NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Bears-Pats recap & best coaching jobs (w/Bill Barnwell)

Episode Date: October 25, 2022

Gregg Rosenthal and Bill Barnwell recap the Monday Night Football matchup between the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots. Then, Bill and Gregg list their favorite and most impressive coaching jobs so far this NFL season.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Fields takes off. Left side, he's in. Touchdown Bears. Blitz. Fields throws to Herbert. Has blocking at the touchdown. Montgomery is in for the touchdown.

What a night to the ground game of the Bears. It was supposed to be a coronation for Bill Belichick on Monday night football, but the Bears and Justin Fields had different ideas. 33 to 14 on Monday night in Foxborough. That's the Chicago Bears first victory in Foxborough ever. How is that even possible? Well, they don't play there that much. I am joined on Monday night by Bill Barnwell, and I am so excited for Bill to be here. to revel in my misery. Welcome, Bill. How are you doing?

Thank you for staying up late. You make it sound like that's a common trope in our friendship, is that. That is really what I'm stuck around for. You just revel, revel, revel, revel in your misery. Well, you've had to wait. You know, you are a Giants fan. And so you've had the upper hand in some big spots. But I do feel like the rest of the country enjoyed.

how much Patriots fans lost their mind in Zappy fever and were booing their first round pick from a year ago, Mac Jones, and then going crazy for Zappi and they take a lead. And then the air just is totally taken out of the stadium and they end up getting blown out. I do feel like there's probably a little extra joy from much of the country

and seeing all those sad Patriots fans' faces. Yeah. I mean, you're right. I think in general, though. Maybe I'm basing that on the text that I got from Mark and Dan right after the game. Yes, the simple size of two representing the broader NFL watching public, which is not unfair.

I think they have very fine opinions themselves. They're slightly biased. But I think, I don't know about you. Obviously, you watch a lot of football. I can't think of a game where a player came in was so hot. A player who was being begged for by the crowd early in this game

comes in. it's such an immediate fire underneath a team and then fizzles out so quickly over the course of the ensuing two quarters. Like even with, was it Mike White? Was the Jets back to quarterback last year? Mike White at least had a really good game and then kind of struggled the following week

or a couple weeks later. This was really like a whole life cycle in the course of about 40 minutes of football time. It was crazy. It was truly like a telenovela. It was great. The only thing that would have been better is if the game, you know, stayed close. But there was so much going on when the Patriots took out Mack Jones at the end of, you know, a rough first quarter for Jones.

And I have, you know, little notes in front of me, Bill. You can't see me because your camera is off and I respect that decision. You have moved out into your main room of your house. Your wife is sleeping in your bedroom and you're staying up late to do this with me. me, and so I really appreciate that. But if you could see me, you could see my note card. And the first thing written on it is all about the bears, because I want to give the bears their love.

This really was a big night for them, and we will talk a lot about that. But we just started on the Zappy and Mac thing, so now I just think, let's stay there. We can go in either direction, but you have to pick from this point forward. I know. The Zappy Mac thing is crazy because Mac Jones was getting booed, or at least the Patriots offense was getting booed. after Mac Jones starts the game and they go three and out twice.

This is even before he throws a bad interception. And in those two drives, and they were three and outs, they had some bad running plays. They had a penalty. They had Mac Jones maybe holding on to the ball too long, not making quick decisions like he did as a rookie, but it was like the sample size of two or three, you know, past plays.

And they were already booing. They already started chanting for Zappi. And so after Mac Jones makes a couple plays, and drives the ball down the field. He throws a pretty unforgivable interception where he's outside of the pocket and just throws it up for grabs. And he made a few of those plays earlier in the season,

which he really didn't much as a rookie. And at that point, everyone wanted Zappi. Zappi comes in and has a four-play touchdown drive where he's got a wide-open screen to Stevenson and a wide-open Jacoby Myers down the field and then a three-play touchdown drive. And at that point, it felt like the Beatles had just landed in New York. During that time, the Patriots had come back from a 10-0-0 deficit to take the lead 14-10.

And it was like, it was an experience, Bill. What was your experience watching this? So two things came to mind for me with this sequence. And I'll start with the Mack Jones side of things. Number one, we've all seen situations where a quarterback was struck. A veteran starting quarterback was struggling, and the fans wanted to see that young, exciting, you know, promising backup get his opportunity. The starting quarterback in this situation is usually not like 24 years old. And I think that's the word part about this is that Mack Jones was getting the, oh, we're sick of you.

We want to see something fresh and new treatment from the fans. So Mac Jones is in his second season as Patriots quarterback. like he was getting the oh we're excited to see mac jones treatment last year he's the second year as patriots quarterback and he's averaged 7.4 yards per attempt as a pro including 8.1 yards per attempt in his brief three games this year like he has not been great to start the season with turnovers and obviously zappi was very good in his two-start sample but it just seems so strange to me that Patriots fans were like, oh, yeah, get this first-round pick who's the future of our franchise, the hell off the field.

