Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of Tap Pens Babo Shoes
Speaker 1: at Scott Pioli Dan Orlovski is so glad that you
Speaker 1: can be with us to talk football with two of
Speaker 1: the best. Scott Pioli, of course, longtime general manager, breaks
Speaker 1: down the xers and os with that personnel bent and
Speaker 1: Dan Orlovsky. You always see him on ESPN, my college
Speaker 1: football partner as well, in front of the tellustrator breaking
Speaker 1: down film. That's what we do. We get behind the
Speaker 1: exers and osk here on ta peds and talk football
Speaker 1: and guys. As far as I know, I think Matt
Speaker 1: Maggie is still the head coach the Chicago Bears. Dan
Speaker 1: should he be? There's the jumping off point. If there's
Speaker 1: a Bears fan out there, they want us to try
Speaker 1: and solve their problems with Justin Fields at quarterback. Can
Speaker 1: we are these solvable problems? I mean they're solvable problems
Speaker 1: with different people running the operation and stewarding his development. Yes,
Speaker 1: I said after the game, I don't think that Matt
Speaker 1: Maggie should be the head coach anymore, and I would be.
Speaker 1: I would argue with anybody till the day goes dark.
Speaker 1: Give me reasons why give me reasons why? So to
Speaker 1: the football game, Justin Fields through twenty passes. Thirteen of
Speaker 1: those passes were in five man protection with not a
Speaker 1: single help to anyone on their offensive line. I don't
Speaker 1: care who you are. That's not smart against the Browns.
Speaker 1: Go watch the Houston Texans game the week before. They
Speaker 1: shipped Miles Garrett almost every play. Let me know what
Speaker 1: Myles Garrett did in that game. So that's issue number one.
Speaker 1: They didn't move Justin Fields and athletic quarterback that's got
Speaker 1: dynamic playmaking ability, big, strong, powerful and fast. They didn't
Speaker 1: move into the middle of the second quarter outside the pocket.
Speaker 1: That's that's coaching mal practice. They moved them three times
Speaker 1: total in the game outside the pocket. That's coaching malpractice. Um.
Speaker 1: They went max max protection, uh, with seven men in protection.
Speaker 1: One time. They had three snaps under center. Justin Fields
Speaker 1: spent the majority of his college career under center. They
Speaker 1: didn't use a single play action pass from under center.
Speaker 1: They ran one snap with motion one. It's so my
Speaker 1: thing is, you had a hundred and forty hundred and
Speaker 1: forty nine days since the moment that you made the
Speaker 1: decision to take those picks, trade up and go get
Speaker 1: him a hundred and forty nine days to start building
Speaker 1: cultivating this game plan that was gonna be different because
Speaker 1: the player's skills are different, and you did nothing. And
Speaker 1: so my my opinion on it, my thought on it
Speaker 1: is you're one of two things. You Either did it
Speaker 1: intentionally to try and prove a point, and I know
Speaker 1: what that is. When I say those words out loud,
Speaker 1: I hope that's that's not the case, or you are
Speaker 1: incapable of doing it. And if that's the case, how
Speaker 1: can you remain in that position? You didn't do it
Speaker 1: with Mitter Drabinski. You've had a hundred and forty nine
Speaker 1: days and you didn't do it with Justin. What makes
Speaker 1: me think you'll do it by next weekend or the
Speaker 1: following week gend or the following weekend. I just it
Speaker 1: was an incredibly terrible game plan. Dan. I wish we
Speaker 1: all had our the listeners had viewing ability to watch
Speaker 1: you right now. Um, I M a little bit. The
Speaker 1: way you're grabbing your head. I thought it was gonna explode,
Speaker 1: But um, you know, here here's the thing. And I'm
Speaker 1: not going to get into people getting fired or whether
Speaker 1: they should be or shouldn't be. But here's I'm not
Speaker 1: a coach, but here's what I do know from a
Speaker 1: little bit of coaching that I did. You know, I
Speaker 1: was and working in front offices, UM there are way
Speaker 1: different ways to protect the quarterback. And I was really
Speaker 1: spoiled over throughout my career. You know, when I started
Speaker 1: as a graduate assistant coach, George di Leone was the
Speaker 1: offensive line coach and UM offensive coordinator at Syracuse, and
Speaker 1: back then we ran what was called the freeze option,
Speaker 1: and the freeze option is not too dissimilar from what
Speaker 1: we see now, which is r P O S and
Speaker 1: off of the freeze option, there are a couple of
Speaker 1: play action passes, but it was the detail of the
Speaker 1: play fakes and the first two steps of the offensive
Speaker 1: line that were critical. And then later throughout my career
Speaker 1: got a chance to work, you know, with Kirk Ferrence,
Speaker 1: with Pat Hill, who went on to become the head
Speaker 1: coach Frezo State, fantastic offensive line coach Bill Murra who
Speaker 1: was a great offensive line coach, and then of course
Speaker 1: the great Dante Scarneck. You So, I got really spoiled
Speaker 1: because these coaches, the offensive line coaches and or coordinators
Speaker 1: were all aware of the strengths and limitations of the players.
