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NFL '22 Season Kickoff Preview · NFL explained.

0:06
Speaker 1: NFL Explained is a production of the NFL in partnership
0:09
Speaker 1: with I Heart Radio. Hey, what's going on everyone? It
0:17
Speaker 1: is a brand new NFL season which is right around
0:21
Speaker 1: the corner, so of course we are back to bring
0:23
Speaker 1: you another full season of NFL Explained. I'm my Yam,
0:26
Speaker 1: and I enjoined by someone who is going to be
0:28
Speaker 1: doing a ton of the explaining this year, give us
0:32
Speaker 1: the player's perspective, the deep dive on some of the
0:34
Speaker 1: NFL's biggest questions. It's my new co host. He's a
0:37
Speaker 1: pro bowler, super Bowl winner, Michael Robinson, or as we
0:40
Speaker 1: affectionately call him here at NFL Network, m rob It
0:44
Speaker 1: is awesome to be with you, man. Yes, it's great
0:46
Speaker 1: to be a part of this podcast. You know, Yams,
0:49
Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of football scenarios and situations in
0:51
Speaker 1: my eight NFL seasons. Those experiences allow me to dig
0:55
Speaker 1: a little deeper into those statistics. You know how those
0:58
Speaker 1: statistics go on the field. Come on, man, let's get it. Yeah. Well, hold,
1:01
Speaker 1: not to be fair here, and there's a slight little correction.
1:03
Speaker 1: I will handle the statistical aspect of it because I
1:06
Speaker 1: was not physically gifted like you. Your experiences are the
1:11
Speaker 1: ones inside the locker room. You were the ones taking
1:13
Speaker 1: the hits on the football field. I would probably better
1:17
Speaker 1: suited for making sure that you were saying hydrated. Man. Look,
1:20
Speaker 1: I know you've seen the water boarded water boy hitting
1:23
Speaker 1: people too. Man. Come on, now, I am Adam Sandlers.
1:26
Speaker 1: I've taken pictures sex to him. He's definitely bigger than
1:29
Speaker 1: I am. With that in mind, look, it is awesome
1:32
Speaker 1: to be with you. There's a wealth of knowledge that
1:34
Speaker 1: you have and unique perspective that you're going to be
1:36
Speaker 1: bringing every single episode. So for episode number one, we're
1:40
Speaker 1: gonna do an NFL Explained version of a season preview.
1:42
Speaker 1: We're gonna run through a number of relevant topics and
1:45
Speaker 1: take a closer look into the stats, the history, and
1:48
Speaker 1: as I made reference to, we'll get em Rob's professional
1:51
Speaker 1: and I will not use the air quotes around professional experience.
1:55
Speaker 1: And since we started off the top with the theme
1:57
Speaker 1: of new the first thing we should take a look
1:59
Speaker 1: at is the fact that they're m ROB ten new
2:02
Speaker 1: head coaches in the league. Yeah, it is a lot.
2:06
Speaker 1: It's actually over of the league. I'll be the numbers
2:08
Speaker 1: guy on this one. Although I didn't do the math
2:10
Speaker 1: on it, it's wild and not the norm. So in fact,
2:13
Speaker 1: it's actually tied for the most turnover in one year
2:15
Speaker 1: in league history, along with two thousand and six in
2:20
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight. Now you came into the league gain
2:22
Speaker 1: rob in two thousand and six. You're actually part of
2:25
Speaker 1: a coaching change in your first few years in San Francisco,
2:28
Speaker 1: transition personality wise, when you're stepping into that. How unique
2:32
Speaker 1: of an experience is it? Well, it was unique because
2:35
Speaker 1: obviously I got drafted by the San Francisco forty Niners. Uh.
2:38
Speaker 1: The head coach at the time was Mike Nolan. He's
2:40
Speaker 1: a defensive guy, um, and I think it was two
2:43
Speaker 1: thousand and eight that was the year that we kind
2:45
Speaker 1: of had some issues and he was kind of forced out.
2:48
Speaker 1: And then linebackers coach Mike Singletary, one of the all
2:51
Speaker 1: time great Hall of Fame, one of my favorite people
2:53
Speaker 1: in the whole world, he took over as as an
2:57
Speaker 1: intern head coach, and so from a mentality standpoint, of
3:01
Speaker 1: philosophy standpoint, it was pretty similar, right to defensive guys,
3:05
Speaker 1: but with whether rubber met the road though that that
3:08
Speaker 1: year and then in two thousand nine, coach Singtary got
3:11
Speaker 1: the job, and we had a former head coach on
3:14
Speaker 1: the staff and Mike Marts. Okay, we know Mike Marts
3:17
Speaker 1: part of those RAMS teams, greatest show on throws the football,
3:21
Speaker 1: all of those things, and so everybody, even the players,
3:25
Speaker 1: we thought Mike Marx would get the job. Yams. Let
3:28
Speaker 1: me tell you something, bro being at practice to see
3:31
Speaker 1: coach Singletary trying to call everybody up, and you know,
3:36
Speaker 1: Mike Martz is upset because he's not the head coach.
