The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cooley's Washington-Browns Defensive Film Grades

Episode Date: September 30, 2020

Cooley and Kevin talk a little bit about the debate but a ton about Washington's defense against Cleveland. They considered the possibility that Washington might have enough to be competitive this year in a bad division. Cooley's complete defensive "film breakdown" with grades too.  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.

A Cooley and Kevin show coming up here on this Wednesday. It'll be a Cooley defensive film breakdown. I want to start by telling you about Visa and how you should be helping to support your local businesses, whether they're your corner stores or coffee spots or favorite shops. Local businesses have always been on your team supporting you and your community. They remember your order and they call you by name, always giving back, making a difference, and going that extra mile. But right now, more than ever, local businesses need ourselves.

support. So let's be there for them. The next time you go shopping, help your team score and choose to shop at local businesses. And while you're there, look for the contactless symbol and tap to pay with a contactless visa to help support your community. Because where and how you shop matters. Visa, everywhere you want to be, official partner of the NFL. You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Kevin. All right, it's a Wednesday. Coolies here. We're going to do the defensive film breakdown. We're going to get to that in a moment. I just, I just want to ask you real quickly because I know a lot of people are talking about the debates last night, the debate last night. Did you watch? What did you

think? We're not going to spend a lot of time on this. I know Tommy said some things yesterday in the podcast that fired some of you up. But anyway, I did. I did. watch it. I watched every last second of it. And I stayed up and watched all of the post game afterwards on every network. What did you think of it? Did you see the whole thing or not? So I saw the second half of it. We got when I had a couple things to do and got grabbed some dinner and I came back and I watched the second half. I planned on watching the entire debate, planned on going back and watching the entire debate. But I watched the second half for the last 25, 30 minutes,

ish, maybe 45 minutes. And then I decided there was no way I could swallow going back and watching any more of what I had already watched. I thought it was like the worst two old men talking over each other in a radio show I've ever seen in my life. And it was hard to swallow, man. And it's funny because I'm in Trump land. And you're out and about throughout the day and people here like,

Trump's going to be great. in this debate tonight. And Biden, he, I mean, he's not going to make it out to the stand. Well, Biden made it. And it was not great. I just, I hated every second of it. The mediator, who was the mediator? Chris Wallace, moderator, yeah, Chris Wallace, who I like a lot.

I thought he tried his best to keep everyone on track. And it just seemed to me at times, like, he seems like a smart, older gentleman and even he had to just almost chuckle like are we am i even doing this right now what's happening right here it seems so petty and so ridiculous and so glib at times and to parse through it was hard for me yeah the chris i didn't like it yeah the chris wallace thing is really interesting because i think you know even democrats um would say that chris wallace is fair and is a good interviewer and is not afraid to ask the tough questions even of the president. I personally think, I mean, I like him. I think he's a pro. I think he's also very pragmatic

and very fair. He got trampled over last night. He, I don't know what he could have done to stop the chaos. Well, you could silence their mics. You could have stopped it and said, these were your rules to allow two minutes of response, of, of answering the question without interruption and unless you can, you know, restrain yourself, Mr. President, we can't continue because this isn't, you know, this isn't helping anybody. This isn't informative. This isn't even a debate at this point. I don't know what he could have done, but it wasn't, I think he could have done more. And when I say that, like, I should have a solution, right? Well, you know, the next one, if there is a next one and there are two other scheduled plus the

vice presidential debate between Pence and Harris, you, you know, you. You have to be able to stop it and maybe silence his mic and just say, we're going to silence your mic every single time you interrupt, you know, Biden speaking. And we'll do the same thing to Joe, because one of the things that became very clear last night, well, it didn't become clear last night. He's a child. He has the maturity level of, you know, a 12-year-old. It's really not, you know, a new, it wasn't revealed last night.

we've seen this on display for nearly four years now. You know, that combined with, you know, limited vocabulary, you know, an eighth, ninth grade vocabulary, maybe. And to me, a limited ability to think quickly. All of that, along with textbook narcissism, all of it comes together and forms a very unappealing person. Put politics aside. Put whether or not, you know, you believe in his policies, you think he's.

He's accomplished a lot. There are legitimate debates to be had about what's been accomplished foreign policy-wise, what's been accomplished in terms of the economy. But just focus in on the person. He's a 12-year-old. He is a 12-year-old that throws tantrums. He is a 12-year-old that's utterly uncoachable and unpunishable and doesn't follow the rules. These were the Republican rules for this debate last night, and it devolved into

basically one person at about a six to one ratio interrupting the other person in a very, I think, childish way. And as a voter, which, you know, for voters that are right now undecided, Tommy thinks you're an idiot if you're undecided, but that's his opinion. I disagree with that. But if you are undecided, you couldn't have gotten anything out of that other than, wow, Like he's, we saw this in the early days of the press conferences during the pandemic where it was sort of entertaining for a while because it was such a train wreck. But then it got to the point where am I getting any real information? Like, what am I getting? He's such a bad communicator.

Anyway, personally, it was, you know, for me as an American citizen as part of the electorate, I think the country was embarrassed last night. And I'm very, very hesitant to be that historic. hysterical CNN, MSNBC. Oh my God, the world's coming to an end person. But last night was, I mean, people around the world watching this were laughing at us. Not that I give a shit about that, but he really is the maturity level of, I don't know, 12, 13 maybe max. That's a big problem when he is also our president. And Joe Biden, by the way, the expectation bar was basically if he could stand up right for an hour and a half and not give any indication

that he's got early onset of dementia, which a lot of people believe that he has, that it would be a huge win. And so the expectation bar was so low, I think he cleared it easily. And I thought Trump did a bad job with his tantrums and his interrupting. I think maybe he interrupted

so many times that Joe was able to gather himself with the interruptions. Like he may have been headed towards It's a big fumble at the goal line, but Trump basically prevented it from happening. We had 13 personal fouls, so he just kept moving the chains with penalty. There were a lot of late hits. There were a lot of personal. Yeah, over and over.

You can't do that. You can't hit him on the sideline, pal. Yeah, that's targeting, but we don't throw you out, but maybe we should on the next one. Anyway, whatever. I mean, I'm with you, like, just put politics aside and whatever anyone believes aside and just look at the way he acts. And that's been my biggest thing throughout all of this is it doesn't matter what you believe.

I want someone that can lead people to some extent. Of course. Of course. And his leadership skills and his ability to communicate is absolutely zero. And I think so many people have said this. And we've had this talk. It's just read what's on the prompter. Now, you can't do that in the debate.

I understand that. But just sit there and let Joe talk. And they are going to have to silence the moment. Mike, if they don't, I'm going to watch seven minutes of the next one, quit. I'm going to turn it off. I'll tell you this. The ratings for last night were probably astronomical. And, you know, it had one other quick point, Cooley, and you didn't watch the beginning

of it. It had the feeling at the beginning of it of like a big time heavyweight championship bout. Like the anticipation of it was really, it was so, it was, there was a feeling that was so tangible. Like it was like, oh my God, this is it. We've been waiting months to see this. And it was like two, you know, heavyweights entering the ring. And then it just, I don't know how they do another one.

