November 3, 2014 • 36 mins
Brian Billick and Steve Mariucci recap Week 9 in the NFL. They break down the Arizona Cardinals win over the Dallas Cowboys and discuss whether or not the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers are the teams to beat in the AFC . Plus, they talk about Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden's decision to start RGIII.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is NFL dot COM's Coaches Show podcast. Thirty men together,
can't lose. This is why you lift everybody abody And
now we're going there's a glean, Man, there's a glean.
(00:21):
Thanks for checking out the Coach Show. I'm Brian Billick,
joined as usual by my partner Steve Mariucci and coach
you know me, it's always it's always about the road wins.
It's to me the teams that can go on the
road at this time of year and have that substantial win.
We had a couple of teams that had an opportunity
to that delivered Where Arizona in Philadelphia? Can we can
(00:42):
we not wait for the other shooter dropping Arizona there
for real? Right? You know, since I'm on the road
and i'm on remote, I need to get one of
those headsets. I know, I'm not that you're looking pretty
cool like you're on an airplane. Find a sleep like
I'm doing the four o'clock traffic. Yeah, big wins and
and uh you know kind of different. You know, the
(01:03):
Cardinals were playing on the road against the backup quarterback,
and the Eagles were playing on the road with their
backup quarterback, and so but like you said, it's it's
tough to get a win on the road. And you know,
football is kind of crazy that way. It's the most
communicative sport, and the home team wins about sixty two
percent of the time. And so if you get if
(01:25):
you're five d on the road, you're doing great. And
so Arizona went into a hostile environment in Dallas and
proved that they are maybe the best team in the NFC.
I don't know why, I said, maybe I think they are. Yeah,
why are we so hesitant to to I keep thinking.
I was thinking last night as I'm watching the game,
if any other or just about any other team had
(01:48):
done what Arizona had done. Remember, they finished on a
seven and two, they were ten and six, didn't know
the playoffs. They finished in seven and two. The only
teams they lost to our playoff teams, the only team
they've lost to this year is Peyton Manning and the
inver Broncos. And they did so with one of those
backup quarter their back up to their quarterback, back up
to their backup Logan Thomas was playing, why do we
(02:08):
hesitate to say, Hey, this is this is the real deal.
We did it with Dallas. She said, absolutely, they're gonna
Why do we hesitate with Arizona still? I don't know,
but we need to change that right now. Right now
we're talking about the favorite is the Cardinals to play
in the super Bowl in their home stadium, you know,
because man alive? Are they doing a good job? And
and they went into Dallas and and uh you know Dallas. Yeah,
(02:31):
we mentioned they played with their backup quarterback. Finally they
had some adversity. Things have been going just right for
Dallas all year. Well, Arizona has had adversity the whole year, right.
Carson Palmer missed three games, they won two games with
Drew Stanton, they miss missing five guys on defense. They
keep shutting guys down, and so Bruce is doing such
a great job with that team. And then they host
(02:52):
the Rams, you know, a game that they're gonna be
expected to win, and man alive and I guess maybe
because they haven't been to the playoffs much and and
they're in the tough division. We always talked about Seattle
and fourty niners. Well things have changed in the NFC West, boy,
haven't they. Yeah, And we'll we'll talk about that one specifically.
Four Nins a little bit later. But I look at
(03:13):
those corners with Cromarty and Peterson, and you look at
that game and and Terence Williams and Dez Bryant who
have been tearing it up. Now, some of it had
to do with Brandon Wheaton. Well, obviously, as you mentioned,
they're talking about their backup quarterback. But these guys were
an absolute non factor to the end of the game.
They had what a combined four catches on seventeen targets
(03:33):
on the whole day. They they had their share drops
Wheat and hit des Briant a couple of times and
he flat dropped the ball. I don't know whether it
was a different rotation or whatever. Uh. This defense kept
Murray for the first time this year under a hundred
yards made me mad on our playbook. Sterling predicted to
be under a hundred, I said, and it's gonna be
under seventy and he had seventy nine. So he screwed
(03:55):
me on that one, because you know, there these bold
predictions were being held accountable for the bold predictions. Now,
but that defense absolutely is the real deal, and Carson
Palmer seems as calm, as comfortable, good protection through a pick,
but didn't rattle him. Came right back and and totally
composed and took that team down the field the rest
of the day. Carson, that's there's a guy we never
(04:16):
talked about either. We don't give him any love at all.
He's only one twelve out of the last fourteen starts
he's had. He's the only undefeated quarterback this year. There
is um because when they when he missed the game,
then they lost one. But um, I'm watching that defense
because they're they're missing so many parts, but you'd never
know it. And they play this eight man front. They
(04:38):
loaded up a lot, and when you do that, you
have eight in the box. You should be good against
the run because you have a lot of bodies, you know,
an attack, you have a free hitter and then they
blitz so much they're gonna overload blitch in have a
free rusher. Well, the problem with that is you better
be able to have, you know, hold up on the outside. Right. Well,
Patrick Peterson and Antonio crom already are as good a
(05:01):
pair of corners as we have in the National Football League.
And that's why they're arrogant enough. Todd bull says, all right,
we're gonna load the box. We're gonna give these guys
a big job to do because they do it well.
And now you see them complete and passes. Des didn't
have a catch till the fifty minute of that game.
And so that's why this team is fun to watch.
And uh, you know, on on offense too, Um, Carson
(05:24):
is playing very good football. Is getting the ball to
Larry Fitzgerald here all of a sudden, and uh, you know,
I think they're certainly in the driver's seat. Um, but
it's gonna get tougher face that they're gonna play the
Seahawks twice, the forty niners again, and you know the
Rams are always the spoiler at times, and so but
talk about the Corners matching up. And I'm looking at
(05:45):
their schedule the rest of the way, and really only
in Detroit, assuming Calvin Johnson comes back, and obviously Golden
Tate spen h they go to Arizona, right, they play
at Arizona. Correct, Detroit's at Arizona, So that's an advantage.
And I look at the rest of the way, maybe
Matt Ryan in in Atlanta, but you know, they're they're
really struggling right now. Alex Smith in Kansas City, you know,
(06:06):
so they're really not going to face whether it's like
they saw with Peyton Manning and that receiving corps or
even what they might have seen yesterday with Dez Bryant
and and obviously Terrence Williams and and the tight end.
But so I'm looking at their schedule, that's the way.
I don't know that there's another really hard test for
that to where Todd bolts who leads the league and
(06:28):
in pressures. The two tough games that I can remember
what their schedule is would be at Seattle. It's always
a tough game, but remember they beat him there last year,
and at San Francisco. And San Francisco should be healthier
then they've been. San Francisco is disappointing. They're missing a
lot of parts on defense. But towards the end of
(06:49):
the year now they're going to get back Holden Smith.
They should get back Lynn Dorsey and Navarro bowman. Patrick
Willison is another guy didn't play. So you know, the
Niners are gonna finish strong. It's just a matter of
how deep a hole they're gonna dig for themselves. Well,
we'll get to the Niners in a second. I want
to move to the other big road win. Obviously the Eagles,
(07:10):
and even though it was Houston, for them to go
on the road and play Houston, that was a matchup
they might have struggled a little bit. And as you said,
they lose their starter and Nick Foles, who hadn't looked
very good incomes Mark Sanchez. And now that the the
you know, the Eagles are flying high, so to speak,
obviously with Dallas losing. And but do we think Mark
(07:31):
Sanchez is going to be the guy for them? Is
he indeed going to resurrect his career? Came in, looked
pretty good. Two interceptions, but they weren't his fault. Those
were two bad. One get bounced right up in the air,
the other one Riley Cooper didn't turn and look. So
the two interceptions in fairness weren't Mark Sanchez fault. But
it's okay. Is he is he gonna be the guy?
Is he gonna turn this thing around? Uh? You know
(07:53):
he's gonna have to be for a while with Nick
Foles collar bone broken. Um, but I believe nixt to
get the job back, you know when when when he's healthy.
But this offense looks good for Mark Sanchez sanch I's,
you know, it looks good for him. He looked comfortable
in it. He's been there, you know, he didn't just
sign him last week. Now, he's been there learning the system.
(08:15):
Looks very good. Preseason, preseason he was in O T A,
S the whole thing. So he's well schooled on it.
And you know, falls is a pretty good athlete. He's taller,
played little basketball, but Sanchis is a good athlete. And
remember him coming out, he was very good on the move. Yeah,
and you know they're gonna you know, sprinkling a couple
of those read options. Sanch I's can do that, and
(08:37):
he can throw from the run. That one touchdown past
was a nice It was kind of a West Coast
offense play. You know, you got the guy in the
air and you got the guy there, made me throw
it nice and low touchdown on the run. And he
can do that well. So I think you know, that
wasn't an easy win on the road against Houston because
they've lost some road games. They haven't looked very good
on the road. They've already lost to uh, let's see,
(08:57):
they lost to San Francisco. They lost that air Arizona.
