The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Early returns on five new offenses across the NFL

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

When a team goes out and brings in a new playcaller during the offseason, be it the head coach or offensive coordinator, they're telling us one thing: We need new ideas on offense. One-quarter of the league did that this offseason, and five of those teams have stood out for one reason or another over the first month of the season...the Patriots, Bears, Jaguars, Seahawks and Cowboys. What are the early returns on the new ideas for those five teams? Robert Mays and Ollie Connolly from The Read Optional dive deep into the quintet on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Rundown (timestamps are approximate)4:48 Dillon Gabriel takes the reins in Cleveland8:18 New England Patriots22:05 Chicago Bears40:58 Jacksonville Jaguars53:21 Seattle Seahawks1:10:40 Dallas CowboysConnect with The Athletic Football ShowX: https://x.com/TA_FootballShowIG: https://www.instagram.com/tafootballshowYT: https://www.youtube.com/@TAFootballShowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tafootballshowDiscord: http://discord.gg/theathleticfootballshowCall us: 847-448-0701Email us: [e-mail]: Robert MaysWith: Ollie ConnollyExecutive Producer: Michael BellerProducer: Michael BellerFollow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.socialFollow Ollie on Bluesky: @ollieconnolly.bsky.socialFollow Robert on X: @robertmaysFollow Ollie on X: @OllieConnollyTheme song: HauntedWritten by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love SongsCourtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Really fun conversation today with our old buddy, Ali Connolly from the Read Optional newsletter and podcast. Ali does a fantastic job breaking down all things football. He is like a true sickos NFL analyst, and we are digging into all of that stuff today. We're talking about five offenses that have incorporated some new ideas

coming to this season via a new play car, a new offensive system. The Patriots, the Bears, the Jaguar's, the Seahawks and the Cowboys. All five of those teams have new play callers this year. We wanted to take some time four weeks into the season just to check in. How is this going? What are these teams doing well? What are they doing poorly?

What can improve? How has the marriage been between some of these play callers and the quarterbacks? We talked about all of that today in regards to these five teams. Really enjoyed this conversation with Ali. Let's get to it right now. I've really been looking forward to this one. This is a show idea that I wanted to do even before. before we started the season.

I was like at some point in the first four or five weeks, we need to check in with all these new offenses because there's so much stuff that we're going to want to figure out and see how they're doing. And I can't imagine a better guest to help me dig into that conversation from the read-optional newsletter and the read-optional podcast. It's our old fun, Dolly Connolly. I hear you doing, man.

I'm doing good. I'm excited to do this show. I thought it was fun when we went through the teams, not jump ahead of ourselves, how much overlap there was between every team kind of ideologically. And it made me really excited being like, oh, these teams are just telling us, these are new groups in the league with new ideas, they've had some time off. And that's the way football is going. So I thought that was really fun.

There's so much cool stuff to dig into here. And I think a lot of these five offenses, I think it's been uneven for some of them. You know, the bears are probably, if you look at the numbers, the worst so far over the first four weeks. But I think there's still a lot to be excited about with what they're doing. And so I think this is going to be a pretty rosy conversation compared to last week when we had some. some offenses that fit this bucket last week. So essentially new ideas, right? Are you bringing in a new coordinator?

Are you trying to adopt some new ideas on offense? We hit a few of those last week, but those are the ones that were struggling. So we got all of those out of the way. So we can talk about some offenses today that have been surprising and fun as they've incorporated some of these new ideas. Yeah, I think particularly two of these, if they can get the snap off, happy days. Now we've got some good stuff going. It's just, could we get lined up correctly to incorporate all of our cool ideas?

Let's start this conversation, though, with a quarterback situation in Cleveland that you are going to be watching up close and personal this week in the London game. The Cleveland Browns have announced that they are going to Dylan Gabriel heading into this week five matchup with the Vikings. We talked about this a little bit, Derek and I on our Sunday hangover show this week, going back and watching the Browns game. We had run out of reasons that Joe Flacco should be the starting quarterback for the Browns. And I understood the plan going into the year. we don't need to feed a rookie to this real kind of hellacious start of defenses and opponents we have to start the year. Let's try Joe out there. We'll start Dylan in week five or six and then we'll figure out what we have.

It happens maybe a week earlier than they wanted to, considering now Dylan Gabriel's first start is going to be against Brian Flores in a different country. What do you think about the move from Cleveland and what do you think about the timing of that move? Yeah, I think it's good to just get it over with and give yourself as longer runway as possible. all the other rookies in some sense of sparkled for them, I feel like. So why not try and get a move on with it early? And the florist thing to me, I think about this afternoon, I remember Jordan Love's first start against Steve Spagnolo and how he got essentially embarrassed

by looking like a college player playing maybe the greatest defensive mind of his era. And all the reports and it came out after that, I did some on the newsletter about the fire that kind of lit in him, like, oh, this is how the pro game operates. I need to understand all the mechanics of the blitz, the pressure, the rotation, and I'm going to dedicate my life to figuring that stuff out. So when we get to the next training camp,

I am beating Aaron at this stuff, understanding this stuff. And we see him the next time, I think it's against Philly right, when he gets the nod and the next start after that. That's something that game, I believe. Yeah, and they tried to light Jordan up because this guy, this guy from Utah,

doesn't have any idea how to beat the place. Let's just send the house after him, and he shreds the thing apart, and he's fist pumping and pointing at the side. Like, look at what all my off-season study did. So I get, if there's a long run of this thing and you get David Card out of the league, right? You just take so many hits,

the confidence. gets rocked. I don't mind even if he does look completely lost in over his head. If it's like something in him, they recognize that this is how the league operates. It's not pointing to shoot Oregon football. I think that can actually be helpful down the line. So I don't really have many fears about saying,

hey, we're going to throw him out against maybe the most Wackadoo coach in the league. It also can't get a lot worse than it was on offense for them last week. And I think that's the upside here is that your defense is playing so well. You run the risk if you just keep going at the pace that you were with kind of demoralizing them in the way that you have in previous seasons. And I think that's again one of the reasons. Why not? Like it's not going to get any worse. You're already running the risk of like really making things harder on your defense the same way that you have over the last couple years. You might as well go to him even if it's against a pretty tough opponent. So not surprised by it.

I think it is obviously a tough first challenge. But it makes the morning London game, I think, a little bit more intriguing the fact that we're going to be getting the first Dylan, Gabriel, start early in the morning. Yeah, I'm excited to tell my grandkids where I was. It's like, did you see Montana? I did not, but I saw Dylan Gabriel. He's the new, this generation, Steve Young, just that overlooked lefty who's going to bring a lot to the table. All right, let's dig into these five offenses. We picked five teams, again, that we have not really dug into over the last, over the first four weeks that have a new offensive coordinator and a new play caller of some kind and are trying to incorporate some new ideas on offense. And we're just going to assess how that's gone to this point in the season.

Obviously, it's extremely early. That's a caveat we can throw out for all of these teams, but we're about a quarter of the way through the season. I think this is probably a good time to check in with what all of these offenses have looked like so far. Let's start with the New England Patriots, who, I don't know, might be the most surprising out of this entire group, considering what they were on offense last year. Just some baseline numbers for the past through four weeks. Fifth, in EPA per dropback, according to next gen stats, fifth in dropback success rate, the running game has been bad. But the passing game has been just shockingly good when you look at the numbers. And I think anecdotally, there's also been a lot to like.

So when you went back and really started digging into what the Patriots passing offense has been over the first four weeks, what were your first couple takeaways? Number one thing that jumped out to me was the joy Josh McDaniels is having calling plays for this offense. And that may sound silly. But I noticed this is when I've been studying Matt Patricia at Ohio State and just seeing the glee in the film. Like what he's calling is stuff, he would never have dreamed of calling before. He's like, I get Caleb Downs. What an amazing, I may never get this again.

I'm going to call stuff I could never do. And I think you're seeing that with McDaniels where it's like, I get to fuse all the glory is with the CAM 2020 offense. I can run a true downhill power spread offense. And I still have maybe the most successful, sophisticated passing attack. The leak has seen, what, 2007, 11 onwards. And how can I fuse those together with this guy who has the, the physique of Cam Newton. And can he speed up the way Tom was able to speed up for me?

And I just think you see it all. And week to week, it's just here's a brand new personnel grouping, formation package, window dressing to get to all the stuff that I love just in slightly different ways. And then there's really unique things, opponent specific stuff every single week. And then it's just gone. It's like we've done that stuff. And that really speaks to me of May's ability to pick things up really quickly, that they've IDed, oh, we can do this with him.

We don't have to have these are our 25 things and maybe there's two cool gadgets. It's like, no, we can put a full package in and then it's just gone for two, three weeks until we feel it can come back. Let's give me a couple examples of the merging of those two worlds. Like when you see some of the cam spread stuff and combining that with some of the older Patriots things, how does that manifest to you when you're watching them? Well, what it does, you know, you points out the run game figures there and I make this point all the time.

