The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - In the Pocket: Josh Allen's disastrous night, Jordan Love's big day, Anthony Richardson's debut, and more

Episode Date: September 14, 2023

On the first in-season episode of In the Pocket, Robert Mays and Chase Daniel discuss Josh Allen's struggles against the Jets, the pairing of Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur and Anthony Richardson's NFL debut. The guys also hit on Matthew Stafford carving up the Seahawks and Jim Schwartz's successful gameplan against Joe Burrow and the Bengals.Follow Robert on X: @robertmaysFollow Chase on X: @ChaseDanielSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTubeThis episode is sponsored by LinkedIn. Right now, you can try LinkedIn Sales Navigator and get a sixty-day free trial at linkedin.com/MAYS23.This episode is sponsored by Sleep Number®: Save $400 on the New Sleep Number® c4 smart bed. Plus, special financing for a limited time. Only at Sleep Number® stores or sleepnumber.com. Sleep Number. The Official Sleep and Wellness Partner of the National Football League. See store for details. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. The Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me today, 14-year NFL veteran and the co-host of our new In-the-Pocket podcast. It's Chase Daniel. Chase, how you doing? What's going on, man? How you doing?

Great first week. I'm thrilled. I'm pumped. So much to dig into for you guys that did not listen to the first show that we did with Chase. We're going to be doing this every single week on the athletic football show every Thursday during the season. It's quarterback time. We're going to have a quarterback-centric show, talk about some of the best quarterback performances of the week, some quarterback performances that may have put some antenna up for Chase and for me, dig into some quarterback perspective on some defensive ideas and schemes like we're going to do today.

But this show is going to be all QBs all the time because now we have one. We have an NFL quarterback here on the roster, and it would be silly to not use you. I'm like an offensive coordinator just trying to put my guys in the right positions to succeed. That's it. Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, I think you're doing a pretty good job so far because we were talking about on Monday, you know, what we wanted to talk about after watching all those wild week one games. And you gave me some homework and I actually felt like I was on a squad again, man, like actually getting to watch the coaches film and actually dig in. I do a bunch of other things during the week and NFL network on Friday.

And I'm like, this is actually going to tremendously help me get ready for the NFL network stuff that I'm doing on Friday. Fridays. And then actually, it just, I almost went about my prep for this show like I would on a Wednesday or Thursday that you're prepping for a game. So it actually, it actually helped me feel like, hey, even though I'm not playing right now, I feel like I'm, I'm part of the team and ready to roll and and working out this brain. And it's been a while because I didn't, I wasn't in any OTAs, right? I wasn't in any training camp. So I really hadn't even watched a bunch of film at all because I was just like, man, I'm so used to watching so much film all the time. But it was actually really good, like gave me a little bit of like, hey, like a breather,

like, oh, man, this is who I am. This is what I like to do. And so I'm excited to get started today. If there's anything I can give people, it's homework and things to do and projects to start at, just ask me. So I'm happy that you're happy about it because I'm sure there will be more of it. We're going to start each one of these with just the quarterback performance that we have to talk about, the one that's just.

sitting there hiding in plain sight. And that is Josh Allen's game on Monday night. I tweeted a joke during the Jets Bill's game about how if I were Josh Allen, I would play this exact way. If I were as physically gifted as Josh Allen, I would just try to throw it as hard and as far as I could every single play. And then you brought me back to reality and said, well, he keeps making all the same stupid mistakes over and over again after saying that he was going to play within himself. So I want to talk about just your impressions of that performance. from Josh Allen on Monday and kind of your biggest takeaway watching that be the note on which he started the season. Yeah, I mean, this is actually the game I watched last because I wanted to save it because I thought I knew what was going on when you're watching it live on Monday night. And then there's a lot of stuff going on with Aaron Rogers and all that stuff.

And then it sort of got lost in the shuffle and somehow a miraculous comeback by the Jets were to win. And the talk wasn't really about Josh Allen. and the more I thought about it, the more I sort of digged into it. I'm like, well, it should be about Josh Allen because we'd heard all offseason long, and you alluded to it, how he was going to play within himself, how he was going to play within the offense, how he was going to trust Ken Dorsey and Joe Brady to put him in the right plays at the right time, and he wasn't going to try to do too much. It was the complete opposite of what I saw when I broke down the film, and it wasn't all bad.

And honestly, what I think it comes down to is, is, first of all, let's just be really clear. Because if I'm going to be critical of a player who I think is a really good player, I'm going to give the other side of it too. I think the New York Jets defense is a generational talent under Robert Sala and how well they're coached. Let me just throw that out there. And it's the first game of the year.

You think as a quarterback you're going to know what a defense does or you're going to know what blitzes they're going to bring. and they just bring completely opposite things. I've been a part of game plans like that. Week one is week one through four. We've talked about them in the first one. Week one through four as an offense coordinator and a quarterback are a living hell.

And I say that because you have no idea what you're game planning for because it doesn't necessarily, it doesn't necessarily have to be what that defense did last year. And Robert Saul's defense is, let's be real, it's a 49ers defense you saw forever. It's a bunch of cover two. cover four, quarter quarter half, some man pressure. And that's it.

Like, it's not super complicated. And that's why they're able to play so fast. So I do think that they are really good. Now, I digress back to Josh Allen is my whole thing is, I just think he is, he looks frantic. Yes. Yeah. Out there. Even beyond the turnovers, he just, we seem so sped up, so consistently throughout the

entire game. It was really disheartening. He's playing, he's playing sped up. And I don't know if that's, because it's, It's not like looking at the concepts they're running. It's not like they're running these crazy, difficult type concepts. It's mostly from what I saw. It's mostly pure progression reads. It's mostly half-filled reads. And he's just getting off his first and second read. If it's not there pretty quickly and going to the third and it's not there, he's just freaking out in the pocket.

And it's not all like that, right? And I think what it comes down to, the more I thought about it, and we can get into some more details about his play. but the more I thought about it was this is a type of defense that can really, really frustrate you as a quarterback. And what does that mean? Well, if you're in the cover four, cover two defense, the flats aren't really there. Cover four maybe, but they're, I mean, the way Robert Saul's defense is, both linebacker and nickel are matching anything to the flat. So it's like four man almost, which makes it even more difficult. You're one-on-one with the mic on the halfback.

And so they don't give a lot of easy completions, definitely not down the field, but the checkdowns are actually pretty tight. And it's tight windows. And that's what he was doing that the first couple drives of the game. But I think at the end of the day, this defense of Robert Salt, they just frustrated him. And he got overly frustrated and he launched two balls, one where he could have ran for. And the other was just, I think, just a bad decision. But I think that's what it came down to is these type of defenses want to frustrate you. and Josh Allen got frustrated on Monday night.

