The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cooley Offensive Film-Dallas

Episode Date: December 2, 2020

Cooley and Kevin opened with a discussion about the state of Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles. Cooley then did a "film breakdown" of the offense from last week's win over Dallas.  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.

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We're the Washington football team destroyed Dallas. We got his recap as part of the Friday show. But before we get to that today, I actually had somebody on from Philadelphia. this morning, the guy that writes and covers the Eagles for the athletic, Zach Berman, just because there was this story coolly yesterday about Doug Peterson being in trouble, like Doug Peterson saying he hasn't even received assurances that he will be here through the rest of the year. And I thought that was just shocking.

And, of course, their performance the other night against Seattle, you know, take away the incredible backdoor cover that Philadelphia got on the Hail Mary at the end and then the two-point conversion was really abysmal offensively. Carson Wentz is a mess offensively, and it would look, you know, to me anyway, I think Philadelphia is out of it, even though they're only a half game, you know, behind Washington and New York, with the Packers coming up and the Saints coming up and the Cardinals coming up before they finish with Dallas and Washington. I just don't see it with them, even though Peterson, you know, in the past has gotten it done at the end of the year. Isn't that shocking to you?

Twofold, one Peterson and then two, you know, how Carson Wentz has regressed so incredibly? Yeah, really, it is shocking to me. I think that you look at them and you really think that they're a team that should be there. It's been three years since that Super Bowl run, and they have been really average, if not bad, for the most part, over the last couple years. and you can attribute a ton of it to injuries, and I'm sure they can do that as well this year. The Wentz thing is, I think, fascinating. As I watched that game the other night,

I thought, if you could get that dude and there was value in Carson Wentz that it wasn't a first-round pick, my God, I think he's still a good quarterback. If something's missing there, and I mean, we can get into that this season, but something's missing with coaching, and maybe it's the last.

loss of Frank Reich, maybe it's the loss of Di Filippo, or Flipp, as everyone calls him, so I'm sure it's Filippo. Because those are two excellent coaches, and now you're talking about a quarterback and a third different quarterbacks coach or offensive coordinator, and granted, I think Peterson calls off a plays,

but still, like, to have that transition from two guys that he probably loved to trust it to go to a third dude is not an easy thing. I don't know, man. I mean, I thought, as I watched it, Carson Wentz would be a phenomenal pickup for anybody

who's into the quarterback. I had a feeling you were going to say that. I just, I do, I think there's something to him. I know that he turns the ball over a ton right now and that there's been some risk plays, but there's also so many high reward plays from Wentz, and I do think he's a smart quarterback. The Peterson thing is really, it really is fascinating.

And I think we talked about this the other day. It's like this immediate spark creativity comes from Andy Reid's system. And then all of the sudden, it's not there. The Eagles were so creative three years ago, and Nagy and the Bears were so creative two years ago. And both of those coaches, after they went through their first offensive coordinator

and their first initial staff, it's like, bleh. I'm not impressed by either of those offenses with any form of continued innovators. So maybe that's a lot of Andy Reid. And maybe you're worried about how good Andy is. And maybe the other guys are, I don't know, man. No, it's a strange situation because as I was talking to this guy from Philadelphia, and he was saying several things that made sense.

Number one, they have been a very injured team this year offensively, especially, you know, up front, you know, Brandon Brooks and the other offensive linemen that they've lost during the course of the year. They were without Jason. You know, Jason Peters had to get moved. The offensive line's been a disaster. They haven't had Zach Ertz. Their skill position players have been primarily more out than in.

Well, nonexistent. Yeah. And, you know, but then he pointed to something that really is interesting because, you know, he said, look, they haven't drafted particularly well in recent years. They took, you know, JJ Arsego-Whiteside. in the third round, I guess, two years ago or second round, when there were guys like McLaurin out there. It's easy to say that.

Now, they took Jalen Rager this year, the pick before the Vikings took Justin Jefferson, who could be the, you know, NFC rookie of the year. They took a quarterback in the second round, and Jalen Hertz this year. So he thinks there's a lot of blame to go around. But, you know, if you put that side by side with the following, Doug Peterson, first of all, they won the Super Bowl in 2017. They then went to the playoffs in 2018, and let's not forget in that particular season,

they got hot at the end of the year, won three games in a row to get there, and they had foals again, the Bears missed a field goal in the playoffs, and then, you know, for them to advance in the first round. And then they had New Orleans dead to right in that divisional round game to get back to the NFC championship game. They were very close to getting back to the NFC championship game. And then last year, you know, Peterson, in his third consecutive year, they win their final four games of the regular season. They advanced to the postseason. By the way, Wentz had a good season last year.

He had a very good season last year. It wasn't like it was just that year where he was on his way to the MVP when Foles replaced him and they won the Super Bowl. Carson Wentz last year ended up. throwing 27 touchdowns and seven picks for the season. Like he had a really good season last year, completed 64% of his passes, threw for over 4,000 yards.

They win their final four games last year, and then he got hurt in the playoff game against Seattle. I thought, and I remember saying this, you know, in watching that game, it's funny, that playoff game last year against Seattle was very similar to the Monday night game they played the other night, that if he didn't get hurt, I think Philadelphia would have won that playoff game. And they would have been into the divisional round, the final four of the NFC, once again.

And here we are, you know, less than a year later. And they're talking about Peterson being gone and wents, you know, being finished somehow. It's so funny about the NFL. We just, like, you just brought up Matt Nagy. The year they went to the postseason and they beat the Eagles, or they lost to the Eagles, excuse me, in the first round of the postseason when their kicker, a short field goal at the end of the game. They were talking about Nagy, how innovative he was,

and how he'd used Tribisky, and how the Bears were going to be a good team for years to come. It's just such, it's just proven every year that the league changes so dramatically year to year, if not week to week. I mean, the Nagy thing, to some extent, the Peterson thing, really, the way I'm saying this to you is I think there's some lack of innovation is I love to go around the league and just watch the film.

And sometimes you start in the first quarter. It's usually where I like to start kind of first quarter stuff. Week and week out, in 2017, 2018, man, I drew up a ton of bears played Eagles. I'm like, these dudes got some good stuff. Yeah, right. Easy throws. And this last couple years, I'm like, eh, recycle. Copycat.

I mean, it really has seemed like a recycle environment in those two teams. and I don't, but Chiefs aren't, you go watch the Chiefs and you're like, oh boy, look at this stuff. So, I don't know. I mean, do you blame, I don't know if I blame Peterson to some extent. I mean, you said what that guy's been talking about,

but no Wayne Johnson, no Jason Peters has been hurt, but I mean, you have to start moving on from a guy like that. The other dude, Brandon Brooks, is a really good guard. He's hurt. They signed to Sean Watson. You knew he was going to get hurt. He's always hurt. Alshon Jeffrey's an injury problem guy.

I mean, he's been a problem. They've had a huge contract with Wentz, but you had to pay him a contract, so you've got to work around him. You draft a guy like Rager who's hurt, a big part of this year. I mean, is it Folt, is it, is it Howie Roseman, or is it Doug Peterson? Yeah, I, um... The funny thing about all of this is the staple of the Eagles through every part of it has been their defense. I think it's a really good defense right now. Zach Berman covers the team said they've had some moments where they've been part of the issue.

But, you know, I was watching the other night, man. And I'm like, God, they've got good players on defense. I mean, like Derek Barnett's turning into a big time, you know, player. He was a first round pick. Let's not forget. And I see. Tennessee, right? Derek Barnett was Tennessee, yeah.

And Jim Schwartz is a good defensive coordinator. You know, he's always gotten it done. But, you know, the other thing about Carson Wentz, and I think I said this yesterday, I had Galdi on the podcast yesterday, and he really does have the yips. You know, he's very skittish. He feels like he's going to get sacked. It seems like on every dropback, sometimes when there isn't even pressure there, he is acting as if there's pressure there.

and then as a thrower, he's been wildly inaccurate. Mm-hmm. I just don't know if it's him. If he has to, you could see disappointment on his face throughout. I know. It's just killing him right now. Like, I actually do think he's a competitor. I do, too.

He cares, and I know he knows he's got it. That's the crazy thing. He knows he's got it. It's not, I don't know. Can you imagine if they're a really interesting team? but to your point, they backdoored into the playoffs, Alaska. They could still backdoor into this division. They just got to find a way to win a couple games.

They could. His contract, you know, basically they're out is after next year, not this year with him. But it's funny that you said what you said, because I kind of feel the same way. And I think I said this yesterday, that if for whatever reason they decided to move on from him, let's just say Philadelphia ended up going 3, 12, and 1. Like they lost out, which is a possibility. They could. And they ended up having a top five pick.

