January 28, 2015 • 20 mins
Former NFL head coaches Brian Billick and Steve Mariucci preview the Super Bowl XLIX matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots. Plus, they recall their own Super Bowl experiences.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Thirty men together, can't lose. This is how you lift
all men. How anybody that nobody don't. We're going there's
a glee. Man, there's a glee. Welcome to Arizona side
of Super Bowl forty nine, where we have the special
Super Bowl edition of the Coaches Show. I'm Brian Billick.
(00:23):
This is Steve Mariucci. And first off, how about these dicks.
We normally do this in the closet in Culver City.
It's pretty good we do. And this is a sad
day because it's our last one. Unless they make us
do a few more, we might parlay this into a
little bit. It's been fun all year though. Brian, Let's
start with us. This is the Coaches Show, and I
think maybe the most intriguing matchup, as biased as I
might be, is between these two coaches, Bill Belichick and
(00:44):
Pete Carroll. Let's talk a little bit about these coaches
how they got here. Let's begin with Bill Belichick. You
can look at the graphic here. I mean what this
guy has been able to do. First, he's the third
oldest coach national football. That's okay, we're two old guys.
We can see that when you think about and you
look at the resume of Bill Belichick. When I say
Bill Belichick, what's the first going to come to mind?
(01:06):
Whoa winner? Uh? Businesslike? Right, consistent. He's been there for
so long and does the same thing, and he has
the same look on his face regardless of what generation
he happens to be coaching. He's been coaching for forty years,
and he's got quite a resume, you know, not just
as a head coach, but as a coordinator and as
(01:26):
a position coach and a special team's coach, the whole thing.
He's earned his stripes, and boy has he been successful.
And to me what jumps out is when you last
that long, which is just so unique in this league.
The way he has transformed his teams. You know, whether
it's on offense, on defense, They're gonna run the ball,
We're gonna throw the ball. They're gonna be a three four,
they're gonna be a four or three. They're gonna be
(01:46):
a pressure team, they're gonna be a zone team. Just
the ability to adapt to whatever personnelity can put together.
That flexibility is is the thing that jumps out at me. Now,
a contemporary of his, oddly enough, again one of our
generation guys you're not quite there yet. Their baby boomer
you're not. You're not you're not in yet, but yeah,
you're getting close. But Pete Carroll also of that generation.
(02:08):
And again you look at Pete Carroll's resume, Uh, things
jump out at you when you look at this listen
with Pete Carroll's resume. Obviously a little bit different. Both
of these guys where the boy geniuses kind of crashing
and burned on their first job, come back, reinvent theirself. Obviously,
what Pete Carroll's done when he left the league, came back,
all that he's done at SC and now what he's
built in Seattle. For me, when I think of Pete
(02:30):
Carroll again compared to a Bill Belichick, different style, that
passion that's always there. Obviously is competent, good defensive mind,
great defensive mind, but that constant energy that he has
for his players on the sideline, that's probably the thing
that jumps out of me that I admire him doing
it to say, you know, I look at him too,
and that gun, oh boy, he's wearing. This guy's high
energy now type A plus personality and really in a
(02:52):
lot of ways to me, their contrasting styles. Yes, they're
both six plus, they're both defensive minded coaches growing up
right there. Uh, but Pete is more of the if
you ever watched his practice, I went up there and
did some interviews with him and Russ and and he's
got the music playing at practice, and he did that
at SC and it's more of a college like environment,
(03:13):
and he's it's been very good for him. Bill, on
the other hand, is musing business right to contrasting styles.
But the results are very Absolutely. I wrote about it
on NFL dot Com earlier in the week because I
was intrigued by just how they got there and what
these matchups are with regarding one another. And you're right,
because when you look at it, you break it down again.
Both kind of the same age, got here the same way,
(03:35):
failed in that first job, got the second opportunity, both
based on defense. Uh. Obviously, the personality on these guys.
Pete has never saw Mike. He's like me, never saw
a microphoney. Didn't like he's Joe cool. He's California cool. Right.
Bill is physically in pain. Herophon like, oh my god.
He just you could tell. It's like he's having an
Aneurysm anytime he has to hip on the podium. But
(03:56):
what jumps out at me is that similar to these guys,
I think they're absolutely ruthless in the approach to the game,
what they demanded their teams, and also in terms of
whatever changes we gotta make. You know, Peach known as
the players coach. But at the end of the day,
no matter who, I love you, man, but if I
got to go bring someone else to do your job,
I'll do it. In the second and the structure of
the organizations, I guess they're a little bit similar. You
(04:17):
probably wrote about this too, but you've got head coaches
that are also in charge of personnel decisions for the
most part, maybe more so billed Now, Pete's got John
Schneider right there, and that's a good marriage because they
see building that team in the same light and and
so they've made hundreds of moves to get to where
they are right now over the last couple of years.
(04:37):
But they John Schneider, who was groomed by a braun Wolf,
Uh and Pete boy, they worked well together. And Uh,
certainly they've got they've got all these players that were
not early draft picks like that are performing very very well.
