transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] How has it felt to have March and not going into a building and kind of preparing for a season like you have been for 44 years? Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[00:11] Awesome. Awesome.

Speaker 3:
[00:20] Welcome to this bonus episode of New Heights, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. This is a Wondery show brought to you today by Planet Fitness. We are your hosts. I'm Travis Cousins, my big brother, Jason Kelce, out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, University of Cincinnati grads. Go Cats. Subscribe on YouTube wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with 1S for fun clips throughout the week. Jason wants to tell the people what we have on this wonderful episode.

Speaker 1:
[00:46] Alrighty. On today's bonus episode, this is a special one to me. We got Jeff Stoutland coming in. That's right. The old ball coach. We've been trying to get this Stoutland episode out for a while and we just wanted to make it, you know, done right. Stout means a lot to me. So we wanted to make it a special one and something that honored him for the 13 years they spent as the Eagles offensive line coach and the guys that he ended up transforming and making long careers out of him. So enjoy this bonus episode with Jeff Stoutland, Travis Kelce, Brent Celek, Jordan Mailata, and me.

Speaker 3:
[01:24] Jason, you want to do the honors?

Speaker 1:
[01:27] Sure do, Trav. I've been looking forward to this one. Alrighty, our guest today is a 6-foot offensive line coach from Staten Island, New York. He's a member of the Southern Connecticut University Hall of Fame. He won two BCS National Championships with Alabama. He's a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Philadelphia Eagles. And in his 13 seasons as the Eagles offensive line coach, he coached seven different players to combine 27 Pro Bowls, six different players to combine 16 All-Pros. And to do this, please welcome the head president of Stoutland University, Jeff Stoutland.

Speaker 2:
[02:03] There we go.

Speaker 3:
[02:04] Go Stoutland. There we go. Welcome to the show, big guy.

Speaker 2:
[02:08] First of all, I'm not six foot tall.

Speaker 1:
[02:11] You used to be. You used to be.

Speaker 2:
[02:12] You never were six foot tall.

Speaker 1:
[02:14] You were never six foot tall.

Speaker 3:
[02:15] You were six one, right?

Speaker 2:
[02:17] I was six two. I went down to like six one and three quarters or a half. I broke my neck so my I crushed my neck so many times that I yeah.

Speaker 1:
[02:27] That's what it is. It's those stingers from freaking playing linebacker.

Speaker 2:
[02:29] That's right.

Speaker 1:
[02:30] You know it.

Speaker 3:
[02:31] Hold on linebacker linebacker.

Speaker 1:
[02:34] You didn't know that.

Speaker 2:
[02:35] That's a whole story. That's a whole nother story.

Speaker 3:
[02:38] This is crazy. It makes sense, though. You know, every part of the defense, which which makes you a great offensive line coach. I'm sure there's so many other qualities as well. But I always thought that was the unique thing about Jason is Jason's always been a defensive kind of kid and person growing up. And then they throw him on the offensive side and he knows where everybody is, their gaps, their alignments, their how they're communicating and everything. He's kind of had the keys to the test.

Speaker 2:
[03:02] Our meetings would start like, and Jason can attest to this, we would go over identification of defensive fronts, pressures, whole numbering system in terms of the pressures, verbiage, what we call the different pressures so we could communicate to each other like our own language. So defense, it was like Hoosiers. You didn't touch a ball before. It was all defense. When is the front going to move? When is it not going to move? And I had a lot of feedback from players over the years that I coached that would say, I never learned so much about defense in my life. Like, but that's kind of a system and I believe in a system. I do.

Speaker 3:
[03:42] Hell yeah. Yeah, that's fascinating.

Speaker 1:
[03:44] You know, when we were together for 13 years and watching the way defenses would evolve and then they would change what they're doing because they know that we know what they're doing. Like we'd have guys go other places and that was one of the things they like, you know, you're on to something when other teams are starting to shift, that they're starting to hide the linebacker alignment because you know, when they're in a 40 alignment that they're giving away the pressure, they're giving away the spike. You know that when they're in a certain stance that they're giving you information and we would spend hours looking at that stuff and Stouty would come in with all of these pointers when they're in this and this. And that's honestly one of the things I miss most about being in the room with the coach is going over all that stuff. I mean, that was so much fun.

Speaker 2:
[04:28] Yeah, but you know what started to happen, as you know, and I hate to say this, but it's true. One year we had, I think it was eight players. I don't know the exact number, but we had eight players that were plucked off our roster to other teams. So when we discuss all these little details, you don't think they're going to the other teams.

Speaker 1:
[04:52] For sure.

Speaker 2:
[04:52] So we started having our own little, like we were just looking at each other. I'd look in his eyes and they'd be like, you see what I see? And then we would be like, all right. So I say, just keep watching people. And then other players were like, what are they talking about? And I just said, keep watching. Let's see if this is holding up or not. And we would pick up on these things.

Speaker 1:
[05:17] Yep. Listen, I knew we were going to get bogged down in this right away.

Speaker 3:
[05:20] Right away.

Speaker 1:
[05:21] First of all, first of all, coach, you've been out of coaching for a month now. For the first time, how many years have you been a coach consecutively? I know you were 13 years for the Eagles, but consecutively, every time at this time of the year, you've been preparing for a season for how many years straight?

Speaker 2:
[05:39] 44 years straight.

Speaker 1:
[05:41] Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:
[05:42] Yeah, it's a long time.

Speaker 1:
[05:44] Well, how does it feel right now? How has it felt to have March and not going into a building and kind of preparing for a season like you have been for 44 years?

Speaker 2:
[05:57] Awesome, awesome. I'm just being honest. I'm just being honest. Like, you know, that Sunday night in the off season, you know, the off season, because you got to realize you work seven days a week, I guess July right on through until February, middle of February, even later than that, if you keep playing like Travis, like we all did every year. So then it becomes a very short off season. And, you know, then you have another whole deal with the draft and evaluations. But you'd have a million, I mean, a million things to be doing on a timeline. And you're thinking about it on Sunday night. And you're like, oh, my goodness, I got to get in there earlier because I got to get this done, that done. I don't want to stay there all night. It's the off season. And you're always thinking about stuff. And that's a cool feeling, you know, 60 minutes on Sunday night, not having to worry about or thinking about and actually being home, just being home with my family and not having my mind racing somewhere else. That's it's really been good.

Speaker 1:
[07:04] That's awesome. That's awesome. You've been getting some family time with Allison. And I know you, by the way, new grandfather, let's get in that trap. We got to do that. That's more important than any of this stuff right there. And congratulations, coach. Thank you.

Speaker 3:
[07:19] Let's let's get back to the yeah.

Speaker 1:
[07:22] What what's next? Like you're you're you're you're you're sitting down right now. I know you're enjoying yourself. But you haven't officially announced you're retired. You've obviously stepped away from the Philadelphia Eagles, but do you have any idea what you want to do from here on? Like are you are you done done? Like where are we at, coach?

Speaker 2:
[07:42] So if you can like rewind the tape here, go back a little bit. And your last three years of your career, we would have this conversation at the end of every year. You'd come at some point, you get a little time to rest and think about it. Then you'd come in, coach, you have a few minutes to talk and we would close the door. We'd sit down and you, because you're an emotional guy, you get a little emotional and we would talk through, what the future is. And I would never give tell anybody what they should do. Or if you ask me for my advice, I just, and I would say to you, I think you're going to know when it's time.

Speaker 1:
[08:22] Yes, I remember that very well.

Speaker 2:
[08:24] With all the changes that were going on and stuff, and it just came a point here, not long ago, where I was very aware of my surroundings and I was saying to myself, this might be that time. And so, a lot of us don't, people that work for a very, very long time in their life, they struggle, they have a very hard time of making this decision.