3:39
Speaker 1: He's turning his back to Coach singletonp It was crazy
3:42
Speaker 1: and a couple of times we saw them almost get
3:44
Speaker 1: into it in front of us. It was crazy. I
3:46
Speaker 1: had never seen anything like it. I thought I was
3:49
Speaker 1: in uh, I don't know, a soap opera or something,
3:51
Speaker 1: but it was awesome. It was awesome to see. We
3:53
Speaker 1: took on the mentality of coach Singletary, who was a workaholic,
3:57
Speaker 1: hall of Fame type of a guy, and that team
4:00
Speaker 1: we almost felt like we wanted to win four coach sings. So,
4:03
Speaker 1: I mean, from a mentality standpoint, everything stayed the same
4:07
Speaker 1: because coach Singletary was that defensive guy. But it was
4:10
Speaker 1: different because Singletary wasn't the head coach that drafted me, right,
4:14
Speaker 1: Mike Nolan was. And so when you're operating around the building,
4:18
Speaker 1: when you're you know, putting what you gotta put out
4:20
Speaker 1: on tape for games and things like that, you do
4:22
Speaker 1: have that in the back of your head. Okay, I
4:24
Speaker 1: gotta continue to play well and do was ask to
4:26
Speaker 1: me because this coach may not been one of the
4:30
Speaker 1: guys that wanted me here. The guy that wanted me
4:31
Speaker 1: here is no longer here, So that that is always
4:34
Speaker 1: in the back of your mind. When you see two
4:36
Speaker 1: coaches flying for the permanent job. Obviously it's awkward. Right now,
4:40
Speaker 1: you're you're painting a picture of that. I think many
4:43
Speaker 1: of us can actually envision. What are the conversations in
4:45
Speaker 1: the locker room. Is it offensive defensive guys, or like
4:48
Speaker 1: hey check this out, or hey, don't really matter, like
4:50
Speaker 1: we're rolling no matter what because we need to pay
4:52
Speaker 1: our bills. Yeah. Man, So most of the guys in
4:54
Speaker 1: the locker room more like that, like, look, man, I
4:57
Speaker 1: don't give a damn who is the head coach who's
5:00
Speaker 1: calling the shots or whatever. We just gotta get our
5:02
Speaker 1: ducks in the rows that we can win games, and
5:04
Speaker 1: we win games. Every body gets paid, everybody enjoys the success.
5:08
Speaker 1: But there was splinters of the locker room. It did
5:11
Speaker 1: splinter us a little bit because obviously the offensive guys, um,
5:15
Speaker 1: you know, Mike Mart's Greatest Show on turf, we understood
5:17
Speaker 1: the numbers and all of that, and we get our
5:19
Speaker 1: numbers and catches and running, you know, and numbers get paid.
5:22
Speaker 1: We get paid, right. But defensively, you know, I've I've
5:26
Speaker 1: always been a guy from the old school, like, you know,
5:29
Speaker 1: defensive wins championship. So I did see an importance and
5:32
Speaker 1: having a tough defense and having that that defensive mentality
5:35
Speaker 1: of everything being disciplined, everything being in order running the football.
5:39
Speaker 1: Obviously as a fullback, I love that. Well, digging into
5:41
Speaker 1: the numbers, this is what's really unique about the situation
5:44
Speaker 1: that's in front of us first year head coaches. From
5:47
Speaker 1: two thousand to twenty one, a hundred and forty head
5:51
Speaker 1: coaches were hired. Nine two of them were first time
5:54
Speaker 1: head coaches. So of the rookie coaches, thirty nine percent
5:58
Speaker 1: had a winning record in their first year and percent
6:01
Speaker 1: made the playoffs. To be fair, if you're going through
6:03
Speaker 1: a coaching change, you're probably not a great football to
6:06
Speaker 1: begin with, so some of the numbers not all that shocking.
6:09
Speaker 1: But here's where it gets interesting to me. Veteran coaches
6:12
Speaker 1: they struggled even more than the rookie coaches, only winning
6:16
Speaker 1: of their games and making the playoffs about seven percent
6:20
Speaker 1: of the time. So it's not a huge disparity, but
6:22
Speaker 1: nonetheless still intriguing to me. Why do you think the
6:25
Speaker 1: retread coaches just had a little less success than the rookies.
6:29
Speaker 1: Tough to teach an old dog. New tricks simply puts that.
6:32
Speaker 1: I mean, guys are who they are. If from an
6:35
Speaker 1: offensive standpoint, let's say you're a numbers guy. When I
6:38
Speaker 1: say a numbers guy, if your offensive play caller, you
6:41
Speaker 1: call a play double wing right quick as right to
6:44
Speaker 1: twelve f flat, that's a numbers guy right to twelve
6:47
Speaker 1: f flat. I'm giving each receiver a number from right
6:49
Speaker 1: to left. You know what I'm saying, And every guy
6:52
Speaker 1: when I break the huddle based off the number call,
6:54
Speaker 1: I know exactly the route I have right. Other guys
6:57
Speaker 1: called plays a little bit differently. They the West Cool
7:00
Speaker 1: system is more code words and things like that. So
7:03
Speaker 1: to me, when you're stuck on a certain way that
7:07
Speaker 1: you call a game, whether it's offensive defense, and that's
7:10
Speaker 1: what made you successful in your past. It's hard to change.
7:14
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying is that's why I say
7:15
Speaker 1: it's tough to teach an old dog new tricks. To me.
