Speaker 1: This is Dave Canalis OC for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
Speaker 1: and this is the NFL Report.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the NFL Report. James Palmer. Rhett lewis with you.
Speaker 2: We're gonna have to have Dave Canalis do another one
Speaker 2: of those because the title is incorrect rhet. Rhett is
Speaker 2: filling in for Steve Witch. We have a boatload of
Speaker 2: faces rhet that we are gonna get to, including Dante Hall,
Speaker 2: the human joy Stay, one of the most entertaining players
Speaker 2: to watch Chiefs Legend. We also have Oma Owez Stacy
Speaker 2: Dale's covering us for the NFC side of things. Baldi
Speaker 2: will be with us as well for Baldi's favorite films.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad you joined us on a show where
Speaker 2: there's so little to talk about.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, that's why you had to bring me in,
Speaker 3: right as the content specialist, as the conversationalist here. This
Speaker 3: is That's why I'm here. Yeah, man, It's it's exciting,
Speaker 3: and this is this is like my favorite time of
Speaker 3: the year because we get to merge you know, my
Speaker 3: favorite worlds, right which are you know? You get the
Speaker 3: NFL post season, which is impossible to beat, but it's
Speaker 3: also the beginning of draft season, right, So we're gonna
Speaker 3: have all star games coming up next week. I'm getting
Speaker 3: ready to head to Frisco, Texas for the ninety ninth
Speaker 3: annual East West Shrine Bowls. Senior Bowl kicks off next week,
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna have a little bit, a little bit
Speaker 3: of a little bit of something for you on some
Speaker 3: names to watch from those games later in the show.
Speaker 2: I like it. I like it. I like it. Let's
Speaker 2: get to these head coaching changes. I said it, Rhett.
Speaker 2: Dave Canalis is no longer the offensive coordinator for the
Speaker 2: Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is the new head coach of
Speaker 2: the Carolina Panthers. When this hire happened just a little
Speaker 2: bit before we started this show, what was the first
Speaker 2: thing that went through your mind? Right? Wow?
Speaker 3: I mean it really was, because it feels like a
Speaker 3: dramatic star rise and a star turn for Dave Canalis
Speaker 3: jp one year as the offensive coordinator play caller in
Speaker 3: Tampa and now is getting his shot as a head coach.
Speaker 3: And the one thing that I that I know is
Speaker 3: for certain. I mean, the Panthers have gone through this process, right,
Speaker 3: they brought in a ton of different guys. We know
Speaker 3: this is a demanding ownership group, right with David Tepper
Speaker 3: just hired their new GM under Statemle Ran. Yep, Yep,
Speaker 3: probably a little bit. I really like Dan Morgan as
Speaker 3: a GM. He's been there as the assistant. He knows
Speaker 3: what good programs are like and how to build them,
Speaker 3: and he knows what it means to be.
Speaker 4: In lockstep with a head coach.
Speaker 3: He saw it with Brandon Bean and Sean McDermott up
Speaker 3: in Buffalo when he was up with that crew, and
Speaker 3: so now coming here to Carolina, I feel like that's
Speaker 3: what you're gonna get with Morgan, with Canalis and this
Speaker 3: brain trust moving forward, trying to get Bryce Young and
Speaker 3: this Carolina Panthers team.
Speaker 2: Movement, and that's the ticket right there. What is your
Speaker 2: plan for Bryce Young? You know, it was asked to
Speaker 2: every single guy who interviewed there with David Tepper, and
Speaker 2: I think what we've seen Dave Knalison, he's been on
Speaker 2: this show, He's talked to us at length about his
Speaker 2: offensive philosophies. I think that's gonna be what a lot
Speaker 2: of us are watching and what he does with Bryce Young.
Speaker 2: He has Baker Mayfield coming in and the one year.
Speaker 2: There together, he's up for Comeback Player of the Year,
Speaker 2: not only also before that Gino Smith and before that
Speaker 2: Russell Wilson. What he's conveyed to us r at that
Speaker 2: I think is so impressive is he said, really, everything
Speaker 2: we do is molded to our quarterback. His ability to
Speaker 2: change his offense for the skill set of his quarterback,
Speaker 2: I think is one of his best traits. That he
Speaker 2: continues to find concepts that work and then builds the
Speaker 2: offense off those concepts and things that just don't work
Speaker 2: for that quarterback are thrown out, as well as changing
Speaker 2: other aspects around the quarterback. Look the shuffling he did
Speaker 2: on that offensive line in Tampa. I want you here.
Speaker 2: You used to play here, now you're over here, and
Speaker 2: he changed it all to fit their skill sets, their
Speaker 2: body types, and they ran the football better. He was
Speaker 2: also able to build that entire offense off of a
Speaker 2: wide receiver like Mike Evans and then figure out how
Speaker 2: to play what defenses do play off of that. I
Speaker 2: think it's an impressive offensive mind that has shown us
Speaker 2: over the last couple of years that he has the
Speaker 2: ability to adapt and change like nobody's business. All right,
Speaker 2: let's move on to another head coach, Ratt that is
Speaker 2: not getting his start. He is an old hat at
Speaker 2: this game, coming off of a national championship. And is
Speaker 2: Jim Harbaugh going to the Chargers. He is back in
Speaker 2: the NFL, going to the place where you know, he
Speaker 2: just couldn't get in the Lombardi Trophy in college. It
Speaker 2: was always the thing that was driving him. He lands
Speaker 2: with the Chargers. What will we see differently in Los Angeles?
Speaker 5: Now?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, I.
Speaker 3: Think you're gonna see offense and team philosophy operated operated
Speaker 3: in a much different way.
Speaker 4: I think this is going to be a gritty, er,
Speaker 4: tougher team.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's that has been the hallmark of Jim
Speaker 3: Harbaugh coach teams wherever he's been. I mean kind of
Speaker 3: famously when he was at Stanford, got like all the
Speaker 3: parents of all the players like locked into that, Hey,
Speaker 3: bring your lunch, Paale, the work mentality.
Speaker 4: You know, we've got blue collars.
Speaker 3: We might wear red jerseys, but we're making sure the
Speaker 3: blue stays with the way.
Speaker 2: That we play.
Speaker 3: And the interesting thing here is what's he gonna do?
Speaker 3: What does this look like for Justin Herbert. Obviously, Jim
Speaker 3: Harbaugh has coached in sane mainly talented quarterbacks before. See
Speaker 3: Andrew Luck at Stafford now at Stanford. Now, while they
Speaker 3: didn't put up like ridiculous video game type numbers through
Speaker 3: the air, everyone knew that Andrew Luck was an immense talent, right,
Speaker 3: and Jim Harbost.
Speaker 4: Brought that out in him.
Speaker 3: So how he tailors this offense and his offensive staff
Speaker 3: to accentuate Justin Herbert's skill set is going to be
Speaker 3: really intriguing. I think there's gonna be an emphasis put
Speaker 3: on building that offensive line even more than it already
Speaker 3: has been. With their two first round picks the last
Speaker 3: couple of years and Rashaan Slater and Zion Johnson, I
Speaker 3: wouldn't be surprised if there's another high draft resource spent
Speaker 3: on that front to get that roll in. And then
Speaker 3: I think that this is this at number five overall
Speaker 3: in this year's draft where the Chargers are picking. I
Speaker 3: think this squarely puts brock Bowers the top tight end
Speaker 3: in this class. In the conversation, right, that's high for
Speaker 3: a tight end.
Speaker 2: That's rich, I get it.
