The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Football GM: Amazon’s TNF debut, impressions of first-year head coaches & storylines to buy or sell heading into Week 2

Episode Date: September 16, 2022

Mike Sando and former GM Randy Mueller break down the Chiefs win over the Chargers on the debut of Amazon’s Thursday Night Football. Then, they share their early impressions of the first-year head coaches before looking ahead to buy or sell storylines heading into Week 2. They discuss whether or not the 49ers can contend with Trey Lance, if it’s too soon to be concerned with the Packers and much more.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome to the Football GM podcast. Mike Sandow here, senior rider for the athletic along with Randy Mueller, three-time NFL GM, former executive the year, and all-around great guy, Randy. I got the easiest job in the world here. I'm teeing up here and judge, just like the batting practice coach. I just throw those lob ones in there. You hit them out of the park and I go, wow, we did a great job there, didn't we?

Well, let's don't get everybody's expectations up too high, Mike. Okay, I don't want to let them down. But I'm happy to be back for week two. That beats the alternative, right? It does, man. It's great. I just love the season. Sometimes on this podcast, you know, as we're appearing, sometimes it'll be a day in the middle of the week or something.

God, I don't know. You know, what do you want to talk about? What's the thing? And then, shoot, the morning we start doing, really getting it together, there's a million things. And that's how we feel today, everybody. We got lots of stuff. Well, of course, we'll recap the Thursday night game with the chiefs coming back. to beat the Chargers, 27-24. We'll talk about implications. We'll talk about the AFC. We're going to

hit into some first-year time first-year head coach impressions. Don't miss that. I got a section where we got a section this week. Well, we're just going to, like I said, tee up some balls for Randy here. And we're going to go through some things from week one that we might be buying, selling, or plugging our nose on. Of course, we'll get to our picks. We didn't do too bad last week, Randy. but let's dive into Thursday night. Amazon football, huh? Amazon Prime. Did you watch? How about the reaction that it was on Twitter and some of the other, it was all over the place from the greatest thing I've ever seen to the worst analysis I've ever seen? I mean, the people came in from all angles over Amazon's first show. So I don't know where you stood on it. I struggled a little bit with it, but, you know, I'm old school, you know?

Yeah, it was funny. So my son had a high school game last night and so I was like, you know, I'll just devr this, which of course there's other ways to watch the game, but sometimes there's less functionality on like an Amazon type of a deal. I'm sure you can get it. But like, to me, the streaming isn't quite there for the rewinds and just having the full mastery. Now, maybe I don't know what I'm doing, but I feel a little bit that way. I know the league has been concerned because they know the numbers are going to be way down, right? It's just there's a lot of old habits here.

And of course, we're heading in a direction where I'm going to. everyone's going to be probably streaming everything. We all stream a lot of stuff now as it is, a lot of shows and all that. We all get cranky if we have to watch a commercial anymore. But that component of it, I know, is on the league's radar because those numbers they care about. Yeah, no doubt. And I think they'll get some of that ironed out. I mean, I'm far from a production expert for sure.

I watch it more for the content and for the analysis, to be honest with you, and to actually watch the game. My biggest struggle in all honesty is connecting dots from, Kirk Herb Street who has a great reputation who's been really good for college football forever. Great in college. Yes. Awesome. I have a really hard time connecting those dots to him and being knowledgeable and effective at the NFL level. I just, the accountability for me is a struggle. I'll get there, I guess, eventually. But that's my only problem I struggle with, you know. Maybe it's really hard. No, no, but I think I think it's true. And it's kind of like, you know, if you're a, if you're a beat writer covering the team, the long time fans will snobes. if you out in five seconds if you don't know what you're talking about because they're so into

this stuff. They notice the person who doesn't know what they're doing. And look, I don't care how much preparation. I'm sure Kirk Herbstree puts in a ton, but you can't substitute for the institutional knowledge of having really, really watched us all the time. If you or I, especially me, you actually have followed college really closely for evaluation purposes, but if I had to suddenly go back to covering college or be put on that stage, I guess that's the thing, to be put on that stage. It would be like if I started tomorrow as the national college football writer for the athletic, people would notice right away that I haven't been doing that for 25 years. Right. Especially when you say, hey, this guy's the best in college football at this this year.

How would you know? You haven't really paid attention. So those kind of statements, I think, to accountability issues. And I mean, I know Kirk Triptree is good on the college stuff. It's unfair to him almost. Yeah, it's not really, you know. I kind of blame Amazon for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I understand they want to get, you know, the names of the broadcast. Typically, I mean, whoever's broadcasting the game doesn't matter that much you want to watch it, but you notice it when it's not what it could be. I'm sure those guys will get better. As for the game itself, Randy, Chiefs 27, Chargers 24. Is anything different in this old NFC West?

You know, I don't think so, Mike. I'll be honest. I think it's same-o, same-o. I mean, hey, for one thing, and this is some great analysis, right? the chiefs are still pretty good. Pat Mahomes is still pretty good. I mean, he's okay. Yeah. The first week, 66 plays, 33 first downs. Okay. Now we're up to seven touchdowns, no interceptions. The arm action is unbelievable. The skill set that he makes throws with his off platform, unbelievable. I'll say this. And I think we saw this. I don't have these numbers in front of me. That's my bad. But the chiefs and Pat Mahomes pre-Tiree Kill being gone. But when he wasn't playing for the chief, were off the charts. I think Mahomes averaged without Tyreek Hill in past years like 350 plus yards. And it was really awesome. They're picking up right where they left off. The one deciding factor for me that really tells me the chiefs are going to be okay

is that his actions from inside the pocket, his processing, his reading coverages, his discipline to go from second and to third receivers while in the pocket. Now I understand the wow plays. I get it. We don't want that to go away. But I think he's been better inside the pocket the last two weeks than he has been in two or three years. So that is trending in a great way for the Chiefs. That is so great because it was funny, you know, when I did the quarterback tiers thing,

talking to the 50 coaches and evaluators. And of course, Pat Mahomes was, you know, near the top there in Tier 1. But I always filter in some of the criticisms. And one of the criticisms was that, hey, there have been times when they devolved a little bit when, you know, people rushed him and that. And I think those guys, because Andy, Andy Reid was asked about it even, because I think one of the commentators said,

sometimes it turns into a little bit of streetball there. Those guys pay attention to that stuff, and they didn't like it. And they work on stuff. Not that they weren't anyway, but I think these guys know the narratives. Yep. These guys know the narratives.

