Sean Pendergast was surprised by how much attention the interaction between C.J. Stroud and Caleb Williams after Sunday night's game got so many people talking.
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00:00I guess I don't know. Should I be surprised that the interaction between C.J. Stroud and
00:04Caleb Williams had this many people talking yesterday? It was on national debate shows.
00:09It was getting people up in Chicago agitated. Yeah. It was. Yeah. And it's funny, the agitation
00:17and I honestly like the initial appearance of what we're about to talk about here that
00:22I saw was after some of the C.J. Stroud miked up blurbs surfaced on the Internet and it
00:28was Texan fans getting offended that Caleb Williams looked like he didn't want to talk
00:31to C.J. after the game. And for those of you who are going, what are you talking about,
00:35Sean? What are we talking about here? I'm going to get up to speed. C.J. Stroud was
00:39miked up for the game on Sunday against the Bears. The full video is out. It's like a
00:43six minute video. It's excellent. As miked up videos go, it's really, really, really
00:48good. So go out of your way to find it sometime later today. There was an interaction with
00:53C.J. Stroud and Caleb Williams at the end of the game as they were shaking hands where
00:57C.J. was giving Caleb a little bit of encouragement. Looked like Caleb started to walk away and
01:02C.J. said, no, wait, come here. And then he gave him a little bit more encouragement.
01:06And then the two dapped up and left. It's this is a total, Ben, how long is this cut
01:09we're about to play here? This is a total, this is like maybe 12 seconds, right? Yeah,
01:1312. Literally 12. I guessed it. Okay, good. Can I get a, can I get a ding for that, Ben?
01:17I just, yeah, thank you. I just want to feel good about, thank you. Here's C.J. Stroud
01:22and Caleb Williams at midfield following the game. Take a listen.
01:26Good job out there, bro. Yeah. Hey, stop taking those hits. Yeah, I know, right? Yeah. Learn
01:31from, learn, look, learn from those mistakes and everything that you got, bro, is in you
01:35already, bro. You're going to be a hell of a player in this league. All right, boy. Appreciate
01:39it. For sure. All right. So 12 seconds worth of, hey, stop taking those hits. Really good
01:43advice, I would say, right? Yeah. Yeah. And, and then, hey, then Caleb pulling away, C.J.
01:49saying, Hey, come here, come here. You're going to be a really good player in this league.
01:52You know, you just gotta, you know, I don't think there was anything where he was talking
01:56down to Caleb. I think he's just a little bro-ing him. That's all. That's the verb I'm
02:00learning in the last 24 hours is he little bro-ed him. He little bro-ed him. Yeah. Yeah.
02:05I guess, I guess. I guess. Okay. So there's, there's a couple of different, basically,
02:11I don't think you should be surprised that people read into this a lot and made a huge
02:14deal out of it because there's been a narrative about Caleb Williams and maybe he's not that
02:18guy in terms of attitude or what have you. And, and then C.J. has gotten to a point where
02:24there's been nothing but full-blown adulation regarding him for an entire off season. At
02:30some point, there's a whiplash to that. Yes. There will always, there always will be a
02:34whiplash to that. You know, Pat Mahomes had a period of time where, wow, wow, wow. What
02:39a great story. What a good kid, blah, blah, blah. Now he's, he's despised in many corners.
02:44So this, this, you should not be surprised that people read way into this. No, you're
02:49right. You're, you're a hundred percent right. And we're going to hear from C.J. in a second.
02:52And then we're going to hear from people who are really upset with C.J., which is the strangest
02:56thing ever to me. I don't know. But yeah, you're right. That's a good point, Seth. It's
03:01like the NFL is a room full of pinatas and they've not yet gotten to taking a swing at
03:05the C.J. Stroud pinata yet. I've been waiting for it. I get to hit this one right here.
