November 11, 2025 • 19 mins
Jeff Genyk joins the show to talk to Shep about the importance of play-calling, and how it can change when a different coach or coordinator takes over duties. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by Heineken zero zero.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Get the facts, be drinkaware, Visit Drinkaware dot i e.
He claims he brought the mullet back, his short shorts
are a bit too short, and he's nowhere to be
found when it's his round.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
There's why Heiniegen zero zero.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
But he's our best mate, and even though he's always
banging on about his dust ninety percent past complesion, there's
no one we'd rather watch the match with. To the
sports that bring us together, Heineken zero zero. So I
hurt my hip at the gym and ended up at
Phi Urgent Care.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
They really took care of me.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
They referred me to one of their physios, and while
working on my core, the physio noticed I was walking
a little oddly, so she refers me to a VHI
podiatrist and he was able to help me correct my gait.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
So yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
It was really great how Vhi was able to connect
all the dots. Vhi, because your health.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Means everything, the responsibilities of coaches and how detailed things
can be, and how just how challenging football in general,
I mean on the offensive side. Because Jeff was a
brilliant offensive mind and the coach now joins us here
in Exis and Bros. Good friend of the program. Outstanding
(01:17):
coach has been at Wisconsin cal Northwestern Eastern Michigan. It's
been around a long long time. He's worked with some
great men and he joins us here in XIS and Bros. Jeff,
We appreciate it as always. Thanks coach. So you and
I have talked in the past, and I know you
were a play caller yourself. When it's taken away like
(01:38):
John Morton had it taken away and Dan Campbell takes over,
what does John Morton do during the week and what
was his responsibility do you think on game day, coach.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, good morning, chef and the happy veterans data all
we to wake up with the Pistons and the Lions
in the first place.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, that's fantastic way to go.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
So, first of all, you know, as far as the
offensive game planning is concerned, you know it's a significant
collaboration of five, seven, eight ten people within the building
they are in Allen Park. And what John is going
to do is he is still going to be responsible
for coordinating all of the play selection, personnel selection, et cetera.
(02:25):
Now the case. You know, a decision was made early
in the week, probably Monday of last week where Dance
that he's going to be more involved, and so the
head coach is going to spend more of his time
in the offensive staff rooms. In the listings, you know,
planning what sort of person we're going to use per
(02:49):
personnel you saw where there was twenty personnel, two running backs,
three wide receivers to use Gibs and Montgomery to get
and so what goes on is the aspect of on Sunday,
you're going to sit down and your staff is going
to break up. So what John's going to do. If
he's going to have an area that he's going to
(03:10):
focus on, it could be third and long task games,
it could be first in ham game, and then they're
all going to split that up and come back together
on Tuesday start to formulate the plan.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
That's really interesting sometimes breaking up a little bit. So
I want to give you a little bit of leeway there.
That's interesting, so that you take a certain down in distance.
Almost Scotty Montgomery's doing that. John Morton's doing that. What
about game day, He's got headsets on, He's up in
the booth Dan Campbell's on the field of play. First,
(03:45):
what's the advantage of being on the field rather than
the booth? Second, what is John Morton doing while Dan
Campbell's calling the plays up in the booth.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
So Dan's on the sideline, he's got the playshooting, And
as we discussed, those situations are all predetermined on Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday and practiced. So it does seem sometimes on fourth
and short at the fifty yard line you're going to
go for it where it's a really stressful call. What
are we going to do well? That's been planned on
(04:17):
Wednesday and Thursday, and so it's a combination of John
the offensive coordinator. He's going to have the best view
from the press box and the view from the sideline
isn't quite as good, so he's going to be able
to share the detail. So you're going to break up
responsibilities for the play caller to help. So, first of all,
(04:37):
someone on the staff is going to tell the play
caller what is the down and distance and what is
the hash because you can't see it on the other
side of the field as good as you can from
the box. So's the first thing that goes on. And
then from there where are we at on the field.
