Gordon, 33, admitted missing football “every day“, and it makes sense. He had already made a name for himself before entering the NFL, with a memorable senior year in college. In 2014, Gordon earned unanimous All-American honors as well as the Doak Walker Award as the top college running back after leading the NCAA in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns.

It explained why the Chargers (still in San Diego by then) drafted him 15th overall in 2015, and Gordon didn’t let the franchise down. A two-time Pro Bowler (2016, 2018), he also spent time with the Denver Broncos (2020-2022), Kansas City Chiefs (2022), and Baltimore Ravens (2023) before retiring on a one-day contract as a Charger. Flash-forward to 2026, Gordon can look back on his career with plenty of pride as an emotional tribute from his alma mater awaits.

Melvin Gordon reflects on Wisconsin days, reveals expectations for 2026 Badgers

Bolavip: What can you tell us about life after retirement, and what are you currently doing after football?

Melvin Gordon: I golf a lot, man. I golf every day. And then, while I’m not golfing out, just working with different brands. Working with Kickstand Cocktails, just trying to grow my brand, man. Just trying to grow my brand and stay active, and not just sit on the couch and be thinking about football all day.

Bolavip: Do you miss football?

Melvin Gordon: Every day.

Bolavip: And what does it mean to you to be inducted into the Badgers’ Hall of Fame? What do you remember about those years in college?

Melvin Gordon: It means everything to me. I mean, I’m a Wisconsin kid, so I just remember Coach B telling me, “you come here, you’ll be in a position to be remembered forever.” And for that to be a reality for me, it’s been a lot of players that have come through Wisconsin, and now I had this opportunity. So it’s not something that I take lightly. It’s a blessing, man. I’m blessed to be honored in front of a lot of my peers, and a lot of my Wisconsin natives.

Bolavip: Wisconsin faced tough opponents last season. How do you see the program and what are your expectations this year?

Melvin Gordon: Every year I expect us to be good. Now every year, your team might not meet expectations or whatever. I mean, you see the Alabama fans, that’s just for an example. They didn’t have the season that they wanted. But I expect us to be well, I expect us to be good.

I expect us, especially with our schedule, to be able to compete and get in the playoffs. I want us to get in the playoffs. We should have an opportunity to get in the playoffs. We will handle our business against Notre Dame, I think we’ll be good.

I think we have a quarterback that can play throughout the year. I think we’ll be able to win some football games, put ourselves in a position to have our opportunity. I think we’ll be good. I’m excited. They’ve been taking a lot of heat, no one believes in them, and I think that’s the best route to take to get to the playoffs, being doubted.

Philip Rivers’ unexpected NFL comeback in 2025

Bolavip: What was it like to see Philip Rivers come back and play last year in the NFL?

Melvin Gordon: It was dope. I mean, Phil is one of my good friends, man. He was one of my favorite teammates. He’s so competitive, so fiery. He’s just one of those guys that everybody wants to play for, and I was rooting for him to come out and do that.

I don’t think people understand how hard that is. It’s hard being out a certain amount of years and then coming back, and then having to be put in as far as the captain of the team and you leading the ship.

So to be out and come and do that, I was hoping they won because they would have been able to go up against the Chargers in the playoffs, and I think that would have made just good TV and it’d been good for reporters, that’s one of those moments you hope that everybody get a chance to talk about.

So it didn’t happen, but I was glad he was able to go out there and do his thing, and also renew his years on his medical pensions that the NFL got to give him. That was good too, for him and his family.

Expectations on 2026 Chargers and advice for Omarion Hampton

Bolavip: How do you see the Chargers now with this quarterback-coach duo, and how much different do you see this franchise compared to your years on the team?

Melvin Gordon: I mean, it’s always different. Every team got different players, different coaches, different different makeup. This team is definitely not the same as ours. I mean, you still got players like Derwin James and Denzel Perryman that played there when I was there, but it’s just a different makeup.

And [Jim] Harbaugh, we expect him to come in and be great. He’s won at every team that he’s been a part of, and I don’t expect anything less. I was just there, I did some interviews with them and I was able to watch them practice, and I’m excited.

I’m excited, you know, they’re not like really crazy, heavy hitter names, but you don’t need that. You just need a team full of guys that just want it more than the next team. So it’s just a big camaraderie, that’s what football is. In the end, that’s the team. The team that knows how to play together, that’s the team that gets the furthest. So I think they’re able to do that. It’s early, but I think if we can stay away from injuries, we’ll always have a chance to get at that Super Bowl.

Bolavip: And what do you see in Omarion Hampton, another first-round pick in your position? What’s your advice for him?

Melvin Gordon: I was just talking to him. He’s really chill. He doesn’t speak too much. He’s bigger than I thought, and he’s fast. So he’s well-rounded, man. So my advice to him is just to go out there and do your thing, be who you are. Just remember why they drafted you. You don’t have to get into any comparisons with anybody.

Like I said, the makeup is different. This is your time, you’re the starting running back for the Los Angeles Chargers. Your time will come and go like everyone else’s. Like mine, like LT’s (LaDainian Tomlinson), like Ryan Mathews, Danny Woodhead’s, your time as a Charger will come and go. And it’s just for you to make the best of it. So, just put yourself in the best position to win, and do what you can to be in a position to win a Super Bowl, because you’ll be remembered forever.

Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Russell Wilson

Bolavip: Your journey also included a brief but very fruitful time with the Chiefs. You played for the Broncos and Ravens as well. But what was it like to work around Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and being around the team during that Super Bowl win?

Melvin Gordon: Yeah, it gave me just a different perspective of how things are supposed to be, just from their perspective. Andy Reid, he’s one of the best coaches out there, I’m not going to lie to you. I mean, just the way they ran practice, structure, everything, it just fit my style really well, and I wish I would have gone back. But it is what it is. I got me a Super Bowl and I’m blessed about that as well.

I can’t be too mad about the position that I’m put in when it comes to my career. I’ve had a chance to play with some phenomenal players and coaches. And Pat Mahomes might be one of the best football players I’ve ever seen in my life. At this point, he just needs the rings to follow suit with that.

Bolavip: You also spent time with Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson. What was it like for you?

Melvin Gordon: They’re different players. I think Lamar Jackson, he’s probably one of the better athletes I’ve ever seen in my life. But he’s really good too. They’re just different styles. They’re all different in their own way, and really it just comes down to what offensive coordinator you fit the best. What fits your system, and the way you want to run things best. And then they can all be great, because I think Mahomes does things that Lamar can and can’t do, vice versa.

And the same thing with Russell, just being able to throw on the run and different things like that, his deep ball. They’re all great in their own way. Trying to pick who’s better is really difficult because, unless you’re an offensive coordinator, you’ve just got to find the guy that fits your scheme best.

Gordon’s favorite active running backs

Bolavip: Who are your favorite running backs today?

Melvin Gordon: My favorite running back today is Jonathan Taylor. He’s probably one of my favorites. Probably Abu (Sama III), the running back Wisconsin just picked up, so I’ll be tailgating there. I’m going to be, throw me back some Kickstands, man. Just tailgate at the games with the fans, link up with them, go watch my Badgers. Win or lose, I’m in there.

But, I definitely have to go with, obviously, my Badgers, and then I’m biased with Dare Ogunbowale and Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor’s my number one back right now.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH MELVIN GORDON ON BOLAVIP US:

Altidore, who decided to call it a career in 2023, continues to stay up to date with the beautiful game, especially in the US. Recently, he’s been particularly attentive to Leagues Cup action, as the tournament renewed the MLS-Liga MX rivalry with a new format.

In his interview with Bolavip, Jozy analyzed Inter Miami’s early elimination, as well as the upcoming quarterfinal clashes. And, of course, we also had time to analyze the 2026 World Cup, among other subjects.

Jozy Altidore analyzes the 2026 Leagues Cup group stage

Bolavip: Jozy, let’s talk about the Leagues Cup. Now that the knockout stage bracket is set, what did you think about the new group stage format?

Jozy Altidore: I loved it. I really loved it. I loved that the MLS teams were challenged to go now and play in Mexico and experience these environments where football is life. And I thought, when I saw Toluca, the way they received Seattle, I loved it. I loved the passion of the fans. I loved to see what it meant to them. And at the end of the day, it’s an international prize, which is very, very important to both sides. And I think you’ve seen that with how the tournament has taken place.

Bolavip: You mentioned before the tournament how Inter Miami were favorites, because of course, they have a star-studded team, with Lionel Messi and so on. But it turned out to be quite different for them without Luis Suarez and Messi only starting the first game. What else do you think explains their early elimination?

Jozy Altidore: Well, first, before anything, un gran abrazo a Lionel Messi (a big hug to Lionel Messi). He’s going through something incredibly difficult. And I think for Miami, it’s difficult. When you have your captain, you are… you know, Messi is Messi. One of one. And him not being able to be a part of it for a lot of things…

So I think this year, you have to give a little bit of a pass to Inter Miami. I think they had a lot to deal with, with the passing of his father and him not being able to be the protagonist that Inter Miami needs. So I think that was quite difficult for them. But I think in any other year you would pick Inter Miami to be one of the teams in the last rounds of the tournament. So, I think there was a struggle there for them.

But again, this struggle created a new opportunity. And I think you saw that with teams like Austin FC and Real Salt Lake. I think they took the opportunity to pick up points and find themselves now in the last few rounds playing against some very big teams. So I’m very excited to see how these next matchups on August 25th and 26th take place in the quarterfinal.

Bolavip: Despite this setback for Inter Miami, do you see them as favorites to repeat their MLS Cup title or do you see other threats in the league?

Jozy Altidore: Yeah, I see other threats. But I think the season is a different animal because it’s a long season with the playoffs. So, it’s all about making sure at the right time the team is able to perform at the right level. And I think Inter Miami, with everything that they’ve had to deal with this summer, I’m sure they’re going to start to put it behind them and start to put together better performances now leading into the playoffs.

But football is a funny game. You never say never. And although I think they’re the favorites, anything can happen. We’ve seen Vancouver last year, we’ve seen them already this year performing very well. So I think anything can happen still.

Bolavip: Before the Leagues Cup started you also mentioned Club America as the Liga MX candidate, right? I guess that remains unchanged.

Jozy Altidore: Yeah, I’m 50/50 in my picks. [Laughs] And Club America, I mean, it’s no surprise. I think Club America is one of the biggest teams, if not the biggest team in North America, Central America. And, you know, we see when they play, the fans are traveling to support them. So I think it’s a strong team with a very good, competitive roster, and then they have the fan support as well. So I think they remain one of the more dangerous teams that are left in the draw.

The Chicago Fire’s promising direction under Gregg Berhalter

Bolavip: You also mentioned Real Salt Lake and Austin, but with Miami out, do you see the Chicago Fire, with Robert Lewandowski and a great team, as the strongest MLS candidate to win the Leagues Cup now?

Jozy Altidore: Listen, they’ve won three out of three games. I think Lewandowski is getting more comfortable. They have a good team. They have a good team, they play good football. I think Gregg Berhalter is a good manager. And I think he’s done very well in getting his team to be competitive and play in a clear way with the ball and without the ball.

So I’ve been impressed with Chicago, not only in the Leagues Cup with how they’ve taken in Gregg Berhalter’s ideas. And then, Chicago’s building the stadium. I really like Chicago not only for now, but over the next three, four years, I think it’s an organization that is doing the right things, and it’s gonna be one of, in my opinion, one of the better performing ones. At least we hope so, because of the market, because of what they’re doing to transform that club.

Bolavip: Chicago made a big decision by selling Hugo Cuypers to Monterrey after Lewandowski arrived. What do you think of that decision and how do you see these strikers? Because it will be the main storyline of this quarterfinal clash, right?

Jozy Altidore: Yeah, it’s gonna be interesting. I mean, Cuypers playing his old team, and I don’t know what the situation was there, you know, if they told him he had to leave with Lewandowski coming, I would have imagined they could have played together. But understanding a number nine, sometimes you have to think about what’s best for you. So I understand his decision. And I can’t wait to watch. I urge the fans to make your way to SeatGeek Stadium. Please get out there, watch these games. I think the storyline is going to be really, really cool. And I’m excited to see kind of how they match up against each other.

Bolavip: You recently mentioned Berhalter was a great coach, what do you remember of his tactical vision and how do you see his job in Chicago so far?

Jozy Altidore: Yeah I think, one of the things I’ve always liked about Gregg Berhalter is he wants to play with the ball. He wants to play football. His teams, he wants them to play football. And I think that’s the way, right? That’s the way football needs to be played. The formation he sets, his principles, I think they’re all quite good.

So I’m excited to see now how he plays against Monterrey, which I think is going to be a tougher team than they’ve played. But I think he has all the ability to set up his team tactically to win that game. And then obviously with Lewandowski as your number nine, if you feed him, he will score. So I like Chicago and what they’ve been able to do up to this point, but I think Monterrey will be their toughest test so far.

Mauricio Pochettino’s job with the USMNT

Bolavip: Gregg coached the US Men’s National Team for many years before this experience, and now Mauricio Pochettino has extended his USMNT contract. What do you think about this decision?

Jozy Altidore: Estamos contigo Poch, estamos atrás de ti. Tienes nuestro apoyo. (We are with you, Poch, you’ve got our support). I love Pochettino, I’m a big fan. You know, obviously I have history, we played against each other back a long time ago and then to see him really welcome what it is to be the coach of the US Men’s National Team, the culture, and to do the work, right? It’s not easy.

There’s a lot of work that had to be done and he welcomed that work. And I think it was a job well done. And I think he kind of helped the federation, the players see that there’s still another level that we have to grow to. So, I’m excited to have Poch. I hope he stays for as long as possible. And then that he can build a team that’s really competitive for 2030, whether he’s there or no, because you know, football is crazy.

But having Pochettino work with our federation, work with our young players, help us plant the seeds on how we move forward, I think is invaluable. And so I’m very thrilled that he’s staying with us a bit longer.

Bolavip: How far or how close do you think the US Men’s National Team is from other top teams? The World Cup was a bit bittersweet in that sense, right?

Jozy Altidore: Yeah, it was difficult, you know. And I use the word ‘fracaso’ (failure). It was a ‘fracaso’ to me, not because the players had a bad tournament, the players had a great tournament. But in the manner we lost that game, when I’m sure the players know that they are capable of much more, it was a bit of a shame, right?

And so I think the biggest thing though is, we have to continue making steps with the national team, but also our youth teams, you know? You can’t just win a World Cup overnight, right? It has to start from the youth. And are we competitive in the Youth World Cups? Are we constantly in the last four, in the last eight of the youth tournaments? Because I think those experiences are important at that age, but also it helps set the tone for the rest of the federation.

