The Ringer NFL Show - Falcons HC Arthur Smith on Igniting the Tannehill Titans, Unleashing Derrick Henry, Atlanta’s Potential, and Late-Night Bravo | Flying Coach With Sean McVay and Peter Schrager

Episode Date: June 16, 2021

Sean and Peter are joined by Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith to talk about Sean’s and Arthur’s similar career paths, interviewing for other teams’ head coaching positions, Arthur’s creative play-calling in Tennessee, their most regrettable play calls, Arthur’s unique family life, boys trips to Nashville, ESPYs stories, unleashing Derrick Henry, and Matt Ryan’s role in Arthur coming to Atlanta (1:59). Finally, we finish the show with some listener emails and voicemails (51:29). Follow 'Flying Coach' here on Spotify! Email Sean McVay and Peter Schrager your questions at [e-mail]. Or leave us a voicemail and it may be featured in our next episode! [phone]‬ Hosts: Sean McVay and Peter Schrager Guest: Arthur Smith Producer: Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if the Len Bias story hosted by Jordan Ritter-Con is the Ringer's latest narrative podcast. You can find new episodes every Wednesday on the Book of Basketball 2.0 feed. Here's a quick trailer. You've heard his name, Lynn Bias, 1980s phenom, second pick in the NBA draft. And then, cocaine, tragedy, one of the most shocking deaths in sports history. 35 years later, Bias' legacy is still making an impact. From Spotify and the Ringer podcast network, this is What If, the Lynn Bias story. I'm Jordan Ritter-Con.

Welcome back, episode five of season two of Flying Coach. My name is Peter Schroger. I am joined by Sean McVeigh, the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams. Sean, we got a good one up ahead, huh? We do. Glad to be able to have new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Smith, with us. And, you know, you're recovering from a wild boys' week. end in Nashville filled with Applebee's dinners and all that kind of stuff.

And, you know, I'm, it was, it was great to be able to go to Denver, support the Nuggets and be there with the, you know, the Kronky family. Unfortunately, the Sons finished out that series, but still be able to, it was still great to be able to go to Game 4. And I just got back from that earlier today. There was a video that went viral of a Sons fan, fighting a Nuggets fan in the crowd. Was that, that wasn't, you weren't involved in that, right? There was nothing. That wasn't. No, no, I didn't see that.

Okay. I have a little bit more maturity than that now, Peter. Thank you. That's what we got. Guys, episode five, Arthur Smith, and he is excellent. Enjoy. Joining us now is the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. He spent the last decade in Tennessee,

and he is considered one of the best offensive minds in all of football. Sean, we are thrilled to have Arthur Smith on the show. Arthur, how we doing? Doing great. Thanks for having me on here. John, this is awesome. No, it's awesome to have you, man. I'll tell you what.

You talk about best offensive mind, one of the best. I mean, what he did in Tennessee these last couple years, he has been lighten it up, been seeing their stuff. I've been copying his shit for the last couple years, man. It's been awesome watching him do his thing. Well, no, I appreciate that, Sean. Obviously, the respect. The feeling is mutual, and I certainly don't think that way by myself.

And as you know, it can be a humbling league quick. as we all sit there and I love watching Sean stuff and he's excited. I'm just fired up to be in this role. I feel like kind of our career paths are very similar in terms of, you know, really kind of growing up in one place for a handful of time. You know, I know you spent the couple years in Washington. You were at Old Miss. You know, you did the GA thing after you finished up playing at UNC. But kind of similar to, you know, my time in Washington, you know, the majority in the bulk of your career was at Tennessee. You end up getting to be the O.C. for the last two years. I was O.C. at the end of my tenure in Washington. and then it leads to us getting an opportunity.

But I've really enjoyed watching it. And, you know, everybody just spoke so highly of you. You know, it was, I know from just a lot of close relationships around the league, a lot of people were hoping to be able to, you know, have you say, hey, I'm willing to accept it. I know there wasn't only one offer that you had as a head coach. But what I'd be interested to see, and it is such a totally different, you know, timetable with the Zoom and different things like that. But, you know, so when I went through the interview process, you know, I've kind of shared

the specifics in the particulars of when I went through it with the Rams. But I also interviewed with the 49ers. They actually flew me up. I interviewed with them in New York and spent some time. But the platforms, you know, were both great settings, but totally different in terms of their approaches, you know, where I thought one of the cool things that I did, you know, with the 49ers is, you know, I interviewed with Parag and Jed York. And then there was a guy Brian Hampton that was there that was basically kind of taking some notes, but those three were the main guys. And what we did was, you know, you kind of go through your basic generic questions. And there was still a nice, natural, organic flow to it. But before each of the breaks, you know, it was a kind of a

creative approach. And I don't know if they did this with everybody, but there was kind of some exercises to get some insight on to, all right, you're just line of thinking. One of them, as they said, all right, if you've got 200 points that equates to the salary cap and you've got 25 positions, know, 11 starters on offense, 11 starters on defense, then you got a backup quarterback, a kicker, and a punter. You know, so that ended up being the 25 players. How would you allocate if you said roughly each point, you know, around a million dollars if you were to say, but it was how would you disperse the money if you've got 200 points for these 25 positions? You know, they did that, and I thought that was a pretty creative exercise. And then the other thing that they did before one of our other breaks

was basically they listed all these desirable traits that if you said, hey, how would you want to be described as a coach or these are things that are in alignment with being really good? How would you rank these in terms of order of importance, most important, at least important? And they're all important things. So it's like you get some insight into, all right, where do you really pick and choose? What are the things that you really value? And it was a creative approach. What was the specifics, if anything, stood out to you that were different with all the

different interviews? I mean, how many interviews in totality did you do this past off season? Yeah, so I didn't do it, doing six, and three in person. And so they're all very different. And like everything, it's a, you felt a little bit like a player. You know, the more reps you did, I better at least I felt like I had my total stick down. But when you got behind the curtain a little bit on these Zooms, it was fascinating to me

how different all their approaches were. Yeah. And they were all very good. I enjoyed meeting all the people. And some of them were, you know, there's a bunch of people on them on the Zooms and you knew you were being judged by different things. Some people had, you know, they hired a psychologist or had, you know, one of these business consultants on it. And then some, you know, some were pretty informal. And then as I got through it, you know, Philly was the one in person.

They probably had the most people involved. That was the last interview I did. So I felt pretty comfortable going into that one. But it was definitely a completely different dynamic. But it was cool. It was to see how everybody's set up and what they value. And I got definitely some interesting questions like that, Sean. It's funny when they try to, you know they're coming.

Everybody wanted to have their curveball and you know they're coming. And you're ready for it. So you don't have to say who it was. What was one of the ones that you just said, this stood out as, man, that was a good one. That almost got me a little bit. You know, I'd say Phillies was one of the, at the end of it, they wanted to, you know, hey, stand up and do your team meeting, at your first team meeting. That's pretty good.

In front of them, yeah. So I don't feel bad sharing that story because I'm not there. So sorry, Harry. But that was good. I thought it was a pretty smart approach. Yeah, I agree. Arthur, one of the stories I love about you, and I think I heard it on the Bustling with the boys podcast when you did it years ago.

But Matt LaFleur gets the job in Green Bay. And the Titans needed to name a new offensive coordinator. and you'd been with Vrable a couple, I guess a year at this point. He hadn't said anything about who was going to take over for Matt. I think you guys were all not surprised, happy for Matt, but that happened pretty quickly. And you proactively made it known that, hey, I've been here quite a bit and I want that job. Can you take us into that conversation with Vrable and kind of how you established yourself and your desire to maybe be the offensive coordinator knowing what it could take you for the future and beyond?