And they had a chance at, you know, Zach Wilson or Justin Fields after Trevor Lawrence went. And they decided to go quarterback, you know, after, by the way, taking Jalen Hertz in the second round. And they tried to move. It would be hard to move Carson Wentz in that contract right now. next year, he is a cap hit of $34 million next year. But a lot of that obviously would be a Philadelphia cap hit.

The team that you traded him to, you'd be picking up that base salary of $15 million. And you might have to eat some of the cap for the Eagles in a move. But I'm with you. Like if he became available and I did not have an answer at quarterback, I would certainly. I wouldn't second get to it. I wouldn't even second guess it. And I wouldn't care if I...

The injury thing, though, would bother me. He's gotten injured a lot. The injury thing is going to bother you and the potential to have to negotiate a new contract to the other thing that's going to bother you. But if you really believe that he's the guy and he has a healthy season, it wouldn't hurt you to eat the cap next to eat. Well, he's under contract for 2024. But the out opportunity where, you know, the dead cap money and the remaining base salary.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the eagle's out opportunity. Exactly. Correct. I think he's a good player. I do. I think he's a good player. I know he's struggling right now.

I know the Eagles are struggling. They have massive glaring issues across that offense, where they're a JV offense to some extent. And I'm not saying the Carson wants to playing great, and I'm not saying that Peterson's making great calls for them. But the other thing that's crazy about Peterson is like this whole risk force-down thing. Oh, God. I'm all about it.

But like when you need two scores at the end of the game, in one of them could be a field goal, don't go for it on fourth down. Get the field goal. It was, we went through this yesterday. The net of it is they had two fourth downs in the fourth quarter with an offense. It was struggling. And, you know, it was 17 to 9 the first time, a defense that was playing well against Seattle. And actually, you know, at times made Seattle look like a two-man team, which was actually I thought Chris Carson ran well. And I thought, you know, but D.K. Metcalf and Russell Wilson are really, you know, spectacular players.

I mean, God, is Metcalf good? No doubt. Boy, did you whiff on Metcalf. Anyway. No, you know what it was funny. Somebody actually treated me today because, I don't know, someone on ESPN or something talked about Mattcalf, and they said his route treat still really limited. Metcalfs is? Like, yeah, I think he can do about it, whatever anyone wants. him to do right now. Yeah.

And, oh, hey, if his only route to go ball and he catches it about two out of three times, he's going to be on my team. Yeah, no, you are you were right, but that was what I whisked on in college, too, is you just didn't see him do anything.

No, and think about... Besides, run vertical, and obviously he ran with the ball really well, but you just didn't see it. And I whiffed. You know, too bad. I mean, he and A.J. Brown, on the same team. That's really...

I know. And AJ Brown, and I think part of why I didn't like Metcalf was because when you watched Ole Miss, AJ Brown was a freaking machine. Yeah, he was. Like that dude, Old Miss ran every route.

He was all over, like, he falls to the wall, every play, and then you're like, and then there's this other fast dude here. And he is really fast. Like, he watched AJ Brown on the same film,

and you're like, yeah, this isn't even a decision here. Yeah, I'm going, I'm going back to that year to see what they did against Bama with the two of them. D.K. had like an 80-yard reception on the first series of the game. First player two of the game.

Good. Excellent memory. 75-yard touchdown pass, and that was the only touchdown for Ole Miss. They lost 62 to 7. A.J. Brown had four catches, and D.K. Metcalfe. had two. and their quarterback wasn't very good no not that year you're right

he was not very good at all that was the other thing that was hard to watch that film that quarterback was horrendous yeah one last thing yeah I don't know on the Eagles man well here's my last thing on Philadelphia

if I didn't say it yesterday I think they're done like I don't I mean anything nothing will surprise obviously in the NFL especially in this division this year but there is no chance in my opinion that they can beat Green Bay or New Orleans.

Now, I don't know. If Tayson Hill is the quarterback, you know, the Saints here for a couple of games have gotten a bit lucky, right? They played the Falcons with Taysam Hill as the starter, and they played the Broncos who were a very good defensive team. And actually, New Orleans was struggling to move the football. It was all the, it was the lack of Denver offense with the, you know, with no quarterbacks and the turnovers.

That was a bad deal. I mean, Taysom Hill was nine. of 16 for like 70 yards or something like that in that game. The other dude was one of nine. Yeah, the other dude was one of nine. He had more interceptions than completions. But I guess, you know, if Drew Breeze isn't back for that game, I guess the Eagles could beat the Saints.

There's no chance they beat the Packers this week, I don't think. So the point is that, I mean, like the guy this morning was saying, look, if they can steal one of the next three, you know, it's the way we talk as NFC East teams this year, right? In looking at the brutal schedule of playing, by the way, the NFC, of playing the NFC West and the AFC North. I mean, that's what we've had this year as the NFC. We've had the two toughest divisions in football as part of each team's schedule, which, by the way, is part and parcel to the terrible records. I mean, terrible teams or bad teams, yes, but part of the reason that the records in the NFC East are so bad,

and I don't know that this has really been pointed out, but it's true that the NFC East got in their rotation and their schedule rotation, the NFC West and the AFC North, the two best divisions in football. In fact, really the two best divisions in football, and it's not even close. So Philadelphia, you know, like back to the, they got to steal one. They got to steal Green Bay, New Orleans, or Arizona to get to four, listen, four nine and one heading into their final two games, and then they would have to beat Dallas and Washington, because I do think six, nine, and one would probably do it.

But I don't think they'll get to six. That's three more wins for them. They're not good enough to win three more games. Could be my famous last NFC East words for the year. Then they should release Alex Smith right this second. Yeah. Man, the public is all over Green Bay, minus nine, all over. Are they?

Have you already looked at that? I haven't looked at that, actually. I'm looking at covers.com right now. Oh, Covers. I mean, Green Bay is a nine-point favorite. Nine-point favorite over Philly. Actually, I don't know. I mean, you know, Philly got the backdoor cover against Seattle on Monday night.

One more thing real quickly before we get to Kooley's film breakdown. And that is that today at 340 this afternoon, Wednesday at 340, I kept saying Tuesday earlier this morning on the radio show. You had a headache. I was compromised this morning, but I didn't say anything about it on the air. But it's the return of RG3. And Cooley, I did. It was actually funny today.

For those that didn't listen to the radio show this morning, basically I did a show that featured the two most polarizing quarterbacks of the last decade for the Washington football team. Started with a lot of talk about RG3 and then ended with a lot of talk about Kirk Cousins, because I did it with Galdi here, but I had somebody from Minnesota on the show who said that basically Kirk with the fan base there is as polarizing maybe. He said maybe not as much in Washington. But this guy was of the mindset. It's like, look, you can't get caught up in all these narratives.

You've got to look at the actual games and what happens. Anyway, I'm not going to spend any time on that. I promise. That's it on Kirk. But today is an opportunity for Robert Griffin III to play a game that means. matters for the first time since 2016. He has not played. He started as the Brown starter to start the 2016 season, got hurt in that opener against

Philadelphia, actually, and really hasn't played as a starter in a game that's mattered since. And really, if you want to talk about a game with like big time stakes, it's been since 2012. And today he's going to start a game at Heinz Field on a Wednesday afternoon at 340, where they're going to be relying on him to play well. They need this game. They're 10-point underdog. They're in a playoff fight right now.

Now, Baltimore's schedule. We've looked at schedules here in the NFC East. I don't know that anybody's got an easier schedule than the Ravens have the rest of the way. After the game with the Steelers, they get the Cowboys, then they get the Browns on a Monday night. They finish with Jacksonville, the Giants, and the Bengals. So they're probably going to figure out a way to get to the Post. season. But how do you think Robert Griffin III will play today? I will tell you, you know, he has already tweeted like five times today. All right, already God is good all the

time. Please help out my foundation, make life better for military vets underprivileged youth victims of domestic abuse. And, you know, it's the RG3 Foundation tweet, which is great. And yesterday, Faith makes things possible, not easy. If it was easy, everyone would do it. So it's his, you know, he's into every day putting out some sort of inspirational tweet. That aside, this is the first real game. He started the finale last year when they were already, when they sat all their starters against the Steelers because they were 14 and 1, or 13 and 2. How do you think he'll play today? not well

why I don't think he's a good quarterback that's why he's playing the best defense in football it's a bad match for Baltimore as it is anyway because the Steelers run defense is outstanding

they're not going to put him in a lot of really advantageous situations or I would bet because of second and nine second and eight third and six plus I don't think he sees the field incredibly well. I think Pittsburgh's had a ton of time to prepare this game plan. I mean, obviously, they understand. You didn't understand exactly who you were going to get a quarterback, but it's

arrested Pittsburgh defense. I think it's like a 12 of 29, 12 or 28 for 150 yards, two picks. I mean, they're compromised too, obviously, with all the COVID-19. prediction as it stands, but I don't. Honestly, I will tell you this. I know everyone thinks that I dislike Robert. He's so intriguing. I don't dislike Robert. I just don't believe in him as a really good starting quarterback. I would love to see him light it up. It would be a great story. I would. If he lights it up, it will be so much fun to watch that game tonight. You know, the last time... I have no agenda is what I'm saying.