It's selecting players, drafting players, but yet player development is
game over there. The other thing that jumps out of me,
and I wrote about it in the piece, was that
(04:59):
and you and I have been head coaches, We've been coordinators,
we've been head coaches that have called plays, And I
think Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick show us a sign
of coaches over the last little bit. Nothing against those
that called plays as head coaches. Mike McCarthy's brilliant, Sean
Payton's brilliant. But I think both these guys are the
prototypical their head coaches. They leave it to their coordinators
to orchestrate the game plan. They're involved in all of it,
(05:21):
make no mistake. But I think we saw in the
Green Bay game where Mike McCarthy, who's an outstanding coach,
had to be so mindful of, Okay, what's my next place, sequence,
what's the next place? That I call Pete Carroll on
the by contract is making sure offense, defense, special teams
all integrated going forward. Being the true head coach, I
think is the key to these two guys success. So
(05:41):
when you get back into it in a couple of
years from now you've got uh huh to somebody else.
I remember your mentor Mike Holmgren said, you know what,
I enjoy it too much. I enjoy and I get
that we both enjoyed that. But I think the best
head coaches in this league today are the ones that
orchestrate as head coaches, not thinking that they can do
it all. Absolutely, let somebody else do it, and then
(06:02):
I'm listening to see if I want to do something different.
Let's talk about coaching decisions or the X factors in
the game. Um, let's talk about the defensive backs and
the way because there are a contrasting style and the
way these guys interesting matchups. Yeah, Seattle is obviously the
more predictable. They don't do a lot different. They're big physical.
Obviously in New England with Rivas and Brandon Browner, you
(06:25):
really don't know what you're gonna get their more matchup
If you want to go away from Revas, if you
gotta find them first, you want to go away from Sherman,
just go down the middle of the left because he's
gonna be over there and there. Let's talk about that
matchups in the difference in these secondary you know that's
what we we we had, We had Richard Sherman in
the studio when they had their bye week, and he's
a smart guy and articulate guy and very challenged. We
all know that. And we asked them, Richard, why don't
(06:45):
you travel with the best receiver like Dion Sander did
or or or Revas does. He says, because that would
be an insult to the other corner over there. Byron
Maxwell was very capable of holding down the left side
against anybody. So that's their mindset, it's it is it arrogant,
that's their style. They just say, whoever shows up against
that other corner, he's gonna get shut down as well.
(07:05):
So you know, we we watched that, and he's gonna
stay over there on the left side and cover whoever. Heck,
the Green Bay Packers don't even throw against him in
the first game, and let's give let's give Pete Carroll Ford,
We're we're gonna do the combine and then the draft
coming up, and how many times are we gonna talk
about playing long dbs playing long? And Carroll invented that
because before you know, the six two six three six
four guy that he all got in the fifth and
(07:26):
sixth round, that ability to play how difficult it is
to drop a ball over a guy with long arms
that can play long. Pete's kind of invented that in
terms of these dbs, and he's been able to man
that unique style of play with fifth and sixth round
draft choices. Now everybody's looking at that player that can
play long. Yeah, and and so let's change the subject
about another X factor because the dB matchups is really
(07:47):
gonna be key in this game. But the other thing
that surprises me about about a Bill Belichick coach team is,
you know he's got he's he's got an offense and
the defense that are very good, but you know he's
gonna use some trick plays too. And we've seen all
these sub institutions. Right here on second down in one,
you've got six offensive lineman and Cameron Fleming reported I
am eligible, meaning he's playing tight end, but they stopped
(08:08):
him right here and go to third down in one
and really he should have come out of the game,
but he didn't. You'll see Nate Soler over here as
the left tackle is eligible. Brandon the Fell will take
two through here and and on the play action fakes,
Solder blocks who slips out in the flat. Watch four
points of pressure right there. He puts it in the
end zone on a sixteen yard touchdown, Brian. So there's
(08:30):
been some trickery with this, Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniel's offense,
the double passes the sixth lineman, and you've got guys
reporting in and out. I think the Competition committee is
gonna start looking at this because the officials actually missed this.
This should have been a penalty in this game. It
was a touchdown in a in a blowout game. But
(08:51):
but anyway, I'm gonna be watching that substitution in this
game to see how much they try to do it.
Is it to deceive the opponent or is it just
that's how the to play off Seattle plays. We just
talked about house basic Seattle is in the secondary and
their defense configuration. I don't know that we'll see a
lot of it because they're not gonna trick Seattle because
Seattle pretty much lines up fairly static and base. I
(09:11):
don't know that the trick would show up as easily
as teams that are gonna try to match up and
play more man and whatever. Well, we're just getting started
here on the Coach Show. We're gonna come back and
talk about what it is to coach in these big games,
how you prepare, how it's different. We're also going to
talk about some other key matchups here in Super Bowl
forty nine. Here's my question, though, I mean, you've labeled
(09:33):
a sensationalizing you said you're disappointed in the media. You've
called us three, three or four different names already. What
is your purview that you could stand up there and
tell too on your people? How do their jaws is
that I have the podium and you all are here
to listen to me? Next question? Yeah, naturally endared myself
to the media when I when I in our Super
(09:54):
Bowl thirty five press conference Land Monday, basically called them
ambulance chasers. Remember it was the Ray Lewis situation, and
I had to get control of how we were going
to go forward. What do you think if you who
you laugh when you saw I did? Huh? I did?
