Speaker 1: Down the stretch, we go on taped Spoble Shoes and
Speaker 1: Dan Orlovsky Scott Pioli set for a new week to
Speaker 1: talk NFL football again. We crawled behind the xs and
Speaker 1: os on this podcast and bring you the nerd side
Speaker 1: of the game that we enjoy the most. And of
Speaker 1: course always at the tellustrator when you catch him on
Speaker 1: NFL Live and alongside me as well college football on ESPN.
Speaker 1: Scott Pioli, of course, longtime general manager in the National
Speaker 1: Football League, and he brings that personnel expertise that we love,
Speaker 1: roster building expertise, and guys, the roster has changed certainly
Speaker 1: for the Rams, and that's where we're gonna begin this
Speaker 1: episode because that was a tough one against the Packers.
Speaker 1: Here was the reaction of Matthew Stafford after yet another
Speaker 1: hard fought loss. Um, I've had some tough stretches in
Speaker 1: my career. There's no question. Play this game long enough,
Speaker 1: it'll humble you, you know, and and um, you know,
Speaker 1: I uh put a lot of hard work into this.
Speaker 1: As to all the guys in that locker room, as
Speaker 1: to all of our coaches, Um, is it disappointing when
Speaker 1: it comes when you come out and and uh, you
Speaker 1: know play like that. Absolutely. You know there were some
Speaker 1: good things, but too many bad things for us to
Speaker 1: have a chance to be a good team like Green Bay.
Speaker 1: And there's no question if you're going to beat a
Speaker 1: team on the road like the Green Bay Packers, you
Speaker 1: have to be better than the Rams were. Their roster
Speaker 1: has changed, right, like Robert Woods being gone, Odell Beckham
Speaker 1: coming in. I guess there might be an adjustment period.
Speaker 1: Having said that, though, what are you guys seeing That's
Speaker 1: just not clicking because the first I guess, you know,
Speaker 1: seven or eight games of the season, we were talking
Speaker 1: about Matthew Stafford being that m VP candidate. We thought
Speaker 1: he might be at the beginning of the year. But Scott,
Speaker 1: you made this point. Look at their schedule, right, they
Speaker 1: had a four game stretch there where they were playing
Speaker 1: kind of the bottom feeders of the NFL. Maybe that
Speaker 1: tilted our opinion of the Rams a bit. Is this
Speaker 1: a team that we have a good field for yet?
Speaker 1: Are we still searching for who the Rams are? Scott
Speaker 1: and ken be as we go down the stretch? I
Speaker 1: think we're still searching. And and I do go back
Speaker 1: to what I said earlier in the season. They started
Speaker 1: out seven and one, and they were playing competition. Again,
Speaker 1: not their fault, they can only play the teams that
Speaker 1: are on the schedule. But they were looking, um, you know,
Speaker 1: they were beating teams that were not very good football teams.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's just the reality. They were football teams
Speaker 1: that were not good teams at that point in the season.
Speaker 1: And then we get to the the end of October
Speaker 1: in the beginning of November and they add two players.
Speaker 1: You know, once again they go out and get players
Speaker 1: with star power name names, and you know, Von Miller
Speaker 1: thirty three, I want to say, the thirty three year
Speaker 1: old defensive end slash pass rusher, and Odell Beckham. And
Speaker 1: you know, since they've added those three players, they've lost
Speaker 1: three straight games. I'm not saying that those players are
Speaker 1: the reason, but this is reminiscent of free agency in
Speaker 1: the off season, where teams go out and spend a
Speaker 1: lot of money on star power names. They're selling jerseys,
Speaker 1: they're selling sizzle, They're not giving much substance. And to me,
Speaker 1: I was concerned that this was a team that was
Speaker 1: seven and one, they hadn't beat anyone that was really good.
Speaker 1: Then they started playing some good teams and they've been
Speaker 1: owing three and one thing that has changes is the roster,
Speaker 1: not only the addition of those two players, but the
Speaker 1: absence of Robert Woods, who's a very very important part
Speaker 1: of their offense. And to me, they just don't look
Speaker 1: in sync. There's nothing about their game on either side
Speaker 1: of the ball that looks in sync, you know. And
Speaker 1: then you also have to understand in the middle of
Speaker 1: the season, and I remember this from my early time
Speaker 1: with the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League, where
Speaker 1: we were constantly churning the roster and bringing in new
Speaker 1: players and telling players, Okay, this is what we're gonna do.
Speaker 1: If you're in, we're in. And players do what they
Speaker 1: need to do and do what they're supposed to do
Speaker 1: there on the roster. Yet there's this wandering eye from
Speaker 1: the rest of the organization trying to bring in other
Speaker 1: players that again, um, how good are they? How committed
Speaker 1: are they? And I'm not saying that that either one
Speaker 1: of these players are not committed, but it does have
Speaker 1: this trickle down effect within a team. Again, I still
Speaker 1: always go back to the whole idea that you know,
Speaker 1: we're we're in the team building business. Right. We're not
Speaker 1: trying to see how many Fantasy football points we can
Speaker 1: we can gather. We're not looking to see how many
Speaker 1: guys make the Pro Bowls, right, Because individuals make Pro Bowls.
Speaker 1: Teams win championships, and you're trying to get the best
Speaker 1: fifty three players on your team that are the right
Speaker 1: fifty three players on your team in order to win championships.
Speaker 1: Well said, you know, speaking to just kind of what
Speaker 1: happened on the field, and this has kind of been
Speaker 1: a couple of week transition or evolution for the Rams.
