September 15, 2014 • 35 mins
Brian Billick and Steve Mariucci break down Week 2 in the NFL, they discuss the New Orleans Saints 0-2 start and Kirk Cousins talking over as starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins after the RG III ankle injury. Plus, Tennessee Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt joins the program to talk about the development of quarterback Jake Locker and rebounding from a Week 2 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is NFL dot COM's Coaches Show Podcast. Thirty men
together can't lose. This is why you lift everybody hobody
calling them And now we're going there's a glean man,
there's a glean Welcome to the Coach Show Podcast. Brian
(00:23):
Billy here with Steve mary Uche to recap week two
in the NFL. Have the Charges built a blueprint to
take down Richard Sherman's and the Mighty Seahawks? And is
their cause for concerns for the now oh and two
New Orleans Saints. Plus we chat with new head coach
and the Tennessee Titans, Ken wizzen Hunt about developing his
quarterback Jake Blacker. That and a whole lot more from
week two as the Coaches Show Podcast starts now, Almost
(00:46):
are so many great games to start with, but I
guess we have to begin with the game where the
reigning Super Bowl champ, the Seattle Seahawks, got beat all
but on the road in San Diego. And this you know,
we've we've been well documented their struggles on the road
as compared to home. Typically it's then when the West
coast team has to go to the East Coast, but
they just had to go down the coast to San
Diego on what was a brutally hot day? Did it say?
(01:10):
It was a hundred and fifteen degrees on the field
down in San Diego? Are you kidding me? I know
it's San Diego, it's still hot, um jeez. And then
you know that what are they nine and eight Brian
on the road in the last couple of years. And
but you gotta remember five of those losses were when
Russell Wilson was a rookie and they were all five
(01:31):
close losses that year too, So there's still a good
team on the road. They're a good team anywhere. But boy,
did the San Diego Chargers take it to them. They
didn't back down. They scored on the opening drive and
nobody did that last year against Seattle and uh Keenan
Allen against Richard Sherman, what a matchup that was. Call
Agan Stanford Brian and so it was one of those
(01:54):
they took it to him, and in course Antonio Gates
was sensational. Well what jumped out at me was when
we talked on Playbook, on the stage of Playbook last week,
talked about going into this game. We had to go
back because naturally. I think most people thought coming in
that this was gonna be all Seattle. But let's remember
San Diego on the road beat Denver ran for almost
(02:16):
a hundred and eighty yards, then went on the road
to play Cincinnati in Cincinnati, a tough defensive team at
home almost two hundred yards. My question going in was
were they going to be able to run the ball
all but at home? This way, they ran the ball
very effectively in a way that we haven't seen many
teams run against Seattle in that way. Yeah. And then
(02:36):
Ryan Matthews, who's a good player for them, got hurt.
And then Danny Woodhead He's a heck of a little back,
isn't he. And so uh, the thing that they did
the Brian, as you know, is they converted third downs.
They converted ten third downs, which gives a team more
minutes of clock time. And that was the difference in
(02:58):
this game, forty two minute. I can't remember the last
time I saw a team have a have the ball
for forty two minutes against the best defense in the
in the world, okay, and and or the league right now,
and so uh, you know, my hat is off to
San Diego. That's the biggest defeat that the that these
guys have suffered on the road in years, and they
deserve it. They earned it. Um. When you keep Marshawn
(03:22):
Lynch and Percy Harvin and Russell Wilson over on the
sideline right next to those big fans blowing the ice
water on them and everything to keep them, to keep
them cool, Um, that's the best way to stop these guys.
And so uh, San Diego is not going away. Mike
McCoy has done a nice job over their playoff team
last year, right, and it looks like it. It looks
like a playoff team again this year, no doubt. Marshawn
(03:43):
Lynch looked from my money, a little too comfortable in
that spray booth you know where they had that He
he didn't mind being on the sideline with all that
that cool air coming towards them. The other thing that
jumped out at me, we all admire what they've done defensively.
I'm talking about Seattle and the fact that they remind
me a little of my my Super Bowl team in Baltimore,
where they tackle so well in the open field. And
(04:05):
that's what jumped out of me. They were not tackling
well yesterday and in fact, uh, they made hey, they
didn't mind going at Richard Sherman. The week before we
saw Aaron Rodgers kind of say, you know what, we're
not gonna We're gonna gonna test him. They weren't afraid
to go after Richard Sherman a little bit. Now there's
a little bit of banter back and forth about how
well he did and they're having at it. But what
(04:26):
jumped out of me a little bit was how they
attacked him underneath the basketball and grass mentality, little guy
on the bigger guy. That's where they seemed to try
to attack him. The Eddie Royal running shallow crosses and
pivots down there. That seemed to give him a little
bit of a problem. Well, Richard Sherman, as you know,
is a tall, long guy that likes to get his
hands on you whether he's playing man hor zone and
(04:49):
uh not just the Eddie Royals and the quick little guys.
But this Keenan Allen kid Um caught three passes in
the first half against him right now, and then of
course they're tweeting back and forth, you know, and all
that stuff. Um, but that's that cal Stanford matchup and
I'm sure there was no love lost over there. You
were a Stanford guy, weren't you, Brian. Although although Richard Sherman,
like me, is used to that being a little one
(05:11):
sided when they were there, because we never lost the cow.
When I was there. You saw the ax. You saw
the ax, saw the other I had in my office.
I just let it sit. It was a paperweight. Uh,
that's good. But but the other thing, obviously that when
you look at let me ask this, because you always
hear this, and I always kind of bristle up and going,
(05:33):
now you're nuts. But are we seeing a little bit
of a template or people go and say, okay, now
we know how to play those Seattle Sea hunks. I
don't know. You know, good luck. You know if you
if you want to go after Richard Sherman giving a shot, God,
go ahead and knock yourself out. You know, the guy's
got sixteen interceptions in the last two years. That means
people are trying to throw the ball over there somewhat,
(05:54):
and you know he usually wins, and so you know
that's not where the argers beat them. I mean, we
talked about it because Aaron Rodgers didn't throw at Richard
Sherman at all. But they won the game because nobody
could cover Antonio Gates. And so you know, he's such
a he's such a mismatch for for dbs or linebackers
(06:16):
because of his skill set. That's where they won this game.
In the red zone with Antonio Gates. They there was
just a little frosting on the cake saying, hey, we
didn't shy away from Richard Sherman either, So I think
that's that's why we're talking about it. Richard Sherman is
a great player. We all know that. But let's remember now,
this is the Seattle Seahawk team that when they played
New Orleans in the playoffs, shut out Jimmy Graham. So
(06:38):
I don't know whether it was a change in emphasis
they thought their linebackers could keep up with this thirty
four year old tight end, did they. It obviously had
to be a different plan because they just flat out
snuffed out Jimmy Graham. And you're right, Antonio Gates was
the difference in that game. Yeah, yeah, that's for sure.
And I mean, do you ever remember when you were
coaching your guys, Brian that uh, you know, you know,
(07:00):
the Aaron Rodgers think surprised me about not going after
Richard Sherman at all. I remember doing that one time
in my whole coaching career coach twenty nine years and
there was one time where I I grabbed five and
I would listen, see the number twenty one over there,
and he's that was Dion Sanders. I said, he's really
pretty good. You know, let's maybe let's maybe think about
(07:21):
the other side of the field most of the time,
but anybody else didn't matter who it was. Let's play
ball and read our progressions. But I I forewarned him
every time he came off the sidelines, stay away from
twenty one. He's dangerous, he'll make a play. But didn't
you ever do that? That's but that's the difficulty, isn't it.
Because we both were kind of reared in the same
West Coast you know system and the read progressions, like
(07:43):
you said in the drops, but in the red progression.
How do you say, okay, stay with your read, stay
with through progression, but ignore number one? How did you say, okay,
forget that, let's just go. How do you call those
players if you're saying, okay, we're gonna ignore our number
one read. I'm glad you asked me, because I'll answer
that question. Richard Sherman is a great player. But the
difference between a Richard Sherman and a Dion Sanders is
(08:06):
because Richard Sherman doesn't travel with the best guy. So
you can put your Jerry Rice or your number one
or whoever you want on the other side of the field,
and Richard Sherman has stuck against somebody who's running a
clear route or you know, it could be your backup
tight end or whatever that is. Now. I saw him
go over to the other side, you know, in trips
formation against San Diego. But he likes to stay over
(08:29):
there at the left, the defensive corner, and so you
can game plan pretty much to stay away from him.