Speaker 1:
[08:54] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[08:55] And I don't even know what the decision is. I just felt like it was the right decision. And I've always believed in taking control of my future and who I am and what I do. And so, I just felt it. So, there's that. And now you ask, what is the future? So, all of a sudden, you make a decision like that. And I really wasn't ready to make that decision. I had been thinking, you know, I had actually spoken to you about, like, this is gonna, this day for me is gonna come, I don't know, but it's not that far away. And this isn't that long ago. And so, now you think about it, where does, where do you go with this? But I will say, I will say this to you. I promise you this, I am jacked up and excited. And I have all these, I've got all these ideas right now. And I don't really feel like revealing what I want. First of all, I can't really do much. I want to just set back for a year and just reset.

Speaker 1:
[09:58] Collect yourself.

Speaker 2:
[09:59] Yeah, I want to reset. I want to reset. And most importantly, I've been married for like 33, 34, maybe 35, I don't know, she'll be mad at me, but it's in that era. 33, 34, 35.

Speaker 1:
[10:12] We're in the 30s.

Speaker 2:
[10:12] I think it's 34.

Speaker 1:
[10:13] He's close, Alan.

Speaker 2:
[10:13] Let's go to 34.

Speaker 1:
[10:14] Let's go to 34.

Speaker 2:
[10:15] Yeah. All right. So and I think that's actually the number, but it's been our entire marriage. I've not been home. I've hardly been home. And so every single night, we're in the morning, we'll have coffee, we'll sit and talk or in the evening. I haven't done that ever, ever. And so there's an adjustment period too now when you do stuff like this, but it's exciting and it's a whole other chapter in your life. And I'm excited about that. And to have other things to do and believe me, there'll be things that I'm going to do in football because I love, here's what I love to do, guys. I love evaluating offensive linemen. I think it's very, very difficult. If you miss on offensive linemen in this league, you're in trouble. You're going to get set back and we all know there's teams that have had that happen and it's going to cost you. So I know how important that is and I think I'm pretty good at it, by the way. And so I love the process of that. And so I think there'll be something down the road where I'll be involved with doing some things like that.

Speaker 3:
[11:28] I love to hear this. It sounds like you're excited about the new style of life and still being a part of the game or around the game. But I got to ask you, Coach, what was your first impression of Jason Kelce, both on film and when he walked in the building?

Speaker 2:
[11:45] Well, first of all, I want to be around people that are passionate. They love the game. You can have all the critical factors. You can have all the skill, all the things needed to play good and all that. But if you're not passionate and you don't love the game, it's probably not going to work out very well. It's going to... You'll be okay, whatever. But you're never going to make it to the top of the top of the top, like both you guys have. And so, number one, that was the first impression was, this guy is, this guy is completely bought it. He is... But there's things I can do that I believe to help him. So one day he, Travis, I don't know if you ever heard this story, but I know Jason doesn't want me to tell the story or not, but you know, it is what it is. You're free. He hyper extended. He hyper extended. Well, he got hit. It wasn't he was ripping again. He doesn't know there's no other gear for Jason. It's one hundred miles per hour or it's nothing. Shut him down. I'm out. Whatever. So he hyper extends his elbow. I think it was a running back, ran into his arm, his arm. You can't see me, but his arm was out like that. And the back ran right into his arm. He hyper extended his elbow. So he goes, oh, he goes down and screaming. I don't really know how bad it was because you know, Jason better than I know Jason, but he was screaming. I thought he broke his shoulder and his arm. So he rips his helmet off and threw it across. There was three fields in Philly across. It was the first day I was, we were out in OTAs and I was like, holy smoke, I'm in for a treat. And then I remember JP just looked at me smiling like, get ready, big boy, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Speaker 1:
[13:42] I remember that day very well.

Speaker 3:
[13:43] You got to do something with that energy, man. A good old Kelce helmet throw is always in the back pocket, man. We got that thing ready.

Speaker 2:
[13:50] Is that part of your game too? Have you thrown a helmet?

Speaker 3:
[13:52] I think it's just, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[13:55] He's got it in a game, Stouty.

Speaker 3:
[13:57] There's a few memes out there. I didn't throw three football fields over, but I gave it a go.

Speaker 2:
[14:03] A helmet in an actual NFL game?

Speaker 3:
[14:07] Yeah, Coach wasn't too happy about it. Coach wasn't too happy about it. Had to apologize to a few people.

Speaker 1:
[14:14] We can laugh about it now. Not the best, but...

Speaker 3:
[14:16] Yeah, it wasn't the best moment, but...

Speaker 1:
[14:18] Well, I don't want to... I want to be more talking about the overall career, but I do have to ask, last season, right? You guys go from winning the Strip Bowl, setting a record at the running back position, with the rushing game. What happened last year, just in general? What was the reason for the struggles in your mind? I don't know. What went wrong last season with the Birds?

Speaker 2:
[14:42] Well, I think anytime things don't go well, and I don't want to sound like I'm on an interview for... But it's the truth. It's execution, and it's calling the right play at the right time, and not running bad plays in the bad defenses. I mean, it ain't that hard. I'm not going to sit here and make up all these... That's pretty much it.

Speaker 1:
[15:04] Well, you talk about speed and attention to detail, and how much each little inch in step matters. One of the things that was the most surprising looking this year, was the tush push, to be honest with you. Because that's a play, that quarterback sneak play, even before it was a tush push, was a play that we've run at like a 90% clip year after year. And to see that struggle at times this past season, I mean, last year they were going to ban it, right? I went to the owner's meeting, they're looking to get rid of it.

Speaker 2:
[15:34] Why would they look and get rid of it?

Speaker 1:
[15:35] Well, they said safety concern, but no.

Speaker 3:
[15:37] It wasn't safe, coach. It was not safe.

Speaker 2:
[15:41] But now there's no problem. Everything's okay.

Speaker 3:
[15:44] Yeah, well, just because the guy started running it safer.

Speaker 2:
[15:48] Hey, I gotta be a- You're a funny dude, man.

Speaker 1:
[15:56] Oh, good.

Speaker 3:
[15:56] Coach, were you the inventor of the tush push? I think Coach Sirianni always said you were the inventor of it. Is that the truth?

Speaker 2:
[16:04] The tush push is quarterback sneak. First of all, let me just say this, okay? Let me just say this, first of all, okay? Get off your chest. Travis, tell me if I'm out of bounds here. So, tush push, brotherly, why do we have names for it? Like, why do we got to? It's kind of making fun of the play, actually, kind of.

Speaker 3:
[16:26] I hear you on that.

Speaker 2:
[16:27] Jason, do you think that, is there a lot of little details that go into this play?

Speaker 1:
[16:32] Oh, yeah, very much so.

Speaker 2:
[16:34] Okay, well, those words kind of make it sound like it's some kind of funny, like, I don't know, I take, every time I hear it, I'm like, call it organized mess.

Speaker 1:
[16:46] That's what it is.

Speaker 2:
[16:47] Call something what it is.

Speaker 3:
[16:49] I hate when we have to have a little bit more respect in the name.

Speaker 4:
[16:53] Yeah, I hear you.

Speaker 2:
[16:54] Yeah, like, it's not a joke. It's not a, there's so many little things that go into this play. And by the way, this is the one play you cannot practice full speed. There's no way. This play is on the job training. And so, when you have the players, after you detail the angles, you got to have personnel, the right personnel. Quarterbacks got to be strong. It's about organized mass. It's about setting the apex of the wedge, but it's about angles. And there's a lot of other things that are involved. You can't get into it. It's be a whole dissertation. Secret sauce.

Speaker 3:
[17:32] Can't get rid of the recipe, can't get rid of the recipe.

Speaker 2:
[17:34] It's grandma's secret sauce.

Speaker 1:
[17:36] It's like those meatballs. Can't be giving away the red sauce. Come on now.

Speaker 2:
[17:41] Yeah, the meatballs. Vick's always talks about his meatballs. But anyway, yeah. So there's secret sauce to this and that's that. And I don't think when you take, if you take a player out of there that has been doing it for a while, and now it's not organized mass, it's just mass, then you got a problem. You're not making it.