We have to see Zappi right now. There's no alternative for us. Right. And the Patriots fed into this by letting reporters know or reporters finding out that both quarterbacks were likely to play in this game. Adam Schaefter reported before the game. But I also saw it a few times during the week from Patriots reporters. that they said don't be surprised if both end up playing. I also think, and this is why I have a tricky time as a Patriots fan

because Patriots fans in the stadium often annoy me to the nth degree. On Twitter, no one's more annoying than Patriots fans. And this is the sort of thing that drove me crazy. And now that I'm thinking deeply about it, part of it is the sports radio atmosphere there. there were some negative reports about Mack Jones that did not become a national story. He also didn't seem comfortable in the new Matt Patricia system. And he had one or two comments slip out publicly that kind of expressed his lack of comfort

when they were struggling in training camp in the beginning of the season. And then there's some reports. And Michael Lombardi was one of them out there just like about his attitude or just total nonsense. and stuff about he got too big for himself when he went to the Pro Bowl. And I think that it all feeds into it. And then ultimately you look at Zappy and he played well. He improved the last couple weeks and

everyone just wants this to be Brady again. That's the thing. Like they want Bailey Zappy, this kid from Western Kentucky to come in and it's just Tom Brady again. And I just haven't seen anything out of him to make me think like this guy's going to be a better option than Zappy, but I mean, then Mac

Jones, but it makes you wonder like what are they going to do next week? And this is not going to be something that goes away anytime soon i mean we're not that far removed from fans wanting mac jones to be the next tom brady and frankly he was ahead of tom brady in terms of tom brady's development given that tom brady did not play really during his rookie season i i know some of the reports that came out about his attitude were proven to be just false based on random dms that went to reporters who reported them as fact exactly i should have pointed that out was a problem. And again, like, frankly, I don't, Tom Brady's attitude was not always great as Patriots

quarterback. He was not always the most humble quarterback or the easiest person to deal with. It didn't matter when they were winning football games. And I think what really stood out to me about this situation was how Bill Belichick handled Mac Jones in this game. Because we see a Belichick bench pretty much every play like any player at any position who makes a serious mental mistake Belichick is comfortable benching that guy for the entire game or for the next week or for weeks to come Isaiah win is this year's example or he wasn't even active for this game after mental mistakes throughout the season they put an injury designation on it but I am with you that I think it was more about him just getting benched right and Mac Jones throws the interception which was a

bad play he he saw cover two before the stop he threw a pass that would have been a cover two meter the bears had rotated to cover three after the snap it was a contested pass an incredible interception by the way like just a ridiculous Toquan Brisker, their second round pick, who's been a nice story for them. Yeah, incredible pick. But Mac Jones did not play after that moment, even though Bill Belichick came out at halftime and said, we're going to play Mac Jones and Bailey Zappy after halftime. And even though we didn't really see a lot of evidence that Mac Jones was physically struggling with his high ankle sprain in this game.

He was running fine. He had a bunch of scrambles for games. He had more rushing yards than pass. Passing yards, Bill. Yes. 24. That is the, like it wasn't like the ankle was the issue here where that seemed to be holding him back. So it seemed like basically Bill Belichick used this opportunity to benchmark Jones for making a stupid mental mistake, which maybe he doesn't do that in a typical situation.

But it felt like at the very least tough love from a coach who's known for tough love with his players. I want to get into some of that. And again, we're going to get to the Bears. But I think let's do this quarterback situation. move on. I like these Monday night recaps, Bill, because it's our chance to kind of dive into these teams a little deeper than we have time to do later in the season. And this quarterback situation is fascinating. I'm curious just what you think of Bailey Zappy has now played as much this season as Mac Jones. And the sample size we're basing Mac Jones tonight on was, to be

clear three for six for 13 yards in an interception. He threw six passes. He ran a little too quickly a few times to three possessions. They didn't score one big mental error. What have you seen from Zappy in general and especially tonight? I mean, I think we saw a guy who can be very decisive with the football. You know, I think the swing pass he got out to Ramandre Stevenson against the big blades was just perfect throw, perfect time. perfect situation and a great reach know exactly where to get the ball out quickly um i think you see a guy who has zip on his passes it's not like he doesn't have a a pro caliber arm throwing slants throwing out he was able to make those throws and look like he had an NFL caliber arm not exactly

a you know josh allen kind of arm but his throws were in the right places generally um i think you saw a guy who is going to be struggling with protections who's going to be struggling with what to do when there's pass pressure on him. And I think we saw something very similar to the Cooper Rush situation in Dallas where when Cooper Rush was playing subpart defenses and wasn't in a position where he had to throw the football to catch up and he was able to play from ahead and have the threat of a running game, Cooper Rush looked great. But the moment they came out and played the Eagles and got down 10-0 and Cooper Rush had

to throw for them to win football games, you saw what happened. Cooper Rush started turning the ball over, and it was a much sloppier situation. And that is kind of what I felt here with Zappi, where in the second half, when the bears, strangely, were going on a scoring spree, and Zappi had to match them, he was really not able to keep up. And I don't think it tells us that Billy Zappi's not fit to be an NFL quarterback, but just that he's not some immediate solution in a way that Mack Jones is not for this football team. Right.