What would you say it was the most concerning element to his play? Was it how fast he was getting off stuff? Was it how uncomfortable he seemed in the pocket? The thing that it would worry you the most moving forward from what you saw on Monday? Well, I just think that he plays or he mostly played with a reckless abandon for anything and everything, including his own body. Like that, to me, like you can fix the reeds. and you can fix the offense and you can just say, hey, we're just going to simplify for you just so you can just play fast.

But the biggest thing for me is there was three or four times. He's diving in piles. There was a third in, there was a third in 12, and he's five yards short of the first down. And he's trying to dive over at the end of the half, trying to dive over someone. And I get it, dude. No one's ever trying to take your stinger away. And that's exactly what coaches are doing. If you're a B dude sting, like he is a B, like you're going to have that stinger and you're going to do it.

And he made some plays. I mean, there was bad, but there was some really good, too. I mean, like really good throws out of the pocket. But I think for me, it was just the reckless abandon for himself. I mean, I do think that you can fix this. And it could be just because he didn't play a lot in the preseason. And it always took me, at least, when I was playing time to just in the pocket to just chill out, relax. because O-Line didn't play horrible, honestly.

Like, they didn't play that bad. But I think he's just got to slow down. But I think the reckless abandon would probably be my answer. If you're Ken Dorsey and Joe Brady and maybe even the backup quarterback in that room, I believe, is Kyle Allen. Where does this conversation start after the game? If you're trying to kind of pull him back from the version that we saw on Monday and just get him to take a breath, how do you get him started toward that place? Well, I think it started on Tuesday, right? They got a short week.

They traveled there. It's not a quick, it's not a awful flight back, but they still got back in Buffalo at 2 or 3 a.m. So you're in Tuesday at 8 a.m. working out, watching film, and you're already on to the next opponent. But I would say, like, in film study, like, hey, dude, we've talked about this before.

Like, all you got to do is just trust the offense. Trust that I'm going to put you in good place to succeed. We're not always going to be playing this amazing New York Jets defense. There's going to be success that comes. It was a weird game. Aaron Rogers goes, I mean, there's all that that plays into it. But if I'm, if I am, um, Ken Dorsey, I'm just saying, hey, dude, just take a deep breath. And we heard it, we heard it from him today or on Wednesday, um, straight from the horse's

mouth, Josh Allen. He's like, look, it's one game. We're not going to let it turn into two. And I think that's the biggest thing for a head coach and an offense corner like, dude, it's one game, like, whatever. Like, he started slow in the past, but don't let it snowball. to two or three games. Don't let it become something where you're doing it every game.

He's making so many checks at the line of scrimmage. It seemed like every single play he was doing something before the play started, whether it was checking protection or checking the play itself. Do you feel like putting that much on him just from a mental standpoint is maybe counterproductive because it doesn't allow him to kind of just take a deep breath and slow down a little bit? That's something I notice is that he's just doing so much before the snap now. You think that's a good thing when you have a quarterback that can kind of default back to this version of himself?

Well, most of the things that I saw, I mean, there were a few checks. Most of the things I saw at the line of scrimmage, which I actually liked when I saw, it was him controlling protections. Okay. They were in some different fronts, like some overload fronts, three to a side on one side of the center, and they were in some jam fronts. And I think he was just mostly making protection calls. You got Mitch Morris out there who's a veteran.

But to me, I can't speak for Josh. I always actually liked controlling the line of scrimmage calls because it just, it may be maybe not overthink stuff because I had to get the protection right and then I'm just out there playing ball. So I don't necessarily think that plays into it. And that's just, that's how their offense rolls. And he probably wants that, you know, opportunity to be able to do that. But I do think that he just has to find a way to play one play at a time.

And what do I mean by that? It's like, dude, just, and honestly, I had a quarterback coach last year and past game coordinator named Shane Day. Comes from the San Francisco 49ers Street. Kyle Shanahan, great friends. He's in Houston right now with Bobby Sloick as a past game coordinator as well. And he probably said the best thing I've ever heard a quarterback coach saying, it's going to sound really just simple. And you're like, what? All he said was like, play the play.

And like, don't think anything else. Don't think about the score. think about the head coach, don't think about your kids at home. And it seems easy, right? But when you get caught up in a game, a national televised game, and when you want to make a play so bad for your team, it's very difficult to just play the play because you're thinking like, hey, we got this, we got this play coming on third down. And then, oh, dude, I remember this red zone play. Like, I just really want to get inside the 10. If you don't get inside of 10, then coach isn't going to call it. Like all that stuff. Like, that's it. That's life of NFL quarterback.

Right. So, and that's what he brought to Herbert last year. And I thought Herbert did a good job. I mean, Herbert was banged up a little bit. But it was really good. And I would just say, like, play to play, Josh. Like, don't be thinking, don't think about other plays in the game good or bad. Like, stay even kill. And I think he does that. And he's a rah, raw guy. And I love that about him. But as far as just quarterbacking, like if I see cover four as a quarterback or cover two as a quarterback on the first second and long, that doesn't mean I'm going to be getting cover four or cover two on all second and long play. So if you come off the sideline and you're talking, hey, you know, do this, do that on second and long, it's going to be all quarters, give me a post over top. Like, none of that stuff, like, none of that stuff matters. Just, you've got to have a really, really abundant trust in your play caller for them to put you in the right plays. And guess what? They're not always going to guess right, right they're not always going to have the perfect play against cover three or weak rotation cover six as i like to call it like the biggest thing is just if it is there and you have to check

it down and we have to be in second and eight okay that's better than second and 15 which i saw them in a lot because he took a sack or he tried to run around the ball or he missed an rpo read and he was took a sack so all that stuff if that makes sense that that's that's sort of what I would do if I was Gendorsi. Are there certain things schematically that you do think can calm him down? Are there certain things they can rely on certain things they can go to that kind of make things easier for him, simplify them, and kind of allow that heartbeat to slow a little bit in some of these moments?

It didn't look like a very busy offense. And what I mean, like it didn't look like there's all these crazy concepts. It looked like more simple, simpler concepts. And so I think I don't know if the concepts are going to make it easier. I would say like as a quarterback, I can speak for myself. Like I always thought like, hey, if a guy, if a play caller can't think of a play, give me an RPO. Just give me a wide zone, outside zone, inside zone, RPO where I have two slants replacing it

or I have two hitches outside and just let me do it. Like let me control it. And they called it a few times. Yeah. in one of the RPO's it's it's quarters and it's covered or it's it's quarter quarter half

and to the cover two sides to the field side where he's going to throw like a little hitch to the slot and it's just no no point in that read tells you to throw the hitch to the slot because the nickelback's playing two he's split the outside tackle

and he split the nickel and he can easily get under that hitch route on the slot and he sure enough he just it was clear day because you can tell by the nickel leverage what coverage it is and clear as a he just try to pull it and do too much and oh man it's not open i don't want to throw a pick six so he just ate it and it was second and 13 like as a play caller when you call an rPO on first and first and 10 you're not thinking to lose yards like at least give me two on a run game and then hey if we hit something behind a nickel

pressure that tells me that takes me to my key to throw it that that's different but so i would say rPO's but they called him. And it just didn't. There were some that worked and some that didn't. You hope it's just the one game. And I remember this being a conversation after the 2020 season when he was phenomenal. I mean, that was his breakout year. And he kind of announced himself as a superstar quarterback.

