September 22, 2014 • 34 mins
Brian Billick and Steve Mariucci recap Week 3 in the NFL. They discuss their early season surprises, break down the Super Bowl rematch between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos and discuss “flash in the pan” quarterbacks. Plus, Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett joins the program to discuss his team’s comeback victory over the St. Louis Rams, DeMarco Murray’s fast start and Tony Romo’s health.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is NFL dot COM's Coaches Show podcast. Thirty Men
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(00:23):
I'm Brian Billick here with Steve mary Uchi. This week,
we recapped the Broncos Seahawks Super Bowl rematch and analyze
Chip Kelly's methods in Philadelphia. Plus Cowboys head coach Jason
Garrett discusses Jamarco's Murray's impress the season so far. Tony
Romol the Coaches Show podcast recapping Week three in the
NFL starts now well coached has always this a great
(00:44):
week three? We know we never started to show ago.
You know what, This weekend really sucked. So let's just
don't talk football anymore. Okay, But for the great weekend
though it was, and let's we gotta go right to
obviously the two best games. I thought they were all
good games, but the ones. Let's start with that Broncos
cea hot game. I mean, just the way that thing
ebbed and flowed, and I thought, initially it looked like
(01:05):
it was not gonna be good look look like it
was going to be the super Bowl. I think the
Broncos save their season and save the NFL this week,
because if they had, if they had kept going that way,
it would have been, well, why are we playing the
rest of the season. Peyton man is gonna throw fifty
touchdowns again. He's gonna go to the playoffs. They're gonna
go to the super Bowl, and Seattle is gonna kill him. Um.
Even though they didn't win the game, they showed you
know what, if these two teams were to meet again,
(01:27):
and maybe meeting Super Bowl at Arizona, maybe it's a
different outcome and Brian and a neutral site, not that
it won't be loud over in Arizona, but it'll be
a bipartisan crowd. And I think, you know, this might
have been the two best teams, and maybe we were
looking at a super Bowl preview, but it was it
was dominated by the Seahawks, like you said, for a
(01:50):
long time, and then Peyton wasn't having the game that
he expected or hoped for. But you know what, great quarterbacks,
sooner or later, they're gonna get a chance to put
a drive together when it counts the most. That's what
these great guys do. And of course that last drive
put together by the Broncos under a minute and go
down and score and then go for two and diet
(02:11):
and boy, oh boy, what a classic game. And we
all thought that the rematch would be closer, and largely
because the Broncos are simply a better team right now.
They're healthier, right they got guys back, you know, Von
Miller and Derek Wolfer playing, and then you got all
these acquisitions that John Elway made in the off season
(02:31):
with DeMarcus Ware to keep to leave and t J Ward,
and well, they are a better team, especially on defense.
So hey, these teams might face each other each other
again sometime. But what a classic regular season game. And
let's let's critique a little bit and talk a little
bit about those last drives. In particular Peyton Man I
thought Seattle maybe blinked a little bit in that drive
(02:53):
because they seemed to become a little more passive, thinking, okay,
you gotta go length the field. They had to get
a touchdown and two point conversion. So so it was
it could be, well, let's let the clockwork in our favor.
Let's see whatever it should have been, it's don't give
him the big play down the field, because can Peyton Manning,
even though he's brilliant, make enough plays underneath. I was
surprised at their ability to get the bigger plays down
(03:15):
the field when they broke down the coverage all but
stepping up in the pocket, and that broke down the
safety a little bit. I was surprised by some of
the big chunks that Manning was able to get. Yeah,
he didn't have to check it down and be real patient,
and he liked to He liked running that wheel play.
Several times in the game. He kept repeating it. But
how many times, Brian, have have we seen games with
two real good quarterbacks in it and you say this
(03:38):
game will be won by the quarterback who has the ball.
Last Boy, that that proved to be true because you know,
you give the ball back with under a minute to
Peyton Manning and you hope, you hope you can get
him off the field and stop them. But they didn't.
And then and then I think we're gonna revisit maybe
we're gonna revisit the overtime rule again because Peyton Manning
didn't get back on the field. So Wilson took that
(04:01):
team down the field and scored a touchdown which ends
the game. And he had a run for a couple
of third and threes, and that's that's the kind of
there are some players in the league that can't run
for a first down. Russell Wilson's one of those guys
that can, and sure enough he did. And I think
it was fabulous that the two point conversion that went
to da Marius Thomas challenge the unchallengeable Richard Sherman, and
(04:24):
which shows you in this game. And that's saying nothing
against Richard Sherman. He's the best corner in the game
right now. But Peyton Manning saying, look, this is where
I've got to go for us to win. I don't
care who that is. And he it was a phenomenal coverage.
It was just a phenomenal pass and catch. So it's
it's the NFL at it's best. But it underlined compared
to watching some other teams that aren't going to go
near Richard Sherman, well, if you're not even gonna challenge
(04:47):
Richard Sherman, then you're probably not going to beat the
Seattle Seahawks. If you're going to challenge him, though, Brian.
You know you probably want to challenge him with a
great receiver, right. Marius Thomas is a big, strong man
that had thirteen catches in the Super Bowl, and they
kind of shut him down a little bit in this game.
But you know, sooner or later, a good match up
against Richard Sherman will win once in a while. But
(05:07):
they didn't shy away. But you know who didn't shy away,
This Russell Wilson kid. I don't want to, I don't
want to call this a David and Goliath scenario, but
he is undefeated against the big boys. He's beaten Peyton
Manning and Tom Brady and Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers.
He beat these guys. Nobody else does this, But five
eleven Russell Wilson is seven and oh against the big boys.
(05:30):
And he's not really David. I mean he's another Goliath,
kind of figure two. This guy is incredible to me.
And just the mindset of going in and they win
the toss and knowing well, I just saw future Hall
of Famer Peyton Manning take his team the length of
field to score. If I don't do the same with
my team, if I just take him down and get
a field goal. We're gonna lose this game because this
(05:52):
is Peyton Manning and we just saw him do it.
What makes us think and so to add not that
he would add that pressure to himself, but to step
up to that challenge. I want to critique Jack del Rio,
who I think ought to be a head coach in
this league again, has done a phenomenal job in Denver.
But I'm gonna critique that a little bit. I thought
it was brilliant on the part of Darren Bevil and
Seattle to go into the no huddle to force Denver
(06:13):
or or limit Denver's ability to orchestrate more of a
fill the rush lambing. I'm gonna be critically here. How
on to third and fource do you let Russell Wilson
get outside the pocket? I mean that at some point, don't.
Don't you, as the head coach say, Look, I don't
care if he throws an eight d R bomb down
the middle of the field. If he's gonna beat us,
(06:33):
I want him in the pocket. Do not let him
get outside. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It's
just I think it's a great player making some plays.
And then you know, Russell Wilson doesn't have, you know,
the receiving weapons that some other teams might have, but
he's got beast mode back there, and there's always the
threat of the run. And you better darn well you
(06:55):
know that when your front seven and maybe eight half
has to stop the run game. Um, you know, I
don't know. It's hard for me to critique that defense,
the defensive calls because there were some tight plays. Uh
you know, it wasn't it wasn't an easy drive at all,
and so you know sometimes uh you know when you, hey,
may the best team win, it's gonna come down to
(07:16):
the last drive. You know what their mindset was, You're right,
and we have scored touchdown or we're gonna lose this game,
because if you punt or kick a field goal, forget
about it. Peyton Manning has figured us out and they're
gonna go down and score a touchdown. So we have
to get six. And that's how the rules stayed, and
that's how they had to play the game. Well. We
also had a phenomenal game in Philadelphia where the Eagles
(07:37):
kind of outlasted the Redskins thirty seven. Thirty four reminds
me I had a game in San Diego State. We
played Oregon. This is years and years ago when you,
you and I were back in southern California. We lost
sixty two to sixty and after the game, Doug Scoville said,
you know what, I'll be honest with you. I'd have
thought sixty points would have worked. That's what this game
(07:57):
felt like. It was like, you're not gonna be able
to score were enough points. Let's talk a little bit
about what Philadelphia is doing. Nick Foles doesn't get enough
credit because it's all about Lashawn McCoy and the system
that Chip Kelly runs. Lashawn McCoy got the head injury,
you know, came back in really didn't have a huge game.
