The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cooley: "McKissic Is Their Best RB"

Episode Date: October 27, 2020

Cooley's "Film Breakdown" of the offense follows Thom accusing Kevin of needing WFT "perspective medication". Cooley's film includes a complete breakdown of Kyle Allen's game and a glowing analysis of J.D. McKissic's overall potential impact if they use him more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. It is a sports fix Tuesday, kind of. Tommy's here for the first half hour, 40 minutes. Then Cooley will join us with his offensive film breakdown.

I've got a very busy day that I was just describing to Tommy. And Tommy's reaction was, do you think I really care about your day? And I said, no, I understand why you don't. But I was just sharing it. with you so you understood the urgency of getting started here quickly rather than engaging in small talk, which often happens before we start the podcast. Although maybe some of our small talk would be the best thing to put on our podcast. It might. It might. Well, one brief small talk, I want to give a shout out to a devoted listener of the podcast, Matt, from Waldorf, who I met on

Friday up in Frederick. My wife and I were having lunch out on the outside at a restaurant in downtown Frederick. And we met Matt and he wound up buying us lunch. What? He bought you. He bought you lunch? My wife and I, fear and everything. Really?

picked up the whole tab. And the only reason, he did. He was about four or five tables away, but he heard my voice and recognized it. And the waiter comes over and says, that gentleman down there is picking up your tab. And did you go down and then talk to him? Yes, I did. You're very nice guy. And you allowed him to pick up your lunch.

Of course I did. I said, you don't have to do that, you know, a couple of times. but he insisted he was happy to. Huh. I mean, I first tried to decline. I said, you know, you don't have to do that. I'll be glad to talk to you. And how much was lunch?

What did he pick up? Oh, it wasn't much. Yeah. It was like I had a small calzone and two bottles of Miller Light. Hmm. You know? Yeah, that's not. But it was a beautiful day.

Well, Matt, that is awesome, Matt. I mean, that's very kind of you. And he loves our podcast. He loves you too, and he loves everything we do. I, Matt, if you had offered, I would have been definitely more resistant to allowing you to pick it up, but certainly appreciative of the offer. I think I would have given more resistance than Tommy to allowing you to pick it up. But that is an incredibly kind gesture, and we're glad you listen to the podcast. and of the two on Sports Fix Tuesdays and Thursdays,

you had the best chance of getting stuck with that tab with Tommy. Well, it's awfully presumptuous of you to think that he would buy you lunch. Well, you said he liked me too. Were you just trying to be nice? I mean, everyone likes you as far as things go. As far as things go, right. Yeah. That's very nice.

I think I have just pulled up on your Twitter time. timeline. The picture of you and Matt, is that Matt, in that picture with you? Am I standing up? Yeah, you're standing up. On a cur on a sidewalk and talk. Yeah, that's it. Matt, that's very nice of you. And Tommy has a mask covering nose and face and mouth with sunglasses on, staring Matt down from an elevated position. That's very nice. I'm glad you got lunch, and I'm glad you didn't forget to thank him, which is great. So, how are you? We have a different conversation about the football team, I believe, that we can have today, that we really couldn't have last week.

And I say that understanding who they beat on Sunday. They beat a team Tommy that was dead coming in and is dead or leaving. I mean, that's what Washington usually is, what Dallas is doing right now. Not only are they bad, but they are really coming apart at the seams, which, you know, isn't, you know, isn't really that upsetting to watch from another NFC East city. I called it the aura of self-destruction bowl. These are the two teams, literally, that are built to fail by their owners. I mean, and so it's not surprising that the Cowboys would replicate a Washington football team scenario in any given year. And you're right, they were humiliated, not just beaten, but absolutely humiliated. And, you know, everyone should enjoy it.

But like I wrote my column, which I'm sure you haven't read. I did read. I did read it. You need to enjoy it with tunnel vision. Yes, tunnel. Very small, very small vision that you just get a little glimpse and you say, wow, this was great. Not only did you win, but you beat Dallas. That's always good.

Yeah. Right. Just talk yourself into, wow, that was a win over your arch rival. And the cowboys. Just don't let him go beyond that. Yeah. You know, just enjoy the moment. Well, I'm buried.

You know what? I can hear the digging, Tommy. I can hear the digging. I might see some light at the end of the tunnel. I might see it. It's a long way away. That's a faint sound, baby. I got very, very optimistic and cheery yesterday as I started considering a lot about this football team. When would you like me to share it with you?

Well, I mean, I think I know the road you're going to go down, which I still think it requires. There's tunnel vision and the faint sound of being dug out. But go ahead. Well, so what I coolly said something. We talked about it yesterday in the podcast, and I talked about it on the radio show yesterday. And that is what was clear to me about Sunday is two things. One, they have not quit on their coach, not even close to it. In fact, they're sort of rallying around their coach in the same way that the Colts did.

around Chuck Pagano back in 2012. Now, he took an extended leave of absence, and Bruce Ariens took over that team and coached it to the playoffs with Andrew Luck as the quarterback. They haven't quit on their coach. Like as an example, that great Dallas team, that huge arch rival, Dallas team, they have completely bailed on everybody.

I mean, they are splintering, they are fractured, they are doing the Washington thing. The other aura of self-destruction team in the division. So number one, it's clear to me, not just Sunday, but the last two weeks, that they have not quit on their coach. That's number one. And number two is that they made the right decision a quarterback. And it wasn't just the right decision. It was the decision that made the rest of the locker room say, okay, our guy's about winning. Our guy is about playing the guys that deserve to play. Playing the guys that we give us the best chance of winning games.

You know, for guys like John Allen and Chase Young, the young guys that have won, Duran Payne, Landon Collins, I'm just talking about some of the defensive guys. You know, guys mature guys like Brandon Sherr for Morgan Moses on offense, just pointing out a couple of people. These are the things we've heard from coaches before, that you can. can't fool the players in the locker room. And once you start to, you lose the team. And so they haven't failed on their head coach, and they made a decision at quarterback that was the right decision.

And I don't care about the two opponents. I can see that they've been, they're not good teams. But if you, and I mentioned this multiple times yesterday, if you have watched this team the last two weeks and you don't believe that they made the right decision going to Kyle Allen, you're either blind or you've got an agenda because it's not even close how much more professional the offense is under Kyle Allen. And again, I don't think he's the quarterback of the future. I don't think he's a franchise quarterback. I think there are going to be plenty of sports talk, sports fixed Tuesdays, sports fix Tuesdays where we come in here and I've done it the day

before talking about how Kyle Allen turned the ball over three times and they lost a game badly to a team that maybe they shouldn't have lost to. I see that coming too. But I also look at the division. Dallas is done in this terrible division. They are done. They are headed towards a three or four win season tops. The Giants will be done after Monday night. There are 10.5 point underdog to the buccaneers on Monday night. And then they have to turn around on six days rest like the Cowboys did last week and come to Washington. They'll be one and seven after Monday night. It's Washington or Philadelphia in this race. Those are the two teams in the NFC East race. Now, it could get to the point where it's just Philadelphia at some point. Okay, but Philadelphia

still plays at Cleveland, Seattle, at Green Bay, the Saints, the Cardinals. And then they do have two against the Cowboys, one against the Giants, and one against Washington. And you know how I hate the schedule game. I'm just saying that the coach loves the schedule game. I'm not a big fan of the schedule game, but I'm just saying all things being equal, Philadelphia has a brutal road. Washington's Road isn't easy, but it's less brutal. and I came to the conclusion yesterday through my cheery, delusional, rose-colored glasses

that Washington's going to be in this thing until the final week of the season where they will travel to Lincoln Financial Field on January 3rd to play the Eagles for the NFC's division title. That's the conclusion I came to. Now, several things could derail that. Washington could become the most injured team in the division over the next couple of weeks, which they've been the healthiest of the teams in the division, and it could completely derail their season as well. But they have a defense, Tommy.

They have a quarterback that makes them professional, and they have not quit on their head coach, and they actually believe, I think, right now in this coaching staff. And there were stories that I heard early on that there were some problems with some of the assistant coaches and some of the players. that's typical of a new staff in a new place, you know, with a staff doing things their way and players not getting used to it. We saw that with Marty, remember in 2001. Oh, absolutely. Bruce Smith couldn't stand him. Daryl Green couldn't stand them, but the young players did. I agree. I agree with a lot of what you're saying. Yeah. But what would that mean? It would mean a home playoff game or it would mean a game at the end of the year for a division title.

And what would that mean? Well, it's experience playing in games that matter versus being... Like I said in the column, a playoff game and NFCE's title, has that freed you before? No. Okay. But what's the alternative? This one. No, I get that.

That's my point. Your point is you still have to hope you're going to get dug out of it. this tunnel. But the reality is, there's a lot of debris in front of you, you know? Oh, yeah. There's a lot of debris between your rescuers and you. And you're just looking for an air pocket right now. Yes. But Tommy.

And all a division title is, and all a playoff appearances, is a slightly bigger air pocket. Slightly bigger. So there. I mean, like, who's going to, who on the offense is going to be on this? team if and when they're good? Well, the Kyle Allen conversation is an interesting one. I'm not ready to have it because I'm not a believer in it, but I think they might be a believer in him.

I do think that. I don't know if they, you know. I'm asking you, name the players on this offense who will be there if and when they turn good. Well, Terry McLaren and Antonio Gibson for sure. I hope JD McKissick's a part of it. Logan Thomas could be. and you know. You can stop right there.

I don't know if I can stop right there quite yet. I'm not done yet. Don't tell me when I'm done. You can stop right. I mean, you know, you're not playing for real now. You just name two of the ones who will be there and maybe three, if you include Logan Thomas, who I don't know how good he is. He looks pretty good.

But you know who will be on this team? And if and when they are competing for something other than seven. and nine or six and ten and an NFC East Crown, Chase Young, Duran Payne, John Allen, Montez Sweat, Matt Ionitis, you're right,

Kevin Pierre Lewis, Cole Holcomb, Kendall Fuller. Yeah. Okay, so Tommy, do you want to hear something, and I went through this on the radio this morning? So there are a couple of things that are very interesting, because I think people, you know, I've heard conversations,

oh, the defense isn't anywhere near what, you know, you thought it was going to be. Well, that's not the way I feel. I feel it's significantly improved and I'm very optimistic. I have not wavered on that once this year. Have I? Not once. Have I wavered on my belief that this defense is coming, significantly improved and could be really, really good, you know, next year or the year after, even after they got torched by the Rams, even after they got, you know, torched in the second half by the Ravens, even when people were saying, Oh, they got run on late by the Browns and the Cardinals. Did I waver on any of that?

Not that I'm aware of. Not that you're aware of it. Not based on me telling you that I haven't wavered. Because, oh, by the way, I wasn't listening to you, Kevin, when you said those things. I haven't wavered because I totally believe in the talent. And I totally believe in the coaching. And so I want you to hear just a couple of things. Number one, in simple statistics.

okay, and you know how I'm with I'm with you on all this stuff on the advanced stuff. I'm with you, but I just want to share with people because I bet they don't know this. Simple, normal, traditional statistics defensively where they rank defenses and they rank them based on yards allowed. Right now, in average yards per game allowed, Washington's the number four defense in the NFL. Number four, behind Pittsburgh, who my eyes tell me is the best defense that I've seen this NFL season. Behind Indianapolis, who I think has a very good defense, behind Tampa Bay, who I think has an excellent defense and is exceptionally well coached.

They're in front of the 49ers who have a very good defense, even though they've been injured, the Rams, and then the Saints who I don't think are very good defensively. That's in the traditional statistical yards allowed number fourth in the NFL. on third down defense, just traditional third down percentage defense, they were dead last year, I mean horrific last year. Right now they are 14th in the NFL, so they have improved significantly there. I'll move to some of the more advanced numbers, the DVOA defensive efficiency rankings right now. Washington is seventh in the NFL and a more advanced taking into consideration opponents, situations, plays that weren't necessarily important, et cetera.

All the things, it's defensive adjusted value over average. It's total defense, rushing defense, all of those things. It's a long explanation, but it's a more advanced number. They are seventh currently. They also, football outsiders, takes their remaining opponents and projects where they'll finish. They project Washington will finish eighth. their defense is a good defense. Their front four is easily among the top 10 front fours in the NFL. And that's without Matt Ionitis right now. So I would not feel as optimistic about the rest of the year or Tommy the years that follow.

