Speaker 1: Because it's a challenge for blocking along the offensive line
Speaker 1: when the linebackers near their team. There are two guys
Speaker 1: that Kyle was talking about yesterday, Smith and Queen, who
Speaker 1: were kind of like your guys Warner and Greenlow. How
Speaker 1: much tougher is it to block these guys and say
Speaker 1: was blocking linebackers ten fifteen years ago.
Speaker 2: It's always been hard.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's always been quality linebackers on every team
Speaker 3: I've ever been associated with. When we play somebody, there's
Speaker 3: always a good player on the other side. You know,
Speaker 3: you go back to when we were in Tampa with
Speaker 3: Derrek Brooks and Hardy Nickerson and guys like that. They're
Speaker 3: out standing. And when you come to the first level,
Speaker 3: you get through Sap and you get through the guys.
Speaker 3: Next thing, you know, Booger McFarlane, next thing, you're trying
Speaker 3: to block Derek Brooks, right same thing we had Jack
Speaker 3: Delreel was playing middle linebacker and Adie McDaniel in Minnesota.
Speaker 3: You know, there's always been a quality quality. These two
Speaker 3: guys are outstanding inside linebackers. I mean when I was
Speaker 3: in Baltimore back in the day, Ray Lewis and Bart
Speaker 3: Scott were the two inside linebackers. You know, there's always
Speaker 3: there's always quality inside linebackers. Now there's probably been a
Speaker 3: little bit more of a trend. I don't want, but
Speaker 3: I don't want to say those guys weren't athletic. I
Speaker 3: mean those guys were fast, and it's there's maybe a
Speaker 3: little different style back in the day, but not much.
Speaker 3: It's it's it's always been a challenge. Very rarely does
Speaker 3: somebody have two guys, you know, three four defense that
Speaker 3: are both the quality of the two that guys they
Speaker 3: have here. Most teams have one and the other guys
Speaker 3: a guy that's up and coming. But this team has two,
Speaker 3: and it does make that that part of it is
Speaker 3: a challenge.
Speaker 4: As far as Spencer Burfer, I realize he's I think
Speaker 4: he's the third youngest guy in the roster and he's
Speaker 4: got tons of room to grow. But what does he
Speaker 4: need to do to sort of solidify a spot as
Speaker 4: a starter. What are you looking for from him?
Speaker 3: Well, the consistency factor is is number one thing. I
Speaker 3: mean an offensive line play, it's it's throughout. As the
Speaker 3: year goes on and the season gets longer and people
Speaker 3: see what you do and they see as we talked
Speaker 3: about earlier in the year they start, you start developing
Speaker 3: a game, right, they see what your game is, and
Speaker 3: they see what they can take advantage of, and and
Speaker 3: so that happens. You have to have to play with
Speaker 3: to a level of consistency, and with him, it's some
Speaker 3: physical consistency, but so much of it comes back to
Speaker 3: there's just a lot of parts to the.
Speaker 2: Offense that and he knows it.
Speaker 3: It's just in the spur of the moment in the
Speaker 3: game sometimes it's not quite right, and then all of
Speaker 3: a sudden you're a little bit off with your technique,
Speaker 3: and then all of a sudden there's a player.
Speaker 2: Too that just aren't that aren't what they need to be.
Speaker 2: So in the offensive line, sometimes consistency weighs out way
Speaker 2: over a big play.
Speaker 3: Because a big play for a right guard, okay, he
Speaker 3: reaches the three technique in pancakes and virtues, he reaches
Speaker 3: the three technique and the guy just can't make the tackle,
Speaker 3: And both plays are running around the corner eight yards
Speaker 3: away from him. One of them is a dominant play,
Speaker 3: the other one is just an okay play. Neither one
Speaker 3: of them is going to make that big a difference
Speaker 3: in the outcome of the game. If he falls in
Speaker 3: his face and misses him, it will whereas a running
Speaker 3: back that same difference. If he makes an outstanding play
Speaker 3: in the open field and makes a free safety miss
Speaker 3: and as opposed to just a guy that gets tackled
Speaker 3: by the free safety, that's a huge difference in the
Speaker 3: outcome of the game. So with offensive line, you're like, yeah,
Speaker 3: you love the splash plays, but you have to see
Speaker 3: the consistency.
Speaker 2: And that's what's hard as an offensive lineman.