Hey, you lost Tyreek Hill. Guys like Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, they are going to prove. Yep. You're wrong. And they put the work in, don't they? Can't you see that with the way they're playing? I just think his ability in the pocket to process and still do all the other things has been awesome these first two weeks. So yes, that bodes well. And the other side of the ball, when you talk about the chargers, up, down, a little bit this, little bit of that. It's kind of same old chargers for me. Shoot themselves in the foot, you know, whether it's the Gerald Everett, you know, whole exchange of what happened on the interception play.

where they give up a pick for 99-yard return when he's too tired to run a route. I mean, that's, oh my gosh, stuff like that always happens to them. I think the biggest thing with the Chargers, Mike, and this is just my two cents, it's not really about their team and their roster. I think they've done a really good job on paper of putting this thing together. It's if Brandon Staley, for me, can not continually try to prove I'm the smartest guy in the room and actually make decisions that are best. you know, for the club going forward, not trying to be the analogous guy, not trying to be,

hey, I see this totally different, you know, if he can just conform, I think they'll be pretty good. So some of that reputation last year was built on, hey, we're going for it on fourth day no matter what, because that's who we are. Now, this year, the first two games, they haven't done that. I mean, they punted from midfield. They've punted in situations where last year they wouldn't have. Do you see that as any kind of sort of progress, whether we like the decision or not, independent of that, just being less, you know, less black. and white about it and a little more nuanced, or is it too early to say? Or do you think a tiger can't change his stripes? Well, we'll see. I just think the whole thing, and I think time, the body

of work isn't enough to know, but I think he's trending in the right direction that maybe I can be a little self-reflective. Maybe I can kind of curtail my own brain power, so to speak. And I shouldn't say those words, I guess, but I just, that's the vibe I get. That's the vibe I get from him, You know, I just think if they could stay out of their own way, this team will be a good team. Yeah, I think he rubbed a lot of people in the league the wrong way last year with the, hey, football people know what I'm doing. It came off in a way. And he's already a young guy. And there's people in the league who think, you know, probably, hey, look, I mean, what are we doing given to a young guy? You know, that that happens. So that could, that could kind of color the impression of him. But I think I would like, for me, their whole thing was, defense has been. teams have killed them.

And they were a top five top offense last year, and they were a bottom five defense special teams. And so I want to see, hey, we're going to talk about this when we get into the head coaches. Can you affect the product on game day? That's something you talk about a lot, and you're going to talk about it as we get into talking about coaches. Let's apply it to Brandon Staley. Because I think defensively, if you're a defensive whiz guy, right? Then I want to see better than what you were last year. Do you think we're going to, I know they got different, some better personnel on defense. Do we see any signs in the first couple of games that it could be better on that side of the ball? Because even last night, they weren't, they really weren't terrible on defense.

No. Were they? Well, I think they got hit with lightning quarterback on the other side. It's pretty good. So they can defend as good as you want. But when he is dropping bombs down, smoke stacks, and throwing passes through keyholes, you can defend it all day and it's not going to matter. So I don't think that was a good judge of where they're going to be. But they allowed 19 points on defense to the Raiders and 20 to the Chiefs. I'll take that from where they've been. 100%. Yes. And are they a team?

Look, they took care of business against the Raiders. Wasn't that pretty? But they got three picks off of car. They pressured the quarterback. Now, look, you're going to lose at Kansas City by three points. I don't care who you are. I mean, it wasn't like they weren't in the game. Shoot, they probably should have won the game.

Could we say, hey, for the long haul, there's enough signs here from the Chargers. They're going to be fine. And not only that, they're going to be better than last year, they are going to be a playoff team. Don't you feel that? I think they'll be in the hunt to be a playoff team. Time will tell how consistent they are. And if we can take these ebbs and flows, these ups and downs out of it, that's the key. Well, I do think they have to be somewhat okay with what happened last night, even though they lost.

And this is one area where I don't think the production of Amazon's first game really gave me a clear indication. Knowing this from my 30 years in the league, Kansas City is loud. It is hard. It is really raucous. It is hard to go in there. I didn't feel like the broadcast gave us that last night for whatever reason. We couldn't hear the crowd and how crazy it is all the time and how hard it is to function just with basic tasks in that stadium. I didn't think we got that last night for some reason.

At least for me, the broadcast didn't reflect that. I know it because I've lived it for 30 years. But I think the chargers have to come out of that feeling they handled all that stuff okay. Yeah, absolutely short week at Kansas City. I mean, they, you know, I think they're okay. And then your thing about the visceral feel of the game, remember when maybe they've stabilized this or they have stabilizers in the cameras now, but remember when the cameras, you could feel them start to shake.

You could see the cameras start to shake a little bit because you knew the stadium. I actually kind of like that. Like you get that little shimmy. Subliminally sends that message. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you get that little shimmy of the camera. And it was like technology can overcome that. can have it on a different stand or something. But like I would love it if that would kind of happen.

Kind of like if you're playing, you know, playing Madden football, like the joystick will start to shake in the clutch situations. I like the feel of that. So that's a good point. Like, let's get the visceral feel of the game because it's there in Kansas City. There's not a lot of places like it. Hey, before we move on to those first year coach impressions, do you see Buffalo is the best team in has anything changed for you? I can't remember where you were coming in. Does anything from Kansas City changed anything? Do you think Kansas City's going to be there in the end? Where you at? I don't think it's changed a ton for me. I'm a Buffalo guy. I thought they were the best team when the season started. I would still put them there. I've seen nothing that separates it,

but I also said Kansas City and Buffalo are the two best. So again, nothing changes for me. I'm anxious to see Buffalo in December, but we got to get there first. So I'm for it. I think that these two teams are going to match up and play each other at some point. It's just a matter of win. And I do feel like Buffalo is the best set up all the way around. I love how they're set up. And I love one of those teams that has the great quarterback and the really good defense. I just had a hard time. Like, I just sort of want to see them do it. But I agree. I feel like they're the best team. And they were probably last year, too. And so they got to get over that. 13 seconds of total incompetence is in the back of my mind. And that's how that game ended last year in the

F. championship and that's still there for me. I've got to see more. That's why I said, I can't wait until December. When the stakes are high, when the crazy things are going on, can I forget about that 13 seconds of, you know, wow. So 13 seconds of incompetence is a great, we should have a segment called that. We should have a segment called 13.

There's probably a 30 for 30 there at some point. Yeah. No, an hour of incompetence could be the name of our podcast. Yeah. No doubt. But it's a good segue. to the first time first year head coaches because we're going to get into some incompetence in that Denver game. But we had four first time first year head coaches. There were more than that of first year

head coaches, but we're not going to talk about the guys who've been head coaches for a long time before. We had Brian Dayball with the Giants. We had Kevin O'Connell with Minnesota, Mike McDaniel with Miami, Nathaniel Hackett of Denver. We're going to hit some sort of first impressions of these guys within the template of what Randy and, you know, I, especially Randy, think about these guys and what they need to do. But Randy, Brian Dayball, the Giants was your guy after week one. What did we learn? What can we learn in only one game? If they don't get it into, I mean, are we not talking about Dayball or tell me what you got?

