November 17, 2014 • 28 mins
Former NFL head coaches Brian Billick and Steve Mariucci recap Week 11 in the NFL. Are the Patriots the best team in the league and are the Seahawks in real danger of missing the playoffs? Plus, Billick and Mooch discuss Jay Gruden’s comments on Robert Griffin III and talk with Packers head coach Mike McCarthy about Aaron Rodgers’ greatness.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Thirty men together can't lose. This is why you lift
all them body And now we're going there's a glean man,
there's a glean. Thanks for checking out the coach the show.
I'm Brian, Billy here with my buddy Steve Maruchi and
Steve it's obviously getting very interesting. And let's start with
(00:24):
what was a heck of her performance by the New
England Patriots on the road. I keep talking about waiting
for teams to have signature wins on the road against
good teams. Well, New England had it against Indianapolis. Boy
oh boy. They're fun to watch, um, Brian, and they
keep reinventing themselves every year, it seems. And they started
off slow this year, lost a couple of games. And
(00:45):
remember that beat down they had at Kansas City, Well
that can happen. Remember the stupid conversations we all had
about wells Brady old and easy? Can he not do
this anymore? And yeah, remember that that writer asked Billy
check he is Brady done so? And all of a sudden,
well here we are. There may be the best team
in the league and so, but you never know, you know,
(01:06):
you count on Tom Brady right to be great, but
you never know who else is going to be the star?
Is it Jonas Gray, is it LaFell? Is it gonna
be Gronk? Is it gonna be Julian Edelman? Who is
it gonna be? On that offense? You know, they just
keep spreading the responsibilities around. I just love watching these guys,
extremely well coached team well and we and and I've
(01:28):
gotten after Belichick a little bit about this moneyball mentality
in terms of personnel outside of a Brady and they've
only gone out, you know, and pursued so many players.
They wait for that great veteran extra, you know, that
by that great by, that bargain basement by. But you
gotta give Bill credit, particularly with this group. You know,
it is a bunch of B and C players, and
who's this great guy? I mean they ran for two
(01:50):
years in the practice squad. I mean, my god, they
ran for two hundred forty four yards against Indianapolis team
that has been pretty good. And it was on the
road in Indianapolis that you had to give him credit
for coming up with these guys. Yeah, you do. And
you know we don't mention you know how when you
talk about the Patriots, you don't mention many other people
besides Bill Belichick in the Tom Brady, but Josh McDaniel
(02:11):
is doing a heck of a job with that offense, right.
He's creative, He's got a fullback in their smash mouth.
He can wing it ah anytime he wants. He's using
all of these extras. Let you mentioned uh and so
and then and then when you start talking about their defense,
you know, to me, they probably have the best corners
in the National Football League. And it's not just Reavis
(02:33):
and Browner. I mean they got Arrington and Butler and
all these guys that can match up with everybody, including
the Broncos. What a what a what a good football team.
The fact I mean in Indianapolis just nineteen yards Russian
and I know that's not their deal, you know. And
and it's all about Andrew Luck. And and Andrew Luck
did some things, he made some place kind of kept
a competitive going into the half. But but Brady, and again,
(02:55):
it was a kind of a pedestrian day for Brady.
He did have the two interceptions, which is unique, but
he was ninety seven, so kind of a pedestrian day
for him. But the thing that it has always impressed
me about Brady. Now, you have to have a whole
bunch of numbers and a whole bunch of Super Bowls
in your back pocket to feel this way. But I
don't know that I've ever been around a quarterback course scene,
not been around but seeing a quarterback that really doesn't
(03:16):
care how many times he throws it. If I throw
at nineteen times, fine, you know I don't. I don't
care what my numbers are. I just want to win,
I know it. And then, like I said earlier, they're
playing with some formations with fullbacks and tight ends, and
they're gonna slinging. They're not slinging it every down like
some other teams are trying to do. And remember that
interception he threw early in the game and just kind
of slung it up there. It was, man, it was
(03:37):
so unlike him. And then they kept showing him on
the bench and Andrew Luck ended up driving for a touchdown.
But you know what, he just he just bounces right back.
He's been through these things before. He's such a pro,
and he's so good at what he does. He can
ask him to leave, you can ask him to call
games at the line of scrimmage. To come from behind.
(03:58):
It doesn't matter. This is unbelievable. Yeah, he and that
one you're talking about it. It It was What did surprise
me was was under dress. He came out of a
play fake and all of a sudden, some colt was
on top of him and he kind of threw it
up blind, where typically I think Brady might have gone,
you know, you know, maybe you know, I'm not going
to throw it out that kind of blind. I think
he was upset with himself for throwing it up blind
(04:19):
like that kind of happened. We expect that out of
a rookie, out of Tom Brady. The league. Well, I
was just gonna ask you, you know, you came out
with that there. They're clearly the best team in the
a f C. Because I'm looking, I've been going through,
you know, me and my the signature road wins and
and I don't see any big wins by any teams
on the road, A lot of them. You talked about,
(04:40):
you know, uh, Dallas beating Seattle at home, and of
course the way Seattle is fumbling around that may or
may not be a signature, but beating Indianapolis that was.
That was a signature win in the a f C.
Now are they the best overall? That Green Bay Packer
team looked pretty good the defense, and you look at
what's going on in Arizona. But again with Drew Standard quarterback. Um, yeah,
(05:01):
I think and maybe off the strength of a Tom
Brady and the things you just said defensively, they might
have that mantle of the best team in the NFL
right now. They might And and it seems well we
say this every year home field advantage is going to
be so important, but I think it is. You look
at the Denver Broncos. Their losses have come on the road.
Sea Shucks, their losses have come on the road, and
(05:23):
and uh, same with the Patriots, and so you know,
you just you just uh you know, to to go
into Foxborough. What are they forty four and three now
or something crazy? They just don't lose their um. You know,
the Broncos would be tough if they're at home. Um,
if they get healthy. Green Bay's home field advantage is unbelievable,
right Seattles is so uh these teams right now coming
(05:45):
down to the wire. Yeah, they're trying to make the playoffs,
but they're trying to get that home and field spot somehow,
some way, and I think it's gonna be a huge
advantages here. Yeah, that's why I keep coming back to.
I want to see you have just one of those
signature wins on the road. I think New England's had
there because any Anapolis is a good football team. We
haven't seen it in Denver yet, you know. And I
don't know that we've seen it at of Cincinnati or Baltimore,
(06:07):
although Cincinnati is going into beat in Baltimore to start
the season. Maybe maybe that's it. But it's amazing about Cincinnati.
How about Cincinnati beating the Saints and the Dome. I
was shocked, and that after that, the Cincinnati team we
saw on Sunday looked like that team we were talking
about at the quarter mark as being maybe the most
dominant team in the league right now. And then you
(06:27):
know that Thursday night game they had against the Browns.