I think I come on the show and do the same monologue to you every time that you're gracious enough to have me on, is the run game being the first layer, the base layer of your offense to get to everything else. We're investing in the run game to trigger play action. That's why we're doing it. The better we can sell it. It's not necessarily about the efficiency or the success. It's how invested are we in it. They believe we're invested in this thing. So then our safeties will buy, our linebackers, our safety sit. We get this middle of the field stretch and we can just rip fast balls right through the thing or throw it over people's heads. Their investment comes like all these groups do, frankly, as everyone has tried to adopt some.

kind of power spread principle of getting to a spread formation or spread look with big bodies on the field. Can we get a fullback on there? Can we get a tight end on there? Do we have a good enough receiver like Pooker or someone to come inside and block for us? And so you see with McDaniels, this attack every blade of grass mentality, which is if I have a run game where I can do all the fun stuff with the pulling and the movement of the guards and the tackles, and I can get true counter stuff in there. Plus I can get May running behind the lineman, right? So it's a downhill run game with my quarterback. All of a sudden, the triggers are there when we start pulling and moving guys in play action. And in the dropback game, too, that was always the

famous Brady player, right, was the backside guard pulling and gronged down the seam. And what did Brady say the other day through for 70,000 yards on the same concept? That's the go-to-McDaniels stuff. Now the element is, oh, it's not just backside pull for single back power. It's back pull because that 6-5 guy might run down the hill or us. And that's really dangerous if we get on first down. That puts him ahead of the chains. So it's just all that stuff to me, particularly the Panthers game you saw, I'm going to make all that stuff an RPO element. He never ever could dream of doing that with Tom, right? That was the stuff he found with Cam, which is a vertical action from the run game with a vertical action in the passing game, which is just

releasing a titan down the field. So seeing him blend those things together to me has just been really interesting to watch and the success kind of speaks for itself. It's really fun to watch just how they're weaponizing his legs even in the play action game. I mean, the amount of design rollouts we've seen from them over the last three weeks, they have the number one design rollout rate in the NFL in weeks two through four. It's like 15% of their snaps. And they've done it 15 times. He's only thrown the ball on eight of those.

He's scrambled on seven of them and six of those scrambles have been successful plays. And to me, it just makes so much sense. We have this guy that is a really creative player outside of the pocket and his legs are a real weapon and them leaning into it the way that they have, you're essentially almost guaranteeing yourself a positive or neutral play every time you're rolling him out because he's either going to dump it for an incompletion or he's going to run for five yards

and you're going to be able to go to second and five. And I think that's the part of this that has been really encouraging for me. I tweeted a video of this earlier today, but it was a two-play sequence from, I think it was the Panthers game. And it was a third and six in, plus territory like the 40 or so. And it's a play. So third and six, he drops back.

He hits Ramadre Stevenson on the checkdown for like three yards. They get to fourth and three. Just a very simple, easy play. And he's making those consistently. Like anytime there's a completion to be had, he's taking the completions. And then on the next play, it's fourth and three. And he just rips a back shoulder ball to Stefan Diggs down the right side line. And when you have a quarterback with his skill set, if he's taking the completions that are there,

the explosive plays are going to come. The man is a living, breathing, explosive play a quarterback. And so watching him play within himself when those easy chunks are there to be had and then taking the shots when they're available, like that combination with a guy that has this skill set, that's going to make for a really fun offense. And that's kind of what we've seen over the first four weeks. Yeah, and it's funny you mentioned those checkdowns.

I love his body language on the checkdowns. I don't know if you watch this. He purposely slows down every single part of his being slows down, almost like he's mid-salt because he's like, I got to take the checkdown. But he's like doing it 20 times a game. He's like, and the ball is kind of, the ball rips off his hand, but the motion is so slow compared to when he actually goes to rip it. Some of these guys, you watch Dak, it's the same every single time.

It's Robo-Dagg. With him, he's like, ah, I got to take the checkdown. That's the coaching point. It's free money. I guess I'll take it. And then he'll come back and rip the back-shoulder throw, which he already might be one of the three or four best back-shoulder-throw players in the NFL. And so you get the vertical bombing.

You're mentioning that down the field. You get the, the horizontal stretch of the boot game, but the downhill run game is kind of what makes it where we are in a complete bind. Like this ball could go anywhere. That's the attack every blade of grass element of the offense. And now all of a sudden it's, okay, we're going to put two backs on the field. It's going to be one of them is in motion.

It's Gibson, it's Henderson, it's Henderson. It's the gadget guy or it's Stevenson thumping in your face and figure that out. And they already have built in all the next layers, which is like we've got a pretty sophisticated RPO package. We've got a deep play action package. And if it's not there, he's making some unbelievable. plays when pressure. Like, it's just not there, but he will hang in and hanging and hang in. He will absorb a shot. He'll slip and slide. He'll find some kind of room. And as you mentioned,

that he's just willing to say, it's not there. I hung as long as I could. I guess I'll just dump this thing off and we'll keep it moving. I think that's really the only criticism I would have from him over the first three weeks is that he's still figuring out where the limits of that are. Right. There are times where he's trying to do a little bit too much in some of those moments. The strips back against the Steelers is a perfect example where it's like the first thing. time that's not there. Just take the sack. Let's just live to play another play. But because he can do some of that stuff outside of structure, you don't want to rein that in too much. Even like the sequence that ended with the interception in the red zone against the Steelers, that entire

sequence, there's like a little bit of an erratic feel to his play. But those things are becoming such a small part of the ratio that I think you can still feel really good about it. Like just the way that he's wired, that's going to show up every once in a while. But I think those things are a smaller and smaller part of the pie as he learns what he can and cannot get away with. Yeah, I think you're just going to have to live with two boneheaded plays a game. And if you'd go into the season, same, we'll get two. I think everyone would be like, high-fiving. Like, that's a really great ratio for us because this guy thinks he can make everything.

This guy thinks he's Brett Faf. So if we only get two of them, that's not so bad. And it was four or five last year and you decided to draw on the floor when he hit two of them, right? That's how it went, at least to me. I just think there's a maturity and confidence to his game now where those panic plays, you can literally, as you just did, rattle through the list of them, they're like isolated. Here's these two, three plays in the season. Whereas last year, they were just broken plays that you completely forget about.

It's just when you kind of run through the whole cutup, you go, oh, there's four or five where he's panicked. It's not just like the plays out there. He's actually panicking and fleeing. And I'm just not seeing that this year. Behind a line that is still pretty fragile, by the way. It's not like those guys, he's got balls all over the place. It's pretty fragile. And he just has this real natural sense and feel in the pocket, which just was not evident all through last season.

last season was all about when everything's perfect, look how good he looks when he doesn't make a silly decision. And if you can just, can we pull away all the different parts to get to that more consistently? I think it's different this year. I totally agree. And this is a very, very granular place where it manifests, but I actually do think it's indicative of what the offense feels like overall. They are number one in the end.

Again, small sample size theater, I have to say that every single time we talk about stats four weeks into the year. They are number one in the NFL and success rate on plays with 10 or more yards to go on second or third down. And so let's just dig into that for a second. Essentially, that's a bucket of plays where you are behind the sticks. So it's second and 10, it's third and 12. They are number one in the league in success rate on those plays. And I think that really speaks to, even when things get off track and a little bit off schedule, there's a calmness to the way that they're attacking those situations and they're not making a bad situation worse. And I think that really does

show you like how he's slowing down his heartbeat in moments that actually should be. be disadvantageous for an offense. They're not actually showing up that way for this team right now. Yeah, I'm sure you will talk about the Remandre Stevenson Wheelrow in Miami. It was probably the best throw he's had in his entire career. That's a perfect example. He gets pressure flash right in the face. The May of Old even runs into someone else, tries to run around and bail out.

And it's just the most basic like pull up the Brady clip, stick, slide, climb, throw. Get to the guy. I know by situation, he's probably going to be open. And I'm just going to throw it down the sideline. That just stuff was not happening last year. The pulse ray, as you said, was way too high, too frenetti. So to have him be this calm and absorb as much information as he is, I'm stunned by how quick he's getting to the right stuff at the top of the drop,

basically every single time. The eyes on in the wrong place. He doesn't always let the thing go, and sometimes he hangs on too long, but he knows where he's supposed to be. And that is like step one, can we get there? It's a really complex, detailed offense, and they have put a ton on him earlier. It's really, really not small. It's like every week there's eight new packages of really, really detailed specific stuff.

And it's all the Brady stuff. So you know how detailed it is. It's like all the old favorite stuff. To be able to have a guy get the eyes in the right place essentially every single time is way beyond what I ever thought he would be in this development. They're doing such a good job of just like using a little tiny levers to give him information and allow him to get to those right plays. The perfect example to me is there was a third and ten against the Steelers where they have a little quick motion. they understand that it's man, he checks into like a little traffic route to Ramadra Stevenson coming out of the backfield completes it to him 15-yard gain first down. And like those are just those

moments. Like it's third and 10. Like that should be a situation where you're feeling a little bit uneasy as an offense. And even in something like that, he looks like he's in control. And again, with a guy that has his skill set, if that's how he's approaching the position and there is that level of calm to go along with the explosiveness, there's a lot to be really, really excited about when it comes to this team. Yeah, and I think this is where Diggs' return to health is important. He just looks so much healthier this week, just revving off the line. There was like a different juice to him going.