You were good? You know what? That? Then? That Super
Bowl I think back on it. Unfortunately I had the
(10:15):
team that could back it up. They had a lot
of veteran presidents. The big key was how do you
handle that week? We and we had the Ray Lewis situation.
We kind of draw the line of sand. But I
had I had the right leadership. That was the key
going up to it that I had a Ray Lewis
and a Shannon Sharp and a Trent Dilfer and at
Rod Woodson and I had some It was obviously against
a good friend, Jim Foustle, which hadded a whole another
(10:36):
dimension to it, but I had this was such a
dominating team. My most vivid memory is every team we played,
I knew they had no idea that they weren't gonna
be able to run the ball against us. We played
the Oakland Raiders in the a f C Championship game.
They led the NFL in rushing, and I knew they
weren't going to get a yard. And I knew that
obviously in the Super Bowl game that the New York
(10:56):
Giants weren't gonna be able to run the ball and
that was going to shock them and throw them off emotionally.
It was a heck of a game, obviously a memorial experience.
Uh and and get you you played in an NFC
championship game, talk about you know your approach and how
do you approach that big game. Yeah, I had no
Super Bowl, so I had three championship games, but one
(11:16):
is the head coach right there again, you know, get
Mike Home grind. You've got Mike Home right here and
has ninety seven And they had been the Super Bowl
champs the year before and we were the number one
scene years older. Yeah, you know, I had no stress
until Steve Young showed up looking at that guy and
it was raining. It was raining that game, and bred
Farv was in his prime. He had three m vps
(11:39):
in a row, and they came into our place and
they beat us, and I was unable to go to
that Super Bowl. Uh. And it's just devastating that you
get so close but you don't go. You can't go,
Brian and uh, because that's why we do this right,
not only get to the super Bowl, but when the
darn thing. And three times I fell short in that
championship game. So I want to ask you something because
(12:01):
I heard Mike Holmbrin say to this day he is
still not seen his Super Bowl loss tape to the
Pittsburgh Steelers. Have you had have you looked at those losses?
Did you ever go back and looks coached was in
the playoffs for the San Francisco forty Niners in the
second round against Tampa Bay and they beat us and
they went on to win the Super Bowl. I have
(12:23):
yet to see that, Dape. I don't want to see it. Yeah,
I know, I'm Yeah, it's and I don't know that
people can fully appreciate. First off, why you know, why
would I watch? Because I'm just gonna get mad. Sat
reminds me about it every day anyway, Yeah, I bet
she does. It's like Mike McCarthy. I told I've been saying,
half jokingly, if you need Mike McCarthy, call him any
time in the night for the next couple of months,
because he's gonna be up. Given what happened in Seattle.
(12:46):
Let's move on. Let's talk about, uh, the X factors,
the key matchup. H go what obviously, what's the biggest matchup?
MS you think, I'll tell you it was big. And
that guy's named Bronk and and so did you see
his press conference. He's ends and he's singing, he's doing
he's a character. I love that guy. But Gronk against
the Seattle defense, Now, you know, you try to find
(13:07):
a weakness in any scheme offense, defense or special teams. Well,
the Seattle defense has given up eleven touchdowns too. Tight
ends now different reasons. If you go by back and
look at him, it's against the safety, it's against zone coverage,
it's in the red zone, it's not in red zone.
But they've get him up Levin and here comes Gronk,
who is the beast of all tight ends, right, and
(13:28):
so this is gonna be an interesting matchup. How will
Seattle try to cover him in the first You know,
two years ago, they had Cam Chancellor early in the game,
came down in the box and covered him man and
man a little bit. But you know what, Gronk won
a couple of those, especially on play action passed Brian,
where you know, Cam Chancellor is in the box and
he's peaking at the run right at him, and there
(13:50):
goes Gronk and he's a step behind. And so they
start covering in different ways. So I'm anxious to see
how Seattle we'll try to take away Gronk with multiple
coverage of safeties, linebackers, man zone, the whole thing. Let
me tell you what I think Seattle's to do, and
I gotta begin. We do a lot of radio interviews
here on Radio Row and I had it nailed yesterday.
I did in New York station, and I said, simple,
(14:12):
put Jamie Collins on. Gronk be a great member of
Dalias Thomas we used to have, We used to he
played literally every position. Then I realized, well, man, if
they're on the same team, so that's not gonna do
Seattle a litty good get so confused talking about these players.
But I think you you hit the nail on the
head the physicality of the Seattle Seahawk defense. They're all physical.
So I'm not sure that the New England Patriots and
(14:34):
even Gronkowski and everything you're saying about him, it is
absolutely true. But you know, and then maybe it's just
coach speak they're saying about We're not worried about this
is just the way we match up. You said earlier.
How Richard Sherman says, Look, that's a disservice to say,
I gotta travel with a guy. Because we think Maxwell,
we think Earl Thomas, we think Cam Chancellor. They are
all so physical. They may have a great deal of
confidence that no matter how they end up on it,
(14:56):
they may come up and that will be something that
New England Patriots aren't used to have to deal with
an entire secondary. They may have one guy that can
match up physically with Gronk, but all of them that
will be willing to come up and rock him. And
then obviously you can get right and you can get
Wagner to come over and jam and do those things
that we see, they'll move Gronk out. But I think
the strength and size of the secondary and Seattle as
(15:16):
a whole that may take some getting used to. For uh,
New England, there's a matchup. I want to talk about
both these guys. We talked about beast mode with Marshall.
