The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cooley's Grade on Heinicke

Episode Date: January 12, 2021

Kevin, Thom, and Cooley today with plenty of talk about Devonta Smith's epic game for Alabama in their National Championship win over Ohio State plus Cooley's "Film Breakdown" of Taylor Heinicke and the offense against Tampa Bay.  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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Play action. Jones steps up right down the middle of the field. It's touchdown. Devante Smith cannot be stopped.

A truly special performance by the Heisman Trophy winner. Three touchdowns in the first half. What a performance last night by Alabama and especially from Devante Smith, who set multiple records and was the most valuable player on offense last night in Alabama's 52 to 24 national championship win over Ohio State. Tommy's with me to start. Cooley will join us for the offensive film breakdown.

We're not going to spend a lot of time in the game last night. I'm going to start with this, Tom. The number was nine at game time. Alabama was a nine-point favorite. I stayed off the game. I know I told everybody that I sort of liked Ohio State. I did not give out a side for the smell test. I backed off of it.

Most of you know if I had played it and lost it, I would have told you that I played it and lost it. It was pretty amazing that the total of 76, 7576, hit right on the total. It was 76. 52224 was the final. It was 5224 with like 13 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. If your number was 76 and you needed the over, I mean, I can't imagine feeling better about it at 35-17 at halftime at 52-24 early in the fourth quarter.

But anyway, Devante Smith was amazing. Twelve catches, which is a college football title game record, 215 receiving yards second most in a college football playoff or BCS game. And his three touchdowns tied the record. And he did it all in the first half of the game. It was a stunning performance. And maybe not for draft personnel, but at least for the minimum for fans of teams, it kind of puts you in a strange spot

because you're sitting there saying, look at this guy. I don't care who the quarterback is. I want this guy. Yeah, I mean, he is really special. You know, I've heard some of the conversation, and I didn't have this conversation on the radio show this morning. And it's a long conversation because I'd have to think about it, to be honest with you,

about whether or not we just witnessed the greatest receiver in the history of college football. I can tell you this, for a few years now, I've been a massive Devante Smith fan. You think of all the Alabama receivers of the last few years, you know, Amari Cooper and Jerry Judy and Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley and Henry Ruggs. And, you know, Devante Smith, to me, and I said this even going into this year, may not be the most electrifying. Like, he may not be the fastest. He may not be the biggest. But he's more than fast enough, and he's by far and away the best route runner of all of them. Now, somebody pushed back me, a coach that I know really well said actually Amari Cooper is the best route runner of all those Bama receivers.

I don't know if that's true or not. I know Devante Smith is really, really good. I don't know where he ranks on the greatest, on the list of the greatest college receivers of all time. Obviously, guys like Randy Moss comes to mind when I think about great college receivers. You know, Larry Fitzgerald was a phenomenal wide receiver in college. I'd have to really give it thought. He obviously had one of the great performances in the three biggest games of his career. And remember, he was the guy that caught the fifth.

touchdown pass from Tuatunga by Loa to beat Georgia in overtime of the national championship game as a sophomore. As a sophomore or freshman, I can't even remember now. But his performance here during these playoff games was ridiculous. He just went for 12 catches, 215 yards, three touchdowns in a half. The reason he didn't play the second half is he injured his arm or wrist or something, not severely. Notre Dame seven catches. 130 yards, three touchdowns in the national semifinal. And in the SEC title game, 15 catches for 184 yards and two touchdowns. I mean...

This is what I mean. I mean, if you're sitting there with the second or third pick in the draft, do you pick this guy? You have to consider it. I mean, receivers that high in the draft haven't always worked out. Usually they haven't. But I'll tell you one thing about this guy. This guy is an over-deliverer and under-promiser to use my favorite, you know, hope and preferred path to start him.

I like the guys that under-promise and over-deliver, and he is a quiet performer. You know, he just seems to have his act together. Yeah, you'd have to consider it. You'd have to consider it. Absolutely. I mean, that's a game-changing player right there. The other thing about the game last night, Ohio State was not healthy going into this game. I don't know that it would have mattered. They were missing some defensive players.

They're running back Sermon who had gone for 331 in the game against Northwestern in the Big Ten title game, Trey Sermon number eight, and then went for 193 against Clemson in the semifinal. He got hurt on the first play of the game. I think a big part of Ohio State strategy was to run Sermon, and to dominate possession of the ball and to keep it away from Mack Jones and Devante Smith and Najee Harris, who is phenomenal as well. And him going out definitely hurt. I don't know.

In watching that game, bam, it's just impossible to stop. And when Ohio State settled for a field goal at 2114, it was almost like settling for a field goal meant you are never going to catch them because now you were going to be two scores behind after the next drive and you are never going to be able to overcome it. But anyway, Bama. Nick Saven, greatest college coach in history?

I mean, he's got seven national championships. I know. I mean, there's no – I mean, the argument, if you want to go back to New Rockney, but let's get a little bit more modern. Bud Wilkinson in Oklahoma won two straight national championships, I think. His teams went, I think, like 56 and 0 or something like that. Yeah. How many to bear Brian?

win. Didn't he win five or six? I don't think so. No? How many? What about Woody Hayes? I'd have to look this up. I mean, it's hard to think anyone would be ahead of Nick Saban. Let's say that. Okay, hold on. College football coaches with the most national championships. Sabin now has seven. Bear Bryant had six, Tommy. All six with Alabama. 61, 64, 65, 73, 78, and 7. Bernie Beerman never heard of them, 1930s coach for Minnesota. Woody Hayes had five. I actually wouldn't have guessed that Hayes had five. I knew he had at least three or four.

He had five, and then Frank Leahy, Notre Dame had four. John McKay had four at Southern Cal. John McKay was a hell of a coach. Those Southern Cal teams from Mike Garrett to OJ to Marcus Allen. Oh, yeah. Charles White. Anthony Davis. Yeah, those were great teams.

Urban Myers got three. Tom Osborne had three at Nebraska. Boy, Nebraska, you know, really from, you know, going back, I mean, the 80s and 90s, especially that stretch in the 90s, they were just, they were the best, they were what Bama was for a five, six, seven year period in the 90s. Newt Rockney had three. Darrell Royal had three at Texas, including that famous game of the century

when they played Arkansas, a one-two game. Frank Royal. And Nixon attended the game. Barry Switzer had three. Bud Wilkinson had three. So there is your list. I mean, Sabin's got seven. He's got one more than Bear Bryant.

So the answer would be Sabin. And he did it at two different schools. Yeah, six of them with Bama and then the one, you know, the split national championship when he was at LSU. LSU. Yeah, when they split it with Southern Cal, even though there was a BCS title game. I think a more interesting question, you start putting Sabin into the Belichick category is the greatest overall football coach of all time. You know, I mean, you've got Belichick one now, don't you?

Or not? Yes. Yes, I do. So if you've got Belich, I mean, Sabin and Belichick and wouldn't. I mean, that's almost the list right there. Sabin's in that category. He has to be. It'd have to be. He has to be.

What do you think of college football overall? You know how much I love it? What do you think of college football? You know, that it's BMA? I'm the wrong guy to ask. I mean, I think it's, I think the, the BCS is boring. I think the same. You're the college playoff football, not the BCS.

Yeah. Well, I think whatever it's called now. Well, it's a good. We have a playoff. We've had one since 2014. Right. I think it's boring. I think it's the same actor.

year after year. I want to see University of Central Florida in the mix. I want to see Cincinnati in the mix. I wanted to see Boise State when they were good in the mix. I want to see that. You know, so, I mean,

I don't, look, part of the problem is I didn't go. I had such a checkered college career. I mean, college football was not really big. Any place I went, even Miami. I mean, you know, when I went to school in Miami, it wasn't that big.

So, like, and you went to Maryland. And it was a basketball school. I mean, but it was, but you went to Bobby Ross. Yeah, I was there when Maryland was like a, you know, perennial top 20 team. They were. I mean, it was a, I didn't go to colleges where college football was a big deal. I think that changes a lot of perceptions of people. If people grew up and their college experience,

including a passionate college football one. I think that they carry that for the rest of their lives. I think that that's 100% true. I also think that there are areas of the country, whether you went to the great college football school or not, you grew up rooting for a college football team as your number one team. You know, the state of, like, Ohio, most Ohio State football fans didn't go to Ohio State. You know, probably most Alabama fans didn't go to Alabama.

Well, I experienced that in East Strasbourg. Everybody in eastern Pennsylvania was a Penn State fan. Right. You know, they didn't go to Penn State. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I think that the sport, well, first of all, this is a weird year.

And so to have any sort of definitive opinion about it after this year would be odd. Because I watched less college football this year than I've ever watched before. The NFL was really the catalyst for sports fans because there wasn't, a lost game. There wasn't a lost team. It was amazing. You know, we are into the second weekend of the playoffs and pretty good bet they're going to play every single game that was scheduled this year. But I think the issue with college football, first of all, it's, you know, in terms of the dollars and in terms of like the television ratings, it's the number two sport in this country behind the NFL. With that said, it's not a popular sport and it's not. It's not a popular sport. And it's

We're near the most popular sport in a lot of big cities like ours, you know, like New York. A lot of, you know, northeastern, Boston, New York, Philly. Now, Philly is a big Penn State football market, no doubt. And I've learned that even more than I knew before because my youngest is at Penn State. And he's like, oh, my God, the Philadelphia people here, you know, at Penn State, I mean, they are just massively into the team. But then you get markets, especially in the Midwest and in the South, where college football is close to number one. You know, even in L.A., when Southern Cal's had good teams, it's a big deal in L.A. Well, when they didn't have NFL football, Southern Cal was their professional team.

And that hasn't, and in some ways, that hasn't changed yet. I think I'm headed towards this. the fact that basically four schools have dominated the appearances since this playoff started, the four schools being Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Oklahoma. These are the four schools that have been in it the most. And then you've had, you know, the Notre Dame and the LSU winning the title last year. And Oregon, I think maybe made it twice. But I think they have to expand it.

I think they have to go to what I've always, you know, pushed for, which is something that I think would make for one of the great days on the sporting calendar. And that would be a quarterfinal, you know, quadruple header using home fields because these stadiums are part of the attraction to the sport. You know, these home environments, you know, at Ohio State or LSU, et cetera. You know, one versus eight, two versus seven, three versus seven. four versus five, the weekend after the Army Navy game, which is a quiet weekend for college football. And you play the semifinals on New Year's Day and you play the final afterwards, but you don't use the bowls for the first, you know, for the quarterfinals.

I think you would have to do the five power conference winners and three at large's, and if you get a non-power five at large that goes undefeated, they are automatically qualified as one of the three at-larges. So, you know, if you get a coastal Carolina or if you get, you know, from years past, you know, a Boise or somebody like that, they automatically qualify if they go undefeated, period, as one of the three at-larges. Well, I like your plan. I like your plan a lot.

I think that would be the greatest, one of the great days of the year. And I think waiting for these semifinal games, typically sometimes a month. month before you get them, which is more typical than what we had this year. And then you get the same teams in it every year. It's give me a quarterfinal Saturday where, you know, I can watch Texas A&M, who was probably the number five team against Notre Dame and South Bend in a four or five game. You know, give me, give me Boise the year they go undefeated or Coastal Carolina or Liberty or somebody like that who goes undefeated and give me them as an eight seed against Bama in Tuscaloosa. It's not going to be pretty, but it would be, I mean, give me the possibility of a David

versus Goliath. Exactly. I mean, that, that sells. And no doubt. The big issue, too, it's not just the same teams, but it's the dominance of the same teams. You know, LSU and Bama and Ohio State and Clemson, I mean, it is really become a have-and-have-not sport. I mean, there is a certain level that Bama and Ohio State and Clemson are at.

