Speaker 1: This episode of Inside Coverage was recorded before the news
Speaker 1: of Brian Robinson Junior on behalf of Braham, myself and
Speaker 1: the Washington Commander's media team. We wish him the best
Speaker 1: of health and a full speedy recovery. He's a guy.
Speaker 1: When the lights came on for the game, he played better.
Speaker 1: And they have what I would call the oddest streak
Speaker 1: in sport. That offensive line group is especial. When I
Speaker 1: go to a Broadway show, I assume they practiced the line.
Speaker 1: All right, welcome into the Unnamed Show, Bram Whitsteined, Logan Paulson.
Speaker 1: All Right, today we're gonna talk the end of the
Speaker 1: preseason here, what the summer has meant to you, what
Speaker 1: it's meant to you in the past, what you look for,
Speaker 1: and the things that have stood out to us this
Speaker 1: summer as we get set for the start of the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two seasons. So just generally, when I say, like,
Speaker 1: what's important in training camp, training, preseason? Yeah, yeah, so
Speaker 1: I think just general off season thoughts like it kind
Speaker 1: of ramps up in terms of importance obviously, like OTAs
Speaker 1: are important just to kind of confirm evaluations. See generally
Speaker 1: where the team is at mini camp, intensity ramps up
Speaker 1: training camp, you're kind to take a step up, right,
Speaker 1: And I always thought, I like, even when I played,
Speaker 1: that the preseason was kind of the next natural progression
Speaker 1: of that. It's just it's a little bit more than
Speaker 1: a practice. It's significantly less than a regular season game.
Speaker 1: But it just kind of helps you see how guys
Speaker 1: handle live bullets for lack of a better word, right,
Speaker 1: like how they are kind of with the prep, how
Speaker 1: they are when the lights come on, how they are
Speaker 1: when they're getting the calls from the sideline and they're
Speaker 1: on the field. They have to make their own decisions.
Speaker 1: And I think that stuff is very important, will always
Speaker 1: be important. I think a lot of teams in the
Speaker 1: NFL now have found other ways to get that evaluation
Speaker 1: part out in terms of like utilizing joint practices right
Speaker 1: where they can run bigger swaths of their offense or
Speaker 1: defense against a different opponent and they don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about kind of guys getting hurt in the same
Speaker 1: way because there are parameters to practice. So I think
Speaker 1: I just think it's a it's a really important evaluation tool,
Speaker 1: if especially for this team, because they don't use they
Speaker 1: don't utilize that joint practice model, which as a player,
Speaker 1: I couldn't stand joint practices, but as a coach or
Speaker 1: a scout, you definitely see why those things are important. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So for me, like in the spring, it's the beginning
Speaker 1: of the hype train. Yeah, it's guys in shorts and
Speaker 1: T shirts. Everybody looks great. Everybody feels like, oh, we
Speaker 1: got it right on this. This this, this trading camp
Speaker 1: to be starts to give you a little hint of
Speaker 1: are those people that are new are they really going
Speaker 1: to fit in the way that they did? Are they
Speaker 1: going to be able to do the things that they're
Speaker 1: suggesting they were going to be able to do? And
Speaker 1: in the case of like Johan Dotson, it's obvious that
Speaker 1: there's a carryover and he belongs right. There are others
Speaker 1: that where I go, I've heard all the hype, I
Speaker 1: still need to see this in real games, and the
Speaker 1: trading camp can kind of be eye opening in that
Speaker 1: way where you watch one how much they're being utilized
Speaker 1: for real now, and two do they look comfortable in
Speaker 1: the things they're being asked to do? And so there
Speaker 1: are and I won't name any of those players, but
Speaker 1: there are players that I go. I heard a lot
Speaker 1: about them. I'm still waiting to see it when we
Speaker 1: get into real games. And I think that's that's essentially
Speaker 1: what the preseason game for this team means, right. It's
Speaker 1: it's not a regular it's not a regular season game obviously,
Speaker 1: but at least it's kind of the next natural maturation
Speaker 1: of that process where you can say, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: how does the old line pass off games without knowing
Speaker 1: the games are coming? Because I think people often forget
Speaker 1: that practice is scripted. Like I remember when I was playing,
