The Season with Peter Schrager: Falcons OC Zac Robinson

Zac Robinson has one of the coolest careers in the NFL. A former college standout and NFL QB, Zac worked for Pro Football Focus before pursuing a career in coaching. After five years with the Rams, he’s left the McVay nest to join Raheem Morris’s staff as the OC in Atlanta. In this pod, Peter and Zac go down memory lane, but then go deep on the 2024 Falcons. Robinson discusses RB Bijan Robinson, when he first saw him in college, and just how special he is. Robinson reveals that Kyle Pitts has been outstanding. And then there’s a detailed Cousins/Penix conversation.  Great conversation between two friends, with one of them in a new job, new city, and with a new QB (s).

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Season with Peter Schreger is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
What's Up, Everybody, This is Peter Schreger. Listen to the
Season with Peter Schreger. We were recording this on a
Tuesday morning after July fourth. We took last week off
to just celebrate the independence of our country and our
amazing country that we have. Because this amazing country brings
us incredible things like hot dog eating contests, sons Joey Chestnut.

(00:44):
It gives us white parties, sons Peter Schrager, and it
gives us things like more anticipation for the NFL and
the football season that is coming. I want to start
this podcast by recapping two things. One a couple of
weeks ago, I was asked to be a part of
the Giants one hundred year anniversary event in New York City.

(01:08):
It was at Madison Square Garden. I was flattered to
be asked and I got to go there and I
got to interview Joe Shane and Brian Dable, the GM
and the head coach. And I also got to introduce
Pete Gogolac, an eighty three year old former New York
giant who's still as sharp as a whip and was
cool as hell. He was a Giants kicker for many
years and one of the true faces of that generation.

(01:32):
But then I was just backstage, and I was backstage,
and the coolest thing is like, I'm backstage and it's
Phil Simms and Eli Manning just talking, and I'm like,
all right, that's cool generationally, especially if you're in the
New York market and they're talking, it's fine. And then
in another conversation is Michael Strahan, Lawrence Taylor, and Kaevon Thibodeau,

(01:54):
and I'm like, I gotta take a photo of this.
That is three generations of like Giants defensive superstars, two
of them Hall of famers, one of them the great
hope for New York Giants fans. And I came over
and I'm watching LT backstage talk with Thibodau. Now Thibodeau
has since told the story, but he asked LT for

(02:15):
some advice. They were talking back and forth and the
conversation went as this. LT says to Thibodeau, how many
sacks did you have your rookie season? And he said eleven.
And he looks at him and said, what did you
play in three games? I was dying laughing. I'm like,
all right, LT, LT's on one here. LT was great.
But then it was cool because it's it wasn't just

(02:36):
the superstar quarterbacks and defensive players like I had a
great conversation with David Tyree backstage and what he's got
going on. Amani Tumor, I haven't seen him in many years.
He was there, Tiki Barber, Carl Banks, Harry Carson. You
go through the list of guys and Victor Cruz from
this most recent generation before this team, and it feels

(02:57):
like there is a lot of pride and a lot
of expectations for this franchise in this season based on
what the legacy is talking about. Eight Championshi's four Super Bowls,
and it was really cool to be a part of
this event, and it kind of seamlessly goes into all right,
Hard Knocks the off season with HBO. Full disclosure, I've
been doing stuff with them, with like these recap pods

(03:18):
with them over the years. I've got a long history
of working with those guys, so I'm a Hard Knocks fan.
I was a little skeptical going in this is only
off season. They don't show any football training camp, and
it was just gonna be like for agency and the
draft and like Pro day's quite personally knowing that, all right, well,

(03:43):
the Giants probably have some editorial control all this day.
Do I need to watch this? Like we know what
happens Saquon leaves, and we know what happens they draft
the leak neighbors. So I go in here with like
rose colored thinking it's gonna be rose colored glasses. That's
just gonna be everyone being like Saquan's awesome. Oh he's
signing with the Eagles. Dang it. I gotta tell you
it was awesome. I've seen the first two episodes. I

(04:04):
think it's awesome. I think I might like it more
than the actual Hard Knocks, which is like a little
bit more about the players and a little bit more
about making the team. And there's like there's a sixth
round pick who we fall in love with, and there's
this you know, position coach who's got this interesting thing
at how at the house, Like this is all ball.
It's rare that me who's in the inside and who

(04:25):
does this podcast and does the Good Morning Football and
does the Fox stuff and has this relationship go it's
rare that. I'm like, oh, I haven't seen that, and
it's cool. Two episodes in really Digging Hard Knocks and
the Giant stuff is neat. Now I'm in New York
all summer. I might not have realized it, but apparently
the Jets are winning the Super Bowl again, because everyone

(04:45):
I talked to is like an Aaron wankoff and I
want to get on the mic here, Aaron, you are
a Bills fan by heart, but you live in New York,
Like I thought that was last year. Jets fans have
learned their lesson. The media has learned their lesson. I
was watching ESPN yesterday and God blessed those guys doing
a show on July ninth and doing an hour long
show about you know and they're like, here are the
top five running backs based on an anonymous poll with

(05:09):
anonymous people, And it might have been pulled out of
someone's you know, you know what, but it's like, the
number one running back is Christian McAffrey. The number tw
running back in the entire league is Bryce Hall. I'm like, wow, Okay.
Then I saw an article saying PFF says that the
Jets of the number one defense in the league. This
is all without even mentioning Rogers. I didn't think this,
we're gonna do this again, But here we are, and

(05:30):
it's July ninth, and the Jets are the team that's
being hyped again. Aaron, did you see this coming?

Speaker 3 (05:36):
Did you?

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Are you feeling that as well?

Speaker 3 (05:38):
So?

Speaker 4 (05:38):
I have one very close friend who's a Giants fan actually,
but all summer he will find Aaron Rodgers tweets, copy
them off Twitter. He doesn't send the Twitter link, he
just copies the text and sends it to our football
group chat. So every week I get two or three
new completely unhinged Aaron Rodgers hype.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
What are this?

Speaker 2 (05:59):
I don't follow Rogers, I don't really.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
Twitter.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Oh okay, aout, No, they got hacked.

Speaker 4 (06:06):
This is like people saying I've spent ten years betting
on the NFL, and I can tell you one thing.
It's about the heart of the player, and no one's
got more heart than Aaron Rodgers and you can't count
them out. And so I have been seeing I will
use the word unhinged hype for Rogers and the Jets
all summer long, to the point that it is that

(06:29):
maybe it has me nervous, like are.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
They are they actually right? Yeah? And it might be
like I was thinking Jets might win the division. Now
I'm like, should I pick the Jets to win the AFC?
And don't even laugh? Like they have the personnel. I
don't know. This is what we do in July ninth,
So Giants one hundredth year. Giants, you know, the Giants
buttoned up shirt and tie, beautiful gala and then then Jets.

(06:51):
You know, it's you're watching ESPN and they've got the
number one ranking everywhere. That's just kind of how it is.
It's like Giants and the Jets, and everyone's excited for
different reasons. And we'll see. But Hard Knocks one hundred recommend.
I also recommencing Inside Out too. Have you seen that, Aaron?

Speaker 5 (07:07):
Yeah, I have loved it.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
I thought it was beautiful.

Speaker 5 (07:10):
Yeah, I was very happy with it.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
The New Emotions were a surprisingly successful addition.

Speaker 5 (07:18):
I love that series and I love the first one too.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, I gotta say I was watching that with my
kid and I'm like so and like like it's talking
to me right now about anxiety and all these things,
and like I'm looking at my son, I'm like does
he understand this? He's seven, he's smiling, he's laughing. I'm crying.
I'm watching like this is beautiful. It's beautiful at the end.
I thought it was a really great movie.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
Was it last episode when we talked about the Tony's
Last Night? I Illinois again and it was just as incredible.
I love it so much.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, well, let's wrapping up. I have a new hobby.
Have you heard of Padel?

Speaker 4 (07:51):
Yes, like the the European Uh. It's not pickleball, it's
not tennis, but it's kind of like tennis.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
I have.