7:18
Speaker 1: When younger coaches first get the job. The reason why
7:22
Speaker 1: they do have a little bit more success because the
7:24
Speaker 1: league has always been about innovation. And let's think about
7:27
Speaker 1: when Chip Kelly first came in the league, he changed
7:29
Speaker 1: some things with regard to practicing that now every team
7:34
Speaker 1: International Football League is kind of picked up a little
7:36
Speaker 1: bit with that sports science stuff and you know, all
7:39
Speaker 1: that type of stuff. So again, this league has always
7:43
Speaker 1: been good for innovation, but oftentimes because the defense and
7:48
Speaker 1: other coaches get paid to after that first year, the
7:51
Speaker 1: rest of the National Football League catches up. And so
7:52
Speaker 1: that's why you see that little bit of a bump down,
7:55
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying on the next years of coaches.
7:57
Speaker 1: But the reason why the retraid coaches, I think have
8:00
Speaker 1: issues is because they know what they know and it's
8:03
Speaker 1: hard for them to re learn something else. The truly
8:06
Speaker 1: great ones, which I'm looking at guy like Tom Bowles,
8:08
Speaker 1: who's getting his chance with a good team with a
8:11
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame quarterback to run a team again. Just
8:14
Speaker 1: looking at to see what he's changed and kind of
8:17
Speaker 1: how his philosophy has changed in his time not being
8:19
Speaker 1: a head coach. Yeah, there's a couple of those guys.
8:21
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels certainly comes to mind. Peterson comes to mind
8:25
Speaker 1: as well. Look, the reality is there's a lot of
8:27
Speaker 1: new coaches, as we made reference to ten of them,
8:29
Speaker 1: but in the Super Bowl era, the new coaches when
8:32
Speaker 1: just of their games in their first season. But there's
8:35
Speaker 1: a little bit of hope here. Over that same span,
8:38
Speaker 1: seventy one coaches have gone onto the playoffs in their
8:41
Speaker 1: first two years, next Herianni Rich Besaccia doing it last year.
8:45
Speaker 1: So you might have already kind of answered this, But
8:47
Speaker 1: as I'm thinking about some of these coaches, Todd Bowles
8:49
Speaker 1: you said you want to see you're intrigued by that.
8:51
Speaker 1: Is there a first year guy that you have a
8:55
Speaker 1: little bit more faith in it. Maybe it's less about
8:57
Speaker 1: them personally or they're they're coaching acumen, and more about
9:01
Speaker 1: the team that they actually have. I mean, you mentioned
9:03
Speaker 1: Tom Bowls right there. I mean, it's tough not to
9:06
Speaker 1: He has the great one Tom Brady as his quarterback,
9:09
Speaker 1: right and I just like the fact that Bruce arians
9:12
Speaker 1: you know, just say hey, I'm gonna go upstairs or whatever.
9:15
Speaker 1: But Ta Bows has to be the head coach. I
9:17
Speaker 1: like the fact that t Bow's got that job because
9:19
Speaker 1: I do think that team is loaded, one of the top,
9:22
Speaker 1: one of the upper tier teams in the NFC, which
9:25
Speaker 1: the NFC is a little bit easier to get to
9:27
Speaker 1: the top than in the a f C. But I
9:29
Speaker 1: do like what I see with Tar Bowls in year one,
9:31
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connor in Minnesota as well, Kirk Cousins, again more
9:35
Speaker 1: of an offensive minded head coach. I do think that
9:37
Speaker 1: they can see some success there. I just hope that
9:40
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell when he steps in front of the entire
9:43
Speaker 1: team full of grown men, I just hope he has
9:45
Speaker 1: that voice. I haven't heard him speak in front of
9:48
Speaker 1: the team. I hope he has that voice. In Denver, man,
9:51
Speaker 1: my old quarterback Russell Wilson. Nathaniel Hackett is there as well.
9:56
Speaker 1: I have some reservations about this one about Hacket or Wilson.
9:59
Speaker 1: You're not reade, I'm riding. But at the end the day.
10:06
Speaker 1: Look what was the issues in Seattle? Everybody wanted to
10:10
Speaker 1: select rust Cook. That was just left rust Cook movement.
10:12
Speaker 1: Russ wanted to win more games off the strength of
10:15
Speaker 1: his arm. Right Petka wanted to run the football, play
10:18
Speaker 1: tough defense. We won the Super Bowl, got to another
10:20
Speaker 1: Super Bowl on running the football. We had one of
10:22
Speaker 1: the generational backs and beast mode than the l ob
10:25
Speaker 1: and that tough defense. Now, Nathaniel Hackett, he was with
10:29
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. The thing in Aaron Rodgers when he first
10:33
Speaker 1: left Mike McCarthy is wow, Ken, Matt Lafleur. Can Nathaniel Hackers,
10:36
Speaker 1: who was the offensive coordinated at the time and the
10:38
Speaker 1: quarterbacks coach? Can they get? Can they get? And Rodgers
10:41
Speaker 1: in the structure? Well, guess what. Nathaniel Hacket wants to
10:44
Speaker 1: run the football, big explosive in the past, game, play
10:46
Speaker 1: tough those defense. So where did Russell run to? Like
10:49
Speaker 1: I thought he was trying to get away from that
10:51
Speaker 1: type of molde And so I'm not sure if Russell's
10:55
Speaker 1: gonna play in the preseason. So that's another thing. I
10:57
Speaker 1: think they gotta get used to a shorter quarterback who
11:00
Speaker 1: likes to scramble around to push the ball down field.