Speaker 1: you could go to the defensive call sheet, look up
Speaker 1: all their defensive calls and be like, a team run,
Speaker 1: They're gonna run these stunts and we're gonna be ready
Speaker 1: for this, and we're gonna game plan this. What happens
Speaker 1: when the structure it's a little bit less structured, can
Speaker 1: guys see and digest information at a high level, and again,
Speaker 1: it just stresses them in a way that they haven't
Speaker 1: been stressed so far. So again, that's one of the
Speaker 1: things I enjoy about preseason football is because it just
Speaker 1: kind of ticks it up a little bit and for
Speaker 1: some of those guys that are maybe flashing, maybe it's
Speaker 1: kind of saying, oh, there's this is why they're not starting,
Speaker 1: or this is why they were two, this is why
Speaker 1: they're rotational people, or you'll see these are the parts
Speaker 1: I think they're going to need to improve on. And
Speaker 1: you'll see that a lot with the younger players, Like
Speaker 1: last summer, Jammy Brown, there was some obvious there was
Speaker 1: a big hype trade about after his selection in trading camp,
Speaker 1: it became pretty clear that like there's a ways to
Speaker 1: go for him that you see the upside, you see
Speaker 1: what they're talking about. You know he could have a
Speaker 1: big role for them, but you could see some of
Speaker 1: the things that were still needed to come along. That
Speaker 1: was one major example for me a year ago that
Speaker 1: I saw in camp. Yeah, and he's a good example
Speaker 1: too because like he's a guy and again you mentioned
Speaker 1: consistency at the start of the show, and I think that,
Speaker 1: like he's a guy that is good for two days
Speaker 1: and then kind of goes quiet for three and good
Speaker 1: for two days, goes quiet, And I think for the
Speaker 1: young guys that the off season is a long process
Speaker 1: and how consistent can you be in that process, because again,
Speaker 1: that shows me who you are and what you're about,
Speaker 1: and if you're super inconsistent. I think there's something either
Speaker 1: from like a mental standpoint that isn't quite working out,
Speaker 1: from like a classroom standpoint, or just like how much
Speaker 1: do you love it in terms of being able to
Speaker 1: bring your top level every single day to and treat
Speaker 1: it like it's a game. I think that's also important
Speaker 1: for people. I mean, there's a couple of guys, like
Speaker 1: in the secondary this year, clearly younger players are going
Speaker 1: to make this team. Percy Butler is gonna make the team,
Speaker 1: probably play a lot. There's probably going to be a
Speaker 1: very young corner that makes it as the fifth corner
Speaker 1: on this behind Johnson, Saint Juice, Jackson, and Fuller. Somebody's
Speaker 1: going to make the team here because there is no
Speaker 1: other veteran really out there unless Cornelder makes it. Someone
Speaker 1: like Christian Holmes is probably going to make it. So
Speaker 1: I'm watching people like that, and you see the rookie
Speaker 1: moments like yeah, there are these times during the trading
Speaker 1: camp where you're like, man, that guy's got it, like yeah, boy,
Speaker 1: they got a hit. He's a seventh round pick. And
Speaker 1: then there are other days where you see it and
Speaker 1: you go, he's gonna have to fix this, or he's
Speaker 1: gonna have to fix that because it's a long season here.
Speaker 1: These are pros. You're gonna be covering professional receivers. We
Speaker 1: don't have time for you to learn it. Well. I
Speaker 1: think that's the other thing with Christian Holmes is a
Speaker 1: great example, Like he's looked pretty dang good throughout training
Speaker 1: camp minus a couple of plays here and there, and
Speaker 1: then you get to you get to the preseason game
Speaker 1: and he looks a little nervous. You know, it looks
Speaker 1: a little reserved and obviously like everyone handles games differently, right,
Speaker 1: But I think that that again, that's why that kind
Speaker 1: of escalation is so important, because you get to see
Speaker 1: who's got that competitive It's it's like, you know, you
Speaker 1: mentioned Forrest in our draft, like he's a guy when
Speaker 1: the lights came on for the game, he played better,
Speaker 1: like he was more physical, Like you get to show
Speaker 1: other elements of his game, and other guys kind of
Speaker 1: get quiet and get nervous and they shy away from that.
Speaker 1: And so again I think that's why that preseason process
Speaker 1: is so like that it escalates a little bit is
Speaker 1: so important for just finalizing what you think about the roster.