Both of these guys got some big beasts. You know,
you're talking about Legarrett Blunt that they can literally bludge
in the defense with. I think the interior of the
defensive line for the Seattle Seahawks is a little vulnerable
(15:39):
because I think they can go ahead and pound away
with Lea Garrett Blunt all right and and have a
big effect on it. But my question is what about
the Max The matchup of Max under the under the
center for the Saddle Seahawks. Is he gonna handle Dens
Walver or is this gonna be where a game where
Marshawn Lynch is limited, which would clearly affect the game plan.
(15:59):
I think Max Hunger is one of, if he's healthy,
one of the best centers in the league. But Vince Wolfwork, boy,
that's alone to run at on the inside, Yeah it is,
and they do move Vince around a little bit. So Mac, Now,
Max missed the game and he's got to come back healthy.
But you know, in this offensive line, Max Hunger is
the only guy that didn't give up a sack this year.
(16:20):
I mean, this guy solid. He's a terrific player. And
so you know, they're good at he's good at past protection.
They're certainly good at run blocking because there they lead
the league hundred and seventy two yards a game in
the run game. So he's the leader of that guy.
He helps make the calls with Russ and and so
Max Hunger is a key. Now, Vince wilf Work can
play a good percentage of the snaps, you know, defensive
(16:42):
tackles there. You know, they play six or whatever that is.
It'll be interesting to see how many times Vince is
on Max. I want to move on to our predictions.
It first got to ask you because everybody's talking about.
You think, I just think that New England is so sound,
assignment sound. Do you think the read option bothers New England?
You think Russell Wilson gonna be able to get him?
You know, yeah, because they do it well. They do
(17:04):
it at out of multiple formations and personnel groups, and
I think Russell Wilson will fool them at times. It's uh,
you know, it's the read option. I don't see a
lot of read option with a pitch back in the
National Football League. But they have what they have the
past to the outside guys done that and they stepped
out and came forward already, So that's what you gotta watch.
And course the Patriots will be preparing for that. But
(17:28):
there's an element of surprise and execution that and that's
where I think of Bill Belichick coach discipline team. I
was surprised by Green Bay. You know how it is.
You got to have the end guy either he takes
the dive and the scrape linebacker takes the pitch or
the other way around. Green Bay seemed hesitant. I don't
think the New England Patriots we hesitant. I think they'll
be assignment sound. They'll attack the dive, have a guy
(17:50):
for the pitch. I think they're gonna put enough people
in the box to stop Marshawn Lynch. Fill the rush
lanes because think they'll match up with Dare I say
the pedestrian receivers. Don't say that. I'm just repeating what
you said. Um, I'll be I will be very disappointed
if indeed New England gives up a lot of yardage
on the read option. Okay, I'm gonna put you on.
I'm gonna ask you. Then we're gonna predict this game, right, Okay,
(18:13):
I'm gonna I know it just gets it. But it
sounds to me like you're going you're leaning towards I
think Seattle. I just said you're going to stop them.
You know what I'm doing. I said Seattle all last week.
So I'm gonna gonna officially say New England this week.
So next week gonna come back and say, oh yeah,
I predicted, right. I just think, Ah, And here's here's
my biggest reason. You know my toxic You know how
(18:34):
much I love my toxic. Turnover Differential explodes play differential.
They're both very good and turnover differential. New England's not
very explosive league and big plays. They're pretty big players
that tend to fifteen yard level. Seattle is actually pretty good.
Tom Brady and the Newham Patriots are second league in
ten play drives or more. I just can't see them
doing that a lot against the Seattle Seahawk defense. I
(18:55):
don't know if they can get the big place down
the field. I'm gonna go with Seattle, Okay, So I'm
gonna agree with you ten and I'm gonna go today.
I have I reserved the right to change my mind
tomorrow for some other show, all right. But because this
game is, this is such a matchup that's a coin
fit to me, right Because I have this argument with
Warren Sapp because he says defenses don't win championships, And
(19:16):
I go, what sap your defense? When you a championship?
Because you're right there too. And you know when this
when we play the Super Bowl, Brian, when the when
we have a team that's number one in scoring defense
playing in the Super Bowl. They're thirteen and three. Okay,
but let me add this. If they're number one in
scoring defense and number one in total defense, which means
(19:39):
you are Didge, they're undefeated. They don't lose for six
and oh so right now, what we have is that
great defense again. We saw it last year's Super Bowl
against the best offense that was ever assembled with Peyton
Manning and the Broncos. So right now today as we
sit on this white leather couch, I'm gonna go with
Seattle because of that great defense. There's no chance it's
(20:00):
like last year one sided. Yeah, I just did this.
This is who We didn't think that. Yeah, we didn't.
You know, we we'll change our well, we'll just set
tape a second version of this and say it's gonna
be a blowout so we could say every God, folks,
thank you so much for joining us all year on
the Coaches Show. I'm gonna see if I can talk
Stephen and doing this all year long, I don't think
we're gonna be able to do it. We absolutely loved it,
giving you the coach's perspective to what goes on in
(20:23):
the game. Uh, you can always go do it at
NFL now or at NFL dot com. Thanks so much
for joining us. We'll see you again next year.
