February 7, 2024 • 21 mins
Coach Mike Holmgren joins us in studio to take us inside the role of an offensive coordinator in the NFL - what's the difference between coordinating and play-calling? Coach tells us what Bill Belichick is like off the air. Coach takes a listen to what Jaxon Smith-NJigba had to say about Shane Waldron, which is - at best - not a ringing endorsement. Coach sees Mike Macdonald hiring an offensive coordinator who will be the 'head coach of the offense' while Macdonald calls the defense.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Now from the Star Renels Sports tous jord ninety three point three JJRFM sports
headlines. Well, the Seahawks arekeeping their nose to the grind zone when
it comes to their coaching search.The latest report does have them interviewing Chip
Kelly for their offensive coordinator, andwe'll keep you posted as we learn more
as they keep on rounding out thisstaff. The University of Washington officially announcing
(00:22):
Steve Belichick as their defensive coordinator.That was reported earlier this week, they
made it official today. Mariners makinga move today which welcomes another Smith Injigba
to the Pacific Northwest. They claimedjsn's brother Kanaan Off the waivers from off
Wafers from the Pirates. MLB introducesits version of Hard Knocks, announcing a
(00:42):
deal with Netflix and MLB Studios withunprecedented access to follow the twenty twenty four
Red Sox seasons from start to finish, and this will be turned into a
docu series debuting in twenty twenty five. Elsewhere in the NFL, Tom Brady's
surprised Bill Belichick didn't land a headcoaching position this year. Rex Ryan interviewed
with the Cowboys for their vacant defensivecoordinator position, and Andy Reid, asked
(01:07):
about potential retirement during media availability inVegas, says, today is not the
day. And that's a little obviousas he has a big one coming up
on Sunday. Now, let's getto coach. As part of our NonStop
coverage of the NFL. Your homefor the twelfth Man proudly presents former Seahawks
head coach and Super Bowl champion MikeOmgren, brought to you by Toyota of
(01:30):
Kirkland. The championship team in Toyotaof Kirkland does all the little things that
exceed your expectations and that's what makesToyota of Kirkland so special. And by
work and more, the Northwest WorkwareSuperstore. Now Mike Omgren on Sports Radio
ninety three point three KJR FM.Mike Olgron is here. By the way,
we just saw Nick Saban on TVat the Phoenix Waste Manage Waste Management
(01:55):
Open pre It's the Wednesday before thetournament is allegedly supposed to start in Phoenix,
but they've got all kinds of badweather down there. DJA Tour has
had some issues. They've Pebble Beachwas a final round was canceled. They
got some issues with weather down there. I've seen the NBC weather person's been
on more than Randall Shambili, soit's they've got a lot of weather issues.
But we saw Saban down there hittingballs and and just kind of trying
(02:15):
to relax a little bit. Heactually is going back to work in the
fall. Yeah, Mike, he'sgoing back to work. He's gonna work
on college football game be on ESPNas an analyst along with Reece Davis,
Lee Corso, Kirk kerb Street,Desmond Howard, and Pat McAfee. Have
to make a bigger desk along theway or or most people would rather just
see McAfee kick to the kick tothe curb. But he looks like he's
(02:36):
still there. But yeah, save'sgonna do some TV next one that makes
sense. You know those guys lookat apparently needs the money. You know,
he needs the money. Urban Meyer, that's it. That's not the
same group as Urban Meyer. No, he's on Big what is it,
the Big the Fox thing? Yeah, yeah, big Big noon kickoff.
Yeah, so it's uh, giveshim something to do. I always laugh,
guys, guys, like that thatdidn't like the media kind of was
pain in the ass. You know, Chris Peterson got out of football because
(02:59):
everything was too hard. Now,Chris Peters is a great analyst, by
the way, Yes, you asthe real shockers Belichick ever went into that.
Yeah, you know, well couldhe be different, you know,
a different Bill Belichick? Yeah?I do. Like when we see him
on the podium, that's not theguy you talked to. No, it's
not. But when I when Isee him on the podium now as I
(03:20):
have the last few years, youknow, how's everything going? Okay?
Uh do you think you're going todo that? No? You know what
I mean, he's burned out.No, that's just how he does.
Oh he started doing it to youtoo, No, not to me.
Oh yeah that's when he does.Oh yeah yeah, yeah, I got
yeah, we we we've got agood child. You know. Would he
let me ask you this, wouldBelichick if he showed up out at the
Central on a Thursday and I showedup there to see you guys afterwards,
(03:45):
would we be able to enjoy acocktail together? And when would he?
Would he be a guy that youcould sit down with and you know,
you softy me fain would would it? Would he be a part of that?
Sure? Okay, yeah, no, I mean is uh but he
is and has been very control withthe media. Yeah yeah, and that
that hasn't changed at all. Okay, I want to get to some Seahawk
(04:05):
offensive coordinator stuff in a second beforeI do that. Just from a super
Bowl and I know you'll talk superBowl tomorrow and Friday and everything else.
