Randy Moss on Cowboys Revenge Game, Edelnut Origins, Wideout Woes & an All Dog NFL Team | EP 181

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

• Randy Moss attributes his red zone success in football to the boxing out and rebounding skills he developed playing basketball, emphasizing the carryover between sports.  Copied to clipboard!
• Jason Kelce's social media content is praised by Travis for its authentic, seemingly accidental 'grandpa' or 'toddler' style, which resonates well with audiences.  Copied to clipboard!
• Randy Moss's decision to focus solely on football stemmed from being embarrassed by elite basketball players like Shea Cotton and Kevin Garnett at a Nike camp, solidifying his path to the NFL.  Copied to clipboard!
• Randy Moss first approached Tom Brady in a hotel lobby before a Monday Night Football game to express his desire to play with him, leading to Brady's five-touchdown performance that night.  Copied to clipboard!
• Quarterback-receiver chemistry, like that between Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, is built on a natural understanding and 'backyard football' feel that goes beyond just practice reps.  Copied to clipboard!
• Jason Kelce identified his defining career moment as the response to his poor 2016 season, where intense offseason work led to his first All-Pro selection and a Super Bowl victory in 2017.  Copied to clipboard!

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Sponsor Reads and Show Intro

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(00:00:15)

• Key Takeaway: Intuit TurboTax and Adobe Acrobat Studio are featured as early sponsors.
• Summary: The episode opens with advertisements for Intuit TurboTax, emphasizing stress-free tax filing, and Adobe Acrobat Studio, highlighting its AI features for generating presentations and documents. The hosts then transition into the main content, welcoming listeners back to the show.

Jason’s Retirement Reflection

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(00:01:33)

• Key Takeaway: Jason Kelce’s primary motivation he knew he would miss about football was competing.
• Summary: Jason Kelce is asked what he will miss most about retiring from the NFL, to which he immediately answers, ‘competing.’ This brief moment is interrupted by a personal interaction involving one of his children greeting Randy Moss.

NFL Combine Then and Now

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(00:04:02)

• Key Takeaway: NFL Combine photos from rookie years are often unflattering due to poor lighting and angles.
• Summary: The hosts review NFL Combine ‘Then and Now’ photos, with Jason joking about his own appearance at 268 lbs. They observe that many players, like Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, look remarkably similar, while others, like Jason, have significantly changed their appearance since their rookie photos.

Jason’s TikTok Content Success

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(00:07:17)

• Key Takeaway: Jason Kelce’s authentic, seemingly unedited social media content is highly successful because it feels genuine.
• Summary: Travis praises Jason’s TikTok presence, describing his videos as feeling like they were accidentally posted by a grandpa or filmed by a toddler. Jason admits he sometimes feels dumb making the content but recognizes that his authenticity is what people enjoy most.

Reddit Fan Forfeit Recreation

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(00:09:37)

• Key Takeaway: A fan recreated a GQ photoshoot from the Reddit page for a fantasy forfeit, earning praise for accuracy.
• Summary: The segment highlights a fan submission recreating a GQ photoshoot for a fantasy league forfeit, which the hosts found hilarious and well-executed. The recreation was noted for capturing details like the head tilt, chest hair, and gut, and was confirmed to be done without AI assistance.

Randy Moss Career Introduction

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(00:11:07)

• Key Takeaway: Randy Moss is introduced with a summary of his extensive accolades, including being a Hall of Famer and record holder.
• Summary: Randy Moss is formally introduced, detailing his achievements: four-time All-Pro, six-time Pro Bowler, 1998 Offensive Rookie of the Year, and holding the record for most receiving touchdowns in a single season. Moss expresses gratitude for being invited onto the ‘New Heights’ podcast due to the brothers’ perceived realness.

Basketball Influence on Football

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(00:13:34)

• Key Takeaway: Moss utilized basketball skills like boxing out and going up for the rebound for his red zone receiving prowess.
• Summary: Randy Moss explains that while he uses quickness in open space, his red zone game heavily incorporates basketball fundamentals like boxing out and body placement to secure catches. He emphasizes that hard work in these foundational skills is what allows him to make spectacular plays.