If you choose to absolutely plose that, that's that's cutting
a big and then your line coach is going, no,
but we can't run twenty three protection this week. So
I'm going, Okay, I can't go in and I can't
go twenty three protection, I'm screwed, all right, Well, then
(08:52):
run three jet flank or drive. Uh. It was a
heck of a game and a big win for San Diego.
I think we're coming in. We weren't absolutely of San
Diego was gonna be for real, uh, and not that
they were not going to be good obviously at home
makes a big difference. Good for them, But uh, we're
neither one of us are dismissing Seattle as we're going forward.
Let's go to the other big game, and one that
(09:13):
is a surprise for us, at least it was for me.
I don't want to put words in your mouth. Is
the New Orleans Saints losing to the Cleveland Browns and
and the New Orleans Saint Oh so many things in
this game. Obviously offensively they're up and down the field.
The New Orleans Saints defense, which was supposed to make
a difference this year, looks pretty pedestrian right now. To me.
They made a difference last year when they changed to
(09:34):
Rob Ryan. They went from the worst defense ever in
the history of mankind to the fourth ranked defense. And
it was like, wow, what what a miracle worker. And
then they added Jari's Bird, you know, the best safety
available in free agency, Kenny Carl back from injury. Kenny. Yeah,
And Kenny was a great rookie last year. And I
thought for sure, Brian that this this team was really
(09:57):
built to a win that division and then deep into
the playoffs. Now they're owing to I'm sure they don't
want to be owing two, but they've lost two games
now in the last ten seconds and you know they
were they're winning, and then they and then they Subody
kicks a field goal and then So this is the
best owned two team that we've seen in a long time.
But I am a little surprised that they did lose
(10:18):
to the Cleveland Browns. And that's no disrespect for the
job that Mike Patton's doing over there in Cleveland. But
they are playing hard, they are playing well. I think
Brian Hoyers playing better than expected. And this team is fighting.
So it's a good story right now. And we got
Man's l over on the bench, and that's and then
he came in for a few plays. We got the
(10:40):
Man's LL package. We're gonna talk about that in a
minute because I have some questions about that. But I
guess for me, for the defense in New Orleans, and
you can't look at it in a vacuum, is that
in the game one against Atlanta, and it's a tough rivalry,
it's on the road. Matt Ryan had a statistic. I mean,
he had an all time best day and they didn't
get a lot of pressure on that. Ryan. We now
(11:01):
see Matt Ryan all but on the road go to
Cincinnati and Cincinnati just bombed him. Just he couldn't get
the ball off. So when reference said, well, you know,
you know, if the one team can and you can't.
And then in Cleveland they really didn't get a lot
of pressure on Brian Hoyer. New Orleans looks like a
team to me that really can't get home unless they
bring that fifth and six guy, and that's going to
leave them a little vulnerable on the on the back end. Yeah,
(11:24):
and a perfect world on defense, you want to rush
for and play coverage with seven and then you have
the best of both worlds. But yeah, if you don't
have four guys that can get there, then you've got
to help them. And so we'll see if they can
fix their problems. Typically, you know this, Brian, if a
team doesn't have a lot of injuries and you have
some good coaches that have some experience at fixing problems,
(11:48):
then then they'll find a way. They'll find a way
to get more pressure or do what they need to
do to correct their their mistakes with a self scout
and and good, good coaching staffs will do that. And
I think the Saints will find a way to play
better on defense, no doubt. Yeah. And I don't doubt
that either. They are good coaches, and I think the
expectations sitting here now to O and two have caught
(12:10):
them a little bit. The emotion of this game, it
looked like the the the the intensity of the game
got to Sean and Rob Ryan a little bit. You
know what was and what surprised me was it wasn't
you know, as we know, the final drive, it was
what a ten twelve play drive that Cleveland drives the
length of the field and throws a little corner route
(12:32):
to get them down. They kicked the field goal to
win and had that you know, six seven, eight nine
place in the drive. If that emotion would a bird up,
I can see that. This was Dan back on the
four yard line, you know, and there was the defense
and jumped off sides, but they started John each Now
we've all we've all had that. Let's talk a little
bit about our experiences, the emotion on the sideline and
(12:52):
how it sometimes it gets the better, right you have
you ever had a shouting match with one of your
assistant coaches, though, Brian, well, you know, you know, I'm
pretty what you had Jim Moore now is and did
he tell me you Jim didn't burr up occasionally now
and then, And oh no, I had a lot of
coaches that were nuts, and so did you. But you know,
most most of my guys were professional enough to wait
(13:14):
till halftime, wait till after the game. Do do something
where it's not on camera, have a have a have
a professional discussion private whatever that is. Never never in
front of God and country. Have I had a had
a discussion and you'll just like, you'll dismission his passion,
I think. And that's what there. It's no big deal.
They say, it's just game day. But I agree with you.
(13:36):
It does. The team tend to panic a little bit
when they say, oh boy, you know the I understand
the way you address one another. It can get heated
in that type of thing. And we both know that Rob.
Rob is not one to be politically correct, you know,
and he where Rex. Rex would kind of when I
worked with Rex and he knew, okay, you're the head
coach on a certain way, I'm gonna act. Rob doesn't
seem too much care about that. And I know you're
(13:58):
the head coach, and I know you're the play call or.
But if your question of my defense, that's not gonna
set well for me. And I don't know that what
Sean was offering was particularly constructive. And you know, what's
the purpose of it when you want to burrow up
at a coach like that? Yeah, so I we should
call Sean and say what was that all about? But
you know what, I've had a couple of those with
some players. Now have you had a couple? Oh my god,
(14:20):
I had Jerry Rice go cuckoo on me one time
our first season National Monday Night TV uh one night football,
and and he went nuts, absolutely nuts, and the cameras
caught him and all this kind of thing, and he
was like and then towards the end of the game,
he came up and he went he grabbed me around
the neck. He goes, I'm witning crazy on You didn't.
(14:41):
I'm like, yeah, you did. You're a looney tune man.
And so but those things don't usually last very long.
You get you get through them and you laugh about
them later on. But the heat of the moment. Hey,
the sideline is crazy. You talk about emotion. They've talked
about like NASCAR to draw fans into the stands. Let's
let's let the you know, get the headsets for the fans,
(15:03):
you know, like you can listen to it the US
Open and lett's listen to coaches conference. Yeah, you don't
want to do that. That's that's R rated. Now I'll
be censored. Yeah, let's talk about Obviously, injuries always huge,
you no know, every year it seems like early on
we go boys, it just seems like a lot more
injuries than normal, and you look back, it's really no
more than before. But it certainly feels that way when
you see guys like A J. Green going down. We've
(15:24):
already lost mathis I mean, the list goes on and on.
Let's talk about the big one. Obviously, yesterday was r
G three, and here we go again. Now it's r
G Three's heard Kirk Cousin comes in and plays, Well,
we've seen this before. Let's talk this out a little bit.
What's this mean for the Redskins going forward? Looks like
he's gonna be out between eight to ten weeks, oh
(15:46):
you know, And and r G three I love the kid,
and he handled it. His press conference was very good,
very very professional. So as Cousins um, they're friends. They
respect the heck out of each other, and so know,
I just I just wish r G three would have
been able to stay more healthy through his young career.
Here anyway, let's move on to what's real. Kirk Cousins
(16:10):
seems to play very well every time he enters the game.
And by the way, he was one of three Michigan
State quarterbacks that one. I just thought that in Kirk Cousins,
and they were back to back to back at Michigan State,
and I'm sure Mark D'Antonio smiling right now. And none
(16:31):
of them were in the first round. You know, Hawyer
wasn't even drop anyway. So Kirk Cousins, you know, can
he run the West Coast offense? Heck yeah, I mean
he's very good. Is he gonna run his much zone
read and and have those kind of explosive plays. No,
but he can function in this offense very well. He's
can throw from the run either way, he can throw
(16:54):
from the pocket, he can manage, he's got enough arm um.
He doesn't have a lair for the extravagant. He just
plays within the system, and so he's going to be
very functional in that Jay Gruden offense. There's no doubt
in my mind. He was good in Mike Shanahan's offense.
So this is gonna be interesting depending on how much
(17:15):
Kirk Cousins wins. And then r G three comes back.