God be stunk it up. So, I mean, so many
teams are Dr Jekyll Mr. Hyde right now. It's so
hard to predict one week to the next how well
a team will play. I guess that's what's making things
interesting pretty much in the league. So many up and
down teams. The Bengals are one of them. Well, let's
let's move on to another interesting team, a team at
(06:47):
one point we thought was a dominant and the we're
dynasties floating around and right now the Seattle Seahawks um
and taking nothing away from Kansas City. You look at
the box score of the game where Seattle goes to
play Kansas City, and and Alex Smith was just average.
Obviously Jamal Charles went off. You saw Seattle run the ball,
(07:08):
They had like thirty five minutes time of possession. Yet
they lose on the road. And it sounds like there's
some things fraying on about that Seattle Seahawk team with
Marshawn Lynch and some of the other things. Let's size
up where I mean. Could the Seattle Seahawks missed the playoffs? Yeah?
They could? And and I and I thought before the
season that maybe the forty n and Seahawks, maybe we're
(07:31):
the best teams in the league, certainly in the NFC.
Well they both could miss the playoffs. But you've got
Marshawn Lynch, who is a beast. We all know that.
But um, that thing at halftime kind of surprises all
of us about staying out there not going in with
this team. Uh, this is a hard fought game though,
Chiefs and Seahawks twenty boy, those are two heavyweight slugging
(07:52):
it out. But there's some The Seahawks are not the
same as last year, Brian. They're they're missing so many
players from that super Bowl team. You know, you start
off with guys in the secondary, Browner and and uh
who else they're they're not there. They missed guys from
their defensive line, Oboss gone and and Michael Robinson did
(08:16):
playbook with us and he said the loss of me
being remember guy. He says that's gonna have a bigger
effect than people think. He kind of called this Kansas
City game. Yeah, and they're missing some parts, so they're
really not as dominating as scary on defense. And then
when you they try to throw the ball, if this
team gets behind, let's face it, Russell Wilson is a
(08:38):
stud player and all of that. I wish he had
more weapons. And that's no disrespect to the Baldwins and
Curse and those guys the pest and they're average guy,
but but more most teams will have a receiving core
that's got more depth than that too. You know, I
They're they're missing Golden Tate. Golden Tate's having a great
(08:58):
year over there in Detroit at Percy Harvin. Well, I
didn't do anything last year except play well in the
Super Bowl. Um, I think they missed a guy like
a Sydney Rice who they got rid of a couple
of years ago. They need a big weapon in the
red zone, somebody that can help Russell Wilson make plays
from the pocket. Like you draw and install a play,
you go back five or seven years your progression and
make a play too. Many of his plays are made
(09:19):
from improvised well, and what jumps out of me looking
at it? When when last year when I saw Seattle,
what what impressed me the most was when people ask
me what was so unique about your Super Bowl defense?
The best single season defense in the history of the league,
And I there's a lot of things, but the number
one thing I would tell you is how well they
tackled in the open field. They just did and they
(09:42):
swarm tackle and they all could bring a guy down
on the open field. Well, Seattle last year, and I'm
watching them defensively, I'm thinking, you know what, this is
the closest I've seen to that team that tackled well
in the open field, and you watch yesterday Jamal. They
couldn't get their hands on Jamal Charles. And I know
Jamal Charles is pretty good, but they're not that what
jumps out at me that says, this is not the
dominant legion of boom that we saw last year. Uh,
(10:05):
they're not tackling as well in the open field as
I saw last year. Well they're not. And then this
this whole thing is gonna store it out real quick, Brian,
because it's gonna be a round robin tournament in the
NFC West, Right, the Seahawks are gonna play Arizona San Francisco,
And then I think then again, and so we're gonna
have a little mini season here coming up, and it's
the NFC West against each other and we'll find out
(10:25):
which one wants to go to the to the dance
the most. But they're all chasing the good thing with
this legion of boom, who's not quite the same as
that the other teams in the division, Arizona and forty
Niners and even the Rams, they're not explosive type offenses.
They're better on defense. And so They're not going to
score a forty burger against you where you're having to
(10:47):
play catch up. They're gonna, you know, play ball control,
run the ball, and and score twenty points. And that's
what they're gonna do. And so maybe this is gonna
be fun to watch now, Yeah, and I don't we
could easily see could likely see a ten and six
NFC West team sent at home. And because we're gonna
obviously see a seven and nine or a you know,
an eight and eight, and God forbid of six and
(11:08):
ten NFC South, whether it's New Orleans or Atlanta. Probably
New Orleans. Um, but but how about Atlanta first place
at four? And don't you love that? God bless America?
You know in Tampa Bay at at at two and
eight is only two games out. We're only two games out.
And you talk about the defensive NFC West to the
thought would have said this that I think right now
(11:29):
when you look at it between what's going on in Arizona. Defensively,
the forty I have always been good and now that
that front seven of the St. Louis Rams is really
playing well, Seattle could be the fourth best defense in
that division. Your tongue, you just say, the fourth best
team about the division, and they were the best defense
(11:50):
in the world last year. Yeah, you know, things change
fast with injuries and free agency now, and it's you know,
it's hard to stay the same when you're the champ,
you know, when you take that Super A last year
and is a beat down. Right, But Seattle to me
didn't get any better. They lost too many players. I
thought the Broncos got better by adding players. Now they
got to finish the job and they gotta get healthy.
(12:11):
New England got better with that secondary. Yeah, you know, so,
so there were there were some obviously a f C
Championship caliber teams that kind of move forward. And you're right, Seattle,
which what can happen obviously a Super Bowl team and
the money's add up and whatever, and we don't you know, obviously,
we'll see what transpires with Marshawn Lynch staying out at halftime,
Pete Carroll's now saying, oh no, no, I knew that,
(12:32):
and you know they're kind of dismissing it as well,
that's just Marshawn. There's obviously some contractual things that are
stirring it up. Ahmad Brooks is is kind of complaining
there in the Bay Area and San Francisco and taking
his tape off and not playing. But how about r
G three in Washington? Have we seen this movie before?
Was that disappointing? After the game. It sounded like he
(12:53):
was trying to say, we need to play better, but
it sure came off as Hey, I'm the only one
that's any good and I got no one else around me. Hey, Brian,
you know if you or I went back into coaching,
like you know, somebody's JV team or whatever, all right,
you know how you in the off season, you have
you have film sessions, and you have training tapes and
cut ups and bed into all that kind of thing.