Sure. Yeah. I mean, the good thing was, when I interviewed with Rable here before, when he took over down to the senior bowl, he asked like, what was, hey, what's your long-term goal? I told him. I said, eventually I want to be a head coach. I want to be a play caller first.

So it wasn't coming out of left field. We had our end of season meeting, and then obviously Matt got the opportunity to go to Green Bay. And so when it happened, which was interesting because it was a Monday, and Matt calls me, and Sean knows me.

You guys both know Matt pretty well. So he's all nervous. You know, he's sitting there, and he calls me. I may have to go up the phone with you because Aaron Rogers going to call me. I said, Matt, you're getting the job. I was like, you think. I'm like, pretty sure if he's going to call you.

So I was happy as helpful. I really enjoyed working with Matt that year in Tennessee because it was so different than some of the other systems and different coaching style than I had been around and learned a lot. So I kind of had that Monday night to prepare. So I prepared a couple things. I texted with Braves that morning. I just went in and had a conversation with him.

Just let him know that I wanted a job. I figured you might as well take a shot. The worst things I'll tell you is no, and I had a pretty good job in the tight end coach. So just took a shot at it. But he had known, at least, I didn't hit him a booze out of left field. We had talked about it before. I'll tell you what. I love watching some of your film.

And there's a play, and you guys got to go back and watch this play. All right, I think it might have been your first play of the game against the Jaguars in week two this past year. You know, everybody runs these variations. You know, I've kind of alluded to the Cooper Cup where we snuck them out the back to the against the Vikings. But you ran a front side leak, okay? So you got to see the play, but basically what they did is they're in a two-back set,

and they run an action where they're faking to the left. And they got, I just got to know. I mean, Roger Saffold basically Wallywamps, the whole left side of the defensive line. And I think Jonu Smith slips himself, who the hell thought of that play? Because I thought that is a hell of an idea right there.

And you sneak him down. the left side line for it was a 60 plus yard gain and you probably gave henry another duo to punch it in for a couple plays later i'd always use a joke with those guys is like if you don't score from you know if you get an explosive play you better get in the end zone we'll punt derrick's gonna punch it in so that was kind of a run joint i thought derrick if he gets down there you don't punch it in somebody else can get the touchdown i'll call go on play action or you know some kind of dropback it is a kind of running joke we have in the offense from you know this is where I'll miss working with raves is he and I would in the off season. This is what I

appreciated about him because he was very open-minded. He would take a fresh approach and he's like, you know, no idea was too goofy. And he and I would go back and forth and he'd bring something up and I'd hear him out. And he's like, all right, you guys run, you know, this scheme here. He's like, you ever thought about doing this? And it kind of just, just like you're pitching, whether there'd be a marketing pitch, whatever, and we just kind of go up and he and I would talk. and I'll miss these conversations. Yeah. We did it all throughout the week,

and he's a very creative mind that way. Other than his demeanor, he's one of the more creative mind. People, he'd probably get pissed because I'm telling you guys this behind the scenes. But so when we and I would talk about a few things in all season, he was self-scouted, what could we do? I was like, yeah, I mean,

there's no reason you can't do a front side. And so we just thought of different ways. And so I was like, all right, let me try this little shift in motion, keep it on that side and see if it gets lost. And did you tell Saffold, to just knock the shit out of everybody there so that he could, I mean, he snuck, he leaked out the B gap, I think. And when Saffold, I know, because I sure miss that guy. I hope you enjoyed it.

You're going to miss him too. He is a freak, man, the physicality, the way that he plays. But I think that's one of the guys that, you know, you really realize how big of a deal and big of an influence he had on a lot of the success that we had, especially those two years, I was with him. And then you were with him the last two years. But he cleaned out. that whole left side of the defensive line. That was some good stuff you had going right there. I think they get fired up, Sean. It's like when you know the first place,

the keeper or some kind of quick hitter, they usually get pretty fired up. They're like, all right, my margin of air is not very high here. So I'll just come up and throttle somebody. And when Roger's rolling, I maintain, you go back and obviously y'all's run to the Super Bowl. I mean, when he's dialed in and going, God, there's not a more impressive guard.

you go look at some of those runs we had in that 19 playoff run. Really probably start in week 17. We were kind of in a rhythm. Houston, that New England game, Baltimore and even Kansas City. I mean, there's some violent run blocking there.

Yeah. God, there's not many people like them. I mean, that's the stuff you see on like, you know, these big high school recruiting date, maybe college football and very few guys that can do in the NFL.

But Roger Saffel is a man. He's a grown man in there. He really is. I thought you did a great job with him. but it was fun just watching the creativity. And I think this is something that's really been illustrated by a lot of the guys that we've had on here is, you know, you're really good players. We know we're better coaches when he got good players.

But I thought it was really impressive the last two years watching the way that guys elevated their play with you help and lead the way. You know, you see, God, is A.J. Brown. He's an impressive guy when you'd really just continue to watch him grow. What you got out of Corey Davis. Obviously, I think the thing that speaks as much. to what you've done the last couple years is, you know, helping you and Ryan the way that you guys worked in unison. And I know I feel a lot of the same ways where when Kirk Cousins was playing really well in Washington, that was as big a deal for helping, you know, get an opportunity to

compete to get one of these head jobs. But it was fun. And, you know, usually we wait a little bit to get into this segment, Arthur, but, you know, everybody's had a moment where you're thinking to yourself, well, hey, man, that first play in jobs. Jacksonville, that was a hell of an idea. But there's got to be a moment where you're saying to yourself, what the hell was I thinking on one of these plays? What is, what's one of the worst decisions that you feel like over the last couple years where you're thinking of myself, that, that was just,

that was a very regrettable moment because we've all had them as a play caller. And everybody loves hearing that. Oh, yeah. I mean, there's passion, right. You know, it's sad that we remember the bad play calls, you know, more than the good ones, but I guess it's our brains are wired. Probably that Denver game in 19. You know, Sean, when you're sitting there and you're reaching,

trying to get something going, game hasn't started well. And we had, it was probably a third and three. And we tried to run a halfback swing. I was just trying to take something off, just get a completion, see it. I went back and forth, you know, whether you need a can or not on the play, didn't put a can, just had a, you know, call and call it. Yeah. And bring one of those simulated will press,

Will pressures and with you by once. The guy drops right into it. You need to talk about a bag of whatever. I don't know if this is. This is extra. It's all ratings. Craig, can you say something?

Yeah. You see it. I see the guy dropped right into it. I'm like, damn, I wish I'd can that play. But that's probably one of the worst ones, I think. Yeah.

You know what? You're saying that there was a couple simulators that the bills caught us with. We had a fourth down. You talk about wanting to put some plays where, you know, you're going to roll, you're going to basically just change the launch point on it, just a half roll on something, whether you call the boot right or Q8, you know, the old Joe Montana, the Dwight Clark, you know, your sprint right option. Well, I'll tell you what, I wanted the sprint right out of the Bill Stadium after I called

this stupid play on fourth and four to, to just sink us into a deeper hole 28 to 3. And by the grace, you know, then we end up coming back and, golly, was that a regrettable? There was a lot of fun moments in that day, but that one was not. fun. We've all had those moments, Arthur, where you're thinking to yourself, oh my gosh, this is just embarrassing. No, I didn't. Sadly, both of them I can think of on the screens. When you're thinking, like, you're trying to move the pocket, you're thinking, all right, get a little breather here and then, you know, whether they got a better play call on a new or whatever the circumstances are. Another one that comes in mind, too, was a Thursday night

game in 19 and Jacksonville. We're kind of in field bowl range. We had a million penalties call as a first half. It's Thursday night footballer in the year. We're not. playing very well. So we're right in that fringe of field goal. And it's third in them a mile. Try to call a jailbreak screen. I tell Marcus, I sound like, hey, look, we'll just get the ball out here. The worst, you know, if they bring pressure, we'll pop it. If not, you know, we'll be in pretty good spot here to kick the phone. We change the string motion. They had this saw blitz. And as you know, when you played against Cleas Campbell, I mean, you blinked and they got bounded. The best thing Marcus did is he didn't throw it. And he got smoked.

