October 27, 2014 • 29 mins
Brian Billick and Steve Mariucci recap week 8 in the NFL. They break down the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers big games. Plus, they talk about the head coaches that are on the hot seat.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is NFL dot COM's Coaches Show podcast, Thirty Men Together,
Can't Lose. This is why you lift all that. Everybody
cryout that albody And now we're going there's a glean man,
there's a glean. Thanks for checking out the Coach the Show.
(00:22):
I'm here with my partner Steve Mariuchi and coach. I
don't know Week eate. It was a phenomenal week, but
it told me from one week to the next, and
every week we do the same thing. We're supposed to
handicap games and who's gonna win and not. I got
no idea who's gonna win, who isn't. It just is
so each week it's its own little entity. Join the
club because I have no idea either, And that's why
we play the games right. And boy, some exciting games.
(00:45):
A lot of them come right down to the wire
and it's you know, we're done with pretty much the
first half of the season, but stick around, it's going
to get exciting here. Two teams. Let's talk about two
teams in particular. And it always occurs to me that
how this league looks at the quarter mark versus the
halfway mark. For the three quarter mark, totally different. Two
teams that were kind of giving up for lost, got
(01:07):
no chance were Pittsburgh and the New England Patriots. Of
all the of all the teams to talk about. Now,
those two games yesterday just overwhelming performances. And I don't
know that Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger can play any
better than they did this last weekend. Remember that press conference, Brian,
that Bill Belichick had after after they got beat by
(01:29):
the Chiefs, and they were talking about are you gonna
make a switch at quarterbacking? He looked over at that
guy who asked that question, like, are you are drugs
or what? I want to know who that is? And
and and and since then, I think Tom Brady has
kind of answered the bell for kind of touchdowns and
(01:49):
no picks and just to dominate. I put a fifty burger,
uh you know up yesterday against the Bears, and my
got it. I think he's found this Brandon LaFell a weapon.
Oh here he is and he had eleven catches. And
how about Gronk, He's finally healthy. And this team, man,
they look for real. And I can't wait till the
(02:10):
Denver Broncos show up next week. It's gonna be a doozy?
Did I? And I fill correct me if I'm wrong,
I know, or someone will tweet in that that did
they not score? I'm talking about New England now on
every single possession, I don't know. Did they something like that?
Unbelieved they looked, they looked like they had a rhythm
that and we've been Have you ever had one of
those games where you were just you just knew every
(02:32):
call was and no matter what you call quarterback sneak
went for thirty yards, just every every call was just golden. Yeah, no,
I missed. I missed that. I know. Their punter has
got the easiest job now, he doesn't even have to
take a shower after the games. I mean, it's it's
it's fun to watch that team. And how about those Steelers,
My god, I didn't think. I thought, oh, geez, they're
(02:53):
rebuilding the defense right, and they're gonna be younger, and
Dick Lebo has got us kind of start over with
a bunch of guys, and Ben has had it lost
Emmanuel Sanders. They could do no wrong. And you know what,
they've been very quietly good on offense. They've been a
top ten offense and rushing and passing, and of course
they put it all together yesterday, and they too put
(03:14):
a fifty burger up against the Colts. Of all people
of Colts are good football, right, Well, that's they're a
perfect example. This is a team. Let's remember now, the
week previous to this, the Indianapolis Colts shut out the
Cincinnati Bengals. To shut somebody out in the NFL, it
so rarely happens, and then get fifty plus points. We
(03:35):
were in a production meeting and they asked me to
obviously didn't do the question. They said, is that the
biggest turnaround from one week to the next a team
that gets uh creates a shutout defensively and then gives
up fifty plus points. It's only ninth, Oh, it's only
nine in history. What were the team? They told me
There was a Tampa Bay team that shut out a
(03:57):
team and then got beat by sixty two points the
next week. How about that for a for a but
there's an example of euro up and down right, how
do you who have thought that that Indianapolis defense could
be you know, manipulated that way? And and that meant
to me that's what made the Pittsburgh game and what
Ben Roethlisberger. You know, it's interesting to me too about Roethisburg.
(04:18):
We talked about the you know, when you go to Africa,
they always have the Big Five, right, you gotta see
the Big Five. It's a rhino, it's a lion, it's
all that kind of stuff. Well, the Big Five, yeah,
you know, I know the Italy they have. It's awesome.
But and and we always talking about the elite quarterbacks,
and you're talking about Brady and Manning and Rogers and Breeze.
Why do we leave Ben Roethlisberger out of that? Because
(04:41):
he's got two Super Bowls? We do though, and and
and I, you know, I sometimes I think about that,
you know, and I'm sitting by myself. Why do we
leave Ben Roethlisboro? And because maybe he doesn't get style points?
Maybe because that the image in the tradition of that
team is defense and run the ball. And and it's
not pretty, but it was pretty. It was pretty yesterday.
(05:03):
And that guy, you know what, those those bumbo be uniforms.
I just make me sick watching them. But they wore
those in four and Ben's undefeated in those uniforms now
and in fact, the whole season in thirty four they
threw four touchdown passes. Ben had more than that yesterday.
I've done two games. I've done two games of the
Steelers when they had those bumblebe uniform. My theory is this,
(05:27):
they come out, they are so embarrassed to be in
those dog ugly jerseys. They gotta go. We gotta make
up for this. We gotta play really well because these
things look just terrible. Is that a marketing thing? Do
they think? People? Oh? Yeah, you know what gift shop
and they always do it around Halloween. Some so some
marketing guy has sold them on the fact that you
(05:48):
know what, we'll sell a bunch of these jerseys on Halloween.
Look like the pajamas you sleep and when you were
sleeping down at Forest last week, you tell me you
put one of those jerseys on. Right. Uh yeah, I'm
sure I did well. And Letsten I want to finish
off with with this. That the two things that jump
out of me. One with the Steelers boy Levan Bell.
I know, I know Ben roths spread, but does this
(06:10):
guy looks special? He looks physical, he looks fast, he
catches the ball out of the backfeld. This guy looks
spectacular to me. He's a Michigan State Spartans. There you go, Okay,
I gotta call him and find out how he lost
twenty pounds because he looks fast and he's catching the
ball like a receiver out there. And then Martevius Bryant
(06:31):
is a rookie and he did well. And in Antonio
Brown of course, but yeah, this team has got good
balance on offense. And they took a look at the stats.
Now they're right up there on the top and rushing
in passing, and it's this younger defense. Younger, it's still
not really young, but it's younger, uh than it was
four years ago. But you know what, all of a sudden,
(06:53):
the Steelers are catching our attention because Cincinnati Baltimore. You
know that that that that division over there is really
up for grabs. I'm glad and I gotta finish with martvs. Bennett.
I went down to Clemson to do a coaching clinic
for him. This is before the draft, and this kid
comes up and introduced himself and it's Martvas Benett. And
I'm thinking, oh, because you look at a kid you got.