The thing that drives me the craziest about this whole thing is like, they're the same player. They're so similar. I think Mac Jones has a higher ceiling and I think people undersell what he showed last year as a rookie for being advanced in some meaningful ways as a rookie that to me offer some real long-term upside

that they could get excited about. But you still would have to see it in a way that I was excited about Gino Smith back in the day in his early days. Just that he's showing some processing ability, Bill, like going to his second his third read like being pretty comfortable in the pocket not letting you know pressure bother him too much

like if you can show those things early there's a chance you can have a pretty long good career I think Zappi has very similar strengths they literally look the same if you put those two people on a lineup together like

it's just like look at Bailey look at Mac Jones they look at the same and they're very similar players and that's why I think the whole thing is a little silly now Zappi's shown way more than you would expect this quickly. And that bodes well. Like, I thought he was overwhelmed in the Packers game where he came in. And you can understand that.

Of course. And they've done things for him, like seven-man protections and more play action. More play action. The running game's been really good. And you saw what happened when all that didn't quite work as well tonight. And I think most importantly, the rest of the team has just played better. There's so much focus on the quarterback, and it is juicy. But ultimately, I think Mac Jones would have won those last couple games

against two of the worst defenses in the league, the Browns and the Lions, and he would have played well. And they weren't going to win this game no matter if Zappi played all four quarters or if Mac Jones play four quarters. So it's a situation where I think Belichick came into this game, Bill, with a plan to rotate the players. And like, he knows, he knows this is going to drive people crazy. He knows.

But ultimately, he doesn't care enough. he thinks this is the right thing to do and it is something he's very consistent at almost any other position especially with young players that he rotates them whether it's the offensive line whether it's cornerbacks whether defensive linemen that's more typical

whether it's running backs receivers like this is these are things he does and I think he has this idea in his head that these are two young quarterbacks and this is what I'm going to do and I'm going to see how I feel after this game and I think the way it went it just is messy with the Jets next week. It's messy.

I have a stat and a question for you, Greg Rosenthal. The stat is QBR, ESPN's all-encompassing quarterback stat. And speaking to your argument that these are the two identical quarterbacks, Billy Zappi's QBR after four games is 35.0. Mack Jones, QBR after four games, is 33.9. is a 1.1 difference in QBR between these two quarterbacks who are similar in many days. And the zappy heads will say, well, like one of those passes were tipped. And the other time it was over.

It's like those were the times when Mac Jones got into trouble this year. I will say Mac Jones hasn't looked as comfortable in Matt Patricia's system, period. And that included tonight. I'm going to give you a couple Belichick quotes and then we'll move on to the Bears. He did not, of course, say who the starter is going to be against the Jazz. And he won't, I assume, until next Sunday. We'll see if there's reports. He said Jones wasn't bench due to performance.

Jones was aware he wasn't going to play the whole game. And the ankle was a factor in that decision. Don't believe the ankle part. Do believe that he was aware he wasn't going to play the whole game. But I also believe Mack Jones probably thought he was going to come back into the game. Belichick says he would have if the score didn't get out of hand. He shot down the notion that the Patriots would platoon quarterbacks moving forward, even though he, in the same sentence, essentially admitted he

was planning to platoon quarterbacks today. So I think there's some lying going on in there. Well, Greg, as a Patriots fan, as an observer of the NFL, what do you think the Patriots should do next week? Oh, I think they should start Mac Jones. You know, the fan part of it annoys me, and that's just something that... We can both agree. We hate the fans.

I want to make that here. I'm just saying Mac Jones is like a human being, and I'm not saying they should be easy on them, but when they are booing like crazy in the atmosphere that they have and then it went crazy, I don't think it's crazy to view these two guys as human and their teammates as human and think that actually could have a real impact on what's going on

and not going to help Mac Jones in his performance and what's happening, and maybe that influences you a little at least. least in the moment tonight. Is that crazy? No, but I think if anyone's going to be able to get past what the crowd thinks about anything, it's Bill Belichick, no? Yeah, and Mack Jones is going to have to as well. And I was already getting people texting me. I have friends and my buddy Burke, who we've talked about on this show, who helps us, you know, with our live shows. Mike Berkowitz was always like, oh, they're going to trade Mac Jones. Like, oh, they can't. It's like, let's come down here. They not only draft

a quarterback behind Tom Brady, one of the greatest of all time or the greatest every couple years in the first three rounds. They drafted someone more handsome than him that he didn't particularly seem to enjoy and all but decided that he was going to be their next guy.

And they let those two guys just sit around while not giving Tom Brady a contract extension. I think they'll be fine letting Mack Jones and Bailey Zappy feel uncomfortable in the situation. Maybe for years. Maybe this is the first of many post-game conversations about this weird situation, Bill. So should I delete my tweet that said 2023-49ers starting quarterback Mac Jones? Or can I keep that up?

