January 19, 2015 • 21 mins
Former NFL head coach Brian Billick breaks down Championship Sunday and where the Green Bay Packers went wrong during the Seattle Seahawks comeback victory in the NFC Championship game. Plus, Coach Billick reacts to the most recent coaching hirings including Gary Kubiak signing with the Denver Broncos and John Fox signing with the Chicago Bears.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is NFL dot COM's Coaches Show podcast. Thirty Men Together,
Can't Lose. This is how you lift everybody, that albody.
Now we're going there's a glean man, there's a glean
(00:21):
Welcome to Coach the Show. I'm Brian Billick. My partner
Steve Marucci is off this week. We'll reconnect next week
in Arizona for Super Bowl forty nine. So I'm just
going to kind of freelance today talk a little bit
about what was obviously an unbelievable weekend, or I should
say an unbelievable game with the Seattle Seahawks beating the
Green Bay Packers, less so obviously with the Colts getting
(00:42):
blown out by the Patriots. But as we want to
do on the Coaches Show, let's break down particularly the
Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers and and the much
talked about some of the decisions that the coaches made,
And as we do on this show, I don't want
to focus necessarily on the outcome. I want to talk
more a little bit about the thought process that goes
through the coach's minds. Obviously, at the end of the day,
(01:03):
as we always say on this show, if it worked,
you were right. If it didn't, you're the village idiot
and can always be scrutinized. And today Monday, after the game,
obviously everybody scrutinizing many of the decisions that Mike McCarthy
made in the game, and let's kind of take them
in order as we start out. Obviously, you could not
have orchestrated a better start if you're a Green Bay
(01:25):
Packer fan given the way that the Seattle Seahawks kind
of flopped around. The biggest question asking people are asking,
are when you had an opportunity inside the five yard
line in two separate series, as Mike McCarthy and the
Green Bay Packers did, to just settle for field goals.
Now on the road, playing a team as good at
defense as the Seattle Seahawks, it's really easy to say no, absolutely,
(01:48):
at some point they should have gone for a touchdown
on the anticipation obviously that this was gonna be a
tough area to get down to, that it was gonna
be a relatively low scoring game. And having said that,
I think that at is probably correct. If I were
in the same situation, I don't know if I had
kicked both field goals, I might have done one just
to get on the board, but the second time I
(02:09):
might have taken a shot at the touchdown not knowing
if I was going to be down there or not. Now,
let's remember that's in hindsight. That's easy for us to
look and say the way Seattle flopped around in the
first half to miss those opportunities, But Mike McCarthy doesn't
know that. He didn't know that Seattle's offense was going
to have this turnover fest in the way that they did. Uh.
The one thing that you could second guests, or I
(02:30):
should say, agree with Mike McCarthy as the game unfolded,
and as we get to the end of the game,
with obviously the botched on side kick return that they
had had that worked, had they indeed executed that properly,
you could actually go back and make a heck of
a case that Mike McCarthy made the right decision and
holding on to the points, because indeed that was just
(02:52):
enough for them to get the win on the road.
But typically those kind of conversations you have during the
course of the week, you don't tell you. You don't
wait to actually get to the game and say, well,
what are we gonna do if we need two points
early in the game to get a point separation, or
if we're gonna need it at the end of the
game to tie or win. What if we have to
get into a fourth down situation, are we gonna go
(03:14):
for it on fourth down deep in the red zone?
Because you have to consider the opponent you're playing. Some
would say on the road against a very good defense
like the Seattle Seahawks, you have to maximize every opportunity.
I'll be honest with you with you, when they went
for the field goal on the second time, I texted
my production assistant Taylor Jones and said, this is gonna
(03:34):
cost the Green Bay Packers the game. I felt like
bypassing the chance to get a touchdown down in that situation,
to be that conservative could eventually cost them the game,
but not in the way it actually unfolded, because Seattle
obviously continue to struggle for three quarters are almost you know,
four quarters of the game, So certainly you could second
(03:54):
guess that a lot of people will second guess the
conservative play calling. I will also say this about goal line,
and we've talked about it many, many times. When you're
facing a team on goal line, plays that's plays inside
the three, the two, or the one. Defensively, you've got
to sell out. You have to make the call clearly,
I'm going to commit all levin to stopping what I
think is going to be a run, or I have
(04:17):
to make a defensive call that prepares for the possibility
of maybe a play action pass. You can't do both.
It's why when you sell out for the run and
we see a play action pass so often and everybody
runs the same play. They put somebody usually tied into
the corner of the end zone, they put somebody in
the flat and you look up and the guy is
absolutely open, no one within ten yards of them. We say,
(04:38):
how can that happen? Because there's a defense, You either
sell out to stop the run or you anticipate a
play action pass. So it really does come down to
the play caller, and you don't have a lot of
information to draw your decisions on. So clearly Green Bay
made the decision we're gonna pound this thing in Seattle
made the correct a correct decision in terms of selling
(04:58):
out all out to stop the runt. If it had
gone either way, if they had play action passed, I
guarantee if someone would have been wide open, but you
don't know that until after the fact, So criticizing the
actual play calling down on the goal line, most people
would be interested to know at the end of the
year the number of goal line plays you actually run
inside the five yard line in that situation are are
(05:20):
less than a couple dozen on an entire year. So
you really don't have a lot of data to go
back and look at your opponent and say what do
they do in these situations? It is literally a guessing game,
and in this instance Seattle guest right, and Mike McCarthy
and the Green Bay Packers probably guess wrong. Uh. And
as you move along during the game, obviously Seattle just
could not get its bearing defensively. It was adequate. Obviously
(05:45):
the interceptions that that that Russell Wilson throw not all
of his doing, some of the balls being tipped, but
less fast forward now to the end of the game,
and I and not even the end of the game.