I think Dayball won the city of New York after one week. That's how strongly I feel about what he's done. I think that battle of rebuilding, which doesn't seem to ever go away from the Jets, has been identified with the Giants. And Dayball goes a long ways toward doing that. I think if you go back a year and see what Dayball did with the bills in how he incorporated his stars, whether it's the receiver, the quarterback, the running back, Dawson Knox. He was able to identify stars, get them involved, but yet have a rhythmy flow on offense. I thought he did that already in the Giants after one week. I thought they identified their own identity.

What was it? 53 yards rushing on a Mike Vrable defense who it's supposed to be the toughest, you know, throwback defense of all time. They ran it right down their throat. I mean, come on, seriously. And he established Sequin Barclay as the reason why he was picked number two in the draft, right? He got all of his yards passing game, rushing game. He did some great things with him.

He also, I thought, developed a game plan to get others involved, whether it's Ketarius, Tony, the receiver who's been ridiculed and mocked in New York for a year and a half now. He found a way to get him the ball on a reverse that all of a sudden now everybody sees what this guy's all about and he's hard to get down on the ground. You just got to put the ball in his hands. Don't worry about how bad his routes are or how he can't read concepts and all that. forget that but that's the way day ball is that's coaching that's developing players identities

but yet still having a system in place and so yeah i mean i'm going on and on but i thought he was outstanding in week one no and you know here's good coaching when he was with buffalo and they didn't really they weren't really set up to run the ball that well through their line and their backs but they had this good quarterback with some good weapons he was pushing the envelope they were passing all the time and you could tell mcdermit was a little uncomfortable with it as a defensive coach he wanted to feel like he had a little more control of the ebbs and flows of the game, but they were pushing the gas pedal down and they were always near the top of the league and pass frequency early in the game, early down, that type of stuff. Well, now he goes to a team that's not set up like that.

They don't have good enough weapons with the Giants, but they do have a pretty good offensive line, relatively speaking, for a team that you could inherit. They have a back. I mean, he's talented. We know, Sequin Barclays, you could say he was over drafted or he's been injured. But when he's healthy, you know, he's a talented player. And then you have an athletic quarterback who's not, you know, probably going to be their guy necessarily long term, but he brings some skill set to the table. And it felt like in week one, they just played to their strengths. Like, they became a competent team. Yeah. And they've been incompetent. And the competence goes to the level of confidence, because we haven't even talked about him going for two at the end of the game to really win the game.

We haven't even spoken on that yet. And that, that was the most. That was the most. move to me to make, whether they won or not, it was the time to do it. And guess what? It worked out. Now the Giants think they can beat anybody on any Sunday. So he's instilled competency. Yes, like you said, he's also instilled confidence that I think it's awesome. Yeah. And Randy, you've got to call them up at MuellerFootball.com. Free plug here. You can pay me a little bit later for this. Maybe, you know, buy my beer when we're playing golf this next summer. But you did write up right about that with just, and I think it's an interesting juxtaposition because you've been critical of the jets from this standpoint. I mean, how many years do you have to be there before

we start seeing more tangible signs of this? And, you know, you've got, you've got Robert Sala this week talking about, you know, wearing T-shirts with logos on it or sayings and saying, I'm saving the receipts. Well, don't get me started. Yeah, yeah, saving the receipts. And look, we, I admire Robert Sala. I think he brings a lot of energy to it. I've always liked him. I think he's a smart coach. Great story, yeah. But, but. But show me, right? Show us not talk about it. I think that's what the Jets are.

The Jets are still in the convincing us through your words. They need a branding program, a marketing program. And the Giants just in one week kind of made us feel confident without saying anything. Exactly right. I totally agree 100%. That's why I say I think they've taken the lead in the war for New York City after one week. the Jets captain may have been able to do it in three years per se. So yeah, I like the story of Robert Sala.

I think he is a great, you know, motivator of players. I get it. Not everybody needs that. But on defense especially, sometimes they need that. I just haven't seen him be able to make a difference on Sundays. And that's where I draw the line as the really good coaches and really good assistant coaches. They've got to make a difference on Sunday to everybody. And I don't know how Robert's going to get over that.

This week, and you brought it up, I'm going to have to hit on. on it, the collection of receipts of those that doubt. Yeah. Come on. What do we? Junior high, we're just going to keep a, keep a tally here of who says what and that's the stuff we're worried about. Just go prove that you can win a game.

Go beat somebody and then do it the next week and follow it up. This franchise has been rebuilding. And again, I have nothing against him or Joe Douglas. But this is Joe Douglas's fourth season as GM of the Jets. He is fourth. Robert Saul is second. I get it. But there has to be a plan that's evident at some point.

You can't keep making draft day moves and being lauded forever about great draft picks and then have nothing show up on Sundays. You know, that's just, that's not the way the world works. And I don't want my team keeping receipts. I don't even want to, I don't even want to look at the scoreboard. Just have a process that you go about when you play to worry about the things that really matter the most. And that's not what matters at all. But, you know, New York's not for everybody either. I know they're in New Jersey.

But that's a different market to manage. And it is not easy. No, you're right. The only receipts I care about are the ones on Sundays, and we can all keep those. Nobody has to keep track of those for us. They're in the newspaper every day, and they're talked about all day every day. So those are the receipts I care about. That's the best way to shut anybody up.

Yep, it absolutely is. So we're going to definitely get to Nathaniel Hackett in Denver, speaking of receipts. But let's hit on a couple of the other first time head coaches here. I don't think Kevin O'Connell of Minnesota probably got as much run in this first week because, because of the gap probably between what dayball did, which was universally lauded, and what Hackett did, which is universally not lauded. But Kevin O'Connell, in your first win, beaten Aaron Rogers, and really both sides of the ball, right? I mean, it was a pretty good debut.

What did you like and what can you take away from week one? Well, I think sometimes when a coach gets a head job, you always see these, what treaty do you come from? What coaching lineage did he come from? That matters a little bit, but these coaches didn't have to establish their own identity. They've got to be who they are. But I saw a little bit of both in Kevin O'Connell. I mean, he obviously comes from Sean McVeigh, right? Really aggressive play caller, really foot on the gas pedal all day long.