They already have really, really good, like, wink-wink chemistry on the in-outbreak stuff, which way you go and which way I'm going. It's seamless with those guys. And this is the first week they really started moving Diggs around the formation, being like, let's get you even more easily identifiable stuff by just, that's our best player. Let's go and see what they do with our best player. And so to what you're saying there about, like, the,

calmness and marrying up to the formations, the impact of digs beyond just the fact you get to throw to a great player, and that's more helpful than throwing to a less great player, they're gathering even more intel now because of the return of digs. And some of those looks were there in 21 personnel and they bounce out into empty and you have digs at that number three spot. Like, that's just easy. And they're doing a lot of that. They're doing a lot of things where just formation, motion, just something tiny before

the play that's making it a little bit easier on the quarterback. And you see that all the time right now. And that's where the legs really matter because some of that 21 personnel, so if you mentioned they split it out to empty. Everyone's in a nightmare. Everyone knows everyone's checks. When you get to empty, there's usually a trigger check, right? Everyone starts throwing their hands up.

You know going into the week, we've studied this guy, this DC for X number of years. We know what Evers checks going to be in empty for the most part. You can confirm it immediately, essentially, as you get the ball and attack it. There will come a point where they checked that, and it's him downhill. And what do we do then? They're playing five on four football up front. Oh, they also have a sixth guy in the backfield who looks like Cam Newton. Like that, that is the possibilities they have now, which McDanielsler's never worked with,

for and you can just see like the giddness leaking out the film being like, I cannot wait to get to this. I've saved this stuff for the bills. I cannot wait to get the bills. And this is where I'm going to do all my Josh Allen stuff that Joe Brady gets to do. Let's get to one of the other quarterbacks picked in the top three last year that's dealing with a new offensive play caller. Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears, the numbers right now for the Bears, if you look over the first four games, I mean, they're not great. They're 25th in rushing success rate. They're 20th and passing success rate.

But I do think that after that first week, there has been. some stuff that you can get excited about and there has been some pretty good things that they've put on film. As you went back and studied what the Bears have been over the first four weeks, what were your major takeaways

from rewatching this offense? Strangest thing is seeing a bear's offense operate and the quarterback be the thing that I have the least questions about. Isn't it crazy? It's crazy. It's like that feels pretty solid.

What's going on with everyone else? Why's everyone else know what's happening? It's a bewildering experience. He must be confused. When you watch him play right now, and you talk about Drake's eyes going to the right place, and I think that it's still a little bit more robotic and it's still a tiny tick slower with Caleb right now. Like when you watch him progress and he's doing it consistently a lot. His eyes are going to the right place.

It's just sometimes a little tiny bit slower than you want it to be. But that's kind of like a nitpicky thing. Like how quickly he's moving and just how on time he's playing gets to his back foot. All right. One hitch, two hitch, three hitch. Check down. It's happening at the pace you want it to happen. I guess mechanically, it's happening the way you want it to happen.

And that to me is just so encouraging when you consider what he looked like last year and what Chicago Bears quarterback play has looked like for the past 10 years. I said this yesterday. It's been uneven for the Bears' offense over the first four weeks. We'll get to some of the things that they're struggling with. He is playing quarterback right now better than anyone has played quarterback for the Chicago Bears in the past 10 years. That's not an exaggeration. Like, that's actually true.

And it has left me in a place where I don't really know what to do with him. My only concern with him at the moment is still things feel a bit too reactive rather than active. I agree with that. He is waiting to see what happens. And then I get my, and I think that's where you're saying like, okay, the footwork is great. It's timed up with the pattern at the route. That's what he's supposed to be doing. And he knows where he's supposed to go with the ball.

But there's that split second hesitation of, do I do it or do I not? Whereas when you watch the best in league, you're always. You watch deck, you watch Goff, you watch the true rhythm throwers, which he's going to have to have to become in the system. The ball is just out because it's just a ballet of place. It's like, I know when my foot goes here, ball goes there. I've confirmed it in the drop. So that slight hiccup is still there.

But that is a world apart from where we were last season. It's a world apart, honestly, from where I thought these guys would be. I really felt coming into the season is the most intriguing schematic question, almost imaginable in modern football, because you get Ben John to New is so wedded and set to his ways, the most balletic offense we've had a melodic offense we've had for some time with Jared Goff, a real vertical base play action attack. That's kind of where he makes all his money with this guy who kind of wants to do his own thing, who's a bit freelancy, who comes from the spread option era, who comes from the air raid system and just wants to go and create and have fun.

I know, by the way, is more accurate throwing on the move when he's creating than he is when he's playing with rhythm. So why wouldn't you prefer to do that stuff? You're better at that stuff than trying to beat Tom Brady. So I thought it was going to be a really peculiar, difficult marriage and the notion of just like great play call with great talent was kind of really underselling how difficult fusing these two things together would be. So to see kind of where he's already at, to your point, of how quick he's getting two things, it's not the appropriate timing necessarily, but it's way quicker than it was the year before, and it's certainly further along than I thought these two would be together.

I think the number that really speaks to what you're talking about when it comes to the choices he makes and when he decides to rip throws. per next gen, he has the highest percentage of throws in the NFL to open and wide open receivers so far this year. That anecdotally makes sense when you go back and you watch them. He's throwing the ball to open people. That's okay, right? Like in this sort of offense, like you're supposed to be progressing to the guy who's open. But he is, I think, a little bit less willing to pull the trigger on stuff that is a little bit murky.

Hopefully that will come with more confidence. Here's the thing. And I don't know if I've said this on the show or if I said this to Derek just in conversation. I get what you're saying when it comes to the stock. stylistic marriage between them. But purely as throwers, I actually think that Caleb Williams and Jared Goff have way more in common than they do,

than that is different about them. Because Caleb's best throws, because he has that kind of whip-like arm, the same way that Jared does, his best throws are those intermediate laser-type throws over the middle of the field. And so trying to access the same sorts of throws within the offense that the Lions did,

in terms of his stylistic ability, as a thrower, I actually think does make a lot of sense. There is like a weird similarity between them, even though I don't think anyone would ever say Caleb Williams and Jared Gough are similar players. No, I agree with you. And it just gives Ben Johnson a broader menu because you can have more of the moving pockets of

and that's an advantage as well as kind of the vertical set play action game. It's just his willingness to throw that stuff. It's all anticipation. It's all in phases open. It's the NFL. I got good players. Roma Dunes is really good. If he's one-on-one with someone, he's open.

That's football, right? It's just the willingness to do that stuff. And I think you've seen it in moments when he's being backed up. And it's like, it's go time. There isn't really the easy out. That's when you get some of the more incredible plays. It's just you vacillate between crazy decisions. Like, what are you trying to do with the ball?

Why are you trying to create something out of nothing in this specific situation? Like the understanding of the situational football, I think, can be off from series to series. but you get two of the most breathtaking throws you're ever going to see. Like the when we put together at the end of the season, here the 50 best throws of the season. He's probably going to have four or five. That's how well he's playing.

The adune's a touchdown throw is a in-rhythm post-strike that is just like textbook cannot do it better. I don't even know if that is it Jared Goff throw. Goff hits plenty of them. But the arc and delivery on the ball, the power on the ball is unlike anything few guys in the league can do. Like there's what, three, four guys, you would trust staff at those kind of guys.

to really rip that in rhythm that way to that specific second window as opposed to kind of an in-breaking return to the quarterback type window. It's just purely the anticipation stuff. It feels like they're a bit clustered in that intermediate field area when it's not open. And that's just third down football in the league. Like these guys, Ben Johnson can be as great as we all think he is. And as you mentioned, these guys are open everywhere

because he's really good at this stuff. And Caleb's being smart with taking checkdowns. But to win on third down consistently, it's going to be ripping those intermediate throws of anticipation. Do you think that stuff, I agree with you with the situational aspect of it, and there are times where things feel really hurried, like the timing, and we'll get into some of the timing and detail stuff about the offense that I do think is pretty misaligned right now. But there are times when he'll try to get to a checkdown, him in the back are just completely not on the same page, thrown at people's feet. Those sorts of things, if I'm trying to see this in a rosy way, because I have to, right? Like, I have to choose to believe this is going to get better.

Do you think with more time, more maturity, more comfort, this is stuff that can get honed? in the long run. This is the stuff I think you can hone. This is why people fall in love with the idea. Can we make every quarterback in the draft Josh Allen, right? It's like, we think we can teach all the other stuff. You know, someone like Caleb Williams, if you just put the job up for offer with the tape of this season,

someone like Bruce Aaron would be like, I'm coming back out of retirement. This guy's making throws. I can only dream of having guys make. Like, that's how gifted those downfield shots are to me anyway. The problem is just the details, as you mentioned. The mechanics are often all over the place. His balance is atrocious a lot of the time, even when he's hitting completions.