You know, so you know, if it can, it's steal
one on the road with Sanchise, That's fantastic. Here's yeah,
here's what worries me. And I'm sure he's capable of
playing well. But that system, like all systems, but that
one in particular, because it's all about it upbeat. It's
all about a lot of a lot of plays. And
and I made the comment of there this system is
(09:19):
beginning to look a little running shoots to me, you know,
up and down the field, bogged down on the red zone.
So I'm I gotta, I gotta wait before I really
buy into it. But Sanchez. The other thing I'm seeing
is Nick Foles has gotten into some problems this year.
You have to make a lot of quick decisions. And
that's what concerns me about Sanchez. I can see a
(09:39):
lot of turn This guy's a one to one touchdown
interception ratio, which I know he came out of a
couple of different systems in New York and all that
he's a sub fifties sixty percent is a sub fifty
five guy. So where that system is all about right completions,
high efficiency. You can't turn the ball over, not that
you can't in any system, and you make those big plays.
(10:01):
I don't know, I'm I'm I'm not convinced that he's
going to Now that we're going to get a steady
diet of him, he'll look good. He reminds me of
deat Vinnie Testaverty. Remember, Didnny Vinie testaver If he could
throw the ball thirty five times, could be awesome. But
if he threw the ball forty five times, you're gonna
get every bit of Vinny Testaverdy with a lot of
touchdowns and a lot of interceptions. And that's kind of
(10:23):
what I'm a little concerned about with franchise in that system. Well,
they're getting healthier on the offensive line, you know, they
they like to run the ball. They haven't run it
like they did last year when they led the league
in rushing. But if they can get back to that
better upfront, more balanced, and help him out with the
play action. You know, the system is crazy because they
(10:44):
have guys wide open a lot, much more than the
system that he had over there with the Jets. Much
more conventional eye formation, you know, play action stuff. So
I kind of like him. I now we've seen we've
seen backup quarterbacks come in and make a splash, and
then as you keep playing, uh, the full body of
work now the truth. You know, it's like Kirk Cousins
(11:06):
started off great and then all of a sudden, you know,
Colt McCoy started off with one big game, and you know,
we can't anticipate those guys doing that weekend and week
out doesn't happen. But I like Mark Sanchez in terms
of he's a veteran guy, been there, done that, and
I think they give him the keys to that car.
I think he's gonna do all right. If if I'm
Mark Sanchez, I find a whole bunch of Jeremy Macklin.
(11:28):
He he really looks like he has emerged and come
out of the shadows of that. You know, he's in
the shadow to Sean jack Jackson all that time. He
looks like the real deal now to me, right, I mean,
he heard his knee last year, he didn't play. Can
you imagine if if they would have both of those guys,
if they would have signed back to Sean Jackson and
Jeremy Macklin talk about speed on the outside, and my god,
(11:49):
they would be just loaded with their receiving corps. But
they chose not to do that, but he's really picking
up the slack. Yeah, he's having a great year, no doubt. Yeah,
and they can use them in so many different ways
that to h he's you know a lot of people
compared him to Percy Harvin, although he's not in the
backfield kind of guy. You can run the jet sweep
and some of the quick screens. Not quite that sheer
physical presence out of the backfield the way that a
(12:11):
Percy Harving can. But I think he's a much more
developed receiver down the field than Percy Harvin is Percy Harvin. Still,
everything tends to be shorter in behind the last scrimmage
Jeremy Macklin, he looks like a legitimate receiver down the field.
To me, he's gonna go from a year off because
he blew his knee to you know, just devastating to
this year playing very well, to next year he'll be
(12:34):
the next paid a man. Yes, he's he's on a
contract here. Always a good thing. He's going to be paid,
whether it's there or somewhere else. He's doing a great
I always like that because I know I was going
to get a lot of energy and a lot of
productivity and it wasn't my money, so we can spend
all that we wanted to. Well, let's talk. I mean,
everybody's got We got to talk about two teams now
that that really impressive wins, the Steelers and the Patriots
(12:56):
again now both teams at home, so not the impressive
of wins as we just talked about. But I don't
know that there was the anticipation, particularly you talk about Steves.
Now we got I get to give ourselves some love here.
We were talking last week about how Ben doesn't get
the love he deserves. You know, we were talking about
the Big Four and the Big five and all the South,
you know, the African stuff and the animals and whatever,
(13:17):
and that he ought to be in the conversation with
the Bradies and the Mannings and whatever. Back to back
six touchdown a game, I'd say, yeah, I'd say, the
cats out of that bag. That was unbelievable to have
two back to back six touchdown performances. Didn't didn't like,
but he didn't. He didn't do it back to back
back in the day when you were a kid. Yeah, yeah,
(13:39):
I mean, why don't we think of Big Ben. I
don't know what you're talking about animals in the Kingdom
and all that stuff. But you know, I do remember
the conversation with these other quarterbacks that are more of
the prototype. They're pretty there, you know, they're they're they're
the guys that you show your teaching film and you
show younger quarterbacks ought to play the position. And Ben
is kind of rough and tumble guy. And I don't
(14:00):
know if it's perception or reality. I don't know what
it is. All I know is his team has improved
so much. We had him early Thursday night against the
Baltimore and they got pounded. God, maybe it's time, and
all of a sudden he looks like a kid again.
And so you know, I'm really shocked and pressed. I
(14:20):
know all of it. Big Ben is just on a
roll as a passer, as a passer and a playmaker.
I love it. Well. We did a thing on on
playbook on on Friday based on the conversation you know,
I had last week because I wanted to go back
and look at him in the pocket, and to me,
that's where some of the improvements come. He's always been
able to extend play, shrug guys off and run to
the outside and then throw the ball down the field.
(14:41):
But Todd Haley and and he's come under some criticism,
but he's done a nice job of refining Ben's game
much better in the pocket, avoid the rush, dropped the shoulders,
step up, keep the vision, turn the shoulders, and do
those things that we know Ben Roethlisterberger can do. Can
you imagine as good as Anthony and uh Brown is doing.
Can you imagine if Emmanuel Sanders was still there? Oh
(15:03):
my god, I have six touchdowns a quarter, all these ifs.
If my chicken head lips at the whistle. But you know,
remember when we were first talking about the relationship between
Ben and Todd Haley, and then they didn't they get along,
and I don't like the offense and this and that,
and all of a sudden it's like, hey, people are
gonna start studying this offense in the off season because
(15:24):
it looks pretty explosive to me, so um and maybe
on Bell huge in it. You know, I looked at that.
I wanted to go back and look at the numbers
that first game and here's what's some And it's classic
Ben Roethlisberger to me. In the first game where it
was six they did nothing, Okay, in game one, they
had about little over three hundred yards offense, ran the
ball a little about a little over fifty yards six
(15:46):
or twelve on third down. Now here's the thing. In
this second game, six touchdowns blew them out forty three
to twenty three, little over three seventy yards, not that
much more fifty five yards rushing six or fourteen. So
to me, that's classic Ben Roethlisberger. The numbers aren't dramatically different.
He just has six touchdowns compared to nothing in the
first game. That's classic Ben Roethlisberger. Yeah, it is. And
(16:10):
and you know, I don't know if he can keep
it up, but he he likes his weapons. And you
mentioned Levy on Bell. I'm gonna call him up, you know,
because he's lost twenty pounds, you know, over last year,
and I haven't, and so I'm gonna find out what
he did. But boy, does he look like a complete back.
To me, he looks He looks athletic, he looks fast.
He can catch the ball, he can play receiver, he
can pass protect, he can do everything. And you know,
(16:32):
a back, a terrific back back there not only helps
your running game out, but it certainly helps your past
game out and and I think finally the Pittsburgh Steelers
are becoming known for an explosive offense, not just that
steel curtain kind of defense. And the defense still has
a few issues stof there. They're younger, They're gonna be
(16:54):
a little vulnerable still, and obviously Dick lebo no one
does a better job than Dick lebo Um. Well, let's
aw about the Patriots. What stunned me about that game?
And we know it's always capable at home, we know
how good Tom Brady is at home, and they just
got on a roll and there was nothing Denver could
do in Gronkowski huge game. I was amazed. We talked
about it last week twice. Last week against Gronkowski, we
(17:19):
saw the Chicago Bears put a linebacker on Gradkowski down
inside the five two touchdowns. I look up and I
see uh Denver doing the same thing. How do you
put a linebacker on Gradkowski inside the ten? You're stuck
with it sometimes. I don't know, that's not them, But
what's a better match up a small little safety whatever?
