Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Inside The Tape With Greg Cosell: "He's Pretty Darn Comfortable In This System"

Transcript

Inside The Tape With Greg Cosell: "He's Pretty Darn Comfortable In This System" · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:08
Speaker 1: Hello, welcome back to Inside the Tape on Inside the Birds.
0:12
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Mosher with Adam Kaplan. And of course, we
0:15
Speaker 1: got to break down the tape. Greg Cosell, and he's
0:18
Speaker 1: going to help us break down the Eagles in their
0:20
Speaker 1: tighter maybe than expected victory over the Titans in week two.
0:26
Speaker 1: A very interesting game. And Greg, you know, I'm really
0:29
Speaker 1: fascinated to get your perspective on this. And I think our,
0:31
Speaker 1: our listeners and viewers need to get a really good
0:34
Speaker 1: understanding of how this works, right? They watch the game.
0:37
Speaker 1: Adam and I watched the game in live in person
0:40
Speaker 1: and the feel of the game certainly comes into play.
0:43
Speaker 1: The emotion of the game, a last drive touchdown is
0:45
Speaker 1: a big part of the game. When people like yourself
0:48
Speaker 1: and professionals in the NFL watch tape, if I'm not mistaken,
0:51
Speaker 1: what you do is you watch all the offensive snaps
0:54
Speaker 1: first and then all the deep or vice versa.
0:56
Speaker 2: That's when I do it.
0:57
Speaker 1: I don't know.
0:57
Speaker 3: Yeah.
0:58
Speaker 1: Right, and you do it on a screen that has
1:00
Speaker 1: no noise, it's just all 22, and you don't necessarily feel,
1:05
Speaker 1: of course, how would you feel?
1:06
Speaker 2: Well, there's no noise, but like Steely Dan, I hear
1:09
Speaker 2: the mechanized hum of another world.
1:13
Speaker 1: I'm thinking 15% of our audience will get that.
1:16
Speaker 2: Right, right, right, right. So given that, all.
1:19
Speaker 1: Right, given how we lay it, how you watch tape,
1:23
Speaker 1: with the emotionality, how does... And how does a performance
1:28
Speaker 1: like Jalen Hurts' against the Titans resonate with you while
1:31
Speaker 1: you watch tape instead of the way it would with
1:34
Speaker 1: someone who's watching the game in real time?
1:36
Speaker 2: Well, I imagine, okay, and again, I can't speak for
1:39
Speaker 2: every fan, but I imagine that most fans, because they
1:42
Speaker 2: think of the Titans as a really bad team, just
1:45
Speaker 2: assume that the Eagles are going to go into Nissan
1:48
Speaker 2: Stadium and win 31-10. And that if the game happens
1:52
Speaker 2: to be close, it must be because something is really
1:55
Speaker 2: wrong with the way the Eagles played. And for the
1:59
Speaker 2: most part, with the possible exception of someone like Jeffrey Simmons,
2:03
Speaker 2: I would assume most Eagles fans, unless they're really hardcore fans...
2:08
Speaker 2: don't really know much about the Titans roster overall. Would
2:12
Speaker 2: you say that's a fair statement? Oh, I would. Yeah.
2:14
Speaker 2: Because the Titans are not a team they play on
2:16
Speaker 2: a yearly basis. It's not like the Cowboys. I'm sure
2:19
Speaker 2: pretty much every Eagles fan knows the Cowboys roster or
2:22
Speaker 2: the Commanders roster or the Giants roster.
2:24
Speaker 1: Yes, except I would say for the Inside the Birds
2:27
Speaker 1: pregame show listeners, because I thought we did a good
2:29
Speaker 1: job of educating them on why the Titans would probably
2:31
Speaker 1: bounce back from week one.
2:32
Speaker 2: Right, right. But I'm talking about if someone's not watching
2:35
Speaker 2: the show, and hopefully we have a nice audience that does. But,
2:38
Speaker 2: you know, the people that don't, but that definitely sit
2:41
Speaker 2: and watch the Eagles every Sunday on TV or even
2:43
Speaker 2: go to the games, you know, obviously they didn't go
2:46
Speaker 2: to this one because it was away. But they probably
2:49
Speaker 2: don't know much about the Titans. So they assume because
2:52
Speaker 2: they've been really bad. And, you know, they might know
2:54
Speaker 2: who Cam Ward is because he was the number one
2:56
Speaker 2: pick in the draft. They might know who Cam, excuse me,
2:59
Speaker 2: Jeffrey Simmons is because he's one of the absolute best
3:01
Speaker 2: at his position. But beyond that, they probably don't know much.