I know you don't. The last time they played the Steelers, that game was all about turnovers. Baltimore had 265 yards rushing in the game against the Steelers. Dobbins had 113. He's not going to play today. Gus Edwards is no Mark Ingram today, but there was no Mark Ingram in the last game either. Jackson had 65 yards on the ground, but Jackson had two picks and two fumbles, and that was the game. they lost 2824.

So they did run the football. It'll be interesting to see Griffin take over Jackson's role as a dual threat quarterback and see if he can hold up and see if he can perform from a rush standpoint at the same level. You know, to be honest with you, Cooley, I just had this thought. Griffin may throw the football better than Jackson in terms of a pure thrower of the football. I mean, maybe there are some similarities there. I never thought Griffin was a poor passer when you would suck the linebackers in off of a reed option, pull and drop back, you know, the route that they, the drift route that they ran 89% of the time.

I always thought he was accurate on a lot of those throws. He was. He let it go. He let it go. I went back. We did this. I think I did this with you. I did a film breakdown of part of the 2012 season of Robert. And he didn't see too much, man. He would let the ball go. No, there's some interesting storylines of this. I mean, in general, the Ravens, like, who are they playing? Pull up the Ravens on our left. I don't know if they have a tied end active this week. Well, I mean, they have, they've got 16. I think it's now, I think it's now, 16 players. It was 20. I think it's 16 now. As of this morning, the latest was that Dobbins and

Ingram are not going to play. There was discussion overnight that they would play, that they were going to be pulled off the COVID-19 list. So they've got Gus Edwards and Justice Hill, who's played a little bit. Is Andrews playing? I'm sorry? Is Mark Andrews playing? I forget. Is Andrews healthy anyway? He may have been... Well, it was the other dude who I think is really good that broke his leg. Let me just see if they've got on our lads. No, Mark Andrews test positive November 29th as the Ravens COVID list shows. Yeah, he's on the COVID-19 list.

They don't have it. Now you're talking about a team that can really run the ball. I've really credited that organization because of the way they built it to run the ball. They had two years ago, they had three great tight ends or a year ago. They had three great sets ends. Hayden Hurst went in free agency. The other dude, who I love and can never think of his name, broke his leg in that gruesome leg injury.

And now Andrews is not. They don't have a tight end active tonight. You know what I'm looking at? I'm looking at our lads right now. I'm not. I'm looking at an inactive list, right? Oh, because the RLads updated, you know, today or last night, I'm sorry, does not have a 12 players.

They don't have a tight. unlisted. No. Yeah. Des Bryant may start today for them. It's a long shot. They might line him up and play him at tight end.

They're big enough. They're 10 and a half point underdogs. Well, you know what? What it does, it creates even more, the opportunity. If Griffin can somehow play great and lose by a field goal at the gun, 3128, but he was outstanding

or pull off the upset, it may be the day that he creates a third part to his professional football career. One last opportunity somewhere next year is a starter. This would be amazing. You realize that Baltimore right now has D-Ly linemen practicing on the offensive line. It's a mess. They're probably not going to have 53 guys active. I bet you they have a linebacker that's going to play tight end this week.

Chris Ward's probably going to play tight end for them. Pittsburgh's missing some players too. Gokway is actually lining up at tight end this week. They really should, I mean, it'll be interesting. I don't know if they should play this game. James Connor, Stefan Tewitt, and somebody else, they're without on the COVID-19 list. I'm wondering if Anthony McFarland, you know,

was that back out of Maryland, if he's going to get more of an opportunity. They usually, they like to play Snell. Actually, I think Snell would be a great full-time back somewhere else. Defensively, though, they're healthy, it would appear, and that's a problem for Baltimore. Anyway, all right, let's get to Cooley's belated film breakdown of the Thanksgiving Day game right after this word from one of our sponsors. We're going in-depth, play-by-play.

The Cooley Film Breakdown. Here's Cooley and Kevin. Coolie's film breakdown today will focus on the offense from the 41-16 win over the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. We'll do some defense tomorrow and then we'll get prepared for the game. NFL weekend on Friday and then preview Washington, Pittsburgh, on Monday, more likely than not. That's the schedule, as of now, always subject to change. I was going back through the film breakdown list that I have from every game, because I'm keeping a list of every single grade for every single player. And we had missed a game earlier this year, if you recall, because...

On defense. because it was the day that Haskins got benched. And so we decided to focus on that as the primary part of the show and pass on the defensive film breakdown. Last week we missed Cincinnati, but you know what? It was probably the game to miss. There wasn't a whole hell of a lot to it.

But the win over Dallas was one of the more enjoyable wins, you know, over the last few years, if you're a Washington fan like I am and like you are. and so let's go let's do the offense and start with the quarterback Alex Smith well let's start with the offense real quick I first of all I thought that they did a really good job mixing up some of the pre-snap stuff some of the motions that they use some of the shift they at one point they shifted a bus with three or four guys from tight into empty they end up getting a matchup with Terry McLorn on an inside linebacker if they were trying to run

birds but they took it Terry with a matchup on Vandrash like that's smart stuff right there I thought it turned to do a pretty good job with that. The touchdown run in the fourth quarter, it's not the last touchdown run. It's the one before that. I just wanted to walk through this play because I haven't necessarily seen this exact look, and I love it. I literally, I wrote down like, this is my favorite play design of the year from Washington. So it's the first and ten at the 23-yard line.

it ends up being a gun run and anybody that's watching you understand that they're predominant gun team so they're really running like a weak side zone play so you're running a tight zone at the open tackle to the left

but they hop the back Gibson behind the quarterbacking gun but slightly to its right it's almost like a modified pistol and it's funny as I'm sitting here watching this. I'm sitting there thinking, you know, people really don't move their back enough in gun situations.

Like the back's always betting by the quarterback. You could put the back anywhere in the hell you wanted him back there in the back field. Really, it's interesting. I'll bet more teams start doing this more. The reason you like moving your back and adjusting your back where you don't know exactly where he's going to be is because it creates a conflict with the numbers count for a defense. is it a three-man side on the right? Is it a four-man side on the left?

What exactly is the number count when the back is in that gray area? And so they hop the back and he kind of just gets right behind Alex on the right. It's cool. So then he starts this downhill track to the right side. The runs really a zone run to the left. He starts this downhill track to the right side. And it holds the inside backer enough that the double team between Ruey and Switzer is able to get right up to Jalen Smith on that double team.

On the open tackle side, it's Morgan Moses. They actually passed at him, and he entices the passers up field. So instead of blocking zone to that side, it's like a delay, and it's more, it's not draw, but it's more delayed because the back's coming from that gun set. So he doesn't have to aggressively attack. The back has time to push that downhill and then make a cut inside of him. You're just having that left tackle basically keep a shot. strong inside hand. That really, that's the hardest block on front side zone is to really push

that defensive end so you can stretch them and make a cut. So instead of really trying to push the defensive end, you just can tie them up field. They go three receivers to the other side, but when they go three receivers to the other side and they hop the back, now Dallas rotates their strong safety. They rotate coverage to the three receiver side, which is the side away from where you want to run the ball. The free safety then rotates to the middle. So you get this really great number count on defense by bringing the back, which makes it essentially, if he gets just to the right of Alex, it's a four-man side with the back, a one-man side away from it. So they get rotation away from it. They get an upfield rush by the end who's really just taking himself out of the

play. You don't even have to do very much. And a downhill track by the back that makes Jaylen Smith come up and fill. So it's a easy, natural, it's not really a cutback. It's a front-side zone play. It was great, man. It was awesome. You know, it's an awesome play. And even if the DN doesn't get sucked in by Moses, you know, in pass block mode, well then, you know, if he's got the vision, he can bounce it to the outside and it's a big play because nobody's there. Exactly. And they know I mean, I'm sure they've seen this four-by-one look, and they know that they're going to get rotation. And so they know nobody's going to be there because they know that free safety is going to rotate the middle of the field away from the back. You shouldn't have anybody down to that side.