Is at decision time. Bran having said that, we've seen
this movie and Kirk Cousin versus r G three got
the last guy, Mike Shanahan with two Super Bowl trophies,
run out of town. We know that j Gruden we
came an interview for the job. He didn't sit with
Dan Snyder and say here's my plan for Kirk Cousin.
(17:36):
It was all about r G three. But you do okay?
Does he fit obviously his ability to work from the pocket,
and they go forward with that, and it's the same old,
same old. Let's say they're doing pretty good, and now
when do you reinsert r G three. Let's say it's
six weeks. Let's say he heals quick and he's ahead.
But your plan pretty well, and you've structured because we
(17:58):
know it's a different offense with Kirk Cousin, You're not
going to do some of the things as you alluded to.
Let's talk about his head coach. Is how you dance
that dance? Remember a guy named Drew Bledsoe and he
was the starting quarterback and a top draft choice and
all of that kind of thing, and he got hurt.
Enter a kid named Tom Brady who was drafted in
the sixth round, and Bill Belichick had to make a
(18:21):
decision later when Drew Bledsoe was healthy, and he decided
to stay with the kid, with the youngster. That was
a huge decision to make, and obviously it worked out.
But those kinds of decisions are why you get paid
the big bucks. And this is not gonna be you know,
Jay Gruen's not going to get fired because he makes
(18:41):
I mean, this is his first year on a long
term deal. Brian. Have you ever had a big decision
like that when a guy got hurt? Do you play
when he comes back? We had we had one where
we had Chris Redman who taken in the draft, and
then we had an undrafted free agent of god Brand
and Anthony Wright. And it's a year that we ended
up when he the division. But our starter goes down
(19:02):
and Redmond was the guy we were grooming. But but
it was apparent to us not too long that you know,
I don't know, Chris Redmond was going to be very good.
And here we got this undrafted guy, uh, free agent
Anthony Wright, who was better. And so it's you know,
we're sitting down and we sit down and say, okay, okay, well,
so what are you gonna do with Redman. I'm going
hold on, I'm gonna play the best guy and the
(19:23):
best guy Anthrey right, and and and it worked out, okay,
But those are hard conversations to have now because I
think about all these guys we had this last year
with Jay Cutler right and Josh McCowen both coming up
on contract years, and they're gonna have to dance that, uh.
And obviously they they decision go with Jack Color, even
though Josh McCown thirteen touchdowns, one interception. Same thing. Now
(19:46):
you've got you've given up all those draft choices for
our G three. But now let's say going forward that
Kirk Cousin plays well. That added contract year situation adds
another level to it to where this is gonna be
some hard f conversations. Yeah. Uh, you know, there's there's
sort of an unwritten law that a starter doesn't lose
(20:07):
his starting job because of an injury. I haven't found that.
I haven't found that law yet. I want to see
where it's written down, Mark marvel Lee. That's why I
said it's unwritten, Brian marv Levy. Marv Leavy told me
he goes Steve. My policy is that I don't have
a policy. I'm gonna play the best right. You know,
after a few weeks, I'll decide if he is this
(20:28):
kid playing now better than what I had, or do
I have to go back? Do I paint myself into
a corner. I made that mistake one time by saying J. J.
Stokes is going to get his job back because he
I don't want him to lose his job. Well, Tye
Streets was playing better, So I I kind of made
a young rookie coach mistake by saying something like that, Hey,
you play the best guy that's gonna help your team win,
and you make that decision each week. Yeah. That that that? Uh?
(20:51):
That playbook that says the unwritten laws, Like the lawyer
is saying, a headshake is an unwritten contract, Well, it's
worth the paper. It's written on then because I still
haven't found that. Let's let's transition because we're having a
chance here, I'm gonna have a chance to visit with
someone else that obviously has to deal at the quarterback position.
Jake Clarker got a chance to visit with Ken wizn
(21:12):
On here and joining us now is the head coach
of the one on one Tennessee Titans. Ken Wizz Nutt
and Coach Banks for joining us, you know in the NFL,
you know better than anybody it's week to week. You're
your your your sky high or you're down in the valley.
You guys have a great opening week win and then
obviously have a tough game against the Dallas Cowboys. Talk
a little bit about how you take your team through that,
(21:35):
not getting too high, not getting too low, but still
being competitive and passionate about what you're doing well. Obviously,
we didn't handle success very well, so I think you
try to you try to learn from that. It's one game.
We really made an approach after Kansas City week to
try to put that behind us and not get too
focused on playing well in the first game, and um
(21:57):
we thought it would help us in the second game
and it wasn't his six ess full as we wanted.
But I think at any time you're gonna face a
situation like this in the NFL, that's what this league
is all about, and it's really about how you respond
to it. This is our first time together as a team,
this is our first regular season loss, so um, we've
(22:17):
got to go through that and hopefully we'll respond the
right way. It's part of this too, in that they
this is the first time they've been with you, so
they're still watching. Okay, we saw how it is after
a win. How is it going to be after a loss.
I mean, you're very cognizant about that in terms of Okay,
this is gonna set the template for us going forward
in terms of when we win and when we lose.
(22:40):
That's a good, good point, and I think it is
important with your football team. You've got to be careful
about being too high or too low, just like you
said earlier. But I think you gotta hold them accountable too,
because there were situations in yesterday's game where we didn't
get it done. And it wasn't because um Dallas played
a good game, but it was more about us, not
X cute in our plan and why did that happen?
(23:03):
And then what do you have to do to address that?
But it's okay for the players for the team to
feel a little uncomfortable because obviously we didn't live up
to what we were supposed to do in that game. Coach,
you're an old tight end, so we we know how
important tight ends are. You don't have to convince us,
But Delaney Walker had a huge day for you guys,
ten catches for a hundred and forty two yards. Let's
(23:23):
talk a little bit about how the playoff tight end.
Tight end playing an offense is really integral in today's NFL.
It's a huge asset to have an athlete or a
player like Delaney Walker. Well, I think today's game is
a lot about creating mismatches, and when you have a
guy like Delaney that obviously he showed his speed yesterday,
but it's got good hands, a good route runner, that
(23:45):
works as hard as he does in the blocking game,
it can it can create some of those mismatches for you.
So hats off to Delaney. He's worked very hard and
I think one of the things I've been most impressed about.
He's a good receiver. He's got a good speed, but
he's worked really hard to block, and that's one of
the things that makes you really valuable, because now you
can't target a guy is just a receiver, you know.
(24:08):
Coach I wrote about this week on NFL dot Com
about the tight end position the way it's evolved, and
maybe I'm going too far. I'm it should in your perspective.
You said, have the Jimmy Graham's the world. He had
ten catches all but in the loss, uh Antonio Gates
went off with three touchdowns to Laney Walker. Obviously big
has it elevated because the mismatches you're talking about If
it maybe a silly question, but if you're in the
(24:30):
draft and you have a tight end receiver of kind
of relative equal abilities given their position, could you actually
see yourself taking a tight end over wide receivers just
because of the elevated importance of having that kind of
guy in your offense. Now, I think it really depends
on your team and if you if you have a
receiver or a tight end already. I think that's all
(24:53):
part of building your team. But there's no question you
evaluate those guys as far as what you think they
can do from a standpoint of winning of mismatches, as
we talked about, and how important that is in your package.
So some teams place a lot of value on that,
Maybe some other teams don't as much. I know from
my standpoint of having worked with Antonio Gates and what
(25:15):
a great player he was, and now certainly with Delaney,
it's important to us. You know, you're your your quarterback
situation with Jake Locker a little like your team. You know,
he had phenomenal first game, very efficient, struggle a little
bit yesterday. Uh, you've been you're you're now the quarterback
whisperer so to speak. You've worked with the Ben Roethlisberger,
with a with a Kurt Warner, what you did in
(25:36):
San Diego with Philip Rivers, different quarterbacks, different styles of play.
Tell us about, given that experience that you had, which
is very broad. Now, what your expectations are for Jake Locker.
What does a finished I know this is the ways off,
but what does a finish that Jake Locker look like. Well,
I'm excited about Jake. He's shown that he can be efficient,
(25:57):
he can be accurate. He definitely has an element with
his feet that he can make things happen, especially if
a team is a two man team. Um, So, you know,
I think we're we're still working on what Jake does well,
what he's comfortable with. We saw a lot of good
things in the Kansas City game, and then yesterday he
did a nice job force in the second half and
(26:17):
made some good throws. So I'm excited about continuing to
work with Jake and really kind of focusing in on
where we're gonna go with him. He's still fairly young.