I felt so bad. But, I mean, they had it right into it. change the strength, nickel runs, and Callais, because we're in jail breaks, and the guard goes. I mean, it was like the guy from Happy Gilmore. It was like, boom, boom. I mean, he was in Marcus's lap. And thank God, Marcus didn't let it go. I think was going 70 the other way. So that's another one really regrettable.

Hey, you know what's funny, though? You'll appreciate this. So Dave Ragoans, his offensive coordinator, Peter, he is the stud. And Dave and I, we go way back. We work together in Washington. And so you talk about a screen as a bad call. this is awesome. You can give Dave shit for this. Okay. So we are playing the Ravens in the preseason. Okay. And so we're putting the first 15 together. And this is when, you know, all right,

hey, Kirk Cousins is going to have a chance to be your starting quarterback. It's important that he plays well and shows well. And you know, Baltimore, I don't care if it's preseason, regular season. They're always coming to roll. And so it's a third preseason. They're throwing all, I mean, it's like exhausting, just getting ready for them. I don't care what time it is. And so Terrell, Suggs, you know, Jay Gruden always said that. He said, Terrell Suggs, see, this guy's a screen killer. And I said, hey, Jay, okay, just let's, we won't run it unless it's in a nickel situation where he's lined up on this side of the field. Right. And so, you know, Jay looks at the openers that I have and I had a jail break on there. And he's like, I'm just telling you, man,

don't do that shit with Suggs. I said, we'll do it in nickel. We'll make sure it's away from him. So I call the play thinking, hey, it's a normal match. We get nickel defense. Suggs is going to be on the other side. So I realized, oh shit, we're going up top. Hey, we're going late. Oh, they stayed base defense. Jay, Jay, you got to take a time out. I'm not taking a time out, Sean.

What happens? Suggs picks it off. He's de Kembe Metumbo. And Jay says, Sean, you got to be the dumbest guy ever. I'm thinking, Rigon, I'm going to kill you. It was awful, man. Oh, it's such a bad thing. It's demoralizing, man.

But you can tell Rigon, thanks a lot. for the communication on the personnel match right there. No, he gets me in the preseason. I said, Sean Warmey about that. I'll give him health for that one. He is awesome, though, man. He's great, man. He'll be, I love Dave.

You guys will also have plenty of Matt LaFloor stories after your one year. Arthur, do you have a good LaFloor story? We had one last week from Zach Taylor that had everyone laughing about... Everybody's got a good one. Do you got a good Matt LaFloor story? I feel like this is the summer of LaFloor and it has nothing to do with Aaron Rogers. It's all about flying coach. Oh, no, I mean, I think I'm this, Matt, which I was funny, I could tell when he was cranked up, but I don't get to be Sean.

I mean, he just sits there and like rips out his eyebrows. Yeah, hey, he's like Eugene Levy, though, man, they still stay so thick. It's unbelievable, isn't it? It sits there and like, you know, he's just like stressing over, you know, formation or emotion. He's a guy that knows him. I love it. And I'm walking. I'd see that.

Damn, I instantly regret walking in because you know it's going to be a long conversation. I was like, shit, why I walk in here? And, you know, he's going to fire about 700 questions on you about this play, that play. But I really enjoy working, man. That's a good guy. He loved working with you. What's, how was he, how was he in Rable's interaction during games? It's fine.

I mean, it's like most people, Sean, they've been with, you know, he's, you commentated to be here and there, but he did a nice job. So I can't take a shot. out at him on that one. Oh, no, he's, I joke because he was so good about, he always gave me the best information and he's so well thought out. And we were so close, you know, because Zach last week was talking about, we were like brothers. And he would like legitimately try to fire me up because he's like, you know, I think you're better when you're pissed off, man. So he, he would, he would always get me going. But the way he sees the game and his ability to kind of put together a plan and the expertise from the quarterback position, he's, he's done.

such a good job. It's no surprise why they've, why they've been so good in Green Bay under his leadership these last two years. Yeah. And you know, I mean, he's watched so many clips already. I know everybody watches, but Matt's got a funny way where he brings up random clips when he hits you, like in the hallway, and you're just like, you've got

a million things in your mind, and he'll bring up a random clip to you. That's what I always I always remember about Matt, because his mind moving a million different ways, and he'll have watched something like 500 times. You know, bring it up to you, and you're not even thinking about it. You're going to the cafeteria, trying to get a cup of coffee and you'll hit you up on a practice player or something like, Jesus, Matt.

Oh, that's great. Arthur, I love that you are now the head coach of the Falcons, but I also love that you lasted three different regimes in Tennessee. That is so rare. Three different head coaches came in, and each time you found a way onto the next guy's staff, is that, is that, I mean, you tell me, how rare is that guys? I don't know if anyone else does that, that you're in one place, but it's with different head coaches. What was the key to your survival there? When your head coaches were being dismissed, you still found a way to kind of get on to the next staff.

I mean, I think, Sean, you work with Kirk Kyle of Addi, right? Oh, yeah, sure, yeah. K.O. I think he has the record. KO. is working with Matt now, but, God, I remember when I got to Washington, KO helped me out a lot. He's a great football coach, great guy, but I think he has a record.

Peter, he went from North Turner, and all the different coaches he went from Norve to Marty Shottner. I mean, yeah, it was Marty Shonheimer to Steve Spurrier, to Joe Gibbs, to Jim Zorn, to Mike Shanahan, and back, I believe. He did, yeah, he did. Yeah, he went to Georgia and then came back to Jay. Yep, he did. So, K.O. is like the godfather.

He's like the guy in the wedding crashers, like Will Ferro's character. Survive more head coach and James. But in all seriousness, it's a little bit, you know, timing and luck. when you're in certain spots, like I've always said, like when you're in an assistant or a QC role, you're doing a good job and you're on a multi-year contract, it's a lot easier to get kept. So part of it was timing and circumstance going from months to whiz. And then I was Malarkey's assistant. So when Malarkey got promoted, he promoted me, and that helped.

Now, for Abrebel was the one that I thought, you know, okay, this thing could go either way here. At least we had a lot of mutual connections and guys that worked with in Houston. And so being in the tight end room, I always say that if you're a coordinator or quarterback coach, it's usually the first people are going offense. You know, and Sean, you know, your transition, obviously, I would assume with your relationship with Jay when you took over, it kind of helped you in a similar way. Is that accurate? Yeah, no, it is.

You know what? It's funny that you bring that up because that was always something that it didn't truly settle with me or it didn't sit right because you got so many people that you had worked with. And I was a part of a situation that, you know, we didn't do good enough. and they made a change. And then it actually led to, you know, a better job opportunity for me only as a result of the head coach that gets hired, I had a great relationship with. But I was the tight end coach on a team that didn't deliver.

And so he had some of my best friends, some of the best coaches in this league right now that are having a lot of success in, you know, head coaching roles or coordinator roles that, you know, had to transition to different spots based on, you know, Jay coming in and getting the head job where he had done a great job. with Cincinnati, but that is, you know, it ended up being a benefit for me, but, you know, you still just felt it was a really eerie feeling because, you know, you end up being the beneficiary of a change, but you were a part of, you know, some of the previous things that didn't work out. And so that was something that you're just like, man, I really have been lucky with the timing

and things kind of falling in alignment with me. And it's, it's one of those deals that you're like, yeah, it's, I'm a lucky guy, man. I'm really lucky. job. Arthur, Sean has often spoken about his grandfather's influence and being in a football family and the great John McVeigh and coming down to his father and his family and then his expansion to the Gruden family and his knowledge from Jay and John. I find your childhood interesting. One of nine? Is that how you have eight different siblings? One of ten. One of ten. Yeah. Where do you fall in that pecking order? I'm the fourth youngest. So my dad, you know, he had two daughters from a previous marriage.

