The Season with Peter Schrager: The Athletic's Ted Nguyen

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, Everybody? Welcome to
another edition of the Season with Peter Schrager. Fresh off

(00:29):
another entertaining and educational week of NFL football, I come
out of it and I just can't stop thinking about
just how dominant the.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Forty nine ers are.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
San Francisco was one of those teams last year that
was very good. They went to the NFC Championship Game.
They lost to the Eagles after their quarterback got injured,
and they entered the off season. They made one big move.
They got Javon Hargrave. But the huge decision was to
go all in on Brock Party. They traded Trey Lance
about twenty cents on the dollar, and they had Sam

(01:00):
Darnold and it wasn't even a competition. It was going
to be perty. I was hesitant. I wasn't sure, not
so much that Party didn't prove it last year. But
I was hesitant because he had a major elbow injury
and they were already putting all their eggs in his basket.
They're like, can be fine for week one? All right,
Let's see August September predictions coming along, and I've got

(01:21):
to make a prediction for Good Morning Football. I've got
to pick an MVP, and I've got to pick my
Super Bowl champions.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
My MVP.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
I went with Christian McCaffrey, and there has not been
a running back to win MVP since twenty twelve. That
was Adrian Peterson, who came eight yards short of breaking
the all time single season rushing record. Did that off
a major ACL injury. I thought McCaffrey first year in
an offense, that they were gonna have to rely on
him even more. With some of the best skill position

(01:49):
players in the world, it's going to be McCaffrey because Party,
well as good as Perty is, Perty just.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Can't be the guy. There's just no way he can't
be the guy.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
He's not going to be the one that we come
across each week and we say afterwards, yeah, it's guys, Aaron,
I think brock Perty might be the league this year. WHOA,
I'm serious. He doesn't make a mistake. He operates an
offense that, yes, is loaded with stars, but he operates
it with such precision it is almost like he's a robot.

(02:20):
And Kyle Shanahan is pushing all the buttons from the sidelines.
The one mistake he made he threw behind Ayuk and
it was crazy. Kyle Shanahan like started his press conference
talking about the one mistake he made was he missed
ba on the pass that he.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Had in the end zone.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Every other one of these he connects. Think about the
other part of it too.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
You got to be a leader. You're a second year guy.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
You were obviously mister irrelevant last year, but you've got
some big personalities on that offense. You've got Deebo Samuel,
You've got George Kittle, You've got McCaffrey, You've got Ayyuk,
You've got Trent Williams at tackle. You have Kyle Shanahan,
one of the most demanding coaches in the league, and to.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
A man, they love him.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
So it's not just the skill, it's not just the
operation and execution it is it is what he brings
to the table as a guy too. Like he doesn't
do the me first thing, which I think is appreciated.
He knows his place in the locker room and he
feeds them all the rock. If you have any of
those guys on fantasy, you're not complaining you're happy there's
an equal share of the ball.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
And I think he's the MVP right now.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
I know everyone wants to talk about Tua and Mahomes
and Josh Allen and even Mike picked McCaffrey, but brock
Party is the most valuable player in the league because
of what he's doing at the switch and that's him
at the quarterback position, getting everyone involved and operating it
to one hundred percent efficiency rate, which leads to an
interesting exercise we did on Good Morning Football on Tuesday morning,

(03:48):
and Aaron Van Kaufman, my lovely producer, I'm going to
put you on the to the test. Also our nine
a m segment, we had to rank the top five
teams in the league, and I tried to do something
sometimes we call it like break the segment so it's
not just chalk. And I said, okay, well, the Chiefs
are won a team in the league because they're defending

(04:08):
Super Bowl champions and they still have really only lost one.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Game, and that game wasn't with Kelsey, wasn't with Chris Jones.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
And if and hypothetically were to say, for all the marbles,
it's Chiefs forty nine ers tomorrow, who you pick, and
I still can't pick against my homes and Andy Reid
and Travis Kelce, like I still can't go against Chris
Jones and Steve Spagnolo what they've done. So I kind
of did some word logic and some I was making TV.
Then forty nine ers are the better team right now.
Forty nine ers Receemiro only everybody. But here was the task,

(04:36):
and Aaron, I almost wish I gave you some time
to prepare. The task was list the top five forty
nine ers on the roster right now.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
The top five forty nine ers.

Speaker 4 (04:47):
I mean, I feel like we could do an offensive
and defensive list now, that mean.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
The top five forty nine ers. So I want you
to take some time right now, Aaron and everyone at
home listening to think about all the forty nine ers
players right now this season.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Rank them five through one.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Take a second, all right, Aaron revealing five through one,
like we're doing Letterman's late late show stuff, and it's
the top from the homes, from those the home box
office in Sioux City, Iowa. Is that what it will
say is that why Iowa? It might have been do
me a top five forty nine Ers players this season got.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
This season so far through five games.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
Number five, anchoring the left side of the line, I'm
going to go with Trent Williams. I think the we've
talked about positionless players and how important it is that
there are so many different weapons on offense.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
You also have.

Speaker 4 (05:40):
To make sure that there's enough time and that that
party can react and get the ball to any number
of players who I have to hire. Number four, I'm
gonna go with Deebo. And this one, I don't want
to give away too much of the list, but there
are two players here, Deebo and Ayuk, and I just
couldn't figure out who to pick. I think Deebo seem

(06:04):
Deebo like has these monster games when I is not there,
but when they're both there, I feel like, I mean,
I don't know, I'm maybe a little biased where this
this weekend. You know, they make the play to Ayuk
and penalty in negates it and then they get it
to Debo and it's okay, cool, Like we didn't get one,
we got the other. I didn't think I would do this,

(06:26):
But number three, I have Purdy And maybe this is
again like you just waxed poetic on Purdy.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
So I'm influenced, but he is.

Speaker 4 (06:34):
He's doing throws that Jimmy didn't do, and he he
is he has some processing he's doing at the line,
and you're telling he's not just saying Okay, here's read
one go and he.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah. I don't know. I don't know if I'm going to.

Speaker 4 (06:51):
Go so far as to say he's the MVP, but
he's doing so much better. And I will admit, like
I remember early on in the year, I think we
were doing our guesses for Super Bowl and playoffs and
you had guests forty nine ers and I almost made
a joke like, oh and Sam Darnold.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, of course, no, he will.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
Not be starting for them too.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
I'm gonna have Bosa because I can't just have offensive
players because the defense is destructive, and.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
Like, you can't.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
I mean, we watched the Cowboys, who have amazing players
and it didn't matter. And number one, I have CMC
because I feel like he truly was like he's had
fourteen straight games with touchdowns. I mean he is incredible
and has I mean everyone has said this. He is
the perfect player in that match. It's a you know,

(07:43):
like hand in glove fit and yeah, CMC is my number.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
One awesome list. There's no wrong answers. I have a
completely different list.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
Oh my god. Okay.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
First of all, before we even begin this, neither one
of our lists will have George Kittle on it. George
Kittle might be the best blocking tight end in football
and is the tone setter. Neither one of our lists
will have Eric Armstead in this He's one of the
best defensive ends in the entire sport and is the
run stopper on that defense. Neither one of our lists
will have Teleanoah Hufonga on this list, who is a

(08:14):
first team All Pro safety last year. Neither one of
our lists will have Kyle Yuscheck on this list, who
is the best all around fullback in the NFL and
a true Swiss army knife.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Neither one of our lists will have Dre Greenlaw.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
On this list, maybe one of the best inside linebackers
in the entire sport and a guy that has jumped
his game tenfold over the last two seasons.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
My list is as follow us.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
Number five, my pick for MVP less than five minutes ago,
is number five on the best forty nine ers list.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Does that make sense? I don't know. I don't give it.
I'm saying rock Perty is number five on my list.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
I look around and I just think he is the
ultimate operator of this offense.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
He is an.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Upgrade from Trey Lance. He is an upgrade from Jimmy Garoppolo.
He is an upgrade from whatever they thought Kirk Cousins
might be when he's been rumored there. He's an upgrade
from the Mac Jones draft rumors. He's an upgrade from
Brian Hoyer. He's an upgrade from every single quarterback that
has been in that system in San Francisco.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
He's better than Nick Mallin's better.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
All this is how a Kyle Shanahan offense can run
when you have a robot running it. And I say
that jokingly, but like George Kittle called him a robot,
and anyone you talk to is like, it's imagine you
have someone that shares the same brain with Kyle Shanahan
and he's only getting better week two week, But he's
not in the top four for best players on that team.