Just I had we had Luke Wilsonearlier. He got he talked about it
from a player perspective. Wednesday,You've had a week and a half off
already, game plans in, everything'sdone, all those What's going on right
(04:28):
now for these guys, these coachesspecifically, well the coaches, Yeah,
you know it's Wednesday. Is aWednesday, like during this season before the
game. So all the things thatyou did back home, game plan and
insert what you're going to do andgo over and over it. Now all
of a sudden, now you're practicinglike you would for a game during the
(04:51):
season. So Wednesday, you know, what is typically a bad day.
You bang around pretty good. Nowyou don't bang around as much near the
end of the season. But that'sa full day Thursday, you're going over
the third downs Friday's red zone shortyardage. So it's it's just like you
would prepare during the season. Ishard at this point to kind of because
(05:13):
you've waited for a while. Itis I think that I've said this before.
You and I probably talked about itthe because it's been two weeks now
to get the guys ready and primedfor Sunday and not Friday, because you've
already gone through a lot of stuff. It's it's a lot of stuff that's
(05:34):
the challenge. That's a challenge.So you have to present it a certain
way. Yeah, you have topractice a certain way, and so the
players have to know that. LikeLuke was saying that, you know,
they got to the New York andand Monday, you know Monday, like
they have that practice Monday, thefamous practice where they're like flying around.
He's like like, we've got this, Like we've got this, Like we
(05:56):
know you won one, you didn'twin the other. Did you feel differently
in any of those three games?About like just from a confidence standpoint,
but because you've looked at every shredof film of the Broncos or the Steelers
or whatever, did you feel differentin of those ears. Uh, I
felt different. I think the Yes, the first first one, I was
(06:18):
a head coach in the I justyou know, it was exciting for all
of us. We were clearly theunderdog. I was asking press conferences,
how do you feel about being theunderdog to ourselves? I said, I
get it, I should be.Yeah, you know parcels Yeah, and
(06:38):
so so our team. But wehad a lot of confidence with the team.
But they played very well. Weplayed a good football game. The
second year, we were a littletoo confident. We looked at Denver on
on film. I wasn't, butthe players were, and I couldn't.
I've told you I couldn't get themto believe it. I could kicked them.
I yelled at him and did everything. And so we didn't play our
(07:00):
best football game, but we losta close one. Yeah. Then in
the Seattle Super Bowl we played better. We played pretty well. I think
everyone believes you're the I mean Isay this in Seattle, you were the
better football team. Yeah. Andso we had a couple of injuries early
in the game that hurt us,really hurt us. And then the officiating
(07:23):
was a lot of been talked aboutthe officiating, sure, but Pittsburgh was
a good football team. They weregood. Yeah, and that was a
that was a Pittsburgh home game.It was because of all the yellow flags
and everything. I will say thisthough about and then when I was a
coordinator with the forty nine ers andwe beat Denver fifty five to ten.
Practice that week, the Thursday practiceI had never had before or since,
(07:51):
I had never had a practice goas well. The ball didn't hit the
ground, everything was perfect, andI I remember, I have I have
a picture in my cabin down inSanta Cruz of walking off the field with
Joe Montana and it looks like I'mtalking to him and he's listening, and
it's a great picture, very simple. But that practice, I told him
(08:13):
hey, and he goes, Ithink we got this. Yeah, it's
amazing. I just I find thatfast the good. Yeah. No,
but I find that fascinating. Likeathletes, No, don't they now,
like you said, the second yearin Green Bay, maybe they a little
too. But but there's difference betweenbe over confident and just knowing, like
the Seahawks will after the game.It wasn't like they waited. Years later,
(08:37):
they all talked about it they knew, they had watched enough film of
the Broncos and the offensive guys hadpracticed against that defense. As Luke said
all year, how miserable that was. Like you imagine being a tight end
You're going against Cam Chanceller every game. I mean, how much fun that
would be. I mean it's like, you know, you know, but
they knew, like they knew.And I'm and I always thought it was
strange because we went to that thatthat media day was Tuesday back in the
(09:00):
day, Tuesday mornings back in theday, the media stuff. And I
remember like the Seahawk players that werejust very calm demeanor. No one was
being no one was you know,a team that all year had said whatever
they wanted to say. They wereall just buttoned down. Yes, yeah,
you know, Denver's a good team. We're gonna do that. They
knew, they absolutely knew. That'swhen you talked about Montana. You have
a practice and you're like, Okay, let's just get to the game because
(09:22):
we're gonna get a ring. Likewe're going to get a ring. I
remember the Denver coaches the next yearwere mad at me because I said something
to John Madden and they were theywere the leading defense in the and they
had the best defense, but theyplayed a covered they played a certain style
of defense, not very complicated,but they were really good at it.
(09:45):
So we developed a plan there totake advantage of that because we had good
players too. And I told John, I said, they're really good.
He broadcasts the game. But Isaid if if and I knew him a
little bit, so I said,if they play this, if they day
in this, we can really wecan really take take advantage of it.
