The Kevin Sheehan Show - Kickers Gone Wild + Another Terry Convo

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

Kevin opened with the unprecedented field goal bonanza over the first two weeks of the NFL season. Commanders' kicker Austin Seibert was 7 for 7 and named "NFC Special Teams Player Of the Week" and was a big part of a record-setting pace for made field goals. While Seibert didn't attempt a kick of 50+ yards, the rest of the league is an incredible 35-39 on long field goals through two games. Kevin discussed Terry McLaurin and his anemic yardage results through two games. Pro Football Focus' Nick Akridge jumped on to talk Commanders' PFF grades from Sunday's win over the Giants.   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 Chean Show. Here's Kevin. So by Sunday roughly 7.30-ish in the evening, if things go the way they're supposed to go, Washington will be in sole possession of first place in the NFC East.

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Philly's a two and a half point underdog at New Orleans in the early window, and the Cowboys are one and a half point underdogs in the late afternoon window against the Ravens. If both those teams lose, and they are, based on the point spread, projected to lose those games, Washington would be one and one before their Monday night game against Cincinnati.

Dallas would be one and two. Philly would be one and two. The Giants already have two losses. Now, technically right now, because Washington is the only team in the division that's played a division game and they won that division game, they're in sole possession of first place. Why am I doing this? It's because my good friend Bernie Barry sent me a note saying,

you know, by the time we get to Monday, Washington might be in sole possession of first place. Yeah, it's actually kind of likely, although who knows in the NFL today in terms of what's going to happen. But I can't remember actually the last time Washington was in first place in the division, not after two weeks or three weeks or four weeks, but say approaching the middle portion of the season. I think the last time they were in first place in the division at the halfway mark, it may have been 2000. Even the years in which they won the division, they made late season runs to win the division, right? In 2005, in 2007, in 2015, in 2020. I think the last time, I'd have to go back and check this, but off the top of my head, the last time you got to the halfway mark of the season, Washington was in first place, 2000.

Because they started off that 2000 season, you know, the fantasy football Dan Snyder off-season. They started that season five and two, maybe six and two. And I would assume that that particular record at that half-season. halfway mark was good enough for first place in the division. But I, maybe they, oh, you know what, the Jim Zorn year when they were six and two. Maybe 2008 they were six and two and in first place in the division. It's possible because they did start six and two in 2008 and then of course finished two and six to get to eight and eight.

So maybe my first instinct on that was wrong. It was perhaps 2008. I'm trying to think in 2008 in the division if there was a dominant team in the division. I'm going to check that right now. 2008, the NFC East standings. The Giants went 12 and 4. Oh, Washington was not in first place. The Giants were 7 and 1.

So there you go. It was more likely than not 2000 would have been the last time Washington was in first place at the halfway mark. Washington, the Giants that year at the halfway mark were also 6 and 2. So Washington was tied for first in the division in 2000 at the halfway mark. There's no other season, right? Am I forgetting a season here? not Marty's season obviously neither of the two spurious seasons none of the Gibbs seasons did they start off well the two playoff seasons were late season runs the zorn season we just went through none of the mike seasons i mean 2012 was a late season run

uh none of the j seasons including 2015 because that was a late season run we had the code red game when they were you know they had a losing record i think at the midway point in that season. Even 2016, when they were six, three, and one, which is probably as good as they've been at the halfway mark, the Cowboys were off to like a seven and one, eight and one. Because that Thanksgiving day game in 2016, the Cowboys were nine and one, and Washington was six, three, and one. In 2020, they had to win down the stretch to get to seven and nine to win the division. And yeah, that's, they haven't really been in it. I mean, 2022, they got to six and six, or they got to seven and six, seven and five in 2022. They were six and six in 2021. We kind of forget that, that Ron Rivera was not very good here at a whole, but in 2021, they were six and six and six and entered the month of December in

playoff contention. And in 2022, they were 7 and 5 in December and very much in playoff contention in the month of December. But I'm not going to get excited if they're in sole possession

of first place going into a Monday night game against Cincinnati where they are big underdogs as well. Seven and a half point underdogs at my bookie. I can't wait for this matchup. It's a desperation spot. for Cincinnati.

But it's also an opportunity in a big spotlight to see how Jaden Daniels reacts to that. I don't think he's going to have a problem with that at all. I mean, he played in some of the biggest college games and in some of the biggest, you know, venues, iconic venues, you know, crowd sizes that dwarfed what he played in front of Sunday against the Giants. By the way, congratulations are in order. Austin Cybert is your NFC Special Team's player of the week. Not a surprise.

Seven for seven on field goals Sunday, setting a franchise record. By the way, he set that franchise record when he booted his sixth field goal. The record held by several kickers was five going into Sunday. He now holds the franchise record with seven. He's also among several kickers tied for second on the list of most field goals made in a game behind Rob Barronis, who back in 2007 set the NFL record with the Titans by kicking eight field goals in a game. He's the first Washington kicker to win NFC Special Teams player of the week since Joey Sly did it in 2022. That was the game in Philadelphia where he booted four field goals, two of them from long run. range. He had a 58-yarder right before the end of the half and a 55-yarder in the fourth quarter

in that huge upset, which ended the Eagles run as an undefeated team in 2022. So it's interesting what's gone on with field goal kicking. I don't know if you guys are following this, but it's been unprecedented the first two weeks of the season, both in overall field goals made and in 50-plus yard kicks made. First of all, 35 of 39 50-plus-yard field goals have been made. I mean, that's an unbelievable hit rate. Two of the four misses Justin Tucker in Baltimore. Maybe the greatest long-range kicker in NFL history. He holds the record for the longest field goal at 66 yards. He's missed two of the four. Cade York, remember, in Tamp. Tampa in week one for Washington missed a 56-yarder. I don't know who missed the other one.

But only four misses from 50-plus yards out on 39 attempts. That's ridiculous. 89.7% accuracy. But the field goal story is more than that. Through the first two weeks of the season, there have been 141 made field goals. That is the most in a two-week span all time in NFL history. Week two, the week just completed, 73 made field goals, seven of them in Washington. That's the most in a week in NFL history. In week one, there were 68 made field goals. That was the third most in a week all time. So 141 made field goals in the first two weeks.

This is an unprecedented rate of field goal makes and field goal accuracy. And it exceeds the number of touchdowns. Only 136 touchdowns in the first two weeks, 141 field goals. Strange. Why all the field goals? Well, I would say it's red zone inefficiency for starters. we saw that with our own game on Sunday. It's getting harder to score in the red zone.