3:05
Speaker 2: So when the game is close, they just assume something's
3:08
Speaker 2: dreadfully wrong. When, in fact, the Titans, particularly on a
3:13
Speaker 2: number of players on defense, do not have a bad
3:15
Speaker 2: roster at all. OK, and normally and you saw the
3:20
Speaker 2: same thing with the Broncos yesterday as well. Normally, when
3:23
Speaker 2: a team that is pretty strong in a particular unit,
3:27
Speaker 2: like the Titans have a good D-line, okay? They really do. Normally,
3:31
Speaker 2: when a team plays poorly and the unit's good, they
3:33
Speaker 2: come back the next week and they play well. We
3:36
Speaker 2: saw that with the Broncos. They were awful tackling last
3:39
Speaker 2: Monday night, almost like Pop Warner-type tackling. And then, of course,
3:43
Speaker 2: they come and they beat the Jaguars and hold them
3:45
Speaker 2: for 13 points. I didn't know what the score of
3:48
Speaker 2: this game would be obviously yesterday, but I knew the
3:50
Speaker 2: Titans D line would be a hundred percent better than
3:53
Speaker 2: it was last week. So when I'm sitting and watching tape, Jeff,
3:57
Speaker 2: I'm not surprised. And by the way, I'm rarely surprised
4:00
Speaker 2: by anything I see because this is the NFL. I've
4:03
Speaker 2: been doing this a long time. I know a lot
4:05
Speaker 2: of coaches. I know, you know, general managers and personnel
4:08
Speaker 2: people and scouts. And, you know, it's hard to play
4:11
Speaker 2: on Sunday. This is not, you know, no matter who
4:14
Speaker 2: you're playing, And by the way, we'll get to this,
4:17
Speaker 2: but I thought that Cam Ward and the Titans offense
4:20
Speaker 2: had their most professional game since Cam Ward has been
4:24
Speaker 2: the quarterback. They looked like a professional offense in the
4:28
Speaker 2: way they played. So anyway, we'll do that on the
4:31
Speaker 2: other side of the ball.
4:33
Speaker 1: Right.
4:34
Speaker 2: The noise about the other stuff does not impact me
4:38
Speaker 2: one way or the other. I bet in that regard,
4:40
Speaker 2: I'm like a coach. That doesn't, that doesn't interest me,
4:42
Speaker 2: affect me. You know, it's meaningless to me.
4:45
Speaker 1: Right. But as you're watching this last drive in particular,
4:49
Speaker 1: but even, I mean, there were plenty of great throws
4:51
Speaker 1: on second and long and third and long as you're
4:53
Speaker 1: watching it, you know, the score, you're not feeling the
4:57
Speaker 1: emotion of a game watching.
4:58
Speaker 2: No, I'm thinking of in terms of tactics, like for instance,
5:02
Speaker 2: Robert Sala's general philosophy of defense is rush for play
5:06
Speaker 2: zone behind it. So when I start that drive, cause
5:09
Speaker 2: you know, I don't get a feel for it on TV.
5:11
Speaker 2: Plus I was watching red zone, you know, so, you know,
5:14
Speaker 2: I'm not studying it and taking notes. So I'm thinking
5:16
Speaker 2: to myself, okay, is he going to stay that way
5:19
Speaker 2: or is he going to pressure? How's he going to
5:20
Speaker 2: play the final drive? And it turned out that pretty
5:24
Speaker 2: much for the most part, you know, he, he, played
5:27
Speaker 2: rush for play Zoni at two blitzes. And then of course,
5:30
Speaker 2: on the final play, they were in zero and there
5:32
Speaker 2: was a screw up. But, you know, so I'm, I'm
5:36
Speaker 2: thinking of it tactically. I'm not thinking of it emotionally. Right.
5:40
Speaker 3: One thing I want to ask you, Greg, off of that,
5:43
Speaker 3: I know when I would watch tape with you and Jaws,
5:45
Speaker 3: sometimes you would not let the number like the, you
5:48
Speaker 3: might not look at the stats. You just want to
5:49
Speaker 3: let the tape talk to you and you'll, Do you,
5:52
Speaker 3: then do you look at the numbers after, like, do
5:54
Speaker 3: you look at the numbers during or you just wait
5:55
Speaker 3: till after you're done?