I don't know if this kid can play or not,
(07:15):
but boy does he Yes, you know, I I called Ozzie,
knew someone I got done because the coaches were telling
me about it. He's a kid, kind of young kid,
and and obviously in the shadow of Sammy Watkins and
all that's gone down there and DeAndre Hopkins and all that,
and this kid was I'm six five this guy. I'm
looking at this kid eyeball to eyeball. He's cut, he's smooth,
he's a great young man. I thought, boy, and the
(07:37):
coaches would telling me about him. So I'm back to
look a little film on this kid. I called Ozzie, said, boy,
you gotta look at this kid, because this this kid
looks pretty good. Let's move on to two teams that,
you know, like we were a month ago, we were
kind of giving Pittsburgh and New England up for for
for dead because because you did say you thought Tom
Brady was too old, couldn't plain anymore. But two teams
(07:59):
that now also suddenly kind of resurrected themselves a little
bit of Seattle and and uh New Orleans. Now Seattle.
That was an overwhelming win against Carolina, but the west
coast to east coast, it was good, solid win and
they got they've got the Raiders and the New York
Giants coming up, so they're going about to get a
little mojo gone. I think, well, I don't know if
one win is a resurrection, but Seattle, that's a funny
(08:24):
team right now. You know, the Champs are trying to
fight out of a hole. Like you said, they seems
like there's chaos going on over in that locker room
a little bit. And you know what, it took Russell
Wilson to win the game at the end. This kid's
playing his butt off, I'm and he's he's sensational. They
even lost last week and he had three hundred yards
and a hundred rushing, so he's kind of keeping it
(08:44):
together a little bit. Big win because they're gonna come
home in Seattle, play Oakland and the Giants at home,
and they should win those games. But Brian, after that,
they play five Division games and it's showtime now and
then and then there are other two games are at
Kansas City and at I believe Philadelphia. That's a tough
schedule for anybody, right especially the Champs and then the Saints. Now,
(09:09):
you know, beating that's a quality win, beating the Packers.
But Darnett, they always went at home. Yeah, and Drew
Brees was looked so much. We did a thing on
Playbook last week showing how uncomfortable Drew Brees was in
the pocket, getting rushed, throwing up some balls where you
kind of want, Well, that's not Drew Brees like, because
we both know how good he is in the pocket.
He was a former tennis player beat Andy Roddick. I
don't know if you knew that Drew Brees beat Andy
(09:31):
Roddick in tennis. I think in high school. Anyways, Um,
he looked very uncomfortable in the pocket for the first time,
and then last night just look you saw him just
a subtle step the up, move up, that big throw
to Brandon Cooks down the in the end zone where
he just suddenly stepped in the pocket, moved up, had
his shoulders perfect delivered. He looked like the Drew Brees
we all know and love. How fast is Brandon Cooks,
(09:53):
Oh my gosh, soon he's a rocket and mark Ingram
looked like a faster kind of a back all of
a sudden. But the but the Doctor Jekyll and Mr
Hyde thing is, they're so good in the dome and
they're not very good at all away from home, and
they got to get that fixed if they want to
work themselves back into the race and the playoffs and
advanced like I thought they would early in the season,
(10:15):
you know, in preseason, I thought they would be right
there in the final four. Not so fast. I they
still have things to fix on defense. But that was
a good win against Aaron Rodgers. But oh, Aaron Rodgers
has not hurt. You knew, you knew, didn't it? It
was it was a minor irritant. I don't know if
he pulled the hamstring or was a cramp, but it
was noticeable, the difference. He just wasn't moving around the
(10:37):
same no and then, And that's one of his things
that he brings to the table is his ability to
escape and make plays with his legs and his arm
while he's running. And so uh that that that's concerning.
I'm sure they have a bye though, and they'll he'll
get it fixed well. But in the contrast where they're
at right now, obviously New Orleans, they're in a division
you know, eight and eight will probably get it done
(10:58):
and by way of Caroline could be seven, nine and one. Right,
how about that division? It happened to Pete carrollin right
to nine a couple of years ago over there in
the in the NFC West, and so I can't wait
to go to our game, you know, in Carolina, the
Saints at Carolina on Thursday night. I mean, this is
this is for first place in that in that I
(11:18):
don't want to say average division, but it's just average.
Is being complimentary if you say that's an average division.
Somebody's gotta win that division right Thursday night is gonna
maybe determine it. Nobody wants it um. So, Yeah, it
was just interesting to see them obviously good solid when
you got a sense from Pete Carroll I think after
the game launching the news conference that he knows his
(11:39):
teams and a little bit of peril. He was thrilled
to have the win. And of course it's well, you
only beat Carolina thirteen to nine. It was the West
Coast to East coast. They were lucky to get out
of there with the win. He knows what's coming down
the pike here a little bit with two teams that
you ought to beat. So but you could tell it
was a little bit different Pete Carroll, I think than
we saw it last year when they had it going
so good. Um, let's let's move on on. Oh boy,
(12:01):
this is gonna be a tough one because I wrote
about it today. Um about the different perspective coaches that
are struggling right now, and as typically you have teams
that are struggling. You contrast what's going on in Tampa
Bay and Tennessee with Ken wizen Hunt and Lovey Smith,
who are on the first year of a contract. Both
are trying to find the quarterback and the strength they
(12:23):
have they can go to their team going, look, I
don't I don't I know one thing. I'm gonna be
here next year, so you better show me you can
still play. So you got that motivation. But let's talk
a little bit about Mike Smith in in Atlanta. Our
friend Rex Ryan in New York is a tough one,
and even Mark Trust mean a little bit different situation
in Chicago. But let's talk about what what Mike Smith
and Rex Ryan can do at one and forever with
(12:46):
teams that end questions about what their future is gonna be,
How how you can hold that together? And your last
year in Detroit was the kind of the handwriting on
the wall, I mean, could you see that? And did jet.
How did you hold that together? I didn't, but you
finished the season. You know what, We've both been on
the hot for and it's not very comfortable, all right,
(13:09):
And after this podcast we may be there again, so
be careful. So so when you sign your contract, there's
a little closet says you will be on the hot seat.
Do you understand that? Yes? And so um and then
the three coaches and you know the couple of teams
that you mentioned. You know, with Mike Smith, he started
off like gangbusters when he his first five years? What
(13:30):
did he win? Fifty six games? You try to average
eleven wins the season in the National Football League? Man,
you Hatta, you gotta be coach of the year. And
took over an organization, a team that could not have
been was the way I've been through the Michael Vick
and the coaches that had been fired and walked away.
That organization was absolute at rock Bot. Yeah, and he
and he and he and Thomas Demetrov took the bull
(13:51):
by the horns and really got it going, along with
Matt Ryan and a lot of other reasons. But when
you look at something that's kind of in a tailspin,
you know, some people call him excuses, you can call
him reasons, you can just look at it and analyze it.
My god, I don't know who's gonna win games when
five of your offensive lineman on are now on injured reserved,
(14:11):
and you're in you're starting an undrafted rookie center, and
and and you've got injuries galore all over the place.
And that's the reality of it. Nobody wants to hear
about that. That the coaches forget about that, they forget
how to coach and and all of that. So he's
in a tough spot and it's hard to work himself
out of it because some of those guys aren't coming back.