11:02
Speaker 1: So I think Denver has I think they found a guy.
11:06
Speaker 1: Russell's a Hall of Fame guy. But at the end
11:08
Speaker 1: of the day, it's different plan with Russell, and I
11:11
Speaker 1: think the guys have to play with them to truly
11:13
Speaker 1: understand that and in that division trying to figure that out.
11:18
Speaker 1: If you don't figure it out quickly, that might be
11:20
Speaker 1: too much of a gap to overcome and we might
11:23
Speaker 1: not be riding into the postseason with the Denver Broncos.
11:26
Speaker 1: But look, it is an impressive list, right of guys
11:28
Speaker 1: that are now getting an opportunity in year one with
11:31
Speaker 1: their new teams. That's coming up on the NFL Explained
11:34
Speaker 1: podcast Welcome Back to NFL explains Mike m and m
11:46
Speaker 1: Rob with you, and it's an impressive list right of
11:49
Speaker 1: guys that are now getting an opportunity in year one
11:52
Speaker 1: with their new teams. This whole idea. Look, Todd bols
11:54
Speaker 1: of you made reference to it was a good team
11:56
Speaker 1: that they had in Tampa Bay. There's some other situations.
11:58
Speaker 1: The Giants, Brian Dae all four wins for those dudes.
12:01
Speaker 1: Love Smith takes over a four win team and we
12:03
Speaker 1: don't even need to get into what Jacksonville was working with.
12:05
Speaker 1: But it doesn't always happen where a team very quickly
12:10
Speaker 1: can turn it around. We did see it with Cincinnati
12:12
Speaker 1: last year went from words to first to reach the
12:15
Speaker 1: super Bowl. Does it happen? My initial gut was like, no,
12:18
Speaker 1: it doesn't happen a ton. But check this out. Since
12:21
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty five, teams have gone from worst to
12:25
Speaker 1: first in their division. Yeah. I I my initial guts like, no, no,
12:28
Speaker 1: you kildn't make like those turnarounds don't happen. Eight times
12:31
Speaker 1: a team has gone from last place to the super
12:34
Speaker 1: Bowl in the following year, with four of them actually
12:37
Speaker 1: winning it all rams thousand one Patriots, the oh nine, Saints,
12:41
Speaker 1: and the Eagles. Is there a team em rob that
12:46
Speaker 1: you think maybe could go from worst to first? I
12:48
Speaker 1: mentioned some of the records of some of those squads.
12:50
Speaker 1: It's hard to fact after what we saw a season ago. Um,
12:54
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go I'll pick how about the Baltimore Ravens.
12:58
Speaker 1: We're not used to seeing those guys lasting the division.
13:01
Speaker 1: They came in last in their division last year. I
13:03
Speaker 1: think they were on eight nine or something like that.
13:05
Speaker 1: May be a little bit less than that. But you
13:07
Speaker 1: can't anticipate the entire backfield getting hurt again. You can't
13:11
Speaker 1: anticipate all the entire secondary getting hurt again. Lamar missed
13:15
Speaker 1: games as well, and you know this year, I think
13:19
Speaker 1: Lamar I think the reason why we haven't heard him
13:21
Speaker 1: sign yet. I think he wants to win US up.
13:24
Speaker 1: I think he wants to get there. I think he
13:26
Speaker 1: feels like he wants to validate that possible fifty million
13:29
Speaker 1: per year that he's gonna get. So I would I
13:31
Speaker 1: would say the Baltimore Ravens. They're intriguing to me, man.
13:34
Speaker 1: I know they let Hollywood Brown go, they did bring
13:36
Speaker 1: in some other guys, they drafted some guys and things
13:38
Speaker 1: like that. But I just think this team is built
13:40
Speaker 1: around Lamar. I think he's motivated this year. So I
13:43
Speaker 1: would say the Baltimore Ravens and the Denver Broncos, another
13:45
Speaker 1: team we just talked about. I know they're playing ANFC West,
13:47
Speaker 1: who they did come in last in that division last year.
13:50
Speaker 1: There is something to be said though about the mental
13:52
Speaker 1: fortitude and toughness of the Ravens. Even with all of
13:55
Speaker 1: those injuries. It's not like they were getting their butts kicked.
13:58
Speaker 1: They were right there in it. Every it felt like,
14:00
Speaker 1: you know, the margin of defeat was just always so
14:03
Speaker 1: razors thin. You got a healthy team out there, be
14:05
Speaker 1: that changes your chances. That's great coaching. Yeah, like John
14:09
Speaker 1: Hardball special teams coach, he has held that team together.
14:12
Speaker 1: That is excellent coaching. That that's when coaching matters, right
14:16
Speaker 1: when you know you are clearly outdone, you know the
14:19
Speaker 1: other team has all these assets you don't, but yet
14:21
Speaker 1: you still put up a formidable fight. I think John
14:23
Speaker 1: Hardball is that guy. What's the god it? I'm gonna
14:26
Speaker 1: butcher this. You know, when you invest in stocks, they
14:28
Speaker 1: tell you, hey, past performance doesn't indicate future results. That
14:32
Speaker 1: sounds right, that's true. The point is, if you're a
14:34
Speaker 1: Cincinnati fan, you might be feeling yourselves a little bit.