If it weren't for what I believe is the development and what we're going to watch, the growth of a future outstanding defensive football. football team. God, you know, I mean, God bless you. You know, God bless you. I mean, when you use the word future and this team, and it's not followed, but it's not followed by like, or proceeded with the Surgeon General's warning? A ton of vomit. I mean, how can you talk about football and this team? My whole point is, enjoy the moment because that's all it is, is a moment. Well, you know, What, Sunday was a moment? See, I wouldn't even say Sunday was a moment. Why not?

Because they beat a team that was basically dead, couldn't breathe. That team, there's no light. They're buried. I mean, they got the- You can only beat the teams in front of you, and they humiliated them. The firemen and the spotlights at night are looking over this, this big hole that's covered, and there's no light and there are no air pockets. That team's done.

I'm not looking at that as a moment. I want you to think about this when you talk about future, okay? When John Bostic nailed Andy Dalton, okay, and one of the controversies became that nobody on Dallas particularly did anything about it. Right. Does that sound familiar to you? Yeah, Jeff George. How long ago was that, Kevin? It was 2001.

No, it was 2000. It was the end of the 2000 season. 220? 20 years ago, Kevin. 20 years ago. And what has happened since then? With what? With this team.

Nothing's happened. They've been terrible. All right. What do you? You're not. Stop using future. Stop saying, I'll project them to do that. You can't project these guys to do anything. This is the most volatile, unpredictable.

Who knows what story is going to hit the paper? two weeks from now. You know, so this team of all teams is in a way the least predictable and the most predictable. The least predictable in the sense that you can't predict success. The most predictable is that you can predict failure. But you know what is also super predictable? What you just said? Because that's your go-to.

And I'm not being critical of it. Because when I said a couple of weeks ago after I forget what it was, another post story, the Haskin situation, whatever it was, I said to you. And I said this on the radio show and with Cooley too. Look, we all have to understand, and you've been right about this. I'm not saying that you're wrong about this. But it's very predictable that you'll say it every time that there's even a glimmer of hope or even just a breath that someone can snag to stay alive. And that is, we can sit here and we can act like the owner won't derail this, that his ownership will somehow change or he will change as an owner.

That's not going to happen. But what do you want us to do? Do you want us to stop having these conversations? What I just told you to do. No. Enjoy the moment. Don't use words like future. No, because there is no future.

There is no projection. These are part of the occasional, okay, moments, but fun, cute conversations where we wrap ourselves into pretending that this is a real football team, having a real season with real people that are going to get better and improve like they would in a lot of other organizations. I could choose to just say, it doesn't matter. None of this matters. As long as Dan Snyder owns the team, they're going to lose a lot more than they're. win, they're going to have much more turmoil than they won't. That's what I told you a few weeks ago. I understand that to be an absolute truth. As long as he owns this football team, okay? This is the disclaimer before we, you know, before we travel down the path of having a conversation

about maybe going six and ten and winning the division, or talking about Kyle Allen and maybe what could he be? Or what will the defense be? Not only this year, but next year, all the debates and the conversations we have because, you know, they act as sort of a diversion from our lives. And I like those conversations, even though all of us, most of us, not all of us, all of us understand that all they are is just diversions because, and they're not, they're just sort of fun because there can't be a lot of seriousness to it, even though we get emotional in these conversations and we get thoughtful in these conversations because Dan Snyder, still owns the team.

And as long as he still owns the team, it'll never, ever get better. Kevin, but you don't have to bring that. You don't have to do that. Okay? What I'm talking about is an emergency break in your brain that basically stops you. It does. Okay. Well, then why can't you just enjoy the moment of what happened last week and just take it at that?

Well, I don't really enjoy anything with this organization. I'm making an observation with the disclaimer that it doesn't matter to say, I think they're going to play Philadelphia the final week of the season to win the division. And it's not because of this enjoying the moment from Sunday, because Tommy, nothing felt less like a rivalry than that game Sunday. No time in recent memory before a Dallas-Washington game, have I been less enthusiastic than I was on Sunday. There are a lot of reasons for that. I am sure that last year's season finale, I was not very enthusiastic either. And it's been that way for a while. I'm not like looking at that game thinking that's the game that changed my mind. The last two weeks changed my mind that this team hasn't quit on its staff. They made the right decision at quarterback, and they are in a situation where right now, to me, they would be the second choice. They're not in Vegas right now, although it's close. It got a lot closer odds-wise. I just think that there's a chance that they're going to go out and be a five-to-six-win team

heading into the final week of the season at Philadelphia. I still, I think I said this, I still would predict Philadelphia to win the division, which means I would predict them to win that game. I have no idea what it'll look like by the time we get there. I just decided for a moment to think about whether or not I legitimately could see them playing for a division title this year, and I can. Okay. You know, it was Karen Rivera talking about the rivalry atmosphere at Ghost Town Field on Sunday. I can't wait to experience it at home with a pack. stadium when it means something. And I wrote, who's going to tell him?

I know who's going to tell him. Who's going to tell them that the stadium A won't be packed in B, it will be filled more with cowboy fans than his own team's fans. I don't think he knows about that yet. No, he doesn't seem to. No. Anyway, I... Okay.

Okay. It was a great, it was, I mean, if I was a Redskins fan, I would have, it would have been a nice respite from the pain. And I would have enjoyed it as much as I could recognizing that there is still a lot of debris between us and a different atmosphere. You can't, look, I'm sorry, and I know people get tired of hearing it, and maybe I need to take some kind of pills before I come on here that blocks that part of my brain.

That function. Don't be so predictable pill? No, the one that brings in perspective. Oh, right, right, of course. Is there an anti-perspective pill that can take, do you know? No. What do you take? I think, I think actually, I think the overwhelming majority of the fan base has that same perspective now.

I do. But look, we're asked. And we're not asked. Well, I guess on some level we're asked. You're asked. I'm asked to do it on radio. We're asked to talk about, you know, sports. And a big part of that in this town is talking about the football team.

If we came on here every single day and ignored the games they were playing and ignored their position in the standings and ignored some of their talent on defense and the fact that they're pretty well coached on defense. They're the third least penalized team in the league, by the way, of the teams that have played seven games and other number of. that I wanted to throw at you. Quick was Sunday's game, by the way. How quick was it? It wasn't. It was pretty quick. Yeah, the fourth quarter moved really quickly.

I think it got over just under three hours. But if we just came in here and every single day said, well, what's the point? I mean, don't you have the person. I didn't say to that. I said, let's talk about, you know, what a great day that was. But I disagreed. I disagreed with you. You just said it wasn't a great day.

day. If you're a Washington fan, that was a great day. No, it wasn't. Of course it was. No, I'll tell you why it was a great day for me, which, of course, you haven't even mentioned my bold prediction early in the week last week that they would win that football game. And I wager. I predicted they would win, too.

I know. That was based off my prediction. You just jumped on board after the fact. That's it. I have to listen to me in order to do that. I don't. I don't. I said it to you.

Yeah, you'd have to be listening for you to be able to remember that I did it. And for you to come up with your own original, I guess. You'd have to be ignoring me, which I can't tell when you ignore me or when you actually listen to me. You only listen to me when you disagree with me. When you agree with me, you're usually not listening. Or when I'm right, you're definitely not listening. When I'm wrong, it's amazing how good your memory is. So anyway, no, the game Sunday, other than winning a wager,

and being happy because I had predicted a win, it was not what convinced me. It wasn't this great moment, a win over an arch rival. It was, you know, they're clearly better with the quarterback. They haven't quit on the coach. I think they actually are going to play well here the rest of the year. Not every week, but they're going to be a five to six win team heading to Philadelphia. That's what I think.

Well, that is awfully optimistic. I know it is. That requires some perspective. medicine. Listen, and what's the biggest problem with the quarterback? Is that over the counter? Can I get that over the counter? I don't know. I bet you somebody out there is working on making a pill like that right now. I hope so. What's the biggest problem with the quarterback? The biggest problem with the quarterback is, I will tell you, right after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, before the word from our sponsor there, Tommy, you asked me,

what is the biggest problem with the quarterback? We're talking about Kyle Allen, of course. Yes. The thing that I talked about with Cooley yesterday and the two starts, I think he's a bit too casual. It's the way I described over the years Bradley Beale that used to drive me nuts. like his ball handling, his passing was just sometimes it wasn't with the urgency that great players have. And I see with Kyle Allen a casualness.

Like I think a lot of his turnovers are because he casually, you know, protects the ball. Like he's oblivious to things at times and he's not real protective and not real urgent. He threw the ball into the end zone and the red zone the other day just sort of willy-nilly that should have been picked or could have been picked because he just, you know, decided to do it. I think his arm strength is average. But there are a lot of things about him that I like. But the biggest problem is I think the turnovers are caused more by sort of a casual, whatever.

It's just an interception. I'm going to throw it there anyway. rather than things like not being able to read coverage or not having, you know, accuracy. I think that that's it. And that might be something they can coach out of him. He's a West Coast kid. He seems pretty laid back. But at the same time, he seems very confident.

You know, he is right now, by far and away, you would agree with this, right? You didn't disagree with me earlier or last week. he's clearly their best option at quarterback. Yes, he's their best option. This was a simple answer, you know? He turns the ball over. Yeah. But I gave you the reasons he did.

I gave you the reason he does it. I know that, but it doesn't matter what the reasons are. It doesn't matter what the reasons are. He turns the ball over. What's the worst thing you can do for a good defense is put them in a hole with turnovers? Right. Okay.

What's the thing that coaches can't stand more than anything? turning the ball over. I was just explaining why I thought he turned the ball over. I get that. So do you think that you'll see another quarterback on this field besides Kyle Allen for Washington football this year? Not because of performance. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

He'll do a three turn over half and he'll get benched. No, I don't see that. I see the possibility of him getting injured. because I think he, you know, he puts himself at risk a lot. And I do see a big turnover game in his future, too. I absolutely see. Well, how can you look at those players in the locker room at halftime and say that great defense that you're talking about

and say, yeah, we're going to send the same guy out there again in the second half? Because I would. Because I would walk out the, I would walk out what's behind door number two and door number three. say open up door number two. Oh, there's the guy that nobody thought was working hard enough. And there's door number three, Mr. Dropfoot, who literally could not make a first down in his last appearance. It's door number two. Well, that's true. That's door number two. Yes. Yes. The door number three is busy making hotel reservations for its buddies. What was the, what was the show with Monty? What was the guy, Monty Hall? Let's make a deal. Let's make a deal.

Is it Monty Hall? Do I have that right? Yeah, you got it. And so the situation that you're presenting here, okay, after a three turnover half is, look, I got 20 bucks here for you. Or you could take what's behind door number two. Actually, that's a terrible analogy because they know what's behind door number two and door number three. They know it. Basically, what it is is that Kyle Allen's behind door number three.

And in this hand, I have $5. In this hand, I have $10. Neither one of them is going to make a difference in your life, or you can go to door number three, and we can see if Kyle can come out in the second half and throw three touchdown passes. There's no indication that the coach thinks the same way as you do about those doors, none whatsoever.

Well, there is an indication that he thinks that way about door number three. Oh, I know that. But door number, like I said, door number three is busy doing, you know, junior high juvenile things. Right. So he doesn't even count. Okay, well, then what's behind door number three? There is no door number three.

I didn't say this was a game show. Well, who did he? That said it was, let's make the deal. Who? Do you really think that if he throws three picks in it in a half, he's coming with Alex Smith in the second half? You know what? I'm not going to discount that as a possibility.

That's fine. But it would not follow, it wouldn't happen in the next game. It would happen after they've lost three in a row and Allen's really struggled. And then Alan really struggles again. And he says, the season's over. Let's let Alex have a couple of moments here and hope that he doesn't get killed in these games. I personally, you know, if Alex, if Kyle Allen had played poorly but they had won the game barely, I would have suggested Mr. Fitzpatrick as a possibility at the trade deadline,

just bringing in somebody that you could potentially move forward with for a year or two if you were going to draft somebody young. Because Alex Smith isn't that guy either. It's not like Alex Smith if you draft the quarterback. Let's say the rest of the season goes poorly, which is still in play. And it's 3 and 13, 4 and 12. In play. Those are kind words.