Speaker 1: They love their guys, right, they love their offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: but they were acutely aware of the strengths and limitations,
Speaker 1: and they would make sure that the coordinators would do
Speaker 1: different things to help with the protection, and that help
Speaker 1: would come by virtue of play calling, play action, the
Speaker 1: use of screens and draws. Right, we all know about chips,
Speaker 1: you know you can do, but the use of screens
Speaker 1: and draws. You know, one way to possibly slow down
Speaker 1: a defensive line charge is to make the defense hesitate
Speaker 1: for one split second to get them tired, get them
Speaker 1: chasing up field, and then screen him, get him chasing
Speaker 1: up field, and then go draw. And if you can
Speaker 1: get that split second and good play action, that can
Speaker 1: be the difference between not only a sack, but also
Speaker 1: that split second for a receiver to create some sort
Speaker 1: of separation for a ball to get in. So there's
Speaker 1: so many different ways, you know, we can't just say
Speaker 1: it's the offensive line is awful. Um it doesn't look
Speaker 1: very good, but you've got to find ways. Also, again,
Speaker 1: you accentuate the positive and limit the limitations through play calling,
Speaker 1: through formations, through setting things up and Scott that's like,
Speaker 1: that's my sticking point of this whole situation is if you,
Speaker 1: as a coach, are gonna sit there and say or imply,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to put him out there
Speaker 1: because he's not totally ready just yet. I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1: I get that. No rookies ready most second quarter your
Speaker 1: quarterbacks are. It's hard, it's a hard position. Then you
Speaker 1: better not to ask him one single time to do
Speaker 1: the things that you believe he's not ready to do.
Speaker 1: You know, if Justin Fields had gone out in that
Speaker 1: game and stunk it up, but they went with eight
Speaker 1: quarterback runs and they did twelve bootlegs, and they ran
Speaker 1: five screen passes and a couple of quick games and
Speaker 1: they stunk. At least I can sit there and say,
Speaker 1: all right, Justin Fields was he's not ready to go
Speaker 1: operate that stuff yet. This offense is still too lacking
Speaker 1: in talent. And I gotta give credit to Matt Naggie
Speaker 1: because he tried, he gave, he did is all he
Speaker 1: could to try to figure out a way to manufacture
Speaker 1: some good offense. That wasn't the case. And that's why
Speaker 1: that's why I talked about the thing because this wasn't
Speaker 1: If Matt Naggie had drafted mac Jones, then that would
Speaker 1: be the offense that I expected on Sunday. That would
Speaker 1: be the offense schematically that I would expect it. Shoot.
Speaker 1: If he drafted Zack Wilson or Trevor that would be
Speaker 1: an offense that I expected a little bit. The reality
Speaker 1: is you drafted a player that has a physical skill set,
Speaker 1: like a Dak Prescott or a Cam Newton. So those
Speaker 1: are the things that you should be doing. And the
Speaker 1: fact that you didn't do that that's why I talk
Speaker 1: about the h days. I'm I question why how? Because
Speaker 1: if I can see it, and you can see it,
Speaker 1: and my wife can see it, and my kids can
Speaker 1: see it, and the people across the street can see
Speaker 1: If everyone, for the most part can see it, how
Speaker 1: does the person not in control of it not see it?
Speaker 1: Could the guys from Derby see do you think, Dan?
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I mean seeing decades of their performance, No,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think it is a good point though,
Speaker 1: because obviously I'm watching Zach Wilson, and I am watching
Speaker 1: him look like he is looking at a defense where
Speaker 1: there might be seventeen guys on the field. At least
Speaker 1: that's the way he's playing. But then you compare him
Speaker 1: to Trevor Lawrence, you compare me even to the game
Speaker 1: Matt Jones played this past week. It's okay for a
Speaker 1: rookie to struggle. Playing quarterback in the NFL is really
Speaker 1: really hard. Number one and number two, The guys like
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady and Russell Wilson and Matt Stafford,
Speaker 1: so on and so forth, who are really good at it,
Speaker 1: make the fans think it's a lot easier to do
Speaker 1: than it actually is. So when they're watching justin Field struggle.