And so that is just an obsessive attention to detail, right? You've got to be Lamar Jackson. You've got to be brought pretty. The off-season is where I put the work in. The season is when they pay me to play the games and it's fun. And it's just we have no way of understanding from outside, whatever reporting is, is he that obsessive about the details in an offense that is so based on rhythm,

rhythm with the tempo with emotion. My foot goes here, this guy flies behind me here. This timing is snapped up perfectly, right? When we break the huddle, how quick am I getting from the whole? huddle to the line of scrimmage because the shift that I'm running is elongated compared to the shift I'm running. I'm probably going to hustle on this one to get everyone ready and going. And I set the tempo for everyone else, right? Those kind of detail stuff to me are just guys who are completely obsessive about the details of the game. As I mentioned with Jordan Love, I want to be

the best Blitz beats for in pro football. That's what I want to be. I'm going to spend an offseason doing that. Is he wired that way? Or are we going to get him in three years still junking ball to the feet of a back on a checkdown? He's like, that stuff doesn't really excite me. What excites me is ripping the laser down the middle of the field. That's a really good, really, really good point. Just not being bored with the boring stuff, I think is a key part of all of this. And I'll say, even with some of the imperfections and some of the inconsistencies, I think the first four weeks, there's been a lot of really encouraging stuff from him and

the marriage between him and the play caller. Let's get to everything else. If the quarterback is not the concern with this offense, where do your concerns start with this offense? everywhere else can't get lined up, can't get plays off correctly, can't motion and shift correctly for the offensive ones to motion and shift the most in the NFL. And this is where it comes back to Caleb slightly is, does everyone understand in the huddle what the players?

They're the number one offense I look at. And it's like the palms up offense. If everyone look around going, what are we actually supposed to be doing? There was a play, one of the penalties, I think it was a false start in the Raiders game, where Caleb's like waving his hands being like, I think that one's on me. That's the first time I've seen him on. like take responsibility. This is happening constantly.

So is there a miscommunication? Is there something going wrong with the operation of the huddle? That's like phase one, start one, day one of install type stuff. And then just the line is such a disaster. I mean, they can't pick up anything, anything. And it's not just one-on-one talent. It's any kind of stunt, twist, pressure, bluff disguise, blitz. The best guy in situational protection is D'Andre Swift, who then has no juice to run the ball for you.

So it's like, when do we put him on the first? field because he's going to at least buy Caleb maybe an extra half second because he's the only guy who seems to know where he's supposed to be. Yeah, I think that the run game details are the thing that really jumps out to me. It just, you watch the run game and whether it's design, whether it's execution, like they're just complete inability to ever get to anybody on the second level, no matter what the call is and no matter what the scheme is, is absolutely maddening. And it got to a point, and I completely understood this in the back half of the Raider game where they were like, Brexton Jones cannot play anymore.

We cannot have him be the left tackle anymore. It's mostly because of what's happening in the run game, not even what's happening in pass protection, which I don't think I can remember a situation like that, where the left tackle gets benched because of what's happening in the run game, not because he's given up like four or five sacks over the course of the day. There's so many examples where you're just looking at whether it's a one-on-one loss or whether or not the loss happens on paper before the play even starts.

We can get into some of the details if you want to. too, but I think all across the board, everything up front is just not nearly as buttoned up as it needs to be. And I think that has been the most frustrating part of watching this team so far. Yeah, and I don't know if you have any stats or figures, but it feels like watching, they allow the most run-throughs of any line in the league. Like, it's just a free runner in the run game constantly. And we're in a league right now where everything defenses are trying to do is they try and

get to one single plugging lineback. And that's kind of like the meta trend on first downs is like most these guys aren't good in coverage. want to move us around the box. If we just set that one guy is attacking the line of scrimmage, and we're trying to create a five or six man first level at the front with one guy coming downhill, maybe gets penetration, it blows the vision for the bag. Let's just approach it that way. So at least we're setting the agenda with what our linebackers are doing, rather than all this nonsense, these smarty pants are doing with the movement and the motions and the shifts and all that

stuff. So to allow that many run-throughs, and then you go and watch the Raiders and it's just play after play after play, hit in the backfield, hitting the backfield, hitting the backfield, with a pair of backs who are downhill thumpers, downhill mullers. We will churn out four or five yards for you. These are not guys who are kind of make someone miss and wiggle away, and now they're down one in the run game on defense and Jimmy Gips can go take it to the house. So it doesn't even seem like a structural mess

because it's just Ben Johnson's run game from Detroit. I just think they lack talent up front. The communication seems to be amiss. Everyone's always pointing at each other about why did you allow it? And then the other guy is saying, I thought that was your assignment. So it's just such a detail-oriented offense with so much going on. It just could take a long time for everyone to be able to tap in together

when you've put all those new pieces together in one off season. I think that's right. And you watch it. And I think the Detroit run game, you watch Detroit run the ball and the amount of times where it's just this is happening, it's something you build over time. It's like everyone knows exactly when to come off on a combination. If there is some sort of stunt or movement, the recovery is so consistently. correct. And like, it's just so far away from that when you watch the Bears run game right now.

And I think hopefully that stuff will get a little bit better over time. I also feel like it's probably time to tweak the personnel up front. And they're already doing that, right? And so my thought is, after we're going back and rewatching that game, like, obviously Tripolo is a right tackle. He was a right tackle in college. He's mostly worked at right tackle over the last few weeks just because of how they're deploying the personnel.

I do wonder if by the end of the season, their best five, from left to right is Strapil at left tackle and Darnow right back at right tackle. Like I'd be surprised if that weren't the, if that wasn't the best five for this team by the time the season ended, even if he's much greener over on that side. And they really haven't played him there much at all since they decided he wasn't going to be the starter there. Yeah, I wonder too, if Johnson could just adapt slightly as well? Could you maybe be less heavy base?

I know that like that's the doctrine, that's the idea, that's how he wants to call. and you would hope that over time it all like coalesces and everyone figures out and oh, maybe it's this guy's fault so we'll change the personnel and then we'll flip this guy from this side to this side. I do think too is could you just declutter the box slightly? Could you eliminate some of these concerns? We're playing hat on a hat with seven, eight guys in there.

Why don't we just play hat and a hat with five guys in there? You know, four guys in there? That to me would be something I think they could look at. And again, then becomes complex with how they get to the next stuff, which is what Ben Johnson wants to do, which is taking a shot off play action. But you have Caleb Williams. You could go and call up some of the,

the Lincoln Riley stuff and say, well, let's just, you know, take our percentages down from the heavy personnel groups or from 26, 28%. Maybe we drop that down to 18%. And we just see if we can delo the box through personnel. That is something I think they should look at because I just don't think they can stand up one-on-one in the trenches, essentially. And if you even go back to that, you're mentioning that the Lions run offense, I think people in their mind remember all the cool and the fun parts of Johnson offense, right? It's like, all the pullers and movers in space and here comes Penny Sewell, that's like three or four plays a season. Collinsworth just highlights it on Sunday night football.

The base of the offense is we are just bigger than everyone and we are mashing people in the face. And that's 24% of our entire offense is we just kill people up front inside and it's double and climb as you mentioned. And then it looks the exact same when we get to play action. So you just need to have three malls in there. And they don't have three malls in there before you even get the concerns you mentioned at the tackle spots.

I'll be curious to see what they do with this while personnel stuff because obviously you drafted a guy in the top 10 that is hopefully. going to play for you. He was hurt last week, but you're still using 12 personnel on 35% of your plays. Durham Smyth is not a positive for you in virtually any way. And last week was probably one of the worst games I've seen Cole come at play since he was drafted. I mean, like in every single aspect of the game, he was a defined negative last week. And I don't think that will continue, like, especially as a blocker, like he can hold up in that way. It just, he's had some really rough stretches this year. And so where they land on that, because I agree with you, I do think that

trying to be a little bit more of an 11 personnel team might be a positive for them, but the way that they've built the personnel is just flies in the face of that. And so where they land between those two things, I think is going to be interesting to see. I think you can go less about the personnel and say Loveland's in there. Loveland is just a slot receiver for us 15% more of the time than we had planned on coming into the year because we want to run a tight, condensed offense. We've got to get a body out the box. Let's move that safety out the box to just help us out up front to clean out.

there's just so many people down there we're trying to work these combos and our guys can't pick it up. So let's just try and move a body out there. What's the best way we can do that? Well, they're going to put a certain person on the field to match as if we have Komet and Lovland out there. Let's move Colston, you know,

eight, nine yards further away from the formation to kick a body out. I think it's more of those like granular switch as you could make than it is saying, okay, we've got to throw out the entire like organizational plan that we want to be this 12 personnel style offense. I think that's right. I think that's a very good way to think about it.