(10:05):
And he said it during the broadcast. You know where we go ahead,
we go ahead, throw a touchdownpass or something. He goes, you
know, Homegren told me and hesaid it. I go gee, oh
my gosh. So you know,I wish he hadn't said that, but
but you know, you get afeeling that's awesome. Mike Hong room with
(10:26):
us. Okay, I want toplay a SoundBite because were gonna talk Seahawks
offensive coordinator a second. But theoutgoing now Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron
in Chicago and Jackson Smith and Jigma, the Seahawks rookie receiver, was on
a radio station right jess Or Radiostation in Chicago. A podcast podcast,
Chicago based, Yeah, Chicago basedpodcast talking about the Bears. Listen to
(10:46):
the question and listen to the especiallythe initial answer from JSN. Bears fans
are super interested about the offensive coordinatorcoming into Shane Waldron. What can you
tell them about who they just hiredto to try to get this offense where
needs to go? This is thisis live, We're not live, we're
(11:07):
not. Good luck to y'all.I mean, he's a he's a great
person, great offense corner. Iwas very lucky to have him my first
year. Learned a lot from him. I think he's gonna I think him
and Justin would mesh well, andyou know, adding more guys around him.
I think it would be great.So we'll see. Do you do
(11:28):
you have any advice that you givethe Justin in that situation, considering that
you know the coach that's coming in. Oh yeah, I mean, I
mean he's gonna love Justin, Soreally just justin b yourself and and go
make plays for That's it again.We need to have the camera in here
on Mike Hongrin because the facial reactionswere priceless. All right, Mike,
(11:50):
can you go ahead and translate thatfor us. I don't. I wouldn't
call it a ringing endorsement. No, I would say so yeah, I
would say that's you know, andthen the delay in his response in the
beginning and then am I live?And then okay, but they he flipped
it pretty good. It's good spin. Yeah he did you. I mentioned
(12:13):
smart guy. That's why I said, that's a veteran one year in the
league, but played at Ohio State, big program. So he he gave.
He gave his initial reaction, whichwas not a reindorsement for Walter.
You know, I know, butyou know what will be interesting to see
And again it's something we've talked aboutyou that you get. Matt, the
(12:35):
head coach in UH in Chicago,was with me in Cleveland. He was
defensive coach in Cleveland, backer coach. Great guy. I want him to
stay after I changed coaches, Iwanted him to stay, but he went
to I think he went to Dallas. But he so he's a defensive guy.
He's a defensive guy. So ifhe hires the offensive coach, how
(12:56):
does the offensive corner how does hehandle that? How quite honestly, how
did Pete handle it? And ifShane, you know, there were times
in the game that I thought therhythm or the play selection, you know,
it was a little bit different towhere you know, but I understand
that everyone's different. But then Petewould go over, I'd see him and
(13:18):
go over and he'd talk to him. Come back. If the head coach
involves himself that way, then you'reyou're opening up the gates a little bit
for some confusion. And so we'llsee, We'll see how it goes.
I don't know, Shane, Yeah, but I think during the season I
had that reaction to some of thegames. Well, okay, I I
(13:39):
had heard this before, and Idon't even I mentioned this in early in
the show, So I don't wantto quote anybody. It could have been
Hugh, it could have been CorbinSmith or maybe Curtis, somebody that's a
little more you know, in tunewith the x's and o's than I am.
I'm I'm the first admit that.That's why I have guys like you
on the show. I can coverthe team and understand what's going on in
the locker room. I'm not theguy who's gonna break down a defense for
(14:00):
it. But I heard this alot that it was Shane Waldron might be
a good offensive coordinator in terms ofgame planning and scheming, but it felt
like a lot of the play callingin game stuff got away from him.
And I'm paraphrasing. I'm throwing thatout there because again, in our world
of sports media and fans, peoplelove to say that their offensive or defensive
(14:20):
coordinator, we all know how tocall plays. I'll be first of I
don't don't know. I have noidea, So I don't know if what
if that's I don't even know ifthat's a thing. Can that be a
thing? You can do a nicejob during the week, but then once
you get into the game, itgets away from me a little bit.
Absolutely, absolutely, because when you'repreparing the game plan and you're looking at
film and you're putting your play sheettogether. I keep in mind on my
(14:43):
playsheet on play sheets other than MikeLeach who had six plays on his playsheet
and a little piece of paper inthe napkin. Yeah, yeah, you
know, I had one hundred andfifty plays on there, right, different
plays, different, all different,and a good offensive game you might call
sixty five plays or seventy plays,and so, but you prepare that because
(15:07):
of what you've seen on film.Now when the game comes, not only
are you excited physically, you're emotional, but you're having to process down in
distance. You're having to process what'sworking and what isn't working. You're having
to process maybe an injury situation,maybe a lot of things. You're you
know, I always equate it withand Hugh was taught. I've talked to
(15:31):
Hugh about this. A quarterback whenhe gets under center, okay, he
looks at the defense and he sees, okay, this is covered whatever cover
two yep, Okay. In onestep, in a half a second,
that thing changes in his mind.He's got to he's got to flip all
this stuff in his mind before hegets back there in another second and a
(15:54):
half to where the progression is goingto change and how he's going to do
it. That's not easy to do. And I would say a single caller,
I had the privilege of doing itmy whole life because I was a
quarterback and I did it my wholelife. It's a challenge, it is.