(13:15):
I would certainly take my quarterbacks and I would have
a training tape on how to do a press conference,
all right, And I would have the Drew Breezes and
the in the Bradies and the Peyton Mannings of the world,
because they've they've been so good in their press conferences
after wins and after losses on the field with somebody
(13:37):
they don't even know. And I mean, I would make
cut ups of how to do this, and I'd make
cut ups on how not to do this, because, as
you know, the quarterbacks job is to do the darned
press conferences. Some of them don't want to do it,
and some are better than others. But geez, and r
G three means well, and he's a good guy and
he's a good he's great athlete, all that, but every
(13:59):
now and then it comes out probably differently than he
would hope it comes out, and taken differently. And then
you've got Jay Gruden, his coach, trying to make up
for it and coach him via the media. And I
think that's a rookie coach mistake too, because I don't
think you go there. If you want to coach him
up on going to the wrong side and taking the
(14:20):
wrong steps and making the wrong read and mistakes, you
do that in a team meeting or an individual meeting
or a quarterback meeting, not for everybody to talk about
like we are right now. Well, and so where does
it go? I'm with you, I'm not And I've sat
with r G three like you have, and you're impressed
with the guy. I'm I'm beginning to question whether he's
(14:40):
a good guy. You know, I live in the I
live in the mid Atlantic, obviously, and the way the
whole he and Shanahan, both Kyle and Mike and that
whole kind of throwing each other under the bus and
the way he handled that and now with Jay Gruden,
and you're right, it was and I believe me. I'm
when you look in the dictionary of put foot in mouth,
there's a picture of me in there from my early
day is as a coach, probably my late days as
(15:01):
a coach as well. But where does this go now
when the head coach comes out? You're brought in Jay
Gruden was hired. Remember you fired Mike Shanahan, Okay, to
bring in at Jay Gruden to individually mentor and get
the most out of r G three because that relationship
had been fractured. And now he comes out all but
we understand why. Yeah, you can have this conversation, but
it's you know, when you come out in public and
(15:23):
say he took the wrong drop, he wrong read the
wrong side, stepped into pressure, and unnecessarily talked about his teammates.
But you talk about calling a guy out, what does
that relationship go now? South? Uh, It's it's a shame
because it's the first year with the two trying to
work things out, but they seem to be budding heads
already right now. And it's a it's a shame. I think.
(15:45):
I hope both of them learn a little something from it. Um.
But the only way you can start to two men
fences is to start winning some games. And and I
don't know if the Redskins are gonna go to San
Francisco and win a game, are they? And and and
so um, I don't know. I just wish him both luck.
But why you can't we all know this. You can't
(16:08):
start calling out teammates and players in the media. You
can complement them and say we've got things that work
on maybe, but you keep the negative stuff in the
criticism and the coaching points private. Well, as I said,
living in that area, and we all live in the
fish bowl in the NFL of the he said, she said,
in the way the media goes after it. But in
(16:29):
d C, inside the Beltway. Now that that's a whole
another level, because that whole world is built around from
the political side. The whole mentality is who said what
he went there? Confidential? Oh yeah, we want transparency. Well,
so this takes it to a whole another level. I
don't know where this goes. And and keeping in mind
that it got the last guy fired and Dan Snyder,
(16:51):
who for a couple of years now has been fairly
behind the scenes. He's changed his act a little bit,
notwithstanding the whole thing about the name change. But well,
I mean, you fired a two time Super Bowl winning
coach because of a fracture relationship with a quarterback. Now
what do you do with a quarterback? Who? And did
you stay committed to r G three even though you've
(17:13):
paid him a ton of money and and you gave
up a lot. Now you gave up. They're all in St. Louis.
Now do you how do you? I don't know where
this goes out for J. Gruden. I don't you know.
I don't know how he wins that battle, not sitting
there at three and forever. I I you know, I
don't know. But maybe r G three needs a fresh
start someplace else. I don't know. Um, which is crazy
(17:37):
to say that because of all they gave they gave
up to get him there, and uh, you know, the
injuries played a huge part in that that uh, not
staying that kind of exciting player like he was his
rookie year. Sometimes we forget about that dynamic year that
he had, but we haven't seen any growth at all,
have we. I know he's been hurt, but his ability
to throw my comfort with r G three. I certainly
(17:59):
can make plays outside the pocket, but like a Russell Wilson,
I think he can make a place from within the pocket.
Russell Wilson, that's still there. You're right, he doesn't have
receiving corps to go to, and that's part of the problem.
I r G three, he's regressed, and I let that
gets thrown out there a lot. But I don't see
the same ability to throw the ball from the pocket
the way he did even when he was a rookie. Yeah,
no doubt. That's got to be better. I mean, it's
(18:21):
obvious it has to be better. You just can't have
your head coach saying it's got to be better to
the to the general public and the media. Um, let's
see where this goes, Brian, it stay tuned. It's gonna
get interested over there. Yeah. Well, let's let's change the
subject here a little bit. I'm gonna write this week
about because I know you always go right to NFL
dot com on Wednesdays to see what I write about. Um,
(18:43):
these I want to I want to get your take
on this, because basically, just write what you tell me.
So that's why I always like to do this on
our Coaches show. Um, we've never seen a year like
these rookie wide receivers, have we. I mean, we've had
good rookie wide receivers go in, but the depth and
the number of from Mike Evans, Sammy Watkins and Benjamin
and Books and and Beckham and even this kid Brown
in Arizona, and it goes on and on. Clearly, this
(19:06):
is the best receiver draft we've seen that I can
remember in my lifetime. And I'm old, and you are old,
and I am old. And there was a class in
nineties six that had Marvin Harrison and t O and
Key Shawan and Amani Toomor and Mohammed uh those those
kind of guys, and so they were good. They're gonna
be a couple Hall of famers out of that class. However,
(19:28):
you know what's kind of cool. I have the show
called Game Changers. Right after the combine, I do a
show called Game Changers, and we do you know, on
different positions. We have receivers in and we had Kelvin
Benjamin and we had Allen Robinson and Jarvis Landry and
we've had a J Green, We've had all kinds of guys,
and it's and it's fun to get to know these
kids when they're still nervous and they're still they don't
(19:50):
even know where they're going to be drafted, and they're
still trying to make a name for themselves get ready
for the draft. And it's fun to watch Kelvin Benjamin.
This kid has turned into a beast man. You know.
Remember we all remember that catchy made in the National
Championship Game to win it, you know, use his height.
But he does the same thing now for the Carolina
And so it's fun to to, you know, to text
(20:13):
those guys and say good job, and you get to
know them and and watch him on a personal level.
But you're right, this class is is dynamic. Now. You
remember back in our day, all right, we're the baby
boomers generation of coaches, Receivers weren't valued quite the same
why a lot of different reasons. T O was a
third round pick on a chat and Nouga, all right,
(20:36):
and so he didn't even start his his his rookie year.
In fact, then I came in his sophomore year and
he wasn't starting then because Jerry Rice was starting and j. J.
Stokes was starting and TiO didn't play until Jerry got
hurt in the first game. Teams use more two receiver
sets then, right, teams were more balanced then now used
(20:56):
everybody's using three and four wide receivers. Play those rookies
right way. Let's sling it because the rules saying we
should sling it. Well, that's that's my point. That's my question.