Go ahead. It's in play. I'm not discounting it. Good. That's awfully big of you. Well, I mean, I just... Go out on a limb, would you? Well, I just came off telling you how optimistic I was about final game against Philadelphia for a six-and-ten division win. No, I just don't... I see Kyle Allen right now as really the guy that they should have manned up before this season gone to the owner and said, Sorry, but this is who we're going to play. Because he knows the offense.

He gives us the best chance to be competitive and win some games. We like our defense. And I don't know that – somebody suggested to me this morning – I think it was Neil and Rockville. Neil and Rockville said to me, you know, it's possible that he – you know, the way he looks at the schedule, Rivera. He looked at Philadelphia, Arizona, Cleveland, and Baltimore. Now, nobody really was expecting a lot from – Arizona and Cleveland. Some people thought Arizona could be improved, but whatever, and said,

if I start Dwayne, he'll fail miserably, and then I can bring in Kyle without any issue, and we don't have to go back to Dwayne. If I start Kyle and we go O and four, or we go one and three against that starting schedule, then I'll have to bring Dwayne in, and then I can't bail on Dwayne and go back to Kyle. If he did that, and I don't know if he did or not. I don't think he did. But if he did that, I would have newfound respect for him because that would be smart planning and recognizing the situation he is in. Yeah, the problem with that theory is that the next four games included Los Angeles and Dallas, who before the season started, were supposed to be decent teams.

Good point. I didn't say I bide into it. Yeah. But, I mean, as a way of logic, if that would have happened, I'd say maybe this coach, you know, maybe might do something here. Bottom line on perspective, we're talking about the quarterback, okay? But this franchise doesn't have a quarterback. Am I right?

Yeah, I think you're right. I would lean in that direction. Let me just tell you, I do want to see Kyle Allen start these final nine games. I think if he does and they stay healthy, it's a big if, right? The rest of the teams in the division have suffered, you know, catastrophic injuries through the first, you know, near half of the season. If they stay relatively healthy, I think they're going to be competitive enough. I think they're going to win some games that they're not going to be in the Trevor

Lawrence or Justin Fields or Trey Lance category. So they have to start thinking, look, if they go 5 and 11, they might have a top 5 pick. 6 and 10 with the way the standings are shaping up right now may barely be a top 10 pick. And if they go 6 and 10 and make the playoffs, they won't pick until 9. 19th at the earliest. So the, um, I think,

they win one game the rest of the year. Uh, one game the rest of the year would put them in that top three, you know, possibility. So now you're talking about a guy like Justin Fields. You know, you're just in, and he looks great,

really great, you know, and I would have no qualms going back to the Ohio State quarterback well for him. Um, but I don't know enough about him either. Um, but he's a totally different quarterback than Dwayne was at Ohio State.

Anyway, I don't know. What were we just talking about? I said they don't have a quarterback. Their franchise quarterback is not on their roster right now. I would agree with that. And when that happens, you are a long, long way from digging out of the tunnel. You know what, Tommy? That's true.

Because the problem with being and looking towards the future as I did, which really set you off earlier about this defense is that you could have a great defense in 2021 and 2022, like a great defense. And you could still win six, seven games because you don't have the quarterback figured out. We've seen that in recent years with teams like Denver and the, like the jets for two years, Buffalo for a couple of years before they got Josh Allen. So yeah. But let me just say, in the moment, I do not want to see Alex Smith again. again this year. Oh, I don't want to see him. And they've already moved on from Haskins, so that is not even in the conversation. So I want to see nine games of Kyle Allen, who has

started a grand total of 16 games in his career, to see if he can improve on turnovers, to see if he can improve on some of the casual ball protection and ball security issues that he has, because there are some things that he does well. There are some things that lead me to believe, and I said this yesterday, that if he can grow from a cutting down the turnovers situation, he's going to be in this league for a long time. He's going to be in this league for a long time

as a starter and or backup, because he does many other things well. You know, he's decisive. The ball gets out quickly. He makes sports. plays. He extends plays. He's got mobility. He's got some gamer in him. So there are some things that tell me that if he can be coached, you know, out of all these turnovers, which, by the way, a lot of young quarterbacks commit a lot of turnovers. If he can fix that problem or improve

significantly in that area, he's going to be in this league for a long time. Long time. I think you're right about Rex. I think he will be. I'm sorry. A lot of similarities. same jersey number. You know, I texted him yesterday. I texted Rex to see if he would come on the show. And he couldn't do it today. He said, can you get back to me next week or whatever? So I'll keep trying.

But I'd love to talk to Rex Grossman about Kyle Allen. The big difference is Rex actually, I think, had much more of gunslinger in him. And maybe even better arm strength, maybe, but not by much. I mean, they're both basically the same size, I would think. think. Rex was like 6-1-6-2. I don't even know what Kyle Allen is. But there's something about Alan that says, you know what, we got nothing else right now. If they've moved on for Dwayne, I just want to see him start the final nine games and then reassess. I don't think I see an elite franchise quarterback in him. I don't. But let's not forget. Coaches do what coaches

do. And Mike Shanahan benched Rex Grossman for John Beck. Yes, he did. After an interception Lalapalooza. Well, he also had pneumonia. Let's not forget that little small fact that the reason Rex got benched in 2011 there for Beck before I forget what

game it was. I want to say it was Buffalo, where Beck was just awful. No, the Buffalo was the worst game. That was the game where he threw the Roy Hulu 13 times, I think. No, the Hulu

game, the Hulu game, good memory, was the San Francisco game, I think. Well, no, maybe you're right. I don't remember. And they played Buffalo in Toronto. It was in Toronto. I think the Hulu 14 catch game was against the 49ers. Maybe it was. I'm looking that up right now because I want to know for sure. Yes. Roy Hulu 14 catches 105 yards from John Beck against the 49ers and a 19 to 11 loss. Redskins quarterback lower, baby. Yeah. Just think that was almost 10 years ago. I know. Do you know that yesterday was the five-year anniversary of you like that game? The Tampa comeback, the Code Red game. Real quickly, before we move on and I get to Cooley and his film breakdown,

what do you make of the World Series? Like I asked you this on Thursday, and you weren't really into it. Are you into it now after that Saturday night finish? or Kirshaw on Sunday? Are you into it? Because I am. I'm watching it. I'm into it.

But, you know, again, you know, like I mentioned the other day, Kershaw, the story is being written out that Kershaw has redeemed himself as a postseason pitcher. Here's what we know about Kershaw. He's a pretty good postseason pitcher after 10 regular season starts. Not 30 like he usually has. okay that's a factor yeah you know that's why 162 games is the true measure 60 games is spring training would you have pulled him the other night were you watching that game or not were you watching the game Sunday night i wasn't watching the Sunday night game no oh okay because the Sunday night game

just it presented a really interesting situation that it depends on what conversation the manager had with the pitcher before well the manager admitted and so did kersher that before Kershaw went out for the sixth inning in that game, they agreed that Kershaw was going to face the first two batters and then he was going to get pulled. And his pitch count was at 78 going into that inning. And his pitch count when he got pulled was at 80. He got the young kid, Aresorina, on one pitch,

and he got Lough on one pitch. And so he had retired seven in a round, row. They had a four-two lead, and he was really pitching the best he had pitched where he struggled early in this game. But they stuck with the plan, and they pulled them and it worked out, and they won the game four to two. And I know, look, the problem with Kershaw here in the postseason is sometimes Roberts has left him in there one or two batters too long. Witness what happened when Rendon Soto went back to back on him in game five last year, which came, if you recall Tommy, after he came in in the previous inning and struck out of

Eaton. And people were going nuts as he came in in relief, struck out of meeting in a big, big spot in the sixth inning, I think that was, then went to the seventh and got knocked around by Soto and Rendon and then the incredible iconic picture of him sitting

alone in the dugout, which still, to me, if I had been a baseball fan and not a Nats fan, it would have been heartbreaking to watch, but it was great, obviously, in the moment. But, you know, I don't know, I just like him, and I think he's pitched wellness postseason. He's 4-1. His ERA is 2.93, I think, in the five starts here in the postseason.

And I think they'll win this because if they don't win tonight, and Blake Snell pitched really well in his last outing for Tampa, I think Bueller's phenomenal. And I think he'll pitch well, and the Dodgers would win game seven if they're going to more night. I think they'll win this. I'm polling for the Dodgers to win because, I mean, I know Stan Kasten, well. I like him. He's the president and part owner of the Dodgers. So I'm pulling for them to win the 2020 World Series interim championship. Okay. I agree. You know, I was telling Barry's Verluga

on radio this morning that I think one of the reasons I'm into this, and I was into the NBA playoffs, you know that, but it was different. At least the World Series is being played where it usually is being played in October. You know, it's still, like, turning on a Saturday and Sunday night late October, you expect to see the World Series, and that's what we've seen. And then I would also add to it, and Barry said that, you know, there's definitely an atmosphere, even though they're only 11,000 plus. But they're 11,000 people. And, you know, it seems more like a sporting event with people there, even though they're completely socially distanced. And it looks more like, you know, a Tampa Bay raise home game in June.

But I don't know, looking forward to watching the game tonight. And then if there is a game seven, it would be interesting. You know, the other interesting thing about this series is that Blake Trinon, who obviously was here, was phenomenal the other night to close out. I know. I did watch that. I did watch the end of the game. And look, Mike Rizzo believed in Blake Trinan's arm from the get-go.

It just took a long time for him to mentally deal with the discipline it requires to stay focused and use that arm. But Rizzo was a big, like, Trident fan right from the start. He's got a great arm, you know, and he was a good guy, so good for him too. Kenley Jansen, and I said this to Barry today, because I was curious as to what he thought, I thought Kenley Jansen pitched well in that crazy ninth inning the other night. There was a broken bat single and a bloop single that basically beat him. And then obviously the error on the catcher at home plate. But I think Dave Roberts may go with Trinan to close it out if he has to tonight or tomorrow night.

That would be interesting to see how he goes next. I don't think he will. You think he'll go with Jansen. Yeah. And by the way, don't forget, I think it was three or four years ago. Mike Rizzle tried to sign Ken Lee Jansen as a free engine. I remember that. And learners put the cabosh on the contract.

Exactly. All right. We're going to get to Cooley's film breakdown next. You and I'll be together on Thursday, thanks. Okay, boss. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. It is a month early, but then again, it was 10 months early in January. All right, I'll talk to you Thursday.

Tommy will be with me on Thursday. Thursday. Coolie's film breakdown coming up next right after a word from one of our sponsors. We're going in-depth, play-by-play. The Cooley Film Breakdown. Here's Cooley and Kevin. All right, time for Cooley's film breakdown of the offense after the second win of the year, a 25 to 3 pasting of the Cowboys. Before we get to that, did you watch a game last night? Did you have any thoughts? I thought the Rams really looked good defensively, and I thought foals really looked lost a little bit for Chicago. I watched all the game.

I had what do you got for the game. I told you to put that in a smell test. I know. I gave a hard lean. I gave a hard lean on the Rams. I played the game personally. You know what you had? You had dumb money on the Bears.

Yeah. Dumb money. Yeah. I thought they did a really nice job attacking the Bears defense. McVeigh did. they continued to run the ball they used a lot of the fly sweep stuff to get to the edge robert woods um one of my thoughts from especially that game and watching some of the fly stuff if you want that kind of action a three-yard gain on it is a good play a three-yard gain on that fly sweep is a good play

why do you say that because then it makes the action viable every time you run these fly sweeps everyone wants it to be like a 15-yard play. It's almost, people still look at it almost like a reverse. It's not. It's a stretch run play, essentially,

where you're leaving the end unblocked. Right. You know, it's really just an attack-the-edge, but if you want to utilize a bunch of fly-sweep action, then a three-yard play is a good play. A five-yard play, a great play,

and anything bigger than that is awesome. What you don't want is what the Rams had late, which is Robert Woods getting hit and fumbling in the backfield because there's penetration. Right. Is it the, would the equivalent be, you know,

sometimes you just got, to go back and you got to throw the ball deep to somebody to stretch the field to make you to make the to make the defense honest well no that's not to me the equivalent I think that balance what you're saying is essentially balance if you want to keep the defense honest you need to have balance but I guess I'm just saying it's more of a tendency thing it's more yeah I watch a lot of teams use this action and it's a tendency that they're never going to give it and to truly tendency break it's got to be more than 15% of the time. Right.