Moss’s High School Rivalry

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(00:14:20)

• Key Takeaway: Randy Moss and Jason Williams were dominant, multi-sport athletes in high school who excelled in football and basketball.
• Summary: Moss recounts playing alongside Jason Williams, noting they both excelled in baseball, basketball, and football, often playing a year up. Jason Williams eventually focused on basketball after his high school quarterback solidified his role, leading them to travel the country playing AAU basketball.

West Virginia Authenticity

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(00:18:28)

• Key Takeaway: The grounded, authentic nature of people from West Virginia stems from humble beginnings and understanding real-life struggles.
• Summary: Moss attributes the grounded nature of West Virginians to coming from humble beginnings, citing his own unincorporated community background. He brought his Hall of Fame jacket back home to give kids something tangible to see and hope for, emphasizing that what you see is what you get from people in the state.

Edelman Nickname Origin Story

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(00:20:38)

• Key Takeaway: Randy Moss nicknamed Julian Edelman ‘Edelnut’ and had a humorous incident where his mother overheard Edelman swearing on the phone.
• Summary: Moss confirms he nicknamed Edelman ‘Edelnut’ as locker room humor. The nickname’s context arose when Moss was on the phone with his mother (‘Mama Moss’), and Edelman was loudly cursing in the background, leading to his mother later questioning who was swearing.

Edelman’s Rookie Impression

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(00:22:17)

• Key Takeaway: Moss recognized Edelman’s willingness to learn the game, despite being a former quarterback, which impressed him as a veteran.
• Summary: Moss noted that the Patriots system valued small, shifty players like Edelman, who was known for his gadget play potential as a former quarterback. Moss respected Edelman’s willingness to learn the game from veterans, which ultimately solidified his positive view of the rookie.

Transitioning from Basketball to Football

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(00:24:35)

• Key Takeaway: A humbling one-on-one loss against Kevin Garnett at a Nike camp convinced Randy Moss to commit fully to football.
• Summary: Moss detailed how a Nike camp experience, where he was embarrassed by Shea Cotton and then had his layup pinned by Kevin Garnett, led him to declare, ‘Football player. That’s what I’m going to be.’ This moment shifted his focus away from pursuing basketball professionally.

Confidence Built Through Competition

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(00:28:52)

• Key Takeaway: Moss gained confidence in his football abilities after seeing former AAU and college competitors succeed at the professional level.
• Summary: Moss gained confidence by seeing players he competed against in AAU basketball and at Florida State drafted into the NFL. This, combined with the struggles of coming from West Virginia, fueled his determination to succeed once he transferred to Marshall and found success.

Sponsor Reads: Expedia and Pepsi

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(00:33:28)

• Key Takeaway: Expedia simplifies travel planning by bundling flights, hotels, and activities in one app, while Pepsi Zero Sugar won a recent taste test challenge.
• Summary: Expedia is promoted as the simple solution for travel planning, allowing users to bundle services for savings. Pepsi is highlighted via the ‘Pepsi paradox,’ noting that 66% of people preferred the taste of Pepsi Zero Sugar in a recent challenge, suggesting people should let taste decide over habit.

AstroTurf Playing Conditions

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(00:36:32)

• Key Takeaway: Playing on AstroTurf required specific knowledge to avoid severe scrapes and joint injuries, contrasting sharply with modern turf fields.
• Summary: Moss described playing on AstroTurf throughout high school, college, and with the Vikings, noting the danger of severe burns resembling Velcro stripping skin. He mentioned seeing players suffer horrific skin injuries on game day due to the unforgiving surface.

The Old Vet Locker Room Wall

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(00:38:22)

• Key Takeaway: The visitors’ locker room at the old Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia featured a brick wall signed by over 100 NFL players.
• Summary: Moss shared a story about the wall in the visitors’ locker room at the old Vet where players like Walter Payton and Jerry Rice signed their names and left messages. He expressed surprise that this historic wall was not incorporated into the new stadium.

Draft Day Disappointment and Vikings Call

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(00:39:57)

• Key Takeaway: Moss expected to be drafted by the Cowboys, and after being passed over, he broke his ankle playing basketball that same night.
• Summary: Moss was emotionally prepared to be the Cowboys’ pick, even having his mother present with a Bible, only to see them select Greg Ellis. Devastated, he went out to play basketball that night and broke his ankle before receiving the call from the Minnesota Vikings.