5:56
Speaker 2: Sometimes I look at the numbers as I'm seeing something
5:58
Speaker 2: and I like, you know, if I'm noticing something that
6:00
Speaker 2: stands out, I might go look at numbers at that point,
6:03
Speaker 2: you know, that particular number, you know, like, you know,
6:06
Speaker 2: if I'm seeing a lot of motion or shifting, you know,
6:09
Speaker 2: I can then go look at those stats. You know,
6:12
Speaker 2: if I'm seeing the quarterback under center a lot, I
6:14
Speaker 2: may go look at those stats. You know, if I'm
6:16
Speaker 2: seeing the defense blitz a lot, you know, or whatever
6:20
Speaker 2: the case may be, but I don't start out. The
6:23
Speaker 2: only thing I look at to start a hundred percent
6:25
Speaker 2: is the personnel packages. So like, you know, what the,
6:29
Speaker 2: you know, how much the Eagles are, you know, 11, 12,
6:32
Speaker 2: what the defense is in nickel or base or dime.
6:34
Speaker 2: That's the only thing I put in my notes first,
6:37
Speaker 2: but then, then I let everything else sort of happen as,
6:40
Speaker 2: as I started watching.
6:41
Speaker 1: So, so as observers of the game in the 24
6:44
Speaker 1: hours after it was very, it's impossible for, myself, Adam,
6:47
Speaker 1: others who watched not to have really been impressed by
6:50
Speaker 1: the mastery that we saw from Jalen hurts, not only
6:53
Speaker 1: on the final drive, but on several second and long
6:56
Speaker 1: and third and longs throughout the game, when you're watching
6:59
Speaker 1: the tape and not caught up in that, what's is that,
7:02
Speaker 1: are we mistaken or did you.
7:04
Speaker 2: See the same thing? Okay. No, I, there was, there
7:08
Speaker 2: were just a couple of plays in this game where
7:09
Speaker 2: I thought he kind of broke down early, uh, but
7:12
Speaker 2: not the way he has in the past. And, and, um,
7:16
Speaker 2: By the way, when I see those plays, I look
7:19
Speaker 2: at them four or five times because it's always easy
7:21
Speaker 2: with a clicker to be the smartest guy in the room.
7:24
Speaker 2: That's easy, you know, because you're not on the field
7:25
Speaker 2: with everybody. And I try to keep that in mind
7:27
Speaker 2: when I watch tape that, you know, I'm not on
7:30
Speaker 2: the field with people moving 100 miles an hour, you know.
7:34
Speaker 2: So it's easy to be a genius. And then I
7:36
Speaker 2: try not to, you know, be that way. And then
7:39
Speaker 2: when I watch plays like that over and over again,
7:42
Speaker 2: I always try to look for the why and the
7:44
Speaker 2: understanding of the reason things happen. Because as you guys know,
7:49
Speaker 2: I'm not a critical guy in the sense that I say, oh, well,
7:51
Speaker 2: that guy stings. I don't talk like that. And I
7:55
Speaker 2: would never talk like that because I know how hard
7:57
Speaker 2: everybody works because I know how hard I work. So
8:00
Speaker 2: I don't talk like that. So when I watch a play,
8:02
Speaker 2: I think to myself, oh, I could see why Jalen
8:05
Speaker 2: just caught a piece of that stunt. And by the way,
8:08
Speaker 2: they did some really nice things with stunts, the Titans. Oh, yeah.
8:10
Speaker 2: You know, I'm thinking, oh, I bet he just saw
8:13
Speaker 2: enough of that to think that that's a problem. So,
8:17
Speaker 2: you know, I try to think that way instead of, oh, man,
8:19
Speaker 2: he should have just done the pocket. You know, I mean,
8:21
Speaker 2: that's easy.
8:22
Speaker 4: It's always easy.
8:24
Speaker 2: And you've heard me say this. Adam knows this. Jaws
8:26
Speaker 2: used to talk about this, too. Everybody's a genius when
8:29
Speaker 2: they have access to the results. That's easy. That's easy.
8:33
Speaker 3: Right.
8:33
Speaker 2: You know, that doesn't tell you anything.
8:35
Speaker 4: There's no context to it. Yeah.
8:36
Speaker 3: Yeah.
8:37
Speaker 1: So what was your– I mean, we're going to get
8:39
Speaker 1: to the offensive line and the running game because that's
8:41
Speaker 1: a totally separate issue. What was your just primary takeaway
8:45
Speaker 1: from not only the final drive but the overall performance
8:48
Speaker 1: of Hurts, the offense that Mannion's running within it, the
8:51
Speaker 1: chemistry with the wide receivers, the timing, all that stuff
8:54
Speaker 1: that we've talked about that we wanted to see?
8:56
Speaker 2: Well, here's the thing that I will say, a couple things.
8:59
Speaker 2: We'll start with the run game. You know, it wasn't
9:02
Speaker 2: a case to me where I thought the offensive line
9:04
Speaker 2: just got oh my God, they're getting manhandled snap after
9:08
Speaker 2: snap after snap. I thought it was more a case
9:11
Speaker 2: of just not really moving people exactly the way you
9:13
Speaker 2: need to. I didn't feel... Look, we don't need to
9:16
Speaker 2: rehash Dickerson last week, but Dickerson just got beat. You know,
9:20
Speaker 2: where you went, oh, my God, he's just getting beat.