If it's not 15, 20% of the time, one out of five times that you run fly sweep action, then they're never truly going to honor it. They might look at it, but they're never going to honor it. And so some of the fly stuff they do makes the backers hold, and so the backs can truly stretch and get to the edge. It also allows linemen to get up to the second level.

And so when the back gets through the first level or the defensive line, it puts the lineman on the backer. He's got a good cut on the second level. They did a really good job of controlling Chicago's front while doing that. The other thought I had from this game, and I think Sean's great at this. Lewis Riddick pointed it out. They said, well, you're trying to create conflict at the line of scrimmage right before the snap. And who's the, who's the, who's calling the game?

It was Greasy Riddick and who's the. It's Steve Levy. Yeah, Levy was saying, you know, Sean noticed in Baltimore that there's a lot of conflict. And Lewis is like, no, Sean's been doing that for a long time. He just pointed it out. So he didn't change his offense. You know what I noticed from the Rams all the time? And I remember you pointing this out to me in his first year there is just the change and the constant change in cadence in, you know, getting to the line of scrimmage.

Like that first touchdown, you know, they stayed in the huddle until there were five seconds left on the play clock. Then they sprinted up. They got into position. And they're, you know, real. I mean, the defense has no idea where people are coming and they can't line up against it. And Josh Reynolds is wide open for a touchdown. Yep. That was the next thing that I was going to say that I noticed different from our game.

No, you're absolutely, it's smart. You're absolutely right. You know, it's also what allows them to get some of the fly sweep stuff because a lot of times they're still trying to communicate. Kate and the ball snapped and they're like, oh, here, he's outside. He's already out leveraged us. But the change of tempo is outstanding for the Rams. They go hurry up someplace. They go sprint out of the huddle someplace.

They go on two. They go on quick count. If you think through the Washington game, and I didn't go back through the TV copy, they go on one, one, 80 plus percent of the time. Yeah. Green 80, green 80, sit up. And it's like, did you go? got to change your tempo.

I mean, just as an aside, Sean and I talked about this a lot after his first year in Los Angeles. And I've always thought this. This has always been my big principle. It goes back to Gibbs with shifts. It goes back to Al Saunders with way too many shifts. And then Zorn with nothing that the one thing you control, truly control on offense is the 40 seconds before the ball snapped. You have full control of what you want to do for 40 seconds before the ball snapped.

And changing the routine of the defense or putting them in conflict has become the popular term is really huge. Yeah. I think I've said this to you before. You know, you can say putting them in conflict, if you want to say that. To describe what Sean's actually doing is he's manipulating the numbers count on either side of the ball at the line of scrimmage. And so what you're saying is defense is essentially say it's a two by two or a three by one,

right? Because you've got to have one guy on the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball, the Y and the X. Right. So you can go three by one or two by two with the back in the backfield. Or you can go three by two. Right. Right.

Or four by one. Washington actually had a very good four by one play on an early third down and a bunch set where they got the ball out to McKissick in the flat. But when you change, when you put that fly action into play, what side do you count him on? What, the fly sweep guy? Yeah, you have to count him into one side of the field for a lot of defenses for the coverages.

I would think you'd count him on the side that he starts. But he doesn't end there. I know that. So that's why they want to snap the ball with the guy, behind the center. You know, a couple of years ago, Sean did a ton of counterfly sweep stuff. And he hasn't, I haven't seen a bunch of that yet this year where they fake fly him across. Right. And then he comes back the other way. And then he pauses and then he goes back the other way, which is a real conflict. It's just there's a lot of thought that goes into how you want to call

your defense when a coordinator does that. Can we check our coverages to numbers counts? Because a lot of defenses do that. We're going to play quarters match if they're in two by two, but we'll play straight quarters if they're in through just for example you know how do we want to play them well we can't really check our coverages we have to play static coverages and that Kevin is why Josh Reynolds is so wide open and that is why they get two by two concepts with guys wide open down the field because they can't change their coverage pre-snap because you don't know the numbers count at the end of the play I it's sometimes I think Sean's awesome and some of the game plans are so thoughtful.

More times than not, I think what he's doing does impact the defense. It doesn't always. The one thing, the one question I have for you on this topic is that I do notice when teams, and the Rams are really good at it, but when teams do try to be very inconsistent and unpredictable with their tempo, that sometimes they, when they're going fast, they fail because it would seem to me that in particular the offensive line isn't able to sort of determine where the defense is because the defense is confused so then you don't end up with the right blocking assignments. I see that on a lot of quick tempo run plays in particular.

A lot of times you'll see after, let's just say, a catch that looks like it might not have been a catch and the team's going to go really fast to try to get a snap off. so that the other team doesn't have time to challenge it. And it'll always, for whatever reason, be a default to a run play. I don't know if that's always the thing anymore. But it seems like the offensive line is sometimes not prepared for that. And those plays never go for much. When they do, it's because teams practice them.

This is actually really funny because you mentioned that. And this was my last year when I wasn't playing very much. I was just basically learning football with the Shanahan staff, which I appreciated. Sean and I at the end of the year had this argument. Oh, not an argument. We had a, we'd had a play that you called it the line of scrimmage and ran it. Call it Daytona. I'll never forget.

I don't know why we'd call it Daytona. Oh, because it's a race track. Like, we're going to go fast here. You're going to line up and we're going to run an outside zone. Seah. We called it the Daytona. We could. It took us like half the practice to figure it out and I beat him to it.

And I was so proud because everyone even. And then knew Sean had a photogenic memory, and I won that game. But that said, we practice Daytona always on quick count. So the way you resolve the problem that you're talking about is you practice tempo. And throughout the week, you know which plays are attached to hurry up and which aren't. You don't just willy-nilly decide, okay, let's go tempo here and we're going to call play. No, no, no, I understand that they're... The play in the game plan is said, like, remember, Sean always probably.

it Apache. I don't know why hurry up was Apache with Jay Group. You probably heard us. I remember yeah, yeah. But in the game plan that he's looking at, in parentheses, before the play that he's calling, it says Apache and then it says

like South Ride Off 80 outside. Yeah. Or 18 outside. Or whatever run you want to call. But you practice them to tempo. So, and you practice them with looks. And so the reason people don't like to go with all the tempos, they don't want to practice it.

But you misunderstood, it's not that you completely misunderstand. No, no, I understand completely. I understand that the play has been practiced. I understand that the play is not being called. I just seem to think that the offensive line before a normal play has a chance to call out blocking assignments, et cetera. And when they're going quickly, sometimes that doesn't happen. No, it's especially with Washington over the last four or five years.

It's a lot easier when you run predominantly zone, because when you're a good zone run team, you don't always have to have the count perfect. You'd like to get it perfect, and I'm going to give you an example on the film breakdown of a perfect play by Washington. You'd like to get it perfect, but when you start to stretch zone, you should be able to fall into a lot of miscounted boxes. Like, as long as you step and run,

you should be able to fall into it. a lot of these. It's the idea of zone. Right. So it's hard when you have 13 different run schemes going into a game and all of them require certain counts based on where safeties are, based on the front, based on what linebackers are. It's not as hard when you have three run schemes, which one is predominantly zone. But you're absolutely more times than ever, we've got up to the line of scrimmage, hurried up to the line of scrimmage and it's a tackle for loss or tackle for no game. Yeah.

Because you get someone unblocked. Right. Or you get someone coming off a double team way too early because they're like, I think I got that guy. I just know that coaches don't like to practice that tempo. And when you start practicing a lot of tempo, it's frustrating because it's ugly. So you get a couple of practices in with tempo periods and you're like,

this is garbage. Let's just get back to the basics. We'll go on one. We'll have some on two. Yeah, but it's. It's so interesting to watch the Rams do it because it's so, I mean, they obviously have not only practiced it, but they've got, you know, a couple of things that they do where we're going to speed up on this play. Next play we're going to huddle up.

The next play we're going to huddle up and then break the huddle with five seconds left on the play clock. So they can't see and they have time to adjust. Because I would assume that the break huddle five seconds left on the play clock is because now the defense can't, They don't have time to adjust. Like, wait, hold on, what's strong side? Where's the tight end? Where's, and they catch them completely off guard? No, you're absolutely right.

You also, when you go with some of the tempo stuff, keep defensive personnel's on the field. Right. That's right. You know the personnel. You know the personnel that was on the field, on the play before it, and it's going to be the same personnel. So let me ask you a follow up to that. if you like the personnel that you just faced on second and seven and you picked up five yards and it's third and two and you want to face that defensive personnel again, the only way to guarantee it or to keep it on the field is to go up tempo, to go hurry up.

So is that, is more times than not the idea to face the personnel grouping defensively that you want to face in that situation? or is it just to catch him off guard? And I'm talking about the non-clock-related. Off balance is really good. When you hurry up to third down, at least in a lot of conversations with Sean and Mike and some of the guys, when you hurry up to third down,

they can't get blitzes called him. So they have a check coverage to hurry up offense. And so you go, okay, if I get to the ball quick, I know in third down they're going to play two men. That's their default coverage to hurry up. So I'm going to get two men. So I'm going to call some pickouts and I'm going to get some crossers and I'm going to get man coverage. Versus I huddle and there are 16 different varieties of blitz that I could get in third down situations.

See, I like hurrying up the third and ten, third and eight, third and nine when teams do like to come after you a little bit. So yes, the other thing, and this is me just thinking about offense in general, I think it's why it's so important that you have a couple tight ends that are versatile tight ends. because if you can keep your tight ends in the game on third and five and they can beat man-to-man coverage, on second and whatever, you're going to get the defensive base personnel, which essentially puts another linebacker on the field. If you were to get that coverage,

you go, I know I'm hurrying up to this third down, because my tight ends are better than their linebackers, and so I'm going to get a play to my tight ends on third and whatever. How many, I've had this idea for a while, I don't know if I've seen it executed. I think I have a little bit maybe. But the fourth and four, all right, and why not walk your offense towards the sideline

so that the defense immediately thinks you're punting and here they come in and then sprint back. If you haven't left the field, then it's not that the referee can't stop you from proceeding to allow the defense to substitute. Why not do more of that just to force a team to use a timeout? I don't know. Like, it's fourth and five, fourth and six, you know, whatever.

And you, you know, after the third down in completion, you start walking your offense over towards the sideline. You don't, well, you don't have anybody coming onto the field, because once you have somebody coming onto the field, now the defense is allowed to make substitutions. But you got your quarterback walking off and you got maybe other guys just sort of lingering around walking in the, and then once they come in with their punt return unit, you sprint back. back to the line of scrimmage and either run a play against their special teams unit or you force them to call a time out. Let me answer that question. Because most times anywhere around midfield, when you'd be going for it on fourth and four, they're not taking their defense out the field. It's punt safe. Okay. What about from your own 38-yard line? You got a number where you know they're going to take their defense out the field.

Right. I mean, the analytics of watching however many plays play out will change that. But if you do that two weeks in a row or if you do that a couple weeks. It's only going to work once. The team's going to make the adjustment and say, look, they're going to play this little game. Yeah. You know the last thing I really like about tempo, especially that sprint out of the huddle play? It never shows up on film.

Oh, because they take it from the snap. So all these players and coaches watch film. Now, there's, there are people designated to watch the actual TV copy, especially now. because you can hear every single quarterback cadence. Like, how much fun would it be right now to watch Peyton Manning? And he would know, and he would be making 7 million bull crap calls. You would hear Omaha 400 times a game. He'd be laughing back there.

Because he knows everybody can hear him on TV acting it out. He'd think it was great. But they do have someone designated to try to pick that stuff up and understand what they're doing. it's just hard because it's usually a QC and that QC goes in. He's like, um, so coach, uh, just so you know, they're going to sprint out of the huddle of like 14 times a game. I'm trying to look to see.

If you hear golf running down the field yelling tempi, tempi, tempi, then that means they're going to get to the huddle, break it, sprint to the line. Like the deep coordinator's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. What's the number count going to be? Like, what coverage should we check into? We'll be fine with that tempo. That you don't see tempo on film. Yeah. And the de-coordinator, I promise most of them, they're not watching TV cuts.