Speaker 1: But you're right, the the frustration is is his team
Speaker 1: doing everything or even anything right now to put him
Speaker 1: in the right position. And conversely, now we see Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield right like Dan, you've seen Baker Mayfield now and
Speaker 1: we've got about a minute, minute and a half left
Speaker 1: in this segment. So, guys, just a quick thought on
Speaker 1: why Baker has taken the steps forward that he has
Speaker 1: taken when you compare and contrast him with playing justin
Speaker 1: fields in that game. I would say, for someone myself
Speaker 1: who's had Baker's back through all of his NFL career,
Speaker 1: the highs and the lows, I've had his back. This
Speaker 1: is one of the games that I was at least
Speaker 1: most proud of his performance. There's four or five plays
Speaker 1: in this game where he holds the ball and tucks
Speaker 1: in and runs, holds the ball, throws it away, and
Speaker 1: and that to me is going ha, He's realizing the
Speaker 1: only way, the only way they lose this football game
Speaker 1: is if he does something stupid with the football. And
Speaker 1: that is growth and maturity and development in ownership of
Speaker 1: the game. And that's the greatness. That's what the greats
Speaker 1: have always done. And I just I was proud of
Speaker 1: the way he game managed this game. Yeah, and I'll
Speaker 1: say this. You know, you said a keyword, and this
Speaker 1: was the word I was thinking this entire week after
Speaker 1: the last couple of days after watching He's always been smart.
Speaker 1: He hasn't always played with maturity and made mature decisions.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying he's immature. He made some extremely
Speaker 1: mature decisions that were in the great for the greater
Speaker 1: good of the team and not trying to do too much.
Speaker 1: We can both things are critical being smart and mature.
Speaker 1: You know the other thing, I think it's helping Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1: He's got the to the best one to running back
Speaker 1: combination in the National Football League. You go back and
Speaker 1: you watch that fourth quarter, and I watched it closely.
Speaker 1: They went at a three tight end sets, different formations,
Speaker 1: but three tight end set and they ran the ball
Speaker 1: fifteen times, not counting the neel downs, fifteen times for
Speaker 1: a buck one a hundred and one yards because they
Speaker 1: just brought it. And when you as a quarterback have
Speaker 1: that threat and you have you know, last week I
Speaker 1: talked about the the extended running game, having the flexibility
Speaker 1: with Kareem Hunt and have it's like having Kevin Falk.
Speaker 1: It's like having It's like having any good We used
Speaker 1: to call them third down backs, but down they're change
Speaker 1: of pace backs or they're receiving backs. Those things are
Speaker 1: definitely helping mature. Hey, this is a sport about difference makers,
Speaker 1: and they've got difference makers on that side of the ball.
Speaker 1: There was no doubt about it. Now some teams that
Speaker 1: right now are stumbling, the Colts the Seahawks. Is their
Speaker 1: hope for both of those teams to rebound and maybe
Speaker 1: make a playoff run. Those are two teams. We look
Speaker 1: at what we come back on tapeds. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: Tay Pets, Bobo Shoots and Scott Pioli Dan Orlovsky. Alright,
Speaker 1: two teams that at the start of the season we
Speaker 1: thought could have Super Bowl aspirations, sputtering to say the
Speaker 1: least to start off the year. The Seahawks will get
Speaker 1: to them. At a second. Let's start Dan with the
Speaker 1: Colts because one of your all time favorites. Obviously Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz getting a fresh start in Indianapolis, but they are
Speaker 1: oh and three. What is going on and how do
Speaker 1: they fix it? Here's where I am with the Colts. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we know that the schedule was daunting and they've dealt
Speaker 1: with some stuff with injuries. Carson Wentz hasn't had practice time,
Speaker 1: you know, and really the whole year outside of the springtime,
Speaker 1: and that's showing itself a little bit. Now. Carson Wentz
Speaker 1: is playing good. He's not playing great, and he's not
Speaker 1: playing bad. He's playing good. The offensive line is not
Speaker 1: a shell of what it was, nor what it was
Speaker 1: expected to be. Their right tackles not playing. Nelson goes out,
Speaker 1: their center is not playing nearly as good as I expect.
Speaker 1: I thought this again, would be a one of the
Speaker 1: offensive lines in the NFL that we would go, hey,
Speaker 1: look at all the protection in the run game that's
Speaker 1: being afforded, and this offense can do a lot of
Speaker 1: different stuff. And so a lot of the things that
Speaker 1: we saw start to play itself out in Philadelphia for
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz are playing themselves out in Indianapolis, and that's
Speaker 1: shocking to me. So it's really difficult to gauge what
Speaker 1: the offenses right now by the player, their offensive line.