(14:32):
They're just not coming back, all right. And and same
with Rex over there at the Jets. He's got a
problem that that everybody can see. They have a quarterback issue.
There are other things, of course, there are other there
are other reasons why they're one and seven, but the
quarterback position is just not getting it done for him,
and and you're lost. I was in that situation before
(14:53):
where you just there's nowhere to go and and uh,
you know, and over there at the Bears, you mentioned
with Mark Trustman, it's a diff fron situation. It is
a different situation those other two. Because let's talk a
little bit about how the expectation. Let me ask this
question first, leading to how what Mark Trestman to trust
what he has to deal with, because we know what
Rex and might have to deal with, and it's tough
and we've all been there. I remember, I go thirteen
(15:15):
and three. Go next year, we come back, we go
five and eleven and lose my quarterback, three offensive lineman
Ray Lewis and Ed Reid And when they come, when
they come in and let me go, they go and look,
we know nobody could have won with the things that
happened to you this year, but you're still fired. Okay,
well that makes me feel a whole lot better. But
does Mark, let me ask you by way of saying
this up, you look at the offensive personnel, save the
(15:36):
quarterback position, because we could do a whole show on
Jay Cutler, But with those receivers, with Marshall, Brandon All,
Sean Jeffrey and the tight end Martelli Spenne, wasn't that
a great catch in the end zone laying on his
back catching that ball in the touchdown? They got nat
Forte out of the backfield. Really a good offensive line.
I think it's a good offensive line. Is there is
there any offensive personnel except a quarterback position that you
(15:56):
would trade for the Chicago Bears maybe maybe did True,
maybe Dallas, maybe maybe in uh Denver. That's pretty good personnel.
That's the that's you see where I'm going with this.
When you got good personnel, what how do you now?
What do you hang your hound and say, how do
we turn this around? They have better personnel on offense
than they do on defense, and and and uh and
(16:18):
defensively you know, of course Peanut Tilman's out and he's
a leader over there, and and they're just just average
on defense. The the issue with and Marx Marks a
smart guy. I love Mark, and he's a he's a
good coach. There's something out of whack with the chemistry
of that team, it seems and and so he's got
a he's got a different issue to fix than trying
(16:39):
to coach up a quarterback or or you know, find
a new offense like he's got. It seems like there's
a chemistry thing there that's not conducive. Does that not
come back to Jay Cutler though, the guy you just
gave fit. You gave four million dollars to I did
not give anybody any money. Uh yeah, but you know
what you gotta You gotta have a quarterback. And that's
what the market will bear, you know what I mean.
(16:59):
And and he will play good games at times, he
just so up and down and inconsistent. I heck, he
could come out the next game and just lighted up
for four yards. He's had good But someone asked me
if if the locker room, what if the locker room
explodes again like it did last week, And my point was,
if it doesn't, I'm going to be upset because now
that just means we're resigned to losing, we give up,
(17:19):
we're tired of fighting it, and just it is what
it is. Yeah, but you know what, but sometimes it's like,
you know, just bite your tongue a little bit. But um,
you know, they've got to get some things fixed. They
were right there close last year and got beat by
the Packers on the last playing the game when Aaron
Rodgers seeing through the touchdown to Randall Cobb. So they
almost made the playoffs last year. It's probably going to
(17:43):
be and almost make the playoffs this year too, even
if they fight hard and play well, because I'm not
sure if they're quite that way. So you've got some
coaches that they're fighting for their jobs. You know, I'm
not saying Mark Trestman in his second year is fighting
for his job. They just hired the guy. They got
to give him a chance to get this thing. But
that means is he's gonna get paid. You and I
both know that because people said, well, they're not gonna
(18:04):
fire this guy. They just hired him. Well, we're in
a league where Mike Malarkey got hired fired after one year,
so did the Zinski up in Cleveland. And I always say,
you know what all that means is you're gonna get paid,
doesn't mean you're there. They gave me a brand new
four year contract and to the day, almost a year later,
let me go and having to pay me the three
(18:24):
many years. So just because they have you got paid
three years. And when you went riding on your bike
around that I was counting my money the whole time,
pulling down and pulling down those checks. Well, we're a
breaking news show, so let's I want to back up
to the jet just a minute. It was announced that
Michael Vick is going to start for the Jets. Okay,
right against Kansas City. So let's talk about that just
(18:47):
a second. Where let's spend this forward. What's gonna happen
with Michael Vick quarterback at at Kansas City. You know
they made the big Percy Harvon. Okay, this is gonna
make the difference, and now it didn't. Okay, Now we're
gonna start Michael Vick. Now, now where do we go
with the Jets? Ouch? And I you know, Michael Vick
has had his day in the sun. I mean he
you know, he was a heck of a player, impossible
(19:09):
to defend, and I don't see that anymore. He will
make some throws and he will run for some first downs,
but I I think he's descending in his career. Let's
face it. I'm i'm it's too bad that Gino didn't
make progress. I thought he would. They don't have enough
weapons around these quarterbacks anyway. I I Uh, it's a
(19:31):
tough spot. I know, Marty morning wig Uh, their play
caller probably is going a little crazy trying to figure
out how to get some some first downs and some
points on the board. And Rex is just trying to
do it. And you know what, you know what, though,
I'm watching that team play. They love Rex you know,
and Mike Smith playing hard. They're playing hard and and
(19:53):
and that's part of the trick for these coaches that
I have teams that you gotta keep hope alive, you
gotta keep your team is playing hard, and both of
these guys are doing just that. Mark, trustman, They're all
doing that. The teams are still fighting like crazy, and
that means they'll win some games, probably not enough. Well,
and I always hate it, I absolutely hate it when
(20:14):
I hear someone Tay say, well, this team is quit
on their coach. Well, first off, players don't play for
the coach. You're exactly right, there's no team. They love
Mike Smith, they love Rex Ryan, but they're playing for
themselves and they're playing for each other. And if they quit,
it's not going to be quitting on those guys. They're
quitting on themselves. And it just irritates me when I
hear people make it like the coach is the one,
(20:35):
you know, he's going to be accountable, but he's not
that necessarily responsible. If they decide they're not going to
continue to play and prepare at that high level. Yeah,
it's a character check when you're struggling and you're in
a tailspin. Uh, for everybody on that sideline and in
that locker room to see who's got enough pride and
character to do their best every week, every snap that's
(20:57):
on film is going to be an evaluation for that
team or the next team. And so, uh, that's what's interesting.
We saw Tom coughlin owen six life year right, and
you just knew darn well he was gonna dig out
of that hole somehow because he's so experienced and so
good at what he does. Don't be surprised if these
coaches don't find a way to dig themselves out of
(21:17):
this hole. And just to show that the at least competitive, well,
let's get let's get off this negative negativity and let's
talk about something. Some coach that's not on the hot
seat and is absolutely brilliant, just performing brilliant right now. Uh,
Bruce arians the job he's doing. We are all are
kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop in Arizona,
are we not? And we thought Philadelphia might be. But
(21:37):
that was a brilliant performance on their part and they
are absolutely are they truly not the team to beat
now in the a f C or the NFC West.