Thirty men together, can't lose. This is how you lift
all men. How anybody that nobody don't. We're going there's
a glee. Man, there's a glee. Welcome to Arizona side
of Super Bowl forty nine, where we have the special
Super Bowl edition of the Coaches Show. I'm Brian Billick.
(00:23):
This is Steve Mariucci. And first off, how about these dicks.
We normally do this in the closet in Culver City.
It's pretty good we do. And this is a sad
day because it's our last one. Unless they make us
do a few more, we might parlay this into a
little bit. It's been fun all year though. Brian, Let's
start with us. This is the Coaches Show, and I
think maybe the most intriguing matchup, as biased as I
might be, is between these two coaches, Bill Belichick and
(00:44):
Pete Carroll. Let's talk a little bit about these coaches
how they got here. Let's begin with Bill Belichick. You
can look at the graphic here. I mean what this
guy has been able to do. First, he's the third
oldest coach national football. That's okay, we're two old guys.
We can see that when you think about and you
look at the resume of Bill Belichick. When I say
Bill Belichick, what's the first going to come to mind?
(01:06):
Whoa winner? Uh? Businesslike? Right, consistent. He's been there for
so long and does the same thing, and he has
the same look on his face regardless of what generation
he happens to be coaching. He's been coaching for forty years,
and he's got quite a resume, you know, not just
as a head coach, but as a coordinator and as
(01:26):
a position coach and a special team's coach, the whole thing.
He's earned his stripes, and boy has he been successful.
And to me what jumps out is when you last
that long, which is just so unique in this league.
The way he has transformed his teams. You know, whether
it's on offense, on defense, They're gonna run the ball,
We're gonna throw the ball. They're gonna be a three four,
they're gonna be a four or three. They're gonna be
(01:46):
a pressure team, they're gonna be a zone team. Just
the ability to adapt to whatever personnelity can put together.
That flexibility is is the thing that jumps out at me. Now,
a contemporary of his, oddly enough, again one of our
generation guys you're not quite there yet. Their baby boomer
you're not. You're not you're not in yet, but yeah,
you're getting close. But Pete Carroll also of that generation.
(02:08):
And again you look at Pete Carroll's resume, Uh, things
jump out at you when you look at this listen
with Pete Carroll's resume. Obviously a little bit different. Both
of these guys where the boy geniuses kind of crashing
and burned on their first job, come back, reinvent theirself. Obviously,
what Pete Carroll's done when he left the league, came back,
all that he's done at SC and now what he's
built in Seattle. For me, when I think of Pete
(02:30):
Carroll again compared to a Bill Belichick, different style, that
passion that's always there. Obviously is competent, good defensive mind,
great defensive mind, but that constant energy that he has
for his players on the sideline, that's probably the thing
that jumps out of me that I admire him doing
it to say, you know, I look at him too,
and that gun, oh boy, he's wearing. This guy's high
energy now type A plus personality and really in a
(02:52):
lot of ways to me, their contrasting styles. Yes, they're
both six plus, they're both defensive minded coaches growing up
right there. Uh, but Pete is more of the if
you ever watched his practice, I went up there and
did some interviews with him and Russ and and he's
got the music playing at practice, and he did that
at SC and it's more of a college like environment,
(03:13):
and he's it's been very good for him. Bill, on
the other hand, is musing business right to contrasting styles.
But the results are very Absolutely. I wrote about it
on NFL dot Com earlier in the week because I
was intrigued by just how they got there and what
these matchups are with regarding one another. And you're right,
because when you look at it, you break it down again.
Both kind of the same age, got here the same way,
(03:35):
failed in that first job, got the second opportunity, both
based on defense. Uh. Obviously, the personality on these guys.
Pete has never saw Mike. He's like me, never saw
a microphoney. Didn't like he's Joe cool. He's California cool. Right.
Bill is physically in pain. Herophon like, oh my god.
He just you could tell. It's like he's having an
Aneurysm anytime he has to hip on the podium. But
(03:56):
what jumps out at me is that similar to these guys,
I think they're absolutely ruthless in the approach to the game,
what they demanded their teams, and also in terms of
whatever changes we gotta make. You know, Peach known as
the players coach. But at the end of the day,
no matter who, I love you, man, but if I
got to go bring someone else to do your job,
I'll do it. In the second and the structure of
the organizations, I guess they're a little bit similar. You
(04:17):
probably wrote about this too, but you've got head coaches
that are also in charge of personnel decisions for the
most part, maybe more so billed Now, Pete's got John
Schneider right there, and that's a good marriage because they
see building that team in the same light and and
so they've made hundreds of moves to get to where
they are right now over the last couple of years.
(04:37):
But they John Schneider, who was groomed by a braun Wolf,
Uh and Pete boy, they worked well together. And Uh,
certainly they've got they've got all these players that were
not early draft picks like that are performing very very well.
