Latest / NFL Game Previews / NFL REPORT: Who has it better than the Harbaugh’s?
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: This is Dave Canalis OC for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
- 0:08Speaker 1: and this is the NFL Report.
- 0:11Speaker 2: Welcome to the NFL Report. James Palmer. Rhett lewis with you.
- 0:14Speaker 2: We're gonna have to have Dave Canalis do another one
- 0:17Speaker 2: of those because the title is incorrect rhet. Rhett is
- 0:21Speaker 2: filling in for Steve Witch. We have a boatload of
- 0:25Speaker 2: faces rhet that we are gonna get to, including Dante Hall,
- 0:29Speaker 2: the human joy Stay, one of the most entertaining players
- 0:31Speaker 2: to watch Chiefs Legend. We also have Oma Owez Stacy
- 0:34Speaker 2: Dale's covering us for the NFC side of things. Baldi
- 0:37Speaker 2: will be with us as well for Baldi's favorite films.
- 0:40Speaker 2: I'm so glad you joined us on a show where
- 0:42Speaker 2: there's so little to talk about.
- 0:44Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, that's why you had to bring me in,
- 0:46Speaker 3: right as the content specialist, as the conversationalist here. This
- 0:49Speaker 3: is That's why I'm here. Yeah, man, It's it's exciting,
- 0:53Speaker 3: and this is this is like my favorite time of
- 0:55Speaker 3: the year because we get to merge you know, my
- 0:57Speaker 3: favorite worlds, right which are you know? You get the
- 0:59Speaker 3: NFL post season, which is impossible to beat, but it's
- 1:01Speaker 3: also the beginning of draft season, right, So we're gonna
- 1:04Speaker 3: have all star games coming up next week. I'm getting
- 1:06Speaker 3: ready to head to Frisco, Texas for the ninety ninth
- 1:08Speaker 3: annual East West Shrine Bowls. Senior Bowl kicks off next week,
- 1:13Speaker 3: and I'm gonna have a little bit, a little bit
- 1:15Speaker 3: of a little bit of something for you on some
- 1:17Speaker 3: names to watch from those games later in the show.
- 1:19Speaker 2: I like it. I like it. I like it. Let's
- 1:22Speaker 2: get to these head coaching changes. I said it, Rhett.
- 1:24Speaker 2: Dave Canalis is no longer the offensive coordinator for the
- 1:27Speaker 2: Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is the new head coach of
- 1:31Speaker 2: the Carolina Panthers. When this hire happened just a little
- 1:35Speaker 2: bit before we started this show, what was the first
- 1:38Speaker 2: thing that went through your mind? Right? Wow?
- 1:41Speaker 3: I mean it really was, because it feels like a
- 1:43Speaker 3: dramatic star rise and a star turn for Dave Canalis
- 1:48Speaker 3: jp one year as the offensive coordinator play caller in
- 1:52Speaker 3: Tampa and now is getting his shot as a head coach.
- 1:55Speaker 3: And the one thing that I that I know is
- 1:57Speaker 3: for certain. I mean, the Panthers have gone through this process, right,
- 1:59Speaker 3: they brought in a ton of different guys. We know
- 2:02Speaker 3: this is a demanding ownership group, right with David Tepper
- 2:05Speaker 3: just hired their new GM under Statemle Ran. Yep, Yep,
- 2:09Speaker 3: probably a little bit. I really like Dan Morgan as
- 2:13Speaker 3: a GM. He's been there as the assistant. He knows
- 2:16Speaker 3: what good programs are like and how to build them,
- 2:18Speaker 3: and he knows what it means to be.
- 2:20Speaker 4: In lockstep with a head coach.
- 2:22Speaker 3: He saw it with Brandon Bean and Sean McDermott up
- 2:25Speaker 3: in Buffalo when he was up with that crew, and
- 2:28Speaker 3: so now coming here to Carolina, I feel like that's
- 2:30Speaker 3: what you're gonna get with Morgan, with Canalis and this
- 2:34Speaker 3: brain trust moving forward, trying to get Bryce Young and
- 2:36Speaker 3: this Carolina Panthers team.
- 2:38Speaker 2: Movement, and that's the ticket right there. What is your
- 2:41Speaker 2: plan for Bryce Young? You know, it was asked to
- 2:43Speaker 2: every single guy who interviewed there with David Tepper, and
- 2:46Speaker 2: I think what we've seen Dave Knalison, he's been on
- 2:49Speaker 2: this show, He's talked to us at length about his
- 2:51Speaker 2: offensive philosophies. I think that's gonna be what a lot
- 2:54Speaker 2: of us are watching and what he does with Bryce Young.
- 2:56Speaker 2: He has Baker Mayfield coming in and the one year.
- 2:59Speaker 2: There together, he's up for Comeback Player of the Year,
- 3:01Speaker 2: not only also before that Gino Smith and before that
- 3:04Speaker 2: Russell Wilson. What he's conveyed to us r at that
- 3:07Speaker 2: I think is so impressive is he said, really, everything
- 3:10Speaker 2: we do is molded to our quarterback. His ability to
- 3:14Speaker 2: change his offense for the skill set of his quarterback,
- 3:16Speaker 2: I think is one of his best traits. That he
- 3:19Speaker 2: continues to find concepts that work and then builds the
- 3:22Speaker 2: offense off those concepts and things that just don't work
- 3:25Speaker 2: for that quarterback are thrown out, as well as changing
- 3:28Speaker 2: other aspects around the quarterback. Look the shuffling he did
- 3:31Speaker 2: on that offensive line in Tampa. I want you here.
- 3:34Speaker 2: You used to play here, now you're over here, and
- 3:36Speaker 2: he changed it all to fit their skill sets, their
- 3:39Speaker 2: body types, and they ran the football better. He was
- 3:42Speaker 2: also able to build that entire offense off of a
- 3:45Speaker 2: wide receiver like Mike Evans and then figure out how
- 3:48Speaker 2: to play what defenses do play off of that. I
- 3:52Speaker 2: think it's an impressive offensive mind that has shown us
- 3:54Speaker 2: over the last couple of years that he has the
- 3:56Speaker 2: ability to adapt and change like nobody's business. All right,
- 3:59Speaker 2: let's move on to another head coach, Ratt that is
- 4:02Speaker 2: not getting his start. He is an old hat at
- 4:06Speaker 2: this game, coming off of a national championship. And is
- 4:09Speaker 2: Jim Harbaugh going to the Chargers. He is back in
- 4:12Speaker 2: the NFL, going to the place where you know, he
- 4:15Speaker 2: just couldn't get in the Lombardi Trophy in college. It
- 4:17Speaker 2: was always the thing that was driving him. He lands
- 4:20Speaker 2: with the Chargers. What will we see differently in Los Angeles?
- 4:23Speaker 5: Now?
- 4:24Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, I.
- 4:25Speaker 3: Think you're gonna see offense and team philosophy operated operated
- 4:29Speaker 3: in a much different way.
- 4:30Speaker 4: I think this is going to be a gritty, er,
- 4:32Speaker 4: tougher team.
- 4:32Speaker 3: I mean, that's that has been the hallmark of Jim
- 4:35Speaker 3: Harbaugh coach teams wherever he's been. I mean kind of
- 4:37Speaker 3: famously when he was at Stanford, got like all the
- 4:40Speaker 3: parents of all the players like locked into that, Hey,
- 4:43Speaker 3: bring your lunch, Paale, the work mentality.
- 4:46Speaker 4: You know, we've got blue collars.
- 4:47Speaker 3: We might wear red jerseys, but we're making sure the
- 4:49Speaker 3: blue stays with the way.
- 4:50Speaker 2: That we play.
- 4:52Speaker 3: And the interesting thing here is what's he gonna do?
- 4:54Speaker 3: What does this look like for Justin Herbert. Obviously, Jim
- 4:58Speaker 3: Harbaugh has coached in sane mainly talented quarterbacks before. See
- 5:02Speaker 3: Andrew Luck at Stafford now at Stanford. Now, while they
- 5:05Speaker 3: didn't put up like ridiculous video game type numbers through
- 5:09Speaker 3: the air, everyone knew that Andrew Luck was an immense talent, right,
- 5:14Speaker 3: and Jim Harbost.
- 5:15Speaker 4: Brought that out in him.
- 5:16Speaker 3: So how he tailors this offense and his offensive staff
- 5:20Speaker 3: to accentuate Justin Herbert's skill set is going to be
- 5:23Speaker 3: really intriguing. I think there's gonna be an emphasis put
- 5:26Speaker 3: on building that offensive line even more than it already
- 5:29Speaker 3: has been. With their two first round picks the last
- 5:31Speaker 3: couple of years and Rashaan Slater and Zion Johnson, I
- 5:33Speaker 3: wouldn't be surprised if there's another high draft resource spent
- 5:38Speaker 3: on that front to get that roll in. And then
- 5:40Speaker 3: I think that this is this at number five overall
- 5:43Speaker 3: in this year's draft where the Chargers are picking. I
- 5:45Speaker 3: think this squarely puts brock Bowers the top tight end
- 5:49Speaker 3: in this class. In the conversation, right, that's high for
- 5:53Speaker 3: a tight end.
- 5:53Speaker 2: That's rich, I get it.
