raiders have spent over $100 million on this offense, $60 million on the
21:49 defense, ridiculous, and he has just made chicken sandwich out of chicken excrement.
21:59 He has done tremendously well.
22:03 I took a ton of grief last year in the offseason, as you know, because we talked about it, because
22:09 I supported him and said, "Listen, I think he's a really good defensive coordinator,
22:12 I think he's going to be fine."
22:14 He has done an amazing job.
22:17 I don't think he's getting the respect nationally that he deserves with fans, but I know around
22:23 the league he is.
22:25 I was talking to an executive yesterday, by the way, who is the one that said to me about
22:30 the deal for Josh, I thought that wasn't yesterday, it was a couple days ago, but I thought that
22:35 was a great idea.
22:37 But anyways, he said to me, because I said to him, "Why do you think Patrick Graham isn't
22:41 getting more respect?"
22:42 He isn't from the fans, and he may not be from a lot in the media, but everybody in
22:48 the NFL sees what he's doing, and he goes, "If he was on a better team, he'd be getting
22:54 a lot more praise."
22:56 This guy, I think, deserves more respect on his name.
23:01 What do you think of the job Patrick Graham is doing?
23:03 Well, I was able to watch him out here for two years as a defensive coordinator of the
23:08 Giants.
23:09 He kind of did a similar job.
23:12 I mean, he was a defensive coordinator for a defense that had some pieces, but wasn't
23:18 outrageously talented, didn't have a Max Crosby or a game record like that, and he was able
23:25 to keep them in games.
23:27 The defense was the better unit, the best of the two offense and defense both years.
23:33 The offense was poor, and he was able to keep them in games and pull off an upset or two
23:40 because of the way he was able to maximize the defense.
23:45 Now, I know his style sometimes, at least with the Giants, sometimes he was a little
23:51 more bend but don't break.
23:53 You let up some yards, you let up some first downs, but then you buckle down and only surrender
23:59 a field goal or only do this, only do that.
24:01 It's not necessarily an old school attacking defense, at least it wasn't in New York.
24:06 I don't know what it's like in Vegas.
24:09 But he's able to adjust to his personnel and always put a competent unit out on the field.
24:16 And I think that that says something when you have your defense continuing to play well,
24:21 continuing to play hard, when the offense is just struggling and you're not scoring
24:25 a lot of points and you know that there's a fine line because one bad possession or
24:31 one or two mistakes and you can put yourself in a hole that you can't dig out of.
24:35 So I think that the job he's done in Vegas is really commendable.
24:38 And I'm interested to see if he gets any interest on the head coaching market this offseason.
24:42 He's had opportunities to interview in the past.
24:45 It'd be nice to see if he gets some more coming up.
24:49 Yeah, to me, he has been so good.
24:53 He's so talented.
24:55 He's so smart.
24:56 Yale guy, right?
24:57 Yale guy.
24:58 I'm sorry?
24:59 Yale guy, right?
25:00 Patrick Graham?
25:01 Yeah, yeah.
25:02 You can't, even in a press conference, just the way he answers things.
25:08 I've told people before, like, oh, I've told people before, wow, that was a great press
25:13 conference.
25:14 They're like, well, he didn't say anything.
25:16 You got to listen to how he says stuff.
25:18 He's so smart.
25:20 I've been accused, which you know, because you've probably accused me of it.
25:24 I'm very analytical.
25:26 And I listen and you know, there are some people who don't listen to anything they're
25:30 saying.
25:31 And then some people you listen to what they don't say.
25:32 And then some people you listen to how they say what they say.
25:35 And I just, I think he's done a tremendous job.
25:38 All right, let's turn our attention now.
25:40 You ready?
25:41 Big game this weekend.
25:43 I think the Raiders win it.
25:46 I think it's going to be a great football game.
25:48 I think the Raiders got the bye week at the best time.
25:51 So here we go.
25:53 Matt Holadik from thespun.com.
25:56 What say you?
25:57 I think we got a tight game.
25:59 I got a 2017 final.
26:01 I think the Vikings win.