Are we backed up at our own two yard line
or we at the twenty five. It makes a difference
(04:58):
as far as what the defense is going to call,
and then from there, the play caller is going to
decide what sort of personnel we're going to attack with.
But it's again all predetermined. We know that on third
and medium at the fifty yard line, the defense are
going to do these three things. And then from there offensively,
we know that we have our best personnel that is
(05:20):
going to be eleven personnel because you've got the three
wide outs and Sam Laflorida in there, and so it's
already predetermined. So in those down in distances, the staff
will come together on Thursday and Friday and they'll rank
the plays. They'll say, okay, on third, medium or fourth
and short, we have these sixth plays. What do you
guys think should be the first one, second one, third one?
(05:44):
And so it's already predetermining. So that's that big play
sheet that you see coach Campbell with on the sideline.
Looks like a big pizza box, but it's got probably
over two hundred plays on it. But they're all situational.
And then there could be plays where we want to
get the ball to jail. How do we do that?
Here's these three plays, so we know that we get
(06:04):
somebody so explosive the ball and it doesn't just it
just doesn't go by the wayside.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Longtime coach play caller Jeff Jennik joining us here on
Exus and Bros. Given us the perspective of a coach
on what happens when an offensive coordinator no longer is
calling plays and what his responsibilities are. It's a fascinating
in depth look into that mindset and that world. What
did you notice most about Detroit with Dan Campbell calling
(06:32):
the plays compared to the week before, Because it's not
like John Morton had done a bad job against Baltimore
or Cleveland, or Cincinnati or Chicago, but the change was made.
What was the biggest difference from one week to the next.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Do you think, well, certainly, you know John's done a
fantastic job. I mean, the last three games we've averaged
over thirty points, so it's not all of a sudden
it went into the tank. The other thing to think about, too,
is that Washington is the twenty nine it's ranked defense
in the NFL. So we weren't going against the Texans
or the Broncos either, So just keep that in mind
(07:06):
as we're looking at this. I think the biggest difference
when the head coach takes over the play calling is
he doesn't really have to answer anyone. You know. It's
not as if the general manager is going to start
questioning play calling. That's not going to be his role.
So therefore you can maybe just maybe just be a
little bit more risk taking, a little bit less caution
(07:29):
to the win. You don't have to answer, and in
some cases, depending on how involved the head coaches, the
offensive coordinator, you know, feels like I'm going to call
this play and if it goes awry, you know, I'm
going to get a good talking to on the headset.
Now I'm not saying that's the case within Allen Park,
but in many cases in my career, it can almost
(07:50):
be a play to play emotion where the head coach
is going what was that, you know, and then all
of a sudden you start to feel a little less
risk taking, you know, a little bit less going for it.
And so obviously with the head coach calling it that
he can do whatever he wants and then he only
really has to answer to himself and perhaps the media.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
When you're calling plays, what's the balance between they haven't
stopped this yet, I'm going to keep shoving it down
their throat, or I'm going to keep playing making them
adjust to that to I'm going to mix it up,
and I don't want to get too stale and do
the same thing over and over and over again, even
though it's being successful. What's that balance for you?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Well, it's a fine line. It really is a fine line.
That's a great question, because it's very easy to get
into a comfort zone and keep doing the same thing. However,
at the Division one college level and the NFL level,
there is so much videotape exchange and it's so accessible
really to all the coaches. So when you have your
(08:51):
offensive package, the reason it has to be so multiple,
with different personnel groups, many many different formations, shifts and
motions is because you've got to keep that defensive coordinator
and that defensive staff of the opponent off balance. And
so it's a fine line. It's easy to get into
a pumpert and say, well this work, this work, But
(09:13):
usually at the NFL level, they're going to be able
to make adjustments and you're going to not get away
with much, especially now for a long time in the NFL,
the iPads are available, so now players and coaches when
they're on the sideline, they're actually seeing almost in real
time what just happened. And it's not like we're going
(09:33):
to have to figure it out out of Monday or
in college on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
We know, what have you noticed as being that the
biggest change in football during your coaching tenure? And I
know you've been with some great coaches, including Pat Fitzgerald,
who should be back at the collegiate game sometime soon.