So I think you have to build from the ground up, and having more teams now challenge for the Under-17, the Under-20, the Olympics, I think this has to be something of a goal of ours as well to then help feed the national team.

Bolavip: You played in Europe a lot. How important or necessary do you think that is for the growth of the team? Is it relevant or not, really?

Jozy Altidore: Yes. Listen, I think it’s relevant. I think no matter where you play, it’s important to play well. I think the most relevant thing to continue the growth because, you know, we need to make sure that the environment that the players have in the US is an environment that they’re uncomfortable in. Right?

Even though they’re at home, we have to make it uncomfortable with how we challenge them. How we make them play, how we give them ideas to constantly keep feeding, elevating a football mind. And that starts with the coaching, so can we continue to educate our coaches that we have top coaches here that are challenging our young players all the way from, eight, nine years old in the básicos (academy) all the way to the first team.

So for me, it’s improving the coaching and providing environments where the players at a young age are uncomfortable. And then obviously from there, taking them to Europe is going to be very important.

The USMNT strikers and the next World Cup cycle

Bolavip: Does any current player from the USMNT remind you of yourself?

Jozy Altidore: [Laughs] Um… of course, when I watch Balogun, it brings a smile to my face because I think this is a striker that showed he can do everything. And I always wanted to be a striker that can score every type of goal. From a set piece, left foot, free kick, header, penalty kicks. And when I watch Balogun and how he moves and how he plays, he’s dangerous in so many different ways of the game. It was a real joy for me because you need a striker like that.

And also Ricardo Pepi. I think Ricardo Pepi is a different striker, but his hunger… you know, he’s so hungry. You can see every time he touches the field he wants more. And then you also have Haji Wright, who is a different striker but had a fantastic season and another striker that scores goals in many different ways. And so it really pleases me to see that.

I see a little bit of myself in all of these guys, not only in how they play but their journey. You know, from Pepi leaving MLS at a young age, Balogun doing what he’s doing in Europe, and Haji Wright as well. So it’s exciting to see those guys. And I’m very excited to see what they can do in this next cycle and the other new number nines that we’re going to develop going into Madrid 2030.

Bolavip: Do expect many changes for the next World Cup cycle?

Jozy Altidore: Of course. There’s gonna be changes. You know, for a lot of these players, it’s their third World Cup in a row. It’s not gonna be that easy, right? There’s gonna be new blood. I think for obviously some of the more experienced players, maybe it’ll be more of the same, but I think you’re gonna have challenges, you’re gonna have players challenging for places. And, to be honest, you need it. You need it so that the team remains competitive, the team remains strong.

Altidore sees serious potential in Bradley and MLS

Bolavip: And going back to MLS, how do you see the New York Red Bulls, the team that drafted you, and Michael Bradley, your former teammate (on the USMNT and Toronto FC)?

Jozy Altidore: I think Michael has done a great job. I think it’s not easy to go into a team that historically is not spending like the rest of the teams. It’s a first-class organization, but they have a methodology and how they want to bring up the youth players and what they want to do there. So I think for any coach, when you go to Red Bull, you need to have this in the back of your mind. And you need to work in a little bit of a different way. And I think Michael has done a great job.

It’s not easy ever in your first season, especially as a coach, but I think he’s only going to continue to get better. He has great football experience as a player, but also playing with him, the way he’s able to break down a game is like nobody else that I know. And so I’m very bullish on Michael. I think Michael is just a start. And I know some of the results lately haven’t been great, but I think Michael is a national team coach in the future, in my mind.

He’s a coach that is going to start in MLS but also going to coach in Europe in a big league, in my opinion. So, I think Michael is, is, is terrific. I, I really like what he’s doing. Obviously, there’s going to be challenges, but I think he’s really a coach of the future that we have to one, support, obviously be critical of, but support and, and help him as a footballing nation to continue to rise as a coach and get to the next level to give that experience back to the young players.

Bolavip: Do you imagine yourself working with him or in a coaching role in the future?

Jozy Altidore: [Laughs] I don’t know man, I don’t know about that. You know, I have to coach my son now at home, and that’s literally my biggest priority. But I don’t know. I don’t know. It involves a lot of traveling, it’s different. But you never say never. You never say never in this life. We’ll have to see. But he’s doing a terrific job and it’s great to see him go from playing and being like a general coach on the pitch to now being a general and a coach off the pitch.

Bolavip: Yes, you never know. I mean, you can still come back and play, so who knows?

Jozy Altidore: [Laughs] Yeah, listen, I would love to. I never say never in anything. I love the game. I’m a football player first before anything. So who knows.

Bolavip: MLS continues to land big names: Lewandowski, Antoine Griezmann, Alexis Sanchez. What do you think about this?

Jozy Altidore: I think it’s excellent because you’re seeing Lewandowski, you’re seeing Alexis Sanchez, you’re seeing (Heung-min) Son, you’re seeing (Luis) Suarez, Lionel Messi. But then you’re also seeing transfers for big money for players, right? For our young players.

Ricardo Pepi a few years ago went for a big transfer. (Zavier) Gozo from Real Salt Lake, he’s now leaving for a big transfer. So as much as we’re seeing the older players that have these great careers come back and want to play in MLS, we’re also seeing a lot of young players too at the same time now going to Europe for big transfer fees. And that speaks to MLS and the way they develop these players.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH JOZY ALTIDORE ON BOLAVIP US:

Building on previous experiences like in Qatar 2022, Ramos followed closely this year’s World Cup as a broadcaster. Now, he continues contributing to the beautiful game’s growth in the country by leading the US National Soccer School.

During his playing days, Ramos made a name for himself as a midfielder who earned 81 caps with the USMNT, including three World Cup appearances (1990, 1994, and 1998).

Tab Ramos analyzes the 2026 World Cup and the USMNT’s performance

Bolavip: What did you think about the USA’s performance and the country hosting the World Cup this year?

Tab Ramos: I think the World Cup was an incredible event. We had a lot of concerns initially because there wasn’t a lot of interest, it seemed, in the country for it. Like a month before the World Cup, it seemed like no one knew it was happening.

But the World Cup, that full month when the World Cup was going on, it was absolutely crazy here. And I think it was definitely the best ever, it was a great event. Every stadium was packed. I was fortunate enough to broadcast a lot of the games out of Philadelphia and out of Toronto, so I was involved heavily in it, and I truly enjoyed it. I think it was definitely one of the best World Cups ever.

In terms of the national team itself, I thought, in general, the national team had a good performance. I thought our first game against Paraguay was likely the best that any US team has ever played at a World Cup, and I think that’s a very positive sign. However, in general, you have to judge the national team by results, and I think the results were just barely okay and really below the expectations.

Bolavip: Did you expect the team to go further, or did you expect at least a better performance against European opposition?

Tab Ramos: Well, I mean, it seems like going to the Round of 16 is the norm for our country here, regardless of the coach that we have. And so, because we brought in Mauricio Pochettino, and he’s one of the highest-paid national team coaches in the world and obviously he has incredible experience overseas, our expectations were a little bit higher than getting to the same place we always get.

We waited for two years in the beginning of Pochettino’s era, as we didn’t get good results. He kept saying, “Well, we’ve got to wait for the World Cup. We have to wait for the World Cup.” And we waited for the World Cup, but in the end, we ended up getting the same results as always. So, in general, I’d have to say this World Cup was below expectations.

Bolavip: And why do you think this was the result?

Tab Ramos: Well, I think what the team showed in the World Cup was exactly what the team had been showing for the past year and a half, which was an up and down of some FIFA windows playing really well, like when we beat Paraguay and beat Uruguay 5-1, and then the next window playing really poorly, like when we lost to Portugal and we lost to Belgium.

And really, that’s probably the last two really noticeable windows, but that really happened throughout Pochettino’s process. And I think the World Cup showed exactly the same. It showed our team playing really well against Paraguay, maybe the best ever, not as well against Australia, and then poorly against Turkey, which you can justify because it was a second team.

But the Bosnia game was barely okay. And then obviously the Belgium game was not a good game. So it sort of showed us the same as it had been shown for the last year and a half.

Pochettino’s contract extension and the USMNT’s direction

Bolavip: What are your thoughts on US Soccer extending Mauricio Pochettino‘s contract?

Tab Ramos: Well, I think first of all, there’s no question that Mauricio Pochettino is a good coach. So, I think we’re lucky to have a good coach. But at the same time, I’m not sure how much research it came down to.

But let me just start with this: I think whenever you hire a coach, there has to be a goal in place, right? What is it that you want from this coach? Right? That’s something that we don’t know.

So, we haven’t had the president of the federation say, “Hey, over the next eight years, we’re looking for this. We’re looking to play this way, or we’re looking for these results.” None of that has been made public in any way.

All we know is that they decided—a group of people decided—that they’re going to keep Mauricio Pochettino, right? But we don’t know if Mauricio Pochettino was kept because the demand was, “Hey, for 2030, the goal is to be a semifinalist or a quarterfinalist,” or because they hired Mauricio Pochettino because Mauricio Pochettino is going to install a new way to play that’s going to translate to our youth national teams and it’s going to change the way we play.

None of that has been said except that Mauricio Pochettino is going to help with the youth programs and help with coaching education. Now, as far as I know, he hasn’t worked in youth programs, nor has he worked in youth education, right?

So, we don’t really know what it’s for. So, I think the best way to answer your question was, if Mauricio Pochettino was not the guy, then who was, right? Because I didn’t have a clear answer.

I think if we don’t have a goal in place, it’s hard to put in candidates. So all of us outside of the national team started to throw in people. Okay, “Thierry Henry or Xavi Hernandez, or it could be Roberto Martinez.” Like, we start throwing names, but really the names don’t mean anything if you don’t have a goal.

And I’m not sure what the process was because we don’t know the goal. Had we known the goal, I think we could have an opinion. At this point, I really can’t have an opinion on whether this is a good hire or not, but I do know that he’s a good coach.

The criticism faced by Christian Pulisic and the Folarin Balogun situation

Bolavip: Going back to the World Cup, what do you think about the criticism that Christian Pulisic faced, especially after the elimination?

Tab Ramos: Well, I think criticism is fair. This is what this game is about, right? I’m sure there were some people who thought that because we played well in the first-round games that the full performance was good enough. And then there’s going to be people that are going to say, “Well, that’s not good enough. I think we got to the same place as other World Cups.”

So, the World Cup was okay. But if you think about it, we got the same place we got in other World Cups, but we were playing at home this time. So at times, you expect to do better than before, not the same. And so, yeah, it seems to me like it’s not necessarily unfair to say that the World Cup was not great.

Bolavip: Do you think that the whole Folarin Balogun situation affected the team negatively?

Tab Ramos: I remember going into that game just looking from the outside, thinking how we had great momentum going into the game regardless of whether Balogun was going to play or not.

And I think if anything, the Balogun situation was a big distraction that I think maybe sidetracked our team a little bit and I think motivated Belgium a little bit more. So I think if anything, I think it had a negative effect on our team for sure.

Bolavip: Do you see now a core group of players for the next World Cup, or do you think that a major overhaul should be done for the next tournament?

Tab Ramos: Well, this is an interesting question because when you look at the roster, we had a roster of 26 players. Fifteen of them will be 30 or older in the next World Cup. Normally, if you look at the stats, teams in general have between five and six 30-year-olds on teams.

So it’s inevitable that there’s going to be eight or ten changes just by stats alone. There’s no question that we’ve now had this generation for two of their, let’s say, prime years, and now there’s likely going to be a lot of changes.

The future of soccer in the US

Bolavip: What kind of impact do you think this World Cup and this generation will make for soccer in the US?

Tab Ramos: I think it will have a huge impact. I think this World Cup will be felt for the next couple decades. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time because I think all of the new people that got to see the World Cup this year—and there were over 50 million people watching our national team by the end—it will certainly have an effect on them, and it takes time.

I mean, if you think in 1994, really no one knew what soccer was in general. I mean, most American people thought that soccer was just the hooligans in England who fought each other in the games. I mean, that’s basically—and I’m, of course, generalizing. Of course, we had some people who knew about the game.

But if you think about it, over the next 20 years, the effects were slowly gaining ground, right? And over the last 10 years, think about all the new stadiums that MLS has built. Think about all the new facilities that MLS teams have built to develop players.

These are all results from the 1994 World Cup. And so some results are immediate. Within a couple years, the league started. Some results take a decade or two. They build their own stadium. The league grows. You have more teams.

So I think it’ll be the same effect this time. And it’ll take time. But I think there’s no question that this World Cup was really positive for the game in this country.

Bolavip: And where do you see MLS in this situation? Do you see the league in a good direction, or do you think that changes should be made to make this league even bigger?

Tab Ramos: I think it depends on what our expectations are of the league, because I think the league is in a good place. I mean, obviously, we know there’s five big leagues in Europe. Those are the best in the world. There’s the Brazilian league, which I put right below them or right on par with some of them because the Brazilian league now has money and great teams. Maybe you put the league in Argentina a little bit below that.

And then I’m not sure that MLS is not competitive with other leagues in the world after that, right? And we could argue about that. You could say, “Well, you know, I think that—I don’t know—the Dutch league is better.” I mean, we could argue about other leagues, but I think MLS is right there.

So, if you take the top six or seven leagues, MLS is right there. So, I think it depends on the expectations. I think MLS is in a good place.

I think where we have to make progress is on the player development front, is on the culture front, because inevitably MLS is the professional league. That’s where everybody goes. But MLS can’t be responsible for all of it. So MLS has to be responsible for having a proper league. And I think we do have a proper league. So I don’t think it falls on them. It falls on the rest of us. It falls on us as soccer and on the rest of us to help MLS with the players that are coming along.

The pro/rel debate

Bolavip: Do you think the promotion/relegation debate is relevant or not?

Tab Ramos: I don’t. I personally don’t think it’s relevant, to be honest. And the reason I say that is because to have a true pro/rel, everyone has to be involved in that.

And what do I mean by that? What I mean by that is that if you and I want to start a team with our friends, we should be part of the pyramid of true pro/rel, right? We start with our friends in the corner and we bring ten friends, and our team does well, and then we bring a couple kids from the outside, and our team gets bigger, and then we go into the sixth division and we do well, and then we have a chance.

That’s true pro/rel. But if pro/rel is going to be, let’s say the USL, puts all their teams together and they move up and down within their teams, I just don’t really think that means anything. I don’t think that’s the true value, the true spirit of pro/rel.

Bolavip: What can you tell us about your program with the US National Soccer School?