My mom had won, and they got married and still married. There's seven of us. So it's a huge family. They got a lot of grandkids. I got a lot of nieces and nephews. So I grew up around chaos. And my house of Memphis was my mom was awesome. I mean, we were the house that everybody was always welcome over at.

So I grew up around a lot of people. I think sometimes that chaos helps me in this job. People, as you know, Sean, are asking a million different questions and you're trying to focus. There's a lot of distractions out there. Yeah, I mean, I didn't know any different. Like I imagine Sean, you know, going up, being around the game, it's all you know. And so as you get older, you know, you learn to appreciate, you know, the connections you can make and opportunities that are provided to you. Grew up in Memphis, your father, a great business leader in this country.

If you can tell the listeners what company and how that all came about and really what you've learned as far as leadership traits go from your father, who's one of the most successful. businessmen in the country? A lot of things. Like I said, growing up, I didn't know anything differently. I got two really good parents. So fortunate, you know, if you ever met my dad and he's not impressed with himself, as long as most humble people you'll ever meet. And that's not an act.

It's who he is. You know, it's the way, you know, he had an injured child. You know, he was essentially the only child. His father passed when he was, my dad was four. And he had a couple of half siblings, but didn't really grow up, didn't grow up with any of them. So he grew up with the only child. And part of the reason my brothers and I played football is his high school coach had a huge impact on him in Memphis. And then he went to Yale and he was graduating in the mid-60s area and figured he was going to get drafted or he went and signed up and went to the version of an officer candidate school in Marine Corps and went over to Vietnam.

So, you know, he's a Marine at heart. And so that's kind of where he had the idea of what the logistics of FedEx. He wrote a paper at Yale. But really, he said he got the logistical ideas of being in the Marine Corps and how they operated over. over in Vietnam. And so he's just about taking risk, you know, and having beliefs and about how to treat people and lead.

And there's great conversations I have with them all the time that translate hopefully over this job. But I didn't know me, you know, growing up, you didn't know him. And I realized as I got older, and kids would say stuff to me at school. And then realize the opportunities we had, very appreciative of it.

But like I always said, and never involved us, we never mistaken his success for our success. I think that happens a lot where people may grow up with successful parents and the kids think they did something when they had nothing to do with it. None of us ever thought that. We all try to carve out our own path. Your dad starts up Federal Express. And then the myth and the urban legend is they were down to their last dollar and he books a flight to Las Vegas. Is this true or is this not? And if it is, can you pick up the story from here and finish the story? No, that's the one that Taylor and Will, we called him.

It is a true story. It was kind of a, why not? You know, he did to make a payment. He went and played single deck blackjack for 18 hours. I think he won. So, okay, so I don't know if I know this story. Let's give me some foundational, because I'm out of, I'm not in the loop of you two right now. So give me some context to this, Arthur.

Yeah, I try to think, I don't know what year it was, but also a short of, He believed in what they were doing, but they hadn't turned a profit yet. And so they were, you know, was hurting to make some of the payments. And so he went out to Vegas and played 18 straight hours of a blackjack and won $33,000 to try to get some more money. Hey, you talk about not flinching with your back against the wall, baby. I love it. Yeah.

And the rest is history? Yeah, well, you know, I think, you know, I don't know how much longer it took off. I don't think it happened just like that, but it was, it's part of the, part of the story and part of the history of it. But that's the kind of thing sometimes. You've got a strong belief that you're going to have to be taking risk at some point. Yeah. It is a, that is a, that's an awesome story and the resilience and all those kind of things.

You know, it's funny. He said something, Peter, that I love that that everybody that's been around him says is that, you know, he's never mistakes, you know, the success that his dad has had and all those good things for his own success. There's a great humility that he's got. He's always wanted to earn it. You know, I had even seen. And he and I had talked about.

when he was in Washington as a quality control coach. He spent a couple years there learning with Coach Gibbs and a lot of other great coaches said, okay, it's time to move on and do my own thing. I also enjoyed reading. I saw an article when you had gotten hired about your high school coach saying, you were one of the guys that just love competing, love ball,

and you were just burying dudes in practice and he'd have to tell you, hey, man, hey, Arthur, just relax a little bit, man. Your full speed all the time. Is that who you are? Is that the kind of guy you are at the core? You're just dumping guys, pancakeing them in shorts. I don't know what that part.

But, I mean, I just, you know, I always thought there was one speed to play. And it wasn't the most talented guys. So you try to make up with your demeanor. And that's what the part I like to about playing offensive line. You know, it's like a free fight in there every play. So you've got to be a little messed up to want to go in there. But I love playing the offensive line. wasn't quite the athlete you are.

That's always my favorite graphic is when they show you in Calvin Johnson. It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. It's such a disrespect to a guy that's a first ballot Hall of Famer. You know, the only thing that what nobody really wants to realize is the guy that selected the award winner was Tim McVe, my father. I'm kidding, but that's about as credible as it gets. It doesn't matter you've got to go with you. That moment in time, they still talk about you around here.

It's true. Just throttling people. Yeah. Oh, it's my favorite thing. It's like the narratives, like Tannenhill, like he hated the narrative of the, oh, he used to be a receiver. Like, he takes off and runs on a keeper. And it's like there was a drinking game. It's like, former receiver at A&M.

And he's like, that's not really how the story, you know, went. And that's my favorite. I compare that to your Calvin Johnson. I love it. So what's, have you had any moments in Atlanta where, uh, where you guys, you and your family, you and your wife, you're out to dinner and say, hey, Coach Smith, man, you're getting recognized in Atlanta right now? You're getting bothered at all? No, you know, that's a good thing about Atlanta. It's a big town. I mean, I had a few comments.

We haven't had to play a game yet, so that's not, nothing too brutal. The funniest one was at a gas station, the lady asked me for tickets. That's it. That's about it. I always joke, it's kind of nice being about here. I mean, this is the heart of the SEC country. So if you had one of the SEC jobs, you'd have a lot harder time. in Georgia. So I told Kirby Smart, I've got it a little bit easier than he does. He walked around here. Oh, gosh. I'll tell you, you know, I'll give you an abbreviated version of this, Peter and Arthur. So my first year is a head coach, right? I don't know why, but, you know, one of the things I've

always liked, you know, just being such a fan of sports is, and that'll be cool to be able to go to the SPs one day, you know? And so you get the, so the SPs are out here in L.A., Peyton Manning is hosting the SPs, okay? And so, My fiance and I, we were traveling overseas. So we like shorten our trip to come back to go to the SPs early. So, you know, it's just a lot of stress. And anytime you start out stressing your fiancee on rushing somewhere, this is bad awareness on my part.

All right. So it starts out, you know, they had like decided they're going to pave our roads. So we're trying to get out to get going. And they're like, no, you can't go anywhere. You know, this, this road is blocked. I said, no, it's not. Get the hell out of my way. So Chris Shula, who's our linebackers coach, he was dropping me and Veronica off down.

You know, it was at, it wasn't at the Staples Center. It was at, I can't even remember it. It was like LA Live or something like that. And so he drops us off. We're running behind to try to get on the red carpet, okay? And so nobody knows who the hell I am my first year. All right. So first experience, so he drops us off.