And LSU, you know, LSU and Oklahoma and a couple of others, you know, sneak into that every – but after that, man, it's a different sport almost, recruiting-wise and otherwise. And, you know, Notre Dame didn't have a chance of winning. in this final four. That's Notre Dame we're talking about. Two years ago, they didn't have a chance against Clemson in the semifinals. That's Notre Dame, and they're at a different level than Bama and Ohio State and Clemson. Different level all together. I don't know. I think the sport needs to figure something out because I think it's getting monotonous and boring. Not the regular season. Not the regular season. I still think the regular season is awesome. But it's the pageantry that makes it awesome, too. And we didn't even have that this year. No, we didn't. Anyway. Let's talk about another David and

Goliath. Okay. Give me the David and Goliath that you want. Is it Taylor Heineke? Yeah. Okay. I spent with Cooley yesterday two hours talking about the game. Give me your thoughts. your takeaway not only from the game, but this season. Well, okay, let's deal with the game. Let's deal with Taylor Heinecke. He had a tremendous game, I thought. I mean, I think he surprised a lot of people. It was hard not to surprise anybody because most people had never seen him play.

Right. So anything of anything that was decent was going to be a surprise. And you got to give them a lot of credit. for the way he played, the guts he showed, the leadership, how he's a cool under pressure. But, come on. The Washington did not find their quarterback. Okay? I mean, you saw him for one game, and people are ready to make him the starter for next year.

You don't need to look for a quarterback. We got one. Who? Taylor Heineke Well, wait a minute That's what I'm hearing from people Oh yeah, no, no, no, no, 100% That's what you're hearing from people

I'm hearing the same thing Yeah, and I'm thinking You know, look, every, like the 100-year flood Every once in a while, there's a Kurt Warner Right, okay, who's bagging groceries one week And then playing in the Super Bowl the neck Right But most of the time, there's a reason these guys are on the street

Most of the time, you're right. Not more than most of the time, almost all of the time. Yes. Not even on a practice squad somewhere. Okay? So I'm all for letting him sign him, come to camp, compete with Kyle Allen. If you're not going out to get a Matt Stafford or somebody else to play quarterback for you next year,

sure. Have him come in and compete with Kyle Allen for the quarterback job next year. stop it. Don't annoy this guy. I mean, show a little bit more level of intelligence. This was one game. Are you that beaten up as a fan that you react that quickly to one professional performance by a quarterback? Well, okay. It's a totally reasonable position to have. And I'm struggling and have been since Saturday night with what do I think about Taylor Heineke. because on one hand, he wasn't good, he was outstanding. And the context of him being outstanding was this was a goddamn playoff game.

They didn't have a running game, and they were facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one of the best defenses in the NFL. And the only reason they had a chance to win this game was him. That is a fact about Saturday night. So anytime we've had, and I put out a list before the game of some of the comparable, you know, substitutions for a wild card round game, Connor Cook and Joe Webb and Ryan Lindley and none of these people before him who have ever been in his position ever got it done, ever performed well. In fact, if you saw how the line changed when they named Taylor Hine and he and started. Yeah, went up to 11 in spots.

Yeah. Yeah, I did. But that doesn't mean that they were right. They just, I think a lot of the sharp betters just figured that Taylor Heineke would end up being Connor Cook, because that's the way it usually goes. Like you said, it usually, there's usually a reason that they haven't had that opportunity. But then there is Kurt Warner. Then there is, and this is, this was my comp, Tommy. This was my comp in watching him.

This is who I thought of as I was watching him. Jeff Garcia, who's toiled away in the CFL for five, six years before the 49ers gave him a shot at 29 years old. It can happen. I do think it's insane to just say, oh, we got him. That's it. We don't have to draft anybody. We don't have to worry about Matt Stafford or James Winston or Dak Prescott or Deshaun Watson, who is not going to be traded people. Or anybody else.

Okay, we got him. This is amazing. And yes, it is part, in part. I agree with you. I think it is in part because it wasn't just about Taylor Heineke. You would have thought that they won the game on Saturday night based on the reaction. And that is definitely a reaction to the condition that we have been in as a fan base, that getting to a playoff game is the measuring stick.

Actually, going seven and nine or eight and eight is the measuring stick for a good season. Tommy, I said this yesterday, and I've had it, and I'm going to get to it now because I think it works perfectly. Because you very much have been adamant about Ron Rivera doing it quickly so that he keeps the owner at bay. I give Ron Rivera the most credit for all that happened this year. Let me just remind everybody, as I just mentioned, they lost the game. Saturday night. They didn't win the game. They lost the game. Not only did they lose the game, they lost the game because many of you believe that that elite defense, which I've told you all year long, is a good defense. It's not elite. I think it could be next year or the year after, but it

isn't now. The defense that you insisted was elite lost the game for them. I mean, it was a terrible defensive night against the Buccaneers, against the greatest of all time. I understand that, but they had a bad game. But they lost the game the other night, and they went seven and nine. With that said, Tommy, it was an amazing accomplishment by the head coach this year, and Ron Rivera is one for one. He's one for one on sort of your preseason, you know, what had to happen. He had a team that he kept interested in the darkest of moments, all right?

name change, organization, you know, harassment claims, investigations, legal issues between owner and minority owners. And then on the field one in five, with late game tapping out, which they did early, and in-game quizzes, and he's battling cancer. And yet he kept the team into it. He kept him competitive.

And he did what he's done almost every year of his career. His team has gotten better. His teams get better as the season goes along. and they were able to take advantage of a bad division and play meaningful games and get to the playoffs. And when they got there, they pushed Tampa Bay. They had a legitimate chance to win that game. Let me just point this out for a second. Okay.

Okay. Because I wanted to stop you on that point. I agree. You're spot on on everything you said. And the one thing I would say to Washington football fans who are dancing in the street, over losing that game. That was a winnable game. Yeah, it was.

You could have won that game. I mean, I wouldn't have said that before the game, but watching that game, you had every chance to win that game. Like you said, that defense, and they gave up 143 yards Russian, you know? I mean, they gave up 501 yards total offense. 507, yeah.

5.07, something like that. So, I mean, there should be. a level of frustration that says, geez, you could have beat Tampa Bay and you'd be going on to the playoffs, not dancing in the streets over a loss. For a lost playoff game. I always, in boxing, I'm always weary about judging a guy based on a lose, a loss, you know, I mean, and in football, baseball, baseball, team sports is not quite the same because sometimes there is a gradual growth that comes of a team.

But still, I mean, it's very, it's sometimes a little bit wary to judge a team's success based on a losing effort. I know, I know that. By the way, I understand what you're saying, but I want to make sure I'm clear. I'm not being critical of it. I understand it. I totally get it. I'm more optimistic than I've been. But I'm also very much aware that I have felt this way before.

You've been with me many times when I have felt this way before. You know, after the hiring of Mike Shanahan, you know, after the 2012 season, to a certain degree after the 2015 season, but not as much because I didn't, I wasn't a real big believer in Jay Gruden. And I really thought that they were horrible defensively and had such a long way to go defensively. So I've been there before and been burnt by it before. The one big takeaway for me, though, that I am absolutely sure of is they hired the right guy.

They got the right guy. I thought he was the right guy. And even though there were some rocky moments early in the season, he proved to me that they hired the right guy to be the football coach and to be a big-time decision-maker in things that relate to the culture of the football organization. Now, whether or not he will be the one that breaks through the glass and, you know, keeps the owner at bay and is allowed to see this thing through, I don't know. I can't answer that. I'd be naive to say that I absolutely guarantee it and feel like he's the one. I don't. And as long as Snyder owns the team, That's going to be hanging over the possibility of this being a new day.

But I do think they got the right guy. And I am optimistic even though they lost the game about next year and some of the things they can do. With respect to the quarterback thing, I have no idea. I have no idea. I'm going to trust in Rivera and Turner. If they think that they've discovered the next Jeff Garcia or the next Kurt Warner, I'm going to go with it. You know, I'll tell you what, I am, I sort of believe in what they believe in Kyle Allen.

Like, you know, Rivera said what was it last week when he was asked, would they have been in the same position with Kyle Allen? And he said, yes. And I thought that was a pretty... I agree with that too. I think that was pretty telling about what they think about Kyle Allen and that Kyle Allen, you know, prior to Saturday night, was definitely coming back as a contender for the starting job. and that maybe they feel the same way about, look, Scott Turner feels really good about Taylor Heineke. He's the one that identified this.

So, um, I know, look, everything, we're lockstep on this and everything. Yeah, but you're being critical of those people for being optimistic after a seven and nine and a playoff loss. No, no, no, no. I'm critical of not recognizing, of not including. the history in your assessment. I mean, just saying, oh, this feels different. You know, don't do that. That's, that's an illusion.

Until it is different, it's an illusion. You have a long, long history track record to give you information about what will likely happen. Yeah. Okay. Anything else is kind of delusional speculation at this point. That's different than being optimistic. Ron Rivera accomplished, you know, in large part, what I thought he should do this year.

You know, and I understand that it feels like the team is going in the right direction. But don't assume this is different. Well, I'll tell you right now, like, I'm not assuming that next year is going to be 10 and 6 and a division title and they win a playoff game. I'm not assuming that. The NFL is, man, come on, we've all learned this. It is not just year to year. It's week to week. You can go from being a Super Bowl contender in the preseason to six and ten. Lots of things can happen that can derail a season. I'm not, as you know, I'm not a big into the schedule guy, but if you want to, if you want to, if you

want to look for a reason, you know, why it's going to be really hard to win 10 games next year. Look at their 20-21 opponents. Again, I'm not really big into this, but they play the AFC West, okay? Kansas City is in the AFC West. So is Denver and the Chargers and the Raiders. They also play the NFC South, the Saints, the Buccaneers, all right, the Panthers who were improving and the Falcons. They also have a first place schedule which pits them against the Packers and the Seahawks and their other two NFC games. And more likely than not, if there is a 17th game, it'll be against Buffalo. So, so right there, I mean, if nobody, if those teams came back and were healthy and they didn't lose Aaron Rogers or Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes, you're going to be

an underdog, you know, in the, you know how they look ahead at a schedule and they, they project point spreads, you know, the 16 games. They're going to be an underdog in like 10 or 11 of the games next year that they play before the season starts. Again, I think the schedule things overrated because things change so dramatically. Teams aren't as, you know, the bad teams end up not being as bad as you think and some of the great teams end up not being as good as you think. And usually that's due to injuries that you can't predict. But to have, have on your schedule next year, Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Seattle, New Orleans, Kansas City, and Buffalo, that's pretty daunting. That's what you get when you win a division. It doesn't matter that you were

seven and nine. They don't say, oh, you were a seven and nine division winner. We won't give you the first place schedule. No, you were the division winner. And they still have, you know, they got to fill some holes. Yes, they do. I pointed this out in my column. off the game on Sunday. And I went back to Mike Chattahan's first year in 2010, when they went six and ten. It wasn't quite seven and nine in an NFC East title, but that's in large part because both Dallas and Philly

won 10 games that year in the NFC. They had legitimate NFC East competitive teams that year. But I pointed out that nine of the games that they played, they held teams to 17 points or under. Okay. Yeah. And he did it with a roster that was not nearly as good as the roster that that Ron Rivera inherited. There were two homegrown first round picks on the roster that Mike Shanahan got.

There were six homegrown first round picks on the Ron Rivera roster that he inherited. So, I mean, it was a better roster. And there was talk of the culture change. You know, he had stared down the owner's free agent, Albert Hainsworth, and chased him off. And he had benched the owner's quarterback and got rid of him in Donovan McNabb. He had done all those things in year one. And then year two, they went five and 11. We know what happened after that.

Like I pointed out in my column, Ludo Snyder had a flu. fight and it all went to hell. Pluto Snyder. Yeah, like, look, beware. Okay? That's it. That's the key. Just, I mean, it's okay to feel good.

I feel good. I feel optimistic, but I also am. Have your eyes open. Yeah, agreed. So, I just saw this as we were getting ready for the show. And I wanted to bring this up.

I'm actually upset that I didn't see this before the radio show this morning. Ron Rivera, who I think is going to be on the radio show this week, apparently they've told me he's going to be on the radio show this week with me. So I'll look forward to that. But he was on with Grant and Danny yesterday on 1067, The Fan. And he basically admitted he made a mistake with Dwayne Haskins. He said, I'm going to give you some of the quotes. He said that basically, in hindsight,

he admits that he should have given more reps to the other quarterbacks, Kyle Allen and Alex Smith, more first team reps. And then he also said he was surprised by the negative reaction by the fans to his decision to bench Haskins originally. He said, I was surprised by the reaction. First of all, I did certain things specifically to try and find out as quickly as possible. As I detailed, Haskins took every snap with the ones for seven straight weeks in training camp. For four straight weeks of football, he played every snap as the quarterback, and the idea behind that was really to evaluate.