26:03 I think they find a way to squeak this out, stay in the NFC playoff.
26:06 I got the Raiders finish an eight nine down on the season.
26:10 So that'll give you a hint.
26:11 I have the winning next week.
26:12 We'll get to the score prediction when the game gets here on Thursday night.
26:16 But I do have them losing this game.
26:18 I think that, you know, it's not knocking them at all.
26:21 I think it's going to be a tight game.
26:22 I think the Vikings pulled out.
26:23 All right.
26:25 So I'm going to say this.
26:27 If the Raiders win Sunday, and I think they're going to, they win Thursday against the Bulls.
26:39 If they don't win Sunday, that's going to be a tough game against the Bulls.
26:47 You know, I think I actually am.
26:49 It's funny.
26:50 I'm saying, I'm saying I think they lose Sunday but win Thursday.
26:53 I just, I think as much as talented as that Chargers team is, I just don't trust them
27:00 on the road.
27:01 I don't trust Brandon Staley.
27:02 I just don't trust Brandon Staley at all.
27:05 That's the whole thing.
27:06 I think the Raiders win that game.
27:09 So I listen, if the Raiders win Sunday, I wouldn't be shocked.
27:12 I'm picking 2017 Vikings, but a Raider win wouldn't stun me.
27:16 But I do think, and I'll spoil my pick for next week.
27:19 I think they win on Thursday against the Chargers.
27:21 Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun.
27:23 By the way, your thoughts on my deep dive article, the biggest disagreements on Josh
27:31 McDaniels and Dave Ziegler.
27:32 I know you enjoyed it.
27:33 I just want your thoughts.
27:34 Boy, that went viral, didn't it?
27:36 It did.
27:37 It blew up a lot with Raider fans and the NFL media world and all over the place.
27:42 And I thought it was really fascinating to take a look at.
27:45 And I think that we touched on this last week.
27:49 Whoever is hired as the GM, whether it's Champ Kelly or somebody outside comes in, I think
27:55 that they have to have the final say.
27:57 The head coaches need to have input.
28:00 There needs to be some collaborative effort without question.
28:05 And there's obviously going to be occasional disagreements between GM and head coach.
28:10 No one's going to be lockstep with somebody 100% of the time.
28:14 I think that the head coach cannot wield ultimate power over the GM in this situation.
28:22 Because I think it can be tough to maintain excellence and tough to make the right decision
28:30 consistently with that structure.
28:32 Totally agree.
28:34 And by the way, you're going to appreciate this.
28:36 It was funny to me how the national media, many of them came out, "Yeah, this is a great
28:41 article.
28:42 I knew this or I knew that."
28:43 A lot of it is stuff I had told you privately as the season went on in the offseason.
28:51 But my critics, if they hated that article, my next one is going to really rock.
29:02 And it's going to be with somebody on the record, not just sources who I have to protect
29:08 anonymity.
29:09 It's going to be fun.
29:10 I'm so excited about that one.
29:11 I can hardly stand up.
29:13 Listen, from all of us here at Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast,
29:18 Merry Christmas to you.
29:20 We're part of the Fans First Sports Network.
29:22 Now for those of you that don't know, on our audio platform, which is where I do my podcast,
29:28 this podcast that you watch every day, if you just want the audio, you can catch it
29:32 at Spotify or Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
29:35 I also do a second podcast every day that's only audio only for five or 10 minutes, just
29:41 a quick nuggets of things I'm hearing maybe aren't big enough for shows.
29:44 You can check that out on Spotify or Apple or wherever you go get your podcasts.
29:49 But to all of you, Merry Christmas.
29:51 To my dear friend, love him dearly, the great Matt Heletic.
29:54 Matt, it's always good to be on and talk Raider Ball with you.
29:58 Always a pleasure.
29:59 And I'm looking forward to talking to you in a few days and checking in before that
30:02 Thursday night game.
30:03 All right.
30:04 Hang on a second.
30:05 I want to talk to you off camera and share something with you about my next article.
30:08 We appreciate you all.
30:09 Have a great day, everybody.