Is he's still learning even though he's been in the
league for a while. Uh, he's been hurt, so he
really only has about nineteen twenty starts under his belt.
He's still learning what it is to be in charge
of that team. Oh yeah, and I think one thing
(26:41):
to coach, you gotta also recognizes that he's changed offensive
systems a number of times, and you know, you know
that's always a tough process in itself. So, um, yeah,
you're right. I think it is nineteen starts for Jake.
He's still a young quarterback from the standpoint of starts
in the league, but um, he's experienced from a standpoint
And what I really like about Jake is that he
(27:02):
can relay what he sees, what he's thinking, and that's
a good sign that he's processing things. On the field.
You're playing a very good Cincinnati team, very impressive win obviously,
all but at home Cincinnati against Atlanta, who had just
lit it up in on you know, historical terms for
Matt Ryan and then basically shut him down. I know
you're just getting into it, but tell me a little
(27:23):
bit about what you expect in Cincinnati. Well, a very
balanced football team. They've got a really good defense and
a really good offense and special teams. Of course, they've
got athletes, so I think you've got to be able
to handle the pressure offensively, and you've got to be
able to adjust their multiple looks defensively. So you know,
(27:43):
going in there, it'll be a tough place to play.
We'll have our hands full. But the one thing that
you're really excited about is you know, this is one
of the best teams in the league and we get
a great chance to see how we can match up
against that. And you can send that betch monk coach
good luck in week three. We appreciate you taking the time, coach, Billy.
Great talkin right, Well, Steve, we just heard a great
comment by Ken wizzen Hunt, and it intrigues me a
(28:05):
little bit about this tight end versus wide receiver, because
we've got some really good ones right now. And it's
changed the game a little bit because now you've gotta
you gotta draft for safeties higher than we normally used to.
In the day when you and I were doing it,
it was tight end safeties out take them later on.
But you gotta There's been twenty safeties taken in the
first round the last few years because you gotta match
these big guys. I'll put it to you if If
(28:25):
and and Ken kind of answered it diplomatically, but if
you had to choose between I won't say superstar, but
a first round really good tight end or a first
round really good receiver, who do you take? And you need? Yeah?
Probably Now if Mega Megatron sitting there, Okay, let's their positions,
(28:48):
you probably go at the tight end. And I'll tell
you why the way we're throwing the ball so much now,
this this this athlete is a very very versatile guy
in our offensive scheme, more so than a receiver can be.
Think about the tight ends that were, you know, the gates.
Vernon Davis the Gronks and Jimmy Graham's and then the
(29:11):
Lions drafted Eric Ebron tenth pick overall, right, and they're
being used as sometimes an inline blocker, tight end, run
routes from there next to the tackle. They're being used
more often as a slot or a wide receiver. They're
being used inside. They come in motion, and they're like
a fullback in pass protection or running routes from the backfield.
(29:33):
Now to um once in a while, they're in the
kicking game, but not much so. The versatility and the
usage of these these athletes is so he mentioned look
for a mismatch. Well, this is where you can find
the mismatch. You saw it with Antonio Gates a few times.
And I think this tight end is so in vogue
right now that I would I would tend to favor
(29:56):
that position over just a good receiver. Yeah. For for
of the top ten receivers in league right now are
are tight ends, and collectively they have more touchdowns than
the wide receivers in that top end. So that I'm
with you, I think that the game nature of the
game has changed, a little bit. Uh Coaches show, So
we got to talk about we've already talked about Rob
Ryan and and uh and Sean Payton all that. Let's
(30:17):
talk about what happened in the New York Jet game
the use of the time out critical situation. Uh, the
Jets are down to score and here is Geno Smith
throwing what looks like a touchdown and no, nope, nope,
someone called time out and and and then then Rex
is looking like, well, who the heck called time out? Uh,
that got a little crazy. Well, Marty morning Wig called
(30:40):
and so, yeah, that was unfortunate because that tied the
game right thirty one. All and so now you can
tell the story that happened to you and Rex a
while back to But but here's the thing. I think
I'm waiting for a call from Mike Carey. I think
the head coach is the only person on that sideline
that can call a time out to an official. That's
(31:01):
how I believe it's supposed to be. And when assistant
coaches called time out, hey, you shouldn't do that, or
be the officials should not allow it, and so and
so it was unfortunate. I don't know if Marty was
trying to say that to the official or to Rex.
Rex call a time out? Um, but all I know
is it nullified a touchdown that would have tied the game,
(31:23):
and it was unfortunate kind of caught Rex by surprise. Well,
and you mentioned the time back in two thousand seven,
we're we're playing the New England Patriots when they're going
on their sixteen and old run during the regular season,
and we're playing them pretty well, and people kind of thought,
even though we weren't very good that year, because of
our defense, we might be the team that could finally
beat them. They were at our place. It was I
(31:44):
think it was a Monday nine. I'm not sure. Anyways,
Um it's fourth and one and and and they're gonna
go for it, and all of a sudden, Tom Brady
he's gonna run a sneak and we snuff him, and
so we've won the game. But Rex had called time
out and people correct the amount. How can that that's
interesting that it is Rex again. For me as the
(32:04):
head coach, I always allowed my defensive coordinators the right
to call a time out because what I didn't want
to do is get caught. You nowadays, defensively, they're a
man short yuring the wrong. Something's messed up, and you
don't want because you know, if you make a big
mistake on defense, it could be six. You make a mistake,
wrong personnel, wrong formation, one offense, Okay, cost us five
yards and okay, that's fine, that's bad, but it's not
(32:26):
a killer. So I always gave my defensive coordinators the
right to if if you think you've got into time out,
if you're in a critical situation, you have the latitude
to call time out again. So it was a coach,
you know, you know, and then we missed that opportunity. Well,
now what people don't realize is the officials blew the whistle.
So what if Tom Brady you know, did did indeed
(32:47):
their players because the time out had come, had their
players stopped, and it changed. They ended up getting a penalty,
actually backed it up fourth and six, and then the
son of a gun converts it and marches down the
field and we lose the game. But but I allowed
my defensive guys to do that, not my offensive guys.
So when you were coaching, they were strictly that had
to come out of your mouth. Well, you know what,
(33:07):
I think, I got a text. I got a text
from Mike Carey's right here from Yeah, so I asked, Mike,
can an assistant coach call a time out? Brian, you
might have been broken breaking the rules, says only the
head coach or any player. I can call a time
out on the field, right, only the head coach. So
I don't know what you were doing with your defensive
(33:29):
coordinators that was illegal, So I would let's play Johnny
top story. So I was coaching the lines at Dallas,
and so one of our defensive coaches, I don't even
remember who the heck it was, if I don't think
it was the coordinator tried to call time out because
we were short, we were ten guys on the field
or some darn thing right misaligned. So he tried to
(33:49):
call time out, and the official turned around and and
uh and said you can't call time out, and they
ran to play and this and that. So right before
the half, they're kicking a field goal, and I tried
to do what most coaches do. I tried the old
freeze the kicker. So the official was standing right there
and I was standing right there, and and as soon
(34:11):
as he's lining up to kick it, I went time out,
time out, time out, time out, and he and he
wouldn't he wouldn't call time out, and and then he
kicked it boom, made the field goals like fifty sum
yards and the time ran out for the half. And
now I'm chasing that official, and I'm chasing it hockey Ley,
I'm going I'm trying to call time out. You know,
why don't you give me the time out? He goes, Well,
(34:31):
I thought you were the same guy that was trying
to call time out earlier, and I didn't give it
to him then. I wasn't gonna give it to him
now because they can't see you. Sometimes they have your
back to it. That's why. Yeah, you have to go around.
One time I tried to do that. I tried to
touch the guy. Hey, hey, time out, he goes, Don't
ever touch me. Don't ever touch me. Oh my god,
(34:52):
that costs thousand, I got. I got. I'm twenty five thousand,
like in my back pocket for it, putting my hand
on official. All but a quiz. If it wasn't in
a malicious way, it was just your finds a way
to go. Yeah, I bet your wife was really happy
with your with your behaving yourself on the sidelines after that. Fine,
you know, my daughter, Kegan, you asked her about that.