Can you put your can you put that mark on him? Yet? No?
Not yet, because I just you know, and I I
really like Bruce. He's such a he's such a good guy.
And what a story that is phenomenal when when he
(21:59):
was driving home from Pittsburgh Cities because they didn't renew
his contract, and then he goes with Chuck Bogano and
Chuck gets sick, and he becomes the coach of the
Year because he deserved it. And now he's gonna do
it again. I mean, he's he's a candidate for Coach
of the Year again. And and part of that is
because he's a good coach and a good man and
a good play caller. Part of that is he's hired
a good staff. Todd Bowles is doing a heck of
(22:20):
a job with that banged up defense. Part of it is,
you know, he had a backup quarterback Drew Stanton come
in and save the day a little bit while Carson
Paul Palmer's nerve got better and and he's got young
guys contributing, So there's good player development going on in
there in the desert. And so this is a heck
of a fun team to watch. You knew yesterday, Brian
(22:41):
with the Eagles, it was gonna be a it was
gonna be a doozy. These are playoff teams and and
uh wow, the only thing is Philadelphia. Philadelphia's got Nick
Foles is not playing quite as well as he did
last year. And uh but there's still a very dangerous team.
But Bruce arians boy, he's got this team playing so confidently,
(23:03):
you know, down in distance. It was on that touchdown
to John Brown, it's third and five and he runs
a four pump, all right, for all the marbles, And
that's a gutsy play call now to go for the
win on third and five, and when you're down by
three points. But if Chip, two things jumped out at
(23:23):
me on that one. If Chip Kelly, where's the free safety?
If I'm Chip Kelly, you could go on the four route.
You could go out choke that safety to death, and
not a court in America would convict you. Right, you're
supposed to be in the middle of the field. What
are you doing biting on the inside. But here, let
me ask you this. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna
put you on the spot here because we're both intrigued
(23:44):
with what chip Kelly is doing. Yeah, does I get
the sense that I'm watching the run and shoot from
the eighties, Remember when that when that all came in
and huge numbers and up and down the field. But
they got in the red zone that bogged down and
they never really won with it. So I was I
was a guest coach up in Canada. Remember Mouse Davis,
(24:05):
father of the Running Suit. I got my books here,
you want me to pull them out? And and yeah,
a little bit like that. And chip Kelly came right
down the field with a minute and he caught the
past one foot out of bounds. Otherwise they win. That's
a heck of a football game. But they got stopped
on the goal line the series before two plays in
a row, boom boom. When you're trying to go get
(24:26):
a yard and you're in shotgun, there's no quarterback, sneak threat,
there's no power game. Um so that to me, the
weakness of that spread kind of an offense reared its
ugly head on the goal line at Arizona because they
could not get a yard and and so, but it's
still very very exciting football, very dangerous. I can't wait
(24:47):
to see the Cowboys versus the Eagles. You talk about
contrasting styles, high number of players, spread wide open. Obviously
Dallas playing with you know, they got the DeMarco Murray,
and they got the big receiver outside, and they're gonna
ball control role, and they got a quarterback performing at
a at a high level. Just the contrasting styles of
play that these two teams. That's that's gonna be a
(25:08):
very very good game. It's gonna be a good game.
And those are the two teams that are fighting for
that not only division, but a buy in the playoffs.
But you know, you mentioned Dallas. Arizona goes there next week,
and uh, and that's you know, they're different divisions, but
that's quite a rivalry. And the old used to be
in the hard to believe that Arizona used to be
(25:29):
in the old NFC East, right, So they used to
play each other twice every year. It's been a long time.
You and I are old enough to remember that, but
they used to be in the NFC East. And and
you're right, that is more of a rivalry than people
really realize. You know, Brian, you know this. I'm watching
these games all of these games and every every game,
every game, I see rookies making plays, whether their offensive lineman, receivers, quarterbacks.
(25:56):
Everybody's playing except Manziel. I mean, this might be the
best rookie class that we've had in a long long time.
And I can't sit here and name all of them
because every team's got a couple of rookies playing for
him and playing well. Anthony Barr, do you see I
haven't thought say this about U c l A player,
but Anthony Barr, the U c l A for I
think could be the Rookie of the year, Defensive rookie
(26:17):
of the year, uh off offense. You gotta you gotta
love what you saw Brandon Cooksie the night and Kelvin
Benjamin do you see go up and build that ball
down from Richard Sherman. They put Richard Sherman on him
quite a bit and he made some plays. He had
four catches, and Richard Sherman will say, well, you only
have four catches, but but you know what, there were
big catches and he's playing against the best and that's
the heck of a matchup. Yeah, so it's gonna be.
(26:38):
There are a lot of good rookies this year, My guy. Okay,
we've got just a couple of minutes left. Final takeaways
from from Week eight. What what jumped out at you
as I if I would ask a question, Okay, I
know this that what I don't know anything. But anyway,
but here's the thing. Through the first most of the
first half of the season, Brian, I was, I've been
(26:59):
noticing this bec us of all the new emphasis on
the rules. You know, all these penalties and illegal contact
and holding on defense, right and there's been a ton
more of those calls this year than right right off
the bat, I thought there'd be more passing yards. Well,
that hasn't been the case. There's been more rushing yards
up until this weekend. Here we go four quarterbacks throw
(27:22):
the ball for over four hundred yards. That's never happened before.
And so I got a feeling in this, this passing
league that we think we have is going to really
show that it's a passing league because everybody's slinging it
like crazy right now, and and taking full advantage of
those that new emphasis. Yeah, but but and and it's
(27:42):
so tough on defenses anymore to perform at a level
to where the old formula of run the ball, play
great defense, you know, don't make mistakes. Uh, you have
to play record setting defense because good defense isn't enough
anymore in this league, particularly way people can catch up
to me. The positive by product to that is that
you're never out of it. You know, I talked about
(28:04):
this on playbook. I've got like your library there. I've
got a book written by Newt Rockney in nineteen seven.
And no he didn't sign it for me personally in
nine seven. I'm not that old. But in that book
it says, if you've got this is back in ninety seven,
if you've got to choose between being good on offense
or defense, be good on offense because you're never out
of a game. Where and I've been on with some
(28:27):
pretty good defensive teams where you know, we're we're we're
really good. But if we all have some we get
down by two touchdowns and we're dead because there's no
way we're gonna come back. But that being said, is
aren't we The byproduct of that being that you're never
out of a game. Nowadays, you're out down by Twe
saw teams coming back from twenty one points down. Detroit
comes back from twenty one points down because we're in
the league, because of the rules, because of the quarterback
(28:48):
playing whatever, that you're never out of it. Yeah, we
saw that with the Steelers trying to you know, extend
their lead with the Colts and Andrew look just keeps
coming back, just keeps coming back, and you sit there
untill the very last play watching these games because, like
you said, they're never out of it. Well, that'll do
it for The Coach Show. Make sure to check Let's
go to NFL dot com Slash podcast to get The
(29:08):
Coaches Show podcast, and you can also check us out
on NFL dot com and streaming The Coach Show
This is NFL dot COM's Coaches Show podcast, Thirty Men Together,
Can't Lose. This is why you lift all that. Everybody
cryout that albody And now we're going there's a glean man,
there's a glean. Thanks for checking out the Coach the Show.