Tab Ramos: Well, we have a program here in which we have the kids. First, it’s academic. So, the kids come to school in the morning. They eat lunch with us.

We have a high-performance group that works on all of their levels. It works with the kids on the analytics of their training sessions, works with them on the activation every day, so they don’t get on the field without the proper activation. And then in the afternoon, they’re on the field for two or two and a half hours every day.

I truly feel that this country, and in particular with a new wave of thinking of—not of workload, we’re always worried about workload, and other countries train more than we do.

We have to remember that still today, a lot of the greatest players in the world come from Africa and South America, regardless of whether the best teams come from there or not. And the reason those are the best players is because they have more contact with the ball. They have more hours with the ball. And so we’re here to provide that.

We’re not a club. We’re a school. The kids are here and do about 8 to 10 hours of training, sometimes 12 hours of training with us, just on the field every week. Plus, then they go to their clubs. So, I think that we’re providing all of the hours that young players can’t do on their own.

Bolavip: Are you planning, besides this project, to return to coaching on the professional level?

Tab Ramos: No, I don’t want to return to coaching at all. I found that I did my full professional coaching pathway, from coaching nine-year-olds all the way to coaching U-18s for many years. Then, as you know, I coached the national teams for many years. I was a youth technical director for many years.

And then I always thought, like every coach, I always thought, “Well, you got to move up, you know? So, the next step is to go into the pros.” And then you realize, at least for me, I got hit by the fact that it really wasn’t so much about me and my coaching style.

When you go into the professional world, it has a lot to do with the roster that you have and the roster that you can get. And by no means am I taking responsibility away from myself. Maybe I just was not a great professional coach. Maybe that’s what happened.

But I do realize that I know just as much as everybody else. But when you don’t have a roster, in the end, it’s difficult to be successful. And here’s the bad part about it. The bad part about it is that you take it all home with you, and you’re worried about the players 24/7, and you don’t sleep, and it’s all day and night to be a coach, and it’s very, very difficult. I really don’t want to live through that again.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH TAB RAMOS ON BOLAVIP US:

In an exclusive interview with Bolavip, Banks reflected on his NFL career and shared his thoughts on the current state of the Giants. Selected third overall in the 1984 NFL Draft, Banks was well aware his draft position would matter little if he couldn’t prove he belonged in the league. Fortunately, he landed in the lap of a great head coach, Bill Parcells, and a young yet meticulous linebackers coach named Bill Belichick, who would go on to become defensive coordinator before ultimately making a name for himself as a head coach.

Banks knows what it takes to win. More importantly, he knows what it takes to win in a market like New York. Four decades have passed since Banks, Parcells, Belichick, Lawrence Taylor, Phil Simms, and company hoisted the franchise’s first Super Bowl, but the lessons taught then remain relevant today.

Although it still feels like yesterday to Banks, he understands that it has been far too long since New York enjoyed success. Banks loves the fact that he is still honored by the organization and will continue to be for years to come. Yet he comprehends better than anyone that fans deserve better than to cling to nostalgia. Perhaps, on the 40th anniversary of the Super Bowl XXI, the Giants will party like it’s 1987 now that John Harbaugh took charge of the team.

Banks on Bill Parcells changing Giants’ culture

Bolavip: You were recently at the New York Giants’ Town Hall event. How was that? And what’s it like to still be a part of the Giants organization so much time later?

Carl Banks: It’s always an honor to be a part of the Giants organization. To be able to continue to carry the torch for the legacy that I helped build. So, being a part of that and being an ambassador to what Giants football is and to be someone who was a part of bringing the first ever Super Bowl championship to the organization is quite an honor for me and I am very humbled that they asked me to participate in events like that.

Bolavip: You joined the organization in 1984. They had never won a Super Bowl and had too many losing seasons in a row. You really were a part of the change. What did it take to make it happen?

Carl Banks: Well, it took a culture change. We had to focus on the things that were important, the little things. Coach [Bill] Parcels was in his second year and he was not sure if he would make it through the season if he didn’t win. So, we were all in for him and we wanted to do whatever it took, not only for the coach, but for each other. We wanted to make sure that we held each other accountable and we played a brand of football that was tough, very physical, and very disciplined.

Bolavip: Being coached by Bill Parcels, what did he teach you? What did you take from him, one of the greats in Giants history?

Banks: You used two words, coach and teach. I think the one thing that if you ask any of my teammates, they will tell you [Parcells] was a great teacher as a coach. Our entire coaching staff were great teachers. They taught great fundamentals. They taught us what the important things were in order to create a winner and to be a consistent winner.

And he was very insistent upon that as a coach to make sure that we constantly did the little things right. He was a nag sometimes. He was very persistent in making sure that we did all the little things. We didn’t take any shortcuts. And I’m, again, grateful for that experience because the things that he taught us as a coach were things that I took into life after football, into my businesses, and allowed me to be a great leader in business.

Bill Belichick’s impact

Bolavip: You were also coached by Bill Belichick as defensive coordinator. Did you expect Belichick to have as much success as he did as a head coach too?

Banks: So, I first had Coach Belichick as a linebacker coach and then he became defensive coordinator. He was another person who was really detail-oriented, but he was also a coach who could take feedback and create solutions in real time. So I knew that the way he processed information and was able to transfer that or communicate that in a simplified way that players could go out and be productive, [it all] told me he had the ingredients to be a great head coach.

When he left the Giants and became the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, it was not an easy situation for him. Two years after I left the Giants, I joined Coach Belichick—myself and Thomas “Pepper” Johnson, but Pepper went a year before me—to help convey his message and how winning football was supposed to be played.

Cleveland had an abundance of talent and they just didn’t want to adapt to the principles of winning. Having someone like myself and Pepper Johnson, who had been a part of what Coach Belichick was doing and having that success, made it easier for us to communicate with our teammates in Cleveland.

We went on to have two very exciting years and had a historical defense one year. So that kind of laid the groundwork. Those successes laid the groundwork for him to then transition to the Patriots and become the greatest coach of all time.

Belichick’s first-ballot Hall of Fame snub

Bolavip: How shocked were you to learn [Belichick] wasn’t named a first-ballot Hall of Famer?

Banks: I would say I was shocked if I didn’t think all of this was premeditated. I’m more disappointed than I am shocked. I think you have journalists who are on the selection committee that decided to settle grievances in an out-of-context way. There was no way anyone could justly state that the greatest coach of all time should not be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

[Belichick] did not have a lot of favor in the press. He treated everyone equally, but he was just not the used-car salesman that always had a story to tell. He was always about football. So I guess those in the media decided that they wanted to pay him back for that and it just wasn’t the right environment to do so.

The disdain that some in the media and some of his contemporaries had for him. They just thought this was a way to, I don’t know, knock him down a peg or whatever. But it does not diminish his accomplishments. He’s still the greatest coach of all time. Whether you put him in on the first ballot or the last ballot, his record and his résumé speak for itself.

Bolavip: What do you think, does it really matter? First-ballot? At the end of the day, he’s going to go to the Hall of Fame.

Banks: He’s going to go to the Hall of Fame. It is established that he is the greatest coach in the history of the NFL. It doesn’t matter where he goes in. Whenever he does go into the Hall of Fame, he will go in as the greatest coach in the history of the NFL.

John Harbaugh’s arrival in New York

Bolavip: With John Harbaugh just coming in. He gets such a good draft class for the Giants. What do you expect from this head coach who won a Super Bowl, can he be the one who takes New York back to the promised land?

Banks: I am very confident that he can do that. His résumé speaks for itself. He has been a consistent winner. His teams have a profile and they don’t deviate from the style of football that they play. That style of football is similar to the style that I played or that my teams played. They were big, they were fast, they were physical, they were smart. When you look at all of Coach Harbaugh’s teams, no matter who the personnel was, they all fit that profile. That’s why he won so many games.

Bolavip: This team with Harbaugh can really try to imitate or be quite similar to the ones that took the Giants organization to the next level. It has a lot of similarities that the fans, I guess, must be really excited about.

Banks: Yes, [fans should be] really excited.

Bolavip: Do you think the sky is the limit right now for New York?

Banks: Yes. I think they have to stay healthy. But I do believe that there’s a great opportunity ahead for this team if and when they really get the little things that are required to be an elite football team. When they get those things ingrained in them, then you’ll see an immediate shift to a different type of football than you have been seeing the last five, six, seven years from the Giants.

Bolavip: And do you see any player on today’s roster that has a similar skill set or mentality to you?

Banks: Well, I think it’s more about the mentality than the skill set. The requirements of today’s NFL player are a little different than when I played. However, I see a tremendous amount of talent at the linebacker position for the Giants. Each and every one of those players can be elite.

Brian Burns is already an elite player. Abdul Carter is going to develop into something that’s unblockable. I think maybe one player that’s kind of similar to me, because of his ability to play the run, and that’s Kayvon Thibodeaux, but he has a very unique skill set too. Those players [in New York] have an opportunity to really take it to the next level.

Carl Banks praises Arvell Reese

Banks: And then they drafted Arvell Reese, who is a linebacker by description, but he’s going to be such a utility defender. They can do a lot with him. He’s a big, fast kid, but he’s going to develop into kind of an ultimate weapon.

Tremaine Edmunds, who is 6-foot-5 and really good as an inside linebacker. They’ve got players that will have an opportunity to really put their skill sets on display with Dennard Wilson’s scheme because it’s similar to Don “Wink” Martindale’s scheme where guys are playing aggressive and not thinking a lot. That’s going to be to the benefit of guys with their skill sets.

Bolavip: Coming off as a rookie, third overall pick, what’s it like with the expectations set on you? How did you manage them? And what’s your message to this year’s Giants rookie class with Arvell Reese, playing the linebacker position like you did?

Banks: The expectations for me were a little different than a normal number-three pick. I came to the team and they had four All-Pro linebackers already there. So the expectation was high because I had to prove that I was worthy of being part of one of the most elite groups of linebackers in the NFL.

Myself and Gary Reasons were drafted that year and then they traded Brad Van Pelt and Brian Kelley and we replaced them. Once we replaced those players, especially me in particular because Brad Van Pelt was such an incredible football player and he was very close, they were a very close-knit group, people really wanted to know if I could live up to expectations. I didn’t feel pressure in the sense of, ‘I’ve got to prove myself’. The thing that I wanted to do was show that I had what it takes to be an elite player.

Playing alongside Lawrence Taylor

Banks: When you step on the field with Lawrence Taylor, you see instantly that whatever you were doing is not as good as what he is. So you have a barometer, you have a level that you have to strive for in order to get on the same plain as Lawrence Taylor. His effort, his speed, his tenacity. So in order to be an elite player, you’ve got to come close to what he is.

Nobody’s ever matched what he is, but you can come close and you can perfect the things that you do well at an elite level. That was kind of my goal. Once I took the field and practiced with Lawrence Taylor, it was like, ‘I’ve got to be elite at something and perfect my responsibilities.’

Bolavip: What would you say was your eliteness coming from? What did you perfect?

Banks: Hard work. You know, I had the good fortune of being tutored in my last college season by the great Hall of Famer Jack Ham. He taught me some of the ins and outs of playing the position and then from there I incorporated that into my skill set. It was just a matter of implementing it at the professional football level.

I did that and continued to work at it. I continued to study myself and how I could get better at every technique, every little thing, and it made me the most dominant strong-side linebacker during my career.

Working for the Jets and the rivalry in NY

Bolavip: Heading to the other team in New York, the Jets, you worked for them as a director of player development. How was that change from one organization to the other in the same city? Did the fans let you know about the decision?

Banks: I don’t think I got too much negativity from the fans and I think that’s because Bill Parcels was there as the head coach and president. Because he has credibility, I have credibility. We were there to do a job. People probably weren’t happy with it, but they understood why I was there and the respect that I had in New York as a champion and as a person certainly helped with fans not being so angry.

Bolavip: Is the Giants-Jets rivalry really a rivalry with the NFL’s scheduling of them so in between? Is there a lost opportunity to have a real battle for New York?

Banks: I think the inner-city or inner-state rivalries are not as strong as they used to be. The Jets have to deal with Buffalo [Bills]. That’s their rival. They’re in the division. The Giants have to deal with Philadelphia [Eagles] and Washington [Commanders]. That’s their rival.

Bragging rights for who is the best team in the city is just not determined if you win that game, a preseason game against the Jets. Back when I played, it was more important to the fans, but I think in the last 20 years the Giants have had better teams and obviously have won two Super Bowls since. The rivalry aspect of it just really doesn’t make much sense.

The NFC East rivalries

Bolavip: You mentioned Philadelphia and Washington. Is Dallas really a strong rival? But it feels far away geographically speaking, right?

Banks: The [Cowboys] are a rival, but traditionally for the Giants, the teams that really gave them and give them problems are: Philadelphia. Because Philadelphia is the gold standard of the NFC East. Dallas is striving to be better than Philly, but most in the division believe that as talented as the Dallas Cowboys are, they’re still beatable. They’re a team that you feel you can go in and play and beat.

With Philadelphia, a true rival, you’re striving to be as good as them. You’re striving to knock them off the throne. Obviously you have to respect the Dallas Cowboys because they have so much talent and their quarterback is elite. They have really elite wide receivers, but when you play the Dallas Cowboys, you always find yourself with an opportunity. That’s not always the case when you play Philadelphia. Philadelphia is just so dominant. And so that is where, in my opinion, you kind of define what a rivalry is.

And then Washington has always been that team, ever since I played, that you love to beat. And it’s great competition. You love the competition against Washington. I don’t know for whatever reason. Our fan bases are super respectful of each other while really cheering vigorously against us, right? Washington fans have always been respectful of our teams, but they cheered so hard against us. I think the same thing applies to Giants fans when it comes to Washington. There’s this lovable hatred.

Whereas the Philadelphia fans are just so ruthless, so you want to get to a point where you can knock them out and then have ultimate bragging rights. Eagles fans have vitriol toward everybody. They don’t like anybody.

Banks sees Dak Prescott as the best QB in the NFC’

Bolavip: Being in a division with so many good quarterbacks, like nowadays in the NFC East every team has their franchise quarterback figured out, from a defensive standpoint what’s it like? Do you want to prove it wrong? What’s the message?

Banks: Washington has a very elite quarterback in Jayden Daniels. Dak Prescott is the best quarterback in the conference, not just in the NFC East. He’s the best quarterback in the conference. Jalen Hurts is a very good quarterback and I think doesn’t get enough credit for the things that he can do. And then, now the Giants have Jaxson Dart.

