20 Questions with Ari Meirov

I was always a big NFL fan and I used to track every little story and report what was going on. There are so many layers to football besides for the games on the field. There are injuries, signings, cuts, trades, hirings, firings, and much more. There’s information coming from so many different places. I remember thinking to myself that there isn’t really an organized place where one could get all the relevant and notable happenings from one place. So I just started a Twitter account and told myself I wanted to try this I started in March of 2013. My first tweet was Ahmad Bradshaw leaving a meeting with the Steelers without a deal.

And that’s how it started. If you’re wondering how I picked the @MySportsUpdate username, I honestly don’t remember. I just wanted to get started and barely gave it any thought. Ha.

When it comes to growing the account, it took a few years for there to be any results. I was probably just tweeting to a few thousand people over the first couple years. But I kept on doing the exact same process of posting notable, relevant, and accurate NFL information. And it was probably in 2016 when I started seeing reporters, some players, and other NFL people starting to follow. That’s when I realized that I have something going here. But the growth process was simply doing the same routine and being a one-stop shop for all things NFL.

PFF has always been about data and analytics. Every NFL team, analyst and agent uses Pro Football Focus. They now wanted to expand and add a breaking news division as well, and that’s just right up my alley. I’ll keep on doing the exact same thing with the Twitter account. The PFF site will be updated with news and analysis as it happens around the league. I’ll have my own unique podcast. And we’re going to continue to grow PFF even further. There are some more exciting things in store, so we’ll share that when the time comes.

I do. The funny thing is that it isn’t necessarily a football “news” tweet. It’s a video of Tony Romo teaching his kids how to play football. It’s the cutest thing ever. For some reason Twitter took the video off after a few years. So here it is on YouTube. Enjoy! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ALiDbOFMhs)

I would probably be doing Real Estate full-time if it wasn’t for football. But what I’m doing now is my passion.

So being from New York, I always wanted the local teams to do well because the city is BUZZING when that happens. Those two years when the Jets were good with Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez were magical. The two Giants’ Super Bowl runs were amazing. Even in other sports, I think basketball is more fun when the Knicks are playing well and the Garden is rocking. We got to see some of that this year. New York sports is different when the teams are good here. But when it comes to me, I’ve always just enjoyed following the entire league and keeping track of how everything unfolds.

There are so many. I’ll give you two.

Super Bowl XLII: Giants-Patriots. The undefeated season. The helmet catch. All the drama to the very end. I can watch that game over and over.

2015 Divisional Round: Packers-Cardinals. The 4th quarter and overtime was just bonkers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG1t2oDYZHU

I could end up being totally wrong on this, but I like what the Giants are doing. The NFC East is wide-open. I know there were many people this offseason who thought Joe Judge is insane and no one wants to play for him. But that’s not really the case. Players on that team love him. He’s a very demanding, tough, and intense Head Coach, but that’s who he is. It’s not an act. He’s being genuine and authentic. And if you look at what the Giants had before him, it didn’t work. They were awful. They needed a new vibe and direction in the building. This is a team that started 1-7 last year but they were in most of those games except one. They almost beat the eventual Super Bowl champs on Monday Night Football. And they eventually bounced back, winning 5 out of their last 8 games and almost won the division. And you could make the case they should’ve if not for the Eagles benching their starters midway through their Week 17 game vs. Washington. These players bought into Joe Judge. They won a game in Seattle with Colt McCoy at QB. That wasn’t a fluke. They’re getting Saquon back and they added Kenny Golladay. The defense was really good last year, and it should only be better with a second year under DC Patrick Graham. I’m concerned with the offensive line, and Daniel Jones is ultimately the X-Factor. But I don’t think they’re terrible the way some people are making them out to be. I think they could surprise people.

Man. I would probably still lean Bucs because that team is just getting even better than where they were at last year. Everyone on that team (especially on offense) will tell you that they were still learning everything last year as the season went on. Add COVID on top of it all and that made things even more difficult, and they still won it all. And now they’re bringing EVERYONE back? It’s unreal. But then again, if KC has an offensive line protecting Mahomes, it’s a whole different ballgame. A rematch would be really fun.

It all depends on how this season goes. I could see a scenario where they win the Super Bowl and everything goes so well that he wants to stay and the front office wants to keep him and they work something out. At the same time, I could see them losing in the NFC Divisional Round and Aaron decides he wants to start somewhere else. I do believe the front office got the message he was sending and they’re going to try to make him happy and have him involved. Where this all ends up going is a beautiful mystery (as Aaron would say).

Similar to Aaron, it will depend on how the season goes. This situation was funny because it was really bad during the early portion of the offseason and then all of a sudden everything went away. I think the eventual breakup was just put on hold for now. There’s a history of the two sides not seeing eye-to-eye on some things. I think allowing Wilson to be involved in the OC hiring process was a big step forward. But I think people have to understand that not everything is all perfect between the two sides. This could very well be a story once again in February/March.

I am always on top of things because there’s information coming from all angles throughout the course of a day. Doing this since 2013, I’ve gotten a good sense of knowing when things should happen and where it should be coming from. I’m not a big sleeper. I go to sleep late and wake up pretty early. I think I’ve only missed two stories because I was sleeping: Antonio Brown getting traded to the Raiders happened when the clock was moving one hour forward so I went to sleep a little earlier than usual that night. It happened at 12:40 AM (which is really 1:40 AM) and I missed it. I woke up at 4:30AM and saw the news and was so mad at myself. The other was actually this offseason when Trent Williams decided to return to the 49ers at 4:27am. I woke up at 6:20 to the news. Shoutout to Dianna for being on top of that story. We had a good laugh about that.

I’m really curious to see how the Jaguars do this season with that coaching staff but I’m all in on Trevor Lawrence. We’ve been talking about this guy for what feels like forever. He’s my OROY pick. I also like Najee Harris.

On the defensive side, let’s go with Micah Parsons. Dallas has been raving about what this kid can do. I think he’ll make a big impact right away.

Love this question! It’s May-rove. So not My-Rov!

My grandparents from my dad’s side passed away before I was alive, so I never got to know them. If I can go back in time just to get to know them that would be the choice. I’ve heard so many great stories about them. That’s an easy one.

I went to Cancun a few years back and it was just amazing. I would go back there any chance I get.

I’m not a big music guy. I know, it’s weird.

I don’t. Sorry Baker Mayfield.

Dale Carnegie has a few really good books that I would recommend everyone to read.

I would recommend donating to Hurricane Ida Storm Relief Efforts: https://www.neworleanssaints.com/hurricaneida What they’re going through breaks my heart.