(00:22):
I'm here with my partner Steve Mariuchi and coach. I
don't know Week eate. It was a phenomenal week, but
it told me from one week to the next, and
every week we do the same thing. We're supposed to
handicap games and who's gonna win and not. I got
no idea who's gonna win, who isn't. It just is
so each week it's its own little entity. Join the
club because I have no idea either, And that's why
we play the games right. And boy, some exciting games.
(00:45):
A lot of them come right down to the wire
and it's you know, we're done with pretty much the
first half of the season, but stick around, it's going
to get exciting here. Two teams. Let's talk about two
teams in particular. And it always occurs to me that
how this league looks at the quarter mark versus the
halfway mark. For the three quarter mark, totally different. Two
teams that were kind of giving up for lost, got
(01:07):
no chance were Pittsburgh and the New England Patriots. Of
all the of all the teams to talk about. Now,
those two games yesterday just overwhelming performances. And I don't
know that Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger can play any
better than they did this last weekend. Remember that press conference, Brian,
that Bill Belichick had after after they got beat by
(01:29):
the Chiefs, and they were talking about are you gonna
make a switch at quarterbacking? He looked over at that
guy who asked that question, like, are you are drugs
or what? I want to know who that is? And
and and and since then, I think Tom Brady has
kind of answered the bell for kind of touchdowns and
(01:49):
no picks and just to dominate. I put a fifty burger,
uh you know up yesterday against the Bears, and my
got it. I think he's found this Brandon LaFell a weapon.
Oh here he is and he had eleven catches. And
how about Gronk, He's finally healthy. And this team, man,
they look for real. And I can't wait till the
(02:10):
Denver Broncos show up next week. It's gonna be a doozy?
Did I? And I fill correct me if I'm wrong,
I know, or someone will tweet in that that did
they not score? I'm talking about New England now on
every single possession, I don't know. Did they something like that?
Unbelieved they looked, they looked like they had a rhythm
that and we've been Have you ever had one of
those games where you were just you just knew every
(02:32):
call was and no matter what you call quarterback sneak
went for thirty yards, just every every call was just golden. Yeah, no,
I missed. I missed that. I know. Their punter has
got the easiest job now, he doesn't even have to
take a shower after the games. I mean, it's it's
it's fun to watch that team. And how about those Steelers,
My god, I didn't think. I thought, oh, geez, they're
(02:53):
rebuilding the defense right, and they're gonna be younger, and
Dick Lebo has got us kind of start over with
a bunch of guys, and Ben has had it lost
Emmanuel Sanders. They could do no wrong. And you know what,
they've been very quietly good on offense. They've been a
top ten offense and rushing and passing, and of course
they put it all together yesterday, and they too put
(03:14):
a fifty burger up against the Colts. Of all people
of Colts are good football, right, Well, that's they're a
perfect example. This is a team. Let's remember now, the
week previous to this, the Indianapolis Colts shut out the
Cincinnati Bengals. To shut somebody out in the NFL, it
so rarely happens, and then get fifty plus points. We
(03:35):
were in a production meeting and they asked me to
obviously didn't do the question. They said, is that the
biggest turnaround from one week to the next a team
that gets uh creates a shutout defensively and then gives
up fifty plus points. It's only ninth, Oh, it's only
nine in history. What were the team? They told me
There was a Tampa Bay team that shut out a
(03:57):
team and then got beat by sixty two points the
next week. How about that for a for a but
there's an example of euro up and down right, how
do you who have thought that that Indianapolis defense could
be you know, manipulated that way? And and that meant
to me that's what made the Pittsburgh game and what
Ben Roethlisberger. You know, it's interesting to me too about Roethisburg.
(04:18):
We talked about the you know, when you go to Africa,
they always have the Big Five, right, you gotta see
the Big Five. It's a rhino, it's a lion, it's
all that kind of stuff. Well, the Big Five, yeah,
you know, I know the Italy they have. It's awesome.
But and and we always talking about the elite quarterbacks,
and you're talking about Brady and Manning and Rogers and Breeze.
Why do we leave Ben Roethlisberger out of that? Because
(04:41):
he's got two Super Bowls? We do though, and and
and I, you know, I sometimes I think about that,
you know, and I'm sitting by myself. Why do we
leave Ben Roethlisboro? And because maybe he doesn't get style points?
Maybe because that the image in the tradition of that
team is defense and run the ball. And and it's
not pretty, but it was pretty. It was pretty yesterday.
(05:03):
And that guy, you know what, those those bumbo be uniforms.
I just make me sick watching them. But they wore
those in four and Ben's undefeated in those uniforms now
and in fact, the whole season in thirty four they
threw four touchdown passes. Ben had more than that yesterday.
I've done two games. I've done two games of the
Steelers when they had those bumblebe uniform. My theory is this,
(05:27):
they come out, they are so embarrassed to be in
those dog ugly jerseys. They gotta go. We gotta make
up for this. We gotta play really well because these
things look just terrible. Is that a marketing thing? Do
they think? People? Oh? Yeah, you know what gift shop
and they always do it around Halloween. Some so some
marketing guy has sold them on the fact that you
(05:48):
know what, we'll sell a bunch of these jerseys on Halloween.
Look like the pajamas you sleep and when you were
sleeping down at Forest last week, you tell me you
put one of those jerseys on. Right. Uh yeah, I'm
sure I did well. And Letsten I want to finish
off with with this. That the two things that jump
out of me. One with the Steelers boy Levan Bell.
I know, I know Ben roths spread, but does this
(06:10):
guy looks special? He looks physical, he looks fast, he
catches the ball out of the backfeld. This guy looks
spectacular to me. He's a Michigan State Spartans. There you go, Okay,
I gotta call him and find out how he lost
twenty pounds because he looks fast and he's catching the
ball like a receiver out there. And then Martevius Bryant
(06:31):
is a rookie and he did well. And in Antonio
Brown of course, but yeah, this team has got good
balance on offense. And they took a look at the stats.
Now they're right up there on the top and rushing
in passing, and it's this younger defense. Younger, it's still
not really young, but it's younger, uh than it was
four years ago. But you know what, all of a sudden,
(06:53):
the Steelers are catching our attention because Cincinnati Baltimore. You
know that that that that division over there is really
up for grabs. I'm glad and I gotta finish with martvs. Bennett.
I went down to Clemson to do a coaching clinic
for him. This is before the draft, and this kid
comes up and introduced himself and it's Martvas Benett. And
I'm thinking, oh, because you look at a kid you got.