When you have that type of talent at the quarterback position on every team in the division, you have to look at how you can take advantage of other areas. Take advantage of offensive lines. If the offensive line is weak. I think Washington’s offensive line is not the best in the division. Philadelphia had the best offensive line, but with Lane Johnson not there, they took a step back.

Dallas had a really good offensive line, they took a step back a little bit. So, if you can have a defense that can really control the line of scrimmage, you have a chance to neutralize some of the talents of the quarterback.

Bolavip: Do you think the division is truly up for grabs for New York this season?

Banks: Well, it’s up for grabs if you can compete. The Giants have to be able to compete. They can win any game within the division. They have to compete, and that’s something they’re trying to get to. They’re building the right type of personnel that will allow them to physically compete. And then now it comes down to execution.

40th anniversary of Super Bowl XXI

Bolavip: It will surely be a special season for the Giants. For you as well, the 40th anniversary of the first Super Bowl win in the organization’s history. Does it feel that long ago when you hear it’s been 40 years now?

Banks: No, you really don’t think it was that long ago because the memories are always so fresh. I guess when it’s been so long in between really strong seasons, fans tend to reflect back on the great times of the Giants.

Both of our Super Bowls and then the two after that, is where fans really want to see the team get back to. When you don’t have a lot to look forward to, you kind of look back and cling to the good times. So hopefully, obviously those Super Bowls will never be forgotten, but hopefully the fans have things to look forward to as well.

Bolavip: You were named the 17th greatest Giant of all time. What does it mean to you?

Banks: It’s an honor. It’s an honor to be a part of basically the ultimate Giants team. If I’m in that top 20, that’s a beautiful thing. My satisfaction and the happiness that I get is from being part of winning. Being part of bringing the first championship to New York and the fans really approving of the job that you did, the performance that you gave them, the satisfaction that you gave the fans.

That’s the thing that really matters to me more so than where I rank amongst top Giants. As long as I know I gave my best and I was able to help bring a championship to a city that never had one.

Bolavip: You were at the Giants Town Hall with Phil Simms. What’s your relationship with Phil? Do you still talk with one another 40 years later?

Banks: Yeah, Phil and I are really good friends. We still talk to each other. We text, message a lot about things we see in football and we talk a lot of X’s and O’s. It’s a lot of fun spending time with him.

The hardest QBs Banks faced

Bolavip: You played against a lot of great quarterbacks. Who was the hardest one to figure out, to get down or reach?

Banks: Well, I think Joe Montana will go down as one of the greatest of all times and he was very difficult to play against. He didn’t run a lot, but he ran enough. He made great decisions and he’s just a winner. He’s just so talented.

In terms of who was the hardest quarterback to deal with, it’s probably Randall Cunningham because he was a player that you really couldn’t game-plan for. You just had to go into the game and adjust to what he was doing because he was so good and so athletic.

He was just not predictable on what was going to happen in the game. He’s not like a typical quarterback where you can look at film and say, ‘Okay, we’re going to do these types of things.’ With him, it was just whatever happens on game day, that’s how you would have to adjust. Big headache, big headache.

Bolavip: When you played, was Philadelphia the team you wanted to beat the most, especially on the road? Which was the toughest to deal with?

Banks: Yeah, the [Eagles] were tough. Washington was a team, though, that we needed to beat in order to be in the Super Bowl.

The interesting thing about the era that I played in, especially in the 1980s, there were three teams that won all the Super Bowls except one. It was New York, Washington, and San Francisco. Chicago won one championship in the 1980s [1986] and the rest of the Super Bowls were won by New York, Washington, and San Francisco.

Being that Washington was in your division, you knew that if you could beat Washington, win your division, you had a pretty good chance of going and beating the 49ers or playing the 49ers for a chance to go to the Super Bowl.

Keys behind Super Bowl XXV win

Bolavip: And there was also a team in Buffalo that went to the Super Bowl but couldn’t win it four times in a row. And you beat them with a missed field goal. What’s it like being outside, on the sidelines and knowing your destiny, your fate, and the Super Bowl is hanging on somebody else and you can do nothing about it?

Banks: Well, I was on the field during that kick, but I think the way that game was going, if they hit that field goal, we would have all taken our helmets off, shook their hands, and said, ‘Great game.’

It was just such a hard-fought game. But I think the key to that missed field goal was probably orchestrated before Buffalo even took the field. Sean Landeta’s punt. If his punt was 10 yards shorter and Buffalo started with field position with 10 more yards than they started, we could’ve all done the same thing and they would have kicked the field goal and won it. I think Sean Landeta had a great deal to do with how that series began and how it ended.

Bolavip: Does winning bring you together as a team, or do you think the team was already united before you won the Super Bowl?

Banks: Well, the journey brings you together because you have to be really connected in order to achieve anything in sport, in a team sport. You forge a bond where it’s one for all and all for one. We just continue to fight for each other and we become very close as a result of that. That bond is never broken.

In sports, egos come, but I think in order to win, you’ve got to put egos aside. That doesn’t mean you put your pride aside. It doesn’t mean you put your identity aside. But you understand that no one is bigger than the collective. You have stars within the collective and you always acknowledge and give deference to that. But when you have a guy as great as Lawrence Taylor, who was one of the best teammates you could ever have, that just tells you the ego is not part of it.

Bolavip: Did you feel unbeatable whenever Lawrence Taylor was on the field?

Banks: We, as a team, felt unbeatable. Lawrence made us that much more formidable. It was one of the greatest teams of all time.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH CARL BANKS ON BOLAVIP US:

A 10-year NFL veteran, Ismail played for the Ravens from 1999 to 2001 and started all four playoff games during Baltimore’s first title run, including the 34-7 win over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV ― recording a 44-yard catch that set up a field goal from 47 yards out to extend the Ravens’ lead to 10-0 before halftime.

“The Missile” enjoyed the most productive years of his NFL career in Baltimore, recording 191 catches for 2,819 yards and 18 touchdowns in 47 appearances (44 starts). Now an analyst covering his former team, Ismail speaks with Bolavip about the Ravens‘ moves ahead of the 2026 NFL season.

Ismail analyzes the Ravens’ 2025 season

Bolavip: Before we get into the upcoming season, I would like to know your thoughts about last year. What do you think went wrong for the Ravens?

Qadry Ismail: Boy, where do I begin? I think the year started off with extremely high expectations. A lot of the pundits in the media were saying that the Ravens were built to win a Super Bowl. They drafted some really good quality players. They had a ton of guys returning and basically they went into the year with the idea of “this is a Super Bowl or bust” proposition. At the owners’ meeting, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti was like, “Hey, Super Bowl or bust, let’s go. I’m ready.”

Whereas, I think John Harbaugh, who was in his 18th season as the Ravens head coach, he kind of tempered it a little bit. And I think that tempering mindset, in my opinion, when you’re talking about a highly competitive, win-at-all-cost type of league and situations that you present yourself and you present your players with for him to temper it… I think it kind of set the tone for what would transpire once the regular season started.

And so regular season starts and I think the offense looks good, strong, and sound, but there was some chinks in the armor of the offense. Lamar Jackson clearly being the star player that he is, he was amazing and did some amazing things, but I could see where when it was crunch time and time for them to be at their best, his offensive line failed him.

And because of that failure, the Buffalo Bills got the better of the team. The defense that no longer had Mike Macdonald as their defensive coordinator, they just didn’t look the part. And I think the dysfunction on the defensive side of the football, coupled with the fact that you had an offensive line that just couldn’t get into a strong solid rhythm against an upper tier defense, it just led to a 1-5 start. And that 1-5 start led into a year where Lamar Jackson was in and out of the lineup because of injuries.

I think the way in which their general manager Eric DeCosta did his free agency with certain players, primarily Jaire Alexander, from a cornerback aspect of things who you thought he was going to be really a strong piece to the puzzle for the defense, that didn’t work out.

Cooper Rush, who was Lamar Jackson’s backup, that turned into a very poor move and decision. Tyler Huntley comes in and really sparks the team to a couple victories before Lamar Jackson does get back into the fold.

But the failure for John Harbaugh and his staff, offensively and defensively, to, number one, say the elephant in the room: You just don’t have the right combination at offensive guard on both sides of the ball. You then defensively you can’t make your decision on what you really want to be as a defense. They had a major injury in (Nnamdi) Madubuike with his cervical spine injury and not really sure whether or not he was even going to play again.

I think all of that amounted to an opportunity to still go to the playoffs in Pittsburgh and you miss a 44-yard field goal because you didn’t have pretty much the right management of game play. And what I mean by that is, that shouldn’t have been a 44 yarder. It should not have been over on the, I believe it was the left hash, and I think that they were supposed to kick it on the right hash.

You pretty much put the season in the hands of a, I don’t know how much he was making, $800,000 kicker compared to a 36 and 60 some odd million dollar Hall of Fame running back and quarterback.

I think that there was an abject failure on the coaching and yeah, I think it led to the dismissal of John Harbaugh. Steve Bisciotti was very clear that he didn’t want to have another disappointing year and that empty feeling and so he decided to make a change and now you have Jesse Minter. Hope springs eternal, “The King is dead. Long live the King.”

All right, here we go, Jesse Minter! He’s touted as being a guy who understands defense, but more importantly, he understands relationships, building those relationships and making sure guys understand their expectations. As a team and as an individual, as a unit and as an individual, as a collective group and as an individual.

So whether you’re receiving group, an offensive line group, D-line group, defensive back group, linebacker group, you guys are a collective of individuals that need to understand one another. Whether you’re a unit, defensive side of the ball, offensive side of the ball, special teams side of the ball, you got to understand your assignments and your roles. So collectively, that forms that team and hopefully Jesse Minter can get it done.

John Harbaugh’s firing and eventual move to New York

BV: And how did you feel when John Harbaugh was fired and immediately found a new home on the New York Giants?

Ismail: I think when you have a resume like John Harbaugh, a Super Bowl winning coach, a coach that has sustained excellence in the playoffs ― up until last season, really had a good strong track record of being competitive, and his teams typically are well prepared and all that ― you’re going to gain and garner the interest of other teams.

And obviously with the Giants, their failures to get a head coach to sustain their level of excellence when it comes to their organization and when it comes to how they like to do things, I think it was a no-brainer for them to figure out that John Harbaugh would be a good fit for them.

I think for the Ravens and my personal opinion and feelings, yeah, he was a good dude and I think that there’s nothing that I can say that he did bad to me or anything personal or anything along those lines. But I think that at some point in time, your message gets stale. And as the message gets stale, you’ve got to reinvent yourself. He did it, but I think that in his reinvention he missed the mark, and it showed up in so many ways, in season as well as in the offseason.

The expectations on Jesse Minter and the new coaching staff

BV: Like you said, he spent many years at the helm and before him there was Brian (Billick), who also spent a very long time at the helm of the Ravens. How confident are you in Jesse Minter now to have another long tenure as head coach?

Ismail: Well, Martin, the times that I’ve spent with him, it seems like he’s got it all together. And again, when I say all together, sure, he’s had his growing pains, his ability to kind of go through the fire, and that refiner’s fire, you get some impurities that come to the top, it gets wiped away and then you have a better person, better product.

I think for Jesse right now, it looks like, yeah, he’s able to navigate, if you will, some of the things that are going to be coming his way. And his staff, it looks like his staff is a really cool staff that he put together.

But I would say he’s like a new battleship. You know, when an admiral commissions a battleship and now it’s no longer on a dock and they send it into the water and there’s the buoyancy of it all and it’s like, “All right, that’s great.” Then the captain of the ship is in charge of it.

You got your first mate and you got all your officers and you got your different people who are in charge of the different things of running the ship. That’s great. But you’re not seaworthy until you really put yourself under the test. And whether it be some sort of conflict that you have to deal with or if it’s some sort of issue at sea with regards to weather, regardless, you’re not seaworthy yet until you’ve gone through those experiences and really tested it.

So right now, yeah, the honeymoon is great. I could say a whole bunch of great things about Jesse Minter, but until he goes into Pittsburgh and experiences that, or plays against Cincinnati and experiences that. The NFC South is the main core of their schedule that they’re going to be playing.

And so with that, okay, how are you going to do when you’re playing against those guys? What does it look like when you’re playing on prime time? What’s going to happen when you have your first critical decision to make and all those things with both him as well as his offensive coordinator and Declan Doyle. We’ll see.

BV: Apart from Harbaugh’s exit and Jesse Minter’s arrival, the Ravens now have Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator and Keary Colbert as the new wide receivers’ coach. How do you think these changes will affect Lamar Jackson this year?

Ismail: I’m curious to see how the Ben Johnson-Sean Payton molding will bring Declan into the conversation of working with Lamar Jackson. And what I saw last year with Caleb Williams and the way the Chicago Bears formulated their offense, it looked great, and he made some incredible plays. I loved the mixture of run and pass. I loved all of it. Declan had a huge hand in preparing the offense throughout the week. It was Ben who called the plays, but now Declan gets an opportunity to be the guy.

And so with the experiences of two strongminded offensive people in Sean Payton and in Ben Johnson in the back of his mind, I think that he’s going to serve the next iteration of the Lamar Jackson era really well.

And then yeah, his assistant coaches on his staff, the Keary Colberts of the world, I know they have their responsibilities of articulating his vision to, in this particular case, the receiving core. They’ve got a really good receiving core led by Zay Flowers.

Again, if you’re looking at Chicago’s offense, if I’m a receiver, I’m drooling, because I’m like, “All right. We’re gonna have some plays that are going to be pushing the ball down the football field.” We’ll have some quick game, but I like how we can run some routes and get an opportunity to make some big plays.

The lack of playoff success with Lamar Jackson

BV: And why do you think Lamar and the Ravens couldn’t succeed in the playoffs yet? What do you think they need to get over the hump once and for all?

Ismail: I think the elephant in the room… There has to be an unwillingness to waver off of what you do best. And I think in the playoffs, whatever the reason, coaching as well as execution, they seem to waver off of what they do best. And teams in the playoffs, they try to take away your strength.

Teams that win in the playoffs, literally, they’re the ones dictating their strength to you. Period. End of discussion. “Oh, you’re going to try to take this away. That’s great. Well, here we go. We’re about to show you why you cannot.”

And I think that’s something that the Ravens, in the Lamar Jackson era, have done at times. They have Tennessee at home, they don’t play well, Tennessee beats them. They go to Tennessee, they whoop up on Tennessee. Buffalo seems to be in an enigma, where you think that they’re going to play extremely well, but they make these critical mistakes and then in the end they don’t execute to win the game.