(09:37):
Number four, I think is a guy who might win
Defensive Player of the Year and had a showcase game
on Sunday night.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Fred Warner wasn't on your list.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yeah, it was probably six.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Yeah, Fred Warner is unbelievable. You can go off on
you know, Zire Franklin in Indianapolis or Quincy Williams and
the Jets.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
There's all these.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Different like there's no better linebacker right now than Fred Warner.
The guy is unbelievable. He's all over the field. He
calls the defense. He's on the run plays, he's on
the passing plays. He intercepts passes, off tips. Go back
and watch that interception he had off the deflection. He's
on a totally different side of the ball. The play
is called hike. The past comes to the other hash
mark the guy's hit. He immediately leaves his man which

(10:17):
he's covering, and then has enough wherewithal to scoop it up.
And he plays with a cool ferocity and is like
the play caller. Fred Warner is my number four, number three.
I went Bosa, didn't have a training camp, was holding out,
and you could see he's getting better and better every week.
He's unstoppable on the defensive line. And it's just unfair
that they've all these players number two.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
And number one.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
I'll break it down as this. I had McCaffrey as
the MVP. Before this season, I had McCaffrey, you know,
breaking all these records.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
And he's doing it. He's doing everything, and yet he's
not the second best forty nine er this this season.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
He's not the best forty nine of this season. He's
number two. Trent Williams just erases people, Trent Williams might
be the best player in football. And here is what
is wild about it. Trent Williams was in the same
draft class as Oklahoma teammates Sam Bradford and Gerald McCoy.
Sam Bradford's going to be eligible for like Hall of

(11:12):
Fame voting next year, and Gerald McCoy is on NFL
Network and has been out of the league for a
few seasons now. And Trent Williams getting better. Trent Williams
was traded for essentially nothing from Washington. They have draft
picks that if I'm sure, someone could hit me up
on Twitter and be like, I actually got this guy
in the sixth round. Trent Williams might be the best
player in football this season. Micah Parsons was invisible on Sunday.

(11:36):
I thought Trent Williams blocked his ass off in the
week beforehand when they played the Rams and those guys
had no pressure on brock perty or two weeks ago
when they played the Rams, whatever it was week two.
Trent Williams is sensational. The Giants could not get any pressure.
And he also said to Tony's the scariest guy in the league.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Also, so you and I had very different one through fives.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
We left off five guys like I didn't have Deebo
Samuel on my top five, and I think he might
be the most fun player in the league to watch.
Neither of us had ay Neither of us had Ayuk,
who could be an all wide receiver this year, and
it's putting up those types of numbers. So all this
to say, yeah, the Niners are pretty good and my
defensive rock party, because the argument could go, well, how's
your MVP if he's your fifth guy on the list,

(12:18):
and how is he your MVP if he's got all
those weapons?

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Guys.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Tom Brady had a bunch of great weapons when he
broke all those records in two thousand and seven, and
Peyton Manning had awesome receivers in Indie and in Denver
and awesome running backs like it's not a shame and
it shouldn't be held against somebody. If you've got great
talent around you, who is the player that maximizes the most,
who's the most valuable piece to that offense.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Who is the one that gets the best out of
those guys?

Speaker 1 (12:42):
And it's rock party. In closing on this monologue, the
Niners have beaten opponents by an average of twenty points
a game. That is insane. They are five and zero
and I don't think this locomotive is stopping anytime soon.
Circle this date, Aaron, December third. December third, the Eagles

(13:05):
play the forty nine Ers in an afternoon game on Fox.
And I don't know. I don't like to fast forward
my life. I don't like to not appreciate every single week.
But I can't imagine a more anticipated game right now
than Eagles Niners December third. Let's get there, all right.
I always have a story from my weekend prior. I'm
living a pretty fun twenty twenty three NFL season. And

(13:27):
as I said last week on the podcast, it's the
season with Peter Schreeger, but in a lot of ways,
it could also be the season of Peter Schreeger. And
if you're nauseated by me, and my self stories and
let me tell you my journal I understand, fast forward
to the interview. But I had a pretty cool Saturday
night as I seem to find myself having of late
as I work with Fox on the weekends and get
to fly out to LA and be with a lot

(13:49):
of the star studded talent who are on the morning
shows on Fox on Sundays. And this week's Peter Schrager's
story is about one Rob Gronkowski fly out to LA.
I have a lunch with my producer, Bill Richards, who
is the I guess you'd say, the maestro of Fox
NFL Kickoff but also Fox NFL Sunday. And then I

(14:09):
got a text us I'm wrapping up with Bill and
it's Gronk, and Gronk says, what are you up to tonight?

Speaker 2 (14:15):
And I immediately look at.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
My phone and I'm like, it's four o'clock and Arizona
is playing USC in Los Angeles, and I'm like, Oh,
Gronk's gonna invite me to come to the coliseum to
go watch Arizona USC and I'm gonna be a guest
of Gronk. And I had already had Jed Fish on
the podcast, and I want to see Caleb Williams, but
the game is late.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
It starts at seven point thirty.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
I gotta break it to Gronk that I'm not gonna
be able to go to the game because I got
to be up super early and I've got to do
the news and notes and gosh, if Saquan's not playing,
I need to be the one to.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Report it first, which I was.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
I gotta do all that stuff and I gotta be
up pro So I'm gonna have to tell Gronk, no,
I can't hang out.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
This is gonna suck right back.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Gonna take it easy tonight, probably get dinner and watch
some college football and some baseball in the room, to
which Gronk writes.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Back, where are you going to dinner?

Speaker 1 (15:07):
I right back to him, Oh, you're not going to
Arizona USC, to which Gronk, who is going in their
college football Hall of Fame and it's the greatest Arizona
player to ever you know play in the NFL, responds, Oh,
is Arizona playing USC tonight? Great? Great, Yes they are, Gronk,
And I love you for not being like up all

(15:29):
night like charting, like how you're gonna want to that's
the life of Gronk. He lives at day by day
and he just knows what he needs to know and yeah,
oh cool.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
All right, So I say, dude, I have no dinner plans.
Why don't we get dinner?

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Gronk and I have a dinner date at five thirty
in the evening Early Bird.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
Special favorite dinner time.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Oh there's a.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
New York Times trend piece that like, five point thirty
and six o'clock is the new dinner time for everyone
post pandemic.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Everyone's like, get me out of the house. I'm ready
to go. Let's just have an early night. Gronk is
down and I'm like, all right, where are we gonna go?
What are we gonna do?

Speaker 1 (16:03):
And there's a fancy uh Mediterranean spot right across from
our hotel called Avra. There's an overa in New York City.
There's an opera in La I actually think there's a
couple averas in New York City and it's Mediterranean and
it's like one of these places where they.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Have the fish in the case on ice and.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
You can like pick out the fish. And you know,
I don't do I don't go out very often during
the week. We have two kids at home. You know what,
maybe we'll maybe we'll.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Splurge a little bit.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
And you know, if I'm being honest, Gronk's probably gonna
pick up the tab and I'll just pretend and do
like the pretend for the wallet. Like, you know, Gronk
doesn't need my money. If you want to go out
the dinner, I'm not gonna tell him no. All right,
So that's all in the back of my head. But
it is one of those spots where it's like, I
gotta wear pants, I gotta wear shoes. My shoes, I mean,
sneakers are fine, and probably a shirt with sleeves. So
I lay it out to Gronk. I'm like, here, there

(16:52):
are options. We can go in the hotel downstairs, whatever
across the street is this place Avre that's super fancy.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
But you know, we could wear whatever.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
They're not gonna turn us away, or we can go
anywhere you want in La Gronk.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
The world is your oysters.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
As long as I'm back in the hotel by seven
or eight and I can get in bed, we're good.
Gronk goes, Let's go to the fancy Mediterranean place. Let's
go to Ovra, I go, great, Aaron, you better believe,
I write, Gronk, Rob Gronkowski, a thirty four year old man,
the greatest head end to ever play the game. I write,
I'm a very explicit text. You have to wear sleeves,
can't wear mesh basketball shorts, we have to wear shoes.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
And it's very expensive.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
So I don't want you thinking like, what the hell
you brought me to this place? Gronk gos we could
be healthy? I go, yes, he goes great because Gronk
is a healthy like that's what he wants. Let me
tell you, I've been out with Hollywood celebrities. I've been
out with NFL Pro Football Hall of famers. I've had
lunches with Troy Aikman, I've had dinners with Michael Strahan.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
I have never.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
Had an experience quite like going out in with Rob Gronkowski.
And what do you mean by that? Is he the
class clown and the guy that's that? No, he's quiet,
but he's six foot seven and he's Gronk. So the
second you leave the hotel, I'm talking tourists from Europe,

(18:24):
tourists from Asia, Americans, natives of La He can't walk
two steps with people not freaking out. That's Gronk from TV.
That's Gronk from the commercials. And I did not envy him.