Anyway, enough on that. Everybody's got their own view. One thing I would say, though, just as an aside, and in part, why you want Trump to just be able to actually have the debate, to Tommy's point, you're not an idiot if you're undecided. And the reason I say this is because I think that there are so many people 40 and under that are almost bipartisan that share beliefs of both the parties. And when you're looking at maybe you lean Republican a little bit as a 34 year old, but you're not exactly sure, you are undecided and especially when you watch a match like that. I think a lot of younger people

are middle of the pack more so than they are completely left or right. And And so they need to actually hear you debate the issues. That's interesting. I didn't think about that. I think that the younger vote, and 34 may be on the high side of the younger vote, but that the younger vote is going to determine this election in so many ways. If they come out and vote, I think Biden wins. If they don't, I think it's another, you know, very, very tight, close election.

Because I believe that young people, overwhelmingly want change. I don't know. I mean, I look at these electoral maps and the predictions every day, and I think, like you picked up on in 2016, it was a great observation. And you said this before the election and then the night before, the day of the election, you said there are a lot of people that won't admit that they're going to vote for Trump. And you were right in 2016, and you predicted a Trump victory. You did. And I think there's a lot that's going to happen. with respect to that in this election as well, maybe even more so. But I also think more people on the other side are going to come out and vote.

Remember in 2016, there was this already, there was this feeling that Hillary couldn't lose. And so a lot of people decided not to come out and vote. I don't know that they make the same mistake twice. Anyway, let's get to your film breakdown. We're going in-depth, play-by-play. The Cooley Film Breakdown. Here's Cooley and Kevin. Kevin, defensive film breakdown Wednesday.

He fired up. Very much so, because I'm curious as to what you thought overall of a defense that for the second week in a row did give up 30 plus points, but it wasn't all their fault, I'm guessing. Go ahead. Yeah, well, we're going to get to it. I had some things football related that relates to this defense as it is that I wanted to talk about. one this is kind of a self loathing i got a i watched the film for the second time today because i just wanted to make sure i woke up early i got up at like three and i just i put it on and i just watched it and i came to this conclusion and i think anybody that's listened to me

maybe understands this has thought this and if you don't when i say it you'll probably realize it. I like watching offense way more than I like watching. Okay. Like, offense is to me so structured. It's so easy to grade because I know everyone's

responsibility. It doesn't matter what team you're on. There are certain things that you could question week in and week out, but there aren't that many things. And most of it, it's coached the same way across the league. defensively, there are so many in-play adjustments.

There are so many, we're going to talk about angles to the ball. We're going to talk about, you know, calls the secondary makes to formation checks to change coverage things that you don't always get. There's so many arbitrary things that come up with defense. And it's just, I don't know. It's interesting. I think you can get a real feel for defenses. I think you can get a real feel for defensive coordinators.

I think watching our defense through three weeks, I can see our defense grow. I'm not suggesting that I feel uncomfortable grading our defense because I feel very comfortable with my grades. I just don't think it's as enjoyable. Right. That's my self-loat feeling on defense. Well, I mean, your perspective is from the perspective of a player who played offense in the NFL, and you understand that better. But it's just there are rules on defense.

There are gap rules and gap fits and there. But at the same time, it's just so much a defense has to do with getting the ball carry on the ground or making a play where offensively it's just so structured. Defensively, every single person can make that play. Offensively, a guard could have a job of getting a great initial double-team push and climbing up to the second level, and it could be an impactful block to make a three-yard game.

He's not making the play. He's just aiding in three yards. Defensively, everybody could make the play on every play. And also defensively, a ball away from you, there's no play to be made. There's no grade to be had. It's really interesting because you go through, I figured something out with PFF.

and you go through all the PFF grades because I look at them and we've talked about this. It's a good stat collection on PFF and I can see the grades on my iPad and I can see the grades on my film. You look at them and I've decided when you ever look at PFF, if the ball was thrown away from you and you had no impact on the play, it's just it's a 60 out of 100. Right. You have to make plays to get good grades on PFF. Ronald Darby could have excellent coverage down the field. The quarterback never looked in his direction. He could have done a heck of a job flipping his hips and running with a receiver.

He could have driven on a break, but the quarterback didn't look that way. And in the end, we're giving him a 60. It's not a 60. Right. There's just, but it's almost like there is more of a curve on defense. A corner who gets three balls drawn at it. him in a week and doesn't have a lot to do, that's a good grade. Someone was scared of him.

So I think that's interesting. The other thing that I thought was interesting, the way and after the game and Ron talked about blocking out noise and Ron said he's our guy and they clearly hear noise and they clearly feel it. But then on Monday, Ron says, well, you know, there could be a point. And I told you he watched the film. Right. He saw the film and he saw some issues that are coming up.

But on the flip side of that, I think he watched the film of his defense. And I'm not suggesting that this defense was awesome throughout the entire game. But I think he saw his defense becoming more consistent. And I think he sees a defensive line that could have real pressure and that could have real rushes. And I also think he sees a defense that wears down later in games because there's a lot of pressure on a defense. I think that watching this film may have bumped that line of Dwayne by two weeks. Ooh. So.

Now, it's keep in mind, I don't know where the line was. The line could have been 16 games and that could have went down two weeks. I think. Oh, you're saying from 16 to 14, but. Yeah, but I think you look at the division and you're sitting there saying, like, we're probably not a Super Bowl team, but I got to find, if I can win this division, then I'm going to go out and find a way to win this. division. And my defense might be good enough. So if my quarterback doesn't come along very quickly

here in the next few weeks, there may be a change. I don't think it will be any time in the next three weeks. But I do think as he looks at it, he's going to want to see real growth from his quarterback in the next three weeks because I think he thinks he has talent on defense and he's in this division. Yeah, what you didn't add to that thought is what he said to J.P. Finley on Monday in the NBC Sports Washington interview that he does, and I guess is scheduled to do every Monday with their partner. And that is that essentially he woke up and realized they're in first place at one and two, and that, you know, he, the quote, I wrote it down, J.P. said something about the bye week and, you know, you could get to the buy week, and he said, look, I don't want to get to the by week and realize

it's too late to compete. He said, we might be in position. He said, we're in first place. This is also in the context of a Dwayne conversation. At the same time, his mindset through three games is we don't care about winning the game. We're not going to try to win the game. It's not important to us. We're in the long game here. This is a long game. all right and now I think he woke up to your point he watched the film he looked at the standings and he said

hmm I think we're good enough defensively and we're in this division 7 8 and 1 is what they went in 2014 and they won the division and they won a playoff game that year in the NFC South we could get to that point you know what I want them to try to win games

you can do both. You can be in this long-term environment of developing and building a new culture and changing a culture and all that. But part of that should be when you get to Wednesday in preparation for the game on Sunday that you're trying to win the game. That should be part of the process. And if you're trying to win the game, and if that is a priority rather than not trying to win the game, then you'll find out whether or not you're good enough to compete for something this year. I don't know why it would be a bad thing in the process of developing in a long game environment if they went seven and nine and won the division. The Cowboys implode every year. They are the massive underachiever in the division.

They have the most talent. They should win the division, Cooley, but would it shock you if they went eight and eight and underachieved? Yeah, it would shock me if Dallas went eight and eight. It would? It wouldn't shock. I think that they're going to win more than eight games. I think they are too, but what I'm saying is given their massive underachieving as a franchise during the Jerry Jones era over the last 20 plus years, if they went 8 and 8 and they

underachieved based on their talent, it wouldn't be a shock. I think a shock, maybe it wouldn't be a shock. I would be surprised if they didn't win 9 or 10 games, even where they're at 1 and 2. They play too many winnable games. I'm going to play in us twice. They're going to play in the Giants twice. They're going to play in the Eagles twice. We're not good.