Why is it getting harder to score in the red zone? I don't know. I would guess the following. Number one, there is a lot of zone coverage, not that that's new, but there's a lot of Ben don't break when you get into the red zone. You have to almost be creative to score from, let's say, inside the 10. It's actually easier to score a touchdown from,

say the 15-yard line and out because there's more field. When you get into that condensed field situation, it gets harder. I also would suggest we've got young quarterbacks, year two quarterbacks, year one quarterbacks. We've got a lot of dual threat quarterbacks. We've already seen passing numbers down, touchdowns down in terms of passing touchdowns. We've talked about that. Part of that is O line troubles. Part of that is the increase in dual threat quarterbacks.

part of that is the Brady's, the Rathlisberger's, the breezes, the rivers, they're all gone. But you would think with a lot of the analytics-driven decision-making on fourth down, we saw Philadelphia on Monday night early in the game, fourth and three, pass on a field goal and go for it, that maybe you wouldn't see as many field goal attempts and made field goals. But I do think one of the reasons for the aggregate number of made field goals, is just that we're talking about the percentages just keep going up in terms of made field goals. And the distance in which field goals are being made now means, along with the new kickoff rule, that even if you get the ball at the 30 to start after a touchback, that you're two first downs away from field goal range.

Now, I'm not talking about two 10-yard first downs, like 20 yards in total for two first downs. That's not typically what two first downs equals anyway. I mean, you make first downs by more than 10 yards when you end up running or catching a ball and moving past the sticks. But on average, you're two first downs away from being in field goal range for most kickers. I don't know if I love that. I think you've got to work a little bit harder, earn it a little bit more to be in scoring range. And now that we've got these kickers and the field conditions are so much better and so much indoor kicking, et cetera, on this kickoff rule, I don't want to see teams start at the 30 or 35. They want it. They want more scoring. But I want them to earn field goal range. Two first downs doesn't seem like it's earning it to me. You know, you get 25 to 30 yards. You're in range for a lot of these kickers. 25 yards from the 30 would put the ball at the 45.

That'd be a 62-yard field goal. But you get, you know, inside 60, and everybody's trying them. They're not, it doesn't matter that you're going to give up great field position on a miss. They don't think they're going to miss them. So the NFL Hall of Fame today announced 167 players from the modern era in consideration for 2025 induction. you know, that list will obviously be whittled down to, you know, 25 and then 15, and then they'll, you know, take those 15 modern era players and vote on, what is it, up to 7, I think can actually be voted in in a given year.

Plus, you have, you know, the other categories, not the modern era players. Brian Mitchell's on the list again. London Fletcher is on the list again. And then also, and I believe this is the first time for Clinton Portis, Vernon Davis, and DeAngelo Hall. I don't think Clinton Portis and D. Hall were on the list before. Vernon Davis had, you know, very good years in San Francisco before playing here. Look, I don't think any one of those three players are Hall of Fame players,

and I like DeAngelo Hall and Vernon Davis and Clinton Portis. And they were good players here, and Vernon was a good player elsewhere, as was DeAngelo Hall, as was Clinton Portis. I don't think that they accumulated the kind of numbers, ultimately, that would be Hall of Fame worthy. So quantitatively, qualitatively, I think they come up short. I think most of you would agree. We've talked about Brian Mitchell ad nauseum,

and Devin Hester clearly now opens the possibility that Brian will get in at some point. It's not a slam dunk, but there's more of a chance now, especially when Devin Hester in his induction speech mentioned Brian Mitchell's name. London Fletcher has a case, too, You know, it's not, it's a longevity case as much as anything else, but some of his numbers are comparable to linebackers who are already in the Hall of Fame. And we've talked about that before. But, you know, of the five, I think this go-around will be focused on Brian. Because of Devin Hester getting in, because Devin Hester mentioned Brian Mitchell and he's a couple of other returners. I think he mentioned Dante Hall.

along with Brian Mitchell. And, you know, the case can be made. It ain't the case that Devin Hester had for the Hall of Fame. And we went through that. So that will be something certainly to follow throughout the course of the season, you know, leading up to the Super Bowl when eventually that list gets whittled down and they vote on players. I want to see Brian just advance here. I'd love to just have him on that final list of 15 to 20 players, whatever it is that they vote on, that the Hall of Fame Committee gets pitched on.

I don't even know actually how it works anymore. It's changed a little bit in recent years. There used to be someone who would pitch or present on behalf of those final players to the Hall of Fame Committee at the Super Bowl during the Super Bowl week, and then they would vote. But that will be interesting, I think, to watch. You know, there's a chance. There's a chance. The chance may be better when he isn't qualified anymore as a modern era player. We'll see. All right.

We're going to have here to end this opening segment to the show a Terry McLaurin conversation. Not a long one. We have them a lot. I understand that. But based on the first two weeks of the season and his production, it's a conversation again. And I've got two quick things to read. I read this one from my guy Seth and Potomac on radio this morning,

which led to a Twitter poll that we put out, the station put out, and I'll give you the results here momentarily. But Seth writes, Kevin, you are way too optimistic about Cliff Kingsbury. We all thought a good quarterback and OC would finally lead to taking advantage of Terry McLaren's abilities. and through two games, he's got eight catches for 39 yards, which equals 4.9 yards per reception. How does a rookie receiver with Daniel Jones at quarterback get targeted 18 times in just his second game, and Terry gets close to ignored? I'll hang up and listen. I then got this from Jim as a follow-up to the conversation that we had on radio.

Jimmy writes, force feed Terry, and you will finally understand he's truly a number one and borderline elite. All right. So the Seth email kind of led to me talking about what I'm going to talk about right here, which is, you know, the idea, and he talked about Malik neighbors being targeted 18 times. And I said, you know, our fan base for a long time now, you know, we keep talking about you got to just get 17 the ball. Get Terry McClorn the ball. Force feed Terry McCorn, the football. We've had a lot of coordinators and a lot of quarterbacks.

And Terry's really never been force fed the football. So maybe he's not a force-feedable kind of a receiver. What he is, okay, and I should have prefaced all of this, with he's a really good receiver. He is. He's a great locker room culture guy. He is. He also, unfortunately, being in Washington for his entire career,

has played with some pretty horrific quarterbacks and too many coordinators, many of whom have been pretty bad, are not good enough. And not to mention the supporting cast after the quarterback. And so, you know, Jim's force feed them now that you've got a quarterback and a coordinator, essentially, and you'll find out, I don't know, nobody's really chosen at this point to force feed them. And so far through two games, it's not like you see Cliff Kingsbury seemingly super intent on force-feeding Terry McLorne, the football. And you did see, to Seth's point, you saw Malik neighbors in his second NFL game

get 18 targets catch 10 balls. Terry did get targeted eight times. He caught six balls for 22 yards. Not good enough. Remember, the 4.9 yards per reception in the first two games would have been changed dramatically. if they had connected on the long bomb to start the third quarter in Tampa, or if Jaden had found Terry when he went off schedule during a play in Tampa.