9:22
Speaker 2: With very few exceptions, I didn't see the game that way, Jeff.
9:25
Speaker 2: I don't know what you guys saw.
9:26
Speaker 1: I had the same thought, Greg.
9:27
Speaker 2: I thought it was more a case that they just
9:29
Speaker 2: weren't really moving people the way you need to to
9:32
Speaker 2: really generate a consistent, sustaining run game.
9:36
Speaker 1: And I don't even think that that's like the Juergens
9:38
Speaker 1: thing you're saying, which we'll get to. I mean, they
9:41
Speaker 1: weren't doing it a lot last year as well. I
9:43
Speaker 1: think this offensive line– Two things can be true at
9:46
Speaker 1: the same time, guys, right? The injuries have hurt them,
9:49
Speaker 1: but also even when they are fine or they have
9:52
Speaker 1: healthy personnel in there, they just don't move people off
9:54
Speaker 1: the ball the way they used to.
9:56
Speaker 2: And, you know, obviously I made it a point to
9:57
Speaker 2: watch Kendall. And, you know, I felt the same way.
10:01
Speaker 2: Like I didn't come away going. It was almost like
10:04
Speaker 2: a vanilla reaction. Like I thought he was neither good
10:07
Speaker 2: nor bad. Do you know what I mean? Like he
10:09
Speaker 2: didn't stand out in any way, one way or the other. Right.
10:12
Speaker 2: And again, it's his first game against a really look,
10:15
Speaker 2: he's playing against, you know, Simmons, Franklin Myers, Elliot. These
10:20
Speaker 2: guys are veteran NFL players who are really, I mean,
10:23
Speaker 2: Simmons may be the best, you know, he's, these guys
10:26
Speaker 2: are really good. I wouldn't have expected him to come
10:29
Speaker 2: out and start moving everybody around.
10:30
Speaker 4: Yeah.
10:31
Speaker 2: But, but anyway, so that's what I felt about the
10:35
Speaker 2: old line as far as, as Hurts, I continue to
10:39
Speaker 2: see a quarterback that quite frankly, I believe is pretty
10:41
Speaker 2: comfortable in this system. I don't think that there's, you know,
10:45
Speaker 2: a sense, there's no randomness to the way in which
10:48
Speaker 2: he plays. There's not those plays where he runs out
10:51
Speaker 2: of the pocket to his right and just throws the
10:53
Speaker 2: ball away that we used to see. It seemed like
10:55
Speaker 2: four or five times a game.
10:56
Speaker 1: Right.
10:56
Speaker 2: I mean, we're not seeing that, you know, I think
10:59
Speaker 2: he's pretty darn comfortable in this system. And, you know,
11:03
Speaker 2: I think he's playing for the most part with a
11:05
Speaker 2: pretty strong sense of timing. Um, And, you know, look,
11:09
Speaker 2: look at what he's done on third down. I know
11:11
Speaker 2: he threw two picks on third down. And obviously, if
11:13
Speaker 2: you want, we can. I don't know if you plan
11:15
Speaker 2: on showing the interception. See, like there's a reason for that,
11:18
Speaker 2: you know, and I understand the reason. Now, again, people
11:22
Speaker 2: can say, well, you can't do that. Of course, everybody
11:24
Speaker 2: knows that, you know, that's not saying anything. But there's
11:27
Speaker 2: a reason. The second interception, I actually thought he got
11:32
Speaker 2: hit and it limited his ability to make that throw.
11:34
Speaker 2: But he made the right throw. He made the right
11:35
Speaker 2: read and the right throw. It's just that I think
11:38
Speaker 2: it was Simmons that sort of got him and hit
11:40
Speaker 2: him like in his sternum area. And he just couldn't
11:42
Speaker 2: quite get anything on the ball. But I look, I
11:49
Speaker 2: hope people understand. I get this on Twitter a lot. Like,
11:51
Speaker 2: you know, I talked about it doing Colin Coward last
11:54
Speaker 2: week about how well I thought Hurts played week one.
11:56
Speaker 2: And people are like, I'm surprised you're saying nice things
11:58
Speaker 2: about Hurts. You know, it's not a personal thing. I'm
12:02
Speaker 2: watching the tape. You know, I think he's playing really well.
12:05
Speaker 2: It's not, you know. I mean, you know, but we
12:09
Speaker 2: know how the world is. But I think he's playing
12:12
Speaker 2: really well. And I think that he has a really
12:15
Speaker 2: good sense of the system. And it's, you know, I
12:18
Speaker 2: don't see any up to this point, anything where, you know,
12:21
Speaker 2: red flags, so to speak.