But they got there because why? They got past the divisional round or the wild card round by whooping up on the Pittsburgh Steelers. You’re a number one seed going up against the Kansas City Chiefs at home. You have an opportunity to just be you. You got a defense that is incredible. You got the number one ranked offense, number one ranked defense, and for the first time in history, the team that failed to get to the Super Bowl, let alone even winning it, you now have to hang that hat on you.

And so with Jesse Minter’s new offense, new defense, new way of doing things, yeah, I think he has to have a resolve that says “whatever we are, we’re going to be that when we get into the playoffs and we’re going to impose our will on the other team.“

Expectations for 2026

BV: The AFC has been very challenging for the Ravens all these years. How far do you think the Ravens will go this year considering all the changes in the conference?

Ismail: The AFC, yes, had been ruled by Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. I think the shift overall, globally in the league, has been an interesting one where you’re seeing a kind of tipping back towards the defense. And Mike Macdonald is certainly one of the teams that you would say is ahead of the class. Obviously, what the Philadelphia Eagles did the year prior and whooping up on the Andy Reid-led Kansas City Chiefs certainly made the blueprint be evident.

I think bigger picture-wise, when you look at all those teams, whether it be the Broncos, whether it be the Patriots, whether it be, even the Bills to a certain degree, the Texans, they all have a defensive front that if you don’t run the football or if you don’t control the line of scrimmage with your upfront five and the pass protection ability of it and be accurate with the football, you’re going to have a long day. That’s just how it is.

And so I think for Jesse Minter, he’s going to implement some of those philosophies that we see across the AFC and across the NFC. I think that’s going to be great for this defense and I believe they’re going to give the offense an opportunity to have short fields. As opposed to always having to, you know, relinquish the ball and now you’ve got to go 70-80 yards. I think this team will be opportunistic. I think this team will be giving the Ravens offense a lot of short fields which is going to be advantageous to the team as a whole.

BV: Rushing was very important the year you won the Super Bowl. How important do you think that Derrick Henry will be, or that at least he should be this year for the Ravens?

Ismail: I think the running game and what Derrick Henry presents is just incredible. Top-notch. Unbelievable. And I say it because of this: Anytime you’re an offensive line and you’re having trouble when the wind blows and you’re trying to block air and you’re missing, that’s a problem. Let that sink in a little bit.

So I think this year with Declan Doyle, I think what he has is Dwayne Ledford, their offensive line coach, and I think Eric DeCosta by drafting Vega Ioane as a right guard, bringing in John Simpson as the left guard, still up for debate what it’s going to look like at center, but for running game purposes, if I am Derrick Henry, I’m like, “All right, bet. Here we go. We’re going to do some things.”

Now, they don’t have the traditional pullback any longer. They have let Pancake Pat Ricard go and they’re going to bring in a multi-look uh tight end group. But besides that, I think that yeah, it’s imperative that they run the football, run it effectively, and I think that they will.

The Lamar Jackson – Michael Jordan analogy

BV: And what do you think of Lamar running with the ball? Do you think that he should do it less, just to protect himself, or do you like when he suddenly scrambles and gains yards on his own?

Ismail: He’s the greatest dual-threat quarterback to ever play the game. So, why would I want to take a strength away from the greatest to ever do it? Did Michael Jordan set the tone early in his career by dominating at the rim? Yes. Did he change up from a longevity aspect of things and do his fadeaway jumper? Yes. Did he come back to dominating at the rim when he needed to? Absolutely.

My point in that analogy is this: Lamar Jackson early in his career did what he needed to do for his strength and for what the team needed. He has certainly evolved into the player that he is today. And I think the next phase of his game is to be like Jordan in that fadeaway jumper. What does that look like? Because you also need to have that dominant go to the rim style of play, too. That’s where I think I’m excited to see what it’ll look like in Declan Doyle’s offense.

BV: Would you have liked to play with Lamar?

Ismail: God, yes! Absolutely. In my career, I played with Warren Moon, Hall of Fame quarterback who in my mind I don’t ever remember him throwing a bad ball ever. I played the latter part of my career with Peyton Manning and that was an awesome thing as well from a pure, just let’s take advantage of the defense, period. Now, well, let’s go to the line of scrimmage and let’s have the entire playbook at our disposal and we’ll change the play so the defense can’t hone in on us. Those two quarterbacks were just incredible, incredible, incredible.

Now, if I were playing with Lamar, my goodness. I would absolutely love it. I think it would be amazing. I think the early iteration of Lamar where he was more leaning towards running the football rather than throwing it, I probably would pass on that.

But the Lamar Jackson that has, I don’t know how many perfect passer rating games he has, but I know he’s like, if not number one or at least top two of all time, I want to be a part of that. That guy who, man, he slings it, and he will find you.

I want to be a part of that guy and yeah, I want it where teams are so nervous that he’s going to run that you’re in man-to-man situations and let’s eat! As a receiver, you should be drooling because you know all you need to do is make one guy miss to have a big play on your hands.

Ismail’s experience playing with great QBs

BV: You recently mentioned Peyton Manning, you also overlapped with Brian Johnson and even Dan Marino during your stint with the Dolphins. What was your experience with them, and who was the one who impressed you the most?

Ismail: Hall of Fame wise, Warren Moon, I had a good amount of success with. Dan Marino, I wasn’t nowhere near in the conversation of playing on the team with him, he and my good friend OJ McDuffie had a really awesome connection. I mean, that was his guy and OJ was on point with it.

Dan was just incredible arm talent. I mean, say what you want about today’s quarterbacks, but Dan was doing it back in the day where you had to take some vicious hits as well as your receivers weren’t just running free wide open across the middle, because you had guys that were able to take your head off, and it was just a different game back then, but he thrived in it. So that to me says an awful lot.

I loved playing with Peyton. You can put yourself in a position where if it’s cover two and you got a man route, I mean, it’s easy to change it, but not many quarterbacks have the IQ to change it. Payton had the IQ to change it at a moment’s notice. So, I loved that about him. And it was just fun playing with him. Again, like I said with Warren, you just never had a bad ball and he was just fun. That was amazing, playing with him.

But you’re going to think, this is where my success was with two quarterbacks. One was Elvis Grbac and the other was Tony Banks. And both of those guys, while not Hall of Famers, like it felt great to have the moniker of being their go-to receiver, to being the number one threat and that playmaker for those guys. That to me was amazing. So yeah, I would say in my time, those people really stood out to me.

Analyzing the current game

BV: You recently mentioned some changes in regard to today’s quarterbacks. How much do you think the game has changed from your era to today? Not only at quarterback, but also at wide receiver.

Ismail: Quarterback, I mean, well, the rules are now where you just have so much more protection. You know, it used to be like a badge of honor to go across the middle, and you just get hit by the safety, and you kind of get up and brush yourself off, and your body is like, “Oh my goodness, I just got lit up. But I’m not going to let him know that.” And you just sit there and you try to be tough and you just got hit. Now you can go across the middle and you’re not going to get laid out and leveled like you did back in the day.

So yeah, I think the game has certainly changed. The press coverage, man-to-man coverage, the way it used to be compared to now, the defense will be defensive holding or defensive pass and interference. Although they have strengthened the pass interference as well, nowadays, oh man, I feel like this era of football resonates with me more than my era of football. I respect it.

I respect those guys, the numbers that they put up, you know, the Marvin Harrisons, the Chris Carters, the Jerry Rices, the Randy Mosses, the Isaac Bruces of the world. I mean, I’m naming some dudes right there. You know, those were my vintage of guys. And man, the numbers they put up were just incredible. The Michael Irvins of the world, they were ballers and just tough, tough, tough receivers, great route runners, smart players. For me, I felt like I would have played so much better and more aggressive in this style of football, in this era.

BV: And who are your favorite wide receivers today?

Ismail: I would say Jaxon Smith-Njigba just jumps off the page at me. I mean, he kind of has that old school style to him, you know? He just reminds me of some of those route runners that I just mentioned. He has a flair for the dramatic. He can just make catches, you know, kind of Larry Fitzgerald back in the day made catches for the Arizona Cardinals. You know, Jaxon Smith kind of looks like that guy who can do that.

I like Zay Flowers here at the Ravens. I think he’s a dynamic playmaking kind of a guy. The guys that came before this current group were the Julio Jones of the world, the Odell Beckham Jrs, the Andre Johnsons, the Reggie Waynes. I mean those dudes, I appreciate their game too. Those some big boy receivers that commanded the presence on the field, commanded the attention of the defense.

I think a guy who had a brief moment of fun in the sun if you will was AJ Brown for the Philadelphia Eagles. I appreciate his game. I kind of like DeVonta Smith, Smitty, as they like to call him up in Philadelphia. To me, the way he plays, with his stature and size, but his toughness and his just his smart football IQ and his ability to make catches. Like goodness, I really appreciate his game as well.

So yeah, there are some guys there that came before this era and then this current group of dudes, the Mike Evans of the world, the big, tall receiver that just year in and year out just shows up. I’m curious to see what he’s going to do with the 49ers, but he continually shows up. I like this group of receivers and what they bring to the table.

Ismail’s memories from Super Bowl XXXV

BV: What do you remember about Super Bowl 35? What did it mean to you, and how much did it forge your bond with the Ravens?

Ismail: That entire year was interesting. Interesting in this regard: it was one of the greatest years of my career, but it was the most challenging of my career.

I had the best teammates ever assembled on a team and it was led by Rod Woodson, Shannon Sharpe, and Ray Lewis. We had a mixed bag of just funny, eclectic, crazy dudes from the Tony Siragusa, the Sam Adams, offensively, Shannon Sharpe, we had just like a weird mix of dudes and it worked, and we had a coaching staff that just blended all of us together.

I think it was challenging for me as an individual because I came off of my first 1,000-yard receiving year. I was ready to do it again. We had to change at quarterback. Trent was a guy who was just going to manage the game. He wasn’t going to do anything outside of the game that was going to put the team in harm’s way, which is what we needed. Once Jamal Lewis got going, it was like, “yo, here’s our formula. Here’s what we’re going to do.”

But selfishly, I had a high grade two MCL sprain that really set me back as far as just my play, the ability for me to be a speedster and make big plays. While I did make plays, while I was the team’s leading receiver and all those things, my numbers weren’t where I wanted them to be and just my play overall, like I knew that, “man, I’m not at 100 because of this knee injury.” And I knew it, and it was frustrating, and it was tough, and it was hard, like recovery and everything. That year challenged me so much mentally. Yeah, it was the hardest year ever.

Yet there was something to say about going each and every game and just winning, and winning, and winning, and winning, and winning. And getting into the playoffs and winning, and winning, and winning, and hoisting up the AFC Championship Trophy out in Oakland and you’re looking around like, “Wait a minute. What’s next?” Oh, oh, we’re going to Tampa. We’re going down and we’re gonna be playing against the New York Giants. “Oh, wait a minute. They’re going to the Super Bowl?” Like I thought we were gonna play the Minnesota Vikings.

The jersey behind me is the jersey that I wore in the Super Bowl with the grass stains on it and all that. And I got the Wheaties box over here. You ain’t getting a Wheaties box as a runner up. You only get a Wheaties box if you win. So to be on it, to be a part of it, it was amazing. And yeah, got the hardware to show it. So fun, fun, fun, awesome group of men to win a championship with.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH QADRY ISMAIL ON BOLAVIP US:

A year ago, Bolavip US had the opportunity to speak with Allegre, the legendary Mexican kicker. At that time, the club had not yet named Jaxson Dart as QB1; a year later, Allegre believes that decision has proven to be the right one.

“The process of a rookie quarterback is slow,” Allegre told Bolavip US. “I think they made the right decision giving Russell Wilson the chance. Russell Wilson didn’t have a great performance in the games he played, and they ended up making the transition to Jaxson Dart. The results were not the best; it was a team that, I think, lost five games that they entered the last quarter winning by 10 points or more. But it is difficult to put in a rookie QB immediately.”

Jaxson Dart needs to grow, and John Harbaugh will help him

Last year, prior to the 2025 NFL Draft, Allegre suggested that neither Cam Ward nor Shedeur Sanders were the right options for the Giants. He was proven correct as the club prioritized defense with Abdul Carter before later securing Jaxson Dart.

“I never thought Shedeur Sanders was an option,” the two-time Super Bowl champion said. “Cam Ward was obviously not available when they ended up choosing. So, I believe it was the right call to come back and select Jaxson Dart late in the draft. That option was not available when we talked last year. They made the trade with Houston, giving up a second and a third, I think. Under those circumstances, I think it was an excellent decision.”

Dart had a promising rookie season in 2025, initially starting as QB2 behind Russell Wilson. He eventually took over the starting role—a move Allegre considers logical and views with great optimism.

“Little by little, they realized that Russell Wilson no longer had the level or the capacity to move the team forward, and that is when they made the transition to Jaxson Dart,” Allegre told Bolavip US. “So, I wouldn’t blame the Giants’ process last season too much. At the end of the day, finishing the season with only four wins is not ideal, but they had already established who was going to be their quarterback and also found a running back.”

While Dart endured a losing record in his first year, he showed flashes of elite talent. As a solid dual-threat quarterback, he now has a head coach in John Harbaugh who specializes in exploiting those exact qualities. Having improved the skills of Lamar Jackson, Harbaugh is expected to bring a bright future for the young quarterback in New York.

“John Harbaugh knows how to handle quarterbacks who have the tendency to take risks when they don’t need to—as some may say, trying to gain that last yard at the cost of their health,” Raul Allegre stated. “Jaxson Dart has made statements; I think he is a kid with a lot of confidence and that certain arrogance that quarterbacks should have, but he reached a point of irresponsibility by saying in a press conference that it was his style and he wouldn’t change it.

“As the saying in the NFL goes: availability is the best ability. If you are not available—if you are in the concussion protocol or dealing with a knee injury, etc.—and you can’t play for two or three games, then you are costing your team the best chance of winning.”

The Giants missed a key opportunity in the 2026 NFL Draft

Allegre spoke with Bolavip US just after the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. While the Giants selected Arvell Reese (No. 5) and Francis Mauigoa (No. 10), these were not the players the former kicker would have prioritized.

The Giants aimed to fill the void left by Dexter Lawrence with Arvell Reese. However, Allegre believes they should have targeted Caleb Downs, whom he regarded as the premier defensive player in this class.

“The question here is whether the team is in a better position now,” Allegre said. “Obviously, the fifth pick was already theirs, and they ended up going for Arvell Reese. Personally, the player I liked the most was Caleb Downs, and I debated whether or not to take him twice. He ended up going to Dallas, which is not positive at all for Giants fans.”

At the same time, Allegre expressed concern regarding Francis Mauigoa’s health. The rookie offensive lineman is currently dealing with a herniated disc in his back—a diagnosis that surprised the former kicker, who noted the rarity and severity of such an injury for a player so young.