I'm looking, they don't have the all-22 from the Monday night game ready. They will later on this afternoon. But that'll be interesting to watch. I'm very interesting to watch. All right. Let's get to your film breakdown. And let's start with the quarterback Kyle Allen from Sunday. All right. So Kyle Allen ends up 15 to 25, 194 years. yards two touchdown snow players right didn't it seem like more than that yeah they just didn't really you know have a need to push anything in the second half and you know they they they only had the ball i think you know three times in the second half right and so what was it in the first half probably 160 of it was you over 150 yards in the first half i have the numbers here hold on i'll

tell you right now yeah there's not first first half he was nine to fifty for 128 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. Right. Plus he had that really good scramble, you know. Yeah, that's what it was. 9 to 15, 128 yards, two touchdowns in the first half. Even watching film, it felt like he had more than that. Yeah.

Throughout the game, the positives. Third and two, good ball in the flat to McKissick. That was out of the quad set, the four, the bunch four set. Yeah, that first third down. What could you call a bunch of four? if it was your offense. Quad right or quad left? I don't know.

Yeah, I think you would. This play, because you mentioned it a little while ago, I just pulled up again. It is an interesting play to watch because you don't see that formation that much. No, and it's a great way to get three receivers running vertical to clear for that flat route. It's three picking routes for the flat.

I mean, they're not actually, they're not designated pick routes, but you're getting three pick type routes. God, how do you cover that if you're a defense on third and two? You've got to adjust alignment with your linebackers and understand to widen. And then the other thing is you'd love teams to be able to pass them that stuff off. But that's the first time I've seen a quad set. So Dallas hadn't practiced it at all for us this week.

Right. So it's a good mix-up play. Great ball. a third and six in the second drive. Pressure in his face. It's an out route to McKissick again. Awesome route. We'll talk about that with McKissick.

But pressure on his face off the left side, great ball on a third and six convert. There's a great avoid of a sack early in the game. It was a run action pass. Switzer was a pulling guard. Pulls pretty flat. Alan somehow avoids Lawrence and gets out and throws it away. That's a good throwaway.

Right. That's a play that you love your guy to make, not sit there and go, take it in the face. Right. in the face. I thought on a run-action pass throw to Logan Thomas, he did a heck of a job speeding up the process.

He had blitz off his right side. Barbara picks it up. It's a secondary blitz. Barbara gets banged around a little bit, but steps up and it's about as quick as I can see him getting it out. Then he gets that throw on the wheel to Logan Thomas. If it were any quicker, my God, it's a touchdown.

But it's a good job. prying up his process, understanding he's got a guy there and he's just got to get the ball to him somehow. I thought there was another throw to Logan Thomas on a corner route in a run action pass that was a pass interference on Jalen Smith. Yeah. My God had a bad game. The ball's thrown right at the back of the head of Jalen Smith.

I love that ball if I'm a pass catcher. It allows me to go up and have an attempt to get that ball, try to go. And Logan almost did catch it. over the top of Jalen Smith. But it's also, as he's running behind it, you throw it right at the back of his head, and there's nothing he can do but interfere with that play.

Right. The ball that Terry on the go route was awesome. You know, he has pressure in his face there on run action. The pressure is because Sheriff's a pulling guard from the other side, and Sheriff gets enough of him. That's a big time throw. And that's a tough block for Sheriff, but that's a big time throw.

You know, it's funny, Kevin. They were sitting on that. I told you yesterday when we talked about it. They were sitting on slant. Yeah. It's 37, right? The rookie. Trayvon Diggs.

27. 27. Trayvon Diggs is trying to slide inside at five yards. When Terry gets to five yards, like I'm jumping the slant. He thinks it's RPO. So it's a pretty good design. I mean, it's just run action, but he thinks RPO right there. Little does he know.

Well, it's not RPO because RPO, the back would have been on the other side of the quarterback. so it's an error on his part. But it's a good ball with pressure in the face. Oh, pressure at his feet, too, with the sheriff getting pushed back into him, definitely. Right. The two-point conversion was awesome timing

and an awesome throw by Allen. There's a drop. Logan Thomas got hit by Trayvon Diggs, I think, on that play. Right. But should have held on to it. Yeah, you got to come down with that thing. The scramble on third and nine, was terrific. Now, if he could have gotten his eyes downfield on that third nine scramble,

it's five minutes, 59 seconds in the second quarter. Cam Sims runs a post, runs through contact over the top of the safety. Oh, yeah, I see it. Yeah, he could unload it down there on the run. Yeah, if he, if he unloads that thing as he starts to move, he doesn't ever see it. He starts to move and he goes completely eyes to the right. I got no problem with the run. I just wanted to point out that. Right. The Cam Sims is wide open for a touchdown.

Yeah. But, you know, a lot of, actually, like, I'm just thinking, let's think about the best quarterback. Mahomes on that play throws it to Tyree Kilfer touchdown. Yes. There's no doubt about it. Yeah. He just flicks it, sidearm.

Yeah, no. He actually turns around and, A long snap hikes it to him. They made a good tight window throw to Terry on a second 15. I think that was after a delay a game. I thought he could have gotten the ball downfield to Logan Thomas versus coverage. He might have rushed to throw a little bit. It got him into third nine.

It was a good ball, though. Third one at the end of the half to Logan Thomas. That was actually great run action. And when you watch that play, it held Jalen Smith just enough that Logan Thomas gets out ahead of him. And then it's a great finish by Thomas. But I've been talking about Allen's action with the ball with some of these fakes. And it's still not good enough. But that was good enough.

You see the ball. You see true action. It also came after one of the best runs of the day by McKissick. Yeah. I like that. I love the third and one, three tight ends, you know, looking like run. And you're right. This is a much better ball fake.

Yeah. Because he dips that head and, you know. And you can see what the back reaction is. Yeah. He also had a much better ball fake on a crossing route to Sims in the third quarter that he threw a deep crossing route. That ball was not a good ball, though. He threw, Sims only catch of the day in the third quarter. the ball to Sims takes Sims back downhill

towards the line of scrimmage. You'd like to throw that further down the field so he can run after the catch. It bends him back down. It's not a great ball. It's a completion, so we're going to take an 18-yard gain, by all means. 22-yard gain. But that could have been 30.

Yeah, it was 22. Because I know Sims was one for 22. Oh, one for 22. There you go. I thought maybe his best throw of the day was a third and 11 to Terry McLaren. Terry's running a 12-yard-out route from inside. He's got pressure in his face to his left side,

and he's throwing it almost off his back foot, and he's got enough on that ball and accuracy, and it's a really nice throw-and-catch. I thought that was his best throw in the day, really. I'm trying to find it, but I remember the one you're talking about. It was the one that just gets out there. I mean, under pressure, right? Yeah, he's under pressure.

Not unblocked pressure, but he's got pressure in his face, and he ends up kind of getting hit as he's letting it go, but he's throwing off his back foot. You know, you talk about Kyle Allen's arm strength, and it's not elite, but when you see a guy make that throw out their back foot, you know it's enough.

Right. Yeah, I'm looking at it. I'm looking at it right now. This is with the rain coming down really heavy, too, because you could see. Yeah, that is, I remember that throw thinking, well, it's just sort of lofted out there, but that's the way he could get it out there off his back foot. Yeah, it's a good route. It's a really good job by Terry separating. But the timing of it's still perfect. I mean, Terry doesn't have to wait on that ball. Yeah. And to me, that was his best throw.

All right. He had a third and five late in the game, throw to Logan Thomas. That's a third. I thought was an underthrown ball. Logan did a heck of a job attacking the ball and creating a positive play. I didn't think that was a good throw. Is that the 50-50 ball basically? Yeah, that was a 50-50 ball.

Yeah. I didn't love that throw. I thought he was late. I thought he was way late. I thought Logan was open early and it was way late getting to that thing. Okay. The negatives.

The flat route to Terry McLaurin that he doesn't get in, that he extends, tries to extend and doesn't get over the goal line. Right. That ball's got to keep. him on an angle to score. He can't throw that back downhill. You know, they work on that route a ton. Every team works on that route a ton. You don't want Terry to have to bend forward and reach his hands

back towards the line of scrimmage to get that ball because it makes it harder for him to make that adjustment to whip his body and score. I also think that Terry flattens their out a little bit too much, but as Terry starts to flatten it, you got to throw it out in front of him so he can reach out towards the sideline and turn up field. It's not a bad throw. I'm not, I'm being critical with that, but it's a throw I know he can make because it's a throw that every, like every quarterback starts making an high school and then start making it in college. And like when you do one-on-one pass drills or drills with your receiver, it's like, okay, let's go slant, then let's go flat.

And you throw that a million times. We can make that throw. Can an RPO mistrow to the flat to the right to, I keep wanting to call him Carmichael, but it's Hemingway. Yeah. I wrote Carmen. Run action, it's the first play of the fifth drive. It's in the first half. It was the first play after the Terry McLaren throw.

This was one of his worst plays at the day. So if you find that McLaren touchdown, and then there'll be a two-point play, and then it's the next play. Terry's running an out and up. It's not the best out and up, but I think he wins. Cam Sins is running a crosser.

goes with the crosser, both of them are open. He just throws this ball away. It's really weird. I'm not sure what he's doing. I think if he takes the shot to Terry, he's got a one-on-one shot with no safety. It might be contested. If he just throws Sims who's open,

he's got a 25-yard gain in the middle of the field on the crosser to Sims, and he just kind of throws it away. He's pressured pretty quickly on this play. Yeah, but he can step up and make this throw. I don't know what he's thinking. I'm not sure if he, to me it looks like he's fooled by the concept. Like he looked at Terry and went, oh, out and up.

He's not as pressure as much as I think when I see it from the end zone view. No, he had time to step up. Yeah. Huh. Okay. He feels pressure quick. Like he feels more pressure than there actually is. He's got happy feet a little in the pocket.

I thought a really risky throwaway ball in the red zone late in the third quarter. It was an interception opt that he threw. I think he was just throwing over Terry or Terry. Like that might have been a throw in hope play. It wasn't run action. To me, McKissick's out in the flat to his right and he's wide open. And I think he's getting arrogant here trying to get the ball down the field. And I just wrote, take the positive play.

Is this the one in the red zone early fourth quarter? Yeah. Yeah, this is the one when I said to you, this. This is the one I said to you yesterday. This is the thing that to me is him just sort of, you know, West Coast casual, like, let me just throw it up there, willy-nilly. I just got out of some trouble, throw it into the end zone maybe. I mean, it very easily could have and should have been picked. And I would bet if you went back and looked at a lot of his picks, there are plays like these plays.

Yeah, they are. Not plays where he misreads coverage or they're more him just not really under. standing ball security is most important. It's first down in the red zone. And I know we're up 25 to 3, or 22 to 3, or whatever it was at that point. But why am I going to throw it basically where two cowboys and not one of my players has a chance? That was my worst. That was the play and the complete and utter, had no idea about the delay of game that was coming. No idea what the play clock was. Those were my two least favorite plays. This play into the end zone and the delay a game. Yeah. So as we get through these negative throws, I'm with you. And you said to me yesterday,

I think he's just too nonchalant. Yes. I thought that was just arrogant. And I'll bet you what happened here is he had a bunch set to his right. And he thought he had a look where he could get the ball down the field to his right better. He should have just hit McKisick in the flat, who's wide open. But as he doesn't, you can't make that throw. He also had a scramble throwaway, that drive on a third and nine. Double ins to his right. Inman's open on double in, just throw it. There's no scramble throw away there.

You're not, just throw inman. It's double ins. It's a very common concept. You work the first in. If you have him, you throw it. If you don't, you move to the second in, you move to the back on a swing. It gets a one side read. You had inman.

A couple of the negative plays. Did that ball? I didn't realize this. That ball almost got picked. Yeah. He was throwing it to Sims and we're trying to throw it away, but he kept it in bounds and Diggs almost jumps up and picks it. I think that would have been about the most incredible pick of all that. It would have been.

You're right. I mean. You know Trayvon's Stefan's younger brother, right? I did. Yeah. A couple of other than negative. plays that weren't throws early in the game he had a sack on a third and four they went four verticals in third and four situation it's at midfield it's at the 49 yard line i think he actually

gets blitz i think he actually wants to throw the crossing route the middle crossing route to inman inman the middle of the field clears completely with blitz inman's running across the field to 20 yards on the opposite numbers he doesn't look until he's like 17 yards downfield like what the fuck are you doing the middle of the field there like do not feel open at some point as a receiver i know that you have landmarks but do not feel open there yeah i thought he was wide open now i wrote you know i think he still has a chance to get it to mackisick on a checkdown it's really close yeah it's it's really close in the timing of the play does he get sacked or get it to mackisick i don't like taking the sack there

The delay a game was stupid. By the way, he fumbled at the end of that. Now he was down, but, you know, again, all security. Correct. The delay a game was stupid. Yeah. Oblivious. It wasn't even close.