Speaker 1:
[18:04] All right. Well, we're going to change gears here. We're going to get to some got to ask. A lot of this is just geared around your career or being an offensive line coach. So this first one, what is the weirdest habit or personality trait an offensive lineman seem to have where you're like, yeah, this guy's born to have his hand in the dirt?

Speaker 2:
[18:24] Habit.

Speaker 1:
[18:26] Could be like a mentality.

Speaker 2:
[18:28] Like the first thing that came to my mind, and this is going to sound weird and maybe delete this from your program. I don't care. The way the way a guy walks. Just the way a guy walks. Just the way a guy walks.

Speaker 1:
[18:42] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[18:43] A real guy like a real, real guy. Sometimes just the way a guy walks. I'd be like, Oh, shoot. Like I've seen that walk before. I've seen the way. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen that game.

Speaker 3:
[18:58] Is it a sassy walk? Is it a confidence?

Speaker 2:
[19:00] That got out?

Speaker 1:
[19:01] The guts out? Like what's the walk look like?

Speaker 2:
[19:09] Organized. It's just the way it looks.

Speaker 3:
[19:13] Who's the hardest defender that you've ever had to scheme for?

Speaker 2:
[19:17] So when we were in college in 1997, I think it was, or 96.

Speaker 3:
[19:23] It was a good year.

Speaker 2:
[19:24] Dwight Freehne was a freshman in college. Bloomfield High School. He was a great baseball player. I don't even know if he played football for about one year in high school, but he comes and he lines up as the edge player. And we had a left tackle, Mark Banowitz, great player. And Mark's, you know, like, oh, you know, he was a Rhodes Scholar, had all these accolades. And this young freshman is coming around the edge with his hand on the ground. And he couldn't, he couldn't block him. I mean, he could not block him. And he looked at me. He's like, coach, he's got his hands up. He's like, I don't know what to do. I'm losing confidence. So I swear, I swear to you, I said, close your eyes and I'm not joking. I swear to God, three times. Yes. Close your eyes and kick three times. I said, after the third kick, open your eyes. And he's like, what? And I said, just freaking do it. He comes back and he goes, it works. He goes, why did you tell me that? I said, because you were reading the rush and you weren't kicking fast enough. And you didn't have enough separation off the line and you kept turning right off the snap because you felt like you were beat. And so you were giving up a short edge. And I didn't, I just thought about that. Like, so that's a true story, honest to God. And it helped.

Speaker 1:
[20:56] So you basically, Coach, you basically, you sand-lotted them. You Benny the Jet told them like, Smalls, just go out to outfield.

Speaker 2:
[21:03] I'm gonna put that ball up right there.

Speaker 1:
[21:06] You just close your eyes and I'll do the rest.

Speaker 3:
[21:08] He really did.

Speaker 2:
[21:11] I had to have, I had to have, what am I gonna say? I don't know.

Speaker 1:
[21:14] But I mean, it makes complete sense because...

Speaker 2:
[21:17] Instantaneously, I thought to myself, what is the initial problem he's having? And it was that he was turning. Because he felt so much edge quickness. And I said, how can I help him not... So I thought to myself, just tell him to close his eyes. So we did. It worked out.

Speaker 1:
[21:34] I love a coach. There you go. Let me ask you this. What are you going to miss? You won two Super Bowls. You're in Philadelphia for 13 years. What are you going to miss most about being the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles? Is there anything you want to say to Philadelphia? What did you think of your time in Philadelphia?

Speaker 2:
[21:54] Not only myself, my family, we absolutely are in love with Philadelphia. We love living here. We're not going to live anywhere else forever. And Allison would always say to me, I don't care where you go. I ain't going anywhere. This is our home. The fans, you know, I grew up in Staten Island and I grew up in New York City. And the people are a little bit, you know, they're a little abrasive. They speak your mind and they say what's and there's a lot of similarity and there's a lot of carryover. But the people in Philly, man, you could say what you want. But if you are willing to play your ass off, to coach your, put everything you got on the line and coach your butt off. And they know you can't trick people in Philly. You can, they just watch the game because they all go, everybody goes to the game and everybody watches the game. So they know they're not just, you're not conning anybody in Philadelphia. They know when it's synchronized, they know who's playing hard, who's not playing hard, who's not. And so you don't do that? Hold your ass, man.

Speaker 3:
[23:06] Well, I'll tell you what, Stout, if you're ever going to miss getting yelled at by Philly fans, you're getting hearing them down there at the link, I'm sure you could just go right back to the link, maybe, and hear that loud and proud.

Speaker 1:
[23:19] They're still there.

Speaker 3:
[23:19] Yeah, they're still there.

Speaker 5:
[23:21] That will never leave.

Speaker 2:
[23:22] They're going, it don't matter what day it is, they're going to be there.

Speaker 3:
[23:25] And you're an absolute legend in the city. So I'm sure every time you go back to the link, man, they'll be cheering loud and proud for you too.

Speaker 1:
[23:31] Well, coach, I'm so incredibly grateful for what you've done for me and my career, my teammates career, the career you had in Philadelphia, and you've had your entire coaching journey. Can't wait to see what you do next. And also can't wait to fix my golf swing over at your house. Get some red light therapy in. Yeah, I saw it'll work.

Speaker 3:
[23:51] Yeah, Jason, you're a little pale right now. I need you glowing. I need you glowing, Jason.

Speaker 1:
[23:55] That's right. I am pale. Gosh, hey, look at that skin.

Speaker 2:
[23:59] You know, I should have said this to start the whole thing. But you know, when you do something like this, there's no plan. This is just like, hey, man, let's roll. This is how Travis likes it, right?

Speaker 3:
[24:11] Come on now. Come on now.

Speaker 2:
[24:12] Yeah, you love it like that. So there's something that we talked about the fans, but really from the organization, from the top all the way down to the bottom. And I mean, from Mr. Lori, Howie, Nick, Doug, Chip, all the guys that, you know, hired me and to the people. I'm talking like, you realize this every morning at 6, between 6 and 7 o'clock, I would get a cup of coffee and Miss Keisha in the cafeteria and I would have a little conversation.

Speaker 3:
[24:46] Shout out to Miss Keisha!

Speaker 1:
[24:48] Miss Keisha!

Speaker 2:
[24:49] Every single morning. And maybe Charles would be there too, if we're lucky. And T-Roy might try to nose in on the thing too. But every single morning, I think that might be what I missed the most. I mean, so I have so many close people in that building that aren't even involved in the football. Like, they aren't involved in the football because they're taking care of us. But the training, athletic training department, to the video department, you know, I'm going to miss a lot of those people.

Speaker 1:
[25:17] Yeah, a lot. I love a coach.

Speaker 3:
[25:19] Well, I'm sure they're going to miss it too, big guy.

Speaker 1:
[25:22] You will be missed, no doubt. You are one of one in that building. The energy and passion that you brought. You can hear it here when you're talking. How much you love talking ball, how much the details matter. You know, we'll have to get you. We'll have to get your back doing some tape or something like that. If you be open to it, we're going to we're going to do some tape breakdowns. I love a little Jeff Stoutland tape breakdown.

Speaker 3:
[25:40] Let's go.

Speaker 2:
[25:41] Oh, man, well, that dive deep, man.

Speaker 3:
[25:43] It's got to be my tape so I can get coached up by the big guy one time.

Speaker 1:
[25:46] Yeah, coach receivers. You always said you want to go.

Speaker 2:
[25:51] You're not going to believe this.

Speaker 1:
[25:52] There's a playbook over there.

Speaker 2:
[25:54] It's a wide receivers playbook from Syracuse. When they told me I was going to go coach receive.

Speaker 1:
[25:58] No way.

Speaker 3:
[25:59] Coach, I love you. Yeah, we love you guys. Happy for you, man.

Speaker 2:
[26:04] And your mom, your mom and your dad, your mom's unbelievable. How does she build? How does she create these two people like this that have so much success at this level and unbelievable, unbelievable story.

Speaker 3:
[26:19] We're lucky men.