“Unfortunately, he [Mauigoa] arrives at the draft with a back issue that is said to need surgery; I don’t know which type or if he can recover without it,” Allegre stated. “But the fact that he has been diagnosed with back problems at the age of 20—I mean, 20! I developed back problems at 33. To me, it seems like a tremendous risk.”

Will the Giants achieve success in 2026?

Expectations for the Giants have shifted with Harbaugh’s arrival and Dart’s status as the established QB1. With the Eagles, Commanders, and Cowboys losing key personnel and undergoing staff changes, Allegre believes the Giants have a prime opportunity to compete in 2026.

“With Dexter Lawrence, I would have said they’d be competing for the divisional title,” Allegre said, regarding how far the Giants can go in 2026. “Without Dexter Lawrence, it remains to be seen which players they reinforce the roster with. As I said, I don’t believe there is a clear favorite, especially given the departures Philadelphia had.”

One remaining uncertainty is the kicker position. Last season, the Giants cycled through five different players at the position where Allegre once shined. However, with the arrival of Jason Sanders, the Mexican legend believes these struggles for the Giants will finally be resolved.

“Last season (2024), Jason Sanders went 7-of-7 with Miami (20-29 yards); he made all of his 40-yard field goals,” Allegre said. “I believe Jason Sanders will solve all the problems the Giants have had at the kicker position, provided he recovers his form and stays healthy—which was also Graham Gano’s problem.”

The Bill Belichick Hall of Fame controversy

In a move that shocked the football world, Bill Belichick did not make the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility this past January. Allegre, who considers Belichick a living legend, expressed deep disappointment at the snub.

Allegre maintains that Belichick and Bill Parcells are the two greatest coaches in NFL history. He finds Belichick’s exclusion comparable to the delays Parcells faced, but he warns that the Hall of Fame’s credibility is at stake.

“It diminished the credibility of the Hall of Fame process, but we all know how it is—there are 50 voters, and many are not directly involved in football; most of them are journalists,” Allegre added. “They have their preferences, their favorites, and their biases, and unfortunately, that had an influence. The Hall of Fame is not complete without Bill Belichick as a member, no matter what happened.”

Regarding future eligibility, Allegre suggested that if the Hall of Fame snubs Tom Brady in 2028, the institution would lose all remaining credibility. However, given his relationship with Belichick, it remains to be seen if the HoF uses the same criteria for the quarterback.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH RAUL ALLEGRE ON BOLAVIP US:

Nicknamed ‘El Viejo Willy’ (The Old Willy), Ortiz possessed exceptional skill—comparable in stature to Lionel Messi and as lethal as Cristiano Ronaldo. He made a lasting impact in Colombian soccer, though he never played for an international club or in a World Cup.

Ortiz is an outgoing and charismatic figure, full of soccer stories. Firm in his beliefs, he shared his perspectives on James Rodriguez in an exclusive interview with Bolavip, during an event created by DirecTV leading up to the World Cup.

Beyond discussing Colombia’s prospects in the tournament, Ortiz addressed James’ move to the MLS, considering it a ‘mistake’ for the Colombian star to join Minnesota United.

James made a ‘mistake’ by joining Minnesota United

Bolavip: Do you think it was a mistake for James Rodriguez to play in the United States before the World Cup, knowing the coach didn’t really want him?

Willington Ortiz: I think the mistake is when a coach doesn’t want you and you still go to that team. You’re not part of his group or the players he trusts, so he’s not going to play you because you’re not his choice. That’s the mistake.

Colombia won’t rely solely on James

Bolavip: What do you think is really going to happen in this World Cup? Do you think these friendlies are a real test, or are they just to measure strength?

Ortiz: Well, friendlies are a test and you have to measure strength, but when friendlies are played close to the final stages, when the competition is about to start, they are very risky and complicated. Why? Because a soccer player doesn’t perform the same way when there’s still a long time left as when there’s very little time left. And if you play against a strong national team, you can lose, you can win, or you can draw. That’s what happens in a soccer game.

I believe the Colombia national team has elite players—there are top-10 players competing in tournaments like the Champions League that’s being played now, and in South American competitions like the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana. So, we have the players.

I think the coach has options and can build a system that works, whether we have James or not, because everyone is worried since James isn’t playing. He’s at a club where the coach doesn’t want him, didn’t bring him in, so he doesn’t play—just a few minutes. It’s not serious, disrespecting a player of his caliber.

It’s complicated, but Colombia have very good players, and I think people need to be patient because we have a good team and will put in a very strong performance at the World Cup.

Ortiz’s prediction for Colombia in the World Cup

Bolavip: Speaking of that strong performance, how far do you think Colombia will go?

Ortiz: I think they’ll be in the top eight. I believe they’ll make the quarterfinals. This team has what it takes, has very good players, and I think it can reach the top eight.

Bolavip: Which player do you think needs to be in top condition to lead the team into those top eight? Or do you think it’s more of a collective effort?

Ortiz: It has to be collective. A soccer team is collective—it has to be. You can’t rely on just one player. Because if a striker is doing well and scoring, but the defense is poor and concedes two goals, you lose and it’s useless. So everyone has to perform well, and all the players we have are elite. I think we have a very good team.

Colombia’s best player and World Cup nostalgia

Bolavip: Speaking about the current form of these Colombian players, and considering you’ve been described as one of, if not the best, in Colombia, who do you think is the nation’s best player right now?

Ortiz: Right now, it’s Luis Diaz. He’s the one performing best. Hopefully he stays healthy, arrives at the World Cup in good shape, and helps us have a strong performance.

Bolavip: Considering what you said about not having had the chance to play in a World Cup, when you watch past World Cups and Colombia’s performances, do you feel anything in particular?

Ortiz: Of course, there’s a sense of sadness because you do everything possible to get there, and sometimes you just can’t. Time passes, and you didn’t get the chance, so it brings a feeling of nostalgia.

World Cup predictions and Messi-Ronaldo’s farewell

Bolavip: Let’s talk about favorites to win the World Cup. Which teams do you think are the strongest candidates?

Ortiz: There are about three teams I see as favorites: Spain, France, and Germany. Those three.

Bolavip: And finally, talking about two major players who are nearing the end of their international careers, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi—do you think Argentina, with Messi, or Portugal, have a chance to go far in this World Cup?

Ortiz: Historically, teams don’t repeat as champions every four years—at least I don’t think they have. Argentina play very well, and Messi is excellent, but I don’t think they’ll repeat as champions. I think it will be someone else. As for Portugal with Cristiano, they have a very good team. They could get close, because they still have that ambition—they haven’t won it yet. Argentina already have, twice.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH WILLINGTON ORTIZ ON BOLAVIP US:

Selected 32nd overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2009 NFL Draft, Hood’s life as a pro got off to an eventful start. After making a name for himself as a defensive tackle at Missouri — making the First-team All-Big 12 in 2008 — the Amarillo, Texas native immediately had to switch to defensive end in Mike Tomlin‘s system.

Joining the Steelers paid off though, as Hood enjoyed a trip to Super Bowl XLV in his second year as a pro. Aaron Rodgers‘ Green Bay Packers ended up standing in Pittsburgh’s way, a result that still hurts but doesn’t make Hood lose sight of the bigger picture.

In an exclusive interview with Bolavip, Ziggy reflects on his NFL journey, which began with a fruitful five-year stint in the Steel City (2009-2013), followed by stops with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2014-15) and Chicago Bears (2015). His career also included a tenure in Washington (2016-18), where he overlapped with Kirk Cousins, before finishing with the Miami Dolphins (2018) and the New Orleans Saints (2019).

Ziggy Hood on being drafted by Tomlin, Steelers

Bolavip: You once said that you were surprised by being picked in the first round. How did you take that decision? Did it give you confidence or did it put more pressure on you?

Ziggy Hood: You know what, coming from a small town here in Amarillo, Texas, not too many guys have, you know, transcended in the next level from college, it has only been a select few. And having that opportunity to even make it to the league was a blessing itself.

With the draft, it was up and down with different picks that they were telling me, so when the teams pass you up, you think you’re going to drop. (It was) just a surprise you know, the Steelers with the 32nd pick chose me. I felt like I wasn’t worthy but hey, thank God I got the blessing and it was a history wrap from there.

Bolavip: What was it like to play under Mike Tomlin?

Hood: He was a great coach, great organization. I have nothing bad to say about anybody, really, any organization because they gave me the opportunity to play. And so, I could never bring myself to badmouth anybody because, like I said, with with the opportunity to play, it’s my choice and my decision to do whatever I need to do to prolong my career.

So, you know, thank God for the blessings and everything that they gave me. They got me to play the game I love, that I played all the way from little league, middle school, high school, college, and then my dream to play professional.

Bolavip: You had to switch from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 defense. What was it like? How did you feel about that?

Hood: Really, you had to rewire yourself on how you need to do certain things. Luckily, I had a group of older vets to teach me and to learn from them. I think that was the best thing to do.

And these guys were, you know, 35, 36 years old. They were on the verge of retiring, even though they could have played three or four more years. I had the blessing, I had the opportunity to learn from these older guys and to see how it’s done when it’s done correctly.

The culture set by Big Ben and Tomlin in Pittsburgh

Bolavip: And even though he wasn’t a player in your position, you had a leader like Ben Roethlisberger. What was it like to have him as the quarterback and leader of the franchise?

Hood: Well, he already knew how to win because they had just recently won a Super Bowl the year before me against the Cardinals. They won again, I think several years beforehand. So, they already had the recipe of winning.

So I came into a great organization. And I came into a great culture that understood winning and what it takes to win. It started with practice and making sure you do everything as perfect as you can. Even when you fall short, you’re still good enough.

Bolavip: Were you surprised to see Tomlin leave Pittsburgh after all these years?

Hood: No, I wasn’t. The man has been over there what, over 20 years or something like that? And then to have a run and to have another, you know, not a losing season. That’s a blessing opportunity. He’s going to go down as one of the greatest coaches in the NFL for being with that organization.

And I’m pretty sure he likes the time off right now. He gets to spend time with his family, do the things he normally couldn’t around this time because they either be preparing for the draft, getting ready for OTAs (Organized Team Activities) and training camp. So, I’m pretty sure he’s going to take a year off and then he’s going to start getting the itch to coach back again.

Losing Super Bowl XLV to Aaron Rodgers’ Packers

Bolavip: What do you remember about that season where you played Super Bowl XLV?

Hood: You know what? Everybody was on point, everybody was clicking and it seems like every time things were go were about to go bad, it took a turn for the good to have an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl.

Unfortunately, we didn’t win, but not too many guys can say they did that. And you know, if (there’s) one thing I could redo, it’s that particular game, because it’d be a different type of world to have a ring and in a different kind of class to have that opportunity to play and win again.

Bolavip: It was a very close game and against a very good team, against Aaron Rodgers. What was it like to face this type of quarterback in that game?

Hood: The guy was athletic and he was smart, we caught him at the young age of Aaron Rodgers. If we would have caught him at the very crafty, little bit older vet, it definitely would have been a harder game to play.

But just to go against somebody of his caliber, and then he was able to play for them towards the end of his career, that shows that guys like him can make these jumps and bring a team to win at any opportunity he plays at.

The toughest quarterbacks to play against

Bolavip: And who was for you the toughest quarterback to play against in the NFL?

Hood: I got to give it to Tom Brady. The man delivered the ball so fast, trying to get back there to him was difficult. Because he knew he where he wanted to go with the ball and how to get there. So when the ball was delivered in less than a second, that’s what it was.

When you have opportunity to sack him, you better take advantage, because it’s those type of opportunities don’t come, you know, a dime a dozen. You have to be be ready and be able to try to capitalize whenever you have it.

Bolavip: And do you remember a tough quarterback in college?

Hood: Either Sam Bradford or Colt McCoy, because they had one of the best two offensive linemen in front of them. And so those guys played a long career as well. Not only that, they came from a winning program as well.

I had an opportunity to play against those teams, originally in the Big 12 before they moved to a different conference. So, like I said, that was a great time at Missouri.

The importance of defensive players in football

Bolavip: Going back to your position, do you think that defensive players and especially defensive tackles or defensive ends are underrated? Either by fans or media, or even coaches.

Hood: There’s a bunch of guys that are underrated. I follow a lot of guys on Instagram or I look at a lot of different guys on clips of pass rushing and I’m sitting there like, ‘Man, these guys are moving.’ I wish I had that type of wiggle back then. It’d be a different ball game.

But what I’m seeing now, how fast the game moves, these guys are very special to watch. I love watching the football games. I like watching my position because I’m seeing how they’re moving and what they see out there. I’m like, ‘Man, that’s pretty neat that he was able to do that.‘

Bolavip: Which players do you like to see or do you believe are the best today in your position?

Hood: I know (Jeffery) Simmons from Tennessee. I didn’t realize how big and built he is until you actually look at him. I wish Aaron Donald would have stayed several more years because that guy was wreaking havoc every time.

(Danielle) Hunter with Houston because he’s unorthodox and I love how he gets off on the ball and does these weird combinations, with moves and stuff. It’s just like, man, it gets me excited to see somebody like that. I love seeing other guys shine and get the opportunity to extend their careers.

Spending time with Kirk Cousins and other teams after Pittsburgh stint

Bolavip: There are still many players of your era, maybe in other positions, who continue to play. You overlapped with Kirk Cousins in Washington. He’s now joining the Raiders. How do you see him this year, and what do you remember of him as a teammate?

Hood: He’s a great man to follow. I never had a bad note from him. He was a great leader when I played at Washington. So I’m pretty sure he’s going to do great things in Vegas. He gives it everything he’s got.

Not only that, he’s a great family-based type of man. That’s the guy who I love to follow. He’s the family-based type of man, because he’s playing more for than just for money. He’s playing for his kids. He’s playing for his wife. So that’s a great opportunity to stand behind him.

Bolavip: What difference did you see between the Steelers and the teams that you went on to play for afterwards?

Hood: It’s the front office. A lot of different organizations are ran a lot different. Like I said, I could never be on the phone and badmouth any organization because I’m saying they gave me an opportunity. But different levels come where the top has blueprint. ‘This is how we win.’ And it stems down all the way down to the players. Even the custodian staff knows what time it is.

“The Steelers was a top-notch organization because they knew how to run.”

It all starts up in the front office. How they draft, how they organize the schedule, what type of personnel or people that they bring in, who do they surround the players with, and for them to put the players in a great position to be successful.

