New York Jets' Allen Lazard EXPLAINS Why Aaron Rodgers Is The G.O.A.T Of NFL Quarterbacks! 🤩

I'm delighted to say that joining the show now seven-year NFL vet member of the New York Jets getting ready for the new season but he's taken out a little bit of time to speak with us Alan Lazard how are you doing sir I'm doing great thank you oh look we really appreciate you taking the time to join us you're looking cool enjoying a bit of the uh humid New Jersey weather ahead of the new season how's training camp going for you sir training camp has been long you know Camp is a season of its own honestly just because you know I was just explaining this to my girlfriend the other day it's that like the days of the week are completely irrelevant it's day one day two day three day four and like we'll do three days on of practice or four days on of practice and maybe get an off day and the off day could be on a Tuesday the off day could be on a Saturday it's just all predicated off the schedule and everything so um Camp is just a very long season you know you're you're waking up at 600 6:30 in the morning you're getting out of out of the building at 7 7:30 p.m. and then you have you know the little time at night to kind of decompress and then you're going to sleep waking up and doing it all over again so it's been it's been a great Camp you know I've been healthy the team's been healthy we've been practicing very hard um I think that's one thing coach Salah has really emphasized is just um getting us in shape and and not only physically but um mentally to be able to laugh last the last the season and the endurance of it so we're really excited about this year you know finishing up camp strong and got this last preseason game Saturday then you know the show starts in about two weeks absolutely love it and look you guys are heading out here to to London this year we're going to get to see you at the Tottenham Hots spur Stadium uh come week six cannot wait for that and and look we wanted to have a chat to you because we've heard here at talk sport we love the NFL but you know we are the home of football here in the UK we heard you're a big I'm going to call it football I'm not going to call it soccer cuz otherwise I'll get in trouble with guys here how did that come about man how did you become such a big football fan um so I never really liked football or footy um growing up you can call it soccer if you want that is allowed umy try to pay the respect to it but I didn't grow up playing soccer or you know football or anything like that um so it was kind of you know just a foreign sport to me um growing up and everything but it wasn't until first year in college where I was in Camp and we have these long days but after practice you usually get about two and a half three hours from post practice to the next meeting to get a lift in to shower to recover and just kind of have some free time to eat lunch and my teammates and I we'd come to the locker room and we'd play FIFA every day or they would be playing FIFA so that's kind of how I got really introduced to to the fandom of soccer and everything and I saw how compe guys were so I started playing it because you know I wanted to be a part of the team and just kind of join in on the the competition of everything and that's really how I kind of really fell in love with the sport and at that time it was 2014 and PSG was you know kind of um in a really good spot for their club and Slot Ibrahimovic was a monster at that time so he ended up becoming my favorite player and I ended up just following him throughout the rest of his career and everything and that's that was ultimately like when when I first fell in love with soccer and I just kind of have been um following it ever since and kind of grown over the years of just how much I pay attention to certain players or clubs or the league or you know obviously the World Cup and um the euros and stuff like that going on so I try to stay up to dat as much as possible what what is it you love about Zlatan his mindset you know the way he the way he talks in his interviews um is only really a snippet of just like kind of how he thinks and how he goes about things and being an athlete myself um just hearing the way that he's able to kind of um answer the questions and kind of just give you a little insight of how he thinks about himself and really just the belief in himself and he's just the monster out there on the field I mean you know most soccer players are around six foot and under you know more on the underside and he's 62 is 63 I think um he's he's a big Stater and he plays very aggressive and you know the the thing I like about him is that once the ball's in the air once the ball's coming towards him he doesn't see it as you know the defender could get there and it could could prevent me it's he's attacking the goal every single time with the mindset that when the when the ball touches his foot he's going to score and so just having that aggressive nature and every time he gets a chance or gets an opportunity to capitalize it something that I try to translate into my game as well of you know I run let's just say 40 different round throughout the entire game and I may get the ball thrown to me three five times with those three to you know three to five times are the most important times that I need to be open and I need to maximize because if I catch the ball and I I run a little bit harder maybe I can break this tackle and I can score but if I just kind of go um halfway through it and just kind of just focus on just catching the ball and just being satisfied with that yeah it's a positive you know gain it could be a first down but if we could be able to score out of it then obviously what you want the end result to be it's interesting because there's a lot of players who have had that level of success and Zlatan is one of the best of you the last couple of decades but I think people love him because he's so outspoken because he is just himself at all times in the media and I said this is going to be about football it is going to be about football but you know you've