That offense is so predicated about around him running the
(08:18):
ball very well. Uh and we know that that that
Washington is a good defense, not a great defense, but
boyd that the thing they got for him going for
themselves right now. They never feel like they're out of it. Yeah, no,
then you know what the Eagles skilled guys showed me
some toughness, Brian. You mentioned Lashawn McCoy getting hit and
blon he had a concussion and and he did you
(08:41):
see him that when you have a concussion, you have
to go and checked on the sideline and then if
it's you know, if it's fairly serious, you gotta go
back in the locker room and get get getting a
test from an neurologist. And so they took his helmet away.
Did you see him trying to grab the helmet out
of that manager's hand. That guy was hiding it from him. Blow,
you can't have it. I mean, this guy so he
wanted to get back in the games, which is usually
(09:03):
another side of the concussion because they become a little molecule. Yes,
he did, but you know what, he passed the test
and he got back in with his helmet and he
played pretty well. But nick Foles showed me something that
Nick Foles hasn't shown us before. This guy took so
many hits after completions, after on that interception, they thought
(09:24):
it was an interception, and he got lit up, lit up,
and then he caused the fight and they're all fighting.
Oh boy, clear the benches. It was crazy. I didn't
think nick Foles was going to answer the bell after
a couple of those hits, and he just keeps he
gets up and he keeps on swinging. Now, and he
goes and wins that game. At the end, Nick Fole,
we knew he could throw the ball, but I didn't
(09:45):
know this kid was that tough. And in fairness to
Jim Hadles defense, let's remember that it did take a
hundred two yard kickoff return and two missed field goals
by the Washington Redskins that were in position. Any one
of those would have made a difference in the outcome
of the game. So I think all in all, Washington,
although a loss as a loss, as we well know
in this league, Washington can feel pretty good about itself.
(10:07):
I'm still not sure about that. Uh Philadelphia defense, I'm
not sure they have the ability to hold up against
the better offenses in the league. Well, yeah, they're gonna
be points. Well that's the thing. They've got all their money,
not all of their money, but a lot of money
spent on offense with those weapons, and and I really
like how Chip Kelly utilizes all of his weapons. You
(10:30):
never know who the star is gonna be. Because you know,
Lashawn McCoy was out, he didn't have a very productive day.
Uh you know, and here comes Jordan Matthews, the rookie
from Vanderbilt, and he has a couple of big plays,
and and Jeremy Macklin who didn't play last year because
he was hurt. He really has to replace DeShawn Jackson.
Well didn't he do that? Yeah? Hundred and fifty four yards.
(10:52):
And so this offense seems to be able to utilize
all of its weapons on any given time. A couple
of tight ends Brent Cell and Earth's from over here
in the East Bay, uh, the kid from Stanford. They
come up big in this game. So I love watching
this offense. They need to get it started a little
bit sooner if they kind of have to win games
at the end, but boy, it's hard to stop. And
(11:13):
they're gonna come and play San Francisco. I can't wait
to watch that game. We we we've got to talk
about Kirk Cousin, but we're gonna do that later in
the show because I have a question I want to
ask you based on something I'm gonna write this week
for NFL dot Com. So we will come back to
Kirk Cousin, but before we leave this game on, I
also want to talk about Gary Williams commented after this
after a win, commented about he's concerned about the way
(11:34):
they work under Chip Kelly, that they're not fresh enough
and what he's referring to. And I've done a couple
of games in Philadelphia and watch their practices and all
the things that Chip Killy does. That's our inventive. It's
the way they practice. They do it like no one
has ever done it before in the NFL. In terms
of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, they practice all week long. They
find I'm not quite sure how they legally do it
(11:54):
to give the players that twenty four hours there half
they're supposed to be off. But and I will tell
you have been there. I've heard grumblings from the players
directly then. And this is a team that's winning. About boy,
this is this is not right. We were practiced too long,
We're out here too long. We never have a day off.
Let's talk about that now. Coming out from the players
(12:15):
about Chip Kelly and the way he conducts his practices, Well,
you got Karry Williams, who won a Super Bowl, doing
it some other way. And there's a typical routine that
the most of the teams will have with the come
in Monday, look at the film, get some treatment, Tuesday's off,
go to the dentist, cut the grass, whatever you do,
and then the Wednesday, you know, through Friday and Saturday. Um,
Chip does it differently than that. And if I'm not mistaken,
(12:37):
his day off is isn't it more like a Friday?
And then they have a little you know, and he
feels that the body will recover later in the week
after those practices and then come back out and have
a pretty good practice instead of that little walkthrough we
have on Saturday's. Do do more than that on Saturday
after that Friday light day off? And so it raised
(12:59):
some eyebrows with all of us old timers saying, hey,
that's kind of weird. I thought you had to take
Tuesday off. But you know what happened last year. They
they stayed healthy. They stayed healthy last year, and in fact,
they were one of the best teams that had the
fewest guys put on injured reserve, and they had their
offensive line start every single game, all five of them.
(13:21):
And so they had some success and they of course
they won the division. They had some success doing it
that way. It was a new way. I asked Pat Shermer,
and Pat Shermer comes from the West Coast offense. He
did it just like we did it for years, right,
And I said, how is it? He goes, well, it's different,
it's new, but it seems to be working. He says.
I'm I'm learning how to do this this way, so
it is different. Maybe you can get away with it
(13:42):
a little bit better in college, practicing that fast temple
a lot of running because you have more guys, uh,
sharing those reps or whatever that is with the scout
teams and everything. Um, let's just let it see what
happens and see where it goes. But because I think
so far, so good in terms of the success he's having, Um,
I don't know that there are a few injuries they're having,
(14:03):
so uh, if the success they're having, if if you
if they were to hit that bump in the road,
then you know you'd hear more of this because yeah,
then there'd be anarchy and mutiny and whatever. But as
long as you're winning, it's hey, just win, baby, and
everything's good. They're winning and staying healthy. That's that's two
things where you go, Hey, keep doing what you're doing.
Let's we're we're we're coming up on the quarter mark
(14:25):
of the season. Let's talk a little bit about some
of the early surprises. Obviously, I don't know that's a surprise.
But for me, obviously the Cincinnati Bengals, and not that
they're good. We knew they were good, but they're beginning
to look like a dominating team, particularly at home. I'm
not sure Cincinnati at home isn't beginning for different reasons
to rival how difficult it is to play in Seattle.
(14:45):
Clearly the two toughest places to play right now, Cincinnati
and Seattle. Yeah, they're they're good football team, Brian, And
then they were last year. You know, we thought, but
maybe losing the two coordinators they would they would take
a step back or change or whatever. They're a better
team than they were last year, and Andy Dalton is
gonna take that team I think deep into the playoffs.
One surprise for me is a Green Bay Packers, and
(15:06):
they're one in two now. They lost to Seattle in Seattle,
which everybody loses in Seattle, right But I didn't think
they look very good against the Lions in Detroit. I
went and I spent time in their training camp and
watch the practice and and did the whole thing, and
interviewed Aaron and man alive. They look good to me,
they look like a heck of a football team. Um,
(15:27):
so I'm a little surprised that they're one and two
right now and and look a little pedestrian at times.
So I think they're gonna get it back. Uh. I
sent a little frustration with Aaron Rodgers too right now,
but uh that I'm a little surprised there one in
two and the defense for the Packers concerns me and
Dom Capers there's none better. But as the defensive coordinator,
I'm not sure what their identity is. I don't know
(15:48):
if you, if I were to, if someone to say, okay,
you see the Packers, tell me what this defense is,
I don't know what. I They got Clay Matthews and
they're hoping Juice Peppers comes off the edge and uh,
decent secondary, but I really don't know. Are they a
pressure team, or they a zone team, or they are
trapped team, or they all are the above. I'm not
sure what that identity is. Along that tone, I'm worried
a little about your forty niners. Uh. They just the
(16:10):
look that look in the second half of the Chicago game,
that that during the headlights look, and down in Arizona.