We're like, hey, just drop us off here. I'll cut across the road, okay? So he drops me and my fiancee, Veronica off. We're crossing the street. next thing you know i hear this freaking siren buzzing up to me on a moped okay it's this uh this cop that wants to be the hero okay he gives me a jaywalking ticket right i got i got tm z i got like local media looking like oh my guys coach mcv already getting in trouble you know so i'm like i'm like come on man is this the time to really be a hero so he gives us both jaywalking tickets okay

so as a result of this you know we're coming and we're running a little bit behind and How impressed is Veronica with you at this moment? Are you just still the man or what? No, not impressed at all. She doesn't care about that stuff. She's like, what are we doing right now? You get jaywalking tickets. So we get jaywalking tickets, all right?

So that's not even the worst of it, okay? So we're walking in and I'm like, artist, you know, maybe we just go to our seats. He's like, no, they still want you to go to the red carpet. And so we're walking up, okay? And Chris Long, who he's, you know, a Rams legend, everybody loves him. him. He sees me. So everybody's like, hey, Chris, so he kind of like cuts in front. And the guy that's running the red carpet, he's like, I don't know who the hell this guy is. And I'm not going to be like, hey, I'm the new head coach of the Rams, you know. And so they just totally crush us.

And they're like, hey, the red carpet's closed. So we look like the biggest scrubs. We get turned away. I'm just walking head down. I said, you know, this SB experience is not what I envision. But it was there's been a lot of humbling moments like that. But that it's, it's, yeah, it was, it was bad. Sometimes I think we all need humbling moments every once in a matter how much. Like when I get home, you know, we have a one and a half year old. I've got three kids. And as we have this transition, as soon as I get home, some of these,

when we've gone back and forth, it's like, here you go. You're going to change a diaper, you know. It's like, you'll humble you pretty quick. No question. Arthur, let me ask you about the way you guys unleashed hell with Derek Henry. It's not that he wasn't having a great career in his first couple of years, but the last two seasons to see what he's done. And especially when the league, everyone's talking about a passing league, a passing league.

It seems like you tapped into something with the way that you utilize this guy and the height and the strength and the absolute physical force that he is. Was that a conscientious effort of like, hey, this is something I want to do. Now that I'm the offensive coordinator, I want to just tap. to this guy's potential and make him the best he could possibly be? Or was that just something that Derek Henry was doing on his own and you were just happy to ride that wave? Well, I think it's, some of us is pretty practical. You know, Derek obviously pretty well documented in the 18th season. He was struggling a little bit and then we were playing at Indy.

We didn't play very well and he, at the end of the game, he got in there and you saw a different kind of version of Derek. And then he had a five-game stretch as good as anybody to finish the 18th season. And we came up short, going 9 and 7 and not getting in that year when Mack ended up going to Green Bay. So he played well down the stretch. And really history had told you, the more he carried the football, the better he got.

I mean, he's an ultimate outlier. And, you know, we were talking earlier about some of the interview questions. And sometimes, you know, everybody is going to bring up analytics now.

And they give you this other different numbers. And they would tell me, hey, did you know, they were like, I got you a question. Like, if you know that you were 61% run,

on first down. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to be like, did you know we had Derek Henry? Did you ask Phil Jackson when Shaquille O'Meal was throttled on dudes in the paint? And if they dumped the ball to him, you know, 30 times a game, you got 30 touches. It was pretty practical. It's like, give it to the big fellow get out of the way. And so I was like, yeah, I mean, that's what, you know, you try to play to the strengths of your players. And Derek's unique player, how many guys like him?

I mean, you look at his history. I think I read something one time where he's the only guy. I've rushed for 2,000 yards in high school and college and the NFL. Oh, that's a hell of that. Very unique, yeah. And the amount of carries he's had, it's unbelievable. And he's truly, he's gotten stronger as the years have gone on and in the games. It's pretty cool to watch.

Did he do that stuff in practice when he was, you know, when he tosses guys around? He does those stiff arms because those are like the absolute best highlights for us to show on Good Morning Football. And he did that to Josh Norman this year when he ran away from the Jaguars last year on the Thursday night game. We could show that stuff over and over again. I think it energizes a team. Did you, do you guys see that in practice with him? Or was that one of those deals where he shows up on Sundays? And it's like, all right, Derek is ready to go.

Well, he works. Obviously, it's a strength of his. And he definitely works it, but he doesn't, you know, go after his teammates quite like that. Yeah, I mean, those are, you definitely feel that. And, Sean, you know, when a guy, you can feed off, there is true momentum on the sideline. I mean, going back to that Baltimore game in New England, a few years going to playoff. in that Buffalo game. That was an interesting game, Peter,

because we kept moving the game. We were kind of the first team that had to deal with the COVID outbreak. And so they kept moving the time. We ended up playing on a Tuesday night. And, yeah, that kind of got us going. I mean, we had made a couple plays early. But when you see it, you know,

I try to remain neutral and you see it. You're like, holy shit, that was pretty impressive. And I'm kind of on the next play. And then you watch it later that night. You can't sleep. Not many guys that can do that. Yeah, no, you know what I thought, Peter that Arthur did such a good job of these last couple years, you know, we always talk about,

you know, a commitment to a philosophy. And you talk about a marriage of the run in the past. And because there was a patient but a deliberate approach to running the football, some of the run actions that they had off of it were as creative as it gets, whether it's off their keeper game or some of their hard play actions where they're hitting, you know, Brown or Davis on an in-breaking route. And then those guys are creating after the catch. That was one of the things that I thought you did such a great job of is you're saying, yeah, we're going to going to marry the run in the past and we're still going to keep a lot of the principles that, you know, I've learned over the course of my career with the different great coaches I've been

exposed to, but it's about the players we've got. And you talk about accentuating their skill sets, being a more physical downhill type of team where your actions are coming off of that. And then, oh, we'll still mix in the wide zones and the keepers. That was one of the things that I thought, you know, you did such a dang good job of and that I've really admired. And there was a physical brand of football. Like, when you're interviewing for these teams and you're, you're talking about, okay, hey, this is what I want our tape to look like? Like, what are you telling Arthur Blank and Rich McKay when you guys are talking about, hey, this is the identity, this is what we want to embody and this is how we're revisiting

it day in and day out. What does that look like in your mind, Arthur? Yeah, I think, Sean, like you said, you know, most good coaches, you play to the strengths of your players. Like, you know, as much as some of the guys we had in Tennessee, well, aware, I told them. I mean, these are different jobs. I mean, you've got different, there's different players here on this roster. And obviously we drafted a tight end that we feel it's got a unique skill sets.

You've got to play. But there is a style you want to play with up front and you need your line. And you've done a terrific job of that too. And when you guys are rolling, you guys are rolling with Gurley and watching Acres and the guys you've had back there, it does. To me, it makes, to me, it opens up things as a play caller. But it's a certain style. And it's a commitment to it up front. To me, there, there is a general philosophy from the top down in some organization.

is dependent on how they're built and what they want to do, you've got to make sure you project that this is the way we want to play up front. And we understand that we'll be balanced and we'll play to our strengths. And I don't, I wouldn't compare Calvin really to AJ Brown, but they're both really good receivers. Well, we'll be some things that we'll do different here in Atlanta because we're trying to play their skill sets. Can't make somebody, you know, somebody they're not.

And they're both terrific players in their own right. So it's really a commitment to it. And like you said, up front. You want to play with physicality, when guys coming off the football, and you want to play up-tempo. That's one thing I think that. I enjoy watching your tape when I see that and I see you guys

rolling off the football. I have a couple quick hitters, Arthur, and feel free to say as much as you want or expound as little as you want. You took this job with Atlanta, you had other offers, or at least other teams were interested in you. How much did Matt Ryan play a role in

you wanting to be in Atlanta? And what have you seen from him or learned from him and just your limited interactions with him thus far. Yeah, it was a big factor. You know, I've always been a fan of Matt Ryan from far. You know, like a lot of people that have worked with him and know him well. And I'm just so impressed with, you know, how he handles himself and he wants to be coached. And Ryan was his same way working with Ryan.