(17:41):
You put two of them one. That's why I remember
a couple of years ago, we saw a vice on
Megatron on the goal line, so he wouldn't run a fade.
I don't know, maybe you have to do that with
Gronk because safeties can't cover him. Linebackers certainly can't cover
him if there, if he's out as a wide receiver,
they're just not They don't practice against the fate and
(18:01):
the back shoulder throw. And the corners are too small.
You can't put a corner on because they're too small.
It's an absolute nightmare. But sometimes defenses get stuck. They
call you know, cover one or they call one blitz
or whatever that is, and they have to match up
with those receivers and they got all you know, they
got some receivers now that can you know? How about Edelman?
(18:21):
Where did he come from? Woodside High School? Rap the
road here? Wait? Wait, um, you get stuck with this matchup?
Oh it's uh, it's a linebacker covering Gronk. He's out here.
I gotta follow him. Oh my god, hang on, it's uh,
it's kind of fun. And you gotta feel that linebacker
because you know when they you know, they shift him
out there, so you get that lineback around. He's squatting
down there. You know, he's thinking they're gonna throw this guy.
(18:44):
I know they're gonna throw. Now, what am I gonna do?
You know that's why when you were a tight end
back in the day, huge matchup you were. You were
a nightmare, not just on the football field, but you
were everybody's nightmare on and well just our our Pittsburgh
and of course this is a week to weekly we
know that our Pittsburgh and New England the teams to
(19:04):
be in the FC. Now, oh, you're just gonna crown
Pittsburgh just because they just want Hey, hey, we're a leak.
What have you done for me lately? And lately two
back to back twelve touch you know, twelve touchdowns in
two weeks. I'll get my attention. But are they the
two best in the FCT? You know I'm not gonna
just throw away Denver. All right. They had a mulligan,
you know, they when they were down twenties seven and
(19:25):
seven at half time and went what is going on here?
Because Denver is and should be a great team. All right?
Their personnel is much better than it was in the
Super Bowl. It's a long season. You're gonna have on.
You're gonna stub your toll once in a while well,
they just stubbed it and so they'll be they'll get
back on track. So I would ranked Denver over Pittsburgh.
It wasn't that the significance of last night that that
(19:48):
if it if we go through New England, new England wins.
If we go through Denver, Denver wins. Yeah. I mean
that's that's kind of that great rivalry that we're watching
with Peyton and Tom Brady. You know, eleven to five
in favor of Tom. But I, I mean I I
picked Denver to win. Stupid me. I mean I I
(20:08):
every everybody, I think just about everybody, but you boy,
oh boy, Tom Brady in Foxborough is just what forty
three and three? Crazy? Well, let's let's talk about what
had been the darlings of the league, and now over
the last two weeks we've we've gone cold on them
because we are a league of what of instant gratification
and you've gotta be good right now or forget it?
(20:28):
Uh is Dallas? How how much trouble do we think
Dallas is in? I still romo on that back. I
realized they're telling me it's a chip, but it's not. Structurally,
It's just a matter of pain. But he's had a
lot of things going on between the collar bone and
the shoulder and now the spine and the back. To me,
the cumulative effect of this, it concerns me a little bit.
(20:49):
We've done look at this I got. I got a
bad back too, and I got this little thing right here.
I gotta sit with it because my back aches half
the time, and Romo is going to be doing that
at age thirty five. Doesn't get rested and so um,
I'm glad that he didn't play last week him. It's Jacksonville.
(21:10):
Unless he is running around, dance and feeling perfect. I
wouldn't play him buying because you gotta buy after this.
So now you're buying, you gotta buy, so you get it.
You get two more weeks of him just resting, relaxing,
getting not only his back rested, but his entire body
feeling better. You know. And it's not any disrespect to Jacksonville,
because they're they're they're Gus Bradley's got him playing hard,
(21:32):
and you know they're gonna they're gonna upset somebody sooner
or later. And he got him playing. When you say
they got him playing hard, that's like saying you know,
for girl. You know what I'm saying, it's staying. It
got him playing hard, and they're just they're just out talented.
I mean, they're not the same as other teams. They're
trying to build it, you know, and they and Gus
Will they need to give him time to build it
(21:53):
up because he's the right guy for that job. But
I would start Brandon Weeden. Brandon Weeden is good. He
won five games and cleave in for God's sakes, and
Cleveland wasn't very good at that time, and so he's
capable of winning games and beating Jacksonville if he takes
care of the ball. You know, Jacksonville is not like
Arizona defense. That's a tough defense to come into it
and be expected to win. And and their their their
(22:15):
defense is still healthy enough to help Marco Murray is
still healthy. That offensive line is still good. That hasn't changed.
So I would rest Tony and I'd let him have
a couple more weeks, get him back, and I think
Dallas can beat Jacksonville and get back on. The problem
I have with Wheaton is that that's not a problem.
But Tony was the perfect quarterback. You're gonna run the
(22:36):
ball and you've got the big receivers, and Tony could
make plays outside the design of the offense. Make J. J.
Watt miss or spin around, do that whirling dervish and
then find Terrence Williams in that third and twenty or
find him down the middle of the field. Brandon Wheaton
will give you the plays that are called and nothing more. Yeah,
it's got to come through the structure the offense because
(22:56):
he's not going to freelance and buy some of these.
So it's it's it's a tougher burden for Scott Lanahan,
the offensive coordinator and play caller. They they're up to it, obviously,
but on a day where DeMarco Murray did not go
off for a hundred yards and you need your quarterback
to step up and make those plays, he just he
just didn't do it. Let's move on to your your
(23:17):
forty niners. That was you talk about significant road wins. Well,
this was a significant home loss. To score only ten
points against as we'd like to say, no disrespect, but
to the St. Louis Rams at home only ten points.
There are some serious problems going on in San Francisco
right now. Can you hear it my windows open. This
(23:39):
whole Bay area is just grown. Um, And what a
way to end that game on a fumbled quarterback sneak
and Cap says today he was over the goal line
and we'll never know because there was a pile up
this high and so but I shouldn't have come down
to something like that. They weren't good enough in many areas.
They wouldn't didn't convert third down, and they got sacks
(24:00):
six times in the first half of crying out law
by a team that had not had six sacks on
the season. I know it. And without Chris Long and
so um, shocking win for the or shocking loss, whatever,
whatever point of view you saw it. In fact, I
saw Jim Fassel, your buddy, at the airport because he
came in for the game last his son, John's coordinator,
(24:23):
So he and his wife in a good mood last
night at the airport going home. But what a game
that was. And and the Niners, we all know they're
missing some parts. But the funny thing is they're missing
parts on defense, all right, Patrick Willis and Dorsey and
Navarro Bowman, Alden Smith. Oh, these are great players. Okay,
they're great players. They're missing them. Yet their defense is
(24:46):
still ranked first or second in the National Football League.
They gave up less. Defense was in the problem yesterday.
That's not the problem. The problem is the offense. And
I don't I'm trying to. I try to watch them
because I have a vested interest. I know the coaches
and the players and everybody here. I'm trying to decide
to figure out what their identity is on offense. And
(25:07):
it's and I don't know what it is. It's there.
You know. They they like to run the ball, but
they didn't run the ball much. And they have a
great offensive line that really did hasn't played quite up
to its expectations just yet. Um Cap can be explosive
in dynamic and then sometimes it's like what did he
just do? Um I think they have a good receiving corps.
I think Vernon Davis is under utilized. We talked about Gronk,
(25:30):
and you talk about Jimmy Grant, Antonio Gates, Julius Thomas,
all these all these unblish in Kansas City. Another tight end.
It's really coming on Vernon Davis. He had two catches
for nineteen or whatever it was. He's not been healthy
he's not been healthy. But this guy is the fastest
guy of all of those guys that we're talking about,
and so they've got to find a way to get
(25:52):
him healthy and productive because Vernon Davis is kind of
the forgotten soul over there a little bit um, but
Frank Gore has got to be he still has to
be a guy that's pounding it in there. They'll figure
it out as the season goes, but they can't dig
such a hole that they end up watching the play
well and at four and for you know, obviously they're
they're they've already lost Arizona. Okay, so that's that's where
(26:13):
where Arizona's got to play Seattle twice. They've got to
play San Francisco once. But with Arizona sitting at seven, one,
four and four, forty, Niner team are quickly going to
find themselves not in the NFC West, but in the
NFC Wildcard Division too. Are now they're completing competing with
Green Bay, Dallas, Seattle, that whole group, which becomes really
(26:34):
really interesting. What about and you're right there? Could we
begin you know, it's one thing to say no, we're together,
it's we're find Jim Harbo's fine and we but now
could that some of that chipping that we've heard start
to expand, some of the supposed you know, not too
good with the locker room and Jim and you know,
we know he's gonna bur up and go off at
(26:55):
some point. Here he was funny. He was funny. In
his press conference last week, they were talking about majors
in college, and they asked him what he majored in.