Is it? And last year was substantial as well, And
a lot of people I always used to, you know,
think that what people just think, well, that's the easiest
transition in in football, it's wide receiver because you don't
have the inters intricacies the offensive line or that type
(21:19):
of stuff. But is it the new rules? Is this
why we're seeing because these kids don't have to learn
to get off jam the way we always used to
worry about when we brought young receivers. And I got
two questions for you that one, Uh, Is it because
of the rules? Is that why they've got so many
contributing right now? That's one of the reasons. Because it
(21:39):
used to be you could beat those guys up, you
could whack them when they're going across the middle. You
could do all these things that they couldn't get off
that jam and and that guy would grab them all
the way down the field, and and it was impossible
for these young kids to get in the swing of things.
Now we've made life easier for not only the receivers
but the quarterback, young quarterback to throw the ball without
(22:02):
so many other you know, bumps out there, and and
so and then the other reason I like I said,
is people are using more wide receivers. Three coming out
with four receivers on first down. My god, we used
to do that when it was third and twelve, you
know what I mean, five times a game. That's it.
So but there are a good Yeah, here's the other thing.
You think t O had seven on seven in the
(22:23):
summer when he was coming up as a young kid.
These these these guys are in seven on sevens and
they're in passing camps and they're and all they're doing
all this stuff. They're developing their skills, I believe at
a sooner age, and so I think more of them
are ready to do this. Well. The second question I has,
how come I never get to go with you on
game changers. I mean I can carry the balls around,
or I can erase the chalkboard or something. UM tell
(22:47):
you what. I can drive you around. I'll show for
you around. Be your go friends. Here. Here's what we do.
Here's what we do. We have. We bring in Michael Irvine, right,
and he helps me coach the receivers. I bring in
Sap and he helps me coach the defense. Some line.
I'll bring in Kurt Warner, I'll bring in lt And
what are you gonna bring me in to do? I'm
gonna bring you in to be like a backup tight end.
(23:09):
All right? Well, remember you and I had Gronk on
the field at the Cord. That was a big son
of a gun. Can I wear my Spandex bike pants
if I come to game changes? That's what you can do.
You can you can bike in there and you can teach.
We can go for a little bike ride in between interviews. Okay,
enough of the silliness. I we got to talk to
(23:29):
a legitimate coach here. We got a chance to visit
with the the very hot head coach of the Green
Bay Packers, Mike McCarthy. He was gonna stop. Should we
(23:52):
offer Chip Kelly a running block through us story. Well, Mike,
tell you what. You guys off to a blazing start.
That seems to be your m O. You've outscored your
opponents a hundred nine in the first half in your
four home games. Now everybody wants to start fast. But
that's just like obscene. Uh yeah, it's it's been a
(24:13):
unique run, no doubt, no doubt about that. But you know,
it's really just the combination of of everything. You know,
the offense going down, putting points on the board in
the first drive, and you know, defensive get defense is
getting those stops early in the game. And we've been
able to get up on people at home and and
as you know, playing with the lead at home is
definitely the preference. Well, everybody wants to get off to
(24:34):
a quick start. But is there anything in particular that
you'll do by way of play calling in conjunction with
what Dom's doing on defense in terms of, Okay, we're
gonna we're gonna take these kind of early shots here
and when we do want you either blitz and more
or what I mean, is it is it that orchestrated? Well,
I mean, I wouldn't say it's that orchestrated. You know,
we have our first calls on offense, toom has his
(24:54):
his first calls on defense, you know, based on their
personnel groups. So uh really, as you know the way
the games being played, you always have starting points, but
the adjustments having throughout the game. Particularly I mean on offense,
we do a lot of the line of scrimmage, and
you know, Aaron just gives us such great capabilities, uh
to get in out of place. He's such a spectacular
(25:16):
quarterback to watch. You ever find yourself kind of becoming
a fan and just for a second going wow, that's
pretty good. Uh, no, no doubt about it. I mean
he turns our whole coaching staff and the fans myself included,
a couple of times each game. So yeah, it's uh,
he's a special player. Uh you know, he's he's played
unbelieabled football here and you know, poor potanly we need
(25:37):
to we need to build off it, and um, but yeah,
he's he's putting up huge numbers right now. Everybody makes
a big deal about him. You know, a month ago
telling everybody to relax? Was that? Did he did he
tell you coaches to relax a little better? Were you
telling him, hey, we're okay, just relax. No. I think
it was just more um, just Aaron expressing his you know,
his personality and his confidence. I think the out of
(26:01):
you know, the people that know the best are the
people in the building. Uh, this is a very very
good group of men. Excellent locker room. I mean you
always say that when you're winning, But even when we
were going through those bumps, you know that this is
the way they're practicing, way they're preparing, and uh, we
definitely had confidence back then that this was gonna build.
And and you know, we've taken some steps, but we
(26:21):
still got a lot We have a lot of growth
in front of us. Do you guys find, because you've
been up there long enough, Mike, that everybody wants to
play at home. Everybody wants to home field advantage, and
but he feels like they're better at home. But this
is Lambeau Field, This is like the mecca of football.
Do you ever see particularly young players that come into
Lambeau for the first time. I'm talking about your opponents,
we kind of go, oh, no, no, no, they're a
little story right now because they're looking around, going, my god,
(26:43):
this is Lambeau field. I wish it was that way.
I haven't seen it. I think from uh, you know,
from opponent players and even coaches perspective, they're excited to
play there. So I think it's a it's a unique place,
um and I think the opportunity to play there is
is of you know that that brings a little sense
of urgency on their part and makes for more more
(27:05):
competitive game. Talk about the relationship between Aaron Rodgers and
Jordy Nelson. I mean, every quarterback kind of has his guys,
and he obviously has developed with Randall Cobb, and he
had it with the Driver and Jennings and on and on.
But he and Jordy seemed to have this zen non
verbal uh you know, he only Jody only had four catches,
but he had over a hundred yards. He does more
(27:26):
with catch. I mean, talk about that. You I think
it is unique relationship, even beyond the normal quarterback receiver. Well,
I mean, no doubt it's just from a pure player perspective,
They're they're both exceptional football players. But you know, it's
it's the connection that's been building throughout their career and
it's really their ability also to help the the other
players so they're clearly the leaders in the in the
(27:48):
perimeter room. The perimeter watch is a lot of tape together,
So I mean these two guys kind of lead the
charge and and keep everybody on the same page. You know,
it's been kind of interesting to watch what you've done
with with Clay Matthews a little unique when you bring
him back into the inside. Talk about a little bit
if you can, the genesis of that. What what kind
of led you and Dom too saying Okay, I think
(28:10):
we're gonna put him in here just to change it
up or what what? How did that come about? Well
back in the off season, you know, we just felt
that just the way that the last two seasons going
into this season have gone, that we needed to you know,
facilitate more players into our packages, uh, and use you know,
Clay differently, just trying to move him around. And also
(28:30):
then with the edition and Julius Peppers, you know, we
felt that was the same, you know, the same mindset. Coach.