Speaker 2:
[26:20] What you're doing right now? I'm like, how do these two guys do it? Like how do you pull this off? Like these guys, these guys.

Speaker 1:
[26:27] We have no idea to be honest with you.

Speaker 3:
[26:28] No matter what they do. We get great guests like you to come and tell unbelievable stories like this. That's how we're doing it.

Speaker 1:
[26:34] That's right. You're the best daddy. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3:
[26:37] Appreciate you coach. You know it.

Speaker 2:
[26:39] Thank you guys. Appreciate you.

Speaker 1:
[26:41] Thank you to our sponsor, Planet Fitness.

Speaker 3:
[26:45] We all know how hard it is to stay on top of your fitness when you've got a million things going on.

Speaker 1:
[26:50] No question. But here's the thing. Planet Fitness makes it easy. They've got all the equipment you actually want. Plate-loaded strength machines, functional training equipment, treadmills, free weights, all of it.

Speaker 3:
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Speaker 1:
[27:31] Hours, amenities, and offers vary by club. Check out planetfitness.com or stop by your local club for more information. Must be 18 years old to enroll or 13 to 17 with a parent or guardian. All righty, we're here for the second half of the Jeff Stoutland episode and we want to do something a little bit different. Obviously, Coach Stout was in Philadelphia for a long time, so I thought it'd be cool to incorporate some of the guys that were here during his entire tenure and just sit back, tell stories of the legendary coach, Philadelphia Eagles offensive line coach, Jeff Stoutland. So, we obviously have Coach Stout back, 13 years of the Philadelphia Eagles, great number, by the way. You and I both did the same number of years of the Eagles. I didn't know that. Yeah, it's a good number. Then we got my man Brent Celek, only did 11 seasons.

Speaker 5:
[28:11] Yeah, not as good as you guys.

Speaker 1:
[28:13] Ended on a Super Bowl, though, high, legendary tight end. And then we got Jordan Mailata, still currently playing Philadelphia Eagle. Probably, I think, your biggest, like, success story, right? I mean, you've had a lot of them, but to take a guy that never played the game before and teach him how to play football.

Speaker 2:
[28:30] Yeah, there's a lot of stories that, and they're all fun. It was the challenge that you have as the coach is to, what do I got to do to help this player be the best?

Speaker 1:
[28:40] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[28:41] And that's kind of what we did with Jordan.

Speaker 1:
[28:43] I do want to start off with just some word associations. I'm going to say a word, adjective, and you tell me what player embodies this the most.

Speaker 2:
[28:49] Oh boy. Okay.

Speaker 1:
[28:50] You've seen a lot of players come through. Who's the toughest player you've ever coached?

Speaker 2:
[28:55] This is like asking me.

Speaker 1:
[28:56] Come on. It's not saying nobody else isn't tough, but who's the guy that like stands out to your mind? First player that stands out to you when you say you're toughest?

Speaker 2:
[29:03] There's a lot. Lane and Dickerson.

Speaker 1:
[29:05] Yeah. I think that's a great answer.

Speaker 2:
[29:06] That's a tough guy, man. That guy, nobody knows what he goes through each week to get on the field. But I see the tears in his eyes at times. That's a tough dude.

Speaker 1:
[29:20] No doubt. All right. Smartest.

Speaker 2:
[29:23] You.

Speaker 1:
[29:24] Don't say it. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[29:25] There's no question. Everybody knows that. We can move on.

Speaker 1:
[29:29] Meanest.

Speaker 2:
[29:29] But time out. You mean we wanted to film? There might be one or two other guys that are at the same level. There's the same level. I don't want to... Isaac, say them all, though.

Speaker 1:
[29:40] To me, Isaac is actually the smartest player I ever played with. Between him and Wiz, those two guys were very intelligent. High level.

Speaker 2:
[29:48] He had great vision. He could see everything. He played six positions in one game, the Baltimore game, including tight end.

Speaker 1:
[29:55] It's insane.

Speaker 2:
[29:56] He played every position along the line in that game as well as the tight end.

Speaker 1:
[30:00] I'm glad you ruined that. Alright, meanest. Doesn't have to be a guy with the eagles either. Like, if you got somebody from college.

Speaker 2:
[30:08] Serious.

Speaker 1:
[30:09] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[30:09] Meanest. I coached a long time now.

Speaker 1:
[30:14] The game used to be meaner too. In the 80s, there was...

Speaker 4:
[30:17] No, there was...

Speaker 2:
[30:18] Jason Peters. I saw some things happen on the field a couple of times. Like, when you get to the... There's a certain point where if he snaps, you don't want to go there. There was some things... That's a bad man.

Speaker 1:
[30:35] I'll never forget the first one-on-one I ever saw him do. This is before you got this. This is my rookie year. Trent Coles at DN was a great player. And Trent beat him on an inside move. And he was pissed. He said, run it back. Oh, hell no. Run it back. They lined up again. I don't know why Trent tried to go inside again. JP took his palm and hit him so hard in the face mask that he landed on his head. Like did a backflip basically. And I remember seeing that. I'm like, dude, I don't know if I can play in the NFL. If these are the guys that are playing, like, I don't know if I got what it takes.

Speaker 2:
[31:08] I mean, that guy, the size, the quickness and the explosive power all wrapped up in one. You don't come across that within 100 years. You're not going to see someone like that.

Speaker 5:
[31:20] That was a great teammate.

Speaker 2:
[31:22] Yes, great person. Great person.

Speaker 1:
[31:24] Most improved player you ever coached.

Speaker 2:
[31:26] I don't know how you could say that's ridiculous.

Speaker 1:
[31:29] I still remember the first day you walked in and like, I mean, you didn't know anything about football. I was drafted with Danny Watkins, who also was a guy that played football late, was very green with the game, didn't know what certain techniques were called, things that I was kind of crazy going to the NFL, that guy didn't know this stuff. But you, I mean, you didn't know a pass hit, you didn't know what the quarterback was, you didn't know what anything was called, truly like knew nothing about the game. And now you're an All Pro. I mean, that's insane. It helps that you're 365 and run a 4.7 in our freaking nature, for sure.

Speaker 4:
[32:01] 4.7 is generous.

Speaker 1:
[32:02] You don't think you run a 4.7?

Speaker 4:
[32:04] I don't know. Probably, probably is sub 5.

Speaker 1:
[32:07] Sub 5?

Speaker 4:
[32:07] Definitely not a 4.7.

Speaker 1:
[32:08] No, if your toes weren't webbed, you'd run a 4.7.

Speaker 4:
[32:10] I think I would. A little extra support, a little cushion, just that little boost.

Speaker 1:
[32:15] It's got to be him, right?

Speaker 2:
[32:16] I know this. Here's what I know. I think he's being modest. Yeah, I think he's being modest. I think he's in a 4.7, 4.8. He would come out on the field early and he has this routine that he would do, but then he would just take off and open up and run. I'll never forget the workout that we did at IMG. I couldn't believe how the size of the player and the quickness and all the square drills, the shuffle, the carioca. We were doing all kinds of stuff, and I was like, oh my goodness. I've never seen anything like this in my life. The size of the player, the quickness, the foot quickness, that's the wow factor. Now you got to assess the mental part of it. How long is it going to take? And is it worth it? And I was adamant about it. It's worth it. And it took a very long time. They almost ran out of time.

Speaker 1:
[33:10] What was that like for you, that whole process?

Speaker 4:
[33:13] I couldn't believe he... They drafted me. And the whole time I was here, I was just trying to figure it all out. I didn't know what I was going to be or what I was going to surmount to. I was just kind of at first going through the motions. Like Stout said, these conversations, when he would come and say, you're not trying to hide them out. I got offended. I'd be like, well, I'm trying my ass off. And then he'd make an example of what effort really looks like in you. It was the way you came out to fill gasping for air after long plays. And everything I tried to do was just trying to prove myself to this guy, especially that 2020 year. Yeah. I got wind that I was close to getting sent home and so pulled my socks up. I went to Nate.