But, you know, they are different players. And they both have their strengths. And both those guys, you know, when you get, you got plays. players like that, they come in there and they work hard. And Matt's going in year 14. He's known for 55,000 yards. And he comes in here and he worked, I'd imagine, as hard as he did as a rookie. And it's unique.

I mean, it sounds so simple, but Sean can tell you, there's not, not everybody does that. I've really got really enjoyed getting to know him, working with them, communicating with them every day. So that was a big part of it as well. Yeah, it's funny, Peter. I, you know, because, you know, Matthew Stafford and Matt Ryan are really close friends. And I know how excited Matt Ryan is just from talking to Matthew about, you know, him being able to work with Arthur. But, you know, I feel like I've kind of gotten some inside knowledge just based on whether it was Matt LaFleurbeen with him in Atlanta or Kyle Shanahan, even Rahim Morris, who's our defensive coordinator.

And what you hear consistently is this guy's the epitome of a pro's. He sets the tone every single day. He wants to be coached hard. You know, that's what I've heard. and that's what I think really separates those guys that are truly elite. They demand to be coached. You know, it's almost like, hey, if you're not telling me and really coaching me to the highest level of expectations and standards, you're short in me.

You know, whether it's the Kobe Bryant's, the Michael Jordans, you know, you look at Steph Curry. You know, I've heard Greg Popovich and Brad Stevens say that before, but I think it's the same thing in our game. You know, Aaron Donald, if you're not coaching him hard, he's looking at you. That's why he loves Eric Henderson, our D-line coach so much because he's so demanding. ending of them. And those are the things that if you got the right guy at the trigger, and I mean, he's not far removed from an MVP, 55,000 yards. You just said it. It's exciting.

And, you know, I think that we can expect a lot of good things from the Falcons. And I'm excited to watch you lead, man, because tremendous respect for you. And the more that I get to know you, the more that everything that I've heard makes so much sense. And I can't wait to see, do your thing, man. I appreciate it. Yeah, my next quick hitter is the Julio trade. It's now official it's been done. It's amazing that you're still being asked questions, even here on this podcast about them. But that's all hopefully going to go away now. But that decision to trade the franchise player, you knew you guys had to do what you had to do.

But now that we're a couple weeks or at least a week removed when we're recording this podcast, any final thoughts on it? And are we ready to just turn the page and get to the guys that are in the building. Yeah, I know it's a fine line, Peter, because we had a great career here. And there's no will towards him or vice versa. You know, this is the part where it's where the business part comes into it, and the salary cap. And I always want to be respectful because an appreciative, I never worked with him. But I am very thankful for what he brought to his team in the past.

And as all the former players, when guys come back, I think it does mean something, whether, you know, Dionne Sanders boss back or Todd McClure, like guys that have been here, you know, you always want to. be appreciative and respectful of those who have come before you. So, but, but, you know, from head coach and where we're going now, you've got to focus on the present. And so that's probably the best way I can answer that because there's some people that, you know, they, people crave trauma.

I always joke with this. Like, you go home and I don't know how it is it in y'all's household. But sadly, our TV and when I go to bed at night, it's usually on Bravo, like the Batch or whatever. And people crave that, you know, and they want, they want there to be more to the story that, like, you're going to sit down with Andy Cohen and have a tell hall or something like that. And there's really, that wasn't really what went on. You know, so I said, I'll continue to say, we've got a ton of respect for them. It was a move that was made.

And you just got to focus on the president. What is the one show that's on at the Smith household that you would say, I can't believe I'm watching this thing. Which real housewives are you watching? They're all the same. You know, I can fall asleep with a TV on. You know, everybody's got their quirks value. I guess like when I crash at night, my wife's a night owl and she's got all those shows

and that's got, I mean, really all the real housewives are saying. And I'm kind of sleeping, but I'll hear something. I'll peak up her. Like most absurd things. It seems like the same stories over and over again. They all seem to do well. You know, Bethany wore this outfit at the Hamptons and Ramona was not happy about it. Let's go.

Dun, dun, dun. I love it. It's fascinating stuff. But Sean, in all seriousness, I feel. Like the same way he's dealing with Julio questions, it feels like every other questions about Jared Goff still for you and in your market. I mean, when is it time to finally say, hey, we're done talking about Jared or we're done talking about Julio. And does it get abrasive like that? Yeah, I think there's, here's what I would say, Peter, you know, I think the thing that resonates to me with both of these guys is because they've had so much success, people want to talk about them.

And so they're looking for stories that, you know, they've got to write a story. They got a job to do. And I respect that. the one thing, you know, for me personally, you make a couple comments about being really excited about Stafford, and that doesn't mean that's an indictment on all the good things Jared did, you know, that's what's a little bit difficult is you can't make a compliment about one guy without being, it being perceived or viewed as a slight to the other. And that's the hard thing. And, you know, but that's stuff that you have to deal with. I love the, you know, I actually

saw, you had shared it with me, Peter, when Arthur said a couple weeks ago, and you guys correct me if I'm not exactly accurate with it. But if you're, if you're a leader and you don't like problems, then leadership probably isn't for you. Something along those lines. And yeah, you know, that's the, I can't remember. I don't know exactly what it was. You said, but I said, I love it. What did you say? You don't like problems. They had out of leadership. Yeah. And it's, it's true. You know, I mean, something, if you've been doing it at a high level for obviously a lot longer than my five months on this job, but someone's going to come across your desk every day. And you've got to, you got to make decision. You got to handle it. It's not going to be perfect,

especially this time of year you're dealing with 90 players and there's things that come up with your coaching staff I mean Sean I mean you can go in it because you got more experience than me but there's something just about every day yeah I think that's a good segue to our final question and Arthur we'll leave you on this one as we've done it with every guest so far so your story let's go through it again one of 10 siblings uh your father starts fedex you could have gone down the business route I'm sure and stuff like you choose to go into coaching you have this long journey Washington, you were a GA at UNC, you go to the Titans, you then have this amazing rise there and eventually are now the head coach of an NFL team. Everyone's journey is different. Your advice to a young coach who might be starting at, say, the high school or college level

this fall, who wants to someday be an NFL head coach? What would be your one piece of wisdom, your elevator speech, if you will? Yeah, just going back to that, Peter, I always, you know, I get asked that question a lot about business. I don't know if I'd be any good at business, you know, and I always laughed because I was like, oh, you should have gone to family business. I said, I don't think it's a family business. It's a publicly traded company. And I don't say that. You know, just I don't know if I'd be terrible at the logistics and shipping part of it.

And I've got a couple of my siblings and work at FedEx and it's a big company. And it's, they do a great job. And, you know, I don't think I could do their job at all. So grew up obviously playing football, loved it, wanted to play as long as I could play, and then got into coaching. And so in terms of people starting out, like I said, there's great coaches everywhere. Meet as many people as you can. And when you get a shot, you know, especially at a Power 5 school, whether it's a GA or an analyst, do a really good job with the job they give you. And like I said, you get the opportunities to jump on Zooms and clinics or meet people.

you never know as you make the climb the people you'll meet on the way down so treat everybody right and do a really good job with the job handed to you is the advice I give it all right arthur smith i expect uh you to get a very very smooth transition into the next few weeks and that it's hit the ground running yet again as the season starts and we'll be in training camp uh Kyle Pitt's going to break every single record for the tight end position ever in the history of the sport as is expected or what I mean come up there you think I'm going to get to the convenience kind of predictions, right? It's not at all. Sean, how good is that kid? It's pretty good, man. I mean, Arthur, if he doesn't have 1,600 yards, you suck. Yeah. I'm a dog-shade coach.