And you saw that in Minnesota last week. He was aggressive. He kept calling things downhill-wise, kept the pressure on. I was impressed mainly because of what his players said. said afterwards. His receivers, in Adam Thielen especially, said, I've never been around this kind of aggression and this kind of play calling that had everybody excited to be a part of it and made the defense nervous because they never knew what was coming next. So the fact that he comes from Sean McVeigh, we shouldn't be surprised. That lineage is there. Whether that's his personality for

a long run, I don't know, but I would say week one. And he held back a lot of things in preseason. Their offense was embarrassing in preseason. But, you know, there was. one game they ran 50 plays. Obviously, Kirk Cousins didn't play much, if any. I can't even remember if you mentioned his name in preseason. But they stepped it up in week one and I think you're right. Kevin O'Connell is under the radar some places. But when you really study what he did on offense, I think you've got to say, wow, this bodes well for the Vikings. And you take over franchises in different stages. I mean, they have pieces in Minnesota offensively. But I think there was two components to this change this off season.

One was getting rid of Mike Zimmer. And for all the good that you did there with the defense and they won a lot, he's intense. And he affects the whole building in a way that can be positive when you got it going. But I think it has a shelf life. And I think after a while it becomes just a stressor on everybody. And it just gets to be like a pressure cooker. You've got to release the pressure. And so I think just releasing the pressure was a positive for them given to where it had gotten with Zimmer.

We can just picture him there with his red face and kind of chirping at Kirk Cousins. They needed to get rid of that. But that doesn't mean that what comes in next is good. And so I think that next component of this, O'Connell in Week 1 was more than just an absence of Zimmer. Does that make sense? Yeah, 100%. I totally agree. Yeah.

He was excited. Like you could tell, oh, man, he, he couldn't wait to be in this role and to be able to affect it in that. And then they have Justin Jefferson. What were people talking about the first week? Oh, how he used Justin Jefferson. People were doing shows and columns about, hey, they did this with him. They moved in this way, the motion. What do you do in that situation?

That's awesome after first week. That's a lot better than we're just going to run our offense. And you know what? these two guys aren't a good fit for it as much as we thought. No, you felt like he was utilizing what he had in a way that makes me think, okay, I want to see a little bit more of this. I think he encouraged these players too, to, you don't want players to make mistakes, but he was encouraging them to just go, pull the pin, go. And I think we saw at some point in Mike Zimmer's tenure, especially at the end, that walking on eggshells doesn't necessarily mean

play in free and easy. So there's a change in philosophy, like you said, totally, I agree. Let's see if he can hang in there with this philosophy. But I like it. The players obviously loved it because they've all commented since then about kind of their style and philosophy. And I think it's going to be fun to watch. I think it changes a little bit of the dynamic in that division. And I know we're not scheduled to talk about that. But at some point, when you couple that with what's happened in Green Bay so far, are the Vikings just kind of hanging around here and might be a little better than we think? We're going to tell. We are going to talk about that.

That's one of the things I'm going to tee up on later. But they're interesting to me because they play at Philly this second week. They're a good team, but Minnesota's a good team. So that's one where they could go in there and I wouldn't be shocked if they went and beat the Eagles. If they're sitting there two and oh and getting ready to play the Lions, you know, okay. And that could certainly be the case. All right. Mike McDaniel gets the win for the Dolphins.

And here's his first game and gets to beat Bill Belichick, a pretty cool situation for him. Any first impressions on him? Or was there a storyline that was missed? Or what do you got on them? Well, obviously, the Patriots have struggled in South Florida. I mean, we saw Belichick take them to Miami last week on Tuesday to get ready for this game. We just be joked about it. Yeah, I thought that was kind of showing desperation.

But he's got to do what he's got to do. I get it. Maybe they had no other answer. Maybe we're going to blame it all on the weather. And that's why we're going to go. A first time coach like Belichick, you know. Yeah. I think I would have done the opposite of Bill.

I'd have showed up late Saturday night and just rolled out there. Let's play. We're the Patriots, okay? We're not going to change everything we do to play the dolphins coached by an unorthodox personality, a different cat. And all of a sudden, he's got us way outside of our norm. Having said that, McDaniel kicked his ass. He got after the genius of all-time geniuses. And my impression was, to answer your question, was the handshake after the game.

I said this on another podcast earlier in the week. I just shook my hand. You're seeing another podcast? You're seeing other podcasts now? Whoa, wait a second. Well, that's another story. We can talk about that later. But did you see the handshake afterwards where Belichick went out?

And he really wouldn't even look him in the eye. He treated him like he was, you know, a ball boy from 1979. He barely touched his hand before he turned and beeline out of there. That's how shook up Bill Belichick was. So I thought that was kind of, you know, what's the word? I'm looking for Bush League a little bit. But that's Bill. I mean, yeah, I understand.

Belichick gets cranky. Yeah. But I thought the Dolphins and Mike McDaniel put a plan together and executed it and were awesome really on both sides of the ball. Mack Jones, I mean, we all know the struggles on offense for New England. We're going to talk about that a little later and maybe a couple of our picks. But I don't know where the Patriots are right now. So I think that Mike McDaniel has to be feeling his oats.

feeling pretty good. But I also know he's smart enough to know it's only one week, but I was really impressed with what he made as a first impression. And again, we only get one chance to make a first impression. I thought he was very positive. He's somebody, you know, for being as inexperienced and not on the national radar before he got the job, he would be somebody that you could have people in the league kind of, yeah, whatever. I haven't got that at all.

Like everyone who's been around him has been very impressed by him and certainly in his schematic role with the 49. Now, I would say this. I would like your thoughts on what he did offensively, if you have any, because I felt like just big picture. They won the game the way they've been winning games there before, their defense or special teams. Yeah, they hit a fourth and sevener, you know, for a touchdown. That was great. But I don't know, is there enough after one week to, how do you feel about him directing that offense? Are they going to be able to win some games on offense?

because that was the talk of the offseason Tyree, kill all that. How do you think he's at? I think that's a work in progress. Don't get me wrong. I think that is going to be timing. That is going to be rhythm. That offensive line up front

still got to have to gel in the running game because I know Mike's going to want to run the ball. And that sometimes is underrated as to how that takes some time, getting all those guys on the same page and communicating like they need to communicate. That's a work in progress. But I thought the start itself by beating the Patriots

and taking the Patriots out of their game from the head coach all the way to the quarterback, I thought that part was impressive. But you're right. We'll see how the offense evolves. I'm still, you know, I feel the same about Tua today as I did, you know, six months ago. We get to see it unfold. But, hey, we're talking after one week, so that's where we're at. Yeah.

