• 5 hours ago
Head Coach of BC football Bill O'Brien joins! Did O'Brien ever go to the Patriots' Halloween parties? Here's the story!
Transcript
00:00Hey, Coach.
00:01Hey, Greg.
00:02Hey, guys.
00:03How we doing?
00:04Are you somebody who likes to dress up for Halloween or not?
00:09You know, it's been a long time since I
00:11dressed up for Halloween.
00:13So I would say yes when I was younger, but not right now.
00:18No, not looking at Halloween right now.
00:21Did you ever end up going when the Patriots guys would have
00:26the traditional Halloween party?
00:28Did you ever end up going in costume?
00:31Oh, I'm so glad you asked me about that.
00:34I was hoping you would ask me about that.
00:36Because that's that scene, right,
00:38where Randy Moss is talking to Bill about Halloween
00:40and all that?
00:41Yeah.
00:42Remember that scene?
00:43Yeah.
00:44Well, I don't, my recollection is the assistant coaches
00:48were not invited to that party.
00:49So we had to work.
00:50We were working.
00:50We had a game that week.
00:51And I don't think we, that was like a roller blade.
00:54I don't know.
00:54Bill went as a pirate.
00:56Randy went as whatever.
00:58I was in the office trying to game plan for whoever
01:01we were playing.
01:03So what you're saying is that there was a party
01:07and your hard-o boss wouldn't let you go to it,
01:10is what you're saying.
01:11Yeah, I mean, I'm just saying, I just remember that,
01:14I don't know if the boss ever said anything about, hey,
01:17you guys can't go.
01:18It's just like the invitation, I don't think,
01:20was extended to me and Dante and all the other guys
01:24that were hiding here.
01:26I don't know.
01:27Maybe my memory is wrong about that.
01:29So when they said no days off, they
01:30meant the assistant coaches.
01:33Yeah, exactly.
01:34Yeah, there's no doubt that there
01:36were no days off for the assistant coaches,
01:38no doubt about it.
01:39Well, Bill, last Friday, not the outcome I'm sure you wanted.
01:43You guys started off so hot, up 20-0 to kick things off.
01:47What happened when you came out in that second half?
01:51Yeah, we just, we have trouble sustaining 60 minutes.
01:56We have to figure that out.
01:57That's my job.
01:58I mean, I have to do a better job of getting these guys
02:01to understand how we have to play a full game.
02:03Like, we play a half a game.
02:05We play three quarters.
02:06We play one quarter.
02:07We never play 60 minutes.
02:10And so I think that's a big thing that we've
02:12been working on this week.
02:14We struggle to throw the ball right now.
02:16We've got to improve our passing game.
02:18And it's just something that we're working on.
02:20We're working very hard on it.
02:22Look, I feel really good about the future of this program.
02:26I like where these guys are at relative to their work ethic
02:29and how they're trying to learn, how we're
02:32trying to get them to play.
02:34But in the end, we have to win.
02:36And if we don't win, then that's not really good.
02:38So we have to figure out how to get them to play 60
02:41minutes as a coaching staff.
02:43Does it worry you that you guys now have a bye week?
02:46I know you don't control that.
02:47But to have a loss, a bye week, then another loss,
02:50and then another, or two losses, then another bye week,
02:53does that worry you that there's too much time
02:55in between your last win?
02:57Not really, just because I like the way these guys have
03:00approached this week.
03:01I feel that the energy in the team meeting room
03:05the last few days has been really good.
03:07I mean, these guys have come out and practiced
03:09well the last few days.
03:11We practiced three days.
03:13We'll scrimmage today, and then we'll give them
03:15Friday and Saturday off.
03:16So I don't really think it's a bad thing to have a bye.
03:21In this program right now, we're in the first year
03:25of this program.
03:26I think we need all the extra practices, the extra scrimmage
03:30situations, the extra drills that we can get.
03:32So I think it kind of helps us.
03:34Hopefully that shows up next week.