I think he's a phenomenal coach. But what's been the
biggest change because I've seen a lot of more, a
lot more you know, twelve per thirteen personnel with tight ends.
(10:03):
What would how would you answer that?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Well? I think, first of all, you know, if you
go back twenty twenty five years, it's the aspect where
so many people are in the shotgun as quarterback, giving
the quarterback a better view, being able to still really
have a good run game out of the gun. And
then the tempo aspect of going fast. You know, it's
probably faded away a little bit recently, but going fast
(10:26):
and getting more plays in so more plays equals potentially
more more points. But yes, definitely, I feel like the
advent of how good the tight ends are and how
many you can have. You know, we saw just a
couple of weeks ago the Rams come out and they
primarily a fourteen personnel team. But what's that? What's four
(10:46):
tight ends in the game? And so all of a sudden,
when you shift those pieces around those tight ends, as
they move from one side to the other side of
the formation, they create an extra gap to defend. And
if you put two of them and start shifting two
and three, you then add extra gaps. And obviously most
of those tight ends were roughly six four to sixty
(11:07):
six two hundred and fifty pounds. They're able to block
almost any safety or corner out of the way and
be able to hold their own against a lot of
linebackers and defense events. So I think that that's pretty perceptive,
and I think that that is something that's really changed
the game a little bit.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Longtime coach, a long time play caller, Jeff Jenik joining
is here on Exers and Bros. To give us this
coaching perspective.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Do you give your.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Quarterback more than one play on every play. How does
it work with them in the huddle, getting to the
line of scrimmage and oftentimes either touching their helmet yelling kill.
How does that relationship and dynamic.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Works really helpful for the offense because now it gives
a play caller the latitude to really call two plays
at one time, sometimes three plays at one time, and
all the players note, we have play a on and
if we use are go to a different color or
a signal, it's going to change that play. It really
(12:07):
is up to the play caller and how much the
quarterback can handle. You know, the young quarterbacks in the league,
especially if you come from like an air raid offense
and all of a sudden you're put into the post
build walls type style offense where it's very worthy and
the play calls can be eight to ten to twelve
words in a play call. It depends on how much
(12:29):
they can handle, because even though you might want to
get in the exact right play, sometimes you can confuse yourself.
You saw the Bikers have eight fallse starts. Well, that
was at home, and that's a situation where maybe there
was just too much in the game plan. They just
couldn't handle it.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
All when they break the huddle. As a play caller,
what's the ideal number on the play clock for them
to be able to make the changes they need to make.
How quickly do you have to get it in?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
I'd say right around on fifteen seconds. I think that
because the communication from the coach to the quarterback and
it's fifteen seconds left on the forty second clock, you
still have enough time to identify what the defense is doing,
get them sets. The quarterbacks obviously seeing that, but so
is the offensive line. Everybody is really perceptive of what
(13:21):
the defense is doing, and then allow it to unfold.
Because you know those timeouts, especially in the second half,
they're like goals. You just don't want to use them
for some play call issue. And so really I think
fifteen to that twelve second mark you start changing plays,
et cetera. So you can snap the ball in between
three and five seconds or.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
May How far ahead are you looking on your play sheet, like,
are you even noticing if a play works or are
you immediately thinking what's next or what's next in the
three plays ahead, four plays ahead? How far in advance
are you thinking about it?
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Well? Keep in mind now you have your whole offensive
staff helping you. So as I said, the offensive coordinator
could be telling the head coach heydt dist etc. But
then somebody else is looking at on first down, what
has the front and the coverage been of the opponent,
what's the trend there on first un hey on second?