There are too many winnable games on that schedule for them not to win 10 games. If they go 12 and 4, it's not going to surprise me. I'm just saying that they're not a franchise that you can rely on. No, you can't. That's the one thing that we need to be clear with here is they are not a franchise you can rely on. That I'm sure of. The thing that scares you is if you see anything, and Duane Haskins right now for the future, benching him is the worst thing you can do.

Agreed. I mean, essentially you bench him and you're moving on next year. I think so. So if you see anything that you love in him in practice and his leadership and the week, and if you see growth throughout the week to the transitions to the game the way you'd like it to, even enough that you say that there is something, it's hard to bench a guy because Ron is playing for next year essentially. The other part of...

Nobody's really playing for next year, but come on. The other part of what you just said, though, about benching Dwayne, it would be one thing had they brought in Cam Newton over the summer and said, Dwayne, you're going to sit behind Cam Newton for two years, and then you're going to be ready to go. If you bench Dwayne Haskins, you're benching him for Kyle Allen. You're benching him for a backup quarterback in this league, who they have determined gives you a better chance of winning games because they've now decided that the division with this

defense is winnable. And so that's why I think you're right. I think if they bench him, they've made the decision to move on from him, that he's not going to be here. He's not backing up Kyle Allen the rest of the year and next year. No. No. If you bench him for Kyle Allen, I think you trade, you make a trade.

I mean, for whatever you can get and you move on and you draft somebody. Because I'm not in love with Kyle Allen. Right. You and I both still want to see Dwayne. That's the one thing. I do. I've been critical of his first three games. I think very rightly so.

But in being critical, I'm not suggesting that he can't play. What I'm saying is he played poorly in three games. I know what you're saying. But people don't understand what I'm saying because they want to put words in your mouth. Who cares what they think? I don't care what they think. I really don't. But I guess I do by saying my suggestion, just believe me.

I want to see more Dwayne Haskins. That's where I'm at. I do want to see more. If I'm Duran, I'm going to see more Dwayne Haskins right now. I also don't have an alternative that I think is dynamically better, me personally. Just on the bigger, you know, can they compete? year? Is there a season to be had? And maybe Ron woke up Monday morning, watched the tape, looked at the standings and said, hey, we can go have ourselves a season and be in contention

in this division. We're good enough defensively. I just think overall, like my gut feel after three games, this team's just so much better than last year's team already. There's so much more capable. Now, losing ionitis is a big deal, but this is where they have depth. And, you know, Tim Settle, Payne, Allen as the rotation should be good. And, you know, I don't know if Chase Young's going to miss any games. As of now, as we're recording this, there's still no new information on his injury. But what I'm saying here is, like, I actually believe that it's possible that Dwayne could be a part of them competing. There have been moments, and if he can improve and if he can learn from why he threw three interceptions and fumbled once on Sunday, there is some ability.

to move the football. I mean, they haven't been inept in any phase of the game. He has not, he's had a lot more bad than good. We understand that, you know, to the point where we've had poor grades. But there have been moments where those moments could become the majority instead of the minority. And then you combine that with a defense, I see a team capable of winning seven games this year. And if they win seven, at least maybe we can go, you know, have ourselves a December at least, where there's an outside chance. But I don't think there's any downside to trying to win, even as you're changing a culture and playing the long game in terms of development.

I just don't see, I guess I'm still hung up on just the admission that, you know, both in words and actions, that we're not trying to win the game in Arizona or Cleveland. We threw in the white towel. And just to add one other thing, because I talked about it this morning on the radio show, Cooley, there's going to come a point, especially if the rest of the division continues to flounder, where he's going to start to lose some people, coaches and players, by throwing in the white towel, by conceding and tapping out. I think that we saw the last tap out of the year.

I think one of the things that he recognized, even though he's being stubborn on this, is we may be able to compete for something here. So maybe Sunday in Baltimore, if it's 23 to 14 with, you know, two and a half minutes to go and they've got a third and eight, maybe we'll call a time out. There just should have never been a tap out. We talked about the Arizona game. You might have been done that game. You weren't done in Cleveland. You had time.

You were down 11. You were going to go down 14. You had potentially three and a half minutes to score twice. Now, you've got to get an onsides kick, but my God, people get those. So I don't think you see another time out. It's just two weeks in a row, you got the Ravens and the Rams, and there's not easy games. It's almost like you've got to find a way to win one of those two games

to really get close to staying alive. Dallas is going to start winning games. You know what? And you're not a wildcard team. No, no, I would probably agree with that. But, you know, I mentioned this this morning as well, Baltimore and Los Angeles, two games in which they'll be double-digit underdogs. And they are this weekend.

And L.A. will come in here as a 9, 10, 11-point favorite as well. You know, it happens all the time in the NFL. A big double-digit underdog wins a game. Happens all the time. It can happen. If they were to win one of these next two games and be two and three with the Giants on tap and two of the next three, the whole outlook, the whole philosophy should change, and I think it will change. If it hasn't changed already, I'm not predicting a win over Baltimore or Los Angeles.

I'm just saying in the NFL it happens. And I think this team's much more capable of pulling one of those off than last year's team was by a lot. And if it were to happen, imagine your two and three coming off a win over the Rams. There would be a whole different approach to the rest of the season. And by the way, if that happens, I hope Duane is a big contributor to that. Because I don't see an end game going with Allen or even Alex Smith. I just don't see that as a long-term play. I'd rather it happen with Dwayne.

Anyway, let's get to your defensive film breakdown. All right, buddy. So some overall thoughts on the defense before we get to the players. One, I saw a team that varied some more zone coverages and played more comfortable in the back end than either the last couple weeks. So I saw a team that's getting better in the back end in some of the. zones, which is exactly what you want to see. To me, they're starting to operate, especially underneath, much more on a string. Like when you play in some of those underneath coverages, you like levels in your coverage. You like the three deep to be over the top. You like your next

four underneath to be on a string within two or three yards of each other and then react to everything up. They were better with some of the run action pass, not overreacting to that stuff. they were better in some of the third down looks. We'll get to a couple that they weren't. But to me, I saw a defense that was more multiple and to me operated better than they had in the first couple weeks. I think Kendall Fuller changes things quite a bit. To me, he played well.

He played outside, and Jimmy ended up playing inside. Jimmy didn't play hardly at all after the first two weeks playing almost every snap. I think Jimmy only played like 15 snaps and didn't play well in this game either. I don't like Jimmy that much inside. and I don't like him in zone coverage right now. But outside, he was okay. Fuller changes some of the things they can do outside. And they played some quarters looks.

They played some cover two looks. They varied their defense a little bit. They also did a better job passing things off down the field with Fuller and Apkey and didn't get beat over the top. You know, you look at this game, and I said one of the biggest things is going to be selling the Browns down on first down. They did. Yeah.

I mean, they did. They got gashed in the run late in the game. Well, to me, that front really started to get worn down. And also keep in mind, they had two players not playing through the last three quarters of that game or two and a half quarters of that game. So you got guys on the field a little bit more than they're used to. But they limited the Browns. They did not give up to big play. They did a pretty good job stopping the run throughout the first three quarters of that ball game.