(35:13):
She'll tell you, coach, that was fun. That'll do it
For this week's edition of The Coaches Podcast. You can
go to nfl dot com slash podcast download these at
your convenience.
This is NFL dot COM's Coaches Show Podcast. Thirty men
together can't lose. This is why you lift everybody hobody
calling them And now we're going there's a glean man,
there's a glean Welcome to the Coach Show Podcast. Brian
(00:23):
Billy here with Steve mary Uche to recap week two
in the NFL. Have the Charges built a blueprint to
take down Richard Sherman's and the Mighty Seahawks? And is
their cause for concerns for the now oh and two
New Orleans Saints. Plus we chat with new head coach
and the Tennessee Titans, Ken wizzen Hunt about developing his
quarterback Jake Blacker. That and a whole lot more from
week two as the Coaches Show Podcast starts now, Almost
(00:46):
are so many great games to start with, but I
guess we have to begin with the game where the
reigning Super Bowl champ, the Seattle Seahawks, got beat all
but on the road in San Diego. And this you know,
we've we've been well documented their struggles on the road
as compared to home. Typically it's then when the West
coast team has to go to the East Coast, but
they just had to go down the coast to San
Diego on what was a brutally hot day? Did it say?
(01:10):
It was a hundred and fifteen degrees on the field
down in San Diego? Are you kidding me? I know
it's San Diego, it's still hot, um jeez. And then
you know that what are they nine and eight Brian
on the road in the last couple of years. And
but you gotta remember five of those losses were when
Russell Wilson was a rookie and they were all five
(01:31):
close losses that year too, So there's still a good
team on the road. They're a good team anywhere. But boy,
did the San Diego Chargers take it to them. They
didn't back down. They scored on the opening drive and
nobody did that last year against Seattle and uh Keenan
Allen against Richard Sherman, what a matchup that was. Call
Agan Stanford Brian and so it was one of those
(01:54):
they took it to him, and in course Antonio Gates
was sensational. Well what jumped out at me was when
we talked on Playbook, on the stage of Playbook last week,
talked about going into this game. We had to go
back because naturally. I think most people thought coming in
that this was gonna be all Seattle. But let's remember
San Diego on the road beat Denver ran for almost
(02:16):
a hundred and eighty yards, then went on the road
to play Cincinnati in Cincinnati, a tough defensive team at
home almost two hundred yards. My question going in was
were they going to be able to run the ball
all but at home? This way, they ran the ball
very effectively in a way that we haven't seen many
teams run against Seattle in that way. Yeah. And then
(02:36):
Ryan Matthews, who's a good player for them, got hurt.
And then Danny Woodhead He's a heck of a little back,
isn't he. And so uh, the thing that they did
the Brian, as you know, is they converted third downs.
They converted ten third downs, which gives a team more
minutes of clock time. And that was the difference in
(02:58):
this game, forty two minute. I can't remember the last
time I saw a team have a have the ball
for forty two minutes against the best defense in the
in the world, okay, and and or the league right now,
and so uh, you know, my hat is off to
San Diego. That's the biggest defeat that the that these
guys have suffered on the road in years, and they
deserve it. They earned it. Um. When you keep Marshawn
(03:22):
Lynch and Percy Harvin and Russell Wilson over on the
sideline right next to those big fans blowing the ice
water on them and everything to keep them, to keep
them cool, Um, that's the best way to stop these guys.
And so uh, San Diego is not going away. Mike
McCoy has done a nice job over their playoff team
last year, right, and it looks like it. It looks
like a playoff team again this year, no doubt. Marshawn
(03:43):
Lynch looked from my money, a little too comfortable in
that spray booth you know where they had that He
he didn't mind being on the sideline with all that
that cool air coming towards them. The other thing that
jumped out at me, we all admire what they've done defensively.
I'm talking about Seattle and the fact that they remind
me a little of my my Super Bowl team in Baltimore,
where they tackle so well in the open field. And
(04:05):
that's what jumped out of me. They were not tackling
well yesterday and in fact, uh, they made hey, they
didn't mind going at Richard Sherman. The week before we
saw Aaron Rodgers kind of say, you know what, we're
not gonna We're gonna gonna test him. They weren't afraid
to go after Richard Sherman a little bit. Now there's
a little bit of banter back and forth about how
well he did and they're having at it. But what
(04:26):
jumped out of me a little bit was how they
attacked him underneath the basketball and grass mentality, little guy
on the bigger guy. That's where they seemed to try
to attack him. The Eddie Royal running shallow crosses and
pivots down there. That seemed to give him a little
bit of a problem. Well, Richard Sherman, as you know,
is a tall, long guy that likes to get his
hands on you whether he's playing man hor zone and
(04:49):
uh not just the Eddie Royals and the quick little guys.
But this Keenan Allen kid Um caught three passes in
the first half against him right now, and then of
course they're tweeting back and forth, you know, and all
that stuff. Um, but that's that cal Stanford matchup and
I'm sure there was no love lost over there. You
were a Stanford guy, weren't you, Brian. Although although Richard Sherman,
like me, is used to that being a little one
(05:11):
sided when they were there, because we never lost the cow.
When I was there. You saw the ax. You saw
the ax, saw the other I had in my office.
I just let it sit. It was a paperweight. Uh,
that's good. But but the other thing, obviously that when
you look at let me ask this, because you always
hear this, and I always kind of bristle up and going,
(05:33):
now you're nuts. But are we seeing a little bit
of a template or people go and say, okay, now
we know how to play those Seattle Sea hunks. I
don't know. You know, good luck. You know if you
if you want to go after Richard Sherman giving a shot, God,
go ahead and knock yourself out. You know, the guy's
got sixteen interceptions in the last two years. That means
people are trying to throw the ball over there somewhat,
(05:54):
and you know he usually wins, and so you know
that's not where the argers beat them. I mean, we
talked about it because Aaron Rodgers didn't throw at Richard
Sherman at all. But they won the game because nobody
could cover Antonio Gates. And so you know, he's such
a he's such a mismatch for for dbs or linebackers
(06:16):
because of his skill set. That's where they won this game.
In the red zone with Antonio Gates. They there was
just a little frosting on the cake saying, hey, we
didn't shy away from Richard Sherman either, So I think
that's that's why we're talking about it. Richard Sherman is
a great player. We all know that. But let's remember now,
this is the Seattle Seahawk team that when they played
New Orleans in the playoffs, shut out Jimmy Graham. So
(06:38):
I don't know whether it was a change in emphasis
they thought their linebackers could keep up with this thirty
four year old tight end, did they. It obviously had
to be a different plan because they just flat out
snuffed out Jimmy Graham. And you're right, Antonio Gates was
the difference in that game. Yeah, yeah, that's for sure.
And I mean, do you ever remember when you were
coaching your guys, Brian that uh, you know, you know,
(07:00):
the Aaron Rodgers think surprised me about not going after
Richard Sherman at all. I remember doing that one time
in my whole coaching career coach twenty nine years and
there was one time where I I grabbed five and
I would listen, see the number twenty one over there,
and he's that was Dion Sanders. I said, he's really
pretty good. You know, let's maybe let's maybe think about
(07:21):
the other side of the field most of the time,
but anybody else didn't matter who it was. Let's play
ball and read our progressions. But I I forewarned him
every time he came off the sidelines, stay away from
twenty one. He's dangerous, he'll make a play. But didn't
you ever do that? That's but that's the difficulty, isn't it.
Because we both were kind of reared in the same
West Coast you know system and the read progressions, like
(07:43):
you said in the drops, but in the red progression.
How do you say, okay, stay with your read, stay
with through progression, but ignore number one? How did you say, okay,
forget that, let's just go. How do you call those
players if you're saying, okay, we're gonna ignore our number
one read. I'm glad you asked me, because I'll answer
that question. Richard Sherman is a great player. But the
difference between a Richard Sherman and a Dion Sanders is
(08:06):
because Richard Sherman doesn't travel with the best guy. So
you can put your Jerry Rice or your number one
or whoever you want on the other side of the field,
and Richard Sherman has stuck against somebody who's running a
clear route or you know, it could be your backup
tight end or whatever that is. Now. I saw him
go over to the other side, you know, in trips
formation against San Diego. But he likes to stay over
(08:29):
there at the left, the defensive corner, and so you
can game plan pretty much to stay away from him.