Speaker 1: I think offensively, there's a lack of um. There. There
Speaker 1: is an ego issue going on with their offense. I
Speaker 1: think that if you watch this game early on, you know,
Speaker 1: they decided to put Matthew under the center, and they
Speaker 1: ran the ball a little bit, and then there were
Speaker 1: some play action. They actually come out in their second series,
Speaker 1: they go down seven nothing, and they come out in
Speaker 1: their second or third series and they run the ball
Speaker 1: in first down, they get five yards, they get to
Speaker 1: second and five, and the next snap is out of empty.
Speaker 1: And now I've talked extensively over the past three or
Speaker 1: four weeks about this offense, and they're empty personnel, the
Speaker 1: five man protection, second and five empty and it's a
Speaker 1: sack fumble and the left tackle and left guard got
Speaker 1: absolutely beat. And I'm sitting there going why Sean Sean mcfaith,
Speaker 1: their head coach, Why after a first down run first
Speaker 1: and five are we getting into empty when you're playing
Speaker 1: on the road against a defensive line for Green Bay
Speaker 1: that's been playing good. Why are you going to the
Speaker 1: one area where you in the last three weeks have
Speaker 1: fallen apart in and that's the interior of their offensive
Speaker 1: line in empty protection, and all of a sudden, the
Speaker 1: game flips upside down. You know, Bob, you know I
Speaker 1: love golf. Scott. I don't know if you do, but
Speaker 1: you know there's that saying for golfers when they enter
Speaker 1: a tournament, you can't win the tournament on Thursday, but
Speaker 1: you can lose it. And I feel that's exactly what
Speaker 1: has happened over the first or the last three weeks.
Speaker 1: In the first quarter for the Rams. They're losing game
Speaker 1: teams by this self inflicted, almost hardheaded style of football.
Speaker 1: And I think offensively right now, they're so dependent on
Speaker 1: the big play. They're so dependent on Okay, how many
Speaker 1: let's let's let's let's force these big plays to happen.
Speaker 1: And we're in an era right now in the NFL
Speaker 1: where that that's you know, teams aren't really allowing for
Speaker 1: much of that and they can't drive the field. They
Speaker 1: refused to be methodical in Green Bay defensively did not
Speaker 1: blitz Matthew in this offense and basically said, we, as
Speaker 1: a defense, are gonna challenge you, Sean McVeigh, that you
Speaker 1: used to be one of the best run game coordinators, design,
Speaker 1: run design, play guy in the NFL. We're gonna challenge
Speaker 1: you to do that. And he refused to and Matthew
Speaker 1: played good. He wasn't brought there to play good. He
Speaker 1: was brought there to play great. And I just feel
Speaker 1: right now, on offense, it's this ego thing to go
Speaker 1: not We're not gonna do kind of what we need
Speaker 1: to do to have success on offense. We're gonna force
Speaker 1: this issue. We're gonna force this square peg into the
Speaker 1: round hole, and it's really hurting their football team. And
Speaker 1: I'll remain adamant. I think they need to put the
Speaker 1: quarterback under center more. I think they need to stay
Speaker 1: get back to their motion offense, get back to marrying
Speaker 1: plays that look the same, so that causes the confusion
Speaker 1: for the defense. Get back to that play action game
Speaker 1: that looks like the run that you called them the
Speaker 1: third play of the game, and now we're gonna bootleg
Speaker 1: off of it and it looks the same. They're not
Speaker 1: doing that anymore. And then I'll think on defense, I
Speaker 1: would say two things, and I'm I'm not being disrespectful here.
Speaker 1: I think defensively they're dumb, and I think defensively they're soft.
Speaker 1: They had three times on third and three or less.
Speaker 1: And most people who follow football know that as a
Speaker 1: man down man coverage third and three or less. Three
Speaker 1: times Jalen Ramsey covered the tight ends for Green Bay
Speaker 1: and not Davante Adams in man coverage. That's not smart football.
Speaker 1: And then when I say they're soft, I'm not challenging
Speaker 1: their manhood. I'm challenging they give you so many free completions.
Speaker 1: There's no physicality at the line of scrimmage to challenge
Speaker 1: receivers and not get All green Bay did was called
Speaker 1: quick game, quick game, quick game. And all Aaron did
Speaker 1: was operated get the ball out quick. They minimize the
Speaker 1: pass rush and they got the ball out quickly, and
Speaker 1: the Rams defensively never got in the face of Green
Speaker 1: Bay and tried to challenge. You can play zone coverage
Speaker 1: and be physical at the line of scrimmage, and I
Speaker 1: think those are two things defensively that they gotta figure
Speaker 1: out real quickly here, because if you're gonna play that soft,
Speaker 1: your pass rush and all those pieces you got on
Speaker 1: your defensive line won't matter a scott. Can we quickly
Speaker 1: flip it over to the Packers though, I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: we want to talk about the Rams and their deficiencies,
Speaker 1: and everybody just you know, you talk about the Packers,
Speaker 1: it's all Aaron Rodgers all the time. I mean, to
Speaker 1: beat a team like that at home, and to beat
Speaker 1: them thoroughly and they did, you gotta be a pretty
Speaker 1: good football team yourself. So what did you see out
Speaker 1: of Green Bay? You know, there were two plays in
Speaker 1: the third quarter that stood out to me, and uh
Speaker 1: one was the fourth and two in the third quarter,
Speaker 1: just prior to the touchdown, not the touchdown it self,
Speaker 1: but it's fourth and two. Aaron Rodgers drops back, he
Speaker 1: looks off and is staring down to his right right,
Speaker 1: and then a little bit in the middle and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden turns and makes it throw, makes
Speaker 1: the completion that allows them to stay on the field
Speaker 1: and get the touchdown. It was a brilliant play. It
Speaker 1: was it was classic Aaron Rodgers. But what was happening
Speaker 1: there at that moment, in my opinion, I was just
Speaker 1: watching a Packers team that had this energy that the
Speaker 1: Rams did not have. And it was even more underscored
Speaker 1: a little bit later, when there's three minutes left in
Speaker 1: the third quarter, again another play, offensive play in the
Speaker 1: third quarter, and they run the screenplay. There's a screen
Speaker 1: and the ball is fumbled and and again if you
Speaker 1: watch the game, what happened was there was immediately too
Speaker 1: offensive linemen on the field hustling their butts off, get
Speaker 1: on the ball, recover it. Just because the offensive linemen
Speaker 1: are chasing the play. It was a screen, but the
Speaker 1: back was out in front of the screen, so these
Speaker 1: were the players behind the screen itself, and they end
Speaker 1: up recovering the ball. They get a field goal out
Speaker 1: of that. So two big plays in the third quarter
Speaker 1: with energy out of the Packers. It was so positive,
Speaker 1: that was so authentic, That was so real to me.