Thanksgiving Revenge Game vs. Cowboys

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(00:43:48)

• Key Takeaway: Moss’s iconic three-touchdown Thanksgiving performance against the Cowboys was driven by the emotional weight of being overlooked by Dallas.
• Summary: Moss stated his primary goal in the Thanksgiving game against Dallas was simply to say hi to his mom on camera. Despite being emotionally scattered, he entered a zone where he knew he wouldn’t drop any passes, resulting in three catches for 163 yards and three touchdowns.

Facing Deion Sanders and Ray Lewis

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(00:46:01)

• Key Takeaway: Moss was so focused on the Thanksgiving game that he ignored warnings about Deion Sanders, viewing it as a challenge against the best.
• Summary: Moss revealed that before the draft, Jerry Jones sent him to Deion Sanders’ house, making him believe he was destined for Dallas, which fueled his desire to perform against them later. His true ‘welcome to the NFL’ moment was walking past Reggie White at Lambeau Field, realizing he was sharing the field with legends he grew up watching.

Darrell Revis’s Defensive Prowess

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(00:48:06)

• Key Takeaway: Darrell Revis was an exceptionally stout and patient defender who studied receivers’ body language and releases effectively.
• Summary: Moss identified Darrell Revis as a ‘gnat’ who made his job difficult, noting Revis compensated for not being as fast as Champ Bailey or Deion Sanders by studying technique and body language. Revis’s strength and patience, never opening his hips, made him a formidable opponent.

Joining Tom Brady in New England

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(00:52:35)

• Key Takeaway: Randy Moss proactively sought out Tom Brady before joining the Patriots, telling him he wanted to play with him.
• Summary: Moss described sneaking into the Patriots’ hotel before a Monday night game to meet Tom Brady for the first time, telling him directly, ‘I want to play with you.’ Shortly after this meeting, Brady threw five touchdowns against the Vikings, which Moss humorously suggested might have been influenced by their interaction.

Randy Moss meets Tom Brady

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(00:52:48)

• Key Takeaway: Randy Moss engineered his first meeting with Tom Brady by sneaking into the Patriots’ hotel before a Monday Night Football game to request a trade.
• Summary: Moss detailed sneaking into the visiting team’s hotel floor to meet Brady for the first time, directly telling him he wanted to play with him. Following this meeting, Brady threw five touchdowns in the game against the Vikings. Moss emphasized his desire to learn everything Brady knew about checks and protections to hit the ground running after his trade to the Patriots.

Quarterback-Receiver Dynamics

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(00:55:48)

• Key Takeaway: Quarterback-receiver drama is usually a 50-50 split, requiring receivers to understand the QB’s progressions and eye placement before every snap.
• Summary: Moss believes QB-receiver conflict is equally split between both parties, citing examples where a QB might get frustrated after a drop, or a receiver might run an unexpected route. He praised the anticipation between Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, noting that Mahomes knows where Kelce will be based on route knowledge and body language.

Chemistry with Teammates

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(00:58:47)

• Key Takeaway: The chemistry between Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes stems from a shared ‘feel out the game’ timing, contrasting with more rigid, step-based quarterback timing.
• Summary: Kelce and Moss agreed that chemistry is built on reps and a natural understanding of ‘backyard football.’ Mahomes’ timing is based on feel, allowing him to stretch his drop, which contrasts with the more rigid timing of quarterbacks like Alex Smith. Mahomes explicitly told Moss to ‘just get open’ and the ball would be there, showing immense trust.

Jason’s Most Valued Teammates

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(01:00:41)

• Key Takeaway: Jason Kelce’s most intuitive teammate was guard Brandon Brooks, who possessed an athletic feel for the game that allowed for non-verbal communication.
• Summary: Jason Kelce identified Brandon Brooks as the player with whom he shared the most non-verbal understanding, noting Brooks was an athlete playing offensive line who conceptualized the game well. He also highlighted Jason Peters for having an ‘alert call’ that signaled edge pressure, demonstrating high-level spatial awareness.