Speaker 5 (08:00):
Yeah, I've played it.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Shrigger's all in when I talk. I'm playing Aaron. I'm
playing daily this summer. Wow, there's a Padell Court by me,
and there's one in Dumbo called Padell House. I'm not
giving out any free promotion. It's my sport. I have
found my sport. I'm telling you. Andrew Schultz, the comedian,

(08:22):
and I have connected based on our love for Padel.
I have heard in recent months that James Harden is
getting into Padel. There's a lot of buzz about Padel.
I missed pickleball?

Speaker 5 (08:34):
Did you missed it?

Speaker 2 (08:37):
I missed it? Tennis was never accessible for me, Like
I didn't play as a kid. I didn't know. I'm
not a country club guy, so I don't have access
to that stuff here as an adult. We live in
the city. Like it's just not Padel. Glass walls two
on two, low barrier for entry. Everyone can play. If
you've ever played pickleball or ping pong, you can figure

(08:57):
it out. You swing a racket. I'm loving it so
that that I might want to do a spin off
of I'm not sure where this goes with the NFL
and media and wherever is going, but I might have
a career as being like the voice of Padel, and
I want to get in on it now because I mean.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
Let's do a hard Knocks you and I go play Padel.
I played it once with.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
A friend where'd you play it?

Speaker 4 (09:17):
In San Diego with a friend when I was there
watching the Super Bowl with him one year and he
and his wife play and it brought me along and
I played with this other person who they knew, but
I was so used to tennis, and the whole time
they're part there, Like friend who was my partner was like,
it's actually not tennis.

Speaker 5 (09:36):
So yeah, because you want you.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Want to hit it on the so here it is,
it's got walls and you're supposed to hit it off
the wall in the bounce, but you want to hit
it straight and they're telling you let it hit off
the wall first.

Speaker 5 (09:45):
And I didn't register for me. I couldn't figure.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Something cool about it right now. And Djokovic had a
statement that, like you know, tennis is losing a little
bit of the market share after a Wimbledon match. And
I'm telling you, Padell, if you're listening at home, padel
p A d e l. Go watch it on Instagram,
Go watch it on videos. Shrigger's all in. That's it,
And I think Aaron I would love to play with you.

Speaker 4 (10:06):
All right, Yeah, let's go. I'll rewire my brain out
of tennis for it.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
So yeah, all right, with no further ado, let's get
to our guest. One of the great young offensive minds
in football. His career is cool. Started off as a
as a great college quarterback, was in the NFL, and
then had like this like Valley in his career where
he had to figure things out. He's going to take
us through it. Actually went from being a college football
stud to an NFL player who working for Pro Football

(10:33):
Focus for a few years analyzing quarterbacks and then eventually
tagged along and got on with their Los Angeles Rams
as the coach, and now he's a new offensive coordinator
of the Atlanta Falcons. Let's go listen and get to
know Zach Robinson, the new OC in Atlanta, our guest today,

(11:02):
is one of my favorite young minds in football. An
offense coach, but is someone who played the game and
has coached the game on many different levels and is
now in a brand new home. He is the offensive
coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons. Mister Zach Robinson, how are you, man?

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Greg's great to see him, man. How's the summer.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Oh, summer has been wonderful. Summer has been great. I
don't know about you. Like it's not negative. It's not
that I dread it, but there's like you see the
sands of time the hour glass, and I feel it
now or after for July fourth, it's like, all right,
it's football time and everyone's kind of getting them. Do
you feel that as a coach, like Eric, can you still.

Speaker 6 (11:43):
Be Yeah, you're not in chill mode once Once the
fourth of July hits like after that like I was
on the golf course yesterday and I couldn't stop thinking
about first day of training camp and like what we're
going to do and the installed.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
So I'm with you.

Speaker 6 (12:00):
Those first couple of weeks you feel like you got forever,
and then once fourth of July hits man. You are
football mode. But it's a good thing. You're always excited
to go back.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
But you definitely feel the anxiousness of getting started.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
You were in LA as a coach since twenty nineteen,
all the way up to last year. Family still in LA.
I always find this interesting, like when the transition is
or when the school year ends, do you guys move
to ed Le? Like where are you guys now?

Speaker 6 (12:25):
So we got out here entirely too fast if we
were to do it all over again, so you know
the story about you know, sure we'll probably talk about it.
But my wife came out like three weeks after I
got here. So I got here the first right before
the Super Bowl, and then she was out at the
end of February, So I mean it happened fast. We've

(12:46):
been in Airbnb's, you know, doing that whole deal with
like two kids under two, which is an absolute nightmare.
As you can imagine. But we made it through. We
got into our house finally a couple months ago, so
we're all all settled in. But yeah, we we were
looking back at it, it's like, Okay, if we were
to do this transition again, probably waiting a little bit

(13:08):
to get the house figured out before you just send
the whole crew out.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
But made it work.

Speaker 6 (13:13):
Thank God I got a good wife that could put
up with all of it because it was you know,
it was a big change.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Well, I think you guys had a big week when
you got the offensive coordinator gig in Atlanta. We'll go
through your career and all that, but can you just
take everyone through the personal and the career of that
that wild few days in Zach Robinson's life.

Speaker 6 (13:34):
Yeah, you were on it, you knew about it right away.
But yeah, I'll try to get the shortened version of it.
But so, my wife was very pregnant, due date was
coming up. Raheem was going through all the interview process.
You know, he was interviewing with everybody. He hadn't had
a you know, it wasn't solidified, and he was going

(13:54):
to Atlanta yet. And so my wife's this is like, say, Sunday,
like January twenty first, like right around there. And so
you know, I was fortunate enough to get a few
other you know looks and and some interviews and those things,
and I was supposed to fly out to some places
and I had to kind of you know, say, hey,
guys like wife's do any day, have to put those
on hold. And so fast forward to Thursday, Raheem gets

(14:18):
the job in Atlanta. You know, the all the hoops
that you still got to jump through to you know,
make that stuff official, and all that stuff there was.
You know, I had a good, good idea I was
going to go with Raheem, and we've talked about it
for a long time and so so.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
Fast forward to Saturday.

Speaker 6 (14:36):
I'm actually on the phone with Sean at our house
and won't get into too much detail, but basically, get
off the phone with Sean.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
My wife comes out and I'm like, I'm like, you
look like we got to go, like.

Speaker 6 (14:48):
We we got to get like we got we got
to roll. Yeah, I don't know what it is, but
I don't I don't think. I think we got to
keep it moving because I don't know what to do.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (14:59):
We got to the hospital fast forward, you know, two
hours later and really, my my agent, Kyle McCarthy.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
It's funny, say my agent, he's like my best buddy.

Speaker 6 (15:10):
So he's I'm texting him like, hey, going to the
going to hospital, you know, let me know what's going
on with all this, and so he's like, hey, don't
worry about it, like I won't bother you. Just take
care of the business whatever and we'll figure it out later.
So of course Kyle's texting me like all throughout, like
when we're at the hospital, I'm like.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
You send me a market yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (15:32):
So it's like say three, like around three fifteen, our
son Cooper was born, and then I mean couldn't have
been fifteen. Twenty minutes later, Kyle texted me. He's like, hey,
you're good to go, give me a call. I get
a FaceTime from raheem, I get some other calls for
some other people with the Falcons, And I mean next

(15:55):
thing I know, like me is my wife's still like,
you know, the doctor is still like so that I
had to call some of the other coaches that were
involved with you know, interviews.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yeah, I mean it moved so fat.

Speaker 6 (16:08):
I mean I still get crap from my wife like
to this day, she's like, you were on the phone
twenty minutes after our.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
Some you know, so I'll probably never hear the end
of that, but I.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
Think it's a I think it's a great story. I
think it's amazing. It's the start of a new life,
a new life and real terms and a new life
career wise for the family, and here you are in Atlanta.
I love that story. I think it's cool. Wow, you've
been a great coach for the Rams for many years.
We've seen that McVeigh tree get picked apart, especially on
the offensive side. Now it's your opportunity. You leave with Raheem.