12:23
Speaker 1: And do you think the system itself has made an
12:26
Speaker 1: impact on how the Eagles move the ball? Whether it's
12:30
Speaker 1: route concepts that you're seeing, are they much different? than
12:33
Speaker 1: what we've seen in the past. I mean, obviously we're
12:35
Speaker 1: seeing condensed splits and different motions and shifts, but.
12:40
Speaker 2: Well, the only thing I could say in response to that,
12:42
Speaker 2: and it's no knock on previous coaches, because look, there's
12:45
Speaker 2: so many systems and it's the way guys teach. But
12:48
Speaker 2: the one thing that we're not seeing, which we saw
12:51
Speaker 2: a lot in the past is Jalen's not getting stuck
12:55
Speaker 2: in the pocket. You know, the ball is coming out somewhere. And,
13:00
Speaker 2: and that to me is a really good sign. I mean, is,
13:04
Speaker 2: is every read going to be perfect? Of course not.
13:06
Speaker 2: It's the NFL, but you know, he's not getting stuck
13:09
Speaker 2: in the pocket with that sense of what do we
13:11
Speaker 2: do now? You know, so I'm, I've been, you know,
13:16
Speaker 2: and again, not that he cares what I think or
13:18
Speaker 2: that what I think matters to them, but you know,
13:20
Speaker 2: I've been really impressed with just the whole, the way
13:24
Speaker 2: he's played and, and just, it's, it seems, it just
13:27
Speaker 2: seems good, you know?
13:28
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
13:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was just going to say this is– and
13:32
Speaker 3: 22 is different because just the league did not know
13:35
Speaker 3: what to expect from Hurts and A.J.
13:37
Speaker 4: Brown.
13:38
Speaker 3: But I would say, as I was talking to someone
13:40
Speaker 3: in the league about it earlier today, the degree of
13:43
Speaker 3: difficulty throws is higher than it was in 22.
13:45
Speaker 2: Yeah.
13:47
Speaker 3: And that's saying a lot because Jalen had a great year. But, Jeff,
13:50
Speaker 3: as I said and back to you, for the people
13:52
Speaker 3: who said he couldn't play with timing, well, that's– you've
13:55
Speaker 3: only played two games, but he's playing certainly within timing.
13:57
Speaker 3: Greg just outlined it for you. I know we're going
13:58
Speaker 3: to show some stuff. But we talked about it last year.
14:03
Speaker 3: When he would do it, we're like, well, why can't
14:05
Speaker 3: he do this more? No one had the answer, but
14:07
Speaker 3: now you're seeing it consistently. This is what he's not
14:10
Speaker 3: done before, but he's doing it now when it matters.
14:13
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
14:13
Speaker 1: When it matters, man, you couldn't pick a better choice
14:16
Speaker 1: of words because it mattered when there were about 120
14:19
Speaker 1: seconds on the clock and they needed to go 65 yards.
14:21
Speaker 1: And hot as hell out there. And hot as hell, yeah.
14:24
Speaker 1: That's another thing you can't pick up right with tape
14:25
Speaker 1: is just how sweltering hot it is. So- All right.
14:30
Speaker 1: I do want to go one point before we watch
14:32
Speaker 1: some footage here is the running game. This is something
14:36
Speaker 1: Adam and I talked about once they went to Mannion
14:39
Speaker 1: is the idea of Saquon Barkley for the first time
14:42
Speaker 1: in his life. I think even for Penn State, right,
14:44
Speaker 1: going into a zone blocking system that's going to ask
14:48
Speaker 1: him to receive the ball differently with the quarterback under center.
14:52
Speaker 1: I think you've always described him as kind of like
14:54
Speaker 1: a searcher when he's running because he'll put both feet
14:56
Speaker 1: in the ground. I mean, the first play, the first
14:59
Speaker 1: run he got hurt on, you see that. There's no
15:02
Speaker 1: hole immediately. Pitter-patter is both feet, and I wonder if that's.
15:06
Speaker 2: I hope people understand that when I say something, it's
15:08
Speaker 2: based– I mean, I've been doing this a long time, okay?
15:11
Speaker 2: You know, we got the coaching tape for the matchup
15:14
Speaker 2: show in 1992, okay? So I had to learn how
15:16
Speaker 2: to do that, but I've been doing– And I've learned
15:21
Speaker 2: from a lot of people, a lot of different things.
15:23
Speaker 2: So when I say things, it's not a bold, controversial statement.
15:26
Speaker 2: It's not an offhanded remark. It's thoughtful.