Speaker 5 (18:39):
You know.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
I think there was some celebrity event or some awards
show going on near us or something in our hotel,
so there was paparazzi outside. I immediately fall back the
paparazzi whatever, but there's also autograph seekers, and the paparazzi
didn't bother us. The autograph seekers jumped to Gronk.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
And they're like, gron crack crack crock crow.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
And I watched him because I was like, how does
he handle this? He says, one autograph of person. You know,
let's be quick, so kind and so nice to these
guys that could be vultures if they're autographed people like
you don't know if they're putting that immediately online.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
And there were.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Many kids that immediately come out to Gronk and they
want a photo, and Gronk took photos.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
With all of them.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
Then we walked about two blocks to the hotel from
our hotel to this this Ovrea this restaurant, and as
we're walking, it's like just you know, like it's like
a like a swarm of bees, because like, once one
person sees that, the next person wants and it's women
and it's kids, and I'm like, this kind of has

(19:42):
to suck every time he leaves the hotel, every time
he goes out in public, and like this is Los Angeles,
isn't even Boston. Yeah, yeah, So he's kind to all
of them.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
We sit down. I'm like, I'm sorry about that.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
Man. We could take a car and he's like, no,
it's good to get out whatever. And he said, you
just got to kind of, you know, give the boundaries
and say just I'll do one autograph, one picture. I'm
not doing a ton, you know whatever. We sit, we
have a great dinner. I mean we're talking. For me
as a student of the game, in the history of
the game, this is like this is the kind of
stuff where it's like, all right, if we're gonna do
an auction, I would be I would put a lot

(20:14):
of money down to have a dinner with Rob Gronkowski.
We go through Brady, we go through Belichick. He's empty
in the bag on what it was like coming out
of college and joining that Patriots team that had already
won championships and then they didn't win it first, and
then like with a quest to get him.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Then we go to Tampa. We're talking at all.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
I am so in love with this person, and you know,
he has a podcast guest and he was sweet as
can be, but like he is a genuinely great heart
and a great dude. And we have our dinner and Gronk,
which I loved, ordered salmon and a steak for his dinner.
I'm like, this guy's unbelievable, unbelievable. He had sleeves on,
he had pants on, he wore shoes that had his

(20:52):
toes covered. I was blown away at Gronk. We're having
the best time. Check comes, I pull up my credit card,
I'm ready to go, and Gronk does as I would imagine,
you know, but the waiter says, your dinner has been
taken care.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
Of by a channel at the bar, to which.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
I immediately say, oh my god, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
That is so cool that happens.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
And Gronk's reaction is an audible sigh.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
What are you?

Speaker 1 (21:26):
He goes with that comes something He's like, the money
is not an it, like I could buy my own dinner.
But now we've got to go over to the bar,
and I don't know what to what that entails, and
that means I'm taking selfies and I'm filming birthday videos
for Clarence at home, and I'm also buying this guy
a shot and it's an extra thirty minutes and I'm like.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
God, the burden of being Gronk, like this is real.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
So we're wrapping up dinner and I'm like, do you
not want to even go buy the bar? Do you
want to just He's like, well, the bill will take
a care. So Gronk, to his credit, I guess I'll
give us out, like I don't think he'd mind me
saying this, Like he takes care of the waiter in
a very handsome way, and I'm like, all right.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
That's class. I like that.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
And as we're walking, I'm like, let's go buy the
bar and at least find out. We walk by the bar,
nobody raises their hand, nobody says a word. Instead, the
bartender points to a gentleman probably in his forties or
fifties at the end of the bar and just points
at him, and Gronk kind of comes over and he's like,
all right, he's ready to do the pictures and the
guy says, hey, thanks for the lifetime. I'm amazing memories.

(22:25):
I'm a Patriots fan. It's the least I can do.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
And that was the entire interaction, and Gronk was like, no,
thank you.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
That was a really nice gesture. And then Gronk goes,
you want a picture or something. The guy's like, sure,
I'll take a picture with you. Takes a picture with
the guy. The guy's father was there with him, takes
a picture that with the father, and we were on
our way and I'm like, what a badass story, and
what a badass the guy at the bar is like
a cool gesture. So I assume like that is the

(22:57):
dream scenario if you're an athlete and having an interaction
with a fan.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
We never got the guy's name.

Speaker 1 (23:02):
We don't know if he's from Boston or Attenborough or
from you name it, you know, Fairfield, Connecticut. I have
no idea, but thanks for the lifetime of memories. It's
the least I can do, Aaron, It's not that the
coolest story you've heard.

Speaker 4 (23:17):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I in my head, I
also kind of was as you're telling the story, I'm like,
uh oh, like someone paid for it that means something,
just like Gronk said, and instead, this is like a
Pixar movie. I'm like tearing up that. The guy was
just like, no, this is just like a thank you.
It was so fun to watch you, and like, that's amazing.
I love that great story. Right, more stories like that

(23:39):
to come.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
If you listen to the season with Peter Schrager, you
get these amazing bangers.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
I will also add this.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
The following Sunday morning, I'm there for Fox NFL kickoff.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
We have a great show.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
It's me, it's Edelman, it's Carissa, it's it's Woodson, it's
Vic whatever.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
It's great. We're having a blast.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
It's it's an awesome show. We kick butt. The Fox
NFL Sunday Show is after that, and you know that's
the heavy hitters. It's Howie, it's Terry.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
It's Strayhan, it's Glazy, it's Kurt.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
But the baseball guys were there too because they're doing
their World Series coverage.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
So because the Baseball Studio.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
Show was on that night, you had Big Poppy, David Ortiz,
Alex Rodriguez, and Derek Jeter and usually I keep to myself,
I'm not sure they were like, why don't we get
all the groups together and take a photo? And as
we're waiting in the bullpen, no pun intended to take
a photo. They're just like, everyone, just go over there.

(24:36):
It's me and Edelman is talking about the show we
just had, and Jeter just slides in and I had
a five minute conversation with Julian Edelman with Derek Jeter,
and can I tell you he's cooler? It also he's
the man, so here I am. And I grew up
in New Jersey in the nineties, and you know, I
was in college in the early two thousands, like they

(24:59):
won three World Series and four years. I know exactly
where I was when Jeter hit the home run in November.
I knew exactly where I was when Jeter did the
backhanded flip against the Oakland A's.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Grew up a Yankee fan. Jeter was one of the
Core four. I didn't geek out to him.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
I tried to play it pretty cool. But between Gronk
and Jeter, I flew home.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
I was on cloud night.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
I'm like, yeah, they say you don't want to meet
your heroes. Both those guys and Gronk's probably ten years younger.

Speaker 5 (25:24):
Than me.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
But both those guys just great dudes, and was really
excited to have those interactions. All right, now onto our guests.
I love football. I also have one week spot. I'm
not an Ex's and OS guy.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
I try to be.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
I like to think I am, but I didn't play
high school football. I didn't coach high school football, and
I certainly am not one of these tape grinders who
can do the All twenty two and sit in a
lab for twelve hours and break down you know why
this full back is better than the next. Now, Fortunately,
there are a lot of players in that game, and

(26:04):
there are a lot of really talented young play in
that game, guys on social media who crank out All
twenty two clips and break down why this offense is
more innovative this year than last, why this play caller
is truly an innovator, and why these players are so special.
You go on Twitter on a Monday morning after the

(26:26):
All twenty two is released, and there is just a
flurry of great clips and cutups, and there might be
no better operator of one of these feeds than Ted Win.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Who is Ted Win? I didn't know I had to
have him on my podcast. He's our guests this week.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
So typically on this podcast we try to bring on
general managers. We bring on coaches, head coaches, offensive coordinators,
defensive coordinators. We bring on actors who are fans, we
bring on musicians who are fans, we bring on media folks.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
And then every so.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
Often I'm like, who I want to get to know
that that guy or that girl.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
I follow them on social media.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
They're really smart and I want to learn more about them.
And in this case, this is how this this week's
guest came to be on the season with Peter Schrager.
I've been following ted win stuff for a while. He
is a staff writer at the Athletic but in recent
years he starts doing these cutups on social media of
the best plays of the week and how things happen,

(27:29):
using All twenty two film, which the NFL releases after
the games on Sunday. I find his stuff incredibly educational,
and I'm also I marvel at how fast he can
turn these things around. And his passion and love for
cool offense and cool defense is obvious if you follow
him anywhere on social media or you read his stuff
in the Athletics and with no further ado the man himself,

(27:51):
Ted Winn, thank you for joining me on the show.