Speaker 1: That was one of the other things. And again not saying,
Speaker 1: you know, similar to what you were saying, did not
Speaker 1: saying that the Rams weren't playing hard, but they weren't
Speaker 1: playing to the level of the Packers, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: in the cold outdoors, and it just like looked like
Speaker 1: two teams that were that were approaching the game differently.
Speaker 1: And you know, I just want to fallow one other
Speaker 1: thing that you said, Dan, I thought was really important
Speaker 1: about the Rams offense was the protection. Andrew Whitworth has
Speaker 1: been a very good football player in National Football League.
Speaker 1: He's about to turn forty years old and still playing
Speaker 1: left tackle, and he had a couple of issues the
Speaker 1: other day and they were real issues, you know, whether
Speaker 1: it was calls for holding or just not being able
Speaker 1: to block them and not having enough leading his pencil.
Speaker 1: So to me, there are some real things that are
Speaker 1: going on in that Rams offense. To Dan's point about,
Speaker 1: you know, if we can't run it, let's not run it, guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just when I watched the game, I think the
Speaker 1: overwhelming theme for me was while one team is very
Speaker 1: much so playing to their strengths and not to their weaknesses,
Speaker 1: and one team constantly leans into their weakness and not
Speaker 1: their strength, and it's so shocking for me to watch
Speaker 1: that play out for the Rams. If you watch Green
Speaker 1: Bay's offense, I'll touch on that quickly. I mentioned the
Speaker 1: quick game. Right when I say quick game, I'm saying
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers is catching the ball and trying to get
Speaker 1: it out really in less than three steps. So we're
Speaker 1: thinking two seconds of quarterback time right here. Nine times
Speaker 1: nine times they called quick game. He went eight for nine.
Speaker 1: So when you're doing that, Number one, I'm taking away
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald and Leonard Floyd and Von Miller. You guys
Speaker 1: don't matter to me. Number two, I'm keeping myself in rhythm.
Speaker 1: That catch and throw is is I'm catching and throwing
Speaker 1: to a time where now we're we are staying quote
Speaker 1: unquote ahead of the chains, were staying balanced in our rhythm.
Speaker 1: As an offense, I can be an ideal play call situations,
Speaker 1: and then A J. Dillon eight times eight carries first quarter,
Speaker 1: seven twelve, first quarter, six thirty two, third quarter. I
Speaker 1: can go on and on. He gets a handoff and
Speaker 1: he gets hit at or at one yard game of
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. All eight times he falls forward
Speaker 1: for more than four yards. Sometimes it was eight or
Speaker 1: nine yards. So his ability to get hit at the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, so to speak, and churn out positive
Speaker 1: yards is such a difference aker for this offense. I
Speaker 1: think it's an identity changer, a reliable aspect for this
Speaker 1: offense in Green Bay. And for Sean McVeigh, there was
Speaker 1: a time where if you passed him in the hallway
Speaker 1: on your way to get a cup of coffee, you
Speaker 1: got a head coaching interview, right Like I mean, his
Speaker 1: his coaching tree was just if you were in his
Speaker 1: orbit for five minutes. I'm watching this game and again,
Speaker 1: this is my department. Three minutes to go in the game,
Speaker 1: you're down eleven. I don't think they had any time outs.
Speaker 1: If they had any time outs, they had one. They
Speaker 1: took it all the way down to fifty seconds to
Speaker 1: go on the game on third and one in field
Speaker 1: goal range and ran the ball and took the clock
Speaker 1: down to like twenty seconds to go and kick the
Speaker 1: field goal. What are you doing right, Like, you you
Speaker 1: need two scores. You need to score. You need to
Speaker 1: have enough time in the back end of your first
Speaker 1: score to get an onside kick and have a chance
Speaker 1: to get a second score. And again this is supposed
Speaker 1: to be the most brilliant offensive mind in the history
Speaker 1: of football, and he can't figure out that you have
Speaker 1: to allow yourself enough time on the back end. Again, Teams,
Speaker 1: for some reason in that down eleven under two minutes
Speaker 1: to oh scenario, always obsess over getting the touchdown, first,
Speaker 1: kick the field goal first. Leave yourself enough time that
Speaker 1: if you're able to get the on side kick, at
Speaker 1: least you've got a prayer who cares. If he who cares.
Speaker 1: If you get a first down on third and one
Speaker 1: with fifty seconds to go in the game, then the
Speaker 1: next ball either has to go in the end zone
Speaker 1: or you kick the field goal of a minute left
Speaker 1: one way or the other. Give yourself enough time. Again,
Speaker 1: that just drove me ban at us. But all right,
Speaker 1: we'll move on. We will get to a big win
Speaker 1: for the Bucks over the Colts when we come back,
Speaker 1: because that is something that I think was kind of
Speaker 1: a litmus test for Tom Brady. I'm gonna get the
Speaker 1: breakdown of the guys, Bucks Colts. We come back on Tapeds,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Tap pens, Boba Shoes, Scottioli, dan Orlovsky.