15:29
Speaker 4: Okay.
15:30
Speaker 2: And there's a lot of things I won't say because
15:32
Speaker 2: I just don't feel that's right. You know, because these
15:34
Speaker 2: are thoughts I have and, and many of them turn
15:36
Speaker 2: out to be right. But sometimes I feel like, you
15:38
Speaker 2: know what? I don't really want to say that because
15:40
Speaker 2: it's just not necessary, you know, but I'm going to
15:44
Speaker 2: say this about Barkley. Barkley is a size speed freak.
15:48
Speaker 4: Okay.
15:50
Speaker 2: But I don't personally think, and I felt this while
15:52
Speaker 2: even watching him at Penn State, that he's a natural runner,
15:56
Speaker 2: that he's a natural, innate, instinctive runner. I think he's
16:00
Speaker 2: just a size-speed freak. And now if he gets some
16:05
Speaker 2: kind of gap, it doesn't have to be a huge hole,
16:07
Speaker 2: but if he gets some kind of gap, his ability
16:10
Speaker 2: to accelerate instantaneously and basically not be tackled by any
16:15
Speaker 2: kind of arm or, you know, because he's 230 pounds,
16:19
Speaker 2: and he can generate velocity in a heartbeat. So he's
16:23
Speaker 2: always been a big play back. But there are some
16:27
Speaker 2: backs you watch, and you just kind of get it.
16:29
Speaker 2: Like athletes in any sport, you watch some guys play,
16:32
Speaker 2: and you just kind of say, wow, they just have
16:34
Speaker 2: a feel for how to do this. I think he's
16:38
Speaker 2: just a freak of nature, but I don't know if
16:40
Speaker 2: he's truly like an instinctive runner. Does that make sense? Yeah.
16:45
Speaker 3: In fact, Jeff, do we have Greg on before the draft?
16:48
Speaker 3: Didn't we talk to Greg in the spring or something?
16:51
Speaker 3: You brought it up, Jeff, that is he a really
16:53
Speaker 3: good fit for zone blocking? And I know you said
16:57
Speaker 3: you took some heat on Twitter. Well, it's just a fact.
17:02
Speaker 3: He runs a specific way. Now you're asking him to
17:04
Speaker 3: do it differently.
17:05
Speaker 4: It may not work. And it's only two games in.
17:07
Speaker 4: It hasn't looked good, but there are other reasons.
17:09
Speaker 2: He may not be. Again, we'll see. Two games. I'm
17:11
Speaker 2: not going to sit here and say that he can't
17:13
Speaker 2: do it. Obviously, he didn't really play this past week.
17:15
Speaker 2: And who knows about the next week? I assume he'll
17:17
Speaker 2: be OK if it's truly a stinger. But, you know,
17:22
Speaker 2: the zone run game is different than, let's say, gap
17:24
Speaker 2: scheme or where, you know, gap scheme. You're sort of
17:27
Speaker 2: following a path zone, particularly mid to outside zone is
17:32
Speaker 2: much more about reading defensive reading on blocking schemes, reading
17:38
Speaker 2: gap fluidity because gaps change, reading defensive flow. And all
17:43
Speaker 2: this is happening while you're moving. So there's a certain
17:47
Speaker 2: instinct and innate feel that you have to have while
17:50
Speaker 2: you're doing that. That's not, zone runs are not, you know,
17:54
Speaker 2: are not, you know, paint by numbers. You have to
17:57
Speaker 2: sort of feel all that, you know, and then have
18:00
Speaker 2: a sense of when to put that foot in the
18:02
Speaker 2: ground and go downhill.
18:03
Speaker 1: Right. What I had said was Tank Bixby, I felt,
18:06
Speaker 1: had more experience and a more natural wide zone run
18:09
Speaker 1: because he just puts one foot and goes, which I
18:13
Speaker 1: think we saw that last year.
18:14
Speaker 2: Yeah.
18:14
Speaker 1: It just has that. And whereas Barkley doesn't. do it
18:18
Speaker 1: that way. He has his own running style and it
18:20
Speaker 1: often involves, and Barkley said this, by the way, in
18:22
Speaker 1: a spring press conference, he said, he's more of a
18:25
Speaker 1: two cut, meaning I'll put both legs on the ground
18:28
Speaker 1: than a one cut runner. But to your point, yeah,
18:31
Speaker 1: some schmuck sent me like a five minute long video
18:33
Speaker 1: on Twitter of Barkley with all these great one cuts
18:36
Speaker 1: out of shotgun inside zone. When I was referring to
18:39
Speaker 1: outside zone under center.