Now they for the first time. Okay, you can get
be you cannot play well, you can turn the ball over,
you know, the interceptions of you against Chicago. But and Arizona,
who's a good physical team. They they kind of whipped
up on the forty Niners, and the forty Niners kind
(16:32):
of took it. And that surprised me a little bit. Uh,
that they are they've seemed to have lost that that
chip on their shoulder and that we know who we
are and we know how good we are and we
can deal with this. Yeah, I agree, And I'm sitting
up here in the Bay Area and I'm hearing all
about it because they don't look like the same team
and you and you talked about that that attitude. You know,
(16:54):
they're big guys, are just nasty on both sides of
the ball, and and they didn't control the line of
scrimmage in this game. So it's my second surprise team.
It's a pleasant surprise, is it would be the Arizona Cardinals,
because I thought they were going to be good, Brian,
they were ten and six last year, but man, they
got decimated. You know, they didn't have Darnell Dockett or
Daryl Washington, John Abraham now is out Carlos Dansby that
(17:18):
Carson Palmer's got a nerve in his throwing arm. So
I thought, oh boy, you know what, Bruce arians gonna
have to retool this defense because they lost so many
good players. Oh, oh my good. They're good team. They're
a good team, and they're rallying around this guy from
Michigan State Drew Stanton. And Uh, this team right now,
Uh is the team that's chase in Seattle. And remember
(17:41):
the Arizona Cardinals. You know Russell Wilson seventeen and one
up there in Seattle. You know who beat him up there, Arizona.
And so that I'm pleasantly surprised how Bruce has kept
this team really really playing well, maybe better than ever. Yeah,
that secondary in Arizona, wh jumps out of me, Peterson Cramarti, Uh,
there's a few back there that that's a pretty good secondary. Well.
(18:02):
Another surprise team, at least a surprise win, has to
be the Dallas Cowboys. We had a chance to talk
to Jason Garrett. Dallas Cowboys overcame a twenty one point
(18:30):
deficit for the first time in franchise history during Sunday's
win at St. Louis and joining us now is the
head coach of those Dallas Cowboys. Jason Garrett, congratulations coach,
And no, uh, there was never a doubt right the
whole game. Yeah, never a doubt. We hadn't write where
we wanted him. Yeah, to take the fans through a
little bit. You're on the road, which is always tough
to begin with. They go eight yards for a score,
(18:51):
they go sixty five yards for a score, you throw
a pick six. Talk about managing individually and collectively that
attitude on the sideline where it would be very justifiable
for Panic to set it. Yeah, you know, I thought
it was important for us as a coaching staff to
show the right kind of demeanor to our players. And
and we have a young team, but we also have
(19:12):
a fairly mature team made up of guys who fight
and who have great character. And uh, you know, you
said it. They went fifteen plays eighty yards on the
first drive. We came back and drove the ball, but
turned the ball over on a fumble. Uh, they came
back and got more points. We throw a pick six.
So before you know it, we haven't gotten that far
into the ball game, and we're down by three scores,
(19:32):
but I think guys had a resolve about him. You know,
I thought we did a good job just focusing on
the task at hand. It's an expression we use a lot.
It's it's play this play, execute this play, keep fighting.
I thought we did that all three phases in our
football team. You know, I've been on the phone all
day to the FBI trying to find out who was
snatched all the free safe decent league, because I saw
more free runners down the middle of the field wide open.
(19:56):
You had one with Dez Bryant, big play went for
I think a sixty. To tell us how that came about, Well,
it was a big play in the game, no question
about that. And we went hard play action and they
were playing a single high defense and we were in
Terence Williams on a deep over route and and they're safe.
They came and tried to grab him, and Dad somehow,
some way beat the corner and got on top of him.
(20:18):
And I thought Tony did a great job just kind
of seeing how the whole thing unfolded. Sometimes it's hard
to keep your eye in that free safety lighting the down,
but he saw him late. And obviously it starts with
past protection. It had a lot of time to look
at it. We had a great throw, was a big
play in the game. You know what impressed meat coaches
watching the game unfold and having called plays in league
for a number of years, you're always getting beat up that, well,
(20:40):
you're going away from the run too early, you don't
run the ball enough, and but down twenty one nothing
on the road, and particularly the way it came about,
I don't know that you could have been found too
guilty of forget it. We're not going to catch up
by running the ball. We may have to throw it
fifty times to catch up. You didn't do that. You
kept your balance, You ran the ball effect to let
you extraly hand the ball more than you then you
(21:02):
throw it. Talk talk about that mentality of not panicking
and getting away from the run. Well, I thought Scott
Lena had did a really good job call on the
game and really just to your points staying balanced. It
was important to drive the ball and score points. That's
what the objective was. We didn't have to do it
in a hurry. We just had to have some success.
We felt like having some balance against a really good
(21:24):
front was important. So we were persistent with the running game,
even though it wasn't great force early on, we were
persistent with and even though we're behind. Uh, and then
when you do that, you're gonna get some chances in
the passing game. So again, I think it starts up front.
Our guys kept banging away. They were playing some run fronts,
and we kept kind of banging away and had had
a little bit of success. Eventually started control the line
(21:46):
of scrimmage, running it and also throwing the ball down
the field. But I think the balance and the patients
by Scott was a big part of the reason we
came back in this game. No coach would not love
to have a DeMarco Murray. What jumps out at me
is he's one of those guys it always seems to
get positive yards. You're never gonna be in those second
and fifteen second. You're he may only be second and eight,
(22:07):
but you're gonna be You're not gonna be behind the
chains because this guy always seems to get yards. Yeah,
he's a really good downhill runner. And uh, you know,
we do some different things with our scheme, but at
the end of the day, when when your line comes
off the ball and your runner goes downhill, you're gonna
give yourself a good chance of having success. And you know,
(22:27):
we have a lot of confidence in him. He's off
to a great start. We're controlling the line of scrimmage.
He's a big part of us controlling the game by
running the football. And you said it, he's a downhill guy.
He always seems to be falling forward and that makes
an impact on the defense. In looking at Tony the
first two weeks, and I've commented a couple of times,
like everybody and watched him through the ball, it just
didn't seem like he had his full strength, his full
(22:50):
stroke about him. Yesterday he seemed more like himself. Is
that a fair statement? How healthy is he? Yeah? I
think it is a fair statement. And like with any
any player coming back off of an injury, that you're
getting better the fartherer are away from the injury. And
and ton His worked very hard coming back off his
back surgery all throughout the off season and training camp,
(23:11):
and you know, I think over the first couple of
weeks of the season, you know he's getting himself back
into playing shape, so to speak, where where he feels
his his movements come naturally and instinctively to him. And
I think getting a couple of games under his belt,
I think he felt healthier this week in practice, and
certainly it showed up in the game. You know, the
offseason lead him to what your defense is getting beat
(23:32):
up with all sides of critics and this, that and
the other. And then they gave up close to four
fifty yards on the day, but they stiff into the
right time. Leading up to this, they've been playing pretty good.
Talk about keeping the mindset for your defense and keeping
that confidence up. Yeah, I thought that was important, you know.
You know St. Louis came into the game and that
they made their first six third downs, and they drove
(23:53):
the ball on the early drives, and they were kind
of mixing running pass and and and they had us
a little bit on our heels. But I thought our
guys just did a really good job hanging in there,
kept fighting. We made some stops in the run game,
we made some third down stops, we made a stop
in the red zone, and obviously we made two critical
turnovers uh in the in the fourth quarter of Bruce
(24:14):
Carter intercepting a pass and running an in and then
Mo clay Born on the last play when they were
trying to come back and kick the game tying field
goal makes that interception. So I thought it was a
good bounce back by some individual players and by our
defense collectively. You're going in playing a team in New
Orleans st team that we always know his danger with
Drew Brees and his five thousand yard passing year every year.
(24:35):
It seems like last time you played these guys last
year it was a tough day. Do you draw on
that at all. Do you show your team that film
to say, look, this is where we made the mistakes,
to give them confidence to say this is correctible, or
do you just kind of throw that one away and
start a new I don't think you spent too much
time on last year's game. Even if we're a good
game for us. Uh, you know, we're a different team
(24:57):
than we were back then. They're a different team. Uh.
Sometimes you can look at scheme to see if they're
gonna attack as a certain way or how they might
try to defend us. So that's always part of the evaluation.
But you know, we're focused on this two thousand fourteen team.
Who we are, who they are. Will rely on the
tape up to this point in this season and hopefully
put a good plan together and play well on Sunday night. Well,
(25:19):
as you said many times, coach, you take to anyone
where you get it, particularly on the road. Great comeback
when few guys, congratulations, Thanks coach, a great week. I
love me when you get a chance to visit with
the coaches like that. Steve, all right, I want to
I want to bring something up and talked earlier about
coming back to a Kirk cousin you mentioned Drew Stanton.