Speaker 3: But this is a tough, gritty dude. Even though he's
Speaker 3: from Napa, California. He's a tough, gritty dude. He can
Speaker 3: get dirty in the run game. He's an insane athlete.
Speaker 3: He's great after the catch, phenomenal hands. Look at what
Speaker 3: Jim Harbaugh did jp with the tight ends at Michigan
Speaker 3: Colson Loveland. AJ Barner is going to be playing in
Speaker 3: the Senior Bowl. They were dominant Luke Schoonmaker last year.
Speaker 3: Drafted in the second round by the Cowboys. They're big
Speaker 3: pieces of the offense. That's why I think that that
Speaker 3: could be an opportunity to see brock Bauers come off
Speaker 3: the board when we get to Detroit.
Speaker 4: As you get your.
Speaker 2: Hands dirty going after grapes in the soil up there,
Speaker 2: and now it's fine, you get gritty and listen, tight
Speaker 2: ends have flourished, especially rookies this past season. We've always
Speaker 2: seen the run game, even though it was Andrew Luck
Speaker 2: by the way, He's always had an emphasis on the
Speaker 2: run game no matter where he has been, and you're right,
Speaker 2: tight end's always a big part of what he does.
Speaker 2: Real quickly, I'll say, I think it's an identity, right.
Speaker 2: I think that has been lacking since this team moved
Speaker 2: from San Diego to Los Angeles. They haven't even had
Speaker 2: an identity in their own building, especially in their own city.
Speaker 2: Now they bring in a head coach who was essentially,
Speaker 2: look at us, make sure you pay attention to us.
Speaker 2: And they get somebody that is going to make sure
Speaker 2: that they win football games and to make sure that
Speaker 2: people notice that they're winning football games. And I think, honestly,
Speaker 2: that's something that's been lacking with the Chargers. Let's go
Speaker 2: to his brother real quickly before we get out of here,
Speaker 2: and look at the Ravens because this is a big
Speaker 2: weekend for the Harbas. What do you see from the
Speaker 2: Baltimore Ravens One part going into that AFC Championship game
Speaker 2: that sticks out to you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, one thing that really sticks out to me is
Speaker 4: the way they've utilized the.
Speaker 3: Tight ends this year and obviously Mark and when he
Speaker 3: got an All Pro type in Mark Andrews. That's easy
Speaker 3: to do and easy to say, like, yeah, we want
Speaker 3: to get Mark Andrews in the football. Well, he's been
Speaker 3: out right for a couple months now with the injury,
Speaker 3: although it sounds like he is on his way back
Speaker 3: again fully participatingly like it just this week there, James,
Speaker 3: but Isaiah likely has been tremendous as a target for
Speaker 3: Lamar Jackson, especially in Mark Andrews's absence, and it's stuff
Speaker 3: you talk to people around the Ravens and I saw
Speaker 3: it this summer, spending some time with them like they
Speaker 3: always knew that this is who Isaiah likely was. We
Speaker 3: saw it in flashes his rookie year too. He's now
Speaker 3: just getting those opportunities right with Mark Andrew's gone, So
Speaker 3: I imagine even if Mark comes back, they're going to
Speaker 3: find ways to accentuate what Isaiah likely can bring to
Speaker 3: this team. So I'm getting to the end zone, you know,
Speaker 3: a week ago, and basically, you know, I think he's
Speaker 3: been really well developed, both having a stud like Mark
Speaker 3: Andrews there, his tight ends coach George Gatzi is kind
Speaker 3: of underrated in NFL circles.
Speaker 4: Think he does a great job getting those guys together.
Speaker 4: And I'm just hoping that they can get.
Speaker 3: A dance club scene going in that locker room afterwards,
Speaker 3: so we can see an encore from George Gatzi.
Speaker 4: We need more of it, right, where's Georgie?
Speaker 2: Let's fight there?
Speaker 3: A moment build right there.
Speaker 2: Gatzi just slow playing it just now and there he
Speaker 2: goes and anywhere's it? Love it from George and they
Speaker 2: don't run two tight end sets very often rhet so
Speaker 2: it's going to be interesting to see what they change
Speaker 2: offensively philosophy wise, if they want to get both these
Speaker 2: guys on the field at the same time. I'm going
Speaker 2: to go on the defensive side of the ball and
Speaker 2: go with me. Maybe the only player in this game
Speaker 2: that is a member of MENSA that is all Pro
Speaker 2: safety Kyle Hamilton with one hundred and thirty two IQ.
Speaker 2: This is a game full of versatile players that have
Speaker 2: high football IQs. He might be at the top of
Speaker 2: all those guys that are playing in this game. He's
Speaker 2: gonna have the assignment a lot in this game. They're
Speaker 2: gonna throw different things at Travis Kelcey, but he's gonna
Speaker 2: have the assignment quite a bit. And what he does
Speaker 2: against the future Hall of Famer is going to be
Speaker 2: just one of the things that he does to impact
Speaker 2: this game. He can rush the quarterback like an hedge rusher.
Speaker 2: He can play the safety spot, he can cover deep,
Speaker 2: he can tackle like a linebacker. He can play about
Speaker 2: five different positions for this defense. One of the most
Speaker 2: versatile talented players in the NFL, and he missed two
Speaker 2: games this year. I know it's a small sample size,
Speaker 2: rat this defense arguably the best in all of football.
Speaker 2: The two games he missed, statistically, those were two of
Speaker 2: the worst performances we saw from a defense this season.
Speaker 2: And that's just without one player. And that's the MENSA
Speaker 2: member in Kyle Hamilton. Well, we got another versat guy
Speaker 2: coming up. Rap, that's Dante Hall. How about that the
Speaker 2: human Joycenick. I wonder if that's his favorite nickname. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna ask him that next on the NFL.
Speaker 5: He's gonna be the MVP for a reason. I mean,
Speaker 5: he goes out there, he leads his team, he scores,
Speaker 5: he runs, he throws, he does whatever it takes to win.
Speaker 5: And that's what the great greats do. And uh, like
Speaker 5: I said, it'd be great challenge for our defense, but
Speaker 5: also a great challenge for offense going against their defense.
Speaker 5: So it's gonna take a full team effort if we
Speaker 5: want to find a way to get a win.
Speaker 6: He's a great quarterback, definitely, hall of famer is not
Speaker 6: even it's a new brain. He's definitely a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 6: But it's just I believe it's just to to two
Speaker 6: greats up and coming Greats just going to the two
Speaker 6: you know, like a heavyweight fight, heavyweight matchup.
Speaker 7: That's that's just what I see.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the NFL Report. James Palmer, Rhett Lewis
Speaker 2: with you, And if you're gonna have a heavyweight fight,
Speaker 2: I need more trash talk. Maybe Don day Haul the
Speaker 2: Chiefs great can bring some of that trash talk into this. Listen.
Speaker 2: Too many compliments on there. I'm not gonna lie too
Speaker 2: many compliments between those two great players as we're heading
Speaker 2: into this AFC Championship game. I appreciate you joining us,
Speaker 2: and I have to get this out of the way
Speaker 2: first before we continue. What is your favorite nickname for you,
Speaker 2: because you have a lot of them.
Speaker 8: My favorite is the Humane and the gotta be.
Speaker 7: It's just a great name, right.
Speaker 8: And before I picked up the golf, I was an
Speaker 8: avid gamer.
Speaker 7: So at the time that Mitch Holtess.
Speaker 8: Gave me that monitor, I was like n D playing
Speaker 8: video games nine I was a day and it also
Speaker 8: physical playing style, so it works perfectly.