It's selecting players, drafting players, but yet player development is
game over there. The other thing that jumps out of me,
and I wrote about it in the piece, was that
(04:59):
and you and I have been head coaches, We've been coordinators,
we've been head coaches that have called plays, And I
think Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick show us a sign
of coaches over the last little bit. Nothing against those
that called plays as head coaches. Mike McCarthy's brilliant, Sean
Payton's brilliant. But I think both these guys are the
prototypical their head coaches. They leave it to their coordinators
to orchestrate the game plan. They're involved in all of it,
(05:21):
make no mistake. But I think we saw in the
Green Bay game where Mike McCarthy, who's an outstanding coach,
had to be so mindful of, Okay, what's my next place, sequence,
what's the next place? That I call Pete Carroll on
the by contract is making sure offense, defense, special teams
all integrated going forward. Being the true head coach, I
think is the key to these two guys success. So
(05:41):
when you get back into it in a couple of
years from now you've got uh huh to somebody else.
I remember your mentor Mike Holmgren said, you know what,
I enjoy it too much. I enjoy and I get
that we both enjoyed that. But I think the best
head coaches in this league today are the ones that
orchestrate as head coaches, not thinking that they can do
it all. Absolutely, let somebody else do it, and then
(06:02):
I'm listening to see if I want to do something different.
Let's talk about coaching decisions or the X factors in
the game. Um, let's talk about the defensive backs and
the way because there are a contrasting style and the
way these guys interesting matchups. Yeah, Seattle is obviously the
more predictable. They don't do a lot different. They're big physical.
Obviously in New England with Rivas and Brandon Browner, you
(06:25):
really don't know what you're gonna get their more matchup
If you want to go away from Revas, if you
gotta find them first, you want to go away from Sherman,
just go down the middle of the left because he's
gonna be over there and there. Let's talk about that
matchups in the difference in these secondary you know that's
what we we we had, We had Richard Sherman in
the studio when they had their bye week, and he's
a smart guy and articulate guy and very challenged. We
all know that. And we asked them, Richard, why don't
(06:45):
you travel with the best receiver like Dion Sander did
or or or Revas does. He says, because that would
be an insult to the other corner over there. Byron
Maxwell was very capable of holding down the left side
against anybody. So that's their mindset, it's it is it arrogant,
that's their style. They just say, whoever shows up against
that other corner, he's gonna get shut down as well.
(07:05):
So you know, we we watched that, and he's gonna
stay over there on the left side and cover whoever. Heck,
the Green Bay Packers don't even throw against him in
the first game, and let's give let's give Pete Carroll Ford,
We're we're gonna do the combine and then the draft
coming up, and how many times are we gonna talk
about playing long dbs playing long? And Carroll invented that
because before you know, the six two six three six
four guy that he all got in the fifth and
(07:26):
sixth round, that ability to play how difficult it is
to drop a ball over a guy with long arms
that can play long. Pete's kind of invented that in
terms of these dbs, and he's been able to man
that unique style of play with fifth and sixth round
draft choices. Now everybody's looking at that player that can
play long. Yeah, and and so let's change the subject
about another X factor because the dB matchups is really
(07:47):
gonna be key in this game. But the other thing
that surprises me about about a Bill Belichick coach team is,
you know he's got he's he's got an offense and
the defense that are very good, but you know he's
gonna use some trick plays too. And we've seen all
these sub institutions. Right here on second down in one,
you've got six offensive lineman and Cameron Fleming reported I
am eligible, meaning he's playing tight end, but they stopped
(08:08):
him right here and go to third down in one
and really he should have come out of the game,
but he didn't. You'll see Nate Soler over here as
the left tackle is eligible. Brandon the Fell will take
two through here and and on the play action fakes,
Solder blocks who slips out in the flat. Watch four
points of pressure right there. He puts it in the
end zone on a sixteen yard touchdown, Brian. So there's
(08:30):
been some trickery with this, Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniel's offense,
the double passes the sixth lineman, and you've got guys
reporting in and out. I think the Competition committee is
gonna start looking at this because the officials actually missed this.
This should have been a penalty in this game. It
was a touchdown in a in a blowout game. But
(08:51):
but anyway, I'm gonna be watching that substitution in this
game to see how much they try to do it.
Is it to deceive the opponent or is it just
that's how the to play off Seattle plays. We just
talked about house basic Seattle is in the secondary and
their defense configuration. I don't know that we'll see a
lot of it because they're not gonna trick Seattle because
Seattle pretty much lines up fairly static and base. I
(09:11):
don't know that the trick would show up as easily
as teams that are gonna try to match up and
play more man and whatever. Well, we're just getting started
here on the Coach Show. We're gonna come back and
talk about what it is to coach in these big games,
how you prepare, how it's different. We're also going to
talk about some other key matchups here in Super Bowl
forty nine. Here's my question, though, I mean, you've labeled
(09:33):
a sensationalizing you said you're disappointed in the media. You've
called us three, three or four different names already. What
is your purview that you could stand up there and
tell too on your people? How do their jaws is
that I have the podium and you all are here
to listen to me? Next question? Yeah, naturally endared myself
to the media when I when I in our Super
(09:54):
Bowl thirty five press conference Land Monday, basically called them
ambulance chasers. Remember it was the Ray Lewis situation, and
I had to get control of how we were going
to go forward. What do you think if you who
you laugh when you saw I did? Huh? I did?
You were good? You know what? That? Then? That Super
Bowl I think back on it. Unfortunately I had the
(10:15):
team that could back it up. They had a lot
of veteran presidents. The big key was how do you
handle that week? We and we had the Ray Lewis situation.