The Steelers was a top-notch organization because they knew how to run. I had a great time at Washington regardless, I got close to a lot of guys, I got close to a lot of the men on the coaching staff and in the training room as well. So, I had a great time. Either place I went to.

The advice for young players

Bolavip: As a former first-rounder, what advice would you give to any prospect who’s entering this year’s draft class?

Hood: Doesn’t matter what opportunity, what round, what pick you go, utilize it and capitalize. And so the biggest thing I try to stress the players is let your ability take over. Don’t put yourself in a cookie cutter, routine, to where it got you playing like a robot. Go out there, enjoy the moment because when it’s done, it’s done. And there’s going to be days where you reminisce.

And so when you’re a lot older like me being at age 39, I go around telling the high school kids who I coach and I have the opportunity to share some of my experiences: I had opportunities to play with future Hall of Famers, Hall of Famers, and guys that bring business every single day. And this is the blueprint, how you got to get there in order to achieve that. But the minute you stop being you, that’s when everything will change and go downhill.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH ZIGGY HOOD ON BOLAVIP US:

In an exclusive interview with Bolavip, the former Argentine kicker spoke about the current state of the Bucs, delving into what lies ahead for the NFL, and also the valuation of his position, a legacy that his children intend to continue.

In addition, he made it clear who he thinks the GOAT in football is. Gramatica, charismatic and with great analytical ability, emphasized that the league has everything it takes to conquer the entire world and did not miss the opportunity to outline which teams could reach the 2027 Super Bowl.

Bucs’ missed opportunity in 2025 NFL season

Bolavip: You’re someone very closely linked to Tampa, to the Buccaneers. You’re a historic figure for the franchise. Let me ask you: how did you see last season’s ending? It was a very tight division, it almost slipped away. Do you think there was a specific reason why they couldn’t push a bit further?

Martin Gramatica: It was disappointing, honestly, because we were one win away from making the playoffs with five or six games left. If we had won one of those, we would’ve made it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t. We did beat Carolina in the last game, thinking we were in. Atlanta didn’t help us because it beat the Saints, and Carolina ended up going to the playoffs.

We started really well too, I think we were 5–1, there was talk of Baker Mayfield as MVP, everything was perfect, and then the team slowly fell apart. We also had a lot of key injuries—every team has injuries, but when you lose your top two receivers, first Mike Evans, then Chris Godwin. (Emeka) Egbuka started well but then the longer season hit him a bit, the NFL season wore on him a little in the second half of the season.

So I don’t know if I can point to one single factor, there were many factors that didn’t help us. And obviously, being that close and not winning one game out of six, that really hurt.

Bolavip: Recently, Lavonte David spoke about all the injuries Mayfield had to go through last season, and that maybe if he had been healthier, the outcome would have been different. Do you agree with him?

Martin Gramatica: Yes, for sure, because Baker started out, as I said, on his way to MVP. And then his performance dropped a bit, but he took a lot of hits. He got hit a lot. And I think little by little, it started to wear on him, and then he had an injury to his left arm. And even though you don’t throw with your left arm, you use it for balance.

He also had, I think, a hit to his knee as well and his ankle. So, those are all things that one might think ‘Oh, he just throws with his arm.’ But he uses his whole body to throw, and besides his best weapon is when everything breaks down, and he takes off running and gets those first downs.

During that stretch when he was half injured, half banged up, he wasn’t running as much because he knew he couldn’t take a hit. I’m not saying it was fear of getting hit, because this guy lowers his helmet and runs into a wall if he has to, to get a first down.

The thing is, he was protecting himself because one bad hit would have taken him out of the game. He even missed half a game, I think it was Detroit, I don’t remember which one it was, where he left at halftime due to injury. So yeah, that didn’t help him at all. And then also having his superstars get injured. Because the timing with the other receivers also didn’t help him.

Bucs’ future without Mike Evans and 2026 NFL Draft expectations

Bolavip: And now Evans’ absence will be felt—a guy who made history and broke records…

Martin Gramatica: I think it’s going to be felt, especially on the emotional side, because of his leadership and also because he’s an amazing player on the field, obviously, and that safety valve when there was a problem Mayfield would say ‘Ok, I’ll just throw it to Mike Evans and he’ll catch it.’ Especially in the red zone.

And the pressure that Chris Godwin and Egbuka will feel now. Because they’ll be the leaders of that receiver group and they’ll need to have a really great season. Especially Chris Godwin, who’s a veteran, who’s had many injuries, who had a spectacular year when he signed his contract and then injury after injury he hasn’t been able to stay consistent.

So I think this year is key for him. Not only stat-wise in terms of statistics, but also in staying healthy and playing every game. Because that’s also key. He hasn’t been able to finish a season healthy in the last few years.

Bolavip: Now the closest event is the NFL Draft, which keeps everyone on edge. Do you have any idea about what the Bucs might do? What do you think they need?

Martin Gramatica: Last year showed us that they can do anything. They pick who they believe is the best player available at that moment. Last year there was a lot of talk that we needed defensive players. That we needed an edge rusher, someone who could put pressure on opposing quarterbacks, and they went with (Emeka) Egbuka, a receiver, who honestly did well, right? And besides, I think they were already looking ahead. With Mike Evans and Chris Godwin getting older, they needed a young guy.

But I think this year is very similar, I think they need a defensive player who comes in with intensity and character. It could be a linebacker because Lavonte David just retired. An edge rusher too—we haven’t had outside pass rush, right? Vita Vea is a wall in the middle, but on the edges we haven’t had someone who can really put pressure on quarterbacks.

But with the Bucs you never know—Jason Licht often surprises. And it’s worked pretty well for him, right? Look at Bucky Irving, an amazing player who was picked in the third round. We focus on the first round, but it’s usually the second, third, or fourth round guys who sometimes surprise everyone, because nobody expected anything, and then they’re starters.

NFL continues to expand

Bolavip: Another big topic is the NFL’s expansion into different countries and cities around the world: Australia, Rio… Do you think the league can really establish itself in other cultures?

Martin Gramatica: Yes, it already has. From a financial standpoint, it’s good for the NFL, good for those cities. The fans in Europe, I went to the game when the Bucs played in London, and the stadium is always packed. What you do see is jerseys of all colors, because they’re fans of all different teams, and there’s a little group of Bucs fans at that time with Carolina.

But the fanbase, yes, there are a lot and I see it also in South America, right? Also Argentina itself has a league, an equipped Flag Football League that competes. So what has made the sport so much more visible and made people start liking it more is social media. It gives access to the sport, because before we had no way to watch it.

When I came at age 9 I didn’t know football existed in the US. Back home we played soccer, a little tennis and that was it. I knew about rugby, right? And a little bit basketball. Now people do know they exist and there are even kids who like it. There are fans in Argentina who prefer football over soccer. That seems crazy to me, but they grew up watching it and liking it.

In Europe they follow it a lot too. Well, when we played a preseason game in Japan, I think it was in 2004 after the Super Bowl, it was a preseason game and it was insane. People would come to practice sessions, the stadium was packed. They knew everything, they even had little cards with photos. For them it was like their Super Bowl, because the games only came once a year. So I think that’s why the NFL knows that it has a strong presence worldwide and that’s why they’re expanding to other countries.

There won’t be another Tom Brady

Bolavip: And regarding your career—you won a Super Bowl, spent time with New England, Indianapolis, New Orleans… and therefore worked with Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning. What was it like?

Martin Gramatica: Well, I’ll always have a soft spot for Brad Johnson because we won the Super Bowl together. The truth is they are players who were stars, they still are stars. Not just in the NFL, even after retiring they’re still superstars because they’re Hall of Famers. And they’re all different, right? Different kind of leaders too.

The truth is Peyton Manning, I remember during practices, the same with Tom Brady, they both wanted to be perfect in practice. With Drew Brees I didn’t connect as much. He was somewhat distant from teammates. I don’t know, Brees’ personality was different, I never got to really know him.

But Brady and Manning, it was impressive what they demanded from their teammates and what they demanded from themselves. And that’s why you see where their teams ended up, right?

Peyton Manning was unlucky to play in the same era as Tom Brady. If not, he would have won three or four Super Bowls. It’s like Cristiano Ronaldo. He is an amazing player but he happened to play in Lionel Messi’s era. So nobody talks about Ronaldo, everyone talks about Messi, because he is so much better. So well, that’s what happened to Manning with Brady. But they’re both superstars.

Bolavip: Let’s say over the last 10 years, do you see in that position someone who reached or can reach Brady’s level?

Martin Gramatica: Brady’s level of winning 7 Super Bowls, I don’t think anyone gets there. Because at one point, I thought Patrick Mahomes could, if Kansas City had beaten Tampa, he would have gotten a bit closer.

But now seven against three Super Bowls, I don’t see Patrick Mahomes catching Brady, not a chance. And no, I don’t think there is, and the way the league is, there’s no player you can point to and say he’s going to be the Tom Brady of the future, who’s going to win four or five Super Bowls or play 20 years either, right?

I don’t think there’s a name like that, no. I really couldn’t tell you because what Tom Brady did is something special, not only for what he did by winning the Super Bowls. Reaching 10 Super Bowls and winning seven, that was impressive. What a career. That is very hard to match, very hard to match.

The value of kickers in the NFL

Bolavip: And in your position, which often defines games, do you think kickers are undervalued?

Martin Gramatica: Before, yes. Now they’re more valued. Today they kick 65 or 70-yard field goals. Contracts are also better. But it always depends on the team. They know that, you can have the best kicker in the league, but if you don’t have the best quarterback you’re not going to win. As a kicker you get it and you know that.

The kicker has the best job Monday to Saturday and the hardest on Sunday: few chances, all or nothing. It’s similar to a goalkeeper in soccer—you can save everything but people remember the one mistake. The pressure is different from any other position because you have very few chances.

Bolavip: Your longest kick was 55 yards. Could a kicker from your era play in today’s NFL?

Martin Gramatica: Yes, the position hasn’t changed much. The setup is the same: distance, angle, snap. Training changed, but the role is similar.

Bolavip: Thinking about the future, your sons Nico Gramatica and Gaston Gramatica…

Martin Gramatica: Well, the only thing what I always say is that we are extremely proud of how they work and how focused they are, of their dedication and the sacrifice they’re making to get there.

You never know if they’ll make it or not because it’s also very hard to make it, you need luck. You need to find a team that let’s you kick, so there are many variables, which is why some very talented kids don’t make it, while others maybe less talented do make it because they have better luck.

The only thing I always say about the kids is that they work themselves to the bone, they are super focused, super dedicated to making it. What I always tell them, whether they make it or not, they shouldn’t regret not having done enough to get there. And if they give everything, and it doesn’t work out, at least they gave it everything, so they can’t blame themselves.

But in that regard, we are incredibly proud. Because Nico, well, being the example as the older brother. And then Gaston too, because it’s not easy to get a scholarship here. It’s very hard, and especially coming out of High School. Because now with the portal, they pick players with College experience.

Nico had the chance to go to USF, and two years later, Gaston goes as well. He was also offered a scholarship by Texas. In football, Texas is very strong, North Carolina also offered him a scholarship out of High School. So you can see that they’ve noticed the effort and his work too.

A hypothetic Super Bowl LXI matchup

Bolavip: And finally, who would you like to see in the next Super Bowl?

Martin Gramatica: You’re putting me in a tough spot, I haven’t even thought about next year! But well, obviously from the NFC, I want the Bucs to be there. I liked what Vrabel did with New England, how he changed the face of the team.

But I would like to see Buffalo make it because I love Josh Allen. And then well, I’m a big fan of (John) Harbaugh, who now went to New York, I don’t want them to make it because it’s on our side of the Conference, but he was the first one to interview me on the NFL, when he was in Philadelphia.

I was just doing some cleaning and I still have his card from when he was in Philadelphia. He was Special Teams Coach back then. That’s why I’ve always liked him, he was a great guy. And gave me a lot of advice knowing that he didn’t need a kicker. He said ‘I want to interview you so that you can get those nerves out, because I don’t need a kicker right now, but i want to help you.’

So a guy that I truly always appreciated that, what he did for me. But yes, so I’d like to see Buffalo make it from the AFC, and obviously Tampa from the NFC side, right?

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH MARTIN GRAMATICA ON BOLAVIP US:

Berrettini has dropped to No. 90 in the rankings, as the 29-year-old Italian has struggled with numerous injuries. However, the former world No. 6 and Wimbledon runner-up still has ambitions to rise in the rankings and find joy in playing tennis again, which led him to collaborate with Enqvist ahead of Indian Wells.

Enqvist, however, says in this interview that the plan is to continue working with Berrettini, and he also shares his first takeaway from how it has been working with the Italian since joining the team.

“Yes, it is the plan to continue working with Matteo. I have been in Monte Carlo with him this week as well. He is a super nice guy. He has also had a lot of injuries in the past, just like myself, but he is healthy now, which is amazing,” Enqvist told Bolavip.

Enqvist believes Berrettini is close to his best shape

Enqvist also explained how the first weeks with Berrettini have been, noting that the Italian is close to being where he wants to be, while pointing out some of his biggest wins this season.

“He is working super hard, and I think he is improving all the time. He has had some good wins already, beating Bublik this season and also Medvedev this week. He is finally getting back to where he wants to be.”

Berrettini actually double-bageled former US Open winner Daniil Medvedev in Monte Carlo, and that match got a lot of attention, especially when the Russian smashed his racket seven times, which caught the attention of tennis fans all over the world.

Berrettini has reached at least the quarterfinals at every Grand Slam throughout his career, even reaching the semifinals at both the Australian Open and the US Open, while he reached the final at Wimbledon back in 2021. Enqvist also highlighted the level Berrettini has when he plays at his best, saying: “He is obviously a very, very good player. He just has to make sure he stays healthy and is enjoying playing tennis again.“

However, to come back to this level requires hard work, but Enqvist is confident that Berrettini will put in all the work that is needed, as the Italian has given a very good first impression to the Swede: “He is a super hard worker and he is a very nice guy to work with. Everything has been great.”

Berrettini lost to Joao Fonseca in the Round of 16 in Monte Carlo, and will have two more Masters tournaments to look forward to during the clay season – Madrid and Rome – before heading to the French Open where his best finish has been a quarterfinal appearance.

36 years separated the title Ruggeri celebrated in Mexico from the trophy Messi lifted at Qatar 2022, which gave Argentina their third World Cup star. Now, Messi and company will be looking to go back to back — something Ruggeri almost did in 1990, when Argentina lost to Germany in a controversial final.

The legendary defender, who had 97 international caps, went on to win two Copa America titles (1991, 1993) and a FIFA Confederations Cup in 1992 before retiring from international soccer.