Speaker 6 (27:54):
Oh prom thanks for having me on.

Speaker 5 (27:56):
Longtime fan, you know, watched you on TV for a
long time, so it's kind of cool.

Speaker 6 (28:00):
It's real being able to talk to you.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah. Look, I do a segment on Good Morning Football
called cool Plays, Bro, And I would be lying if
I don't often go to your feed and say, okay,
does my stuff align with Ted's because a lot of
times I'm getting stuff from different teams and different viewers
on Twitter saying hey, there's a segment for the show.
It's all about the best play designs and the best
cool plays.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Like you got to include this one.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
And then if I put my list together and I'm
missing something, a lot of times I'll say, well, what's
Ted Gott? How do you do it so rapidly? How
do you have that stuff up? Because I got to say,
we're recording this on a Tuesday morning and already you've
posted like forty clips from Sunday's games. Give me your
daily process and how you digest this film so quickly
and you're able to put it up on social media

(28:45):
to share it with your many viewers and listeners and followers.

Speaker 5 (28:48):
Yeah, well, you know, the process starts on Sunday. I
finally got Sunday ticket this year. Now I don't know
how I live without it. So I'm just like switching
furiously between game, you know, the big matchups every week
and or whatever, you know, whatever game has the most
fantasy players I have playing on it.

Speaker 6 (29:07):
So on Sundays, I write.

Speaker 5 (29:09):
A quick roundtable about just with my other writers on
the Athletic about what's going around going on around the league.
And then on Monday, when all twenty two comes out
in the morning, I'm just like, you know, just trying
to watch as much as I can, going through as
many games as I can, just so I could put
together an article that a column that I have out
every Tuesday morning about three coaching decisions that I like

(29:31):
or three coaching decisions that I didn't like. And then
Tuesday I'm watching a little bit more. And sometimes I'll
write another article that comes out a little later in
the week, like this last week, we me and Jordan
Rugrieg teamed up to write about Sean mcvay's next iteration
of his offense, which I thought was pretty interesting. And

(29:52):
the rest of the days I'm just trying to catch
up on the rest of the games and creating content
for social media.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
So I grew up on the show Edge NFL Matchup
and that was on ESPN Film the NFL Films and
Mount Laurel. And for years it was original Jaworski, I think,
and then it was sal Pal was involved, and then
they went through an iteration with Matt Bowen was involved,
and like year after year it was sterling sharp. It
was all these guys and it was the only place
that they would do film breakdown and film study. And

(30:21):
I wasn't that guy. I didn't play high school football.
I didn't coach high school football, and yet I would devour it.
Merrill Hodge, all these guys, and they would say, well,
here's how this happened. And it was almost like a
biology class, like here here is how you get that
famous play that you love, or here's how this player
was so open yourself. Did you play high school football?

(30:41):
Did you coach high school football? Because the way you
speak and know all the terminology, I have to think
you are beyond just a fan of the game that
you actually live and breed the stuff too.

Speaker 6 (30:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (30:52):
So I played I actually played quarterback. In high school,
by played quarterback in a triple option offense, so I
was basically another running back. We threw the ball maybe
five times of games. The volnaball is kind of like
a trick play for us. But you know, playing an
option you learn a lot about blocking angles, do you know?
You learn about how to set up the next play

(31:12):
and things like that. And after high school, I knew
I wasn't good enough to play college, but my coach
asked me to come back and help coach football.

Speaker 6 (31:20):
So I coached high school football for a long time.

Speaker 5 (31:23):
And I think that really helps me in explaining some
of these concepts because you know, like try explaining you know,
blocking rules for power to a you know, fifteen year
old freshman.

Speaker 6 (31:34):
So I have to try to do it as simply
as possible.

Speaker 5 (31:36):
And I think that's what people like for my articles
or work that I will try to really break down
these complex concepts. But I think I do it in
a way that's digestible for everyone.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah, and so let's go through it. So from you're
at where you're at, you see Davis? Is that where
you were in college?

Speaker 5 (31:55):
Yeah, I went, I went to U See Davis, and
but I coached high school.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
I yeah, yeah, so you're at You See Davis. While
you're at You See Davis, you go and you're also
coaching a high school team.

Speaker 5 (32:06):
Yes, so I'm also coaching high school team. And it
was you know, it was a long drive to get
to the team after classes in college.

Speaker 6 (32:14):
So it was a lot of work.

Speaker 5 (32:16):
But I love doing it, and you know, I got
to get to know some of the coaches at You
See Davis and they helped me out with learning a
little bit more of the game and scheming and that
kind of thing. And after Davis, I wanted to be
a high school teacher because I loved coaching football. So
I got my teaching credential. I went into coaching and
I loved it, but to be honest, I really did

(32:38):
not like the teaching aspects of it. You know, like
teaching pe is hard nowadays, like kids just don't want
to run sometimes, and it's just I just felt like
pulling teeth. And while I was coaching, I had a
blog I was doing for fun, and I was just
doing a blog about the Raiders. My friends encouraged me
to do it because they wanted to hear my thoughts
on it and the blog just kind of grew and grew,

(33:00):
and I got a lot more viewers than I thought
I would, and then you know, my follower count started
going up on Twitter. And actually, while I was coaching
and teaching, I found out I had stomach cancer. Actually,
so yeah, so I had to go get my stomach removed.
So I don't have a stomach believer or not. But
everything's fine. I'm like totally healthy now. But that really

(33:22):
kind of inspired me to pivot to a different career
and from I kind of retired from teaching and I
just went to sports journalism full time and I just
put everything into my blog and then the Athletic called
me one day.

Speaker 6 (33:38):
And decided to hire me.

Speaker 5 (33:39):
And I was on a contract job for about a
year just covering the Raiders of Niners, and when they
both didn't make the playoffs, I decided I was going
to write about some of the playoff teams, and that
year the Eagles played the Vikings, I wrote an article
about them, and one of the Vikings coaches actually contacted
the Athletic and said it was the most accurate articles
you ever read. And that got me the full time

(34:01):
job at the Athletic and I've been doing it ever since.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
So you saw that Tory Smith sleeflicker from Nick Foles
and he said, okay, let me explain how that went
down and why Kyle Rudolph's games starting touchdown meant nothing
in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, I remember everything.
And dude, your story is inspiring. So you're the head
coach eventually at Mount Eden High School football, while you're
also a student trying to become a teacher, and while

(34:27):
that's also going on, you're writing a blog and doing
Raiders analysis for your blog.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
For you do you understand?

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Like I get emails and I get you know, texts,
and all, Hey, can you meet with my friend's son.
He he's a college junior at Syracuse or he's a
you know, he's a college freshman.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
He wants to do what you do. Ted.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
I hear your story still at undergrad then in grad school,
trying to get a full time job as a teacher,
but also on the side coaching high school football and
also doing a blog that is as inspiring as it
gets to saying, yeah, you know what, it's not going
to ever be handed to You have to go and
chase it, and eventually you get that call from the Athletic.
Who was that call from and how did they find you?

Speaker 6 (35:07):
So it's an interesting story.

Speaker 5 (35:09):
It was from Jimmy Durkin, who who's still an editor
at the Athletic, and Shield Capatia, who works at The
Ringer now, was one of the first hires at the Athletic,
and he's been following me. He was following me on
Twitter for a while at a time, and when he
got hired, he got asked who they think they should
hire and I was on his list list of people

(35:32):
that you know.

Speaker 6 (35:33):
He thought that I.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
Know Shield very well. Did you know him personally or
he was just a fan from Afar?

Speaker 6 (35:37):
I know him at all that social media.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
That's amazing to me.

Speaker 5 (35:41):
He was just following me on Twitter. But we never talked.
And yeah, he gave me a really big recommendation with
the Athletic and me and Shield are good friends now,
but at the time we didn't say one word to
each other.