(16:37):
But let's start from the beginning. Grew up in Colorado,
but you were a stud quarterback at Oklahoma State and
so good that you guys finished the regular season and
you had three thoy sixty four passing yards, twenty five touchdowns.
You go to the Senior Bowl, the whole deal, and
you go to the Patriots and have an NFL career

(16:59):
and bouncing around little Patriots, Seattle, Detroit, Cincinnati until twenty
thirteen or after three years in the lead, you say, Okay,
I'm going to go on and explore their options. Getting
to the NFL. What kind of experience was that for you?
And then when did you know did the league tell
you or did you yourself say, Okay, I think this
thing is over.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yes.

Speaker 6 (17:20):
I was, you know, lucky to be around some really
good players, Oklhoma statement does does?

Speaker 3 (17:24):
Bryant was my receiver. I mean I would just closed
my eyes and throw jump off Ken.

Speaker 6 (17:33):
We have Brandon Pettigrew, Russell left Tack. I mean we
were stacked. So you know, we had had some good
teams there my last like three years. And then, yeah,
I always wanted to play in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Didn't know how realistic it was.

Speaker 6 (17:49):
I was always a little bit more of a kind
of dual threat, Like I ran a decent amount in
college too, and at that time it was still like
the big pocket passer, like all the guys that were
getting drafted and so ended up, you know, luckily getting
drafted late late late to the Patriots.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (18:05):
And then was just kind of scratching a calon to
stay on a roster, to practice squads and so, like
you mentioned, bounce around to four different places and four years,
ended up having an elbow issue. And in my time
in Cincinnati, so had Tommy John. At that point, I
kind of knew, you know, it was probably gonna be over.

(18:25):
You know, if you're a third string quarterback and you're
in year four and you haven't elevated yourself to a backup,
I mean they're looking for that next crop of guys.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
So I wasn't. I was very aware of it. Always
wanted to get into coaching.

Speaker 6 (18:39):
I always liked the one on one, you know, coaching
with quarterbacks when I was in high school, working with
younger guys, when I was in college, coming back and
working with the high school guys when I was in college,
working with our younger guys. So I always enjoyed that
kind of one on one training with quarterbacks. I started
getting that going as I was rehabbing my elbow after

(19:00):
I was done playing.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
You know, you're you're at a point where you're like,
do I want to go into coaching? Am I Like?
Am I good with this? Or should I try something else?

Speaker 6 (19:08):
Like I did a couple job shadows at like a
commercial real estate company, and I was like, no shot,
Like I got to have football, and so ended up
reaching out to Pro Football Focus. I love this, just
wrote an email. I hadn't really didn't know anything about him.
This was in like you mentioned, like twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen,

(19:28):
so they're still relatively you know, unknown at that point,
but I knew they had access to film, and so
I was like, all right, how can I pair up
you know, working with some college quarterbacks and Andy Dalton
was a good buddy.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
He would work with him in Dallas in the off season,
and so how can I pair that up with you know,
still having access to film and just seeing around the
league and around college football and watching quarterback play.

Speaker 6 (19:52):
So I actually heard back from Bobby Slowick. He was
the first person that called me with people.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
Funny, where was Bobby at the time he.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
Was at Bobby was at PFF.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
This is amazing to me. So in Cincinnati, Ohio, you
got this pro football focus for the listeners. Today do
a lot of analytic teams used them. Chris Collinsworth eventually
purchased them, and now it's a you know, you see
it everywhere PFF Pro football folks. But at the time,
it was one of the first groups that were like,
let's put numbers and analytics together. But you're right, they
had all the film and teams would pay a high
Premium one hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their data,

(20:23):
but they also rely on them because they would watch
the film. So Bobby Slowick, who is now one of
the hot offensive coordinators in the league, down with Houston
and CJ. Stroud and you, who at the time were
just you know, an ex player who's looking to find
his way. You guys both were at PFF in twenty thirteen.
This is fascinating.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
Yeah it was.

Speaker 6 (20:45):
Yeah, so Bob, Bobby and I ended up working closely
for a couple of years and then this is amazing.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
I didn't know any of this. I love this.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
Is Bobby.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
He's twenty something.

Speaker 6 (20:54):
Bobby's I think we're about to say it. He might
be a little younger than me, like maybe, right, So
we're all we're probably let's say, like twenty ninth, you know,
somewhere around there. And uh yeah, So Bobby and I were,
you know, breaking down coverages, watching film, just doing stuff
underneath the PFF umbrella.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
But also you know.

Speaker 6 (21:16):
I'm sure like like I was doing just kind of
had my own stuff with watching film, making you.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
Guys in the room. Were you guys in the same
room watching stuff or was.

Speaker 6 (21:25):
It he was in Bobby was in Cincinnati. I went
up there a couple of times.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
I was living in Dallas where I was rehabbing my elbow,
and so so we would hop on calls all the time,
and I love this talk.

Speaker 6 (21:37):
Through coverage, you know, everything that was pertaining to the
stuff with PFF, and then we would obviously have our
own conversations just about football on the.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Side as well.

Speaker 6 (21:46):
So so yeah, I kind of just kept up with
around the league stuff with PFF right after that. And
then you know, I knew you know, as you know,
Shreg's like you got to have a wife that's like
all in on, Like okay, So I met my wife
and I kind of mentioned I was, you know, wanted
to get into coaching.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
And she's like, yeah, of course, like this UD had
no idea, what it's your passion. So she was ultra supportive.

Speaker 6 (22:14):
And and then yeah, I was actually training quarterback easton
Stick North Dakota State, Yeah, with with REP one and
there was a connection there with Sean I McVeigh and uh.

Speaker 3 (22:30):
In that group, and so I got an interview.

Speaker 6 (22:32):
With Sean and and then uh next day got got hired,
and uh, you know, obviously always gonna be forever grateful
for Sean gave me that first opportunity, but definitely moved fast,
you know, from that whole whole time of hey are
we you know, I'm working with PFF, I'm training guys
on the side, and okay, now.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
We're in it, we're coaching, and so it definitely was
a whirlwind. But shoot, it's been it's been awesome.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
When you're at PFF and you're doing all this stuff,
did you ever feel like imposter syndrome or like you
weren't in the cool crowd you're on the outside, Because
I think that's a humbling thing to be like, all right,
I'm not going to be with a team, I'm not
with it, but like I'm with this other organization. And
when we go to the combine, remember you and I
met when you were with PFF at the time, and
I'm like, Zach Robinson the former player, You're like, yeah,
of course, And I'm like, how cool is that? This

(23:18):
guy's like this is my access in it's not the
traditional route. Did you ever feel doubt going there? Like
you were so self confident that this is just what's
going to take for me to get to my path
to coaching.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
You know, of course you want to be in the mix,
and that was the hardest thing. You're in the locker.

Speaker 6 (23:33):
Room like as a player, and you just missed that
aspect of it. And so there were times where I
was like, man, I got I got to just jump in.
I had some opportunities to go to college, and I
really wanted to coach in the NFL, and so I
knew that as long as I was staying close to
the game and staying up with things that, you know,
hopefully an opportunity would come up. I was at a

(23:55):
point where, you know, before I got hired with the Rams,
I was I was like, all right, whatever opportunity comes, like,
we're going And so yeah, a couple you know, college
like Oregon and a couple of colleges that I was
looking to go to if I didn't.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Get a job with the Rams and Sean.

Speaker 6 (24:09):
So but yeah, absolutely, you miss like just being with
the guys, Like that's why you want to get into coaching,
is being a part of something you know greater than yourself,
working towards a goal with a bunch of guys. So yeah,
I felt there was some imposters to them, you know,
for sure, when I was working with PFF.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
And you get there and the Rams guys love you.
Who's on that coaching staff those first couple of years.
I know it's been a rotating door, but let's go
through the tree just for the listeners can realize the
brain trust that was in the building.