Speaker 1: Their red zone performance has just been poor. They get
Speaker 1: down in the red zone because they move the ball
Speaker 1: relatively well, they get down there and they just stall
Speaker 1: out the run game. It's it's sometimes I feel like
Speaker 1: the backs are just trained so much just go ahead,
Speaker 1: you know, when they're not necessarily running with great vision.
Speaker 1: And then in the past game there's the other day
Speaker 1: they have Michael Pittman on a crosser. I think he
Speaker 1: gets tugged on a small little post. I think he
Speaker 1: gets tugged and that becomes just an inches out extension
Speaker 1: miss and then on third down Zack Pasco drops the ball.
Speaker 1: They're not equipped enough to overcome some of that stuff
Speaker 1: they missed. He why Hilt and speed. Beyond words, they
Speaker 1: just don't have any kind of vertical threat in their
Speaker 1: past game. It's all catch dingk dunk catching and throws
Speaker 1: are difficult right now for this offense when it comes
Speaker 1: to guys at least stretching the field. I would like
Speaker 1: to see them put Carson Wentz under center more used
Speaker 1: more hardball play Ashton to try to generate some of
Speaker 1: those three level, big chunk throws. I think that's what
Speaker 1: this offense now. They got to hang in there. It's
Speaker 1: a long season and this schedule has been daunting, but
Speaker 1: I think that's a little wrinkle that they can put
Speaker 1: into their offense to try to generate some more success.
Speaker 1: And it Scott to Dan's point. I mean, right now,
Speaker 1: you got Jonathan Taylor, who wasn't really a pass catching threat.
Speaker 1: He's averaging about fifties seven yards a game rushing. They're
Speaker 1: probably pretty predictable when he's on the field personnel wise,
Speaker 1: But how how from a personnel standpoint would you try
Speaker 1: and mix up an offense right now that, as as
Speaker 1: Dan said, underachieving, especially with an offensive line that's not
Speaker 1: nearly what we thought it would be. Yeah, and Dan
Speaker 1: brought up a great point. You know, but I the
Speaker 1: one player that I want to put a little bit
Speaker 1: of emphasis on is the absence of Quentin Nelson. You know,
Speaker 1: we talked earlier this week and we're talking about the
Speaker 1: Cowboys and the importance of Zack Martin. That's who Quentin
Speaker 1: Nelson is. He brings not only his physical you know ability,
Speaker 1: but he brings his style of play and it is infectious.
Speaker 1: So to me, the absence of that, compounded by the
Speaker 1: inconsistency at the quarterback position and people that they're just
Speaker 1: an offense that can't get into rhythm there without t
Speaker 1: Y Hilton. You're talking about three players that are probably
Speaker 1: the best at certainly the best offensive lineman, certainly the
Speaker 1: most important wide receiver, and their best quarterback. So when
Speaker 1: you have, you know, circumstances like that and your offense
Speaker 1: isn't doing enough to sustain drives, that puts additional stress
Speaker 1: on the defense. So as a team, the other two
Speaker 1: facets of the meaning defense and special teams are going
Speaker 1: to feel the impact of the offense not playing well.
Speaker 1: So to me, some of the injuries and the absence
Speaker 1: of the players they have and who they are and
Speaker 1: how important they are in terms of again just their
Speaker 1: identity and their style of play is a real problem. Bob.
Speaker 1: Can they fix it? I guess that's the big question.
Speaker 1: I'm not a doctor. If they get healthy, I think
Speaker 1: they can fix it. But to your point and and question,
Speaker 1: yes they can if they're healthy. And that's always the magic,
Speaker 1: you know, the magic question. You know, we're again not
Speaker 1: to digress here, but we're talking about the Buccaneers. One
Speaker 1: of the things that are that's different about the Buccaneers
Speaker 1: this year, they were one of the healthiest teams in
Speaker 1: all of football. They had the fourth healthiest offensive line.
Speaker 1: When you have a team that stays healthy and players
Speaker 1: work together and you can evolve and grow and there
Speaker 1: aren't those hiccups, you know, that was part of the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers magic. Right now, you're looking at the Buccaneers. Their
Speaker 1: defense is having a lot of issues because they're without
Speaker 1: two really important secondary players and it manifests itself into inconsistency.