Let's get uh, let's talk about as we get into
the third quarter on the flips the score sixteen to nothing,
there's ten minutes and fifty three seconds uh to start
(06:05):
to drive for the Seattle Seahawks, and as we all know,
they drive the ball down, they get to a fourth
and ten, and they end up running the fake field goal.
That was quite a call by Pete Carroll. Again, let's
size up the situation there, down sixteen nothing, their offense
has done nothing to this point, and the reason he
went ahead and went forth. You could have settled for
the three again conventionally thinking let's get points on the board,
(06:28):
let's just kind of stem the tide. But that would
have left a thirteen point differential, a two score differential.
Now that's to score being two touchdowns obviously, and uh
and and and giving you the opportunity to go ahead
by getting the seven points. Now that now that makes
a nine point differential. Yeah, it's still two scored you differential,
(06:49):
but that's a touchdown and a field goal. And the
way the game had been going and the lack of
productivity by your offense that was that would have been
a huge and indeed was a huge difference for Seattle.
So again in this instance where he was obviously being
a little more aggressive than Mike McCarthy. With a fourth
and ten on the nineteen yard line, obviously they felt
(07:10):
it was something they could get. Green Bay obviously having
a tough special team's day, as we would find out
later in the day, by not anticipating that that field goal,
this might have been a position for just that. Let's
go to to the on side kick and let's talk
about how something like that happens, and and the poor
man Bostic course is getting beat up on a regular basis,
(07:31):
and the coach and me it was very frustrating to
watch because and I wrote about it on NFL dot
Com that it's frustrating as a coach when you've got
to know when you're talking about better than than a
hundred and twenty uh practices that you're gonna have during
the course of the season twice as many meetings. A
large portion of that is always going to include special teams.
(07:55):
Every special teams meeting that addresses on side kicks for
every team said junior high to high school to major
college to the NFL. On when you defense an on
side kick, what you know is going to be an
on side kick. With all the innovation that goes on
in this league, one thing that doesn't change, it's how
you prepare to defense on on side kick. The front
(08:17):
lines job is always to take on the front line
of defenders that are rushing down on the kickoff. You
put your best hands people as they did with Jordy
Nelson in the second level. Your front level is to
take out those that are trying to blow up the
kick trying to blow up and whoever catches the ball
block across the board. You have one on one assignments
(08:39):
across the board and then you let a Jordy Nelson,
who is very good at this, catch the ball cover up.
You take control and it's inconceivable that at the two
minute mark that Seattle could have won the game, if
indeed Green Bay would have maintained possession of the game.
What made Bostick the fourth string tight end? And keep
in mind that the Green Bay back Packers carry more
(09:02):
tight ends and more linebackers than any team in the
National Football League. And here's the reason why Mike McCarthy
and Ted Thompson very much believe they want that body type,
that six three six four six five two two D
fifty type body, fifty pound body type that plays tight
end linebacker. One. One of the biggest reasons is so
(09:23):
that you have depth on special teams. With those types
of athletes, they tend to be your best athletes. And
again Bostick is there. He's a young man, undrafted free
agent out of Newberry College. It's been in the league
a couple of years, hasn't played a whole lot, so
his primary focus each week is on special teams. And
I promise you, Coach Slocum, the special teams coach for
(09:44):
the Green Bay Packers, had covered this a million times.
Your job on the front line at six five, two
hundred fifty pounds is to take out the front line
on rushing kickoff team. Let Jordy Nelson do his job.
What possessed Bostick to peel out of that assignment and
to think he could could go up and get the ball.
(10:05):
You can see why there was a frustration on the
part of Mike Lombardi or Mike McCarthy and Coach Slocum,
the special team's coach, because I've always said there's two
types of players that can't do what I can't play
for me, the one that can't do what he's told
and the one that can only do what he's told.
And in this situation, he needed to maintain what his
responsibility was and let Jordy Nelson do his job. Going forward,
(10:29):
and this is where I think the Seattle Seahawks separated
themselves from the green Bay Packers, because in that situation,
you cannot think about the consequences of what are happening.
You can't think about four and five plays ahead or
oh my gosh. In the case of green Bay, they
played like a team that was thinking, oh my gosh,
what happens if they go to the length of the field.
(10:50):
Oh my gosh, what happens if they go for two points?