03:37Bill, what's that dynamic like now
03:39that you go from the professional to college
03:42and trying to be able to get these young kids to not get
03:48so excited where they feel like the game is over
03:51because they're up at halftime to be able to sustain
03:54that for 60 minutes, when a lot of them are younger
03:57and maybe never had dealt with adversity,
03:59where it's like different versus dealing with NFL players
04:02who might've seen that stuff.
04:03What's that dynamic like for you now juggling a lot
04:06of some of these younger guys and having to teach them
04:09dealing with the adversity?
04:11Yeah, there's no doubt.
04:12It's very, very different.
04:13In the National Football League, as you know, Wig,
04:16those guys are very, you know, for the most part,
04:19those guys are very mentally tough.
04:20That's why they're at that level.
04:22I think we have a very physically tough team.
04:24I think we really try to play hard.
04:27We don't, you know, there's never been a time
04:29where I've said, you know, hey, this guy,
04:31this is a lack of effort or we're not playing tough.
04:34We play hard, but we don't have the mental discipline
04:38right now to lock in on what we have to do
04:41or to understand that the game is a game of momentum
04:45and we have to understand, hey, you know,
04:47Louisville goes down and scores.
04:49Now we need to answer that.
04:51You know, in the NFL, when you're on a good NFL team,
04:54you know, those scoring drives are answered by the offense.
04:57And we don't do that and it's vice versa.
04:59You know, we go down and score
05:00and then Louisville comes back and scores.
05:02You know, we have to do a good job of getting off the field.
05:05It takes a lot of mental preparation,
05:08a lot of mental focus, mental toughness
05:10to be able to play 60 minutes
05:12and that's what we're still working on.
05:14Speaking of the NFL, as a guy who coached there
05:16for a long time, Bill, what did you think
05:20when Anthony Richardson took himself out of that game
05:22because he was gassed?
05:25Yeah, I've never seen that.
05:28I think like, you know what,
05:30the first thing that came to mind, Greg,
05:32when I saw that was, and I actually talked
05:35to our quarterbacks about this a little bit,
05:37is, you know, the quarterback position
05:39is really different than any position on the field,
05:42meaning like, they have to be out there.
05:45They're the one position that everyone is counting on.
05:48Like, you don't take it for granted,
05:50but you almost take it for granted.
05:51They're like, oh, this guy's gonna be there for us.
05:53Like, we don't have to worry about this guy.
05:55Like, he'll, you know, if you think back
05:56to the greatest guy that ever played the position
05:58that we had here in New England, Tom Brady,
06:01like he played through so many injuries,
06:03a lot of them that people don't even know about
06:05and was always out there for his team,
06:08except for one year where he blew his knee out.
06:11And so like, you know, the quarterback position
06:13has to be out there.
06:14And I'm sure Coach Steichen is telling, you know,
06:18Anthony that, and, you know, he's a young player.
06:20You know, he'll learn from it.
06:21It's never over.
06:22Like, you know, he'll come back for it, I'm sure.
06:24But that's the one thing about that position.
06:26You've got to be out there every day for your team.
06:29Your team needs to be knowing that,
06:31hey, we can depend on this guy, no question about it.
06:34It sounds like they must be taking what he did seriously
06:39because they're going with Flacco
06:41for the rest of the season.
06:42Like, they're essentially saying that.
06:43Am I right about that, Chad?
06:45I think Steichen said yesterday,
06:48his words were going forward.
06:49We're going with Joe Flacco.
06:51Interesting.
06:52Curtis?
06:53Billy, I just, on the quarterback topic,
06:55I watch Aaron Rodgers and I know I'm a jaded Brady guy,
06:59but like, what is it about guys like Brady and Mahomes?
07:03And then you look at someone, Aaron Rodgers,
07:05who's as physically gifted, if not more,
07:08and yet has struggled so much to repeat,
07:11get back to the Super Bowl, to have players around him
07:15elevated by his performance
07:16instead of him always blaming someone else.
07:20I don't have any personal knowledge of Aaron,
07:23but I actually have, you know,
07:25obviously personal knowledge of Tom and Mahomes.