And even in training camp that year, there was some conversation about what he would be like when fans got back in the stands. And there was some discourse about him playing so well because they're not being crowds, kind of calmed him down a little bit. And because he's played so well over the last couple of years, we feel very far removed from that. But when I was watching him in that game, it's Monday night football. The crowd is in a frenzy with Aaron Rogers being there. It's a national stage.

It's week one. It almost felt like that stage got him to that place where he's just so frantic and so it pumped up for the game that we see this version of him again. And so it had been a while since I thought that, but that's kind of where my mind snapped back to after watching the way he played on Monday night. Yeah, and I think that's a fair assessment. I think that's a right assessment. And I would even think Josh would agree with you on that assessment. And I just think Josh is best. He's best when he's off schedule, right?

Like, of course he's the big understander play action, got a huge arm, can throw a ball, 80 yards, all that stuff. But I just think, like, and he showed it. He showed it in this game. He's best when things break down, and he doesn't panic. and if he's two one or two he's to the left read

and something breaks down he escapes to his right mostly and there's three or four times where he escapes to his right and I mean even the touchdown pass the touchdown pass was a highlight play yeah like to me like that was that is vintage Josh Allen that is who

the Josh Allen the Patrick Holmes are those are the type of guys that can do that stuff and I was like watching and I'm like that looked completely different from Snap 54 57 and 58 where he went interception back to back turnovers. And I'm like, like, you know, so it's a mix of good and bad. And you're going to get some bad with the way he plays, but they're hoping that there's

more good. And against teams that are not the New York Jets, I think that that ratio will likely tip back into the bill's favor more often than not. Week one is always fascinating from a quarterback perspective because we get answers on some of these unknown guys that we've been speculating about. for months. You open the mystery box in week one with some of these players that we've never really seen and whether they're new quarterbacks or then there are new circumstances. And Jordan Love and this Packers offense was one of those mysteries heading into week one. And oh boy, did they did not disappoint. I saw that you were tweeting about watching that game

back. What stood out to you most about Jordan Love's performance against the Bears on Sunday? Well, I don't want to take anything away from Jordan Love because when I talked to you about on Monday, it was before I watched the game. And I want to give the game ball to LaFleur. I had the same reaction. Because, like, all right, I'm just going to, I'm not a big stat guy, but I felt I was going through it and I was really excited to watch Jordan Love and his numbers were great. And Aaron Jones, I mean, carried that team. I thought it had an amazing game.

A couple stats, all right. Because we like to do stats on this show, too. So he had completions of 51 yards, okay, on a screen. So he just threw the ball backwards and Aaron Jones took it 51 yards. Okay. A throwback screen all the way across the field. So there were two weak throwback plays in this game that it gave him 100 yards passing. Yes.

But I would say a gold trophy to LaFleur on the play design because it was, there was no one there. And then you have Aaron Jones, which I don't know what you thought, but I think Aaron Jones looks way fast. of this year than even past years. It was weird to me how, like, did he just get fast overnight? I don't know, man. I always think that Aaron Jones is an incredible player. Like, we just forget about how dynamic Aaron Jones is. I just felt like he ended up last year was phenomenal.

Yeah, I mean, it was. Well, it's off to it. You can better start this year and we'll get to that. Okay, so 51 yards on the throwback screen. 37 yards on another broken play to the tight end on a hide route where he botched the snap. Okay, so that is, if counting at home, 88 yards on, Amazing. We call it a little Y hide. And honestly, I know for a fact, LaFleur didn't say drop the ball, but it actually helped the play. And Tidon, score a touchdown. I know this is, this is killing you because it's your Chicago Bears, but like score a touchdown. He's wide open. Okay. And then he had a completion of 35 yards on the fourth and two, fourth and three on the halfback choice route out of the backfield. Now, I did think there was nothing cool design about that play. I thought it was a really good fourth and three play.

No one thinks you're going to house a fourth and three on your call sheet play. But I would say that to me was one of my favorite Jordan Love plays where he looked the whole player off. There's a whole player. It's man, press man. You got a little under route coming from the field. He sees it, gets back. Aaron Jones absolutely toasts the outside linebacker.

I mean, it's an easy throw. It's an easy throw because it's a five-year throw. But if that isn't pinpoint accurate, like let's give credit, he probably doesn't score because he hits him in stride going and scores a touchdown on fourth and three. No one in their right mind thinks they're going to score a touchdown on fourth and three. Okay. And then he had a 30-yarder on a third and ten before the first half remaining where he was patient, really used his eyes to move the hook defender.

I thought that was a really good play, probably his play of the day, in my opinion, because it's third down. You're trying to get in field range. It's the one where he almost, I wouldn't say no look. Because I kept rewinded it, but he looks, he waits for the deep cross to come over the hook curl, and he looks the defender off and then just, and the hook defender just completely took the cheese. I thought that showed like a lot of growth because we didn't, we didn't really see them. Okay.

But then I did this. On those four completions, he threw for 243 yards. 63% of his yards came on four completions. So when you see the numbers, you're like, oh. He had a really good game. And it was, but, like, Leflore deserves the cake on this one. I'm so glad that you said that because that was my exact reaction watching the game. I joked about it last night at a few different levels.

I think this was true. The leak play that they should have scored the touchdown out of the tight end, the throwback screen, those two plays obviously being the chunks. But then all the other crazy shit that they were doing in the run game. If you go back and you watch that tape, the 13 personnel runs that they're using, I mean, they're just throwing everything against the wall, one, because it's week one, and two, because I'm sure he's loving putting all of that on film. And I joke that watching that game plan from him against that bear's defense, it was like one

of those videos where you watch a killer whale punt a seal into the air just because it's bored. That's essentially what it felt like. He was playing with his food for four quarters, Matt Lafleur was. And when you have a play caller that is just so incredibly dialed in like that against the defense that just was completely outmaned, that's what stood out most of it. about that performance, even if Jordan Love did a very good job of keeping the train on the tracks and doing everything he needed to do as a quarterback. Well, that's, I mentioned it or we mentioned it on the very first show was like, hey, what do we think about Jordan Love? What do we think he's

going to be this year? And in my, my answer to you, and I don't know if he loved it, but I'm like, we have no idea. Like, you literally have no clue. There was a Philly game last year, but he played sparingly. He really hadn't played a lot. And I said, And I mentioned this. I'm going to get my little pat on the back. Is I said, wait until we see, I think the big difference is it's going to be LaFleur's offense. It's not going to be Aaron Rogers and LaFleur's offense.