Speaker 1: So if they get healthy or healthier, they will have
Speaker 1: a chance because they're really well coached and they know
Speaker 1: what to do. Yeah, there are certain teams in the
Speaker 1: NFL where you know, they have the ability to be
Speaker 1: kind of chameleon like, but there are other teams in
Speaker 1: the NFL where you look at their roster and you say,
Speaker 1: all right, we know how this team wants to play.
Speaker 1: They want to mash you with their offensive line. They
Speaker 1: want to run the football. They want to have you know,
Speaker 1: as you guys said, speed on the outside and a
Speaker 1: t Y Hilton where you can go hard play action
Speaker 1: after we run it at you. And right now, they
Speaker 1: can't do either of those things because they're they're just
Speaker 1: not healthy enough to execute the way you know they
Speaker 1: want to play, and that has to be really frustrating.
Speaker 1: Dam Let's switch gears and talk about the Seahawks. How
Speaker 1: can they fix it? For the second week in a row.
Speaker 1: The realities that Seahawks defense cannot get off the field.
Speaker 1: If you go watch their Week one performance against the coach,
Speaker 1: you go, okay, you know, you know that we were
Speaker 1: able to create some pressure on the quarterback. We can
Speaker 1: get off the field. The last two weeks, they haven't
Speaker 1: been able to get off the field. Their third down coverage,
Speaker 1: the leverage that they play with is the complete opposite
Speaker 1: of a team like the Los Angeles Rams. Defensively, the
Speaker 1: Rams play with great leverage. If it's covered three, you've
Speaker 1: got to be in the right position flat defender, hook defender.
Speaker 1: If it's covered one and we're playing outside leverage because
Speaker 1: we're playing a cover one robber or thief for whole
Speaker 1: you gotta play on their proper leverage, funnel people to
Speaker 1: the right guys. They're not doing that, and it's making
Speaker 1: it so easy for offenses, especially in crucial situations, third
Speaker 1: down situations when game plan specific stuff come into play,
Speaker 1: and that's hurt them. Of the last two weeks, defensively,
Speaker 1: their offense has been okay. They've sputtered at moments. They've
Speaker 1: had some things easy early on for they can't get
Speaker 1: off the field on third down. They've got to change,
Speaker 1: not do I want to say changed, They've got to
Speaker 1: really get precise and refine the rules of their coverage. Well,
Speaker 1: it's got the defense obviously a problem, But are their
Speaker 1: offensive issues for the Seahawks as well? And what buttons
Speaker 1: does Pete Carroll push to make it right? Pete is
Speaker 1: gonna push the buttons. He's all is gonna push the
Speaker 1: buttons on defense. He and Ken Norton Jr. I I
Speaker 1: really believe that they will get the defense right. How
Speaker 1: many times and how many different seasons do we you know,
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks go through a struggle either at the
Speaker 1: beginning the middle, you know, three quarters of the way,
Speaker 1: and what happens is Pete puts on the gloves, goes
Speaker 1: to work and starts knocking people out. So I'm not
Speaker 1: too worried about the Seattle Seahawks and their defense. Pete
Speaker 1: will get them right and they will start doing things right. Way.
Speaker 1: On the offensive side of the ball, You've still got
Speaker 1: a guy who's one of the best quarterbacks in the
Speaker 1: National Football League. So again, Russell Wilson, the explosion this
Speaker 1: year or the continual growth of Tyler Lockett, what they
Speaker 1: need to do is continue again get off the field
Speaker 1: on third down and let their offense go to work,
Speaker 1: eat up clock and score points. One of the things
Speaker 1: I do want to see them do on offense a
Speaker 1: little bit more, though, is get the ball in the
Speaker 1: hands of Chris Carson a little bit more. Run the ball.
Speaker 1: That's part of Pete's identity, right Pete is he is
Speaker 1: not only tough minded, he's just a tough guy, and
Speaker 1: and that's the identity of his football teams. I think
Speaker 1: we haven't seen the best of the Seahawks yet. But again,
Speaker 1: I'm not too worried. I think we're going to get
Speaker 1: that as time goes on this season. Have they put
Speaker 1: too much over the years on Russell Wilson? Man? It might,
Speaker 1: but just be the natural inclination with all of his
Speaker 1: ability to maybe look at him and say, look, you
Speaker 1: need to be the absolute focal point of everything we do.
Speaker 1: Whereas when Russell Wilson was at his best, he had
Speaker 1: that pounded at you running game to supplement what he does.
Speaker 1: You know, that's a great question, Bob. And here's what
Speaker 1: I'll say. Was it the offense and the offensive coordinators
Speaker 1: and the play calling that puts used to put too
Speaker 1: much on Russ? Or did Russ put it on himself?