Thanks so much for your time. Oh great, Brian has
a great visit with your Thank you thanks for joining
us on this week leven edition of The Coaches Show.
You can check us every week on NFL now to
always catch up with the Coaches Show and everything NFL.
Thirty men together can't lose. This is why you lift
all them body And now we're going there's a glean man,
there's a glean. Thanks for checking out the coach the show.
I'm Brian, Billy here with my buddy Steve Maruchi and
Steve it's obviously getting very interesting. And let's start with
(00:24):
what was a heck of her performance by the New
England Patriots on the road. I keep talking about waiting
for teams to have signature wins on the road against
good teams. Well, New England had it against Indianapolis. Boy
oh boy. They're fun to watch, um, Brian, and they
keep reinventing themselves every year, it seems. And they started
off slow this year, lost a couple of games. And
(00:45):
remember that beat down they had at Kansas City, Well
that can happen. Remember the stupid conversations we all had
about wells Brady old and easy? Can he not do
this anymore? And yeah, remember that that writer asked Billy
check he is Brady done so? And all of a sudden,
well here we are. There may be the best team
in the league and so, but you never know, you know,
(01:06):
you count on Tom Brady right to be great, but
you never know who else is going to be the star?
Is it Jonas Gray, is it LaFell? Is it gonna
be Gronk? Is it gonna be Julian Edelman? Who is
it gonna be? On that offense? You know, they just
keep spreading the responsibilities around. I just love watching these guys,
extremely well coached team well and we and and I've
(01:28):
gotten after Belichick a little bit about this moneyball mentality
in terms of personnel outside of a Brady and they've
only gone out, you know, and pursued so many players.
They wait for that great veteran extra, you know, that
by that great by, that bargain basement by. But you
gotta give Bill credit, particularly with this group. You know,
it is a bunch of B and C players, and
who's this great guy? I mean they ran for two
(01:50):
years in the practice squad. I mean, my god, they
ran for two hundred forty four yards against Indianapolis team
that has been pretty good. And it was on the
road in Indianapolis that you had to give him credit
for coming up with these guys. Yeah, you do. And
you know we don't mention you know how when you
talk about the Patriots, you don't mention many other people
besides Bill Belichick in the Tom Brady, but Josh McDaniel
(02:11):
is doing a heck of a job with that offense, right.
He's creative, He's got a fullback in their smash mouth.
He can wing it ah anytime he wants. He's using
all of these extras. Let you mentioned uh and so
and then and then when you start talking about their defense,
you know, to me, they probably have the best corners
in the National Football League. And it's not just Reavis
(02:33):
and Browner. I mean they got Arrington and Butler and
all these guys that can match up with everybody, including
the Broncos. What a what a what a good football team.
The fact I mean in Indianapolis just nineteen yards Russian
and I know that's not their deal, you know. And
and it's all about Andrew Luck. And and Andrew Luck
did some things, he made some place kind of kept
a competitive going into the half. But but Brady, and again,
(02:55):
it was a kind of a pedestrian day for Brady.
He did have the two interceptions, which is unique, but
he was ninety seven, so kind of a pedestrian day
for him. But the thing that it has always impressed
me about Brady. Now, you have to have a whole
bunch of numbers and a whole bunch of Super Bowls
in your back pocket to feel this way. But I
don't know that I've ever been around a quarterback course scene,
not been around but seeing a quarterback that really doesn't
(03:16):
care how many times he throws it. If I throw
at nineteen times, fine, you know I don't. I don't
care what my numbers are. I just want to win,
I know it. And then, like I said earlier, they're
playing with some formations with fullbacks and tight ends, and
they're gonna slinging. They're not slinging it every down like
some other teams are trying to do. And remember that
interception he threw early in the game and just kind
of slung it up there. It was, man, it was
(03:37):
so unlike him. And then they kept showing him on
the bench and Andrew Luck ended up driving for a touchdown.
But you know what, he just he just bounces right back.
He's been through these things before. He's such a pro,
and he's so good at what he does. He can
ask him to leave, you can ask him to call
games at the line of scrimmage. To come from behind.
(03:58):
It doesn't matter. This is unbelievable. Yeah, he and that
one you're talking about it. It It was What did surprise
me was was under dress. He came out of a
play fake and all of a sudden, some colt was
on top of him and he kind of threw it
up blind, where typically I think Brady might have gone,
you know, you know, maybe you know, I'm not going
to throw it out that kind of blind. I think
he was upset with himself for throwing it up blind
(04:19):
like that kind of happened. We expect that out of
a rookie, out of Tom Brady. The league. Well, I
was just gonna ask you, you know, you came out
with that there. They're clearly the best team in the
a f C. Because I'm looking, I've been going through,
you know, me and my the signature road wins and
and I don't see any big wins by any teams
on the road, A lot of them. You talked about,
(04:40):
you know, uh, Dallas beating Seattle at home, and of
course the way Seattle is fumbling around that may or
may not be a signature, but beating Indianapolis that was.
That was a signature win in the a f C.
Now are they the best overall? That Green Bay Packer
team looked pretty good the defense, and you look at
what's going on in Arizona. But again with Drew Standard quarterback. Um, yeah,
(05:01):
I think and maybe off the strength of a Tom
Brady and the things you just said defensively, they might
have that mantle of the best team in the NFL
right now. They might And and it seems well we
say this every year home field advantage is going to
be so important, but I think it is. You look
at the Denver Broncos. Their losses have come on the road.
Sea Shucks, their losses have come on the road, and
(05:23):
and uh, same with the Patriots, and so you know,
you just you just uh you know, to to go
into Foxborough. What are they forty four and three now
or something crazy? They just don't lose their um. You know,
the Broncos would be tough if they're at home. Um,
if they get healthy. Green Bay's home field advantage is unbelievable,
right Seattles is so uh these teams right now coming
(05:45):
down to the wire. Yeah, they're trying to make the playoffs,
but they're trying to get that home and field spot somehow,
some way, and I think it's gonna be a huge
advantages here. Yeah, that's why I keep coming back to.
I want to see you have just one of those
signature wins on the road. I think New England's had
there because any Anapolis is a good football team. We
haven't seen it in Denver yet, you know. And I
don't know that we've seen it at of Cincinnati or Baltimore,
(06:07):
although Cincinnati is going into beat in Baltimore to start
the season. Maybe maybe that's it. But it's amazing about Cincinnati.
How about Cincinnati beating the Saints and the Dome. I
was shocked, and that after that, the Cincinnati team we
saw on Sunday looked like that team we were talking
about at the quarter mark as being maybe the most
dominant team in the league right now. And then you
(06:27):
know that Thursday night game they had against the Browns.