And I listen, I had gameswhere I wasn't very good. I
(16:15):
did and I come in but Ithat's the first thing I did every Monday
morning is just look at how Idid that right? And why did I
do that? You know, tomake sure it didn't happen again. I
just, you know, the Waldronthing was interesting, and I don't want
to turn this into a Bashian Waldronsession, but I think as you look
ahead, who the next who thenext guy is, Who the next coordinator
(16:36):
is? For the Seahawks. Oneof the things that it feels like this
is going to sound like the mostbasic thing in the world football one on
one, But isn't the job ofthe play caller on offense to make sure
that his best players see the ballas often as possible? And I think
you have to look no further thancan't Stay is different because the receivers aren't
(16:57):
what they used to be. Butin theiggest game of the year, the
AFC Championship Game, they somehow founda way to get Travis Kelsey the ball
early and often, and that hadn'thappened for a while, like he had
had kind of, by his standards, kind of down year. Okay,
but he's our best player, gonnaget the ball. When you watch the
forty nine ers play, do theynot it's McCaffrey. Okay, running back
(17:18):
so easier, But when Deebo's inthe lineup, nineteen sees the ball in
a variety of ways. Ayuk seizedthe ball in a variety of ways.
Kittle sees the ball all the time, like those guys are focal points.
It felt like with Seattle and Ithink this might have been his frustration in
JS ends. How often did youguys do a Monday morning quarterback and say
where was Jackson Smith and Jig?But why didn't see the ball? How
many times has Hugh Millen come onon a Monday with you and said,
(17:41):
coach, why can't fourteen? Whycan't Metcalf get the ball? It felt
like they haven't done a great jobof doing that getting the ball the playmakers
the last couple years, I wouldagree. And then we've talked about that
a lot, and I think toHugh yell lot, he gets pretty fired
up. But that did appeared tohappen. And that's why two things.
(18:06):
I think. You have Dan Quinngoing into Washing Washington. He's hiring an
offensive coordinator, a defensive coordinator defense. Even though Dan's defense, the defense
coordinator is going to call the place. Okay, here McDonald's going to call
the defense. So whoever he hiresas the offensive coordinator, I hope he
(18:27):
gives it to him and then doeshis side during the game. So you
do with Ray another guys that indecordinatorsis absolutely the only thing. Even for
Sherman guys have been forever. I'dinterject if I wanted to free them up
to blitz, they might have agame plan where they're doing this, and
I say, you know, i'dsay listen, I get to say,
(18:48):
you know, go after him,cut it loose, don't don't worry about
it. You take the governor offbasically and say let it do your thing.
Yeah. So that but that's whatI would say. But that was
just because as a head coach,you went into it and saying, Okay,
well, if we blitz Patrick Mahomes, he's you know, his his
quarterback rating or his passer rating againstthe blitz is one hundred and forty five.
So we're not gonna do that.But then you saw something in the
(19:08):
game say absolutely you because he's notgonna go rogue on you. No,
but then you give him But butyeah, your defensive coordinator was truly the
defensive head coach. Yes, andMatt and McDonald his offensive coordinator is going
to be that here because he's callingdefensive plays. Yeah, I trust that'll
be the case. And I thinkin Waldron's case that was probably the case.
(19:33):
Yeah, you know where you know, but things get I lived through
that a little bit in San Francisco. Things get interjected in there and it
goofs you up. It changes yourthinking and as a result, you're not
You're not as good as you couldbe in your particular role. He had
a you know, if I wouldjust say if there's a weakness for Pete,
I think it was the hiring ofthe coordinators over the last few years,
(19:57):
you know, I mean going fromRichard to Norton to Clint Hurt and
then you know, I think ifyou probably look back, I mean,
who knows, Maybe someday he'll sayit. But I wonder if there was
some regret in letting Daryl bevll goright, because you go Bevel to Shoddy,
to McVeigh or to Well McVeigh off, Brown McVeigh Shane Waldron and Waldron
was not Sean McVay, and Schottenheimerwas not his father. Although a decent
(20:22):
offensive corner a good reputation, butprobably a step down from what Bevill was
right, and I think that wasthat was probably a problem. Well that's
why I think that happened at times. Yes, but that's why in McDonald's
case, I think if he's goingto be calling the defense and his thoughts
in the game, that's where hehas to you know, when you go
on offense, obviously he's thinking aboutother things. Like when we went on
(20:45):
defense, I was thinking about wherewe are on the field, time,
all those things, timeouts, allthat kind of stuff. But you know,
I was My focus was calling thegame. If he is going to
call the defense, which he saidhe's going to, then I would suggest
anyone who he hires as the offensivecoordinator, okay, has to come in
(21:07):
if during the interview process and showhim he's ready to just take it over
and almost without losing the job,almost saying let me take it over.
I can do this for you.So it'll be interesting who they hire.