If you choose to absolutely plose that, that's that's cutting
a big and then your line coach is going, no,
but we can't run twenty three protection this week. So
I'm going, Okay, I can't go in and I can't
go twenty three protection, I'm screwed, all right, Well, then
(08:52):
run three jet flank or drive. Uh. It was a
heck of a game and a big win for San Diego.
I think we're coming in. We weren't absolutely of San
Diego was gonna be for real, uh, and not that
they were not going to be good obviously at home
makes a big difference. Good for them, But uh, we're
neither one of us are dismissing Seattle as we're going forward.
Let's go to the other big game, and one that
(09:13):
is a surprise for us, at least it was for me.
I don't want to put words in your mouth. Is
the New Orleans Saints losing to the Cleveland Browns and
and the New Orleans Saint Oh so many things in
this game. Obviously offensively they're up and down the field.
The New Orleans Saints defense, which was supposed to make
a difference this year, looks pretty pedestrian right now. To me.
They made a difference last year when they changed to
(09:34):
Rob Ryan. They went from the worst defense ever in
the history of mankind to the fourth ranked defense. And
it was like, wow, what what a miracle worker. And
then they added Jari's Bird, you know, the best safety
available in free agency, Kenny Carl back from injury. Kenny. Yeah,
And Kenny was a great rookie last year. And I
thought for sure, Brian that this this team was really
(09:57):
built to a win that division and then deep into
the playoffs. Now they're owing to I'm sure they don't
want to be owing two, but they've lost two games
now in the last ten seconds and you know they
were they're winning, and then they and then they Subody
kicks a field goal and then So this is the
best owned two team that we've seen in a long time.
But I am a little surprised that they did lose
(10:18):
to the Cleveland Browns. And that's no disrespect for the
job that Mike Patton's doing over there in Cleveland. But
they are playing hard, they are playing well. I think
Brian Hoyers playing better than expected. And this team is fighting.
So it's a good story right now. And we got
Man's l over on the bench, and that's and then
he came in for a few plays. We got the
(10:40):
Man's LL package. We're gonna talk about that in a
minute because I have some questions about that. But I
guess for me, for the defense in New Orleans, and
you can't look at it in a vacuum, is that
in the game one against Atlanta, and it's a tough rivalry,
it's on the road. Matt Ryan had a statistic. I mean,
he had an all time best day and they didn't
get a lot of pressure on that. Ryan. We now
(11:01):
see Matt Ryan all but on the road go to
Cincinnati and Cincinnati just bombed him. Just he couldn't get
the ball off. So when reference said, well, you know,
you know, if the one team can and you can't.
And then in Cleveland they really didn't get a lot
of pressure on Brian Hoyer. New Orleans looks like a
team to me that really can't get home unless they
bring that fifth and six guy, and that's going to
leave them a little vulnerable on the on the back end. Yeah,
(11:24):
and a perfect world on defense, you want to rush
for and play coverage with seven and then you have
the best of both worlds. But yeah, if you don't
have four guys that can get there, then you've got
to help them. And so we'll see if they can
fix their problems. Typically, you know this, Brian, if a
team doesn't have a lot of injuries and you have
some good coaches that have some experience at fixing problems,
(11:48):
then then they'll find a way. They'll find a way
to get more pressure or do what they need to
do to correct their their mistakes with a self scout
and and good, good coaching staffs will do that. And
I think the Saints will find a way to play
better on defense, no doubt. Yeah. And I don't doubt
that either. They are good coaches, and I think the
expectations sitting here now to O and two have caught
(12:10):
them a little bit. The emotion of this game, it
looked like the the the the intensity of the game
got to Sean and Rob Ryan a little bit. You
know what was and what surprised me was it wasn't
you know, as we know, the final drive, it was
what a ten twelve play drive that Cleveland drives the
length of the field and throws a little corner route
(12:32):
to get them down. They kicked the field goal to
win and had that you know, six seven, eight nine
place in the drive. If that emotion would a bird up,
I can see that. This was Dan back on the
four yard line, you know, and there was the defense
and jumped off sides, but they started John each Now
we've all we've all had that. Let's talk a little
bit about our experiences, the emotion on the sideline and
(12:52):
how it sometimes it gets the better, right you have
you ever had a shouting match with one of your
assistant coaches, though, Brian, well, you know, you know, I'm
pretty what you had Jim Moore now is and did
he tell me you Jim didn't burr up occasionally now
and then, And oh no, I had a lot of
coaches that were nuts, and so did you. But you know,
most most of my guys were professional enough to wait
(13:14):
till halftime, wait till after the game. Do do something
where it's not on camera, have a have a have
a professional discussion private whatever that is. Never never in
front of God and country. Have I had a had
a discussion and you'll just like, you'll dismission his passion,
I think. And that's what there. It's no big deal.
They say, it's just game day. But I agree with you.
(13:36):
It does. The team tend to panic a little bit
when they say, oh boy, you know the I understand
the way you address one another. It can get heated
in that type of thing. And we both know that Rob.
Rob is not one to be politically correct, you know,
and he where Rex. Rex would kind of when I
worked with Rex and he knew, okay, you're the head
coach on a certain way, I'm gonna act. Rob doesn't
seem too much care about that. And I know you're
(13:58):
the head coach, and I know you're the play call or.
But if your question of my defense, that's not gonna
set well for me. And I don't know that what
Sean was offering was particularly constructive. And you know, what's
the purpose of it when you want to burrow up
at a coach like that? Yeah, so I we should
call Sean and say what was that all about? But
you know what, I've had a couple of those with
some players. Now have you had a couple? Oh my god,
(14:20):
I had Jerry Rice go cuckoo on me one time
our first season National Monday Night TV uh one night football,
and and he went nuts, absolutely nuts, and the cameras
caught him and all this kind of thing, and he
was like and then towards the end of the game,
he came up and he went he grabbed me around
the neck. He goes, I'm witning crazy on You didn't.
(14:41):
I'm like, yeah, you did. You're a looney tune man.
And so but those things don't usually last very long.
You get you get through them and you laugh about
them later on. But the heat of the moment. Hey,
the sideline is crazy. You talk about emotion. They've talked
about like NASCAR to draw fans into the stands. Let's
let's let the you know, get the headsets for the fans,
(15:03):
you know, like you can listen to it the US
Open and lett's listen to coaches conference. Yeah, you don't
want to do that. That's that's R rated. Now I'll
be censored. Yeah, let's talk about Obviously, injuries always huge,
you no know, every year it seems like early on
we go boys, it just seems like a lot more
injuries than normal, and you look back, it's really no
more than before. But it certainly feels that way when
you see guys like A J. Green going down. We've
(15:24):
already lost mathis I mean, the list goes on and on.
Let's talk about the big one. Obviously, yesterday was r
G three, and here we go again. Now it's r
G Three's heard Kirk Cousin comes in and plays, Well,
we've seen this before. Let's talk this out a little bit.
What's this mean for the Redskins going forward? Looks like
he's gonna be out between eight to ten weeks, oh
(15:46):
you know, And and r G three I love the kid,
and he handled it. His press conference was very good,
very very professional. So as Cousins um, they're friends. They
respect the heck out of each other, and so know,
I just I just wish r G three would have
been able to stay more healthy through his young career.
Here anyway, let's move on to what's real. Kirk Cousins
(16:10):
seems to play very well every time he enters the game.
And by the way, he was one of three Michigan
State quarterbacks that one. I just thought that in Kirk Cousins,
and they were back to back to back at Michigan State,
and I'm sure Mark D'Antonio smiling right now. And none
(16:31):
of them were in the first round. You know, Hawyer
wasn't even drop anyway. So Kirk Cousins, you know, can
he run the West Coast offense? Heck yeah, I mean
he's very good. Is he gonna run his much zone
read and and have those kind of explosive plays. No,
but he can function in this offense very well. He's
can throw from the run either way, he can throw
(16:54):
from the pocket, he can manage, he's got enough arm um.
He doesn't have a lair for the extravagant. He just
plays within the system, and so he's going to be
very functional in that Jay Gruden offense. There's no doubt
in my mind. He was good in Mike Shanahan's offense.
So this is gonna be interesting depending on how much
(17:15):
Kirk Cousins wins. And then r G three comes back.
Is at decision time. Bran having said that, we've seen
this movie and Kirk Cousin versus r G three got
the last guy, Mike Shanahan with two Super Bowl trophies,
run out of town. We know that j Gruden we
came an interview for the job. He didn't sit with
Dan Snyder and say here's my plan for Kirk Cousin.