- 5:55Speaker 3: But this is a tough, gritty dude. Even though he's
- 5:57Speaker 3: from Napa, California. He's a tough, gritty dude. He can
- 6:00Speaker 3: get dirty in the run game. He's an insane athlete.
- 6:03Speaker 3: He's great after the catch, phenomenal hands. Look at what
- 6:06Speaker 3: Jim Harbaugh did jp with the tight ends at Michigan
- 6:08Speaker 3: Colson Loveland. AJ Barner is going to be playing in
- 6:10Speaker 3: the Senior Bowl. They were dominant Luke Schoonmaker last year.
- 6:13Speaker 3: Drafted in the second round by the Cowboys. They're big
- 6:15Speaker 3: pieces of the offense. That's why I think that that
- 6:18Speaker 3: could be an opportunity to see brock Bauers come off
- 6:21Speaker 3: the board when we get to Detroit.
- 6:23Speaker 4: As you get your.
- 6:24Speaker 2: Hands dirty going after grapes in the soil up there,
- 6:27Speaker 2: and now it's fine, you get gritty and listen, tight
- 6:29Speaker 2: ends have flourished, especially rookies this past season. We've always
- 6:32Speaker 2: seen the run game, even though it was Andrew Luck
- 6:34Speaker 2: by the way, He's always had an emphasis on the
- 6:36Speaker 2: run game no matter where he has been, and you're right,
- 6:38Speaker 2: tight end's always a big part of what he does.
- 6:40Speaker 2: Real quickly, I'll say, I think it's an identity, right.
- 6:42Speaker 2: I think that has been lacking since this team moved
- 6:45Speaker 2: from San Diego to Los Angeles. They haven't even had
- 6:47Speaker 2: an identity in their own building, especially in their own city.
- 6:50Speaker 2: Now they bring in a head coach who was essentially,
- 6:52Speaker 2: look at us, make sure you pay attention to us.
- 6:55Speaker 2: And they get somebody that is going to make sure
- 6:58Speaker 2: that they win football games and to make sure that
- 7:00Speaker 2: people notice that they're winning football games. And I think, honestly,
- 7:03Speaker 2: that's something that's been lacking with the Chargers. Let's go
- 7:06Speaker 2: to his brother real quickly before we get out of here,
- 7:10Speaker 2: and look at the Ravens because this is a big
- 7:13Speaker 2: weekend for the Harbas. What do you see from the
- 7:15Speaker 2: Baltimore Ravens One part going into that AFC Championship game
- 7:19Speaker 2: that sticks out to you.
- 7:20Speaker 4: Yeah, one thing that really sticks out to me is
- 7:22Speaker 4: the way they've utilized the.
- 7:23Speaker 3: Tight ends this year and obviously Mark and when he
- 7:25Speaker 3: got an All Pro type in Mark Andrews. That's easy
- 7:28Speaker 3: to do and easy to say, like, yeah, we want
- 7:30Speaker 3: to get Mark Andrews in the football. Well, he's been
- 7:32Speaker 3: out right for a couple months now with the injury,
- 7:34Speaker 3: although it sounds like he is on his way back
- 7:35Speaker 3: again fully participatingly like it just this week there, James,
- 7:39Speaker 3: but Isaiah likely has been tremendous as a target for
- 7:43Speaker 3: Lamar Jackson, especially in Mark Andrews's absence, and it's stuff
- 7:48Speaker 3: you talk to people around the Ravens and I saw
- 7:50Speaker 3: it this summer, spending some time with them like they
- 7:52Speaker 3: always knew that this is who Isaiah likely was. We
- 7:55Speaker 3: saw it in flashes his rookie year too. He's now
- 7:57Speaker 3: just getting those opportunities right with Mark Andrew's gone, So
- 8:00Speaker 3: I imagine even if Mark comes back, they're going to
- 8:02Speaker 3: find ways to accentuate what Isaiah likely can bring to
- 8:06Speaker 3: this team. So I'm getting to the end zone, you know,
- 8:08Speaker 3: a week ago, and basically, you know, I think he's
- 8:11Speaker 3: been really well developed, both having a stud like Mark
- 8:15Speaker 3: Andrews there, his tight ends coach George Gatzi is kind
- 8:17Speaker 3: of underrated in NFL circles.
- 8:19Speaker 4: Think he does a great job getting those guys together.
- 8:21Speaker 4: And I'm just hoping that they can get.
- 8:23Speaker 3: A dance club scene going in that locker room afterwards,
- 8:27Speaker 3: so we can see an encore from George Gatzi.
- 8:30Speaker 4: We need more of it, right, where's Georgie?
- 8:33Speaker 2: Let's fight there?
- 8:34Speaker 3: A moment build right there.
- 8:37Speaker 2: Gatzi just slow playing it just now and there he
- 8:42Speaker 2: goes and anywhere's it? Love it from George and they
- 8:47Speaker 2: don't run two tight end sets very often rhet so
- 8:49Speaker 2: it's going to be interesting to see what they change
- 8:52Speaker 2: offensively philosophy wise, if they want to get both these
- 8:54Speaker 2: guys on the field at the same time. I'm going
- 8:57Speaker 2: to go on the defensive side of the ball and
- 8:59Speaker 2: go with me. Maybe the only player in this game
- 9:01Speaker 2: that is a member of MENSA that is all Pro
- 9:04Speaker 2: safety Kyle Hamilton with one hundred and thirty two IQ.
- 9:08Speaker 2: This is a game full of versatile players that have
- 9:10Speaker 2: high football IQs. He might be at the top of
- 9:13Speaker 2: all those guys that are playing in this game. He's
- 9:16Speaker 2: gonna have the assignment a lot in this game. They're
- 9:18Speaker 2: gonna throw different things at Travis Kelcey, but he's gonna
- 9:22Speaker 2: have the assignment quite a bit. And what he does
- 9:24Speaker 2: against the future Hall of Famer is going to be
- 9:27Speaker 2: just one of the things that he does to impact
- 9:29Speaker 2: this game. He can rush the quarterback like an hedge rusher.
- 9:31Speaker 2: He can play the safety spot, he can cover deep,
- 9:33Speaker 2: he can tackle like a linebacker. He can play about
- 9:36Speaker 2: five different positions for this defense. One of the most
- 9:39Speaker 2: versatile talented players in the NFL, and he missed two
- 9:42Speaker 2: games this year. I know it's a small sample size,
- 9:44Speaker 2: rat this defense arguably the best in all of football.
- 9:47Speaker 2: The two games he missed, statistically, those were two of
- 9:50Speaker 2: the worst performances we saw from a defense this season.
- 9:53Speaker 2: And that's just without one player. And that's the MENSA
- 9:57Speaker 2: member in Kyle Hamilton. Well, we got another versat guy
- 10:01Speaker 2: coming up. Rap, that's Dante Hall. How about that the
- 10:05Speaker 2: human Joycenick. I wonder if that's his favorite nickname. I'm
- 10:08Speaker 2: gonna ask him that next on the NFL.
- 10:16Speaker 5: He's gonna be the MVP for a reason. I mean,
- 10:18Speaker 5: he goes out there, he leads his team, he scores,
- 10:22Speaker 5: he runs, he throws, he does whatever it takes to win.
- 10:25Speaker 5: And that's what the great greats do. And uh, like
- 10:27Speaker 5: I said, it'd be great challenge for our defense, but
- 10:29Speaker 5: also a great challenge for offense going against their defense.
- 10:31Speaker 5: So it's gonna take a full team effort if we
- 10:33Speaker 5: want to find a way to get a win.
- 10:34Speaker 6: He's a great quarterback, definitely, hall of famer is not
- 10:38Speaker 6: even it's a new brain. He's definitely a Hall of Famer.
- 10:41Speaker 6: But it's just I believe it's just to to two
- 10:44Speaker 6: greats up and coming Greats just going to the two
- 10:47Speaker 6: you know, like a heavyweight fight, heavyweight matchup.
- 10:50Speaker 7: That's that's just what I see.
- 10:52Speaker 2: Welcome back to the NFL Report. James Palmer, Rhett Lewis
- 10:55Speaker 2: with you, And if you're gonna have a heavyweight fight,
- 10:57Speaker 2: I need more trash talk. Maybe Don day Haul the
- 11:01Speaker 2: Chiefs great can bring some of that trash talk into this. Listen.
- 11:04Speaker 2: Too many compliments on there. I'm not gonna lie too
- 11:06Speaker 2: many compliments between those two great players as we're heading
- 11:09Speaker 2: into this AFC Championship game. I appreciate you joining us,
- 11:12Speaker 2: and I have to get this out of the way
- 11:13Speaker 2: first before we continue. What is your favorite nickname for you,
- 11:17Speaker 2: because you have a lot of them.
- 11:21Speaker 8: My favorite is the Humane and the gotta be.
- 11:27Speaker 7: It's just a great name, right.
- 11:28Speaker 8: And before I picked up the golf, I was an
- 11:32Speaker 8: avid gamer.
- 11:34Speaker 7: So at the time that Mitch Holtess.
- 11:36Speaker 8: Gave me that monitor, I was like n D playing
- 11:40Speaker 8: video games nine I was a day and it also
- 11:43Speaker 8: physical playing style, so it works perfectly.