No, I mean, you can keep it because what's the harm? You might, you know, like in the off chance that you're right. I mean, it does make some sense if they were willing to pay enough. You know, Belichick would probably trade anyone. But I think one thing they do in a smart way, is draft quarterbacks every year. Like, even when you have Tom Brady, quarterbacks are worth a lot,

and it's great to have two good ones. And right now we see a lot of Patriots quarterbacks playing around the league, Jacoby Perciet, Jimmy Garapolo. Like, this is, I'm not saying these are, like, great players, but it's good to just draft quarterbacks. And I think they like having, too. Can I point out something about the Jets

before we get to the Bears? Okay. Team the Patriots play next week. I've mentioned this. I don't feel like it's gotten a lot of attention. It seems obvious to me that it's a very important thing when it comes to evaluating the 5 and 2 New York Jets.

They have one win this year against the starting quarterback. And they may not have to play a starting quarterback against the Patriots next week. They beat Jacoby Reset with the Browns. Kenny Pickett came in for the Steelers. So, Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett, whichever one you think is not

the starter, played half the game there. They had Skyler Thompson and Teddy Bridgewater in the Dolphins game. Of course, they did beat Aaron Rogers, but last week they get Brett Rippin and beat the Broncos, and they might get they may get belly zappy as the backup quarterback for the Patriots this upcoming week. So this is something I would I'd recommend for NFL teams.

Make sure you play five backups in the first half of the season. It's a really good way to advance on your rebuilding project. It's a perfect week to have Jets Patriots because that's a big game for the Patriots, especially now at 3 and 4. And that's a perfect transition because I think the Jets are a great example of how this is a defensive year in the NFL. Not saying great defenses are going to win the Super Bowl, but teams are winning games often because of their defense. And the Bears played well on both sides of the ball tonight.

But they absolutely had the better defense in this game. They had more playmaking. They had a more consistent pass rush, and they did a much better job stopping the Patriots running attack. This Matt Iberfluse defense has gotten like a lot, little bit better each and every week and I think they're a pretty good defense moving forward. He always has a sound defense. They haven't had a great pass rush, but that's at least part of the reason why the bears are

here at three and four and in the NFC stew. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. And I think that it's very similar to what we saw at the Colts, where when Iberfluse took over in Indianapolis, it was, well, they don't have the pieces. They're rebuilding on defense. They don't really have a lot to work with. typically just about every season iber flus was there in indianapolis which by the way is a disaster this year after he left oh that's a good point necessarily correlated but a different conversation

um iber flus has typically gotten more out of his roster than you might look at from the names on the play sheet each and every week and i think that's the case here um you know this is a team that that really bottled up the patriots rushing attack and put those quarterbacks in situations where they had to throw. And yes, there were moments where, for example, like you said, Jacobi Myers, just a totally blown coverage on that touchdown. DeMante Parker made a crazy catch in double coverage. That's going to happen. If you have writer series making great plays, if you're going to blow a coverage, not much you can do. But on the whole, this is a very good team when it comes to sort of playing within its limits and playing as a unit, sort of like

a younger, less talented or less experienced version, maybe of the Bengals. We saw kind of impressed during the second half in the postseason a year ago where it really felt like they were just a better team than they were individual players. And I think we saw sort of the upside here where the few stars they do have played like stars in this game. I mean, Robert Quinn did not get a sack, but he tormented Trent Brown. His best game of the year. He was great in this game. Roquan Smith had an interception in this game. Been great out of year. Sorry, a sack of interception. Brisker, like you said, who has been very promising this year, had a very impressive pick on a play where the Bears fooled Mac Jones, who's a pretty smart quarterback for a second year

passer. This was a game where it felt like they had the answers for the Patriots and the Patriots aren't necessarily running the most complicated offense on the planet, especially with Zappi in the game. But it really felt like outside of a couple plays in this game, they were dominating on the road. Right. They got Mack Jones off his spot basically in all three of those drives, almost every time he dropped back, and that was a big reason why he didn't look comfortable. He didn't look good. I was skeptical that Ebroflus hire just because you hire a defensive guy.

I really want to, like, a major schematic advantage, and those Colts defenses were solid, but they weren't overwhelming. And so I wasn't inspired, but you can kind of see the vision. And you mentioned getting players to play above their talent level as a whole. And one thing I always look for in new coaches is, Well, how are these players compared to they looked with their last coaches? And at least compared to last year, Jalen Johnson, playing better. Eddie Jackson, a couple down years, playing better.

Roquan Smith, already was great, playing as great or better. I think that those are all really promising signs. And it's really just the last two weeks. They've been fine before that. They haven't been great or terrible. But the last two weeks, I mean, they shut down Washington. I know it's Washington, but they still shut down. Washington, 214 yards is nothing to sneeze at in an NFL game.