Speaker 1: You know, the other thing it really stands out to
Speaker 1: me in preseason now is just how structured, how it's
Speaker 1: just so different than what I was accustomed to two
Speaker 1: years ago and probably what even what you were accustomed
Speaker 1: to not even that long ago, where it's been negotiated,
Speaker 1: the physicality of it's been negotiated out, Yeah, through the
Speaker 1: collective bargaining agreement. And you know, listen, like I'm not
Speaker 1: sitting here like pining for the time when we saw
Speaker 1: two days and these guys are killing each other, you know,
Speaker 1: in the middle of August. But it's gone a different
Speaker 1: direction where the first week of camp league wide, you
Speaker 1: can't hit yeah, right everyway. So and then you know,
Speaker 1: when I asked Rod Rivera about it, he would say
Speaker 1: things like, you know, well, we did do some live practices,
Speaker 1: but you can hear in his voice he's like, it's
Speaker 1: a different time there, and to actually ramp up and
Speaker 1: get ready to play football, you have to hit each other,
Speaker 1: and there's just a limitation on it, and that secondarily,
Speaker 1: you don't want to get people injured. Yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: really it's dicey, Like I think, like I look at
Speaker 1: this and I look at the coaches, and I go,
Speaker 1: I don't know how you get these guys ready to
Speaker 1: do this based on how this thing is structured right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's another interesting thing, like when are they
Speaker 1: going to tackle? When are they gonna block? When are
Speaker 1: they gonna cut block? When the when do those things happen?
Speaker 1: And they don't happen enjoying practices, They happen in the
Speaker 1: preseason game. That's the first kind of scrimmage element that
Speaker 1: they have. And I think, you know, like I remember
Speaker 1: talking to Iron after the game and he was like, well,
Speaker 1: it was nice to see that they tackled well because
Speaker 1: we weren't able to see that, you know, like we
Speaker 1: weren't able to see that from the defense. So it is.
Speaker 1: It's a totally different animal now, and I think in
Speaker 1: some ways it makes the preseason games a little bit
Speaker 1: more important because you get to kind of truly understand,
Speaker 1: you know, what your team and what your guys are about,
Speaker 1: especially if you're a young team. Like obviously everyone points
Speaker 1: to the La Rams and says, oh, well, they don't
Speaker 1: play anybody in the preseam that's like a very experienced
Speaker 1: old roster in a lot of ways, and here this,
Speaker 1: you know, like the oldest guy is Tress Way, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, who's a punter, and everybody else
Speaker 1: is very young and kind of developing as professionals. And
Speaker 1: so I think that's why joint practices, preseason games, all
Speaker 1: that stuff is so important. I mean, I think down
Speaker 1: the road, the way it's structured, I would almost argue
Speaker 1: that joint practices and controlled scrimmages are a better option
Speaker 1: than have the preseason games. Yeah, and you know what, like,
Speaker 1: guess what I know about football fans. They'll watch them. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: they'll go to a stadium for them. And I actually
Speaker 1: think both teams would get more out of it if
Speaker 1: they were in communication with one another and said, this
Speaker 1: is what we plan to do. Now, tell us what
Speaker 1: you plan to do, and we'll accommodate each other and
Speaker 1: do the things that we want to get accomplished in
Speaker 1: something like this. Right now, these like these games seem
Speaker 1: to not have I don't know the effect that I
Speaker 1: think that both teams could probably if it from right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's a great point, like, because it's becoming
Speaker 1: the preseason games specifically are becoming so diluted, you know,
Speaker 1: like you're not getting kind of the pushing of the
Speaker 1: game planning. You're not getting these kind of things you
Speaker 1: used to get, you know, back when I was a
Speaker 1: rookie in twenty two thousand and ten. Geez, and um, obviously,
Speaker 1: like that's that's important. And then, like you mentioned, now
Speaker 1: we can work our cover three beaters when you're running
Speaker 1: running your cover three because we're talking about it, we
Speaker 1: can say this is this, these are our cover three
Speaker 1: beaters as an offense. Can you guys run cover three
Speaker 1: for us? Yes? Yes, and we'll get there's a benefit there.
Speaker 1: And also the most important thing of a joint practices
Speaker 1: you protect your quarterback. There's a reason that Tom Brady
Speaker 1: doesn't do preseason games and only does, um, you know
Speaker 1: whatever joint practices is because you can't touch the quarterback
Speaker 1: and you're less likely to get injured. And that, you know,
Speaker 1: one hundred million dollars investment that the team has made
Speaker 1: is not at risk in a game that doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: And they're getting looks against other defenses that are getting
Speaker 1: the speed of other defenses. And I think, again, I
Speaker 1: don't disagree with you. I think that that's a good
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, you know, like take this, they're
Speaker 1: playing the Ravens this weekend. They're right up the street obviously, region.
Speaker 1: It's the right thing to do, it's easiest thing to do. Well,
Speaker 1: what if they put you know, a controlled scrimmage in
Speaker 1: either one of their stadiums or Navy Stadium. Well you
Speaker 1: think they wouldn't sell tickets to that, Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: and that both teams are actually getting out what they
Speaker 1: want to get out of this instead of what's happening
Speaker 1: right now, which is for some weird reason, the Ravens
Speaker 1: want to win these games, you know, like it really
Speaker 1: actually matters to them, and they have what I would
Speaker 1: call the oddest streak in sports. Yeah, that's not a coincidence.