Mike Congrin's in studio will check thetext four nine, four to five one,
(21:29):
and we come back and want toask about Chip Kelly as well and
Ryan Grebb. Those are two guyswho were hearing about quite often, we'll
do that next T
Now from the Star Renels Sports tous jord ninety three point three JJRFM sports
headlines. Well, the Seahawks arekeeping their nose to the grind zone when
it comes to their coaching search.The latest report does have them interviewing Chip
Kelly for their offensive coordinator, andwe'll keep you posted as we learn more
as they keep on rounding out thisstaff. The University of Washington officially announcing
(00:22):
Steve Belichick as their defensive coordinator.That was reported earlier this week, they
made it official today. Mariners makinga move today which welcomes another Smith Injigba
to the Pacific Northwest. They claimedjsn's brother Kanaan Off the waivers from off
Wafers from the Pirates. MLB introducesits version of Hard Knocks, announcing a
(00:42):
deal with Netflix and MLB Studios withunprecedented access to follow the twenty twenty four
Red Sox seasons from start to finish, and this will be turned into a
docu series debuting in twenty twenty five. Elsewhere in the NFL, Tom Brady's
surprised Bill Belichick didn't land a headcoaching position this year. Rex Ryan interviewed
with the Cowboys for their vacant defensivecoordinator position, and Andy Reid, asked
(01:07):
about potential retirement during media availability inVegas, says, today is not the
day. And that's a little obviousas he has a big one coming up
on Sunday. Now, let's getto coach. As part of our NonStop
coverage of the NFL. Your homefor the twelfth Man proudly presents former Seahawks
head coach and Super Bowl champion MikeOmgren, brought to you by Toyota of
(01:30):
Kirkland. The championship team in Toyotaof Kirkland does all the little things that
exceed your expectations and that's what makesToyota of Kirkland so special. And by
work and more, the Northwest WorkwareSuperstore. Now Mike Omgren on Sports Radio
ninety three point three KJR FM.Mike Olgron is here. By the way,
we just saw Nick Saban on TVat the Phoenix Waste Manage Waste Management
(01:55):
Open pre It's the Wednesday before thetournament is allegedly supposed to start in Phoenix,
but they've got all kinds of badweather down there. DJA Tour has
had some issues. They've Pebble Beachwas a final round was canceled. They
got some issues with weather down there. I've seen the NBC weather person's been
on more than Randall Shambili, soit's they've got a lot of weather issues.
But we saw Saban down there hittingballs and and just kind of trying
(02:15):
to relax a little bit. Heactually is going back to work in the
fall. Yeah, Mike, he'sgoing back to work. He's gonna work
on college football game be on ESPNas an analyst along with Reece Davis,
Lee Corso, Kirk kerb Street,Desmond Howard, and Pat McAfee. Have
to make a bigger desk along theway or or most people would rather just
see McAfee kick to the kick tothe curb. But he looks like he's
(02:36):
still there. But yeah, save'sgonna do some TV next one that makes
sense. You know those guys lookat apparently needs the money. You know,
he needs the money. Urban Meyer, that's it. That's not the
same group as Urban Meyer. No, he's on Big what is it,
the Big the Fox thing? Yeah, yeah, big Big noon kickoff.
Yeah, so it's uh, giveshim something to do. I always laugh,
guys, guys, like that thatdidn't like the media kind of was
pain in the ass. You know, Chris Peterson got out of football because
(02:59):
everything was too hard. Now,Chris Peters is a great analyst, by
the way, Yes, you asthe real shockers Belichick ever went into that.
Yeah, you know, well couldhe be different, you know,
a different Bill Belichick? Yeah?I do. Like when we see him
on the podium, that's not theguy you talked to. No, it's
not. But when I when Isee him on the podium now as I
(03:20):
have the last few years, youknow, how's everything going? Okay?
Uh do you think you're going todo that? No? You know what
I mean, he's burned out.No, that's just how he does.
Oh he started doing it to youtoo, No, not to me.
Oh yeah that's when he does.Oh yeah yeah, yeah, I got
yeah, we we we've got agood child. You know. Would he
let me ask you this, wouldBelichick if he showed up out at the
Central on a Thursday and I showedup there to see you guys afterwards,
(03:45):
would we be able to enjoy acocktail together? And when would he?
Would he be a guy that youcould sit down with and you know,
you softy me fain would would it? Would he be a part of that?
Sure? Okay, yeah, no, I mean is uh but he
is and has been very control withthe media. Yeah yeah, and that
that hasn't changed at all. Okay, I want to get to some Seahawk
(04:05):
offensive coordinator stuff in a second beforeI do that. Just from a super
Bowl and I know you'll talk superBowl tomorrow and Friday and everything else.
Just I had we had Luke Wilsonearlier. He got he talked about it
from a player perspective. Wednesday,You've had a week and a half off
already, game plans in, everything'sdone, all those What's going on right
(04:28):
now for these guys, these coachesspecifically, well the coaches, Yeah,
you know it's Wednesday. Is aWednesday, like during this season before the
game. So all the things thatyou did back home, game plan and
insert what you're going to do andgo over and over it. Now all
of a sudden, now you're practicinglike you would for a game during the
(04:51):
season. So Wednesday, you know, what is typically a bad day.