Speaker 1: It's different, but similar as I watched Kyler Murray right now,
Speaker 1: and the fact is there's place called, there are things
Speaker 1: that are supposed to be done, but Kyler Murray makes
Speaker 1: the decision he's going to put the offense on his
Speaker 1: back and he's going to do some of these things.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, it's kind of a chicken or
Speaker 1: egg thing with me. I don't know if if Russ
Speaker 1: did that to himself or if it was part of
Speaker 1: the design, But I think his Russ starts to get
Speaker 1: a little bit older. Um, let's face it, some of
Speaker 1: the dynamics stuff that he does outside the pocket is
Speaker 1: still outstanding. I don't know if he can do it
Speaker 1: as to a great level consistently over the course of
Speaker 1: a season. So I think that they do need to
Speaker 1: think about that. And and going back to the running game, Bob,
Speaker 1: that you mentioned and I had mentioned previously, that's always
Speaker 1: been a big part of any Pete Carroll football team.
Speaker 1: It'll be fascinating to watch these two teams, all the
Speaker 1: storylines with the Colts and Seahawks, but there is no
Speaker 1: more fascinating matchup for us to talk about than the
Speaker 1: one we're gonna get to next, the Mark he matchup
Speaker 1: of Week four, Bill against Tom. Can Belichick stop Brady?
Speaker 1: How do they game plan against each other? We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about the big one coming up on Sunday night
Speaker 1: when we come back on tapeds well here on tape
Speaker 1: its obviously there's a Thursday night game tonight, but the
Speaker 1: marquee matchup that everybody's gonna be talking about through the
Speaker 1: rest of the weekend towards Sunday, We've got Bill versus Tom.
Speaker 1: The Patriots and the Bucks is Tom Brady makes his
Speaker 1: return to Foxborough and guys, we will leave you know,
Speaker 1: all of the drama and all of the talk show
Speaker 1: topics to someone else. What what this podcast is about
Speaker 1: is the XS and os. This podcast is about the
Speaker 1: strategy between these two teams. And I'm just I'm fascinated
Speaker 1: by all of the years that Bill Belichick and Tom
Speaker 1: Brady spent together and how they are going to now
Speaker 1: take that experience and try to attack each other. I'll
Speaker 1: give you a quick story. So when Eric Mangini came
Speaker 1: from that whole world in New England to coach the Jets,
Speaker 1: and I remember before a Patriot matchup asking him, so,
Speaker 1: what's the plan, and he said, look, here's what we're
Speaker 1: gonna do. We've got This is when they had Ty Law.
Speaker 1: They brought Ty Law in because the Patriots had Randy
Speaker 1: Moss and they had to l Revus, they had Carrie
Speaker 1: Rhodes or really athletic safety, and they said, here's our plan.
Speaker 1: And this is what Derek Mangini told me. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take Ty Law. I'm gonna put him straight up in
Speaker 1: Randy Moss's face. And every time Randy Moss comes off
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. Thy Laws basically gonna punch him
Speaker 1: in the chest because he doesn't like to get punched
Speaker 1: in the chest. And then I'm gonna take carry roads
Speaker 1: and put him over the top. That's gonna x out
Speaker 1: as best we can Randy Moss and I'm gonna put
Speaker 1: Revus on Wes Welker. It'll take Tom Brady one possession
Speaker 1: maybe two to see what we're doing. I can't double
Speaker 1: everybody else. He's gonna pick out the mismatch. He's gonna
Speaker 1: burn us. We're just gonna have to do the best
Speaker 1: we can. And at the end of the game, like
Speaker 1: Daniel Graham had a bunch of catches, Jabbar Gaffney had
Speaker 1: a bunch of catches at a touchdown, and exactly what
Speaker 1: Eric Mangini was worried about came true. He picked out
Speaker 1: the guys he wanted to ex out, and he knew
Speaker 1: Tom Brady would see that and he would take advantage
Speaker 1: of the other matchups. And I'm wondering, does Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: sit there and say the same thing. I mean, I
Speaker 1: know the guy for twenty years. We'll take away what
Speaker 1: we know we can take away. We can't take away
Speaker 1: all of it. And how fast into the game is
Speaker 1: tom Brady gonna see what we're taking away and he's
Speaker 1: just gonna respond. See And that's gonna be the beauty
Speaker 1: of this game, Bob, is the fact that Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: spent twenty years with Tommy and he knows what his
Speaker 1: strengths are and he knows what his limitations are. What
Speaker 1: Bill does every game is finds the top one player
Speaker 1: or the top two players, and he finds and devises
Speaker 1: a way to eliminate those players and to force them
Speaker 1: to go and do something else. So they're going to
Speaker 1: find a way to try. They're gonna try to find
Speaker 1: a way to get to Brady. Then they're also gonna
Speaker 1: be working very hard on whoever they deemed to be
Speaker 1: the top skilled ball carrier. And what's gonna happen is,
Speaker 1: as you say, Brady is smart enough, he's going to
Speaker 1: figure out pretty quickly he understands part of the Patriot
Speaker 1: the way that things were done there were was half
Speaker 1: time adjustments. A lot of teams talk about half time adjustments.