They basically didn't give up any points other than that like fumble or punt that happened that set the Washington up inside the five. And then they, you know, 260 yards and 12 first downs for the Patriots. So very good, very promising. And yet I've spent all this time not getting to the first point on my little card, Bill, which was Justin Fields. Of course that was like the on-field story of this game is Justin Fields running well. run well all year, but this time it felt like they emphasized it in terms of design

runs. They run for 243 yards as a team. They've had a couple games like this, but more design runs out of fields, some great scrambles and 179 yards through the air on only 21 throws and some great scramble drills and a few plays from the pocket where he got to his second read. And look, if you just sprinkle those in along with the running game that they have, then we might have something here. I mean, this felt like, Coming off of the, basically a mini buy, they played last Thursday, had the extra day even this week to get to Monday. So really, I mean, plenty of time to prepare for this game. This felt like the most realized version of this Bears offense, right?

I mean, this was a game where Justin Fields was booting a ton, a ton of times he was getting out of the pocket and having the opportunity to throw on the run, getting off his spot, and forcing the Patriots who are very good at typically bottling up young quarterback. to not know where he was going to be at the beginning of the play. We saw that from the very first passing sequence of this game, and it continued throughout. And like you said, more designed runs. Phil was incredible as a scrambler in this game. He had a couple third and long conversions,

at least one third and long conversion I can think of, where he came out of the pocket where basically he looked like he was about to get sacked and instead converted third and long, set up points for the bears. And this was a game where I felt like he, as a, on those design runs, added more of an element to this running, running attack than we had seen in weeks past. Even when they had been running successfully, it had really been more about Khalil Herbert running in the context of the offense, which feels more as a scrambler. This felt like he was an equal part of the offense, especially on third down,

in situations where they needed to convert. And this is a game where they were great on third down, 11 for 18 against the Patriots, which kept that defense on the field, tired them out, and I think led to a lot of the success they had in the second and half of this game. Third and longs. A lot of third and lungs. I mean, the play that he made, I think it was third and seven, and he got flushed out.

And again, it looked like there were so many plays where they could have sacked him and he got out of it. And on at least three of them, he completed passes down the field when he could have run. But the play I'm thinking of is the one to commit where he just puts a beautiful throw down the sideline. He's maybe not going to be the most consistent, quarterback this year throwing, I think that's obvious.

But if he has a handful of those each game and he had a couple on the early drives too where he had a chance to run and he actually didn't and he found wide open receivers in the middle after breaking outside the pocket, that's all the, I think, need to at least be competitive with the running game that he brings and that Montgomery and Herbert bring. Okay, so on that commit catch, very disputed conversations happening. about that catch on the internet, Greg. I know you were busy doing work, but on the internet,

there was speculation that Colquemette was trying to okey-doke the Patriots into using a challenge on a play where he caught the ball. No way. And it seemed pretty well in balance. No way. People believe that he was trying to fool the Patriots.

No, his back, he didn't know. Like, he was catching it and his back is to the sideline and his heads flipped all around. I think he just thought he landed out of bounds because, you know, it's a split second thing where his leg landed in bounds and then his back was quickly

out of bounds after that. Like, yeah, I don't think he was playing next level chess. I saw a play this week where Santay Samuel Jr. Clearly dropped an interception on replay and he was so confident that he ran the length of the field sideline to sideline signaling, I caught it, I caught it, I caught it,

begging Brandon Staley to challenge the play. When again, the ball was standing on the ground without Asante Samuel's hands underneath. Maybe Komet's just not confident. Maybe Komet is just a weirdly like, I don't know about you, but like every time I finish a podcast, I'm like driving home. And I just think of all the things that I could have done better and that I said wrong. And like, why am I so bad at this?

Maybe Komet is like us. That there is no pro athlete like us, Greg. That's true. That's why we're here. You cannot get to that point. Okay. That's why we're here. I would be surprised.

I also don't think that Kolt Kemet, was okey-dokey in the Patriots, though. That would be incredible. I think someone will do that eventually, but I don't think it was Colquette in this situation. No, I don't think so. And I really am looking forward to watching them because this is one of the things that's good

if you try to watch as many games as you can. You know, Fields' best three passing games of the season are the last three. And they haven't been, like, amazing. But I would say, like, the third best passing game of the season was three weeks ago. The second best passing game of the season, granted, I know they only scored seven points,

but if you watched that game, it wasn't like a brutal game. It was passable how he threw the ball. And then his best passing game of the season was tonight. Like, you see an upward trajectory. So what more can you ask for? Yeah, and I mean, I think we're seeing not just an upward trajectory from fields,

but from sort of the offensive structure. And I know the offensive line is bad. And losing, they lost an offensive line in this game. Maybe they lost two offensive lines. Lucas Patrick got hurt, yeah. Lucas Patrick got hurt. They, and he was playing such a for them. They had to bring Sam Mustifer back in.

Kevin Jenkins got hurt for, I think he went down, but it came right back, if I'm not mistaken. But, I mean, I think about the Eagles last year, where they look kind of lost the first six weeks of the season. Ooh, good comp. Eighthounds an offense that worked. Behind their running quarterback. Behind their running quarterback. I don't think they're going to be as good as they. No.