14:37
Speaker 1: Hey got to the Super Bowl, Joe brow stuff made
14:39
Speaker 1: some changes to our offensive line. But check this out.
14:41
Speaker 1: Thirty one teams have actually failed to make the playoffs
14:44
Speaker 1: in the season after playing in the Super Bowl. I
14:47
Speaker 1: should also throw the Rams into that mix as well, right, Like,
14:49
Speaker 1: if I'm going to throw some shade towards Cincinnati, you
14:52
Speaker 1: could do the same from a Rams perspective. So of
14:55
Speaker 1: that chunk that actually accounts for twenty eight percent of
14:59
Speaker 1: the one hundred and ten Super Bowl participants entering two.
15:03
Speaker 1: I want to talk a little bit about a rarity,
15:05
Speaker 1: a divis vision in which every single team feels like
15:09
Speaker 1: they're a Super Bowl contender. You know what I'm talking
15:11
Speaker 1: about the a f C West. And my first question
15:14
Speaker 1: here about this division is it the most stack that
15:17
Speaker 1: you've seen since we've gone to four teams in the
15:20
Speaker 1: division in two thousand two. Yeah, I mean just looking
15:23
Speaker 1: and again I'm not even talking about the rest of
15:26
Speaker 1: the roster. I'm just looking at the quarterbacks, and yes,
15:30
Speaker 1: this is the most stacked division that I've seen in
15:32
Speaker 1: my lifetime. I was born in eighty three. I know
15:35
Speaker 1: they say the eighty three uh draft had all those quarterbacks. Uh,
15:38
Speaker 1: this is a stack division. Man. I played in the
15:41
Speaker 1: NFC West. When you look back in the twenty between
15:44
Speaker 1: twenty eleven, that division was pretty stacked as well. You
15:49
Speaker 1: obviously had the Seattle Seahawks, the Santasco for the Niners.
15:52
Speaker 1: You know, Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick. Both defenses were shut
15:55
Speaker 1: down defenses, both had generational backs and Frank Gore and
15:58
Speaker 1: Beast Mode. But we weren't a stack as the a
16:01
Speaker 1: f C West is right now. And again I have
16:03
Speaker 1: to go back to people thinking that the Raiders and
16:07
Speaker 1: the Chargers maybe the two worst teams in this division,
16:10
Speaker 1: and I think they all have a chance to win it.
16:12
Speaker 1: Derek Carr is a cardiac kid man. He showed me
16:16
Speaker 1: something last year. He showed me dealing with all the
16:18
Speaker 1: adversity that this Raiders team dealt with, dealing with the
16:21
Speaker 1: coach and change all the things, you know, all the
16:23
Speaker 1: things that happened. He kept his team together. They made
16:25
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. Justin Herbert superstar. And now I'm talking
16:29
Speaker 1: about this Los Angeles Chargers team this year three for
16:31
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert. First year, Anthony Lynne gets fired. Okay, I'm
16:36
Speaker 1: giving something that you rookie here, Justin Herbert. Okay, you
16:38
Speaker 1: didn't go nowhere. Okay. Second year, you got a new
16:41
Speaker 1: head coach. Give you a little something more on that
16:43
Speaker 1: because you got a new head coach. But this is
16:45
Speaker 1: the third year, and I believe Justin Herbert is a guy.
16:49
Speaker 1: He's one of those five six guys walking this planet
16:53
Speaker 1: that can win a game strictly based off of his
16:56
Speaker 1: arm talent. And so the Charge hes gotta go to
16:58
Speaker 1: playoffs period, almost did last year. Almost. This ain't horseshoes, Mike.
17:03
Speaker 1: I mean, I love the Khalil Mack, I love the J. C. Jack,
17:06
Speaker 1: but this kid is a superstar. I gotta see more
17:08
Speaker 1: out of the charges man. A lot of drops in
17:11
Speaker 1: that offense, justin Herbert was on the receiving end of
17:14
Speaker 1: the most drops in the NFL a year or trying.
17:18
Speaker 1: I'm trying, and that's not even in the research. Come
17:22
Speaker 1: on now, I'm bringing it, guys, are you kidding me?
17:24
Speaker 1: We're a mid season for its episode number one? It
17:27
Speaker 1: is something to consider here, because you're right, the pieces
17:30
Speaker 1: are in place, and it does feel like to let's go.
17:32
Speaker 1: And Staley have done a great job remaking this thing
17:34
Speaker 1: and addressing some of the issues that we saw, specifically
17:37
Speaker 1: on the defensive side of my football. And no more
17:39
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill in this division. I gotta say that I
17:41
Speaker 1: can't let us talk about the FC West and I
17:44
Speaker 1: can't not talk about, to me, the most important non
17:49
Speaker 1: quarterback skill position player in our league. I'm talking about
17:53
Speaker 1: the cheetah Tyreek Hill. He makes offenses, he makes quarterbacks. Now,
17:59
Speaker 1: I ain't ever seen Patrick Mahomes really without Tyreek Hill.