What are we gonna do? You have got to take
one play at a time, And even for Pete Carroll
and the Seattle Seahawks, it can't be Okay, what are
we gonna do if we score? What are we gonna
do if we get the two points? That's for Pete
Carroll to address. This team looked like a team that
was very focused on We're gonna take this one play
(11:10):
at a time. We're gonna get the on side kick,
and then we're gonna run this plan. We're gonna run
the speed option. And then once they saw Russell Wilson
in the in the uh touchdown for the touchdown after
the read option after faking the give to Marshawn Lynch,
they knew exactly what two point play they wanted to
run and the way they executed it. Green Bay looked
(11:30):
shocked that they were gonna go for two points and
the energy level and you can understand it, they've just
been hit in the gut this game. They're going to
the super Bowl if they recover an onside kick, which
happens about eight five percent of the time. Anytime there
is an onside kick in that situation, they're going to
the super Bowl. So it was like a hit in
the gut that they had found themselves in this situation
(11:52):
and they were shell shocked. Remember a couple of years
ago when the Denver Broncos had given up they were
going to the super Bowl. They were playing the Baltimore Ravens.
The game was done, they gave up, kind of the
Hail Mary passed at the end of the game. They
were in shock. They had an opportunity to drive down
the field, but they took the knee three times. Because
John Fox said, at that point, we were like a
punch a punch drunk boxer. We were shell shocked. We
(12:16):
needed to regroup and and then obviously got into the
overtime and loss and Baltimore went on to win the
Super Bowl. Well, Green Bay was shell shocked. They were
that punch drunk boxer. They were reeling. They didn't know
what they were doing, as evidence by the drive down
the field and the two point play. They regrouped themselves
obviously to go down the field, which you give them
great credit for. Uh. Aaron Rodgers, the great quarterback that
(12:39):
he is, puts them in position obviously to get down
the field and kick the field goal. Now at that point,
you can see there's any number of things that said, well,
you wouldn't have been in that position. The field goal
would have been the field goal to win the game
if you had gone for a touchdown instead of a
three point earlier in the game. Now, in hindsight, those
questions by Mike mccarth three earlier in the game are
(13:01):
much more legitimate. But there's no way you could have
spun the circumstances going forward knowing that this late in
the game, this was gonna be uh. The events, and
you've got to give Aaron Rodgers the Green Bay Packers
great great points for for rebounding, putting together a brilliant drive.
They obviously have a great deal of faith in Cosby,
(13:22):
and he had done a great or Crosby, excuse me,
a great deal of faith in him even in those
circumstances in Seattle, a swirling wind, a wet, heavier ball. Um,
so you give him great chance, a great credit for
kind of rebounding to it. But then this is where
the greatness of Russell Wilson. And this is something that
even though he played very poorly and people are saying, well,
(13:43):
he almost he kind of swallowed the owl of in
this situation, the drive that he put together again now,
particularly the last play to go into zero coverage with
nobody in the middle of the field, to not allow
for the deep pass by Russell Wilson, who you know
is capable of that. Under Russell Wilson, particularly when it's
time to throw the ball, has been one of the
(14:03):
more explosive teams to go zero safety and to try
to put pressure on You could certainly question that call
by Dom Capers, which is in sharp contrast to the
third and twelve where he rushed only three and let
Russell Wilson convert on the third and long to lead
to a touchdown drive later uh in the game. Um, yeah,
(14:23):
you can second guess some of those calls as well.
But obviously you take nothing away from the Seattle Seahawks
and what they were able to do to orchestrate one
of the great come from behind wins down by twelve
in the fourth quarter, Pete Carroll doing a phenomenal job
and keeping his team focused as a championship pedigree, and
certainly Mike McCarthy and the Green Bay Packers. As Aaron
(14:45):
Rodgers said after the game, um, this is one that's
gonna stick with you for a while because they know
better than anybody just how much has to go into
you being in that championship game. Goes all the way
back to in the offseason, the acquisitions you make, the draft,
the mind numbing and fatiguing uh training camp that you
go through, all the preparation in the games, and the
(15:08):
ups and downs the playoff run itself. To get in
that situation and come up short, that doesn't go away
very readily. Let's move on quickly to the Colts and
the Patriots. Obviously less to talk about the Patriots overwhelming
the Indianapolis Colts. We had the question coming in would
they be able to run the ball on them the
way they did in week eleven when they just literally
(15:30):
manhandled them. People thought rightfully, So the Indianapolis Colts, we're
gonna play better, play better defense. They couldn't on the
road against the New England Patriots, Bill Pelichick once again
orchestrating a brilliant offensive and defensive game plan. Uh you
can you can't say enough about the championship pedigree. And
that's why Bill Belichick now has more wins in the
(15:52):
playoffs than any coach in the history of this league's
or passing Tom Landry while he and uh Tom Brady
are now going into their sixth Super Bowl together again unpresidented.
Gonna be a fascinating matchup between the Patriots and the
Seattle Seahawks. And here's the thing that interests me the most.
And we'll talk more about this next week obviously, but
(16:13):
usually we kind of do a playoff or a super Bowl,
we're looking at two teams that one or both teams,
it's well, how are they going to perform in the
unique circumstance of the extra by week all the different
week that it is going to be down in Arizona,
whether it's the head coach being there for the first time,
the quarterback, the team as a whole. How they're going
to change this change in schedule, How are they going
(16:34):
to deal with it? You don't have that with these
two teams. Seattle is coming off as reigning super Bowl champs.