Speaker 1: That's their thing. Now, they haven't lost the preseason game
Speaker 1: in five years or six years or whatever it is. Well,
Speaker 1: that's because you want to Yeah, that's a weird priority,
Speaker 1: but that's their priority, and so that isn't this team's priority.
Speaker 1: We're walking into a stadium on Saturday where these two
Speaker 1: teams aren't even thinking about it in the same way.
Speaker 1: You know. I think that's a undred percent right. And
Speaker 1: I think you know a lot of fans freak out
Speaker 1: about like the record in preseason or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: I think that's like the worst thing to be worried about, Like,
Speaker 1: this is not a time to be worried about winning
Speaker 1: and losing football games. It's a time to be worried
Speaker 1: about where's my roster at. And then I personally think
Speaker 1: that more there should be more emphasis on, like the
Speaker 1: game plan per week, like that second preseason game should
Speaker 1: be pretty like a pretty serious game plan, because you
Speaker 1: want to see how guys handle and digest what you're
Speaker 1: trying to do. You want to make sure as a
Speaker 1: coordinator that you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your
Speaker 1: of your side of the football. So I think that's
Speaker 1: something that could be emphasized a little bit again roster evaluation.
Speaker 1: But I think winning these football games is the like
Speaker 1: you said, it's the oddish streak in all of sports
Speaker 1: in terms of what Baltimore is doing. And I couldn't
Speaker 1: agree more. It's the who cares? These games don't count?
Speaker 1: One doesn't matter. And I'm not saying winning winning the
Speaker 1: game is like if you get into two minute drill
Speaker 1: with Sam how at the end of the game, Like,
Speaker 1: go execute you two minute drill. But I'm not executing
Speaker 1: it to win the game. I want to see how
Speaker 1: Sam Howell handles that situation. Yeah, and then it's something
Speaker 1: that like, again tending to your point about joint practices,
Speaker 1: It's like earlier this week or earlier before the before
Speaker 1: the first Presea game against Carolina, Ron was like, I
Speaker 1: want to see Sam how on a two minute. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: why don't you just go to the other coach and
Speaker 1: be like, we're gonna run a two minute with Sam
Speaker 1: Hell in the game, Like run your two minute defense? Like,
Speaker 1: why can't you do that? You told them upfront We're
Speaker 1: going to go no huddle. I don't care what the
Speaker 1: clock says. Yeah, when he comes in, we're gonna go
Speaker 1: no huddle and pretend it's a two minute because we
Speaker 1: want to see him react. This way, you should know,
Speaker 1: because we want ten minutes on the clock, you're not
Speaker 1: going to think we're yeah right. And I think that
Speaker 1: kind of thing would would just be beneficial because then
Speaker 1: there's no doubt about I'm not like waiting for the
Speaker 1: end of the game. Oh we're gonna get the ball back.
Speaker 1: Is it gonna be the right situation? It's like, we
Speaker 1: dictate this situation, so let's run a two minute if
Speaker 1: you want to see Taylor Howny. You do it like
Speaker 1: it's the middle of the second quarter. Hey, just phone over,
Speaker 1: be like, hey, we're gonna run two minute right now,
Speaker 1: Like run your two minute defense. Boom, and we got
Speaker 1: we gotta take care of a controlled scrimmage. You could
Speaker 1: lay these things out absolutely each team could have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to do it. You could say we're doing red
Speaker 1: zone now, you could say we could do whatever cover
Speaker 1: we're working on specific coverages. That's it, right, and then
Speaker 1: both coaches are on the same page about it. You
Speaker 1: protect everybody as much as you possible again, which is
Speaker 1: what the whole point of the fans will watch it. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I mean, like you know, when we did this the
Speaker 1: scrimmage at the stadium, like there was a lot of
Speaker 1: people there, and you imagine if there was another team
Speaker 1: there and you can watch your seven on seven, what's
Speaker 1: your nine on seven, what's your one on one pass rushes,
Speaker 1: like get to see those points of evaluation. I think
Speaker 1: that's I think that would be excellent. But again, like
Speaker 1: I don't know if people are ready to kind of
Speaker 1: shift gears like that. Yeah. Now, in the games, there
Speaker 1: are a few things that stood out to me and
Speaker 1: I'll be specific about this team, because you know, I've
Speaker 1: watched some of the other preseason games, but mainly I'm
Speaker 1: watching ours. And there are a couple of things that
Speaker 1: I do take out of them and I go those
Speaker 1: are at least interesting to think about, And one of
Speaker 1: them is one of the things that's concerning to me
Speaker 1: is it's not a coincidence when after every half, would
Speaker 1: you come out of the locker room, the other team,
Speaker 1: no matter who their personnel is, goes down the field
Speaker 1: and along on a long driving scores. This happened four
Speaker 1: times each half. It has happened no matter who the
Speaker 1: quarterback was for the Panthers or the Chiefs, or who
Speaker 1: the defensive unit was for Washington. So while it's preseason,
Speaker 1: and while that score doesn't matter, I do look at
Speaker 1: things like that and go, what's happening here, because that's
Speaker 1: it's not a coincidence anymore when it happens every single time.