He wasn't even hurrying. You know, sometimes you'll see a quarterback who'll realize that at the last second. He's, oh, well, you know. And he didn't even know. Correct. a poor flush right at the end of the second quarter at least he gets a throwaway but you know it's it's not where you want him to go with the ball in the second and five

sack in the third quarter it was a gun run action play step up and throw the check down so a couple of the sacks I mean I'm not saying they were completely on him but they were avoidable by him I look at Alan and I if you're looking at a guy that's played 20 games in the NFL I think you're seeing a guy that can do more than survive, if that makes sense. I think you're seeing a guy that's got some playmaking ability, that's got some get out of the pocket and run ability, can make plays happen.

I think that he's going to have some plays throughout the year if he doesn't become more comfortable in the pocket where he throws some picks down the field. I think he sees the field fairly well. but if it's if it's beyond his one and two read I think that he's running what do you mean by a guy that can do more than just survive

you mean like big picture a guy that can play in this league starting this league is that what you meant? Well you can do more than survive you can run your offense I'm not sure that he can run your offense at a high level yet I haven't seen enough to say this guy is going to grow into a quarterback can run your offense at a really high level

I think he's a guy that can run your offense right So survive. I like, I don't see him as in this game, he was a B. I don't see him as a guy that's going to be an A player. Right. Like I've watched enough now to see a guy that I think can win you some ballgames. And if he grows and understands and starts to become more comfortable in the pocket,

I think that he's definitely a guy you can run your offense with. But he's not... Turnovers will constantly be the concern. But you don't see a franchise quarterback. You see a need to go get a quarterback when this season ends. Right now, through his first two full starts. I don't think that's completely fair to say that I don't see a franchise quarterback. Okay.

But I think it's fair to say I don't see an elite quarterback. I understand what you're saying. That is... I guess what I'm saying is when you say franchise quarterback... Do you see Kirk Cousins top half of the league starter for years, you know, understanding an offense, running an offense at a high level with players around them you can win with? Do you see that or not? No, I see him.

He's 15 to 25. Okay. That's a couple games. There's no suggestion that says he can't grow to become more impactful. Right now, he's got Terry, Logan Thomas made some good. plays in this game and two backs. Right. They don't even know who their two receiver is.

Yeah, you're right. This far end of the season, they're like, it's not Inman, so now let's try Camp Sims. Houston wants to trade Kenny Stills. Any interest? It's hard for me to have true interest in Kenny Stills when Miami wanted to trade Kenny Stills. I know.

And then a year later, and I think Houston, Kenny Stills was like a throw-in-to-the-tunzel deal. but now Houston wants to trade Kenny Stills. Well, Houston wants to trade Darren Fells, too, the tight end. They're sellers here at the trade deadline, obviously. I would be interested in Darren Fells more than Kenny Stills. I think Fells is a B minus C plus player, but he's much better than our second,

and he could probably be our first. Okay. I think there'd be some interest there. I thought Alan was a B. Here's the thing, though. To me, he made some big throws. He moved to chains. He made enough plays for them to win this ballgame.

Then Kyle Allen, a B against the Cowboys. Your best grade for him so far this year, I believe. Kyle Allen, just as an aside, will appear with me on my radio show tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. So tune in tomorrow morning, 7 a.m. You'll hear Kyle Allen. He will be a guest on the radio show on the team 980, 95.9 FM. the team 980.com and the team 980 app. Coolies breakdown continues with all of the skill position players

right after a word from one of our sponsors. All right. Skill position players. But I have a question for you first, Kevin. Okay. We just spent 20 minutes on a pause so you could talk to Kyle Allen. Right. It's going to go on your radio show tomorrow.

Yes. Yep. How was it? Good. It was good. You know, it's hard for the team to, okay. So the team, the team is not. Let me say this. The team never gives you anybody. The team doesn't really, hasn't really given anybody anybody this year. I mean, you know how the team in years past treated the radio station, very much like a, you know, a redheaded stepchild. and there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of stuff that has gone into that. But this year, the team, you know, hasn't really given anybody else players or coaches either since the season started. And I think that they have had sort of this, I wouldn't necessarily agree with it, but I think they've had this strategy of laying low in just appealing or just providing, excuse me, appealing being the wrong word,

providing players and coaches via Zoom call to the beat reporters, rather than having them in one-on-one settings with radio hosts or columnists. So that's essentially been it. Now, they have treated their television partner, NBC Sports Washington, much differently. They provided them with more access. Now, my show, being 6 to 9 a.m., it's tougher to get guys up that early or have them available because if they're in the building, they're working that early. But I've offered, you know, many times in the past over many months, going back a couple of years now to their last group last year, I'm always available to record something after the show and run it back the next day. So this being a bye week, them coming off a win, I asked for Kyle Allen and they said,

can you record it tomorrow? And I said, meaning today, and I said, yep. And so that's what we did. So you and I did take a pause from the podcast in the middle of the film breakdown so I could talk to Kyle Allen, record it for tomorrow, and he was very, very nice. Nice young kid. You know, Cooley, I decided to take the approach of getting to know Kyle Allen, because I don't think anybody really knows Kyle Allen. You know, they don't know that he was the number one quarterback recruit in the nation in 2013 out of Scottsdale, Arizona.

I mean, everybody recruited him. Irvin Meyer, Nick Sabin, they were all coming after him. Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State. He had his choice of any school in the country to go to. He was the number one pro-style quarterback at 16, 17 years old, a five-star recruit. And he chose Texas A&M. Kevin Sumlin was the coach at the time,

and he was a big-time recruiter, and A&M was on the rise, and he got beat out his freshman year by Kenny Hill, who ended up transferring to TCU. Then he got beat out by Kyler Murray in his second year at Texas A&M. Then he transferred to Houston and ended up being undrafted. But, you know, I just, you know, I wanted him to talk a little bit about that stuff. Because I can imagine being the number one quarterback recruit in America. That's quite an experience.

I mean, it's a massive experience. Can you imagine what high school life would have been like at that time? You're the king. I mean, and not only that, you're living in one of the loveliest areas of the country growing up in Scottsdale. I did ask him if he was a golfer, and he said he is, but he said he just is too young and doesn't have the time to really get it right yet. So he's like a high 80s, low 90s player. But I would bet you that when his career is over, as an athlete quarterback the whole thing,

he'll probably be a single-digit guy pretty quickly. You've gleaned that from a 20-minute conversation that he's going to become a single-digit handicapper. Are you interested in if he's a top 10 or 15 quarterback? Much more, much more interested in that. Did you say, what's your ceiling? You see yourself as, you know, 10 to 15-ish? You see yourself as a franchise guy?

Did you ask that? I didn't do the sports talk radio. Are you a 10 to 15 guy? Top half of the league? I didn't do that. I did ask him what he thinks he does well and what, you know, we haven't seen that, you know, from him and his 20-some starts that, you know, he thinks we'll see in the future. And he said right now, you know, essentially what he thinks he does well and what he's focused on with this team is running the offense well.

and then, you know, being able to play complimentary football. He said this is a team that has a good defense, and you just need to be able to play complementary football, and running the offense and focusing on that is his, you know, is his real, you know, focus right now. That's essentially it. He said a couple things about 20. Why you throw it away to Terry McLaurin on a ball,

you should have thrown to the flat. McKissac complimentary football is just thrown the flat, like we talked about the film break. Well, maybe. You missed that big time. Got arrogant. Maybe he needed you on the conversation. I wouldn't have got that.

And you would have coached him. He did, and I'll tease it, but he did talk about Dwayne Haskins as part of this interview. Did talk about Alex Smith as part of the interview. Did talk about being in the hunt in this division. So tune in tomorrow morning 7 a.m. on the radio show, and you'll be able to hear the whole thing. All right. Let's continue with your film breakdown. How did these skill guys do?

All right. Let's get to the skill guys. We'll start with Logan Thomas. Logan had four big time plays in this game, really five because he forced a PI. Yeah. We had four catches, I guess. But you go through the catches. I mean, big catch on the wheel route down the sideline contested. Safety's coming over the top. It's good concentration. Takes a hit. Good catch. You know, the one thing I would point out if you want to watch that wheel route is a common mistake. that I'm sure I made a lot that a lot of players make.

And it might, had he not made this mistake, have killed the play. But he is wide open coming out of that wheel. Yeah. It's an out and up. He is not running. He is looking. Like, dude, if you take four steps on that wheel route, you are so far up the sideline that nobody's

getting to you, but he slows way down. Just a thought. You can play. And I don't know with the pressure, if Alan speeding up the process would have been able to get it to him if he'd have really turn and run out of it. God, that corner just, it's cover three in the corner just carried the receiver. He's getting MFed by Mike Nolan. Mike Nolan's saying, I'm going to rub tobacco in your eye. If anyone didn't see that, Mike Nolan had to drop a conference call because he got Tabasco

in his eye. Yeah, saw that. The Cowboys are a joke. I catch on a flat where he kind of fell down on the tight end or fell down on his ass. it was like the weakest run after the catch ever. But then literally the next catch he has, he runs through Jalen Smith and it's a touchdown play. Huge catch on the 50-50 ball.

And then I said he created the PI. The 50-50 ball was big time. A couple of the negatives in the past game. You had the drop on the two-point play. There's a third down situation, third and five or six, where he is double-sticking the shit out of the DB, and it is all-out blitz.

Like, dude, you were a quarterback. Do you not realize internally that you can't break him off for a second and a half? Yeah. And he's like, well, yeah, but Cooley said, I'm not a one-on-one separator, and so I'm really trying to... That's exactly what he said.

I heard him say it in the post game. I'm trying to put this double stick on film, and I just, I mean, maybe I got a little too caught up in it, and I didn't see the blitz coming from in the... side. And then ultimately, you know, it's just his production still averages, or is, is route running, his skill is receiver, it's still averages as a true threat. He was very productive in this game, though. So it's positive for this game. The run game still consistent problems with sustain, especially from a two-point stance. They had him up and outside, consistently

struggles with sustain in those situations. He's high, he has poor hand placement, and he widens his feet upon contact. Gets him real wide, so he can't really run his feet. So he's just getting thrown off a lot of times. The average finish when he got up to linebackers on the second level, although a couple times it was good. He has great finish when he gets up the DBs on the second level, but to linebackers, it's not as physical enough to the second level.

Now, he is physical, which is weird. So you realize it's just a confidence thing attacking on the angle at the second level because when he's crossing the line of scrimmage to hit a D.N. It's big time. Logan Thomas was to me Count production is a big part of it Not just overall evaluation of a player in this game He was Ney in the past game

He was more like a D plus in the run game I'm grading Logan Thomas A B with a trend upwards on that Just because of the way he did impact this game And a couple of the plays that he made Good I was I was interested Because I thought it was his best game

And I didn't know how you would view the run blocking, but I'm glad you didn't, you know, that you leaned more on the higher side of your, you know, blended grade because of the impact that he made on the game. Yeah. I'm glad to. Good. Sprinkle played a lot of snaps and so did Hemingway in this game. 28 plays in this game. Yeah. Well, they had a lot of three tight end sets in this game because they intended on running the football. They intended on running the football and both sprinkling hemingware involved in a lot of past protection. Still,

with sprinkling, I'd just like to see more physicality at the point of attack. It's just too soft at the point of attack. And I'm not suggesting that he's wimpy. Right. I'm just saying, just go. You got to attack.

You're a big, strong dude, get your hands on guys and run your feet. It's too much position. It's too much ass turn. It's not just enough physicality. Although on a third and one in the game, he did have a great cutoff pushing DB, or the defensive lineman downfield,

gave up one quarterback hit on the Sims 22-yard completion as a pass-pro guy. He wasn't heavily involved in having to do a lot when it came to the run-action pass-pro stuff. Like a lot of times they would line up their end wide over Hemingway and Sprinkle would kind of be alone. And then he would be late to maybe possibly help. He was a C-plus.

Okay. Hemingway, one target, no catches. I did note this on his one target. It was an RPO throw out into the flat. He puts out his left arm like he's going to make a one-handed catch like the dude from Memphis did last night for the Bears. What was that receiver's name? Miller. Miller.