They know exactly how these two weeks are to be orchestrated.
New England, as we talked about, the powers that be
at the top have been through this enough. They will
handle it. This this two week period is gonna be
nothing if just about the game itself against two coaches
(16:55):
that obviously have the pedigree as championship coaches. I think
it's gonna be a fascinating match up. The chess match
of what Seattle, who's pretty straightforward, and what they do defensively,
they don't do a lot defensively, and frankly, they don't
do a lot offensively. Their fundamentally sound and they straight
to stay true to their personality, where Bill Belichick and
the New England Patriots you really don't know what you're
(17:17):
getting from week to week offensively or defensively. It's gonna
be a fascinating matchup to see where we go with it.
I don't want to get away from this and without
talking about we're in the all the coaches have virtually
been hired now with the coaching changes that are available,
only the Atlanta Falcons are left open. And even that,
even though they haven't officially hired him, they're going for
(17:39):
their second interview with Dan Quinn this week with the
Seahawks the defensive coordinator. I think what that really is
is to sit down saying, look, this is your job.
Who do you want us to go after to put
your staff together? Little duplus this, But the league kind
of turns a blind eye to it because as we knew,
most of these coaches were gonna be hired by this week.
Why because this is the week everybody's down in Mobile
(18:01):
for the Senior Bowl. This is where the coaches go
down and able to put their staffs together, and it's
gonna be a mad dash for coordinators and assistant coaches.
Let's run down real quickly what has been done. Gary
Kubiak is going to go to the Denver Broncos obviously
for obvious reasons. John Elway and Kubiak very close to
one another. Kubiak is a backup quarterback to Elway, coach
(18:22):
for there better than ten years. This is exactly what
John Elway had in mind when he let John Fox go.
The question is does Peyton Manning want to come back
and indeed change his style of play? And I think
that's what they're gonna ask him to do in Denver
under Gary Kubiak. John Fox aforementioned is going to go
to the Chicago Bears. Um very close to the new
general manager because of his relationship with New Orleans Saints
(18:45):
and John Peyton. That's how it works in this league
right now, these two will work together. John Fox has
got a bit of a challenge to him that defense
literally has to start from scratch on defense. And the
question is what's your quarterback situation? Does he believe in
Jay Color or is he gonna start there? Jim Thomasula
taking over for the forty Niners. Trent Belki, the new
(19:05):
general man or the general manager there, got just what
he wants. He got a foot soldier that's been there before.
Belki's in total charge of this and he's got a
guy that's not going to rock the boat and do
exactly what Trent Belki tells him to do and hire
exactly who Trent Belki tells him to hire, Rex Ryan
or Man. But with the Buffalo Bills, and I give
some of these teams great credit for reaching out. You
look at the Buffalo Bills fourth and total defense, you're thinking, well,
(19:28):
why do they need Rex Ryan, a defensive master up
there when they're that good on defense? Because they just
hired a good head coach. They believe in his enthusiasm.
Uh and and that's why they went ahead and hired him,
even though conventional thinking says maybe they would hire an
offensive guy. Jack what del Rio was going to the
Oakland Raiders again, a former head coach with defensive expertise.
(19:49):
He's coming into a very interesting job because it looks
like they've got their quarterback situation set with Derek Carr.
Jack del Rio with a second go around, I think
he'll do an excellent job. Todd Bowles, the excellent defensive coordinator,
UH is going to go from the Cardinals obviously, uh
is found an excellent job with the New York Jets.
There again, you would think, as good as they are defensively,
(20:10):
why did you hire a defensive guy? But I give
the Jets credit, just like the Bills, they went out
and hired what they thought will be the best head coach,
not just some offensive or defensive guru. And in terms
of Seattle, there again you can you can look at
it um and this one kind of makes sense. Dan
Quinn kind of a very much uh similar to Gus Bradley,
(20:31):
the Jacksonville Jaguars coach that came from Seattle, excellent defensive mind.
Falcons obviously think they need a defensive coach, although I
will question that because as good as I think dan
Quinn is, and he's outstanding, I've coached a lot of
good defensive coaches. I've been with some good ones. Tony
Dungee obviously, I've been with Rex Ryan, I've been with
Jack del Rio, Marvin Lewis, Mike Smith and Mike Nolan,
(20:52):
who were on my staffs before, are as good as
any defensive coaches in this league, and no dispect to
dan Quinn, they're equally as good. Dan Quinn's gonna have
to go in and make sure if you're gonna be better,
it's not gonna be because the scheme. You better get
some defensive person personality there, and some defensive personnel because
Thomas Dimitro has left that covered absolutely bare. So interesting
(21:14):
weeks since we go forward. I hope you enjoyed this
kind of monologue. I hope you didn't get tired of
me just droning on. Obviously, this bye week is always interesting.
We'll crank it up next week as we get ready.
So for some great insight going into Super Bowl forty nine,
where the Seattle Seahawks will take on the New England Patriots.