Speaker 1: All right, a big one Bucks Colts, Tom Brady as
Speaker 1: normally as the case, finds a way against a good
Speaker 1: football teams. But Frank Reich had to say after the
Speaker 1: Colts loss, Yeah, very frustrated. You know when you're going
Speaker 1: up against that good of a team. Uh, and you
Speaker 1: really got a chance, and you know, you feel like
Speaker 1: if we don't beat ourselves, and they were playing based
Speaker 1: defense against our sub offense a little bit too so
Speaker 1: trying to force us into throwing it a little bit more.
Speaker 1: But ultimately, when you make when you make that many
Speaker 1: mistakes against good football team, it's gonna come back and
Speaker 1: haunch you. Well, it is a good football team. Maybe
Speaker 1: they did beat themselves. And Scott, you lived this life
Speaker 1: with Tom Brady at quarterback and Bill Belichick is the
Speaker 1: head coach. Right. You've said this over and over again
Speaker 1: when we've crawled inside games on this podcast, whether it's
Speaker 1: going back to your Patriot days or watching the Bucks
Speaker 1: now with Tom Brady. Oftentimes teams will find a way
Speaker 1: to give you the game and make mistakes that you
Speaker 1: can capitalize on. The necessarily, maybe you have to go
Speaker 1: out and win it. Did you see that as the
Speaker 1: case this past week with this win for the Bucks
Speaker 1: over the Colts, I don't know who was necessarily one
Speaker 1: particularly one or two particular plays. I think a couple
Speaker 1: of things I saw. I'll just talk about the Colts
Speaker 1: side real quick. I just I was expecting so much
Speaker 1: more out of the running game in this this weekend
Speaker 1: out of the Indianapolis Colts didn't get it, didn't see
Speaker 1: it um, They couldn't get it established, and they I
Speaker 1: felt like they didn't try to establish it um strongly
Speaker 1: enough because again, I just don't think that Carson Wentz
Speaker 1: is going to go out and win a game UM
Speaker 1: against a very good football team all on his own.
Speaker 1: Flip side talking about, you know, the Buccaneers, here's one
Speaker 1: of the things. You know, one of the things I
Speaker 1: said also earlier in the year was that when in
Speaker 1: order for the Bucks to have a chance to repeat,
Speaker 1: they can't be the same team. They've got to be
Speaker 1: a better football team. And I've been looking for signs
Speaker 1: of players, Okay, who's gonna step up and who's going
Speaker 1: to be better than they wore last year. Who's gonna
Speaker 1: make the Buccaneers better. You know, they've dealt with a
Speaker 1: few injury situations, and the guy that I see steadily
Speaker 1: picking up and becoming a better football player is Leonard
Speaker 1: for Nette, who was really helping their offense. And you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of the talk after the game, surprisingly to me,
Speaker 1: was all about this great speech that he apparently gave
Speaker 1: in the locker room at halftime. But more than words,
Speaker 1: it was his play and it is his play, you know,
Speaker 1: Leonard Fournett. He's been known as what as as playoff Lenny,
Speaker 1: right or Lombardi Lenny, where he only shows up in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. His rookie year with the Jacksonville Jaguars, when
Speaker 1: the Jaguars made that run towards the a f C Championship,
Speaker 1: he played better in the playoffs than he did in
Speaker 1: the regular season. Last year with the Buccaneers, you know,
Speaker 1: he was on the verge of being released until the
Speaker 1: playoffs showed up and then he started performing really well.
Speaker 1: So he's always been a player that's performed better in
Speaker 1: money games than he has in the regular season. But
Speaker 1: this year, you know, he's among the top fifteen rushers
Speaker 1: in the National Football League. But most importantly what I've
Speaker 1: seen out of him is out of all the running
Speaker 1: backs in the National Football League, he's third in receptions
Speaker 1: and that is a key to this offense because they've
Speaker 1: played without Gronk quite a bit, and for the routes
Speaker 1: and the spaces on the field that you're gonna need
Speaker 1: short and intermediate production. This is where Leonard Fournette has
Speaker 1: stepped up. And for Tom Brady, him having players having
Speaker 1: a running back that can catch the ball, that can
Speaker 1: be dependent upon is critical for Brady and this offense
Speaker 1: that he likes to run. So to me, you know,
Speaker 1: watching what he did this past weekend, um seems to
Speaker 1: becoming more commonplace on the field. And the other thing
Speaker 1: is when you start producing, that's when people are going
Speaker 1: to actually listen to you. At halftime, he could have
Speaker 1: been talking all he wanted, you know, previously, But until
Speaker 1: you produce, you can be any kind of leader you
Speaker 1: think you want to be. But until you produce, you know,
Speaker 1: it usually falls on deaf years. But people are now
Speaker 1: willing to listen to him. He has locker room credibility. Now, yeah,
Speaker 1: good point on that. I actually thought four and I
Speaker 1: played really well. I thought the biggest performance is Rob
Speaker 1: Gronkowski's you know and you you two things that probably
Speaker 1: don't get talked about enough. For three things in relation
Speaker 1: to ground our how remarkably smart he is is a
Speaker 1: run blocker. I know physically he's a very good run blocker,
Speaker 1: but how smart he is as a run blocker. There
Speaker 1: was a play, you know, right after they had gotten
Speaker 1: those back to back turnovers in the third quarter where
Speaker 1: they're going to run a draw to his side and
Speaker 1: Indies playing kind of in a condensed front to the
Speaker 1: tight end side, and he's got to get to the
Speaker 1: middle linebacker and it's basically impossible for him to get
Speaker 1: to that middle linebacker unless he somehow sets the defensive
Speaker 1: ent in like a bluff sense and gets skinny meaning
Speaker 1: turning his shoulders and gets inside of the defensive vent
Speaker 1: to get up to the middle linebacker. It's probably the
Speaker 1: most important block on the play and just his awareness
Speaker 1: of knowing that's the only way for me to go
Speaker 1: make the block that is necessary on second and ten
Speaker 1: and he does it. And it was a play that
Speaker 1: stood out to me because for Net ran the ball
Speaker 1: so well, and it's no coincidence that Gronk was back,
Speaker 1: and in his ability to play such a smart game
Speaker 1: and the run game blocking wise, was really big to me.