He went communications and they all started looking because can
you imagine if and uh so, and he's not one
(27:16):
of those funny guys, all right, and so um it's
like over in Chicago, you lose a couple of games,
everybody's like blaming everybody else, and it's like, I confess
he did it, and so um, you know I I
think I think they've had enough success with that team.
And most of that team is from those three NFC
championship games, and better that they are hanging their hat.
(27:38):
They have some credibility with each other and the systems
that they're saying, you know, we we know how to
win here, we know how to get this done. Let's
just get back on track. It's not it's it's not
mutiny on the bounty where it's like, you guys don't
know what you're talking about. They just got to figure
out how to it's it's it's an offensive problem. It's
not a defensive problem. Their defense is good right now,
(27:59):
and to be better, their offense has got to find
their rhythm. And that's where part of the problem comes.
I know that because you and I were offensive guys,
quote unquoteive I am that. I've been told that, and
when you become a head coach, you can't shake that mantle.
So when you're when that's the side of the ball
that you're not good on on this on the part
that you're supposed to be the expert. And I know
(28:21):
Greg Roman. Greg worked for me in Baltimore, and he's
calling the offense and orchestraight the offense, and Jim's involved.
But that that adds another level of concern. Now people
find that as a way to be a little more critical, going, well,
you're supposed to be this offensive guru, and that's our problem.
Something's wrong here, So that that could be a problem
going down the way here, let's talk about r G
(28:43):
three back on the scene. Uh, people are still questioning
should you should John Gruden or J Gruden have played him. Yeah, yeah,
you look good enough to me. Yeah he did, you know.
He he had some throws he'd like to have back.
And he wasn't perfect. He looked a little rusty on accasion,
but he's still He looked healthy. He looked healthier than
(29:03):
he did last year to me. And so um J
was saying that he was ready and healthy enough to
play a week ago, you know. And and he said
I'm gonna be I'm gonna take the conservative approach and say, well,
I'm gonna give him another week. He's not gonna like it.
But Colt McCoy played well and beat Dallas. Yeah, great, congratulations,
(29:23):
But he's looking at shut up. Three is going in. Yeah,
And and I mean, this is come on. They give
up a lot of draft picks for this guy. They
need to find out if he's gonna stay healthy and
play well enough to to justify all that trade. And
this is the time to do it right now. And
and and Robert Griffin is healthy enough to play well.
(29:46):
And I want to see the guy play. And there's
no it's not by coincidence at all. Of a sudden,
Alfred Morris has his best game because the potential of
him getting outside. I'm talking about r G three. De
Sean Jackson shows up with D twenty yards and we're catches.
So yeah, and and those want to be critical of
it that that for some reason, I mean, we've both
been in that situation. If the player says he's ready,
(30:08):
you look at the docks, is he ready? And then you,
just like Jay Gruden did, make the decision, you know what,
he's ready or I'm gonna wait a week for this reason. Uh,
And and then when you do, you go, you go
from there, and it's it's it's a it'll be interesting
to see them going for because clearly he's gonna have
to be the guy, uh that they build there. There's
after that big win in Dallas now because I live
(30:29):
obviously in the DC area, and and now it's you know,
the world is falling again and see where no better?
And we got r G three back and um, but
but he looked healthy enough to me, so I'll be
interested to see now. And I was very I thought
it was interesting. I was doing Game Day Live, second
play of the game, read option boom, he's to the outside.
He Jay said, Okay, if you're healthy, we're gonna use
(30:51):
it all. They can't help themselves, because that is very
tempting just to hey, he might scoot for forty here,
you might as well use them. Yeah, let him go
play ball. But I didn't notice that. I was. I
thought it was well planned because now you did it once. Okay,
you were thinking we weren't gonna use r G three
that way, we did. And now you just let Alfred
Morris go off and you know, hand the ball off
and I don't remember. I'm sure he did, but I
(31:12):
don't remember seeing him running the read option another time.
But you set the tone early with that first call.
Let's um again, not as substantial because it was the
home team that won. But boy, Miami, we talked about
a team that that we kind of hesitate to put
our stamp on. Ryan Tannehill in particular, and I've been
critical Ryan Tannehill. That's as good as I've ever seen
(31:33):
him play. He he looked as Bill Walsh would say.
He had the full repertoire throws, he had to touch
on the intermediate, he had the deep at the back
end of here, ran the ball around. He he looked
as good as I've seen Ryan Tannehill play. He's one
of those young quarterbacks that we don't talk much about.
We don't put him in the Andrew Luck category area
(31:55):
Russell Wilson because he won a Super Bowl, but sometimes
we forget about this kid. He's way over there in
Miami with a team that's just trying to get to
the playoffs. But you're right, he can make all of
those throws and he's a better athlete than we give
him credit for. Brian, you remember when he played at
A and M. He was a receiver, and he can
(32:18):
run and you'll see him pull it down on a scramble.
They will run him on a little his own read
stuff just for kicks, and he can run and the
and that's where he separates himself a little bit faster
than an Andy Dalton and in some of these other
young guys too. Now, the other thing that's helping him
the defense. That's a pretty darned good defense. And they
(32:39):
gave Philip Rivers everything he could handle, sacked him four times,
took the ball away from him four times. And this
swarming defense over there in Miami course helps any quarterback out.
But this is a team that's you know, there are
that divisions. I was gonna be chasing the Patriots. Patriots
always win that division, but this team is going to
be fighting for for a playoff spot as a wild
(33:01):
card team because of a growing, getting better quarterback and
a defense that's good enough, and that's a less crowded
wild card field. I think when you're talking about Cleveland, Buffalo, Miami,
San Diego, looks like Kansas City would fall in that category,
in behind Denver. So I don't know that it's quite
as competitive. So I where before I thought, well, no,
(33:22):
this isn't a playoff team. They can be in that,
but they're not going to catch New England. In my opinion,
I may be wrong, but they're they're they're capable because
they got the defense. Miller's running the ball. Okay, you're
gonna get another thirty forty maybe fifty yards from Tannehill
on a regular basis, and he's throwing the ball. He
hit ten different receivers the other day, which is new,
(33:43):
so he really seems Remember he was gonna be benched
in London a couple of weeks ago. I think that
was a motivational ploy because it looks that way now,
you know what I mean, Just to kind of just
put a spark, you know, and all that, and it
seemed to work, I guess, but it Um, this was
a statement game for Miami. I mean, they beat just
(34:05):
a couple of weeks ago, we're talking about San Diego
Chargers contending for this division over here in the a
f C west Over Denver, and all of a sudden,
now they hit a little bit of a slump. Um
Miami shutting them out thirty seven, And nothing really gets
our attention because that was a statement game for this team.
And I know it's West Coast, East Coast, an early
(34:26):
time for San Diego. But you're right, that goose egg
by San Diego. You can't that. As I said, that's
gonna leave a mark and San Diego is gonna have
to mentally overcome that. UM team we forget about because
they had to buy and coming off the Lendon game,
UM Detroit Calvin Johnson presumably back now to go with
Golden tap. We saw what Mohammed Sanu did for Cincinnati
(34:47):
and then they get a J greenback. Okay, well, Golden
Tate has been phenomenal. They get Calvin Johnson back, They've
got one of the best defenses. Um, we forget about Detroit.
But Detroit, should they not be right there with Arizona.
Say it feels odd to say it, but Arizona Detroit
best two teams in the NFC. Yeah, that's that felt said.
(35:10):
You know, but they're six and two and you get
Megatron back. They've won games without their guys, without Megatron,
without Bush, without three tight ends one game. I mean
they you know, Matthew Stafford is trying to hang on
to that offense. Golden Take was a great acquisition in
the off season. Four them. But the but the the
pleasant surprise over there in in Motown is that defense.
(35:31):
Because they've been terrible over the last decade decade and
a half and all of a sudden, all those draft
picks and all the defensive front. Oh boy, that's a
scary defense. So when you have that, you know this, Brian,
you want a lot of games with a great defense.
That's where how they're built right now. A little bit
on defense. And Jim Caldwell has enough experience because that
was a hard thing for me I had to learn
(35:53):
going in when I went to Baltimore and looked up
and you know what, this defense is pretty damn good
and we're only so good offensively, you take it's a
different mindset to orchestrate that kind of game, and Jim
Caldwell has clearly done that. So yeah, I'm gonna a
lot of interesting games coming up. We're at that point,
that dash for the cash. Obviously, November is when it
really gets uh you know interesting as teams move forward.