All right, we're going to take our first break and then come back and talk about the Jacksonville Jaguars. Let's dig into the Liam Cohen Jaguars four games into the season. When you have gone back and watched the Jags over the first month, your biggest takeaway about this team is what? Frustrating, I think. There are so many opportunities here. It might be the most cohesive, well-designed for the moment we're in,

offense in football. And yet again, they struggle to get plays off for the basics, of once they get a playoff, they hold every three plays. Sometimes the refs call them, but sometimes they get away with it. And then I find Lawrence at this stage, I don't know what it's like for you, but sometimes you're such a fan of someone. It's like a music artist or something. And then they have a massive career pivot that really bothers you.

Like you feel like they sell out and you just hammer them because you feel so burned by them. That's where I'm at with Trevor Lawrence now. It's like, I just don't know if the light is ever going to go on to a point where he could even be a reliable, we'll make the postseason. will always be on the fringes. My comp was always, could he be Matt Ryan? You get him in the right situation.

There's like an explosive MVP caliber season. And maybe people underrated him up by the back end of the year. People remember the really like holy grail seasons with Shannon. And I think I'm just falling further and further away from thinking that's a possibility. What do you think? Because I watch him right now. And I think frustrating is a very good way to put it. Because his best stuff looks absolutely beautiful.

And when he puts his back foot in the ground and they're asking him to read one guy and you're really attacking teams in like the intermediate area of the field like you still see that ability to just throw lasers all over the place that made him the prospect that he was and I love watching that version of him the play I go back to they had it was a third down against the bangles on the first drive of the game they have mesh across over the ball and then diami brown is running a corner to that side and the back is running to the flat and so it's just pure progression from left to right, he sees the flat defender bite down on the back and he throws the corner out immediately. And his ability to layer those intermediate throws outside the numbers and even

over the middle, like, I love watching that version of Trevor Lawrence. And when he's moving fast and he can read one guy, it looks beautiful. But there's so many other elements of who he is right now that remain frustrating. And so if you were trying to pin down the things about his game, even within this offense that is going to give him the correct opportunities, what do you think at this point is holding him back? I think it's really difficult. I think he's with the perfect coach. I just think about the way you were phrasing that,

which is like, when, when, when, when, this guy's paid $50 million a year to not have whens. That's not where you get paid that money for. We're talking about him there as the way we're talking about Drake May and Caleb Williams. Like, these guys are learning on the job, both have new play calls in the second year in their career. This guy has a new play call. This is not his second year in the league.

And so nothing ever operates at optimal speed. And the when you're talking about, oh, when you see this, is like the five, six times a game, you see optimal speed in the entire process. And I just don't know, does the like a one for people at this stage in their career when it's like that. I always think about, I was tracking this, I don't have the figures for this week. But going into last week, 82% of his red zone throws went into the end zone, right? the next closest guy was 55% over the last two seasons that is

now you're in the red zone that's not goal to go situation so that's the entire 20 yards we get to play with in the red zone and I think it's indicative of the player he is which is hyper-aggressive wants to make every play thinks every throw is a hero throw

and it's just not a way to have a sustained efficient offense where you just take easy wins and a lot of it is panic stuff a lot of it is not even tight windows it's a window that's not there and I just don't think there's enough nuance or subtlety in his game at this stage. And he's playing in an offense that

is crafting guys open and he's just missing it all the time. Yeah, I think that there are so many play. And my favorite moments from him are those things where he's making an immediate decision. And if you look at it, like the ball comes out of his hand very, very quickly. I still think, I believe he has the third fastest time to throw in the entire league. I think the only two guys who are getting rid of the ball faster right now are Aaron Rogers and Patrick Mahomes on non-play action passes. And you feel that when you watch him. Like when he hits his back foot, the ball is coming out. Here's the problem with that.

There are times where the ball should not come out with the way, with where he is deciding to throw the ball. And there are so many examples of this where he'll have, there was a play in the late in the second quarter against the Bengals. And he has Travis Hunter on like a deep comeback. And he's like, all right, I have a one-on-one. I'm going to throw it as he's coming out of his break. And this is going to be a situation where I'm giving my guy a chance.

he's making that choice immediately, like before anything else even happens. He's not even thinking about where else he should go with the ball. And so in the moments where that works, it looks incredible because you're thinking, oh, man, he's throwing with such aggressiveness and anticipation. You love to see it. But it gets him into trouble so often because he's making those decisions based on immediate information. Like, how many times do we watch him? It happens every once in a while.

The touchdown to Diami Brown and the Bengals game is a good example. He starts on the flat to the right. comes all the way back across, hits DMI for a touchdown. It's the same with the Drake May, like how many bad decisions, I could count them on one hand. I watched every single Trevor Lawrence drop back over the last 24 hours. I can count on one hand how many times he progresses to the backside of a concept. So it looks beautiful when it works. And when it doesn't work, you're like, why would you ever make that decision?

And that kind of feels like the Trevor Lawrence experience right now. Yeah, and you asked me a question I probably should have answered that you asked, which is like, what would you do? I think the problem they have is it's again another one where the marriage between like the play designer who has an ego that would fill the entire state right and I love Liam Cohen and he's an unbelievable play designer. It's an earned ego I get you know he thinks he saw football and he may have done it with his scheme. So I get where he's coming from. So they want to run this turn the back play action system right. That's that's kind of the hallmark and staple of the operation. I just don't

think Trevor Lawrence plays very well when he doesn't have vision on the defense. I mean it's really that simple. And that what you're saying there, okay, the guy plays well immediately and we're building more and more time into the offense when it's turned the back play action. It just takes more time. Not actually right, we've got to sell the play fake and come out of it and then turn away from the defense. We don't know how they're going to move or rotate or disguise things to us. Then you've got to sit back around and decode it and get rid of the ball immediately. A lot of the bad stuff is coming on those turn the back shots. The design, let's go try and rip it, which is in your mind where you go, well, that's got to be where travel Lawrence will do well. That's why they're

this partnership is going to be so strong. That to me is the stuff that's a problem. When he's just in the flash fate world and it almost looks RPO-like and it's just ride the ball in the belly and his eyes can stay downfield and he can see it and read it, it becomes almost one read-and-go football for him. And if you just even go look at some of the figures, and like you said, we're early in the season, he's ninth and EPA per play this season on just straight drop-back football.

I can just see what's happening in front of me and making a decision. I'm going. And that might just be the peak of what Trevor Lawrence is. It might just be in those situations, is the ninth best player in football, and that's pretty good to have at your quarterback spot. But once you start building in the stuff that Cohen really, really wants to do, I just think he's a different player.

I think he's a bottom third of the league quarterback when he is forced to turn his back to the defense, turn back around, and then scan and figure out what's happened. It was interesting because in talking to people there during training camp and just discussing how they were trying to build the offense when you consider the things that Trevor had done well and the things that Trevor had liked previously,

there was a little bit of, okay, how do we make sure we're not going too far in our direction here? And a lot of that was based on like shifts and motions. Because in the Jags world, things were very spread out and he was able to make those pre-snap decisions based on alignment before the play would even start. When you start condensing things and you're starting to try to give him information based on some of those shifts and motions, you're adding layers to the offense in the exact way that you're talking about. And that's something that he was going to have to get comfortable with because that was not a huge

part of what they were doing before. And so I do think maybe there's a little bit of misalignment between the way that this offense wants to operate and the way that he's comfortable operating. And I think we're seeing some of that. Yeah, I've been thinking about this a lot with C.J. Stroud and Nick Cayley and how I really like those guys individually. I think Nick Cayley has a great plan for out to attack defenses in 2025. I'm a huge C.J. Stroud believer.

But if I got them together with like some truth serum and I said, okay, what's our game plan to win the Super Bowl? We've got to drive to win the Super Bowl. what does it look like to you? I think they would come out the room with completely different ideas about what that would look like and there's just not a great fusion

between how CJ would see that moment and how Nick Kelly would see that moment. And I just have in my gut a feeling of that with Lawrence and Cohen. How Cohen views the game does not a complete alignment with how Lawrence views the game and how you build more of that stuff in.

I think the credit the Cohen has is he might be the most adaptable guy week to week in the NFL. Like he will completely shape shift the offense dramatically, week to week to get to what he thinks works best. He thinks he can outthink everyone in the NFL. And eventually it may wind up being his downfall, but he truly believes that. And so if anyone will be willing to say, I'm throwing a bunch of stuff away early, it just doesn't work. Trevor doesn't like it. We're not going to get it. Even if that's

bringing down the motion shift rate from a sky high level to this doesn't work, why are we giving up five free yards every single drive? It's not worth the investment. He is the guy, I think, will do it. My only concern with that long term, be you just kind of bumble yourself back into the tug pieces and offense over time, and then maybe you just have to have a conversation in the offseason about the partnership. What do you think about the deployment of the past catchers so far? I think that last week, them leaning into more of that outside of the numbers type stuff with Brian Thomas Jr., considering what the first couple games had looked like was a good

example of that, like them being like, all right, we're going to do a little bit of something different this week. Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas Jr. are two guys that, I think a lot of people had at front of mind coming into the season for various reasons. What have you thought about the way that this offense has used them over the first month? Pretty confusing, particularly with Travis Hunter. It's an awful lot. You mentioned a deep stop route earlier. It's an awful lot of that.