Speaker 1: Number two, Bob, You've heard me say this before. He
Speaker 1: has got such remarkable feel for color as a route runner,
Speaker 1: you know, and I say this all the time, these
Speaker 1: around guys like Calvin Johnson and Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne,
Speaker 1: these guys had such great feel. Listen, those guys could
Speaker 1: win against man coverage like all day long. Okay, those
Speaker 1: they're special because they know what where, where they have
Speaker 1: to be or where they shouldn't go when they're running
Speaker 1: routes against zone. And Gronk has got such a great
Speaker 1: feel for getting away from color, meaning the different color jersey,
Speaker 1: but also not running to color as well and essentially
Speaker 1: covering him up. And there's so many times in this
Speaker 1: game where he's running a seam or down the sideline
Speaker 1: where he's just got this very innate ability to just
Speaker 1: be boring in space or just settled down in space
Speaker 1: where he's giving Tom an opportunity to throw him the football.
Speaker 1: And I thought that was such a big deal for
Speaker 1: their past game. And then I thought the play of
Speaker 1: the game was on third and eight in the third quarter,
Speaker 1: about ten minutes and eight seconds to go. This is
Speaker 1: right after the sack fumble that Shack Barrett gets, and
Speaker 1: it's third and eight and Indie shows bluff pressure and
Speaker 1: Tom's at the line of scrimmage and he checks to
Speaker 1: a screen. There's a trips to his right. Gronk is
Speaker 1: the number three guy closest to the tackle, and he
Speaker 1: checks to one of these one step Gronk go to
Speaker 1: the flat right now towards the sideline screens you guys
Speaker 1: on the outside block, and he throws it to Gronk
Speaker 1: and it's a bluff screen out of Indie's defense. They
Speaker 1: fooled Brady essentially, and they're in perfect position to make
Speaker 1: the tackle and strictly off effort. Gronk runs through four
Speaker 1: five tacklers for Indian gets the first down. If they
Speaker 1: don't make that play, they punt. I firmly believe that
Speaker 1: they lose the football game. And I just thought his
Speaker 1: impact on the game with his smarts, his ability to
Speaker 1: kind of feel space and then his effort was huge
Speaker 1: for this football team. I thought they're the game swung
Speaker 1: in the third quarter on those two takeaways, the sack
Speaker 1: FuMB on the interception Um and Scott. I kind of
Speaker 1: think Indie did try to run the football. I just
Speaker 1: thought they couldn't blocked Videvea. I just you know, they
Speaker 1: just they couldn't block Vitea and there's such an RPO offense,
Speaker 1: the run pass option. You know, I think they're calling
Speaker 1: run plays and you know the defense is is giving
Speaker 1: a poll and throw read and um, you know I
Speaker 1: I thought that was a big deal for Indie's offense.
Speaker 1: You know, the game was really swung on those turnovers.
Speaker 1: To me, right, I'm a hockey guy spitting chick lit. Right,
Speaker 1: how good? Good? What's that? Dominated? It's got any thoughts
Speaker 1: they'll flipping around to Carson Wentz. I mean just in
Speaker 1: terms of, like, obviously when he has Taylor, they got
Speaker 1: that run game going, as you said, five touchdowns the
Speaker 1: week before. But where is the Cults future and hopes
Speaker 1: if Carson Wentz has to go out and just flat
Speaker 1: out a win a game for them. Yeah, I just don't.
Speaker 1: Depending on the matchup, I don't. I don't feel that
Speaker 1: strong strongly about it. And again, and I am not
Speaker 1: being disrespectful in any way. I think that Carson Wentz
Speaker 1: is an above average quarterback that sometimes plays good and
Speaker 1: some days can be a good quarterback. But as an evaluator,
Speaker 1: We've talked about this before. As an evaluating you have
Speaker 1: to look at patterns and you have to look at
Speaker 1: the overall big picture. Just because you have a good
Speaker 1: game doesn't mean that you're a good quarterback. Just because
Speaker 1: you have a bad game doesn't mean you're a bad quarterback. Again,
Speaker 1: flip side of you. Just because you have a bad
Speaker 1: game doesn't mean you're a bad team. And to me,
Speaker 1: I think Carson Wentz is a He's an above average
Speaker 1: and at times good quarterback. And you can win a
Speaker 1: division that way, you can win a championship that way.