Speaker 6 (24:38):
Talking about unbelievable guys to be around and learn as
a young coach coming in like you're a player, but like.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
You really have no idea until you get into it.

Speaker 6 (24:47):
So my head's spinning. You know, there's so much to learn.
But I worked with Shane Waldron. I was an assistant
quarterback coach. Shane was a quarterback coach that first year.
Wes Phillips was on staff. You had Aaron Kromer, Kevin
O'Connell comes in the next year in twenty twenty, you
got Liam Cohen, who's one of my best buddies. I know,

(25:07):
shoot you and I you, Liam and I have had
some good times together at Sean's wedding.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
And then you've got like Thomas Brown comes through.

Speaker 6 (25:16):
I mean, there's so many guys, so many great coaches
that you're learning a ton from, like West Phillips to
this day, like I can, I can still hear some
of the things that I would hear Wes talk about,
whether it's with the tight Ends or in the past game.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
And so you're around a bunch of good.

Speaker 6 (25:31):
Dudes, all love ball, all with the same mindset and
just forever grateful to be around those guys, and those
guys just open up everything and to somebody that really
you know, you think you know, but like.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
I said, you just have no idea until you're actually
in it.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
What Sean's special sauce that you try to take with
you That all these guys work for them and they leave,
they go elsewhere, but there's never any bad blood and
it always feels like they take the best attributes that
he has. What what did you learn from McVeigh all
those years watching him run.

Speaker 6 (25:59):
A room, most dynamic person as you know srace that
you'll you'll ever be around, you know, as a leader
from that standpoint point, The way that he can pull
guys together, the way that he can get the best
out of everybody, whether it's the top guys at the roster,
bottom guys at the roster, a young coach, older coaches everybody.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
There's such an urgency with Sean. Uh, you know that he.

Speaker 6 (26:20):
Wants to be the best that that just rises everybody
else in the building to his level, and so.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
Always will be forever, you know, grateful for the.

Speaker 6 (26:30):
Things that you know, whether I realize at the time
I was learning from them, but now that I have
kind of obviously been away for a few months, realize like, oh,
those little things that maybe I didn't really know at
the time are kind of creeping into my head about
something that came up in twenty twenty one or twenty
you know, just different, different experiences. Obviously was there for

(26:50):
five years, so got to see a lot of had
a lot of you know, ups, and there's obviously.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Some downs as well that just come with the game.

Speaker 6 (26:56):
But but yeah, just so dynamic, the urgency, and then
obviously the way that Sean sees the game is unique
and it's you know, the best in the fell in
terms of, you know, how he can package plays and
put together a game plan and then feel the flow
of the game as it's going as a play caller,
and so all those things that you know, most people

(27:19):
hear about, but being able to see it up close
and just see him operate on a day to day basis. Shoot,
there's going to be things that fifteen twenty years down
the line, I'm going to.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
Be still pulling from Sean. You know.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
It's funny. I talked to him obviously, and that Super
Bowl season was such a ride, and there was so
much pressure and it was so cool to watch like
the Rams like actually finish and seal the deal, especially
the way he did in the final drive, and you
guys getting contributions from Ben Scaralna good like just figuring
it out and just piecing it together with Odell out
and you know, injury issues everywhere else and still getting

(27:53):
away to get the super Bowl last year twenty twenty two.
Down year, but there were some learning things. I think
Sean had more fun and I could tell that this
team really enjoyed the twenty twenty three season almost as
much as the Super Bowl season, being there first and
and having no expectations going into the season. People talking
about the Rams tanking for Caleb Williams and no where

(28:16):
a couple of months removed. But just like how cool
was last year's ride getting to the wildcard rat and
almost beating the Lions in their building.

Speaker 6 (28:22):
It was a blast, Like just the reset that it
took from that twenty twenty two season. Like you mentioned
to showing up that first day of the twenty twenty
three offseason, it was like, hey, like, we're attacking this
thing and we're going to go all in.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
We're going to be there for each other every single day.

Speaker 6 (28:37):
And Sean's resiliency through the whole thing was obviously spread
throughout the building and it was a blast.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
Though we had we had fun. It was obviously you
got Matthew.

Speaker 6 (28:47):
Stafford and his level of urgency raises the entire building
as well. He played out of his mind, you know,
especially down down the stretch there, and then just you know,
obviously Puka and the way the offensive line played and
the way that the defensive defense played. I mean, you
go into that season and you're looking around and you're like,
man out, how's this gonna all come together?

Speaker 3 (29:08):
And the way that that Rod got those guys going
on that.

Speaker 6 (29:10):
Side of the ball, It was just a cool It
was something like you mentioned, like the twenty one season.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
Obviously that's that was pretty special.

Speaker 6 (29:18):
But I think we'll always remember that season, those guys
that were in it, and just knowing that feeling of
what it was like starting that offseason. Uh, and then
just the messaging that was so consistent throughout the year
from Sean and from from the.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
Rest of the staff that it was a special year.

Speaker 6 (29:34):
Still wish we could have obviously kept going there, but
that was a tough atmosphere up in Detroit.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
Man, that place was rock down as an unbelievable game.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
Give me a good Pukah story, Like when did you
know that this kid, Puka Nakua was going to be
a special fifth round pick out of BYU. There's a
little buzz in training camp, but then yeah, one of
the greatest seasons we've ever seen from a rookie receiver.

Speaker 6 (29:54):
Like in the spring, you saw like his aggressive hands.
I mean, he's got unbelievable hands. Like Stafford I remember
always to be like, I feel like I can throw
the ball as hard as I want to when he's
five yards away and he's just gonna pluck it. And
so that comfort for a guy like Matthew who's going
to put it into some tight windows, You're like, okay.
And then you see him moving around and he was
slipping a little bit running some routes and he's learning, uh,

(30:17):
you know, just the route tree that that he's going
to be asked to do in that offense. And but
really I think it was like the first couple of
weeks of camp, like you saw once the pads really
came on, you saw how physical he was, and you
saw just like just his mentality day to day when
he was playing football, like he he just was an
absolute dog. And so him on game days, like I mean,

(30:40):
you've seen his hair like it's going everywhere.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
Like there'd be times where.

Speaker 6 (30:43):
Like he'd be sitting on the bench like this and
he's got he looks like wolverine like coming down.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
Out and you're like, Poka, you gun. He's like yes, coach,
you know, and you're just like, oh, this guy. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (30:55):
So he's one of those guys that the lights come
on and he's just a football player and.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
He's he's a great player.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
Obviously, you've got relationship chips all over the league. Raheem Morris, though,
he taps you on the shoulder and says, hey, let's
let's take whatever we got here in LA and let's
bring this juice to it Atlanta. Come with me. That's
a big decision to leave, but you did. You took
the leap of faith. What's Raheem bring to the table
And how excited are you to start this new chapter
in your career?

Speaker 6 (31:25):
Don Pumps to work with Row and E's offices were
right across from each other for the last three years,
so we're constantly popping in and out, Hey, come check
this out. And so it was really able to learn
a ton from a defensive perspective from Raw. But then
you know, most people know that he coached receivers, but
Ros's got a great offensive mine as well.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
So that's what's exciting for me is the first time
doing this knowing.

Speaker 6 (31:46):
That, you know, I got a head coach and a
guy that first of all, I love being around every
single day, and you know, Raw, like guys that know him,
it's like he's never had a bad Day's best dude ever.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Agree, might be the most charismatic person in.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Football, honestly, maybe that I've ever met. And I think mc.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
Veigh would say that too, like Sean would say that
as well.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
Yeah, I agree. Both those guys together, I mean, you
can't get a word in, so you just sit there listen.

Speaker 6 (32:11):
But but not Rod's the best and great defensive mind,
but I'm he loves offense, so it's fun.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
You know.