Speaker 9: I agree.
Speaker 4: I think I think that's I mean it was.
Speaker 3: It was terrific because it was organic too, and uh,
Speaker 3: you know, Mitch is one of the best in the
Speaker 3: business obviously in the in the radio play by playworld
Speaker 3: here in the NFL, and so hearing him call some
Speaker 3: of your touchdowns was a childhood memory of mine. You know,
Speaker 3: I love it, and you know you had the opportunity
Speaker 3: to not only do it on some great, you know,
Speaker 3: regular season teams with the Chiefs, but you guys got
Speaker 3: into the postseason two where we're sitting here now, you know,
Speaker 3: on the verge of the Super Bowl now for the Chiefs,
Speaker 3: a familiar spot for him. But like, I go back
Speaker 3: to that O four game, you know, and I don't
Speaker 3: I know, you don't want to get into the results
Speaker 3: of that game against the Colts, but you went off.
Speaker 7: They called that the no punt game.
Speaker 3: That's right, see, and I kind of believe that that
Speaker 3: we could see something like that this week with Patrick
Speaker 3: Mahomes and Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 4: The way these two defense I disagree.
Speaker 7: I disagree.
Speaker 8: I think you got what the number one defense and
Speaker 8: the Ravens, you got the number three miss and and uh.
Speaker 7: Jeeves, I don't think you're going to see a no
Speaker 7: punt game.
Speaker 8: And this particular, I understand why you're going that because
Speaker 8: of the dynamics of each quarterback with these defenses when
Speaker 8: we when we played in that Old four game, I
Speaker 8: think our defense was ranked like thirty and you.
Speaker 4: Had to post it.
Speaker 7: Some work close by said no, I don't think we're
Speaker 7: going to see that this Sunday.
Speaker 3: So but but I wanted to ask you that too
Speaker 3: because of the you know, like your performance in that
Speaker 3: game was incredible. Obviously you had the kick return touchdown,
Speaker 3: you had the receiving touchdowns, So you know what it
Speaker 3: feels like to make those big plays in those big moments,
Speaker 3: and just hearing these two quarterbacks talk about the plays
Speaker 3: that they want to make and you know the respect
Speaker 3: they have for each other. What was that feeling like
Speaker 3: to know the impact you had on a game.
Speaker 9: At that stage.
Speaker 8: I'm gonna be honest with you, I was, even though
Speaker 8: I had a great individual performance, I truly felt that
Speaker 8: year we had a team that can make it all
Speaker 8: the way to the super Bowl.
Speaker 7: We just had to win two games. That era hit.
Speaker 8: We started a season ten to zero, so it was
Speaker 8: very disappointing to not only lose the game, but lose
Speaker 8: the game and the fashion that we lost it. Peyton
Speaker 8: Manning comes in and scores thirty eight points in errorhead
Speaker 8: like that just cannot happen. Even though I had a
Speaker 8: great game, I did not feel any type of happiness
Speaker 8: whatsoever after that loss.
Speaker 2: Dottie, we know you're still a Chiefs fan. We saw
Speaker 2: you were thrown on a Chief's hat, you know before
Speaker 2: we got started. Is there any part of you that
Speaker 2: sits here and looks at the mind that Andy Reid
Speaker 2: has and you didn't have him as a head coach
Speaker 2: and the playmaking ability Patrick Mahomes has at the quarterback spot,
Speaker 2: and if you went if I would have just played
Speaker 2: a little later, if I could have been with these two,
Speaker 2: how could they have used the talents that I bring
Speaker 2: to a football field? Did that ever cross your vibe?
Speaker 7: Every single Sunday? That crosses mind?
Speaker 8: And I'll never forget the first time I went on
Speaker 8: the road to watch this Andy Reid Chief's offense was
Speaker 8: in Jacksonville's home opener in Jacksonville, I'm sorry, the season opener.
Speaker 8: And I remember from this watching them play develop like
Speaker 8: it's different when you're watching on TV. I'm at the
Speaker 8: game and I'm saying a guy running over and then up.
Speaker 8: I had never seen that concept before, and at that moment,
Speaker 8: all to myself, Wow, I wish I was Tyreek Hill
Speaker 8: right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and Dante, you know, in the post Tyreek
Speaker 3: Hill era for the Chiefs, I think we've seen some
Speaker 3: evolution with this offense, right and the way they want
Speaker 3: to attack defenses, and the way Andy Reid has schemed
Speaker 3: things up in the evolution of the run game too
Speaker 3: with Isaiah Pacheco, Like, what has impressed you most about
Speaker 3: the way that they're trying to find ways in different
Speaker 3: ways to find success attacking defenses and winning games, just
Speaker 3: hit it on the head.
Speaker 8: I've been impressed by them basically suppressing their ego, realizing
Speaker 8: the cars that they have in their hands, and playing
Speaker 8: those cars perfectly. Last week you saw a lot more
Speaker 8: two three tight end sets, a lot more emphasis on
Speaker 8: the run game.
Speaker 7: I just it just showed me that these guys.
Speaker 8: Understand how to win, know how to win, and it
Speaker 8: doesn't matter if it's DNC and dunks or if his
Speaker 8: bombs over bag that it does not matter. Like they're
Speaker 8: going to find a way to win in They're gonna
Speaker 8: use the pieces that they have. And I think that's
Speaker 8: a testament to a great coordinating and also great head coaching.
Speaker 2: And the staff in terms of developing players dot you
Speaker 2: mentioned dink and dunk. The teams have taken away a
Speaker 2: lot of the deep stuff and you see these underneath
Speaker 2: crossing routes where you see a guy like Rashi Rice,
Speaker 2: a rookie kind of be able to kind of work
Speaker 2: his way across the field, find some of those voids
Speaker 2: and defenses and then make plays with the ball once
Speaker 2: it gets in his hands after he makes Because what
Speaker 2: have you seen from the rookie receiver that kind of
Speaker 2: has just really just grown and grown himself and as
Speaker 2: a role in this offense.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I remember early on, as far as back as
Speaker 8: the preseason, he had a case of the drops. So
Speaker 8: the fact that he was able to get over the
Speaker 8: drop seas I think I've seen maybe one or two
Speaker 8: drops in this latter part of the season. So he's
Speaker 8: continued to get better and grow, and that's all you
Speaker 8: can ask from a young guy, right, just don't continue
Speaker 8: making the same mistakes.
Speaker 7: He's eliminated that drop passes.
Speaker 8: And it seems like to me that he has an
Speaker 8: understanding and more of the offense because they are incorporating
Speaker 8: him more in the offense. I think early on he
Speaker 8: wasn't able to get this much playing time because he
Speaker 8: didn't have a grass on the playbook, have the trust
Speaker 8: in Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. But that all seems
Speaker 8: to have gotten better and developed nicely at the right time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Dante, I think you know, in terms of
Speaker 3: your personal story, we obviously came to know you for
Speaker 3: your skills in the return game, but I feel like
Speaker 3: you the further along you got your career, we started
Speaker 3: to see the nuances of your game as a total
Speaker 3: package wide receiver, you know as well on the offensive
Speaker 3: side of the ball. And looking at that to follow
Speaker 3: up on Rashid Rice, like what were some of the
Speaker 3: nuances of the posiition that you picked up along the
Speaker 3: way that allowed you to become a more focal a
Speaker 3: bigger focal point for the offense, not just in the
Speaker 3: return game. Whereas we're kind of seeing some of that
Speaker 3: same stuff within this season in terms of Rashid Rice's
Speaker 3: arc as a wide receiver from start to where we're
Speaker 3: at now. So, like, what are some of the things
Speaker 3: that facilitate that improvement from a wide receiver.