(17:36):
It was all about r G three. But you do okay?
Does he fit obviously his ability to work from the pocket,
and they go forward with that, and it's the same old,
same old. Let's say they're doing pretty good, and now
when do you reinsert r G three. Let's say it's
six weeks. Let's say he heals quick and he's ahead.
But your plan pretty well, and you've structured because we
(17:58):
know it's a different offense with Kirk Cousin, You're not
going to do some of the things as you alluded to.
Let's talk about his head coach. Is how you dance
that dance? Remember a guy named Drew Bledsoe and he
was the starting quarterback and a top draft choice and
all of that kind of thing, and he got hurt.
Enter a kid named Tom Brady who was drafted in
the sixth round, and Bill Belichick had to make a
(18:21):
decision later when Drew Bledsoe was healthy, and he decided
to stay with the kid, with the youngster. That was
a huge decision to make, and obviously it worked out.
But those kinds of decisions are why you get paid
the big bucks. And this is not gonna be you know,
Jay Gruen's not going to get fired because he makes
(18:41):
I mean, this is his first year on a long
term deal. Brian. Have you ever had a big decision
like that when a guy got hurt? Do you play
when he comes back? We had we had one where
we had Chris Redman who taken in the draft, and
then we had an undrafted free agent of god Brand
and Anthony Wright. And it's a year that we ended
up when he the division. But our starter goes down
(19:02):
and Redmond was the guy we were grooming. But but
it was apparent to us not too long that you know,
I don't know, Chris Redmond was going to be very good.
And here we got this undrafted guy, uh, free agent
Anthony Wright, who was better. And so it's you know,
we're sitting down and we sit down and say, okay, okay, well,
so what are you gonna do with Redman. I'm going
hold on, I'm gonna play the best guy and the
(19:23):
best guy Anthrey right, and and and it worked out, okay,
But those are hard conversations to have now because I
think about all these guys we had this last year
with Jay Cutler right and Josh McCowen both coming up
on contract years, and they're gonna have to dance that, uh.
And obviously they they decision go with Jack Color, even
though Josh McCown thirteen touchdowns, one interception. Same thing. Now
(19:46):
you've got you've given up all those draft choices for
our G three. But now let's say going forward that
Kirk Cousin plays well. That added contract year situation adds
another level to it to where this is gonna be
some hard f conversations. Yeah. Uh, you know, there's there's
sort of an unwritten law that a starter doesn't lose
(20:07):
his starting job because of an injury. I haven't found that.
I haven't found that law yet. I want to see
where it's written down, Mark marvel Lee. That's why I
said it's unwritten, Brian marv Levy. Marv Leavy told me
he goes Steve. My policy is that I don't have
a policy. I'm gonna play the best right. You know,
after a few weeks, I'll decide if he is this
(20:28):
kid playing now better than what I had, or do
I have to go back? Do I paint myself into
a corner. I made that mistake one time by saying J. J.
Stokes is going to get his job back because he
I don't want him to lose his job. Well, Tye
Streets was playing better, So I I kind of made
a young rookie coach mistake by saying something like that, Hey,
you play the best guy that's gonna help your team win,
and you make that decision each week. Yeah. That that that? Uh?
(20:51):
That playbook that says the unwritten laws, Like the lawyer
is saying, a headshake is an unwritten contract, Well, it's
worth the paper. It's written on then because I still
haven't found that. Let's let's transition because we're having a
chance here, I'm gonna have a chance to visit with
someone else that obviously has to deal at the quarterback position.
Jake Clarker got a chance to visit with Ken wizn
(21:12):
On here and joining us now is the head coach
of the one on one Tennessee Titans. Ken Wizz Nutt
and Coach Banks for joining us, you know in the NFL,
you know better than anybody it's week to week. You're
your your your sky high or you're down in the valley.
You guys have a great opening week win and then
obviously have a tough game against the Dallas Cowboys. Talk
a little bit about how you take your team through that,
(21:35):
not getting too high, not getting too low, but still
being competitive and passionate about what you're doing well. Obviously,
we didn't handle success very well, so I think you
try to you try to learn from that. It's one game.
We really made an approach after Kansas City week to
try to put that behind us and not get too
focused on playing well in the first game, and um
(21:57):
we thought it would help us in the second game
and it wasn't his six ess full as we wanted.
But I think at any time you're gonna face a
situation like this in the NFL, that's what this league
is all about, and it's really about how you respond
to it. This is our first time together as a team,
this is our first regular season loss, so um, we've
(22:17):
got to go through that and hopefully we'll respond the
right way. It's part of this too, in that they
this is the first time they've been with you, so
they're still watching. Okay, we saw how it is after
a win. How is it going to be after a loss.
I mean, you're very cognizant about that in terms of Okay,
this is gonna set the template for us going forward
in terms of when we win and when we lose.
(22:40):
That's a good, good point, and I think it is
important with your football team. You've got to be careful
about being too high or too low, just like you
said earlier. But I think you gotta hold them accountable too,
because there were situations in yesterday's game where we didn't
get it done. And it wasn't because um Dallas played
a good game, but it was more about us, not
X cute in our plan and why did that happen?
(23:03):
And then what do you have to do to address that?
But it's okay for the players for the team to
feel a little uncomfortable because obviously we didn't live up
to what we were supposed to do in that game. Coach,
you're an old tight end, so we we know how
important tight ends are. You don't have to convince us,
But Delaney Walker had a huge day for you guys,
ten catches for a hundred and forty two yards. Let's
(23:23):
talk a little bit about how the playoff tight end.
Tight end playing an offense is really integral in today's NFL.
It's a huge asset to have an athlete or a
player like Delaney Walker. Well, I think today's game is
a lot about creating mismatches, and when you have a
guy like Delaney that obviously he showed his speed yesterday,
but it's got good hands, a good route runner, that
(23:45):
works as hard as he does in the blocking game,
it can it can create some of those mismatches for you.
So hats off to Delaney. He's worked very hard and
I think one of the things I've been most impressed about.
He's a good receiver. He's got a good speed, but
he's worked really hard to block, and that's one of
the things that makes you really valuable, because now you
can't target a guy is just a receiver, you know.
(24:08):
Coach I wrote about this week on NFL dot Com
about the tight end position the way it's evolved, and
maybe I'm going too far. I'm it should in your perspective.
You said, have the Jimmy Graham's the world. He had
ten catches all but in the loss, uh Antonio Gates
went off with three touchdowns to Laney Walker. Obviously big
has it elevated because the mismatches you're talking about If
it maybe a silly question, but if you're in the
(24:30):
draft and you have a tight end receiver of kind
of relative equal abilities given their position, could you actually
see yourself taking a tight end over wide receivers just
because of the elevated importance of having that kind of
guy in your offense. Now, I think it really depends
on your team and if you if you have a
receiver or a tight end already. I think that's all
(24:53):
part of building your team. But there's no question you
evaluate those guys as far as what you think they
can do from a standpoint of winning of mismatches, as
we talked about, and how important that is in your package.
So some teams place a lot of value on that,
Maybe some other teams don't as much. I know from
my standpoint of having worked with Antonio Gates and what
(25:15):
a great player he was, and now certainly with Delaney,
it's important to us. You know, you're your your quarterback
situation with Jake Locker a little like your team. You know,
he had phenomenal first game, very efficient, struggle a little
bit yesterday. Uh, you've been you're you're now the quarterback
whisperer so to speak. You've worked with the Ben Roethlisberger,
with a with a Kurt Warner, what you did in
(25:36):
San Diego with Philip Rivers, different quarterbacks, different styles of play.
Tell us about, given that experience that you had, which
is very broad. Now, what your expectations are for Jake Locker.
What does a finished I know this is the ways off,
but what does a finish that Jake Locker look like. Well,
I'm excited about Jake. He's shown that he can be efficient,
(25:57):
he can be accurate. He definitely has an element with
his feet that he can make things happen, especially if
a team is a two man team. Um, So, you know,
I think we're we're still working on what Jake does well,
what he's comfortable with. We saw a lot of good
things in the Kansas City game, and then yesterday he
did a nice job force in the second half and
(26:17):
made some good throws. So I'm excited about continuing to
work with Jake and really kind of focusing in on
where we're gonna go with him. He's still fairly young.