(14:16):
In short, they've done this and this, so you are
looking forward, but you're using the information of what they've
presented in the first quarter and how they're defending certain
personnel groups and certain formations to know exactly how to
change it up. And if you look at what the
vikings do, you know they're coming aftus so much. You know,
(14:36):
it really makes it almost simpler because you know that
they're bringing five and six guys every single time. So
you want to really be able to analyze what the
defense is doing to your personnel, to your down in
distance play call and then if it's successful. But it
also is how are you playing and how is the
health of your team. You might have a package anyway
(14:56):
you want to use three tight ends, you lose one.
Now that's out. The same thing with two running backs
or three wide houps. How's the healthier team and how
does that pertain to what you want call coach?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
What's the biggest misconception about football? Do you think? I've
said for a long time, as much as we all
love it, and we even played it at the high
school level, we think we know. It's probably the one
sport we think we know, but we really don't. What's
the biggest misconception?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Well, I just think that the amount of time that
the common fan thinks said is put in, you can
almost double it in your mind. I mean people kind
of joke around, Oh, I work one hundred hours a
week or I had a ninety hour week. Well that's
really the reality. In the NFL or in Division one
college football, you are working into that eighty ninety one
(15:46):
hundred hours a week because you have so much detail
to do. And I think that the level of complexity
and the adjustments that are made in game are so
significant and they're really hard to see unless you're able
to rewind the tape and understand what your philosophy is offense,
defense or special teams.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
The last thing I would say, we always hear about
second half adjustments, which I sometimes laugh at because I
think you're always making adjustments. What's halftime, like when you
have a short period of time.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Well you have, as we know, twenty minutes, and so
immediately when you go into the locker room, it's chaos
because you know, people need to adjust their equipment, their
tape job, people need to go to the restroom, so
on and so forth. So immediately when you get in,
you want your special team coordinator to hit the ground
(16:39):
immediately running, so that the offensive staff is going to
go into a room and they're going to talk for
about five minutes what we like in the second half,
what we don't like, what are our injury adjustments, et cetera.
Both offensive defensive staffs do that immediately special point coordinator grabs, Okay,
we had a problem with the punt, we had a
problem with the kickoff return. Let's go over or that
(17:00):
on a grease sport, or let's look at that on
the iPad. And then from there was about thirteen minutes
left in the half, you'll basically have an offense and
defensive meeting of one side of the locker room will
be the defense and the defensive coordinator and coaches, and
then the offense. So you'll do that from about fourteen
minutes left to about Hey, this is working, this is
(17:22):
what they're doing, we have to do this, et cetera.
And then from about eleven about seven minutes remaining in halftime,
you have like a position meeting that all the ends
with the tight end coach, the running backs do with
the right or the running backs coach, and you have
a little position meeting. Okay, you know we are not
doing a good job on this particular double team block.
We've got to be lower. You talk about fundamentals, talk
(17:44):
about execution, talk about what they're doing, and you'll get
some through feedback from your players. Hey, I can't handle
this guy. This guy, I can't lock him. I need help,
And so you'll get some honest communication so that you
can make the adjustments. And then it was about six
minutes left. The head coach will I have maybe a
thirty second message about what we need to do on
the first possession, and then you're out warming up with
(18:05):
five months left.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Fascinating stuff, insightful, incredibly well done. Thank you, coach. Always
appreciate it. Expect to see you back on the sidelines
very very soon at some program they'll be lucky to
have you. Thanks for the time today. I always enjoy
the conversation all right.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Thanks so much to all my friends at catalang a
ticket where I listen to chef every morning. Appreciate that time, Matt.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I appreciate that very much. That's awesome. Appreciate it, Coach.
Good to have you brought to you by Heineken zero zero.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Get the facts. Be drink aware?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Is it drink aware?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Dot a e?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
He claims he brought the mulletback is short, shorts are
a bit too short, and he's nowhere to be found
when it's his round.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
There's one Hoinikan zero zero book.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
He's our best mate. And even though he's always banging
on about dust ninety.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Percent past a LESIONI.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
There's no one we'd rather watch. The monchment you to
the sports that bring us together. Zero zero
Brought to you by Heineken zero zero.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Get the facts, be drinkaware, Visit Drinkaware dot i e.