03:11I can take my blindfold off. Yeah, it's like, it's, it's like you're having a birthday party
03:17and none of these stupid kids are getting the pinata open. So you're like, okay, take
03:20the blindfold off. Let's go. Let's whack away. Right. So let's, let's hear from C.J. on this
03:26because C.J. was asked about it yesterday at his press conference on the interaction
03:31between him and Caleb Williams after the game. Yeah, I had some of the best advice given
03:37to me last year and you know, me and Caleb, I don't, I was not trying to like treat him
03:42like I was trying to like little bro him or not. He knows that too. I have a ton of respect
03:46for him. I told him I respect for him. But I had so much, so many guys coming to me after
03:50games last year and that meant the world to me that, that, that those guys even thought
03:56about giving me advice. So I just try to get back to what the game has given to me. So
04:01I wish him the best, man. I want him to do amazing in this league. I think he will. I
04:05think that he'll get his groove. And once you get your rhythm, I didn't get my rhythm
04:08until like week three, week four. So I can see him, his game picking up from, from here.
04:13So, um, and you know, I, I don't think he was trying to like, you know, be any towards
04:18where he just upset that they lost. I totally understand. So, um, I have a ton of respect
04:22for that guy, man. I want him to do extremely well, just like any other guy. And so we play
04:26on that day. You know what I mean? After the game, we can be cool. You know what I mean?
04:30But, um, I'm, I'm definitely, you know, rooting for him and I want to see him do extremely
04:34well. Great answer from CJ, not surprised. Great answer from CJ. And I believe everything
04:39he's saying there, he's not going over to little bro him. They've got a relationship
04:42and he's trying to, you know, he's, he's trying to encourage him. I, the piece of advice,
04:45the one piece of advice that he gave him, stop taking all those hits is really good
04:50advice for Caleb Williams. I would say the stuff we're about to hear, like I understand
04:55Caleb Williams and so did CJ being upset. Like, you know, he just wanted to get it.
04:59Like CJ understood why he wanted to get out of there. Just lost the game. The people getting
05:03upset on behalf of Caleb Williams for this thing is some of the strangest stuff I've
05:06ever heard.
05:07It's really weird to me. I don't know that it's a, yeah. Like all of a sudden now they,
05:14they've decided to take up for this guy that I'm guessing many of them have lambasted for
05:18his Cavalier attitude or trying in his mommy's bosom or any of that kind of stuff. Yeah.
05:23So I, well, the one thing I would say about from Caleb's perspective, as I sat and reflected
05:29on this for far too long yesterday was I think the biggest thing, if I put myself in his
05:34shoes, you've got your friend that's, you know, giving you some encouragement, but then
05:40as a rookie and your head is spinning, you've just been sacked seven times.
05:43You had multiple big hits. Your offensive line did not play well, but you know that
05:47you've made some mistakes. It's CJ saying, don't worry about those mistakes you made
05:52where I might, I might try to be like, it's like if you just lost your job and somebody
05:57who's came up to you and was like, Hey man, it's going to be okay. Don't worry about the
06:00fact that your wife also cheated on you last year. That's all cool by now. I'm sure you're
06:04just kind of like, all right, man, I just want encouragement. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Don't
06:08worry about blowing those two big deals last month that we needed to bring in. Don't worry
06:13about all the reasons you totally deserve to get fired. Right, right, right. Okay. So
06:18that's a good point. So, so here, okay. We're going to hear from a few people here, including
06:23Mike Florio. Florio was on our sister station yesterday with Bernstein and Holmes on six
06:31Dan Bernstein, longtime host up in Chicago. And he thought that maybe CJ was overstepping
06:40his boundaries a little bit when it came to him giving advice to the bears starting quarterback.
06:47We were debating this of where Stroud is coming from. I found it to be a little presumptuous
06:54if not performative on his part for, I think it's one thing. What do you think the protocol
07:00is for when you can give advice? Like you're an OG quarterback in that moment after a hard
07:07fought NFL game. If you're the same age as a guy to go over and treat him like he's your
07:13kid, I could understand if Caleb Williams is like, look, I'm like, I might hear this
07:17from Aaron Rogers. I'm not hearing it from you. Okay. We're going to hear from Florio
07:22in a second, but that was Bernstein laying out his view on it there. Is this like the
07:25unwritten rules of base? Is there a protocol? I don't know. What does the guidebook say?