I do think I can believe that the offense is going to get structurally better and Fields is going to look more confident. more comfortable in that offense as the season goes along. I don't think it's going to be linear. I think there'll be hiccups. I think there'll be games where they struggle. I think there'll be depressing moments when Fields does make mistakes because he's still a young quarterback. But I think so far as a pro, Justin Fields' best moments have typically been when he sort of forgets the scheme and he forgets what he's doing and just reacts off of instinct and makes

a great play with his legs. They made plays. They made plays tonight. Right. And I think this week it felt a little more within the strength. structure of an offense, which I think is really exciting. I agree. I mean, they raised the ceiling of what I am reasonably expecting of the bears tonight this season.

Yes. Because in this, we talked about this is a defensive year. It's a bit of a running year. And this is all relative to what the last few years, obviously, you still need a great passing game in the end, I think. But here are some final, these are some rushing totals from games that they've had just this season. Tonight, 243. Last week, 237, against the Giants 149, against the Texans 281, against the Packers 180. So it's just like, when all that was happening, it was just like, man, if you

just get a little bit of passing here, and now some defense, it's like they can be in these games and they can maybe win seven or eight games, and that probably will have you mathematically alive in week 18. There is a certain kind of football nerd who is, who has bears falcons in week 11 circled on their calendar. That is going to be the most... I'm not quite there. I'm not quite there. One heavy.

Those two quarterbacks are going to throw like 15 passes. But here's the thing. The Patriots are kind of like the Falcons. Like they were running the ball on first down, down three scores, just like the Falcons were on Sunday against the Bengals. The Patriots were doing it tonight and not running, hurry up. Oh, my God. We've spent 34 minutes on this game, Bill Barnwell.

I haven't even said of the one thing. that decided this game. Please. And then we'll move. There were six fumbles in this game, Greg Rosenthal. The bears were covered all six of them. Yeah. That was key.

I think Fields might have had, what, do you have three? I felt like he had three. He had three, and then there was one that was on a snap. So that's credited to him. Technically, he's credited with four. And he didn't lose any of them. Pettis.

It's true. So many times I'm watching these games, and it's all about, like, how the ball bounces off a tip or off a, you know, squirt in the pile or whatever. But this game might, I don't think ultimately was totally decided by that. I think the Bears were just better. Well, I mean, but I think the Bears were a better team. They could have kept the closer. But there is a universe where they lose a couple fumbles early. The Patriots get a couple short fields and score.

Then the Bears have to throw to catch up. If the bear, yeah, if the Patriots picked up four of those fumbles, and instead of being minus three in turnovers, they were plus three. You're right. obviously it's a totally different game but wow Bill Belichick what a humbling night

this was supposed to be the whole passing George Hallis thing and I really got a haircut I noticed he gave Ibrufluse like a very hug long hug in conversation at the end which I don't know

I think maybe that was because he was saying thank you for kneeling at the one yard line instead of putting a 40 burger on us like I would have done to you at the end I think Belichick was ready for this coronation and instead it was a nightmare.

All right, that's it for game talk. We do have some coaching talk. The Big List with Bill Barnwell coming up after the break. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel?

That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be in four. informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL.

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from Scouting Reports and player development. To team-building philosophies, coaching trends and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day.

Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I picked Bill a different little segment here at the end of this show because I thought this game might not be that exciting.

and I've got Barnwell on and like, let's fill some more time with Barnwell. Let's take advantage. If we're going to make him stay up late, you told me you stayed up till 4 a.m. last night, writing, this is easy. Oh, for sure.

That typical Sunday is between 4 and 5 a.m. for me. So we're recording this at 12.15 in the morning, Eastern. This is a breeze for me. I'll give you like five. It'll be like 5 or 10. But we've gone longer now than any Monday night football recap already.

And I haven't gotten to my top six list. Tonight, the top six list is not a top six list because I wanted to involve Bill and not just have it be my list that he comments on. So instead of just like a pure top six list, in honor of George Papa Hallis, Papa Bear, I don't know what they call him, Bill Belichick, Don Shula,

you know, all the great coaches out there. We're each going to pick three coaches who have done a great job this year, and we will keep it quick and get you out of here. And you sent me a text this week that at one point said, the best podcast duo of the year gets the best game of the year. And I don't think the game lived up to that. So let's do it.

As the best podcast duo, let's deliver some more content, Bill. We're going to give three coaches that we think have done a great job this year. Just any three coaches. And when you read another text from me, you read it as, I wanted a head coach, a coordinator, and a position coach. I meant it could just be any, but you picked one of each, so I'm going to do the same. Let's have you go. You can go first.