It's a really, I just, I like it. You know, I like the Lerouxkey play that they got into. And obviously, we'll talk about that play. The reverse pass with Logan Thomas and Wildcat looks, they had shifts, they had some good motions. I thought that it was really the most unpredictable type of game. I mean, the only thing that I would say now moving forward, especially, I don't know, I enjoyed watching this on film yesterday, today. I would say that when they go under center or pistol, it's all gap scheme stuff. So they will have to mix that up this week and go with some more zone run stuff, because if I'm playing you, if I'm playing Scott Turner right now, I'm saying, hey, he goes into pistol or he goes in under center, we're going to play gap scheme run stuff.

And essentially, until they break that tendency next week, you would guess that. They don't have as much good run action stuff as well because they're not going with that stretch zone out of it. And then my last complaint before you make any, go ahead. No, go, go. I thought you were going to start with Alex Smith. Go ahead. Whatever you guys.

No, I'm about to. But my last complaint is they are the worst running back screen team in football. I don't think they can get a running back screen right now unless it's one of those guys split out and it's the alley screen type of deal. You can't just go with your first screen call with a run-action fake on first and 20 when you're packed up.

Like everybody, unless you're Washington's got beat with that and you're playing Del Rio who's going to blitz you on first and 20, you can't just call screen on first and 20. That's a bad place to call screen. Like, this is not a good running back screen team. I mean, they do, they, if you were to say your best weapons, two of your four best weapons for sure are McKissick and Gibson, design some screens, man. Not a good screen, dude.

Not a good screen, yeah. So I wanted to mention before the play that you broke down, the Gibson touchdown run, you know, that play came right after the failed fake punt. and what's interesting is I went back after reading somewhere that Dallas McCarthy said after the game about the fake punt, we didn't execute, we didn't execute. The reason they didn't execute is because the play was intended to be a pass down the field by Cedric Wilson, the guy that took the reverse on the fake punt. and maybe he didn't know it, but they are blocking as if it's a pass play, and there is a receiver wide open at the 45-yard line.

And I don't know why. Look, I could be wrong about this, but the fact that the entire blocking front doesn't go down field would indicate to me that this was a pass-car. off the fake punt. They practiced it. They practiced it, but this dude did not. I mean, he didn't execute.

I mean, we never saw, we never even saw one of those, like, fake, like, you know, him getting ready to throw the football. And he's got somebody wide open down the field who, I mean, it's going to be an easy first down if he makes a decent throw, and that's a long throw. But, you know, I don't know. what Cedric Wilson's background is. But anyway, he never threw it. He never threw the football.

And if he had thrown the football, it probably would have been every bit of a 25-to-35-yard play, and the only person back to stop it would have been the returner. Would have been Sims Jr. I'm not sure why he didn't throw the football. Anyway. I don't understand it. I mean, he never even, maybe.

Maybe it's just because it took so long. I don't know, man. Like, he never even thinks about it. But that's, but am I, am I correct that this is what the play was intended to do? The guy, the receiver's looking for the ball. He's easier. I mean, I'm, I'm going to have to pull it up on. So the receiver, both the receivers as they go down field aren't really looking for the ball immediately.

No, they are. The one receiver is immediately. He's got his left arm up in the air. He's looking for it. I'm watching the wrong cut here. Yeah. He was looking for the ball. No, I'm watching the right play.

I mean, I just don't, yeah. No, I mean, you can see him wide open. He's wide open and he turns around looking for the ball. And look at the entire offensive front. They're pass blocking. Anyway. Oh, I know. That was interesting.

All right. Let's get started with Alex Smith. Second play of the game. Run action pass. Burt's play. Sims is wide open in the middle of the field versus cover two. He throws the checkdown for a negative yard.

I think he looks at him. I don't know why he turns it down. He is splitting the safety. He is a huge play opportunity. He took the checkdown for negative two. I actually went to the sacks next, so I'll just go through them. The first is a third down sack.

It's not really his fault. He's got edge pressure off his right. He steps up. twice a good speed inside really that's a tough one the second sack out of the three he probably could have thrown the flat really quick

to Gibson but I don't I mean it's pretty tight right there the third sack is somehow unblocked with the protection that they have I think it's 72 I decided I didn't know his name and I would just call him 72 because I don't really sure

so it's 72 he doesn't make a job or Alex got to slide his line. It was actually that third sack was on the third one down there in the red zone. Right. It was a six-man front of six-defendants. And it wasn't off-sides, right? No.

He was just a great, great get-off. I didn't think it was off-sides. And there's literally nothing Alex could do with the third sack. So that was not a huge problem when I looked at it. The second drive of the game, I thought he missed Isaiah Wright twice in a row. Like he threw into double coverage to Terry McCorren. And Wright is, he just guesses.

Terry's breaking deep on an out route and right bends to the middle of the field and everyone goes with Terry. That's the pass after the Logan Thomas pass. And I mentioned right after the Logan Thomas. Yeah, I mentioned to you. I thought he was throwing into double cover. Well, he really is. I mean, they were playing a version of two on cover two, so they had one safety covering half the field on that side. And almost everyone goes with Terry. The safety goes with Terry and right down the middle. On the other side side, they were playing a version of quarters. You call it quarter, quarter half. There's no way that other quarter safety on the other side can get the right. That's a walk-in touch show. Later, like one or two plays later on that drive, he throws to Cam Sims. It's a pass interference call that was not pass interference on Cam Sims.

Well, it was called against Dallas. You were right. No, I know the play. Yeah. Terry McLaren's running across the field trying to kind of clear that thing out. And then on the far sideline, Isaiah Wright's running a wheel route. The safety stays over the top, right over the top of Sims. McCorrin right away is wide open on the cross.

That would have been an easy throw to McCloran. Right. As Alex reads that out, he'd probably read the top. it wrong, but then he's progressing to Thames or Wright, and he's looking at those two. Wright is running a wheel route. His dude falls down. He's walking into the end zone.

Like, walking into the end zone. And, like, Alex is looking at it. And he just lets it go to Thames. You're like, um, not exactly sure why you're doing that. But, okay.

Like, sounds good. Yeah, I'm seeing this. You're right. I mean, My God, did he miss the wheel route to throw it right into double coverage. I mean, that was a near disaster. Yeah. As was the one to McLaurin, you know, after the Logan Thomas play.

No, there's no doubt about it. He had a fumbled snap down there. I don't know if that, it looked like Ruea kind of double-clutched it. Maybe cadence thing or not, I wouldn't put that on Alex unless he did some with the cadence. Good recovery, though. Alex got that, right? Yeah, Alex fell on it. That would have been a disaster.

Yeah. I mean, I was concerned for him jumping into the, you know, into the fray to recover the fumble. I mean, those are the kinds of plays where it's like, oh, God, just get up. Hopefully he'll be all right. There's a few more things. The interception was dreadful. The interception was absolutely dog crap.

That's bad luck as well because I think he just thinks he's throwing all away, and he throws it literally right to Jaywin-Smith. But the thing is, he doesn't have that much pressure in his face on that pick, and he's got Terry McCloren wide open over the back. Early? Early right now. So if you go back and watch that interception play, I think Layton Vandreche is kind of lurking around in the middle of the field.

When you look at it again, and I'm sure Alex will think this, too, is Vandrish really hugging the line of scrimmage too much? I think he probably saw Vandrish, which is why he turned Terry down right when he looked at him. Because he didn't want Van derage to pick that off. I think a little touch, and he gets it over Van derrash, or he can get around Van derange in that situation. So, you know, that one was bad. A bad ball that Terry McLauron on the old button hook backed up,

but they had a completion for nine yards in that play. So, you know, good with that. Fourth and one late in the game, if that was a zone read play, he definitely should have pulled that. There's no But I wrote There's no way They're putting Alex

Old broken leg Alex On his own read But if he pulls There's nobody there So it's really funny Because there was One of the touchdown runs From shotgun

D Hall called it as a zone read And I You know I said It was on Monday show And they weren't Yeah and I said There's no possible way

that they've got Alex Smith into a zone read situation where he's reading the D-end and he can keep it. I just can't imagine that that's the case. I think that these are all zone run scheme things at a shotgun or at a pistol, shotgun mostly. And there's no chance. I mean, he can defensively, why would you even consider him right now as a potential runner in that situation? I don't think that you should. And you know what? If they burn you once, fine.

But I would not, I would, there's no way I would pay attention to the quarterback and think that he's going to pull it and keep it. No, there's no way. But I mentioned to you a week ago that they could do this. He could pull it and keep it and have a boot. Yeah. Maybe it was two weeks ago. And that's really what they could have done is you got another guy out there.