Speaker 6 (35:54):
And he was one of the main reasons I got hired.

Speaker 1 (35:57):
I love this story. Okay, so then you go from
someone who's got an interest and then you're now suddenly
maybe critiquing some of these teams and I would imagine
whether it's John Gruden who was running the offense at
the Raiders, or it was Kyle Shanahan who was doing
cool stuff with the Niners. They could say they don't
pay attention to anything, but when you've got someone who
knows their stuff and they're breaking down film, I'm sure

(36:18):
it made waves.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
Did it ever get to the team level?

Speaker 1 (36:20):
You would hear back from some of the teams that
maybe you were being a little critical of.

Speaker 6 (36:25):
Yeah, for sure, I you know, I don't.

Speaker 5 (36:29):
I don't think I could go into too much of
my team interaction, but you know, I hear from agents.
I've gotten to know some coaches, which is, you know,
on a text by text basis, which is kind of cool.
You know, I never thought i'd be in that position.
You know, I kind of helped out some coaches that
had questions about other teams if they didn't have like

(36:52):
a lot of time to research something, you know, I
might help.

Speaker 6 (36:55):
Out in that situation.

Speaker 5 (36:57):
So it's kind of cool getting to know all these
coaches you know around the league. But yes, you know,
sometimes when you're a little too critical, sometimes you get
a little texts, you know, saying.

Speaker 6 (37:07):
Like hey, you know, like I did this, yes, this
reason and that reason.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
So I'm watching Mike McDaniel's offense against the Giants on Sunday.
I'm flying back from Los Angeles and the game is
on on my Sunday ticket, which amazingly works in the
air as well, which I think is the greatest commercial
for the thing. You could be twenty thousand feet up
and on go go Wi Fi and it works. And
out of the gates they're running such crazy thing and

(37:31):
it's motion and it's different personnel groups and it's a
fake reverse and then it's a handoff to him, but.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Then Waddle's open.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
It's like, when you're watching the games in real time,
are you giddy as hell? Like? I cannot wait to
break this down? Are you taking notes? Are you earmarking?

Speaker 2 (37:46):
Oh? How did that? I can't wait to see the film?

Speaker 1 (37:48):
And then when the film does come out or is
that what you devoured? Or are you doing the broadcast
copy also? And you're like, I got to be the
first one to put this out on social media because
if I don't, Brian Pauldinger's on it, and if Brian
Baldinger's not on it, Ben sol Lax on it, and
if Ben Solax not on it, someone else is on it.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
Like I can only imagine there's a very niche group
of you guys who.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
Break it that on social media and it's devoured by
the fans. Is it a race to be the first
to say, hey, let me show you what I saw.

Speaker 5 (38:13):
Yeah, it is to a certain point, because you know,
once somebody else puts out a play, then you know,
you only have so many takes on one play, right,
So it is a bit of a race to see,
you know, who could get.

Speaker 6 (38:26):
It out first.

Speaker 5 (38:26):
And sometimes you can see things from the TV copy,
but sometimes you can't because you know, sometimes it's so
zoomed into the quarterback you can't see what the secondary
is doing that you can't really have a real take
on the play design or how it unfolded until the
All twenty two comes out, and you know, the All
twenty two comes out early on Monday, and all the

(38:47):
film grinders are up early, you know, trying to.

Speaker 6 (38:49):
Get those those clips out. So it is a bit
of a I mean, it didn't used to.

Speaker 5 (38:53):
Be like that, you know, like a few years ago,
like me and like another guy was like, you know,
the only guys doing this, and now like there's a
lot of film analyists out there, and I think the
hunger for this type of content has grown as well.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
What is your Twitter feed? If we were to follow
you on Twitter? So everyone at home who's listening to
this and is not necessarily familiar with your work, it's
all right, I'll give this a shot. What is the feed?

Speaker 2 (39:15):
And spelled out?

Speaker 6 (39:16):
It's FB underscore film analysis.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
Easy as that football film analysis like that sounds pretty
good unless FB has some other meaning. I would assume
it's football, all right. So you're doing that in a
week to week basis, But you're also becoming sort of
a taste maker, as the clips you decide to share
with your audience are sort of becoming a trend of

(39:40):
who is ted into and what is it. I figured
you and I would have some fun. I do my
segment on NFL Network, You do yours on athletic and
on socials. Let's have a little bit of a game
where we go back and forth and we kind of
share what we think as far as some of the
best offenses, best players, all that stuff. So let's go first,
Let's say let's do it a draft. If you will,
most entertaining offense in the NFL the one that you

(40:04):
are racing to see and that you just get giddy over.
Right now that you say, oh that is good, that
is good stuff. Which is the unit that you get
so excited about.

Speaker 5 (40:12):
Yeah, So I didn't want to give you a generic
answer answering this, but I legitimately love watching the Indianapolis Colts.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
Really Shane Stikeen too high.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Let's go talk about it all verts.

Speaker 5 (40:24):
Yeah, I love watching offenses that don't have a wealth
of talent, but they maximize what they do have with
great coaching, and I feel like Shane Stikeen does an
amazing job of that.

Speaker 6 (40:36):
I love watching Anthony Richardson play.

Speaker 5 (40:39):
I love the pieces they have and they're so creative
with their formations, their run options, their RPOs, and the
way they maximize the receiving talent they have. They have
a decent offensive line, they don't have like an overpowering
offensive line, but just the way they are able to
even out the numbers with Anthony Richardson and his running.

(41:00):
Unfortunately he's hurt right now, but before he was hurt,
he was actually leading the league in explode the play rate,
so runs of twelve or more yards or passes of
more than twenty yards. And I also love that he's
bringing four verts back and four versus is exactly what
it sounds like. It's four receivers on four verticals. And

(41:20):
the play was going extinct for a little while because
all these defenses were playing too high and keeping two
safeties back. So it's hard to run four verts against
those type of defenses. But Shane Stiken, you know he's
calling a ton with Anthony Richardson. Obviously, you know teams
have to bring extra defender in the box to defend
their run game. But Richardson's one of bet Richardson's best

(41:42):
throw is that steam throw, and they're calling.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
Over yeah, And that's he made the point. It's not
like he's got Moss and Welker and Dante Stalworth out there.
It's it's, you know, a combination of Pittman, Pierce and
Josh Downs. These are not Hall of Fame players by
any means, and yet he's making it. Now here's my
question with that they go to Minshew three different times
already does the because I don't, I don't follow it

(42:07):
like you do. As far as within the x's and o's,
does the offense drastically change? Is there a Minshew version
of the offense, or does Minshew run the same offense
that Richardson's more or less running.

Speaker 5 (42:16):
There's definitely a Minshew version of the offense. You know,
obviously they are going to cut down on the run options.
They still could use their run pass option concepts a lot,
but you know, obviously you're not going to run a
ton of zone read or counterbash with Minshew back there,
and they're going to be a lot more pass orientated.
And he does a great job of adjusting to either quarterbacks.

(42:38):
So it's a really fun offense to watch and people forget.
Shane Stiken also was responsible for Justin Herbert's rookie year,
which was one of the greatest quarterback rookie years that
we've ever seen. Too, So he's worked with multiple types
of quarterbacks and he's gotten the most out of him.
So to me, he's one of the most underrated offensive

(42:59):
play callers and designers in the league.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
Well now it's his you and AA. For a while there,
it was like, well, you know he's in San Dieg,
but that's also Anthony Lynn's an offensive coach, and you
don't know who's doing well. And then he's in Philly
and Sirianni's an offensive coach, so we're not sure it's
it's him now like this is there's no hey, yeah,
but it's him.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
I'm gonna go McDaniel.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
I know that San Francisco is doing a lot of
fun stuff, but like you tell me, does it seem
even different than last year that Mike has even up
to this game even more? It feels like I'm watching
a CFL offense with all the pre snap motion.

Speaker 6 (43:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (43:30):
No, to me, he's the most creative play caller in
the league. Like, I love watching what he's doing. I
love that little short out motion that they're using now
because last year they were using fly motion to get
Tyreek Hill into full speed and running towards the.

Speaker 6 (43:45):
Line of scrimmage.