Speaker 3: It is a grind day in and day out, weekend
Speaker 3: week out, especially when I say you start establishing maybe
Speaker 3: some things that they see about you and things that
Speaker 3: they'll try and take advantage of and you didn't have
Speaker 3: to counter. So it's just a consistency thing. It's he's
Speaker 3: played very good football for us. He's gotten better every
Speaker 3: single week and he continues to progress.
Speaker 5: You play a team like the Ravens that put a
Speaker 5: lot of guys up up you know, the line of
Speaker 5: scream ageing. You don't know which guys are coming and
Speaker 5: which guys are dropping. What are the pros and cons
Speaker 5: of that from your standpoint? What what are the downfalls
Speaker 5: and what are the potential rewards when if you figure
Speaker 5: it out writing do everything you need to.
Speaker 3: Well, the downside is is that you you for us
Speaker 3: everything that we do as we coach. It's fundamentals. Okay,
Speaker 3: so you have a play of a protection call. Lets
Speaker 3: say we're talking about pass protection. Throw on the line
Speaker 3: of scrimmage and you have protection called okay, I got him,
Speaker 3: I got him, at him and then and then if
Speaker 3: they're stationary, if they're just stagnant, if they're just lined up,
Speaker 3: you're like, Okay, here's how we're going to pass set,
Speaker 3: and here's how the helps work, and here's who we're
Speaker 3: working to, and we're gonna try and slide out and
Speaker 3: help our tackler, help our double team, our guard based
Speaker 3: on the people and where Aaron donald is affects things
Speaker 3: and things like that. So you can kind of set,
Speaker 3: You can set your feet and say.
Speaker 2: Okay, here I go. Now you have eight nine guys.
Speaker 3: In the line of scrimmage and it appears to be
Speaker 3: one thing, and then all of a sudden it becomes
Speaker 3: something else, and you have to adjust on a fly,
Speaker 3: or you have to set the guy differently. Because there's
Speaker 3: three there's two players standing one in either gap. You
Speaker 3: can't just set the one without being conscious to the
Speaker 3: other because you might get picked or some other things
Speaker 3: can happen. So there are some real there's there's some
Speaker 3: real challenges for us the disadvantage. And I'm not a
Speaker 3: defensive coach, so I have seen sometimes. You know, obviously
Speaker 3: they have all the guys line of scrimmage. And I
Speaker 3: remember one time we were playing. This goes back to
Speaker 3: a story I mentioned Jack do Rio and we were
Speaker 3: in Minnesota. We played in New England a long long
Speaker 3: time ago. Why anyway, it doesn't matter. But on a
Speaker 3: third and twelve in a game that we had, we
Speaker 3: decided to bluff. He decided to bluff as the inside
Speaker 3: linebacker in the a gap. I don't know if it
Speaker 3: was Jack or somebod else. I'm not gonna put on Jack,
Speaker 3: but and all of a sudden and we dropped back
Speaker 3: and they threw a ball right over his head and
Speaker 3: he was probably three inches from tipping the ball, probably
Speaker 3: have been an interception into the game, end up being
Speaker 3: a play that got them a big first down and
Speaker 3: end up beating us in a comeback victory. The point is,
Speaker 3: you're up in the line of scrimmage and you have
Speaker 3: to go do your coverage. There sometimes is that little
Speaker 3: bit of gap where you can't quite get where you're
Speaker 3: supposed to be, and so you know, there can be
Speaker 3: that disadvantage.
Speaker 2: I'm not just speaking to them.
Speaker 3: I have no idea exactly what they tell their guys
Speaker 3: and every single when it comes to coverage. But that
Speaker 3: can be the disadvantage and where we can take advantage.
Speaker 3: I've seen it some on receiver screens. You know, they
Speaker 3: play screens very very well, but every now and then
Speaker 3: the receiver screen goes out the way, then they're kind
Speaker 3: of dropping guys the other direction. That's what want to do.
Speaker 3: The Ravens, they go out the other direction and then
Speaker 3: you throw the screen out there. All of a sudden,
Speaker 3: you got these guys. There's nobody over there to help
Speaker 3: make the play. So there's there's a there's a plus
Speaker 3: minus and all that stuff. But it does it makes
Speaker 3: it really really hard fundamentally to zone in and lock in,
Speaker 3: and you have to have a lot of experience to
Speaker 3: and start seeing, Okay, how can I sit and block
Speaker 3: these guys given the different parameters they're they're they's well
Speaker 3: coached the defenses as as as the record indicates they've
Speaker 3: been there for a long time.