I'm gonna write for NFL dot com this week about
(25:39):
we have every year there is some young up and
coming backup quarterback that gets an opportunity and everybody gets all,
you know, giggly over, Oh this guy is gonna be good,
and the list goes. It goes back to Cody Carlson
and they ran Warren Moon out of town because of
Cody Carlson. Rob Johnson the one year in Jacksonville. Right
then he goes up to Buffalo Kevin Cobb in Philadelphia,
(26:01):
Matt Flynn. I did Matt Flynn's game against the Green
Bay or against Detroit. Were threw six touchdown passes. You
know this is we're gonna throw money at this guy
game at ten million doll guarantee. He goes to Seattle.
We know what happened there. We got a couple of
guys now, and it always comes up. We saw Josh
McCown thirteen touchdowns, one interception. Some people thought, hey, get
rid of ja Color. Keep Josh McCown. Not going real
good down in Tampa Bay for him right now, notwithstanding
(26:24):
the injury. I hope he gets back real quick. We
have a couple of guys right now. Kirk Cousin is
obviously the flavor of the day, has played very well
the last two games. And we'll talk about when our
G three comes back. Let's start with a Kirk Cousin.
Then we can talk about Drew Stanton, because the way
he's playing, people are gonna start saying, let's go get
Drew Stanton. Let's let's talk about what we think these are.
Is Kirk Cousin. The real deal is Kirk Cousin Gunna
(26:45):
either there in Washington or go someplace else and be
a legitimate guy. Okay, so take a breath and answer that.
You need to take a breath. Um, that's a that's
this is a juicy topic because you are right. So
many times a guy, a backup quarterback will play and
play well and then all of a sudden, he know,
(27:06):
his stock goes way up and people buy and UH,
when they moved to teams that are different systems, different
supporting cast, it's just not the same. It's just not
the same. And in that game that you called, when
Matt Flynn through for six touchdowns against Detroit UH at
the in Lambeau, it earned him ten million dollars. That
was a good pay day for that game, wasn't it?
(27:27):
And and I actually went up and watched when he
was competing with Russell Wilson against Matt Flynn. They expected
to remember Matt Flynn to win that job because he
was a veteran guy. You could tell by watching practice.
And nothing against Matt Flynn. He's a good quarterback, but
clearly the rookie was was a better fit for this offense.
And so in obviously it's he's proven that to be true. UM,
(27:50):
Kurt Cousins. Now, on the other hand, this is not
gonna be a one or two game UH sample size
for him. He's gonna have he had. He had a
handful of games last year and he played pretty well.
He didn't win as a starter, but he came off
the bench. He played, got your attention, and all of
a sudden, boy did he get our attention. Thirty or
forty three touchdowns this year or this week against the Eagles,
(28:13):
he showed us a lot. He's gonna keep playing. He's
gonna play another four or five games, maybe longer than that.
So I think his audition will be such that the
Redskins will have a pretty good view of him under
the gun, and and so will other teams. He's got
another year on his contract, remember that. And r G
(28:34):
three has another year on his contract, remember that, And
he could be. He could be. The team could exercise
that fifth year option on r G three if they
want to. So I think they're gonna let this play out.
Let Kurt Cousins, Hey, show us what you got, buddy,
and then uh, they and other teams will make a decision.
In a perfect world, you keep both of those guys, right, Yeah,
(28:55):
And and I'll be interested to see because that you're right,
I think that will be the difference. I think we'll
see enough of a body of work as a team
and organization you'll feel good enough about going Okay, Yeah,
let's give this guy, and then that's the question, what
do you what do you pay that guy? You're not
gonna get one of these hundred million dollar contracts. But
then beyond what you got to give out to go,
if you got to go trade for him, is okay
(29:15):
because he's gonna want a new contract. What does that
contract look like? So follow the money and we'll find out.
So the history of that type of player has not
been real good. But that doesn't mean that the next guy,
if it's Kirk Cousin, that it's not going to turn
out that way. Um, those a couple of takeaways we
are for me. It was already referred to it to
Jason Garrett, you know, calling the FBI because there, you know,
(29:36):
we've had a lot of free safety is kidnapped yesterday
because every time I'm doing Game Day Live and every
time I look up, there's someone running down the middle
of the field catching a bomb and there's not a
free safety in the in the picture. I don't know
where free safeties are going or what we're drawn up
where it's like they've disappeared. Well, you know how it is.
And these days we're trying to draft safeties that can
(29:58):
come in the box and and tackle, come down and
cover a slot, and we're asking them to do everything.
They're not like the last line of defense. Sometimes we're
asking those guys a lot, you know. There there there
was a lot of bombs down the field this week,
But overall, Brian, there's with that new emphasis and defensive
holding in legal contact, there's actually been fewer passing yards
(30:22):
in the first two weeks anyway. I haven't checked it
after this weekend, but there hasn't been as much passing
as there was a year ago. And I thought there
would be. You know, we'll get there. We'll get there. Well,
I know, I know we will, and some of it
might depend on the weather coming up. But but uh,
all these new rules of emphasis invite you to pass more, right,
(30:42):
Oh yeah, and you would think and but it always
tends to even itself up. What do you got what
jumped out at you yesterday? Okay? How about all these
rookie quarterbacks playing? So we're gonna end up starting uh
Teddy Bridgewater over there with the Vikings, right, he's gonna
be the guy Castle's hurt. You got blake boardles. You know,
the Jags aren't a very good team and they're just
urching for answers and trying to get a spark. And
(31:02):
of course Derek Carr has been playing pretty pretty well
for the Raiders and they were right in that game
against the Patriots. Are you kidding me? And then so
those three young quarterbacks are playing, and the guy that
we talked about all off season, all draft, all combine,
Johnny Football, is not playing. He's getting He's getting beaten
(31:24):
out by Brian Hoyer, who's had three starts under his belt.
And you know what, the kid is hanging on to
his job. You see, Bryan Hoyer for the Browns is
playing well and he's keeping Johnny Manziel on the bench.
It's kind of fun watching this whole thing, Uh come
to fruition where the other guys are finally found their
way in and Johnny's still having to be very patient.
(31:46):
You played fantasy football? Nope? Okay, because I you know
I don't either. As coaches, I tell people all the
time when I got fired, I didn't get fantasy fired.
So I go nowhere. We had Michael Fabiano on Game
Day Live yesterday and I'll tell you that defined for me,
I don't play fantasy football. They were talking about. He'd
come on set and we're talking about Andrew Luck and
he's talking about how he's a great value as a
fourth round pick. In any universe where Andrew Luck is
(32:09):
a fourth round, fourth round pick in the fantasy draft. Yeah,
any universe that Andrew Luck is a fourth round pick.
I don't know how to operate in that world. There.
It goes all the credibility out the window. Right, he
had yesterday. I don't get that. Oh my god, can
I tell you why I don't like fantasy football? And
I know there's millions of people going, what Okay, So
(32:30):
I'm coaching in Detroit. I'm We're playing against the Eagles
and they had t o remember and he spoom. He
scores a touchdown. When he was with the Dallas Cowboys,
scores a touchdown against us in Detroit, and the some
of the crowd starts cheering, and I'm going, what the
heck is that they're they're cheering on the other team.
(32:52):
They scored a touchdown in my coach up top Suggie,
he goes coach, He's on their fantasy football team. Nobody
on our teams. On their fantasy football team. He's under
team I'm going that really kind of irritates me a
little bit because because it dilutes your loyalty right when
when we're growing up, you rooted for your team and
you didn't like want anybody else to have any success
(33:13):
against you, And so that just warped me right out.
And so that's why I don't do fantasy I told Fabriano.
I said, I said, why don't you could? Do you
get any points for winning and losing in fantasy football?
Is that part? They go? Oh no, no, no, that
has nothing to do with it. I said, you kidding me?
I said, well, what if you put winning and losing
as part of the factory? Says no, that really screwed up.