Terry's numbers are not going to end up 4.9 yards per reception. Okay, that's not going to happen. Just keep in mind that the numbers so far aren't going to be the numbers at the end of the year. Terry's going to end up, I would guess, with similar, you know, tier wide receiver numbers, which is what he's had throughout his career. You know, 70 to 80 catches, a thousand yards roughly, hopefully more touchdowns. That would be nice than the most he's ever had, which was seven in his first year with Jay Gruden as the coordinator. Remember, his very first game of his career may have been

the best game of his career. When you go back to the 2019 opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on the road, a game they led by two scores, if you recall. Case Keenham was the quarterback, and Terry McClureen was launched into sort of recognition. We didn't know what was coming. They did in terms of they knew they had a guy that could really play and potentially be a number one, and he had five catches for 125 yards and a touchdown, and just missed on another long one, if you recall, the Case Keenham overthrew him on. But see, here's the truth. I think this is the truth, because it's kind of a quick and easy answer. When I said he's a good receiver, he's a good receiver. He is. He's not an elite receiver. He's not in the top two-thirds of the league, really,

in receivers. Now, if you want to say he's one of the best 32, no doubt. He's one of the best 25, one of the best 22 or 23. Okay. That makes him by definition, doesn't it? A number one receiver? Because some of these teams, by the way, have two guys that are better than Terry on their team. On their team. So, yeah, the poll that we put out earlier today was simply put, is Terry McClorn a true number one wide receiver? My answer would be yes, because he's one of the best, you know, 25, you know, 20, you know, 20. 23, 24, 25, definitely one of the best 32, which means by definition he's going to be the number one receiver on a team. I think when we say true number one receiver, people have different

definitions. Some people will say, no, you got to be like truly like a guy that, you know, defenses have to game plan for, you know. And is he that guy? I don't know. Sometimes he is. I don't know if he is all the time. The poll results, 62.9 percent said no. Terry is not a true number one wide receiver. 37.1% said yes. Look, part of it is the production here in the first few weeks. That will change. But he's good.

He's just not Malik neighbors. A lot of you don't watch the rest of the league. I talk about this all the time. But you do watch our games. So you saw in the first two weeks of the season, true elite number one talents. Guys that are exceptional route runners, guys that threaten a defense vertically, guys that are physically imposing. Terry's not any of those things.

Terry's a good route runner. He's got very good speed. He can take the top off of some corners and some defenses. He's not physically imposing. I had somebody, I think my guys, the incomparable CJ, essentially say, look at Nico Collins in Houston. You know, Nico Collins without a quarterback and without a coordinator, his first two, years didn't generate much at all. Actually generated less than Terry, which is true. And now, you know, I referred to Nico Collins the other day as one of those guys in the league.

I get it. I understand he didn't have Bobby Sloick. He didn't have Demico Ryan's. He didn't have C.J. Stroud. He had Davis Mills. He had Kyle Allen, you know, in those first two years. But I look at Nico Collins and I see a six-foot-four-inch, 230-pound physical freak. who, by the way, had those results in his first two years. Remember, Terry's now much more advanced in his career than Collins is. So if you asked me, would I take Collins or Terry McClellan, I would take Nico Collins. He's younger and he's much more physically imposing. I think he's probably a better route runner.

Terry gets separation. He doesn't get consistently great separation, I don't think. Not every week. Some weeks he does, depending on who's covering him. Terry does attract a lot of the defense's attention, but not like other guys do. He's good. He's a good receiver. He's the best receiver we have. I think he is. Haven't seen enough of Noah Brown yet. But Washington is going to have to add a wide receiver next off season, whether they draft one, whether they draft one, whether they sign one, whether they trade for one. The Brandon Ayuk conversation, it's over, it's done with, he signed, he's in San Francisco,

but Brandon Ayuk is a true number one upper tier wide receiver. And Terry is probably a guy that would have been a great number two with an IUC. And it's not all about quarterback and coordinator. It's not completely about that. We've seen guys, elite guys, you know, really do well with, you know, quarterbacks that aren't necessarily great or coordinated. I mean, in Seattle alone, they've got three really good receivers. I mean, Gino Smith is a good quarterback.

He's a legitimate starting quarterback. I know he was a pro bowler a couple of years ago. Devonte Adams in Vegas last year had Aiden O'Connell as his quarterback. He had Derek Carr the year before, but last year he had 100 catches. Terry's like 28th, 24th, and recess. receptions last few years, you know, yardage, you know, a thousand yards in the NFL in a season is nothing. Last year, I'm going to give you the number right now. I had it earlier in front of me. Last year in the regular season, there were, there were 28 1,000 yard receivers. And you know who

was 28th, Terry was with a thousand and two yards. There were 27 guys in front of them that had more yardage. I mean, you really have to look at receivers who end up in the, you know, 1,200-yard range. I mean, Devonte Adams, with Aidan O'Connell last year, primarily as his quarterback, a rookie quarterback, who isn't that good and isn't really a starter, had 103 receptions for 1144. yards. He's an elite wide receiver. Terry last year had 79 catches with, you know, a quarterback that wasn't very good. Probably a quarterback better than O'Connell and Sam Hal. Not by much. He's a good receiver, people. He's a good one. They need to go find a much better one in the coming years, probably next year. I thought that Noah Brown got pretty good

separation at times. I think McCaffrey gets really good separation. I think I mentioned this on yesterday's show with Tommy that, you know, sort of upon further review, Luke McCaffrey was open a bunch and didn't get targeted. That, I guarantee you, was pointed out by Cliff Kingsbury because at least it appeared to me that Luke McCaffrey has separation ability. And there is the play before the play that Jaden got hurt on running where I think if he hangs in there a little bit longer and comes off one, you've got McCaffrey wide open against a linebacker. And then you've got the next play where Jaden starts to move, he scrambles, he gets hurt, and McCaffrey's wide open for what would have been a 50 plus yard play, maybe an 83-yard touchdown.

So I am more interested right now in McCaffrey and Brown, as in Noah Brown. Diami got some separation. He did in the red zone, and I thought Jaden didn't fire it to him. But Terry's a good receiver. Terry is very much right now, I would think, their best receiver. By the way, given how much they're going to run the football this year, I think, with the quarterback involved. Terry's got to become a better blocker. Yeah, we can get into that, you know, after a few more games, but he's not the best blocking wide receiver in the league.