So uh, always a lot of fun. Coach wanted to
(36:15):
thank everybody for checking out the Week nine Coaches Show
and you can always check us out at NFL Now
This is NFL dot COM's Coaches Show podcast. Thirty men together,
can't lose. This is why you lift everybody abody And
now we're going there's a glean, Man, there's a glean.
(00:21):
Thanks for checking out the Coach Show. I'm Brian Billick,
joined as usual by my partner Steve Mariucci and coach
you know me, it's always it's always about the road wins.
It's to me the teams that can go on the
road at this time of year and have that substantial win.
We had a couple of teams that had an opportunity
to that delivered Where Arizona in Philadelphia? Can we can
(00:42):
we not wait for the other shooter dropping Arizona there
for real? Right? You know, since I'm on the road
and i'm on remote, I need to get one of
those headsets. I know, I'm not that you're looking pretty
cool like you're on an airplane. Find a sleep like
I'm doing the four o'clock traffic. Yeah, big wins and
and uh you know kind of different. You know, the
(01:03):
Cardinals were playing on the road against the backup quarterback,
and the Eagles were playing on the road with their
backup quarterback, and so but like you said, it's it's
tough to get a win on the road. And you know,
football is kind of crazy that way. It's the most
communicative sport, and the home team wins about sixty two
percent of the time. And so if you get if
(01:25):
you're five d on the road, you're doing great. And
so Arizona went into a hostile environment in Dallas and
proved that they are maybe the best team in the NFC.
I don't know why, I said, maybe I think they are. Yeah,
why are we so hesitant to to I keep thinking.
I was thinking last night as I'm watching the game,
if any other or just about any other team had
(01:48):
done what Arizona had done. Remember, they finished on a
seven and two, they were ten and six, didn't know
the playoffs. They finished in seven and two. The only
teams they lost to our playoff teams, the only team
they've lost to this year is Peyton Manning and the
inver Broncos. And they did so with one of those
backup quarter their back up to their quarterback, back up
to their backup Logan Thomas was playing, why do we
(02:08):
hesitate to say, Hey, this is this is the real deal.
We did it with Dallas. She said, absolutely, they're gonna
Why do we hesitate with Arizona still? I don't know,
but we need to change that right now. Right now
we're talking about the favorite is the Cardinals to play
in the super Bowl in their home stadium, you know,
because man alive? Are they doing a good job? And
and they went into Dallas and and uh you know Dallas. Yeah,
(02:31):
we mentioned they played with their backup quarterback. Finally they
had some adversity. Things have been going just right for
Dallas all year. Well, Arizona has had adversity the whole year, right.
Carson Palmer missed three games, they won two games with
Drew Stanton, they miss missing five guys on defense. They
keep shutting guys down, and so Bruce is doing such
a great job with that team. And then they host
(02:52):
the Rams, you know, a game that they're gonna be
expected to win, and man alive and I guess maybe
because they haven't been to the playoffs much and and
they're in the tough division. We always talked about Seattle
and fourty niners. Well things have changed in the NFC West, boy,
haven't they. Yeah, And we'll we'll talk about that one specifically.
Four Nins a little bit later. But I look at
(03:13):
those corners with Cromarty and Peterson, and you look at
that game and and Terence Williams and Dez Bryant who
have been tearing it up. Now, some of it had
to do with Brandon Wheaton. Well, obviously, as you mentioned,
they're talking about their backup quarterback. But these guys were
an absolute non factor to the end of the game.
They had what a combined four catches on seventeen targets
(03:33):
on the whole day. They they had their share drops
Wheat and hit des Briant a couple of times and
he flat dropped the ball. I don't know whether it
was a different rotation or whatever. Uh. This defense kept
Murray for the first time this year under a hundred
yards made me mad on our playbook. Sterling predicted to
be under a hundred, I said, and it's gonna be
under seventy and he had seventy nine. So he screwed
(03:55):
me on that one, because you know, there these bold
predictions were being held accountable for the bold predictions. Now,
but that defense absolutely is the real deal, and Carson
Palmer seems as calm, as comfortable, good protection through a pick,
but didn't rattle him. Came right back and and totally
composed and took that team down the field the rest
of the day. Carson, that's there's a guy we never
(04:16):
talked about either. We don't give him any love at all.
He's only one twelve out of the last fourteen starts
he's had. He's the only undefeated quarterback this year. There
is um because when they when he missed the game,
then they lost one. But um, I'm watching that defense
because they're they're missing so many parts, but you'd never
know it. And they play this eight man front. They
(04:38):
loaded up a lot, and when you do that, you
have eight in the box. You should be good against
the run because you have a lot of bodies, you know,
an attack, you have a free hitter and then they
blitz so much they're gonna overload blitch in have a
free rusher. Well, the problem with that is you better
be able to have, you know, hold up on the outside. Right. Well,
Patrick Peterson and Antonio crom already are as good a
(05:01):
pair of corners as we have in the National Football League.
And that's why they're arrogant enough. Todd bull says, all right,
we're gonna load the box. We're gonna give these guys
a big job to do because they do it well.
And now you see them complete and passes. Des didn't
have a catch till the fifty minute of that game.
And so that's why this team is fun to watch.
And uh, you know, on on offense too, Um, Carson
(05:24):
is playing very good football. Is getting the ball to
Larry Fitzgerald here all of a sudden, and uh, you know,
I think they're certainly in the driver's seat. Um, but
it's gonna get tougher face that they're gonna play the
Seahawks twice, the forty niners again, and you know the
Rams are always the spoiler at times, and so but
talk about the Corners matching up. And I'm looking at
(05:45):
their schedule the rest of the way, and really only
in Detroit, assuming Calvin Johnson comes back, and obviously Golden
Tate spen h they go to Arizona, right, they play
at Arizona. Correct, Detroit's at Arizona, So that's an advantage.
And I look at the rest of the way, maybe
Matt Ryan in in Atlanta, but you know, they're they're
really struggling right now. Alex Smith in Kansas City, you know,
(06:06):
so they're really not going to face whether it's like
they saw with Peyton Manning and that receiving corps or
even what they might have seen yesterday with Dez Bryant
and and obviously Terrence Williams and and the tight end.
But so I'm looking at their schedule, that's the way.
I don't know that there's another really hard test for
that to where Todd bolts who leads the league and
(06:28):
in pressures. The two tough games that I can remember
what their schedule is would be at Seattle. It's always
a tough game, but remember they beat him there last year,
and at San Francisco. And San Francisco should be healthier
then they've been. San Francisco is disappointing. They're missing a
lot of parts on defense. But towards the end of
(06:49):
the year now they're going to get back Holden Smith.
They should get back Lynn Dorsey and Navarro bowman. Patrick
Willison is another guy didn't play. So you know, the
Niners are gonna finish strong. It's just a matter of
how deep a hole they're gonna dig for themselves. Well,
we'll get to the Niners in a second. I want
to move to the other big road win. Obviously the Eagles,
(07:10):
and even though it was Houston, for them to go
on the road and play Houston, that was a matchup
they might have struggled a little bit. And as you said,
they lose their starter and Nick Foles, who hadn't looked
very good incomes Mark Sanchez. And now that the the
you know, the Eagles are flying high, so to speak,
obviously with Dallas losing. And but do we think Mark
(07:31):
Sanchez is going to be the guy for them? Is
he indeed going to resurrect his career? Came in, looked
pretty good. Two interceptions, but they weren't his fault. Those
were two bad. One get bounced right up in the air,
the other one Riley Cooper didn't turn and look. So
the two interceptions in fairness weren't Mark Sanchez fault. But
it's okay. Is he is he gonna be the guy?
Is he gonna turn this thing around? Uh? You know
(07:53):
he's gonna have to be for a while with Nick
Foles collar bone broken. Um, but I believe nixt to
get the job back, you know when when when he's healthy.
But this offense looks good for Mark Sanchez sanch I's,
you know, it looks good for him. He looked comfortable
in it. He's been there, you know, he didn't just
sign him last week. Now, he's been there learning the system.
(08:15):
Looks very good. Preseason, preseason he was in O T A,
S the whole thing. So he's well schooled on it.
And you know, falls is a pretty good athlete. He's taller,
played little basketball, but Sanchis is a good athlete. And
remember him coming out, he was very good on the move. Yeah,
and you know they're gonna you know, sprinkling a couple
of those read options. Sanch I's can do that, and
(08:37):
he can throw from the run. That one touchdown past
was a nice It was kind of a West Coast
offense play. You know, you got the guy in the
air and you got the guy there, made me throw
it nice and low touchdown on the run. And he
can do that well. So I think you know, that
wasn't an easy win on the road against Houston because
they've lost some road games. They haven't looked very good
on the road. They've already lost to uh, let's see,
(08:57):
they lost to San Francisco. They lost that air Arizona.