His club career included stints with iconic Argentine teams such as Boca Juniors, River Plate, and San Lorenzo; and most notably, a Real Madrid tenure from 1989-90. Ruggeri also took his talents to Liga MX, playing for Club America from 1992-1993.

Decades later, following an eight-year managerial career and firmly established as a TV analyst and commentator in Argentina, Ruggeri sits down with Bolavip to discuss a wide number of topics.

Ruggeri’s World Cup experience and expectations for 2026

Bolavip: What do World Cup years mean to you? Especially since the 1986 title.

Oscar Ruggeri: Well, special. Special. I walked in here and you guys were around. You didn’t notice, but I didn’t even look at you. I looked at this right here (the World Cup). It’s something… You say “Look at the Cup,” the most beautiful one of all.

When a World Cup starts, with so many teams competing, and (Carlos) Bilardo telling us “look, if we’re not there until the last day it’s a failure,” meaning we had to play the final, and in the final you walk out onto the pitch and the Cup is right there inside, and we couldn’t look at it. We couldn’t touch it, we couldn’t do anything until the match was over.

But World Cup years give me adrenaline, joy… You know, like we start all over again, like we’re just kids. When we head over there, now that we’re going to travel in June, right? When I’m traveling, it’s like I imagine I’m going to play it again. It’s incredible. This is incredible, what these guys are going through right now as well, and with the chance of being serious candidates to repeat, in my opinion.

BV: You recently mentioned that many teams participate. This year, in fact, the World Cup expands to 48 teams. How many changes have you seen in the World Cup from the one you won onwards? Especially in recent years.

Ruggeri: Well, lots of changes in soccer terms, right? For example, we didn’t have VAR, there was nothing. They’d raise the flag, the linesman raised it and it was offside. And if they called you offside, the play was over. That changed a lot. … It also became a huge business, right?

But look, we go around and around and around in terms of number of teams, but it’s always the same ones in the finals, it’s always the same — Argentina, France, Spain, Germany, England, Brazil — it never changes. That’s the reality.

BV: And what does it take to win a World Cup? Many teams participate, only a few manage to win it.

Ruggeri: You need to have a different kind of player, a genius, like the one we have (with Lionel Messi), like the one we had (with Diego Maradona). But that it’s not enough, right? Let me explain. Why isn’t it enough? It’s not enough, because if you don’t have a great team behind those geniuses, who in those tight matches do something different and break the deadlock and you keep going… It just doesn’t work.

“It’s always the same teams in the World Cup finals — Argentina, France, Spain, Germany, England, Brazil — it never changes.”

Because look — Maradona played in four World Cups I think, Messi five (2026 would be his sixth). And we won only two World Cups combined with these two geniuses. So that means the team has a huge responsibility. The team has a great setup, so that these geniuses can function freely.

Argentina’s chances of repeating World Cup title

BV: How do you see the Argentine national team this year? You were just saying you believe they can repeat?

Ruggeri: Yes, yes, I think so. I see them doing well. Do you know what I like? That it’s not just the exact same players from four years ago. There have been replacements and those replacements have played really well.

Honestly, they did it really well in the matches, like Thiago (Almada), like several players, right? And it makes me happy because it means there’s a new generation. Cholo’s son (Giuliano Simeone), who’s doing really well. I still believe that (Angel) Di Maria, in my opinion, they’ll convince him and he’ll end up going to the World Cup.

BV: This year Lionel Messi has the chance to go for back-to-back World Cups. You and Diego came very close to achieving it in 1990. What was it like? How do you experience…

Ruggeri: Well, no, we didn’t “come close,” no… they scammed us. Because it wasn’t a penalty, imagine with the VAR. But you see how quickly I say if we’d had VAR, that German penalty wouldn’t have been given and I don’t know how it would have ended. And if we’d had (Claudio) Cannigia, with everyone fit, I think it would have been a different game.

But then they tell me “What about Diego’s handball?”, right? But what about the goal he scored after that, dribbling past everyone? That’s just how it is.

BV: And from your experience, how do you prepare for a World Cup like that? A World Cup where you go looking to repeat the title, not win it for the first time. It will happen to Messi now.

Ruggeri: Well, it’s like that weight was lifted from them, so now they know what it’s like. And they already know what the final stages are like, everything that’s at stake. In every match you have to get up well because you have to be on point so as not to give any advantage away, because you’re going to face the best, and the best don’t forgive you.

Ruggeri’s 2026 World Cup favorites besides Argentina

BV: Who are the best for you? Who are the other contenders?

Ruggeri: For me, Spain, France, and England — I see very good players in them, I’m not sure about them as a unit — but I’ll still put them in. The Germans. We get frustrated, but somehow, they might not show much early on, and then you see them among the top four. And I think Brazil will improve.

BV: And what do you think about the Finalissima that was canceled against Spain? Do yo think it would have been a good test for Argentina?

Ruggeri: Yes, absolutely. It would have been a good test because they were two of the contenders that the world was going to watch to see what would happen. That Spain team with a midfield that holds the ball a lot and so do we. It would have been beautiful, it would have been great.

“The difference between South American and European soccer? Look, take out all the South American players from European soccer and see what the teams do…”

BV: And one of the things that’s always put to the test at World Cups is South American soccer versus European soccer. How do you see that difference?

Ruggeri: Yes, it’s very simple. Look, take out all the South American players from European soccer and see what the teams do, and bring all the South Americans back. All the Argentines playing over there, bring them to our championship and see if people don’t start watching this league.

And that’s the reality of South American soccer, because Brazilians, Uruguayans, Paraguayans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Bolivians — there’s everything. I think that makes it even richer.

“I think Brazil will improve. When we go there, and Brazil play, you look with respect for the history”

BV: You recently mentioned Brazil. Do you think they can pull off an upset at the World Cup, despite their situation in the qualifiers?

Ruggeri: I don’t know what you’d call upset, to improve?

BV: To improve.

Ruggeri: I think they’ll improve, yes. Then I’m not sure if they will pull off the big upset. But it’s Brazil. When we go there, and Brazil play, you look with respect for the history. History marks what I said at the beginning. You know, those national teams with a lot of history, they throw all of that to you on the pitch.

Messi at 2026 World Cup

BV: Talking about Lionel Messi, we talked about him before for a bit, how do you see him heading into this World Cup?

Ruggeri: Great, great. This might be his last World Cup. He’ll prepare in the best possible way, I have no doubt about that. And he’ll try to do what he did in the last World Cup, to be the the captain, the leader, to carry the group forward, right? It’s another chance he has to lift the Cup.

They’ve already lived it, and being fortunate that, when the World Cups end, they can go in with the family, they can take photos. I saw them at the last World Cup taking photos with their kids, with the Cup right there inside. We couldn’t see each other because we got swarmed and we couldn’t take a photo.

“Messi moving to the US? Possibly that was also a family decision”

BV: In that sense, do you think it’s something that has improved at World Cups?

Ruggeri: Yes, absolutely. Yes, they’ve improved it a lot. I think that’s a sign of respect for those who’ve become world champions, for their families who’ve suffered so much, who’ve had such a hard time. That, honestly, you have to congratulate everyone, FIFA, everyone.

BV: Getting back to Messi, after he won the Qatar World Cup, he decided to play in the United States. What do you think of him spending the last years of his career in that league?

Ruggeri: More than playing in the US, possibly that was also a family decision, right? To step back a little from what Barcelona was, because it makes sense that he can’t go out, he can’t go out that much in the US either because they already know him, everyone knows him…

BV: And in France he didn’t have a great time.

Ruggeri: In France he didn’t have a great time, but, in the United States I see him walking around the supermarket. You can see he walks around more freely, they don’t mob him, you know? I think that’s possibly what he’s looking for.

Comparisons between Messi and Maradona, Ronaldo, Yamal

BV: What do you think about the comparisons that have always been made with Maradona?

Ruggeri: I don’t think we should make them, because they’re both Argentine, because they’re both geniuses. Comparing geniuses is hard, right? Now, if you ask me personally, I played 11 years with Maradona. I can’t be objective. Ask the guys who played with Messi and they’ll say Messi. But that’s normal and understandable.

Now, we, the people, in the streets, people on television, on the shows, we shouldn’t, we shouldn’t pit them against each other, we shouldn’t compare them, because here we, unfortunately, are living in this world of divisions.

“If another genius comes along after Messi and Maradona, then it means God lives here with us.”

So we put it as “no, Maradona, is like this, and Messi like this” and we immediately take sides, why? If they’re both Argentine, both captains of the Argentine national team who became world champions, let’s make the most of both of them, right?

I mean, look, when Diego was leaving, in those last championships we played, the US World Cup, I thought, “oof, now we need another one like him” and another one came along. If then another comes, it means God lives here with us and is giving us a huge hand.

“Ronaldo is a star, a very good player, but he’s not a genius like Messi.”

BV: And Messi not only suffered, so to speak, the comparisons with Maradona on a historical level, but also current comparisons like with Cristiano Ronaldo. What do you think about it?

Ruggeri: Nothing. It wouldn’t even cross my mind to discuss the subject, because there’s a huge difference between the genius we have and the other one, who is a great player. Messi is a genius and Ronaldo is a star. He’s truly a star, a very good player, but he’s not a genius like Messi.

BV: And how do you see Lamine Yamal, who’s also starting to draw comparisons? Especially in Spain.

Ruggeri: Yes, well, he’s a kid who’s just starting out, he’s just beginning. He’s playing well, he needs to come down to earth a bit. He needs to take it a little easy because, I heard him, some statements, saying he was going to be better than Messi. That he was going to win more Ballons d’Or. Why? Do it, once you’ve achieved it, then we’ll say what we see. Right now, he’s not even close to him.

Active Argentine stars

BV: In your position, the Argentine national team today has a key player like Cristian Romero. You played at Real Madrid, do you image him potentially joining that kind of club?

Ruggeri: Yes, for sure. If I were Florentino Pérez — I’d go after him, no doubt about it. He’s a fantastic player, a serious player for the position, who formed a great partnership with (Nicolas) Otamendi. Incredible, right? Because you know, we always talk about the attacking side, the ones who decide things, who create plays, who score the goals, everything. But we don’t talk about the defense, right? We talk, but not that much.

But we also had a defense and a goalkeeper… The goalkeeper (Emiliano Martinez) was incredible. Against France, that save with his foot… I was up there, we were done. If it was (Kylian) Mbappe, we were done, but that’s what it means to have a keeper like that. We have two or three great center-backs and we’re in good shape. I think we are doing pretty well, pretty good.

That’s why I dare say we are contenders again, because this team never stopped playing well, right? People asked me about us, we didn’t play like this team after the World Cup. We didn’t play so well like this team, the way these guys play, they play in a certain way, how they manage the ball. Honestly, it’s a pleasure watching them.

BV: Do you think the performances at clubs is completely separate from how they perform for the national team?

Ruggeri: Yes, absolutely, don’t even doubt it. Remember when it was hard for Argentina to win, to become champions, they were incredible at their clubs and everyone would say “no, but they shine at the club they come to the national team and we don’t win.” I don’t know if you remember.

“We didn’t play like this Argentina team after the World Cup. We didn’t play this well”

At the beginning they said “Messi shines at Barcelona, scores goals left and right. He wins titles, he wins everything, but when he comes to Argentina and nothing”, he even quit the national team. Even Di Maria cried and Di Maria never dropped his guard.

But that’s in the past now. When they get together with the national team, you see freshness, you can see they’re happy, that they’re thrilled to get back together. That’s what I see from the outside. No, I’m not there. I don’t see them personally, but that’s the image they give.

BV: The World Cup could rocket many players’ careers to new heights. It already happened with Enzo Fernandez at the Qatar World Cup…

Ruggeri: Enzo is amazing.

BV: … making the move from Benfica to Chelsea, and now there’s a lot of talk about his future at Chelsea, that he could take yet another step.

Ruggeri: Yes, for sure. How that kid has grown, so calmly, so mature. Captain in England! It’s not easy to wear the captain’s armband, these players we have… That guy is a man, you know? He plays in a simple, clean way.

We have a midfield, we don’t talk about the midfield enough, we have a great midfield too, right? They manage the ball brilliantly, no rush. They play with calm. If it’s not on, they go back. Start again. We are well balanced.

“Julian Alvarez has no ceiling.”

BV: Another player also involved in transfer rumors because of his great level is Julian Alvarez, who is at Atletico Madrid with Simeone…

Ruggeri: I love Julian.

BV: There’s talk that Barcelona want him, or that he could go back to the Premier League, where he already played with Manchester City. What do you think? Should he stay with Simeone?

Ruggeri: I’d like him to stay with “Cholo” (Simeone), because “Cholo” knows him, he knows what the kid is like, the kid has no ceiling and can play anywhere. That’s for sure.

Those are the kind of strikers that as a defender I’d dread facing because you can’t pin him down. He shows up on the right, on the left. You can’t track him like those classic number nines, like (Erling) Haaland who plant themselves there. He’s a goal scorer, but Julian comes from deep. He strikes the ball very well. Did you see his goals?

BV: Yes, he also takes free kicks.

Ruggeri: He takes free kicks. Though I think if there’s a free kick, I don’t think he’ll be getting near the ball with the captain (Messi) around. I think he’ll tell him “go out of there for the rebound,” but it’s another option we have, of course.

BV: Argentina also have Lautaro Martinez, it’s like they have the luck of having top strikers.

Ruggeri: And the strikers who’ve come through now! I honestly didn’t know them. This coaching staff handles even those things very well. Nobody slips past them. When there’s someone who is doing things right, they go watch him and bring him in.

Lionel Scaloni’s job with Argentina

BV: Do you think that has been Lionel Scaloni‘s greatest strength in his process, identifying players? Because he rebuilt the squad after Russia 2018.

Ruggeri: Yes, yes. Because Scaloni came from nowhere when nobody believed in him and he did everything right. He has a coaching staff that knows soccer. They all played for the national team. With a very low profile.

Because look, if I ask you, tell me what (Roberto) Ayala’s voice sounds like, you don’t know. Same for (Walter) Samuel, you don’t know how he talks, he says nothing, (Pablo) Aimar even less. I mean, look at the three I’m naming. Three elite national team players with a very low profile, they’re doing a very good job.

“Scaloni came from nowhere when nobody believed in him”

BV: Yes, there’s a joint effort with Diego Placente (Argentina U20 manager) and the youth teams.

Ruggeri: Everyone, everyone, of course, Placente watches them, he must tell them “Look, there’s a kid like this, who moves this way.” They must work in a similar way. It’s very good, everything is very well put together. We’re in good shape.

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