Speaker 1: The paid it's generally made their adjustments near the end
Speaker 1: of the first quarter and the second quarter, and then
Speaker 1: when even more exponentially at halftime. So it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a really interesting process to see what Bill goes after
Speaker 1: and what he's going to do. You know, I I
Speaker 1: go back to the time when being with coach Parcels Belichick,
Speaker 1: Romeo Cornell and Al grow when we were with the
Speaker 1: New York Jets. They had spent time on Belichick was
Speaker 1: only there one year with the Patriots in ninety six,
Speaker 1: but they knew and we knew Drew Bledsoe inside now
Speaker 1: we knew what his kryptonite was and we attacked it
Speaker 1: and we went after all those things. And so to me,
Speaker 1: this is this is gonna be a very intriguing matchup
Speaker 1: to watch. It's not gonna come down to all of
Speaker 1: this stuff that we're hearing about. It's going to be
Speaker 1: about football. And I think, as someone said as we
Speaker 1: were leading into this, it's gonna be spy versus spy,
Speaker 1: and things are going to change on the fly because
Speaker 1: you've got people that are so nimble and smart and
Speaker 1: have the ability to change. Yeah. I mean, I can
Speaker 1: talk about this game every day leading up to it. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I think this is a game that the
Speaker 1: loss are not having Stefan Gilmore for the Patriot defense
Speaker 1: will show itself. A big question mark is does Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown play if Antonio Brown is available. The Patriots just
Speaker 1: don't have the horses to line up and play man coverage.
Speaker 1: They just don't have the humans and and having the
Speaker 1: ability to play coverage. I think Bill is gonna play
Speaker 1: a ton of zone, just a ton of zone. And
Speaker 1: because I don't think Bill is gonna give them the
Speaker 1: opportunity to at least have the likelihood of these chunk plays. Um,
Speaker 1: I think that he's gonna try to attack the play
Speaker 1: action pass protections of New England. May I could see
Speaker 1: him on play action when they win New England or
Speaker 1: excuse me, Tampa Bay. When Tampa Bay brings that sixth
Speaker 1: offensive lineman in the game, they either run the football
Speaker 1: or go heavy play action and try to get to
Speaker 1: seven man protection. I could honestly see Bill Belichick in
Speaker 1: those situations to reaching his defensive lineman to drop back
Speaker 1: to just you know, almost have eight or nine guys
Speaker 1: in coverage, given what the personnel and the situation is
Speaker 1: for Tampa because and when I know it's like well, Dan,
Speaker 1: it's either run or plaction debt. But that's all they do.
Speaker 1: You could teach those guys almost what he did to
Speaker 1: Sean mcveigh's the Super Bowl. Six guys at the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage, one guy in the middle, bang against the run,
Speaker 1: and if it's past, we're all dropping back. And that's
Speaker 1: how they took the play action away from the rant.
Speaker 1: And I could see something similar to that and where
Speaker 1: they're just making Tom play checked down and check down
Speaker 1: and check down and almost going you watched me do
Speaker 1: this for twenty years. Two guys, are you gonna be
Speaker 1: the person who I get as well? Type of thing
Speaker 1: are you gonna make? Because Tom's aggressive with the football
Speaker 1: right now down the field because he can be, you know,
Speaker 1: so I think that's gonna be the philosophy, or I
Speaker 1: could see it at least. And then for the other side,
Speaker 1: for New England's office against Tampa's defense, I mean, incredibly
Speaker 1: disappointed in the New England offensive line right now. I
Speaker 1: thought they would be an absolute strength of this football
Speaker 1: team and they're not playing that way and it's hurting
Speaker 1: the quarterback. He's not playing great, but it's hurting the quarterback,
Speaker 1: especially since he's young. And the second thing in Scott
Speaker 1: you could really talk about this a little bit more.
Speaker 1: Is one of the things that I thought separated in
Speaker 1: New England for a long time was they never had
Speaker 1: guys really that were man coverage dudes. They had guys
Speaker 1: that won and man covers. But Josh and coach Charlie Weiss.