Speaker 5 (43:46):
Like you said, it's kind of like the CFL, right,
Like they're getting guys running full speed to line of scrimmage.
But when you're getting when you're running across the center,
the team's going to adjust and the defenses could bring
a safety that side. But now that they're doing it
on the same side, defenses can't adjust because they snapped
the ball and you know, one second and you have
Tyreek Hill running full speed at you. It's a really

(44:07):
tough thing to defend. And they're running all these cracked
toss plays. I've never seen an NFL offense run as
many tosses as they have, and they have one hundred
ways to run them too, you know. So it's it's
really fun to watch, and it's the most copied offense
around the league. Like if you're watching teams around the league,
now they're running that same motion. They're running all this
toss because of of what the Dolphins are doing.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
Here's the next question. If you have one game and
you have two weeks to prepare, say it's a Super Bowl,
say it's just you know, week one, and you want
to get the most creative play caller or maybe the
most decisive play caller out there.

Speaker 2 (44:42):
Who is your pick?

Speaker 1 (44:43):
Who's who you going to war with, Who's going to
be the guy that's going to be downed up for you?

Speaker 6 (44:46):
To me, it's got to be Mike McDaniel.

Speaker 5 (44:48):
I mean, you know, like we talked about the motions
and the toss and I feel like they're taking all
those little wacky things that San Francisco used to do
sometimes and they've turned it into an entire offense, like
the way they use their personnel. They come out in
twenty one personnel, but they'll line up and empty ho
twenty one personnel and they'll line up on these spread

(45:09):
formations and then you never know.

Speaker 6 (45:11):
Exactly who's gonna get the ball.

Speaker 5 (45:13):
You know, the first play the game against the Giants,
they had they came out in thirty one personnel, so
that's three backs, one tight end, one receiver, and then
they motioned Jalen Waddle into the.

Speaker 6 (45:22):
Backfield the reverse.

Speaker 5 (45:25):
Yeah, they take a run to him and they reversed
it to Arcane for a huge game. So it's like
you never know who's gonna have the ball. But at
the end of the day, they're just running two back runs.
But they're doing it with all this window dressing and
world class speed. So it's really fun the way that
they're using their personnel. And I just think that's just
the Dolphin speed and McDaniels just like a marriage made

(45:47):
in heaven.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
I'm going to go to San Francisco, and I know
that's like a variation of you almost feel like ones
is they're like brothers on a branch because they work
together for so long. But the positionless player the amount
of times that you see Deebo Samuel lined up at
running back, or you see Kyle Yustchek lined up at
tight end, or you see Kittle in motion, like I

(46:09):
just don't know how to defend it, and it's finally
all coming together. And what the Niners are doing on
offense this year. They've scored thirty points in every single
NFL game they've played this season. They are winning by
an average of twenty points per game over opponents. And
if you're saying, well, that doesn't really blieve it, think
about point spreads. Think about when you see the lines
every week, you never see a twenty point point spread.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
You never see that.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
It's the largest point spread I think ever in a
history of a game. They're winning by that against good
NFL teams and good NFL offenses and defenses. They've done
that to the Steelers, They've done that to the Cowboys.
I just think he's totally in his bag right now
and perty.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Might be the perfect operator.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
Your thoughts on as someone who was in the Bay
Area covering Kyle since he got there, Your thoughts on
this version the twenty twenty three nine.

Speaker 5 (46:52):
Ers, Yeah, I mean it's Kyle is, you know, the originator,
and I've loved watching his offenses, and like you said,
they were one of the they were the first team
to really do this positionless football thing. And then you
add CMC into the mix, and he's just, you know,
the perfect player to do it because he's so good

(47:14):
as a receiver. They'll line him up, line him up
on the outside, and they'll have him run slug os
and double moves, and you know, you never.

Speaker 6 (47:22):
See that from a team.

Speaker 5 (47:23):
And you know, I think we hear a lot about
coaches always talking about using this great running back, you know,
like b John Robinson or something as a receiver or
Jamier Gibbs as a receiver, and we almost never see
it really.

Speaker 6 (47:36):
Come into fruition.

Speaker 5 (47:37):
Like we'll see it once in a while, but you know,
you don't really see an offense really make it a
huge part of their offense. But with CMC and his
receiving skills, Kyle takes full.

Speaker 6 (47:48):
Advantage of it.

Speaker 5 (47:49):
They line up on the slot, they line him up outside,
and it's a huge problem for defenses to try to
match up with it. And now they have brock Perty
who's just kind of the perfect operator point guard for
this type of offense and it's extremely hard to stop.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
Okay, a couple before we move on to the defensive
side the ball. A lot of fire Matt Canada stuff
out there. I know you follow all this stuff and
you're not looking to fire Matt Canada necessarily, But when
you see an offense that just can't get going like
his in Pittsburgh and then at the end Pickett does
figure it out, do you blame the offensive coordinator? What
do you see when you watch Pittsburgh's offense that is

(48:25):
just sputtering and yet still finding a way to get w's.

Speaker 6 (48:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (48:29):
To me, that offense is one of the offenses in
the league that's underachieving. I feel like they should be
more productive with the talent they have on that offense.
And when I'm watching Matt Canada sometimes I do feel
like his game plans aren't tailored specificating enough against defenses
they're seeing. We're seeing too many of the same concepts

(48:50):
over and over again. Like a Week one when they're
going against the Nine Years, they run kind of this
old school shallow cross concept that Canny Pickett actually, you know,
really likes since college. And I understand that to put
in concepts that your quarterbacks. Like, but then when you're
running that against Fred Warner, which is you know, that's
the the mic linebackers who's designed to.

Speaker 6 (49:12):
Stress, that's not a guy you want to be picking on.

Speaker 5 (49:15):
And they ran eight times against the Niners, and each
time was a disastrous result.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
So I like that result.

Speaker 5 (49:21):
Yeah, Like I don't have the exact stats in front
of me, but the eight times they ran out, I
think they only completed once. He was sacked twice and
intercepted once and almost intercepted another time. So when you
see things like that, it's just, you know, it's hard
not to criticize the offensive coordinator. So yeah, I'm not
a huge fan of Matt Canada's offense.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Okay, So Matt Canada is down another offense that's being
questioned right now, and it's a lot of its skill
position as a team that we saw on Monday night
the Packers, they don't seem to be able to get
anything going either. Your thoughts on Green Bays offense and
is that a Matt Lafleur thing or is that just
there's not enough horses to go and do what they
gotta do.

Speaker 5 (49:58):
Yeah, I'm a fan of Matt Lafleur's play calling and
play designs, and I think right now Jordan Love is
going through some growing pains. They have a lot of offensive
line issues with guys getting hurt and going in and
out of the lineup. And you know, Christiana Watson's just
coming back right now, but Jordan Love is, you know,
he's definitely growing through some growing pains.

Speaker 6 (50:18):
He's missing guys, he's not seeing them.

Speaker 5 (50:21):
Like that last play against the last interception against Raiders, Watson,
you know, he was laid on it. He tried to
scramble and then he tried to throw. Heave it up
and is underthrown. But that should have been a game
winning touchdown. So I don't blame before for the Packers
offensive struggles. I like him as a play designer, play caller,

(50:42):
but right now they're just going through some growing pains
with their quarterback and getting some guys back from injury.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
My last one, you probably watched Sean Payton for twenty
years and marveled at what he was doing in New Orleans.
The offense hasn't been terrible in Denver, but it certainly
isn't a Sean Payton offense. Your thoughts on what's going
on up in Denver and Sean Payton and Russell Wilson.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
Five weeks in.

Speaker 5 (51:01):
I will say that Russell Wilson is playing a lot
better than I thought he would be just based on
watching him last year. So I think Peyton was brought
in to fix that offense, and I think he.

Speaker 6 (51:13):
Has done that. That offense has fixed. I don't think.

Speaker 5 (51:16):
I don't think we're gonna see Russell Wilson play to
the level that he did when he was in Seattle.
I think this is probably the best that they could
get out of him right now.

Speaker 6 (51:25):
He's probably not.

Speaker 5 (51:25):
Going to live up to that contract he has, but
the offense they've built around him works. It's just that
their defense went from a top ten unit last year
to by far the worst defense in the league this year,
and they're having to score, you know, thirty forty points
to keep up with the other teams. So offensively, Sean
Payton's done what he needs to do, but defensively is

(51:48):
just just a total mess right now.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
All right, let's do some more picks here, all right.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
So we talk about offense all the time, and that's
what pays the Bills. On Good Morning Football, NFL Network,
we're talking about the quarterbacks, but gosh, you do a
lot of good film breakdown on defense too. The most
un under appreciated defensive player in the NFL is who
Ted Win.