And it was a defense that gave them a chance to win a game. look I think that when I look at them they're a team that blitz is better than I've seen Washington blitz in a long time and I got to credit Ron or del Rio because this is three or four weeks in a row where you're getting unblocked players to the quarterback they did it again this week they're good at empty sets too they must have a feel for where the line's going to slide to some of the empty set looks and they like to really check into blitzes in those looks but the the sweat

tackle or the sweat pressure on the grounding that's a that's a free run right they end up bringing KPL and the tackle's got to come down

and take the most dangerous there and sweat's free he's turned free I love that it's a four-man pressure it's a zone blitz where you're bringing a backer but you're dropping an end

and they dropped Ryan Carrigan there those are good those are good pressures. So some good coverage in the back end and some good pressures. They're starting to put some things together. A couple of things. I mean, we talked about this one third and 11. I think the critical play on defense where the game really changed.

Up 20 to 17, I'm bragging about the pressures. And they bring a five-man pressure on a third and 11. they try to get everyone to the right side of the center. On the left side, they drop Bostick and Carrigan. And there's a hole in the middle of the field, and Odell Beckham makes a catch. Now, one, I just wanted to make mention that I was critical of the pick thrown to Inman

on the last pick in the middle of the field on the little sit route, the stick, the sticks route. This is the same exact concept, and I was like, well, Inman should watch the O'Dell route. because I blamed Carrigan a little bit on Monday and it's not good with Carrigan dropping in coverage but if you go back and watch that third and 11 Bostick shits his pants running to the middle of the field

trying to chase O'Dell on a crosser and then O'Dell sets it down. Bostick can't cover in the middle of the field. So while I'm bragging about some of these blitzes, the two guys I'm not dropping into the hole and the hook in the middle of the field. They're Ryan Carrigan and Boston. That one I'm not doing.

So I do think that they're growing. I think that they're learning their players. I think that they're getting better in some of these looks. And I think it's a defense that in rhythm and inflow of a game can be consistent through four quarters. My last thought was they got gashed on the last two series. And it was all counter run. It was all gap scheme, Bill Callahan counter run. We got out of place.

They got pinned up front. The backers were slow. They missed tackles. And they were gashed late in the game. And it's to me, it's like, you can't have 34 minutes time of possession against you every week. You can't have 80 plays run. You can't have 70 plays run. You got to get your defense off the field or you got to keep your defense off the field to some extent as an offense.

And that's one of the things that you're going to struggle with as a defense. Now that said, you've got to get up to field in third downs, but they haven't been as bad as they have in the past. I don't know. Overall, I am impressed with the growth, is I guess what I'm saying of this defense. I'm intrigued by what this defense could be, but I'm impressed with their growth, and I think they've been well-coached. I would say that.

Yeah, I think that's been obvious so far. Relative to what they've been is the part that's obvious, but you're taking it to a slightly different level and just saying, you know, compared to other good defenses, this one's well-coached, right? Yeah. Yes, absolutely 100% right. Now, I do have, you know, another thought I had in this game, Chase Young is what changes this defense as much as anything.

I thought Montes Sweat played well at times, but Chase Young is what changes this defense. And as much as we love Durampin, Jonathan Allen, and Matt Ionitis and our front, they're better than just guys. You know, they're not just guys. They can make plays. make as many plays as you'd like some of these guys as we give them credit for. Is that fair?

Yeah. They're consistent, but they don't make as many plays as we give them credit for. Now, maybe they evolve as they get into this four down and they continue to get better and grow as well. But without Chase Young, it's a little bit different. All right, let's start up front. Jonathan Allen There are times when Allen can be awesome Yeah There's a third down sack that he had

It's a stunt He's coming back inside He yanks the offensive tackle to the ground He's finishing on the quarterback It's like That's what I think of when I see Jonathan Allen It's phenomenal job It's athleticism

it's speed, it's well-executed technique on a stunt, and it's finish. I love that. There's a couple of bull rushes early in this game where it's an ass-wooping. It's awesome. One-on-one bull rush, you have leverage, you're playing under a hat, and you're taking that guard and you're walking him back into the quarterback. That's what I think of when I see Jonathan Allen. And I get that a lot.

In the run game, I thought Jonathan showed up a lot. I thought he played hard. I thought in the run game played through blocks on the backside, came down and made some tackles. You know, the thing with John is you also see the flip side every once in a while where you start to get caught up in the wash, and then he starts to get run a little bit more than you like. And the perfect example is on the first Chubb touchdown run.

I mean, he's washed down the line of scrimmage, wrung out, put flat on his back to dry out. Like, what happened here, John? Right. So I think if he's not playing upfield, I don't think he can play lateral and try to just hang on. Like, I think he's got to penetrate a little bit to win. He played 50 total plays.

He had a sack. He was in on six or seven tackles. When he got off the ball and got up the field, he was impactful. When he was laid off the ball or skated a little bit, he struggled to get moved. It was a B in this game. Jonathan O'all was a B. God, I thought he was going to be higher than that. I thought it was a really good game from him,

but I defer to you. I thought he swallowed some people whole in the run game. He did. There were some big plays he made in the run game. There were. And B's not a bad grade. No. Played 50 total plays.

Not a nay. Duran Tane. So there's a couple plays where you watch Duran play. He's the least consistent of the three, in my opinion. But there's a couple of places. There's a play he plays through a cut block. Stuff's the dude's head right in the fucking dirt. He goes and makes a play in the backfield on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage.

Like he has the ability to play on the other side of the line of scrimmage. He has the ability to knock dudes around. He can make some. impactful plays and he does in the backfield. He has made one or two plays in the backfield almost every, I think in every game of this season. Right. He had a couple of good rushes in this game.

He had a couple of good bowl pressures. He's just got too many zero impact plays or negative plays, though. And I wrote down low five times. Really? There's a third and 18 in the third quarter where Baker Mayfield ends up flushing out to the right. and it could have been a sack and it's i don't even know if it's a loaf honestly kevin i just don't think he had the burst at that point or the energy to go get him to really go

get him baker flushed right to him he's kind of hanging on there on the left side defensively of the line of scrimmage and you're like you don't know they're going to force him to you but as he starts to go if you it was there was a second of hesitation do i stop and hang out here for a second or do i just finish this And he stopped for a second. He also, when he gets doubled in pass rush, now again, maybe you get doubled and you become the spy guy or you become the jump guy. But there's some stop to it when he gets doubled. Like there's some, okay, you guys got me.

Which I'm not saying that a doubled defensive lineman in some of the play action pass or some of the third down stuff that a doubled guy is going to be the guy that ultimately wins. But he's really the only guy that's got some stop to him. Drompain was a C in this game. I thought he would be better after watching it. Me too. In real time. Tim Settle. I think Tim Settle is a really nice mix-up player.

To me, Settle is a guy that comes in and plays really hard. I think he plays well on the other side of the ball. I think he fights through things. I think he's a good tackler. I think he makes some plays. He even plays. He gets washed a little. bit on a on a counterplay that goes out to the offensive left, the defensive right.