Speaker 1:
[33:59] Was Nate?

Speaker 4:
[33:59] Herbie.

Speaker 1:
[34:00] Really?

Speaker 4:
[34:01] What was Herbie? You know the little lawyer locker room that man was?

Speaker 1:
[34:04] Oh yeah.

Speaker 4:
[34:06] He heard some whisperings and relayed it back to me. And I was like, I got to pull my pants up.

Speaker 2:
[34:11] Hold on.

Speaker 4:
[34:11] Hold on.

Speaker 2:
[34:11] Hold on. We had dinner last night. I know wives and we had a nice time. And he actually reenacted the whole story. So I want you to tell us right now and use the voice and everything. You told me this last night. I didn't know anything about this.

Speaker 4:
[34:29] He said, hey, bro. He said, listen.

Speaker 1:
[34:32] It's a great Herbie impersonation.

Speaker 4:
[34:34] He's going to kill me. We love him.

Speaker 1:
[34:37] His tongue's too big for his mouth.

Speaker 4:
[34:38] He said, man, he said, Jodie, you got to get in your bag, bro. He said, they're going to ship me home. You want to go home?

Speaker 1:
[34:44] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[34:44] They're going to ship your ass home. So you got to pull your socks up and get in your bag.

Speaker 1:
[34:49] This is a very good Nate Herbie impression.

Speaker 4:
[34:50] And then I got in my bag. I got in my bag. He's like, they're going to send you home, man. It's like, come on. He was my sleep paralysis team.

Speaker 1:
[35:01] Who's the last one is leader.

Speaker 4:
[35:08] Who? You?

Speaker 1:
[35:09] I don't know. He's not answering.

Speaker 2:
[35:10] Yeah, you are the leader.

Speaker 1:
[35:12] You will skip it.

Speaker 2:
[35:13] No, why? You can't take it.

Speaker 1:
[35:15] I don't like doing this. All right. Okay, a cage match.

Speaker 2:
[35:17] I knew you set the question up. That's true.

Speaker 1:
[35:21] I just got a bunch of notes down here.

Speaker 2:
[35:22] Every player that was ever in that room, they would answer the question the same way.

Speaker 4:
[35:27] Yeah, I probably would.

Speaker 1:
[35:28] Who's winning the cage match?

Speaker 4:
[35:29] I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to say who was Stout.

Speaker 2:
[35:32] But, I mean, Celek was a great leader. But he wasn't in the room.

Speaker 1:
[35:36] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[35:37] But you did a lot of things in front of the team, in the offensive unit. And, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[35:44] I think one of the coolest things you did in 2017 was the start of the tradition. You and Stout really started it, which was talking in front of the team the day before the game.

Speaker 5:
[35:53] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[35:53] The night before. I still remember, because we, for some reason, we felt like in 2017, in camp, I remember us all looking at each other and being like, yeah, we got a really good squad here.

Speaker 5:
[36:05] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[36:06] Like Garrett, like all the pieces we added, Alshon, like the defense, Fletch, and it felt like all the pieces, whereas this is the best amount of talent we had had collectively. I remember, I don't know which one of you guys thought of it first or how that hulked, but you came up and talked the day before the first game of the year.

Speaker 5:
[36:25] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[36:27] Basically, you basically said, guys, I went to the NFC Championship game my first year in the league. Second year in the league, we lost the game, and I figured out, you know what, we'll be back next year. And it's been nine seasons, and I still haven't been back. Don't waste this opportunity. We got a really good squad. And I think that really started the trajectory that year of demanding excellence and guys feeling like we had a swagger and confidence. Where did you come up with that? Or where did you both meet?

Speaker 5:
[36:58] It actually happened really in the off season, because after my 10th season, Howie calls me into the office and he's like, hey, we got to talk. And so I meet him in the office and he's like, hey, man, I know you're owed this, but, you know, we want to cut it. And so I literally I had an agent, but I negotiated my deal with Howie face to face.

Speaker 1:
[37:20] Oh, wow.

Speaker 5:
[37:21] And full strategy.

Speaker 1:
[37:23] He's a good negotiator.

Speaker 5:
[37:24] He's a good negotiator. But after after that moment, I realized, you know, I've been around this game for a long time. They start taking your money away. And then the next thing is you're out the door.

Speaker 1:
[37:37] Right. Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[37:37] And so that offseason, I kind of my mindset switched. Like, this is it. This is all I've got is this year.

Speaker 1:
[37:46] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[37:46] And I know that the Saturday nights before the game, Stout used to always talk and he used to always say something. I used to love hearing him talk. But at that moment that I had with Howie, I was like, you know, I got to be more vocal. I'm going to do things that, you know, are help uplift my teammates a little bit more. And I thought it was a great thing for me to just show the guys, this is what happened to me. This is where I'm at today. And this year is really all we got. And what I thought was really cool about it, though, is that Stout kept it going.

Speaker 1:
[38:24] Right.

Speaker 5:
[38:25] You know, the fact that it wasn't a one and done. And yeah. And the fact that I didn't even know Isaac knew how to speak. And then Isaac gets up there.

Speaker 1:
[38:34] Shout out to the guys. Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[38:36] And Isaac pulls, you know, he basically puts his heart on the table. And like, this is who I am. It brought me closer to him. I had no relationship with him.

Speaker 1:
[38:45] I agree.

Speaker 5:
[38:46] And to be able to hear my teammate, you, Kelce, you got up there and got emotional. Like, to me, those really changed. I feel like our relationships became stronger because we started learning things about each other that we never knew. I thought it was awesome that you did it.

Speaker 2:
[39:03] And it was, you could hear a pin drop. You look around the room. A lot of emotional. There was a lot of emotional guys that would get up and speak. Darren Sprouls did a great, unbelievable job. I mean, there was a lot of guys who would take that very serious. And they would get up there and speak from their heart. And I think everybody really looked forward to it.

Speaker 1:
[39:24] All right. Let's talk. So you were a college coach for the majority of your career. You come from winning two national championships at Alabama with Nick Saban, Chip Kelly, completely different offense. What were your first impressions coming to Philadelphia in trying to run a brand new offense like that?

Speaker 2:
[39:40] Well, I've run about every run, play and play action and protection that you have been doing it. I was in college for 30 years. We did a lot at Alabama.

Speaker 1:
[39:53] OK, a lot.

Speaker 2:
[39:55] And that was really a pro organization to be in this week. And then we come in here and we're in the temple offense with Chip Kelly. I was so excited to learn something new. That was basically, I mean, we dabbled a little bit with a little fastball play here and there.

Speaker 1:
[40:12] Right.

Speaker 2:
[40:13] Nothing like that.

Speaker 1:
[40:14] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[40:14] Snap the ball within 25 seconds.

Speaker 1:
[40:17] Let's go. I still remember that first Washington game. It was like they could not stop us.

Speaker 2:
[40:22] I remember you coming.

Speaker 1:
[40:23] It was insane. We thought we all thought we were going to win the shoe ball. Like there was it. Do we not? Like they couldn't stop it.

Speaker 2:
[40:28] Your enthusiasm and your excitement coming on. You couldn't breathe anyway. Coming off the field. You're like, Stouty, they're begging us to slow down. Just throwing up on the field. We got them right where we want them.

Speaker 1:
[40:42] I think we ran 50 plays in the first half.

Speaker 2:
[40:45] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[40:45] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[40:46] That's nuts.

Speaker 1:
[40:47] Oh, dude. It was the first kind of of its kind in the NFL. It was a Washington had no idea what to do. And like that was the first we didn't have tape out there. Teams did catch on eventually. But to start, it was absolutely outrageous. Well, so, Brent, you had been in the league for how many years at that point? Six?

Speaker 5:
[41:05] Six years.

Speaker 1:
[41:05] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[41:06] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[41:07] Juan Castillo had been offensive line coach. Yeah. What were your first impressions with Stout?

Speaker 5:
[41:12] Stout, I would say initially, he was so passionate when he's installing the run game. You know, he's pounding the table, he's loud. I love that about him.