We didn't have the normal OTAs in minicamp. We didn't have the normal training camp preseason games. So there was a lot of unknowns, and getting the exposure I did gave me an opportunity to see what we had at the position. Now, I made the move for more reasons than one, but also because, as I said, a couple of things stood out. We had a group of other guys that we had to develop that was important to have them get their chances to grow, and nobody was running away with the division. So I made the decision based on those factors as well. And then he said this. Asked if he could go back to the beginning when he was first hired, if he would have done things differently at the quarterback position.

Rivera says he would have spread the reps with the ones around a little more evenly. Yes, I would have, he said. I think the biggest thing I would have done is I would have created a few more opportunities mixing everybody around as opposed to saying, okay, I'm going to stick with just one guy and do that. I think now in retrospect, in hindsight, 2020, I would, and it's something that I'm going to chalk up as an experience. You know, you learn from experience, and if I ever get in this situation again, I will look at it differently. Grant said, you're essentially saying maybe it would have been better to have a competition or at least get reps. for other guys. And he said, quote, well, what I'm saying is I made a mistake and I'm owning up to it. And that's the truth. I mean, to put it as simple as that, yes, what I'm saying, I'm just being honest, closed quote.

Now, you know, in terms of him making the mistake on not sharing the reps, that's sort of what he's admitting to. personally. I didn't hear it, but what I'm reading is I'm reading that Rivera made a mistake to just to not cut bait when he knew in his gut that Haskins wasn't going to be the guy. It was a waste of time, ultimately. And if he's on, if he's on with me this week, which I hope he is, I'm going to ask him if that's something that he regrets. But you know what? We'll also focus on this very optimistic future. Yes, yes. It would take time from dancing in the streets to sit down and talk to the coach.

And one thing he said, I think that's real interesting there, was that he was surprised at the fan reaction when they bench Haskins. Now, there was a segment of the fan base that was angry about that. But it wasn't a large outcry. I agree with you. Totally agree. Which really makes me think that. He really pays attention to what people say and what people write and what's talked about.

He has admitted that. Well, that's your proof right there. He was surprised at the fan reaction. Well, I think he's saying that he was surprised by the reaction that he heard that was negative. Like you shouldn't have benched him. Right. But, I mean, you and I can agree. There was there was no.

Then why are you saying that he listens carefully? Well, I'm kind of surprised that he was surprised because there wasn't that much of an outcry. It wasn't that much of a reaction, which means he's sensitive. I think that I remember from those days that there was just so many questions about it, and I could sense from those days that he was like, wait a minute, did you guys watch him play? and then he got his, you know, it got his ire up a little bit and he started to talk about he had 52 other people to consider and that those 52 people were basically having conversations about when's the head coach going to put in the better quarterback? You know, they threw him under the bus. Remember a little bit.

I know. He's more sensitive, I think, than people realize. I think he's very much, I think he's admitted this, that he pays. attention to what people say and write. To me, it's all one. The perception and the football business, it all runs together these days. So it's important to be aware of what your football moves will, how they'll play in the fan base. But to really express that and to have it, I mean, I'm not saying it dictated what he did, but to publicly express that, I think it's a little bit surprising. Yeah, I think also remember with him, he hasn't just been the football coach since he took

over. Right. I don't know. My personal preference would be, don't listen to anything that we say or even a fan say you're going to end up joining us, you know, that old saying. But with that said, like, I know, I know Mike used to listen to our show. I know Mike definitely used to listen to the Monday morning quarterback show on his way in. When Andy and I were doing Monday morning quarterback on the mornings after games. I mean, he told me. Oh, I'm Mike, very aware of what was written and what was said. I knew that from reading this book. Yeah. So, you know, and I know that Jay listened and I know that people in the organization right now, but the head coach, I would prefer it to be more like Belichick, obviously, or Gibbs. I don't think

Gibbs really ever had a sense of what any. Now, it's a different, it was a different day. I mean, there wasn't sports talk radio and there wasn't bloggers and there wasn't social media. But yeah, I mean, that would be my preference. But anyway, all right. Last question before we say goodbye to Tommy for the day and bring him coolly for his film breakdown. What would your quarterback plan be? Okay. Well, to me, if I don't have personnel people that I believe in, that in almost every draft,

can look at the draft and tell me one or two guys who are potential NFL quarterbacks besides the number one or number two picks, then I don't have good personnel people. Will they be right? No. But I think in every draft, if I've got good personnel people, I've got a guy who understands the guy from North Dakota State.

Trey Lance. Nobody ever seen. I'm just throwing out of college. Oh, well, he's going to be potentially a first round pick from North Dakota State. South Dakota State, any place like that. I want to have personnel people that are good enough to be able to spot the one or two quarterbacks in every draft that are under the radar that have the potential to be NFL starters. So to me, if I got those personnel people in charge, I'm going into. into the season next year with Kyle Allen probably as my starter,

but drafting a quarterback maybe in the third or fourth round. What are you going to do with Taylor Heineke? I'll sign him to. Bring him on. Let's bring him to camp. You know, let's have a quarterback competition, him and Kyle Allen. That's fine. But I'm going to draft a quarterback in the third round that I think has potential to be an NFL starter.

What if there's a market for Taylor Heineke? What if there's competition for him? I don't know if there's going to be or not. His college coach, Bobby Wilder, who was on with Galdi yesterday, man, clearly a friend of Taylor Heinekees and almost acting as a public agent for him and talking about, you know, the options he's going to have, et cetera. I don't know what the status of Heineke is, if he's an undrafted free agent or a restricted free agent. But anyway, I don't see there being like a bidding war for Taylor Heineke off of one game.

But I think it's, God, man, I just think there's some things that we're always a little bit off on. Like trade value, I think we're always off on. And I think quarterback evaluation of these kinds of quarterbacks that we haven't really seen a lot in college, even the ones that we do see a lot of in college, is really hard. Like, I think I've been much better over the years at identifying the guys that I don't think will be very good coming out of college and identifying the guys that I do think will be good as a fan. Now, we got to see him start in the highest pressure of environments, and he was excellent. He really was. He was excellent. He should have won the game. I certainly had a chance to. He had a

chance to. If his defense had given him support, he could have won that game. Yep. All right. Anything else? I got two things. Yeah, two things. Okay. Real quick. First of all, this is the greatest day in my life back in 1969 as a football fan, because this is the day the Jets beat the Colts in Super Bowl 3. The Super Bowl win that Namath guaranteed. And for people who always say, who look at Joe Not named Stats and say, why is he in the Hall of Fame,

Joe Namath is the ultimate you had to be there, a guy. You had to be there. You had to be around. You had to be part of it to understand his importance, impact, and talent. He threw for 4,000 yards in 14 games before any, like 12 years before another quarterback did it. Right. Right. Even if he did throw a lot of interceptions.

Yeah. So you just had to be there to be part of it. The other thing is, I want to wish a happy birthday to the late great heavyweight champion, Joe Fraser. Without Joe Fraser, there's no Muhammad Ali. Without those three Fraser Ali fights, Ali's status, Ali's legend is not nearly as great. So on Namath, I grew up with a father who loved, I've told you this before. My father loved the ABA and the AFL more than he liked the NBA and the NFL. The first basketball that I was ever given when I was a kid was an ABA, red, white, and

Blue Ball, Tommy. My father was very much, you know, into the underdog and into the alternative, you know, leagues. You know, he was a huge Redskins fan. Don't get me wrong. We had season tickets growing up, but he loved Joe Namath. And so I remember very, I mean, the very end of Joe Namath's career. You know, you obviously lived through it as a jet fan. But over the years, I know that I've looked at Joe Namath's career. And the thing that people always will say is he threw more interceptions than touchdowns, like a lot more. Also keep in mind, people, it was a different game.

You mugged wide receivers. Receivers were getting handled from the line of scrimmage all the way down field. If Joe Namath were playing in today's game, he wouldn't have anywhere near that number of interceptions. What was always interesting to me in watching sort of the highlights, of him. And my father always said, Sunny and Namath, in terms of pure passers, that's the list. You know, this is way back in the day.

If you watch Namath, good God, did he throw a beautiful ball? And he threw a great deep ball and threw a great deep ball of one of the great wide receivers in the history of the game and Don Maynard. But he was putting up numbers in that era, yardage-wise, that had never happened. It is interesting, though, to just see the difference in the game. His career completion percentage,

was 50.1%. He had many years. The year that he threw for 4,000 yards, and I think he became the first quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards, he was 52.5% completion percentage, 26 touchdowns, 28 interceptions. I know.

But he's in the Hall of Fame because he forced the merger more than any single person did. He was the one. Not only that, he was Broadway Joe. He was the first. first athlete superstar endorser. Right.

He had an impact on all sports. All sports. Yeah. I mean, you just mentioned Frazier. Look, in that era, the two biggest superstars in sports were Namath and Ali. Yes, absolutely. Who was the baseball superstar in 69? Mantle? No, he was at the end.

He was at the end. I think he was retired in 69. 69. Mays? Mays was near the end of his career. Right. At the time. 69?

That was the beginning of Reggie Jackson. Bob Gibson? Gibson, to some extent. Yeah. Mantle retired in 68. Yeah. Okay. Willie Mays.

Well, Mays was playing into the early 70s. I remember him. 74 was with the Mets. Yeah, I remember him with the Mets. In 73. So in 69, he was still a star. And I'm just pulling up his thing. In 69, he was 38 years old.

38 years old. Gibson was the, you know, was a huge star, right? I mean, in one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Yes. All right. Okay. We'll talk on Thursday. Okay, boss.

Coolie's film breakdown of the offense, right? after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, let's bring in Cooley. He has the offensive film breakdown from the Tampa Bay game on Saturday night. It'll be his last game film breakdown on the podcast. He'll have plenty as we approach free agency and the draft. He has a different way that he wants to do the film breakdown, so I'm just going to go with it when he gets started.

But you said that you have a what do you got to start our segment together here, There are multiple segments together here today. What is it? This is one of my favorite, what he got? A long time. So I'm sitting here doing the film breakdown this morning, 633. I get a text from you. Our fans trying to make an excuse that Chase Young was doubled and held the entire game.

I watched every past play. He was owned by Smith, held maybe twice on 65 snaps. He was the best player on the team all year. He wasn't good on Saturday night. When did you be? sensitive. You had this idea that Chase Young didn't play well. And I haven't watched very much of the defense.

And I will tell you right now for certain that I watch Chase Young get owned by Donovan Smith on at least seven or eight snaps. Oh, it's going to be more than that. So on at least seven or eight, I know that he got owned. He may have gotten doubled back and forth. But the reason I love this is, because I have done this film stuff and had these hard takes on players for seven years. It sucks when no one agrees with you.

Well, no, no, no. I would say that most people did agree with me, but there were the thing that bothered me. You took the one percent, you took the ten percenters? No, no, no. I didn't share with you what I was most, what I was upset about. What I was upset about was that there was a, what got me. started on the radio show this morning is several people sent me this video that to be honest with you, I didn't do a lot of research into to find out where the video came. Somebody told me the team put

it out and I'm going to find it here in a second because I didn't have it up. I didn't know what you're what you're what you got was going to be. So just bear with me. But basically here it is. It's a video that says they said Chase Young was a no show. Try being held damn near. all game, L.O.L. See all next year, Washington football. Chase Young, keep balling, man. And it's a 10-second video of, by the way, the one play that I found, the two plays that I found where he was held out of 65 snaps and 40 or whatever throws that Brady had. But other than that, when I got this last night, I went through every play. I'm like, oh, my God, I had no idea he was as bad as he was. Like this guy, Donovan Smith, he was the most valuable.

player not named Brady on the Buccaneers offense because the best player all year for Washington was a non-factor in the game. But why I brought it up is because Chase Young retweeted this video. And I just think that he's bigger than that. And I want him to be bigger than that. He didn't play well. So say, hey, I didn't play well enough. You know, we lost. a game and the next time I'm going to be much better and the defense is going to be much better. Donovan Smith had a hell of a game. I need to be better. Instead of retweeting a video that where somebody says he was held damn near all game.