Speaker 1: And again to your point, like you get out of
Speaker 1: preseason what you emphasize, and so you mentioned Baltimore, they
Speaker 1: want to win the games, right, so twenty four or
Speaker 1: whatever it is, twenty three consecutive games, Like if if
Speaker 1: that's something that you as a staff want to work on,
Speaker 1: Like wouldn't you make that a point of emphasis, Like
Speaker 1: maybe we're scripting the first ten plays coming out of halftime,
Speaker 1: where we're scripting our first ten and we want those
Speaker 1: to be Chris when we're talking about that all week
Speaker 1: and we're talking about starting fast, like you are in
Speaker 1: control of this. Treat it like a practice. Get get
Speaker 1: out of that what you want to get out of it.
Speaker 1: Because people say all the time, like why why are
Speaker 1: we slow starters? Why is the team a slow starter?
Speaker 1: And offensively there seems to be an element of conservatism,
Speaker 1: and I think on defense it's the same thing. You're
Speaker 1: just playing kind of you're playing not it seems like
Speaker 1: they don't know what the offense is going to run.
Speaker 1: But you've had all week to prep. You know, in
Speaker 1: both cases, your offense to their defense and our defense
Speaker 1: of their offense. Said, I mean it's Pat Mahomes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's that offense and they win twelve games every year,
Speaker 1: so like you know, I it's a different animal. And
Speaker 1: that's an interesting test for a preseason game. But still
Speaker 1: they announced in the middle of the week, we're playing
Speaker 1: our guys for boards of a half, So It wasn't
Speaker 1: like they weren't going to hold back. You played him
Speaker 1: last year. It was a slow start again, and I
Speaker 1: you know, and it was slow start for a reason
Speaker 1: that I think it was kind of unexpected, at least
Speaker 1: in my opinion, And it was the pass rush wasn't there.
Speaker 1: Because if you watched Carolina and again a different team,
Speaker 1: the past rush was outstanding and then all of a
Speaker 1: sudden they could add four sacks on Mayfield. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: gets really quiet against Mahomes and Mahomes because of the
Speaker 1: style of play that he has, because of you know,
Speaker 1: his ability to kind of his arm strength and ability
Speaker 1: to get all those things, they dictate a different style
Speaker 1: of rush. But that should show you if you're jack,
Speaker 1: if you're the defensive staff, that like that plan needs
Speaker 1: to be cultivated and developed a little bit more, a
Speaker 1: little bit more fleshed out. Now. I do think that
Speaker 1: in the context of Kansas City, I think this staff
Speaker 1: would probably say we're gonna run more five man rushes.
Speaker 1: We're going to eliminate the double team on the nose
Speaker 1: player so that Patrick Mahomes can't step up, innovate and
Speaker 1: innovate the pocket like we'll get more one on ones
Speaker 1: will contain him with kind of more volume run because
Speaker 1: I actually thought the coverage had a good job, but
Speaker 1: the rush just couldn't get home. So it's just weird
Speaker 1: how that was the reason for the slow start against
Speaker 1: Kansas City, while the reason for the slow start against
Speaker 1: Carolina was the fact that the coverage was kind of
Speaker 1: misaligned and not communicating effectively. So again it's it's not
Speaker 1: like one thing, and maybe that's fanshi to take solace
Speaker 1: in that, but also it's annoying because it's a different
Speaker 1: thing in two weeks, and it's a carryover because how
Speaker 1: many times over these last two years have they been
Speaker 1: behind in games? They very rarely have a lead, they
Speaker 1: very rarely score on their opening drive, So maybe that's conservative.
Speaker 1: So these are things that, like eighty year three, I
Speaker 1: would like to see change. And while these games I
Speaker 1: realized don't matter, it is something that was happening in
Speaker 1: the past, it is something I think it's considered else.