God be stunk it up. So, I mean, so many
teams are Dr Jekyll Mr. Hyde right now. It's so
hard to predict one week to the next how well
a team will play. I guess that's what's making things
interesting pretty much in the league. So many up and
down teams. The Bengals are one of them. Well, let's
let's move on to another interesting team, a team at
(06:47):
one point we thought was a dominant and the we're
dynasties floating around and right now the Seattle Seahawks um
and taking nothing away from Kansas City. You look at
the box score of the game where Seattle goes to
play Kansas City, and and Alex Smith was just average.
Obviously Jamal Charles went off. You saw Seattle run the ball,
(07:08):
They had like thirty five minutes time of possession. Yet
they lose on the road. And it sounds like there's
some things fraying on about that Seattle Seahawk team with
Marshawn Lynch and some of the other things. Let's size
up where I mean. Could the Seattle Seahawks missed the playoffs? Yeah?
They could? And and I and I thought before the
season that maybe the forty n and Seahawks, maybe we're
(07:31):
the best teams in the league, certainly in the NFC.
Well they both could miss the playoffs. But you've got
Marshawn Lynch, who is a beast. We all know that.
But um, that thing at halftime kind of surprises all
of us about staying out there not going in with
this team. Uh, this is a hard fought game though,
Chiefs and Seahawks twenty boy, those are two heavyweight slugging
(07:52):
it out. But there's some The Seahawks are not the
same as last year, Brian. They're they're missing so many
players from that super Bowl team. You know, you start
off with guys in the secondary, Browner and and uh
who else they're they're not there. They missed guys from
their defensive line, Oboss gone and and Michael Robinson did
(08:16):
playbook with us and he said the loss of me
being remember guy. He says that's gonna have a bigger
effect than people think. He kind of called this Kansas
City game. Yeah, and they're missing some parts, so they're
really not as dominating as scary on defense. And then
when you they try to throw the ball, if this
team gets behind, let's face it, Russell Wilson is a
(08:38):
stud player and all of that. I wish he had
more weapons. And that's no disrespect to the Baldwins and
Curse and those guys the pest and they're average guy,
but but more most teams will have a receiving core
that's got more depth than that too. You know, I
They're they're missing Golden Tate. Golden Tate's having a great
(08:58):
year over there in Detroit at Percy Harvin. Well, I
didn't do anything last year except play well in the
Super Bowl. Um, I think they missed a guy like
a Sydney Rice who they got rid of a couple
of years ago. They need a big weapon in the
red zone, somebody that can help Russell Wilson make plays
from the pocket. Like you draw and install a play,
you go back five or seven years your progression and
make a play too. Many of his plays are made
(09:19):
from improvised well, and what jumps out of me looking
at it? When when last year when I saw Seattle,
what what impressed me the most was when people ask
me what was so unique about your Super Bowl defense?
The best single season defense in the history of the league,
And I there's a lot of things, but the number
one thing I would tell you is how well they
tackled in the open field. They just did and they
(09:42):
swarm tackle and they all could bring a guy down
on the open field. Well, Seattle last year, and I'm
watching them defensively, I'm thinking, you know what, this is
the closest I've seen to that team that tackled well
in the open field, and you watch yesterday Jamal. They
couldn't get their hands on Jamal Charles. And I know
Jamal Charles is pretty good, but they're not that what
jumps out at me that says, this is not the
dominant legion of boom that we saw last year. Uh,
(10:05):
they're not tackling as well in the open field as
I saw last year. Well they're not. And then this
this whole thing is gonna store it out real quick, Brian,
because it's gonna be a round robin tournament in the
NFC West, Right, the Seahawks are gonna play Arizona San Francisco,
And then I think then again, and so we're gonna
have a little mini season here coming up, and it's
the NFC West against each other and we'll find out
(10:25):
which one wants to go to the to the dance
the most. But they're all chasing the good thing with
this legion of boom, who's not quite the same as
that the other teams in the division, Arizona and forty
Niners and even the Rams, they're not explosive type offenses.
They're better on defense. And so They're not going to
score a forty burger against you where you're having to
(10:47):
play catch up. They're gonna, you know, play ball control,
run the ball, and and score twenty points. And that's
what they're gonna do. And so maybe this is gonna
be fun to watch now, Yeah, and I don't we
could easily see could likely see a ten and six
NFC West team sent at home. And because we're gonna
obviously see a seven and nine or a you know,
an eight and eight, and God forbid of six and
(11:08):
ten NFC South, whether it's New Orleans or Atlanta. Probably
New Orleans. Um, but but how about Atlanta first place
at four? And don't you love that? God bless America?
You know in Tampa Bay at at at two and
eight is only two games out. We're only two games out.
And you talk about the defensive NFC West to the
thought would have said this that I think right now
(11:29):
when you look at it between what's going on in Arizona. Defensively,
the forty I have always been good and now that
that front seven of the St. Louis Rams is really
playing well, Seattle could be the fourth best defense in
that division. Your tongue, you just say, the fourth best
team about the division, and they were the best defense
(11:50):
in the world last year. Yeah, you know, things change
fast with injuries and free agency now, and it's you know,
it's hard to stay the same when you're the champ,
you know, when you take that Super A last year
and is a beat down. Right, But Seattle to me
didn't get any better. They lost too many players. I
thought the Broncos got better by adding players. Now they
got to finish the job and they gotta get healthy.
(12:11):
New England got better with that secondary. Yeah, you know, so,
so there were there were some obviously a f C
Championship caliber teams that kind of move forward. And you're right, Seattle,
which what can happen obviously a Super Bowl team and
the money's add up and whatever, and we don't you know, obviously,
we'll see what transpires with Marshawn Lynch staying out at halftime,
Pete Carroll's now saying, oh no, no, I knew that,
(12:32):
and you know they're kind of dismissing it as well,
that's just Marshawn. There's obviously some contractual things that are
stirring it up. Ahmad Brooks is is kind of complaining
there in the Bay Area and San Francisco and taking
his tape off and not playing. But how about r
G three in Washington? Have we seen this movie before?
Was that disappointing? After the game. It sounded like he
(12:53):
was trying to say, we need to play better, but
it sure came off as Hey, I'm the only one
that's any good and I got no one else around me. Hey, Brian,
you know if you or I went back into coaching,
like you know, somebody's JV team or whatever, all right,
you know how you in the off season, you have
you have film sessions, and you have training tapes and
cut ups and bed into all that kind of thing.