Speaker 1: You just need to be supplemented by a very very
Speaker 1: strong defense that plays very well. And you also have
Speaker 1: to have other players on the team, as you mentioned
Speaker 1: Jonathan and Taylor. You have to have other aspects of
Speaker 1: your you know, of your offense that are performing and
Speaker 1: playing well. I just don't feel that Carson Wentz is
Speaker 1: the kind of player. And there's a handful of these players, right,
Speaker 1: And sometimes I think when myself or other people use
Speaker 1: certain terms, we're not trying to be disrespectful, We're just
Speaker 1: trying to be honest. And I just think that he's
Speaker 1: an above average quarterback that needs a strong support staff
Speaker 1: in order to win. What do you think? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: know all that, I don't disagree. I think that Again,
Speaker 1: to Scott's point, there's probably a handful and we're that
Speaker 1: might be a high number of guys that can go
Speaker 1: out there and just do it themselves, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of on a week by week basis, and then there's
Speaker 1: a group of probably another half dozen to eight that, hey,
Speaker 1: if if things are around them are pretty good, you know,
Speaker 1: they got a pretty good old line, pretty good scheme,
Speaker 1: pretty good play caller, and get some good pieces, they're
Speaker 1: going to perform like top ten guys. I think that's
Speaker 1: where Carson Wentz is. You know, he's a top ten quarterback.
Speaker 1: When all right, we got our offensive lines playing pretty
Speaker 1: good and we got a good play called like, that's
Speaker 1: who he is, and that's really good. I mean again,
Speaker 1: there's thirty two starters on the planet and there's probably
Speaker 1: twenty five good ones, and so when you're in that
Speaker 1: top ten and those pieces around you are good, I
Speaker 1: actually thought that was probably the best game I've seen Carson. Again,
Speaker 1: I've seen Carson Wentz play every snap. That's probably the
Speaker 1: best game I've seen Carson Wentz playing three years. You
Speaker 1: know it just as far as the timing he played,
Speaker 1: with the urgency he played with the ball, placement that
Speaker 1: he played with, the decision making that he played with. UM,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think that there was a poor
Speaker 1: decision that he made in the game. Um the sack fumble.
Speaker 1: You know, if you go back four plays before it,
Speaker 1: he throws a seam to Michael Pittman, Shack Barrett is
Speaker 1: right there, almost has the sack fumble on that play
Speaker 1: four plays later? Is the sack fumble? Do I think
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz was, you know, maybe a tenth of a
Speaker 1: second late with a football maybe maybe, and maybe he
Speaker 1: gets it off if he at tenth of a second early.
Speaker 1: And then the interception. I've seen him throw that ball
Speaker 1: fifty times this year and would either be a catch
Speaker 1: or p I and Winfield just made a great play. So, UM,
Speaker 1: I thought he played really good football. It's I think
Speaker 1: the Colts proved they're a really good team. Um. I
Speaker 1: think the Buccaneers proved that they're a championship caliber team. Well,
Speaker 1: a couple of teams that are right now very much
Speaker 1: in the playoff picture. One hanging on the periphery of
Speaker 1: the playoff picture. Play a huge game on Thursday, and
Speaker 1: that's the Cowboys and the Saints. They'll kick off Thursday
Speaker 1: Night Week thirt team, both coming off of Thanksgiving losses.
Speaker 1: Can Dallas get back on track? We're gonna find out
Speaker 1: next on tapeds. Well, the Dallas Cowboys lost a heartbreaker
Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving Day, and obviously it was a different story
Speaker 1: for the Saints. Far from a heartbreaker. They got beat
Speaker 1: up pretty good by the Buffalo Bills late on Thanksgiving Night.
Speaker 1: Bobo Shoes and Scott Pioli and Dan Orlovsky back here
Speaker 1: on tapeds to talk about Cowboys Saints to start week
Speaker 1: third team on Thursday Night. And guys, here was Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott's reaction to their loss to the Raiders on Thanksgiving Day.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've got we've got to get back to uh,
Speaker 1: believe in believing in the basics and just playing fundamental
Speaker 1: football and being smarter, being smart, as I said, being
Speaker 1: able to keep the officials out of the game. Uh,
Speaker 1: playing compliment of football. Um, scoring touchdowns when the defense
Speaker 1: gets turnovers. Uh, and um we'll be okay. Uh in
Speaker 1: the senses. I'm sure a bunch of people are jumping
Speaker 1: off the bandwagon, which is which is fine with us,
Speaker 1: because we know what we're capable of, we know the
Speaker 1: team that we have. More importantly, we know the men
Speaker 1: that are in that locker room, and that's the most
Speaker 1: important thing. Um is just our belief in each other
Speaker 1: and that that's not going anywhere. And I faded. We
Speaker 1: lost a tough one, uh in an overtime game today,
Speaker 1: and that's that's the bottom line. Maybe when they get
Speaker 1: their wide receivers back, folks will jump right back on
Speaker 1: the bandwagon. I don't know. When I was watching this game, guys,
Speaker 1: I did not come away with the feeling that the
Speaker 1: Cowboys lost this game because the quarterback, right like the
Speaker 1: quarterback of the coach, always take too much blame and
Speaker 1: maybe get too much credit. Granted he's a he's without
Speaker 1: his top two big guys, but he's still through seventy
Speaker 1: five yards. He's stole a couple of receivers, go over
Speaker 1: a hundred yards. Game, got to overtime, defense, gave up
Speaker 1: thirty points. I mean, I don't know when you guys
Speaker 1: took a step back and and and are looking at
Speaker 1: the Cowboys maybe where their offense will go back to
Speaker 1: once they get a Mari Cooper and Ceedee Lamb back.
Speaker 1: You know, is there a bandwagon to jump back on
Speaker 1: with the cow Boys I think the context of this
Speaker 1: game is very unique. Number One, the the amount of
Speaker 1: penalties are abnormal, right, So you're not going to your
Speaker 1: your not anticipating your team is going to be hurt
Speaker 1: that much by penalties. I'd say the second thing focusing
Speaker 1: on their defense, Bob, would be this, And this is
Speaker 1: kind of something that I've started to feel a little
Speaker 1: bit since really the Minnesota game. This is a defense
Speaker 1: that rose this year because their pressure package and their
Speaker 1: man coverage. Now me as an offensive person, when I
Speaker 1: watched teams consistently play as much man coverage as Dallas does.