Speaker 1: And also, like you know, with the offense specifically, like
Speaker 1: you know, Brian Robinson did a great job getting too
Speaker 1: a lot of second and shorts, and in every offense
Speaker 1: I've been in, like second and short, you're taking a shot,
Speaker 1: but they Scott seemed to be more concerned about just
Speaker 1: getting getting the ball to a first down distance. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, So like, instead of a second
Speaker 1: and one, instead of saying, oh, we're gonna run a
Speaker 1: play action pass here, we're gonna see what Jahan withold Terry,
Speaker 1: what Curtis can do in terms of pushing the ball
Speaker 1: down the football field and showing up our protection with
Speaker 1: the play action, We're gonna run outside on to the
Speaker 1: left and get the first down and then start first
Speaker 1: and ten. So I think that again is maybe a
Speaker 1: preseason symptom, but that's something that again you want to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on progressing into the season because that's
Speaker 1: a reason you start slow, is when you don't take
Speaker 1: advantage of those moments to cultivate big plays, because fifty
Speaker 1: percent of drives have some type of that score, have
Speaker 1: some type of big play in them. And by big play,
Speaker 1: it's just a fifteen yard play could be run past whatever.
Speaker 1: If you don't have that, you're likely of scoring it's
Speaker 1: like five percent. So use those opportunities. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you use those opportunities to get that done. And again
Speaker 1: it's preseason. They're holding their cards close to the best,
Speaker 1: But I think some of that stuff, that conservative element
Speaker 1: offensively and defensively is part of the reason first slow,
Speaker 1: you know, and like it just this is just my
Speaker 1: just watching them every day in practice, like ice see,
Speaker 1: I think I see the building blocks of how they
Speaker 1: want to run the ball. Yeah, I think they're showing
Speaker 1: that in practice. I don't think we've seen their passing games.
Speaker 1: It feels like I literally don't think i've seen it it. Actually,
Speaker 1: it wasn't until this week, when it's still opened and
Speaker 1: we're still out there that I actually saw some glimpses
Speaker 1: of what I think they're going to actually do. In
Speaker 1: Week one, it felt like this potpourri of things where
Speaker 1: they were just throwing out there. And I think part
Speaker 1: of that was in thinking back on it now, because
Speaker 1: there was a lot of inaccuracy, and there was timing
Speaker 1: issues and the balls all over the place and at
Speaker 1: the time, and they kept saying it's had a big
Speaker 1: deal side a big deal, side a big deal, and
Speaker 1: we're sitting yere going it is it is, it is,
Speaker 1: stop trying to spin us. Well, two weeks later, that
Speaker 1: stuff is clarified itself, because it doesn't feel like at
Speaker 1: least just watching them that they were implementing what their
Speaker 1: passing games really going to look like. And maybe that
Speaker 1: was by design because this week things changed. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that's again that speaks to their philosophy and perspective
Speaker 1: on the preseason. I think I think they think they
Speaker 1: want to keep things close. They don't want to show
Speaker 1: a lot of who they are and what they want
Speaker 1: to be. And I don't know, I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's the right way to go about it. You know,
Speaker 1: I think I think if I was a coach, i'd
Speaker 1: want to know. And I know other staffs around the NFL,
Speaker 1: like they watched film, they know what Scott Turners, they
Speaker 1: know what Ron Rivera's identity is. Like, I don't think
Speaker 1: I'm keeping a secret by not showing stuff in the preseason.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't need to be everything, but I want
Speaker 1: to know how certain things look and how they execute
Speaker 1: in the timing of those things. And I and while
Speaker 1: practice is a great metric for that, it's not the
Speaker 1: same thing as that opportunity that you get into preseason.
Speaker 1: Him to go gets a different team in defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, like I had a conversation with one of
Speaker 1: the coaches last week, and you know, we were just
Speaker 1: talking about the opener, and I'm like, that's a new coach, right,
Speaker 1: it's Doug Peterson. Clearly you're familiar with him from Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: but it's a new coach. It's a new personnel to
Speaker 1: do everything. How the world do you prepare for that,
Speaker 1: especially if you're gonna be hiding stuff. And he just
Speaker 1: immediately said he's going to run the things two years ago.
Speaker 1: He's like he's he's gonna take what it's with them.