It's going to be LaFleur's offense. And sure enough, he's from that West Coast Shanahan type thing where he just gets guys wide open. And sure enough, usually didn't happen like this on week one. I'm sure enough. Like, guys were running scot-free. You were in the NFC North for LaFleur's first two seasons. with the Packers.

So you're watching a ton of similar opponents. I'm sure you had a decent amount of exposure to that offense. What is just kind of the overall impression of Matt Lafleur as a play caller and a designer compared to the other guys in that tree? McVeigh, Shanahan, now Mike McDaniel, just the way that his reputation is from guys around the league. Well, I think he's an innovator. And I think you saw it the first couple years.

I mean, the dude, I don't know how many times. I'm not huge on history, but like, or I'm not big on this Green Bay team as far as history. but they're 13 and three a couple times. And just everything he did was, you know, he got him to the NFC championship game, I think, one year, right? And it was something that I was just always impressed with being in that. I'm like, because no one knows how you're going to be as a play caller until you actually put it on film.

And sure enough, what we saw, at least in Chicago was like, it's going to be very difficult because, one, they use a lot of personnel, two, they use a lot of motions, three, they use a lot of different formations. and that is that tree. That is literally that tree. So obviously they have some wrinkles, and every coach, especially in that tree, is trying to be innovative and sort of make a name for themselves,

but they all end up sort of falling under the same tree. It's funny because the one little wrinkle that they were using, I mean, if you look at the dolphins, you look at the Niners. The Niners are using a lot of 21 personnel. The Dolphins, when they're in heavier sets, are using a lot of 21 personnel. The Packers doing all of the things that they were doing in 13, that was kind of 22, right?

Because if you're looking at it, DeGuara is kind of a fullback. He's kind of a tight end. And all of the wrinkles in the run game, I just think that the layers that you're going to have to be concerned about as an opposing defensive coordinator when you play against this team, there's going to be 20 of them this season. And when you have the talent, they have up front and you have the running game that they have. I just think that it's going to be a nightmare for whoever's playing against them for most of the season.

Well, and the run game is a key, right? Like, you can, none of this stuff, this cool, fancy stuff works unless you can run the ball and run it downhill. And there was about every type of counter stutter, backside stutter I could possibly feel like, like you said, like 13's looking like 22 because it's a tight end. They really don't have a fullback on the roster. And if they do, it's like, oh, well, who is it? And then how are you playing it on defense or am I on heavy on defense when I see 22 versus 13? So defense corners have to be on the lookout for sure. What is the difference in that? How would you play 22 maybe differently than you would play 13? Are there little nuances

defensively? Well, I think so. I think 13, if there is a receiving threat or a couple receiving threats, some teams played a nickel, honestly. Like, like, versus a fullback in true fullback. You're not, unless it's juice from Sanfran, you're not worried about catching it or Ingold had even a wheel route, actually. He left them wide open. He's on Cleo Mac. The fact didn't get out to the flat. He's like, I ain't covering this guy. And he went for 20 in Miami. So I do think there are different factors involved with how they play.

But I do think 13 for obvious reasons is more of a passing threat. And so you might get some nickel or base versus 22 if it's shorter down. And distances, you might get a 4-4 or a 5-3-style defense. So it's all based on, and honestly, these defensive corners watch what they do out of it.

And they literally have a chart that people chart for you at the team. And it's like, hey, 13 personnel versus if we're playing the Packers, if we're the Bears. Matt Eberlose says, hey, 13 personnel, they are, you know, 80% run, 20% pass. Okay. Well, if you're 80% run, 20% pass, then I'm going to try to stop the run. And we're just going to have to react to the pass. And it seemed like, you know, LaFleur sort of flipped that on its back and did the opposite. this game. I'm feeling so much for the quality control guys that have to chart that game moving

forward. Just all the teams that have to chart up the Packers and try to describe everything that's going on. I'm curious when you're watching a young quarterback and Jordan Love, even if it's year four, is still a young quarterback. We haven't seen him play very often. Where's the first place that your eyes go? What are you watching from these guys to get a sense of how in control and in command they are? My eyes go in general. I don't think there's, and this was a good question when I saw this, I was like, well, you know, let me think because the first thing I would say would be like feet. But I go back to myself and think and I'm like, well, not really because a young quarterback, because he is a young quarterback, a young quarterback, I'm looking for comfort level in the pocket.

And that is, that can be a lot of different things, honestly. But I'm seeing when pockets get tight and they close in around you, how do you feel? are you jerky or are you just like relaxed and be like hey like can you shorten your arm on your on your release right or do you need the full length of it of your body to throw or can you can you can you you know do something where you just get crazy like Matthew Stafford who will talk about a little later like I saw a couple of those that game and so and so like throughout the whole game from the start even like sometimes it even takes some vets a half of a first game to get the feel for a rush in the pocket because they're not rushing like that in practice. Because if they hit the quarterback, like Sean Payton was like, you hit the quarterback, you hit Breezer cut, you're out, bro. So no one got close. And so it's way different game speed. And that's what, I mean, like, honestly, like if I'm a Packers fan, like that to me is the most telling of a guy that will just stand there and take a hit.

And I thought he looked extremely comfortable in the pocket. Well, part of the issue there is that the Bears might have the worst past rush of the league. And the Packers' offensive line is so much better talent-wise than that group. I would agree that the old line is good. To your point, though, I would say, like, there are some times in the game where the pockets sort of collapsing on them. And that doesn't mean – I care more about hurries than sacks. Sacks are great. But if you can hurry or hit, even like a little – it adds up on a quarterback, and you might just, like, feel –

And Chicago had enough hurries to make me think, hey, how's he going to react in the pocket? Name of the show that we're on right now. And I thought he was, he looked, he looked comfortable. He definitely had that Aaron, Aaron Rogers fleeing to it, this step, this almost like, and it's actually really good for him because he looked, he looked good looking guys. I mean, it was, guys were wide open, but it looked, it was a really good performance. and something honestly that for confidence reasons, he can build off of. It felt like his eyes were going to the right place consistently.

Like they were never all over the place. He felt really comfortable just with like how he was supposed to move from read to read through his progressions. And then the only concern that I would have watching that is he sprayed probably three or four throws. And that was one of the concerns coming out of Nevada is that even if he had a pretty live arm, his had some accuracy concerns creep up every once in a while. And I thought he was very good on Sunday.