You know, so you know, if it can, it's steal
one on the road with Sanchise, That's fantastic. Here's yeah,
here's what worries me. And I'm sure he's capable of
playing well. But that system, like all systems, but that
one in particular, because it's all about it upbeat. It's
all about a lot of a lot of plays. And
and I made the comment of there this system is
(09:19):
beginning to look a little running shoots to me, you know,
up and down the field, bogged down on the red zone.
So I'm I gotta, I gotta wait before I really
buy into it. But Sanchez. The other thing I'm seeing
is Nick Foles has gotten into some problems this year.
You have to make a lot of quick decisions. And
that's what concerns me about Sanchez. I can see a
(09:39):
lot of turn This guy's a one to one touchdown
interception ratio, which I know he came out of a
couple of different systems in New York and all that
he's a sub fifties sixty percent is a sub fifty
five guy. So where that system is all about right completions,
high efficiency. You can't turn the ball over, not that
you can't in any system, and you make those big plays.
(10:01):
I don't know, I'm I'm I'm not convinced that he's
going to Now that we're going to get a steady
diet of him, he'll look good. He reminds me of
deat Vinnie Testaverty. Remember, Didnny Vinie testaver If he could
throw the ball thirty five times, could be awesome. But
if he threw the ball forty five times, you're gonna
get every bit of Vinny Testaverdy with a lot of
touchdowns and a lot of interceptions. And that's kind of
(10:23):
what I'm a little concerned about with franchise in that system. Well,
they're getting healthier on the offensive line, you know, they
they like to run the ball. They haven't run it
like they did last year when they led the league
in rushing. But if they can get back to that
better upfront, more balanced, and help him out with the
play action. You know, the system is crazy because they
(10:44):
have guys wide open a lot, much more than the
system that he had over there with the Jets. Much
more conventional eye formation, you know, play action stuff. So
I kind of like him. I now we've seen we've
seen backup quarterbacks come in and make a splash, and
then as you keep playing, uh, the full body of
work now the truth. You know, it's like Kirk Cousins
(11:06):
started off great and then all of a sudden, you know,
Colt McCoy started off with one big game, and you know,
we can't anticipate those guys doing that weekend and week
out doesn't happen. But I like Mark Sanchez in terms
of he's a veteran guy, been there, done that, and
I think they give him the keys to that car.
I think he's gonna do all right. If if I'm
Mark Sanchez, I find a whole bunch of Jeremy Macklin.
(11:28):
He he really looks like he has emerged and come
out of the shadows of that. You know, he's in
the shadow to Sean jack Jackson all that time. He
looks like the real deal now to me, right, I mean,
he heard his knee last year, he didn't play. Can
you imagine if if they would have both of those guys,
if they would have signed back to Sean Jackson and
Jeremy Macklin talk about speed on the outside, and my god,
(11:49):
they would be just loaded with their receiving corps. But
they chose not to do that, but he's really picking
up the slack. Yeah, he's having a great year, no doubt. Yeah,
and they can use them in so many different ways
that to h he's you know a lot of people
compared him to Percy Harvin, although he's not in the
backfield kind of guy. You can run the jet sweep
and some of the quick screens. Not quite that sheer
physical presence out of the backfield the way that a
(12:11):
Percy Harving can. But I think he's a much more
developed receiver down the field than Percy Harvin is Percy Harvin. Still,
everything tends to be shorter in behind the last scrimmage
Jeremy Macklin, he looks like a legitimate receiver down the field.
To me, he's gonna go from a year off because
he blew his knee to you know, just devastating to
this year playing very well, to next year he'll be
(12:34):
the next paid a man. Yes, he's he's on a
contract here. Always a good thing. He's going to be paid,
whether it's there or somewhere else. He's doing a great
I always like that because I know I was going
to get a lot of energy and a lot of
productivity and it wasn't my money, so we can spend
all that we wanted to. Well, let's talk. I mean,
everybody's got We got to talk about two teams now
that that really impressive wins, the Steelers and the Patriots
(12:56):
again now both teams at home, so not the impressive
of wins as we just talked about. But I don't
know that there was the anticipation, particularly you talk about Steves.
Now we got I get to give ourselves some love here.
We were talking last week about how Ben doesn't get
the love he deserves. You know, we were talking about
the Big Four and the Big five and all the South,
you know, the African stuff and the animals and whatever,
(13:17):
and that he ought to be in the conversation with
the Bradies and the Mannings and whatever. Back to back
six touchdown a game, I'd say, yeah, I'd say, the
cats out of that bag. That was unbelievable to have
two back to back six touchdown performances. Didn't didn't like,
but he didn't. He didn't do it back to back
back in the day when you were a kid. Yeah, yeah,
(13:39):
I mean, why don't we think of Big Ben. I
don't know what you're talking about animals in the Kingdom
and all that stuff. But you know, I do remember
the conversation with these other quarterbacks that are more of
the prototype. They're pretty there, you know, they're they're they're
the guys that you show your teaching film and you
show younger quarterbacks ought to play the position. And Ben
is kind of rough and tumble guy. And I don't
(14:00):
know if it's perception or reality. I don't know what
it is. All I know is his team has improved
so much. We had him early Thursday night against the
Baltimore and they got pounded. God, maybe it's time, and
all of a sudden he looks like a kid again.
And so you know, I'm really shocked and pressed. I
(14:20):
know all of it. Big Ben is just on a
roll as a passer, as a passer and a playmaker.
I love it. Well. We did a thing on on
playbook on on Friday based on the conversation you know,
I had last week because I wanted to go back
and look at him in the pocket, and to me,
that's where some of the improvements come. He's always been
able to extend play, shrug guys off and run to
the outside and then throw the ball down the field.
(14:41):
But Todd Haley and and he's come under some criticism,
but he's done a nice job of refining Ben's game
much better in the pocket, avoid the rush, dropped the shoulders,
step up, keep the vision, turn the shoulders, and do
those things that we know Ben Roethlisterberger can do. Can
you imagine as good as Anthony and uh Brown is doing.
Can you imagine if Emmanuel Sanders was still there? Oh
(15:03):
my god, I have six touchdowns a quarter, all these ifs.
If my chicken head lips at the whistle. But you know,
remember when we were first talking about the relationship between
Ben and Todd Haley, and then they didn't they get along,
and I don't like the offense and this and that,
and all of a sudden it's like, hey, people are
gonna start studying this offense in the off season because
(15:24):
it looks pretty explosive to me, so um and maybe
on Bell huge in it. You know, I looked at that.
I wanted to go back and look at the numbers
that first game and here's what's some And it's classic
Ben Roethlisberger to me. In the first game where it
was six they did nothing, Okay, in game one, they
had about little over three hundred yards offense, ran the
ball a little about a little over fifty yards six
(15:46):
or twelve on third down. Now here's the thing. In
this second game, six touchdowns blew them out forty three
to twenty three, little over three seventy yards, not that
much more fifty five yards rushing six or fourteen. So
to me, that's classic Ben Roethlisberger. The numbers aren't dramatically different.
He just has six touchdowns compared to nothing in the
first game. That's classic Ben Roethlisberger. Yeah, it is. And
(16:10):
and you know, I don't know if he can keep
it up, but he he likes his weapons. And you
mentioned Levy on Bell. I'm gonna call him up, you know,
because he's lost twenty pounds, you know, over last year,
and I haven't, and so I'm gonna find out what
he did. But boy, does he look like a complete back.
To me, he looks He looks athletic, he looks fast.
He can catch the ball, he can play receiver, he
can pass protect, he can do everything. And you know,
(16:32):
a back, a terrific back back there not only helps
your running game out, but it certainly helps your past
game out and and I think finally the Pittsburgh Steelers
are becoming known for an explosive offense, not just that
steel curtain kind of defense. And the defense still has
a few issues stof there. They're younger, They're gonna be
(16:54):
a little vulnerable still, and obviously Dick lebo no one
does a better job than Dick lebo Um. Well, let's
aw about the Patriots. What stunned me about that game?
And we know it's always capable at home, we know
how good Tom Brady is at home, and they just
got on a roll and there was nothing Denver could
do in Gronkowski huge game. I was amazed. We talked
about it last week twice. Last week against Gronkowski, we
(17:19):
saw the Chicago Bears put a linebacker on Gradkowski down
inside the five two touchdowns. I look up and I
see uh Denver doing the same thing. How do you
put a linebacker on Gradkowski inside the ten? You're stuck
with it sometimes. I don't know, that's not them, But
what's a better match up a small little safety whatever?
(17:41):
You put two of them one. That's why I remember
a couple of years ago, we saw a vice on
Megatron on the goal line, so he wouldn't run a fade.