Even if he was held all game long, which he wasn't, he shouldn't retweet that. And I know that, you know, there's the OK boomer element out there. you know, this is what young people do. I don't want him to do it. He was the best player on the team all year long. He was my favorite player on the team all year long. The only reason they were in this position to play in this game Saturday night was because of the defense and because of him.

And I wanted him to be better Saturday night, but he wasn't. So I'm not going to cheer lead and I'm not going to say, ah, he's just young. and he's a little bit sensitive. I just think it's small to do that, and I think he's bigger than that. That's all. That's what got me on this topic this morning. Now, I can't wait to hear your film breakdown of Chase Young's performance,

but it wasn't good. It was, for a guy that just wreaked havoc so much of the year, there was none of that Saturday night, none of it. So anyway. that he retweeted that. You do? He retweeted the excuse? Yeah.

Now, somebody called and said, you don't know what the context does. You don't know what the guy was retweeting. Maybe he was just retweeting this because it was a friend of his and he wanted the guy to get so. I mean, and somebody else pointed out, the intangibles that Chase Young brings to the team as a leader, you don't know that that wasn't a factor in the game.

Well, I don't. You're right. Maybe he was the inspiration behind Heineke's performance. And so I can't measure that, obviously. I can only watch the game and know that defensively the defense A was a mess, and he did not have any positive impact on the game, like I expected him to. And what I told you yesterday was sort of how I felt. I think he put a little bit, I didn't have a problem with what he said about Brady,

but you've got to back it up. I never had a problem when I was much younger with Dexter Manly, you know, making big boasts during the week. You know what he did every single time? Backed it up. And so if you're going to, you've got to understand this is the playoffs, and Tom Brady is Tom Brady. So no matter how benign what you said or how emotional you were

and how much you either meant it or didn't, it was going to make headlines. And it was going to put more pressure on him to perform. And so maybe it put too much pressure on him. Maybe that was part of it. Maybe he learned, you know what, I'm going to go in. they're very much under the radar and dominate, rather than being on the radar and not dominating, because he didn't dominate, that's for sure. I still love him. I still think he's the best pound

for pound player on the team. I don't think they would have been in the postseason without him. Early in the year when people were complaining about his statistics, I was on radio and with you saying, what are you people watching? He's the best player on the field. He just wasn't on Saturday night. It's okay to say that. We don't need to be cheerleaders here. It's big boy league, right? It's a big boy league and I'm all behind him 100%, but he didn't play well, and

I was disappointed that he retweeted an excuse made for his performance. That's all. I think that there's been no bigger fan of Chase Young than you and I. There's certainly been no bigger fan than I have. I mean, you know,

I can't tell you how much and how exhilarated and how excited and thrilled I've been by watching him play this year, and how excited I was when they drafted him, and how pumped I was when they didn't beat the giants at the end of last year so that they could draft him. And I remember getting into this argument about the Clemson semi-final game last year with a lot of people that said, your boy, your boy didn't have one sack. And I'm like, yeah, but did you watch the game? They doubled, they chipped, they tripled, and it freed up everybody else. Well, that did not happen Saturday night.

Okay? They weren't doubling him. They weren't tripling him. They weren't chipping him. They told Donovan Smith, you're good enough to block this guy. And he was on Saturday night. They probably could have created for him better than they did. Who, Del Rio?

Yeah. maybe so. But Donovan Smith, I watched a bunch of that. Donovan Smith played a darn good game. I thought he did. But you'll do his film breakdown tomorrow. Let's get started with the offensive film breakdown. Wait a minute.

You actually wanted to talk about the game last night first, right? How good is Devante Smith? Really good? Like the best receiver in college football in many years maybe. Like put him anywhere on the field, do whatever you want with him.

Don't let your defense have a matchup with the linebacker when he's running vertical down the field. Yeah. But that said, how good are all of the receivers for Alabama? So to allocate everything to Devonte Smith ends up getting beat by whoever else they want to throw the ball to. I mean, that offense is a fucking machine. It's unbelievable. They are so much better than anybody they play. It is almost a surprise if they don't get five yards on every single play. They did whatever they wanted. Gally, I have a couple of friends here in Wyoming that are

Ohio State fans. And so I was texting back and forth and we had talked yesterday. My daughter's principal is a big Ohio state fan and he said, what's the what are the coolly keys to the game? And I said, somehow you got a hold of under 40, under 45 for sure. Well, that wasn't happening. Good luck. Dude, that game was 7-7 at halftime. I finished

eating dinner, drove home and it was like 3514. 7-7 at the end of the first quarter. Yeah, at the end of the first quarter. Yeah. So I rewounded. Ohio State's got dudes, Kev. I know they do. They can play. They have pros on that defense.

I mean, the lack of preparation for some of the motion stuff for Ohio State was bad, too. They did not know how to trail some of the motions. Even late in the game, the white dude comes across the field behind in motion. But gosh, I got to. I'll tell you what, I was impressed with Sarkesian. He had it dialed up, man. He had guys in spots. He knew exactly how to manipulate Ohio State's defense.

He knew how to create matchups. The quarterback's pretty good, too. I was going to ask you about him. He's low as molasses, but he's pretty good. He knows where he's going with the football. Now, that said, there were some open receivers in that ball game. You know, he's a guy that's being mocked now in the portion of the draft where Washington's going to select at 19.

He's being mocked in that general area. I mean, there are a lot of quarterbacks being mocked in the first round right now. I mean, actually, the latest CBS Sports.com mock draft has Mack Jones going to Washington at 19. They have Heineke. Okay. All right. Well, we're going to get to that in a moment. Is Mack Brown a first round picking in your view?

I'll be completely honest with you. I don't know. I haven't watched enough, and I do know for certain that Alabama has three or four dudes at receiver that are probably better than almost anybody in college football. And then two backs and an offensive line that can do whatever they want. And so it's just dealer's choice all day for the quarterback. Right. He is that that offense, it's unbelievable. Well, I mean, Haskins is he Haskins?

No, he's not Haskins. He throws the ball down the field. Right. No, he is a vertical passer who reads the safeties and reads the back end and takes shots down the field. How good is not? I mean, I don't know. I thought he was just amazing. How good is Najee Harris?

How good is the second back that came into the game? The other big dude. But Harris is so strong and has such great vision and is such a, I mean, a tough dude. I mean, and he can come out of the backfield and make some plays as a receiver, the touchdown he has. It's like the swing he gets out there. Jeez. And we didn't even see the best of Waddle. I mean, a lot of people have, hey, you know, before this season, before this season, before

Waddle got heard, Waddle was going to go before Smith. Jamar Chase was going to go before Smith. I love Jamar Chase. I've been saying since before the season started, Smith to me is the number one receiver in the draft. I made this comment to you, I think, earlier in the year. I said, I think he's the best route runner of all of the Bama guys. And I had a friend of mine who's coached football before and is actually still coaching. He said that he thinks Cooper is the best route runner of the Bama guys in recent years. But Smith also has... Who, Amari Cooper?

Yeah. Is your friend me? Because I've said that to you nine times on this podcast. Yes, I'll just say that was you. The other part... I mean, we can go track that back. I think Cooper's amazing. The other part of Smith is his arms are so...

He's got long arms and he's got great hands. And my God, he may not be rugs on the 40 time, but his football speed is breathtaking. Like the acceleration on one of those passes that he took on sort of some motion where he came back the other way and then he got to the sideline and he just, it was a blur. He's really spectacular. I always hesitate with the receivers early in the draft.

I mean, obviously we're not going to have a chance at Smith or Chase or probably not even Waddle. But he is really good. People are trying to make the case that he's the greatest receiver in the history of the sport. Randy Moss at a slightly lower level, obviously, Marshall was a great college receiver. Larry Fitzgerald was a great wide receiver. Those are some of the recent people that I've thought about. It's funny, some of their great NFL receivers weren't necessarily the best in college or perceived best.

Look, Justin Jefferson last year, there were multiple receivers that went before him. He was drafted at 22 in the first round. Judy and Ruggs and who else went before him? I'm forgetting somebody else that went before him. Yeah. I mean, where does this kid go? Top five. Now, top five.

Three? Does he go three after the two quarterbacks? And the other thing is, where does fields go? I don't think he should go number. I don't, I don't. He played so well in the semifinal against Clemson. It was such a great game for him, and I know he was hurting last night. And look, Ohio State lost Trey Sermon on the first play of the game.

And that was devastating because Sermon had basically run for like 500 yards. Well, more than that, close to 600 yards in two games leading into this thing. And they also were without a couple of their starting defensive linemen in the game as well. But I've watched a lot of fields. I don't think he is a top 15 guy. And he's going to go in the top 15. I haven't seen Trey Lance either. And I watch some of Zach Wilson, the BYUu quarterback.

I think the only guy I'm absolutely sure of is Trevor Lawrence. Like, you know, he's, I don't know. Like, put it this way. You can play. He can legit play. And you also have to keep in mind with the BYU quarterback, they don't have the talent that some of the. other teams have around them. I know. And certainly not Bama or Ohio State. It's, you know,

there's, there's the guy that I think Ron Rivera wants his middle linebacker in this draft. And Micah Parsons opted out of this season at Penn State, like a lot of players did, Jamar Chase. Several guys that are going to go in the first round opted out of the season this year. You know, the guy, the big tackle from Oregon opted out. Jamar Chase opted out. Micah Parsons opted out. You know, all top 10 to top 15 picks. Man, if there's any way they could get Parsons, that's his –

because I think Ron Rivera wants his middle linebacker. That's what I think he wants more than anything else in this offseason. But anyway, I don't think they're going to have a chance at Parsons. you never know as this thing plays out especially as some of the quarterbacks come up in this draft if some of these guys start getting taken what about peterson getting fired peterson was not getting fired until he did what he did against washington do you think that's true yep well geoffrey lorry didn't say that jeffre larry is not going to say that i understand it may have even been a plan with lorry i don't know i don't think the handling of carson wend

your franchise quarterback and him essentially Kevin since fools left feeling uncomfortable in that organization is something you want to build around going forward. And there are stories going back to two seasons ago where Bulls had to walk in every day and there's giant posters of Nick Foles winning the Super Bowl. And it's hard not to do that as an organization. But the fact that Peterson never had him completely comfortable. and Kev, to me, the offensive coach who came out with all this creativity and was electric with Wentz in his rookie year and that first half of the Super Bowl year where he was hurt, can't figure out a way to work that relationship and to work what Wentz does best and to settle down a third and fourth year quarterback from throwing picks. Now, I get it that they didn't have dudes as far as receivers, and they've been banged up the last couple years.

But gosh, it's just fascinating. The other thing with Peterson is, you remember that Super Bowl year in the first year, all of the analytic stuff worked out for him. They were awesome on fourth downs. They haven't been as good in those situations where he's dialing up analytic type calls. It takes a lot of risks. Context. You didn't have a lot of good players to make those fourth downs this year.

Context is huge. There's a lot of jobs. I mean, I wonder where this goes. I want to remind you of something for a second, because you think that his decision to intentionally throw the game in the fourth quarter is why he's out. And yet you believe the day after, and I believe that you're right about this, that the word came from somewhere else. That this was a lury or a Howie Roseman saying, we can't win this game. We're going to lose multiple draft slots here. And Peterson then put in Nate Sudfeld because you said he wouldn't have done that to Sudfell.

in that spot. So I just want to remind you that if you still feel that that was what happened in the game, well, you can't fire Peterson for a decision you made. I think this is more than that. I've heard that Peterson wasn't going to be allowed to hire his own staff, and that created, when I say I've heard, I've read from whether it's, you know, Mort or Sal Powell or any of the others, that, you know, they were going to bring in a staff forum and that this ended up being

sort of more mutual than just a firing. I just, to me, as a long time NFL fan and an NFC East fan, I just think it's amazing that the guy that won

the Eagles, the Super Bowl, you have to understand for 40 years, 50 years, for 50 years, this fan base walked around like they had won four of them. I mean, there just has never been a more delusional fan base in the NFC East than Eagle fan. You know, for 50 years, they're walking around and you would think that

they had all the Lombardis in their lobby, and Washington, Dallas, and the Giants didn't have any. And then they finally got one. They finally got one. And I remember the day after that they won that Super Bowl against New England, as much as I can't stand my NFC East rivals. On some level, I was like, Good for you guys. You know, now you're actually in the club. The club that you actually thought you were a part of, that you talked yourself into being a part of you, you now are actually a part of the club.