But like you said, I think Lafleur was the star. He felt comfortable, but he probably sprayed a handful of throws. If I had to just quickly sum up what we saw from him. But I think you have to be encouraged if you're a Packers fan about what that offense is going to look like over the course of the year, even if he's just a piece within the offense. Speaking of fan bases that probably should be encouraged right now, we are going to do a rookie quarterback spotlight here for the first three weeks. We have three rookie quarterback starters that were drafted in the first round. And we're going to start with the guy who,

probably had the most impressive outing of the three on Sunday, and that is Anthony Richardson and his day against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Initial impressions from you about Richardson's first start against the Jacks. Effortless arm probably stood out the most. That's the first thing I write in my notes is effortless. And that is saying a lot because he was amped up. If you watch that game to start, like throwing stick routes a thousand miles an hour at this dude's belly.

And I'm like, dude, like, what is going on? You got a Richardson cross. You know that little cross right there is what we call it on the football. And it just goes and goes and goes and hits you right in the belly. And you get a cross. You see the cross. You're like, what in the world? Like Justin Herbert has done that to me.

You see a cross on a football. It called the Herbert Cross. It's a Richardson cross, dude. I'm telling you, it's impressive. It jumps out. Like crazy. And then I would probably say the offense, the offense of all the three rookie quarterbacks in week one I watched was probably fit to Anthony Richardson the best of any of them.

What about it? I was just, I was honestly a little bit surprised by how much shotgun they were. And I know I know he was a lot of that in Philly, but I was impressed with just because, hey, sometimes like you don't need to make a guy who's not. Like, let them be getting the gun. You can do enough in the run game. you can do enough in the RPO game. You can do enough in the past game.

So that surprised me a lot. And I think what else surprised me about him was actually how, and really about the offense was how much quarterback run game there was. Because a lot of these guys, and when I say guys, a lot of these offensive coordinators, when you have a rookie guy that can run like that, you're only going to save it on third and goal from the two or fourth down in two and you're going to bring out your best QB run play.

this was not this was not the case like he was running from the start and he got knocked he got let's call what is he got knocked out at the end of the game gardener had to come in and it ended up scoring there because he took a he took a hit like it was that's an NFL hit and and so that's my thing is like is stikin going to continue to run them like like that because if it is he ain't making it a full year i'm sorry he just he isn't that was he was scrambling on that play wasn't he was up on the play where he got hurt yeah but he but he but he lowered his shoulder yeah that's I mean, I mean, it's, yeah, that's, even in moments where you're going to take off, just having him protect himself a little bit more and a little bit more often is going to be huge. It's funny because I thought that one of the, the only criticisms I had watching that game, and I was very impressed with a lot of the ways, the lot of the stuff that he did.

It almost felt like he should have pulled it more on some of those replays because of how hard the defensive ends were crashing. And if you look at their run game numbers overall, it was a pretty disappointing day on the ground. That's something you assume with more live action. he'll get better at because that's really hard, I assume, to mimic in practice. You have no idea what a full speed defense is going to look like as you get a feel for some of those pulls. But it almost felt like he needed to run the ball more than he actually ended up doing it in the game. I would say that he definitely missed two or three.

I have it down here. He missed a couple RPO's, like, I just like the guy. Like, it's hard to, it's hard to explain, but is the quarterback watching a quarterback? Like, everything I've heard, because I know, I know Ballard pretty well, and he's told me some things. And everything I've heard about this guy is like he's a really likable guy. And that's important. I don't care what anyone says. Like, you've got to be liked because I know a lot of people as quarterbacks who aren't liked and their lifespan in the NFL is not long. Okay. He's a hard work. He's the first one in, first one out. That's awesome. Need that.

But he's got all the intangles, but he got all the tangibles, but he got all the tangibles too. Like, I mean, I just go back to his arm. Like, I'm just, like, it's impressive. Like, like, one of the plays, they did a, like, just a naked fake, like a naked fake, rollout, bootleg, whatever you want to call it. And it was a little slide route from underneath. And it was like, I think it was fourth down, or maybe third and two or fourth and two. It was third and short. Yeah, it was third and short. Yep. And they were in gun. And it was, I mean, like, wide open. Like, great play design, got the guy open. And he threw it. Like, I'm talking like, if you could see my office, he's, the guy is standing at my office door right there.

And he threw it about 100 miles an hour and it was really high. Yeah. And it was actually an amazing catch. And I'm like, ah, like the first thing I see I was like, ah, he's just amped up. But if you watch closely on the coach's copy, he, he, right when he releases it, the hands go to his head. And he's like, no. And he, like, after the play when the guy caught it ran out of bounds, he was thanking him

for catching it because he was so worried he wasn't going to. Yes. Like to me, those. things I see on film, that tells me little things. I'm not saying he's going to be an insane superstar, but stuff like that that only maybe you or people that actually, or me, or people that actually like study, study the film, see the reaction.

Like that to me says more than, than, you know, his yarders numbers. It was 223, a touchdown, a pick, 40 rushing yards and touch. Like, that to me says more in this first NFL start. I was so encouraged just by how not out of place he looked. He played so fast. He was so decisive. That's what was so impressive to me.

Even if there were some sprayed throws and even if there were some mistakes, he threw a pick late in the game, how fast he was playing and how quickly he was making so many of these decisions was so encouraging. I mean, for a guy with 13 college starts that was considered so raw coming out, the fact that he looked like he belonged in that game from day one and made three or four throws, There was a throw he made in an in-breaker in the fourth quarter. I think it was to Kyle and Granson over the middle of the field. And he threw it and I said, I was like, woof.

Like the ball comes out of his hand so naturally and so explosively in a way that you just, there are so few guys that throw it that easily that have that sort of live arm. And when I talked to the coaches there about what was attractive about him in the process, it wasn't even the physical skill set in terms of like height weight speed. it was how natural and talent of a pure thrower he was. And one game into his NFL career, you already see it. It already showed up and you combine that with a guy that seemed comfortable enough where I would be so, so happy if I were a Colts fan today.

Yeah. And honestly, I'd be remiss not to say too, like, yeah, we talk about Anthony Richardson, but that Jacksonville Jaguar's defense, it is from a quarterback perspective, probably one of the tougher defenses to prepare for because he's such a, the defensive coordinator in Jacksonville, he's such a junk ball type guy and junk ball type coordinator, which, what does that mean, Chase? Like, what are you talking to all these crazy things? We never heard you say that.

Well, it's 20% cover 2, 20% man, 20% cover quarter quarter half, 20% pressure, 20% zone pressure. And it just is like, as a quarterback, you can look at it. it and you can you break it up into the days that you're studying it and you can get overwhelmed. Like I remember, I mean, I prepared for it when we played down there in the wild card game this past year. And, you know, we played them the first game. I think it was the third game of the year.