Landon Collins misses a tackle. But Settle keeps fighting through a block all the way down the scrimmage. He ends up making a tackle for like a seven, eight yard gain. But still, that's a big dude that's not going to quit. I think he blows things up in the backfield. I thought in this game he had a couple decent rushes. He doesn't play a lot of plays, Settle. He ended up with 26 plays in this game, and I think large in part because Ionitis went out. but when I watch Settle on this game I like 97 on film kept flashing Tim Settle was an A-minus on 26th place

Wow Matt Ionitis The two notes that I want to start with Before I get to some of the real things I wrote Falling Down a ton Or pulled down in the first quarter Four times he was on the ground in the first quarter

And then the next series Was a John Nathan Allen in sack where ionitis ends up doing a hell of job taking three on the ground like well is this deal it's on the ground all game up and down on the ground um there's a couple man there's a play action pressure early in the game on a second 10 where he's shot out of a cannon he's seven yards upfield he's a spin move on the guard he ends up getting a little bit of a touch on the quarterback he doesn't get him to the ground but it's a good rush it changes the play is he more athletic than people think because people talk about his strength more than anything else.

But when he, he's obviously out for the year now, but isn't he a little bit more athletic than I think the perception of him is? Yeah, and I think that perception started at Temple where I think he was probably 20 pounds heavier. And in his first year here where he was probably 20 pounds heavier, like Ionitis was slow as a rookie. He was. I remember his rookie year.

He was slow. He's not slow. I know he's got a lot of power. He's got some strength, but he's got a handful of moves, and he's got a good upfield presence. I'm disappointed for Matt. I'm disappointed for this team that he went out in this ballgame with the torn bicep.

You actually got that news first, I heard. I did. Is it a torn bicep or biceps? Potato potato. But I don't say potato. I don't think it's a potato potato thing. I hear it referred to as he he's got a torn biceps. But that would, is there only, do you have more than one bicep?

So it would be plural. You would think he's got torn biceps. That means he tore both of his biceps. But that's a way. That'll be pretty uncommon to tear both biceps on one play. Yeah. I've heard it described as singular torn biceps. anyway, whatever, not important.

What was the great Ryanitis? Yeah, he played nine games. He was a B-plus. Nine. He already played nine plays. He didn't play a lot. But it was a B-plus. Ryan Anderson.

He can be physical at the point of attack, and he can lose at the point of attack. It was funny. A couple of the first things. Knocked the shit out of a pulling guard on power play. makes the running back have to squeeze, ends up forcing it inside where he wants to force it, right to help, good play. Two plays later. Same kind of look. Guard comes at him, pins him, it's botonio comes right at him. It's a bounce play, a counter bounce play.

I just don't know if he has a true sense for what they're trying to do to it. Not ever did I see like a burst rush that you go like, oh man, big time play. Not often did I see him in terrible position. He's a jag. Second round pick, I don't, I hate saying that, but we're this far into this career. And without Chase Young getting hurt,

he's a 10-play game guy with another staff. He's not going to hurt you. he's not he's just not he's not an impactful guy and he hasn't been in the first couple games and he wasn't in this game he was a seat don't you think he was super improved last year did i yeah from the year before i thought he was really impactful last year and i thought his first year you really struggled i thought he was better i thought he should have played more two years ago i thought he should have played more last year i think it's hard to find out exactly what you have when you have a guy playing 12 plays a game

but at the same time showing up makes a difference having that 52 out there like here he is making plays every once in a while makes a bit of a difference and I just haven't seen it yet. Is he better as an outside linebacker and a 3-4? I'm not sure what Ryan Anderson is.

No, I'm not going to say that he's better. I think that there's a lot of similarities to what he's doing. Okay. Chase Young. Man, that's, I hope he's okay. I just, we just got an update on him. It just literally hit Twitter.

I think Ian Rappaport, and let me read it real quickly. It is Chase Young, Washington football team pass rush or Chase Young suffered a moderate groin strain on Sunday, is expected to be out versus the Ravens sources say, and is considered, week to week. So there you go. So the Browns had a plan for Chase Young. I saw that early, yeah. Browns were going to chip with tight ends or they were going to chip with backs. I really only had two rushes on a quarterback where he had an open rush. And one, I thought was great. It was a double swat. And he kind of starts to turn the corner on the ball's out. And the other one, the ball's out right now. Like, once he gets washed big time by two tight ends and he's run down five

yards in the line of scrimmage and the rest of it is like he there was nothing at him or to him you can see the spark had he played the whole game i'm sure this would be different but chase young was a C in this game okay 13 plays yeah 13 plays um Ryan Carrigan C okay he played the most snaps he's he's played because young was out yeah he played 41 plays. The false start penalty late in the game that was assonine. Yeah.

Come on. It's a no snap, no play. Like, hey, we're going to go no snap, no play, and we're going to get the most veteran player on this defense to jump off sides. Like, everybody knows that it's no snap, no play. Maybe the coach told them to jump offside so that they didn't have to put the offense back out. I love it.

I love it. I still love one of my favorite things about Ryan Kerrigan, and you see this at least once in every game. The Browns are running a little trap play. They end up kicking out Duran Payne with the guard. Ryan Kerrigan's turned free on the edge. Balls inside, Chubbs won two yards up the field. Carrigan's still chasing the quarterback.

Like, he knows any kind of action where he's free. He's going to go get the quarterback. That's just exactly what he's doing. But he sniffs out a screen pretty well on third and 19. Yeah, yeah. he can he's got a nose for the screenplay um look i'm not i'm not suggesting that ryan was most bad in this game and there were some chances to be good he had a tackle for loss opportunity right at the end of the first half where he just doesn't get the back on the ground

actually a couple guys had a chance to tackle chub on that play and chub ended up getting nine yards but you know Ryan carrigan four years ago i think makes that play to me he's just a half a step slower than four years ago, which is, that's what it is. I think that Ryan's also one of those guys that when he's blocked, he's blocked. If you get on Ryan Kerrigan, you can stay on Ryan. He doesn't have a lot of countermoves at this point, didn't show it in this game. He was a seat. Montez's sweat. Oh, we're leaving Montes sweat. Yeah. Montess sweat was all over the field at times. I mean, all over the field at times. There was a span of 10 plays where he was demonstrably better than anybody else on the field.

Yeah, early in the second half. Early second half, I mean, the upfield pressure throughout the game, the grounding as a free runner. Like I mentioned that grounding. I'm not going to, I'm not giving a massive upgrade because Montes Sweat had a quarterback pressure on an unblock play. but what I would say was watch Montez sweat hawked down Baker. Oh, yeah. He's gaining ground. I mean, when he opens it up, he's rolling.

And then he had a sack the very, the first down after the grounding play, where he beats the tight end and he's up to field and he's got Baker. And there was a huge tackle for loss he had on a third and one, blows up a double team on a stretch play. And he tackles backfield and loss for loss on a third and one, which was a huge play. got the first play of the game go back and watch the first play of the game

if anybody hasn't watched this this probably should have been a personal foul but it's a screen to the tight end he knocks the absolute holy hell out of Baker Mayfield the tight end blocks on Montez kind of throws him outside Montez does not feel or see screen

but he knocks the hell out of Baker Mayfield on the first play I can't believe they didn't call it where was that play I think it's first play of the game You know, I'm looking at it right now. The seven-yard loss on the pitch out, that's three consecutive drives that he completely disrupted. Now, they ended up converting on that third one. Oh, yeah, my God, that was definitely a penalty on sweat.

How did they miss that call? And after the play, you can see him kind of glanced back. He recognized he hit him late. I love that, though. Oh, he did look back. I don't know. How does that in this day and age not get flagged? That is, that's late and it's a good jolt to Mayfield, a full, you know, second and a half after the ball's out.