- 11:49Speaker 9: I agree.
- 11:50Speaker 4: I think I think that's I mean it was.
- 11:52Speaker 3: It was terrific because it was organic too, and uh,
- 11:55Speaker 3: you know, Mitch is one of the best in the
- 11:56Speaker 3: business obviously in the in the radio play by playworld
- 11:59Speaker 3: here in the NFL, and so hearing him call some
- 12:01Speaker 3: of your touchdowns was a childhood memory of mine. You know,
- 12:06Speaker 3: I love it, and you know you had the opportunity
- 12:08Speaker 3: to not only do it on some great, you know,
- 12:11Speaker 3: regular season teams with the Chiefs, but you guys got
- 12:13Speaker 3: into the postseason two where we're sitting here now, you know,
- 12:15Speaker 3: on the verge of the Super Bowl now for the Chiefs,
- 12:18Speaker 3: a familiar spot for him. But like, I go back
- 12:21Speaker 3: to that O four game, you know, and I don't
- 12:22Speaker 3: I know, you don't want to get into the results
- 12:24Speaker 3: of that game against the Colts, but you went off.
- 12:27Speaker 7: They called that the no punt game.
- 12:30Speaker 3: That's right, see, and I kind of believe that that
- 12:34Speaker 3: we could see something like that this week with Patrick
- 12:36Speaker 3: Mahomes and Lamar Jackson.
- 12:38Speaker 4: The way these two defense I disagree.
- 12:40Speaker 7: I disagree.
- 12:41Speaker 8: I think you got what the number one defense and
- 12:43Speaker 8: the Ravens, you got the number three miss and and uh.
- 12:46Speaker 7: Jeeves, I don't think you're going to see a no
- 12:48Speaker 7: punt game.
- 12:49Speaker 8: And this particular, I understand why you're going that because
- 12:51Speaker 8: of the dynamics of each quarterback with these defenses when
- 12:56Speaker 8: we when we played in that Old four game, I
- 12:58Speaker 8: think our defense was ranked like thirty and you.
- 13:02Speaker 4: Had to post it.
- 13:03Speaker 7: Some work close by said no, I don't think we're
- 13:06Speaker 7: going to see that this Sunday.
- 13:08Speaker 3: So but but I wanted to ask you that too
- 13:10Speaker 3: because of the you know, like your performance in that
- 13:12Speaker 3: game was incredible. Obviously you had the kick return touchdown,
- 13:15Speaker 3: you had the receiving touchdowns, So you know what it
- 13:17Speaker 3: feels like to make those big plays in those big moments,
- 13:20Speaker 3: and just hearing these two quarterbacks talk about the plays
- 13:23Speaker 3: that they want to make and you know the respect
- 13:25Speaker 3: they have for each other. What was that feeling like
- 13:28Speaker 3: to know the impact you had on a game.
- 13:31Speaker 9: At that stage.
- 13:33Speaker 8: I'm gonna be honest with you, I was, even though
- 13:36Speaker 8: I had a great individual performance, I truly felt that
- 13:40Speaker 8: year we had a team that can make it all
- 13:43Speaker 8: the way to the super Bowl.
- 13:44Speaker 7: We just had to win two games. That era hit.
- 13:46Speaker 8: We started a season ten to zero, so it was
- 13:50Speaker 8: very disappointing to not only lose the game, but lose
- 13:53Speaker 8: the game and the fashion that we lost it. Peyton
- 13:56Speaker 8: Manning comes in and scores thirty eight points in errorhead
- 14:01Speaker 8: like that just cannot happen. Even though I had a
- 14:04Speaker 8: great game, I did not feel any type of happiness
- 14:08Speaker 8: whatsoever after that loss.
- 14:10Speaker 2: Dottie, we know you're still a Chiefs fan. We saw
- 14:14Speaker 2: you were thrown on a Chief's hat, you know before
- 14:15Speaker 2: we got started. Is there any part of you that
- 14:18Speaker 2: sits here and looks at the mind that Andy Reid
- 14:21Speaker 2: has and you didn't have him as a head coach
- 14:23Speaker 2: and the playmaking ability Patrick Mahomes has at the quarterback spot,
- 14:28Speaker 2: and if you went if I would have just played
- 14:30Speaker 2: a little later, if I could have been with these two,
- 14:33Speaker 2: how could they have used the talents that I bring
- 14:36Speaker 2: to a football field? Did that ever cross your vibe?
- 14:40Speaker 7: Every single Sunday? That crosses mind?
- 14:45Speaker 8: And I'll never forget the first time I went on
- 14:48Speaker 8: the road to watch this Andy Reid Chief's offense was
- 14:52Speaker 8: in Jacksonville's home opener in Jacksonville, I'm sorry, the season opener.
- 14:58Speaker 8: And I remember from this watching them play develop like
- 15:01Speaker 8: it's different when you're watching on TV. I'm at the
- 15:04Speaker 8: game and I'm saying a guy running over and then up.
- 15:08Speaker 8: I had never seen that concept before, and at that moment,
- 15:12Speaker 8: all to myself, Wow, I wish I was Tyreek Hill
- 15:15Speaker 8: right now.
- 15:16Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and Dante, you know, in the post Tyreek
- 15:23Speaker 3: Hill era for the Chiefs, I think we've seen some
- 15:26Speaker 3: evolution with this offense, right and the way they want
- 15:28Speaker 3: to attack defenses, and the way Andy Reid has schemed
- 15:31Speaker 3: things up in the evolution of the run game too
- 15:34Speaker 3: with Isaiah Pacheco, Like, what has impressed you most about
- 15:37Speaker 3: the way that they're trying to find ways in different
- 15:40Speaker 3: ways to find success attacking defenses and winning games, just
- 15:44Speaker 3: hit it on the head.
- 15:45Speaker 8: I've been impressed by them basically suppressing their ego, realizing
- 15:49Speaker 8: the cars that they have in their hands, and playing
- 15:52Speaker 8: those cars perfectly. Last week you saw a lot more
- 15:55Speaker 8: two three tight end sets, a lot more emphasis on
- 15:58Speaker 8: the run game.
- 16:00Speaker 7: I just it just showed me that these guys.
- 16:03Speaker 8: Understand how to win, know how to win, and it
- 16:05Speaker 8: doesn't matter if it's DNC and dunks or if his
- 16:08Speaker 8: bombs over bag that it does not matter. Like they're
- 16:10Speaker 8: going to find a way to win in They're gonna
- 16:12Speaker 8: use the pieces that they have. And I think that's
- 16:14Speaker 8: a testament to a great coordinating and also great head coaching.
- 16:20Speaker 2: And the staff in terms of developing players dot you
- 16:23Speaker 2: mentioned dink and dunk. The teams have taken away a
- 16:26Speaker 2: lot of the deep stuff and you see these underneath
- 16:28Speaker 2: crossing routes where you see a guy like Rashi Rice,
- 16:31Speaker 2: a rookie kind of be able to kind of work
- 16:34Speaker 2: his way across the field, find some of those voids
- 16:36Speaker 2: and defenses and then make plays with the ball once
- 16:39Speaker 2: it gets in his hands after he makes Because what
- 16:41Speaker 2: have you seen from the rookie receiver that kind of
- 16:44Speaker 2: has just really just grown and grown himself and as
- 16:48Speaker 2: a role in this offense.
- 16:50Speaker 8: Yeah, I remember early on, as far as back as
- 16:52Speaker 8: the preseason, he had a case of the drops. So
- 16:55Speaker 8: the fact that he was able to get over the
- 16:57Speaker 8: drop seas I think I've seen maybe one or two
- 17:00Speaker 8: drops in this latter part of the season. So he's
- 17:04Speaker 8: continued to get better and grow, and that's all you
- 17:06Speaker 8: can ask from a young guy, right, just don't continue
- 17:10Speaker 8: making the same mistakes.
- 17:11Speaker 7: He's eliminated that drop passes.
- 17:13Speaker 8: And it seems like to me that he has an
- 17:16Speaker 8: understanding and more of the offense because they are incorporating
- 17:19Speaker 8: him more in the offense. I think early on he
- 17:22Speaker 8: wasn't able to get this much playing time because he
- 17:24Speaker 8: didn't have a grass on the playbook, have the trust
- 17:28Speaker 8: in Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. But that all seems
- 17:31Speaker 8: to have gotten better and developed nicely at the right time.
- 17:36Speaker 3: Yeah, and Dante, I think you know, in terms of
- 17:39Speaker 3: your personal story, we obviously came to know you for
- 17:43Speaker 3: your skills in the return game, but I feel like
- 17:46Speaker 3: you the further along you got your career, we started
- 17:49Speaker 3: to see the nuances of your game as a total
- 17:51Speaker 3: package wide receiver, you know as well on the offensive
- 17:53Speaker 3: side of the ball. And looking at that to follow
- 17:56Speaker 3: up on Rashid Rice, like what were some of the
- 17:58Speaker 3: nuances of the posiition that you picked up along the
- 18:02Speaker 3: way that allowed you to become a more focal a
- 18:04Speaker 3: bigger focal point for the offense, not just in the
- 18:07Speaker 3: return game. Whereas we're kind of seeing some of that
- 18:09Speaker 3: same stuff within this season in terms of Rashid Rice's
- 18:13Speaker 3: arc as a wide receiver from start to where we're
- 18:16Speaker 3: at now. So, like, what are some of the things
- 18:18Speaker 3: that facilitate that improvement from a wide receiver.