(13:15):
I would certainly take my quarterbacks and I would have
a training tape on how to do a press conference,
all right, And I would have the Drew Breezes and
the in the Bradies and the Peyton Mannings of the world,
because they've they've been so good in their press conferences
after wins and after losses on the field with somebody
(13:37):
they don't even know. And I mean, I would make
cut ups of how to do this, and I'd make
cut ups on how not to do this, because, as
you know, the quarterbacks job is to do the darned
press conferences. Some of them don't want to do it,
and some are better than others. But geez, and r
G three means well, and he's a good guy and
he's a good he's great athlete, all that, but every
(13:59):
now and then it comes out probably differently than he
would hope it comes out, and taken differently. And then
you've got Jay Gruden, his coach, trying to make up
for it and coach him via the media. And I
think that's a rookie coach mistake too, because I don't
think you go there. If you want to coach him
up on going to the wrong side and taking the
(14:20):
wrong steps and making the wrong read and mistakes, you
do that in a team meeting or an individual meeting
or a quarterback meeting, not for everybody to talk about
like we are right now. Well, and so where does
it go? I'm with you, I'm not And I've sat
with r G three like you have, and you're impressed
with the guy. I'm I'm beginning to question whether he's
(14:40):
a good guy. You know, I live in the I
live in the mid Atlantic, obviously, and the way the
whole he and Shanahan, both Kyle and Mike and that
whole kind of throwing each other under the bus and
the way he handled that and now with Jay Gruden,
and you're right, it was and I believe me. I'm
when you look in the dictionary of put foot in mouth,
there's a picture of me in there from my early
day is as a coach, probably my late days as
(15:01):
a coach as well. But where does this go now
when the head coach comes out? You're brought in Jay
Gruden was hired. Remember you fired Mike Shanahan, Okay, to
bring in at Jay Gruden to individually mentor and get
the most out of r G three because that relationship
had been fractured. And now he comes out all but
we understand why. Yeah, you can have this conversation, but
it's you know, when you come out in public and
(15:23):
say he took the wrong drop, he wrong read the
wrong side, stepped into pressure, and unnecessarily talked about his teammates.
But you talk about calling a guy out, what does
that relationship go now? South? Uh, It's it's a shame
because it's the first year with the two trying to
work things out, but they seem to be budding heads
already right now. And it's a it's a shame. I think.
(15:45):
I hope both of them learn a little something from it. Um.
But the only way you can start to two men
fences is to start winning some games. And and I
don't know if the Redskins are gonna go to San
Francisco and win a game, are they? And and and
so um, I don't know. I just wish him both luck.
But why you can't we all know this. You can't
(16:08):
start calling out teammates and players in the media. You
can complement them and say we've got things that work
on maybe, but you keep the negative stuff in the
criticism and the coaching points private. Well, as I said,
living in that area, and we all live in the
fish bowl in the NFL of the he said, she said,
in the way the media goes after it. But in
(16:29):
d C, inside the Beltway. Now that that's a whole
another level, because that whole world is built around from
the political side. The whole mentality is who said what
he went there? Confidential? Oh yeah, we want transparency. Well,
so this takes it to a whole another level. I
don't know where this goes. And and keeping in mind
that it got the last guy fired and Dan Snyder,
(16:51):
who for a couple of years now has been fairly
behind the scenes. He's changed his act a little bit,
notwithstanding the whole thing about the name change. But well,
I mean, you fired a two time Super Bowl winning
coach because of a fracture relationship with a quarterback. Now
what do you do with a quarterback? Who? And did
you stay committed to r G three even though you've
(17:13):
paid him a ton of money and and you gave
up a lot. Now you gave up. They're all in St. Louis.
Now do you how do you? I don't know where
this goes out for J. Gruden. I don't you know.
I don't know how he wins that battle, not sitting
there at three and forever. I I you know, I
don't know. But maybe r G three needs a fresh
start someplace else. I don't know. Um, which is crazy
(17:37):
to say that because of all they gave they gave
up to get him there, and uh, you know, the
injuries played a huge part in that that uh, not
staying that kind of exciting player like he was his
rookie year. Sometimes we forget about that dynamic year that
he had, but we haven't seen any growth at all,
have we. I know he's been hurt, but his ability
to throw my comfort with r G three. I certainly
(17:59):
can make plays outside the pocket, but like a Russell Wilson,
I think he can make a place from within the pocket.
Russell Wilson, that's still there. You're right, he doesn't have
receiving corps to go to, and that's part of the problem.
I r G three, he's regressed, and I let that
gets thrown out there a lot. But I don't see
the same ability to throw the ball from the pocket
the way he did even when he was a rookie. Yeah,
no doubt. That's got to be better. I mean, it's
(18:21):
obvious it has to be better. You just can't have
your head coach saying it's got to be better to
the to the general public and the media. Um, let's
see where this goes, Brian, it stay tuned. It's gonna
get interested over there. Yeah. Well, let's let's change the
subject here a little bit. I'm gonna write this week
about because I know you always go right to NFL
dot com on Wednesdays to see what I write about. Um,
(18:43):
these I want to I want to get your take
on this, because basically, just write what you tell me.
So that's why I always like to do this on
our Coaches show. Um, we've never seen a year like
these rookie wide receivers, have we. I mean, we've had
good rookie wide receivers go in, but the depth and
the number of from Mike Evans, Sammy Watkins and Benjamin
and Books and and Beckham and even this kid Brown
in Arizona, and it goes on and on. Clearly, this
(19:06):
is the best receiver draft we've seen that I can
remember in my lifetime. And I'm old, and you are old,
and I am old. And there was a class in
nineties six that had Marvin Harrison and t O and
Key Shawan and Amani Toomor and Mohammed uh those those
kind of guys, and so they were good. They're gonna
be a couple Hall of famers out of that class. However,
(19:28):
you know what's kind of cool. I have the show
called Game Changers. Right after the combine, I do a
show called Game Changers, and we do you know, on
different positions. We have receivers in and we had Kelvin
Benjamin and we had Allen Robinson and Jarvis Landry and
we've had a J Green, We've had all kinds of guys,
and it's and it's fun to get to know these
kids when they're still nervous and they're still they don't
(19:50):
even know where they're going to be drafted, and they're
still trying to make a name for themselves get ready
for the draft. And it's fun to watch Kelvin Benjamin.
This kid has turned into a beast man. You know.
Remember we all remember that catchy made in the National
Championship Game to win it, you know, use his height.
But he does the same thing now for the Carolina
And so it's fun to to, you know, to text
(20:13):
those guys and say good job, and you get to
know them and and watch him on a personal level.
But you're right, this class is is dynamic. Now. You
remember back in our day, all right, we're the baby
boomers generation of coaches, Receivers weren't valued quite the same
why a lot of different reasons. T O was a
third round pick on a chat and Nouga, all right,
(20:36):
and so he didn't even start his his his rookie year.
In fact, then I came in his sophomore year and
he wasn't starting then because Jerry Rice was starting and j. J.
Stokes was starting and TiO didn't play until Jerry got
hurt in the first game. Teams use more two receiver
sets then, right, teams were more balanced then now used
(20:56):
everybody's using three and four wide receivers. Play those rookies
right way. Let's sling it because the rules saying we
should sling it. Well, that's that's my point. That's my question.