They could dump it to. The fly sweep motion guy goes in front of that. and then Alex can pull and keep it, and really he can run boot with that where that guy's out in the flat. I think I'd save it, Cooley. And if you'd save it, it's a RPO, man. I'm not talking about your RPO. I'm talking about the Pure Zone Reade quarterback keeps based off D.N. crashing.

I would save it for the biggest fourth and one of the year, you know, later in the year. That was a big one. Yeah, but they're already up in that game. They're up a bunch in that game at that point. I think. That's right before the, uh, this... Yeah, they were up like 27. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. Yeah. Then just pun it.

Yeah. Then this is not a negative. That, I'm not saying it was negative on Alex. I just wanted to talk about it. The other thing is, nobody goes with Alex Smith on the Ruski play. Nobody. Hmm. Go watch that play again.

I'm going, I'm going to. Everyone goes with McKissick. The point I would say on that play, you really almost, the true Ruski is to take everybody and run right. Right. And then let McKissick sit there for just another second longer, and then he's got to go alone.

Right. That's the true Ruski. But it worked. Okay, the positives without one. You watch it on TV, and you can watch it on film and see the same thing. he has total command of the offense. There are multiple times that you can see him pointing and moving and redirecting guys

to the right spots, to the right places. His cadence is awesome. His snap count is terrific. His tempo and control of the offense, I think, is really evident when you watch Alex Smith operate. That they're getting a lot out of him for. Two, amazingly, his pocket movement and his ability to move out of the pocket is still pretty darn good.

Right. but I thought more throughout this game he's getting more comfortable hanging in the pocket a little bit longer. The best example of this, before we get to some of the other obviouses, is that the word? It's the second 16 at the 28-yard line. It was after they had taken, I think, a stack on first down, or they had a nine-yard loss on first down, whatever it was.

second 16 and Inman's running, he'd hit the Inman on a spot route. It was probably Inman's only catch. The one where he maybe got the first down, but didn't try hard enough to get the first down. Yeah, it ends up being a third round. It was all right. It wasn't the worst.

But Alex, Inman really should have come further over into the middle of the field on a spot route to clear. He then realizes it and kind of shuffles over to give Alex a window. But Alex hangs in the point. pocket to get that thing there. And I think this is really one of the first weeks that you've seen Alex

hitch twice to stay with a route. Normally if he's got a hitch more than once, he'll just turn, he'll move on. But he stayed in the pocket and he hung in there tough, and it's a big time. So that's a huge conversion right there to get it to third one, which they got.

Actually, yeah, they did, I think. I thought he was accurate with his underneath throws for the most part. Actually, they did not get that first down. They ended up taking a field. That was the one they got back on the next play. Yeah. That was the one we get back on the next play.

Okay, so Alex, I thought was accurate throughout. He's good on timing with two to three level throws to getting it to the underneath route if he's got to get it to the underneath route. I've got some good throws on slant routes to Terry McCorren. Huge play I thought in the game was hitting, you know. excuse me, hitting McKissick on a little snag route. On the third and 12? On the third down.

That's where they overcame the second and 19. That's where I got that. It's the third and nine in that situation. But to overcome that, they had a really good run. They had a really good run with Gibson to get them to third and nine, and then to overcome that, the timing's perfect. I mean, McKissick more so is a great play. But, you know, the timing by Alex is perfect.

so he's going to allow him to catch and run with that thing as opposed to have to sit and wait. Great ball on the one touchdown pass, drive it on Logan Thomas in the end zone, low and down where only Logan Thomas can get it. That's a good ball. I thought he had a really nice ball to Terry McClure on a run-action crosser. It was the one where he hits Terry in the middle of the field. That said, though, he should have taken the shot over the top to Sims. Sims was on the outside running to go, the safety squatting on Terry.

got a shot to take to defense there, but still good ball, good completion. And then, yeah, a couple times. Just escaping the pocket, he gets out of the pocket right once, and then he thinks out of the pocket right once, and then he thinks out of the pocket to the left. It was a play where McKissick and Logan Thomas tripped feet. They both fell down.

I'm sure you're like, both my receivers fell down, where I went to go to ball. So, I mean, overall, Kevin, he was just a guy. as far as pure performance. You know, you got to factor in his operating ability of this offense and what he means, I think,

to a lot of these guys on this offense. But as a quarterback, I thought he missed three or four throws where he had opportunities to get the ball down the field. I thought he made a couple bad decision. The interception wasn't good. I mean, he's a C-minus.

I just, I mean, he doesn't have to be better than a, like, you could say, Plyfer operating, but I mean, if you're evaluating, it's just a guy. I mean, they win, he operates. Let's call it a dead seat, right? Let's just go see. Okay. I'll do that. As I say, Aaron rethink that. I'm going to, I didn't give him any upgrades for operating the offense at a great tempo and rhythm. So I'm going to give him a dead C. But I don't think he's got to, right now, the way they're playing, I don't think he's got to

be that much better than that for them to have a chance to win some of these games. All right. Let's get to the skill position players and start with Terry. Let's go. Terry McLaren, okay. The dude can't get covered on a slant. They can't cover. He's a slant freaking machine. He had two of them in this game.

It was awesome. I just talked about a big throw to Terry on a run action where he's running the crosser. It's just he doesn't have to have some special mover, some special thing. Like, he does such a great job pressing vertical up the field with speed to stem that release and then just a quick break away and you're like, he's really good. And you watch that play and you're like, he's really, really good. He gets it. I mean, special guy.

And then you watch, I mean, the reverse pass for him to go up and attack that with his hand. That's a huge catch by Terry in that situation. You know, I just, and he drew a PI, or I think they're in, I don't know, somewhere in the second quarter, which was big. Alex Smith got pressure, he ends up drawn a PI. Terry's an A. I just think the more I watch him, the better he gets.

And it's not because I'm starting to go. He's getting better. Right. You know, as we've talked about him being a true one receiver in this league, he gets better every week. What about running the double-moves stuff that you didn't really love early in the year? Well, they really did a good job stopping the double-moved stuff with Terry. They don't call it.

I mean, I didn't see any double moves in the skin. Here was a note that I had. You know, in this game, they're running, run action, play action, pass that everyone call it. I should call it play action like everyone else in the world. And he's got the single side where he's going right up the hash. and then there's a wheel behind it with Logan Thomas. And I've always understood that play to be a read play by Terry or the X receiver. So that means that 18 yards.

If he thinks he can get over the top or split the safety, then he can go vertical. If he can't, then he's going to sit it down, the quarterback and that receiver has to be on the same page. He sits it down. Now, maybe they're calling it a big, like a deep sit. If they are, they should call it a read because on that one I'm talking about earlier this game, Alex throws a check down.

Terry, if he goes down the middle of the field, no one's covering him. It's a too high look. He's got a wide open middle field. I got to believe that they're just calling it a deep set. But those are situations, Kev, where if you say, hey, look, we really got to stretch the field,

and Terry McCorn is a guy we'd like to stretch it with, my God, if you get a two-split safety look to that situation, you can't cover him to them. middle of the field. Right. So give him that option maybe. But Terry was really good. Since your receivers, the rest of them will be really quick.

Steven Sims, Jr., played 13 plays. He had one catch, I think, on a speed out. He was 80 plus in this game. Logan Thomas. Dude, shitty on the reverse pass. I mean, that ball hung forever. It did, though. It's okay.

That bogged. It's why he was a college quarterback playing tight end in the pros. No, that was excellent, man. I love the versatility that he has for that respect. And the zone read as well. The zone read was almost disastrous. Watch that again. It looks like he's so indecisive, and he ends up making the right decision.

He's like, is he going to give it? is he, I don't even know if he knew. Was he, the last second, he's like, I'll just pull it. I mean, that's essentially what he ran a lot of in college. It's not like he's not used to that. Yeah, I mean, if he knew exactly what he's doing, you'd say he just did an awesome job of really riding the back. It was actually a tough look, too.

They kind of gave a tough look. I'm looking at the play right now. I think that is a tough decision on the D-N. I mean, the D-N, the D-N, yeah. I mean, with Logan Thomas back there taking the direct snap, you know, with a back next to him, you're going to think is the D.N. There's a good chance he's going to keep it on this. And it was played pretty well. Are you saying that he should have just handed it to Barber? Or Gibson?

No, no. I think he made the right decision. I'm slightly joking with him as a quarterback or Wildcat or the reverse. I think he makes the right decision. It looks like the longest ride of a bat I've seen in a while. Right. Whatever. Got it. He got it done, man.