Now, you know, Mayfield pumps and he gets them up in the air. Oh, no, no, that's a 15-yard penalty in most games. Not in 19-8, you know, not in 1990 football, but in 2020 football, that's a 15-yard penalty that just got missed. Okay. Yeah. Okay. We got away with it, so it's a good grade.

Yeah. If he doesn't get away with it, it's a bad grade. Funny how that works, right? Right. I don't necessarily treat it as either most of the time when you, for me, unless it's a egregious stupid penalty, which maybe that might have been. I usually don't downgrade it. I try to just take play as it is.

I also don't necessarily, unless it's like a Kerrigan, fall start at the end of the game or encroachment or whatever that was. I really don't care that much about some of those either. Unless it's a consistent deal, like when Moses consistently went or I have a hard time downgrading for some of those things. God, yeah, the pitch play that he made the play on was massive. He made five or six plays on the other side of the line of scrimmage in the backfield. He had seven or eight rushes that were impactful rushes.

Now, he had some stuff that wasn't great either. Some of the counter stuff he got pinned, some of the run stuff. I think he got a little bit lost, but not like he got smashed and ruined plays. He played it well enough to allow backers the chance to make plays. I thought Montez Sweat was an A in this game. I thought it was the best game that I've seen Montes Sweat play. Agreed. All right, before you get to the linebackers and the secondary,

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Magic spoon.com slash Kevin D.C. That's magic spoon.com slash Kevin D.C. for free shipping. We thank Magic Spoon for sponsoring the podcast. Before we get to the linebackers, there was one or two times I noticed that I forgot to mention when we talked about this defense, that they actually lined up in like a true five two defense. Yeah, I noticed that. Landon Collins in the box, they had Payne Allen, Ionitis all on the field.

and then they went sweat and Chase Young on either side. I don't know if that changed because Chase Young went out of the game. Now, when Cleveland went into heavy personnel, they brought in an extra backer, and they would have five guys on the line of scrimmage in those situations as well, but that's their matchup to heavy personnel, or two tight ends and a fullback in the game. But there were a couple early where it was just two tight ends,

and they went five down. I like that. I really like changing your fronts like that because if you're capable defensively of doing that week and a week out, it's hard for a team that runs multiple different types of run plays to understand something they haven't practiced that week. I thought they did a good job mixing up some of those fronts with that stuff. Let's get to the linebackers. I'll start with Thomas Davis who played the least amount of plays. If you haven't been watching,

and you notice 58 was in the game, that is Thomas Davis. Everyone, I think you understand, Thomas Davis been a great linebacker in this league forever. Played for Rivera and Carolina for a long time. He's old. He looked slow. He was not physical in terms of taking on blocks,

and he got outrun and outstretched by ball carriers pretty easily. It's not terrible. coverage. You can see he knows what he's doing. He's just a step slow. Thomas Davis was a D in this game on 21 plays. D. John Dianne Hamilton. Yeah. I saw Sean Dianne Hamilton was going to make a play the first play of the game. That little Y screen we just talked about where Montez had the hit. John Dion's. He's right there. He just weird. Watch it again. He's getting blocked from the side. And it's like, you're not even really getting blocks. Just go tackle the dude. He played 15 plays. He can't cover. He's average as a run defender, 11 of the snap.

were in run defense, four of them were in past defense. He's really just average as a run defender. He's not a guy that can cover right now. Now, one of the plays I'm going to talk about really is not a fair situation. And I had some of these blitzes throughout the game, but there's a blitz look where he gets stuck, widening out against O'Dell Beckham, who's in the slot. And it's like, what do you want him to do?

He's not going to cover a tight ends of backs. He's certainly not going to cover O'Dell Beckham. Sean Dionne Hamilton was a D. Let's get to Bostick. Bostick's an interesting player to me as I watch him. Through early parts of this game, he's part of his defense that I say he's getting better. Like early parts of this game, I'm like, gosh, he looks like he's got it together in some of these coverage looks. I think it was a third and five.

He ends up coming and making a tackle on the back, wanting to checkdown. He's right there in coverage right where he's supposed to be. Like, that's great. You know, it was third and six. really good feel initially in this game. But then as it progresses, it's like he's displaced a little bit. He's conflicted by route concept versus quarterback guys. He's overrunning routes and concerned with where he's going in his zone.

I don't know if he truly understands where his help is in some of these situations. Now, I think he's a guy that's going to get better. When I see the positives to some of the coverage, I see a guy with pretty good lateral speed, I think he's a guy that can tackle pretty well. Definitely. In the open field. Yes, I agree with that.

So there are things. I think he's a damn good blitz guy. To me, if I'm going to blitz somebody, I'm going to blitz Boston. Because especially in your nickel sets, I'm going to blitz my best blitzer, who is also probably my weakest past defender. We talked about the third and 11 that they converted with the Browns down three points. Go back and watch that third and 11. I think you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about.

Odell looks like he's going to run across the field for just a second, and he's got speed. But Bostick's got help on the other side of the field. Bostick shits his pants. It's five steps that direction. And then O'Dell sits at the middle of the hole, and you're like, do you just play the middle of the field. You don't have to run there. So that's one of the interesting things. The other thing with Bostick is I do think he's a good tackler.

He can't get off blocks. He struggles to avoid blocks. He struggles to get off blocks. He can't play through blocks. So when you get a lineman coming up to him on the second level, it's 95% of the time that he is now done. So I don't think, I think he has an understanding of where the ball is. I think he has an understanding of his gap fit. I think he's a smart player.

I think he's a player that plays with speed. I just think he struggles to get off blocks. His block avoid is low. His Madden rating on Block or Boyd is like 42. Really? Yeah, Bostic. On the third and 12, which we've talked about a few times, which, you know, Washington's got all the momentum.

You Montes sweat, his wrecked two drives in a row, and he's on the verge of wrecking a third drive in row, because that's the drive where he stops the pitch out, Kareem Hunt, on a seven-yard loss, which set up the third and 12. And on that play, I just, are they in, it looks like they're showing more cover three, but it looks like they drop to quarters. And then Bostic gets lost in the middle of the field,

which helps along with Kerrigan to create the hole, you know, before the inside quarter. And I don't know who that is playing. That might have been Morland. What defense are they in? So I've looked at this a bunch of times. it'd be really strange to be playing four deep two underneath and have your two underneath be Carrigan and Boston.

Right. Like that's a lot of open field underneath. So to me, it does look like quarters, but I think it's probably more of a quarters lock where they're going to lock one of the receivers and then doubled number three coming into the middle of the field. That would be Odell. Okay.

So essentially, I think you're trying to double him. And maybe that's why Bostick runs so hard is because they're bracketing him. They're bracketing to Odell, and so Bostick knows that if he goes to cross or he's got to go with him. I mean, Kerrigan, we didn't mention this again when we talked about Kerrigan, but Kerrigan's dropping to nobody there. Yeah, that's just a bad idea.

He's not, Kerrigan right there isn't dropping to the quarterback's eyes or a receiver. He's just dropping to a bubble. It's a bad idea to put him out there. God, he looks so awkward, always has. He really is. Like, he's not doing, like, there are two things that you can, guys normally do in zone coverage.