I don't know if this kid can play or not,
(07:15):
but boy does he Yes, you know, I I called Ozzie,
knew someone I got done because the coaches were telling
me about it. He's a kid, kind of young kid,
and and obviously in the shadow of Sammy Watkins and
all that's gone down there and DeAndre Hopkins and all that,
and this kid was I'm six five this guy. I'm
looking at this kid eyeball to eyeball. He's cut, he's smooth,
he's a great young man. I thought, boy, and the
(07:37):
coaches would telling me about him. So I'm back to
look a little film on this kid. I called Ozzie, said, boy,
you gotta look at this kid, because this this kid
looks pretty good. Let's move on to two teams that,
you know, like we were a month ago, we were
kind of giving Pittsburgh and New England up for for
for dead because because you did say you thought Tom
Brady was too old, couldn't plain anymore. But two teams
(07:59):
that now also suddenly kind of resurrected themselves a little
bit of Seattle and and uh New Orleans. Now Seattle.
That was an overwhelming win against Carolina, but the west
coast to east coast, it was good, solid win and
they got they've got the Raiders and the New York
Giants coming up, so they're going about to get a
little mojo gone. I think, well, I don't know if
one win is a resurrection, but Seattle, that's a funny
(08:24):
team right now. You know, the Champs are trying to
fight out of a hole. Like you said, they seems
like there's chaos going on over in that locker room
a little bit. And you know what, it took Russell
Wilson to win the game at the end. This kid's
playing his butt off, I'm and he's he's sensational. They
even lost last week and he had three hundred yards
and a hundred rushing, so he's kind of keeping it
(08:44):
together a little bit. Big win because they're gonna come
home in Seattle, play Oakland and the Giants at home,
and they should win those games. But Brian, after that,
they play five Division games and it's showtime now and
then and then there are other two games are at
Kansas City and at I believe Philadelphia. That's a tough
schedule for anybody, right especially the Champs and then the Saints. Now,
(09:09):
you know, beating that's a quality win, beating the Packers.
But Darnett, they always went at home. Yeah, and Drew
Brees was looked so much. We did a thing on
Playbook last week showing how uncomfortable Drew Brees was in
the pocket, getting rushed, throwing up some balls where you
kind of want, Well, that's not Drew Brees like, because
we both know how good he is in the pocket.
He was a former tennis player beat Andy Roddick. I
don't know if you knew that Drew Brees beat Andy
(09:31):
Roddick in tennis. I think in high school. Anyways, Um,
he looked very uncomfortable in the pocket for the first time,
and then last night just look you saw him just
a subtle step the up, move up, that big throw
to Brandon Cooks down the in the end zone where
he just suddenly stepped in the pocket, moved up, had
his shoulders perfect delivered. He looked like the Drew Brees
we all know and love. How fast is Brandon Cooks,
(09:53):
Oh my gosh, soon he's a rocket and mark Ingram
looked like a faster kind of a back all of
a sudden. But the but the Doctor Jekyll and Mr
Hyde thing is, they're so good in the dome and
they're not very good at all away from home, and
they got to get that fixed if they want to
work themselves back into the race and the playoffs and
advanced like I thought they would early in the season,
(10:15):
you know, in preseason, I thought they would be right
there in the final four. Not so fast. I they
still have things to fix on defense. But that was
a good win against Aaron Rodgers. But oh, Aaron Rodgers
has not hurt. You knew, you knew, didn't it? It
was it was a minor irritant. I don't know if
he pulled the hamstring or was a cramp, but it
was noticeable, the difference. He just wasn't moving around the
(10:37):
same no and then, And that's one of his things
that he brings to the table is his ability to
escape and make plays with his legs and his arm
while he's running. And so uh that that that's concerning.
I'm sure they have a bye though, and they'll he'll
get it fixed well. But in the contrast where they're
at right now, obviously New Orleans, they're in a division
you know, eight and eight will probably get it done
(10:58):
and by way of Caroline could be seven, nine and one. Right,
how about that division? It happened to Pete carrollin right
to nine a couple of years ago over there in
the in the NFC West, and so I can't wait
to go to our game, you know, in Carolina, the
Saints at Carolina on Thursday night. I mean, this is
this is for first place in that in that I
(11:18):
don't want to say average division, but it's just average.
Is being complimentary if you say that's an average division.
Somebody's gotta win that division right Thursday night is gonna
maybe determine it. Nobody wants it um. So, Yeah, it
was just interesting to see them obviously good solid when
you got a sense from Pete Carroll I think after
the game launching the news conference that he knows his
(11:39):
teams and a little bit of peril. He was thrilled
to have the win. And of course it's well, you
only beat Carolina thirteen to nine. It was the West
Coast to East coast. They were lucky to get out
of there with the win. He knows what's coming down
the pike here a little bit with two teams that
you ought to beat. So but you could tell it
was a little bit different Pete Carroll, I think than
we saw it last year when they had it going
so good. Um, let's let's move on on. Oh boy,
(12:01):
this is gonna be a tough one because I wrote
about it today. Um about the different perspective coaches that
are struggling right now, and as typically you have teams
that are struggling. You contrast what's going on in Tampa
Bay and Tennessee with Ken wizen Hunt and Lovey Smith,
who are on the first year of a contract. Both
are trying to find the quarterback and the strength they
(12:23):
have they can go to their team going, look, I
don't I don't I know one thing. I'm gonna be
here next year, so you better show me you can
still play. So you got that motivation. But let's talk
a little bit about Mike Smith in in Atlanta. Our
friend Rex Ryan in New York is a tough one,
and even Mark Trust mean a little bit different situation
in Chicago. But let's talk about what what Mike Smith
and Rex Ryan can do at one and forever with
(12:46):
teams that end questions about what their future is gonna be,
How how you can hold that together? And your last
year in Detroit was the kind of the handwriting on
the wall, I mean, could you see that? And did jet.
How did you hold that together? I didn't, but you
finished the season. You know what, We've both been on
the hot for and it's not very comfortable, all right,
(13:09):
And after this podcast we may be there again, so
be careful. So so when you sign your contract, there's
a little closet says you will be on the hot seat.
Do you understand that? Yes? And so um and then
the three coaches and you know the couple of teams
that you mentioned. You know, with Mike Smith, he started
off like gangbusters when he his first five years? What
(13:30):
did he win? Fifty six games? You try to average
eleven wins the season in the National Football League? Man,
you Hatta, you gotta be coach of the year. And
took over an organization, a team that could not have
been was the way I've been through the Michael Vick
and the coaches that had been fired and walked away.
That organization was absolute at rock Bot. Yeah, and he
and he and he and Thomas Demetrov took the bull
(13:51):
by the horns and really got it going, along with
Matt Ryan and a lot of other reasons. But when
you look at something that's kind of in a tailspin,
you know, some people call him excuses, you can call
him reasons, you can just look at it and analyze it.
My god, I don't know who's gonna win games when
five of your offensive lineman on are now on injured reserved,
(14:11):
and you're in you're starting an undrafted rookie center, and
and and you've got injuries galore all over the place.
And that's the reality of it. Nobody wants to hear
about that. That the coaches forget about that, they forget
how to coach and and all of that. So he's
in a tough spot and it's hard to work himself
out of it because some of those guys aren't coming back.