Speaker 8: So it's like when you first come into the league,
Speaker 8: right your brain is already moving one hundred miles Fowers.
Speaker 7: So your body intends to do with your brain going
Speaker 7: once you.
Speaker 8: Learn concepts where to be, when to be there, landmarks,
Speaker 8: things like that. So one of the biggest nuances that
Speaker 8: coach Charlie Jhner, a Hall of Famer. I was very
Speaker 8: fortunate to have him. He will always tell me be fast,
Speaker 8: but don't hurry. And it took me two years to
Speaker 8: figure out what the hell ad meant.
Speaker 9: But don't worry.
Speaker 7: That basically meant, you know, be fast, but be under control.
Speaker 8: You may not want to come out of that rout
Speaker 8: as fast as you can, maybe speed out of it
Speaker 8: at a you know, third gear type rate. So little
Speaker 8: nuances like that, how not to show and tip your hat,
Speaker 8: whether you're running a short route, deep route, crossing routes, right,
Speaker 8: they were just you know, teach me when you line
Speaker 8: up like this, put your inside foot up versus back,
Speaker 8: don't look where you're going. And then one of the
Speaker 8: other nuances was obviously just learning how to route run.
Speaker 8: And I had one of the greatest guys on my
Speaker 8: team at that time, Johnny Morton from usc GO with
Speaker 8: his route and Detroit and with them, so a combination
Speaker 8: of all of these guys kind of helped me within
Speaker 8: the nuances of using my speed and my quickness.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at different players in this game, Dante, and
Speaker 2: I'm looking at guys that are just so hard to tackle.
Speaker 2: Zay Flowers is that type of player, just he's just
Speaker 2: hard to get your hands on. Lamar is that type
Speaker 2: of player. But Patrick's that type of player too, where
Speaker 2: just the way he moves on a field, it is
Speaker 2: hard to tackle him. You were impossible to tackle. So
Speaker 2: what makes a player hard to tackle in your mind?
Speaker 2: Because we have a couple of them to do it
Speaker 2: different ways in this game.
Speaker 8: Well, for guys like myself, Zay Flowers, you know, we
Speaker 8: just are giving a god ability ability, ability to get
Speaker 8: in and out of breaks. Just bigger guys can't do,
Speaker 8: like we can't do. Some of the things big guys
Speaker 8: can do, they can't do what we can do.
Speaker 9: Well, you take it.
Speaker 7: You talk about a guy like Lamar.
Speaker 8: Who's six two sixty three, able to move like a
Speaker 8: little guy, and then you take Patrick Mahomes who's a
Speaker 8: little more girthier, not as fast, but he's very savvy
Speaker 8: with his no looks, all fakes, little things like that.
Speaker 7: Right, I look at him like a steph Curry.
Speaker 8: Steph Curry is not Alan Orison Quick, but he's very
Speaker 8: savvy with his mechanics as far as movement, movement and
Speaker 8: things like that.
Speaker 7: So it's more ways to skin a cat, you.
Speaker 2: Know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Right, That's right, and uh man, nobody's done it as
Speaker 3: as good as you've done it. I mean like one
Speaker 3: of the best, very best in the business in terms
Speaker 3: of the return game and the impact you can have
Speaker 3: on a game making big plays. And certainly hope we
Speaker 3: see some of those in this gave it to me
Speaker 3: the Chiefs and Ravens on Sunday, Dante, it has been
Speaker 3: a blast, man. Thanks so much for being a part
Speaker 3: of the support today.
Speaker 2: Man, Really it should have been the whole show. Rep.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 4: We could have just been done.
Speaker 9: That's great.
Speaker 8: I love talking what you guys do, so I'll come
Speaker 8: back on anytime appreciating that.
Speaker 9: Man.
Speaker 3: Love hold me that with us here on the NFL Report.
Speaker 3: Still to come on this episode of the NFL Report.
Speaker 3: You love what the messaging that Dan Campbell brings to
Speaker 3: the Lions. But what's the tangible effect of it?
Speaker 4: Stacy Dalees is.
Speaker 3: Going to tell us, and how do the forty nine
Speaker 3: ers deal with that's omaruiz part.
Speaker 8: When we come back.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the NFL Report podcast. But you can
Speaker 1: watch me, Steve Weich and my co host James Palmer
Speaker 1: on the NFL Report at seven fifteen Eastern time on
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Speaker 10: Just the Bay area and the faithful in general, we
Speaker 10: want this game bad, you know, and they've obviously been hoping,
Speaker 10: you know, you know, to have another championship come in
Speaker 10: this organization. Last couple of times we've been in the
Speaker 10: Super Bowl, we've fallen short. So now we get a
Speaker 10: shot at it again. So to play at home an
Speaker 10: NFC championship, it's gonna be It's gonna be sweet.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what a difference to your makes right.
Speaker 3: Brock perty back in the NFC Championship game as he
Speaker 3: gets set to have his forty nine ers host the
Speaker 3: Detroit Lions. Welcoming you back to NFL Report here. Brett
Speaker 3: lewis at for Steve, which today of course James Palmer
Speaker 3: with us as well, and we get to say hello
Speaker 3: to our friend Stacy Dale's and Omar Ruiz here. Stacy's
Speaker 3: been covering the Lions for US this week, and Omar
Speaker 3: is in Santa Clara right now, which is where we
Speaker 3: will play this championship game in the NFC on Sunday.
Speaker 3: Stacy hearing for brock perty is a good because it
Speaker 3: sure does sound like that the good folks in the
Speaker 3: Detroit Lions defense slash secondary not real interested in hearing
Speaker 3: from him or talking about him this week?
Speaker 4: Is that accurate?
Speaker 11: Rett? If they're talking anything about him, it's a whole
Speaker 11: lot of smack. I mean, I was in the locker
Speaker 11: room for Championship Wednesday and tried to go up and
Speaker 11: get a little juice out of CJ. Gardner Johnson and
Speaker 11: I just we couldn't. He didn't want anything to do
Speaker 11: with rock party talk or really anything to do with
Speaker 11: US media members.
Speaker 12: That's how salty this secondary is.
Speaker 11: I think it's emblematic of kind of the tone and
Speaker 11: tenor of that defense as they've gotten better and better better.
Speaker 11: Like Dan Campbell told me on Wednesday, our confidence is
Speaker 11: going up. It has improved. There's an uptick, especially over
Speaker 11: these last six weeks. And when I asked Kirby Joseph,
Speaker 11: a safety for this group, this secondary. What's the most
Speaker 11: improved thing about your defense? He said to me, fear
Speaker 11: And I said, well, what does that mean? And he said,
Speaker 11: the fear we're putting basically in opposing offenses, given how
Speaker 11: hard we play and how physical we play, and that's
Speaker 11: what they're going to take to see rock Perty Sunday.
Speaker 13: Oh, you know, they're bringing that physical brand of football.
Speaker 13: We all remember Chauncey Gardner Johnson and Deebo Samuel having
Speaker 13: that social media back and forth. Speaking of Deebo Samuel
Speaker 13: limited in practice today, certainly trending in the right direction.