And that was when Justin had broken ribs. And I remember preparing for it. And I'm like, okay, like I sort of got to feel like we think then to go. And they completely went. I mean, like when you, we had the percentages broken. broken down. It was literally like 21, 20, 22. I mean, it was like very, he could tell he self-scouts. But they're bringing, like, the second thing I wrote down on my notes was like Jacksonville had a professional disguise plan. So it's not like he's just out there going and

playing against a static cover two look where he knows what the coverage is or a static press cover one look. That was not the case at all, which makes it even more impressive what he did because they heated them up. And I thought there was three or four plays in that game where Jacksonville pressured and he didn't have it ID'd or the center didn't have ID'd enough or correctly. And there's a guy right in his face, he doesn't blink and he throws a little looky

or he throws a hot. And it's just like, man, that to me, in a stat, this 11-yard completion doesn't look like much. But when coaches are watching that, are like, man, he understands when he's hot. He can throw it in his face and sit in. like all that stuff matters. It was a throw in, I think it was just over the 50th.

Maybe like at the Jacksonville 40 and it was a third down. And they brought, I think it was a simulated pressure where both linebackers were mugged up. One came and he was unblocked. And he hit downs immediately on third down. That was the play that really stood out to me. And then there was another one where it was incomplete, but same kind of deal where he was hot again and fired one of downs over the middle. And it was just, you know, half an inch one way or the other.

it's caught. But again, how quickly he was playing and how assertive he was and some of those choices that he was making, it's really exciting stuff for a guy with that sort of skill set. Let's go from a guy that we have just seen for the first time to a guy that we have seen a lot over the last decade or so. I want to spend some time on this show, kind of trying to bring some new insight and perspective to guys that we think we know. It's always fascinating to me how the discourse and the conversation around long-term NFL starters can change. And this can be from season to season, and it can be for moment to moment, seemingly at times. And I think a guy that really embodies that very well right now is Matthew Stafford.

And he wins the Super Bowl two years ago. We're talking about him changing his legacy and his reputation, the way that we think about him and talk about him. You have a bad year last year. And now it seems like he's got one foot out the door potentially. And the Rams are headed toward this implosion. And instead, he comes out in week one without Cooper Cup, throwing a two-two-out well in Puka Nakuwa and he throws for 340 he goes for 334 yards and only Tua had a higher EPA per drop back in week one than Matthew Stafford throw into those two guys he was absolutely slinging it

so what what impressed you the most about Stafford's performance and that Rams offense on Sunday well I mean you said it it's just absolutely slinging it like like but not with a reckless abandon like like the dude knows exactly what he's doing with the football and where he's going pre-snap of the football quick decisions to me i don't know if it was the seattle d line that still stinks from last year with but i wouldn't great especially against an offensive line with a lot of new pieces that's what i'm saying i think the old line played i think they played well i don't know how well um because i don't know it's just too it's too hard to say they kept them they kept them upright And the biggest thing with Matthew, right, is like, can he stay healthy?

If he gets hit, how fragile is he? But they didn't let him get hit. So he was, he was on his P's and Q's, man. It was impressive. Like, I would say there's probably in this game, there's probably three or four throws in this game that you're going to look back. And I'm not, I'm not, I'm not just hyping it up because he's my guy. But there's probably three or four throws in this game that you're looking back on the entire NFL season.

You're going to be like, that's probably a top 15 throw. and he had three or four of them. And honestly, he had a few drops, too. He could have thrown for 400. Like, he had a couple drops for halftime, too. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like, like, just absolutely roasting them up. Like, like, not even close.

And, and honestly, it was a great game plan by Sean McVeigh. Like, they, they just couldn't run the ball. It just, it's, all those shifts, motions, pre-stant motions, different counters, different run games, all that stuff. It just looked like it just couldn't get it going. But I will say they tried to make it a theme early on because he threw the ball once in the first eight snaps. And the first drive was 17 plays.

And I'm like, man, he's trying to set a tone here. Like he's trying to, like, you got a guy back there. And it took Matthew, I mean, there were some throws. But then you look at the fourth quarter when he got really, he was really feeling it. And there's just like throw after, throw after throw. no look across your body and that's probably something that is most impressive to be me about Matthew especially when I was with him in 2020 was his he's got a unique ability okay to act like

he's throwing the ball and he doesn't see it open pull it back and then throw it very accurately very quickly I call it load unload load and and he did that a few times where he thought the guy was open and he thought that everything was going to happen on the first throw and the first load and it wasn't there and he was able to pull it back quickly and throw a dart. And to me, that is very difficult to do. You played with him for a year. You played with Justin Herbert for a couple of years. You've been around a lot of guys. How is his arm talent different than some other guys who also have big arms? Well, it's the unique ability to throw off different platforms. And And the closest thing to it, and I've always said this, is, and I wouldn't say he's quite on this,

but if you ever remember, everyone remembers Michael Vic, the way he just snaps the wrist and can throw off different platforms on the move, and it just looks effortless. Like, dude's going into year 15. He's my year. And he's still, the arm looks stronger than it has, which is hard to do when you're a 37-year-old old man like me and him. And for him to be able to do that, because he takes extreme care of his body. He's very detailed about, you know, what he eats, how he works out, stuff he does.

And he just looked, he looked good. And good for him, though. Like, like, I cheer for that guy because there's a lot of stuff going on in the office season. Is he going to go? Is he going to stay? You know, Kelly Stafford saying, you know, he's not getting to his teammates and all this. stuff, all this drama. But he just comes out there and just, I mean, it was, it was probably one of the,

other than two of the most impressive performance in week one as far as quarterbacking goes. Does he work on that stuff? Just in terms of getting those throws off at difficult arm angles and different arm angles and try to fit things in there, how do you actually practice that? You don't. I mean, you don't. There's nothing like a game being able to do it. He just has this ability to just, just to do it.

And I would say, like, he, we, go through this warmup or we went through this warm up before like the first thing we got on the field in 2020 for practices and he would just do like three or four naked bootlegs and we would do like an over route and under route a post on the move and like a corner on the move and that's probably when he practices it because I would I would look out there and he'd be looking at the over and he'd be throwing the corner and I'd be like dude I'm just trying to make it accurate throw as best as I can to the corner route and then he'd do like four or five to the right four or five to the left, and that would get him moving and get them all nice and loved up,

and he'd be good to go. And it was impressive. I mean, but it's not like you actually try to, I mean, there might be some throws in practice, but it's not like, not like what I saw on Sunday out of them for sure. So you feel like a lot of that is just you either have it or you don't. Like he's just got that arm that he's, I mean, he, listen, this is a guy who was the number one recruit in the country. He has been like this for 20 years.

So that would make sense if he was just one of those guys who was born with a sort of Gumby like ability in his elbow, but it kind of does feel like that when you watch him play. The only other guy, I've said this before, Vic is a really good comparison. Another guy who I feel like has that same sort of looseness in his arm, the arm angles and the slots he can get it off from and how it kind of comes out of his hand, Lamar throws like that. Him and Lamar stylistically have more in common than I think a lot of people would think at first glance, but it's still very, very rare. Just that type of ability and that type of flexibility. And I would add that that Matthew's mechanics purely from a thrower.