- 18:22Speaker 8: So it's like when you first come into the league,
- 18:24Speaker 8: right your brain is already moving one hundred miles Fowers.
- 18:27Speaker 7: So your body intends to do with your brain going
- 18:30Speaker 7: once you.
- 18:30Speaker 8: Learn concepts where to be, when to be there, landmarks,
- 18:35Speaker 8: things like that. So one of the biggest nuances that
- 18:38Speaker 8: coach Charlie Jhner, a Hall of Famer. I was very
- 18:41Speaker 8: fortunate to have him. He will always tell me be fast,
- 18:45Speaker 8: but don't hurry. And it took me two years to
- 18:47Speaker 8: figure out what the hell ad meant.
- 18:49Speaker 9: But don't worry.
- 18:51Speaker 7: That basically meant, you know, be fast, but be under control.
- 18:54Speaker 8: You may not want to come out of that rout
- 18:56Speaker 8: as fast as you can, maybe speed out of it
- 18:59Speaker 8: at a you know, third gear type rate. So little
- 19:02Speaker 8: nuances like that, how not to show and tip your hat,
- 19:06Speaker 8: whether you're running a short route, deep route, crossing routes, right,
- 19:10Speaker 8: they were just you know, teach me when you line
- 19:12Speaker 8: up like this, put your inside foot up versus back,
- 19:16Speaker 8: don't look where you're going. And then one of the
- 19:18Speaker 8: other nuances was obviously just learning how to route run.
- 19:22Speaker 8: And I had one of the greatest guys on my
- 19:24Speaker 8: team at that time, Johnny Morton from usc GO with
- 19:28Speaker 8: his route and Detroit and with them, so a combination
- 19:31Speaker 8: of all of these guys kind of helped me within
- 19:34Speaker 8: the nuances of using my speed and my quickness.
- 19:38Speaker 2: I'm looking at different players in this game, Dante, and
- 19:41Speaker 2: I'm looking at guys that are just so hard to tackle.
- 19:44Speaker 2: Zay Flowers is that type of player, just he's just
- 19:47Speaker 2: hard to get your hands on. Lamar is that type
- 19:50Speaker 2: of player. But Patrick's that type of player too, where
- 19:53Speaker 2: just the way he moves on a field, it is
- 19:56Speaker 2: hard to tackle him. You were impossible to tackle. So
- 20:01Speaker 2: what makes a player hard to tackle in your mind?
- 20:06Speaker 2: Because we have a couple of them to do it
- 20:07Speaker 2: different ways in this game.
- 20:10Speaker 8: Well, for guys like myself, Zay Flowers, you know, we
- 20:15Speaker 8: just are giving a god ability ability, ability to get
- 20:18Speaker 8: in and out of breaks. Just bigger guys can't do,
- 20:21Speaker 8: like we can't do. Some of the things big guys
- 20:22Speaker 8: can do, they can't do what we can do.
- 20:25Speaker 9: Well, you take it.
- 20:25Speaker 7: You talk about a guy like Lamar.
- 20:27Speaker 8: Who's six two sixty three, able to move like a
- 20:30Speaker 8: little guy, and then you take Patrick Mahomes who's a
- 20:33Speaker 8: little more girthier, not as fast, but he's very savvy
- 20:37Speaker 8: with his no looks, all fakes, little things like that.
- 20:41Speaker 7: Right, I look at him like a steph Curry.
- 20:43Speaker 8: Steph Curry is not Alan Orison Quick, but he's very
- 20:46Speaker 8: savvy with his mechanics as far as movement, movement and
- 20:50Speaker 8: things like that.
- 20:50Speaker 7: So it's more ways to skin a cat, you.
- 20:53Speaker 2: Know what I mean?
- 20:54Speaker 3: Right, That's right, and uh man, nobody's done it as
- 20:59Speaker 3: as good as you've done it. I mean like one
- 21:00Speaker 3: of the best, very best in the business in terms
- 21:02Speaker 3: of the return game and the impact you can have
- 21:05Speaker 3: on a game making big plays. And certainly hope we
- 21:07Speaker 3: see some of those in this gave it to me
- 21:09Speaker 3: the Chiefs and Ravens on Sunday, Dante, it has been
- 21:12Speaker 3: a blast, man. Thanks so much for being a part
- 21:13Speaker 3: of the support today.
- 21:15Speaker 2: Man, Really it should have been the whole show. Rep.
- 21:16Speaker 2: That's it.
- 21:17Speaker 4: We could have just been done.
- 21:18Speaker 9: That's great.
- 21:19Speaker 8: I love talking what you guys do, so I'll come
- 21:21Speaker 8: back on anytime appreciating that.
- 21:23Speaker 9: Man.
- 21:23Speaker 3: Love hold me that with us here on the NFL Report.
- 21:28Speaker 3: Still to come on this episode of the NFL Report.
- 21:31Speaker 3: You love what the messaging that Dan Campbell brings to
- 21:33Speaker 3: the Lions. But what's the tangible effect of it?
- 21:36Speaker 4: Stacy Dalees is.
- 21:36Speaker 3: Going to tell us, and how do the forty nine
- 21:38Speaker 3: ers deal with that's omaruiz part.
- 21:40Speaker 8: When we come back.
- 21:45Speaker 1: You're listening to the NFL Report podcast. But you can
- 21:48Speaker 1: watch me, Steve Weich and my co host James Palmer
- 21:51Speaker 1: on the NFL Report at seven fifteen Eastern time on
- 21:54Speaker 1: Mondays and Thursdays on the NFL app and free streaming
- 21:58Speaker 1: platforms on the NFL channel on Roku too, be Peacock,
- 22:02Speaker 1: Pluto TV and other free streaming apps.
- 22:08Speaker 10: Just the Bay area and the faithful in general, we
- 22:12Speaker 10: want this game bad, you know, and they've obviously been hoping,
- 22:16Speaker 10: you know, you know, to have another championship come in
- 22:18Speaker 10: this organization. Last couple of times we've been in the
- 22:20Speaker 10: Super Bowl, we've fallen short. So now we get a
- 22:23Speaker 10: shot at it again. So to play at home an
- 22:25Speaker 10: NFC championship, it's gonna be It's gonna be sweet.
- 22:28Speaker 4: Yeah, what a difference to your makes right.
- 22:30Speaker 3: Brock perty back in the NFC Championship game as he
- 22:34Speaker 3: gets set to have his forty nine ers host the
- 22:36Speaker 3: Detroit Lions. Welcoming you back to NFL Report here. Brett
- 22:39Speaker 3: lewis at for Steve, which today of course James Palmer
- 22:42Speaker 3: with us as well, and we get to say hello
- 22:44Speaker 3: to our friend Stacy Dale's and Omar Ruiz here. Stacy's
- 22:47Speaker 3: been covering the Lions for US this week, and Omar
- 22:50Speaker 3: is in Santa Clara right now, which is where we
- 22:53Speaker 3: will play this championship game in the NFC on Sunday.
- 22:57Speaker 3: Stacy hearing for brock perty is a good because it
- 23:00Speaker 3: sure does sound like that the good folks in the
- 23:03Speaker 3: Detroit Lions defense slash secondary not real interested in hearing
- 23:09Speaker 3: from him or talking about him this week?
- 23:10Speaker 4: Is that accurate?
- 23:15Speaker 11: Rett? If they're talking anything about him, it's a whole
- 23:17Speaker 11: lot of smack. I mean, I was in the locker
- 23:20Speaker 11: room for Championship Wednesday and tried to go up and
- 23:24Speaker 11: get a little juice out of CJ. Gardner Johnson and
- 23:28Speaker 11: I just we couldn't. He didn't want anything to do
- 23:31Speaker 11: with rock party talk or really anything to do with
- 23:34Speaker 11: US media members.
- 23:36Speaker 12: That's how salty this secondary is.
- 23:37Speaker 11: I think it's emblematic of kind of the tone and
- 23:40Speaker 11: tenor of that defense as they've gotten better and better better.
- 23:43Speaker 11: Like Dan Campbell told me on Wednesday, our confidence is
- 23:48Speaker 11: going up. It has improved. There's an uptick, especially over
- 23:50Speaker 11: these last six weeks. And when I asked Kirby Joseph,
- 23:55Speaker 11: a safety for this group, this secondary. What's the most
- 23:58Speaker 11: improved thing about your defense? He said to me, fear
- 24:01Speaker 11: And I said, well, what does that mean? And he said,
- 24:03Speaker 11: the fear we're putting basically in opposing offenses, given how
- 24:06Speaker 11: hard we play and how physical we play, and that's
- 24:08Speaker 11: what they're going to take to see rock Perty Sunday.
- 24:11Speaker 13: Oh, you know, they're bringing that physical brand of football.
- 24:14Speaker 13: We all remember Chauncey Gardner Johnson and Deebo Samuel having
- 24:17Speaker 13: that social media back and forth. Speaking of Deebo Samuel
- 24:21Speaker 13: limited in practice today, certainly trending in the right direction.