I'm kidding. Arthur Smith, thank you so much for joining us, man. This is awesome and good luck to you and everything for the 20-21 Falcons and beyond. Thanks for having me on. This is a lot of fun. Joy being on those podcasts. Hey, appreciate you coming on, Arthur. Tell my man, Dave are going.

I said hello. I definitely will. Arthur was great, Sean. Smart guy. Smart, good dude. Yeah, all the things you hear about him, definitely you could feel that come through, extremely intelligent. Got a great humility about himself, too, without a doubt.

You know what's interesting? So I know I sound like I was fixated on the FedEx thing, but literally his father is Fred Smith, one of the great American entrepreneurs and businessmen of our time. And I thought he was really cool with how he handled that, because he got to think, every step along the way, it eventually would get out that his father was the scene, CEO of FedEx, and he had to answer that question every step along the way. And yet, here he is,

paying his dues, earned his way, and on his own two feet, and with his own accomplishments and his own coaching ability, it's now an NFL head coach. It wasn't handed to him. I think that's a pretty cool story. Absolutely. Yeah. No, that's what, you know, so many people that I've heard so many great things about him, but, you know, you look at the entitlement that could potentially accompany all the success his father's had, and he's the exact opposite of that. Uh, you know, He's proud of his dad, but by no means does he think that means that, hey, he's arrived. He's made it on his own. He's a hard worker, intelligent.

He's made of all the right stuff. And I think he's going to do a really good job as the Falcons head coach. Yeah. All right. Let's get to the number one portion of all of these podcasts. It's called the emails and the voicemail. It is trending on Twitter every week. And the title of it, there's t-shirts being made.

I walk around Brooklyn. All the hipsters have them. And our producers, Craig Horlebrock, Craig, what was it called, a friend of the pod, like the old, what are those guys? The Pod Save America guys. I see those t-shirts all over the subway. I'm seeing a lot of, I'm seeing a lot of emails and voicemail t-shirts. I don't know we were merchandising. That's cool, dude. We had an emailer, a suggested name. They suggested heads and males, you know, like heads and tails, but I don't think we're there yet. I think emails. Sean, what do you think? Not bad. I think it's better than yours. I mean, anything's an upgrade. Like I said, I've really enjoyed doing season two of Flying Coach episode five.

As I stated last week, will be my final episode thanks to Peter, not naming the segment differently. So thank you guys for joining. It's been a good run. Sean McVeigh, out. Craig, why don't we get to the first email? And, Sean, giddy up. Let's go. Let's get it.

So this first one is from Warren in Virginia. This is a deep X's and O's question. I was impressed with a question. Let's test Sean's brain here. So this is what Warren asks. Last off season, you lost Brandon Cooks. You ramped up 12 personnel the rest of the way after the first couple weeks of the season,

unless you were down by a large margin. But after the first three weeks of 2020, you used 12 personnel in 42% of snaps in neutral situations, which is one of the highest rates of any team in the NFL. This comes after using 11 personnel at by far the highest rate in 2018. In an ideal world, do you prefer 11 personnel? Did you find any benefit for using more 12 last year that you would want to incorporate in the future? Yeah.

Definitely, if he compiled those stats on his own, very impressed. Otherwise, PFF, good job right there. It is predicated on your players, you know, in the matchups. So there's a lot of layers to this question, Craig and Peter. What I would say is this. It always starts with your players. You know, when you look at it a couple of years, ago when we were a heavy 11 personnel, you've got Cooper Cup, you got Robert Woods,

and you got Brandon Cooks. And to have one of those guys standing next to me on the sideline just didn't seem like it made a whole lot of sense. And so what I think we want to be able to get to, if you said offensively from an identity standpoint, you want to be able to mix your personnel's, but you want to have some agility week in and week out to be able to dictate and determine what you think is the best way to attack and opposing defense, matchups, all those different things. And so Gerald Everett, was a really good football player for us. We felt like we wanted to get him on the field more.

He and Tyler Higby, we felt like represented a really good pairing. We've added a lot of guys to the mix this off season that I think is to be determined. We've got, you know, we know we got Stafford, but being able to add guys like DeShon Jackson, 2-2 at well, you got a guy that's, you know, that played a lot of football force at the tight end position at a really high level in Tyler Higby, Johnny Munt, Jacob Harris. So mixing and match, and we can play a couple backs at a time. That is to be determined, and I cannot wait to hear what the percentages are in the normal down-and-distance personnel-wise for the Rams next year. He has a follow-up, Sean.

It appeared using higher rates of 12 invited more defenders into the box. You guys ended up running 40% of your total runs into eight-plus-man boxes. How important do you believe box counts is for the successive run plays? How often would you get your QB to check to a pass if the box count is heavy after breaking the huddle and you've got a run-play called? Yes. one of the things I would say is this. When you have more guys committed to the blocking surface, usually that's going to dictate more numbers

in terms of the fits for how they want to fit the run. Or, you know, I'd be interested to see how they categorize an eight-man box and different things like that. It's all predicated on, it's a numbers game. We're playing 11 on 11, but how you can use the different motions, formations, tempos, different ways of activating players, whether they're in normal width splits, reduce splits. And so 12 personnel does in a lot of instances dictate, you know, I'd love to know kind of,

all right, how do we categorize, all right, an eight-man box, you know, or a single high defense, if that's kind of how we're really categorizing that, because anytime that you've got a single high defense, that's usually going to be reflective of an eight-man box. And so those things are, I think, case by case, but 12 personnel will definitely elicit a heavier box count because you guys usually have more guys, a team. attached to the core, depending upon how you want to, you know, activate or disperse those two tight ends when you're talking about 12 personnel being reflective of one back, two tight ends, and two receivers to represent your five eligibles.

All right. Craig, what's number two? Okay, this is from Joseph. He asks, he's a high school basketball coach in Oklahoma City. He says, as a coach, I know the importance of watching tape, and I love hearing how other coaches and players watch tape. As in-depth as you're willing to go, would you? mind sharing your process of watching tape? Do you watch with your staff? Do you watch with individual

players? Do you take notes for yourself or to share? Yeah, all of the above. I think you've got to allocate your time in an efficient manner, but I think spending time watching it with your coaches, with your players is vital and instrumental to being successful and to be able to have that collaboration, that communication with everyone on the same page. But it's dependent upon kind of the rhythm and the flow of the week. I do think that from a coaching perspective, when you've got the right coaches, which we certainly feel that we do in L.A. You can allocate them to be able to, you know, do their individual roles and responsibilities, efficiently get through that on their own, and then we'll collaborate. If there's any plays or certain things that we're doing that

are indicative of needing discussion to further have better clarity. But with your players, you got to watch it. I mean, you know, whether it's practice, games, so much of that. That's why you are a coach here because you're going through, you're giving feedback. And so everything that we do with our players is reviewed with the coaches. And then those special guys usually will kind of take their normal studies or the things that we do in the building. And then they'll create a normal weekly rhythm on their own, like the Staffords, like the Aaron Donalds of the world, you know, the Whitworths that are doing everything. You know, Ramsey does a great job with a lot of his individual studies throughout the course of the week. So it's all of the above coach.

And it is a little bit different. I've talked a lot about with basketball coaches. I know there's a little bit different rhythm and flow. I think the way that our game is structured, there's natural breaks in the action that, you know, where there's a natural flow of the pace of the game in basketball that's a little bit different than football that's reflective of really studying the film in a different manner from my understanding talking to some of these other coaches. Sean, you guys play a game on a Sunday. Let's say it's a West Coast game. You finish up. How soon after are you watching film of that game? And do you go through the broadcast copy? Do you go through your own film? Do you go through all 22, like what is that immediate and when do you just kind of click play, let's go?