Speaker 1: My number one job, I'm gonna find the guy that's
Speaker 1: not good, Okay, I'm gonna find the guy that I
Speaker 1: feel I can attack. And I think we've started to
Speaker 1: see there's some guys on this defense that you feel
Speaker 1: pretty darn good about. If you're gonna play man coverage,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go after you. And and Anthony Brown is
Speaker 1: one of them. It's just one of those guys. Lewis
Speaker 1: is one of them that you feel maybe we like
Speaker 1: our matchup here, and so that does give me pause defensively,
Speaker 1: I think offensively, I would say two things. Number One,
Speaker 1: I feel fine about them because they're gonna Ceedee Lamb
Speaker 1: and Amari Cooper. It's not like they're getting me back
Speaker 1: at wide receiver. You know, they're getting guys back. A
Speaker 1: Maori for everything that people say about him, is a
Speaker 1: hundred million dollar wide receiver. He can still win. Ceedee
Speaker 1: Lamb is the first round. And so those guys, they
Speaker 1: I can't judge their offense pretending that they're not gonna
Speaker 1: be there. I will say this the second thing, and
Speaker 1: this is the most like alarming and discouraging thing to me.
Speaker 1: Where have the pullers gone? Their run game was so
Speaker 1: diverse throughout the first part of this season, and the
Speaker 1: most diverse and dominant aspect of it was when they
Speaker 1: would down block and pull people, down block and pull people.
Speaker 1: They were so good at I actually thought they were
Speaker 1: starting to be come into the conversation with the Cleveland
Speaker 1: Browns in regards to it. In the past couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: as this run game has slowly started to not be
Speaker 1: as effective, they've stopped pulling people, and I would like,
Speaker 1: I would want to know why why are we pulling
Speaker 1: less people? Because they've gone to strictly like a zone
Speaker 1: run game, and I just don't think they're great at
Speaker 1: that right now, and that would be my biggest concern
Speaker 1: about the the offenses. They got to get back to
Speaker 1: pulling people in their run game. Dan, I agree with
Speaker 1: you completely on on the run game, and and that's
Speaker 1: where I was going to focus on. In terms of
Speaker 1: the offense, It's it's not just the apps of Cooper
Speaker 1: and Lamb. Right, Zeke Elliott is not healthy and that
Speaker 1: is clear and there you know, and and Pollard is
Speaker 1: a good back. Now go back to the early part
Speaker 1: of the season when Zeke, you know, was was at
Speaker 1: a sort and their offense was all was It was
Speaker 1: a total passing game and they couldn't get in sync
Speaker 1: and they couldn't get things going. The absence of Zeke
Speaker 1: or or when Zeke was not playing like he should
Speaker 1: have been playing, becomes a problem for this offense. And
Speaker 1: again that's not the takeaway from Pollard, but it Dan,
Speaker 1: I've sat there and seen the same thing. And I've
Speaker 1: wondered also if the absence, you know, when when Smith
Speaker 1: was hurt and then Martin had an issue, did they
Speaker 1: start changing the offense due to injuries upfront or issues
Speaker 1: they were having up front where there was an absence
Speaker 1: of players, and then they just haven't gotten back to
Speaker 1: what was successful, and in trying to do that, you know,
Speaker 1: now they've got hurt, so they don't have the the
Speaker 1: everyone's talking about the receivers, and I agree with that.
Speaker 1: I also think that not having Zeke Elliott a player
Speaker 1: that they count on to be a certain way. And
Speaker 1: I think I was pretty critical a Zeke Elliott at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the year when I felt like he
Speaker 1: wasn't running like he was supposed to be running, when
Speaker 1: he wasn't delivering the goods and playing as hard as
Speaker 1: I thought he would. Then all of a sudden, he
Speaker 1: flipped a switch and their fortunes started to change a
Speaker 1: little bit. So to me, on the offense, they've still
Speaker 1: got one of the best quarterbacks in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: He just you know, a quarterback can't always do it
Speaker 1: just on their own. But his running attack has been
Speaker 1: affected and so has his you know, his top two receivers,
Speaker 1: so that does become a problem for the offense. That's
Speaker 1: kind of what my feelings are. And again, like this
Speaker 1: game is so it was so impacted by the penalties,
Speaker 1: and I just don't think that's and like the fact
Speaker 1: that the penalties were there, and those two receivers weren't there.
Speaker 1: It's so like it's so hard to really kind of
Speaker 1: get a a full judgment on exactly you know, because
Speaker 1: if those two guys play, they win the game, or
Speaker 1: if those penalties don't happen, they win the game. You know,
Speaker 1: So real quick a thought keeping in a division before
Speaker 1: we wrap up this episode of tapeeds. As I told you, guys,
Speaker 1: and never ever ever doubt me, the Eagles are going
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. I told you that last week, right
Speaker 1: talk about the announcer Jigs. I mean, I can't get
Speaker 1: it straight with a team that wears green and white.
Speaker 1: I figured I could latch on to this green and
Speaker 1: white team and ride them into the playoffs the week
Speaker 1: after and just give me, give me a quick thought,
Speaker 1: both of you, because the week after Jalen Hurts had
Speaker 1: us all convinced that they've got this offense figured out.
Speaker 1: He has really settled in. For him to have that
Speaker 1: kind of a performance and for that team to have
Speaker 1: that kind of a performance on the road against the Giants,
Speaker 1: team that has struggled to find themselves all year long,
Speaker 1: that that was about, I think is deflating a loss
Speaker 1: as any team in the NFL had this past week.