- 24:26Speaker 13: When we were out there yesterday in the limited role
- 24:29Speaker 13: that he had officially listed as a non participant, but
- 24:32Speaker 13: while they were stretching, he was running up and down
- 24:34Speaker 13: the practice field carrying the football in his hand, and
- 24:36Speaker 13: it almost seemed like he was really exaggerating his arm
- 24:40Speaker 13: pumps to really test the mobility of that shoulder, and
- 24:43Speaker 13: it didn't look like he had any discomfort. So when
- 24:45Speaker 13: you go from DMP Wednesday to limited Thursday, and it
- 24:50Speaker 13: looks like he can run and carry the football full speed,
- 24:52Speaker 13: if nothing else, he looks like he could be a
- 24:55Speaker 13: decoy on Sunday and be able to play. Obviously, time
- 24:58Speaker 13: will tell the rest of the week. The forty nine
- 25:00Speaker 13: have a more physical practice on Thursday, a little more intensity,
- 25:04Speaker 13: and then of course there's Friday to watch, so you know,
- 25:06Speaker 13: we'll continue to monitor the debo situation. But what an
- 25:09Speaker 13: impact he has when he is in the lineup, yl Mar.
- 25:12Speaker 2: We know how different of a squad this is when
- 25:14Speaker 2: Deebo's not there, the physicality go on. I love how
- 25:16Speaker 2: they use a variety of guys though, right to go
- 25:18Speaker 2: and fill in for him after he went down in
- 25:20Speaker 2: that divisional round. Just kind of maybe three different players
- 25:23Speaker 2: really playing different spots that Deebo does different things on
- 25:27Speaker 2: the field. Let's go with a guy that's throwing the
- 25:29Speaker 2: football to him, Omar And we heard from him at
- 25:31Speaker 2: the start of this segment. And Brock Purdy. What's the
- 25:35Speaker 2: vibe right now with Brock Purty and kind of I
- 25:38Speaker 2: don't know if the term is getting back on track.
- 25:40Speaker 2: I don't know if there is confidence that is high.
- 25:43Speaker 2: Where is the vibe with Brock Purdy because he did
- 25:46Speaker 2: lead him down the field to win that game last week.
- 25:50Speaker 13: Well, they say they're confident in Brock purity, and I
- 25:53Speaker 13: believe that to be the case. There's so much confidence
- 25:57Speaker 13: heading into the postseason behind Brock and his MVP caliber
- 26:00Speaker 13: type of regular season and just looking to build on that.
- 26:03Speaker 13: And you can give a variety of reasons why he
- 26:05Speaker 13: might have been off against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday.
- 26:09Speaker 13: You can blame the wet balls and the rainy conditions
- 26:11Speaker 13: that happen. You can credit the Packers defense for putting
- 26:15Speaker 13: together a game plan that made him uncomfortable. And he
- 26:18Speaker 13: said they were taking away a lot of the deep
- 26:21Speaker 13: shots early and maybe he was trying to force some
- 26:24Speaker 13: of them. We saw the Darnell Savage missed interception, he said,
- 26:27Speaker 13: affect him in a way that prevented him from, you know,
- 26:31Speaker 13: being maybe as aggressive and being more tentative in that
- 26:34Speaker 13: game as it unfolded. But then they all credit Brought
- 26:37Speaker 13: Purdy for getting back on track himself and adjusting mid
- 26:41Speaker 13: game and being able to lead that game winning touchdown
- 26:43Speaker 13: drive with six completions seven attempts. And then I asked
- 26:47Speaker 13: Shanahan today, was that an encouraging sign that he was
- 26:50Speaker 13: able to self correct or do you have to continue
- 26:53Speaker 13: on that coaching point to take the checkdowns when they're
- 26:56Speaker 13: in there. He says, there's no exact science to it.
- 26:59Speaker 13: You just have to play the position. Just have to
- 27:00Speaker 13: play football. It's not just Okay, they're covering deep, now
- 27:04Speaker 13: you have to check down, or they're covering short, now you.
- 27:06Speaker 2: Have to go deep.
- 27:07Speaker 9: You just have to make those decisions.
- 27:08Speaker 13: And he said brock Purty has been the best quarterback
- 27:11Speaker 13: that he's been around in making those decisions and executing
- 27:14Speaker 13: that part of the offense. So they look to get
- 27:16Speaker 13: that version of brock Pritty again.
- 27:18Speaker 11: On Sunday, you know, Omar I mentioned that the secondary
- 27:22Speaker 11: doesn't really want to talk about brock Purty, but there
- 27:23Speaker 11: are a couple guys that did give me some stuff
- 27:25Speaker 11: on him. And I was having a conversation at the
- 27:28Speaker 11: Lion's facility and we were talking about this whole mister
- 27:31Speaker 11: irrelevant term, Like the only word they're using to describe
- 27:35Speaker 11: brock Purdy in Detroit as they prepare for him is
- 27:39Speaker 11: mister relevant. That's how much respect. So they're not buying
- 27:43Speaker 11: into all these narratives. When I talked to Alex Anzeloni,
- 27:46Speaker 11: who's just such a superstar linebacker, and I heard Baldy
- 27:48Speaker 11: break down this defense and he did it as.
- 27:51Speaker 12: He always does so well. But that guy's everywhere.
- 27:53Speaker 11: And he said, you know, basically, to me, we're not
- 27:57Speaker 11: buying into the narrative that this guy can't make big throws.
- 28:00Speaker 11: He gets the ball in space. We know what he
- 28:02Speaker 11: does well. He gets the ball in space. He's extremely efficient,
- 28:05Speaker 11: and those receivers are so good, perhaps best in the NFL,
- 28:09Speaker 11: with those yaks, those yards after catch and when I
- 28:12Speaker 11: had Kittle as we watch him here a few weeks
- 28:14Speaker 11: ago against the Eagles, like he said, our bread and
- 28:16Speaker 11: butter is yaks. I mean, that's where we make we bank,
- 28:20Speaker 11: we make a fortune on those. And so tackling in
- 28:23Speaker 11: open space, Angeloni said, is obviously going to be critical.
- 28:26Speaker 11: But they have so much respect for brock Party and
- 28:30Speaker 11: think that you know, all this conversation that's happening out there,
- 28:33Speaker 11: that he can make the big throws, and look what
- 28:35Speaker 11: happened against Green Bay.
- 28:37Speaker 12: They A'm buying into it.
- 28:38Speaker 11: He could throw those daggers, as Dan Campbell talked about
- 28:40Speaker 11: this week, and they're going in there.
- 28:43Speaker 12: Though, hungry.
- 28:44Speaker 11: They want to hit him, they want to break his rhythm,
- 28:46Speaker 11: do it early and often in this game, to throw
- 28:48Speaker 11: off some of that timing with those receivers.
- 28:51Speaker 3: You know, Stacy, I feel like brock Party and the
- 28:54Speaker 3: type of player in person he is and the personality
- 28:57Speaker 3: that he has would fit in in Detroit right with
- 29:00Speaker 3: with their mentality. But they are of course very happy
- 29:02Speaker 3: with Jared Goff, who is, to quote Dan Campbell, good
- 29:05Speaker 3: enough for Detroit. But just talking again about the the
- 29:10Speaker 3: personality of this team, the grit, right, we talk about
- 29:13Speaker 3: it a lot, and you know we've seen, you know,
- 29:15Speaker 3: a lot of Dan Campbell's pitches to this team right
- 29:19Speaker 3: about his his vision and his plan and all this,
- 29:22Speaker 3: and it does feel like there's something tangible about those words,
- 29:28Speaker 3: which you know, by definition are very intangible. Like it
- 29:31Speaker 3: feels like they are turning that plan and that vision
- 29:35Speaker 3: into something that is real and that you can see
- 29:38Speaker 3: transpire out there.
- 29:39Speaker 2: On the field.
- 29:40Speaker 4: Have you been able to put your finger on that?
- 29:43Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
- 29:44Speaker 12: It is real.
- 29:45Speaker 11: It's genuine too, Like the conversations I have, like with
- 29:49Speaker 11: Allen McNeil, and if you guys haven't had a conversation
- 29:52Speaker 11: with Alee McNeil. This is a superstar interior defensive lineman.
- 29:55Speaker 11: He will give you sound bites to use for an
- 29:58Speaker 11: entire Sunday football Sunday. He's that awesome. He said, you
- 30:03Speaker 11: know there's a clip circulating right now. I think it's
- 30:05Speaker 11: hard Knocks. He said, with Dan Campbell at training camp.
- 30:08Speaker 11: They just completed the padded practice and Dan Campbell is
- 30:12Speaker 11: really imploring his men that they need to trust in him.
- 30:15Speaker 12: And Alien told me that we bought in, right.
- 30:19Speaker 11: They bought in last year to Dan Campbell and even
- 30:21Speaker 11: when he took over with the kneecap stuff. But when
- 30:25Speaker 11: he spoke to us that day after a brutal padded
- 30:28Speaker 11: practice and said to us, trust me, trust the process.
- 30:32Speaker 11: Alien was like, we were completely bought in like this guy.