got a guy in a teammate in Aaron Rogers who similarly one of the very best on the field there's no doubt in the talent and also is happy to be himself and and be himself off the field do do you think that kind of personality just I don't know gives that little bit of extra Edge to people where they can just not caring what you think off the field can really just help you when you get on the field yeah it's it's very inspiring you know just to um see it within zattin but also with Aaron you know I obviously got to share the locker room with him and play alongside of for the past six years and everything and just seeing how he carries himself and how he may say things that from society you're not supposed to say or just it's against the grain but it's the fact that he's standing on his word and telling his truth and believing in it and not caring about the repercussions is inspir inspiring because it's allowing me to feel more comfortable in expressing myself with being myself and the more that we are able to fully be who we are and not try to mask it or try to hide our personality or our interests or our thoughts is is when we're able to maximize our full potential not only just from you know an on the- field standpoint or from a from a athletic standpoint but just from a life standpoint too of just exploring and growing and um just continue to be better are there any other guys on the Jets I know CJ Z who was on the team the last couple of years he came out so hyped to be coming out here big Chelsea fan got himself to a Premier League game I think he got to himself about four or five different games actually he's obviously now off the team is there anyone else there who you've got who are like big football fans who you end up or big soccer fans who you end up just nerding out to it about showing each other Clips chatting about stuff um not too many guys but CJ Mosley I know he went to a a Manu gang or a man city game this year um and has some some liking to the sport and everything and um so you know honestly I probably talk to Aaron the most about it because I think Aaron probably um follows soccer probably not as much as I do but he's definitely up to date with with it and everything and keeps keeps track on kindest you know certain teams and clubs that he likes look as a as an Englishman I shouldn't be promoting a particular player but I did notice your love on social media of a particular linum Mal and what they did this summer in Spain like I I guess I always find it interesting when guys from other sports really get attracted to someone who's just doing something phenomenal in another world what have you made of him and and how impressed have you've been with that young man um yeah he he's a phenomenal athlete you know he's what 16 17 years old and same thing with like endrick right like it's it's amazing to see guys that young and to not really like skip a beat when it's coming to playing at the highest level of the game and what what I TR and the truth is too of why I love soccer so much is because I can't do those things and and as someone I've been an athlete my whole life I played basketball football baseball I ran track you know I'm not the best at golf but like I have the motion down and everything so these are things that I can do and I'm very confident in when it comes to playing football I have no Foundation of skill set or idea of where I'm supposed to be and everything so when I'm watching the sport it's it's very just um it's very entertaining to me knowing and seeing these guys do something that I know I can't reciprocate I think that's really the whole the Baseline to to why people enjoy sports because you're watching these people do these athletic phenomenal um task that you know you can't reciprocate you know that when you see LeBron James driving out the middle of the lane jumping off one foot and dunking over someone who's seven foot tall it's you're blown away because it's like I could never do that like even as much as I tried to trained did wore the right shoes had the best angle it's just something that you just can't do and so I think that's what you know I got tell you it's the same reason one of the things I love in the NFL is I'm a big man like I you know I I 300 pound plus and a decent height and yeah I watch an offensive lineman run like a 4840 and I'm like that's not me I might be the size of that guy but there's no way I'm ever doing anything athletic like that so I think it's what we all love about sport right like it's so amazing to see people do something just at the very very top of their game you were out and you got to play at totam with the plers two years ago and obviously coming back again this year what did you make of that Stadium how special was that whole experience and just getting to soak up that different like English football atmosphere yeah or just being a a football fan I'm just to be able to play in Tottenham into being the stadium just kind of be able to experience it you know I've never seen a a Premier League game or um any game over in Europe so just to be in the stadium and the environment to be um the fans I think were probably the most um what I enjoyed out of the entire experience is because you just you're having a a crowd full of I don't know 50 60,000 people that are all just loving the sport that they're watching like it's it's there's crowd noise the entire game usually there's a home and away game you know you have if you're out there and you're a away team it's loud when you're out there offense and when we're at home it's a little bit quieter obviously because you know you want to be able to have better communication but for the for the international games or neutral site games where the the fans are very um neutral or split 50/50 it creates a very different environment than what we're used to playing in and everything so I really enjoy that because it didn't really matter what the result of the play was they were just like really happy to be able to be there and to be able to experience the game the the Stadium's un unbelievable and the lock room that we had is phenomenal