It's like return to the quarterback type routes. It's a little shallow sit. It's a little stop route. It's a lot of comebacks. It's like, is this why you trade a future first round pick to go up and get a guy? It's a lot of teams will fear Travis Hunter so he will be our clear-out guy and a clear-out concept to pierce it behind for Brian Thomas Jr.

Early in the season before, they recognize that they don't think he can attack the middle of the field anymore, evidently. It's going to have to go outside the numbers, as you mentioned with him. It's like, you drafted Travis Hunter to play the clear-out position. You can truly find street-free agents to go and run the 40, you know, 60 times of games. They have guys on their team who've done that role willingly, sacrifice themselves to an offense before, playing that role, recognizing I might get two balls a game on an alert and I might get a 40-odd score

once every four or five weeks. So they have those guys and then that's how they've used Travis Hunter. I just find it really strange. You would think just with the skill set with a guy in this offense that, as I said, will move around every week. It's a new game plan every single week with stuff you've not used before. It's a really detail-oriented offense. And he's also in the defensive meetings for the most disguised-based defense in the NFL for four weeks there. So think of the volume of information you have to have in your head. You'd have to play for Kubiak and Gus Bradley essentially to even contemplate being able to take the information on every single week.

No, we have the two most complex structures in football. This guy's going to play both ways. And all we're going to ask him to do is sit over the ball. I just find that so confusing. And then you watch him play and it just doesn't look like a full-time receiver. It's a ton of wasted movement. And then it's a wasted movement on a, the investment is like, we get a five-yard snag. if we get him the ball. It's like, what are we doing it? Why aren't these all runaway routes?

Why is this not him into space and attacking grass where he can out athlete everyone, if nothing else? If the details aren't there, he can out athlete people for us. I've just found the hunter stuff really, really confusing. It's funny because I actually think that them using him on some of like the benders and over the middle routes, like he actually does have a good feel for that space in a way that Brian Thomas Jr. does not. And so using him on some of that stuff, even if he's a little bit undersized, I actually do think might make a little bit more. sense to make the rest of the offense click, even if that's maybe not the first place your brain would go. Yeah, well, you know, they use this cheat motion an awful lot with him.

You'll see it right. Where he's flying across the formation, then kind of bending up the arc. And it's a essentially a two-way go. If you get open, just keep going down the field, it becomes a go. If there's someone in front of you, stop and sit down. And I'm thinking to myself, this guy is playing how many snaps a game? 70, 80 snaps a game on both sides of the ball. Why is he the speedy motion guy?

And I'm a, like, could not be more of a Travis Hunter believer, you know, of his full-time one way, even attempting to play both ways, could not be higher on the prospect than the player and the person. But he looks tired running the, the point of the chief motion is to induce panic in everyone else that it's at the snap and it's fast. And it goes so quickly, we can't adjust. And he's kind of not lolly-gagging, but it's not exactly the pace he traditionally runs with when he's just revving out of his route. It's like, who thought this was the correct idea? So there's just an awful lot of that when you go through it being like, who came up with this idea? Who put their hand up and said, boss? I think this is a good idea for this week.

It just not a lot of it adds up to me. I do think they are constricted by Trevor, frankly, in what they want to do. Let's talk about the run game a little bit because the run game has been very good. I mean, I could consider the success rate stuff. It's kind of all over the place depending what stats you look at. But they've been a top 10 DVA run game over the course of the season. I think they're a top 10 EPA per rush run game. Anything from that side of it that has been encouraging to you.

you so far. Yeah, I think that's where I've always just admired watching Cohen's offenses. I mentioned changing things every single week, his ability to manipulate defensive fronts, through motions, through shifts, getting people misaligned, getting a guy in a one track, and it's just wide open, and it's just the most basic, simple blocking mechanics ever. But through the motion and shifting, he gets guys up to the second level cleanly. And I think that's why they're going to have so many explosive runs this season already. They've got, I mean, the two backs are as good as it gets, just one planting.

go, vision, acceleration, second level burst and wiggle, it's hard to figure that anyone's got two backs who have those overlapping skill sets like that. So that to me is what stands out in the run game. It's not quite, I would say, as sophisticated along the line as it was with the books. And he was only there for one season. So he was able to implement that stuff really early on. Now I think he had superior players, obviously, particularly inside and obviously having worse helps everyone. But that was a true all five can pull. Everything is available. towards an all-time type operation. This isn't quite that.

It's a bit more boxed in, but what he's been able to do is just manipulate things through the different looks pre-snap as opposed to being more creative as the ball's in play. Let's get to the Seattle Seahawks who have been, I think, a lot better than anybody could have anticipated

on that side of the ball through the first four weeks. They are second in the NFL per next-gen stats and drop-back success rate. They are ninth in EPA per drop-back. And it has been the most explosive passing game in the league through four weeks. Your biggest takeaway from watching the Seattle Seahawks,

Clint Kubiak offense through the first month has been what? My big takeaway was, I'm a dummy. I don't know why anyone listens to me. I feel bad for the listeners listening on this one, but it just looks nothing like I thought it was going to look like at all. It doesn't look like the Saints offense that Kubiak ran. In the first week, it was like this is dad's offense. It's like he picked up the wrong playbook in the morning, the wrong call.

She just picked up one of his dad's ones by mistake. And now all of a sudden, it's as creative as you could. find in the run game, again, trying to get to some element where can all five guys be a threat to pull to get to our play action game? A lot of those shots, those play action shots, one is just Donald playing out of his mind. I mean, he is out of control right now. And then secondly, if you just pull up the chunk plays, the 20-R-plus passes and go check the initial run game mechanics, it's a different one every time. This is not just like, you know, we're going to run wide zone, wide zone, boot out of it, boot out of it. It's not. It's a different snapshot.

when you freeze the frame of the blocking mechanics every time, because as much as the run game has kind of been running their head into a wall, as I say, it's like that next layer up at the offense, which we're investing in this to get to Donald throwing the ball to Smith and Jigba down the field, that is what's making it click. Yeah, so the run game obviously has been frustrating that 27% or so of their runs have gone for negative or no yardage this year, which is 31st in the NFL. But again, they've been the most explosive passing game in the league down to down.

And some of that, like you just said, is Donald just running hot and he's running extremely hot right now but he's really fun to watch when he's in those stretches some of the numbers are kind of ridiculous they have 13 targets of 20 plus air yards this year which is like 7th or 8th in the league they've completed 8 of those

they've completed 8 of those 13 he has the 12 of those 13 throws have been marked as on target by PFF like the down the field accuracy that he has shown throughout this entire season so far and the accuracy period Like right through the first four weeks, I think you can make a really solid argument that Sam Donald has been the most accurate quarterback in the NFL.

And when you combine that with the aggressiveness, I think that's a lot of what's driving this, is that he has played in terms of when the ball leaves his hand and where he wants it to go, he has played quarterback about as well as you could have over the first four weeks of the season. Yeah, about as well as anyone's ever played over the first four weeks of the season. I mean, he just decides it's going no matter what. I can fit the ball anywhere. I mean, there's some play action throws against the Cardinals where people are truly double covered. And he's like, it doesn't really matter to me because if I put it on their face mask, that's open.

And so I'll just put it on their face mask, 35 yards down the field in the end zone. And he does it. And there is zero hesitation in this game. Absolutely. It's just ball is out immediately. They have, what is it, third this season in a number of dropbacks where the ball's out in less than 2.5 seconds. Like it is coming out. And it's not coming out for just the quick,

easy, free access stuff. It's coming out for him to rip it. And that's the thing that's just incredible to play on that average time to throw with that kind of downfield threat just unlocks everything for them. It's been really fun to watch the combination of the play action stuff and then, I guess, quote unquote, spread looks. And what I mean by that is the horizontal stretch they're trying to create within the offense.

And when you watch them play, it's a really interesting combination of the two. So you have those plays and the second play of the game when they went tempo against the Cardinals, we're in that four by one look and they throw that little screen to Kenneth Walker. Like that's a very extreme example of what I'm talking about. But when you watch them play right now, they're doing two things specifically where I think you feel a lot of that horizontal stretch. They've had 26 empty dropback so far this year, which is top five in the NFL. And they've been incredibly efficient on those plays.

It creates a lot of space in the middle of the field. And it's creating a lot of throws for him over the middle of the field where he's very comfortable pushing the ball. They've been really, really, they've been top five in the NFL when EPAP or dropback on those empty snaps. And the other thing that they're doing a lot of, we talk about Clint Kubiak's time with the Niners, they're doing a lot of that bumper motion with the backs in order to create that stretch horizontally and pulling down the flat defender and then creating a lot of space that way. And then on the next play, they'll be in these hyper-condensed formations and be using play action. And so there are just so many

layers to the offense that I didn't necessarily expect. And you might think that those two components actually kind of feel misaligned. But when you watch them play, it actually marries together really beautifully with what the quarterback wants to do and then what the receivers want to be. Like JSN on all of those like Inbreaker rap routes, like he's so good at that. And they're creating the space in order to make those plays really dangerous. It's really fun to watch. Like it's just a combination of stuff I never really expected to see.