Far from it. And this team wants to run the football, I think, this year. With the quarterback, with the two running backs and receivers, they're going to need to block. Well, all right, One quick favor to ask, and then we'll get to Nick Ackridge. Follow us on Apple and Spotify. There's a plus sign in the upper right hand corner on Apple. There's a follow button on Spotify. That is just as important as subscribing or rating and reviewing us, and it's much easier. It takes even less time than rating and reviewing us, which we'd love you to do as well.

But just give us a follow on Apple and Spotify. That would be a tremendous help. All right, Nick Ackridge from Pro Football Focus next after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, I feel healthier, younger, and full of energy, all things being said about mitopure, the newest sponsor on the podcast, and the first product to offer a precise dose of urolithine. What's urolithin A? It's a postbiotic. It's good for your gut. It's been clinically shown to energize cells, increase muscle strength, and improve endurance. and that's just the beginning.

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Go to timeline.com slash sheen. That's timeline.com slash sheen. Hey guys, I feel healthier, younger, and full of energy, all things being said about mitopure, the newest sponsor on the podcast, and the first product to offer a precise dose of urolithin A. What's urolithin A? It's a postbiotic. It's good for your gut.

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They're berry powder, which is great to mix into your breakfast yogurt or daily smoothie, and they're soft gels for those days where you're on the run and want a convenient grab-and-go option. Timeline is offering 10% off your first order of Mitopure. Go to timeline.com slash sheen. That's timeline.com. This segment brought to you by Window Nation. How about half price on the windows with no money down, no payments, and no interest for two years? Well, that's what they're offering, because buy to get too free with no limit is half price.

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Mention my name. They'll come out. They'll give you a free estimate. You've got nothing to lose. Remember, when you call them to get this special offer, tell them that I sent you. All right. Jumping on with me right now is Nick Ackridge from Pro Football Focus, a senior data analyst for PFF. We've had Nick on this show many times in the past. At PFF underscore Nick Ackridge on X on Twitter. He's a big D.C. sports fan in addition to his responsibilities of PFF.

And actually, and I know we've talked about this before, I think the first year that I had you on the show was the Hendon Hooker Tennessee year. And we talked a little college football. but man, one of the biggest games of the upcoming weekend, and I can't wait to watch it Saturday night, is Tennessee in Norman against Oklahoma? You're a big Tennessee guy. Are they legit? Yeah, yeah, they are. Yeah, it's been a blast to watch, man. It does kind of feel like that Hendon Hooker year, where with even better quarterback play, I think Nico, I'm not even going to attempt to say his last

name is legit. I think that they have really kind of, you know, added more elements to their office where they're just not spread it out, throw it down the field all the time. And I think their run game is incredible. Yeah, it's tough not to get way too excited about that one. Yeah, there are seven-point favorite. I've been wondering about this game. I think the public is going to pound Tennessee. Oklahoma has looked pedestrian on offense, but they're pretty good defensively. I think it might be the biggest, the most amount of points they've ever gotten in a game at Norman. I think so. Real quickly, on the quarterback, for those that are listening that have not really, you know, delved into college football that much, it's hard to say his last

name. It's Ema, Lever, or something like that. You can probably give it a better shot. But this dude is big. He's strong. He is a guy that people are. are looking at as a potential, you know, Heisman candidate, if not this year, next year he's a redshirt freshman. What kind of pro prospect is he? It's always tough with this Washington offense, or Tennessee offense, sorry. It's just there's a lot of, you know, built-in stuff that it's just kind of a quick, easy read.

So it's really kind of tough to evaluate how he's going to, you know, transfer over into the pro level. but the arm talent, the stuff that doesn't, that is, you know, scheme dependent, it doesn't matter. It's there. Like, he is big, strong, fast, incredible arm. That will all translate. It will come down to kind of how often he's able to kind of,

not just kind of rely on that Tennessee offense and, you know, kind of work through some different progressions. And he showed it a bit throughout these first couple weeks, but as they kind of get into better teams, it'll be pretty interesting to see. But yeah, when it comes to just pure talent, he should be a pretty solid prospect. All right. Let's talk about our team here, although that really is the game of Saturday.

I mean, there are a couple of others. Utah at Oklahoma State. There's some good game Saturday. Actually, there's a really good game Friday night, Nebraska hosting Illinois. But that's for those of us that love Saturdays as much as Sundays. Before we get into what you've seen and, what you've graded from a PFF standpoint in the first two games, but Sunday in particular. You know, your job interests me, like you're a PFF senior data analyst, and I think you've

told me before that while you love to get the skins, to get the commanders games as your game, that you grade, it doesn't always work out that way. So, like, give me the first two weeks. What have been your responsibilities after week one and after week two? Yeah, so usually, if Washington plays at 1 o'clock, which they usually do, that'll be my game. I'll get one side either offense or defense. If they don't play at 1 o'clock, then it's just kind of random. So like week one, I had the Texans and Colts.

I had the Texas offense there. But yeah, if it's 1 o'clock, if they're playing 1 o'clock, I'll get them. Monday night, I probably won't have them because I'm usually not working those Monday night games. but I still watch it religiously and then watch it another two times with the All-22. So, yeah, it's kind of a rotating schedule. But then again, everything after I'm done with watching on broadcast, it's reviewed by three, four, five people. There's multiple questions on plays that are answered by a bunch of different people.

So it's never really just me or just one person. I'll always kind of have some sort of input on certain games. Take us through what you do, though. So 1 o'clock, Giants, you said you had the offense or the defense? I had the Washington offense. So kind of as the broadcast is going on, we get sent the video clips, and we go through and kind of enter some of the data there that we're looking for on past plays. What routes run, how long the quarterbacks throwing it, if there's stunts involved,

stuff like that. Then when it comes down to kind of grading, we're looking at, you know, if offensive linemen are beat on these passplays. you know, how accurate the quarterback was on said pass, how deep down the field, who was responsible in coverage, all those sorts of things on passways. And then on run plays, we're looking at, you know, the type of run concept they're running. Is it kind of inside zone? Is it power, counter, stuff like that.

And then, again, you're looking at every single block that's made, grading that individually. And, you know, you can see a lot on broadcast, but kind of the best stuff from our grades comes from, you know, re-watching it with review of that All-22 footage that we get. By the way, have you noticed something about the All-22? I noticed this last year, perhaps even more. But when they wear the Burgundy jerseys, the numbers are hard to identify. Have you had that challenge? It is.

So at TFF, we kind of, we have kind of all of our employees have a running list of teams in their head that they just don't like because of jerseys. It's way more prevalent in college, like Eastern Michigan, will wear white jerseys with silver numbers, and you can't see anything. Right. So there's certain teams that you kind of remember, and like, oh, man, here we go again. It's going to be a tough one.