You bang around pretty good. Nowyou don't bang around as much near the
end of the season. But that'sa full day Thursday, you're going over
the third downs Friday's red zone shortyardage. So it's it's just like you
would prepare during the season. Ishard at this point to kind of because
(05:13):
you've waited for a while. Itis I think that I've said this before.
You and I probably talked about itthe because it's been two weeks now
to get the guys ready and primedfor Sunday and not Friday, because you've
already gone through a lot of stuff. It's it's a lot of stuff that's
(05:34):
the challenge. That's a challenge.So you have to present it a certain
way. Yeah, you have topractice a certain way, and so the
players have to know that. LikeLuke was saying that, you know,
they got to the New York andand Monday, you know Monday, like
they have that practice Monday, thefamous practice where they're like flying around.
He's like like, we've got this, Like we've got this, Like we
(05:56):
know you won one, you didn'twin the other. Did you feel differently
in any of those three games?About like just from a confidence standpoint,
but because you've looked at every shredof film of the Broncos or the Steelers
or whatever, did you feel differentin of those ears. Uh, I
felt different. I think the Yes, the first first one, I was
(06:18):
a head coach in the I justyou know, it was exciting for all
of us. We were clearly theunderdog. I was asking press conferences,
how do you feel about being theunderdog to ourselves? I said, I
get it, I should be.Yeah, you know parcels Yeah, and
(06:38):
so so our team. But wehad a lot of confidence with the team.
But they played very well. Weplayed a good football game. The
second year, we were a littletoo confident. We looked at Denver on
on film. I wasn't, butthe players were, and I couldn't.
I've told you I couldn't get themto believe it. I could kicked them.
I yelled at him and did everything. And so we didn't play our
(07:00):
best football game, but we losta close one. Yeah. Then in
the Seattle Super Bowl we played better. We played pretty well. I think
everyone believes you're the I mean Isay this in Seattle, you were the
better football team. Yeah. Andso we had a couple of injuries early
in the game that hurt us,really hurt us. And then the officiating
(07:23):
was a lot of been talked aboutthe officiating, sure, but Pittsburgh was
a good football team. They weregood. Yeah, and that was a
that was a Pittsburgh home game.It was because of all the yellow flags
and everything. I will say thisthough about and then when I was a
coordinator with the forty nine ers andwe beat Denver fifty five to ten.
Practice that week, the Thursday practiceI had never had before or since,
(07:51):
I had never had a practice goas well. The ball didn't hit the
ground, everything was perfect, andI I remember, I have I have
a picture in my cabin down inSanta Cruz of walking off the field with
Joe Montana and it looks like I'mtalking to him and he's listening, and
it's a great picture, very simple. But that practice, I told him
(08:13):
hey, and he goes, Ithink we got this. Yeah, it's
amazing. I just I find thatfast the good. Yeah. No,
but I find that fascinating. Likeathletes, No, don't they now,
like you said, the second yearin Green Bay, maybe they a little
too. But but there's difference betweenbe over confident and just knowing, like
the Seahawks will after the game.It wasn't like they waited. Years later,
(08:37):
they all talked about it they knew, they had watched enough film of
the Broncos and the offensive guys hadpracticed against that defense. As Luke said
all year, how miserable that was. Like you imagine being a tight end
You're going against Cam Chanceller every game. I mean, how much fun that
would be. I mean it's like, you know, you know, but
they knew, like they knew.And I'm and I always thought it was
strange because we went to that thatthat media day was Tuesday back in the
(09:00):
day, Tuesday mornings back in theday, the media stuff. And I
remember like the Seahawk players that werejust very calm demeanor. No one was
being no one was you know,a team that all year had said whatever
they wanted to say. They wereall just buttoned down. Yes, yeah,
you know, Denver's a good team. We're gonna do that. They
knew, they absolutely knew. That'swhen you talked about Montana. You have
a practice and you're like, Okay, let's just get to the game because
(09:22):
we're gonna get a ring. Likewe're going to get a ring. I
remember the Denver coaches the next yearwere mad at me because I said something
to John Madden and they were theywere the leading defense in the and they
had the best defense, but theyplayed a covered they played a certain style
of defense, not very complicated,but they were really good at it.
(09:45):
So we developed a plan there totake advantage of that because we had good
players too. And I told John, I said, they're really good.
He broadcasts the game. But Isaid if if and I knew him a
little bit, so I said,if they play this, if they day
in this, we can really wecan really take take advantage of it.