18:03
Speaker 1: So I'm interested in this year if Patrick Mahomes can
18:07
Speaker 1: dank and dunk all the way down the football field,
18:09
Speaker 1: because that's how you defend Patrick Mahomes. You drop eight,
18:12
Speaker 1: you play to safety high and forced Andy Reid and
18:15
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes to work their way down the field. I'm
18:18
Speaker 1: not so sure from a philosophy standpoint they're able to
18:20
Speaker 1: do it. Here's the beauty of it, because I know
18:22
Speaker 1: there's a family listening right now and just says dude,
18:25
Speaker 1: all four teams get into the postseason, which which would
18:28
Speaker 1: kind of squash the argument. The problem is, while it's possible,
18:32
Speaker 1: it's not exactly likely. Since moving to the feign team divisions,
18:37
Speaker 1: three teams from the same division have made the playoffs
18:40
Speaker 1: nine times, and last year when the Rams, the Niners,
18:43
Speaker 1: and the Cards all reached the postseason in the NFC West,
18:46
Speaker 1: it's really hard to do, but mathematically possible. Still more
18:50
Speaker 1: to come here on NFL Explain, Records were made to
18:53
Speaker 1: be broken and a few were shattered A season ago.
18:56
Speaker 1: Will remind you of what went down, and Emerald will
18:58
Speaker 1: tell you which ones will crumble this year. Welcome back
19:08
Speaker 1: to NFL, explains Mike m and m Rob with you. Now.
19:11
Speaker 1: We just we're talking a little bit about the a
19:12
Speaker 1: f C West being loaded with quarterback talent and just
19:16
Speaker 1: real dudes. And speaking of qbs, the most recent draft,
19:20
Speaker 1: we had four quarterbacks taken in the first three rounds,
19:23
Speaker 1: one in the first, none in the second, and three
19:26
Speaker 1: in the third. It was actually the first time there
19:29
Speaker 1: was only one quarterback taken in the first round, and
19:31
Speaker 1: that was when EJ. Manual went sixteen to Buffalo. I've
19:34
Speaker 1: actually worked with e J on the radio. Side note
19:38
Speaker 1: his voice sounds exactly like Anthony Mackie and I've told you, yeah,
19:41
Speaker 1: it's identical. Close your eyes and just listen. Side tangent there,
19:45
Speaker 1: They're like, I need to go find the radio. We'll
19:48
Speaker 1: get them on the pot at some point. Meanwhile, that
19:52
Speaker 1: was the year in which eight quarterbacks were taken in
19:54
Speaker 1: the first three rounds of the draft. That was the
19:56
Speaker 1: most ever. So which one of last year's rookies is
20:00
Speaker 1: going to take that leap in year number two? And
20:03
Speaker 1: it's an impressive list. You got Trevor Lawrence, Jack Wilson,
20:06
Speaker 1: Trey Lance all of a sudden has the keys to
20:08
Speaker 1: the car. Justin Fields comes to mind. There's that Mac Jones,
20:11
Speaker 1: and then one of my personal favorites, Davis Mills, the
20:15
Speaker 1: first round pick had he gone back to Stanford. We
20:17
Speaker 1: can't talk about that on another episode podcasts. But is
20:21
Speaker 1: there a guy that you like making making a jump?
20:23
Speaker 1: I want to say justin feels so bad. I want to,
20:28
Speaker 1: but I just think that the Chicago Bears hired a
20:32
Speaker 1: defensive head coach and Ebra Flews, who look, he's had
20:35
Speaker 1: some great defenses in Indie. Okay, the bend, but don't
20:38
Speaker 1: break defenses. They force you to throw to a spot,
20:40
Speaker 1: they rally, they take the ball away. But from the
20:44
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears standpoint, the keys to everything is in the
20:47
Speaker 1: hands of this young quarterback who you know, big tim
20:50
Speaker 1: player of the Year a couple of years in a row.
20:53
Speaker 1: Look where you are in the country. I mean, just
20:55
Speaker 1: do everything that you can to guarantee the success of
20:59
Speaker 1: this kid. I just I may have looked in a
21:01
Speaker 1: more offensive head coach standpoint, but okay, I talked about
21:05
Speaker 1: justin fields. But for me, I gotta go with Trey
21:08
Speaker 1: Lance making a big jump. First of all, he only
21:10
Speaker 1: played in two games last year, so you know he's
21:13
Speaker 1: got and he has a team around him as a
21:15
Speaker 1: defense that can get after the passion, they can take
21:17
Speaker 1: the ball away, they play tough nose. Again, having a
21:20
Speaker 1: great defense for a quarterback, it's like having a whole
21:23
Speaker 1: life insurance man. You can always go back to it
21:25
Speaker 1: and use it as an own in house banking and
21:27
Speaker 1: all that type of That's what it's like. Okay, that's
21:30
Speaker 1: what it's like. And so he has the keys to
21:32
Speaker 1: the car um. Now you have Kyle Shanahan, who from
21:35
Speaker 1: a play calling standpoint, he knows how to run the football.
21:38
Speaker 1: He anybody can run the football and coy Shanahan's offense.