Is he's still learning even though he's been in the
league for a while. Uh, he's been hurt, so he
really only has about nineteen twenty starts under his belt.
He's still learning what it is to be in charge
of that team. Oh yeah, and I think one thing
(26:41):
to coach, you gotta also recognizes that he's changed offensive
systems a number of times, and you know, you know
that's always a tough process in itself. So, um, yeah,
you're right. I think it is nineteen starts for Jake.
He's still a young quarterback from the standpoint of starts
in the league, but um, he's experienced from a standpoint
And what I really like about Jake is that he
(27:02):
can relay what he sees, what he's thinking, and that's
a good sign that he's processing things. On the field.
You're playing a very good Cincinnati team, very impressive win obviously,
all but at home Cincinnati against Atlanta, who had just
lit it up in on you know, historical terms for
Matt Ryan and then basically shut him down. I know
you're just getting into it, but tell me a little
(27:23):
bit about what you expect in Cincinnati. Well, a very
balanced football team. They've got a really good defense and
a really good offense and special teams. Of course, they've
got athletes, so I think you've got to be able
to handle the pressure offensively, and you've got to be
able to adjust their multiple looks defensively. So you know,
(27:43):
going in there, it'll be a tough place to play.
We'll have our hands full. But the one thing that
you're really excited about is you know, this is one
of the best teams in the league and we get
a great chance to see how we can match up
against that. And you can send that betch monk coach
good luck in week three. We appreciate you taking the time, coach, Billy.
Great talkin right, Well, Steve, we just heard a great
comment by Ken wizzen Hunt, and it intrigues me a
(28:05):
little bit about this tight end versus wide receiver, because
we've got some really good ones right now. And it's
changed the game a little bit because now you've gotta
you gotta draft for safeties higher than we normally used to.
In the day when you and I were doing it,
it was tight end safeties out take them later on.
But you gotta There's been twenty safeties taken in the
first round the last few years because you gotta match
these big guys. I'll put it to you if If
(28:25):
and and Ken kind of answered it diplomatically, but if
you had to choose between I won't say superstar, but
a first round really good tight end or a first
round really good receiver, who do you take? And you need? Yeah?
Probably Now if Mega Megatron sitting there, Okay, let's their positions,
(28:48):
you probably go at the tight end. And I'll tell
you why the way we're throwing the ball so much now,
this this this athlete is a very very versatile guy
in our offensive scheme, more so than a receiver can be.
Think about the tight ends that were, you know, the gates.
Vernon Davis the Gronks and Jimmy Graham's and then the
(29:11):
Lions drafted Eric Ebron tenth pick overall, right, and they're
being used as sometimes an inline blocker, tight end, run
routes from there next to the tackle. They're being used
more often as a slot or a wide receiver. They're
being used inside. They come in motion, and they're like
a fullback in pass protection or running routes from the backfield.
(29:33):
Now to um once in a while, they're in the
kicking game, but not much so. The versatility and the
usage of these these athletes is so he mentioned look
for a mismatch. Well, this is where you can find
the mismatch. You saw it with Antonio Gates a few times.
And I think this tight end is so in vogue
right now that I would I would tend to favor
(29:56):
that position over just a good receiver. Yeah. For for
of the top ten receivers in league right now are
are tight ends, and collectively they have more touchdowns than
the wide receivers in that top end. So that I'm
with you, I think that the game nature of the
game has changed, a little bit. Uh Coaches show, So
we got to talk about we've already talked about Rob
Ryan and and uh and Sean Payton all that. Let's
(30:17):
talk about what happened in the New York Jet game
the use of the time out critical situation. Uh, the
Jets are down to score and here is Geno Smith
throwing what looks like a touchdown and no, nope, nope,
someone called time out and and and then then Rex
is looking like, well, who the heck called time out? Uh,
that got a little crazy. Well, Marty morning Wig called
(30:40):
and so, yeah, that was unfortunate because that tied the
game right thirty one. All and so now you can
tell the story that happened to you and Rex a
while back to But but here's the thing. I think
I'm waiting for a call from Mike Carey. I think
the head coach is the only person on that sideline
that can call a time out to an official. That's
(31:01):
how I believe it's supposed to be. And when assistant
coaches called time out, hey, you shouldn't do that, or
be the officials should not allow it, and so and
so it was unfortunate. I don't know if Marty was
trying to say that to the official or to Rex.
Rex call a time out? Um, but all I know
is it nullified a touchdown that would have tied the game,
(31:23):
and it was unfortunate kind of caught Rex by surprise. Well,
and you mentioned the time back in two thousand seven,
we're we're playing the New England Patriots when they're going
on their sixteen and old run during the regular season,
and we're playing them pretty well, and people kind of thought,
even though we weren't very good that year, because of
our defense, we might be the team that could finally
beat them. They were at our place. It was I
(31:44):
think it was a Monday nine. I'm not sure. Anyways,
Um it's fourth and one and and and they're gonna
go for it, and all of a sudden, Tom Brady
he's gonna run a sneak and we snuff him, and
so we've won the game. But Rex had called time
out and people correct the amount. How can that that's
interesting that it is Rex again. For me as the
(32:04):
head coach, I always allowed my defensive coordinators the right
to call a time out because what I didn't want
to do is get caught. You nowadays, defensively, they're a
man short yuring the wrong. Something's messed up, and you
don't want because you know, if you make a big
mistake on defense, it could be six. You make a mistake,
wrong personnel, wrong formation, one offense, Okay, cost us five
yards and okay, that's fine, that's bad, but it's not
(32:26):
a killer. So I always gave my defensive coordinators the
right to if if you think you've got into time out,
if you're in a critical situation, you have the latitude
to call time out again. So it was a coach,
you know, you know, and then we missed that opportunity. Well,
now what people don't realize is the officials blew the whistle.
So what if Tom Brady you know, did did indeed
(32:47):
their players because the time out had come, had their
players stopped, and it changed. They ended up getting a penalty,
actually backed it up fourth and six, and then the
son of a gun converts it and marches down the
field and we lose the game. But but I allowed
my defensive guys to do that, not my offensive guys.
So when you were coaching, they were strictly that had
to come out of your mouth. Well, you know what,
(33:07):
I think, I got a text. I got a text
from Mike Carey's right here from Yeah, so I asked, Mike,
can an assistant coach call a time out? Brian, you
might have been broken breaking the rules, says only the
head coach or any player. I can call a time
out on the field, right, only the head coach. So
I don't know what you were doing with your defensive
(33:29):
coordinators that was illegal, So I would let's play Johnny
top story. So I was coaching the lines at Dallas,
and so one of our defensive coaches, I don't even
remember who the heck it was, if I don't think
it was the coordinator tried to call time out because
we were short, we were ten guys on the field
or some darn thing right misaligned. So he tried to
(33:49):
call time out, and the official turned around and and
uh and said you can't call time out, and they
ran to play and this and that. So right before
the half, they're kicking a field goal, and I tried
to do what most coaches do. I tried the old
freeze the kicker. So the official was standing right there
and I was standing right there, and and as soon
(34:11):
as he's lining up to kick it, I went time out,
time out, time out, time out, and he and he
wouldn't he wouldn't call time out, and and then he
kicked it boom, made the field goals like fifty sum
yards and the time ran out for the half. And
now I'm chasing that official, and I'm chasing it hockey Ley,
I'm going I'm trying to call time out. You know,
why don't you give me the time out? He goes, Well,
(34:31):
I thought you were the same guy that was trying
to call time out earlier, and I didn't give it
to him then. I wasn't gonna give it to him
now because they can't see you. Sometimes they have your
back to it. That's why. Yeah, you have to go around.
One time I tried to do that. I tried to
touch the guy. Hey, hey, time out, he goes, Don't
ever touch me. Don't ever touch me. Oh my god,
(34:52):
that costs thousand, I got. I got. I'm twenty five thousand,
like in my back pocket for it, putting my hand
on official. All but a quiz. If it wasn't in
a malicious way, it was just your finds a way
to go. Yeah, I bet your wife was really happy
with your with your behaving yourself on the sidelines after that. Fine,
you know, my daughter, Kegan, you asked her about that.
(35:13):
She'll tell you, coach, that was fun. That'll do it
For this week's edition of The Coaches Podcast. You can
go to nfl dot com slash podcast download these at
your convenience.
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