Also make sure to check me on Friday nights at
(21:35):
eight pm Eastern Time for Playbook Prime Time, where I
John joined Shaun O'Hare and Sterling Sharp will break down
everything about this Super Bowl. You don't want to miss it.
This is NFL dot COM's Coaches Show podcast. Thirty Men Together,
Can't Lose. This is how you lift everybody, that albody.
Now we're going there's a glean man, there's a glean
(00:21):
Welcome to Coach the Show. I'm Brian Billick. My partner
Steve Marucci is off this week. We'll reconnect next week
in Arizona for Super Bowl forty nine. So I'm just
going to kind of freelance today talk a little bit
about what was obviously an unbelievable weekend, or I should
say an unbelievable game with the Seattle Seahawks beating the
Green Bay Packers, less so obviously with the Colts getting
(00:42):
blown out by the Patriots. But as we want to
do on the Coaches Show, let's break down particularly the
Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers and and the much
talked about some of the decisions that the coaches made,
And as we do on this show, I don't want
to focus necessarily on the outcome. I want to talk
more a little bit about the thought process that goes
through the coach's minds. Obviously, at the end of the day,
(01:03):
as we always say on this show, if it worked,
you were right. If it didn't, you're the village idiot
and can always be scrutinized. And today Monday, after the game,
obviously everybody scrutinizing many of the decisions that Mike McCarthy
made in the game, and let's kind of take them
in order as we start out. Obviously, you could not
have orchestrated a better start if you're a Green Bay
(01:25):
Packer fan given the way that the Seattle Seahawks kind
of flopped around. The biggest question asking people are asking,
are when you had an opportunity inside the five yard
line in two separate series, as Mike McCarthy and the
Green Bay Packers did, to just settle for field goals.
Now on the road, playing a team as good at
defense as the Seattle Seahawks, it's really easy to say no, absolutely,
(01:48):
at some point they should have gone for a touchdown
on the anticipation obviously that this was gonna be a
tough area to get down to, that it was gonna
be a relatively low scoring game. And having said that,
I think that at is probably correct. If I were
in the same situation, I don't know if I had
kicked both field goals, I might have done one just
to get on the board, but the second time I
(02:09):
might have taken a shot at the touchdown not knowing
if I was going to be down there or not. Now,
let's remember that's in hindsight. That's easy for us to
look and say the way Seattle flopped around in the
first half to miss those opportunities, But Mike McCarthy doesn't
know that. He didn't know that Seattle's offense was going
to have this turnover fest in the way that they did. Uh.
The one thing that you could second guests, or I
(02:30):
should say, agree with Mike McCarthy as the game unfolded,
and as we get to the end of the game,
with obviously the botched on side kick return that they
had had that worked, had they indeed executed that properly,
you could actually go back and make a heck of
a case that Mike McCarthy made the right decision and
holding on to the points, because indeed that was just
(02:52):
enough for them to get the win on the road.
But typically those kind of conversations you have during the
course of the week, you don't tell you. You don't
wait to actually get to the game and say, well,
what are we gonna do if we need two points
early in the game to get a point separation, or
if we're gonna need it at the end of the
game to tie or win. What if we have to
get into a fourth down situation, are we gonna go
(03:14):
for it on fourth down deep in the red zone?
Because you have to consider the opponent you're playing. Some
would say on the road against a very good defense
like the Seattle Seahawks, you have to maximize every opportunity.
I'll be honest with you with you, when they went
for the field goal on the second time, I texted
my production assistant Taylor Jones and said, this is gonna
(03:34):
cost the Green Bay Packers the game. I felt like
bypassing the chance to get a touchdown down in that situation,
to be that conservative could eventually cost them the game,
but not in the way it actually unfolded, because Seattle
obviously continue to struggle for three quarters are almost you know,
four quarters of the game, So certainly you could second
(03:54):
guess that a lot of people will second guess the
conservative play calling. I will also say this about goal line,
and we've talked about it many, many times. When you're
facing a team on goal line, plays that's plays inside
the three, the two, or the one. Defensively, you've got
to sell out. You have to make the call clearly,
I'm going to commit all levin to stopping what I
think is going to be a run, or I have
(04:17):
to make a defensive call that prepares for the possibility
of maybe a play action pass. You can't do both.
It's why when you sell out for the run and
we see a play action pass so often and everybody
runs the same play. They put somebody usually tied into
the corner of the end zone, they put somebody in
the flat and you look up and the guy is
absolutely open, no one within ten yards of them. We say,
(04:38):
how can that happen? Because there's a defense, You either
sell out to stop the run or you anticipate a
play action pass. So it really does come down to
the play caller, and you don't have a lot of
information to draw your decisions on. So clearly Green Bay
made the decision we're gonna pound this thing in Seattle
made the correct a correct decision in terms of selling
(04:58):
out all out to stop the runt. If it had
gone either way, if they had play action passed, I
guarantee if someone would have been wide open, but you
don't know that until after the fact, So criticizing the
actual play calling down on the goal line, most people
would be interested to know at the end of the
year the number of goal line plays you actually run
inside the five yard line in that situation are are
(05:20):
less than a couple dozen on an entire year. So
you really don't have a lot of data to go
back and look at your opponent and say what do
they do in these situations? It is literally a guessing game,
and in this instance Seattle guest right, and Mike McCarthy
and the Green Bay Packers probably guess wrong. Uh. And
as you move along during the game, obviously Seattle just
could not get its bearing defensively. It was adequate. Obviously
(05:45):
the interceptions that that that Russell Wilson throw not all
of his doing, some of the balls being tipped, but
less fast forward now to the end of the game,
and I and not even the end of the game.