Yeah, usually I like to wait until the next day to watch it unless it's something where you're playing really late and you've got to kind of get ahead on your weekly rhythm. So for me, I like to you know, relax, decompress, kind of take the emotion out of it. You watch it early the next morning, watch it with the coaches, then you go through it with your players. But you're watching the all 22 and then at some point, whether it's myself or somebody else, you know, you make sure that you watch the TV copy to really it's not necessarily to hear what the broadcast is saying it's hearing what's picked up you know that the opponent is able to gain information and access to whether it's your snap count the cadence some of the words that you use at the line of

scrimmage that might help give them tips and tells to be able to anticipate it and no stone is unturned in our preparation but it's the all 22 is the first thing and usually i wait until the next morning to watch it okay this is the last email before the voicemail this is Maddie from Corby, England. This is kind of a cheap order. He says, my question is regarding the trade for Matt Stafford. Whenever a player like Stafford or Jalen Ramsey becomes available, you guys are usually aggressive and get your man.

But who initiates the conversation in the front office and how does that conversation go? And was Tom Brady ever in play? Ooh. Yeah, so it really depends. I mean, there's a constant and ongoing dialogue between myself and less need, our general manager, Kevin Demoff and Tony Pastores, and our coaching staff. staff. And, you know, we try to be as inclusive as possible with Jalen, because that occurred during the season, you know, Les brought it to my attention. Um, wanted to see kind of, all right,

what was it going to take to be able to get him, you know, there at the time, you know, when, when Dave Caldwell was the general manager, Les had a great work in relationship with him. And so that was very helpful. Um, and then when I was in Cabo, it became known that Stafford was available. Less and I had kind of started those dialogues, those discussions. Um, and then again, it was really helpful. And, and knowing, Brad Holmes and having that connection. And then, you know, that was kind of, I don't know whether it's really me, but I, you know, you kind of bring that up where you start talking about it, but it was kind of an open dialogue.

I can't remember who brought it up, but it was out there that Stafford was going to be potentially made available because he was seeking a trade. And we immediately started our dialogue there, but, but the Ramsey thing because it occurred during the season was, uh, was with less. And the, the Tom thing was, uh, wasn't ever really a part of our discussion, which, uh, Man, has he done his thing? When in seven, so good for Tom. He has a follow-up here for Peter.

He asks, Peter, when Stafford becomes available from an insider point of view with your relationship with Sean, how early did you know the Rams were seriously interested? And did you know it was a done deal before it was officially reported? Oh, I didn't know it was a done deal until the rest of the world knew. And then Sean gave me a heads up, and he called me. We talked about it. But I got to be careful with it also because I want the local media and Sean wants the local media to have the first opportunity to speak with Sean on the record. So anything

that we talk about is usually off the record and not brought on to good morning football or necessarily broadcast it on Twitter. I'm not I'm not necessarily big on the transaction itself. As I've said before, I'm all about the story after the story and able to tell things that no one else can. So I also knew Carolina was really interested and I've got a relationship with those folks there. So I was actually in an interesting predicament watching it all go down. I knew that Carolina wanted Stafford at the time. They're happy with Donald now. But Sean was in Cabo, and I wasn't going to bother him on his vacation.

And when that all officially went down, we spoke. But there's been transactions where we've spoken beforehand, and I've either reported it or I've kept my mouth shut. But on the Stafford deal, to a man, I knew that they were down there together, but I didn't know it was a done deal until the rest of the world. I think it was a late Friday night when that thing first got reported. All right. Okay, let's finish up here with the voice.

I will play it right now. Hey, my name is Jared. I'm from Atlanta, a lifelong Bucks fan, currently living in an enemy territory. My question is for Sean. Obviously, you know, coming up through the coaching ranks, coaches move from team to team as they're offered new opportunities. For instance, with you, when you were at Washington, became the Rams head coach, how much do you need to change your philosophy, your play calling, so that other

teams that you have worked with, other coaches that you have worked with, don't just know what to expect from you all the time. How much do you adapt? How much do you evolve year to year? And especially when you move up to those new situations. Yeah, really good question. It's a lot. And I think, I think ultimately the big thing is, is you want to have a foundational core belief system. You want to have a commitment to a philosophy. And as long as you have enough variation and variety in your system, you know, you still don't know when you're going to run certain things. And it's all about the players first and foremost. And so there's a lot of similar foundational principles that you learn at your core, whether it be starting with John Gruden

or learning from the Shanahan's, working under Jay Gruden. But there was a lot of carryover from what we did from Washington to L.A. But I think if anything, over the last couple years, the game evolves you got to be able to adapt, but it's always about your players first and foremost fitting your system to their skill sets. And in a lot of instances, you're kind of learning as you go. I know my first year in L.A., 2017, if you said what our installation and our playbook looked like going into training camp and then what we ended up becoming that kind of unfolded and illustrated itself as we got through the season was drastically different because that's always a process that you're evaluating and kind of building off of what you've done in previous week. and then what's the best way based on collaborating with your coaches and then your players that have input on how to attack. So there's a lot of carryover, but there is also a lot of adjusting and adapting on the fly. And that goes week in, week out, year in and year out because coaches and

players are too good. I'd actually follow up with a question, and then we can wrap it. But all right, so that's from your standpoint. Shane Waldron has been with you for the last several seasons. Now he becomes an offensive coordinator in Seattle. So the same thing with Zach Taylor was with you for a few seasons. He goes to Cincinnati. Do you feel like you have an edge over those guys? And I know you're not going to say it over Seattle, but like going into your game against Seattle, do you feel like you kind of know what Shane's offense is going to look like, knowing that the two of you guys work together so closely for so long? No, I don't think you have an edge. I think you might have an understanding of some stuff that you might see on tape if it's similar to what you've done

when you guys have been together. But when you look at both Zach and Shane, they have previous experiences that were really, you know, paramount in them developing their foundational philosophies. And I know Shane has some great experiences going back to New England. Zach had a bunch of his experiences that we talked about in the episode that he was on. And then, oh, by the way, we had a lot of great experiences together. But, you know, he is the visionary for how he wants to operate that offense, just like Zach's been in Cincinnati. And so, you know, there's a lot of things you might say, okay, I recognize that because that's similar or that's the same way that we did it.

but there'll be enough mixers and complimentary things that are core to their beliefs that do not think it gives you an edge, but you might have a better understanding of what they're trying to get done once you start to see some of this stuff come to life on the tape when they're playing games. Great. All right. Craig, anything else, my man? That's it. It's beautiful. Sean, another great episode in the books. Arthur was awesome. You were awesome. My voice will be a little bit back to normal next week, I promise. I joke with you, but you seem fine. I mean, you don't really, you bring it all the time. you look good. You got your Emery LaCross shirt on.

You're ready to go, man. Let's go. Always ready. And I appreciate everything you're doing, Sean and Craig, you too. This has been such a blast creatively, but also the feedback we're getting. So to all the listeners out there, thank you. I know Sean's not on Twitter. I am.

And Craig, you are too. The feedback has been so positive. And we're going to try to keep on delivering and hitting home runs for you guys. Training camp is rapidly approaching. we got to get these in before we get there. But gosh, five episodes in, Sean, this has been one of the coolest things I've done in my career. Yeah, it's been fun. And it's all about the people you do it with.

And obviously, you know how much I enjoy doing it with you, Peter. And Craig, you've been outstanding and done a really good job of producing the show and making it about as seamless for us as possible. So I'm thankful for both you guys. And thank you to Bill Simmons and the Ringer. We'll be back next week, week six of Flying Coach, the guest, you'll have to wait and see who the lucky one is.