Hey, in my Monday pick six column, you know, I ordered the debuts by how much I liked him, best to worst. And then afterwards, somebody took offense that I didn't value Matt Eberflus's debut at the bears enough. And that guy's totally right now because I didn't even mention Iberflus in our, I think I mentioned Dave, O'Connell, McDaniel, and Hackett. So I was proved correct. They're undervaluing Matt Eberthus's first game. And hey, they won. They beat the 49ers who people think are a really good team this year. What did we see from him? I was hard to see. I don't know if you watched the film of that ran. It was like watching underwater. But what do we think on them? Well, I think it's harder for a defensive coach to make a first impression, that's for sure,

because we don't see that firsthand. It doesn't jump out at us like a, you know, play callers, Kevin O'Connell or even Brian Dayball. That doesn't jump out at us right away. But I'll say this. Administratively, I thought the Bears did a really good job in a chaotic situation. You mentioned the weather. It was crazy, crazy monsoon for both teams. They did what they had to do.

I think over time we'll find out about Matt Eberfuss and that defense. I don't think we really gained a lot in seeing a ton from a game played in those kind of conditions. So yeah, they got the win. You're right. They should be applauded for that. Nothing against that. I just think that that one's going to take a little time, at least for me, to sort out.

Yep. All right. We saved the best for last, Nathaniel Hackett in his debut game. How much time do we have here, Mike? How much time we do. We got as much as we want, Randy. We're 30 minutes into this and we got a lot left. But we don't have to beat a dead bronco here, I guess, as opposed to a dead horse.

But first impressions can be hard to shake. Somebody I know Randy Mueller once said that. What do we make of this? What's your sort of synthesis of Denver losing at Seattle 17 to 16? despite having about a thousand yards of offense. Yeah, I mean, there's so many levels of analysis here for us to dive into. I don't know what was worse. His decision-making in that last minute 20 seemed like it was a two-hour visit in the dentist

chair for me, just watching it unfold. I don't know whether his body language on the sidelines, the decision-making itself, the after the game post the press conference afterwards kind of detailing or not detailing what he was thinking or the apology that came on Tuesday for doing what he did I don't know what was worse I mean it just kept getting deeper and deeper and the more he talked the deeper the whole got yeah I just I just struggled with I thought he looked out of sorts I thought he looked out over his over his head for the most part during that whole process and And I felt bad for everybody.

I always think of it from the GM angle. I just was thinking, what would I be thinking if I was George Peyton while I watched this unfold? And when would I want to bring this up to him? Because we're going to talk about it. You can't ignore it. I'm thinking probably not talk about it right after the game. Maybe by the time we got on the plane, it might be even still too fresh.

What's that like? Yeah. How do you do that? If you're George Peyton, what do you? You got to have this conversation. You know him, but it's not like they go back 30 years together. So what's the, what are you reading in the situation to determine when to have the tough conversation after one game? Yeah, I don't know that I would have done it on the plane.

I wouldn't have done it probably after we got back. So it might have been a Tuesday morning, because this was a Monday night game, a Tuesday morning reflection over a cup of coffee just to say, hey, what, what? And maybe that happened because I thought the Tuesday apology that Nathaniel Hackett made was a little contrived. didn't see that really being sincere, not that he needs to prove anything to us. He didn't apologize. Yeah, he, that's what I'm saying. It really didn't come across as, you know, I might have screwed this up. It came across as it didn't work out, you know.

Oh, obviously, we should have done the, we should have done it differently because it didn't work. No, no, no, you should have done it differently because it was a bad idea to be thrilled that you're kicking a 64-yard field goal when you have a $250 million quarterback that, by the way, the whole offseason, we were talking about how great he was. Yeah. Let him throw it. And here's the other thing that, because I've thought Denver's overrated because I thought the hype around Wilson going there just can't be lived up to.

I mean, I think he's unlikely to be as good as he was at his best in Seattle consistently for years to come based on what I've seen the last year and a half and where I think it's said. And obviously where Seattle thinks it said, not that he's not going to be good. But I just know how we've talked about this this past week. one of the things, one of the really, you know, of the many really smart things I put on Twitter this week was, was, many, many, many, besides a random tweet about Merlin Olson's birthday being this week, which people are asking, what are you doing? How did you think of that? That's a whole another story. But one of the things was that the further you were away from the situation in Seattle, the more, the more surprised you were that the fans booed him when he got there.

And what I mean by that is the people that have, are around it, the coaches, the players who saw this whole divorce happen. Even those of us that lived in Seattle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not that the, not that the organization by any means handled everything perfectly because no one's saying that.

But the way that Russell Wilson managed his exit from there really included kind of encouraging through himself, through his agent, through people around him. Some narratives like Pete Carroll's outdated. he's not putting enough of the offense around him. There could have been kernels of truth to some of these things. But what I'm saying is Pete Carroll is a really good coach with a great track record who, if he gets this, if he builds this team back up and maybe if he doesn't, I mean, people are going to talk about him as possible Hall Fame credentials at a certain

point, possibly. He's a good coach. Wilson was able to sort of turn the next. narrative against Pete Carroll to some degree late. What's going to happen with Nathaniel Hackett, who is not Pete Carroll? Pete's totally confident in who he is. He doesn't even pay attention to that stuff. He's not saving receipts. Pete doesn't even have a receipt drawer. He's bigger than all of that. I'm a little bit worried for Hackett because this in one game can always be used against him. And I think this type of thing is going to be used against them.

If they don't win there, it ain't going to be the quarterback's fault is what I'm saying. I would agree with that 100%. It will not be Russell's fault. And you're right. The relationship that we've seen since his arrival in Denver has been one of, in my opinion, Nathaniel Hackett just cozying up to him, right? Making everything. Yes.

Every hugging and kissing and having fun and laughing and acquiescing to everything that Russell wants to do. At some point, that will get rocky. I don't perceive Nathaniel Hackett as being one to grab any public narratives or to make any moves, you know, like you're suggesting that Russell made on his exit from Seattle. But I do buy the fact that Russell will not really be accountable for a lot of this in the long run. So I'm with you. This did, I think Russell, having said that, Russell said the right things after this game. He sure did.

All the debacle that we're talking about. He did take the high road. I don't know how much that continues. I'm with you. I don't think that the Broncos are ready to make a Super Bowl run by some have or even make a run in their own division at this point. I think there's too many flaws still. But the relationship that Russell left in Seattle and has started in Denver is evolving. I'll just say that.

And those of us in Seattle wouldn't be as surprised if it didn't go as well as the rest of the country thinks it's going to go. Yeah, and especially in Denver. All right, we made it through the coaches. Some great conversation there. This next section, Randy, is sort of week one fallout. I'm going to ask you and talk about things you're either buying or not. So are you buying the idea the 40-9ers can develop Trey Lance and still contend? Oh, boy.

I'm buying. Can they both be true? I think they can develop Trey Lance. It's just going to take more time than everybody there thinks it would. My feelings on Trey Lans haven't changed one ounce. since the time when they moved up to get whoever in the draft, when they went up to, I've lost track of it now, to three is it to draft him?