Did you see that catch Miller made? I didn't, but you know how much I love him. Oh, my God. It's this crazy one-handed catch on a third down where he's taken three steps falling. he can never even replace it into his other hand. Elbow hits, ball comes out, but it's possession. They challenged it. It was called incomplete.

They challenged it. It was complete. It was amazing. It's a highlight play. That said, Hemingway, if you only have one catch in the NFL, I'm putting two hands out there for the ball. It was not a good throw, but you can reach out further with two hands, oddly enough. Not good in pass protection throughout the game.

It was beat multiple times. No sustained in pass protection. in the run game a couple times, good connect and run feet through linebackers. Hemingway was a D in this game. So your tight ends, Logan Thomas, really B plus, close to B plus. Jeremy Sprinkle C plus Hemingway D. To your running backs. We'll start with Antonio Gibson.

20 carries 128 yards. One target on a screen, one drop. throughout the game, much better with track as a runner. Great downhill track and he can finish with power. Attacked to the outside, much better to make one cut. And I actually noted with the backs, like, this must have been a absolute point that they were predetermining cutbacks and cutting back too early.

if you want to scroll through your film, it's a second down on the fourth drive, 10 minutes and 50 seconds in the second quarter. There is the biggest cutback of all time. And Gibson stays front side. Second five? Yeah, it's a second down, 1050 left. Fourth drive, you said.

Fourth drive. There's a massive cutback. And he pushes it front side. It's still an okay run, but it's like, I know pushing front side to create the cutback doesn't mean you just have to stay front side. Right. So it's almost an overcorrection to this. You could see they definitely were like, Cooley's been talking about not getting to the front side edge on a lot of these runs. And we know, we're going to get there this week.

And they made a point, a valid point to get to the front side and make linebackers run. And they did. I mean, I was critical of it last week. And I know, you know, you made a huge impact on the run. this week. Right. I feel like I'm helping the team. Honestly, none of that happened.

I mean, they did make a point to get to the front side, though. The dude can get positive yards when nothing's there. I love that. There are times when he'll misread something. Like, you'll bounce trap outside of where trap should hit, and it's a two to three yard gain. You're like, it's still a two to three yard gain. Even though you miss read it, you still got positive yards. I thought in this game a couple, like nice, real subtle roll cuts.

and then a real burst through the hole. You know, the touchdown run that he had, and that's a heck of a burst through the line of space. Yeah, it is. The 40-yard run on the fly sweep deal, that's a big time run, man. Like, that's great speed to the edge. It's a subtle stick and then kind of weave,

make a guy really get out leverage. He's got the open field thing. You know the funny thing about that touchdown run? They were talking about it on the game. the TV broadcast, they're like, yeah, one out of nine touches resulted in a touchdown in Memphis. And here's the play. And now here goes, Gibson. You're like, how do you manage that so timely? Yeah, perfect timing. The play before the 40-yard run, at the Dallas 46, it's tossed left. The receiver, Terry McLaurin, does not really get the crack that they're looking for. But Lucas is still out there rolling to the edge.

Right. And Gibson cuts this back. I see. what he's looking at, but do you not, like 97th to the end, you've got to believe that he can outrun him. It's still probably, he's still probably going to get washed to the sideline. It's not going to be a huge game. But even at that, to get three on this point, it's like, messed up, you still get three.

But this was the play coolly that I said to you yesterday that I made a note thinking about you, thinking about cutting it back too early, and it looks like if he presses the edge, Big Lucas is going to escort him to the sideline for 12 yards. And then as I finish making that note, then he's off for 40 yards on the next play.

But is this an example of him not being not patient enough in pressing the edge? Absolutely. The other thing is you don't cut back toss. Yeah. Pull the tackle. Right. Toss is good to get to the sideline. I see what he sees. Okay. Like he's got color from 97. But so the thing is, is it's like you can't cut that back. The other one that I think he didn't cut back was the play before the Terry McLaren touchdown. So if you want to pull the play up right before the Terry McLaren touchdown, he has the biggest cutback lane of all time. Right.

And that's where I'd note, they made an emphasis this week to make sure, to absolutely make sure, Kev, that they don't cut back too early. Yeah. So if you look at the play before, you got a huge lane behind Morgan Moses, and then Logan Thomas is climbing up to the second level. So it's cut back too early. I mean, whatever, dude. Like, still making yards on some of these.

Oh, yeah, I see the play you're talking about. Yeah. Right. It ends up being a three-yard gain. It's a 15-yard run if he just cuts it back to the time, Morgan Moses. The thing is, is, in the last two weeks, that would have been cut back. Right. I thought Gibson was an A-minus in this game.

McKissick. Peyton Barber. Oh, Peyton Barber. Oh, Peyton Barber. A kid carries for 34 yards. Yeah. Look, I think throughout the game did a good job inside running. again, I wrote the dude can get positive yards when nothing's there.

There's a lot of not a lot there with Peyton Barber where he's getting some of yards. It's not a huge game running the ball. I'm interested that they gave him 10 carries and gave McKissick five. We'll get to that with McKissick, but very interested in that for sure. Look, the Logan Thomas wheel, it's a blitz pickup. He gets punked, pushed down on the wheel route, but still, job done. You're like, a lot of times when the coach, is great us. It was like technique one, job done two. You're like, technique and accomplished in the

right way? No. Did you buy the quarterback enough time to throw the ball? You did. Okay, there we go. I had a great third and one run. Got to show your work. You got to show your work on these math problems. Yeah, you got to show your work. Payton Barber was a C-plus. McIssick. Dude, McKissick had five carries for 35 yards and they were all excellent. I know. They were all excellent. He's a great one-cut zone runner. Love them.

You can run under with under center. McKissick is a great one-cut zone back. He's the best one-cut zone back on this team and it's not close. I agree. If you want to create run-action pass, give McKissick 12 carries a game where he's running zone. And by the way, I love Gibson on Toss. McIssick's better. I know. That's what I said in my recap yesterday. It's like, I know that Gibson had 20 carries for 128 yards. McKissick though, or Gibson, but McKissick to me is quicker. He's more decisive. He's got much better vision.

And by the way, really is elusive. Yeah, he's really elusive. Like there's a second down and two in the third quarter where there's a stunt. The backfield's blown up. He's got nowhere to go and he still gets a first down. Yeah. I think McKissick's the best back on this team. And I love Gibson. I do. I think they can split and it's fine. And I just,

right now for me, you're a zone type team that complements with Gap plays. You've got to keep people honest because you can't see when Gibson's in. He's the Gap runner. But he's the Gap runner. He's the Gap back. McKissick's the zone back.

They should get to some more under center zone stuff with McKissick. He's good. at it. On the second drive of third and six, oh my God, he broke off Jalen Smith so bad. He's running a little out route. He goes one, two at the line of scrimmints. Oh, yeah.

It looks like Jordan Reed. Then he reestablishes hard vertical and then sticks again and breaks out. It is going on my double stick choice real. It's not a choice route, but it's the run, like if you wanted to outbreak a choice It's amazing. And this is really, really good stuff right there. I wrote this down. Watch the impact that, and I want to talk about this play when we get to the offensive

line, but watch the impact that Gibson has, or that McKissick has on some of the run action passes. And then watch it. Well, also watch the impact that he has on the Gibson run for a touchdown. Like he's going back across the backfield. They hold for him. They are, everyone is worried about McKissick. And I'm looking that one up right now.

The Gibson touchdown run, Jalen Smith is like, I'm going to wait here for you. Because do they think it's, do they think it's a, oh yeah, yeah. The eyes are on McKissick. Mm-hmm. Just something to think about. Yeah, down in distance would have, I mean, maybe with McKissick in the slot there, maybe they just think he's, you know, and then he cuts back across the formation. He had another great run.

McKissick did in the fourth quarter on a third and two, big run, huge play. Yeah. That good blitz pick up on the Allen Scramble, the third and nine scramble. Got tackled out of the backfield on a third down by Layton Vanderash that they called pass interference. Yep. I was like, why is the Layton Vanderasch tackling him? That was interesting. Maybe he was so worried about him that he was beat.

Only two targets, two receptions. They were both impactful receptions. carries 35 yards they were all excellent runs. McKissick was an A. I didn't have any negatives from McKissick that I wrote down in this game. Right. I think McKissick is a pretty special player. So your backs, Antonio Gibson A minus Peyton Barber C, plus

McKissick A. McKissick needs more plays. Receivers. Just a really interesting thought real quick on receivers, and I'll make the receivers fairly quick. Inman played 20 plays. Cam Sims played 61. Yeah. And they got guys right now that you have never heard of. Who is Tony Brown and Jeff Bad?

They were called up right before the game. To me, by the way, I think I know the answer to this as to why Cam and why Inman, because they believe Cam's a better blocker, period, and they wanted to run the football. The thing is, is I've been pretty complimentary of Inman. as a blocker is blocking right here here's inman uh 20 plays third and four on the third drive you can pull this up they're at the 49 yard line there's 58 seconds left in the quarter he's running crossing vertical three receivers to the left he's the in most of the three he's attacking vertical to the middle of the field to get to the opposite numbers at 20 yards there's an all-out

blitz in the middle of the field i'm pretty sure alan is trying to throw it to him he's like just look at me i actually wrote down to my notes if If I'm Alan, I'm hitting him in the side of the helmet there. Yeah. I'm just going to bang it into the side of his helmet. Be like, hey, moron. Turn around. You not see that I'm going to get fucking knocked out here.

Could you please turn around? Like, do you have any feel in the middle of the field that you're wide open? I know, wide open. Turn around, dummy. Like, you've got to have that feel. Yeah. You've got to have that presence. You're wide open.

And when the middle of the field vacates, Kevin, it's because they blitzed. Yeah. slow off the ball too many hesitation steps he's been slow off the ball inman was a D in this game sims one target one reception 22 yards um blocked well i did note that and he gets after a little bit now there is one play that's interesting it is a blocker it's on the second drive it's a first and 10 at the 50 yard line he's outside with terry mcclorn they throw a screen to terry mcclorn his job is to run and attack what you would call

number one, the furthest outside corner. He starts at the furthest outside corner and there are two dbs fairly soft. Then he thinks for a second, maybe I'll go block the inside corner and then he stands there and doesn't block either of them. Like pick one. You got to pick one.

You don't just split them and turn around. By the way, zero downgrade for that play on pro football focus. Yeah. Yeah. So too much delay in any of his speed cuts, not enough acceleration out of some of the speed cuts. Not able to slip zone coverage and push vertical. You want like one little bit more burst from Sims.

Not able to attack vertical one-on-one downfield in the go route and separate. Like I said, he did have some great push cracks. Push, I say that like anyone knows. Front side of run plays. He's pushing towards the corner. If the safety comes down, he's got to block him. So he pushes to the corner and then he's got to come crack on the safety. A couple of those, good.

Really good down block on a toss play, which was big time. I thought was consistent. I thought played hard in this game. Great job blocking on the fly sweep for 40 yards. It was actually a pretty cool play. They faked the fly sweep to Cam Sims and then they handed it behind him. And Gibson still gets out of outside. It's crazy.

But Sims did a heck of a job kicking out the corner on that play. On crossing routes through the middle of the field, the deep crossing routes, pretty good. Nice little step in the middle of the field. They call it a stair step. Because if you were to follow his path with the line, it looks like he's stepping up a stair. We talked about this play with Alan on the third night scramble.

Great run through contact there, potential huge play. And he did have the one catch on a deep cross that I thought was underthrown a little bit. Cam Sims was a seat in this game. Okay. Terry McLaurin. Yes. The positives.

I mean, it's great on the touchdown. He just runs right by the DB. It's not special. But here's the thing. When you've caught 100 slants because a DB can't cover them, then you get that play. His ability to run some of that underneath stuff and win that created that play. I talked about Allen earlier today,

had a chance on an out and up that he threw away. Terry is not a good salesman on double moves. It's a bad out and up. You've been talking about that all year. But still, he, does create enough where you are going to get a 50-50 shot. Like it's not like he gets smoked here. Some of these double moves, you got to suck on the first move.

It's got to be a suck move. Terry doesn't want to, even his first move, I did this too. I was a terrible double move runner because I ran the first part of the route to win two. I'm going to win on the first part and then I'm going to really win on the second part. It's like, no, no, no. You can lose on the first part. So the DB thinks he's going to jump in front of your route. And then you win on the second part. Had a contested catch on a second and 15.