Speaker 6 (52:11):
I have to say Max Crosby.

Speaker 5 (52:13):
And I know Crosby had a big game on the
national stage last yesterday, so I think people appreciate him
a little bit more after that. But to me, Max
Crosby a guy that should be in a running for
Defensive Player a year. I believe he's second right now.
In pressures, he's one of the best run stopping defensive
ends in the league. I think that's one aspect of

(52:33):
his game that doesn't get talked about enough. He's able
to just recognize whatever plays offenses are running at him
because of his film study, and he's just relentless.

Speaker 6 (52:43):
He has a motor.

Speaker 5 (52:44):
So to me, you know, I think Crosby should be
a runner up in the Defensive Player of the Year race.
And that's why I want to bring his name up here.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
It's great, you know, there's such a long list of
these guys. I'm gonna go with the guy who's local
in my backyard and he's getting a lot of love.
And Jeff Olbrich, the defensive coordinator, said he's the best
linebacker in football and Oldrick he's to coach Fred Warner.
Quincy Williams for the Jets is freaking awesome. Have you
had a chance to watch what Quincy's been doing on
a week to week basis?

Speaker 5 (53:10):
Yeah, I mean he's you know, he's one of the
most physical linebackers in the league, and that's it's fun
to watch. You know, a lot of these guys are
coverage linebackers now, but but Quincy is the.

Speaker 6 (53:20):
Guy that will blow up blocks and you know, a
hit guy. So that's a great pick.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
Very rarely now, is it like there's a hot defensive coordinator.
We always have the hot offensive coordinator. Who's a hot
defensive coordinator or a defensive coordinator? You like watching game
tape from on Monday mornings.

Speaker 6 (53:36):
That's a good question.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
You know.

Speaker 5 (53:38):
I think Patrick Graham is doing a pretty good job
with the Raiders right now that their defense has been
a lot better than people think. And we saw that
against Green Bay last night. And there's not a ton
of talent on the Raiders roster, so he's a good one.
Brian Flores, you know, the Vikings defense is not great
right now, and their roster is obviously very thin. But

(54:02):
I just love watching Brian Flores's defenses because he's so
aggressive and it's such a different field than what a
lot of these other defenses are doing, which is kind
of sitting back in zone trying to stop explosive plays. So,
you know, I want to see what Brian Flores could
do with a little bit more talent, but it's fun
to watch how aggressive that defense is.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
I always enjoy watching Rahie Morris's Rams play because they're
so young, and you're getting stuff from guys like Russ
Yeas and Kobe.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
Durant and Brian Young.

Speaker 1 (54:31):
And you said you did the article with Jordan about
the Rams offense. I think the Rams defense is fascinating
because they lost a slew of talent and yet they
still hold opponents under thirty points. I think Rahie Morris
deserves a lot of credit.

Speaker 6 (54:45):
No, I definitely agree with you.

Speaker 5 (54:46):
And you know they're doing it with two corners that
they picked up off the street, you know, with the
Kilo Witherspoon and Duke Shelley who got cut from the
Raiders before the season. So it's really hard to do,
you know, play defense without really great corners, and right
now the Rams are doing it, so yeah, I think
Moore should get a ton of it as well.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
All Right, a couple more questions that we could do
a little draft picks for it, and then we'll let
you go.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Ted.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
As far as playmakers go, you mentioned McCaffrey. Who's your
favorite guy to watch? Who's the favorite the most dynamic guy,
And then if you were building an offense, it's say,
get me that guy. We can go to work with
that guy who's the offensive playmaker non quarterback that you cherish,
and that maybe on Monday mornings you quickly go and
look and see what he did.

Speaker 5 (55:30):
You know, I think Justin Jefferson is one of my
favorite guys to watch, just his you know, like when
you look at receivers.

Speaker 6 (55:37):
I like watching receivers.

Speaker 5 (55:39):
That have the sceptive body language, so you know, their
their body is telling you they're going to run one way,
but then they break the other way. And Justin Jefferson
is just a master at doing that, and he's so
creative with his route running. He's a really fun guy
to watch and he's just you know, it always seems
like he's beating double teams. And he's getting you know,
twenty yard chunks at a time in an offense where

(56:03):
you know there's not a ton of talent around him
and guys, you know, defenses are able to double team him,
but he still finds a way to make plays I find.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
I mean, I know I mentioned him ten times. I
like Deebo still, like I love watching Deebo film because
he plays so angry and he plays so physically for
a receiver, and then they put him at running back
and I just feel like, as much as we talk
about positionless players and Jamier Gibbs is going to be
that and you know McCaffrey does this and that, Like,
I still feel like Debo's one of one when it

(56:31):
comes to oh wait circle nineteen, he's going to do
something crazy out there and oh he's going to also
lower his shoulder and do it to you.

Speaker 5 (56:38):
Yeah, I mean, his highlight, it's like a watching a
high school high school highlight, you know, where he's just
like overpowering guys of the secondary, running through guys, spinning around.
And I've gotten to watch him, you know, I've had
an opportunity to watch him live a bunch of times.
Obviously with him being on a Niners and it's just
amazing to watch him run through secondary. He's like, he
breaks tackles better than a lot of running backs. So

(57:00):
I absolutely agree, he's a really fun to watch.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
Okay, my last question, and this one always I have
to end on a sour note. The most frustrating offense
in the league the one where you put this film
on you like, I can't.

Speaker 2 (57:10):
I just can't.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
I can't watch all thirty eight snaps of the first
half from the Who's the most frustrating offense that you've
been watching twenty twenty three right now?

Speaker 5 (57:19):
It's the Atlanta Falcons, And it's just because I had
such high expectations for them coming into the season. They
have all those high draft picks Drake London, Kyle Pitts,
b Jhon Robinson, and we know Arthur Smith is a
creative play caller, play designer. But the offense was sputtering
in the beginning of the season. And part of it

(57:39):
is they have some pass protection issues. Desmond Ritter needs development.
But you know, right now, their leading receiver is John
new Smith, you know, so we thought they were gonna
do a lot more with what they have. We thought
they were gonna use b Jon Robinson in a slot
like they were touting all off season. But I will
have to say I watched their game last week against

(58:00):
the Texans, and I was really impressed with Desmond Ritter.

Speaker 6 (58:03):
I mean, you know, I did not expect him to
be really.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
I know, he put up big numbers and had the
drive at the end, but you think he was good.

Speaker 6 (58:11):
Yeah, No, he made some big boy throws downfield.

Speaker 5 (58:14):
He was aggressive, he was accurate, and it was night
and day between the Desert Ritter we saw in the
beginning the season and this game. So it was a
type of game where I thought, you know, maybe he
might have.

Speaker 6 (58:26):
Flipped the switch.

Speaker 5 (58:27):
It wasn't just a game where he was getting lucky
wide open receivers. He was making some legitimate reads, legitimate
downfield throws. So hopefully they turned things around, but they
were one of the most frustrating offenses to watch.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
I hate to pick on a team that's down, obviously,
and now it makes good fodder. But I tried watching
that Patriots Saints game back yesterday. I can't watch that
Patriots offense. And Bill O'Brien is a smart guy. Obviously,
he's got the credentials he knows how to run an offense, Like,
is that thing just da? Is that dead on arrival?

Speaker 6 (58:57):
Yeah? I mean it's right now.

Speaker 5 (58:59):
I think Mac Jones is playing some really bad football,
and I don't want to put it all on him,
but watching that Cowboys game, it just seemed like after
he had that fund that strip sack that went for
a touchdown, it completely changed his mindset. Like there was
times where he had clean pockets and he would try
to scramble out of it. There's time when he had

(59:20):
open receivers he would pass up on it. And there's
protection issues obviously at times, and they don't have a
lot of receiving talent. But it's just right now, it's
just a perfect storm of bad things happening with that
offense where it's like you said, I think it's worse
than the league right now.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
Yeah, Forrey Rap, let's turn the page. I know you
do a lot of draft stuff too. Have you had
a chance to watch any of these college quarterbacks?

Speaker 6 (59:43):
Yet?

Speaker 5 (59:44):
I try not to pay too much attention to college
during the season because I need at least one day
I spend some time with my girlfriend and that day
is Saturday. But I do catch as much Caleb Williams
as I can. And one quarterback that I really like
watching is Michael PENNOCKX.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Yeah, up in Washington.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
So talk about him because I feel like, right now
everyone's so zeroed in on Caleb in May, and yet
there's a bunch of football people in the league who
are like, why is no one talking about Penix? So
give us a little something on Penix up in Washington.