- 30:37Speaker 11: He said, when Dan Campbell talks to you, you listen
- 30:40Speaker 11: and you believe it, and they all embody it. I
- 30:42Speaker 11: mean it's real, but it's just so interesting. Like when
- 30:46Speaker 11: you think about Kyle Shanahan and Dan Campbell and what
- 30:48Speaker 11: they've done right Omar with their teams respectively. Kyle Shanahan,
- 30:53Speaker 11: you just believe in him, and that's when you get
- 30:54Speaker 11: to this stage. You have to have that in leadership,
- 30:57Speaker 11: and I think it shows up, you know, moments like.
- 30:59Speaker 13: This, Yeah, some of their qualities mirroring each other, and
- 31:03Speaker 13: that they had the big breakout year in year three
- 31:06Speaker 13: after laying a foundation the first couple of years. But
- 31:09Speaker 13: you talk about that sense of physicality, the aggressiveness that
- 31:12Speaker 13: Dan Campbell coaches with the forty nine ers, sense that
- 31:15Speaker 13: Diamidor Lenore one of the more physical corners that the forty.
- 31:18Speaker 2: Nine ers have.
- 31:19Speaker 13: He told me yesterday he likes to be one of
- 31:21Speaker 13: those tone setters. If you remember, he's the one that
- 31:23Speaker 13: pushed Jordan Love a clean play, a legal play so
- 31:26Speaker 13: far out of bounds. Then the very next play he
- 31:28Speaker 13: broke up a big pass with a physical hit. He
- 31:31Speaker 13: said he knows that because of how Campbell is a
- 31:34Speaker 13: former player, somebody who speaks as aggressively as he does,
- 31:39Speaker 13: the Lions will come in here with that physical mindset
- 31:42Speaker 13: because he knows if people are going to compete against
- 31:44Speaker 13: the forty nine ers, they have to match that physicality.
- 31:47Speaker 13: And then Brandon Ayuk telling me yesterday that this is
- 31:49Speaker 13: the most aggressive defense that they'll have faced all season long.
- 31:53Speaker 13: Now there's a lot of feast or famine attached to that.
- 31:56Speaker 2: They'll give up.
- 31:57Speaker 13: Big plays, but they'll make big plays as well, and
- 31:59Speaker 13: it's a matter of trying to get more big plays
- 32:01Speaker 13: for the forty nine ers end than the Detroit defense
- 32:04Speaker 13: in that matchup on Sunday.
- 32:06Speaker 2: Omar Stacey, you guys have your hands full, considering we
- 32:08Speaker 2: had this entire conversation, this lengthy segment about this game,
- 32:12Speaker 2: and we barely barely mention the name Jared Goff in
- 32:16Speaker 2: this entire conversation. That's how many storylines we havert. You
- 32:22Speaker 2: said it very abruptly, and then you went on to
- 32:24Speaker 2: Dan Campbell and you went on to the messages out there.
- 32:26Speaker 2: But that's how many storylines we have in this game,
- 32:29Speaker 2: and that's everything we're looking at. That encapsulates everything Stacy
- 32:34Speaker 2: and Omar have to cover for this massive game. But
- 32:36Speaker 2: Jared Goff, in the way he's playing like one of
- 32:38Speaker 2: the best quarterbacks in all of football the second half
- 32:41Speaker 2: of the year, I'll give him his credit because he
- 32:43Speaker 2: is not on the show right now, is filling in
- 32:45Speaker 2: for Steve Wich. Steve said halfway point, I believe Jared
- 32:49Speaker 2: Golf is going to be in the MVP conversation at
- 32:51Speaker 2: the end of the year, and you know what, he
- 32:53Speaker 2: deserved to be the way he was playing down the stretch.
- 32:56Speaker 2: You guys, enjoy a beautiful one together in Santa Clara
- 32:59Speaker 2: on Sunday. We have to talk to you after it.
- 33:01Speaker 2: Stacey Omar appreciate it. Coming up, Baldy's gonna break down
- 33:07Speaker 2: this man and his gorgeous eyes. What No, it's what
- 33:10Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes does with his eyes. It's what Lamar Jackson
- 33:13Speaker 2: does with his feet that Baldy wants to break down.
- 33:15Speaker 2: Next on the NFL Reports, Welcome back to the NFL Report.
- 33:25Speaker 2: James Palmer, Rhett lewis with you. I have my popcorn
- 33:27Speaker 2: and that means it's Baldy's favorite films. Brian Baldinger joins us. Baldy,
- 33:31Speaker 2: let's cut right to it, because we got ten minutes
- 33:33Speaker 2: to break down the two biggest games of the season,
- 33:36Speaker 2: and let's start with the number one seed in the AFC,
- 33:39Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson. We saw what Demiico Ryans tried to do,
- 33:42Speaker 2: which was essentially almost blitz him every single down to
- 33:46Speaker 2: do whatever he tried to do in the second half
- 33:48Speaker 2: to get after him. Lamar made some nice adjustments specifically
- 33:51Speaker 2: in that second half. How do you defend Lamar? What
- 33:53Speaker 2: are we going to see from Spees Pagnolo in his group?
- 33:57Speaker 14: Well, we'll see something different for sure, But just to
- 34:00Speaker 14: go back to Houston in that game because he was
- 34:02Speaker 14: flawless in the second half. But you know the big
- 34:06Speaker 14: thing was they had an answer for the blitz James.
- 34:08Speaker 14: They knew where to go with it. He knew where
- 34:09Speaker 14: his hot reads was. One time he backed up and
- 34:12Speaker 14: he hit Zay Flowers for a first down. I mean
- 34:14Speaker 14: that throw right there against Christian Harris, blitzing right up
- 34:18Speaker 14: the middle at him. You know he found the hot
- 34:20Speaker 14: red and then look right here if you don't account
- 34:23Speaker 14: for him, like this is a design quarterback draw right there,
- 34:26Speaker 14: they just ran, you know, a route you run quarterback
- 34:30Speaker 14: keeper until it's not a keeper anymore, and then you
- 34:31Speaker 14: flip it to likely for the touchdown. I mean a
- 34:34Speaker 14: lot of these are deceptives. There comes a blitz Jalen
- 34:36Speaker 14: Petrie right there. You know they hit Jay Flowers right there,
- 34:39Speaker 14: right behind it. You know, every time they had an answer,
- 34:44Speaker 14: you know they he ran the quarterback keeper right there
- 34:47Speaker 14: on fourth and one. Right here is a touchdown run
- 34:50Speaker 14: get behind. Stanley had an answer for everything that he did.
- 34:53Speaker 14: Now Bade will be a little bit different. You'll disguise
- 34:57Speaker 14: the blitzers. I think better. I think he'll blitz more
- 34:59Speaker 14: off the edge than what we saw Houston do, so
- 35:02Speaker 14: it'll be different. But at the same time, I got
- 35:06Speaker 14: to see if they can knock the Lamar off his
- 35:09Speaker 14: stride because Houston couldn't do it, especially in that second half.
- 35:14Speaker 3: Yeah, on the flip side, while we're on the subject
- 35:17Speaker 3: of answers, finding answers against Patrick Mahomes has been very
- 35:22Speaker 3: difficult over the course of the last five plus years,
- 35:25Speaker 3: Brian Baldinger for opposing defenses trying to deal with number
- 35:28Speaker 3: fifteen for the Kansas City Chiefs, and of course that'll
- 35:31Speaker 3: be the case for Mike McDonald and this Ravens defense
- 35:34Speaker 3: this week. But the one thing that like they can't
- 35:37Speaker 3: really do a whole lot about is stopping Patrick Mahomes
- 35:42Speaker 3: from identifying where he wants to go with the ball
- 35:45Speaker 3: as quickly as he does. It's like it doesn't matter
- 35:48Speaker 3: what you're trying to do. He knows where he wants
- 35:50Speaker 3: to go and how he wants to get it there.
- 35:52Speaker 14: Balding, You're right, Rett, and you know, as a former quarterback,
- 35:55Speaker 14: I think you can appreciate this well.
- 35:56Speaker 9: Think that just keeps showing up.
- 35:59Speaker 14: It was not just last weekgnainst Buffalo, but when he
- 36:02Speaker 14: does either go play action turns back to the defense
- 36:05Speaker 14: or the pocket collapses, and he's got a pull a
- 36:08Speaker 14: little houdiniak and like right here, like his ability to
- 36:12Speaker 14: go find receive rice on his throat and reset his
- 36:15Speaker 14: eyes and then make a stick throw as soon as
- 36:17Speaker 14: he finds them like that shows up all the time.
- 36:21Speaker 9: And so like this throw.
- 36:22Speaker 14: I mean, they that's seven cut right there, rhet They
- 36:25Speaker 14: must run that play that in pregame warm up fifteen times.
- 36:30Speaker 14: I mean, anybody that's watched kame and city warm up,
- 36:32Speaker 14: they run that same seven cut here it is right here.
- 36:34Speaker 14: They run that seven cut over and over again. They
- 36:37Speaker 14: all line up. I mean, so it's it's just what
- 36:40Speaker 14: they practice.
- 36:41Speaker 9: Like all the time. And then okay, but that's how
- 36:44Speaker 9: you have to throw.
- 36:45Speaker 14: You have to throw that kind of timing into a
- 36:47Speaker 14: spot against the defense that basically plays matchup zone and
- 36:51Speaker 14: takes those away.