as well just the fact that it's not even the Locker Room's not even catered towards us but it it very much is at the same time even though it's not the the main reasoning for for the stadium but one thing I wish is that we'd be able to play on the grass there that totenham gets to play on and I I'll keep my minimum but that's something that I would I would wish because at Wembley at Wembley they play in Grass too and I was actually with the Jacksonville Jaguars back in 2018 when we played the Eagles there I believe and that was a great experience as well especially just being Wembley and the the home stadium um of England and everything so that was a really cool experience that's something you know I'm really grateful and thankful for with the NFL how they've just expanded their brand of trying to make it an international you know week one you got the Eagles and the Packers playing down in I think Rio de Janeiro and Brazil which is is like that's a cool a cool perk to be able to you know have this job and to be able to play something that we love to do so um I hope as much as I'm not a big fan of the travel having to fly there the time change and then flying back immediately after the game then you're still going into you know the next week after a crazy 48 72 hours of traveling and playing playing a full game and stuff um as much as that is creates a challenge the experience and opportunity is unbelievable and I'm very thankful for it I love that you you enjoy it that much and I hope you get a chance to maybe catch a game while you're out here or like uh if not get here in an offseason and really get a chance to to enjoy those atmospheres because it is absolutely incredible as a football stadium as well as a an NFL stadium as well Ju Just on the Jets this season before we sign off obviously there's a huge amount of excitement for the season which everyone hoped they were going to get last year with Aon back and healthy you guys coming together again just talk to us a little bit about maybe as someone who came over from the Packers as well why people should be so hyped and a little insight into what makes Aaron so special that it's just raising the expectations so much yeah I think what makes Aaron so special is that he plays the game or he's able to manipulate the game to its purest form you know a lot of the times just on how football the dynamic of football how it works is that offense calls a play the defense calls the coverage and you run it against each other and hope hope for the best but with Aaron out there we can call whatever play lineup and if he sees something that he doesn't like by the defense he can he has the capacity to be able to to switch a route to switch a protection to switch the play entirely maybe it was a run play now he want wants to hand it off or maybe it was a or or maybe it was a run play now he wants to throw it or maybe it was a pass play now he wants to run it so just being able to have the entire Playbook open um for every single play makes it so you can manipulate the game where the defense can call the right coverage for this situation but if we're able to switch our play before um before we get into the play and everything and put us in the best most advantageous um scenario to be successful then you know it it creates the game just a lot more fun and more pure and just more natural and I mean that's just we don't need to get into the fact of his physical ability and skill set that he has with being able to throw the ball and the platform that he you know when I say platform your platform with throwing balls with your feet in the ground you know you square stance are you stagger stance are you on your back foot are you on your front foot are you someone like in your face where you're having to lean away and throw the ball and just all those different um adversities he has to face with being in the pocket I mean like you said earlier just the old linemen and stuff you have guys on the other side of the ball the lineman who are probably the most athletic creatures on this plan you guys guys that are from 62 to 66 and could be 240 could be 320 and these guys are running 4 sixes four sevens and they're quick and they're they're agile they're stronger than an ox and they're getting paid to rip the quarterback's face off so when you're taking all that in and understanding just kind of just what all is going on and for him to be able to still be poised and then to make an incredible throw and a crunch time moment it's just like once you fully understand it it's just like wow this is this is why they say he's the best to ever do it and look man you've been so generous with your time thank you so much uh I'm sure you'd rather be studying film and chatting to some random British guy but uh the final one I just want to ask is about uh young man on your team Garrett Wilson because we've seen some some viral highlight catches going on in uh in training in preseason you know having guys like you on the team some veterans to work with as well having a guy like Aaron what's his ceiling now settled into that offense and with the very best around him yeah I don't think Garrett has a ceiling I think he's just um starting to tap into his true full potential now with Aaron being here and everything and I think what Garrett does better than anyone else in the NFL is his improvization you know when you run a route they say to run a slam it's three steps and then you're breaking it at a 45 degree angle but what they don't tell you is if what if the DB is playing a little bit ins side on you what if he's pressed on you you know how do you adjust your route in the middle of the play be at the right place at the right time still be opened that's what Garrett does better than anyone else in football is understanding still this the concept the timing and the rhythm of the play but also being completely creative and manipulating the DB to do what he wants the DB to do so he can get open and so I'm very excited for Garrett to have a um a historical year this year and to really and I'll just show him show everyone his true potential