What They Will Miss

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(01:03:27)

• Key Takeaway: Jason Kelce will miss the locker room camaraderie and the regimented productivity of the daily routine most, while Travis Kelce will miss the feeling of rising to the occasion in big games.
• Summary: Jason Kelce noted that while he expected to miss competition, the locker room environment, where men from different walks of life unite for a specific task, is what he misses most. Travis Kelce cherishes the feeling of having to rise to the occasion in high-stakes playoff moments, where hard work finally pays off.

Defining Career Moments

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(01:06:37)

• Key Takeaway: Randy Moss’s defining moment was breaking the single-season touchdown record, while Jason Kelce’s was his bounce-back 2017 season following a near-cut in 2016.
• Summary: Moss cited breaking the touchdown record as his surreal individual moment, similar to watching Miles Garrett break a record. Jason Kelce’s defining moment was the response to an awful 2016 season, where he improved his technique and earned his first All-Pro selection before winning the Super Bowl in 2017.

Pinnacle Sibling Moment

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(01:09:21)

• Key Takeaway: Travis Kelce considered the pinnacle moment of his career to be the Super Bowl matchup against Jason’s Eagles, where their family was celebrated.
• Summary: Travis Kelce described the Super Bowl against the Eagles as the pinnacle, highlighting the moment they were both captains at the coin toss and seeing their mother celebrated as the ‘NFL mom.’ He also admitted his first touchdown against the Eagles was fueled by years of being beaten up by his older brother.

Randy Moss on Current Playability

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(01:12:28)

• Key Takeaway: Randy Moss believes he could still achieve close to double-digit touchdowns in the modern NFL due to rule changes and his superior hand-eye coordination.
• Summary: Moss stated he believes he could still score near ten touchdowns a season, citing his ability to still dunk a basketball and use his body control. He would consider a return only for the right team that offered him a chance to be a red zone threat and pursue a Super Bowl ring.

Current Quarterback Preferences

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(01:14:47)

• Key Takeaway: Randy Moss admires current quarterbacks who can buy time for pass catchers against modern defensive pressure, specifically naming Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, and Josh Allen.
• Summary: Moss values quarterbacks who can extend plays, noting the increased size and strength of defensive players today. He specifically praised Mahomes’ ability to sling the ball and buy time, listing Burrow and Allen alongside Mahomes as quarterbacks whose games he admires.

Game Day Stretching Rituals

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(01:16:21)

• Key Takeaway: Randy Moss clarified that his claim of not stretching on game day meant avoiding static stretching, relying instead on dynamic movement and energy generation with his teammates.
• Summary: Moss explained that his ’not stretching’ referred to avoiding static stretching, preferring to warm up by jumping around and generating energy with his brothers. He emphasized that everyone on the team must bring energy, not just one individual, to get ready for battle.

The Iconic Lateral Play

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(01:17:35)

• Key Takeaway: Randy Moss’s famous lateral play against the Broncos was a last-second Hail Mary where he chose to ‘body’ the ball, and he stressed that the play succeeded due to the offensive line holding their blocks.
• Summary: The play was a desperation Hail Mary because the quarterback could not reach the end zone from their position. Moss decided to body the ball rather than catch it with his hands, and he credited the offensive line and protection for giving the QB the time needed for the throw.

Edelnut Nickname Origin

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(01:34:32)

• Key Takeaway: Randy Moss nicknamed Jason Kelce ‘Edelnut’ because Kelce interrupted Moss while he was on the phone with his mother on Christmas Day.
• Summary: The incident occurred on Christmas Day in the locker room while Moss was speaking to his mother. Kelce approached Moss to wish Mrs. Moss a Merry Christmas, prompting Moss to warn him never to interrupt him while talking to his mother again, using the term ‘Edelnut.’

All Dog NFL Team Draft

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(01:22:23)

• Key Takeaway: The brothers constructed an All Dog NFL Team, assigning breeds based on player characteristics, with Jason Kelsey being likened to a massive, protective Tibetan Mastiff.
• Summary: Jason Kelsey selected a Tibetan Mastiff for his on-field persona due to its size and protective nature, while Travis Kelce chose the friendly, active Golden Retriever for his off-field persona. The team included German Shepherds at quarterback and St. Bernards as defensive tackles, reflecting leadership and size.