We kind of draw the line of sand. But I
had I had the right leadership. That was the key
going up to it that I had a Ray Lewis
and a Shannon Sharp and a Trent Dilfer and at
Rod Woodson and I had some It was obviously against
a good friend, Jim Foustle, which hadded a whole another
(10:36):
dimension to it, but I had this was such a
dominating team. My most vivid memory is every team we played,
I knew they had no idea that they weren't gonna
be able to run the ball against us. We played
the Oakland Raiders in the a f C Championship game.
They led the NFL in rushing, and I knew they
weren't going to get a yard. And I knew that
obviously in the Super Bowl game that the New York
(10:56):
Giants weren't gonna be able to run the ball and
that was going to shock them and throw them off emotionally.
It was a heck of a game, obviously a memorial experience.
Uh and and get you you played in an NFC
championship game, talk about you know your approach and how
do you approach that big game. Yeah, I had no
Super Bowl, so I had three championship games, but one
(11:16):
is the head coach right there again, you know, get
Mike Home grind. You've got Mike Home right here and
has ninety seven And they had been the Super Bowl
champs the year before and we were the number one
scene years older. Yeah, you know, I had no stress
until Steve Young showed up looking at that guy and
it was raining. It was raining that game, and bred
Farv was in his prime. He had three m vps
(11:39):
in a row, and they came into our place and
they beat us, and I was unable to go to
that Super Bowl. Uh. And it's just devastating that you
get so close but you don't go. You can't go,
Brian and uh, because that's why we do this right,
not only get to the super Bowl, but when the
darn thing. And three times I fell short in that
championship game. So I want to ask you something because
(12:01):
I heard Mike Holmbrin say to this day he is
still not seen his Super Bowl loss tape to the
Pittsburgh Steelers. Have you had have you looked at those losses?
Did you ever go back and looks coached was in
the playoffs for the San Francisco forty Niners in the
second round against Tampa Bay and they beat us and
they went on to win the Super Bowl. I have
(12:23):
yet to see that, Dape. I don't want to see it. Yeah,
I know, I'm Yeah, it's and I don't know that
people can fully appreciate. First off, why you know, why
would I watch? Because I'm just gonna get mad. Sat
reminds me about it every day anyway, Yeah, I bet
she does. It's like Mike McCarthy. I told I've been saying,
half jokingly, if you need Mike McCarthy, call him any
time in the night for the next couple of months,
because he's gonna be up. Given what happened in Seattle.
(12:46):
Let's move on. Let's talk about, uh, the X factors,
the key matchup. H go what obviously, what's the biggest matchup?
MS you think, I'll tell you it was big. And
that guy's named Bronk and and so did you see
his press conference. He's ends and he's singing, he's doing
he's a character. I love that guy. But Gronk against
the Seattle defense, Now, you know, you try to find
(13:07):
a weakness in any scheme offense, defense or special teams. Well,
the Seattle defense has given up eleven touchdowns too. Tight
ends now different reasons. If you go by back and
look at him, it's against the safety, it's against zone coverage,
it's in the red zone, it's not in red zone.
But they've get him up Levin and here comes Gronk,
who is the beast of all tight ends, right, and
(13:28):
so this is gonna be an interesting matchup. How will
Seattle try to cover him in the first You know,
two years ago, they had Cam Chancellor early in the game,
came down in the box and covered him man and
man a little bit. But you know what, Gronk won
a couple of those, especially on play action passed Brian,
where you know, Cam Chancellor is in the box and
he's peaking at the run right at him, and there
(13:50):
goes Gronk and he's a step behind. And so they
start covering in different ways. So I'm anxious to see
how Seattle we'll try to take away Gronk with multiple
coverage of safeties, linebackers, man zone, the whole thing. Let
me tell you what I think Seattle's to do, and
I gotta begin. We do a lot of radio interviews
here on Radio Row and I had it nailed yesterday.
I did in New York station, and I said, simple,
(14:12):
put Jamie Collins on. Gronk be a great member of
Dalias Thomas we used to have, We used to he
played literally every position. Then I realized, well, man, if
they're on the same team, so that's not gonna do
Seattle a litty good get so confused talking about these players.
But I think you you hit the nail on the
head the physicality of the Seattle Seahawk defense. They're all physical.
So I'm not sure that the New England Patriots and
(14:34):
even Gronkowski and everything you're saying about him, it is
absolutely true. But you know, and then maybe it's just
coach speak they're saying about We're not worried about this
is just the way we match up. You said earlier.
How Richard Sherman says, Look, that's a disservice to say,
I gotta travel with a guy. Because we think Maxwell,
we think Earl Thomas, we think Cam Chancellor. They are
all so physical. They may have a great deal of
confidence that no matter how they end up on it,
(14:56):
they may come up and that will be something that
New England Patriots aren't used to have to deal with
an entire secondary. They may have one guy that can
match up physically with Gronk, but all of them that
will be willing to come up and rock him. And
then obviously you can get right and you can get
Wagner to come over and jam and do those things
that we see, they'll move Gronk out. But I think
the strength and size of the secondary and Seattle as
(15:16):
a whole that may take some getting used to. For uh,
New England, there's a matchup. I want to talk about
both these guys. We talked about beast mode with Marshall.