Speaker 1:
[41:24] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[41:25] The other thing that you could tell right away is he cared. And I would say the third thing is you could question things with Stout. And he would listen.

Speaker 1:
[41:34] Right.

Speaker 5:
[41:34] Sometimes he would tell you, no, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. But he would listen. So, you know, those three things, he's a passionate guy. He really cares about his players. I think that's probably the most important thing. And I think that's why Stout and I connect so well is because I just see he does everything for his players. And he wants them to have everything that they could possibly have to succeed in that game. And if he feels he's not giving that, he feels like he's failing.

Speaker 1:
[42:02] Yes, well said. I don't think I could say it any better. All you want in a coach is somebody that genuinely wants you to be the best version of yourself.

Speaker 5:
[42:10] Exactly.

Speaker 1:
[42:11] And Stout did that for a very long time. If a player feels like a coach has any ulterior motive or there's a selfish intrinsic desire out of it, you just don't enjoy it as much or you like it. Fuck this dude. Yeah. All right. All these great players, one of the things you're phenomenal at is gauging players before they became great. Jordan Mailata, Lane Johnson, drafting players of the Philadelphia. When you go to a combine or you're looking at a player, what is the number one most important thing? I already know the answer. What's the most important thing that you're looking for to determine whether he's going to be a good offensive lineman?

Speaker 2:
[42:45] What all these questions is more than one, but you got to have the size. No, no, listen to me. So I start, I have a flow chart.

Speaker 1:
[42:53] Yeah. You got critical factors.

Speaker 2:
[42:54] Yeah. And I follow them. First of all, where are you with the size? Are you average? Are you preferred? Are you ideal? Okay. Where do you fall?

Speaker 1:
[43:02] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[43:03] Ideal.

Speaker 1:
[43:03] Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 2:
[43:04] So now the most important critical factor would be foot and body quickness.

Speaker 1:
[43:10] Yeah. I thought for sure you were going to say ankle flexion. Why is ankle flexion so important?

Speaker 2:
[43:14] So this is the best way to say it. If you, if I'm the wide receiver and you're the defensive back and you're in a stance and I'm running off the ball and you're in a backpedal.

Speaker 1:
[43:24] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[43:24] You're trying to cover me. You're backpedaling. And then I break to the out cut and the quarterback shows the shoulders and he's going to throw the ball as you're backpedaling. If you're able to plant and if you're able to plant and break, I guarantee you, you have lower body flexibility. If you went plant, plant, plant break, you probably have average lower body. Now, this is accurate. This holds up across the board. This isn't just for offensive line and this was for all positions. So lower body flexibility is relative to explosive power, change of direction, but you're going to find some guys that can flat out run fast that don't have great lower body flexibility.

Speaker 1:
[44:15] Interesting. So it's more change of direction and agility, explosive power. Got it. Okay.

Speaker 2:
[44:21] Once I decide that that's a very important factor, then I'm all in.

Speaker 1:
[44:25] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[44:25] I'm all in. But I have to see it in my brain. I have to feel it. I don't just do like these low hands things. Nobody does. I have to know for a fact that that works.

Speaker 1:
[44:36] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[44:37] Then I'm all in.

Speaker 1:
[44:38] Then you're in. And the saying I think you used the most though, throughout your whole career was hungry dogs run faster.

Speaker 2:
[44:42] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[44:43] Where did that come from?

Speaker 2:
[44:44] So when I was a young high school player and I belonged to the YMCA, that's all we could kind of afford was the YMCA. So I would go to the YMCA with a couple of my teammates. We didn't have good facilities at my high school. So we would go to the YMCA and we would lift. And there was a guy in there who was huge, strong, I mean, real strong. His name was Dino Mangiero, played for the Kansas City Chiefs. He actually is the player that broke Dan Pastoreni's leg way back in the day. He's actually the player that won the Strongest Man in the NFL arm wrestle. Dino played nose tackle for Rutgers, for Curtis High School Rutgers. These guys, all they did was work out at the YMCA. I mean, they worked out. So Dino was like, come on, well, Dennis Rowley, come on, you're coming with me. And we would go run through Clove Lakes Park, through the trees, over the tree. And we would be like, I'd be dying. These guys would be jumping over trees. Like, you remember how you said to me, I didn't know what toughness was until my strength coach at Cincinnati taught me. That was my moment. And that was my moment. These guys would keep saying to me, Hungry dogs run fast. You don't stop. You keep pushing. You keep going. And what you're going to do is you're going to build so much confidence in yourself. You're going to feel like nobody can beat you. And I embraced that. I embraced it right through college. And I just was like, that was me. That was the epitome of, I'm going to work harder than you. Not only as a player, but even as a coach, as I took it further and I wanted to instill that in all the players. And we did that in our individual drills. And it basically became who I am or who I was, how I went about coaching, how I went about explaining things to the players. And so that came from Dino.

Speaker 1:
[46:34] All right. 2017 season, we go on to win the Super Bowl first time in Eagles history. At what point in that season did you realize that the team was special? Is there a moment or is there a play or is there?

Speaker 2:
[46:46] I just look, you're asking me a question and I'm going to answer the question. You might not like the answer. I don't care. Frank Reich was the offensive coordinator and he would be like, Stout, you got juice today. He would kind of needle me a little bit about the run installation meeting, which you talked about. I would get up in front of the offense and I would do the run game installation. And really before I would put any play in, I would present to everybody and I would say, you know, this is the mission statement on this play. Okay, we're going to displace the interior two tackles. And if we don't do that, this play is not going to work. Or we're running a mid zone play and Jordan, if you don't displace that D end, we can't run this play. And so everybody knew going in where that important, very, very important block was. And then I would say, we're going to come in here, where Kelce and Aggie are on Monday or Tuesday. And we're going to see if you block the safety on Wham. Because if you do, you deserve all the credit. For all those Whams that we ran at the Chicago and the Seattle, you're the one that deserves the credit. Not Kelce again at the second level, but you do it because you block the force player. And the force player is the most important block. And I would do that through all the run concepts and everybody knew exactly what was what. But I want to tell you what, when I would do that, I would occasionally, as I'm into my doing my thing, I would see Smitty, I would see Alshon Jeffery, I'd see Nelson Aggie, I'd see those, I'd see Mack.

Speaker 1:
[48:24] Mack Hollis.

Speaker 2:
[48:25] And those guys would be like this. I didn't expect that.

Speaker 1:
[48:29] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[48:30] I didn't think that the receiver would be looking at me like that. I expect the offensive lineman or the tight end to be like, all right, I understand. I use the phrase, you guys know it, you've heard it. It's execution fuels emotion.

Speaker 1:
[48:44] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[48:44] And I don't know how to say it any better than that. Kevin Kelly and I worked way back in 1984 together. We would talk about, he would talk about this with me. There's no better way to describe the excitement, the jubilation of a great play or a great series when your execution fuels emotion. If you're not executing, you're not having fun. You're not feeling it. You're not bumping into each other. You're not hugging each other. You're not. So, that phrase became something I would use quite often because it says it all.

Speaker 1:
[49:17] What about you? Was there a point in that year that...

Speaker 5:
[49:20] I think every year you feel like we have a really good team.

Speaker 1:
[49:24] Yes.

Speaker 5:
[49:24] I think after, I believe it was the second...

Speaker 1:
[49:26] You don't go to a season being like, hey, we're not going to win this year, but we're going to suck this year.

Speaker 5:
[49:30] The real moment for me was when we were in LA and Carson got hurt and Nick comes in the game.

Speaker 1:
[49:37] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[49:37] And the feeling on the sideline with some of the guys that I was around, it was just like, damn, not us again. You know, Carson at that moment was...

Speaker 1:
[49:46] MVP.

Speaker 5:
[49:47] MVP.

Speaker 1:
[49:48] Would have been.

Speaker 5:
[49:48] And then Nick comes in and Nick starts slinging it. And I'll just never forget the feeling in the locker room after that game. And Malcolm gave his speech, and it was just like next man up mentality.