07:28We spent a lot of time when I was in Houston
07:30on Mahomes and that draft process.
07:33You know, Aaron Rodgers is an incredible player.
07:35I mean, when we were in the NFL,
07:36we would always watch him and see what they were doing,
07:38especially in Green Bay, you know,
07:40obviously like what they were doing offensively
07:42and how he played, an incredible player.
07:44But, you know, one of the most important parts
07:46about that position is, you know,
07:48not only the talent that you have,
07:49but the personality, the type of teammate you are.
07:52Like, you know, I can remember Tom
07:54and then, you know, working with Mahomes
07:57pre-draft and all that.
07:58Like, these guys were like great guys.
08:00You know, they were guys that had a, you know,
08:03a vibe around them that, you know,
08:05you wanted to be around them.
08:06And then coaching Tom and the way he, you know,
08:09his sense of humor with his teammates.
08:12I can remember like his back and forth with Matt Castle.
08:15I mean, those are some of the funniest stories
08:16I've ever had that, you know,
08:18think about it when I was in New England.
08:20And, you know, the type of teammate he was with,
08:23you know, Matt Light and, you know,
08:24the other side of the ball, like Mike Vrabel
08:26and the type of back and forth.
08:28There was just a great personality.
08:30And I said that to you guys a few weeks ago
08:32about that retirement deal.
08:34You know, you could just see, like,
08:35there were so many great people during those years
08:37that the Patriots, people that had intelligence
08:40and compassion and senses of humor.
08:43And, you know, they understood their roles on the team.
08:45I think, you know, that's very hard to put together.
08:47That's actually what we're trying to do here at BC
08:50because I think in the end, that's what wins.
08:52You got to have talent.
08:52You got to have talent,
08:53but you have to have the right mixture of people
08:56to go out there and win.
08:58Well, you got some time to work on it.
09:00So, yes.
09:02I was just going to say, speaking of quarterbacks,
09:03is Castellanos okay?
09:05Did he get banged up during that game?
09:06Is he hurt at all?
09:08He did.
09:09He did get a little banged up, Courtney.
09:11You know, he plays very hard.
09:12He plays a different style of game that, you know,
09:15than a lot of quarterbacks play.
09:16He really does, you know,
09:20have a dynamic playing style that can, you know,
09:23he gets hit, he gets hit.
09:25And I think he's going to be fine.
09:28It's nothing, you know, serious,
09:31but yeah, he is a little banged up,
09:33but he'll be ready to go for Syracuse.
09:35Lane Kiffin this week was talking about
09:37what an advantage it is to play at home on Friday nights
09:40as opposed to Saturdays.
09:41Do you agree?
09:47I don't know.
09:47I think these weeks, like I'm more, Greg,
09:50I'm more into the traditional week, right?
09:52Like in the NFL playing on Sundays
09:54than in college football playing on Saturdays.
09:56I think these weeks,
09:58I actually have to do a better job next year of,
10:01you know, making sure that I map out these weeks better
10:03to get us in the prime position to be ready to play.
10:06We played on Thursdays, we played on Friday.
10:09You know what I mean?
10:09Like, it's just, it's a little bit up and down.
10:12The rest of these games are all normal.
10:14They're all on Saturdays.
10:15So, you know, it shakes out to a normal schedule
10:18the rest of the way.
10:19Well, Courtney at least said you did a better job
10:20with the music on Friday night.
10:22She was pretty happy with it.
10:23Wasn't the music, the music was good, right, Courtney?
10:25It was loud too.
10:28Right, yeah, crank it up and let's go, right?
10:31And little mixture of, you know, some ACDC,
10:34some rap, some country, right?
10:36Like, let's go.
10:37Very good.
10:38All right, Bill O'Brien.
10:39Yeah, all right, guys.
10:40Happy Halloween.
10:41Thanks, we'll talk to you again next week.
10:43Thank you guys, appreciate it.
10:45That is Bill O'Brien on this show every Thursday
10:48during the college football season.

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