He claims he brought the mullet back, his short shorts
are a bit too short, and he's nowhere to be
found when it's his round.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
There's why Heiniegen zero zero.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
But he's our best mate, and even though he's always
banging on about his dust ninety percent past complesion, there's
no one we'd rather watch the match with. To the
sports that bring us together, Heineken zero zero. So I
hurt my hip at the gym and ended up at
Phi Urgent Care.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
They really took care of me.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
They referred me to one of their physios, and while
working on my core, the physio noticed I was walking
a little oddly, so she refers me to a VHI
podiatrist and he was able to help me correct my gait.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
So yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
It was really great how Vhi was able to connect
all the dots. Vhi, because your health.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Means everything, the responsibilities of coaches and how detailed things
can be, and how just how challenging football in general,
I mean on the offensive side. Because Jeff was a
brilliant offensive mind and the coach now joins us here
in Exis and Bros. Good friend of the program. Outstanding
(01:17):
coach has been at Wisconsin cal Northwestern Eastern Michigan. It's
been around a long long time. He's worked with some
great men and he joins us here in XIS and Bros. Jeff,
We appreciate it as always. Thanks coach. So you and
I have talked in the past, and I know you
were a play caller yourself. When it's taken away like
(01:38):
John Morton had it taken away and Dan Campbell takes over,
what does John Morton do during the week and what
was his responsibility do you think on game day, coach.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, good morning, chef and the happy veterans data all
we to wake up with the Pistons and the Lions
in the first place.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, that's fantastic way to go.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
So, first of all, you know, as far as the
offensive game planning is concerned, you know it's a significant
collaboration of five, seven, eight ten people within the building
they are in Allen Park. And what John is going
to do is he is still going to be responsible
for coordinating all of the play selection, personnel selection, et cetera.
(02:25):
Now the case. You know, a decision was made early
in the week, probably Monday of last week where Dance
that he's going to be more involved, and so the
head coach is going to spend more of his time
in the offensive staff rooms. In the listings, you know,
planning what sort of person we're going to use per
(02:49):
personnel you saw where there was twenty personnel, two running backs,
three wide receivers to use Gibs and Montgomery to get
and so what goes on is the aspect of on Sunday,
you're going to sit down and your staff is going
to break up. So what John's going to do. If
he's going to have an area that he's going to
(03:10):
focus on, it could be third and long task games,
it could be first in ham game, and then they're
all going to split that up and come back together
on Tuesday start to formulate the plan.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
That's really interesting sometimes breaking up a little bit. So
I want to give you a little bit of leeway there.
That's interesting, so that you take a certain down in distance.
Almost Scotty Montgomery's doing that. John Morton's doing that. What
about game day, He's got headsets on, He's up in
the booth Dan Campbell's on the field of play. First,
(03:45):
what's the advantage of being on the field rather than
the booth? Second, what is John Morton doing while Dan
Campbell's calling the plays up in the booth.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
So Dan's on the sideline, he's got the playshooting, And
as we discussed, those situations are all predetermined on Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday and practiced. So it does seem sometimes on fourth
and short at the fifty yard line you're going to
go for it where it's a really stressful call. What
are we going to do well? That's been planned on
(04:17):
Wednesday and Thursday, and so it's a combination of John
the offensive coordinator. He's going to have the best view
from the press box and the view from the sideline
isn't quite as good, so he's going to be able
to share the detail. So you're going to break up
responsibilities for the play caller to help. So, first of all,
(04:37):
someone on the staff is going to tell the play
caller what is the down and distance and what is
the hash because you can't see it on the other
side of the field as good as you can from
the box. So's the first thing that goes on. And
then from there where are we at on the field.