Let's get uh, let's talk about as we get into
the third quarter on the flips the score sixteen to nothing,
there's ten minutes and fifty three seconds uh to start
(06:05):
to drive for the Seattle Seahawks, and as we all know,
they drive the ball down, they get to a fourth
and ten, and they end up running the fake field goal.
That was quite a call by Pete Carroll. Again, let's
size up the situation there, down sixteen nothing, their offense
has done nothing to this point, and the reason he
went ahead and went forth. You could have settled for
the three again conventionally thinking let's get points on the board,
(06:28):
let's just kind of stem the tide. But that would
have left a thirteen point differential, a two score differential.
Now that's to score being two touchdowns obviously, and uh
and and and giving you the opportunity to go ahead
by getting the seven points. Now that now that makes
a nine point differential. Yeah, it's still two scored you differential,
(06:49):
but that's a touchdown and a field goal. And the
way the game had been going and the lack of
productivity by your offense that was that would have been
a huge and indeed was a huge difference for Seattle.
So again in this instance where he was obviously being
a little more aggressive than Mike McCarthy. With a fourth
and ten on the nineteen yard line, obviously they felt
(07:10):
it was something they could get. Green Bay obviously having
a tough special team's day, as we would find out
later in the day, by not anticipating that that field goal,
this might have been a position for just that. Let's
go to to the on side kick and let's talk
about how something like that happens, and and the poor
man Bostic course is getting beat up on a regular basis,
(07:31):
and the coach and me it was very frustrating to
watch because and I wrote about it on NFL dot
Com that it's frustrating as a coach when you've got
to know when you're talking about better than than a
hundred and twenty uh practices that you're gonna have during
the course of the season twice as many meetings. A
large portion of that is always going to include special teams.
(07:55):
Every special teams meeting that addresses on side kicks for
every team said junior high to high school to major
college to the NFL. On when you defense an on
side kick, what you know is going to be an
on side kick. With all the innovation that goes on
in this league, one thing that doesn't change, it's how
you prepare to defense on on side kick. The front
(08:17):
lines job is always to take on the front line
of defenders that are rushing down on the kickoff. You
put your best hands people as they did with Jordy
Nelson in the second level. Your front level is to
take out those that are trying to blow up the
kick trying to blow up and whoever catches the ball
block across the board. You have one on one assignments
(08:39):
across the board and then you let a Jordy Nelson,
who is very good at this, catch the ball cover up.
You take control and it's inconceivable that at the two
minute mark that Seattle could have won the game, if
indeed Green Bay would have maintained possession of the game.
What made Bostick the fourth string tight end? And keep
in mind that the Green Bay back Packers carry more
(09:02):
tight ends and more linebackers than any team in the
National Football League. And here's the reason why Mike McCarthy
and Ted Thompson very much believe they want that body type,
that six three six four six five two two D
fifty type body, fifty pound body type that plays tight
end linebacker. One. One of the biggest reasons is so
(09:23):
that you have depth on special teams. With those types
of athletes, they tend to be your best athletes. And
again Bostick is there. He's a young man, undrafted free
agent out of Newberry College. It's been in the league
a couple of years, hasn't played a whole lot, so
his primary focus each week is on special teams. And
I promise you, Coach Slocum, the special teams coach for
(09:44):
the Green Bay Packers, had covered this a million times.
Your job on the front line at six five, two
hundred fifty pounds is to take out the front line
on rushing kickoff team. Let Jordy Nelson do his job.
What possessed Bostick to peel out of that assignment and
to think he could could go up and get the ball.
(10:05):
You can see why there was a frustration on the
part of Mike Lombardi or Mike McCarthy and Coach Slocum,
the special team's coach, because I've always said there's two
types of players that can't do what I can't play
for me, the one that can't do what he's told
and the one that can only do what he's told.
And in this situation, he needed to maintain what his
responsibility was and let Jordy Nelson do his job. Going forward,
(10:29):
and this is where I think the Seattle Seahawks separated
themselves from the green Bay Packers, because in that situation,
you cannot think about the consequences of what are happening.
You can't think about four and five plays ahead or
oh my gosh. In the case of green Bay, they
played like a team that was thinking, oh my gosh,
what happens if they go to the length of the field.
(10:50):
Oh my gosh, what happens if they go for two points?