And Washington has kind of become one of those teams. It's because of the numbers they have, like, this gradient in the middle, so everything kind of blends together when you're kind of looking at it from afar. It's easier for me because I'm just well more familiar with the roster. itself. But yeah, sometimes it's pretty tough to kind of notice who's who. No, I mean, it's not just that you're familiar with the roster. You're familiar with the body type. And, you know, once they start moving what they look like when they're moving, because, you know, in the first two weeks, it's like, I'm pretty sure that Zakias, but, you know, he's new and the 14 is just kind of

rolling together here. Yeah, it's tough. Yeah. So when you get to the All-22, is that typically Sunday night, Sunday afternoon? Do you have to wait until Monday morning? And that's A, B, how often do your initial thoughts based on the TV broadcast, how often are they just not even close once you get to the All-22? it's a lot sometimes like there's there's so much that you can learn from the all 22 that you just simply can't see on broadcast and that's just because they can't they don't show everything you can't see what's happening downfield so a lot of times I just kind of emotionally tweet out thoughts during the game and they turn out to be not true when I'm reviewing it but typically again it kind of depends on schedule we have we have a bunch of different processes that come after analysis and grading it and stuff like that that that aren't involved with grades and stuff like that so I'm going through if I'm assigned that game I can get it Sunday night. If I'm not, I'll get to a Monday morning. I usually have one assignment involving Washington. And recently, I've been kind of in charge of the coverage stuff and assigning responsibility for coverages, who's responsible for who, who's playing where,

stuff like that for these past two games. And so, yeah, usually I'll be looking at it probably Monday morning just because Sunday night is really hectic. I usually also work that Sunday night NBC game because we have, you know, Chris Collinsworth is, of course, the CEO of PFF. So we provide them some pretty live data. So that's usually pretty stressful times. I won't really get to it until Monday morning. And that's when I can kind of watch back and realize that I was wrong about a lot, watching it off the broadcast. You actually just reminded me something.

I want to come back to Collinsworth here in a moment from the Sunday night game. But I want everybody to understand. This isn't just for, you know, PFF and for conversation and for. data, you're doing this for the teams themselves. So when does the team receive from PFF the grades? And like, how are they presented? Is it just each player graded, or is there more? Is there a written summary to it?

How does that get presented? So we have what we offered clients. It's called PFF Ultimate. It's probably the greatest database of all football data that is ever, existed. And so they have access to that and they can see everything that's updated as it's happening. So as I'm entering the grade in, they can sort of see that. You can click on certain datasets and it pops up video. Obviously that video won't happen until all 22 is actually in. But they have access to absolutely everything. We can also provide them from sort of written reports

and we do that for broadcast teams. We'll do that for agents who want some certain stuff on their players will do all that sort of stuff. But for the teams themselves, those clients, they have access to absolutely everything, and they can kind of go in and filter out whatever they want to see whenever they want to see it. How often do you guys hear from the teams afterwards, positive or negative? I would assume it's kind of a lot. I don't deal with that. We kind of have a service team that it's kind of front and center with the clients and stuff like that. That's not really my role, but we kind of get feedback on the data side of, you know, something, if we're doing something wrong, they'll kind of let us know. We've also kind of heard,

obviously, some positives about, like, if we're getting data done quickly, it definitely helps them with, you know, game planning for next week and stuff like that. But I would assume quite a lot. Do you have any idea what the single biggest complaint is? Probably great. It's always great. I mean, you know, If anyone is doing their job and someone else is watching them do their job and then grading it, you're just going to have backlash. It's just how it's going to go. Obviously, the NFL is a much, there's a much larger eye on the NFL and stuff like that.

So if I was an NFL player and someone was grading me, I'd have problems with it as well. But usually every single time we've kind of sat down, if players or coaches have ever kind of called us out and they're willing to sit down with us, they always kind of come away with a much better view of the grades and are definitely not so critical. So it's always kind of fun to go back and forth. And Colin Dors has talked multiple times about, you know, when he goes to these games to kind of prep for Sunday nights at ballhouse, some players will kind of go up to him and ask him, you know,

what the hell of this grade and stuff like that. I think you've told me this before. Maybe it was somebody else Sam Monson or when he was there, Eric Eager. I used to, I mean, between the three of you guys I've had you on probably two dozen plus times over the last few years. I'm the only one left now. And you're the only one left. There's been an Exodus.

I know that. But I think somebody, and I think it was you, told me that basically when you get a complaint about a grade, it's because you didn't necessarily understand the responsibility of the player on the play. Yeah. There's always going to be an aspect where we do have to guess. But the great thing about what we have, which I kind of talked about with Ultimate, is we can go back to every single play that has been exactly similar and see what should have

happened. So, you know, if we're looking at coverage assignments and we're trying to figure out who's busting the coverage, we can look back at when Washington played cover three and this route concept was run against it, how is it supposed to look? And if nine out of the 10, if nine looked like, okay, this corner was here, he guarded that well and then that 10th one, he's not there, we can pretty much correctly assume that that guy was busting that coverage and he was wrong. So we have those sort of things. There's obviously going to be things that we get wrong. They're game plan specific things and we get feedback on that. But yeah, usually every time somebody kind of comes to us and they kind of ask questions, if they're opening to receiving some of it,

they kind of usually change your mind there. Let's talk about Sunday. And if we want to work in some of the Tampa game, we can do that sort of macro view in terms of what you think about the team so far through two weeks. But as it relates to Sunday, which was kind of a weird game to consume. The kicker being out for the Giants certainly was impactful on the final result. But tell me just offensively who graded out really well. And we'll get to Jaden in a moment if he's not near the top of the list. But what were you impressed by who graded out really well offensively Sunday against the Giants? Yeah, weird game is quite the understanding.

One we're probably not going to see ever again, but offensively it was the run game that really kind of impressed me and kind of following up on that, Nick Allergetty, Brian Robinson were two of our top three graded players, and then Noah Brown kind of a limited snap roll, but every time he came in, he produced. Those were the top three on offense, and Jaden finished seven, 64.7 overall grade, which for a PFF grade is right around above average,

anything at 60 is seen as average. But that was kind of what stood out for me on offense was definitely the run game. So let's stick with that. Brian Robinson, Jr. What was Aligh Reddy's grade? What was Brian Robinson Jr.'s grade? Allegretti was 71.7 and then Robinson was 68.1. Okay.

Robinson seems a little bit low, but for Robinson and for running back grading, it's kind of really dependent on how often you're forcing this tax. and there was just a lot of stuff that he was just getting because of the offensive line, but still very solid grade. All right. So you're impressed with the – you were impressed with the offensive line on Sunday, at least in the run game. Yeah.