(14:32):
They're just not coming back, all right. And and same
with Rex over there at the Jets. He's got a
problem that that everybody can see. They have a quarterback issue.
There are other things, of course, there are other there
are other reasons why they're one and seven, but the
quarterback position is just not getting it done for him,
and and you're lost. I was in that situation before
(14:53):
where you just there's nowhere to go and and uh,
you know, and over there at the Bears, you mentioned
with Mark Trustman, it's a diff fron situation. It is
a different situation those other two. Because let's talk a
little bit about how the expectation. Let me ask this
question first, leading to how what Mark Trestman to trust
what he has to deal with, because we know what
Rex and might have to deal with, and it's tough
and we've all been there. I remember, I go thirteen
(15:15):
and three. Go next year, we come back, we go
five and eleven and lose my quarterback, three offensive lineman
Ray Lewis and Ed Reid And when they come, when
they come in and let me go, they go and look,
we know nobody could have won with the things that
happened to you this year, but you're still fired. Okay,
well that makes me feel a whole lot better. But
does Mark, let me ask you by way of saying
this up, you look at the offensive personnel, save the
(15:36):
quarterback position, because we could do a whole show on
Jay Cutler, But with those receivers, with Marshall, Brandon All,
Sean Jeffrey and the tight end Martelli Spenne, wasn't that
a great catch in the end zone laying on his
back catching that ball in the touchdown? They got nat
Forte out of the backfield. Really a good offensive line.
I think it's a good offensive line. Is there is
there any offensive personnel except a quarterback position that you
(15:56):
would trade for the Chicago Bears maybe maybe did True,
maybe Dallas, maybe maybe in uh Denver. That's pretty good personnel.
That's the that's you see where I'm going with this.
When you got good personnel, what how do you now?
What do you hang your hound and say, how do
we turn this around? They have better personnel on offense
than they do on defense, and and and uh and
(16:18):
defensively you know, of course Peanut Tilman's out and he's
a leader over there, and and they're just just average
on defense. The the issue with and Marx Marks a
smart guy. I love Mark, and he's a he's a
good coach. There's something out of whack with the chemistry
of that team, it seems and and so he's got
a he's got a different issue to fix than trying
(16:39):
to coach up a quarterback or or you know, find
a new offense like he's got. It seems like there's
a chemistry thing there that's not conducive. Does that not
come back to Jay Cutler though, the guy you just
gave fit. You gave four million dollars to I did
not give anybody any money. Uh yeah, but you know
what you gotta You gotta have a quarterback. And that's
what the market will bear, you know what I mean.
(16:59):
And and he will play good games at times, he
just so up and down and inconsistent. I heck, he
could come out the next game and just lighted up
for four yards. He's had good But someone asked me
if if the locker room, what if the locker room
explodes again like it did last week, And my point was,
if it doesn't, I'm going to be upset because now
that just means we're resigned to losing, we give up,
(17:19):
we're tired of fighting it, and just it is what
it is. Yeah, but you know what, but sometimes it's like,
you know, just bite your tongue a little bit. But um,
you know, they've got to get some things fixed. They
were right there close last year and got beat by
the Packers on the last playing the game when Aaron
Rodgers seeing through the touchdown to Randall Cobb. So they
almost made the playoffs last year. It's probably going to
(17:43):
be and almost make the playoffs this year too, even
if they fight hard and play well, because I'm not
sure if they're quite that way. So you've got some
coaches that they're fighting for their jobs. You know, I'm
not saying Mark Trestman in his second year is fighting
for his job. They just hired the guy. They got
to give him a chance to get this thing. But
that means is he's gonna get paid. You and I
both know that because people said, well, they're not gonna
(18:04):
fire this guy. They just hired him. Well, we're in
a league where Mike Malarkey got hired fired after one year,
so did the Zinski up in Cleveland. And I always say,
you know what all that means is you're gonna get paid,
doesn't mean you're there. They gave me a brand new
four year contract and to the day, almost a year later,
let me go and having to pay me the three
(18:24):
many years. So just because they have you got paid
three years. And when you went riding on your bike
around that I was counting my money the whole time,
pulling down and pulling down those checks. Well, we're a
breaking news show, so let's I want to back up
to the jet just a minute. It was announced that
Michael Vick is going to start for the Jets. Okay,
right against Kansas City. So let's talk about that just
(18:47):
a second. Where let's spend this forward. What's gonna happen
with Michael Vick quarterback at at Kansas City. You know
they made the big Percy Harvon. Okay, this is gonna
make the difference, and now it didn't. Okay, Now we're
gonna start Michael Vick. Now, now where do we go
with the Jets? Ouch? And I you know, Michael Vick
has had his day in the sun. I mean he
you know, he was a heck of a player, impossible
(19:09):
to defend, and I don't see that anymore. He will
make some throws and he will run for some first downs,
but I I think he's descending in his career. Let's
face it. I'm i'm it's too bad that Gino didn't
make progress. I thought he would. They don't have enough
weapons around these quarterbacks anyway. I I Uh, it's a
(19:31):
tough spot. I know, Marty morning wig Uh, their play
caller probably is going a little crazy trying to figure
out how to get some some first downs and some
points on the board. And Rex is just trying to
do it. And you know what, you know what, though,
I'm watching that team play. They love Rex you know,
and Mike Smith playing hard. They're playing hard and and
(19:53):
and that's part of the trick for these coaches that
I have teams that you gotta keep hope alive, you
gotta keep your team is playing hard, and both of
these guys are doing just that. Mark, trustman, They're all
doing that. The teams are still fighting like crazy, and
that means they'll win some games, probably not enough. Well,
and I always hate it, I absolutely hate it when
(20:14):
I hear someone Tay say, well, this team is quit
on their coach. Well, first off, players don't play for
the coach. You're exactly right, there's no team. They love
Mike Smith, they love Rex Ryan, but they're playing for
themselves and they're playing for each other. And if they quit,
it's not going to be quitting on those guys. They're
quitting on themselves. And it just irritates me when I
hear people make it like the coach is the one,
(20:35):
you know, he's going to be accountable, but he's not
that necessarily responsible. If they decide they're not going to
continue to play and prepare at that high level. Yeah,
it's a character check when you're struggling and you're in
a tailspin. Uh, for everybody on that sideline and in
that locker room to see who's got enough pride and
character to do their best every week, every snap that's
(20:57):
on film is going to be an evaluation for that
team or the next team. And so, uh, that's what's interesting.
We saw Tom coughlin owen six life year right, and
you just knew darn well he was gonna dig out
of that hole somehow because he's so experienced and so
good at what he does. Don't be surprised if these
coaches don't find a way to dig themselves out of
(21:17):
this hole. And just to show that the at least competitive, well,
let's get let's get off this negative negativity and let's
talk about something. Some coach that's not on the hot
seat and is absolutely brilliant, just performing brilliant right now. Uh,
Bruce arians the job he's doing. We are all are
kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop in Arizona,
are we not? And we thought Philadelphia might be. But
(21:37):
that was a brilliant performance on their part and they
are absolutely are they truly not the team to beat
now in the a f C or the NFC West.