Speaker 1: But Josh did such an awesome job of scheming things
Speaker 1: up to beat man coverage, meshes, picks, rubs, two man
Speaker 1: and three man stuff. They're not doing it right now.
Speaker 1: They're not doing those man beaters. They're just asking Jacobe
Speaker 1: and Nelson, Kendrick and John just line up and win.
Speaker 1: And that for me to watch is so oddly, I
Speaker 1: guess frustrating because I'm sitting there and going, man, how
Speaker 1: come you guys aren't doing more of the stuff that
Speaker 1: you've done for a long time. So, you know, I
Speaker 1: think the screen game for Newing this offense is going
Speaker 1: to be a big deal. Max is gonna be able
Speaker 1: to get completions against this defense. They're not gonna play
Speaker 1: a ton of man. They're gonna play their soft zone. Um.
Speaker 1: But if they do decide to play man Tampa Bay,
Speaker 1: New England's got to start going back to their roots.
Speaker 1: My thought on that is, first of all, the screen
Speaker 1: game is gonna be different. It's gonna be different without
Speaker 1: James White. He's not gonna be there. That that's gonna
Speaker 1: be be an issue for them in terms of, you know,
Speaker 1: having strong personnel is a really interesting thing because sometimes
Speaker 1: we all get seduced by how talented people are and
Speaker 1: we kind of let our guard down. And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that's what the Patriots are doing right now, but
Speaker 1: you bring up a really interesting point because they're not
Speaker 1: doing some of those things. I don't think that they
Speaker 1: won't be doing that for long, right. I think once
Speaker 1: they figure out that they don't have dudes who can
Speaker 1: separate all the time, they'll do certain things. They'll get
Speaker 1: back to the rubs, they'll get back to doing things
Speaker 1: with formations and routes that that allow them to create separation.
Speaker 1: But here's the other thing about separation. Number twelve was
Speaker 1: special because the amount of time that he spent and
Speaker 1: I'll never forget this, it was There are a lot
Speaker 1: of times when people say, oh, Brady's not that accurate.
Speaker 1: You know, how did you see how that receiver had
Speaker 1: to make that catch down by his gun strings, how
Speaker 1: he had to do and the play by play guy,
Speaker 1: how accurate Tom Brady is good. Lord watched it for
Speaker 1: twenty years. Shut up. But people say that early in
Speaker 1: his career, Bob, early in his career, people thought that
Speaker 1: it was a lack of accuracy. Early, I would say
Speaker 1: the first three just like he couldn't throw the deep
Speaker 1: ball because he didn't have to. By my point is
Speaker 1: he put the ball. His throws created separation and his
Speaker 1: work together. You know, we talked a little bit earlier
Speaker 1: about Cooper cup and Matthew Stafford. There worked together. You know.
Speaker 1: Part of what went on in the Patriots too, was
Speaker 1: there were receivers if they weren't willing to do all
Speaker 1: the extra work, get their early day late, do all
Speaker 1: the little things, be as smart as know with that
Speaker 1: one look, the look of the eyes, or the quarterball.
Speaker 1: If they didn't learn Tom's body language, he ran the
Speaker 1: dudes off. It didn't matter how talented you were. We
Speaker 1: had a number of high, you know, second round picks
Speaker 1: that had all the tools and the skills in the world.
Speaker 1: They weren't willing to put in that work and be
Speaker 1: able to do the things to handle the separation that
Speaker 1: Brady would would create by his throws. So I think,
Speaker 1: you know, Dan, You're right, there not doing some of
Speaker 1: the things from a scheme standpoint, but there were also
Speaker 1: some things being done from a preparation standpoint and a
Speaker 1: skill standpoint by Brady. And you know what, I'm really
Speaker 1: glad you also, guys got to the other side of
Speaker 1: the football, because I can't wait to see how this
Speaker 1: game plays out. It's gonna be all Bill versus Tom.
Speaker 1: That's all anyone's gonna talk about all the way through
Speaker 1: the weekend. Todd Bowles, who loves the blitz against a
Speaker 1: rookie quarterback is an equally fascinating XS and ose element
Speaker 1: of this game. And I'm really excited to see how
Speaker 1: it plays out on some day. When we come back
Speaker 1: next week on Tuesday, we're gonna be talking about this game, obviously,
Speaker 1: and we'll see how this all breaks down. Because Week
Speaker 1: four has arrived in the NFL. We are back on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: and we will have a ton to say. I'm sure
Speaker 1: about Bill versus Tom and the books. Take it on
Speaker 1: the Patriots. Thanks for being a tape pen. Tape Heeds
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