Like he's a big Tom House guy, right? Like Brady was, like Breeze was. Like, he works on it, man. Like, he works on. Like, his mechanics as far as a thrower, from my perspective, are pristine. Like, they are pretty much perfect. What is the best throw that you saw him make in Detroit? Is there one that, like, sticks out to you?

Not really. We would, I mean, not right off the cuff, but I would say the type of route that he just effortlessly threw, and they actually threw it in the game. We called it a cup route. And why did we call it a cup route? Because it was Starbucks cup. And we called the play Starbucks.

And it would be a cup and a corner. And the cup was just like a pile on. Just like, hey, go in 18 yards to the number and then go to the pylon. And when I'm saying like, dude would be on the right hash and he'd be asking for that Starbucks principle, the cup route, the pylon route, to the field. And he would just effortlessly throw. He'd go. He'd two-itch.

And he's the type of guy who, like, has really, like, feet in the pocket. Like, his feet don't stop moving, which is awesome. But he would do that. And he'd need another three, four, five, and just launch. And it just go right in the receiver's hands, 60 yards down the field. And we didn't really, or I didn't really throw a lot of those routes in my career until 2020 with Daryl Bevel. It's a huge play of his, who was the offensive coordinator there. And I remember my first time throwing it on the field.

And I was just like, I have to like, instead of a seven step drop, I got to take a five quick hitch and like let it go super early and float it super early. And I'm lucky if I get 50. And so just like just stuff like that. Like it's just I think like what's cool about Matthew is Matthew impresses other NFL quarterbacks. Like that's how you know he's good when you not only like nerds. us and you, like that study it, he impresses you. Well, I take that as a compliment. I do. I do. I deeply do. Yeah. And, and when you impress other NFL quarterbacks with your throwing ability, that's when you know you got something going right. Is he the best pure thrower that you've ever been around

your scene? I mean, I think Justin Herbert probably is that. I was going to ask. I mean, even though an awkward release, I say awkward release. It's just, not normal for throwers to have the little like three-quarter like like he does um but i mean matthew and i i i also like think breeze a little bit because when i went like my first time there in oh nine to twelve like i i probably was most like taken aback by drew because i had never seen an NFL quarterback and some of these like throws Not necessarily with arm strength, but just overall quarterbacking ability. Some of these throws, like, I remember a couple, three by one, all go special, just four verticals.

And the number three has the middle of the field, and there'd be a Tampa 2 Mike linebacker run and he'd be covered. And he would just throw it perfectly, like, perfect with Jeremy Schacky in Colston. But Jeremy Schocky was the first one I saw and I'm like, he made that look effortless. And I tried it, like probably the next practice. He's got tip picked by one of the safeties. I'm like, I probably shouldn't try that again. Yeah, I would say he's up there. He's up there.

Another thing we want to do on this show, along with all the quarterback talk, is we want to be able to shine a light on what it's like to play against and game plan for some of the top defensive coaches in the league. And I wanted to start with a guy who was throwing absolute heat on Sunday against the Bengals. And that is new Browns defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz. You were with Jim in 2016 for a year when he was the Eagles defensive coordinator, but you, I'm sure, played against him a bunch. He was the Lions head coach when you played against Detroit in the playoffs in 2011.

So when you guys were planning to play against the Jim Schwartz defense, what were the bullet points? What were the defining aspects of a Jim Schwartz team when you were preparing for them? Well, I'll tell you, but it's completely changed from this year. And that's something that we can talk. I would say the defining points of a Jim Schwartz defense back then when I played for it was like, the number one thing was, hey, all deal. lineman get to the quarterback. Like, I don't care what you do.

I don't care if you get caught with your pants down on a screenplay or a draw play that goes for 40. I don't care. They're not going to run screens and draws all the way down the field. That's what he always tell me. Because I'd be the scout team guy and I'd be trying to give it to it. And I'm like, Jim, tell your, tell your freaking D. lineman to stay off of me because I'd be the scout team quarter.

I'm like, what are we doing? Like, I'm trying to play too. Like, I'm one snap away, bro. And so we had a good banter going back. and forth, but like that, that to me is number one, right? Like, like, just rush the quarterback. Do not care about anything else other than getting to and affecting the quarterback. Sure seen just Fletcher Cox in your sleep at that point. Dude, it was like worst year in 2016. He just kept telling these guys like Vinnie Curry and

Fletcher Cox and all these guys, Brandon Graham, like, just go hit Chase. Like, it doesn't matter. I'm like, I got a red jersey on, bro. Like, what are we doing? But I would say also like a thing that we saw a little bit. And I don't know if weather played into. it on Sunday against the Bengals, but he, he was never a big pressure guy. Like, he was a big cover two shell, quarters, just get home with four. Every once in a while, we'll come up and we'll give you some five O fronts with our best pass rusher over the center, which they show with miles a couple of times, Derry Smith also. But those, those are, those were it. And what I saw on Sunday was like, completely different, honestly. So we saw the five overlooks,

they did several different times. He had Miles Garrett over the center. I think they did that at least two or three different times in that game. So what were the pressure looks that were different than what you would expect from him typically? Well, he had the five up look right with Miles Garrett. Everyone saw the clip of him like going between his ease. I'm like, bro, as a center, like, you know you're going to get crossed over. He's doing a crossover in basketball.

You're going to get crossed over. I would just be so terrified that I probably wouldn't be thinking rationally in that moment. Yeah, that's me too, honestly. If he is stalking you like that before the play, truly just stalking towards you. It doesn't any rational thought just completely goes out the window in that moment. Showing that swagger, yeah. 100%. No, 100%.

Yeah. I would say a few times there were, he's not a big AA mug team, but he would do that. And so what a lot of these defensive coordinators, and he's making the switch, and I'm seeing it, because it showed up on third down, second and long, third and medium to third and long, and second in long on some defensive coordinator's call sheets are the exact same. So what does that mean? Okay, so you have a third down plan as an offense, and you have your protection plan. Most teams pressure third in four to ten if you're on defense, okay?

And then so if you're preparing for that, you better have a second down and long plan with Jim Schwartz because he's bringing in on second and long. And what we saw was a little bit different from the AA, Mike Zimmer, Minnesota legend, who pretty much invented it was they would do this overload front, right? They'd have a guard, a guard, in an end, or sorry, a tackle, a tackle on an end on the defense side on one side of the center. And then they would put two linebackers in the opposite B gap and they would put an end outside. So we called an overload front because there's 3D linemen to one side, one on the other. And then you would do buddy mug is what we call it two buddies, two linebackers coming together and mugging up in the

opposite B gap and he showed that multiple times and it was impressive to me to see him just completely change how things were and it just it almost it almost is like I think weather played a huge factor in this game in terms of like how um burrow played did you see did you see burrow this is an interesting and and I probably need to dig into it a little bit more did you see burrow he didn't have a glove on to start the game yep and you could tell it was bugging him okay And you could tell he was, he must not have big hands because he was just shot putting.