Speaker 1:
[50:01] I agree. That was a crazy moment in that season.

Speaker 5:
[50:04] Throughout the entire season, it was that way. But that was the biggest moment. And how Nick responded to all that, I thought was unbelievable.

Speaker 1:
[50:13] Nick handled it unbelievably. It ended up working out to our favor, I think, a little bit, because Nick came in and was different than Carson. Yeah. And he liked different plays and we switched it up at the perfect time in the season. But you had the nail on the head too, Stout, with saying that it was a great blend of personalities and people. And Carson was great. But LeGarret Blount was an on-real teammate and personality to have in there. Jad Jai added him halfway through the season. It was fantastic. Young Isaac and some of the players we had in the depths that were ready to play. Corey Clement.

Speaker 2:
[50:47] Those three running backs.

Speaker 1:
[50:49] It was awesome.

Speaker 2:
[50:50] We had fun. We had a lot of fun.

Speaker 1:
[50:51] And that was after Darren Sprouls got hurt.

Speaker 2:
[50:53] Yeah. Darren Sprouls and JP got hurt.

Speaker 1:
[50:57] We lost probably two of our... We lost our three best players. Probably, right? Our best offensive line was Jason P before he got hurt. Our best running back was probably Sprouls. And we lost our starting quarterback. Still went on.

Speaker 2:
[51:08] But I do think that what you just said about Nick, because once Carson got hurt, I felt the same. I felt like everybody was like, well, there it goes.

Speaker 1:
[51:18] I didn't have time to feel that way until after the game, I was still trying to block Eric Tom.

Speaker 2:
[51:22] Yeah. But after the game, I felt that way. But after the game was finished, I think that thought process was kind of removed. I thought it was like, okay, we're back. Do you remember shaking me like this? It wasn't after the Super Bowl, it was in the fourth quarter. You were shaking me and I was like, I had my pad in my hand and you were going, next plan out of his mind, we're going to win. I was like, okay, bro, we got to keep going. It was right close to when we kicked the field goal, Elliott kicked the field goal, that field goal was huge.

Speaker 1:
[52:02] The big players obviously, the Philly Special, but fourth down conversions with Ertz.

Speaker 2:
[52:05] There were so many.

Speaker 1:
[52:07] Let's fast forward to the year that we weren't there. What was special about that year? When did you know that season that team had a trouble one?

Speaker 2:
[52:17] Go ahead.

Speaker 4:
[52:17] I mean, to me, I didn't feel like there was a moment.

Speaker 1:
[52:23] Sure.

Speaker 4:
[52:23] It just was like each game was its own every week. If there was a game I could pick, it could probably be that LA. Rams game so far.

Speaker 1:
[52:30] Keep picking on the Rams. Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[52:33] It is what it is, man. That was the one game where I thought like Sunday night we played lights out and it was a just complete nomination upfront in the running game. It felt like a very complete game for us. The defense was playing lights out. I think that was probably the moment for me at least where I was like, hey man, we have something special. It was very late in the season, but how we were playing or how I was playing that season was just kind of taking each game week to week. I mean, everyone wants to talk about the bye week after the bye week. Week five, Browns come out home game. That's when we started our little win streak. How was that game? And you know, it was just one. So, you know, that was the thing. Ignition, I guess, the igniter for the way we kind of went on. But I don't know, Stout, what about you?

Speaker 2:
[53:25] Well, when Howie was able to get Sequon to come here, I felt like watching him, these guys, we talked about some of these other players here earlier, but those guys don't come around very often and watching some of the things that he was able to do. And I just felt like with the offensive line that we had combined with him and really the whole running back group, that we would have some great things that would happen. And all he needed was if we could block them up front and create the voids needed, any given play at any given time could go to distance. He had that breakaway speed. He had the ability to see stuff, whether it would be frontside or backside. And there were so many plays during the course of the season that were big, that were chunk runs. Even on third down, we were running the ball against these exotic defensive fronts and putting a fear of God in people like, you want to play this front? Go ahead. And so, yeah, I just think that was a huge part of that. And we were so, the players were so confident, much like the quarterback sneak play, the confidence level that you guys had running that play two years ago was like, there's no way to stop. Organized mass, and by the way, all these combination blocks that you talked about and these techniques that are individual, that is organized mass, but it's too.

Speaker 1:
[55:00] You're right.

Speaker 2:
[55:00] It's all organized. It's all mentality of organized mass. The teaching is all the same. And so you just, and the confidence level, of the players, I felt that way with the run gang with him, with Saquon, and the players did such a great job of executing all these combination blocks, getting to the second level, finishing. And we wrote it. We stayed with it all years.

Speaker 4:
[55:24] Just one of those things, I guess, the momentum at the right time. We peaked at the right time and we just read that momentum.

Speaker 1:
[55:30] They have the talent while everything else was coming together.

Speaker 5:
[55:34] I think something has to be said about, when you have a running back that is that good, I just feel like the O line, the tight ends, everybody just blocks that much harder. Like when we had Ligarit in 2017.

Speaker 1:
[55:47] Yeah.

Speaker 5:
[55:48] You know, what really all our running backs in 2017. But like those guys that just bring it, you don't want your guy to make the tackle.

Speaker 1:
[55:56] Yeah, when they're going balls to the wall, all out, running hard, it makes you block harder. And it's the same thing with Stout. Execution fuels emotion. So like the more success you're handling with something, the more you're excited to do it.

Speaker 4:
[56:08] Yes, I go on basically at our bench the whole year, just talking about plays. Just whatever happened on that drive, he was like, let's fix it up. What happened? He talked to me and clear up his vision. Then we go out there and boom.

Speaker 2:
[56:21] He would do a fly by and he would say, that one guy, you get that one guy, I'm gone. The next time we get that one guy, so then you'd see him finishing on the back shot. I pull out some clips, I know exactly what plays, what games. On the back side, where he's just straining and straining, whereas when he was young, he didn't know how to do that. He didn't even know how to have a clue how to strain, how to finish. But that pops the run for the touchdown, Kansas City game. I mean, I can go to the LA game. I can go through the list of him on the back side where he's straining and finishing. And Saquon would do a fly by and say, just get that one guy.

Speaker 1:
[56:56] You got an endless amount of sayings. You got, hungry dogs run faster, no man is an eye, mischarge drinks from others, execution fuels emotion. There's some funnier ones out there. You said, I don't know that guy from Adam's Housecat before. I still don't know what that means or where it came from.

Speaker 4:
[57:09] I thought it was an American saying. So I said it to Nicky and Nicky goes, that's not a thing. I'm like, what do you mean? I'm like, what do you mean it's not a thing? It like stout says it all the time. It's like, that must be a stoutism because I've never heard of that. So who is Adam's Housecat?

Speaker 2:
[57:25] Coach David would say it. He doesn't know. Adam's Housecat was somebody's cat.

Speaker 1:
[57:33] What about Pound and Salt of a Fat Lady's Ass?

Speaker 2:
[57:38] That's just a visionary of. Visionary aid.

Speaker 1:
[57:42] Tough running foot. What do you call a wide open gaping hole? What's that called?

Speaker 4:
[57:47] Oh my God.

Speaker 2:
[57:48] That's Al Barber. That's Al Barber. I've deferred that to Al because he owns cows.

Speaker 1:
[57:54] There you go. Listen, we're kind of being funny here though. But one of the things I think made you an outstanding coach was it wasn't just a lecture at the top of the meeting room. There was, you would say these things or pick your voice up in a way to institute, you used to call it a hook, which was if you wanted a player to remember something, you would say, this is the hook, you would say these phrases or these little things technique-wise to get the player to remember it. So that when they're out on the field, they would snap and they would know exactly what we talked about in the meeting. True.

Speaker 2:
[58:36] And also, if you remember, and I don't know, I don't know why, I think sometimes I would even go drift off into a life lesson.