07:30If only we could get our hands on that guidebook, it seems somewhat presumptuous. It was if
07:35not performative, this is okay. And we're going to, we're going to get, he said that
07:44we're going to get, we're going to get to Florio and, and we're going to get to Nick
07:47right too. I was shocked by how upset Nick was about this yesterday. But this is where
07:52I'm at. Okay. Let's first take a step. This is 12 seconds. We're talking here. They interacted
07:57for 12 seconds on the field. These people are making it sound like he pulled them aside
08:02and took out a PowerPoint for the game and saying, here's all the things you did wrong.
08:05And here's my advice on how to fix them. This Bernstein though. Okay. This is a very Chicago
08:10specific thing to me. Your quarterbacks have sucked since time immemorial with your team.
08:15You should be happy. You should be happy that any good quarterback is pulling your
08:19quarterback aside and saying anything to them because the standard for Chicago quarterbacks
08:26is, is rock bottom, dude. So you, you should be hoping that this should, you should be
08:31hoping this happens with Caleb Williams after every single game with every single quarterback
08:36that's better than him, pulling him aside and saying something to him in his ear because
08:40your history of quarterback stinks, sucks.
08:43You guys are going to be trying to drown him in that damn lake of yours for before
08:47November. Yes, yes. I'm sure you like polar bear plunge or whatever they do up there.
08:52Yeah. Weird stuff. Oh, you want to hear from Florio on this as you can. Oh God, I can't
08:56hear enough Florio. Give it to him. Imagine. Here we go. Here's Mike Florio. And if you
09:00think CJ was overstepping a little bit, I try to watch objectively. Yeah. He seems like
09:05a guy who just lost a football game and really isn't interested in getting a lecture at midfield
09:08about basic, obvious stuff. Keep fighting. I mean, I don't need to hear cliches. I want
09:13to go change my clothes and get the hell out of here. So, you know, I, I think some made
09:18too much of it, but you're right. At what point did CJ Stroud become Tom Brady? That's
09:24he's not there yet. So I think, I think it's, it's just, it was just a weird thing all around.
09:28I think it's not CJ Stroud's place to preach to a guy who's just one year behind him by
09:35And from Caleb's perspective, you know, look, he's just lost a game. You really, you know,
09:42you don't want to hear it, but I, I, I wasn't surprised. I was disappointed, but I wasn't
09:47surprised that the knee jerk reaction by most was, Oh, who does Caleb think he is? Of all
09:52the people who are licking their chops to take a swing at CJ Stroud, like Florio's probably
09:56like, Oh, finally, finally, he's hoping so much that CJ will engage back with him somehow
10:02because that is gold for like literally gold or Bitcoin or however he chooses to deposit
10:07his, his web money. So here's the thing. I, these, I see these Chicagoans are all hung
10:14up on the age thing and, and forget about the fact that CJ has been through an entire
10:19season so far. And that also these guys have had a relationship that goes back to middle
10:23school. They've been good friends since they graduated high school, but they've known each
10:27other since middle school. But I think, you know, I was watching the Pacific, the mini
10:31series on HBO about the, the fighting in the Pacific during world war two. And one
10:36of the storylines there is there's this, these two childhood friends, one of them goes off
10:41to war and then the other one comes and joins him a year or two later. Okay. Guess who's
10:48got some good advice for the guy who's the exact same age as him. Like, you know, the,
10:54the guy that's been there getting shot at and stuck in the holes and everything like
10:59he's been through the war literally. Yeah. He's got some advice for his, his, I'll say
11:04young friend, even though they're the exact same age and it's, and it's good advice because
11:10he's been like the football metaphor would be that CJ has taken those hits. CJ has done
11:16some of this. He's been through all of it. If anything, the people who should be upset
11:20at this are Texan fans who should be so upset that CJ is kind enough to do this. Like, what
11:26are you doing? Trying to help out somebody from one of the other 31 teams. This is a
11:3032 team war. Like, would you, would you have walked up to the German soldiers back in world
11:35war two and said, Hey buddy, you know, like, uh, if you guys kept your weapons, they wouldn't
11:42miss fire. So I would sell CJ. Stop giving advice. Stop being so nice to people. I'm
11:46sitting over here just watching you guys fumble around and it's annoying. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:51Keep your head up, bro. Keep your head up. Um, let's hear from Nick Wright on this. Nick
11:55Wright, first things first FS one. Um, it's Nick upset that the, that these two, these
12:05two quarterbacks who are just weeks apart in age that one would give advice to the other.