Are we backed up at our own two yard line
or we at the twenty five. It makes a difference
(04:58):
as far as what the defense is going to call,
and then from there, the play caller is going to
decide what sort of personnel we're going to attack with.
But it's again all predetermined. We know that on third
and medium at the fifty yard line, the defense are
going to do these three things. And then from there offensively,
we know that we have our best personnel that is
(05:20):
going to be eleven personnel because you've got the three
wide outs and Sam Laflorida in there, and so it's
already predetermined. So in those down in distances, the staff
will come together on Thursday and Friday and they'll rank
the plays. They'll say, okay, on third, medium or fourth
and short, we have these sixth plays. What do you
guys think should be the first one, second one, third one?
(05:44):
And so it's already predetermining. So that's that big play
sheet that you see coach Campbell with on the sideline.
Looks like a big pizza box, but it's got probably
over two hundred plays on it. But they're all situational.
And then there could be plays where we want to
get the ball to jail. How do we do that?
Here's these three plays, so we know that we get
(06:04):
somebody so explosive the ball and it doesn't just it
just doesn't go by the wayside.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Longtime coach play caller Jeff Jennik joining us here on
Exus and Bros. Given us the perspective of a coach
on what happens when an offensive coordinator no longer is
calling plays and what his responsibilities are. It's a fascinating
in depth look into that mindset and that world. What
did you notice most about Detroit with Dan Campbell calling
(06:32):
the plays compared to the week before, Because it's not
like John Morton had done a bad job against Baltimore
or Cleveland, or Cincinnati or Chicago, but the change was made.
What was the biggest difference from one week to the next.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Do you think, well, certainly, you know John's done a
fantastic job. I mean, the last three games we've averaged
over thirty points, so it's not all of a sudden
it went into the tank. The other thing to think about, too,
is that Washington is the twenty nine it's ranked defense
in the NFL. So we weren't going against the Texans
or the Broncos either, So just keep that in mind
(07:06):
as we're looking at this. I think the biggest difference
when the head coach takes over the play calling is
he doesn't really have to answer anyone. You know. It's
not as if the general manager is going to start
questioning play calling. That's not going to be his role.
So therefore you can maybe just maybe just be a
little bit more risk taking, a little bit less caution
(07:29):
to the win. You don't have to answer, and in
some cases, depending on how involved the head coaches, the
offensive coordinator, you know, feels like I'm going to call
this play and if it goes awry, you know, I'm
going to get a good talking to on the headset.
Now I'm not saying that's the case within Allen Park,
but in many cases in my career, it can almost
(07:50):
be a play to play emotion where the head coach
is going what was that, you know, and then all
of a sudden you start to feel a little less
risk taking, you know, a little bit less going for it.
And so obviously with the head coach calling it that
he can do whatever he wants and then he only
really has to answer to himself and perhaps the media.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
When you're calling plays, what's the balance between they haven't
stopped this yet, I'm going to keep shoving it down
their throat, or I'm going to keep playing making them
adjust to that to I'm going to mix it up,
and I don't want to get too stale and do
the same thing over and over and over again, even
though it's being successful. What's that balance for you?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Well, it's a fine line. It really is a fine line.
That's a great question, because it's very easy to get
into a comfort zone and keep doing the same thing. However,
at the Division one college level and the NFL level,
there is so much videotape exchange and it's so accessible
really to all the coaches. So when you have your
(08:51):
offensive package, the reason it has to be so multiple,
with different personnel groups, many many different formations, shifts and
motions is because you've got to keep that defensive coordinator
and that defensive staff of the opponent off balance. And
so it's a fine line. It's easy to get into
a pumpert and say, well this work, this work, But
(09:13):
usually at the NFL level, they're going to be able
to make adjustments and you're going to not get away
with much, especially now for a long time in the NFL,
the iPads are available, so now players and coaches when
they're on the sideline, they're actually seeing almost in real
time what just happened. And it's not like we're going
(09:33):
to have to figure it out out of Monday or
in college on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
We know, what have you noticed as being that the
biggest change in football during your coaching tenure? And I
know you've been with some great coaches, including Pat Fitzgerald,
who should be back at the collegiate game sometime soon.
