My First Podcast Appearance!
Apologies for my speaking voice...believe me, I'd change it if I could
I was lucky enough to be invited onto Filmstudy Baltimore to discuss my recent Sam Koch article. Ken and I touched on the 2015 MVR vote, but most of the podcast is spent discussing Koch’s amazing career. It was a great experience, and I hope to return at some point. Here’s a link to the episode: 25 Years - Sam Koch
Of course, I want to thank Ken for having me on. I don’t know how he did it, be he was able to take the mumbling ball of anxiety on the other end of the connection and coerce an intelligible, entertaining (hopefully listeners agree!) discussion out of it. The guy is a total pro.
In the podcast, I reference a specific NFL Films Presents YouTube clip a couple of times. Here’s a link to the relevant part of that video. It wasn’t in the original article, because I didn’t come across it until after I had already published. I wish I had found it prior, as it details a lot of what I mentioned: befuddled returners, balls downed inside the 5, etc… And I think most of the footage is from the 2015 season, if I’m not mistaken. The road games in DEN and ARI match up with that season, for instance.
And now that I’ve searched for Koch so many times, apparently YouTube thinks that’s all I care about and suggests only punting videos for me to watch. Here’s another good one about Sam Koch that made its way into my feed. It focuses mostly on his 2021 season, and explains better than I ever could how he’s still going strong after all these years—even if Sunday was one of his more forgettable games. That 23 yard punt was rough, but I think the most “un-Koch” moment was when he punted right at the returner in the middle of the field, allowing him to run it back to the 50. You could argue that a better punt (or a less returnable punt, at least) prevents that bumbling Pitt offense from scoring on that drive. And, worst of all, he lost his perfect passer rating, too. But even great players have mediocre games, and that was one for Koch. I have no doubt it was just an outlier and that he still has plenty left in the tank.
Anyways, thanks again to the Filmstudy Baltimore team for having me on. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience for my first podcast. And a special thanks to anyone who subscribes to my Substack after listening. I’d like to turn this into a career, so just the fact that you’re willing to give my work a shot, I can’t begin to tell you how much it means to me. And for anyone feeling really charitable, if you maybe wanted to pick up a copy of my book, Wells View, I’d be eternally grateful—because this student loan debt isn’t going to pay itself.