Welcome to the club. And they fired the guy three years later. That's crazy to me. It's insane. Maybe there is something mutual. Remember Schwartz said he's out like before the final game. Yeah, he's going to take some time off. At least a year.

By the way, they've already reached out to Todd Bowles. You know how much I like Todd Bowles and how I would have loved if we had hired Todd Bowles last year. Now, I love the Rivera hire, obviously. But I think Todd Bowles is going to get a chance to be a head coach again. I really do. And by the way, I think Doug Peterson's going to get a pretty good chance. I mean, apparently he is boys with what's his face, Joe Douglas in New York with the Jets. So that's a really good possibility, too.

I wouldn't be surprised if Peterson said, I'll just go back and be the OSTee for Kansas City Chiefs because BNAMI is going to get a job this year. The enemy should get a job this year. B&A. B&M will get a job this year. Yeah. So I wouldn't be surprised if Peterson just said, hey, Andy, you're really good at managing this head coaching stuff. And I've already won't a Super Bowl as a head coach.

And I'll just call plays. Right. I won't deal with all the crap. That's your job. You're great at it. Let me call plays. What if the Eagles hire baseball? be enemy.

Wouldn't that be crazy? It would be crazy. Well, it wouldn't be crazy. Okay, so hey, Andy, thanks for Doug. We got one Super Bowl. You can have, you can have Doug back. Yeah, we won't Eric. We'll take the enemy now.

Because we like the coach that was just with you. It seems to me, or it seems to us that the coach that's left you for four years starts to lose that creative spark. You're apparently the creative spark, Andy. So you take Doug back, we'll take BNME, see how that goes for a few years. It's really, like, remarkable when you think about that Peterson, okay, Doug Peterson in Philadelphia, 7 and 9 first year, 13 and 3 Super Bowl champions, 9 and 7 playoffs, they won a game, they beat Chicago,

then lost to the Saints in a game they had a chance to win. I think it was Alshon Jeffrey, or maybe it was Aguilar that dropped the pass that had him in range of winning. the game. Then last year, nine and seven, they win the division again, and Carson Wentz gets hurt in the first quarter, and they lose a game to Seattle in the first round. By the way, I thought they were going to win the game had Carson Wentz stayed healthy. And then in a pandemic, weird year where they lost so many players to injury, he gets fired? Really? I mean, there really had to be, it's got to be, there's, it's personal here somewhere.

There's just a, there's a Lurie Roseman versus, you know, Peterson. We just don't like the dude kind of a thing. You don't fire a coach who in his previous three years went to the playoffs, won a Super Bowl, and in another year with a team that wasn't that great, nearly got to the NFC championship game in a year that is as weird as this one and can totally be, totally be chalked up to injuries. That's why they were 4-11-1, injuries more than anything else. Yeah.

And it's also funny because they were supposed to be on the, well, it started with Chip Kelly, but Peterson was also supposed to be a little bit on the analytic front of keeping guys healthy. Oh, right. Couldn't keep guys healthy. Yeah, I remember you comparing with Philadelphia and Seattle and others were doing versus what Washington was doing. Look, I want to get to the film breakdown because if not, the podcast is going to be forever. But I will just mention this one other thing. The Cowboys hired Dan Quinn to be their defensive coordinator.

That is a major upgrade over Mike Nolan. Major upgrade over Mike Nolan, in my opinion. Do you agree with that? Totally agree. Dan Quinn was an incredible defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks. Dan Quinn was in Seattle patented that straight cover three with a dynamic rush. and if you were Dallas, why in the holy hell with that front, would you confuse your back end? Right. Right. That's been the strength. Their front. All right. Coolie's film breakdown of the offense right when we come back, 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 Cooley. Kevin. Cool he's going to do his offensive film breakdown at the Tampa game today. He'll do the defensive film breakdown tomorrow. You're going to do it a little bit differently. You want to go through this game offensively play by play? Is that what? Essentially series by series.

And it's, so it's a little bit different because I just, I'll give you thoughts on how a lot of the guys played and some of the grades on some of the offensive players and absolutely the Heineke grade, which I have. It won't feel that different because a lot of times we go through, play by play in order with a lot of these guys.

Okay. But I just thought some of it, I just thought it's interesting and I think it's fun. I want to encourage anybody to have the all 22 because if you have the all 22, this is the easiest way to do this with me. True. Because you can essentially pause the podcast,

watch whatever we're talking about, and we're literally walking through this entire offensive game. All right. Let's get started. There's 60-some plays and let's get through it. And the ones that don't matter, I'm not going to waste a lot of time on. Their first series of the game, they're already down three nothing.

First series, the game's a three and out series. The very first play of the game. We're talking about trying to run the ball against this Tampa team. It didn't go well from the evening. And I'm not talking about caping holes here, and there weren't. Tampa did a really good job up front. But this first play is indicative of a lot of the problems that they had on some of these run plays. Logan Thomas is on the edge.

He's in a two-point stance. He way over strides the defensive end, 50. and honestly kev they're trying to bounce this thing this has a chance to be out the gate first play of the game you got a chance to be out the gate no receivers to the side you're pulling a garden to tackle or garden a center you are at the edge if logan thomas gets a simple pin block he's struggled all year in a two-point stance blocking a defensive end he's been actually good in a three-point stance you should know that he is not a two-point stance blocker this is not a good opportunity the first play of the game to get Logan Thomas going on Kev, what's really a pretty tough block. Against Shaq Barrett. It's Shaq, but just put him into a two-point stance. He's gotten that block done all day, all year in a two-point. Or excuse me, and a three-point with his hand down.

Instead of out the gate or 10 or 15 or whatever it is, what Gibson makes happen, we're sitting there looking at a second and 14. Yeah, you're right, too. if he gets hit that pin and Gibson gets to the outside, no matter how compromised Gibson was, he's got guys pulling and he's got some room to go for a big run on the first play. Play of the game. We're going to open this thing up.

Yeah. Second play of the game. What a great throw down the field to Sims on a four-verts concept. Heineke does an excellent job in the pocket. There's good protection. He's reading the single high safety. I mean, he's got a shot. He's funny because Sims actually slows down.

Terry pretty much shuts it down outside of Sims. They're not used to the ball coming out that late in a play. They're like, oh, ball's not out in one second? Probably, probably done. Sims should make this play. And then Sims gets up and Logan comes over and they kind of get five, like, that was a tough ball to catch. No, run through the ball.

It's a 35-yard reception. If you run through the ball, that's got to be caught. It's the playoffs. Tampa. Got to make plays for your quarterback. Yeah. Forced to throw underneath on a third and 14, they end up punting. They complete a third and 14.

It's fine. Three and out. Second drive, they're down nine, nothing now. Second drive of the game, first and ten's an incompletion. Second ten, back to Logan Thomas. It's a miss on the backside, a second and ten run. The linebacker replaces the safety gap. Logan's, I think it's Shaq-Baird again, backside.

Line-backer replaces the safety. Logan just bypasses the linebacker crash in the backside, goes up to the safety, we got to tack off the edge. Okay, got to be hard to run the ball today. Then you get a third and long, and Heineke does an exceptional job with the high-low read of the corner, and he finds Sims on the deeper corner. They have eight to ten yard out with Sam or with Stephen Sims,

and then over the top is Cam Sims. It's awesome, man. It's a great job high-lowing that thing. Good read. That was versus the Blitz, too. Yeah, it's really good. Who picked up that blitz? I'd have to go watch it again.

That's a really good play. By the way, it was still 3-0 at this point, because I know what's coming up next. I think I know what's coming up next. But they sent, I think McKissick may have picked that up. Okay? Continue. First and 10, we're going to get back to running the ball.

First of 10 at the 46-yard line. Terry McLaurin is in a tight split to the line of scrimmage. Number 31 walks up on the edge. He's going to come. That's Winfield, Jr. Winfield walks right up on the edge. Watch this play because I love Terry, and he's a great effort player. Terry lets him go, like, what the fuck?

And then he jogs up the field about seven yards, touches no one lets the next player cross his face. And I'm sitting here thinking either this is a bad plan or it's bad preparation because he didn't know he was going to block Winfield. He blocks Winfield and he least got a shot. You're not going for a negative play there. What's he doing? It's the playoffs.

We're not blocking it. in anybody. There was no contact made on that play. You then get the interception on the tip ball to bunting. Your offensive lines beat up the middle on a blitz by Mentor. Minter's the middle linebacker here on this interception to bunting. Usually the offensive line is responsible in a six-man protection, five offensive line and a back for the Mike linebacker. You hear the quarterback always saying 51's the mic. Well, that means the offensive line is almost always responsible for the Mike linebacker. It's either sheriff or Ruiye too slow to pick up this twist inside.

McKissick tries to come in and help out a little bit. My God, he's soft when it comes to picking up the blitz. He may have got it on that last third down. But this has got to get picked up. Yeah. The interception. Two drives? Nothing.

Now it's nine nothing. Now it's nine nothing. And we're talking about starting fast against the team that you can't get down nine nothing on, Kev. Nope. Because they're going to keep scoring. The third drive is, I think, just an unbelievable drive by Heineke. He does a great job on this drive. First and ten, they go run action, first play of the game.

He's forced to scramble right and Ruey and misses again on a middle A gap blitz by Minter. But Heineke does a great job rolling right, hitting Logan Thomas almost on schedule on the corner route. And it's a good finish by Thomas up the sideline. It's a great finish. That's where he, is that the one where he basically, you know, stops and comes back and then makes a run. Yeah, here it is. That's a good after-catch run by Logan Thomas, right?

Oh, it's a great run after the catch. But it's a great job by Heineke, sensing the pressure immediately, getting away from the pressure, rolling right, and making a throw down the field. This is why Heineke played, and this is what Alex can't do at that point. Alex has got to dump it,

bury it to the back, something, because this pressure is too quick just sit there and even throw it off your fifth step or in gun off your third. Come back at the 49 yard line. Excellent job anticipating to throw to Terry McLoran on a deep in. There's a high low read with Logan Thomas coming across the middle of the field. This is, Kev, this is funny. This play is what everyone called in the West Coast bingo cross.

Why bingo? I don't, because it's a basic cross. They called it bingo, but you have a high-low read with a crosser and a deep dig. They ran this play 20 times in this game. I said yesterday, it was a full compliment of the game plan. They ran bingo cross or what Al Saunders would have called 694H cross about 20 times. It went bingo cross all day long and Tampa never answered it. he did a great job all day as he did on this play, sensing the underneath defender and throwing over the top as he started to hug up.

It's a great concept for what Washington had been doing over the past season because they kept throwing the shallow or they kept throwing the spot to the back or the swing. And that underneath defense has to hug up. They hit a bunch of these digs behind Tampa as they did on this play. Right. First to 10, let's get back to running the ball. Coach, we got to run the ball. We got some great run action stuff. on up today.

Sprinkle has a WTF decision to go outside Jason Pierapal. This is a zone read play. Both Sprinkle and Logan Thomas release outside. Sprinkle's got to go inside to get the linebacker. There's no chance. If it's handed off, he can't get in to Minter. Either it's coached to both go outside to try to lure that defensive end outside. so you force the handoff.

But if Sprinkle goes outside, head up defensive end, he can't get all the way back to the middle linebacker. Should the quarterback have kept it? I thought about it. He missed one later. I thought about it. I'm not sure. I think Pierre Paul might hawk him down.

Second and eight next play. This is a great job by Heineke. Either a great job or lucky. but Mentor comes off the right side unblocked. Now, he could have slid his line pre-snap. The Mentor showed that he was going to come off the right side, and he had his line sliding away from that. So he knows he's unblocked.

He doesn't have a back in there to pick up the linebacker. And he just knows the rules of dodgeball. You got a duck. Murtr jumps way past him, and off he goes for 13 yards down the field. It's either throw hot red seven or duck, dodgeball rules, or make it real easy and say, hey, Ricky, Ricky, and slide your line out that way.

This is the kind of play, though, that has to excite you about this guy. I mean, this is because he takes a- Excite and scare. Yeah, but this is the kind of play that he takes a bad play and he turns it into a big play. I know, but this is also the kind of play that when you start watching on film, if you get some unblocked pressures, you go, he's going to sit down, duck and move up. So they're going to start changing their location as to that rusher. Right. Get a first down.