My feelings haven't changed. I see the upside. I see the sky is the limit. I also see a very little body of work. I see, and I said this the whole time. I'm not saying the 49ers are wrong for doing it. It's just a move that I couldn't have made. I could not have put everything on the future of this kid,

knowing what I know. Now, Paul Shanahan, way smarter than me, I'll admit, great. But I haven't seen it yet. All I've seen is more inconsistencies. I've seen a developing player that's going to take time. I think Steve Young might have said it best this week. I heard it on a local San Francisco TV. He said, Trey Lance is going to be judged in this way.

He just can't hold them back. If he holds the team back in any way, they're going to have troubles. And I don't think you can hesitate to throw Jimmy J. in there. A lot of people are saying, well, you can't make this change because Trey Lance will be destroyed. If this destroys Trey Lance, we need another quarterback, okay? Trust me. He can come back from any benching. Any of us can. We've all been there. It's big boy football. So let's don't get bogged down and we can't make this change now just because Jimmy G would destroy the confidence of Trey Lance. I think Trey Lance is going to be good

to answer your question. Still, it's just going to take a little longer than people realize. What we saw last week, I think we're going to see for, if he plays the whole season, we're going see this all season. And I think that may hold back this playoff team. Oh, yeah. They're 14.3 points per game in his three starts. Now, they lose to Chicago. They scored 10 points. They scored 10 points in the game. I understand the weather. Now, they're a 10 point favorite against Seattle in week two, and we'll talk about that. But I'm like, 10 point favorite, are they going to win 14 to 4? Or what's the score of the game going to be? Because you've got to score points, and maybe they will. Then they play at Denver. Maybe they can win that. They play the Rams. You know, there's some games here

early on. And Randy, you can't fool the locker room, right? You can't stand up there after the game and say, Tray Lance was fine, or you can't fool them. So there's a certain point in the season if you're still scoring 14 points a game and you're a two and four football team. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but it could. They'd have to make a move. If I was John Lynch and we were two and four and the reason was that Tray was holding his back, I would suggest this. Stay out of the locker room. I don't care if you played for 100 years and they're in the Hall of Fame. I wouldn't make a pass through the locker room if that's the case because those guys are going to be pissed. They will not want to develop Trey Lance at the expense of them not making a deep playoff run.

So those two things, we got to balance that as we go. And I think that will be determining the 49er season in my opinion. How do we develop Trey Lance, but at the same time have a playoff team that averages more than 14 points a game. All right, are you buying the idea that everything will be fine for the Packers? Hey, Randy, they lost 38 to 3 in the opener last year. It went 13 and 3. Relax, right? Remember when Rogers used to say, relax.

You buying the idea everything's fine? Are you a little worried? I'm a little worried. I think this is a different group. It's a totally different roster on paper. I think playing wide receiver in the NFL is way harder than people think. We've had a couple guys take the league by storm recently as rookies. I think it's really hard, even for first-round picks.

And last time I checked, the 49ers don't have any first-round pick receivers. They have guys that play the small schools or that missed training camp or both. So I just think that period of adjustment for him getting on, Rogers getting on the same page with those guys is a longer process. I don't think it's going to change overnight. Having said that, I've thought all along that the way this team is constructed, they have to be running the ball. They have to pound the ball.

They've got to find a way to possess the ball longer than the opponents. They're not going to have the explosion. plays that Devante Adams gave him. And I think their defense is getting a pass. I think they've got to be much better. I thought that their game plan last week to deploy Preston Smith, who's an excellent pass rusher, out in the flat man-to-man covering a receiver was incompetent, right? I mean, come on, seriously, we're going to take our rusher and move them out there and let him cover somebody on, I think it was third and short or fourth and short. Seriously, that's what we spent all off-season figuring out. That's ridiculous. So that kind of conversation would drive me crazy if I was

Brian Goodenkust, their GM. I would have to talk to or ask questions about the implementation of our game plan if we're going to see that for very long. Absolutely, because that's an organization that's had Rogers for 15 years as a starter. Yet they're always can't get it together on defense and or special teams. And that's why they have one Super Bowl win there with an all-time great quarterback, maybe one of the top three quarterbacks in the history of the game. And is this an early sign that, you know what, it's going to be up and down again on that side of the ball. And did they make the right hire, you know, for their defensive coordinator job last year under the, or, you know, under the offensive minded head coach. I think there's a lot of questions there that were not answered

in a positive way. And I'll say this, they split with Minnesota last year. They've had a one-off game here or there, but we've got to see better quickly from that side of the ball and not up and down, because if they're up and down defense, special teams, they're the same team they've been. Especially they're now that they're diminished on offense. Actually, they're worse than they've been. They're worse because they're diminished on offense. So they have to have those components step up. All right.

How about the Rams and Bengals were in the Super Bowl last year, Randy? I'm sure they were. Good for them. But they were fourth seeds in the conference. These weren't necessarily the best teams in each conference. And you know what, week one showed us? They're still kind of four seed type teams. Do you buy that or do you think they're better than that?

I think they're different cases, to be honest with you. I am not panicked over the Rams. I do think the Rams went from the dock of the bay to the Autobahn when they stepped on the field for their regular season opener. I think they got boat raced. They weren't ready for it. The speed was too fast for them. They had taken some things for granted. I think, hey, we're Super Bowl champs.

The preseason is this. Blah, blah, blah. They got pushed around much like we saw the Rams in the first half of last season before they bowed their neck, got a little physical, start to hold up on both sides of the ball up front. So they got a little wake-up call. They got slapped around last week, and I think the Rams will come out of it. The Bengals, I'm not so sure about.

I worry about them because, like you said, being a fourth seed, I thought they caught lightning in a bottle at the end of last year. They go into Tennessee. They gave up seven sacks, but still win the game against Tennessee. They go to Kansas City.

Yeah, they won. I get it. But I just wasn't really sold on all of that. Then they come back and Joe Burrow has, you know, appendix taken out. He misses all the preseason. His first throw last week was a terrible interception, and it got worse than that. I mean, he threw four picks. I thought their coach was on the couch. You know, he didn't challenge a call late in the game that would have won the game for him directly, you know.

And he didn't challenge on a pass that the receiver, Jamar Chase, caught on the one yard line that he clearly scored a touchdown on. That replays all showed that. They didn't challenge that. So I thought they were kind of caught napping on the couch, weren't ready yet either. But the problem is with them, when I'm talking about them is the Bengals, I just don't know how good they are at the end of the day. If they had lightning in a bottle caught last year, I don't know if they can recapture that this year. Because I think the Steelers are going to be better than people think. I think the Ravens are going to be good. Who knows what we're going to get in Cleveland?