What are we gonna do? You have got to take
one play at a time, And even for Pete Carroll
and the Seattle Seahawks, it can't be Okay, what are
we gonna do if we score? What are we gonna
do if we get the two points? That's for Pete
Carroll to address. This team looked like a team that
was very focused on We're gonna take this one play
(11:10):
at a time. We're gonna get the on side kick,
and then we're gonna run this plan. We're gonna run
the speed option. And then once they saw Russell Wilson
in the in the uh touchdown for the touchdown after
the read option after faking the give to Marshawn Lynch,
they knew exactly what two point play they wanted to
run and the way they executed it. Green Bay looked
(11:30):
shocked that they were gonna go for two points and
the energy level and you can understand it, they've just
been hit in the gut this game. They're going to
the super Bowl if they recover an onside kick, which
happens about eight five percent of the time. Anytime there
is an onside kick in that situation, they're going to
the super Bowl. So it was like a hit in
the gut that they had found themselves in this situation
(11:52):
and they were shell shocked. Remember a couple of years
ago when the Denver Broncos had given up they were
going to the super Bowl. They were playing the Baltimore Ravens.
The game was done, they gave up, kind of the
Hail Mary passed at the end of the game. They
were in shock. They had an opportunity to drive down
the field, but they took the knee three times. Because
John Fox said, at that point, we were like a
punch a punch drunk boxer. We were shell shocked. We
(12:16):
needed to regroup and and then obviously got into the
overtime and loss and Baltimore went on to win the
Super Bowl. Well, Green Bay was shell shocked. They were
that punch drunk boxer. They were reeling. They didn't know
what they were doing, as evidence by the drive down
the field and the two point play. They regrouped themselves
obviously to go down the field, which you give them
great credit for. Uh. Aaron Rodgers, the great quarterback that
(12:39):
he is, puts them in position obviously to get down
the field and kick the field goal. Now at that point,
you can see there's any number of things that said, well,
you wouldn't have been in that position. The field goal
would have been the field goal to win the game
if you had gone for a touchdown instead of a
three point earlier in the game. Now, in hindsight, those
questions by Mike mccarth three earlier in the game are
(13:01):
much more legitimate. But there's no way you could have
spun the circumstances going forward knowing that this late in
the game, this was gonna be uh. The events, and
you've got to give Aaron Rodgers the Green Bay Packers
great great points for for rebounding, putting together a brilliant drive.
They obviously have a great deal of faith in Cosby,
(13:22):
and he had done a great or Crosby, excuse me,
a great deal of faith in him even in those
circumstances in Seattle, a swirling wind, a wet, heavier ball. Um,
so you give him great chance, a great credit for
kind of rebounding to it. But then this is where
the greatness of Russell Wilson. And this is something that
even though he played very poorly and people are saying, well,
(13:43):
he almost he kind of swallowed the owl of in
this situation, the drive that he put together again now,
particularly the last play to go into zero coverage with
nobody in the middle of the field, to not allow
for the deep pass by Russell Wilson, who you know
is capable of that. Under Russell Wilson, particularly when it's
time to throw the ball, has been one of the
(14:03):
more explosive teams to go zero safety and to try
to put pressure on You could certainly question that call
by Dom Capers, which is in sharp contrast to the
third and twelve where he rushed only three and let
Russell Wilson convert on the third and long to lead
to a touchdown drive later uh in the game. Um, yeah,
(14:23):
you can second guess some of those calls as well.
But obviously you take nothing away from the Seattle Seahawks
and what they were able to do to orchestrate one
of the great come from behind wins down by twelve
in the fourth quarter, Pete Carroll doing a phenomenal job
and keeping his team focused as a championship pedigree, and
certainly Mike McCarthy and the Green Bay Packers. As Aaron
(14:45):
Rodgers said after the game, um, this is one that's
gonna stick with you for a while because they know
better than anybody just how much has to go into
you being in that championship game. Goes all the way
back to in the offseason, the acquisitions you make, the draft,
the mind numbing and fatiguing uh training camp that you
go through, all the preparation in the games, and the
(15:08):
ups and downs the playoff run itself. To get in
that situation and come up short, that doesn't go away
very readily. Let's move on quickly to the Colts and
the Patriots. Obviously less to talk about the Patriots overwhelming
the Indianapolis Colts. We had the question coming in would
they be able to run the ball on them the
way they did in week eleven when they just literally
(15:30):
manhandled them. People thought rightfully, So the Indianapolis Colts, we're
gonna play better, play better defense. They couldn't on the
road against the New England Patriots, Bill Pelichick once again
orchestrating a brilliant offensive and defensive game plan. Uh you
can you can't say enough about the championship pedigree. And
that's why Bill Belichick now has more wins in the
(15:52):
playoffs than any coach in the history of this league's
or passing Tom Landry while he and uh Tom Brady
are now going into their sixth Super Bowl together again unpresidented.
Gonna be a fascinating matchup between the Patriots and the
Seattle Seahawks. And here's the thing that interests me the most.
And we'll talk more about this next week obviously, but
(16:13):
usually we kind of do a playoff or a super Bowl,
we're looking at two teams that one or both teams,
it's well, how are they going to perform in the
unique circumstance of the extra by week all the different
week that it is going to be down in Arizona,
whether it's the head coach being there for the first time,
the quarterback, the team as a whole. How they're going
to change this change in schedule, How are they going
(16:34):
to deal with it? You don't have that with these
two teams. Seattle is coming off as reigning super Bowl champs.