And it's normally like this almost like B drop, where you're going to drop back to whatever your zone is and then V forward to I's or to route combination. He doesn't have any V to it. It's just a kind of an awkward back pedal into space. We used a Madden reference. I'm going to not try to use as many as possible, but Madden linebackers, when they go to zone,

just go right into the middle of a bubble. And they sit there. What was Bostick's grade? Bostick was a C-minus. KPL. KPL, the positives. He's got awesome speed. I mean, he's just, he's got awesome speed.

And I think Bostick has good speed too. Early in the game, Baker ends up scrambling out to his left, and I think it's a gain of two. Bostick is running it down, but KPL outruns Bostick. There are more plays than not that KPL is outrunning five guys on defense when the ball goes sideline to sideline. I said this last week. He's got great red line to red line speed. The red line's an imaginary line in between the numbers and the hash.

But his ability to run, I think, is really shown and is really impressive. I think when you drop him in zone coverages, to me, KPL has a pretty good feel, especially when he's dropping out into the flats with width. Again, in this game, I thought he matched really well out into the flats with wit. I think when you drop him in the middle hook, it's a little bit tougher for him. Again, we've talked about receivers matched up on linebackers. This is like four times in this game, but there's a choice route that Landry runs inside on in from zone.

And he starts out with a ton of width, so he's already showing you that he's a zone drop linebacker in that situation, and Landry just breaks right in front of him. It's like you gave it away pre-snap, and then you're just not comfortable enough in the middle of the field playing two ways. He's a great one-way zone player, basically, and it showed in this game as well.

The touchdown to Chubb, he's just not a man-to-man linebacker from what I've seen in three games. Now, maybe he, maybe he is. Maybe they think he is. Maybe he was in Chicago. Maybe he, but that's a late drive on a back. And to me, I think Chubb can do a lot of things. But if I'm KPL and I'm out there in space,

is my biggest concern that Chubb's going to run by me? Or is it that I'm going to play a little bit soft and they're going to throw it underneath? Because to me, if I'm KPL, I'm saying to myself on that Chub touchdown, in a way this guy's going to run by me to the sideline. Quarterback's going to drop a dime over my head and this running back's going to come down with it. Like that's last case, in my opinion. So drive on the ball.

So I don't seem as a dynamic man cover guy. I do see him as a really good one way, know your help, know your leverage zone defender. See him as a guy that's still struggling a little bit in the middle of the field. He makes some plays in the run game. He's got some fits in the run game. He's a good weak side backer to me. He's not overly big.

I don't think he's overly physical. You can block him. The Browns did end up blocking him a lot in this game. He made a couple plays scraping off the backside in the run. But, you know, I like him more, even though this isn't going to be a great grade. I still think that there are things that he does that fit this defense really well. Also had a miss tackle on Janibitz late in the game. Like, that's a fullback, bro.

Yeah. He was a C in this game. But again, I was very concerned about KPL after the first game because he's exposed in some of those man coverage looks. But really, to me, this is a predominantly zone coverage defense that will intermix a man when they have to intermix a man. And I think KPL fits it. All right. We'll finish up with the secondary right after I tell you about Pepsi. You know, thanks to a lack of commitment.

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I want to start with a fourth play of the game. It's a boot. There's a fly sweep action that ends up almost being like the leak guy. You know, all the McVeigh, the tight end leak that on the backside of boot away from where the quarterback's rolling. What the fuck is landing covering here? Because that leak guy runs right by him. Now, Montez Sweat has a big pressure in Baker's face. He's got to throw it and get it out early.

But if that is a leak, that's a fly. life sweep guys walking. Oof, oof. Yeah, well, it's a good thing that Baker was booting to the other side, or it would have been a touchdown on the fourth play of the game. But it's just interesting to me, because Landon seems like the guy that should be the consistent, no mistake guy. It is a new defense, coolly.

You know, we've seen some mix-ups. It's also interesting because this, to me, looks like a cover three look. And essentially, in a case, cover three look the corner on that side would be responsible but it's almost like cover three but landon would be the hook player and is now responsible to lock anything going vertical from underneath late and a lot of teams do that where the corner will have to carry anything deep to the middle and you'll lock your hook player on anyone running like rail or wheel up the sideline so i think landed realizes it late but to me i don't know i haven't seen

seen anybody run leak this way, so I don't even know if Baker ever intended to throw it. He got his wide open. I don't understand why we're missing tackles. Like, I don't understand the Landon Collins missing tackles. There's an early Chub run on a counterplay where Landon's a free hitter in the hole. He's got to make that tackle for a two-yard game. He doesn't even come close. He barely touches him.

Right. I know Chubb is a really good back. He makes people miss. He doesn't put big time moves on anybody to not touch him. On the Chubb touchdown run, I think into the halfish, Landon's trying to fall back for cutoff there, and he's not even close. It's a mistackle clearly, but it's not even, I don't even know if he touches him. He's missing more tackles than you would expect Landon Collins to miss, right?

That's the thing that you think. with Landon Collins, does you think the one thing we're sure of is that he's going to tackle anybody? The touchdown to the Florida Atlantic tied end, 88, who I told you was a pretty good player, did a pretty good blocking throughout this entire game. Brian. Brandon Collins is in man coverage. Bryant starts in, doesn't really do anything double move wise and continues to head to the middle of the field. And Landon falls off like he saw something. And then Bryant's got eight steps on it.

That's man coverage. What did you see? Are you thinking too much down there? Are you thinking you know what they're doing? But that was just a crossing route. Like I didn't land and make some place. Like, you know, on the positive side of this, like I've brought up a couple of the mistackles.

And I brought up a couple throughout in coverage where I'm not 100% sure. There are also times where I really like landing coverage. I think he does play sound zone coverage. I think when he comes down in some of the fits, he's got a knack for getting to the ball carrier, and he's got a knack for kind of skinning into a hole and wrapping up. Make some tackles that way, and he did in this game. There are some plays for sure.

I didn't get four tackles, and they were all good tackles. But he also had two or three missed tackles, and he also had two or three lapses in coverage. And ultimately, Kev, when you're this type of zone team, you can't have lapses in coverage, You can't have your safety coming down missing tackles. I thought Landon was a D in this game. Troy Apke.

God he almost got his first pick of the year. Yeah. Throw a run-action pass to Odell Beckham, who is running a post-corner post. So you're really trying to go to the post first, sell it, then sell back out. So it looks like a double move, but it's a triple move. And when you go back out to the corner,

you're hoping to get the safety to play over the top. Troy stays right where he needs to be. Now, when that ball goes in the air, you watch Troy's reaction, you're like, that's a touchdown. Like, I think he might have got a little bit lucky with the ball being underthrown a bit because he dead undercuts it.

And to me, he dead undercuts that last post move the second the ballstone. Like, I don't know if you really saw it or not. Like, if you go back and watch that a couple times, you're like either that was an incredible. incredible anticipation and angle and jump by Apki or he got damn lucky. He would tell you that it's an incredible anticipation. He knew where that ball was going to be.

But if that ball's high and far into the back of the end zone is no way on his first step out of his break that he's going to play it. Now, initially, before he starts to break, he's in great position. Okay, he was never out of position. What I'm suggesting is angle the second the ball goes in the air, I would question if that was the choice. or if he knew. That said, I'm going to give him credit for it. It's a past breakup that O'Dell ended up having to break up from an interception. I mean, Mayfield's just got a lead Beckham to the left corner of the end zone.