Can you put your can you put that mark on him? Yet? No?
Not yet, because I just you know, and I I
really like Bruce. He's such a he's such a good guy.
And what a story that is phenomenal when when he
(21:59):
was driving home from Pittsburgh Cities because they didn't renew
his contract, and then he goes with Chuck Bogano and
Chuck gets sick, and he becomes the coach of the
Year because he deserved it. And now he's gonna do
it again. I mean, he's he's a candidate for Coach
of the Year again. And and part of that is
because he's a good coach and a good man and
a good play caller. Part of that is he's hired
a good staff. Todd Bowles is doing a heck of
(22:20):
a job with that banged up defense. Part of it is,
you know, he had a backup quarterback Drew Stanton come
in and save the day a little bit while Carson
Paul Palmer's nerve got better and and he's got young
guys contributing, So there's good player development going on in
there in the desert. And so this is a heck
of a fun team to watch. You knew yesterday, Brian
(22:41):
with the Eagles, it was gonna be a it was
gonna be a doozy. These are playoff teams and and
uh wow, the only thing is Philadelphia. Philadelphia's got Nick
Foles is not playing quite as well as he did
last year. And uh but there's still a very dangerous team.
But Bruce arians boy, he's got this team playing so confidently,
(23:03):
you know, down in distance. It was on that touchdown
to John Brown, it's third and five and he runs
a four pump, all right, for all the marbles, And
that's a gutsy play call now to go for the
win on third and five, and when you're down by
three points. But if Chip, two things jumped out at
(23:23):
me on that one. If Chip Kelly, where's the free safety?
If I'm Chip Kelly, you could go on the four route.
You could go out choke that safety to death, and
not a court in America would convict you. Right, you're
supposed to be in the middle of the field. What
are you doing biting on the inside. But here, let
me ask you this. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna
put you on the spot here because we're both intrigued
(23:44):
with what chip Kelly is doing. Yeah, does I get
the sense that I'm watching the run and shoot from
the eighties, Remember when that when that all came in
and huge numbers and up and down the field. But
they got in the red zone that bogged down and
they never really won with it. So I was I
was a guest coach up in Canada. Remember Mouse Davis,
(24:05):
father of the Running Suit. I got my books here,
you want me to pull them out? And and yeah,
a little bit like that. And chip Kelly came right
down the field with a minute and he caught the
past one foot out of bounds. Otherwise they win. That's
a heck of a football game. But they got stopped
on the goal line the series before two plays in
a row, boom boom. When you're trying to go get
(24:26):
a yard and you're in shotgun, there's no quarterback, sneak threat,
there's no power game. Um so that to me, the
weakness of that spread kind of an offense reared its
ugly head on the goal line at Arizona because they
could not get a yard and and so, but it's
still very very exciting football, very dangerous. I can't wait
(24:47):
to see the Cowboys versus the Eagles. You talk about
contrasting styles, high number of players, spread wide open. Obviously
Dallas playing with you know, they got the DeMarco Murray,
and they got the big receiver outside, and they're gonna
ball control role, and they got a quarterback performing at
a at a high level. Just the contrasting styles of
play that these two teams. That's that's gonna be a
(25:08):
very very good game. It's gonna be a good game.
And those are the two teams that are fighting for
that not only division, but a buy in the playoffs.
But you know, you mentioned Dallas. Arizona goes there next week,
and uh, and that's you know, they're different divisions, but
that's quite a rivalry. And the old used to be
in the hard to believe that Arizona used to be
(25:29):
in the old NFC East, right, So they used to
play each other twice every year. It's been a long time.
You and I are old enough to remember that, but
they used to be in the NFC East. And and
you're right, that is more of a rivalry than people
really realize. You know, Brian, you know this. I'm watching
these games all of these games and every every game,
every game, I see rookies making plays, whether their offensive lineman, receivers, quarterbacks.
(25:56):
Everybody's playing except Manziel. I mean, this might be the
best rookie class that we've had in a long long time.
And I can't sit here and name all of them
because every team's got a couple of rookies playing for
him and playing well. Anthony Barr, do you see I
haven't thought say this about U c l A player,
but Anthony Barr, the U c l A for I
think could be the Rookie of the year, Defensive rookie
(26:17):
of the year, uh off offense. You gotta you gotta
love what you saw Brandon Cooksie the night and Kelvin
Benjamin do you see go up and build that ball
down from Richard Sherman. They put Richard Sherman on him
quite a bit and he made some plays. He had
four catches, and Richard Sherman will say, well, you only
have four catches, but but you know what, there were
big catches and he's playing against the best and that's
the heck of a matchup. Yeah, so it's gonna be.
(26:38):
There are a lot of good rookies this year, My guy. Okay,
we've got just a couple of minutes left. Final takeaways
from from Week eight. What what jumped out at you
as I if I would ask a question, Okay, I
know this that what I don't know anything. But anyway,
but here's the thing. Through the first most of the
first half of the season, Brian, I was, I've been
(26:59):
noticing this bec us of all the new emphasis on
the rules. You know, all these penalties and illegal contact
and holding on defense, right and there's been a ton
more of those calls this year than right right off
the bat, I thought there'd be more passing yards. Well,
that hasn't been the case. There's been more rushing yards
up until this weekend. Here we go four quarterbacks throw
(27:22):
the ball for over four hundred yards. That's never happened before.
And so I got a feeling in this, this passing
league that we think we have is going to really
show that it's a passing league because everybody's slinging it
like crazy right now, and and taking full advantage of
those that new emphasis. Yeah, but but and and it's
(27:42):
so tough on defenses anymore to perform at a level
to where the old formula of run the ball, play
great defense, you know, don't make mistakes. Uh, you have
to play record setting defense because good defense isn't enough
anymore in this league, particularly way people can catch up
to me. The positive by product to that is that
you're never out of it. You know, I talked about
(28:04):
this on playbook. I've got like your library there. I've
got a book written by Newt Rockney in nineteen seven.
And no he didn't sign it for me personally in
nine seven. I'm not that old. But in that book
it says, if you've got this is back in ninety seven,
if you've got to choose between being good on offense
or defense, be good on offense because you're never out
of a game. Where and I've been on with some
(28:27):
pretty good defensive teams where you know, we're we're we're
really good. But if we all have some we get
down by two touchdowns and we're dead because there's no
way we're gonna come back. But that being said, is
aren't we The byproduct of that being that you're never
out of a game. Nowadays, you're out down by Twe
saw teams coming back from twenty one points down. Detroit
comes back from twenty one points down because we're in
the league, because of the rules, because of the quarterback
(28:48):
playing whatever, that you're never out of it. Yeah, we
saw that with the Steelers trying to you know, extend
their lead with the Colts and Andrew look just keeps
coming back, just keeps coming back, and you sit there
untill the very last play watching these games because, like
you said, they're never out of it. Well, that'll do
it for The Coach Show. Make sure to check Let's
go to NFL dot com Slash podcast to get The
(29:08):
Coaches Show podcast, and you can also check us out
on NFL dot com and streaming The Coach Show
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