Good pass for a couple of times he's in there. A really good job on toss twice, pinning the edge. He's in a two-point stance, and he's got to kind of crack the defensive end to get to toss. Really good job with that. The touchdown was outstanding by Logan. He's getting walled down the field, and he's not great at getting hands off,

which he doesn't do on this job, but right at the top of the stamina, it's like, just get the fuck off me. And he really good job, separate it at the end. The other dude throws his hands up like OPI. Like, dude, you were just groping him for seven yards down the field. There's no PI.

Right. The PIs on that dude. I had a couple other catches in this game. The negatives had a false start in the red zone. He still doesn't create a lot of movement at the line of scrimmage. They have an outside zone that got turned all the way to the sideline. Just because his body turned too much. It's got to be more square and stout with his inside hand and try to get some push.

And Morgan Moses did not really help him at all on Aldi Smith. And Holmiff, damn good, man. Right. That dude can play. Logan Thomas was a B-plus in this game. Isaiah Wright. Did he end up with the catch in this game? Did he end up with a catch in the game?

He did not. He should have ended up with two touchdowns in this game. If Alex looked his way. He would have been one because they were both on the same draft. I did write this note, though. On that wheel route, he makes the guy fall down. He's wide open up the scene. This is like four plays after the other opportunity for a touchdown.

I loved it. No frustration, doesn't throw his arms up, doesn't act like a baby, just finishes his route to the end zone, comes back to the huddle. You watch, it's not as often in the NFL, but you watch college football. And I was watching this weekend. and there were seven or eight times where you see receivers open. You're like, dude, we'll see you open on film.

Everyone's going to know that you were open. You do not have to tell everyone on national TV that your quarterback botched the entire situation. Right. The coaching staff is going to say good route. Everybody's going to tell you good job. Alex's going to say, sorry, bro. I definitely should have hit you on that thing. I thought there's some maturity to that,

and I appreciate that, especially as a guy that, you know, didn't want to create a scene for the quarterback. So I like that. And I dare right. Don't you think that's something to, as a coach, that you would go to him, you know, the next day and say, you know, this is who you are and that's awesome. But I just want you to know how much I appreciate it because I've coached players in the past that would have, you know, thrown a fit. And, you know, it's hurtful to the team for starters.

And not only that, it shows up on film. and then the other team thinks, oh, they saw that he was wide open and they're going to come back to that. It's just they're almost going to be looking for that a little bit more. I mean, that's something that really, I think it's a subtle thing, but I think pointing it out, especially to a young player. And I think these are the guys that Rivera is looking for too, Cooley. I think he's looking for, you know, mature players. He's got a bunch of them when you think about it. I mean, who knows?

I mean, we may wake up tomorrow morning. And there may be, you know, a couple of bad reports out there. But, I mean, McClearn and John Allen, and it just seems like there's a lot more maturity on the team. It's almost been an emphasis here recently. Even with the young players, you are exactly right. And that's a big deal for me. If I'm coaching Isaiah right and he starts throwing his hands up,

I'm like, bro, you were a scout team guy, like, 60 days ago Shut up Yeah You know I We're all going to see it Yeah And so yeah

I think it's a big deal I don't know I wanted to point it out Because I went back and watched it like three or four times Just to see like is there any gesture at the end of that Where he goes You know frustration gesture I actually did do that

One or two times I was watching something the other day We were playing Tampa Bay I think at the end of the 2010 season We weren't very good in 2010. It was Donovan still. Yeah. And I did an excellent job running a choice route.

I break out, and he bounced past it to me. It went like five feet in front of me. And I just turned around and stared at him for about three seconds before I even moved. Oh, really? Like, are you freaking serious, man? Like, I just did all that. You did what you did? Did he say anything?

I'm sure. I don't remember what I got said. I didn't go. I'm sure I didn't throw off it. It was something that that was when Sean had taken over McVeigh, and it was something that we've joked about a couple times, so I went to pull it up to see what a baby I was. It wasn't as bad as it, as it looked, but knowing myself and knowing how I felt in that moment, I'm like, I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have stared him down. It was a 2010 game against Tampa. Do you remember what? what quarter it is because I could go back and find it right now. It's late.

It's like in the fourth quarter, I think. It's late. It's the eye end up, it ends up, we're going in. It's like a third and four on the 20-ish. Was that the game where, dude, you don't have to go pull it up. I have it. I took a video of it.

I can. Was that the year where Santana scored the game, what should have been the game time, touchdown and we missed the extra point. Oh, guess what I just found? Oh, but there's no coaches. Only the, there's no coaches tape on that one. Anyway.

All right. I'll pull it up. Okay. Well, anyway, on the eyes. He's a C in this game. But part of it is that they're not really throwing the ball to some of these guys. Like Cam Tim, C-minus in this game. He had one shot, you know?

And I thought there were a couple other opportunities where I thought there were shots to be taken, but it's hard as a receiver to be an impact player, be more than a C if you don't get a ball. Right. The other two, Sprinkle was not good in this game. He actually played a little bit more 20 plays. It wasn't good. He was a D.

And Tamara Cammingway was nine plays in a holding. Sprinkle played 20 plays in this game. That may be the most for him this year. Yeah, they sprinkled him in a little bit more. They sprinkled him in a lot more. And the thing about it, and I'd have to go back and look at this, I'm not sure that you've graded Sprinkle much this year, but he may right now be forced to take this class again

because he's not doing very well. The teacher may be saying, you know, you may want him back over the summer and take this one again, see you can get a better grade, because I don't think you've given Sprinkled better than a D the entire year. Or it just might be that this particular student is a senior, and you would like him to just be able to finish the year and go wherever he's going to go. Good point. Kevin, he's got to be a little bit more focused. I mean, we understand big, you know, senior year, everybody wants to have fun. You've already made your decision on college.

You've already gotten in, but you've got to finish it out strong. You know, you've got to finish it out professionally, please. Okay. Enough of that. Antonio Gibson. Antonio Gibson. I'm going to start with this

just for fun. I think we didn't do this Cincinnati game, but two weeks ago, one of my key points that I hadn't really said with Gibson, I hadn't heard anywhere, was his run fakes are god-awful. Right. They were so much better.

Really? Weird, huh? Yeah. Interesting, the way that works. Those touches are really... They're sharp. They're very perceptive. They're watching insane stuff.

The run fakes were actually much better in this ballgame. Much better. Like, a different dude. Right. I'm just saying. I think, I think he's getting better as a runner. I think he's getting more patience.

One, he'll take it all the way to the front side. Even early in the game, I think it was the first play of the game. He takes it in the outside zone and he gets all the way to the edge and it's a four-yard game. But, dude, a four-yard game taking it all the way to the edge early in a ball game is huge. I just, I can't. If you're going to be a zone scheme team, you've got to be able to stretch it to the edge. For him to take it four to the edge, I mean, those linebackers in their mind go, we got to take we got to go we got to run like i know we have gaps for our gaps are going to be displayed

we got to run and then all of a sudden you get cutback cutback cut back cut back i mean you get it to the edge a few times then those cutbacks become available and it's exactly what happened to this ballgame i thought in as a runner much better job even keeping patience to the front side pushing it holding and then making a cut it wasn't like three steps cut and go it was hold pause see if i can continue to hit front side and then make the cut. And to me, that was awesome. He string cuts together and really made guys miss. His speed is excellent.

He still surprises people with speed. I mean, that first touchdown run that he bounces all the way outside. Yeah. He's a great block by 72, our guy. Sharp. And 72. David Sharp. 72.

Yeah, 72. but if Gibson gets outside, the safety should have had an angle to run him down and not let him get to the end though. But he is faster than you think, man. He can turn it up. Yeah. Like, boom, third gear, fourth gear, here we go.

I thought that was awesome. Big play on a third and one on a poor block run play, getting a first down. That was, I think, they went with Barber a lot, but he had one in a short yardage where you'd say, yeah, I got no problem with Gibson. Does a good job on a poorly block play. It hits the whole hard, man.

If it's the gap scheme or zone C, like, he's just downhill and he'll hit the whole hard. Right. Which I'm impressed with. We went through one of the early plays, one of the big runs. The second touchdown run, or the late, the third, the late touchdown run, where you're like, boo yeah, let's strike up the Cooley's Fantasy Team band because I'm scoring some points today. Now, that was about the easiest run of all time.

Yeah. There was no, that was well blocked, but there was nobody there in the state. did a piss poor job, even getting close. The couple negatives, I mentioned that Hemingway had that hold. Yeah. That's that downhill dive play. I also mention he'll let the wholeheart. You can't just prematurely bounce that play.