Run game, it was really nice, and a lot of that was due to how Cliff was calling the game. He kind of opened up a lot of stuff with how he was setting things up in the first quarter or the first half. And again, I've been critical now twice of Cliff. these past two games watching the broadcast and stuff like that with the constant amount of screens and short targets. But watching it back, you can always kind of see the plan, and it kind of comes to fruition later in the game and saw that again. So a lot of horizontal football in the first half, and that allowed some of the vertical

shots in the second half to Noah Brown as an example. Yeah, it stretches them out, and the Giants got tired of, you know, giving up six, seven yards on screen passes, so they put an extra guy out there, and then you have a little. have a lighter box and you run into it and then Robinson get six, seven yards. And then they come back and put more guys in the box and you go back to the screen game. And so it was kind of a back and forth thing, but it sets certain plays up. And, you know, he used that to his advantage where, you know, he's using these screens and then faking the screens and getting a kind of seam route behind it that is only opened

up because you've run so many screens in the first half. So it was an interesting plan. Again, I'm not kind of used to this sort of style. but it was working. You know, in describing that, you know this because you're a college football fan, but you'll see, and you see it a lot in Big 12 football where Cliff Kingsbury kind of lived for many years, you see a lot of horizontal football, a lot of quick line of scrimmage behind the line of scrimmage throws.

And many times, in coaches, we'll tell you this, it's for the sole purpose early in the game to make delinement in particular run a lot, going from where they are to a sideline and back. And what they're really doing in many ways is they are wearing them out for the run game and then to sort of reduce the pass rush that comes later in the game. We haven't seen that as much in the NFL. We've seen it much more in the last 10 years than we did previously. but a lot of the line of scrimmage behind the line of scrimmage,

lots of bubble screens, lots of RPO throws are to tire out the defense. Yeah, and it usually doesn't work as well in the NFL just based solely on where the hashes are in the NFL in college, they're much wider. So when you're on one far side of those hashes, you can stretch the defense out so much farther than you can in the NFL. and if you're throwing the screen passes, you know, if you've got three guys out there, they have to put at least three out there.

And that kind of lightens the box again for the running game. But, you know, in the NFL, when the hashes are a bit closer, you don't kind of have that same sort of horizontal stretch, which is why I've kind of always been a little bit hesitant on this Kingsbury style of offense. But the way they've now kind of incorporated the run game, which he wasn't doing as much in Arizona, has definitely really, really helped them.

And again, that could be an answer. Anthony Lynn thing, but, you know, it just looks to just be just a bit better, more kind of NFL style, and, you know, like you said, not really that kind of college air raid stuff that you see in the Big 12. And, you know, now with, you know, Tennessee and the SECC, they do kind of similar thing where they want to stretch their receivers out as far as possible. You kind of lighten that box. Right. And that's what kind of makes it sort of easy. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know this. You know, the true air raid or even like a true spread really

isn't possible in the NFL because of the hashes. And by the way, a lot of the RPO stuff is much different because of the one yard ineligible downfield versus three in college. That's a significant difference. But in addition to the hashes, in terms of tiring out being less of an issue

in the NFL, it's the number of plays. College, you just have a lot more snaps during the course of a game. If you're a big college football fan, you know a lot of times the games that start at noon don't end until 345, you know, whereas an NFL game, you know, has to stretch it to be three hours in length and

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So that's down from eight yesterday. MyBooky.com, mybooky.ag promo code Kevin D.C. So tell me about Jaden's 64.7 grade, you know, just barely above average for the game. Yeah, I kind of, I tweeted out, you know, kind of rewatching Monday morning, that, the first half was rough. It was, there was a lot that he was missing, and there was a lot of things that, you know, he should have done better and could have done better. And the sacks were a problem where he was taking too many sacks

and, you know, avoid or kind of scrambling too early, not letting the plays develop. That was a problem in the first half. And the second half, it kind of flipped. Like he was much more decisive, quicker with his decisions, better with his decisions. And that's kind of what led to the grade kind of creeping up. But the first half was a bit rough with him sort of taking sacks and running when he shouldn't have.

And, yeah, the second half was really, really impressive and something that kind of speaks to hopefully a much better future performance. So let's talk about a couple of the plays, because I went through the sacks yesterday and what it revealed or were a couple of missed opportunities from the pocket and outside of it. Give me the play specifically that you think he missed. there was when I wrote them down so 8 minutes 16 seconds in the second quarter they had

the Giants ran like a cover three sort of fire zone where they're sending a corner off the edge and Eckler's got it picked up and he doesn't really trust that he's going to pick that up so he kind of just bail from a clean pocket and if he was able to instead of you know bailing he would stay in there and look

to his backside reeds he would have a dig and then a cross route right behind it that were both wide open. One was kind of open in terms of NFL standards, and the other one was just wide open. He ended up trying to leave that pocket stacked for only a one-yard loss, but still kind of lost. Yeah, that was the one where McCaffrey was wide open on a linebacker on the crosser, right?

Yeah, he was even kind of once Jaden kind of took off, McCaffrey was even with a linebacker who was looking in the wrong direction. So that is pretty much wide open in the NFL, and he had multiple different ways he could have. throwing that ball, especially with the covered presented. But yeah, that kind of led to that one-yard sack. The other sort of

big one was the scramble that he got hurt on. Exactly. Yep. There was an opportunity there that there was pressure kind of up the middle. But again, he could have slid a little bit to his right, kept his eyes downfield, and Luke McAfree again was wide open downfield. That would have been a massive, massive game because

the Giants kind of busted that coverage. But both of these things, when I talk about them, they're kind of, they're more high-level NFL quarterback stuff, which you're not really going to expect that of someone who's only, this is his second career game. So I'm not overly concerned. You know, if this happens six, seven weeks from now, and it's a consistent theme, then yeah, sure. But kind of right now, it's just something like, okay, I wish you would have hit this,

and then hopefully in the future you are hitting these sort of plays. And then again, in the second half he came out and looked a lot better and was hitting those exact, place. Yeah, it's, it's, so I, there were a couple of other plays that I'll ask you about in a moment, but definitely, by the way, the play he ran on was the play after the first play you described. It was the next play. Yeah. And even, you know, on the move, it would have been a natural throw because it was a right-handed throw back to McCaffrey, who's wide open. It's not like he's, you know, flushed left and has to turn his body and throw right. So that was a missed massive play. And the one before that, like you said, he's even with the linebacker, and he's running to open space.