Speaker 13: When we were out there yesterday in the limited role
Speaker 13: that he had officially listed as a non participant, but
Speaker 13: while they were stretching, he was running up and down
Speaker 13: the practice field carrying the football in his hand, and
Speaker 13: it almost seemed like he was really exaggerating his arm
Speaker 13: pumps to really test the mobility of that shoulder, and
Speaker 13: it didn't look like he had any discomfort. So when
Speaker 13: you go from DMP Wednesday to limited Thursday, and it
Speaker 13: looks like he can run and carry the football full speed,
Speaker 13: if nothing else, he looks like he could be a
Speaker 13: decoy on Sunday and be able to play. Obviously, time
Speaker 13: will tell the rest of the week. The forty nine
Speaker 13: have a more physical practice on Thursday, a little more intensity,
Speaker 13: and then of course there's Friday to watch, so you know,
Speaker 13: we'll continue to monitor the debo situation. But what an
Speaker 13: impact he has when he is in the lineup, yl Mar.
Speaker 2: We know how different of a squad this is when
Speaker 2: Deebo's not there, the physicality go on. I love how
Speaker 2: they use a variety of guys though, right to go
Speaker 2: and fill in for him after he went down in
Speaker 2: that divisional round. Just kind of maybe three different players
Speaker 2: really playing different spots that Deebo does different things on
Speaker 2: the field. Let's go with a guy that's throwing the
Speaker 2: football to him, Omar And we heard from him at
Speaker 2: the start of this segment. And Brock Purdy. What's the
Speaker 2: vibe right now with Brock Purty and kind of I
Speaker 2: don't know if the term is getting back on track.
Speaker 2: I don't know if there is confidence that is high.
Speaker 2: Where is the vibe with Brock Purdy because he did
Speaker 2: lead him down the field to win that game last week.
Speaker 13: Well, they say they're confident in Brock purity, and I
Speaker 13: believe that to be the case. There's so much confidence
Speaker 13: heading into the postseason behind Brock and his MVP caliber
Speaker 13: type of regular season and just looking to build on that.
Speaker 13: And you can give a variety of reasons why he
Speaker 13: might have been off against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday.
Speaker 13: You can blame the wet balls and the rainy conditions
Speaker 13: that happen. You can credit the Packers defense for putting
Speaker 13: together a game plan that made him uncomfortable. And he
Speaker 13: said they were taking away a lot of the deep
Speaker 13: shots early and maybe he was trying to force some
Speaker 13: of them. We saw the Darnell Savage missed interception, he said,
Speaker 13: affect him in a way that prevented him from, you know,
Speaker 13: being maybe as aggressive and being more tentative in that
Speaker 13: game as it unfolded. But then they all credit Brought
Speaker 13: Purdy for getting back on track himself and adjusting mid
Speaker 13: game and being able to lead that game winning touchdown
Speaker 13: drive with six completions seven attempts. And then I asked
Speaker 13: Shanahan today, was that an encouraging sign that he was
Speaker 13: able to self correct or do you have to continue
Speaker 13: on that coaching point to take the checkdowns when they're
Speaker 13: in there. He says, there's no exact science to it.
Speaker 13: You just have to play the position. Just have to
Speaker 13: play football. It's not just Okay, they're covering deep, now
Speaker 13: you have to check down, or they're covering short, now you.
Speaker 2: Have to go deep.
Speaker 9: You just have to make those decisions.
Speaker 13: And he said brock Purty has been the best quarterback
Speaker 13: that he's been around in making those decisions and executing
Speaker 13: that part of the offense. So they look to get
Speaker 13: that version of brock Pritty again.
Speaker 11: On Sunday, you know, Omar I mentioned that the secondary
Speaker 11: doesn't really want to talk about brock Purty, but there
Speaker 11: are a couple guys that did give me some stuff
Speaker 11: on him. And I was having a conversation at the
Speaker 11: Lion's facility and we were talking about this whole mister
Speaker 11: irrelevant term, Like the only word they're using to describe
Speaker 11: brock Purdy in Detroit as they prepare for him is
Speaker 11: mister relevant. That's how much respect. So they're not buying
Speaker 11: into all these narratives. When I talked to Alex Anzeloni,
Speaker 11: who's just such a superstar linebacker, and I heard Baldy
Speaker 11: break down this defense and he did it as.
Speaker 12: He always does so well. But that guy's everywhere.
Speaker 11: And he said, you know, basically, to me, we're not
Speaker 11: buying into the narrative that this guy can't make big throws.
Speaker 11: He gets the ball in space. We know what he
Speaker 11: does well. He gets the ball in space. He's extremely efficient,
Speaker 11: and those receivers are so good, perhaps best in the NFL,
Speaker 11: with those yaks, those yards after catch and when I
Speaker 11: had Kittle as we watch him here a few weeks
Speaker 11: ago against the Eagles, like he said, our bread and
Speaker 11: butter is yaks. I mean, that's where we make we bank,
Speaker 11: we make a fortune on those. And so tackling in
Speaker 11: open space, Angeloni said, is obviously going to be critical.
Speaker 11: But they have so much respect for brock Party and
Speaker 11: think that you know, all this conversation that's happening out there,
Speaker 11: that he can make the big throws, and look what
Speaker 11: happened against Green Bay.
Speaker 12: They A'm buying into it.
Speaker 11: He could throw those daggers, as Dan Campbell talked about
Speaker 11: this week, and they're going in there.
Speaker 12: Though, hungry.
Speaker 11: They want to hit him, they want to break his rhythm,
Speaker 11: do it early and often in this game, to throw
Speaker 11: off some of that timing with those receivers.
Speaker 3: You know, Stacy, I feel like brock Party and the
Speaker 3: type of player in person he is and the personality
Speaker 3: that he has would fit in in Detroit right with
Speaker 3: with their mentality. But they are of course very happy
Speaker 3: with Jared Goff, who is, to quote Dan Campbell, good
Speaker 3: enough for Detroit. But just talking again about the the
Speaker 3: personality of this team, the grit, right, we talk about
Speaker 3: it a lot, and you know we've seen, you know,
Speaker 3: a lot of Dan Campbell's pitches to this team right
Speaker 3: about his his vision and his plan and all this,
Speaker 3: and it does feel like there's something tangible about those words,
Speaker 3: which you know, by definition are very intangible. Like it
Speaker 3: feels like they are turning that plan and that vision
Speaker 3: into something that is real and that you can see
Speaker 3: transpire out there.
Speaker 2: On the field.
Speaker 4: Have you been able to put your finger on that?
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
Speaker 12: It is real.
Speaker 11: It's genuine too, Like the conversations I have, like with
Speaker 11: Allen McNeil, and if you guys haven't had a conversation
Speaker 11: with Alee McNeil. This is a superstar interior defensive lineman.
Speaker 11: He will give you sound bites to use for an
Speaker 11: entire Sunday football Sunday. He's that awesome. He said, you
Speaker 11: know there's a clip circulating right now. I think it's
Speaker 11: hard Knocks. He said, with Dan Campbell at training camp.
Speaker 11: They just completed the padded practice and Dan Campbell is
Speaker 11: really imploring his men that they need to trust in him.
Speaker 12: And Alien told me that we bought in, right.
Speaker 11: They bought in last year to Dan Campbell and even
Speaker 11: when he took over with the kneecap stuff. But when
Speaker 11: he spoke to us that day after a brutal padded
Speaker 11: practice and said to us, trust me, trust the process.
Speaker 11: Alien was like, we were completely bought in like this guy.