(10:05):
And he said it during the broadcast. You know where we go ahead,
we go ahead, throw a touchdownpass or something. He goes, you
know, Homegren told me and hesaid it. I go gee, oh
my gosh. So you know,I wish he hadn't said that, but
but you know, you get afeeling that's awesome. Mike Hong room with
(10:26):
us. Okay, I want toplay a SoundBite because were gonna talk Seahawks
offensive coordinator a second. But theoutgoing now Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron
in Chicago and Jackson Smith and Jigma, the Seahawks rookie receiver, was on
a radio station right jess Or Radiostation in Chicago. A podcast podcast,
Chicago based, Yeah, Chicago basedpodcast talking about the Bears. Listen to
(10:46):
the question and listen to the especiallythe initial answer from JSN. Bears fans
are super interested about the offensive coordinatorcoming into Shane Waldron. What can you
tell them about who they just hiredto to try to get this offense where
needs to go? This is thisis live, We're not live, we're
(11:07):
not. Good luck to y'all.I mean, he's a he's a great
person, great offense corner. Iwas very lucky to have him my first
year. Learned a lot from him. I think he's gonna I think him
and Justin would mesh well, andyou know, adding more guys around him.
I think it would be great.So we'll see. Do you do
(11:28):
you have any advice that you givethe Justin in that situation, considering that
you know the coach that's coming in. Oh yeah, I mean, I
mean he's gonna love Justin, Soreally just justin b yourself and and go
make plays for That's it again.We need to have the camera in here
on Mike Hongrin because the facial reactionswere priceless. All right, Mike,
(11:50):
can you go ahead and translate thatfor us. I don't. I wouldn't
call it a ringing endorsement. No, I would say so yeah, I
would say that's you know, andthen the delay in his response in the
beginning and then am I live?And then okay, but they he flipped
it pretty good. It's good spin. Yeah he did you. I mentioned
(12:13):
smart guy. That's why I said, that's a veteran one year in the
league, but played at Ohio State, big program. So he he gave.
He gave his initial reaction, whichwas not a reindorsement for Walter.
You know, I know, butyou know what will be interesting to see
And again it's something we've talked aboutyou that you get. Matt, the
(12:35):
head coach in UH in Chicago,was with me in Cleveland. He was
defensive coach in Cleveland, backer coach. Great guy. I want him to
stay after I changed coaches, Iwanted him to stay, but he went
to I think he went to Dallas. But he so he's a defensive guy.
He's a defensive guy. So ifhe hires the offensive coach, how
(12:56):
does the offensive corner how does hehandle that? How quite honestly, how
did Pete handle it? And ifShane, you know, there were times
in the game that I thought therhythm or the play selection, you know,
it was a little bit different towhere you know, but I understand
that everyone's different. But then Petewould go over, I'd see him and
(13:18):
go over and he'd talk to him. Come back. If the head coach
involves himself that way, then you'reyou're opening up the gates a little bit
for some confusion. And so we'llsee, We'll see how it goes.
I don't know, Shane, Yeah, but I think during the season I
had that reaction to some of thegames. Well, okay, I I
(13:39):
had heard this before, and Idon't even I mentioned this in early in
the show, So I don't wantto quote anybody. It could have been
Hugh, it could have been CorbinSmith or maybe Curtis, somebody that's a
little more you know, in tunewith the x's and o's than I am.
I'm I'm the first admit that.That's why I have guys like you
on the show. I can coverthe team and understand what's going on in
the locker room. I'm not theguy who's gonna break down a defense for
(14:00):
it. But I heard this alot that it was Shane Waldron might be
a good offensive coordinator in terms ofgame planning and scheming, but it felt
like a lot of the play callingin game stuff got away from him.
And I'm paraphrasing. I'm throwing thatout there because again, in our world
of sports media and fans, peoplelove to say that their offensive or defensive
(14:20):
coordinator, we all know how tocall plays. I'll be first of I
don't don't know. I have noidea, So I don't know if what
if that's I don't even know ifthat's a thing. Can that be a
thing? You can do a nicejob during the week, but then once
you get into the game, itgets away from me a little bit.
Absolutely, absolutely, because when you'repreparing the game plan and you're looking at
film and you're putting your play sheettogether. I keep in mind on my
(14:43):
playsheet on play sheets other than MikeLeach who had six plays on his playsheet
and a little piece of paper inthe napkin. Yeah, yeah, you
know, I had one hundred andfifty plays on there, right, different
plays, different, all different,and a good offensive game you might call
sixty five plays or seventy plays,and so, but you prepare that because
(15:07):
of what you've seen on film.Now when the game comes, not only
are you excited physically, you're emotional, but you're having to process down in
distance. You're having to process what'sworking and what isn't working. You're having
to process maybe an injury situation,maybe a lot of things. You're you
know, I always equate it withand Hugh was taught. I've talked to
(15:31):
Hugh about this. A quarterback whenhe gets under center, okay, he
looks at the defense and he sees, okay, this is covered whatever cover
two yep, Okay. In onestep, in a half a second,
that thing changes in his mind.He's got to he's got to flip all
this stuff in his mind before hegets back there in another second and a
(15:54):
half to where the progression is goingto change and how he's going to do
it. That's not easy to do. And I would say a single caller,
I had the privilege of doing itmy whole life because I was a
quarterback and I did it my wholelife. It's a challenge, it is.