21:41
Speaker 1: And when you can run the football, that means it's
21:43
Speaker 1: one on one on the outside. You do have Deebo
21:45
Speaker 1: Samuel on the outside, and so now playing quarterback is
21:47
Speaker 1: a little bit easier, right, it's just one on one,
21:49
Speaker 1: is just pitch and catch. So I think Trey Lance
21:51
Speaker 1: will have the biggest jump, especially when you look at
21:55
Speaker 1: what the forty Niners did to get him, and you
21:57
Speaker 1: look at your taking a proven winner in Jimmy Garoppolo,
22:00
Speaker 1: and you're basically saying, I know he's a winner. It's
22:03
Speaker 1: all good. He paying for us no more, though, We're
22:05
Speaker 1: gonna let him go and somebody please come get him.
22:08
Speaker 1: Just the fact that this organization is competent organization will
22:11
Speaker 1: have a lot of respect for they drafted me. I love,
22:13
Speaker 1: you know, all the people in the front office, very
22:16
Speaker 1: competent people. For them to let Jimmy Garoppolo walk like that,
22:19
Speaker 1: that tells you all you need to know about Trey
22:20
Speaker 1: Lance and terrific when he was in college in terms
22:23
Speaker 1: of play Actually, we see a lot of that in
22:25
Speaker 1: the play calling with Kyle Shanahan. And I'll take it
22:27
Speaker 1: a step further. I actually covered that draft and I
22:29
Speaker 1: had the Niners for us at NFL Network and one
22:32
Speaker 1: of the things that I'll never forget, and it screams
22:34
Speaker 1: to the point that you're making. John Lynch, their general manager,
22:36
Speaker 1: said hey, we've moved up and the unique situation that
22:40
Speaker 1: Trey Lances in compared to every other young quarterback. I
22:43
Speaker 1: gave you the list, right, Trevor Lawrence, There's a reason
22:46
Speaker 1: why they were picking that night, right the Jets with
22:48
Speaker 1: Zach Wilson issues there. The point is this is a
22:52
Speaker 1: roster that if they made the Super Bowl, you're not surprised,
22:55
Speaker 1: not surprised at all. And just in season they were
23:00
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl. And I can make an argument
23:03
Speaker 1: to Kyle Shanahan that if he continued to run the
23:05
Speaker 1: football on the net Super Bowl and when they lost
23:07
Speaker 1: to the Patriots when he was with Atlanta, if he
23:09
Speaker 1: just ran the football, he'd be a two times Super
23:11
Speaker 1: Bowl winning coach right now. But he isn't because he
23:14
Speaker 1: didn't run the football to get Degbo sent me the ball.
23:16
Speaker 1: So I think Trey Lance is that guy that's gonna
23:18
Speaker 1: take this offense to new heights. No, I'm with you there.
23:22
Speaker 1: Now we're talking quarterbacks. We're talking about dudes in year
23:24
Speaker 1: number two. And I know we loved up the a
23:26
Speaker 1: f C West earlier, but their quarterbacks in the record
23:29
Speaker 1: books for performances in year number two not shocking. The
23:33
Speaker 1: half billion dollar man, Patrick Mahomes most passing touchdowns and
23:36
Speaker 1: passing yards in a second season in NFL history with
23:40
Speaker 1: fifty TVs and five Yeah, that's no joke. That was
23:45
Speaker 1: his sad. That was the second year number two. Dude
23:47
Speaker 1: was just bawling. And how many of those fifty touchdowns
23:50
Speaker 1: like second come on to Tyree take off, you know,
23:53
Speaker 1: and just roll second year in the league that many yards.
23:56
Speaker 1: I mean, like he did have a great teacher. Alex
24:00
Speaker 1: Smithy was my quarterback in San Francisco, and the fact
24:02
Speaker 1: that Alex was there first, I mean to me that
24:05
Speaker 1: was like the perfect way to groom your quarterback, have
24:08
Speaker 1: them for a year and then leadal league and passed
24:11
Speaker 1: the next year. I mean kind of feeds into your
24:13
Speaker 1: answer about Trey Lance with Jimmy garofin like all kind
24:16
Speaker 1: of a process is staying in line there. But look
24:20
Speaker 1: the fifty touchdowns. Impressive, five thousand, ninety seven passing yards
24:24
Speaker 1: from homes. And then Justin Herbert, who you said is
24:26
Speaker 1: one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL. The
24:28
Speaker 1: numbers bared out. Herbert fourth on the TV list with
24:32
Speaker 1: thirty eight touchdowns, also holds the completion record with four
24:37
Speaker 1: hundred and forty three for a quarterback in year number two.
24:41
Speaker 1: Those look a lot of records. Last year, I mean, hell,
24:44
Speaker 1: last year on NFL Explained, we did an episode on
24:46
Speaker 1: records being broken. There was a ton of them. Any
24:49
Speaker 1: anything that jumped out at you because I got a
24:51
Speaker 1: bunched that her here, you know, Brady with the past
24:53
Speaker 1: completion record Herbert, you know, passing yards and touchdowns in
24:57
Speaker 1: the player's first two seasons combined The point is there's
25:00
Speaker 1: a lot to choose from anything. Stand out, Um, I
25:02
Speaker 1: gotta go with Jalen Waddle and the receptions record. The
25:04
Speaker 1: record receptions record. This kid, you know, a year before
25:08
Speaker 1: last year, was in college okay, our amateur game okay.