Is it? And last year was substantial as well, And
a lot of people I always used to, you know,
think that what people just think, well, that's the easiest
transition in in football, it's wide receiver because you don't
have the inters intricacies the offensive line or that type
(21:19):
of stuff. But is it the new rules? Is this
why we're seeing because these kids don't have to learn
to get off jam the way we always used to
worry about when we brought young receivers. And I got
two questions for you that one, Uh, Is it because
of the rules? Is that why they've got so many
contributing right now? That's one of the reasons. Because it
(21:39):
used to be you could beat those guys up, you
could whack them when they're going across the middle. You
could do all these things that they couldn't get off
that jam and and that guy would grab them all
the way down the field, and and it was impossible
for these young kids to get in the swing of things.
Now we've made life easier for not only the receivers
but the quarterback, young quarterback to throw the ball without
(22:02):
so many other you know, bumps out there, and and
so and then the other reason I like I said,
is people are using more wide receivers. Three coming out
with four receivers on first down. My god, we used
to do that when it was third and twelve, you
know what I mean, five times a game. That's it.
So but there are a good Yeah, here's the other thing.
You think t O had seven on seven in the
(22:23):
summer when he was coming up as a young kid.
These these these guys are in seven on sevens and
they're in passing camps and they're and all they're doing
all this stuff. They're developing their skills, I believe at
a sooner age, and so I think more of them
are ready to do this. Well. The second question I has,
how come I never get to go with you on
game changers. I mean I can carry the balls around,
or I can erase the chalkboard or something. UM tell
(22:47):
you what. I can drive you around. I'll show for
you around. Be your go friends. Here. Here's what we do.
Here's what we do. We have. We bring in Michael Irvine, right,
and he helps me coach the receivers. I bring in
Sap and he helps me coach the defense. Some line.
I'll bring in Kurt Warner, I'll bring in lt And
what are you gonna bring me in to do? I'm
gonna bring you in to be like a backup tight end.
(23:09):
All right? Well, remember you and I had Gronk on
the field at the Cord. That was a big son
of a gun. Can I wear my Spandex bike pants
if I come to game changes? That's what you can do.
You can you can bike in there and you can teach.
We can go for a little bike ride in between interviews. Okay,
enough of the silliness. I we got to talk to
(23:29):
a legitimate coach here. We got a chance to visit
with the the very hot head coach of the Green
Bay Packers, Mike McCarthy. He was gonna stop. Should we
(23:52):
offer Chip Kelly a running block through us story. Well, Mike,
tell you what. You guys off to a blazing start.
That seems to be your m O. You've outscored your
opponents a hundred nine in the first half in your
four home games. Now everybody wants to start fast. But
that's just like obscene. Uh yeah, it's it's been a
(24:13):
unique run, no doubt, no doubt about that. But you know,
it's really just the combination of of everything. You know,
the offense going down, putting points on the board in
the first drive, and you know, defensive get defense is
getting those stops early in the game. And we've been
able to get up on people at home and and
as you know, playing with the lead at home is
definitely the preference. Well, everybody wants to get off to
(24:34):
a quick start. But is there anything in particular that
you'll do by way of play calling in conjunction with
what Dom's doing on defense in terms of, Okay, we're
gonna we're gonna take these kind of early shots here
and when we do want you either blitz and more
or what I mean, is it is it that orchestrated? Well,
I mean, I wouldn't say it's that orchestrated. You know,
we have our first calls on offense, toom has his
(24:54):
his first calls on defense, you know, based on their
personnel groups. So uh really, as you know the way
the games being played, you always have starting points, but
the adjustments having throughout the game. Particularly I mean on offense,
we do a lot of the line of scrimmage, and
you know, Aaron just gives us such great capabilities, uh
to get in out of place. He's such a spectacular
(25:16):
quarterback to watch. You ever find yourself kind of becoming
a fan and just for a second going wow, that's
pretty good. Uh, no, no doubt about it. I mean
he turns our whole coaching staff and the fans myself included,
a couple of times each game. So yeah, it's uh,
he's a special player. Uh you know, he's he's played
unbelieabled football here and you know, poor potanly we need
(25:37):
to we need to build off it, and um, but yeah,
he's he's putting up huge numbers right now. Everybody makes
a big deal about him. You know, a month ago
telling everybody to relax? Was that? Did he did he
tell you coaches to relax a little better? Were you
telling him, hey, we're okay, just relax. No. I think
it was just more um, just Aaron expressing his you know,
his personality and his confidence. I think the out of
(26:01):
you know, the people that know the best are the
people in the building. Uh, this is a very very
good group of men. Excellent locker room. I mean you
always say that when you're winning, But even when we
were going through those bumps, you know that this is
the way they're practicing, way they're preparing, and uh, we
definitely had confidence back then that this was gonna build.
And and you know, we've taken some steps, but we
(26:21):
still got a lot We have a lot of growth
in front of us. Do you guys find, because you've
been up there long enough, Mike, that everybody wants to
play at home. Everybody wants to home field advantage, and
but he feels like they're better at home. But this
is Lambeau Field, This is like the mecca of football.
Do you ever see particularly young players that come into
Lambeau for the first time. I'm talking about your opponents,
we kind of go, oh, no, no, no, they're a
little story right now because they're looking around, going, my god,
(26:43):
this is Lambeau field. I wish it was that way.
I haven't seen it. I think from uh, you know,
from opponent players and even coaches perspective, they're excited to
play there. So I think it's a it's a unique place,
um and I think the opportunity to play there is
is of you know that that brings a little sense
of urgency on their part and makes for more more
(27:05):
competitive game. Talk about the relationship between Aaron Rodgers and
Jordy Nelson. I mean, every quarterback kind of has his guys,
and he obviously has developed with Randall Cobb, and he
had it with the Driver and Jennings and on and on.
But he and Jordy seemed to have this zen non
verbal uh you know, he only Jody only had four catches,
but he had over a hundred yards. He does more
(27:26):
with catch. I mean, talk about that. You I think
it is unique relationship, even beyond the normal quarterback receiver. Well,
I mean, no doubt it's just from a pure player perspective,
They're they're both exceptional football players. But you know, it's
it's the connection that's been building throughout their career and
it's really their ability also to help the the other
players so they're clearly the leaders in the in the
(27:48):
perimeter room. The perimeter watch is a lot of tape together,
So I mean these two guys kind of lead the
charge and and keep everybody on the same page. You know,
it's been kind of interesting to watch what you've done
with with Clay Matthews a little unique when you bring
him back into the inside. Talk about a little bit
if you can, the genesis of that. What what kind
of led you and Dom too saying Okay, I think
(28:10):
we're gonna put him in here just to change it
up or what what? How did that come about? Well
back in the off season, you know, we just felt
that just the way that the last two seasons going
into this season have gone, that we needed to you know,
facilitate more players into our packages, uh, and use you know,
Clay differently, just trying to move him around. And also
(28:30):
then with the edition and Julius Peppers, you know, we
felt that was the same, you know, the same mindset. Coach.
Thanks so much for your time. Oh great, Brian has
a great visit with your Thank you thanks for joining
us on this week leven edition of The Coaches Show.
You can check us every week on NFL now to
always catch up with the Coaches Show and everything NFL.
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