Both of these guys got some big beasts. You know,
you're talking about Legarrett Blunt that they can literally bludge
in the defense with. I think the interior of the
defensive line for the Seattle Seahawks is a little vulnerable
(15:39):
because I think they can go ahead and pound away
with Lea Garrett Blunt all right and and have a
big effect on it. But my question is what about
the Max The matchup of Max under the under the
center for the Saddle Seahawks. Is he gonna handle Dens
Walver or is this gonna be where a game where
Marshawn Lynch is limited, which would clearly affect the game plan.
(15:59):
I think Max Hunger is one of, if he's healthy,
one of the best centers in the league. But Vince Wolfwork, boy,
that's alone to run at on the inside, Yeah it is,
and they do move Vince around a little bit. So Mac, Now,
Max missed the game and he's got to come back healthy.
But you know, in this offensive line, Max Hunger is
the only guy that didn't give up a sack this year.
(16:20):
I mean, this guy solid. He's a terrific player. And
so you know, they're good at he's good at past protection.
They're certainly good at run blocking because there they lead
the league hundred and seventy two yards a game in
the run game. So he's the leader of that guy.
He helps make the calls with Russ and and so
Max Hunger is a key. Now, Vince wilf Work can
play a good percentage of the snaps, you know, defensive
(16:42):
tackles there. You know, they play six or whatever that is.
It'll be interesting to see how many times Vince is
on Max. I want to move on to our predictions.
It first got to ask you because everybody's talking about.
You think, I just think that New England is so sound,
assignment sound. Do you think the read option bothers New England?
You think Russell Wilson gonna be able to get him?
You know, yeah, because they do it well. They do
(17:04):
it at out of multiple formations and personnel groups, and
I think Russell Wilson will fool them at times. It's uh,
you know, it's the read option. I don't see a
lot of read option with a pitch back in the
National Football League. But they have what they have the
past to the outside guys done that and they stepped
out and came forward already, So that's what you gotta watch.
And course the Patriots will be preparing for that. But
(17:28):
there's an element of surprise and execution that and that's
where I think of Bill Belichick coach discipline team. I
was surprised by Green Bay. You know how it is.
You got to have the end guy either he takes
the dive and the scrape linebacker takes the pitch or
the other way around. Green Bay seemed hesitant. I don't
think the New England Patriots we hesitant. I think they'll
be assignment sound. They'll attack the dive, have a guy
(17:50):
for the pitch. I think they're gonna put enough people
in the box to stop Marshawn Lynch. Fill the rush
lanes because think they'll match up with Dare I say
the pedestrian receivers. Don't say that. I'm just repeating what
you said. Um, I'll be I will be very disappointed
if indeed New England gives up a lot of yardage
on the read option. Okay, I'm gonna put you on.
I'm gonna ask you. Then we're gonna predict this game, right, Okay,
(18:13):
I'm gonna I know it just gets it. But it
sounds to me like you're going you're leaning towards I
think Seattle. I just said you're going to stop them.
You know what I'm doing. I said Seattle all last week.
So I'm gonna gonna officially say New England this week.
So next week gonna come back and say, oh yeah,
I predicted, right. I just think, Ah, And here's here's
my biggest reason. You know my toxic You know how
(18:34):
much I love my toxic. Turnover Differential explodes play differential.
They're both very good and turnover differential. New England's not
very explosive league and big plays. They're pretty big players
that tend to fifteen yard level. Seattle is actually pretty good.
Tom Brady and the Newham Patriots are second league in
ten play drives or more. I just can't see them
doing that a lot against the Seattle Seahawk defense. I
(18:55):
don't know if they can get the big place down
the field. I'm gonna go with Seattle, Okay, So I'm
gonna agree with you ten and I'm gonna go today.
I have I reserved the right to change my mind
tomorrow for some other show, all right. But because this
game is, this is such a matchup that's a coin
fit to me, right Because I have this argument with
Warren Sapp because he says defenses don't win championships, And
(19:16):
I go, what sap your defense? When you a championship?
Because you're right there too. And you know when this
when we play the Super Bowl, Brian, when the when
we have a team that's number one in scoring defense
playing in the Super Bowl. They're thirteen and three. Okay,
but let me add this. If they're number one in
scoring defense and number one in total defense, which means
(19:39):
you are Didge, they're undefeated. They don't lose for six
and oh so right now, what we have is that
great defense again. We saw it last year's Super Bowl
against the best offense that was ever assembled with Peyton
Manning and the Broncos. So right now today as we
sit on this white leather couch, I'm gonna go with
Seattle because of that great defense. There's no chance it's
(20:00):
like last year one sided. Yeah, I just did this.
This is who We didn't think that. Yeah, we didn't.
You know, we we'll change our well, we'll just set
tape a second version of this and say it's gonna
be a blowout so we could say every God, folks,
thank you so much for joining us all year on
the Coaches Show. I'm gonna see if I can talk
Stephen and doing this all year long, I don't think
we're gonna be able to do it. We absolutely loved it,
giving you the coach's perspective to what goes on in
(20:23):
the game. Uh, you can always go do it at
NFL now or at NFL dot com. Thanks so much
for joining us. We'll see you again next year.
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