(33:35):
You can't have fantasis football with winning and losing. Okay
you lost me on that one. Yeah, okay, I'm not
through with fantasy football. Never started it either, right, were
we old or what? Thanks for checking out The Coach
Show podcast. We'll be back next week For more. Go
to NFL dot com Slash Podcast eight shi
This is NFL dot COM's Coaches Show podcast. Thirty Men
Together can't lose. This is why you lift? How everybody
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There's a glean Extra. Check out the Coach Show Podcast.
(00:23):
I'm Brian Billick here with Steve mary Uchi. This week,
we recapped the Broncos Seahawks Super Bowl rematch and analyze
Chip Kelly's methods in Philadelphia. Plus Cowboys head coach Jason
Garrett discusses Jamarco's Murray's impress the season so far. Tony
Romol the Coaches Show podcast recapping Week three in the
NFL starts now well coached has always this a great
(00:44):
week three? We know we never started to show ago.
You know what, This weekend really sucked. So let's just
don't talk football anymore. Okay, But for the great weekend
though it was, and let's we gotta go right to
obviously the two best games. I thought they were all
good games, but the ones. Let's start with that Broncos
cea hot game. I mean, just the way that thing
ebbed and flowed, and I thought, initially it looked like
(01:05):
it was not gonna be good look look like it
was going to be the super Bowl. I think the
Broncos save their season and save the NFL this week,
because if they had, if they had kept going that way,
it would have been, well, why are we playing the
rest of the season. Peyton man is gonna throw fifty
touchdowns again. He's gonna go to the playoffs. They're gonna
go to the super Bowl, and Seattle is gonna kill him. Um.
Even though they didn't win the game, they showed you
know what, if these two teams were to meet again,
(01:27):
and maybe meeting Super Bowl at Arizona, maybe it's a
different outcome and Brian and a neutral site, not that
it won't be loud over in Arizona, but it'll be
a bipartisan crowd. And I think, you know, this might
have been the two best teams, and maybe we were
looking at a super Bowl preview, but it was it
was dominated by the Seahawks, like you said, for a
(01:50):
long time, and then Peyton wasn't having the game that
he expected or hoped for. But you know what, great quarterbacks,
sooner or later, they're gonna get a chance to put
a drive together when it counts the most. That's what
these great guys do. And of course that last drive
put together by the Broncos under a minute and go
down and score and then go for two and diet
(02:11):
and boy, oh boy, what a classic game. And we
all thought that the rematch would be closer, and largely
because the Broncos are simply a better team right now.
They're healthier, right they got guys back, you know, Von
Miller and Derek Wolfer playing, and then you got all
these acquisitions that John Elway made in the off season
(02:31):
with DeMarcus Ware to keep to leave and t J Ward,
and well, they are a better team, especially on defense.
So hey, these teams might face each other each other
again sometime. But what a classic regular season game. And
let's let's critique a little bit and talk a little
bit about those last drives. In particular Peyton Man I
thought Seattle maybe blinked a little bit in that drive
(02:53):
because they seemed to become a little more passive, thinking, okay,
you gotta go length the field. They had to get
a touchdown and two point conversion. So so it was
it could be, well, let's let the clockwork in our favor.
Let's see whatever it should have been, it's don't give
him the big play down the field, because can Peyton Manning,
even though he's brilliant, make enough plays underneath. I was
surprised at their ability to get the bigger plays down
(03:15):
the field when they broke down the coverage all but
stepping up in the pocket, and that broke down the
safety a little bit. I was surprised by some of
the big chunks that Manning was able to get. Yeah,
he didn't have to check it down and be real patient,
and he liked to He liked running that wheel play.
Several times in the game. He kept repeating it. But
how many times, Brian, have have we seen games with
two real good quarterbacks in it and you say this
(03:38):
game will be won by the quarterback who has the ball.
Last Boy, that that proved to be true because you know,
you give the ball back with under a minute to
Peyton Manning and you hope, you hope you can get
him off the field and stop them. But they didn't.
And then and then I think we're gonna revisit maybe
we're gonna revisit the overtime rule again because Peyton Manning
didn't get back on the field. So Wilson took that
(04:01):
team down the field and scored a touchdown which ends
the game. And he had a run for a couple
of third and threes, and that's that's the kind of
there are some players in the league that can't run
for a first down. Russell Wilson's one of those guys
that can, and sure enough he did. And I think
it was fabulous that the two point conversion that went
to da Marius Thomas challenge the unchallengeable Richard Sherman, and
(04:24):
which shows you in this game. And that's saying nothing
against Richard Sherman. He's the best corner in the game
right now. But Peyton Manning saying, look, this is where
I've got to go for us to win. I don't
care who that is. And he it was a phenomenal coverage.
It was just a phenomenal pass and catch. So it's
it's the NFL at it's best. But it underlined compared
to watching some other teams that aren't going to go
near Richard Sherman, well, if you're not even gonna challenge
(04:47):
Richard Sherman, then you're probably not going to beat the
Seattle Seahawks. If you're going to challenge him, though, Brian.
You know you probably want to challenge him with a
great receiver, right. Marius Thomas is a big, strong man
that had thirteen catches in the Super Bowl, and they
kind of shut him down a little bit in this game.
But you know, sooner or later, a good match up
against Richard Sherman will win once in a while. But
(05:07):
they didn't shy away. But you know who didn't shy away,
This Russell Wilson kid. I don't want to, I don't
want to call this a David and Goliath scenario, but
he is undefeated against the big boys. He's beaten Peyton
Manning and Tom Brady and Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers.
He beat these guys. Nobody else does this, But five
eleven Russell Wilson is seven and oh against the big boys.
(05:30):
And he's not really David. I mean he's another Goliath,
kind of figure two. This guy is incredible to me.
And just the mindset of going in and they win
the toss and knowing well, I just saw future Hall
of Famer Peyton Manning take his team the length of
field to score. If I don't do the same with
my team, if I just take him down and get
a field goal. We're gonna lose this game because this
(05:52):
is Peyton Manning and we just saw him do it.
What makes us think and so to add not that
he would add that pressure to himself, but to step
up to that challenge. I want to critique Jack del Rio,
who I think ought to be a head coach in
this league again, has done a phenomenal job in Denver.
But I'm gonna critique that a little bit. I thought
it was brilliant on the part of Darren Bevil and
Seattle to go into the no huddle to force Denver
(06:13):
or or limit Denver's ability to orchestrate more of a
fill the rush lambing. I'm gonna be critically here. How
on to third and fource do you let Russell Wilson
get outside the pocket? I mean that at some point, don't.
Don't you, as the head coach say, Look, I don't
care if he throws an eight d R bomb down
the middle of the field. If he's gonna beat us,
(06:33):
I want him in the pocket. Do not let him
get outside. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It's
just I think it's a great player making some plays.
And then you know, Russell Wilson doesn't have, you know,
the receiving weapons that some other teams might have, but
he's got beast mode back there, and there's always the
threat of the run. And you better darn well you
(06:55):
know that when your front seven and maybe eight half
has to stop the run game. Um, you know, I
don't know. It's hard for me to critique that defense,
the defensive calls because there were some tight plays. Uh
you know, it wasn't it wasn't an easy drive at all,
and so you know sometimes uh you know when you, hey,
may the best team win, it's gonna come down to
(07:16):
the last drive. You know what their mindset was, You're right,
and we have scored touchdown or we're gonna lose this game,
because if you punt or kick a field goal, forget
about it. Peyton Manning has figured us out and they're
gonna go down and score a touchdown. So we have
to get six. And that's how the rules stayed, and
that's how they had to play the game. Well. We
also had a phenomenal game in Philadelphia where the Eagles
(07:37):
kind of outlasted the Redskins thirty seven. Thirty four reminds
me I had a game in San Diego State. We
played Oregon. This is years and years ago when you,
you and I were back in southern California. We lost
sixty two to sixty and after the game, Doug Scoville said,
you know what, I'll be honest with you. I'd have
thought sixty points would have worked. That's what this game
(07:57):
felt like. It was like, you're not gonna be able
to score were enough points. Let's talk a little bit
about what Philadelphia is doing. Nick Foles doesn't get enough
credit because it's all about Lashawn McCoy and the system
that Chip Kelly runs. Lashawn McCoy got the head injury,
you know, came back in really didn't have a huge game.