Speaker 5 (01:00:16):
Yeah. So last year, early in the year, I had
no idea who Michael Pennix is was, but I caught
a Washington game I was.

Speaker 6 (01:00:22):
Like, Wow, this guy is really aggressive. He's throwing downfield.

Speaker 5 (01:00:26):
You know, his offense isn't just this little dink and
dunk bubble screen type of offense. He's running some concepts
that translate into the league. And this year he's kind
of you know, he has I think even a better
offense with two receivers that are going to go early
in the draft. He's aggressive. You see all the downfield throws,

(01:00:46):
and he has a kind of a funky throwing motion.
I kind of compare him to Philip Rivers you have
with a little shot put type of motion. Yeah, but
he's still really accurate and he has a really strong arm,
but I love how aggressive he is and how he's
always trying to attack defenses.

Speaker 4 (01:01:03):
Ded.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
This was awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
I really appreciate you waking up early, especially after a
Raiders game last night at Raiders win. Just for the
viewers and listeners at home. Where can we find your
stuff and give us kind of the beats of your
week where we know when we could check your feed,
you're gonna have the best stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:01:19):
Yeah, So you can find me on Twitter at FB
Underscore film Analysis.

Speaker 6 (01:01:22):
I'm always tweeting out clips throughout the week.

Speaker 5 (01:01:25):
Tuesday, I have a column on the Athletic called Cover
seven when I cover coaching decisions I like or dislike.
Later in a week, I have a column about, you know,
a specific team focus that I found interesting. And I
have a YouTube channel with the same Twitter and Twitter name,
so you could check that out too.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Give me one example of a decision you didn't like
this week coaching decision.

Speaker 5 (01:01:48):
Coaching decision I did not like was just the Eagles
overall red zone offense. I just think there's okay, yeah,
And part of it is they're missing the guy that
we're talking about, Sane Stiken, and they're just so dependent
on AJ Brown, you know, back shoulder fades, and they've
gotten kind of vanilla with their run game down there, so.

Speaker 6 (01:02:11):
It's been a problem.

Speaker 5 (01:02:12):
They dropped from third in the league in efficiency in
the red zone to twenty seven this year, and that's
through five games. So I think they need to get
more creative in the red zone, and that's that's something
to watch out for.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
Bigger media is a question for you.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
I'm sorry, I'm not letting you go because you're just
you're really good, and you're spitting out all these stats
and you got all this information.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
Do you get frustrated?

Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
I know, there's like it's easy to throw your you know,
do you get frustrated when you hear people talking about
football on TV who you know, haven't put the work
in or you know, don't watch these teams and are
just talking about them out of their ass? Uh?

Speaker 6 (01:02:45):
Sometimes?

Speaker 5 (01:02:46):
I mean, but I think getting into the media, I
realize how tough this job is now and how tough
it is to be on.

Speaker 6 (01:02:53):
TV every day.

Speaker 5 (01:02:55):
But yeah, once in a while, you hear like a
take that like does not make sense at all, Like
Leo last week. I almost say the name, but I
heard somebody talking about Mike B Daniels all offenses what
like not as not.

Speaker 6 (01:03:09):
Being a creative one.

Speaker 5 (01:03:09):
But I was like, dude, everybody is copying this offense
around the league right now.

Speaker 2 (01:03:13):
It's copying it. Everyone's trying so hard. Yeah, totally.

Speaker 5 (01:03:16):
Yeah, But I do understand it is tough being on
TV every single day. I mean, it's tough doing a
weekly podcast, you know, so you know, I understand there's
not enough time for everyone to watch every single game
like me. But yeah, I mean, if you're gonna have
a hot take, make sure you research it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
That's exactly right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
No one's asking you to know every team, but if
you are asked about a team and you've prepared for it,
you should probably know what you're talking about. Ted, you
know what you're talking about. Everybody, go check out Ted.
Thanks for joining the season with Peter schager Man. I
really appreciated it.

Speaker 6 (01:03:45):
Yeah, no problem, Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Ted Win aaron high school football player turned college student
who at the same time is coaching football, then starts blogging,
and now is one of the leaders in the space.

Speaker 4 (01:03:59):
Pretty cool story, right, Yeah, I and I love some
of his writing. I think when you let us know
that he was going to be the guest this week.
I was geeking out because he has an article if
anyone is looking for something to read from Ted. He
obviously writes things multiple times a week, but back almost
four years ago to the day, back in October of
twenty nineteen, he published an article called how to watch

(01:04:21):
Football like an Expert from the comfort of your couch,
and he talks about it in the interview where he
was explaining this to fifteen year old freshman, like how
to block on the line, and he breaks down passing concepts,
defensive looks, you know, what's the difference between a bubble
screen and an RPO? And he has he explains it

(01:04:42):
so well. These are things I didn't necessarily understand when
I first found the article, and I go back to
it every year to just be like, oh yeah, let
me just like remind myself all these terms. Love that article,
Love Ted, And it was really cool to hear to
hear him talk about the Colts.

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
Offenses being great. I know, I love that. Yeah, he
was great.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
And it's also just a story for those listeners out
there who are like, I'd love to get in your business,
and I'd love to do it, but it's just too
many barriers for entry and there's no way like a
guy from the athletics all his stuff and.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Found him and there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
Now he's a writer on the Athletic and he's going
to have a promising future beyond that, this week's pod
was a blast to do. It's always a blast to
do with you, Erin and of course Jason English here
from the iHeart team, and quick thanks to all the listeners.
Last week's Jason Light podcast when absolutely bonkers.

Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
And whether it was.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
Pat McAfee talking about on his show or it getting
to Baker himself and him commenting on it, that's the
stuff we're looking forward, Trying to have some moments, trying
to make you smarter, trying to give you access to
guests that you wouldn't have otherwise. This is a joy
and I love working with both of you guys on
it here that are in studio with me. With that said,

(01:05:53):
I have to give a little Uber Eats promotion because
guess what Uber eats is now on board.

Speaker 2 (01:05:59):
They're riding with us. How funny is that?

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
Pun the season with Peter Schrager delivering results presented by
Uber Eats, It's time for to live Results presented by Ubreeds.
I'm going to discuss a team or a player that
delivered from this past week's games, and I do it
with a heavy heart because he's now injured. But I
loved watching Devon Chan of the Miami Dolphins yet again

(01:06:24):
put on an absolute show.

Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
The fastest dude in the league.

Speaker 1 (01:06:30):
If not Tyreek Hill, it's him, and watching them against
the Giants, it felt like he was playing at a
different speed.

Speaker 2 (01:06:36):
A rookie who is now second in.

Speaker 1 (01:06:38):
The league in rushing yards at four hundred and sixty
on the year, and this is a guy who I
don't think anyone expected.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
To make the immediate impact he did.

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
I go out with a get well soon as we
know he's going to be missing a couple of weeks.
Got injured at the end of that game, but gosh,
what a lightning rod and he could be the true
difference maker come December and January. For this Miami Dolphins offense,
the last thing they needed was more speed. They got
it in this young man, and the rookie is healing
up right now, but he is the annaw World. The
first winner of the Delivering Results presented by Uber Eats

(01:07:11):
on this podcast and we will do it weekly through
the regular season. We may axtend it through the postseason.
We'll see, and the days might change depending on how
it all goes. But Uber Eats is a new partner
and we're excited to have them and Devon Chen. Hopefully
you can go get some food using your deliverer, Uber Eats,
and you can tell them I was the dude who
won the award on the Season with Peter Schrager.

Speaker 4 (01:07:30):
The good thing is, even if he's injured, he doesn't
have to go anywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:07:33):
Ubert it to him.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
He's got it and give five stars the whole deal.
There you go.

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
That was delivering results presented by Uber Eats, where you
can get almost almost anything. It's the official on demand
delivery partner of the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
So order now. Aaron. On that note, let's get out
of here.

Speaker 1 (01:07:51):
Man. Tell your friends about the podcast. If you like it,
subscribe it helps. We'll see you next week, folks. The

(01:08:12):
Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL
and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Host

Peter Schrager

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

24/7 News: The Latest

Therapy Gecko

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Season with Peter Schrager: The Athletic's Ted Nguyen