I don't know, maybe you have to do that with
Gronk because safeties can't cover him. Linebackers certainly can't cover
him if there, if he's out as a wide receiver,
they're just not They don't practice against the fate and
(18:01):
the back shoulder throw. And the corners are too small.
You can't put a corner on because they're too small.
It's an absolute nightmare. But sometimes defenses get stuck. They
call you know, cover one or they call one blitz
or whatever that is, and they have to match up
with those receivers and they got all you know, they
got some receivers now that can you know? How about Edelman?
(18:21):
Where did he come from? Woodside High School? Rap the
road here? Wait? Wait, um, you get stuck with this matchup?
Oh it's uh, it's a linebacker covering Gronk. He's out here.
I gotta follow him. Oh my god, hang on, it's uh,
it's kind of fun. And you gotta feel that linebacker
because you know when they you know, they shift him
out there, so you get that lineback around. He's squatting
down there. You know, he's thinking they're gonna throw this guy.
(18:44):
I know they're gonna throw. Now, what am I gonna do?
You know that's why when you were a tight end
back in the day, huge matchup you were. You were
a nightmare, not just on the football field, but you
were everybody's nightmare on and well just our our Pittsburgh
and of course this is a week to weekly we
know that our Pittsburgh and New England the teams to
(19:04):
be in the FC. Now, oh, you're just gonna crown
Pittsburgh just because they just want Hey, hey, we're a leak.
What have you done for me lately? And lately two
back to back twelve touch you know, twelve touchdowns in
two weeks. I'll get my attention. But are they the
two best in the FCT? You know I'm not gonna
just throw away Denver. All right. They had a mulligan,
you know, they when they were down twenties seven and
(19:25):
seven at half time and went what is going on here?
Because Denver is and should be a great team. All right?
Their personnel is much better than it was in the
Super Bowl. It's a long season. You're gonna have on.
You're gonna stub your toll once in a while well,
they just stubbed it and so they'll be they'll get
back on track. So I would ranked Denver over Pittsburgh.
It wasn't that the significance of last night that that
(19:48):
if it if we go through New England, new England wins.
If we go through Denver, Denver wins. Yeah. I mean
that's that's kind of that great rivalry that we're watching
with Peyton and Tom Brady. You know, eleven to five
in favor of Tom. But I, I mean I I
picked Denver to win. Stupid me. I mean I I
(20:08):
every everybody, I think just about everybody, but you boy,
oh boy, Tom Brady in Foxborough is just what forty
three and three? Crazy? Well, let's let's talk about what
had been the darlings of the league, and now over
the last two weeks we've we've gone cold on them
because we are a league of what of instant gratification
and you've gotta be good right now or forget it?
(20:28):
Uh is Dallas? How how much trouble do we think
Dallas is in? I still romo on that back. I
realized they're telling me it's a chip, but it's not. Structurally,
It's just a matter of pain. But he's had a
lot of things going on between the collar bone and
the shoulder and now the spine and the back. To me,
the cumulative effect of this, it concerns me a little bit.
(20:49):
We've done look at this I got. I got a
bad back too, and I got this little thing right here.
I gotta sit with it because my back aches half
the time, and Romo is going to be doing that
at age thirty five. Doesn't get rested and so um,
I'm glad that he didn't play last week him. It's Jacksonville.
(21:10):
Unless he is running around, dance and feeling perfect. I
wouldn't play him buying because you gotta buy after this.
So now you're buying, you gotta buy, so you get it.
You get two more weeks of him just resting, relaxing,
getting not only his back rested, but his entire body
feeling better. You know. And it's not any disrespect to Jacksonville,
because they're they're they're Gus Bradley's got him playing hard,
(21:32):
and you know they're gonna they're gonna upset somebody sooner
or later. And he got him playing. When you say
they got him playing hard, that's like saying you know,
for girl. You know what I'm saying, it's staying. It
got him playing hard, and they're just they're just out talented.
I mean, they're not the same as other teams. They're
trying to build it, you know, and they and Gus
Will they need to give him time to build it
(21:53):
up because he's the right guy for that job. But
I would start Brandon Weeden. Brandon Weeden is good. He
won five games and cleave in for God's sakes, and
Cleveland wasn't very good at that time, and so he's
capable of winning games and beating Jacksonville if he takes
care of the ball. You know, Jacksonville is not like
Arizona defense. That's a tough defense to come into it
and be expected to win. And and their their their
(22:15):
defense is still healthy enough to help Marco Murray is
still healthy. That offensive line is still good. That hasn't changed.
So I would rest Tony and I'd let him have
a couple more weeks, get him back, and I think
Dallas can beat Jacksonville and get back on. The problem
I have with Wheaton is that that's not a problem.
But Tony was the perfect quarterback. You're gonna run the
(22:36):
ball and you've got the big receivers, and Tony could
make plays outside the design of the offense. Make J. J.
Watt miss or spin around, do that whirling dervish and
then find Terrence Williams in that third and twenty or
find him down the middle of the field. Brandon Wheaton
will give you the plays that are called and nothing more. Yeah,
it's got to come through the structure the offense because
(22:56):
he's not going to freelance and buy some of these.
So it's it's it's a tougher burden for Scott Lanahan,
the offensive coordinator and play caller. They they're up to it, obviously,
but on a day where DeMarco Murray did not go
off for a hundred yards and you need your quarterback
to step up and make those plays, he just he
just didn't do it. Let's move on to your your
(23:17):
forty niners. That was you talk about significant road wins. Well,
this was a significant home loss. To score only ten
points against as we'd like to say, no disrespect, but
to the St. Louis Rams at home only ten points.
There are some serious problems going on in San Francisco
right now. Can you hear it my windows open. This
(23:39):
whole Bay area is just grown. Um, And what a
way to end that game on a fumbled quarterback sneak
and Cap says today he was over the goal line
and we'll never know because there was a pile up
this high and so but I shouldn't have come down
to something like that. They weren't good enough in many areas.
They wouldn't didn't convert third down, and they got sacks
(24:00):
six times in the first half of crying out law
by a team that had not had six sacks on
the season. I know it. And without Chris Long and
so um, shocking win for the or shocking loss, whatever,
whatever point of view you saw it. In fact, I
saw Jim Fassel, your buddy, at the airport because he
came in for the game last his son, John's coordinator,
(24:23):
So he and his wife in a good mood last
night at the airport going home. But what a game
that was. And and the Niners, we all know they're
missing some parts. But the funny thing is they're missing
parts on defense, all right, Patrick Willis and Dorsey and
Navarro Bowman, Alden Smith. Oh, these are great players. Okay,
they're great players. They're missing them. Yet their defense is
(24:46):
still ranked first or second in the National Football League.
They gave up less. Defense was in the problem yesterday.
That's not the problem. The problem is the offense. And
I don't I'm trying to. I try to watch them
because I have a vested interest. I know the coaches
and the players and everybody here. I'm trying to decide
to figure out what their identity is on offense. And
(25:07):
it's and I don't know what it is. It's there.
You know. They they like to run the ball, but
they didn't run the ball much. And they have a
great offensive line that really did hasn't played quite up
to its expectations just yet. Um Cap can be explosive
in dynamic and then sometimes it's like what did he
just do? Um I think they have a good receiving corps.
I think Vernon Davis is under utilized. We talked about Gronk,
(25:30):
and you talk about Jimmy Grant, Antonio Gates, Julius Thomas,
all these all these unblish in Kansas City. Another tight end.
It's really coming on Vernon Davis. He had two catches
for nineteen or whatever it was. He's not been healthy
he's not been healthy. But this guy is the fastest
guy of all of those guys that we're talking about,
and so they've got to find a way to get
(25:52):
him healthy and productive because Vernon Davis is kind of
the forgotten soul over there a little bit um, but
Frank Gore has got to be he still has to
be a guy that's pounding it in there. They'll figure
it out as the season goes, but they can't dig
such a hole that they end up watching the play
well and at four and for you know, obviously they're
they're they've already lost Arizona. Okay, so that's that's where
(26:13):
where Arizona's got to play Seattle twice. They've got to
play San Francisco once. But with Arizona sitting at seven, one,
four and four, forty, Niner team are quickly going to
find themselves not in the NFC West, but in the
NFC Wildcard Division too. Are now they're completing competing with
Green Bay, Dallas, Seattle, that whole group, which becomes really
(26:34):
really interesting. What about and you're right there? Could we
begin you know, it's one thing to say no, we're together,
it's we're find Jim Harbo's fine and we but now
could that some of that chipping that we've heard start
to expand, some of the supposed you know, not too
good with the locker room and Jim and you know,
we know he's gonna bur up and go off at
(26:55):
some point. Here he was funny. He was funny. In
his press conference last week, they were talking about majors
in college, and they asked him what he majored in.