Speaker 1: I'd say this for Philadelphia. First of all, the Giants
Speaker 1: have a good solid defense. Okay, so that that that
Speaker 1: is a good challenge. Two things offensively that I didn't like.
Speaker 1: Number one, that was the the game where we've all
Speaker 1: heard the phrase, well quarterback didn't see the field. Well
Speaker 1: that was this game. There's and it's the turnovers were
Speaker 1: what they were, and there were moments where you go, man,
Speaker 1: how do you there's a handful of other plays where
Speaker 1: he just doesn't see the field. He's just not seeing
Speaker 1: the field in that moment. Whether and you guys have
Speaker 1: heard me say quarterbacks predetermined where they should throw. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: you never assume where you should throw. And there's moments
Speaker 1: where he's just assuming I'm throwing it to this guy,
Speaker 1: and Um was was completely committed to doing that. There's
Speaker 1: moments where he's just not reading things and almost like
Speaker 1: seeing everything without seeing anything. I'm just gonna keep my
Speaker 1: eyes down the field and hopefully somebody popped open. And
Speaker 1: that was un characteristic of the way he had been trending.
Speaker 1: Playing wise, um I thought they threw the ball way, way, way,
Speaker 1: way too much on short yard situations. Four times on
Speaker 1: third and two or less or fourth down, they threw
Speaker 1: the ball when they were running the they ran for
Speaker 1: with hundred yards. Their quarterback run game was chunk after
Speaker 1: chunk after chunk after chunk, And that was something that
Speaker 1: I was sitting there going as a coach, you want,
Speaker 1: I wanted them to start to get a feel for
Speaker 1: what I was watching on during the game and then
Speaker 1: on the tape, like, Hey, the young kids struggling right
Speaker 1: now seeing stuff. We're really good running the rock. Let's
Speaker 1: just run the rock man, you know, it's you know,
Speaker 1: And I thought that hurt their football team. That being said,
Speaker 1: the end of the game obviously is the end of
Speaker 1: the game with those two drops. I know, every once
Speaker 1: to kill reagor yes he's got to catch the football. Um,
Speaker 1: but disappointed in the quarterbacks kind of vision, but then
Speaker 1: also kind of the the field for the play calling. Yeah, Dan,
Speaker 1: I agree with you. And you know, they rushed for
Speaker 1: two eight yards on only you know, thirty three carries.
Speaker 1: They could have run the ball forty times, and I
Speaker 1: think that they would have been a little bit more
Speaker 1: secure because to me, that's where their their game has become.
Speaker 1: They were starting to develop this personality a little bit too,
Speaker 1: as you know, tough guys up front, Jeff stoutin the
Speaker 1: offensive line coach and and and run game coordinator, who
Speaker 1: I think is one of the best in the business.
Speaker 1: This offense and upfront was starting to take on a
Speaker 1: little bit of Jeff's identity, and then I feel like
Speaker 1: they moved away from it. Again, I get it. They
Speaker 1: ran for over two hundred yards. That's good, and it
Speaker 1: could have been better, especially on a day where I think,
Speaker 1: you know Jalen Hurts was it was bad last Sunday.
Speaker 1: And again that doesn't make him a bad player. He
Speaker 1: was bad that day. And Dan to the point that
Speaker 1: you just made, I couldn't agree with you more. When
Speaker 1: you know that a player's game is off on a
Speaker 1: certain day, whether it's a quarterback, you just need to
Speaker 1: move away. That's where you need to as a coach
Speaker 1: and a player, you need to move away from if
Speaker 1: it ain't working, don't go with it that day. And
Speaker 1: sometimes you know, like Tommy Brady says, man, but once
Speaker 1: in a while, even Betty Crocker burns the brownies. He
Speaker 1: was burning the brownies at last Sunday jail, So just
Speaker 1: get him out of the kitchen right, and to me
Speaker 1: there was the story was they could have run more,
Speaker 1: they could have dominated, they could have imposed their will,
Speaker 1: and the Giants do have a solid defense, but I
Speaker 1: think that they could have imposed their will so much more.
Speaker 1: And then you look at the four turnovers, you know
Speaker 1: that was part of the problem. To it just seemed
Speaker 1: like that there was a lack They're too young of
Speaker 1: a team there too, you know, a coaching staff, first
Speaker 1: time a head coach and Nick Suryan, it's a young
Speaker 1: group that maybe a little bit of success. They're starting
Speaker 1: to smell themselves a little bit, and they didn't know
Speaker 1: when they needed to shift things. Well, they still have opportunities.
Speaker 1: They've got the Jets this week, and then they've got
Speaker 1: the buy and four divisional games to close out the season.
Speaker 1: But now it really feels like the Eagles are playing
Speaker 1: without a net as we head towards the playoffs. Right
Speaker 1: that they are four teams ahead of them for arguably
Speaker 1: one spot that have six losses. They now have seven,
Speaker 1: and they're in that group. That was why I think
Speaker 1: this past weekend was such a disappointing blown opportunity from
Speaker 1: their standpoints. So we'll keep our eyes on the Eagles.
Speaker 1: That will do it for this episode of Tape Heeds,
Speaker 1: but our next episode will drop on Thursday. There was
Speaker 1: a team in the a f C that has reinvented
Speaker 1: themselves these last couple of weeks, and they may now
Speaker 1: look like a different kind of super Bowl threat, a
Speaker 1: surprising super Bowl threat in the a f C. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about that, and boy, we continue to have a
Speaker 1: debate back and forth about where the Browns are with
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield. Those are topics we will talk about when
Speaker 1: we come back our next episode of tap It's on Thursday.
Speaker 1: Join us then