That offense is so predicated about around him running the
(08:18):
ball very well. Uh and we know that that that
Washington is a good defense, not a great defense, but
boyd that the thing they got for him going for
themselves right now. They never feel like they're out of it. Yeah, no,
then you know what the Eagles skilled guys showed me
some toughness, Brian. You mentioned Lashawn McCoy getting hit and
blon he had a concussion and and he did you
(08:41):
see him that when you have a concussion, you have
to go and checked on the sideline and then if
it's you know, if it's fairly serious, you gotta go
back in the locker room and get get getting a
test from an neurologist. And so they took his helmet away.
Did you see him trying to grab the helmet out
of that manager's hand. That guy was hiding it from him. Blow,
you can't have it. I mean, this guy so he
wanted to get back in the games, which is usually
(09:03):
another side of the concussion because they become a little molecule. Yes,
he did, but you know what, he passed the test
and he got back in with his helmet and he
played pretty well. But nick Foles showed me something that
Nick Foles hasn't shown us before. This guy took so
many hits after completions, after on that interception, they thought
(09:24):
it was an interception, and he got lit up, lit up,
and then he caused the fight and they're all fighting.
Oh boy, clear the benches. It was crazy. I didn't
think nick Foles was going to answer the bell after
a couple of those hits, and he just keeps he
gets up and he keeps on swinging. Now, and he
goes and wins that game. At the end, Nick Fole,
we knew he could throw the ball, but I didn't
(09:45):
know this kid was that tough. And in fairness to
Jim Hadles defense, let's remember that it did take a
hundred two yard kickoff return and two missed field goals
by the Washington Redskins that were in position. Any one
of those would have made a difference in the outcome
of the game. So I think all in all, Washington,
although a loss as a loss, as we well know
in this league, Washington can feel pretty good about itself.
(10:07):
I'm still not sure about that. Uh Philadelphia defense, I'm
not sure they have the ability to hold up against
the better offenses in the league. Well, yeah, they're gonna
be points. Well that's the thing. They've got all their money,
not all of their money, but a lot of money
spent on offense with those weapons, and and I really
like how Chip Kelly utilizes all of his weapons. You
(10:30):
never know who the star is gonna be. Because you know,
Lashawn McCoy was out, he didn't have a very productive day.
Uh you know, and here comes Jordan Matthews, the rookie
from Vanderbilt, and he has a couple of big plays,
and and Jeremy Macklin who didn't play last year because
he was hurt. He really has to replace DeShawn Jackson.
Well didn't he do that? Yeah? Hundred and fifty four yards.
(10:52):
And so this offense seems to be able to utilize
all of its weapons on any given time. A couple
of tight ends Brent Cell and Earth's from over here
in the East Bay, uh, the kid from Stanford. They
come up big in this game. So I love watching
this offense. They need to get it started a little
bit sooner if they kind of have to win games
at the end, but boy, it's hard to stop. And
(11:13):
they're gonna come and play San Francisco. I can't wait
to watch that game. We we we've got to talk
about Kirk Cousin, but we're gonna do that later in
the show because I have a question I want to
ask you based on something I'm gonna write this week
for NFL dot Com. So we will come back to
Kirk Cousin, but before we leave this game on, I
also want to talk about Gary Williams commented after this
after a win, commented about he's concerned about the way
(11:34):
they work under Chip Kelly, that they're not fresh enough
and what he's referring to. And I've done a couple
of games in Philadelphia and watch their practices and all
the things that Chip Killy does. That's our inventive. It's
the way they practice. They do it like no one
has ever done it before in the NFL. In terms
of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, they practice all week long. They
find I'm not quite sure how they legally do it
(11:54):
to give the players that twenty four hours there half
they're supposed to be off. But and I will tell
you have been there. I've heard grumblings from the players
directly then. And this is a team that's winning. About boy,
this is this is not right. We were practiced too long,
We're out here too long. We never have a day off.
Let's talk about that now. Coming out from the players
(12:15):
about Chip Kelly and the way he conducts his practices, Well,
you got Karry Williams, who won a Super Bowl, doing
it some other way. And there's a typical routine that
the most of the teams will have with the come
in Monday, look at the film, get some treatment, Tuesday's off,
go to the dentist, cut the grass, whatever you do,
and then the Wednesday, you know, through Friday and Saturday. Um,
Chip does it differently than that. And if I'm not mistaken,
(12:37):
his day off is isn't it more like a Friday?
And then they have a little you know, and he
feels that the body will recover later in the week
after those practices and then come back out and have
a pretty good practice instead of that little walkthrough we
have on Saturday's. Do do more than that on Saturday
after that Friday light day off? And so it raised
(12:59):
some eyebrows with all of us old timers saying, hey,
that's kind of weird. I thought you had to take
Tuesday off. But you know what happened last year. They
they stayed healthy. They stayed healthy last year, and in fact,
they were one of the best teams that had the
fewest guys put on injured reserve, and they had their
offensive line start every single game, all five of them.
(13:21):
And so they had some success and they of course
they won the division. They had some success doing it
that way. It was a new way. I asked Pat Shermer,
and Pat Shermer comes from the West Coast offense. He
did it just like we did it for years, right,
And I said, how is it? He goes, well, it's different,
it's new, but it seems to be working. He says.
I'm I'm learning how to do this this way, so
it is different. Maybe you can get away with it
(13:42):
a little bit better in college, practicing that fast temple
a lot of running because you have more guys, uh,
sharing those reps or whatever that is with the scout
teams and everything. Um, let's just let it see what
happens and see where it goes. But because I think
so far, so good in terms of the success he's having, Um,
I don't know that there are a few injuries they're having,
(14:03):
so uh, if the success they're having, if if you
if they were to hit that bump in the road,
then you know you'd hear more of this because yeah,
then there'd be anarchy and mutiny and whatever. But as
long as you're winning, it's hey, just win, baby, and
everything's good. They're winning and staying healthy. That's that's two
things where you go, Hey, keep doing what you're doing.
Let's we're we're we're coming up on the quarter mark
(14:25):
of the season. Let's talk a little bit about some
of the early surprises. Obviously, I don't know that's a surprise.
But for me, obviously the Cincinnati Bengals, and not that
they're good. We knew they were good, but they're beginning
to look like a dominating team, particularly at home. I'm
not sure Cincinnati at home isn't beginning for different reasons
to rival how difficult it is to play in Seattle.
(14:45):
Clearly the two toughest places to play right now, Cincinnati
and Seattle. Yeah, they're they're good football team, Brian, And
then they were last year. You know, we thought, but
maybe losing the two coordinators they would they would take
a step back or change or whatever. They're a better
team than they were last year, and Andy Dalton is
gonna take that team I think deep into the playoffs.
One surprise for me is a Green Bay Packers, and
(15:06):
they're one in two now. They lost to Seattle in Seattle,
which everybody loses in Seattle, right But I didn't think
they look very good against the Lions in Detroit. I
went and I spent time in their training camp and
watch the practice and and did the whole thing, and
interviewed Aaron and man alive. They look good to me,
they look like a heck of a football team. Um,
(15:27):
so I'm a little surprised that they're one and two
right now and and look a little pedestrian at times.
So I think they're gonna get it back. Uh. I
sent a little frustration with Aaron Rodgers too right now,
but uh that I'm a little surprised there one in
two and the defense for the Packers concerns me and
Dom Capers there's none better. But as the defensive coordinator,
I'm not sure what their identity is. I don't know
(15:48):
if you, if I were to, if someone to say, okay,
you see the Packers, tell me what this defense is,
I don't know what. I They got Clay Matthews and
they're hoping Juice Peppers comes off the edge and uh,
decent secondary, but I really don't know. Are they a
pressure team, or they a zone team, or they are
trapped team, or they all are the above. I'm not
sure what that identity is. Along that tone, I'm worried
a little about your forty niners. Uh. They just the
(16:10):
look that look in the second half of the Chicago game,
that that during the headlights look, and down in Arizona.
Now they for the first time. Okay, you can get
be you cannot play well, you can turn the ball over,
you know, the interceptions of you against Chicago. But and Arizona,
who's a good physical team. They they kind of whipped
up on the forty Niners, and the forty Niners kind
(16:32):
of took it. And that surprised me a little bit. Uh,
that they are they've seemed to have lost that that
chip on their shoulder and that we know who we
are and we know how good we are and we
can deal with this. Yeah, I agree, And I'm sitting
up here in the Bay Area and I'm hearing all
about it because they don't look like the same team
and you and you talked about that that attitude. You know,
(16:54):
they're big guys, are just nasty on both sides of
the ball, and and they didn't control the line of
scrimmage in this game. So it's my second surprise team.