Speaker 1:
[58:48] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[58:48] And I would raise my voice and I'd be like, look, you're not doing this forever. This situation is going to come later on in life. Do the right thing. Save yourself a lot of grief or whatever, or whatever that situation was. We spent so much time together, all of us. And you get to know each other so well. You get to know your girlfriend. You get to know your wives.

Speaker 1:
[59:14] My wife got out to Allison.

Speaker 2:
[59:16] You just get the feeling of caring about someone so much that if you could do something, just a little bit to maybe help a guy later on. And I would do that occasionally in our meetings.

Speaker 1:
[59:27] You just said, don't make the mistake because you're not. Immediately, I thought of, what's the one? Eighty percent of the time, the easy way is the wrong way.

Speaker 2:
[59:38] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[59:39] You want to take the easy route and it's great in the moment, but usually it ends up backfiring on you in the long run.

Speaker 4:
[59:44] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[59:44] What would be one thing that you would want people to know about Stout and how he is as a coach? It's not like a misunderstood thing, but what do you think makes Stout a great coach?

Speaker 4:
[59:55] For me, how much of a father figure he was.

Speaker 1:
[59:57] Yeah, it wasn't just about the coach and it was everything he just said. It was like caring about you as a person.

Speaker 4:
[60:03] For 10 minutes and it was just like that.

Speaker 1:
[60:05] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[60:06] Just like that.

Speaker 1:
[60:07] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[60:13] I mean, everyone thinks that, you know, everyone thinks they know, like, what kind of father figure he is, but.

Speaker 1:
[60:17] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[60:18] When we moved in here, it was just, it just turned 21.

Speaker 1:
[60:20] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[60:22] A big family guy left my family, back home, left my parents.

Speaker 1:
[60:28] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[60:29] And, you know, this crazy guy, I believe, is in this kid who, never played football before, and he was trying to make a name for himself. And I can't get over how he was always consistent. He was always there. He always believed in me, and he was always the last one to believe in me. And it wasn't like the lessons on the field of, you know, that's his job, that's his job as a coach, but the lessons he taught me as a man, but always showing up as a father figure for me when my family is so far away. And he knows, probably doesn't know, but like, I'll call you papa, you know that. You know I'll call you papa.

Speaker 2:
[61:15] He's always called me papa.

Speaker 4:
[61:15] I'll call you papa man, because I just needed, for me, I feel like I was a young man coming here, didn't really know who I was. Really, still a young adult. You know, I didn't know what I stood for, what I was going to stand for, what I believed in. And he just, for me, he kind of set me in my ways of, hard work beats everything. But I thought I knew, I mean, he said it earlier, like I thought I knew what hard work looked like. But I didn't know anything. I was young, I was very naive, and Stout has taught me so much about the one thing. And this year too, Kelce, everything I try to do is emulate how you led. And I just carry that on to the next group as best I could, the way I practiced, the way I finished every snap, the way I played in games. But it just started from coach Stout, and it started with you, and I just picked and chose what I needed to do to become the player that I became, and what I've become. And I'm just very lucky to be in this situation where I've had a great coach, a great locker room, and people to bring me along. You never needed to do that.

Speaker 1:
[62:30] It's one of the reasons I think the Eagles have been so successful, is even throughout change, they've kept pieces in part. So like I learned from Brent and Todd, and those guys learned from Dawkins, and there's been a transition period with the Eagles, players have learned from players. Stout, you were the offensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, through four different head coaches. How many times has that happened in the NFL? Never. Not that I know of.

Speaker 2:
[62:59] Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1:
[63:00] What Jordy just said is beautiful, and I'll piggyback on that. I feel the same way. But I also feel like the hungry dog who runs faster is what you've been as a coach. There's been a hunger and a desire to get, like an genuine caring for your players that has allowed all of these guys to maximize their ability. And I don't think it's any surprise that a guy that's never played football that has all the physical attributes has turned into one of the best tackles in the league. Guys have come from other places, castaways, McKay-Beckton, nobody wants them anymore. Comes here, wins the shoot ball, has a career year. You get the best out of them. You get the best out of me. You get the best. I mean, it's endless. And the technique, absolutely. The plays, the guys next to you. But the overwhelming thing is you could not go into that fucking room without being ready each and every day. You weren't going to accept it. So everybody had to acknowledge that. So for that, we all, as former players, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You gave us everything you had. And as players, that's all you want. I don't know what's next for you. I mean, I know you're taking the year off, whether you coach again or whatever you do. I just consider it a great blessing. I think all of us at the Philadelphia Eagles that were with you knew. So thanks, coach.

Speaker 2:
[64:16] Thank you. I love you guys. I really appreciate doing this. This has brought up some really, really good memories. I can't tell you guys enough how, when I think of my time coaching you, Jason, and you, and doing our MateBlocks, and doing stuff that we did as a group, the joy that brings me and the happiness that brings me because you guys believed in me, you trusted me. All I was able to do, I think there's a very important little point here with all the stuff we've talked about. But if you find one thing about a player like I would say to you, Jason, would you imagine what you could be like if you just used your hands right? If you just had a little bit narrower base in your stance, and you didn't overextend and fall a step, don't get crazy on me. Just listen to me. If you could just apply this and try this, this is going to go like this. Get the backside arm on that cutoff block.

Speaker 5:
[65:14] I still never got that.

Speaker 1:
[65:16] Don't use that.

Speaker 2:
[65:17] Don't use that to the ends.

Speaker 1:
[65:19] That's because I used the freaking loop outside.

Speaker 2:
[65:22] Or I would say, I would show Jordan, if you just kick us twice, and this is from Jason Peters, right? From him, right? From his Bible, he'd say, kick us as fast as you can twice and get to that spot. You just get to that spot. All good things are going to happen. And he'd say, and I would listen to him, I'd say, he'd go, that's all I do. I don't care about anything. I'll just tell Kelce to tell me who to lie. I don't want to be bogged down. I want to get to that spot. Nobody did it better than him. And then Lane would watch and then he would do it. And so to watch all this stuff go on and happen, it was so much. It was like a magic. It was like an artist painting a painting. It was like so beautiful and so much fun. And so for that, I thank you guys from the bottom of my heart.

Speaker 1:
[66:09] You're the best, Stout. I forgot to ask you, who are you going to miss most in the building? Because we're talking about his players. But I think you were maybe even more loved by the staff and the way you treated them.

Speaker 2:
[66:20] 100%.

Speaker 1:
[66:21] T-Roy has asked me already four times about how you're doing. I think T-Roy might be the most upset of everybody.

Speaker 2:
[66:28] Thank you, T-Roy. He keeps wearing a lot of my T-shirts and my shorts. T-Roy is a hard working guy and he's been around a long time like myself and everybody to support staff in that building, the cafeteria people, because I get up, I'm an early bird. So I would always see Miss Keisha and I would see Charles down there and early guys and Roman and those guys would all be there early and we'd have a little coffee together. And then you got Pat Dolan and his crew up there. And all those guys that have helped over the years. And then Steve Owen in the training room. I can't tell you for so many years that giving, I would also say here's another one that you forgot was give up yourself to your teammates. How much are you willing to give up yourself to your teammates? Well, that building is loaded with people who will give up themselves to the players, the coaches, just try to help and make their job a little bit easier. You know what? Not everybody's like that. So that was a special place for me and all those people. Very special to me.

Speaker 1:
[67:38] Thanks, Tony.

Speaker 2:
[67:39] Yeah. Thank you, guys.

Speaker 1:
[67:41] And that wraps up another bonus episode of New Heights. Thank you to Jeff Stoutland, my man Brent Celek, Jordan Mailata, Travis. Well done. We'll have some more bonus content for you all in May. So stay tuned to what that might be.

Speaker 3:
[67:55] Once again, New Heights, a wonder show brought to you by Planet Fitness. I'm about to go hit the gym right now. Follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show. We're going to have a bunch of fun clips after that one. And thanks to our production crew. We appreciate you so very much, so deeply. And to the 92%ers, hope you enjoyed it. We'll see you next week.