Speaker 2: They know what they're doing.
Speaker 3: They're very their veteran players, they're they're they're one of
Speaker 3: the better coach defenses that we faced all year.
Speaker 2: You've been around so many great players.
Speaker 1: Where is Christian McCaffrey sort of rank among the best
Speaker 1: running backs?
Speaker 2: You've been around? Lot?
Speaker 3: Well, the thing is is that the think when I
Speaker 3: got in the NFL, what I noticed, Okay, so you're coming.
Speaker 3: I coaching college for ten years. I was a big
Speaker 3: I grew up a Green Bay Packer fan. I mean
Speaker 3: I grew up in the sixties with the Packers. I mean,
Speaker 3: I remember Bart Starr. We relived the Quarterback Sneak twenty
Speaker 3: times in my family room the day it happened. I'm
Speaker 3: diving over pillows and who's gonna be Starr? And who's
Speaker 3: gonna be Chuck Mersine with his hands up in Jerry
Speaker 3: Cray all that stuff, and we did all that. It
Speaker 3: was it was cool, And so I grew up and
Speaker 3: I remember my dad taking me down and watching these
Speaker 3: players walk by, Bart Starr, Rain Nichkey, Willie Davis, all
Speaker 3: of them. I'm like, holy couch, Jim Taylor, this is
Speaker 3: the great I mean, a starstruck kid, right, like all
Speaker 3: of us. And then you fast forward, you know whatever,
Speaker 3: how many years. I'm thirty years old, I get my
Speaker 3: first job in the NFL, and I'm coaching for the Vikings.
Speaker 3: I remember my mom the first question, she said, this
Speaker 3: is old. Sorry my mom, she goes, she goes, Chris, what.
Speaker 2: Are you doing? You guys play the Packers, I said, Mom,
Speaker 2: the Vikings.
Speaker 3: Pay me.
Speaker 2: We're gonna beat the shit out of them.
Speaker 3: What we're gonna do, sorry, We're gonna try and do anyway,
Speaker 3: you know, but anyway, So get to the long story.
Speaker 3: Short is when I get the NFL, I had in
Speaker 3: my mind Trent Williams, you know, Jerry, Jerry, you know,
Speaker 3: always got Bart Starr. You have these these starlike images.
Speaker 3: Then you get on the field and you realize so
Speaker 3: much of the NFL it's guys that aren't as big
Speaker 3: as you think they are. They're not as what it is.
Speaker 3: It's the work ethic, it's the it's the talents there.
Speaker 3: You got to have, as caw says, you gotta be
Speaker 3: able to get in the club. Right, We're all sitting
Speaker 3: where we sit because we didn't we I mean, maybe
Speaker 3: you guys couldn't you passed on it? But I couldn't
Speaker 3: get in the club. I couldn't get in the club
Speaker 3: of playing in the NFL, right, So I couldn't get
Speaker 3: into the club.
Speaker 2: But once you're in the club, it's the guys that
Speaker 2: worked the hardest. Is Peyton Man? Did Peyton Man have
Speaker 2: the greatest arm of all time? Or did he just
Speaker 2: work at.
Speaker 3: An extremely incredible level to understand defenses and do what
Speaker 3: he did with the offense that he did and how
Speaker 3: he manipulated protections and how he ran his offense right?
Speaker 3: Every single player I went as I started in to
Speaker 3: the league, it's it's the guys that work, yes, every
Speaker 3: now and then there are the guys that have just
Speaker 3: incredible talent that don't do it. Now, let's get back
Speaker 3: to Christian. Christian's that guy that does have the talent
Speaker 3: to get in the club. He's obviously fast, he's big enough,
Speaker 3: he's strong enough. But his attention to detail and every
Speaker 3: little thing that he does is like I say, it's
Speaker 3: it's Manning. Like I mean, he's the only guy that
Speaker 3: I know that I can say I was with that
Speaker 3: is that I've never seen anything like it. You know,
Speaker 3: I've never seen the detail he went in to went
Speaker 3: into everything that he did. And that's what I see
Speaker 3: with Christian. That's what sets him apart. And then the
Speaker 3: other thing is which is all of them.