Speaker 1: So like, yeah, it's new people and all that, but
Speaker 1: we know what he's gonna do. And so to your
Speaker 1: point of like, well, then if everybody knows what everybody's doing,
Speaker 1: why are you hiding anything? Yeah, why aren't you just
Speaker 1: doing what you're doing, getting better at it and just
Speaker 1: going try to stop us? Especially when you have a
Speaker 1: group of players like this team has that they're gonna
Speaker 1: put out on the field. And I think people do
Speaker 1: understand there are just like generic pass concepts that everybody installs.
Speaker 1: Like I've been in multiple offenses and everyone's got you know,
Speaker 1: the post to the right and the high cross to
Speaker 1: the left, and everybody runs that. Every single team runs that.
Speaker 1: So run in preseason, and then your game plan wrinkle
Speaker 1: off of that concept, which is like maybe a post
Speaker 1: corner or you widen the split, or you change the formation.
Speaker 1: You don't show that, but I want to see the concept.
Speaker 1: I want to see the timing. I want to see
Speaker 1: how Carson Wentz reads it versus a different defense. So
Speaker 1: I think that that's what I'm talking about, is like, yes,
Speaker 1: there are game plan nuance that you want to hold
Speaker 1: till game day. But also in terms of like, oh
Speaker 1: we've got a new secret concept, there's only so many
Speaker 1: ways you can land those guys up and right and
Speaker 1: they're effective. So again that's my thought on that. It's like,
Speaker 1: why not just do some of those like day seven install,
Speaker 1: let's do that. Let's get some of that in there
Speaker 1: instead of just doing the first day, first couple of days.
Speaker 1: When I go to a Broadway show, I assume they
Speaker 1: practice the line you know, yeah, all right, right. A
Speaker 1: couple things that stood out to be as well. There's
Speaker 1: another carry everything. I just want to hear what you
Speaker 1: have to say about this because I don't know what
Speaker 1: it means. But the third down defense is, you know,
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of conversions, and then I think
Speaker 1: more For me, the one that was actually more concerting
Speaker 1: was the multiple times they got over the fifty against
Speaker 1: Kansas City and could not convert a third down with
Speaker 1: their offense. That one, to me was like, those are
Speaker 1: the missed opportunities that I see and I'm sure the
Speaker 1: offense would have liked to have had bad. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean offensively, I can probably speak to you more. But
Speaker 1: like when you get across the fifty into that forty
Speaker 1: five forty range, Like that's like the strike zone. That's
Speaker 1: like what your characterize. You know, you have your head
Speaker 1: zone and then you have a strike zone. Strike zones
Speaker 1: like where you your offense changes a little bit, you
Speaker 1: take more shots, you have different concepts in to kind
Speaker 1: of take advantage of that section of the field. And
Speaker 1: again like instead of getting take more aggressive there, you know,
Speaker 1: Scott gets more conservative. And I'm assuming that's because they're
Speaker 1: trying to hide what they want to be in the
Speaker 1: regular season. And again that goes back to our point
Speaker 1: is like why you know what I mean, like everyone
Speaker 1: runs these concepts. You don't need to show me the formation,
Speaker 1: but like just running out of some of vanilla formation.
Speaker 1: But let's see kind of your thought process here. A
Speaker 1: little bit more. And again that's my that's my And
Speaker 1: the defensive thing again I alluded to this earlier, is
Speaker 1: a little bit more confounding in my opinion, because it's
Speaker 1: like last Carolina, it's the coverage. This week it's the
Speaker 1: Kansas City, it's the rush, and that lack of consistency
Speaker 1: and that variance is going to happen, but you'd like
Speaker 1: to see it a little bit more dialed in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, and and every team and that again that's
Speaker 1: why preseasons valuable because they show you. Teams will show
Speaker 1: you where you're weak. Right, So obviously, you know, going
Speaker 1: against Carson Wentz and practice a guy who's not running
Speaker 1: anywhere like, you don't need to be as dialed into
Speaker 1: your rush lanes. Perhaps, so this is a good kind
Speaker 1: of just reminder, Hey, this is this is, this is
Speaker 1: why our rush lanes are in versus this call versus
Speaker 1: this coverage because you don't have anybody spying the quarterback
Speaker 1: and just good reminders kind of honed on those rules
Speaker 1: and stuff that you don't get in practice. So again,
Speaker 1: preseason is glorified practice, and hopefully they're using it that
Speaker 1: way to kind of flesh out evaluations and see like
Speaker 1: what they like. I think my disappointment is that I
Speaker 1: didn't feel like they they pushed themselves in terms of
Speaker 1: running different coverages, running different concepts, running you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. They just kind of kept it very vanilla
Speaker 1: and close to the vest, which there's a school of