I think he's a phenomenal coach. But what's been the
biggest change because I've seen a lot of more, a
lot more you know, twelve per thirteen personnel with tight ends.
(10:03):
What would how would you answer that?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Well? I think, first of all, you know, if you
go back twenty twenty five years, it's the aspect where
so many people are in the shotgun as quarterback, giving
the quarterback a better view, being able to still really
have a good run game out of the gun. And
then the tempo aspect of going fast. You know, it's
probably faded away a little bit recently, but going fast
(10:26):
and getting more plays in so more plays equals potentially
more more points. But yes, definitely, I feel like the
advent of how good the tight ends are and how
many you can have. You know, we saw just a
couple of weeks ago the Rams come out and they
primarily a fourteen personnel team. But what's that? What's four
(10:46):
tight ends in the game? And so all of a sudden,
when you shift those pieces around those tight ends, as
they move from one side to the other side of
the formation, they create an extra gap to defend. And
if you put two of them and start shifting two
and three, you then add extra gaps. And obviously most
of those tight ends were roughly six four to sixty
(11:07):
six two hundred and fifty pounds. They're able to block
almost any safety or corner out of the way and
be able to hold their own against a lot of
linebackers and defense events. So I think that that's pretty perceptive,
and I think that that is something that's really changed
the game a little bit.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Longtime coach, a long time play caller, Jeff Jenik joining
is here on Exers and Bros. To give us this
coaching perspective.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Do you give your.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Quarterback more than one play on every play. How does
it work with them in the huddle, getting to the
line of scrimmage and oftentimes either touching their helmet yelling kill.
How does that relationship and dynamic.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Works really helpful for the offense because now it gives
a play caller the latitude to really call two plays
at one time, sometimes three plays at one time, and
all the players note, we have play a on and
if we use are go to a different color or
a signal, it's going to change that play. It really
(12:07):
is up to the play caller and how much the
quarterback can handle. You know, the young quarterbacks in the league,
especially if you come from like an air raid offense
and all of a sudden you're put into the post
build walls type style offense where it's very worthy and
the play calls can be eight to ten to twelve
words in a play call. It depends on how much
(12:29):
they can handle, because even though you might want to
get in the exact right play, sometimes you can confuse yourself.
You saw the Bikers have eight fallse starts. Well, that
was at home, and that's a situation where maybe there
was just too much in the game plan. They just
couldn't handle it.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
All when they break the huddle. As a play caller,
what's the ideal number on the play clock for them
to be able to make the changes they need to make.
How quickly do you have to get it in?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
I'd say right around on fifteen seconds. I think that
because the communication from the coach to the quarterback and
it's fifteen seconds left on the forty second clock, you
still have enough time to identify what the defense is doing,
get them sets. The quarterbacks obviously seeing that, but so
is the offensive line. Everybody is really perceptive of what
(13:21):
the defense is doing, and then allow it to unfold.
Because you know those timeouts, especially in the second half,
they're like goals. You just don't want to use them
for some play call issue. And so really I think
fifteen to that twelve second mark you start changing plays,
et cetera. So you can snap the ball in between
three and five seconds or.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
May How far ahead are you looking on your play sheet, like,
are you even noticing if a play works or are
you immediately thinking what's next or what's next in the
three plays ahead, four plays ahead? How far in advance
are you thinking about it?
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Well? Keep in mind now you have your whole offensive
staff helping you. So as I said, the offensive coordinator
could be telling the head coach heydt dist etc. But
then somebody else is looking at on first down, what
has the front and the coverage been of the opponent,
what's the trend there on first un hey on second?