I felt like that is a level of granularity that I can hit with you. I mean, if I'm doing other shows, they want those like eight coaches people know, and I have to name three of those coaches. I can get a little. I do want to ask a quick question, actually. When you say the best game of the year gets the best podcast duo of the year, I read that as like Barnwell. for a second I read that

and then I realized you're not like this maybe I would be like this if I said that and made a joke that you were almost saying you're wasting me on bears pat

really Greg I thought that's what you were kind of saying why didn't you save me for a big time one late in the year and I actually thought he's right

I maybe should have saved him for a big time one late in the year I was being facetious but what I would say is that I think I know for my perspective I have to do podcast

every single week and the football is not always great every single week I think you need someone you have experience on a report with. We've done each other for 15 years now. So thinking this game might have been bad.

Yeah. That actually was part of it. You know, yeah, I thought, I thought, you know, the history of it all. But that's why I added this segment. And let's go through it. Give me a coach. I don't know where you want to start, but give me a coach you like this year. And we'll go through these quick.

I will start at the very top. I will start with a head coach and a guy who gets plenty of attention. and I still think does not get enough. And that is Mike Frable. Oh, you took mine. I told you, I bet you before the show, we were going to have one coach, at least one coach in common.

I thought we were going to have the same coordinator, but Mike Frable is the head coach. Do you want to give me your explanation for why Mike Frable is the head coach, Greg? Well, just because it's sort of impossible to know exactly what a head coach does. Only winning records for Mikey. sure seems like like Tomlin sure seems like a coincidence that they happen to be good at for you.

Right, exactly. But the thing that I think you can measure is like when you look at the team, are they greater than the sum of their parts? And are they that consistently? And that's that's Mike Vrable. I mean, I think they do a very good job in Tennessee. And this is Rable. It happens on both sides of the football. I think he deserve some of the credit of developing their young players.

They have guys break through each and every year. year. I mean, last year it was Christian Fulton. Harold Landry had a career year. But now this season, they lose Landry before the year to a tour in ACL. Taylor LeWan goes down either week one or week two, I think week two. Traylon Burks, their first round pick who they got after trading AJ Brown, their best receiver hasn't really been around this year because he's been heard. Secondary has been inconsistent. Derek Henry, even though he's been better the past few weeks, not the same guy he was at his peak. And yet they keep winning football games. They're winning with Dennis Daly at left tackle.

It's crazy. Kine is their wide receiver, too. Rashad Weaver has been their primary pass rusher when Bud Dupree has been hurt. Like, you should not be able to keep doing this. And yet, they're one tackle of

Saquan Barkley in the backfield or one field goal at the very end of that game from being five and one. Sure. Other than they're coming to the bills. Yeah. And they got blown out in that game. And that's, you could flip

a couple of other games, but you're right. They also managed to, like, get guys in quarterback's faces very, like, quickly. Just like the game. Like, they do a good job coaching up their defensive line. Who is their defensive line coach? I'm putting you on the spot, Gravedigger. Right now, Justin Graver, you've made him so happy, Bill, by the way. He raised his hands in victory when you said Mike Rable.

I mean, I, every year. Okay, Darrell Williams. Terrell. Wait, what did you? What did you forget? You forgot it. You forgot it. Once again.

I had it ready to go. That was sorry. Yeah, yeah. Terrell Williams. Well, he does a great job. They get unblocked defenders. All right. I'm going to just leave you.

Mike Rabel as the coach. We both picked him as the coach. And I'm just going to go with an offensive coordinator. And that's Shane Waldron. I have talked about Gino. Oh, sure. To the point of annoyance and exhaustion of almost anyone in my life. Listeners, co-host, friends, family members.

my children. When was the last time Shane Waldron was brought up on this show, Justin? Like literally have we said the names Shane Waldron in the last month? Maybe when the Seahawks hired him? I mean, I think we've brought him up in passing here or there,

but it's mostly in context of Russell Wilson. And we talked about Vrable doing a good job getting more out of his players than expected. When you look at that offensive line with two rookies. And they certainly have talent at the skill position. But you look at Gino

and you look at him being a system quarterback. I'm a huge Gino fan, obviously, and he's made a lot of big time throws. But I think the thing he does best is kind of does what the offense tells him to do in a calm manner. Well, who's running that offense? It's Shane Waldron.

The guy who was getting killed last year for parts of the Russell Wilson era. And that offense is working fantastic. It's working better. on balance, then Kyle Shanahan's or Sean McVease, the same coaching tree he was in, and the same division he was in, like, he's running the best offense in that division. So, uh, kudos to Shane Waldron. Nice job.

Um, do you believe the Seahawks are going to sign Geno Smith to an extension during the season? No. They should know. No, I, it's already annoying me that people are getting into the Jalen Hertz contract extension talk. Now it's like, let's just let this play out. Like, why do we have to do that? That's not fun. Gino's a little different because he's on a one-year, one-million-dollar contract.