Did Troy make that play if he leads that ball out? I don't know. I mean, Troy's got recovery speed. We've actually seen that. But there's no doubt that he gets a little bit confused and lucky that the ball's underthrown. There's no doubt about it looking at this. There's doubt.

I mean, I'll raise doubt. Well, he's not baiting him into throwing it under throwing it. No, no, he's in great position initially. Initially, yeah, but he actually just, like you've said, like he doesn't have a great sense for space angles. I mean, we've seen that in different spots. Like, Beckham's about, if that ball's led to Beckham to the left corner of the end zone, Beckham's going to beat him there.

Now, Mayfield, you know, is on the move a little bit. it wouldn't have been the easiest of throws. Fair, yeah, fair enough. I mean, there's circumstance there's pressure. Second that ball, that, that, he moves on that ball the second it's, like, before it leaves his hand. Right. I don't know, you can watch. I mean, I slowed it down a couple times.

I'm giving Troy credit. I'm giving him a big up on that play. Okay. Look, here's the thing with Apki. You can't miss tackles, and that's glaring. And it's become glaring with him because he's missed a tackle or two or three tackles every week. And on two big Chubb runs, he misses tackles. Missed the tackle on the touchdown run. I mentioned the Ryan Carrigan,

missed tackle on the backfield. We had a tackle for lost opportunity. Troy misses another tackle on Chubb on that particular play. And they're not like he's wrapping up and not finishing. He's not touching him. So I don't know. All that said, look, the back end of coverage was really, really good this week. Troy's ability in this game to pass things off and collect things where the corner is going to say, okay, the post is going to you, Troy, you take the post and I'm going to fall off into this. They were really good. Their communication seemed very good in the back end.

I didn't feel like Troy was ever out of position on the back end of things. There were times when I saw him drive on things he needed to drive on. I thought as a cover safety in this week, Troy was almost perfect. I didn't see a lot from Apkee that I had any concerns with. You miss the tackles and it's glaring, but Apkey's a B. That's his best grade yet this year. The corners, let's do the corners really fast. Okay, and it's going to be very easy.

Ronald Darby, the first ball given up down the field, really down the field, I think on any of these corners was in the fourth quarter. It was a comeback for 18. That was the first ball to really thrown down the field that they got it. as a big play. Darby was only thrown out a couple times to me in position, most of the game, made one or two plays in the run game. He was a B. You can say he was a B plus. You could say he's not impacting or non-impacting the game, but he is. He is impacting the game because he's turning down things early. He's making the quarterback get off of his receivers early. Darby was good. Same as

Kendall Fuller. I actually really like Kendall Fuller as a past guy. Both Darby and Fuller did a good job in quarters and in cover three playing with enough depth off the receiver but also with eyes to the quarterback that when the quarterback came in the direction they did a pretty good job of locking on um third and six on hooper like how many times if we see the tight end beat us on third and six hooper's running a corner out it's a great break on the ball it's a pass break up you're like thank god the corner finally stopped the tight end like those shouldn't be that big of deal but it's nice to see fuller do that i thought he looked really good in this game i thought he looked really good in this game i ran well. I thought he moved really well throughout the game. The only downgrade I'd have is

he is not going to take on an offensive lineman in the open field. And when you pull up four or five of those counter runs late in that game, that offensive lineman would pull out and Kendall Fuller was going to go to the sideline if that lineman wanted to go to the sideline. And after the third one, you're like, could you just dive at his fucking legs and blow him up so we don't have to have this massive gap? And now I don't have to downgrade landing Collins because he's missing tackles because he's got seven yards of open space in the hole where Fuller's run into the sideline. It makes it tough. And you're like, look, I get it once. They run a counterbalance play and the offensive linemen's coming and you're like, shit, I didn't see this coming. And this dude's big. Like this is, here comes Joel Betonio. Like he's going to knock my head off. Joe Petonio.

Petonio. Oh, yeah. Petonio. Yeah. Here comes Teller, 77, ready to kick my ass, weighs about 140 pounds more than me. I'm just going to kind of make sure he doesn't. Like, I'm just like after the third. one and you're like, blow him up. It's just to chop his knees out. All you have to do is dive at his feet. He's going to, you're both going to fall down there and you're going to limit the hole. He's a B plus. Moreland wasn't good in this game.

Okay. Morland didn't play a lot of plays. I don't think he's got a great field for underneath coverage. Okay. Like his zone underneath coverage, he's seen way too much. The fourth and six that the Browns ended up converting, Morland's dropping to like 14 yards as an underneath zone defender. they're not going to throw it behind you right oh did i grade fuller yeah fuller was a b plus jimmy

mornland was a d he didn't play a lot of games uh Cameron curl i i love camera curl yeah you said okay there's a couple of plays like i'm still in question with curl in some of his past defense there's a boot where he gets out leverage it's man to man he gets sucked in a little bit the titan gets out behind him whatever um caught in the wash but still the recovery on that boot play early in the game to run that thing down and it's only a six-yard game. He's got speed, man, and Curl is a hell of a tackler. He shows up again and again as a box player when he's coming in as that nickel guy making tackles like in the A gap, in the B gap.

There's a toughness to him. There's a fun. Like, I like to watch this play to him. Cameron Curl is a guy to me that played 14 plays. He's played in and around that number of plays. Like as of right now watching Jimmy and underneath coverage and curl, my nickel guy's camera curl. I thought Curl was a B plus.

I thought he played tough. I think he gives this defensive spark. Well, you know what's interesting about that is Curl and Moreland were the other corners. Moreau did not play a defensive snap in the game. So we were wondering what would happen when Fuller came back. Well, Morland, you know, stopped getting the primary snaps as the other outside guy and Moreau got benched.

yeah i don't i wonder if he was healthy was he healthy scratch you think no he played special teams he he was he was dressed he played a bunch of special team snaps yeah i think that that that will change this week what him for for uh morland yeah either more girl unless morland or more uh maybe unless morland i would bet you that that you'll see some change that week unless there's just something else. And you know this, and I think anybody that's listened to me over the last year knows that Jimmy Morland's one of my three favorite guys on this team.

Like, I've been so big on Jimmy Morland. Like I told you last year, I remember you last thing saying to me, do you think Jimmy Morland will make this team? And I said, I think he'll start. Yeah, you said that in the spring. Yeah, before training camp, I said, I don't think he makes the team.

I think he's just starting nickel. Yeah. But there's something to Jimmy where I think he's more comfortable outside. I'm not sure exactly what the fit is for Jimmy here. But if you're going to play him as a zone defender, like let him match and press or let him play tight and jam. Like right now, his like plain eyes is not, his drops are off. He's not comfortable where he's sitting in some of the zones. It's not every time.

I mean, but it's enough that you're like, can't happen this much. All right. I mean, look, ultimately when I look at this defense, the grades aren't that great this week. There's not, it's across the board, like a couple Bs, a lot of season Bs, and one A. Yeah, but you really, the secondary, you really liked Darby, Fuller, and Apkey this week in Curl. I really did. I thought, and I thought they were really good in the secondary. I was afraid of, like the Browns have O'Dell Beckham and they have Landry and they have Hooper and they have a dynamic run action pass game where they can get balls down the field. and they didn't.

They didn't get big plays. We limited all the big plays. All right. Good job. We'll talk Friday and we'll preview the Baltimore Ravens together. Everybody have a great day. Back tomorrow with Tommy.