They know exactly how these two weeks are to be orchestrated.
New England, as we talked about, the powers that be
at the top have been through this enough. They will
handle it. This this two week period is gonna be
nothing if just about the game itself against two coaches
(16:55):
that obviously have the pedigree as championship coaches. I think
it's gonna be a fascinating match up. The chess match
of what Seattle, who's pretty straightforward, and what they do defensively,
they don't do a lot defensively, and frankly, they don't
do a lot offensively. Their fundamentally sound and they straight
to stay true to their personality, where Bill Belichick and
the New England Patriots you really don't know what you're
(17:17):
getting from week to week offensively or defensively. It's gonna
be a fascinating matchup to see where we go with it.
I don't want to get away from this and without
talking about we're in the all the coaches have virtually
been hired now with the coaching changes that are available,
only the Atlanta Falcons are left open. And even that,
even though they haven't officially hired him, they're going for
(17:39):
their second interview with Dan Quinn this week with the
Seahawks the defensive coordinator. I think what that really is
is to sit down saying, look, this is your job.
Who do you want us to go after to put
your staff together? Little duplus this, But the league kind
of turns a blind eye to it because as we knew,
most of these coaches were gonna be hired by this week.
Why because this is the week everybody's down in Mobile
(18:01):
for the Senior Bowl. This is where the coaches go
down and able to put their staffs together, and it's
gonna be a mad dash for coordinators and assistant coaches.
Let's run down real quickly what has been done. Gary
Kubiak is going to go to the Denver Broncos obviously
for obvious reasons. John Elway and Kubiak very close to
one another. Kubiak is a backup quarterback to Elway, coach
(18:22):
for there better than ten years. This is exactly what
John Elway had in mind when he let John Fox go.
The question is does Peyton Manning want to come back
and indeed change his style of play? And I think
that's what they're gonna ask him to do in Denver
under Gary Kubiak. John Fox aforementioned is going to go
to the Chicago Bears. Um very close to the new
general manager because of his relationship with New Orleans Saints
(18:45):
and John Peyton. That's how it works in this league
right now, these two will work together. John Fox has
got a bit of a challenge to him that defense
literally has to start from scratch on defense. And the
question is what's your quarterback situation? Does he believe in
Jay Color or is he gonna start there? Jim Thomasula
taking over for the forty Niners. Trent Belki, the new
(19:05):
general man or the general manager there, got just what
he wants. He got a foot soldier that's been there before.
Belki's in total charge of this and he's got a
guy that's not going to rock the boat and do
exactly what Trent Belki tells him to do and hire
exactly who Trent Belki tells him to hire, Rex Ryan
or Man. But with the Buffalo Bills, and I give
some of these teams great credit for reaching out. You
look at the Buffalo Bills fourth and total defense, you're thinking, well,
(19:28):
why do they need Rex Ryan, a defensive master up
there when they're that good on defense? Because they just
hired a good head coach. They believe in his enthusiasm.
Uh and and that's why they went ahead and hired him,
even though conventional thinking says maybe they would hire an
offensive guy. Jack what del Rio was going to the
Oakland Raiders again, a former head coach with defensive expertise.
(19:49):
He's coming into a very interesting job because it looks
like they've got their quarterback situation set with Derek Carr.
Jack del Rio with a second go around, I think
he'll do an excellent job. Todd Bowles, the excellent defensive coordinator,
UH is going to go from the Cardinals obviously, uh
is found an excellent job with the New York Jets.
There again, you would think, as good as they are defensively,
(20:10):
why did you hire a defensive guy? But I give
the Jets credit, just like the Bills, they went out
and hired what they thought will be the best head coach,
not just some offensive or defensive guru. And in terms
of Seattle, there again you can you can look at
it um and this one kind of makes sense. Dan
Quinn kind of a very much uh similar to Gus Bradley,
(20:31):
the Jacksonville Jaguars coach that came from Seattle, excellent defensive mind.
Falcons obviously think they need a defensive coach, although I
will question that because as good as I think dan
Quinn is, and he's outstanding, I've coached a lot of
good defensive coaches. I've been with some good ones. Tony
Dungee obviously, I've been with Rex Ryan, I've been with
Jack del Rio, Marvin Lewis, Mike Smith and Mike Nolan,
(20:52):
who were on my staffs before, are as good as
any defensive coaches in this league, and no dispect to
dan Quinn, they're equally as good. Dan Quinn's gonna have
to go in and make sure if you're gonna be better,
it's not gonna be because the scheme. You better get
some defensive person personality there, and some defensive personnel because
Thomas Dimitro has left that covered absolutely bare. So interesting
(21:14):
weeks since we go forward. I hope you enjoyed this
kind of monologue. I hope you didn't get tired of
me just droning on. Obviously, this bye week is always interesting.
We'll crank it up next week as we get ready.
So for some great insight going into Super Bowl forty nine,
where the Seattle Seahawks will take on the New England Patriots.
Also make sure to check me on Friday nights at
(21:35):
eight pm Eastern Time for Playbook Prime Time, where I
John joined Shaun O'Hare and Sterling Sharp will break down
everything about this Super Bowl. You don't want to miss it.
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