(14:16):
In short, they've done this and this, so you are
looking forward, but you're using the information of what they've
presented in the first quarter and how they're defending certain
personnel groups and certain formations to know exactly how to
change it up. And if you look at what the
vikings do, you know they're coming aftus so much. You know,
(14:36):
it really makes it almost simpler because you know that
they're bringing five and six guys every single time. So
you want to really be able to analyze what the
defense is doing to your personnel, to your down in
distance play call and then if it's successful. But it
also is how are you playing and how is the
health of your team. You might have a package anyway
(14:56):
you want to use three tight ends, you lose one.
Now that's out. The same thing with two running backs
or three wide houps. How's the healthier team and how
does that pertain to what you want call coach?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
What's the biggest misconception about football? Do you think? I've
said for a long time, as much as we all
love it, and we even played it at the high
school level, we think we know. It's probably the one
sport we think we know, but we really don't. What's
the biggest misconception?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Well, I just think that the amount of time that
the common fan thinks said is put in, you can
almost double it in your mind. I mean people kind
of joke around, Oh, I work one hundred hours a
week or I had a ninety hour week. Well that's
really the reality. In the NFL or in Division one
college football, you are working into that eighty ninety one
(15:46):
hundred hours a week because you have so much detail
to do. And I think that the level of complexity
and the adjustments that are made in game are so
significant and they're really hard to see unless you're able
to rewind the tape and understand what your philosophy is offense,
defense or special teams.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
The last thing I would say, we always hear about
second half adjustments, which I sometimes laugh at because I
think you're always making adjustments. What's halftime, like when you
have a short period of time.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Well you have, as we know, twenty minutes, and so
immediately when you go into the locker room, it's chaos
because you know, people need to adjust their equipment, their
tape job, people need to go to the restroom, so
on and so forth. So immediately when you get in,
you want your special team coordinator to hit the ground
(16:39):
immediately running, so that the offensive staff is going to
go into a room and they're going to talk for
about five minutes what we like in the second half,
what we don't like, what are our injury adjustments, et cetera.
Both offensive defensive staffs do that immediately special point coordinator grabs, Okay,
we had a problem with the punt, we had a
problem with the kickoff return. Let's go over or that
(17:00):
on a grease sport, or let's look at that on
the iPad. And then from there was about thirteen minutes
left in the half, you'll basically have an offense and
defensive meeting of one side of the locker room will
be the defense and the defensive coordinator and coaches, and
then the offense. So you'll do that from about fourteen
minutes left to about Hey, this is working, this is
(17:22):
what they're doing, we have to do this, et cetera.
And then from about eleven about seven minutes remaining in halftime,
you have like a position meeting that all the ends
with the tight end coach, the running backs do with
the right or the running backs coach, and you have
a little position meeting. Okay, you know we are not
doing a good job on this particular double team block.
We've got to be lower. You talk about fundamentals, talk
(17:44):
about execution, talk about what they're doing, and you'll get
some through feedback from your players. Hey, I can't handle
this guy. This guy, I can't lock him. I need help,
And so you'll get some honest communication so that you
can make the adjustments. And then it was about six
minutes left. The head coach will I have maybe a
thirty second message about what we need to do on
the first possession, and then you're out warming up with
(18:05):
five months left.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Fascinating stuff, insightful, incredibly well done. Thank you, coach. Always
appreciate it. Expect to see you back on the sidelines
very very soon at some program they'll be lucky to
have you. Thanks for the time today. I always enjoy
the conversation all right.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Thanks so much to all my friends at catalang a
ticket where I listen to chef every morning. Appreciate that time, Matt.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I appreciate that very much. That's awesome. Appreciate it, Coach.
Good to have you brought to you by Heineken zero zero.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Get the facts. Be drink aware?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Is it drink aware?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Dot a e?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
He claims he brought the mulletback is short, shorts are
a bit too short, and he's nowhere to be found
when it's his round.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
There's one Hoinikan zero zero book.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
He's our best mate. And even though he's always banging
on about dust ninety.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Percent past a LESIONI.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
There's no one we'd rather watch. The monchment you to
the sports that bring us together. Zero zero
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