I get it that Hemingway shouldn't hold, but he doesn't think Gibson's going to be outside of him. So now all of a sudden he's like, I'm blocking you, and now you're down the backs over here. And you're way out leverage me Because I was trying to block you from getting inside Now I've got to try to block you from going outside That's on Gibson

That hold I put on Gibson You want him in a way to let go But he's a young player If you bounce that, you're going to get holding penalties That play can't bounce that way Yeah, you pointed that out before Sometimes that's on the back Yeah

I mean it's obviously you want to teach guys to let go But You know sometimes they don't always let go better in pass protection not cutting. The one real pass protection I saw him in there, he just gets straight-trucked by Jaylin Smith. It's on a slant to Terry McCorm, but he gets in there, turns his head a little bit, but at least he gets in the way.

Yeah. Jaylen Smith just ran him straight over. It's like to deliver a blow. Pretend your ball carrier for one second. He had good hands on a couple of the checkdowns. He did have a drop on a third down checkdown in this game. But, I mean, for the most part, some big runs. I think really getting better with patience.

You see outstanding speed. Gibson was an A-minus. You know what's weird, too? What? Is McKittick's last game had, like, all the snap. Right. Well, here was my reason. Two weeks ago in Detroit, and then now this week, Gibson got all the snap.

This was my theory on this. Tell me if I'm right. They had five third and ones in this game. They had a fourth and one. They had so many short-yarded. is, and that's why Barbara ended up with a ton of snaps that may have been Gibson's third down snaps. Sure.

You know, I've seen it done a lot of different ways with the running backs as far as who's in and how they're in and when they're in. You think Turner's doing a good job, don't you? I thought he did a pretty nice job in this game. Yeah. I think that he could have probably went with some more quick game stuff if they would have needed it to get Alex into a little bit better rhythm, especially early since Alex

missed a couple opportunities early. But to keep balance in the run game and to keep Dallas defensively off balance pre-snapping with some of the stuff they were doing with emotions. I thought he's a pretty good job. All right, let's get to McKissick and Barber. McKissick,

there's certain things you see. He ran that third and nine, that little snag route. Watch him transition out of that. It's so quick. He really sells, like, he's going in the whip in whatever you want to call in and out snag route whatever yeah reverse china that's that what they call it if you went out and in you'd call it a china okay china china it's a reverse china but just it's just he's such a quick transition guy he's got

such a burst he's good after the catch it not as much really he made a really nice cut on the rutsky play to get inside of morgan moses there and get that first down. Really good cut on that play. He cannot block at all. It's better at getting the way of the pass protector. There was one of the run plays where he was on the edge and he had to go out to the safety to a run play that was going to his side,

and it was like, ooh, you have no idea where to even start with this, do you? It was weird. I should have wrote it down. It doesn't matter. Okay, so he lines up right at the edge of the line of scrimmage, offset, just behind the tackle. the safety is about four yards, five yards into the box outside of him. The back's going to push to that side, which means the safety should go also outside.

He's a back. He should understand how you want to push that safety. He literally runs straight up the field. The safety goes around and outside of him. And it's like, what do you think his reaction was going to be to run his way? Anyway, that's a huge deal. I thought McKissick was a bee in this game, and then Barbara, I thought was good. He actually, Barber, he is really...

What did you give him a B? What did you give him a kissick? A B. Okay. Barber, what were you going to say? He's got really good vision. He's like he's shifting and he's got a good vision. Great vision. I think he could be, I think he could have more carries in some of these situations. I agree. He seems to be the odd man out with Gibson running the ball the way Gibson is. but to me, Barber has better vision than Gibson.

I agree. He had a great... Remember a couple of cuts he made were awesome. The fourth and one is huge. He's got a knack for knowing situational football. I mean, he didn't have very many play a lot in this game, but I thought he was in A. I mean, everything he did was pretty efficient.

Yeah, well, he played, I mean, this was his, I think, best statistical game of the year. He had 11 carries for 57 years. yards. I don't think he's had a game like that this year. There hasn't been a game where he's had 11 carries in a game. No, I mean, the first game was the last time I think he had this many carries. Oh, you're right. 17 carries 29 yards in the opener. But this was by far in a way. I mean, 11 carries 57 yards, 5.2 yards per carry. And he had a big run at the end of the game when the game was over. I thought the fourth and one run where he was stopped short and he made that second

effort twist and he got it was a great run. I thought it was an excellent. run. His yards per carry that you're going to suck, but like every carry has had third and one. You know what's interesting is that we've said before when they signed him, I remember we had a conversation, I'm pretty sure we did. And I said, I liked Peyton Barber in Tampa. And then we went and looked up his years and he's like a career 3.4 or 3.5 yards per carry guy. And I think it's probably because he's got a lot of short yardage, a lot of third and one, fourth and one, third and two runs where, you know, he's getting first downs, but they're not, you know, big carries against goal line defense. I mean, we could we could go back and

cut up all of his carries and take a look. I'm not interested, but I just think he's got a good neck. I think he's got a good feel. He's not a big. dude, but he runs strong. Agreed. So those are your skill players. You gave Barber N.A. Yeah, okay. So let's get to the offensive line.

And we'll finish it up for the day, and then you'll do, you know, a quick run through on the defense tomorrow. Oh, I didn't give your grade. Inman was a C. All your receivers, we said, there are pretty much that C area. I was going to, I have that written down. I was going to come back and say you didn't grade inman. All right.

Inman was a C. Inman was not relevant to this game. Okay. Did have that one catch-go. Yeah. All right. Seventy-two. Sharp. 69. It played every snap in the game. Did you seriously recently?

You know, all the offensive lines, for the most part, they play the whole game. Crazy. No, they didn't because there was a number in there late that I was unfamiliar with. and I went back and looked it up. Well, West Martin played some. It was Ishmael was in the game. But anyway, minimal snaps. We also know.

West Martin only had five snaps. So just give us the starters. I will only give you the starters. That is right. 72. Early in the game, he mistargeted the linebacker, leave him open.

Or actually, he went up to a linebacker and just abhorped the de-end in front of him. You're like, someone's going to pluck that dude. You can't just on zone run and go to the linebacker. Later in the game, you can't get up to the linebacker. Three or four times, you're like, are we sure what the process is between who we're going to double and then what level, what guy we're getting to on the second level?

I thought there were some big questions there in that situation. The first sack is an immediate pressure from 72. Right. And then Alex steps up and Switzer gives up interior pressure. So really, he created the first step up. the second pressure, or the second sack, he's bold by Alden Smith. Alden Smith, he good. Yeah, he's good.

But he's bold by Alden Smith, and it's either a half-sack by Alden or whatever they gave it. And Switzer also was a part of that sack as well. And the third sack I thought was a missed assignment by 72. And turning 90 free is a problem. I don't know his name either, so we'll call him. I think that would be Lawrence, isn't it? I'd like to call him number Okay doc

Look he was not very good in this game The first touchdown run Awesome job on the edge Like the guy kind of falls off inside Careful holding I would say You watch that first touchdown around again He's got his hands way outside I mean they are wrapped around him

And he falls off and he did The dude ends up falling down Like that will get called a hold More than 50% of a time It probably was a hold Didn't call it so it's not Right. So I'm going to say great job.

Really, I think, is a little bit slow-footed. I think he's uncertain, does not have enough, enough ass on him in some of the past situations where he's a pure setback guy. You can get bold and get pushed and get outrun by speed. 72 is a D-minus. That's a little bit tough. He was a D. Well, don't change it if he was a D-minus.

He was a D-minus. I mean, which is it? or D-minus? You get one chance here. Well, here's a thing. Here's a thing that helped him. He's got one serious, badass right next to him. That makes life a lot easier. Sheriff was awesome in this game. I mean, quick off the ball.

Some of the front-side zone stuff where he's got a guy that's... Okay. Some of the run plays to the right where he's got a guy that's outside of him to the right, he's squaring up with them so quick. He is on dudes right now. A couple of the run plays where he's double-teaming with Ruié, they're ass-kicking. Like I wrote Joe Bugle, Hayaka, Studdy. Hayaka. Hayaka.

I mean, there's some ass-kicking. There's some great movement throughout this game. He's on backers quick. He's great climbing on the second level. He's excellent passing up stunts. I thought he was really, really good in past protection. I mean, to me, Sheriff was what you expect. out of Brandon Sheriff.

I just did. I thought that his patch block was great. Run block to me was impactful. Pro Football Focus is going to grade Brandon and Sheriff a 69.7 this week for his game performance on 65 snaps. I am going to grade Brandon Sheriff in A. Okay. Is 69.7 a D from them?

No, 69.7 really probably in the B range. Okay. So the way they do, if anybody wanted to, this is the way I think they do it, every player starts at the 60. Okay. If you were to get no positive, true impact positive, and no true impact negative, your end result grade on PFF would be 60. That's your generic, just-a-guy grade, would be 60. So if you're up to 70, you're in that B range, I think, on PFS, if anybody, will, ever be 60. If anybody's ever looking at those grades, if you're above 80s, you're like their grading you and A.