He's in a different situation. So I think it's a legit conversation. I don't think they will. But we'll see. If we get to December and they're still in first place, maybe that changes. I have bad news for the six element of this list that you've asked me to put together. Okay. As my positional coach is Seahawks running back coach, Chad,

Morden, the assistant and run game coordinator below Shane Waldron. And I thought about, he's been there since 2017. Obviously, he's been there since 2015, I believe he's been the run game coordinator or the running backs coach since 2017. And they have had so many different backs come through and play at a really high level. Chris Carson, of course, for a few years there. We shot Penny, who was a first round pick but had injuries last year, was I mean a top three running back when he was healthy at the end of last season and then kept that up. this year before fracturing his ankle. And now Kenneth Walker, their second round pick, has looked incredible so far this year. Both Walker and Penny, averaging 6.1 yards per carry.

Seahawks on the whole, averaging five and a half yards per carry, number one in the NFL. And again, without a great offensive line. So Morton, who's the run game coordinator there, so he's the one dialing up the run plays. And then also coaching the running backs, I think a very underrated coach for the role he plays in that Seattle offense. Well, they always roll out like four starting running backs a year. And then you're always like, wow, this guy's amazing. And they're all patient and they follow their whole as well. And they have consistency, which I really like that.

That was a good choice. When I realized you were going to do a position coach, now I felt shamed to doing it. So this was like admittedly a bit of a panic last minute move. But I'm going to go with Marcus Dixon, the defensive line coach of the Broncos, who's working under someone who would have been. a good coordinator pick, Agiro Evaro of the Broncos. You got the Broncos too?

What? Greg, I have some bad news. My coordinator pick is a Shiro Everro. It's fine. We need to get out of here anyways. Let's condense these conversations. Ejero Everro, another name that we haven't talked about much on this list. And he was like a Vic Fangio acolyte,

but I hadn't been with him that long. Has been in the NFL for 15 years. And, man, they are just a really tough defense to find a, breakdown in or a hole in and yes they're talented but he's taking that defensive line marcus dixon specifically and they run a lot of games they're they're creative and just different guys are coming off the bench and they're all playing well yeah and i mean i think they're playing a lot better than they even did a year ago broad numbers loved them last year stats like dv oa not so much they were 20th in dv oa last year third in the NFL this year number one in points per drive allowed

second and epa per play and that's without justin simmons for a chunk of the year they had Caden Stearns filling in, who looked great in Simmons' absence. Haven't had Randy Gregory for a chunk of the year. It's been Baron Browning, who suddenly looks like a top 15-minute-all pass rush. He's been terrifying. He got hurt on Sunday and is going to miss some time, which is really a bummer because he was exciting. But Gregory, yeah. Darby's done for the year.

DJ Jones, to the defensive line element to this, has been better here than he was in San Francisco. I mean, they just have so many different players making plays. And I think, like we talked about, you know, when you're getting more out of the guys you have and the people before you, especially when it was Vic Vanchio, one of the most respected defensive coaches in the league. I think Evereaux has been one of the more valuable coordinators in football so far as to see.

He's improved the Fongio defense. And it was another coach that Sean McVevalos. Evera was with the Rams the last four to five years, five years and was their passing game coordinator. So if you got to give Nathaniel Hackett credit for anything, Everow. Give them credit. Give them the best move they made.

That's what I'm saying. Give them credit for the defensive staff that they hired. The coaches do get credit for that because Nathania could use a little credit and a little help right now because it's dark. And they're writing, could he be fired during the season? Articles already in Denver local papers, which is rough. But he did a nice job with that defense and that makes me think that there's at least a chance their season isn't over. But this podcast needs to be over soon. Bill, you've said it all, and I hope you haven't woken up your wife.

I would never wake up my wife. I'm smart enough to know that my marriage is more important than finishing a podcast with my friend Greg Rosenthal. So she's up or she like has a sound machine on or you're just not that loud or you've got like a nice big house where you're far apart. We have an 800 square foot apartment in Washington, D.C. So I am trying to be relatively quiet, but I'm hoping, I think there's a white noise machine working its magic.

I think there's a white noise app maybe, hopefully doing the work it needs to do. If I'm wrong, if I am told in the morning that I was, in fact, waking up my poor wife, then I will personally blame you, Greg Rosenthal, for getting me so excited about an exciting Monday night football game. I want you to, and I've been in that position, and I've woken up. You know, my wife, and it's a bad and embarrassing spot. I just can't stop talking and I can't stop being loud. But I need to stop, Bill.

We need to stop. So I hope your family's good. And, you know, you're part of my football family. We've got to get you back here. We've been doing this talking for, like you mentioned, 15 years since way back when you were at football outsiders. Check Bill out on his podcast, Bill Barnwell Show and on all his great articles and on sports. with SVP and on debatable. Look, I know all of the

barnwell stuff. Is there anything else? I feel like that's most. That's literally every single thing I do for ESPN. So that's it. If you don't like those four things, you're not going to like that. No, and like the best writer in the game. Great at everything. But you got to check out his writing, get smarter.

And stop listening to this podcast. We will be back on Tuesday, Justin, with another episode. We'll have Mike Garifolo sitting in for tomorrow's show. It's a big week here at around the NFL. For Bill Barnwell, Justin Graver, and Bill Belichick, heed the call. This is an I-Heart podcast.