Speaker 6 (32:18):
Shoot, we're texting a couple of weeks ago, Hey what
if we did this on this and so to have
that from a head coach going into it for the
first time knowing that I'm going to have some blind
spots that need to be filled. Pump to work with Rock,
continue to keep learning from him the way that he
sees the game on both sides of the football Situationally,
he's going to help me out a ton. So definitely

(32:39):
pumped to get a going and knowing it's going to
be a fun work environment no matter what through the
ebbs of the flows. Rod has not changed from day
to day, so it'll be it'll be fun fun season,
challenging of course.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
But definitely excited to work with rob and the rest
of the guys.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
All Right, So the Falcons offensive roster, I mean, I
think of the first team since the fifties. I remember
the stat the draft to draft a skill position in
the top eight, like four straight years you get Pitt's
in London, b Jehan, Robinson and now Pennix. When you
look at this roster on paper, and then we're gonna
get into what you're seeing on the field in the spring.

(33:17):
But like this has to be a dream commetry you
also have Algier the other running back who I love
that at BYU. They guys can can gobble up yards.
If you guys have a loaded roster on offense, it
just hasn't all come together yet. That's a great place
to walk into.

Speaker 6 (33:28):
No, one hundred percent, definitely very fortunate to walk into
a situation like this doesn't happen very often.

Speaker 3 (33:34):
You know.

Speaker 6 (33:34):
The one thing that we weren't sure about, you know
obviously when Rob got the job and we were coming
with him, was the quarterback.

Speaker 3 (33:41):
I got solved with signing Kirk.

Speaker 6 (33:42):
And so if you were to say, which job is
the best job out there, and Kirk Cousins is a quarterback,
You're like, I mean, it's it's obviously a no brainer.
It's a really good spot to be. So very lucky
that we got some great guys. The guys here personnel wise,
you know, Terry, Kyle Smith, Ryan Pace, those guys have
done an unbelievable job. As similar to roster, it's a
bunch of great guys that love football, very similar to

(34:04):
how it was set up in LA.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
Just like gys that love ball. You know that are
you know, really talented?

Speaker 6 (34:10):
So uh, you look at John you look at Drake,
you look at Kyle Pitts, and then the offensive line
is really what makes that thing go.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
And so, uh, guys, yeah, I mean you go left
to right. Jake Jake Matthews looks like he might play
another ten years.

Speaker 6 (34:25):
Honestly, I mean he looks great. He's had an unbelievable career.
Matthew burg around the left guard, second year out of Syracuse.
He's going to continue to make sures. Expect him to
be one of the better guards in the league. Drew Dolmen,
the center from Stanford, fourth round pick. We loved him
in LA when he was coming out and so and
then you got the best guard in football in Lindstrom

(34:46):
who his his work ethic and just the way that
he plays the game is just like he doesn't have
to say anything, but you see hit the way that
he plays and that raises everybody's level.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (34:55):
And then you got big Caleb McGarry over there, the
right tackle, who's a monster. So having that that solidified
is his big time, especially for you know, for the
QBS and for for us in the game. You know,
being able to hold up up front, we should be
able to run the football. So there's a lot of
great things, got a long way to go. It was
pumped about where we left the spring off. But shoot,

(35:17):
as you know, and you're one of the system, like
there's there's so many things.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
To cover, and so we still got a long way
to go.

Speaker 6 (35:23):
Wish we could actually start tomorrow just to make sure
we get everything going, But we got we got plenty of.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
Time, long way to go. First, you're in the system,
and yet no one has seen it on film yet,
which gives you an advantage as well. Bjean Robinson, just
take a minute to just what you looked at in college,
what you looked at last year, and just I have
to imagine when you're an offensive coordinator and you're given
something like that, that talent passing game, the running game,
the blocking game, like you have to be just like,

(35:51):
how do I limit my usage on this guy because
I want to use it every single play?

Speaker 6 (35:55):
Yeah, no doubt, one hundred percent. That's that's that is Honestly,
it's a it's a good problem to have.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
But you're exactly right. But the first time.

Speaker 6 (36:01):
I saw Bijeon was we had a bye week in
twenty twenty two, went back to Oklahoma State. They were
playing Texas that week. Had a bunch of family that
was there, so went to the game. Had known Bijon
because I watched a ton of college football, but seeing
him play in person, I was like, you can give
this ball and you can get his got a ball
every single play and he's gonna make a play. And

(36:22):
I think he had one hundred and fifty yards rushing
over fifty yards receiving.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
I mean, they end up losing the game. The Yewers
threw a few.

Speaker 6 (36:30):
Picks in Oklhoma State won, But that was my first
time seeing him play in person.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
I was like, this guy's, you know, gonna be an
unbelievable pro.

Speaker 6 (36:39):
And then seeing him up close, you know, he was
a little bit banged up in the spring, so we
only got to see just a couple of weeks of him.

Speaker 3 (36:46):
But he'll be full go, ready to go once camp starts.

Speaker 6 (36:49):
But you just throw on the tape from last year
and his ability to make guys miss and there's really
nothing he can't do.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
But it's still.

Speaker 6 (36:58):
Priority is like, hey, you're a running back, we can
certainly use you out of the backfield as a receiver.
I mean he can run wide receivers routes, but you
just obviously don't want to overload him too much, like
you were kind of alluding to, but excited to work
with the John's a great, great guy, just loves ball,
like he's watching Christian McCaffrey and watching running backs around

(37:20):
the league. Like he has that mindset that he wants
to be the best. So looking forward to uh, you know,
to give the ball as much as we can to John.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
For sure, Kyle Pitts a real early pick for a
tight end. What's interesting with him is that, like he was,
He's got these high expectations. I'm not for sure he's
ever going to reach what people expected of him, but
he still puts up numbers, he still has good season.
It's like, are you excited to get your hands on
Kyle Pitts and kind of get the most out of him?

Speaker 3 (37:44):
Yeah, one hundred percent.

Speaker 6 (37:45):
I think Kyle is excited to First of all, you know,
he was banged up a little.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
Bit last year, so he was, you know, battling through
some injuries. And but from.

Speaker 6 (37:55):
The jump, right when you know we got the job here,
Kyle was like one of the first ones in the
building coming It's up to raw saying you know, sitting
in my office hanging out with t J. Yeats and
Kevin Koger new tight end coach like he was around
in you know, March and before the guys even got there.
So his level of urgency, he wants to take that

(38:16):
next step. He wants to be a complete tight end.
I think it's underrated how good of a blocker he
actually is. You know, you see, you know the receiver skills,
but you know, when he wants to put his hand
on the ground and block, he can do it. He
wants to he wants to do it all and that's well,
that's what we'll do with him.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
But excited for him to take a big step.

Speaker 6 (38:35):
I know he's he's chomping at the bit to kind
of get some a little bit of a bad taste
out of his mouth from last year, which a lot
of it, like I said, was injuries, but no pump to.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
Work with him. Seeing the rapport that him and Kirk
got going during the spring a little bit was encouraging.
So it's all positive for Kyle.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
All right, let's go through the timeline real quick.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
Here.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
You get the job in January. February's the combine March
you guys signed Kirk Cousins April's to draft. Do you
remember like the fifteen minutes at the combine with Michael Pennix?
Is there a fifteen minute meeting like I I just
take me through the Cousin's pick and then when did
you have a feeling that, Okay, Pennis, there's something to

(39:15):
this kid if he's there at eight as well?

Speaker 3 (39:17):
Yeah, I think we u So we sent so TJ.

Speaker 6 (39:20):
Yates and ken zaymps went to the combine and interviewed
all those quarterbacks. So we you know, videoed it and
we ended up watching it later on that night after
we interviewed. Mike had known about you know, Mike just
from watching college football and obviously Washington was on a
ton over the last couple of years, and I mean
you're seeing all the explosive plays that him and those

(39:41):
three receivers are making, you know, all over the place,
and so you know, you're studying the film and you
signed Kirk, and you're you're so pumped about that to
have a guy like Kirk that's, you know, comfortable with
the system, obviously playing some of the better football that
he's he's played throughout the last couple of years really
his entire career, So look forward to him, you know,

(40:02):
continue to do that. And then the ability to add
Mike was unique obviously, you know, we felt felt strongly
about it. Uh in that position. I think it's been
well documented. Just the ability for him to sit and
learn and watch and soak everything up before he would
have to play whenever that ends up being was a positive.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
But you know, I remember watching the Texas game, uh,
you know that they played, and he was he was
lights out in that game. And then you really start diving.