- 36:54Speaker 2: Baldy. When we jump over to the other game and
- 36:57Speaker 2: we look at what Ben Johnson has been doing with
- 37:00Speaker 2: I mean, I think any offensive coordinator would like that
- 37:02Speaker 2: group of skill guys, specifically when they're lining up surrounding
- 37:05Speaker 2: an offensive line like they have in Detroit. But the
- 37:09Speaker 2: way he's dialing it up and the concepts that he's using.
- 37:12Speaker 2: What has stood out to you most about the way
- 37:14Speaker 2: he's been able to utilize these pieces that we might
- 37:17Speaker 2: see on Sunday in Santa Clara.
- 37:19Speaker 14: Well, you know he's got his play chart there, But
- 37:21Speaker 14: the thing that jumps out is how he utilizes certain
- 37:26Speaker 14: plays informations based on down distance.
- 37:29Speaker 9: Where you're out in the field.
- 37:30Speaker 14: If the ball is on the left hash, maybe we'll
- 37:33Speaker 14: put a Moan Ross eight brown on the right hash
- 37:35Speaker 14: and let him work a whole bunch of the field.
- 37:38Speaker 14: So wherever the ball is placed, it sort of starts
- 37:41Speaker 14: his play call. And how they get matchups for Sam Laporta,
- 37:45Speaker 14: where they might just do a simple short motion from
- 37:48Speaker 14: the outside. You get him on the corner who's nine
- 37:50Speaker 14: yards off, and make it an easier throw for Jared Goff.
- 37:54Speaker 14: What they've done with Brock right in the deceptive way,
- 37:57Speaker 14: what they did to him last week. In addition, how
- 38:00Speaker 14: they run the ball. Montgomery always starts it. Jamir Gibbs
- 38:04Speaker 14: is always gonna come in second. And this guy right
- 38:07Speaker 14: here I call the motown comment Jamison Williams.
- 38:10Speaker 9: You have to account for a speed.
- 38:12Speaker 14: You have to just account for the speed because he's
- 38:14Speaker 14: gonna take the top off your defense and he's gonna
- 38:16Speaker 14: make your safeties respect his speed. They don't throw them
- 38:20Speaker 14: a lot, but it opens up a lot of things
- 38:21Speaker 14: for Aman Ross Saint Brown underneath, uh throughout the season,
- 38:26Speaker 14: and to you know, to Josh Reynolds as well.
- 38:29Speaker 3: You know what's even more scary to me is considering
- 38:32Speaker 3: this Lions team and like their run is far from
- 38:34Speaker 3: over and they wanted to continue into Las Vegas, you know,
- 38:36Speaker 3: following this week. But as these head coaching gigs are
- 38:40Speaker 3: starting to fill up a little bit, we talked about
- 38:42Speaker 3: two of them at the top, Baldy Harbought of the
- 38:44Speaker 3: Chargers and Dave Canalis to the Panthers. If Dan Campbell
- 38:48Speaker 3: gets Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn both back next year,
- 38:52Speaker 3: my goodness, like this, I mean, look, I hope for
- 38:56Speaker 3: both their sakes that they get you know, all the
- 38:57Speaker 3: head coaching looks that they want and deserve, But my goodness,
- 39:00Speaker 3: that would be incredible for Detroit. Speaking of Aaron Glenn,
- 39:03Speaker 3: you know, his tenure as the DC has not been
- 39:06Speaker 3: without turbulence. Right, They've gone through some issues and worked
- 39:10Speaker 3: their way through it, and I think something to be
- 39:12Speaker 3: said for the patients there that Dan Campbell has showed
- 39:14Speaker 3: and trying to get that thing right. But I think
- 39:16Speaker 3: what's most valuable about what they do this year and
- 39:21Speaker 3: maybe even in this matchup is the different ways that
- 39:24Speaker 3: they can account for how offenses want to attack them.
- 39:27Speaker 9: Yeah.
- 39:27Speaker 14: I mean there's plays last week where they had four
- 39:30Speaker 14: safeties on the field. You know, they had Chartsy Garterer
- 39:33Speaker 14: who got Johnson and ifiat to Mela fan who out there.
- 39:37Speaker 14: You know, in addition to Kirby Joseph. You know they'll
- 39:40Speaker 14: play for safeties and down in distances, they will match
- 39:44Speaker 14: your formations up with various personnel groupings. They blitz a
- 39:49Speaker 14: great deal with if heat to Mela Fauanuho coming off
- 39:52Speaker 14: the edge, He's an excellent blitzer. Kirby Josh with that
- 39:55Speaker 14: interception right there. Like their ability to mix a match
- 39:59Speaker 14: with you, in addition to Alex Angelona who plays every
- 40:02Speaker 14: single play, and then the way that they'll do things
- 40:05Speaker 14: at the front. Last week on third and longs they
- 40:08Speaker 14: played a three man front, they played four safeties, they
- 40:11Speaker 14: played eight defensive backs. So they will max mix a
- 40:14Speaker 14: match with you depending on game situation, down distance, parts
- 40:21Speaker 14: of the field that you're in and so all those things.
- 40:24Speaker 14: I think Aaron can kind of play chess with the
- 40:26Speaker 14: best of them right now because they have such flexibility
- 40:29Speaker 14: with their personnel groupings.
- 40:31Speaker 2: Body, I want to throw this one at you. This
- 40:33Speaker 2: is kind of a broader look at the four teams
- 40:35Speaker 2: that are left, and I look at the linebacker position
- 40:39Speaker 2: with the four teams that are left, and you look
- 40:40Speaker 2: at you know, Rokwan Smith and the group that they
- 40:43Speaker 2: have there. You look in Kansas City right now, Steve
- 40:46Speaker 2: Spanola is putting Drew Trankwell and Nick Bolton, two mic
- 40:49Speaker 2: linebackers on the field at the same time, and kind
- 40:51Speaker 2: of running things in a different manner there. We know
- 40:54Speaker 2: the guys that line up in Santa Clara and then
- 40:56Speaker 2: obviously the way you mentioned Angeloni and then the other
- 40:59Speaker 2: guys to play there in Detroit. What do you think
- 41:01Speaker 2: about that position specifically in what way we see these
- 41:05Speaker 2: four teams are utilizing that spot that are left to playing.
- 41:09Speaker 14: Well if I was some of the teams on the
- 41:11Speaker 14: outside looking in, like let's just say the Cowboys or
- 41:14Speaker 14: the Eagles, where they don't seem to put a great
- 41:16Speaker 14: deal of emphasis on the linebacker position. Derek Barnes closed
- 41:19Speaker 14: the game out last week in an interception for Detroit.
- 41:22Speaker 14: Rokwan Smith got traded for from Chicago and the day
- 41:25Speaker 14: that he got to Baltimore is the day he took
- 41:27Speaker 14: over the leadership ability at that position and the defense
- 41:31Speaker 14: changed the day that Rokwan got there. I mean, Fred
- 41:33Speaker 14: Warner gets drafted in the third round out of BYU
- 41:36Speaker 14: and literally the day he got there, he put the
- 41:39Speaker 14: green dye on his helmet and he started every game since.
- 41:42Speaker 9: Like, there's something about all.
- 41:44Speaker 14: I mean, you see Drake Greenlong get two interceptions last week.
- 41:47Speaker 14: I mean, these guys never come off the field. They
- 41:50Speaker 14: play every every situation, goal line, third and thirty.
- 41:55Speaker 9: They're on the field. They never come off the field.
- 41:58Speaker 14: So if I'm on the outside looking in and I'm thinking, well,
- 42:01Speaker 14: you can find linebackers anywhere, or we can just fill
- 42:05Speaker 14: that position with big safeties, you can't. You can't play
- 42:10Speaker 14: in the Final four right now without having great players
- 42:13Speaker 14: at those positions. And sometimes you've got to pay those
- 42:16Speaker 14: great players like Rokwan Smith. But Rokwan's made Patrick Queen better.
- 42:22Speaker 14: I've talked to Fred Warner earlier this year, guys, and
- 42:24Speaker 14: he was saying, you know, Baldy, this is my fifth
- 42:26Speaker 14: year of lining up with dra Greenlaw. Like, those two
- 42:30Speaker 14: guys know each other as well as you can possibly
- 42:33Speaker 14: know one another on the field. Like, that's five years
- 42:36Speaker 14: of football with a lot of championship level games between
- 42:40Speaker 14: those two guys who never come off the field for
- 42:42Speaker 14: San Francisco.
- 42:44Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean look at it that that's one of
- 42:45Speaker 3: the common threads the other offensive lineman and the emphasis
- 42:49Speaker 3: and the valuable resources that have been spent by these
- 42:52Speaker 3: four teams to fortify that group up front. I think
- 42:56Speaker 3: is really important to look at both in the draft
- 42:58Speaker 3: and free agency, different ways to go about it. But
- 43:00Speaker 3: that's that's great context, great analysis for us as always,
- 43:03Speaker 3: Baldy Villa South, it's beautiful. Hope you get a little
- 43:06Speaker 3: time in the ocean before Championship Sunday, and we will
- 43:09Speaker 3: check back with you do and here on the NFL
- 43:12Speaker 3: Report when I come. When we come back, I'm gonna
- 43:14Speaker 3: give you guys some names to know from the East
- 43:17Speaker 3: West Shrine Bowl, which kicks off on Thursday, and some
- 43:20Speaker 3: intriguing facts I love about some of those names to know.