Speaker 11: He said, when Dan Campbell talks to you, you listen
Speaker 11: and you believe it, and they all embody it. I
Speaker 11: mean it's real, but it's just so interesting. Like when
Speaker 11: you think about Kyle Shanahan and Dan Campbell and what
Speaker 11: they've done right Omar with their teams respectively. Kyle Shanahan,
Speaker 11: you just believe in him, and that's when you get
Speaker 11: to this stage. You have to have that in leadership,
Speaker 11: and I think it shows up, you know, moments like.
Speaker 13: This, Yeah, some of their qualities mirroring each other, and
Speaker 13: that they had the big breakout year in year three
Speaker 13: after laying a foundation the first couple of years. But
Speaker 13: you talk about that sense of physicality, the aggressiveness that
Speaker 13: Dan Campbell coaches with the forty nine ers, sense that
Speaker 13: Diamidor Lenore one of the more physical corners that the forty.
Speaker 2: Nine ers have.
Speaker 13: He told me yesterday he likes to be one of
Speaker 13: those tone setters. If you remember, he's the one that
Speaker 13: pushed Jordan Love a clean play, a legal play so
Speaker 13: far out of bounds. Then the very next play he
Speaker 13: broke up a big pass with a physical hit. He
Speaker 13: said he knows that because of how Campbell is a
Speaker 13: former player, somebody who speaks as aggressively as he does,
Speaker 13: the Lions will come in here with that physical mindset
Speaker 13: because he knows if people are going to compete against
Speaker 13: the forty nine ers, they have to match that physicality.
Speaker 13: And then Brandon Ayuk telling me yesterday that this is
Speaker 13: the most aggressive defense that they'll have faced all season long.
Speaker 13: Now there's a lot of feast or famine attached to that.
Speaker 2: They'll give up.
Speaker 13: Big plays, but they'll make big plays as well, and
Speaker 13: it's a matter of trying to get more big plays
Speaker 13: for the forty nine ers end than the Detroit defense
Speaker 13: in that matchup on Sunday.
Speaker 2: Omar Stacey, you guys have your hands full, considering we
Speaker 2: had this entire conversation, this lengthy segment about this game,
Speaker 2: and we barely barely mention the name Jared Goff in
Speaker 2: this entire conversation. That's how many storylines we havert. You
Speaker 2: said it very abruptly, and then you went on to
Speaker 2: Dan Campbell and you went on to the messages out there.
Speaker 2: But that's how many storylines we have in this game,
Speaker 2: and that's everything we're looking at. That encapsulates everything Stacy
Speaker 2: and Omar have to cover for this massive game. But
Speaker 2: Jared Goff, in the way he's playing like one of
Speaker 2: the best quarterbacks in all of football the second half
Speaker 2: of the year, I'll give him his credit because he
Speaker 2: is not on the show right now, is filling in
Speaker 2: for Steve Wich. Steve said halfway point, I believe Jared
Speaker 2: Golf is going to be in the MVP conversation at
Speaker 2: the end of the year, and you know what, he
Speaker 2: deserved to be the way he was playing down the stretch.
Speaker 2: You guys, enjoy a beautiful one together in Santa Clara
Speaker 2: on Sunday. We have to talk to you after it.
Speaker 2: Stacey Omar appreciate it. Coming up, Baldy's gonna break down
Speaker 2: this man and his gorgeous eyes. What No, it's what
Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes does with his eyes. It's what Lamar Jackson
Speaker 2: does with his feet that Baldy wants to break down.
Speaker 2: Next on the NFL Reports, Welcome back to the NFL Report.
Speaker 2: James Palmer, Rhett lewis with you. I have my popcorn
Speaker 2: and that means it's Baldy's favorite films. Brian Baldinger joins us. Baldy,
Speaker 2: let's cut right to it, because we got ten minutes
Speaker 2: to break down the two biggest games of the season,
Speaker 2: and let's start with the number one seed in the AFC,
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson. We saw what Demiico Ryans tried to do,
Speaker 2: which was essentially almost blitz him every single down to
Speaker 2: do whatever he tried to do in the second half
Speaker 2: to get after him. Lamar made some nice adjustments specifically
Speaker 2: in that second half. How do you defend Lamar? What
Speaker 2: are we going to see from Spees Pagnolo in his group?
Speaker 14: Well, we'll see something different for sure, But just to
Speaker 14: go back to Houston in that game because he was
Speaker 14: flawless in the second half. But you know the big
Speaker 14: thing was they had an answer for the blitz James.
Speaker 14: They knew where to go with it. He knew where
Speaker 14: his hot reads was. One time he backed up and
Speaker 14: he hit Zay Flowers for a first down. I mean
Speaker 14: that throw right there against Christian Harris, blitzing right up
Speaker 14: the middle at him. You know he found the hot
Speaker 14: red and then look right here if you don't account
Speaker 14: for him, like this is a design quarterback draw right there,
Speaker 14: they just ran, you know, a route you run quarterback
Speaker 14: keeper until it's not a keeper anymore, and then you
Speaker 14: flip it to likely for the touchdown. I mean a
Speaker 14: lot of these are deceptives. There comes a blitz Jalen
Speaker 14: Petrie right there. You know they hit Jay Flowers right there,
Speaker 14: right behind it. You know, every time they had an answer,
Speaker 14: you know they he ran the quarterback keeper right there
Speaker 14: on fourth and one. Right here is a touchdown run
Speaker 14: get behind. Stanley had an answer for everything that he did.
Speaker 14: Now Bade will be a little bit different. You'll disguise
Speaker 14: the blitzers. I think better. I think he'll blitz more
Speaker 14: off the edge than what we saw Houston do, so
Speaker 14: it'll be different. But at the same time, I got
Speaker 14: to see if they can knock the Lamar off his
Speaker 14: stride because Houston couldn't do it, especially in that second half.
Speaker 3: Yeah, on the flip side, while we're on the subject
Speaker 3: of answers, finding answers against Patrick Mahomes has been very
Speaker 3: difficult over the course of the last five plus years,
Speaker 3: Brian Baldinger for opposing defenses trying to deal with number
Speaker 3: fifteen for the Kansas City Chiefs, and of course that'll
Speaker 3: be the case for Mike McDonald and this Ravens defense
Speaker 3: this week. But the one thing that like they can't
Speaker 3: really do a whole lot about is stopping Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 3: from identifying where he wants to go with the ball
Speaker 3: as quickly as he does. It's like it doesn't matter
Speaker 3: what you're trying to do. He knows where he wants
Speaker 3: to go and how he wants to get it there.
Speaker 14: Balding, You're right, Rett, and you know, as a former quarterback,
Speaker 14: I think you can appreciate this well.
Speaker 9: Think that just keeps showing up.
Speaker 14: It was not just last weekgnainst Buffalo, but when he
Speaker 14: does either go play action turns back to the defense
Speaker 14: or the pocket collapses, and he's got a pull a
Speaker 14: little houdiniak and like right here, like his ability to
Speaker 14: go find receive rice on his throat and reset his
Speaker 14: eyes and then make a stick throw as soon as
Speaker 14: he finds them like that shows up all the time.
Speaker 9: And so like this throw.
Speaker 14: I mean, they that's seven cut right there, rhet They
Speaker 14: must run that play that in pregame warm up fifteen times.
Speaker 14: I mean, anybody that's watched kame and city warm up,
Speaker 14: they run that same seven cut here it is right here.
Speaker 14: They run that seven cut over and over again. They
Speaker 14: all line up. I mean, so it's it's just what
Speaker 14: they practice.
Speaker 9: Like all the time. And then okay, but that's how
Speaker 9: you have to throw.
Speaker 14: You have to throw that kind of timing into a
Speaker 14: spot against the defense that basically plays matchup zone and
Speaker 14: takes those away.