Speaker 6 (40:31):
Into the film and you're watching it throughout the spring
and uh you're seeing kind of you know, how things
could piece together with this offense, and you got Kirk
and then you know, being able to add Mike was uh,
you know, too too good to pass up. So pumped
to have both those guys because shoot, as you know,
like you got you gotta have, you gotta have one,

(40:52):
you gotta have two and and so we feel great
about both those guys there.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
But people were going bonkers after the pick about how
ridiculous it was. But if you didn't have a pass
rusher ranked as high as Panix and he's sitting there
at eight and you like him. You gotta thinks coming
off in injuries thirty six and you know, the last
few years in Atlanta, they've been in kirk quarterback purgatory.
That's how I looked at it. And it's all right.
Now we've got two options and one guy for the
long term future. Now that's easier said than done as

(41:18):
a coach. There might be some egos you have to
massage a bit too. What has been a dialogue with
those guys in the quarterback room or it's it all.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
Just been cool.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Everyone's been understanding of the situation they come in or
did you come in with a game plan being like
I want to get Pennix's reps during the spring and
get him going, But we have to focus on Kirk.
He's our guy.

Speaker 6 (41:35):
Yeah, No, everything has been Taylor round Kirk like that
is that is where we're going, That's what's that's what
we're doing. And Mike is such a humble guy. Kirk
obviously one of the best guys I've ever been around.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
Just in life.

Speaker 6 (41:49):
So those two guys could not mesh better together just
because of who they are as people. And so Mike's
come in, Uh, he knows you know where he's standing,
he's got a long way to go. He's learning, He's
observing Kirk with everything he does. Mike doesn't have to
say a bunch of meetings. He's just listening to Kirk.
And then he's got a great way of knowing when
to ask something and when to just kind of take

(42:11):
a step back and let Kirk go.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
So their dynamic has been good.

Speaker 6 (42:15):
You're constantly competing, whether you're competing against the other guys
on other rosters or the guys that are currently on
your roster, like that brings out the best in everybody,
and that's shoot, that's goes for you, that goes for me,
that goes for everybody. So whenever you have that good
competitive urgency, you know it's a good thing. So both
guys will channel out the right way. But like I mentioned,
both just like humble guys a lot of fun to

(42:38):
be around and obviously super talented and a lot of
fun to just watch play quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
So it's good.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
I love watching left handed quarterbacks. Has Penix unleashed a
pass in camp or around the facility at any point
where you're just like, oh, that's just so pretty. Because
I saw him at the combine I took a video
of it him in like the hotel, just like whipping
these perfect and then a yeah, yeah, dude, Like it's like,

(43:03):
I don't know what it is, if it's a lefty
or if it's the way he releases the ball. I
think he's already got one of the prettiest passes.

Speaker 3 (43:08):
In all of football.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
And I watched it for many years at Indiana, then
of course Washington, like seeing it up close Pennix, just
letting that thing release with that spin. Is it that special?

Speaker 3 (43:19):
Yeah, He's a pure pere thrower, as pure of a
guy that I've been around, just strictly throwing the football.
So I'm with you.

Speaker 6 (43:26):
There's been times where you know, he makes something happen
and you're kind of looking around, like.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
Man, that was a pretty special throw.

Speaker 6 (43:32):
So he's definitely got that going for him. He's got
some great instincts, sees the field.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
Well, so but like I mentioned, got a long way
to go with this whole thing. But he definitely definitely
can throw the football, and that's one of the reasons
we were excited to get him.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
And Kirk has taken it in stride, and Kirk's in
the right place going into July, I would imagine as
a training camps advance.

Speaker 6 (43:54):
Yeah, Kirk had a great great spring really took you know,
especially for us as new coaches coming in and when
you have a quarterback that has as much.

Speaker 3 (44:04):
Experience as he does, especially in the system.

Speaker 6 (44:07):
I mean, there were days that Kirk just grabbed the
entire group when we couldn't be out there with the
guys and he's taken guys through jogg throughs and he's
coaching them up on the routes. And so the comfortability
that you know I have and the rest of the coaching.

Speaker 3 (44:19):
Staff has with with Kirk.

Speaker 6 (44:21):
And how he can just his ownership just with everything
that he does and his intent behind everything.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
So he had a great spring. Was fun to see
him and washed him for so long.

Speaker 6 (44:31):
Yeah, always just respected the way that he plays the
game and the way that he sees it and how
he can click through progression and how accurate he is.
But then you finally see it up close and you're like, man,
there's some days you come off the field and like
everything's gonna be fine because this guy. As long as
we distribute the field and you know, have sound schemes
running the football, throwing the football. This guy can make

(44:52):
a lot of things right. So it was really fun
to just finally get working with Kirk and we'll just
continue to build that rapport with the rest of the
guys and I'll get, you know, continue to get a
feel for what he likes and those type of things.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
So it's all really good. Though.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
It's cool that you have a veteran quarterback. I feel
like you and Stafford spoke the same language, and really
since he got to the Rams, of course, Kevin was
there and then you took over that kind of role
in his ear with Sean. Of course, Like the connective
tissue is not so Kevin O'Connell and you work together.
Kevin O'Connell's just coach Cousins the last several seasons. Raheem
probably was on staff in Washington when Cousins was there,

(45:30):
I would imagine, right, yes, yep, yeah, and McVeigh was,
you know, on staff there as well. So this is
no like there's enough connective tissue where you and Cousins
have so many people in common that this has to
be pretty cool that you could finally get together and
now instead of having rookie quarterback, which you could have
easily had as a first year offensive coordinator in slow
a cadet last year. It's no, I've got thirty six

(45:52):
year old veteran who has seen it all and also
knows a lot of the same people that I do.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
A hundred percent.

Speaker 6 (45:57):
No, we've been able to talk about different relationships with
guys or what they called something in Minnesota. Hey, we
call that here and call that this now, and so
that's been so easy to talk with Kirk about, you know,
football stuff, but also just.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
Hey, Chris O'Hara was his quarterback coach, and so.

Speaker 6 (46:15):
I know Chris O'Hare, you know, just different guys that
you've been around. Hey, what was Wes Phillips like? What
were some of the jokes Wes Phillips told me, you know,
just some of the little little stories that that are
just easy to make connections.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
So, no, it's been it's been great to have Kirk
and you know, having a veteran guy that.

Speaker 6 (46:32):
Can't wait to just see his his career continue to
go because he's he's playing. Before he got injured last
year and you know, Peter, he was as good as
as lights down back in the league. So I'm excited
to see him just kind of keep that going all.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
Right, A couple of rapid fire questions as as we
wrap this. This has been awesome, your best Des Bryant story.
You were his quarterback in college, an absolute freak show
in college and in the NFL. When did Dez show
you that this guy is a step above everybody else
on the field?

Speaker 6 (47:04):
Right when he got there as a true freshman and
we knew who he was coming in like as players
were like, oh man, like this guy was a four
star recruit and he could.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
Have gone a number of different places.

Speaker 6 (47:14):
We end up snagging him, But that first summer, he
would always be like the first guy out on the field.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
I always went out there early to start warming up, but.

Speaker 6 (47:22):
He was like him and I would like almost be
out there at the exact same time. And he just
loved to play catch, loved to throw, loved to catch.
And so that's when I started kind of getting a
feel for him. And you know, he would run some
routes sometimes where like he would change his tempo. Like
I remember throwing him like an in cut, like a
twelve yard incut, and he came out of it and
I thought I was putting it at a place, you know,

(47:43):
right out in front of him.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
He ended up speeding up and just to.

Speaker 6 (47:46):
Catch it like one handed on his shold, like totally unnecessary,
but his routes on air and he's just showing off
like the stuff he could do. And obviously the stuff
above the rim that he could do was unlike really
anybody in college football.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
Man it was. He's a special guy.