No, it's a great one to watch. And it's a really fun example of a guy really recognizing, okay, what a defense is trying to do to us, what's the best way to stop that, right? Which is they want to move and rotate constantly. They want to disguise in the back end. They want to have all these weird, creative, odd fronts up front where we don't know who's coming, who's dropping, the seven guys presenting, but they're not all going to be coming.

They're moving everywhere. How can I just make them be static? That's all I want to spend my week doing is make them be static and reveal their hand. And the best ways to do that is to get into big personnel and we're playing bully ball football. And they can't be so exotic then because they've got about their big guys in the field to match us.

Or you get to empty, we mentioned at the top of the show. like either there's an immediate trigger check or it's just really odd to rotate in disguise when your face can empty. Like if you've really stretched the field out and if you're sending some kind of pressure you kind of have to tip your hand to get the pressure there in time. So you can get a a tell or a feel for when it's coming

so it's a really good feel and it's what I think you're pointing at there is if you watch the Falcons for instance, it just feels like something's off all the time, the tempo and the rhythm and how they sequence one play to next. It just doesn't feel right and when you run that style of okay we're 12, one play, we're empty the next play,

You can kind of get that accordion offense where you're just bouncing back and forth between these two systems and the defense can get a real easy check and tell on what's actually coming their way. It takes the real good ones to be able to find the way to get that kind of flow and that ball rolling down the hill mentality where it just feels like, oh my God, they are just rolling and rolling and rolling. And for four weeks, they've been able to do that. And I think a lot of that just goes down to when it isn't there, when it's kind of busted by design, Donald is just figuring it out. He's got to figure it out, Gene, in a way. I just didn't expect he would do. I love that because when you watch them, I think that's exactly how it feels. We pointed this out when we recap to the Cardinal Seahawks game in real time.

There is a difference between offensive architecture and design and play calling quality, right? Like those are two different things. And I think you can like a lot of the architecture and design things about this offense. But to me, what's really sticking out is how cohesive it all feels. That momentum of a ball rolling downhill, that is what the Seahawks offense feels right now. And I think you absolutely hit the nail on the head. How do those two worlds merge in a positive way? well, they're driven by the same motivation.

We're trying to make sure we're dictating to the defense. And you can do that with using empty. You can do that with some of that bumper motion stuff, and you can do it with personnel. They are dead last in the NFL in the percentage of plays they have 11 personnel on the field. It is 31% of their plays. I believe they have a fullback on the field for like 37% of their plays right now. It's pretty crazy, like how much they're living in some of these extremes

in order to make sure they're the ones dictating. And when you combine that with a receiver who is ascending to like a real superstar level, like the way that he's playing right now, a quarterback who is red, red hot and a coach who I think has a really, really good finger on the pulse for what he needs given the situation. I think that's where you start to get the feel of the Seahawks offense through the first four weeks. Yeah, and you mentioned there, I mean, the people to see the offensive coordinator and we think of that guy is like the one guy. You can go through the team's coaching staff and the reason they have a run game coordinator,

passing game coordinators, everyone has different interpretations of the job, and to tie it all together is really, to have one guy who is a great play caller and play designer and everything else that goes into it is really difficult. Someone might be unbelievable at drawing up different designs in the passing game, but not have that in the moment feel for how to tie and sequence it altogether. Again, I think we're seeing some of that in Atlanta. The last thing I would just mention is the drop back stuff from under center, that being a constraint, right? That it's like, we got to have run past conflict everywhere. They have organic run-pass conflict, as you mentioned.

They're in heavy personnel all the time. People just naturally think it's going to be a run, right? But they are probably the most money team on that. Maybe DACs so far the season, but every single time it feels like it's just the most easy eight-yard out every time. It's like just easy money, we can take that. And so they're just always putting these different conflicts into a defense while still having, as you mentioned,

that horizontal stretch all the time. So it's probably as good a coaching job as anyone has done. through four weeks of the season. So to have a new quarterback, essentially a new interior of the offensive line, reworked receiver room, and to piece it all together in one go for four weeks and have this kind of output is really impressive.

And I get Seahawks fans listen and say, why the run game stinks, the run game stinks, the run game stinks. The run game stinks. It is worth it for that investment in the explosive players. If they dry up, you got a real problem, right? It's an exchange for the other. What do you think can help get the run game on track?

Like, do you think there are a couple solves in your mind that could make this thing feel? a little bit less frustrating with a little bit more time on task? Yeah, bench the right guard would be the number one thing. I think I would do. I mean, it's just a complete sinkhole at that spot. And it's the most constricted they look because they can't really do much with him in the pull and movement game.

So there are some things of like they can only do certain action. When one guy starts to trigger a move, you can get more of a feel for what's coming. And they don't actually run a lot of stuff. It's really varied for like formational dressing and kind of. pre-snap law. But if you just isolate the play design and freeze it, it's like, we got like 20 things we do here. We just do them really, really well, and we hide them pretty well. I think the right guard spot is incredibly limiting for them. And I just don't think they knock people back off the ball well enough. It comes down to just physicality up front. And you mentioned earlier

about can the bears work combo blocks and things like that. They have really good, again, when you just freeze the frame at the line of scrimmage when the ball is snap. They're in like premium premium run looks. That's why Donald's not checked out of it. And they cannot get any movement. The under center dropback thing is really interesting. And I think exactly what you're saying. When I had a coach kind of explained to me one of the benefits of it this offseason when we talked about why it would become a more prevalent thing that you see in the league, you kind of play into the nature of the defensive backs that you're playing against,

where you're in 21, 22 personnel and that quarterback is under center. Defenses are wired to think. It is one of two things. It's either a play action shot or it's a run play. And so if you're a corner and you're sitting there in single high and you're playing cover three, your first thought is at the snap, I'm bailing out, right? I'm getting tons of depth because that's what they're doing. They're doing this in order to run the ball or they're trying to throw the ball downhill or

trying to throw the ball down the field. And so when you have guys with like access running seven, eight yard outs, that's exactly why you're able to do it in those situations because you're playing with the expectations of the defense you're playing against. The funniest one is how the pack has played it in the Cowboys game, even just beyond like, okay, we're going to get depth, what the coverage is, just the human nature of, I at least have some time. I can wait to make a decision. I'll see what

happens. And Dax's just like, you're just going to give me eight yards? I mean, they must have done it four times against the Packers. Yeah, it's really funny. It's been a fun thing to watch get ramped up, even though we knew it was coming. It's still interesting to see it just more and more and more. The best part about it is watching these guys who've never had to do

that footwork, give it their best shot. Watching Callow Murray, really, he's trying his best out there. And then they're like, four weeks in being like, this is not going to be for us. We've got to take this stuff up. It was really funny. I was going back and watching some old Peyton Manning highlights the other day and just seeing that and it's like, we're back, man.

It's all cyclical. It's all coming back around. All right, guys, before we move on, we're going to take one more quick break. Let's finish this up with the Dallas Cowboys, who have been just a hyper efficient offense over the first month or so, had a really good game against a great Packers defense on Sunday. Seventh and EPA per dropback so far the season per next gen, eighth in dropback success rate. And the one that really sticks out, the Dallas Cowboys, number one in rushing success

straight through the first four weeks. So when you went back and watched the Cowboys over the first month, what was your biggest takeaway about this offense? Yeah, the run game stuff bringing Clayton Adams over and immediately just planting the stuff they did in Arizona directly onto the Cowboys. And I did have reservations about how that would go based on the personnel they have. Even drafting Booker in the first round was like, he is a guy who plants people off the ball.

You bring him in to drive people one on one. He can not move and go in space. And even when you watch them in the opening week, they gave him one rep. They're like, you get one, because we have to pretend like five guys may pull at some point. You can get one. And it was one of the worst reps we'll see in pro football this season. So now it's like that stuff's out. Actually, with him being injured and the backup coming in,

they actually do have more versatility in the run game. Now, it's not a better player one-on-one at the point of attack, but they can get to more in the run game. So just the general movement in the run game, I think, is what stands out, how Dak can aid that. He might be one of the best fake-out artists with like the giving it and then moving into the bubble, they'll have a bubble away from outside zone or inside zone.

It's like he carries the fake out as well as anyone in the league. And then Williams has just been creating a ton of yards that aren't really there to be made. Frankly, he's just playing at a really, really high level. And so it's easy to kind of glorify the coach and say, oh, they put a new staff in place and Sean and I'm is doing great. But in the run game specifically, I think the backs are just playing at a really high level. It's really, really fun to watch right now because there are so many different layers to it.

And it's, whether it's personnel or just the specific designs, right? So let's just say we're in 21 and let's say Hunter Leapke's on the field. All the different ways they're using him to kind of steal back angles in the run game. They're doing the exact same stuff with Brevin's Banford when it's 12 personnel. And sometimes he'll be lined up as a tight end. Sometimes he'll be a fullback. And sometimes they'll be running like sort of a windback where he's coming to one side and then he's slicing back across and he's cutting the defensive end.