- 43:24Speaker 9: Get your popcorn ready.
- 43:30Speaker 2: Hey, it's James Palmer and you're listening to the NFL Report.
- 43:33Speaker 2: Podcast along with myself and Steve Weish. But remember, if
- 43:36Speaker 2: you want to see our beautiful faces, this is a
- 43:38Speaker 2: show at seven fifteen Monday and Thursday. That's seven fifteen
- 43:43Speaker 2: pm Eastern, and we are on the NFL app as
- 43:47Speaker 2: well as fast streaming platforms. That's two B, that's Roku,
- 43:50Speaker 2: that's Pluto, that's Peacock, all of those platforms as well
- 43:54Speaker 2: as the NFL dot Com Slash NFL channel. Find us
- 43:57Speaker 2: all of those spots.
- 44:03Speaker 14: So why am I holding an East West Shrine Bowl eighty.
- 44:05Speaker 2: Nine, Steve Smith Jersey is because, sir, what does that say?
- 44:08Speaker 2: Right there? You are going into the East West Okay,
- 44:10Speaker 2: Shrimee Bowl Hall of Fame before the game again February first,
- 44:15Speaker 2: eight pm on NFL Network.
- 44:16Speaker 4: Congratulations to you, my.
- 44:18Speaker 2: Friend Mike Carafollow, Steve Smith to friends of the NFL
- 44:23Speaker 2: report right there and hopefully Steve Jersey says Steve Smith Senior.
- 44:26Speaker 2: There and look at this Thursday, eight pm East West
- 44:30Speaker 2: Shrine Bowl and Rhett, you will be hosting, no not hosting,
- 44:35Speaker 2: calling that game on NFL Network. So what we want
- 44:39Speaker 2: to do is I told you I was going to
- 44:40Speaker 2: keep my popcorn from when we were just chatting with
- 44:42Speaker 2: Baldy and I want you to give me the five
- 44:45Speaker 2: most intriguing storylines you have the inside goods on the
- 44:51Speaker 2: East West Shrine Bowl. Let's start with the running back
- 44:53Speaker 2: out of UCLA. And this isn't just interesting stuff guys
- 44:56Speaker 2: on the field, it's off the field as well.
- 44:58Speaker 4: Go yes, thank you.
- 44:59Speaker 3: Jane transferred from ball State, where he rushed for over
- 45:02Speaker 3: fifteen hundred yards and fourteen touchdowns in the twenty twenty
- 45:06Speaker 3: two season, spent this last year almost one thousand yards
- 45:09Speaker 3: at UCLA. But you're going to love him because of
- 45:13Speaker 3: his pet, which is a five Cardinals Steels pet alligator
- 45:19Speaker 3: named Krocky J.
- 45:22Speaker 4: Not sure why Crocky.
- 45:23Speaker 3: Just the name, I mean crocodile Krocky. Well, I'm gonna
- 45:26Speaker 3: find that out when I get a chance to talk
- 45:27Speaker 3: to him in person. But he's had it since he
- 45:29Speaker 3: was eight years old. His parents thought it would be
- 45:31Speaker 3: a fun Christmas gift and yes, yeah.
- 45:38Speaker 4: Just like, oh hey, here's an alligator. But it's still
- 45:41Speaker 4: with us. And Krocky J.
- 45:43Speaker 3: Is a big deal in the Carson Steel household back
- 45:47Speaker 3: in Indiana, and so he is an absolute stud. Yes, yes,
- 45:53Speaker 3: he's an actually ever anything like that his nicknames are
- 45:57Speaker 3: four and Fabio Fabio bi of his hair or because
- 46:01Speaker 3: he could lift the entire weight room like he is
- 46:03Speaker 3: an absolute stud of a human being. Can't wait to
- 46:06Speaker 3: talk to him, can't wait to see him on the
- 46:09Speaker 3: broadcast Thursday night.
- 46:12Speaker 2: Love It, Love It. How about seven qbs you're going
- 46:15Speaker 2: to have there? We got plenty of experience with these
- 46:17Speaker 2: guys too.
- 46:17Speaker 3: Yes, and every single one of those seven quarterbacks from
- 46:22Speaker 3: Devin Larry to Jordan Travis to Talia Tungo Bailoa and
- 46:24Speaker 3: everywhere in between, have played at more than one school, okay,
- 46:28Speaker 3: thus the transferental era of college football, and all seven
- 46:32Speaker 3: of them have played in more than forty games. So
- 46:36Speaker 3: go back to Shrine Bowl alums of recent past, Brock Purdy,
- 46:41Speaker 3: Aidan O'Connell last year, Dorrian Thompson Robinson last year, all
- 46:45Speaker 3: guys who started games in the NFL this year and
- 46:48Speaker 3: had that opportunity because of the experience they had in college.
- 46:51Speaker 3: And so I can't wait to see which one of
- 46:52Speaker 3: these seven quarterbacks with that type of experience can show
- 46:56Speaker 3: us the ability to step into an opportunity if it
- 46:59Speaker 3: presents itself in his rookie.
- 47:00Speaker 2: Year Okay, how about you guys catching the football. Taj
- 47:04Speaker 2: Washington and Jaden Coker a couple of receivers to keep
- 47:08Speaker 2: an eye on.
- 47:08Speaker 4: Apparently, Yeah, good ones here.
- 47:10Speaker 3: So Taj Washington is an interesting one here right here
- 47:13Speaker 3: in Los Angeles where I live, home of NFL Network
- 47:16Speaker 3: of course, James well usc guy, and in addition to
- 47:22Speaker 3: being one of their top wide outs each of the
- 47:24Speaker 3: last couple of years, Taj has become known as Chef Taj.
- 47:30Speaker 3: In fact, he has his own YouTube channel where NFL
- 47:36Speaker 3: report competition. Yeah sorry, yeah, you know, maybe no Huddle
- 47:42Speaker 3: kitchen by the way, No Huddle Kitchen. Don't tell James
- 47:44Speaker 3: and Steve uh go check that out at some point.
- 47:47Speaker 3: But he's also been a guest chef at a restaurant
- 47:50Speaker 3: on campus, and dishes named after him are popping up
- 47:55Speaker 3: all around Los Angeles like the dude's a legit chefs.
- 48:00Speaker 3: So next time you're in town, will go see Chef
- 48:02Speaker 3: taje Okay, he's also a really good love it can't
- 48:05Speaker 3: wait to see him.
- 48:06Speaker 4: And then you mentioned Jalen Cocher, who you know.
- 48:08Speaker 3: We love the guys that come from the smaller schools
- 48:10Speaker 3: and make a big name for themselves when the competition
- 48:13Speaker 3: ramps up. That is the case in the Shrine Bowl
- 48:15Speaker 3: for a guy who played at FCS Holy Cross and
- 48:19Speaker 3: was a phenomenally productive wide receiver. But he has known
- 48:22Speaker 3: James if he wanted to play in the NFL since
- 48:24Speaker 3: he was a six year old playing flag football. And
- 48:26Speaker 3: in fact, he was so good at sports that parents
- 48:30Speaker 3: would come up to his mom, Jenny, and they were like,
- 48:32Speaker 3: we're gonna see your son playing on TV one day. Well,
- 48:34Speaker 3: as it turns out, you're gonna see him playing in
- 48:36Speaker 3: primetime on national television. Missus Cocher Thursday Night on NFL
- 48:41Speaker 3: Network at eighties.
- 48:43Speaker 2: I love it. That used to happen to me at
- 48:44Speaker 2: youth sports. How about Tarheem still the corner from Maryland,
- 48:49Speaker 2: Real quick on him.
- 48:50Speaker 4: A ton of talent in the defensive back room in
- 48:53Speaker 4: the last two years at Maryland.
- 48:54Speaker 3: You might remember Deontay Banks and Jacory and Bennett last
- 48:56Speaker 3: year who blew up the combine with four three forty times.
- 48:59Speaker 3: Both of them went first two days of the draft.
- 49:02Speaker 3: Tealia Tunguebailoa, Tarheb's teammate, told me that Tarheb used to
- 49:05Speaker 3: regularly beat them.
- 49:07Speaker 4: Those two dudes in races, so he's got the speed
- 49:10Speaker 4: as well. Oh something.
- 49:13Speaker 2: I love it. I love it. Rhett has his hands full.
- 49:16Speaker 2: I love it. That's the inside analys you should get
- 49:19Speaker 2: from Rett Lewis when he subs in here and we
- 49:20Speaker 2: host games, but you also get inside analysis from these
- 49:23Speaker 2: two guys right here, James Palmer, Steve that's us Monday
- 49:27Speaker 2: seven fifteen. Steve will be back, but definitely Rhet will
- 49:30Speaker 2: be returning. I will tell you that. Rhett, thank you
- 49:33Speaker 2: so much podcast joining me on this journey. This is
- 49:36Speaker 2: also a podcast. As Rhett said, let's do it.
- 49:39Speaker 7: Guys.
- 49:40Speaker 2: You can always catch rhtt on Move the sticks by
- 49:42Speaker 2: the way.