It's a pleasant surprise, is it would be the Arizona Cardinals,
because I thought they were going to be good, Brian,
they were ten and six last year, but man, they
got decimated. You know, they didn't have Darnell Dockett or
Daryl Washington, John Abraham now is out Carlos Dansby that
(17:18):
Carson Palmer's got a nerve in his throwing arm. So
I thought, oh boy, you know what, Bruce arians gonna
have to retool this defense because they lost so many
good players. Oh, oh my good. They're good team. They're
a good team, and they're rallying around this guy from
Michigan State Drew Stanton. And Uh, this team right now,
Uh is the team that's chase in Seattle. And remember
(17:41):
the Arizona Cardinals. You know Russell Wilson seventeen and one
up there in Seattle. You know who beat him up there, Arizona.
And so that I'm pleasantly surprised how Bruce has kept
this team really really playing well, maybe better than ever. Yeah,
that secondary in Arizona, wh jumps out of me, Peterson Cramarti, Uh,
there's a few back there that that's a pretty good secondary. Well.
(18:02):
Another surprise team, at least a surprise win, has to
be the Dallas Cowboys. We had a chance to talk
to Jason Garrett. Dallas Cowboys overcame a twenty one point
(18:30):
deficit for the first time in franchise history during Sunday's
win at St. Louis and joining us now is the
head coach of those Dallas Cowboys. Jason Garrett, congratulations coach,
And no, uh, there was never a doubt right the
whole game. Yeah, never a doubt. We hadn't write where
we wanted him. Yeah, to take the fans through a
little bit. You're on the road, which is always tough
to begin with. They go eight yards for a score,
(18:51):
they go sixty five yards for a score, you throw
a pick six. Talk about managing individually and collectively that
attitude on the sideline where it would be very justifiable
for Panic to set it. Yeah, you know, I thought
it was important for us as a coaching staff to
show the right kind of demeanor to our players. And
and we have a young team, but we also have
(19:12):
a fairly mature team made up of guys who fight
and who have great character. And uh, you know, you
said it. They went fifteen plays eighty yards on the
first drive. We came back and drove the ball, but
turned the ball over on a fumble. Uh, they came
back and got more points. We throw a pick six.
So before you know it, we haven't gotten that far
into the ball game, and we're down by three scores,
(19:32):
but I think guys had a resolve about him. You know,
I thought we did a good job just focusing on
the task at hand. It's an expression we use a lot.
It's it's play this play, execute this play, keep fighting.
I thought we did that all three phases in our
football team. You know, I've been on the phone all
day to the FBI trying to find out who was
snatched all the free safe decent league, because I saw
more free runners down the middle of the field wide open.
(19:56):
You had one with Dez Bryant, big play went for
I think a sixty. To tell us how that came about, Well,
it was a big play in the game, no question
about that. And we went hard play action and they
were playing a single high defense and we were in
Terence Williams on a deep over route and and they're safe.
They came and tried to grab him, and Dad somehow,
some way beat the corner and got on top of him.
(20:18):
And I thought Tony did a great job just kind
of seeing how the whole thing unfolded. Sometimes it's hard
to keep your eye in that free safety lighting the down,
but he saw him late. And obviously it starts with
past protection. It had a lot of time to look
at it. We had a great throw, was a big
play in the game. You know what impressed meat coaches
watching the game unfold and having called plays in league
for a number of years, you're always getting beat up that, well,
(20:40):
you're going away from the run too early, you don't
run the ball enough, and but down twenty one nothing
on the road, and particularly the way it came about,
I don't know that you could have been found too
guilty of forget it. We're not going to catch up
by running the ball. We may have to throw it
fifty times to catch up. You didn't do that. You
kept your balance, You ran the ball effect to let
you extraly hand the ball more than you then you
(21:02):
throw it. Talk talk about that mentality of not panicking
and getting away from the run. Well, I thought Scott
Lena had did a really good job call on the
game and really just to your points staying balanced. It
was important to drive the ball and score points. That's
what the objective was. We didn't have to do it
in a hurry. We just had to have some success.
We felt like having some balance against a really good
(21:24):
front was important. So we were persistent with the running game,
even though it wasn't great force early on, we were
persistent with and even though we're behind. Uh, and then
when you do that, you're gonna get some chances in
the passing game. So again, I think it starts up front.
Our guys kept banging away. They were playing some run fronts,
and we kept kind of banging away and had had
a little bit of success. Eventually started control the line
(21:46):
of scrimmage, running it and also throwing the ball down
the field. But I think the balance and the patients
by Scott was a big part of the reason we
came back in this game. No coach would not love
to have a DeMarco Murray. What jumps out at me
is he's one of those guys it always seems to
get positive yards. You're never gonna be in those second
and fifteen second. You're he may only be second and eight,
(22:07):
but you're gonna be You're not gonna be behind the
chains because this guy always seems to get yards. Yeah,
he's a really good downhill runner. And uh, you know,
we do some different things with our scheme, but at
the end of the day, when when your line comes
off the ball and your runner goes downhill, you're gonna
give yourself a good chance of having success. And you know,
(22:27):
we have a lot of confidence in him. He's off
to a great start. We're controlling the line of scrimmage.
He's a big part of us controlling the game by
running the football. And you said it, he's a downhill guy.
He always seems to be falling forward and that makes
an impact on the defense. In looking at Tony the
first two weeks, and I've commented a couple of times,
like everybody and watched him through the ball, it just
didn't seem like he had his full strength, his full
(22:50):
stroke about him. Yesterday he seemed more like himself. Is
that a fair statement? How healthy is he? Yeah? I
think it is a fair statement. And like with any
any player coming back off of an injury, that you're
getting better the fartherer are away from the injury. And
and ton His worked very hard coming back off his
back surgery all throughout the off season and training camp,
(23:11):
and you know, I think over the first couple of
weeks of the season, you know he's getting himself back
into playing shape, so to speak, where where he feels
his his movements come naturally and instinctively to him. And
I think getting a couple of games under his belt,
I think he felt healthier this week in practice, and
certainly it showed up in the game. You know, the
offseason lead him to what your defense is getting beat
(23:32):
up with all sides of critics and this, that and
the other. And then they gave up close to four
fifty yards on the day, but they stiff into the
right time. Leading up to this, they've been playing pretty good.
Talk about keeping the mindset for your defense and keeping
that confidence up. Yeah, I thought that was important, you know.
You know St. Louis came into the game and that
they made their first six third downs, and they drove
(23:53):
the ball on the early drives, and they were kind
of mixing running pass and and and they had us
a little bit on our heels. But I thought our
guys just did a really good job hanging in there,
kept fighting. We made some stops in the run game,
we made some third down stops, we made a stop
in the red zone, and obviously we made two critical
turnovers uh in the in the fourth quarter of Bruce
(24:14):
Carter intercepting a pass and running an in and then
Mo clay Born on the last play when they were
trying to come back and kick the game tying field
goal makes that interception. So I thought it was a
good bounce back by some individual players and by our
defense collectively. You're going in playing a team in New
Orleans st team that we always know his danger with
Drew Brees and his five thousand yard passing year every year.
(24:35):
It seems like last time you played these guys last
year it was a tough day. Do you draw on
that at all. Do you show your team that film
to say, look, this is where we made the mistakes,
to give them confidence to say this is correctible, or
do you just kind of throw that one away and
start a new I don't think you spent too much
time on last year's game. Even if we're a good
game for us. Uh, you know, we're a different team
(24:57):
than we were back then. They're a different team. Uh.
Sometimes you can look at scheme to see if they're
gonna attack as a certain way or how they might
try to defend us. So that's always part of the evaluation.
But you know, we're focused on this two thousand fourteen team.
Who we are, who they are. Will rely on the
tape up to this point in this season and hopefully
put a good plan together and play well on Sunday night. Well,
(25:19):
as you said many times, coach, you take to anyone
where you get it, particularly on the road. Great comeback
when few guys, congratulations, Thanks coach, a great week. I
love me when you get a chance to visit with
the coaches like that. Steve, all right, I want to
I want to bring something up and talked earlier about
coming back to a Kirk cousin you mentioned Drew Stanton.