Sometimes he'll actually be coming back and he'll be trapping the three technique. Sometimes he'll be leading up. The amount of different ways they're creating angles on the end man on the line of scrimmage to allow their guys to get onto the second level is magnificent. Like it's just so, so smart and so well designed. You see it in so many different ways. And the other part of it is I think that there are certain guys up front that are playing some of their best ball in the run game specifically that they played in a really long time.

And the guy that jumps out to me, watching Terrence Steele in the run game right now, he has taken his lumps over the last couple of years after he came back from injury. And either him as a puller, him at the point of attack, like the way that he is playing specifically when they're trying to run the ball right now is really, really cool to watch considering some of the issues that he's had. And so I think that they're attacking it from a bunch of different levels. Like the Clayton Adams thing is undeniable, but there are also other elements of this that I think are really shining through.

And I think they have the opening week. in particular, but it has sustained all the way through when I was saying before about like the rhythm of an offense, that rolling at the hill type stuff, they probably have the top sequence together offense in the league right now where you're mentioning all those different actions. They have a play action play where they have a fallback, trap a three technique and they rip a post over your heads. Like, who else is even considering that that's like a smart thing to do?

The downside is a three tech runs into the back of our $60 million year player. That's not good business. It's not good business, but it means like trying everything and everything has a purpose and point. And that's what I've got to more and more. I think this season watching a lot of these offenses, like, who are the ego-based coaches where it's like, let me show all my goods. Let me show you what I've been working on. And which offenses have said, it's really cohesive. Everything has a point.

This play is for the next play, unless it's our trick play. Like, unless it's our go time play, or it's just we're backed up and it's third and 18 and we're spread out, what can we do when it's on our terms and it's. first and 10 that is to set everything else up. And I think that they're probably the best representation of it. And then when it gets a bit muddy and it gets a bit fuzzy, Dak can just sort everything out for us. It's like we get into the gun and it's Dax's football. That's how he wants to play the game. And what we've done is said, let's take Dax passing game, how he wants it to look and how he wants it to operate and let's go and find

maybe the best run game architect and football in Clayton Adams. So what if we try and pair those two together? Will that be successful? It looks pretty successful. It's been awesome. And I've all I've wanted from the Cowboys offense. over the last three or four years because I know that's how Dak wants to play and I know he's very good at operating that way. But how static that offense has felt in stretches with previous staffs has driven me insane. Right? Like they're in the gun.

They're spread out all the time and they're running nothing but stop routes consistently. And I get that. You have a quarterback who wants to see everything because he is really gifted at the mental parts of the game. I'm not asking you to put him in a box like he's 2017 and Jared Goff. Like I'm not asking you to do that. can we just get to like league average levels of dynamic elements of an offense? That's all I want.

That's all I've ever wanted. And that's exactly what we've gotten this year. They're using play action on like 30% of their dropbacks, which is the top 10 rate. Over the last two seasons, they were in condensed sets on 21.7% of their drop or 21.7% of their plays per next gen is one of the lowest rates in the league. This year, it's 31%. The Cowboys this season through four games have more total EPA generated on play action passes. than they had from 2022 to 2024 combined. It's four games.

It's been four games. And this is all I've ever wanted. It's just the, and you look at some of the motion stuff. And it doesn't have to be all this crazy stuff. But, you know, can we send, are we getting an angle in the run game because we're sending Kavante Turpin on a jet motion? Are we getting, there's a play against the Cowboys

where they have him on a little end around action coming back and they have Quay Walker pop back inside because of that action and then it's 11-yard gain. These are just small things. These are just small little tiny tweaks that make offense a little bit easier on your guys. And all I've ever wanted was for them to do them at like an average rate and just kind of see what happens.

And when you combine that stuff with giving him at least one dynamic, dangerous pass catcher, hopefully two when CD comes back, these are the results that you can probably hope for. I mean, Pickin still does frustrate me to get five plays a game where it looks like he doesn't want to play football anymore. I'm about to get like a midgame retirement tweet on something. It's like, okay, buddy, could you be engaged for us for every single rep?

The thing that you're hitting on is something that I've been frustrated with with Dak in the past. Like, Dak is just like the quarterback robot. I just love him. I love him beyond words, essentially. But there just was never enough movement in the offense. You said it was not dynamic enough. I think that's the correct word. Something has to move laterally for us.

And I get you want to take every second you can to see everything the way like Aaron Rogers does, I get that you think you can outthink everyone, you're the modern Peyton Manning. And I think if we put you back in that era, you could probably do those things. And it would be an unbelievable success. But we just, in an age now where there has to be some movement in the offense. And previously, when they were successful with DAC style, it was he was the mover. I would go.

Well, he's just not that kind of player anymore. It's like, it's a DAC keep when it's 10 yards and in at the goal line. Then maybe I want to get involved. Yeah, even that is not really on the menu anymore. No, no, they may roll that out of it. They were to make the playoffs, maybe they would save it for super high leverage situations. And there's some more off-schedull throws this season because the line's being caved in. He's had to bail out and make some plays.

But they've been able to build the movement in by design, which is just how you're able to get some more of that rhythmic feeling. It's so hard. If you're static play to play and you're taking the play clock to three, that feel we're talking about where, like, you split the huddle and it just feels like this team is coming and coming and coming. It's hard if you're slowing it down. It's easy, easy. And we're going to take three seconds because I can read the rotations better than everyone else. like, let's get up and snap the ball.

Let's play with some momentum and some rhythm. And they just have a real great vibe to the rhythm at the offense right now. And then you add in all kind of moving pieces you were talking about with creating different angles of motion, throwing out every formation you can imagine. It's just hard to get a read on someone. If you can't get a read on someone

and they're coming at you fast and the tempo changes, they change the tempo, I think, more than anyone in the league. It can be no huddle, but it's slow or it's no huddle and it's fast, how they get to the line, break the line, and the play is off. They modulate the tempo every single play that you just can't get a feel and read for what they're doing. Yeah, and it's just, he's also playing at a high level of the quarterback, which helps all of this,

right? But I'm not surprised to see him playing at a high level when you just make things like a tinge easier on him. And that's, again, that's all I've ever really wanted. There was a two-play sequence in the Packer game that I just think is so indicative of what we're talking about here when it comes to the layers you're trying to build within the offense. They were in 21 personnel, and they hit a goal ball to pick-in.

off of an under center dropback out of 21 personnel. Right? So, like, you just think about that. As a defender, you're never even thinking about that. The fact that he's going to be gone right away. We're throwing a go ball on a straight under center dropback out of 21 personnel. And then on the same drive, the touchdown to Pickens, they motion to empty. They move the back out to the left side and now makes Pickens the number two receiver in that look.

And he has leverage immediately based on that shift. And he throws a short post for a touchdown. It's easy pickens. and no pun intended. And like that's the type of stuff we're like, it's simple stuff. But when you're doing those things and pulling those levers

and the players are good, including the quarterback, we are starting to see the returns on stuff like that. And so I'm not shocked to see this, but it still has been very gratifying to see a Dallas offense constructed like this. Yeah, it's got to be a real frustration

to someone like Kellemore who's like, oh, now he's buying into all this stuff again. But you mentioned that the Pickens go bowl, I think it's an important point when people from other fans like, well, why haven't we got that kind of drop back from under center game built into the league? I'm not sure for these guys. It is all that easy. It looks easy because it's like it's a one-on-one football shot to a guy who's one of the best contested grab guys in the league. Dag, unlike anyone else, buys into the mechanical stuff in a way that just like it's not normal for all these guys around the league.

I'm going to be the best seven-step drop guy from under center in football. Like I can imagine Dak having like a mantra taped up when he's, brush his teeth in the morning staring at him. That's my goal for the next two weeks. It's like, okay, Doc buddy, we believe you. And then he goes out and executes it. And as he's saying, I watch someone like, Caleb's had some struggles with it.

Kyle's had some struggles with it. Kyle's an experienced player. And he's struggling with it. So that just makes difficult stuff look easy. The problem has been that so much of the offense has looked so difficult all the time. The difficult stuff has been difficult too. At least now there's built in more stuff that's easy for him.

I think it's a really good kind of bow to put on the end of this is that so often with the Cowboys' Offense over the last few years, things felt hard. Always. Things felt condensed. They felt tight. They felt difficult. And so far this year, they have not felt that way. And it has been a real breath of fresh air when you watch this team play.

Ali Connolly sincerely appreciate the time, sir. If you guys have not subscribed to the read optional, it is one of my favorite football products that exists. I get the email. Everything they put out arrives straight. in your inbox. And if you are not subscribed to the work that Ali is doing in their newsletter and the podcast that he does with John Ledyard, I sincerely recommend that you guys check it out because it is wonderful work. Ali, enjoy the London game. It's always good to talk to you,

buddy. Thank you. All right, guys, that's all we got. Thank you so much to Ali for his time. Thank you all of you guys for checking in. We'll be back tomorrow with the week five preview with me, Derek, and Dave. Until then, appreciate you listening. We'll talk to you soon.