Speaker 2: Baldy. When we jump over to the other game and
Speaker 2: we look at what Ben Johnson has been doing with
Speaker 2: I mean, I think any offensive coordinator would like that
Speaker 2: group of skill guys, specifically when they're lining up surrounding
Speaker 2: an offensive line like they have in Detroit. But the
Speaker 2: way he's dialing it up and the concepts that he's using.
Speaker 2: What has stood out to you most about the way
Speaker 2: he's been able to utilize these pieces that we might
Speaker 2: see on Sunday in Santa Clara.
Speaker 14: Well, you know he's got his play chart there, But
Speaker 14: the thing that jumps out is how he utilizes certain
Speaker 14: plays informations based on down distance.
Speaker 9: Where you're out in the field.
Speaker 14: If the ball is on the left hash, maybe we'll
Speaker 14: put a Moan Ross eight brown on the right hash
Speaker 14: and let him work a whole bunch of the field.
Speaker 14: So wherever the ball is placed, it sort of starts
Speaker 14: his play call. And how they get matchups for Sam Laporta,
Speaker 14: where they might just do a simple short motion from
Speaker 14: the outside. You get him on the corner who's nine
Speaker 14: yards off, and make it an easier throw for Jared Goff.
Speaker 14: What they've done with Brock right in the deceptive way,
Speaker 14: what they did to him last week. In addition, how
Speaker 14: they run the ball. Montgomery always starts it. Jamir Gibbs
Speaker 14: is always gonna come in second. And this guy right
Speaker 14: here I call the motown comment Jamison Williams.
Speaker 9: You have to account for a speed.
Speaker 14: You have to just account for the speed because he's
Speaker 14: gonna take the top off your defense and he's gonna
Speaker 14: make your safeties respect his speed. They don't throw them
Speaker 14: a lot, but it opens up a lot of things
Speaker 14: for Aman Ross Saint Brown underneath, uh throughout the season,
Speaker 14: and to you know, to Josh Reynolds as well.
Speaker 3: You know what's even more scary to me is considering
Speaker 3: this Lions team and like their run is far from
Speaker 3: over and they wanted to continue into Las Vegas, you know,
Speaker 3: following this week. But as these head coaching gigs are
Speaker 3: starting to fill up a little bit, we talked about
Speaker 3: two of them at the top, Baldy Harbought of the
Speaker 3: Chargers and Dave Canalis to the Panthers. If Dan Campbell
Speaker 3: gets Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn both back next year,
Speaker 3: my goodness, like this, I mean, look, I hope for
Speaker 3: both their sakes that they get you know, all the
Speaker 3: head coaching looks that they want and deserve, But my goodness,
Speaker 3: that would be incredible for Detroit. Speaking of Aaron Glenn,
Speaker 3: you know, his tenure as the DC has not been
Speaker 3: without turbulence. Right, They've gone through some issues and worked
Speaker 3: their way through it, and I think something to be
Speaker 3: said for the patients there that Dan Campbell has showed
Speaker 3: and trying to get that thing right. But I think
Speaker 3: what's most valuable about what they do this year and
Speaker 3: maybe even in this matchup is the different ways that
Speaker 3: they can account for how offenses want to attack them.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 14: I mean there's plays last week where they had four
Speaker 14: safeties on the field. You know, they had Chartsy Garterer
Speaker 14: who got Johnson and ifiat to Mela fan who out there.
Speaker 14: You know, in addition to Kirby Joseph. You know they'll
Speaker 14: play for safeties and down in distances, they will match
Speaker 14: your formations up with various personnel groupings. They blitz a
Speaker 14: great deal with if heat to Mela Fauanuho coming off
Speaker 14: the edge, He's an excellent blitzer. Kirby Josh with that
Speaker 14: interception right there. Like their ability to mix a match
Speaker 14: with you, in addition to Alex Angelona who plays every
Speaker 14: single play, and then the way that they'll do things
Speaker 14: at the front. Last week on third and longs they
Speaker 14: played a three man front, they played four safeties, they
Speaker 14: played eight defensive backs. So they will max mix a
Speaker 14: match with you depending on game situation, down distance, parts
Speaker 14: of the field that you're in and so all those things.
Speaker 14: I think Aaron can kind of play chess with the
Speaker 14: best of them right now because they have such flexibility
Speaker 14: with their personnel groupings.
Speaker 2: Body, I want to throw this one at you. This
Speaker 2: is kind of a broader look at the four teams
Speaker 2: that are left, and I look at the linebacker position
Speaker 2: with the four teams that are left, and you look
Speaker 2: at you know, Rokwan Smith and the group that they
Speaker 2: have there. You look in Kansas City right now, Steve
Speaker 2: Spanola is putting Drew Trankwell and Nick Bolton, two mic
Speaker 2: linebackers on the field at the same time, and kind
Speaker 2: of running things in a different manner there. We know
Speaker 2: the guys that line up in Santa Clara and then
Speaker 2: obviously the way you mentioned Angeloni and then the other
Speaker 2: guys to play there in Detroit. What do you think
Speaker 2: about that position specifically in what way we see these
Speaker 2: four teams are utilizing that spot that are left to playing.
Speaker 14: Well if I was some of the teams on the
Speaker 14: outside looking in, like let's just say the Cowboys or
Speaker 14: the Eagles, where they don't seem to put a great
Speaker 14: deal of emphasis on the linebacker position. Derek Barnes closed
Speaker 14: the game out last week in an interception for Detroit.
Speaker 14: Rokwan Smith got traded for from Chicago and the day
Speaker 14: that he got to Baltimore is the day he took
Speaker 14: over the leadership ability at that position and the defense
Speaker 14: changed the day that Rokwan got there. I mean, Fred
Speaker 14: Warner gets drafted in the third round out of BYU
Speaker 14: and literally the day he got there, he put the
Speaker 14: green dye on his helmet and he started every game since.
Speaker 9: Like, there's something about all.
Speaker 14: I mean, you see Drake Greenlong get two interceptions last week.
Speaker 14: I mean, these guys never come off the field. They
Speaker 14: play every every situation, goal line, third and thirty.
Speaker 9: They're on the field. They never come off the field.
Speaker 14: So if I'm on the outside looking in and I'm thinking, well,
Speaker 14: you can find linebackers anywhere, or we can just fill
Speaker 14: that position with big safeties, you can't. You can't play
Speaker 14: in the Final four right now without having great players
Speaker 14: at those positions. And sometimes you've got to pay those
Speaker 14: great players like Rokwan Smith. But Rokwan's made Patrick Queen better.
Speaker 14: I've talked to Fred Warner earlier this year, guys, and
Speaker 14: he was saying, you know, Baldy, this is my fifth
Speaker 14: year of lining up with dra Greenlaw. Like, those two
Speaker 14: guys know each other as well as you can possibly
Speaker 14: know one another on the field. Like, that's five years
Speaker 14: of football with a lot of championship level games between
Speaker 14: those two guys who never come off the field for
Speaker 14: San Francisco.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean look at it that that's one of
Speaker 3: the common threads the other offensive lineman and the emphasis
Speaker 3: and the valuable resources that have been spent by these
Speaker 3: four teams to fortify that group up front. I think
Speaker 3: is really important to look at both in the draft
Speaker 3: and free agency, different ways to go about it. But
Speaker 3: that's that's great context, great analysis for us as always,
Speaker 3: Baldy Villa South, it's beautiful. Hope you get a little
Speaker 3: time in the ocean before Championship Sunday, and we will
Speaker 3: check back with you do and here on the NFL
Speaker 3: Report when I come. When we come back, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: give you guys some names to know from the East
Speaker 3: West Shrine Bowl, which kicks off on Thursday, and some
Speaker 3: intriguing facts I love about some of those names to know.