All right, first and ten again. Coach, let's run the ball. Try to run a trap play out of gun. They try to trap Endomicon Sue, which means Morgan Moses and Sheriff are going to fake block it in Dominican Sue. They're going to pull Switzer from the backside and kick out and go straight downhill inside of him. Sue's up to fill.

He almost tackles the back Gibson as he gets the ball. I think Gibson's too slow with his track and immediately getting downhill. The exchange takes a long time. Switzer is too slow on the pole, and we end up getting a two-yard gain. Okay, well, two yards actually are don't game from play today. Whatever. Second name again, Tampa's, we're going to go with an empty set, five-man protection.

Tampa ends up bringing five. Looks like they're going to bring six here. Heineke-Paneky panic flushes. It's a great throwaway to avoid a sack here. This was the one that I thought initially could have been grounding, but McLaurin's in the general area. He's in the general area. But he's in the pocket, didn't he?

I think he will. He's out of the pocket. Not much. He could have stayed in the pocket, though. It was picked up. He had to picked up. It's okay. He avoids a bad play.

Third and eight. Third and eight in the red zone. We need it. Ball or throw. Speed out to, all out pressure by Tampa. Bull said, Oh, we got him flustered. He's ducking and diving and dodging and we'll just bring more than they can handle.

And he makes a hell of a throw to Sims Jr. on the sideline with a big time toe drag and they convert. Yeah, that was a really good play by Sims Jr. I've really been critical of him on the punt return stuff and on the blocking stuff. But that's a really good catch on a huge third and eight. Because you know what? A field goal at 9-0 at this point, you got to get it in the end zone. And that's a huge play. Huge play.

Huge play. First down in the red zone. First and nine, they call all out and ups. It's all soft coverage by Tampa. All out and ups from the nine yard line, your outside out and ups don't have time to work those things. No one's really buying an out from the nine. There are better answers from this,

but then the checkdown's cover. He does a really good job to scram. Seeing it right now, scrambling, getting to the six yard line, three yard game. like there's nothing else he can do here scrambles it or throw out of the back of the end zone gets three yards they end up running it twice good pushing's out on bolt by sheriff the touchdown runs a good kickout or a good cutback block by logan thomas and they seal the edge there and you score and right now i'm going if i'm coaching this kid heinicky can survive he can make some throws he can survive i'm buying into heeneke at this point it's not all perfect but God, when it's not, he's made things work. Can I also just mention that they've been really effective in the third and two, third and goal from the two with those shotgun runs this year succeeding?

I mean, whether it's been Barber or McKissick or Gibson, how many times have we seen a running back in the end zone on a third goal from the two on a run? 15. Seems like a lot, doesn't it? I mean, it seems like a lot. You're right there in the game. Yeah, you are. You get the ballback the next series.

Tampa's scored again. Yep, and it's 15-7 now. 15-7 because they don't get the two-point, and you're like, okay, let's go get an answer here. Because you've got to keep it close with this team. I think you make a really good throw on an out route to Sims, to Cam Sims suite. You get to second and five.

You're now sitting there at second down and five. You go with a run-action pass, and he is loving Cam Sims. The second and five, he's got Terry McLaurin on a deep sit, probably an option to take it over the top if he wanted to, and he misses an easy open receiver in Terry McLaren right there. Actually makes a pretty good throw to Sims. Right. He was trying to fall down and make a catch.

He throws it where only Sims can get it. I don't hate the throw. He would have had Terry McLaurin on an easy first down. That said, third and five, slant to Cam Sims complete. we go. I'm believing in Heineke, man. Timing slant, contested. He threw this one off his back foot. Backing up. He can throw with different arm angles. He can throw on the move. Yeah. Making some plays. Finally get a run. Right. On the next first and 10, you get that bounce play. The only big run, I think, in the game is a bounce play outside by Gibson, 11-yard gain. They get to that little reverse play with Stephen Sims Jr. and he cannot make the safety.

miss. God, that's a, Kev, that's a, that reverse play, that's a great situation to dial that thing up. But Jordan Whitehead, the safety makes one hell of a play shot out of a cannon. Yeah. It makes a good open field tackle on Sims. Yeah, this was speed to the ball. But still a four-yard game. He comes from, he comes from nearly 30 to 25 yards away to turn to stop that from being a big play. No, he does a great job with it. I like that. mix up I do it validates your motion behind the quarterback it validates some of the things you're doing with some of your pre-snap stuff keeps them honest yeah you convert a hitch to terry mccloren on the second down and six you're moving the chains first down again good throw good

timing heineke hits his back foot and lets it go man let's it rip and he can throw it he's got some pace on it first and ten you dial one up just a time to Isaiah right on a corner route down the sideline. Dime. Perfect spot for the ball. Hits Isaiah right in the hands. It's a drop. God, that would have been a big play right there.

Would have been a big play. They come back and run it on second and ten. They get two yards. And you get to a third and eight on a drive where I think it was just so important that they get points out of this drive, watching it again. You know, 15. Seven, they got a chance. And, you know, it's that third and eight's the play.

that it was a potential DPI on Cam Sims. Yeah. The ball's late on the slant to Sims, which is why it's not complete. This is DPI. It's bang, bang. You can call it either way. I don't hate that they didn't call it,

to be quite honest with you, because the ball's late in timing. If you watch this third and eight, if he just, Logan Thomas chips on the edge and then releases in the flat, no one's in the flat. He should have just hit Thomas in the flat. It's a first down.

And if it isn't, it's field goal. And if it isn't, it's a field goal he's laid on the slant throw if you're gonna throw the slant you gotta throw it now right he's laid on it and you end up punting on that drive yeah brutal all right let's score we got it we got the ball back again the next series we go three now it's 18 7 yeah it's 18 7 now and you're just sitting here going is tampa going to score every time they touch the football yeah you know that's tough so you get the ball back series, you take a sack on first and 10. Both edges are beat. Shack Barrett's a great bull rush, gets inside Morgan Moses, get inside Lucas or Bull, Lucas. There's not much for answers. You just

got to be careful with ball security. I thought this was a fumble. We didn't define recovery. I do think Tampa got it. They did get it. I just don't know if it was clear enough. Yeah. By the way, this play, you know, again, for all the people that are saying that they lost the game because of the officials and they didn't call holding and they didn't call this. Look, Chris Godwin dropped five balls and this probably should have been a fumble, a recovery potentially, and it's 25-7 at halftime. So, you know, you got a break here. You did.

Was this the next one of Sims Jr. drop. So the next one is a drop by Sims Jr. And so now we've had, for Heineke, as far as incompletions, we've had a drop by Cam Sims. We've had a contested ball thrown on a slant to Cam Sims that was complete. We've had a drop by Isaiah Wright. We now have a drop by Stephen Sims Jr. And we do have a bounce pass by Heineke surviving a bad play. So five incompletions are really not on Heineke at this point. Right. He was in the first half, he was 10 of 18 for 130 yards, one interception. Right. And we're not through the first half. I know. Right. That's five. At this point,

he was whatever, he should have been almost perfect. Right. Well, we're sort of at the end of the first half. So now at third and 16, you throw to Sims Jr. in a deep spacing route at 12 yards. He's tackled your punt. It's fine. Right before the half, the drive right before the half, he get a chance.

This is a stupid drive, in my opinion. Really? We talked about it yesterday. We talked about it. You throw a check down to McKissick. You should have called timeout. The ball ends up getting snapped on a second down, or on the second play, with 13 seconds left.

I know. It's just... It snapped with 13 seconds left, and it's a good scramble. And you're to the 28-yard line, and you should have had 18 seconds left out of bounds at that point at the 28. And then maybe, maybe. Yeah.

You can get something down. The point is, is like, what's Tampa going to do? Like, let's say your first play doesn't work. You don't operate. You just run it two more plays. Camp had, what, one time out at that point? No, they had none. You take, no.

So if you're not going to, you make up your mind. Do we want to score or do we want to get? get to halftime. The idea was clearly because they didn't use timeouts, they wanted to get to halftime. So don't run a play because it can only be bad. You either get a turnover, you get an injury. Take the knee and let's get to the locker room. And by the way, no problem with that with 30 seconds to go from your own 10-yard line. Okay, I have a problem with it if it's from your own 25-yard line with 30 seconds to go. Your own 10, okay, it's 18 to 7. You're not out of it. One bad player- Comeback type of team.

It's an over. Your quarterback's playing great ball. It's over if you make a bad play here. Over if you make a bad play, but if you make a decent play, give yourself a chance to make more good play. Call time out. They got a little nice little play to McKissick to start it. You're out at the 17.

Let's call time out. Call time out. Yeah, 24 seconds left. All right. Next one, get this scramble. Now we've got 18 seconds left and we're, you know, we're out there. We got the ball up near the 30-yard line. Now we got a chance with a big completion down the middle, a timeout, and one more to get Hopkins on for a 55 yarder. Why not?

Why not? And the thing is, is the next play at the 17, let's say he hits McCorn or Sims 22 yards down the field on a dig. You went into that play with 18 seconds. That's a seven-second play. Now you're sitting right around midfield with 12 and a timeout left. The point is, if you're not intending to try to score, then don't run plays. Why risk it? You've already said by not calling timeouts after a couple of decent plays that you just want to get to halftime. So why run those plays? Because only something bad could happen unless somebody breaks a big play. Maybe you're hoping that McKissick off of that thing breaks a 50-yarder.

But it's not likely. Okay, second half. I like what we're doing here. It's easier to follow along with. You can follow along. We can get through some of the guys, some of the stuff. We're going to have to get a Heineke grade, though. You got one.

I'll give you one. Okay. Second half. Second half. First play the second half, they're going to go run action pass. Seriously? Are they going to believe that we're going to run the ball? They're so soft.

The linebackers don't even hesitate. They do not even step up. Yeah. It's like, okay, let's just throw it away down the sideline at the back. Thought we might fool him there. We've been running every once in a while on first and ten. No. Second ten, you end up throwing a stick to Terry McLaurin.

It's a good time. He doesn't hesitate after the catch. Terry's still short on his stick routes, but you convert. Next first and ten, you get a defensive off sides. Probably could have gotten the ball down the field on that place. on a free play. Did he know it was a free play? I'd have to watch it again.

I don't know if he knew it was the first play, free play, but whatever. So now we're in a first and five situation. We go run action pass again. No, he didn't know because they were lined up in the neutral. They were lined up outside. He didn't catch the flag flying in the quarter of his eye. That said, you'll run action pass.

You get Logan Thomas on a wheel route down the sideline. This is a great ball. I really think this throw on first and five to Logan Thomas is a whole shot type of throw. You know, coverage fell off on the deep route behind him. If he'd have thrown this vertical down the field, it would have been contested. He makes this whole shot throw. It's good pass protection.

It's a 29-yard gain to Logan Thomas. Big play. Big play. This guy knows how to play football, doesn't he? He knows what's going on out there. He knows how to play football. So now you're sitting at the 24-yard line. Another run-action pass.

We go run-action to ever play this drive. He's got nothing. He's got nothing. He's decisive. He steps up, slides up in the A gap, three-yard run, three-yard scramble. Good slide, too. Good slide. Really nice slide. Robert Griffin could learn a lot from him. A second seven, they go quick count, which I like. They probably could have went with some more cadence stuff in this game. They did some quick stuff, right? They did some quick stuff, but they get a good push. It's only three. It felt like more than three, but it was only three. Third and four. This is his first bad ball of the game. Yep. The opening drive of the second half, he misses Logan Thomas. The thing is, pull up this third and four situation. Yeah, I got it.

They're running that bingo crossplay, and on the backside of it, they run a seam route inside and a comeback on the outside. Stephen Sims Jr. is going to clear. If he bangs it on Sims, it's a touchdown. I'm not saying he missed because Logan Thomas is open for the first down, and I like taking cash when I can get it. but this is taking three bucks instead of 50. Well, it's not three in the red zone.