He famously doesn't have big hands. It was part of the pre-draft conversation. Yeah. I mean, he shot put at least three or four throws early. And I don't even know any of this. I don't even care about quarterback hands eyes. But it did play into the game because the rain game,

I'm like, if it rains on the Bengals, they might go 0.17. Dude, I'm telling you, like, they look poor on offense. But he had no glove on. He went back to a glove. And then he took the, glove back off. And I'm like, what is happening?

And I guarantee you, Jim Chorce is like, oh, we got him. As soon as that happens, the game is open. We're playing man coverage. We're rushing five. Good luck. Like, good luck. I mean, seriously, I think, I literally think that's what happened. It was so cool to, I was so curious about what their plan was going to be.

And I don't think they'll blitz 40% of the time every single game. I think that's partially weather driven and you're jumping on a team in week one. But when I was watching the Browns over the last couple of years, they just, lack this essence that great defenses have. When you watch them play and you can just feel how hard they play and you can feel the tenacity that they play with. And I always contrasted that to watching the Cowboys. When you watch the Cowboys over the last couple of years and what that defense felt like,

the Browns missed that. And then I watched the Browns on Sunday and you had that element to it. And I was looking at some of the numbers, just some of the coverage stats and everything else. And their coverage splits with them in Dallas were almost identical. So they're playing like 35% cover one and they're using about 15 to 18% cover two as a change up with all of those five-o looks and stunts up front. So even though it's a different front structure than Dallas plays, the style that they were playing with at least one week in is almost exactly the ways that Dallas gets after teams. And that's exactly how I wanted the Browns to play. It was incredibly

exciting. Yeah. I mean, it works. And listen, I think that, I mean, I don't know. First of all, they got the deepest de-line in all the football. And it's not even close. Like, just pure one through eight. And I don't know. I go back and forth because I was like, I don't know what to say with it. Like, it was a dominant performance against the highest played player in the history of the game.

But I just, I'm interested to see how much of the rain played into it. Like, are you going to put up those numbers on a weekly basis? Probably not. Like, no way. Probably not, but just the willingness to play that aggressively. Absolutely. The mindset is what stood out to me. I'm curious, so you have a defensive coordinator that hasn't been a defensive coordinator

in several years, and you have stuff that if you're Joe Burrow, if you're Brian Callahan, if you're Dan pitcher, their quarterback coach, you're seeing a bunch of shit that you can't have had planned for just because there's no tape. So when you're on the sideline and they're in those wild five-o looks where Miles Garrett's stalking your center and you have no. no way to prepare for that. What is that conversation like on the sideline? How do you start to formulate a plan for some of these unscouted looks in the first two weeks

of the season? Well, and that's something, you know, I said it, I hate playing the first four weeks of the season because you just don't know there's these unscotted looks. But what I think we had last year, and a lot of teams have this, what I think we had last year in L.A. in the year before was we just had our rules. And what does that mean? I said, we just had our protection rules because we faced a defense that did all. of it. Hey, in Buddy mug, we're going to Mike the inside guy. Let the back have the outside guy.

Hey, in AA mug, we're going to slide it to the nickel if he's a threat. Hey, in, in, uh, five-oh looks, we're just going to five-oh it, which means five on five and have the back scan. And, and I think you just really go off the sideline. You have to be able to trust your rules. It seems easy. But I think, I think the, the Bengals, I know the Bengals sort of got off their plan because they're, the first three or four times, they brought that five-oh look. on second and long third down. They are the five bigs. They just said, hey, we're going to block it big on big.

And they got after him. And it was the point where Joe's taking three steps and one hitch and getting hit when he's getting in the ball. That old line was just getting beat pretty badly. They had the fastest time to pressure in the league, and it wasn't even close. It was less than two seconds per pressure on Sunday. And it was, it was that you can't, you can't play quarterback like that. There's no, what you can't even see what's going on.

But anyway, the fourth or fifth time that they did it, you could tell me, I think it was in the second half, they decided to, hey, we're going to, when they do this 5-0 stuff, we're going to full slide it. We're going to take 5 to block 4, and we're going to slide it to Miles Garrett's side. We're going to leave the end, who's a smaller guy. The back will come across and trap him. And it actually worked a few times. And I don't know if they actually got in it after. So they made some changes to that. usually you want to have five on five and get your back out, but they're like, no, we need six on five.

But yeah, it's just, it's one of those things like, hey, I've been a part of those games. Like last year, oh man, the last year, maybe it was two years ago when we went to the Ravens and got absolutely smoked in L.A. I think it was two years ago. It was two years ago. They blessed the shit out of you guys. Dude, they blitzed us like, I mean, and we had plans, dude, and we, it was one of those days at the office, man. Like, it just nothing goes your way. And I think it was that way. with with sincey but i i do i mean i that you know and when you when we brought this up and you were like who do you want to talk about i'm like do we got to talk about jim shorts because i think he'll end up

being the best hire of the defensive coordinators and it's already paying dividends you already be i mean listen i get cleveland's already has had you know cincy's number for a while but this was a dominating performance it was so encouraging to see again the aggressiveness they played with how they were dictating the game and i was wondering what the changeups were going to look like because if you look at the numbers the last time he was a defensive coordinator in Philly it was a lot of single high and it was a lot of man and a lot of cover three and it's just hard to play that way these days if you're going to live that way offenses are so good and if that's what the Cowboys kind of dealt with in Dan Quinn's first year

when they didn't really have the right amount of changeups they were just gashed so often with explosive plays because they were playing so much man and then when they started to lean into more of that cover two stuff just as a way to throw a curveball every five plays and you just never know when it's coming. That's when they really clicked into this dominant version of themselves. So I was wondering, okay, if you're going to be this Jim Schwartz led team and you're going to want to play a lot of man coverage, how many changeups are you going to have in order to keep offenses on their heels as much as that Dallas team can right now? And that formula in week one makes me feel very good about what it can look like over the course of a season.

100%. 100%. You got to have change. changeups to it because guess what offensive scout scout you and they're going to come up with answers and plans but yeah that's I mean that's great info from you sorry the sun's coming in I look like crazy right now you're good it's setting we can't do this show at five anymore but yeah it it's one of those things where you got to have a plan and I thought that was really good by you for the interesting stat about Dallas in terms of how it looks identical and Dallas has been one of the most more dominant defense the past couple years so I'm I'm looking forward to seeing what week two brings honestly I'm looking forward to doing this every single week. We will be back next Thursday. Chase, sincerely appreciate the time, my friend. I'm excited about this. This is going to be a fun year.

It's going to be a fun year. Thanks, man. All right, guys, that's all we have for today. We will be back tomorrow. Me and Nate, with our week to preview. Please check that out on the podcast feed. If you are not subscribed to the Athletic Football Show YouTube channel, now is your chance to do that.

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