Speaker 6 (48:01):
But he loved football, loved just playing catch. During the summer.
I think that's where our report really kind of skyrocketed.
We just I'd throw something up and see what he
can do. He could you see the spots that he
could get to it, and but yeah, he just he
just loved throwing and catching, being around football.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
Just total ball guy.

Speaker 6 (48:22):
And then as a competitor, I haven't really been around
many guys like Daz.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
I had Kellen Moore on last summer and he was
talking about his favorite Matthew Stafford throws when he was
his backup in Detroit. Your favorite Matthew Stafford pass if
you can go through them all, whether it be big
clutch passes in the playoffs a couple of years ago
or something you saw in camp, what's your Stafford memory
of just the freak show that is Matthew Stafford.

Speaker 6 (48:47):
I mean the Super Bowl, no look is in that
moment was unbelievable. I couldn't believe how he can no
look those with receivers going from right to left and
his eyes being this way and throwing it that way
while still keeping the ball out in front.

Speaker 3 (49:02):
I mean some of those that you.

Speaker 6 (49:03):
Would see in practice every day. Matthew and I were
teammates in Detroit in twenty ten as I was, you know,
making my way around, and.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
I'll never forget. He was injured the first year I
was there, and that was the reason I got to Detroit.
He separated his shoulder.

Speaker 6 (49:19):
I was with Seattle on their practice squad, so Detroit
claimed me off of waivers, and so I.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
Was there the rest of the season. Matthew wasn't playing.

Speaker 6 (49:28):
But then fast forward to training camp or yeah, to
training camp, and that was the first time I got
to see Matthew really play up close. I'd seen him throw.
We went to the Man camp together. I see him throw,
you know, up close and personal for the first time.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
When I was a.

Speaker 6 (49:43):
Sophomore in college and he was going into his junior year,
and I was like, that looks different than anything I've
ever seen, and so I went back and I was like,
I got no shot at playing in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
This is what it looks like.

Speaker 6 (49:55):
But I do remember one throwing specific when I was
in Detroit with Matthew Calvin Johnson was basically ran in
like a corner pump and it was a cover two look.
Matthew looked off the safety one way, looked off the
safety the other way. Calvin did his job on the
route and I was standing right behind it, and this

(50:16):
ball went seventy yards in the air, perfect spiral, Calvin
just instride, and I'll never forget what that looked like
coming out of his hand.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
It was just like seventy yards superhuman?

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Who is that against? We'll have the clip.

Speaker 6 (50:32):
We no, this was this is just in practice training,
can't practice. Was just I was like, you know, something
you just never see. But some of the ones in
games last year, yeah, there was so many. There were
so many throws he had, but that one definitely sticks
out just as a player watching it and knowing like

(50:52):
what it's supposed to look like. Obviously, no pure thrower
in the history of the game really has been.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Matthew Odell comes a couple of years ago and he
comes with all this hoopla and then he gets there
and it's just like an awesome player for the Los
Angeles Rams, and really, I know the love that that
franchise has for him for the one season he was there.
Your thoughts on Odell, your memories of Odell, and maybe
a good Odell story.

Speaker 6 (51:16):
Yeah, he you know, came in and right off, right
off the bat, like just fit in with the guys,
Like didn't really know. You don't know what somebody's like
until they're actually in the building, whether that's coach, player
or anything. You can hear whatever you want, but as
soon as you get to know, the guy just brought
a ton of juice to our to our offense. I
mean just obviously he's got the most swag in the

(51:38):
history of the game. Maybe, but he came in and
there was you know, a little learning curve those first
couple of weeks for some reason.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
You know, I was playing catch.

Speaker 6 (51:48):
Like pre game one day, and uh so then from
that point forward, like I was kind of your game
throwing guy, and so the stuff that I would see
from him in pregame warmups, like obviously he wasn't doing
like with the Giants, like he was going to the
back of the end zone and doing all that. At
this point, he was just a little more casual, but
still you know, pulling in one handers but.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
Not jumping, you know, like he was back in New York.
But I do remember throwing.

Speaker 6 (52:17):
A ball to him in pregame warm ups before the
before the Niner game.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
The first game he was there.

Speaker 6 (52:24):
And I was standing on the right side the pregame
warm ups like we're on the team, period, but guys
are kind of you know how the tempo is in pregame,
and he's like, Hey.

Speaker 3 (52:33):
I'm gonna go on this one a little bit. I
was like, all right, And so I.

Speaker 6 (52:37):
Throw him a go ball on the right side and
he's running and he's tracking this thing and I'm like,
it's it's over his outside, Like when.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
Is he gonna I'm like, when is he gonna? When
is he going to adjust and and do this?

Speaker 6 (52:49):
And he just keeps striding like this, and then he
just goes and he just plucks it with his right
hand and just keeps keeps going.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
I like turned around and as Zero Everro was standing
back there like what the hell was that? You know,
like we just that.

Speaker 6 (53:02):
The ball skills that he had. I've never seen like
an athlete like him. Like we play catch, I'd throw
it to him, he'd throw one back right handed. Next
time you'd throw one left handed. Yeah, next time. Next
time you would punt it right footed and it'd be
like perfect, And then the next time you would punt
it left footed, it would be I mean, he just
got some unbelievable just hand eye and he's just a
great athlete. But he brought so much juice that season.

Speaker 3 (53:25):
Man, he's freaking. He's just stud.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
Loves football but also loves fashion, loves soccer. I still
think he's like the NFL's renaissance man. And I was
in Miami, so I'm curiously how that goes. But like
I thought, I loved the odell Era in LA and
I know how much you guys appreciate him.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
Yeah, it was great. He was a big reason where
you know, obviously we're able to get there.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Last couple the big pass to Cooper Cup that Stafford
throws against Tampa and the playoffs, where were you for
that pass? And what'd you think when you guys actually
pulled that off?

Speaker 3 (53:55):
Yeah, it was, first of all, great call by Sean
going tempo in that moment, ball was out of bounds
on the left side on Tampa sideline, and Sean, you know, typically, hey,
out of bounds two minutes real, let's huddle up. Sean
had a feeling.

Speaker 6 (54:10):
We ended up just getting right on the ball, and
so you know, it's well documented as a cover zero.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
Look, I was standing. I always stood kind of even
with the with the ball based like a little bit
behind it, and so you're kind of watching our guys,
You're watching the back end, and you saw it went
to you know, cover zero, and you're like, you know.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
Right away, you guys aren't freaking out like covers like
we have.

Speaker 6 (54:32):
This is Yeah, it was like it was like a
but it happened so fast that you're kind of just
like hoping that you see it right like and you know, yeah,
you know he's gonna see it because he sees everything.
But yeah, that the ball traveling through the air like
once Matthew spotted it, and you know, obviously the trajectory
and the ball that he threw, the ball seemed like
it was in the air for like ten seconds, but

(54:54):
obviously drops in the bucket. But yeah, definitely was a
memory all always you know have and we'll always have
just how that happened. Seeing the juice that Matthew had
after completed that coming to the sideline like he said
some stuff. I was like, you were in a dark
place man, like he was. He was feeling it, and
so it was. It was pretty cool. That locker room

(55:15):
celebration was awesome. But yeah, what unbelievable play by those
two guys in that moment to make that happen was
pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
That rivalry you guys had with the Niners these past
several years, and you go back and forth and then
finally you guys beat him in the playoff game and
then they go back to the Super Bowl and it's
it's heated. Now you're in the NFC South, Is it
strange for you to be like, all right, I need
to kind of readjust and there's now three other teams
that I have to kind of look at and be
like those are our chief rivals or that does that

(55:44):
Niners logo still as we sit here in July just
just rub you wrong.

Speaker 6 (55:49):
No, it's that's not that those games were so physical,
so intense.

Speaker 3 (55:53):
You knew the week leading up, like he was like, man, okay,
balk of your Chintz straps. It's you know, playing the Niners.

Speaker 6 (55:58):
That'll always kind of just just the way that those
guys play football and the way that Kyle.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
Gets those guys going.