Okay, so they were nowhere near your grade. Well, if I said B, I still think it was A. Here was the two negatives from the negative from Cher. A couple of their gap plays where they're pulling him. He's pulling and he's kicking out. You see the safety coming off the edge. But he's supposed to kick out the defensive end. He's attacking the safety because he sees color.

they're actually right now on their gap plays bringing like a fly player or a reverse player that guy's holding the safety outside you're you're expecting he'll hold that safety you got to get in and kick out of the defensive end you can't turn him free sheriff just see's color and he bypasses the defensive end twice in this game it's not just the first guy you see it's got to be the defensive end especially the way they're running those plays if that makes any sense plus the play's supposed to go inside of sheriff. So if he hits the defensive end from the inside out, and then the safety's further outside, then the safety really shouldn't be able to get through him in the

defensive end and make the play anyways. So I'm just saying, make sure you kick out the defensive end, Brandon. Schweitzer. Rueh. Oh, Rueh. Well, we're moving across the board here. I thought it was his best game as far as getting movement to run game. Some of his double teams were really, really good.

His task protection was extremely consistent throughout this ballgame. He had a fumbled snap, which is one of the only real negatives that I had. I thought Rudy was an A-minus in this game. Switzer gave up two stacks. Both the stacks are on up-and-under moves or inside moves. He's slow-footed, especially on those up-and-under-inside moves. And he's missing with his punch on those things. It's like he's just got to be a little bit more aggressive with his inside hand.

And then in the run game at times, when he gets like a stunt penetration or someone attacking, he can catch. Which is weird for me to say, because it was something. same time, he's been awesome in the zone run scheme. He is getting, I love watching this dude right now. I mean, I'm really loving watching Switzer and some of the zone stuff. He's firing up the ball. He's got great first couple steps. He's getting lateral and vertical with speed. He's attacking. He's getting up to the second level. He's a big part of why this run game is started to improve. I mean, obviously it's Gibson and what he's been doing, but guys like Switzer operating in some of those zone plays is giving that back the ability to trust if I really

push it, man, then I can set this guy Swaitter up who's really doing what I want him to do. I think he's been awesome in terms of improvement with that. To me, I think he'll get better as far as the past protector. He's struggling a little bit right now. Switzer was a C in this game, but there's some stuff I really like. I think this is like the third or fourth time I've given Switzer a C or D plus or that range, but also complimented him in a big way. You have, you've liked him.

I think there's a lot. Like, if I was evaluating Schweitzer for my team, I would sign Schweitzer. Okay. He fits the role of offensive linemen that I like. All right. Morgan Moses. I think Morgan Moses played very well in the game. You did not think he played well?

Which is really weird to me because PFF graded him the fourth highest on the offense. Okay. At a 77.1. Too much ass block on a zone backside. Actually, this is a little bit more, like, Chris, thinking about offense, but they have all these zone runs out of gun. They take a little bit longer, and the back doesn't get us far away from the backside. Like behind center, he really pushes away from the backside,

so that cut happens further away. I've always been told on the back side if they play behind you, you won. That's the Shanahan rule. If they end up going behind you, you won. So on a couple of them, Morgan is pretty much boxing out or ass blocking the defensive end. The defensive end wraps behind him,

and then he comes down the line of scrimmage and makes a play. He's got to be a middle, especially on some of the zone runs out of gun, he's got to be more physical with his hands. You've got to sustain it longer. It's not hitting as far away from him as probably he's used to. A couple pressures beat by Alden Smith a couple of times. God, Alden Smith's good, man. I mean, if you get out of your position at all against him,

he's good at taking advantage. Chris, they're super underrated up front. They have a lot of team speed in their front seven. Dallas does. They're having a terrible season. There's no doubt about it. But I've watched them a couple of games here recently, and they're causing problems,

including for Pittsburgh a few weeks back, including against Minnesota, and including against Alex Smith, they are super fast up front and can cause problems defensively, even though you can run the ball at them easily. But go ahead. Yeah, well, we'll talk with Morgan was a C-plus. So when you look at this offensive line for Washington, though, they're underrated.

I think they're better than people think up front. Yeah. And if they were to get either Morgan back to right tackle and have a left tackle or to continue to develop Morgan at left tackle, I think you have something between Switzer, Ruea, and Sheriff. Now, Sheriff, obviously, you've got to figure out what you're going to do with Brandon Sheriff in the future, and you absolutely want him. Yeah.

The compliment of Switzer's been really good. And I think Morgan's a good player for you. If you don't have 72, and I'm not going to dog him as a backup player, then that's what he is. I don't want to. I've been critical. And some of it's been joking, but he's still a competent backup. And for the most part, this line did a pretty good job of protecting Alex throughout this game. They really did better than there were some pressures.

Again, against a fast line in Dallas. And they moved them in the run game. You know, they really moved and displaced Dallas up front. the run game and created some big gaps and some big cutbacks. I was impressed with what they did up front against the Cowboys. I really was. I thought the offensive line did the night job. And I think I said this to you, like three weeks ago, I said this is becoming a very well-coached unit.

You can see that they're coached well. And compliments go to that offensive line. Yeah. He's been around for a long time. But I think he's doing a good job. And he's also had to change a lot of techniques that they've had in the past. And you can see that they are starting to understand it and get it. And for me, like, I watch Ruea and I watch Sheriff.

Those are the two guys that are really, I mean, obviously Morgan, too, but those are two of the guys that have really been a part of that past team that were, like, tight-hip, downhill guys. And they're turning into lateral zone stretch guys. They can still be a vertical gap scheme team, but they're getting it. They're getting it. And so big compliment.

to that offensive line. Yeah, I agree. And I think it was probably in recent weeks the biggest challenge they've had in terms of pass pro against Dallas's front. Now, Pittsburgh's going to be a completely different story. And this will be the biggest test for them, and we'll have time to go over that on Monday.

But the biggest test for them will be Pittsburgh's pass rush and Pittsburgh's defense overall. And it'll be a challenge. Can I go ahead? No, go ahead. I'm going to, I got another direction to go real quick before we finish this up. When we're done, I just want to tell you about some part of my life. Oh, well, I was just going to say that, you know, when you're up against Pittsburgh's defense

and you're up against Cameron Hayward and you're up against T.J. Watt, and you're up against Bud Dupree. And then they've got the secondary with Hayden and Fitzpatrick, et cetera, behind them. this will be the first chance, legitimate chance where we can say they've made a lot of progress, they have been a professionally competent offense. The O-Line looks underrated. The skill position players aren't getting enough credit. They're much better than we would have ever thought at the beginning of the year. But we also recognize it's been Dallas twice, the Giants, twice, the Bengals and the Lions over the last six games. Now it's going to be two of the better defenses, maybe the best. defense and certainly two of the better defenses in the league over the next two games.

No, I mean, and you're going to find out, but just think of the advantage it is to be able to, as you start to progress through this offense as a player, as a coach, to be able to use these last six games to get better, as opposed to go from Baltimore and then Los Angeles to have to play Pittsburgh. I mean, they really, I think, are gaining confidence. Yeah. I don't care that they played bad teams. They're playing well against bad teams. They're getting better. Right.

All right, what were you going to finish with? I'm going to leave it for tomorrow. I'll give you a... Ask me about what do you got tomorrow. Okay, we'll do that tomorrow. Thanks. I get a good story. Thanks for putting it together.

Are you on your way back to Wyoming? Yeah, so I'll kind of fake my way through the defensive film breakdown. Well, just watch two plays and then evaluate everybody. So just so you know, I'm going to watch it all. I'm going to be driving tomorrow. I read my notes while we do this. I'm not going to be able to do that. Okay, well, just do your best.

It's a week. No, I'm going to do my best. It's a week after the game. It's a week after the game. You're going to love it. And, you know, we know that Darby got beat early, and then after that, everybody played pretty well. Maybe we just did it.

Big Young was an A. There's no doubt Montefat sweats, made the big play. Oh, yeah. Tarigan, Gerrigan, I'm not quite sure. Ron Carrigan probably see. You have a Bostic. Bostic, not so great. But Cole Holcomb's really, he's instinctual.

He can sniff things out. Actually, do you know, I want to hear about one specific player tomorrow because it's very possible if DeSaser Everett's not ready to go that we'll see much more of Jeremy Reeves than we will Troy Appy. That's the guy that I'm actually interested to find out how he played against Dallas and Appkey too, because I didn't think he was very good. All right, thanks. Appreciate it.

And we'll chat tomorrow.