25:11
Speaker 1: And then he comes into the National Football League sets
25:14
Speaker 1: the record a hundred and four receptions, Like that's not
25:18
Speaker 1: a little number, Like this guy's have been in this
25:20
Speaker 1: league for years that don't get those types of receptions
25:24
Speaker 1: in the season. Hell, I don't even know if I
25:25
Speaker 1: got that for a career, and this this young guy
25:28
Speaker 1: got it in one year, his rookie season. So to me,
25:31
Speaker 1: that's phenomenal. It also tells a story about the wide receivers. Right,
25:35
Speaker 1: wide receivers are coming into the National Football League a
25:38
Speaker 1: little bit more prepared. We saw that happen to running
25:41
Speaker 1: back some years back. Right running backs come into this
25:44
Speaker 1: league a little bit more prepared, and you know, it's
25:46
Speaker 1: a double edged sword. I hate to say it, but
25:49
Speaker 1: maybe teams will start looking at wilde receivers kind of
25:52
Speaker 1: like they look at running back, so we can just
25:53
Speaker 1: find one of them anywhere. They all can catch, they
25:56
Speaker 1: all are fast, they all run sub for for all
25:59
Speaker 1: of those things, but to see j Leen Widdle set
26:01
Speaker 1: the rookie recommends pretty cool. Jamaar Chase setting the Super
26:04
Speaker 1: Bowl era rookiecord with receiving yards over fourteen hundred, Justin
26:09
Speaker 1: Jefferson and NFL record for receiving yards and his players
26:12
Speaker 1: first two seasons. Mike Evans not And I know this
26:15
Speaker 1: sounds crazy because we do love him up and we
26:17
Speaker 1: know how good he is, but I don't know how
26:19
Speaker 1: I don't know if we know how good, just how
26:21
Speaker 1: good he is extended his own record for most consecutive
26:24
Speaker 1: seasons with at least a thousand yards to start a
26:27
Speaker 1: career with eight, which is just wild. And I gotta
26:29
Speaker 1: throw some love to t J. Watt, who tied Hall
26:32
Speaker 1: of Famer Michael Strahan's single season sack record with twenty
26:35
Speaker 1: two and a half, which apparently, according to Miles Garrett,
26:37
Speaker 1: will be broken at his number, which would be ridiculously impressive.
26:45
Speaker 1: By the way, just one of the note here, because
26:47
Speaker 1: I don't want to get you on some records that
26:48
Speaker 1: could go down this season, any record that you're keeping
26:51
Speaker 1: an eye on for this upcoming season that you think
26:53
Speaker 1: could get broken. Um, I'm a runner Okay. Even when
26:57
Speaker 1: I played quarterback, I was a runner, Mike. Okay. So
26:59
Speaker 1: Jonathan tayl I think is the best running back in
27:02
Speaker 1: the national football Yes, I'm going on record to say
27:05
Speaker 1: there's no aide to King Henry. I love King Henry,
27:08
Speaker 1: but King Henry is more of a volume back. You
27:10
Speaker 1: gotta gotta feed him for him to beat you up.
27:12
Speaker 1: To me, Jonathan Taylor from a acceleration, from a speed
27:17
Speaker 1: through the hole from I can catch the ball, I
27:20
Speaker 1: can also pass protect. I think Jonathan Taylor can get
27:24
Speaker 1: over two thousand yards this year. I really do. And
27:27
Speaker 1: now he has a signal caller who's not gonna throw
27:30
Speaker 1: the ball with his left hand in his and in
27:32
Speaker 1: his ends own and throw an interception for Matt Ryan
27:35
Speaker 1: is not gonna do that. Matt Ryan actually will say,
27:37
Speaker 1: you know what, y'all canna keep playing to safety high
27:39
Speaker 1: because you're scared of Michael Pittman Jr. And my guys
27:42
Speaker 1: on the outside. I will call a run fifty times
27:45
Speaker 1: in a row. Don't challenge me. That's why I think
27:47
Speaker 1: Jonathan Tylor has a real good shot of going over
27:50
Speaker 1: two thousand yards this season. Back to back years where
27:52
Speaker 1: we could potentially be talking about him as the best
27:54
Speaker 1: running back in the NFL, absolutely, which would be remarkable
27:57
Speaker 1: if he hits that to k Mark episode number one
28:00
Speaker 1: NFL explained officially now in the books, m Rob, I
28:03
Speaker 1: am so jacked up for the start of the season.
28:05
Speaker 1: Look all year long, every single week to who the whare,
28:08
Speaker 1: the what, the why, the how? You and I are
28:11
Speaker 1: going to be discussing it. I will be bringing more
28:13
Speaker 1: of the analytical stat side of things. I'll bring the water.
28:20
Speaker 1: I'll make sure that you're hydrated for the for the
28:22
Speaker 1: next episode, to make sure that that you're ready to
28:24
Speaker 1: rock and ball. I would appreciate you guys checking in
28:25
Speaker 1: with us and follow us on social media. Would love
28:28
Speaker 1: to get your take on some other episodes that you'd
28:30
Speaker 1: love to hear us talk about and answer some of
28:32
Speaker 1: your burning questions around the NFL. It's a season preview,
28:36
Speaker 1: explained