Speaker 2: There has to be a level.
Speaker 3: There's an incredible competitive drive and toughness like that first
Speaker 3: guy's not getting him down. And there were some things
Speaker 3: said this week about some other running backs running against
Speaker 3: how hard they ran against this defense. I can promise
Speaker 3: you Christian steaming as somebody saying, oh, this guy ran
Speaker 3: really hard. I mean they did a great job. That
Speaker 3: running back really got after he ran hard against the Ravens.
Speaker 3: And if you think that's hard, Christians thinking himself, I'll
Speaker 3: show you what hard is.
Speaker 2: You know. And there's still that I'm going to show
Speaker 2: you mentality with this guy.
Speaker 3: So not on is he a great a tension of tail?
Speaker 3: He freaking works his tail off and everything every single
Speaker 3: minute of every single day. He's fired up. I give
Speaker 3: you one another story about Chrisian. Okay, so yesterday we're
Speaker 3: gonna start practice. We're doing team takeoff. You guys are
Speaker 3: out there early. We do two simple little plays were
Speaker 3: kind of running screens on air or something like that,
Speaker 3: and Christian we.
Speaker 2: Got about forty seconds before the period starts to go.
Speaker 3: Christian I said, Man, we're gonna have to these guys. Man,
Speaker 3: we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna play fast, we're gonna
Speaker 3: play physical. I really feel good, I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: and I don't know. Shoot, the Ravens are a great defense.
Speaker 3: We'll do the best we can. But I was being positive,
Speaker 3: pumping them up, you know, And literally it was like
Speaker 3: we were in the locker room getting ready to play
Speaker 3: the game.
Speaker 2: He was so fired up.
Speaker 3: He's like, I agree, coach, and you can see his
Speaker 3: eyes get big and he started to twitch a little bit,
Speaker 3: and he's like, I think we're gonna get these guys.
Speaker 3: You know, I really think we can get these guys. Like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I think we can.
Speaker 2: Christian.
Speaker 3: I'm like, dude, I was just kind of giving you
Speaker 3: a little banter before we start the period, and he's
Speaker 3: ready to go run out the tunnel and play the game.
Speaker 2: So it's not it's not fake, it's legit.
Speaker 3: It's just who he is. It oozes out of him,
Speaker 3: his preparation, all the things he does. So I could
Speaker 3: talk forever about Christian McCaffrey because he's one. He's like
Speaker 3: I said, he's almost one of a kind.
Speaker 2: Monday night, I didn't get to watch it. I know
Speaker 2: the man, and I didn't hear what he said.
Speaker 5: Though he was able to identify basically at a Philadelphia
Speaker 5: Eagles play before it happened, just based on formation and
Speaker 5: you know whatever.
Speaker 2: Who was Peyton or Christian? Of course he did.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because those two guys right there, there are two
Speaker 3: peas in a pod right there. If you they'd be
Speaker 3: arguing in the backfield as to what they should be doing.
Speaker 3: I'm sure if they both run the same team. But
Speaker 3: it's it's outstanding. It's really cool. Did no idea, I know,
Speaker 3: I just knew he was a good player. Carolina played
Speaker 3: hard Stanford. I knew the guys that stadt coaching Stanford,
Speaker 3: so I knew the people there. They spoke so highly.
Speaker 3: I actually when I was at Stanford back in the
Speaker 3: day with Denny Green, Ed McCaffrey's dad played for US,
Speaker 3: so I knew Ed.
Speaker 2: I didn't know Christian, so.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I coached with Denny at I coached with Denny
Speaker 3: at Stanford and then UH for three years.
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 3: I was there with Jack Alway for one then that
Speaker 3: Jack they fired Jack and They kept me around because
Speaker 3: I was the lowest paint guy in the staff, so
Speaker 3: they kept me around. And then when Danny went to
Speaker 3: the Vikings, he said I was too young to go
Speaker 3: to the NFL. So I was out for a year
Speaker 3: and I went to University of Minnesota. Conveniently and luckily,
Speaker 3: I kept in touch with Denny and the guys that
Speaker 3: went from the Stanford staff to the Vikings.
Speaker 2: The next year he hired me with the Vikings.
Speaker 3: So thank you, guys, appreciate it.