He's got to make that throw. I think what's interesting about this, and I didn't talk about this on yesterday's show when I was going through kind of a lot of these sacks, is that I agree with you that it's early and these are things. You know that, by the way, they are emphasizing the play that he scrambled on and got hurt on, I guarantee you, I'm pretty much no. is a play that Cliff is like, you've got to keep your eyes downfield. It was the Terry play from week one against Tampa because we, yes, 14 yards, you got a

first down, you also took a shot, but we probably score on that play. So, but here's an interesting kind of way to look at this. Yes, that's something that hopefully comes with experience. But I think it's also true, and I'm asking you this, that it's a natural instillation. too, that it's not necessarily something that you learn as much as it comes naturally to look downfield once you're on the move, trying to make a big play, just like you would in a backyard in a touch football game. You're on the move and you're looking to bait somebody into rushing you and then you throw it. So I think he'll get better at it. And by the way, I think he did

some of this stuff at LSU. And the coach said he does it in practice all the time. But I do wonder how much of that is just kind of the natural way he plays football. He just is inclined to use his legs right now and not look. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, so at LSU, one of my biggest concerns with him coming out was when he does run, it's always to scramble, and he's just always kind of looking for scramble opportunities. And that works all the time at LSU because he is the best athlete by far on the field. He can make anyone miss in the open field.

that usually does not translate to the NFL, and he's slowly learning that. I mean, in the second half, that one of my favorite plays that he had was he felt pressure off the edge, he knew it wasn't going to be picked up. He didn't fly, but he started to scramble a little bit, but kept his eyes down field and hit that Gertz

for a pretty big game, and that's one right there in the same game that he's kind of learning that, okay, once I scramble, I still have time and I can still make plays, and that is a huge, huge positive sign. but yeah, it was concerning in that first half, but seeing him fix it in the second half was really good to see. I'm curious as to whether or not you guys downgraded him for a couple of plays. First drive second half, it's second and eight at the Giants 9,

and he scrambles back to the line of scrimmage for, you know, essentially a sack, but a, you know, a minus one or zero-yard play. it looked like he had an opportunity to throw, I think it was Terry, he was another one of those jersey things, into the right corner of the end zone if he gets it out early and leads him. Do you know the play I'm talking about?

Yeah. Yeah, no, I remember exactly what you're talking about. I don't remember when it occurred, but I know exactly what player you're talking about it. And that was another one where, yeah, he scrambled and he had to scramble, and he scrambles if he keeps his eyes down field, he can see Terry running with him, again,

not across his body, running with him, the same sort of direction. And again, he can make that throw. We've seen him make that throw before at LSU. So that's one you would want him to kind of, again, release, throw that ball. At the very worst, you're saving yourself a hit, and he ended up not throwing the ball away,

took a yard loss, which, again, is very, very annoying. When you watch quarterback is why they just don't throw the ball away instead of taking a two or three-yard sack. I don't believe we downgraded him on that because we're not going to usually downgrade someone on a sack if they're not the reason that that pressure occurs. If that makes sense. Yeah. But he missed something.

We leave on that play we didn't. Yeah. And so we're not, we can't downgrade where we think he should have thrown it. We're kind of downgrading, we're grading the throw. Okay. That's fine. If it's egregious and he's leading the pocket, a clean pocket, and taking a sack, we'll definitely downgrade those.

And he had a few that were downgraded because of that. But usually on those, on kind of scramble ones, we just kind of leave alone. The next play he throws, I think, late to Diami, who wins immediately. Do you know the play I'm talking about? He throws late, it ends up going out of the back of the end zone. But I thought that that's one where he's got to see it and the ball's got to go before Diami's even coming out of that break. Yeah, that was the other one.

Yeah, like you said, same drive where, again, you've got it kind of lined up. That was what you're sort of looking for. Diami does win, and he's got to hit that one. Pressure in his face, he kind of did his thing, which, again, it's one of my concerns that he keeps backing off throws. He did it all the time at LSU where he kind of just throws off his back foot. It usually worked. It still is kind of working a little bit in the NFL, but, yeah, he had Kavon-Tibato right in his

face with kind of understandable why he's overthrowing that. He also got clocked as well. But yeah, you just kind of like to see him layer that out a little bit better. Look, I don't mean with, I'm not talking to you, Nick, to get, you know, so into the weeds on all of these plays with Jaden. But he is the most important player on the field for this franchise right now. And so at least early in the season, we're going to get into it. I still think there's been so much more good than nitpicky worthiness.

Like you said early, two weeks. in the NFL. Mit picking. We have to kind of nitpick because, like you said, it is the most important position in the NFL. I think he made some really good strides. Did you see the, I think it was Zechias getting mugged on the biggest sack of the game, which was the second drive.

It was second, it was third and six at the giant 20. That was a big, that was a seven-yard sack, but they missed a call in the secondary. It looked like Zekees got, he got. knocked to the grounds eight and eight nine yards down the field right or not yeah no i it's one of my weird kind of issues with the whole and with the illegal contact rule because it happens all the time like every single play there is a legal contact it's kind of like holding whether there's holding there's a legal contact on every single play and it's kind of up to the ref whether or not he wants to call it that one's borderline it was i'm looking at it now he was six yards downfield he did

get completely destroyed, it blew up the play. They also kind of had a missed assignment up front. But yeah, it's always a weird rule because we watch as much as I'm watching and looking at these coverage guys. There's a lot of contact downfield that technically shouldn't be allowed, but it kind of happens anyway.

It's my belief and I'm wondering if you agree or disagree. It's so far through two games, it's very obvious he's going to be a part of the run game like we've seen with Jalen Hertz like we've seen with Lamar Jackson. You know, there's clear, you know, I think they should be running a bunch of zone read, read option.

I mean, hell, they ran some quarterback counter in the first game against Tampa. I'd prefer not to see that. But it's my belief that this is really going to benefit and already has benefited Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Echler. And that this is going to be a big rushing season for this team and for the quarterback, but for the backs to Robinson Jr., in particular. particular, you say what? No, I completely agree.

I mean, whenever you have a running threat at quarterback that is not just going to run when he's on a pathway and he's scrammly, but when you're designing runs for him and he's a legitimate option and the option game, it is going to make, it just makes it so much easier for running backs. I mean, it's partly why Alfred Morris had such a massive year in 2012 because RD3 was such a threat. Whenever you have that, it just makes everything easier. It makes it easier for the offensive line, makes it easier for the running, it's

easier for the running back, and it makes it 10 times more difficult for the B-Sense. Terry McClorn's been a conversation this week. I've had the conversation as well on radio and on the podcast, you know, the six receptions for whatever, eight catches total for 39 yards. What is Terry McClureen? Is he a true number one or not? It's so frustrating. I mean, he's battled. you know, terrible quarterback play his entire career, and it's kind of led to some, still some pretty good numbers despite that. But this year, it's been a little rough.