Speaker 9: Get your popcorn ready.
Speaker 2: Hey, it's James Palmer and you're listening to the NFL Report.
Speaker 2: Podcast along with myself and Steve Weish. But remember, if
Speaker 2: you want to see our beautiful faces, this is a
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Speaker 2: as the NFL dot Com Slash NFL channel. Find us
Speaker 2: all of those spots.
Speaker 14: So why am I holding an East West Shrine Bowl eighty.
Speaker 2: Nine, Steve Smith Jersey is because, sir, what does that say?
Speaker 2: Right there? You are going into the East West Okay,
Speaker 2: Shrimee Bowl Hall of Fame before the game again February first,
Speaker 2: eight pm on NFL Network.
Speaker 4: Congratulations to you, my.
Speaker 2: Friend Mike Carafollow, Steve Smith to friends of the NFL
Speaker 2: report right there and hopefully Steve Jersey says Steve Smith Senior.
Speaker 2: There and look at this Thursday, eight pm East West
Speaker 2: Shrine Bowl and Rhett, you will be hosting, no not hosting,
Speaker 2: calling that game on NFL Network. So what we want
Speaker 2: to do is I told you I was going to
Speaker 2: keep my popcorn from when we were just chatting with
Speaker 2: Baldy and I want you to give me the five
Speaker 2: most intriguing storylines you have the inside goods on the
Speaker 2: East West Shrine Bowl. Let's start with the running back
Speaker 2: out of UCLA. And this isn't just interesting stuff guys
Speaker 2: on the field, it's off the field as well.
Speaker 4: Go yes, thank you.
Speaker 3: Jane transferred from ball State, where he rushed for over
Speaker 3: fifteen hundred yards and fourteen touchdowns in the twenty twenty
Speaker 3: two season, spent this last year almost one thousand yards
Speaker 3: at UCLA. But you're going to love him because of
Speaker 3: his pet, which is a five Cardinals Steels pet alligator
Speaker 3: named Krocky J.
Speaker 4: Not sure why Crocky.
Speaker 3: Just the name, I mean crocodile Krocky. Well, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: find that out when I get a chance to talk
Speaker 3: to him in person. But he's had it since he
Speaker 3: was eight years old. His parents thought it would be
Speaker 3: a fun Christmas gift and yes, yeah.
Speaker 4: Just like, oh hey, here's an alligator. But it's still
Speaker 4: with us. And Krocky J.
Speaker 3: Is a big deal in the Carson Steel household back
Speaker 3: in Indiana, and so he is an absolute stud. Yes, yes,
Speaker 3: he's an actually ever anything like that his nicknames are
Speaker 3: four and Fabio Fabio bi of his hair or because
Speaker 3: he could lift the entire weight room like he is
Speaker 3: an absolute stud of a human being. Can't wait to
Speaker 3: talk to him, can't wait to see him on the
Speaker 3: broadcast Thursday night.
Speaker 2: Love It, Love It. How about seven qbs you're going
Speaker 2: to have there? We got plenty of experience with these
Speaker 2: guys too.
Speaker 3: Yes, and every single one of those seven quarterbacks from
Speaker 3: Devin Larry to Jordan Travis to Talia Tungo Bailoa and
Speaker 3: everywhere in between, have played at more than one school, okay,
Speaker 3: thus the transferental era of college football, and all seven
Speaker 3: of them have played in more than forty games. So
Speaker 3: go back to Shrine Bowl alums of recent past, Brock Purdy,
Speaker 3: Aidan O'Connell last year, Dorrian Thompson Robinson last year, all
Speaker 3: guys who started games in the NFL this year and
Speaker 3: had that opportunity because of the experience they had in college.
Speaker 3: And so I can't wait to see which one of
Speaker 3: these seven quarterbacks with that type of experience can show
Speaker 3: us the ability to step into an opportunity if it
Speaker 3: presents itself in his rookie.
Speaker 2: Year Okay, how about you guys catching the football. Taj
Speaker 2: Washington and Jaden Coker a couple of receivers to keep
Speaker 2: an eye on.
Speaker 4: Apparently, Yeah, good ones here.
Speaker 3: So Taj Washington is an interesting one here right here
Speaker 3: in Los Angeles where I live, home of NFL Network
Speaker 3: of course, James well usc guy, and in addition to
Speaker 3: being one of their top wide outs each of the
Speaker 3: last couple of years, Taj has become known as Chef Taj.
Speaker 3: In fact, he has his own YouTube channel where NFL
Speaker 3: report competition. Yeah sorry, yeah, you know, maybe no Huddle
Speaker 3: kitchen by the way, No Huddle Kitchen. Don't tell James
Speaker 3: and Steve uh go check that out at some point.
Speaker 3: But he's also been a guest chef at a restaurant
Speaker 3: on campus, and dishes named after him are popping up
Speaker 3: all around Los Angeles like the dude's a legit chefs.
Speaker 3: So next time you're in town, will go see Chef
Speaker 3: taje Okay, he's also a really good love it can't
Speaker 3: wait to see him.
Speaker 4: And then you mentioned Jalen Cocher, who you know.
Speaker 3: We love the guys that come from the smaller schools
Speaker 3: and make a big name for themselves when the competition
Speaker 3: ramps up. That is the case in the Shrine Bowl
Speaker 3: for a guy who played at FCS Holy Cross and
Speaker 3: was a phenomenally productive wide receiver. But he has known
Speaker 3: James if he wanted to play in the NFL since
Speaker 3: he was a six year old playing flag football. And
Speaker 3: in fact, he was so good at sports that parents
Speaker 3: would come up to his mom, Jenny, and they were like,
Speaker 3: we're gonna see your son playing on TV one day. Well,
Speaker 3: as it turns out, you're gonna see him playing in
Speaker 3: primetime on national television. Missus Cocher Thursday Night on NFL
Speaker 3: Network at eighties.
Speaker 2: I love it. That used to happen to me at
Speaker 2: youth sports. How about Tarheem still the corner from Maryland,
Speaker 2: Real quick on him.
Speaker 4: A ton of talent in the defensive back room in
Speaker 4: the last two years at Maryland.
Speaker 3: You might remember Deontay Banks and Jacory and Bennett last
Speaker 3: year who blew up the combine with four three forty times.
Speaker 3: Both of them went first two days of the draft.
Speaker 3: Tealia Tunguebailoa, Tarheb's teammate, told me that Tarheb used to
Speaker 3: regularly beat them.
Speaker 4: Those two dudes in races, so he's got the speed
Speaker 4: as well. Oh something.
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it. Rhett has his hands full.
Speaker 2: I love it. That's the inside analys you should get
Speaker 2: from Rett Lewis when he subs in here and we
Speaker 2: host games, but you also get inside analysis from these
Speaker 2: two guys right here, James Palmer, Steve that's us Monday
Speaker 2: seven fifteen. Steve will be back, but definitely Rhet will
Speaker 2: be returning. I will tell you that. Rhett, thank you
Speaker 2: so much podcast joining me on this journey. This is
Speaker 2: also a podcast. As Rhett said, let's do it.
Speaker 7: Guys.
Speaker 2: You can always catch rhtt on Move the sticks by
Speaker 2: the way.