You'll take the first down. Yeah, okay. It's like taking ten bucks instead of 50. He could have been on Sims for the touchdown, but he also just, that was a bad throw. There weren't many, but that was a first down wide open, and he just overthrew him, and he's very lucky that the interception was dropped,

because it was dropped by Whitehead. It was right in his hands on the overthrow. No. There's no doubt. Field goal, 18 to 10. Field goal, 18 to 10. Look, we got some points. Yeah, we finally got to stop on defense.

So we get the ball back down 18, 10. This is where the game became really interesting. Yeah. You're sitting there 10 minutes, 53 seconds in the third quarter. First and 10, you go zone read again. I'll let you get to it because I know it takes a second to get to that next series. I'm watching it. This one should have been pulled.

Oh, yeah, the DN's crashing down. And he knows... He's crashing down. He knows... Yeah, he knew it. Yeah, he knew it. That's a big run. No, it would have been...

It would have been the one that he should have pulled there. Oh, God, that is a big run, because he's got Thomas out there on the only defender. I know. Oh, that's too bad. Well, whatever. This drive ended well, so continue. This drive didn't end well. Oh, that's right.

That's right. It was the next time they got it back. Yeah. So the second and seven, the ball's batted of the line of scrimmage. He does a great job just knocking it down. Yeah, smart play. I love some of the – like, he made a lot of smart plays that go under the radar. He's a football player.

He really is a football player. Go back to the New Hampshire game. For 700 yards in the New Hampshire game. I mean, if he was a real football player, he would have pulled the zone read, though. My God. He would have had a good play. It would have been seven at a minimum on the zone rate. Third and seven.

He ends up turning down a quarter route to Sims. He scrambles does a good job for the first down. There's a stunt inside that Sheriff doesn't pick up. He's late coming off on the stunt. They call holding. I think it is holding. Oh, you did. Okay.

You get away with a lot of these. It sucks that you don't get away with it. But they call holding here. Third and 17. He throws a check down to Logan Thomas. Maybe he can get Sims on a deep server. route at 14 or 15. I don't think he's going to get the first down in that situation.

It would make it interesting if you'd have thrown that on a go-for-it type of play, though. I don't see where you see this is holding on sheriff. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, he gets beat inside. They watch it. In a game in which they really let him? He grabs his back. No, he holds.

It's holding. He grabs his back. He pulls him from the backside just a just a little bit. Okay. No, because Sue goes outside. Morgan Moses does a poor job passing off the stunt with Shaq Barrett. And then Barrett gets upfield on Sheriff's left hand goes around the back, his left arms covering the numbers of Shaq Barrett.

But the thing is, is Ruey bumps it off. Right. Let me ask you. They see that armor around the back of Barrett. Would you have thought at this point? I wouldn't have. Let me just say that. It's 18 to 10.

And, you know, it's at midfield, though, you know, in the third quarter. And you've got some momentum. You actually got to stop for the first time in a while on the last drive. Would you have thought about fourth and five with this playmaking quarterback? Yes. Yeah, I don't think I would have. I think they did the right thing by punting it. This was the punt that Apke took into the end zone and ended up being ruled, I think, incorrectly.

But I wonder, you know, in a playoff game that you don't. don't think you have, you really got to go for it. This would have been a decent, you know, thought process to go for it on a fourth and five. All right. So, but if you watch this third and 17 one more time. Yeah. Sims is in the middle of the field right in the NFL logo. He's, where he sits down, he's actually four yards short of the first down. Yeah. So it's still going to be a four. Like he's going to get, if he throws it to Sims, he's going to get tackled on the spot. Yeah. So it's still going to be fourth and four. Yeah. All right. So you end up Yep. And then the next drive is where Duran Payne saves the day with the forced fumble with New England on the drive.

Yeah, and you're still in this game, 1810. Yeah, 1810 still. 5.53 in the third quarter, got to have it type of drive. Yep. First and 10, great ball at Cam Sims on an out route. Reads it out, really good ball to Sims. First and 10, what are you going to do, coach? I'm going to get back to running the football. Why even waste the time? The only runner at this point should have been Heineke. This point in the game, I'm like, you can't run it. Morgan Moses misses what you call a pirate stunt by a defensive end.

Pierre Paul is on a hard inside stunt. Morgan probably should have saw it because you had edge pressure outside of that. The blitz are walking up. And when the blitzers walking up, that normally means that ends going down hard. he misses it. We got a no gain. But you know what? Tendency break. First and ten, we ran it. Let's get back to the run-action stuff. Second ten, four-verts. What a scramble by Heineke.

Yeah. I mean, I had an argument with a caller on this play today. He's convinced that Winfield should have been flagged. I don't think so at all at the end. On the second ten play? On the scramble. I mean, Winfield doesn't even really touch him that much. And it And it's, you know, he goes into the slide at the end of the play I'm talking about. On the big scramble, that's where we are, right? The second 11 scramble. All right.

Let's see it. Second 11. I mean, what a good job by Heineckee, though. If you watch him in the pocket, he never takes his eyes off the field. He has great pocket sense and great pocket presence. And to be honest with you, Kevin, I don't need to watch a whole season of this kid. I watch this play. That's not a penalty on Winfield.

No. Come on. No. No. No chances that. Winfield fell on him. I mean, there's barely even any contact. By the way, he's a good player.

Winfield. They have some good players in defense. They are a really good defense. I love the story of Winfield. And they're talking about in the game broadcast training camp. They're like, who's this voice behind us chirping? the entire time. His dad.

Winfield. No, it's Winfield. Oh, it was Winfield. Okay. Winfield comes in and the linebackers are like, who is this guy? He's not a coach. What is this voice? It's the rookie safety or the rookie corner.

Yeah. So he gets this scrambled down to the 20, what, 20, 29, 30 yard line? Yeah. What do you want to do on first and 10? Run it. By the way, this is not a horse collar. Not a horse collar. He bounces it outside.

The tight ends on the backside. it's just first and 10 run. The tight ends on the backside of this. What the fuck are we doing? Like, what is the game plan here? Shack Barrett is splitting both the tight ends on the backside. They're in a wing set. Sprinkle goes inside to the safety, 33.

Logan Thomas goes outside Barrett, and they turn Barrett completely three. Maybe this is a zone read. I'm not sure. Maybe it's a zone read. If it is, it's a definite pull opportunity. But I don't think it is. because if it was, why don't you think so?

I mean, maybe. But who's, here's the thing. Who's responsible? So there's a safety outside of the two tight ends and then 33's down in the box or a corner outside of them. Right. Are you going to turn the corner free? No, you would have arced Logan Thomas out to the corner. And so you wouldn't leave an unblocked player.

This is a dead handoff. Unless Logan Thomas botched it and didn't arc out. I see what you're saying. No, this is just a botch. One of them has to block Barrett. One of them has got to get to the safety. One of them has to block Barrett. That said, Gibson sees it and he bounces it outside,

which he's done a great job of all year. I mean, at this point in the game, Gibson's like, I'm not going in there. There's nothing in there for me. Did you think Gibson looked hurt? I did. I didn't think he looked 100%. Yeah, that's a, that's,

I didn't think. That was what my feeling was. He didn't look like the Gibson we've seen. That was not a horse collar. By rule, you've got to have that hand inside that back of the jersey. If you have it on the outside of the jersey or the pad, that's not a horse collar. They've got a break. They're a big break.

Because if not, it's second and nine on a condensed field. Instead, we're at the 14-yard line or whatever, first and 10. That's great. We've got a break. So now you're at the 13-yard line. and 10 Turner's like, I think we should run it again. It's everyone on the sidelines like, no. No.

Then we're running. You throw a little shallow cross to Sims and he has that funny, tried to jump dudes play. Yeah. Like, that was a, bad idea. Still a six-yard gain. And so the second and four and Turner's like, now I'm going to run it. I got to stay with this run game.

They try to go with a little pump draw. Yeah. I didn't. If it's a one-yard loss. There's a spin move inside on the pump draw. Sheriff gets beat on it. Yeah. Boy, there's just one-yard loss.

There's a lot of negative runs in this game. A lot of negative runs. There were a lot of individual losses on the run. They're stout. They are. And Domic and Sue's a pretty good player. I don't, it's funny. You almost forget how unbelievably dominant he was.

Yeah, right. But he smoked sheriff here. and then third and five you get another amazing scramble play this is the touchdown this is by onyneke this is where he hurt his shoulder the dodge ball is this where he's going to make money so you make money on this drive on this play kev this is absolutely where you pay a quarterback or it's absolutely where you think about keeping a quarterback for next year he's got nobody open down the field camp is playing tight man-to-man coverage He's in a torture chamber back there around the 20 yard line.

And he's dipping and dodging and all the while, Kev. He's trying to find a receiver slipping out of things. I mean, it's just he has to have great depth perception and great preferal vision. And then he's got the wheels to take it and then the guts to dive and wasn't Mitchell Chubisky right there. No, he wasn't. No. Touchdown. We're in this ballgame.

He got hurt on. We're in this ballgame and you're sitting here going, we're in this ballgame and our quarterback is on fire. Yeah. By the way, we go for a two-point play, which I think is ridiculous. I think it's a crap call. It's that Miami Dolphins play from last year where they lost the game to Washington on the two-point play.

Was it a check with me? I think that he checked that. Sometimes it's hard to see. on the film, if it's a check with me. He checked his protection inside that you can see. But no, it's a... That's the play? It could be.

They could have had a check with me on it. I think McKissick was the... I think they were going to run McKissick, and the box was loaded. It's not a RPO. I'm not saying it's an RPO. I think the box is loaded, and I think the play... I think the first play is McKissick on... You know, what they've done on sort of these zone runs from gun at the two-yard line that they've been successful on, and the box is loaded.

And the blitz is coming, too. I just, I'm watching it right now. I think he switched the play. I could be wrong. They missed it. Here's the one thing on this play. I don't, if I'm going to run this play, I want to keep my two, so they have three receivers to the right. Logan Thomas comes down to motion from the far outside.

I want Logan Thomas catching this ball closer to the number. numbers. And also, if I widened that formation, then I'm going to definitively know what they're doing. I'm going to make them tell me if they load the box or not. The other thing, it's, Heineke's late on this. Like, Logan's got to catch and run through this ball. And it's not like he, he's not late because he did anything wrong. He caught it and through it. just Logan gets so tight and Logan stops to catch it. You have to run through this ball. It wasn't a well-orchestrated play. Let's put it that way.

All right. Let's get to the remainder of this, which takes us into the fourth quarter, and then we'll get a grade from Heineke right after this word from one of our sponsors. In the fourth quarter, 2116, critical drive. First play of the game, RPL. should have been an illegal lineman downfield. He does a good job during a bounce pass. Yeah.

He does a good job bringing this out. I think he could have banged the slant to Sims Jr. on the inside. The corner over the top of Sims Jr. on the inside, they have two receivers to left. The left corner inside bells outside towards the hitch. He could have either thrown the hitch outside, which you probably had gotten. He could have banged the tight window slant to Sims Jr. But this is an illegal lineman downfield that they didn't call. Yeah, Morgan Moses.

Morgan Moses, five yards down field when this ball's out. They got away with one there. More than five. More than five. Second, ten, they go with the spacing concept, then they swing the back out. Four receivers hooking up at five yards. They swing the back out. He's late to get the ball of the swing.

All the receivers are covered. This is the Alex Smith play. Alex, right now, boom, I know swing. You end up getting a one-yard gain. Third nine, Morgan Moses's beat on a stunt by Pierre Paul. This is a risky throw. You know, Logan Thomas has actually. open on this third nine route he's running the corner route he is open there's just no time to

throw it in timing Morgan's beat too quick he knew he was open and he still tried to make the throw punt critical three and out in that situation yep yeah yeah that was critical that was the drive and not only that you're punting and they're going to get decent field position which they got and um the then the next unfortunately this is where you know just couldn't stop them the rest of of the way. Yeah. So you give up a touchdown. Now it's 2818 with 9-11 left in the 4th floor. You got to have it. This has got to have it. 2816. Yeah, 2816, excuse me. You got to have it. Good job. I'm going to check down to sprinkle on the first play. Zone run play on the second and two. Maybe he cut back, but he bounces outside. He gets a first down. Great. First and 10 at the

37. Baller, baller throw to Cam Sims in the seam. It's a four-vort situation. Sprinkles alone to the left. you got three receivers to the right on the inside's Logan Thomas. I actually, on his first and 10 at the 37, think that he can throw over the top to Logan Thomas for a bigger play. The question is, does the backside corner, the corner to his left, fall off into this? My answer is, I don't think he does. That said, he does do a good enough job holding the safety with his eyes

to bang the seam on Cam Sims, and we get a 23-yard throw. We're moving the ball. We're down to the 40-yard line. He's just, he's good, as you would say. I mean, look, you could watch that verts on the first and 10 at the 37 and say maybe he could get Logan Thomas. And I think he could. But it's hard to take a 23-yard completion and say, do better. Right.