Like, there are plays that you mentioned the one against Tampa where he's open on that scramble, and Jayden Cubs throw it. There was another one in this game that he could have hit Terry on again. It was kind of one that I'd like to see a veteran NFL quarterback throw, but he is still getting open downfield. My problem right now comes down to him in the run game, when he's blocking and in the screen game, it's been a nightmare, to be frankly. He's never been a great blocker, but it's been pretty poor, and it's kind of led to some

screen getting blown up, some runs getting blown up. But in terms of him getting open, he is still getting open, and it'll come. It's the same way with Luke McCaffrey. I think Luke McAfry has probably been the unlucky as receiver I've seen in a long time. He has been wide open on a lot, a lot of plays, and either something's happened on the offensive something's happening with Jane Daniels that hasn't allowed him to get the ball as often, but I think it's coming. I think you'll see in the next couple weeks that these guys are open.

It's just something that's kind of not, you know, 100% with the offensive line or the quarterback. Okay. I mean, by the way, I'm glad you said that because I've talked a little bit about it too, and that is he's not a great blocker. And now that you've got a real emphasis on a dual threat rushing attack, you need everybody to block. And I wonder if they'll get frustrated with that, or if he'll get better at it.

Who knows? But you didn't answer the question. Is he a number one receiver? Right. I got a little sidetracked. I've always been on the side that he is a number one receiver and his stats haven't matched up because of the quarterback play. These past couple of years, I've kind of fallen back on that

and not really called him that number one receiver, which I hate to say because I love Terry McCorn, but I think he's more of a kind of really, really top-end wide receiver too, and he's been on that border for a couple years now. And hopefully better quarterback play, and throughout the season we'll get him back into that conversation, but I think he's kind of on the other side of that right now. By the way, what did Malik neighbors grade out as?

Rather high. I think the drop really kind of the drop at the end, Yeah, right. ...gaged it from a massive game, but he finished with an 89.4. So if you didn't have that drop, it would probably be a whole lot more. I don't think anything's been as obvious in the first two games with either, you know, either Washington or Tampa the Giants, then Malik Neighbors is the real deal. Yeah.

I mean, the route running is sick. All right, defensively, let's end with that. Big picture, are you concerned through two games? Yes, very, very concerned with the secondary, concerned with kind of interior D-line play and kind of D-line play as a whole. Bobby Wagner had a great game last week. He finished an 89.3. It's been a long, long time since Washington's had a linebacker with a higher grade than, you know, like 60 or 70. Right. So that was really cool to see. He made a lot of great tackles. Frankie Louvre was pretty good as well. but the coverage, the secondary is a massive, massive problem right now. And it really comes down to some just communication issues that, you know,

Tampa Bay could have scored a lot more points, week one. There was a lot of coverage problems that they didn't take complete advantage of. We saw a couple of drops and the throws from Baker. Week two was a little bit better. There were still some bust out there, and it led to that touchdown at the end of the first half. But, yeah, the secondary is a huge problem. I think St. Juice played pretty well. He made some, you know, obviously the force fumble helps,

making good plays on the ball. There are still some rough reps there. But there's no other option at corner other than him. I mean, tough, tough game for Michael Davis. It kind of speaks to why the league neighbor's grade was so high. Sandra still has kind of been up and down. He's been, him and St. Juice have kind of been the two that are kind of always involved in a coverage bus. It seems like that.

And yeah, the secondary is a huge problem, and it's going to be a massive test with the Bengals. But so, yeah, I'm definitely pretty concerned with them. So I think, you know, I think everybody understands the secondary, right? We knew it going into the season, the corner was going to be a problem. The communication stuff, especially, you know,

week one was a problem. Run stopping was a major problem Sunday, which led to a lot of the, play action stuff that they ran. I contend and tell me if I'm off. I'm a fan of his, so I am predisposed to leaning as much positive as I can when it comes to this player. But I actually think Duran Payne in the first two games has been pretty good. Am I wrong? I would agree. He was the second highest defensive graded player on Washington last week. except 2.4, 63 in the first game, which was pretty solid with some mistackles and some not being able to finish in the pass rush.

But I would agree. I think he's been really, really good. His partner on the other side, maybe not so much. But I would agree that pain's been pretty good. Are they doubling him more than Alan? Is he getting doubled more than anybody else? usually with just kind of the nature of the position that he's in yes he's kind of more your typical he's going to play more kind of one techs kind of closer to the center than Alan would so yes he would but both of them are just naturally going to get doubled a lot I would say he's probably going to double a little bit more lastly how the hell are they going to generate a pass rush without major kind of aggressive scheme That is a great question. It's been, I mean, the first game was good.

They were, they were getting pressure back there. They just, for whatever reason, they could not sack Baker Mayfield, and it made Baker look like Lamar Jackson, and it was very, very frustrating. It was not so great this week. And it's just been tough to them to generate pressure. I mean, you know, the two, the edge guys that they brought in right now have not really produced in terms of, you know, getting to the quarterback. I mean, last week, you know,

Dante Fowler had zero pressures, Doran's Armstrong. He had three pressures, but in the run game, he was poor. It was just kind of a, it's been tough. It's been really tough for those edge guys to kind of get pressure. All right. Great job. Always enjoy this with you. Hope you're well. We'll talk soon. Good luck to your Vol Saturday night. Yes, thank you. Can't wait. Nick Ackridge, everybody from Pro Football Focus. I really like Nick. Nick does a really good job. He's a good communicator. Not all those guys are. Nick's a fan of the team, which means he is really involved in grading and studying the grades, even if he's not responsible for doing the grading himself. He's also very common-sensical.

We've had Nick on now, what, two, three years, something like that periodically. And I like Nick because some of the advanced guys are convinced that they've got all the answers all of the time. And that's not Nick. And I thought his explanation actually about sort of the data that they now have that has helped them get better at identifying what a player's responsibility is on a given play or based on a given coverage. I thought that made a lot of sense. I mean, it's pretty logical to conclude that maybe four or five, six years ago they didn't have as much data to sort of understand in a zone run scheme what, you know, a certain offensive lineman was supposed to be doing, or on a certain call in coverage,

what the free safety was supposed to be doing on the play. But now that they have so much data from so many teams, and they've seen it so many times, you know, when they go into grading, you know, they can see, all right, they're in, you know, cover two, and we understand what this particular safety and this particular corner's responsibilities should be, based on the past in seeing this team or this coach play this specific defense and perhaps even being

corrected, you know, previously on, no, that wasn't the responsibility. You downgraded the player for that particular play, but actually the player did exactly what we told him to do on that play. It's so hard, you know, 11, you know, 22 moving bodies at the same time with so many different plays and schemes. But it is interesting to have somebody like him on, and I

enjoy when he is. All right, enough on that. We are done for the day. Back tomorrow with Tommy.