12:10I think Caleb handled it as well as you could have given the fact he had to be absolutely
12:15furious. That is so they are contemporaries. That is not a big bro, little bro situation.
12:23It was, that's not, no. First of all, do you know, do you know how old Caleb Williams
12:27is? He's 23. He turns 24 in a few weeks. Do you know how old CJ Stroud is? He's 23. He
12:33turns 24 in a few weeks. This is Caleb Williams and CJ Stroud. Do you know how he looked?
12:39Caleb looks at CJ. I would imagine he remembers this night when they were colleagues on the
12:43dais at the Heisman trophy ceremony and Caleb won the award. Like the idea that this guy
12:49irrelevant means nothing. I totally disagree with nothing. We ain't in college. That's fine.
12:57I'm an eight times better than you. Okay. Listen to me. No, but that's not how I'm trying to help
13:02you. Hey, let's not forget this too. I, whether it's, whether you like it or not, whether you
13:11think it's notable or not in terms of whether Caleb Williams can be a football player, a good
13:15football player, he cried in his mother's bosom after a loss. Maybe this is exactly what Caleb
13:23needs. Maybe Caleb needs a little bit of a tough advice and love his dad's off trying to negotiate
13:30ownership shares in the, what did they talk about? What did all the, what did old performative Dan
13:36Bernstein talk about in the next segment? How many, what percentage of the bears they want to
13:39give Caleb Williams right now? Boy, he's really earned that. You should give him 25% ownership
13:44in the bears. Caleb needs some damn advice and some qualified parenting from yes, his chronological
13:51contemporary, but not as emotional contemporary. All right, here's a good advertisement for this.
13:57Texas is a good advertisement for watching on YouTube. Glad I didn't hear this segment on the
14:01radio. Seeing the YouTube feed is great. The faces you guys are making are phenomenal. Is
14:06he enjoying the horses behind me? Are we being performed? Are we being performative right now?
14:11I would say we're being down, right? Down, right, down, right. That Dan,
14:16that Dan Bernstein, Bernstein, Bernsperm. Listen, Dan Bernsperm, I'm tired of you spreading your
14:24seat all over by my damn airwaves. All right, you're done here. We're putting a condom on your
14:28ass. The only thing performative is SES attempted a magnanimous personality this morning. I did a
14:34pretty good job of it. I was magnanimous for the first segment. 18 minutes. Yeah, you did a good
14:39job. For those of you who are not on the YouTube stream, I'm in an Airbnb in Eugene, Oregon,
14:44and people have been admiring the picture of the horses. You need to, you need to take that
14:49with you. You need to take that with you and hang it on your. No way. I can't risk my Airbnb rating.
14:54Oh, come on. It's worth it. No, I am a model citizen in Airbnbs. I've got the,
14:59these people complain about the cleaning checklists and everything. I want more
15:03cleaning checklist items because it keeps me from losing stuff and leaving it behind. Yes.
15:09I will not steal these horses. No, no. These, these wild Oregonians,
15:13stallions, people have noticed that painting quite a bit this week. I'll just say frankly,
15:18I think these horses are a bit performative a little bit. Yeah. If not, what was the other
15:22word he used? Presumptuous. Those horses are presumptuous. If presumptuous dare I say
15:28performative, look at them running around gallivanting about just because they know
15:34they have an audience. Yeah. If we weren't here watching those horses, they would just be standing
15:38eating grass like the dullards that they are. That's right.