I think after the delay of the game to make it the third and nine, that that was a big catch. And a huge catch on a third and 11 in the third quarter. Huge play. Great speed cut there. I had a big, and nice play on a crossing route in front of Vander Esh. 11 targets, seven receptions for Terry McLaurin. Oh, I also noted the third and two, the second effort to try to get to the goal end was big.

I thought it was a nice catch out in the flat early in the game, the first drive. But I think his flat route, for me, if I'm coaching this, it's an angle more towards two yards into the end zone than it is to the two yard line. The angle, when you set that angle a little higher, makes it an easier throw for the quarterback. and then he can still flatten you out, but you're not catching it for a one-yard reception. A lot of coaches and systems vary on how they coach their flat routes. I didn't down very, Terry, for that. The negatives for Terry.

Poor alignment and crack block. We talked about that play that was cut back too early, we thought, with Gibson. Terry can get that crack block done, but on that play, he has five yards outside the defensive end, and he is trying to pin or crack a defensive end. You can't get to it from five yards. You've got to be tighter. That's just bad alignment.

He can get that play down. It's just not great alignment. Late in the game, he got his face crossed on a slant route by Diggs. And I just promise you Diggs was waiting all day to beat him across his face on a slant route. Like, it's not a Diggs is jumping slant. And I just wrote this. There are times especially on outbreaking routes and especially to, outbreaking routes to his left, which, or even ends to his left, he's great at planting

off his right foot. Everything breaking to his right is measured. And it's almost like he's got one half short step breaking to his right because it's off his left foot. He's very right-handed. I know this for a very specific reason. So was I. He's faster than me. He does things better than I do as a route runner but he reminds me of a little bit of the i see how i felt when i run routes kind of when i watch terry interesting like i think speed cut and roll cut when he's breaking right in or out breaking to his right measure left fluid hey terry was a b plus in this game your receivers sim c in mid d terry b plus you need a receiver right now real bad Stevenson Jr.

I don't know when he's getting back. Do you try to find one before the trade deadline? It's just, wow, I'm watching all these receivers around the league. She's putting up massive numbers. Nobody, like Fulgram in Philadelphia, just putting up baller numbers. You're like, how can we not get one of these dudes? Trust me, I'm sure there are some debates right now going on with the scouting department, the coaching staff.

there's got to be. Right. There's got to be. But they need a guy that can get over the top. They do not have it. All right. That's such an interesting thing to say when most of our fans believe that Terry McLaurin is one of the best deep threats in the NFL.

They just can't get him the ball enough. He's very good. I'm not suggesting that you've said anything other than that he's a very good receiver. but not a great double-moved guy, and they need more at that position. You've said that from the jump. Look, Stephen Sims, Jr., if he comes back, is going to give him another playmaker at wide receiver.

But I think you're looking for something even better than that, right? Yeah. No, absolutely right. And maybe Kelvin Harmon would have been that guy. Maybe. Kevin Harmon is not a stretch-the-field guy. I'm not saying stretch-the-field guy, but maybe he would have been a much-

better compliment and and player although didn't you think he was going to play tight end maybe you did no I didn't think he was going to play tight end I just kept telling him he'd be a better hback than he would a receiver need to look like that all right let's take a break for a quick word from a sponsor and coolly will finish up with the offensive line the offensive line film breakdown from the cowboy's game you want to start right to left you want to start left to right I don't care cornelius Lucas I swear to God he's huge I didn't even know that Geron Christian wasn't playing. I never realized it.

Like more than halfway through this game, I'm like, that's 78, not 74. There's some plays that could have been bad plays. They ended up working out for him. There's a rush where I swear, it's a everyone's out. It's an empty set. He's looking at the dude over Schweitzer. Alden Smith is, there's no way he's looking at Alden Smith. I can't tell you what he's seen.

And Alden Smith kind of just runs into him a bit and the ball's out. It is a slack take effort by Alden Smith. This should have been a sack. He passed off stunts well in this game. Him and Switzer were able to pass off stunts. There's no doubt about this. They were much better at that. He also had a couple good blocks on the edge.

Again, the blocks getting done on the edge. They're stretching it. It's a zone play that gets outside just to tackle. And I'm like, that's a good wait. What is the DN for Dallas doing? He was awkward. He's very awkward and unbalanced out in space. He's not necessarily fluid and he's not necessarily quick off the ball.

Doesn't run his feet through contact. A lot of jobs done, though, for Cornelius Lucas. I actually talked to Donald Penn this week. You did? Your Utah State buddy. But he's just eight, buddy's like, why aren't they signing me? Oh, really? He still wants to play?

Yeah, I think so. Cornelius Lucas was actually pretty good as a pass blocker. Like, there were not a lot of pressures given up by Lucas, which is weird because all the tests out there a lot of the time. Marcus Lawrence plays for them, but he was pretty good. He was just okay in the run game, C-plus Lucas. Switzer. Yeah.

There is some physicality from Switzer that when he hones technique a little bit is going to be really awesome. Like there's, I should have wrote the play number, but I didn't. He takes a safety and takes him 20 yards downfield. I get, trust me, I get it. It's an offensive line, offensive line dude against the safety. But so many times you see them get thrown off or get shed or kind of stop and just sit there and hold, nope, he walks him 20 yards down the field. It's awesome. Nice. Actually, I did. I did write it down. It's the fourth drive. It's a first and 10. It's a first and 10. All right.

On the fourth drive, walks up 20 yards downfield. Good finish throughout, man. Great finish. And you look at the Gibson touchdown run. Again, on the safety, he's got to go hard outside to get him, but he ensures the double team first. He gets the double team integrity done, and then it's this real hard, awesome angle out to the safety.

They stretch it. I just pulled up the Schweitzer play on the Gibson three-yard run. I mean, Gibson's tackled. He's still driving the guy down the field. Good for him. Out of the film. Yeah. It takes you completely out of the film.

It's awesome. A couple negatives. Miss Lawrence on a run action pass. He's the pulling guard, so he's going out to the opposite side of the field. He goes so flat and Lawrence is up the field and forces a throwaway. When you're pulling in play action, you've got to pull with depth. Actually, not a good polar in general. Should he pull on a Gibson run for 40?

Like, that Gibson run for 40, I have no idea what's like. We're doing. It looks like they're coaching it, so he would turn and pin him inside, like called log him. Mm-hmm. Log block, because you're rolling around him. Oh, that's why it's called a log because logs roll. Log, block is rolling. Yeah, logs roll.

He got a job done, though. Dude didn't make the play. Not awesome footwork, especially on the backside of things, can be too vertical. But at the same time, man, somehow he's getting back into blocks. I like Schweitzer. actually I like him a lot. You've said that a couple times this year. I thought he was to be in this game.

Okay. But I see enough to him. Like, he's nasty. All right. He's got a line and I want. Chase Ruey. He played his best game by far. Multiple times one-on-one with some of the zone stuff,

front-side reaches on their de-tackles, taking them six, seven yards out of the play. There were plays where they look like Kendall Ray has played for them. I swear to you, their defensive line did not give two shits in this game. They played soft and slow. I mean, Rui, He's never going to be out of your mind. He's the worst, not Ruey.

Kendall Reyes is never going to be out of your mind. You told them not to sign him. You pled with them. Please, don't do this. Big mistake. He's awful. He's awful. He can't.

Rie was really good in pass protection, really consistent throughout the entire game. I don't think gave up any pressures in this game. Again, this keeps coming up. The thing you'd like to see more with Ruey is finish in the run game and sustain and finish. gets out of position a little bit. He gets his head down a little bit and he doesn't finish blocks. He's good initially, but he gets out of position a bit.

But really, for most part, I thought was an A in this game. I thought Rueh played really, really well. Brandon Sheriff also played really well. Pull up the third play of the game. The third play of the game, there is a double team with Moses on 79. Dude, Sheriff throws him out of the bar. Like, here, let me grab me by your shirt and see it. Get out of the bar.

It's great. awesome pin block on the detackle on the Gibson run for 40 yards on the first drive when you get done watching the third play of the game where they just yeah i just i just watched it i just watched it move on to the second drive oh my god he gets to vanderish yeah he is athletic isn't he sheriff yeah yeah yeah move on to the second drive where they throw a screen play to terry it's a five-yard gain it's the one i was talking about where cam sims yeah yeah i got it i got anybody yeah at midfield fucking engulfs the db

i mean this is this is assault on a football field like you could just see him get the dude in his sights and accelerate through him i mean oh yeah that one does not feel good

um much better with his hands and his feet good wash good job getting up to the second level i thought brandon sheriff also consistent pass protection was an a in this game well morgan moses some really positive plays for morgan mose us, like the first Gibson touchdown run where he gets a turn and pin and creates a huge lane. Tremendous. So big time double teams with Sheriff.

You're like, this dude's a big positive place. The thing is, is there's some poor negative plays. So that kind of weighs on it. He was a little bit banged up in this game, wasn't he? I forget when he came out and when he went back in, you know, because that guy Sharp came in, I think, for a little bit. Yes, seven plays he played in this game. But what I'm talking about here with Moses, and you can see banged up, I've been really high on when they run zone to him without a tight end. He's able to stretch the D-end.

Right. Well, it's a second five on the first drive. He's trying to stretch the defensive end. And he's attacking hard to the outside shoulder. And Baldwin Smith just up and unders him. This is a full-on Nolan Ryan, no hitter. Like, whoop, buy you. by you kid

this is what I would say you got to watch film on a lot of these guys there are a lot of guys that will play contain true contain responsibility sound and there are some that a wild card you like deuces is wild he goes under man right so that's a film watch situation like Alden Smith is a wild card player

he does weird shit sometimes there were a couple times we allowed more pressure than I would like to see throughout the game. Smith is also, Smith at one point fakes this inside stunt, pauses almost stops and then reaccelerates and beats him around the edge.

Smith's an interesting player to watch. Yeah. So to me, Morgan was a C-plus, but throughout this game, I can find seven plays where you're like, especially in the run game, where you're going, that's outstanding. It's just I can find seven plays

where you're going, no. Like there's a toss outside of the right. He ducks his head and he just like a bowl with a red flag. See you later. Before we finish up, give me two minutes, no more on Scott Turner's game plan of trying to come out and run the football. Why you think there was a change in it? Was it the Dallas defense and their terrible run defense? give me a minute to two minutes on Scott Turner and whether or not they were schemed up much better here this week.

Okay. And as I give you that minute, I want you to pull up one play. Okay. And I want to talk about this one play, which I think is a big time play in this game. It is a – let me get the exact number. It is three minutes in a second left in the third quarter. a first in 10, the ball's on the 25. They're running outside zone with a purpose to get to the edge.

Did you say third quarter? Yep. Okay. They're running outside zone with a real purpose to get to the edge, and they're doing a heck of a job. Ruey's really scooping and moving lateral and vertical at the same time. Switzer's doing a heck of a job posting, getting into the second level.

Our guy, Cornelius Lucas, who's played for 19 teams, does a good enough job, at least getting out. outside and pushing. Sheriff gets a quick pin. Moses is up on a great angle. McIssick, heck of a cut. Like it cuts back inside, but this is more like an outside zone play. And to me, throughout the game, they were much more aware offensive line-wise of angles to backers, angles to stretch a defensive line, backs pushing front side to get backers to run. When backers didn't run, great job not allowing them to fall backside into plays. And ultimately, I thought the difference in game plan was the difference in how they ran the football. They found ways to get to the edge. They had three or

four tosses in this game and they had run plays where they stretched it to the outside. They haven't done that. I actually think it's hysterical that I said my key to the game was that they run to the edge on Friday with you. And they did run to the edge. Like there hasn't been a solid point of we have to get it to the edge. But when you watch how everybody's played them, because they haven't got it to the edge, backers are falling back into the place and they're not displacing them from some of their coverage areas.

So give me a grade on Scott Turner because you're starting to break up before we finish. I think Scott Turner was a B-plus in this game. There you go. I think they addressed some of the problems, though, with what they have going on. I don't know until they get a true stretch the field threat if you can get enough big plays. They're not a big play offense.

No, they're not. But they are a move to chains offense the last two weeks against inferior opponents, but we'll see what happens when they come back off the break against an inferior opponent again in the New York Giants, who aren't as terrible as maybe the Cowboys were. That's for sure. tomorrow the defensive film breakdown great job i'll talk to you tomorrow morning see you kevin