Fine with it. First and 10 at the 40 throws a flat to Logan Thomas. Logan Thomas gets yard-celled, four yards downfield on the side. No one gets yard-celled more than Logan Thomas. How many times is he? He gets yard celled more than my grandmother in Powell, Wyoming. You were really tough on him. No, this is not a critical thing.

Think of all the times he's on the sideline and take it a big, weird, awkward hit. I know. But you just are tough on tight edge in general. I mean, it's okay. Well, this is not a tough thing. He makes a good play for four yards. It's not like he's getting six. He just awkwardly goes down a lot on the sideline.

We slid for a while, too. Well, it's full on yards. Yeah. Second six, he had a flat to Gibson. Yep. Right now, I like it. Third and three, the 33, Logan Thomas is over the ball. They're running that bingo cross, that crosser short ones.

Same throws he missed in the third quarter. He hits it first down. We're moving the chains. Kev, removing the chains. First and ten of the 28, he hits a checkdown. It's a good choice. It's good pocket movement to throw that ball. He has good pocket movement.

He's got good feel, man. He's got good feel. I love that about him. second nine at the 27, baller throw. Again, deep crossing route with an underneath shallow. Deep throw to Terry McLaurin, ball or throw. The dude, he subtly moves on this second nine at the 27th, subtly slides in the pocket to throw this thing.

He knows how to find windows to throw the ball. I'm going nuts over Heineke right now. I can tell. I mean, he is. He's playing great ball in this game. So now you're down to the 11-yard line. He sells one over-the-top of, Logan Thomas's head on a deep out route, it's a good throwaway.

The corner fell off this thing, and it's going to be a pick if he throws it to Logan. He sensed it. He threw it over his head. The second 10 at 11 is a bad throw. Bad idea. They run two deep ins right at the goal line with the wheel outside of it. The backer's sitting on it. This probably should be picked.

Is this the David, a Levanti David play? The Levanti David play. Yeah. Now, again, he's trying to make plays down the field. And I trust me, I totally get this. But since the coverage pre-snap, you look at this pre-snap on the second and 10, and Tampa has that umbrella four deep across the board.

So you can see that it's going to be quarter's coverage. To his right, Terry McLaren's in the slot, which means he's matched up underneath the linebacker. Terry McLaren's running a quicker out route. He throws it to Terry. He might score. He's definitely getting yards. You got to match up one-on-one with Terry.

the linebacker. That's the throw. He forces it inside. Got away with one right there. Third and ten. Third and ten. Did anybody doubt that he's going to make a dynamic throw on the corner to Sims Jr.? Great route, great throw, great catch, pressure in his face from off of Cornelius Lucas, touchdown. What a hell, Taylor Heineke. Back in the game. What a great throw. What a great throw.

We're back in the game because of, One dude. Uh-huh. What a throw. 28.23. We hold him to a field goal and here it is. Two and a half, 249 left. Final drive.

And then we'll get to a grade on Heineke. Let's talk about this final drive. Final drive. First throw, slide, great slide in the pocket. Throw the deep end to Terry McLaurin. 16-yard gain. Ball's a little behind him, but Heineke's moving away from the throw. He's moving, sliding the left, throwing back across his body right.

to McLaren and you get a completion. Love it. Makes another good throw to Cam Sims on a comeback. Really good job by Sims attacking the ball on that comeback. We got the ball at midfield, Kev. And by the way, without having to use a timeout, without being at the two-minute warning because of back-to-back defensive holding calls,

which stopped the clock. It's awesome. Yeah. First and 10, midfield. Bad ball on a deep in by Cam Sims. Throw it behind him. Right. You miss a couple.

Right. It's bad ball assumes. Second 10. You got plenty of time left with 227 in this game. Plenty of time. Things are good. Keep in mind, you haven't thrown one screen all day. Yeah, all the bubbles that we saw all year, right? All the little bubbles, all the little things.

You end up throwing a flat to McKissick. Come on, McKissick. J.D. G. J.D. This is the catch on a bumple. This is a catch and a fumble, though. He should have been a catch and a fumble, but just catch the ball.

He bottled it. I know, but it's a big difference between third and five and third and ten. They didn't have a time out to challenge it. So, you know, we were pre two-minute warning at that point, but I do not think that this is an incomplete pass. That is a catch and a fumble. And you see the referee, you know, throw the marker down to indicate the fumble, and then they changed it, and they called incomplete pass,

and now it's third and ten instead of third of five. No, it's brutal. I still thought they were going to make it. Third and ten. You want to talk about his chance to make money. I know. This is it. I want you to watch this.

Anybody watching it, if you don't have it, pull it up on the regular game, if you can see it. They're running what they were running bread and butter. Bingo cross. They ran it a lot. Jim Sims on the 14-yard dig. Stephen Sims on the shallow cross. You got.

Pressure. If you pause this before he starts to move right in the pocket, if he lets this go in timing, he's got Sims, Cam Sims on the deep end behind the linebacker. If he throws it on the opposite hash, if you pause it again, Steven Sims Jr.

is going to continue running on his crossing route, which he's running back downhill like adult instead of continuing straight across the field. But he's probably going to get a first. yards. No. First. The backside corner is going to tackle him. I don't know where. First of all, he's got to catch it. But assuming he catches it, I think he gets the first down on this, Coley. By the way, I think that should have been the throw right away. It could have. I think if he lets it go, now maybe he gets strips act, but if he lets it go to Cam Sims in a perfect world, he's

open there's a window. Either way, third possibility here, just run. Well, he's sort of tried to do that. No. As he hits his fifth step, he slides right. And after his first slide right, look at the window between Morgan Moses and Brandon Sheriff. Yeah, I see that. And then he continues to flush right. Yeah. God. He's going to run for the first down. So do you think he really, this is the play that, Obviously, this is a money play. It's third and 10. You're down 3123. You know, you got 2.22 left.

And you got to convert. You got to move the chains. And he missed a couple of throws here. He missed a couple of throws and he missed an opportunity to run. And I'm not saying that you're going to say, he can't. You're not going to pay him because of this play or you're not going to keep him. But you want to continue to build this resume. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. Yeah. And then the throw Logan Thomas, I don't. I like the idea. You know, they're way soft. You gave your guy a chance in a jumpball situation. I think it could have come out a little bit earlier. But he's flying all over the field.

So that leads me to this. Are you going to give the grade? Hold on, hold on. Hold on. Heineke was it? Heinke. Hold on. I got to do one more read right before you get the Heinekey grade. All right, this is what's allowing us to do this podcast,

coolie. I got to get this in. I got to get this in. And then you'll give us the grade on Heineke. It's that time of year. We've got NFL playoffs. We had the championship game last night. You've waited. You've watched. Now you want to get involved. You've heard the name on this podcast and other places, My Bookie. They're the industry's leading online sports book and casino. It's not hard to understand why. With thousands of lines to bet on on all your favorite sports, the NFL, the NBA, college sports, college basketball. God, really good game tonight, Wisconsin, Michigan. If I were doing smell test picks in college hoops coolly, I'd give you Wisconsin plus four and a half tonight against a team that is great in Michigan. That line is short. My bookie's got all the latest odds, period. Take advantage of my bookie's prop builder and live in game betting where every single run throw and touchdown is another chance for you to put cash in your pocket.

visit their mobile-friendly website today and get your deposit matched halfway up to $1,000. Just use the promo code, Kevin DC, K-E-V-I-N-D-C when you make your first deposit. The best part is they make it simple with a variety of ways to deposit instantly, including credit card, bank transfer, Bitcoin, and more. Whether you're at home or on the go, on your laptop or your phone, it's not too late to make your New Year's resolution a resolution to get. Get paid. Bet win and get paid at my bookie. All right. Grade on Heineke and anybody else you win a grade. Taylor Heineke, the guy who with J.P. Finley this week said, when my trainer introduces

me at the gym to new people as an NFL quarterback, they say, no, he's not. This guy is like 510 looking 170, Heineke said. Actually have to go prove myself to everybody out there. Taylor Heinke, the guy who lit up New Hampshire, who was finishing his math degree, who nobody in the world thought would do half of what he did in this game, was an A against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

in a playoff game for Washington. Somebody told me this morning that his height at 6-1 is a major program height, that he is not even six feet. And I believe that when he was standing. Look, Brady is huge. But when he was standing next to Brady at the end of that game, he really looked short.

Really, to me, Jeff Garcia, as I, that was my comp, never was 6-1. He always looked like a 5'9, 5-10-inch quarterback. How tall do you think he is? 5-10? I'm just more concerned about how big his balls are. Well, he's got big ones. He's probably 5-11, probably closer to 6-foot. I'm sure he's self-deprecated when he described himself as 5-10.

Right. So I bet he's at least an inch more than that, if not closer to 6 foot. Just look at it. Did he go to the Combine? The Combine will have his real height. Yeah, let me see. Taylor Heineckee Combine numbers. He made up onto the Combine.

He did so many things right in this game, and he made so many things. work in this game. And the gutsy throws and the gutsy plays, I can't. It was incredible what he did. It really was. I'm so proud of this kid, impressed by this kid, excited for him. I hope he gets another shot to actually play.

It wasn't as dynamic of a game plan as I thought, but to execute in three or four concepts over and over again continue to push the ball down the field without any semblance of a run game without really any balance of a screen game manipulating pressure manipulating the pocket accuracy on 95% of throws gosh dude and that's the other thing like when you really look at this especially for me i see a guy who is fearless in the pocket and the pocket and with great sense and awareness. He can feel where he's got to move and slide without looking at it.

And he knows when he's got to run. He knows when he's going to go off his back foot. I bet he's going to think about that third and ten play for a long time because he's going to watch it again and know there are three answers. And look, that's one play in this game. It's not the end-all-be-all.

But there were three answers in that third and ten play. I do have one question for you to finish up, unless you had other grades you were going to give, do you? It's okay if you don't. For the most part, I thought Sheriff played really well. We talked about a couple of plays, but, you know, protection, other than some of the blitzes was actually really good.

I thought Sheriff was in that A range. I thought Lucas did a pretty good job holding up on the edge. Lucas was a B to me. Terry McLauran was a B. Cam Sims had a couple drops, but some big plays in this game. I thought Cam Sims was a B in this game. I thought inside Ruey and West Switzer struggled quite a bit.

Both those guys would have been in that C range. Logan made some big plays. Logan would have a D or so in the run game was better in the past game, probably an A minus in the past game. So he'd be right around that B type range. The backs did not play well. They also didn't have a lot of great holes or looks. Your guy, Dantrell-Inman, played one play.

he was back on the team Gandhi was inactive Wright played 12 plays in this game had a huge drop Sprinkle didn't play well at all it was still Turner and I would say Turner was in that

B range as much as we joked about having to go back to run the ball he got his guy ready and confident to play a game that was my question was on Turner and he knew how to do it

against a team that was pretty good the pre-draft height six feet um it was from a pro day it was not from the indico then that's legit what it is yes six feet you can cheat those pro days a little bit you put some quarters in your shoe or you know they he had a 35 inch vertical leap that's interesting it's explosive 35 inches I wonder if he can dunk um what was your vertical leap do you remember

I know at my pro day it was 30 something. But at the combine, it was 33 and a half. I had a bad combine. It was fat. All right. What else you got? I got nothing left on the offense. All right. Let's do defense. I'm sad that this is over because I want to see Taylor Heineke play again. I know. I know. That's it. I'm sad it's over because I want to see Heineke play again. I want Chase Young to have a chance to redeem himself. I wonder if Chase Young would have been healthy enough to play this next week.

He was in on one play on that final drive, and it was the big one to Evans, where he obviously was not healthy, and then he came back out. All right, we'll do defensive film breakdown tomorrow. Everybody have a great day.