And I listen, I had gameswhere I wasn't very good. I
(16:15):
did and I come in but Ithat's the first thing I did every Monday
morning is just look at how Idid that right? And why did I
do that? You know, tomake sure it didn't happen again. I
just, you know, the Waldronthing was interesting, and I don't want
to turn this into a Bashian Waldronsession, but I think as you look
ahead, who the next who thenext guy is, Who the next coordinator
(16:36):
is? For the Seahawks. Oneof the things that it feels like this
is going to sound like the mostbasic thing in the world football one on
one, But isn't the job ofthe play caller on offense to make sure
that his best players see the ballas often as possible? And I think
you have to look no further thancan't Stay is different because the receivers aren't
(16:57):
what they used to be. Butin theiggest game of the year, the
AFC Championship Game, they somehow founda way to get Travis Kelsey the ball
early and often, and that hadn'thappened for a while, like he had
had kind of, by his standards, kind of down year. Okay,
but he's our best player, gonnaget the ball. When you watch the
forty nine ers play, do theynot it's McCaffrey. Okay, running back
(17:18):
so easier, But when Deebo's inthe lineup, nineteen sees the ball in
a variety of ways. Ayuk seizedthe ball in a variety of ways.
Kittle sees the ball all the time, like those guys are focal points.
It felt like with Seattle and Ithink this might have been his frustration in
JS ends. How often did youguys do a Monday morning quarterback and say
where was Jackson Smith and Jig?But why didn't see the ball? How
many times has Hugh Millen come onon a Monday with you and said,
(17:41):
coach, why can't fourteen? Whycan't Metcalf get the ball? It felt
like they haven't done a great jobof doing that getting the ball the playmakers
the last couple years, I wouldagree. And then we've talked about that
a lot, and I think toHugh yell lot, he gets pretty fired
up. But that did appeared tohappen. And that's why two things.
(18:06):
I think. You have Dan Quinngoing into Washing Washington. He's hiring an
offensive coordinator, a defensive coordinator defense. Even though Dan's defense, the defense
coordinator is going to call the place. Okay, here McDonald's going to call
the defense. So whoever he hiresas the offensive coordinator, I hope he
(18:27):
gives it to him and then doeshis side during the game. So you
do with Ray another guys that indecordinatorsis absolutely the only thing. Even for
Sherman guys have been forever. I'dinterject if I wanted to free them up
to blitz, they might have agame plan where they're doing this, and
I say, you know, i'dsay listen, I get to say,
(18:48):
you know, go after him,cut it loose, don't don't worry about
it. You take the governor offbasically and say let it do your thing.
Yeah. So that but that's whatI would say. But that was
just because as a head coach,you went into it and saying, Okay,
well, if we blitz Patrick Mahomes, he's you know, his his
quarterback rating or his passer rating againstthe blitz is one hundred and forty five.
So we're not gonna do that.But then you saw something in the
(19:08):
game say absolutely you because he's notgonna go rogue on you. No,
but then you give him But butyeah, your defensive coordinator was truly the
defensive head coach. Yes, andMatt and McDonald his offensive coordinator is going
to be that here because he's callingdefensive plays. Yeah, I trust that'll
be the case. And I thinkin Waldron's case that was probably the case.
(19:33):
Yeah, you know where you know, but things get I lived through
that a little bit in San Francisco. Things get interjected in there and it
goofs you up. It changes yourthinking and as a result, you're not
You're not as good as you couldbe in your particular role. He had
a you know, if I wouldjust say if there's a weakness for Pete,
I think it was the hiring ofthe coordinators over the last few years,
(19:57):
you know, I mean going fromRichard to Norton to Clint Hurt and
then you know, I think ifyou probably look back, I mean,
who knows, Maybe someday he'll sayit. But I wonder if there was
some regret in letting Daryl bevll goright, because you go Bevel to Shoddy,
to McVeigh or to Well McVeigh off, Brown McVeigh Shane Waldron and Waldron
was not Sean McVay, and Schottenheimerwas not his father. Although a decent
(20:22):
offensive corner a good reputation, butprobably a step down from what Bevill was
right, and I think that wasthat was probably a problem. Well that's
why I think that happened at times. Yes, but that's why in McDonald's
case, I think if he's goingto be calling the defense and his thoughts
in the game, that's where hehas to you know, when you go
on offense, obviously he's thinking aboutother things. Like when we went on
(20:45):
defense, I was thinking about wherewe are on the field, time,
all those things, timeouts, allthat kind of stuff. But you know,
I was My focus was calling thegame. If he is going to
call the defense, which he saidhe's going to, then I would suggest
anyone who he hires as the offensivecoordinator, okay, has to come in
(21:07):
if during the interview process and showhim he's ready to just take it over
and almost without losing the job,almost saying let me take it over.
I can do this for you.So it'll be interesting who they hire.
Mike Congrin's in studio will check thetext four nine, four to five one,
(21:29):
and we come back and want toask about Chip Kelly as well and
Ryan Grebb. Those are two guyswho were hearing about quite often, we'll
do that next T
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