Speaker 6 (56:04):
You know, no matter if you're in the division or
out of the division, you always got your eyes on
the Niners. But yeah, it's definitely been different resetting than
seeing this group of guys that feel like, you know
Tampa pretty well, just we played them so many times
in the last handful of years and then played in
New Orleans last year.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
Carolina don't know much about.

Speaker 6 (56:21):
But it's cool because we do have some coaches on
staff that I've been here for the last three years,
so I'm you know, I'm looking at it like, hey,
who's who's fifty nine here, and they're able to kind
of give a little bit of a scoop on on
on different players and so, but yeah, it's different resetting.
You know that you get to know that division so well,
you're there for five years. You know the Cardinals, you

(56:41):
know the Seahawks, you know, you know the the evolving
you know door that's come with the defensive backs for
the Niners, and so learning a new you know, a
new division, is definitely gonna be a little bit different,
but it's also you know, good challenge at the same time.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
Last question, we are now a week really a week
and a half away from stepping in there and giving
the first you know, training camp, team meetings and all that.
As we head towards your first season as an offensive coordinator,
your first season with the Atlanta Falcons, what would be
your message to Falcons fans about the offense that they
can expect.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
Yeah, we're you know, anticipating playing an exciting brand of football.
We want to play fast before the snap, after the snap.
We want to play physical, we want to be aggressive
at all times.

Speaker 6 (57:26):
We want to play with greatergency, we want to mix
the tempo. So hopefully we can put this thing together.
Got a great group of guys to do it. Got
a long way to go, got training camp, and we
got to get just our identity and our foundation really set.
We left the offseason, like I mentioned earlier, in a
great spot. Now we just got to pick it up,
and that level of emergency just got to got to

(57:48):
crank up a little bit. But I can expect, you know,
we're gonna throw the football, We're gonna put the ball
in the air. We're also gonna be able to control
the ball, run the football hopefully. So it should be
an exciting season and we can't wait to get going.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
Should I take b John Robinson first overall in fantasy football?

Speaker 3 (58:04):
Would that be the thing about fans? I hear you me?

Speaker 6 (58:08):
Neither.

Speaker 2 (58:08):
I tried. I tried making a statement that would like
go viral.

Speaker 6 (58:10):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
I don't play fantasy either.

Speaker 3 (58:12):
It was a bad attempt, but I mean probably, I mean,
I don't know why not. He's good.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
Yeah, good Zach Robinson. This was so fun. Thank you
for the hour. I also think we learned a lot.
The PFF stuff is really cool really as we wrap
anything you've taken from those days that you apply today.

Speaker 6 (58:32):
Yeah, there's certain you know, data that you might look
at that you kind of like, you know, you're you're
obviously you know football is football, and you're always going
to learn off the tape, but there are some things
just from a data standpoint that that you can look
at that might that might help you out. But the
way those guys really opened up your mind to looking

(58:53):
at football in a different way, which I think is
always cool. Like nobody's ever going to be stuck. There's
there's not just one way to do it, and so
just seeing kind of their perspective from a you know,
analytical side.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
And some of the siveness, whether it be on fourth
downs or you know.

Speaker 6 (59:09):
Two point whatever it might be. Those things creep in
your mind a little bit knowing what you know the
PFF analytics might say, but you're obviously going to make
those judgments based on different situations and it's not just
a black and white thing. But definitely grateful for those
guys and Neil Hornsby, who founded PFF, was instrumental and

(59:31):
just you know, my development of just watching football and
being able to have the access to everything the PFF had.

Speaker 3 (59:38):
So yeah, definitely taking a lot from those guys for sure.
So cool.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
I'm wishing you so much luck. You've got about fifteen
days or maybe ten days left. Go enjoy two kids
under the age of two and a new home in Atlanta.
Tell your wife she's a rock star. Zach Robinson, thanks
for joining the podcast.

Speaker 3 (59:56):
Man, Thanks, Rake, appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
Awesome. Zach's awesome. I love the storytime element of all that.
And Aaron, I'll bring you back in like that cup
pass that Stafford has. It's not going to go down
as like the David Tyree helmet catch or the Santonio

(01:00:21):
Holmes in the back of the end zone. But to
those guys in that organization, that play is forever, and
for those fans, that one is forever. And I love
how he knows exactly where he was standing the coverage.
How Sean McVeigh instead of you know, taking your time
after you know, an out of bounds play in a
two minute drill, was like, no, no, get to the line.
Like all those details this is now three years removed

(01:00:43):
and they're still crystal clear. For Zach Robinson, I.

Speaker 4 (01:00:46):
Mean that's sports like that that story, him remembering exactly
how he felt on the field seeing the ball, like
him saying like it felt like the ball was in
the air for ten seconds.

Speaker 5 (01:00:57):
I loved that. That was that was incredible.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
Yeah, did you think he danced around the Cousins Penick
stuff or was he pretty much straight? It sounds like
it's not even an issue there. But you know, if
Kirk Cousins starts out oh and two and they there's
two interceptions in both games and Pennix lights up the preseason,
like I have to think there's some fans who are like,
let's see our rookie quarterback. We drafted eighth overall.

Speaker 4 (01:01:17):
I don't know about two games in, but he did
a really good I mean, he said they've tailored everything
to Kirk, which makes me think that they've tailored everything
to Kirk and he's going to be the quarterback. But
he also, like you know, pointed out he loved watching
Penix throw the ball, So there's definitely some optimism and
potential there. I would say it's probably not the rookie

(01:01:40):
quarterback I expect to see first. By any means, Falcons
aren't this like that was the word.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
They're not a sexy pick right now, new coach, new quarterback,
no one knows what to expect. But when you do
lay it out and you list all those offensive players
and you realize that they're bringing a new offensive coach
who just was with McVeigh and has all these different
bells and whistles to them, and they have a new
defensive coach and Rahie Morris and I mean, I'm not
an offensive line guru, but like, I didn't think that

(01:02:07):
their offensive line is the best in the game. The
way he was talking about it is Atlanta the sleeper pick,
Like this is what happens. You talk to these guys
and then you start thinking yourself, like, I know, he's like,
we have a long way to go. He's set in expectations,
but like what if Beejon Robinson's unleashed, and what if
Kyle Pitt stepped up? And what if Drake London played
like a top ten receiver? And what if Kirk Cousins
is like has been like, yes, they can compete in
the NFC.

Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
That division really doesn't need someone to be incredibly sexy
to win too. Like Tampa, you know, just did well.
We've got some turnover there as well. And they I
think like just because they didn't draft the speediest receiver
in the first round this year, or they didn't as
rush yeah, like a huge pass rusher. I do think

(01:02:51):
that people are probably downplaying how good they could be.
But I also think they have we probably have like
take hangover on them that we've been so excited about
the happins every offseason and we are so disappointed all
the time.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
Let's not be suppointed, let's be positive. Let's every team's
winning the Super Bowl. It's July ninth, We're in on
all every team.

Speaker 5 (01:03:12):
And we're all getting invites to next year's White Party.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
No, I'm done. I'm telling you I don't want to go.
I don't want to go. If he invited me, i'd
say no.

Speaker 3 (01:03:20):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:03:20):
I did see the video of Odell like getting dancing
on his way to the car to take him to
the White Party or something that showed up, and.

Speaker 5 (01:03:28):
It's like, that's great.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
It's great so far.

Speaker 5 (01:03:30):
I only know about it through you. Now I have
to admit.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
I know it's good.

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
It's over.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
We got through it, all right with no further ado.
Let's wrap this thing. I like that, no further ado,
Let's wrap. We'll see you next week. The Season with
Peter Schrager, Aaron Wankoffman, thank you, Jason English, thank you,
Tyler Grusso, thank you, and all the folks on the
West Coast who are listening, and US fans and listeners.
It means a lot that you listen. Let's get a

(01:03:55):
couple of viral Instagram videos going from this podcast, and
let's go from there. All right, boys.

Speaker 1 (01:04:07):
The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
NFL and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio.
Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.