He went communications and they all started looking because can
you imagine if and uh so, and he's not one
(27:16):
of those funny guys, all right, and so um it's
like over in Chicago, you lose a couple of games,
everybody's like blaming everybody else, and it's like, I confess
he did it, and so um, you know I I
think I think they've had enough success with that team.
And most of that team is from those three NFC
championship games, and better that they are hanging their hat.
(27:38):
They have some credibility with each other and the systems
that they're saying, you know, we we know how to
win here, we know how to get this done. Let's
just get back on track. It's not it's it's not
mutiny on the bounty where it's like, you guys don't
know what you're talking about. They just got to figure
out how to it's it's it's an offensive problem. It's
not a defensive problem. Their defense is good right now,
(27:59):
and to be better, their offense has got to find
their rhythm. And that's where part of the problem comes.
I know that because you and I were offensive guys,
quote unquoteive I am that. I've been told that, and
when you become a head coach, you can't shake that mantle.
So when you're when that's the side of the ball
that you're not good on on this on the part
that you're supposed to be the expert. And I know
(28:21):
Greg Roman. Greg worked for me in Baltimore, and he's
calling the offense and orchestraight the offense, and Jim's involved.
But that that adds another level of concern. Now people
find that as a way to be a little more critical, going, well,
you're supposed to be this offensive guru, and that's our problem.
Something's wrong here, So that that could be a problem
going down the way here, let's talk about r G
(28:43):
three back on the scene. Uh, people are still questioning
should you should John Gruden or J Gruden have played him. Yeah, yeah,
you look good enough to me. Yeah he did, you know.
He he had some throws he'd like to have back.
And he wasn't perfect. He looked a little rusty on accasion,
but he's still He looked healthy. He looked healthier than
(29:03):
he did last year to me. And so um J
was saying that he was ready and healthy enough to
play a week ago, you know. And and he said
I'm gonna be I'm gonna take the conservative approach and say, well,
I'm gonna give him another week. He's not gonna like it.
But Colt McCoy played well and beat Dallas. Yeah, great, congratulations,
(29:23):
But he's looking at shut up. Three is going in. Yeah,
And and I mean, this is come on. They give
up a lot of draft picks for this guy. They
need to find out if he's gonna stay healthy and
play well enough to to justify all that trade. And
this is the time to do it right now. And
and and Robert Griffin is healthy enough to play well.
(29:46):
And I want to see the guy play. And there's
no it's not by coincidence at all. Of a sudden,
Alfred Morris has his best game because the potential of
him getting outside. I'm talking about r G three. De
Sean Jackson shows up with D twenty yards and we're catches.
So yeah, and and those want to be critical of
it that that for some reason, I mean, we've both
been in that situation. If the player says he's ready,
(30:08):
you look at the docks, is he ready? And then you,
just like Jay Gruden did, make the decision, you know what,
he's ready or I'm gonna wait a week for this reason. Uh,
And and then when you do, you go, you go
from there, and it's it's it's a it'll be interesting
to see them going for because clearly he's gonna have
to be the guy, uh that they build there. There's
after that big win in Dallas now because I live
(30:29):
obviously in the DC area, and and now it's you know,
the world is falling again and see where no better?
And we got r G three back and um, but
but he looked healthy enough to me, so I'll be
interested to see now. And I was very I thought
it was interesting. I was doing Game Day Live, second
play of the game, read option boom, he's to the outside.
He Jay said, Okay, if you're healthy, we're gonna use
(30:51):
it all. They can't help themselves, because that is very
tempting just to hey, he might scoot for forty here,
you might as well use them. Yeah, let him go
play ball. But I didn't notice that. I was. I
thought it was well planned because now you did it once. Okay,
you were thinking we weren't gonna use r G three
that way, we did. And now you just let Alfred
Morris go off and you know, hand the ball off
and I don't remember. I'm sure he did, but I
(31:12):
don't remember seeing him running the read option another time.
But you set the tone early with that first call.
Let's um again, not as substantial because it was the
home team that won. But boy, Miami, we talked about
a team that that we kind of hesitate to put
our stamp on. Ryan Tannehill in particular, and I've been
critical Ryan Tannehill. That's as good as I've ever seen
(31:33):
him play. He he looked as Bill Walsh would say.
He had the full repertoire throws, he had to touch
on the intermediate, he had the deep at the back
end of here, ran the ball around. He he looked
as good as I've seen Ryan Tannehill play. He's one
of those young quarterbacks that we don't talk much about.
We don't put him in the Andrew Luck category area
(31:55):
Russell Wilson because he won a Super Bowl, but sometimes
we forget about this kid. He's way over there in
Miami with a team that's just trying to get to
the playoffs. But you're right, he can make all of
those throws and he's a better athlete than we give
him credit for. Brian, you remember when he played at
A and M. He was a receiver, and he can
(32:18):
run and you'll see him pull it down on a scramble.
They will run him on a little his own read
stuff just for kicks, and he can run and the
and that's where he separates himself a little bit faster
than an Andy Dalton and in some of these other
young guys too. Now, the other thing that's helping him
the defense. That's a pretty darned good defense. And they
(32:39):
gave Philip Rivers everything he could handle, sacked him four times,
took the ball away from him four times. And this
swarming defense over there in Miami course helps any quarterback out.
But this is a team that's you know, there are
that divisions. I was gonna be chasing the Patriots. Patriots
always win that division, but this team is going to
be fighting for for a playoff spot as a wild
(33:01):
card team because of a growing, getting better quarterback and
a defense that's good enough, and that's a less crowded
wild card field. I think when you're talking about Cleveland, Buffalo, Miami,
San Diego, looks like Kansas City would fall in that category,
in behind Denver. So I don't know that it's quite
as competitive. So I where before I thought, well, no,
(33:22):
this isn't a playoff team. They can be in that,
but they're not going to catch New England. In my opinion,
I may be wrong, but they're they're they're capable because
they got the defense. Miller's running the ball. Okay, you're
gonna get another thirty forty maybe fifty yards from Tannehill
on a regular basis, and he's throwing the ball. He
hit ten different receivers the other day, which is new,
(33:43):
so he really seems Remember he was gonna be benched
in London a couple of weeks ago. I think that
was a motivational ploy because it looks that way now,
you know what I mean, Just to kind of just
put a spark, you know, and all that, and it
seemed to work, I guess, but it Um, this was
a statement game for Miami. I mean, they beat just
(34:05):
a couple of weeks ago, we're talking about San Diego
Chargers contending for this division over here in the a
f C west Over Denver, and all of a sudden,
now they hit a little bit of a slump. Um
Miami shutting them out thirty seven, And nothing really gets
our attention because that was a statement game for this team.
And I know it's West Coast, East Coast, an early
(34:26):
time for San Diego. But you're right, that goose egg
by San Diego. You can't that. As I said, that's
gonna leave a mark and San Diego is gonna have
to mentally overcome that. UM team we forget about because
they had to buy and coming off the Lendon game,
UM Detroit Calvin Johnson presumably back now to go with
Golden tap. We saw what Mohammed Sanu did for Cincinnati
(34:47):
and then they get a J greenback. Okay, well, Golden
Tate has been phenomenal. They get Calvin Johnson back, They've
got one of the best defenses. Um, we forget about Detroit.
But Detroit, should they not be right there with Arizona.
Say it feels odd to say it, but Arizona Detroit
best two teams in the NFC. Yeah, that's that felt said.
(35:10):
You know, but they're six and two and you get
Megatron back. They've won games without their guys, without Megatron,
without Bush, without three tight ends one game. I mean
they you know, Matthew Stafford is trying to hang on
to that offense. Golden Take was a great acquisition in
the off season. Four them. But the but the the
pleasant surprise over there in in Motown is that defense.
(35:31):
Because they've been terrible over the last decade decade and
a half and all of a sudden, all those draft
picks and all the defensive front. Oh boy, that's a
scary defense. So when you have that, you know this, Brian,
you want a lot of games with a great defense.
That's where how they're built right now. A little bit
on defense. And Jim Caldwell has enough experience because that
was a hard thing for me I had to learn
(35:53):
going in when I went to Baltimore and looked up
and you know what, this defense is pretty damn good
and we're only so good offensively, you take it's a
different mindset to orchestrate that kind of game, and Jim
Caldwell has clearly done that. So yeah, I'm gonna a
lot of interesting games coming up. We're at that point,
that dash for the cash. Obviously, November is when it
really gets uh you know interesting as teams move forward.
So uh, always a lot of fun. Coach wanted to
(36:15):
thank everybody for checking out the Week nine Coaches Show
and you can always check us out at NFL Now
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.