That's dependent really on the quarterback and him, you know, Brissette really being fun. functional. So we'll see. I just think there's, there's a, there's a, there's a way here for the, for the Bengals to kind of backstroke a little bit. And with what we saw in week one, I would have concern about that. I thought, even though I, I love what Joe Burroughs all about. I thought it was a little premature to, that, that he made it into tier one this year when I did. To crown it. I mean, yeah. Like, you know, I feel like he is, but like the top of, I also felt like this type of season was definitely possible for them with some volatility. I didn't buy the, they changed their offensive line.

I didn't buy it. It was going to be a lot better. So we'll see. It's one game, but that was not good. Not what you wanted to see from them or him. Okay. How about, man, the Colts were down 20 to 3, I believe. Was it 20 to 3?

They were down a lot to Houston. Sure is a good thing they got Matt Ryan, though. Because he is such a big upgrade over Carson Wentz, which was certainly a big part of the offseason narrative in Indy. Do you buy on that or does week one affect you or where you at? I think it's more of the same. I just, I can't put my finger on it. So I don't know if this is high level analysis.

I just, I think there's something missing with the Colts and I can't figure it out. Maybe you can help me. Maybe somebody else can. I just, there's something missing. Whether it's Frank Reich, the way he's kind of constructed to do things there on game day, I don't know. I do know this. Their offensive line is pretty good. I think the running back is maybe the best in the game in Jonathan Taylor.

But yet we're behind 20 to 3. Like you said, I don't know how all this comes together. Seems to me like they struggle at the times when they should be excelling. So sometimes I wonder what their identity is. We talked about Brian Dable, established an identity in one week. Frank Reich's been there three years, and I'm not sure what the Colts are yet. Exactly. And I think Frank Reich's like a really good play caller and all of that type of stuff.

I don't feel, you're right. I feel like there's something missing, and I'm worried for them because they're going to go on the road to Jacksonville. And we do now, this could be their moment because that was the team that knocked them out with the bad boss last year. They were down by double digits. They lost it by double digits, I believe. They were blown out in a game with a lot on the line. That's a tough place to go, Florida the first week.

Everyone knows that if you get a Florida road game the first month of the season, you got a good chance of losing. I don't care who you're playing. It's hot. It's just wears on you. And now you get Jacksonville, which is a little upstart now. They got the culture to go from horrible to whatever. It's not horrible anymore.

We'll see what it's going to be. But they probably or could have or almost won their first game. And they've had the Colts number. So this is going to be a big week for the Colts. I think if they win convincingly, that could be sort of what they need to get a little bit of that mojo going. If it's another week like that and they barely squeak it out or they lose, I'm worried. Yeah, I agree with you 100%. I think we both seem the same way.

I think there are a few of those games this week in the NFL that I hate to say week two or some referendums, but there's some teams that are on the edge of going either way. And I think your point is very valid. I think the Colts need to win this game. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Let's move into some of our picks. this week. First off, I think we will always say what the results were the past week.

We'll have to see if we go over. Unless they're bad. Yeah, yeah. But we did okay. Randy, you were two and one and barely missed on your one. You've got the dolphins giving points. You got the Ravens giving points. You just missed on taking the Eagles and giving three and a half. They win by three, but man, they were up by a lot more than that. I don't know if at the window and at the sports book, they give you any consideration for that. Half a points matter, don't they? Half a points They do. That's why they got them in there. Dang it. I was successful on the Steelers taking the points, six and a half against the Bengals. I missed taking the Raiders and the points against the Chargers. Wasn't too sure what to expect from Raiders. They were kind of a little disappointing to me in the first week. So that's something we can talk about another time. What's your, well, I'll start with my picks this week. So I've got the first one I'm going to take is I'm on a big. numbers this week, right? A lot of big numbers before you say. You're right. You're right. A lot of big

favorites. Five teams are double-dissive favorites. The Rams over the Falcons, 49ers over the Seahawks, Broncos over the Texans, Packers over the Bears and Bill's over the Titans. So much for parity, huh? You're kidding. I hear you. I'm sure there'll be a surprise or two in there. I'm going to take Seattle. 10 is a lot of points in an NFL game. I'll take Seattle and 10 just because I think Pete Carroll generally keeps the game close. And if they're playing Trey Lance and getting 14 points a game, maybe they get 20. But I think Gino Smith, we've seen,

he's averaging 17.8 points a game on offense in his starts. That's not good. You're going to win six or seven games doing that. But that's kind of where I see them. I think they'll be in there. And I don't necessarily think that the Ford Natives are going to just get to 30. If they do, good for them. So I'll do that on them.

So you're taking Seattle? I'll take the 10 points. Just because I want to see Tray Lance. I want to see Tray Lance beat someone by 10 points. That's all. I have one thought on that game. Whether it turns into a bet for somebody, I don't know. I think the 49ers are going to run for 200 yards.

I think that they're going to possess the ball longer than Gino is going to like because he's going to have to step up and make some plays in a limited fashion because I don't think they're going to have the ball very much. So I could see Seattle running, you know, 52, 53 plays on offense. San Francisco. Oh, yeah, yeah. Seattle and in San Francisco running 75, you know, just because I think Kyle Shanahan's going to want to shove this right down their throat and take all guesswork out of it for Tray Lance. That's just my feeling.

Hey, you know, it's funny. You had texted me during the Seattle game, and we were talking about, you know, how Denver was taking advantage of Daryl Taylor, the defensive end for the Seahawks. I actually had an offensive coordinator text me. teams are going to be game planning for this right here if this doesn't change because Denver didn't have their right tackle in the game and that was supposed to do the matchup and they just took advantage of Daryl Taylor. That will be interesting because Taylor's a player of Seattle likes, so they need a lot more from him. And we'll see because the 49ers offensive line isn't good, but the scheming's great. I told you during the game, I don't know how they could keep him in the game. He was so undisciplined.

He's getting hooked. He's getting pushed around. his ability to not set the edge is going to be the big reason I think the 49ers are going to have a party running the ball this week. So I don't know how. If Seattle feels great about him as a rusher, I get it.

But there's another side to it that I wouldn't feel great about it. I didn't ask how they felt after this game, Randy. I know that's a longstanding thing. Maybe after this game, they're watching the tape going, what the heck. But I don't want, I'm going to take the Steelers over, I'll take Steelers in two and a half at home against the Patriots. I mean, is the wrong team favored here, Randy?

Because it is to me. 100%. That's going to be one of my picks as well. I think the Steelers are a better team right now. I know they lost T.J. Watt. I get it. I think the Steelers, and I've said this from day one, I think they're going to be a little better than people think.