Speaker 1: thought that supports that, but I don't necessarily agree with
Speaker 1: that on the glorified practice part. There were two things
Speaker 1: on offense and stood out to me over the first
Speaker 1: two weeks that I thought were just notable. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: maybe they're nothing, but they stood out to me. Like
Speaker 1: the first week. First, just seeing Curtis Samuel out there
Speaker 1: I think was reassuring huge. But then they put him
Speaker 1: in motion in almost every point right Like to me,
Speaker 1: that was a signal of they're going to utilize him
Speaker 1: this way to try to be the tell for Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz pre snap. They're going to have to adjust to him, like,
Speaker 1: clearly he's the most versatile well now Gibson, we'll see, yeah,
Speaker 1: but he's the most versatile piece that they have. He's
Speaker 1: the one that ought to be to tell. And I
Speaker 1: think they did that purposefully just to probably give a
Speaker 1: glimpse of here's how you're going to see it a
Speaker 1: deep that's adjust when Samuel does this and see how
Speaker 1: Wentz reacts to it. And then in the second week
Speaker 1: I noticed multiple times Wentz was under center. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that was on purpose, Like that was the glorified
Speaker 1: practice part, because when I watched him with the cults
Speaker 1: of all the criticisms he gets, which I think we're
Speaker 1: a little too much lately, especially lately because they keep
Speaker 1: getting resurfaced for some reason. Like where he is excellent
Speaker 1: is ball fakes, you know, pre snapper Reeds getting the
Speaker 1: ball out really fast, and I think with him under center,
Speaker 1: it offers an option that you don't with him because
Speaker 1: he's i think uniquely skilled this way. The play action
Speaker 1: works for him. Sure, And so I think that those
Speaker 1: two things to me stood out as things that they
Speaker 1: did in the glorified practice role to get some reps
Speaker 1: doing that are going to be implemented for them in
Speaker 1: the regular season, whether they were successful or not. Just
Speaker 1: I think looks for them out of those two specific things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the under center things interesting. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I was reading an article recently about how you know
Speaker 1: Kansas City's running more fullback in the first preseason game,
Speaker 1: and how when you get under center you get a
Speaker 1: certain response by the defense, you know, and like you
Speaker 1: pack in bigger personnel, you get a certain response. And
Speaker 1: so I think it's good just to kind of for
Speaker 1: them again, like you said, to diversify what they're showing,
Speaker 1: what they're doing, and get Carson under center, because I
Speaker 1: think it gives you some stuff offensively that being in
Speaker 1: the gun doesn't, especially from the running game. Let's back
Speaker 1: attack down hill a little bit more. Let you get
Speaker 1: ahead of the center when you're running outside zone, which
Speaker 1: is really important for like stretching linebackers and stuff. So
Speaker 1: I think that's all just having those those those tricks
Speaker 1: in the bag are really important. And then I think
Speaker 1: the Curtis Samuel thing is what they wanted to be
Speaker 1: last year, but they couldn't do it because he wasn't there.
Speaker 1: And so just again having that piece that is, you know,
Speaker 1: the guy on jet sweep who scares you a little bit,
Speaker 1: you know, is important and he's the tell yeah right,
Speaker 1: someone's going to adjust by him going in motion. That
Speaker 1: ought to be a tell. Sure, I agree, yeah, I think.
Speaker 1: And then so again I would have liked to see
Speaker 1: a little bit more of that. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: want to see everything, but just you know, push yourself
Speaker 1: from a game plan same point a little bit more
Speaker 1: and I think it would just it just helps kind
Speaker 1: of transition to the regular season a little bit more effectively.
Speaker 1: Anything else stand out to you, No, I mean I
Speaker 1: think we touched on everything. I think, um, you know again,
Speaker 1: the offensive line, that's the depth of that group has
Speaker 1: been like biblical in terms of what they meant we
Speaker 1: get done. Like seriously, it's incredible. Like you get some
Speaker 1: guy you know you've never heard of playing right guards
Speaker 1: starting right guard against KANSASA Chiefs and you wouldn't even
Speaker 1: know it and you're getting you know, um, and then
Speaker 1: he was playing left guard second and it's just like
Speaker 1: you know X, Like that offensive line group is special
Speaker 1: and I think, uh, you know, Mat Scott deserves a
Speaker 1: ton of credit for making sure everybody's ready to go.
Speaker 1: So you know, they they're often unheralded and unregarded, but
Speaker 1: they had an outstanding game. All right, that'll do it
Speaker 1: for us. I guess beating the Ravens would meet something too,
Speaker 1: because it doesn't mean anything to me, So throw the parade,
Speaker 1: all right, I see y'all next time,