I'm gonna write for NFL dot com this week about
(25:39):
we have every year there is some young up and
coming backup quarterback that gets an opportunity and everybody gets all,
you know, giggly over, Oh this guy is gonna be good,
and the list goes. It goes back to Cody Carlson
and they ran Warren Moon out of town because of
Cody Carlson. Rob Johnson the one year in Jacksonville. Right
then he goes up to Buffalo Kevin Cobb in Philadelphia,
(26:01):
Matt Flynn. I did Matt Flynn's game against the Green
Bay or against Detroit. Were threw six touchdown passes. You
know this is we're gonna throw money at this guy
game at ten million doll guarantee. He goes to Seattle.
We know what happened there. We got a couple of
guys now, and it always comes up. We saw Josh
McCown thirteen touchdowns, one interception. Some people thought, hey, get
rid of ja Color. Keep Josh McCown. Not going real
good down in Tampa Bay for him right now, notwithstanding
(26:24):
the injury. I hope he gets back real quick. We
have a couple of guys right now. Kirk Cousin is
obviously the flavor of the day, has played very well
the last two games. And we'll talk about when our
G three comes back. Let's start with a Kirk Cousin.
Then we can talk about Drew Stanton, because the way
he's playing, people are gonna start saying, let's go get
Drew Stanton. Let's let's talk about what we think these are.
Is Kirk Cousin. The real deal is Kirk Cousin Gunna
(26:45):
either there in Washington or go someplace else and be
a legitimate guy. Okay, so take a breath and answer that.
You need to take a breath. Um, that's a that's
this is a juicy topic because you are right. So
many times a guy, a backup quarterback will play and
play well and then all of a sudden, he know,
(27:06):
his stock goes way up and people buy and UH,
when they moved to teams that are different systems, different
supporting cast, it's just not the same. It's just not
the same. And in that game that you called, when
Matt Flynn through for six touchdowns against Detroit UH at
the in Lambeau, it earned him ten million dollars. That
was a good pay day for that game, wasn't it?
(27:27):
And and I actually went up and watched when he
was competing with Russell Wilson against Matt Flynn. They expected
to remember Matt Flynn to win that job because he
was a veteran guy. You could tell by watching practice.
And nothing against Matt Flynn. He's a good quarterback, but
clearly the rookie was was a better fit for this offense.
And so in obviously it's he's proven that to be true. UM,
(27:50):
Kurt Cousins. Now, on the other hand, this is not
gonna be a one or two game UH sample size
for him. He's gonna have he had. He had a
handful of games last year and he played pretty well.
He didn't win as a starter, but he came off
the bench. He played, got your attention, and all of
a sudden, boy did he get our attention. Thirty or
forty three touchdowns this year or this week against the Eagles,
(28:13):
he showed us a lot. He's gonna keep playing. He's
gonna play another four or five games, maybe longer than that.
So I think his audition will be such that the
Redskins will have a pretty good view of him under
the gun, and and so will other teams. He's got
another year on his contract, remember that. And r G
(28:34):
three has another year on his contract, remember that, And
he could be. He could be. The team could exercise
that fifth year option on r G three if they
want to. So I think they're gonna let this play out.
Let Kurt Cousins, Hey, show us what you got, buddy,
and then uh, they and other teams will make a decision.
In a perfect world, you keep both of those guys, right, Yeah,
(28:55):
And and I'll be interested to see because that you're right,
I think that will be the difference. I think we'll
see enough of a body of work as a team
and organization you'll feel good enough about going Okay, Yeah,
let's give this guy, and then that's the question, what
do you what do you pay that guy? You're not
gonna get one of these hundred million dollar contracts. But
then beyond what you got to give out to go,
if you got to go trade for him, is okay
(29:15):
because he's gonna want a new contract. What does that
contract look like? So follow the money and we'll find out.
So the history of that type of player has not
been real good. But that doesn't mean that the next guy,
if it's Kirk Cousin, that it's not going to turn
out that way. Um, those a couple of takeaways we
are for me. It was already referred to it to
Jason Garrett, you know, calling the FBI because there, you know,
(29:36):
we've had a lot of free safety is kidnapped yesterday
because every time I'm doing Game Day Live and every
time I look up, there's someone running down the middle
of the field catching a bomb and there's not a
free safety in the in the picture. I don't know
where free safeties are going or what we're drawn up
where it's like they've disappeared. Well, you know how it is.
And these days we're trying to draft safeties that can
(29:58):
come in the box and and tackle, come down and
cover a slot, and we're asking them to do everything.
They're not like the last line of defense. Sometimes we're
asking those guys a lot, you know. There there there
was a lot of bombs down the field this week,
But overall, Brian, there's with that new emphasis and defensive
holding in legal contact, there's actually been fewer passing yards
(30:22):
in the first two weeks anyway. I haven't checked it
after this weekend, but there hasn't been as much passing
as there was a year ago. And I thought there
would be. You know, we'll get there. We'll get there. Well,
I know, I know we will, and some of it
might depend on the weather coming up. But but uh,
all these new rules of emphasis invite you to pass more, right,
(30:42):
Oh yeah, and you would think and but it always
tends to even itself up. What do you got what
jumped out at you yesterday? Okay? How about all these
rookie quarterbacks playing? So we're gonna end up starting uh
Teddy Bridgewater over there with the Vikings, right, he's gonna
be the guy Castle's hurt. You got blake boardles. You know,
the Jags aren't a very good team and they're just
urching for answers and trying to get a spark. And
(31:02):
of course Derek Carr has been playing pretty pretty well
for the Raiders and they were right in that game
against the Patriots. Are you kidding me? And then so
those three young quarterbacks are playing, and the guy that
we talked about all off season, all draft, all combine,
Johnny Football, is not playing. He's getting He's getting beaten
(31:24):
out by Brian Hoyer, who's had three starts under his belt.
And you know what, the kid is hanging on to
his job. You see, Bryan Hoyer for the Browns is
playing well and he's keeping Johnny Manziel on the bench.
It's kind of fun watching this whole thing, Uh come
to fruition where the other guys are finally found their
way in and Johnny's still having to be very patient.
(31:46):
You played fantasy football? Nope? Okay, because I you know
I don't either. As coaches, I tell people all the
time when I got fired, I didn't get fantasy fired.
So I go nowhere. We had Michael Fabiano on Game
Day Live yesterday and I'll tell you that defined for me,
I don't play fantasy football. They were talking about. He'd
come on set and we're talking about Andrew Luck and
he's talking about how he's a great value as a
fourth round pick. In any universe where Andrew Luck is
(32:09):
a fourth round, fourth round pick in the fantasy draft. Yeah,
any universe that Andrew Luck is a fourth round pick.
I don't know how to operate in that world. There.
It goes all the credibility out the window. Right, he
had yesterday. I don't get that. Oh my god, can
I tell you why I don't like fantasy football? And
I know there's millions of people going, what Okay, So
(32:30):
I'm coaching in Detroit. I'm We're playing against the Eagles
and they had t o remember and he spoom. He
scores a touchdown. When he was with the Dallas Cowboys,
scores a touchdown against us in Detroit, and the some
of the crowd starts cheering, and I'm going, what the
heck is that they're they're cheering on the other team.
(32:52):
They scored a touchdown in my coach up top Suggie,
he goes coach, He's on their fantasy football team. Nobody
on our teams. On their fantasy football team. He's under
team I'm going that really kind of irritates me a
little bit because because it dilutes your loyalty right when
when we're growing up, you rooted for your team and
you didn't like want anybody else to have any success
(33:13):
against you, And so that just warped me right out.
And so that's why I don't do fantasy I told Fabriano.
I said, I said, why don't you could? Do you
get any points for winning and losing in fantasy football?
Is that part? They go? Oh no, no, no, that
has nothing to do with it. I said, you kidding me?
I said, well, what if you put winning and losing
as part of the factory? Says no, that really screwed up.
(33:35):
You can't have fantasis football with winning and losing. Okay
you lost me on that one. Yeah, okay, I'm not
through with fantasy football. Never started it either, right, were
we old or what? Thanks for checking out The Coach
Show podcast. We'll be back next week For more. Go
to NFL dot com Slash Podcast eight shi
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