I have no problem with Trubisky the way he played last week. I think they have good players. I thought Meika Fitzpatrick was awesome last week. Yeah. I think their defense is going to be better. They'll find a way to. She's what's out. Yeah, I know what's out, but they're going to find a way to,

to get some rush going against New England. I just, some of this is, I'm not a Mack Jones guy. I think it's going to be hard for him to bring that. I'll just say this, a hodgepodge of offensive philosophies into Pittsburgh and win a game like this. I think Pittsburgh's a better team. So to your point, yeah, I think the wrong team's favorite. So you're saying after one week that Joe Judge and Matt Patricia are not hot coordinator candidates in the league or head coaching candidates for offensive playtime?

I just shake my head. I'm going back to, if I had to make a list of 10 guys to let's hire them as our coordinators next year. Yeah. I mean, these guys might be good coaches. I get it. I'm not being disrespectful or dismissive of that. I agree. They just wouldn't be my offensive brain trust.

I think the day Josh McDaniel walked out of there, they had an offensive mindset brain drain in their building. And I don't think it's been filled yet. Again, no offense to anybody. Josh McDaniels just been doing this his whole life. These other guys have not. So I know it's the same system. We all can coach all positions. I get that part.

I don't see why we're trying to make a stand. And this be the hill we make a stand on. Well, what do you see in terms of your picks, Mr. Two and One? Well, we talked a little bit about the Detroit game. I don't think New England has a road favorite. I think it's a problematic problem, if that makes any sense at all. A problematic problem. That's my Idaho.

Yeah, that's a problem I don't want. The other game that I'm kind of interested in is the Detroit Lions have been underdogs, I believe for 20 or even more than that weeks in a row. I think it's an NFL record. 20 some weeks in a row they've been underdogs. Guess what? They started the week as a two and a half point favorite against Washington. Now it's down to one. I'm with Detroit on this one. I'm going to pick Detroit to beat Washington in Detroit. Maybe I'm crazy. You can color me an idiot. But I think Detroit finished the game last week against the Eagles. We made light of that. And I think they're a better team than most would assess. I also am not drinking the Kool-Aid of what the commanders are doing in

Washington. I think they are not ready for prime time. I think it's a hard game for them to go to Detroit, who I think will be ready to play. Maybe it's a bet on Dan Campbell over Ron Rivera in a way, but I'm taking Detroit, given the one point, let the chips fall where they may. do you think that do you think we talked earlier about these coaches you know and you do have to be yourself but do you think that Dan Campbell affects the game positively on game day or does he affect in other ways what do you do you like him if you were you know if you were the GM of the lions and let's just say you had a great relationship with Dan Campbell you guys you know went for a jog every you like him you like everything about what he is as a football person but but if you had to drink the

truth serum and go into the owner, you know, and say, hey, here's what, is this guy a good coach? What would your sort of feel be? I know you're not there every day, but, you know, the bravado and all of that type of stuff. Sometimes that wears thin. How does he affect it? I think he affects it Monday through Saturday. I don't know how it is on Sunday. I don't like the fact that he, I should say this. He was a play caller last year after he kind of dismissed Anthony Lynn. He took over calling the plays. I don't want him calling my play. this time around. And I don't think he is. No, Ben Johnson's there. Yes.

So I think he can affect the game. I think he does affect the game on many levels because of who he is, his personality, his ability to make quick decisions, his motivating tactics. I think that's good even on game day. And we can see that. So I like Dan Campbell. I like where the lions are with him. But the other part of your question was, does it have a shelf life? I think it does. I don't know how long he'll have the ear of these. players to work in that fashion. I think he'll have to evolve a little bit. Maybe at some point have to become a little more cerebral, a little more X's and O's dependent. And maybe that's something he does. Good coaches always evolve, right? So, but I would like what I see in Dan Campbell,

if I were the GM, having to represent the decisions we've made to this point to ownership for sure. Yeah. They're in Detroit, you know, when they've been asked, you know, obviously they're biased, but they said, look, you know, the, you know, he sort of has a pro wrestler's, you know, personality sometimes, but don't be fooled by that, you know, that he's a sharp guy and all of that. But you're right. You'd like to, we want to make, I think there is growth there in the in-game thing and on-game day thing for any coach.

And if you, if he does have the intelligence and that type of stuff, and he really is, you know, has a good sort of mindset towards improving and being kind of. himself. Maybe he can grow in that. Is there something, Randy, that you see as important in a coach to be able to improve in those ways? Like, are there some guys who you just know aren't going to do that? Or do you have hope for certain guys because you see certain things? I think that's kind of an interesting thing, like coach development, right? Who gets better and why? I think there's a fine line between being yourself and being able to adapt. I think some guys go into it with the idea of I'm never going to change. I think this happened to people, maybe Kevin Gilbride back in the 90s a little bit.

He was a guy that never changed. Greg Williams was a guy like that. Come hell or high water, we're doing it this way. I just don't think that gets you a long ways in your locker room. You have to have a certain humility. So when you do kind of evolve, everybody sees it that you're evolving for the right reasons. And so that's a hard thing to judge, especially for those on the outside of these NFL buildings. That's something where I always like to as a gym kind of have a feel for how my players, how the lock room feels about the way they're being led. I think you have to have that vibe. You have to know that. And only those on the inside really know that because I do think coaches might give the impression on the outside of I'm not changing, but on the inside they really are.

So the players understand that. Those of us on the outside may not get that vibe. I don't know if that makes any sense. It does. And that's what you're talking about with Brandon Staley too. Like, hey, that he was a little bit too much of one way in the first year. Maybe there's, you know, maybe we'll see. And maybe we've already seen starting to see some signs of, hey, okay, you know, here's what I really need to do. And we'll see how that plays out. I think that's a really interesting one with Dan Campbell because his characteristics

are so strong, right? I mean, that is going to be who he is. He's not going to suddenly be something totally different, but how much does he evolve and grow into that role to be more than he is now? Because I agree if this is just what he is, which it may not be. but if what we see is just what it is, how long can you do it? So good one there. I think we, should we hit this on about an hour on the dot?

Pretty close, Mike. Pretty close to our goal. We executed a plan for a change. We did. We did not try to line up a 64-yard field goal. Not yet anyway. Hopefully. No, not yet.

So, hey, everybody, thanks for coming along this week on our second 2022 edition of a football GM podcast. You can find Randy Mueller on Twitter at Randy Mueller underscore. You can find his work, including his Battle of New York, maybe already won by the Giants of the Jets column on Muellerfootball.com. I'm Mike Sando. Of course, you can find my work on The Athletic. I'm on Twitter at Sando NFL,

and we will talk to everybody right here next week. This was the Athletic Football Show.