18:41
Speaker 2: Which is those are two totally different kinds of runs
18:43
Speaker 2: that require two totally different kinds of, of traits. Exactly. Exactly.
18:48
Speaker 1: So again, so nobody's saying Barkley can't be good.
18:51
Speaker 2: And it's just to come back next week and run
18:53
Speaker 2: for 180 yards. So we're not saying, you know, that's
18:56
Speaker 2: not the point. Right. Right.
18:58
Speaker 1: I think you'd also said last week, Dickerson, when healthy,
19:01
Speaker 1: when effective, even he is a questionable fit because he's
19:04
Speaker 1: more of a road grader.
19:06
Speaker 2: He's a road grader. Right.
19:07
Speaker 1: And then this is a, this is a horror.
19:08
Speaker 2: Look, I've had conversations with all line coaches and Adam,
19:11
Speaker 2: I'm sure has too over the years who are, You know,
19:14
Speaker 2: they might say, you know, let's say I've had a
19:17
Speaker 2: lot of these conversations leading up to the draft, you know,
19:19
Speaker 2: where I talk about, you know, 15 offensive line prospects
19:23
Speaker 2: with an all-line coach. And I know, Adam, you have
19:25
Speaker 2: these kinds of conversations too. And they might say, oh,
19:29
Speaker 2: you know, so-and-so, he's just not a fit for what
19:31
Speaker 2: we do. And they're not saying the guy can't play.
19:33
Speaker 2: They're just saying he's not a fit for what we do.
19:36
Speaker 1: A hundred percent.
19:37
Speaker 2: You know.
19:38
Speaker 3: Yep.
19:39
Speaker 1: All right, good stuff. Let's get into some footage here.
19:42
Speaker 1: There's really no answer, by the way. The run game
19:44
Speaker 1: has to figure it out, and Barkley's not going anywhere.
19:46
Speaker 1: We just wanted to point out that this is part
19:49
Speaker 1: of the issues.
19:50
Speaker 2: Of the run game. Barkley's not stupid. He might figure
19:53
Speaker 2: this all out, and we could be talking in a
19:55
Speaker 2: month about, man, he's just had some great games. You
19:57
Speaker 2: never know. Of course.
19:59
Speaker 1: All right, so let's talk about something that you saw early, Greg.
20:04
Speaker 1: Quick count, like no huddle and quick.
20:06
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, yeah, this was interesting. They came back to
20:08
Speaker 2: it again later, and it didn't work, but this was
20:10
Speaker 2: early in the game. This was on the– was this
20:14
Speaker 2: the first possession, I think? Yeah, it was the first
20:16
Speaker 2: third down. It was the first third, and it was
20:18
Speaker 2: third and 12. He went quick count. He caught the
20:21
Speaker 2: Titans defense still communicating and not in position. It was
20:25
Speaker 2: cover six, which is a combination of– cover two and
20:30
Speaker 2: cover four, and he hit Wicks on the dagger. Now,
20:33
Speaker 2: he was technically, if you're being a real stickler, and
20:36
Speaker 2: I don't know how they coach this stuff, he was
20:38
Speaker 2: probably half a beat late on the throw, but it
20:40
Speaker 2: wasn't like, oh, my God, he was late.
20:43
Speaker 1: Yep, and you saw right as I froze it there
20:46
Speaker 1: for the YouTube people to see, as the ball was
20:47
Speaker 1: being snapped, you could see that there were a couple
20:50
Speaker 1: of second-level guys still looking around.
20:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, yep. So they're playing, when I say cover six,
20:56
Speaker 2: what cover six means– is they're playing cover two to
21:01
Speaker 2: the short side of the field, the boundary, and cover
21:05
Speaker 2: four quarters to the wide side of the field. So
21:09
Speaker 2: it's the wide side of the field they're working. It's
21:11
Speaker 2: a route we call dagger, which means there's an inside
21:14
Speaker 2: vertical to clear, and then there's a dig that comes
21:17
Speaker 2: underneath it. So you see the inside vertical that lifts
21:20
Speaker 2: the safety, and then you see the dig coming underneath it.
21:24
Speaker 2: And this is kind of a firm touch throw. You
21:28
Speaker 2: can't throw it, you know, like a straight fastball because
21:31
Speaker 2: there's an underneath defender sitting there, but you also can
21:34
Speaker 2: lob it. So it's kind of what we call a
21:36
Speaker 2: firm touch throw. It was beautiful.
21:38
Speaker 1: It was right there.
21:40
Speaker 2: Yeah.
21:40
Speaker 1: Like you said, maybe a tick late or else maybe.
21:42
Speaker 2: He gets passed out. But not severely where you go, oh,
21:46
Speaker 2: my God, that's just way late. Right.
21:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, really nice connection. And, Adam, I know you've mentioned this,
21:51
Speaker 1: and I don't think you could be more right about this.
21:53
Speaker 1: It's amazing. The chemistry that he has developed with Dontavion
21:57
Speaker 1: Wicks in such a short time.
21:59
Speaker 4: It really shows him.
22:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, it showed up in training camp. And the thing is,
22:03
Speaker 3: I notice this a lot with my notes. He's always
22:05
Speaker 3: where he's supposed to be. And their timing and the
22:09
Speaker 3: way that Hurts would lay it in, they developed this chemistry.
22:13
Speaker 3: And it's showing up in the first two games for sure.
22:15
Speaker 1: I like what you're talking about. Yeah, there's another one here, Greg.
22:19
Speaker 1: It's his 15-yarder on third and 12. Again, another third
22:22
Speaker 1: and long, which you think is.
22:24
Speaker 2: They were really good on third down in this game.
22:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're not supposed to live and survive in third
22:29
Speaker 1: and long, but I think eight of the top ten
22:32
Speaker 1: Eagles plays were second or third and long.
22:34
Speaker 2: Crazy. So, wait, this is– was this the third and
22:38
Speaker 2: 12 on the high-low concept into the boundary?
22:40
Speaker 1: Yep, that's correct.
22:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
22:42
Speaker 1: So, see, what do we have set up here with
22:44
Speaker 1: condensed formations? What's the goal here?
22:48
Speaker 2: Well, they're not a man coverage team. So a lot
22:52
Speaker 2: of times if you go condensed formations, you pretty much
22:55
Speaker 2: are going to be certain that the corners are going
22:57
Speaker 2: to play with width and depth because they're not going
22:59
Speaker 2: to press. They're not a press team. You have to
23:01
Speaker 2: know who you're playing. They're playing Robert Sala. He plays
23:03
Speaker 2: a lot of zone. So you know what the look
23:05
Speaker 2: is going to be. You feel pretty good about that pre-snap.
23:10
Speaker 2: So when you line up in condensed formations, you're going
23:12
Speaker 2: to get your corners and you can see it clearly.
23:14
Speaker 2: They're playing with width and depth. So you kind of
23:17
Speaker 2: know that. And now, you know, he's going to work
23:19
Speaker 2: to the boundary. They're going to run a high low.
23:22
Speaker 1: High low on the top of the screen with Munt
23:25
Speaker 1: and Wicks.
23:26
Speaker 4: Munt.
23:27
Speaker 1: Now, I like this little pump fake. Does this pump fake?
23:30
Speaker 1: Is that what makes him think the outside corner?
23:32
Speaker 2: Well, what he wants to make sure of is that
23:33
Speaker 2: the corner doesn't sink underneath Wicks' route. So he wants to.
23:37
Speaker 2: So what you teach your quarterback in this situation, you know,
23:40
Speaker 2: these high lows, is you teach your quarterback, whether with
23:43
Speaker 2: a shoulder roll, whether with your eyes, whether with a
23:45
Speaker 2: slight pump, You want to make sure you control. It's
23:49
Speaker 2: the quarterback's job to control that underneath defender, okay? Right.
23:53
Speaker 2: Because if he sinks, he takes– well, then you're going
23:56
Speaker 2: to throw the low route, obviously, but you'd really like
23:59
Speaker 2: to throw the high route. I mean, that's kind of
24:01
Speaker 2: why you call this.
24:03
Speaker 3: Yep.
24:03
Speaker 2: So you see the underneath defender. I think that's– is
24:08
Speaker 2: that Alante Taylor? Yes.
24:10
Speaker 1: It was Taylor.
24:10
Speaker 2: That's Alante Taylor because he played boundary corner in this game.
24:13
Speaker 2: So Alante Taylor, you know, you see him sort of
24:16
Speaker 2: squeeze down on, on month. Cause you know, you got
24:19
Speaker 2: to control Johnny Munn or else you're in trouble.
24:21
Speaker 1: You know, that's the first thing I thought is like,
24:23
Speaker 1: did he kick himself after that? Thinking they're not going to,
24:25
Speaker 1: and then you get, and then, and Hertz got hit.
24:28
Speaker 4: I mean, Hertz got hit as he threw it.
24:30
Speaker 2: He did. He got hit. And then it's also important
24:31
Speaker 2: for Wicks to make sure that he runs enough of
24:35
Speaker 2: a vertical stem. So that safety can't just, you know,
24:38
Speaker 2: squeeze down and drive down on him so quick, you know?
24:41
Speaker 1: Right.
24:41
Speaker 2: So this is just, And look, Hertz is already cocking
24:45
Speaker 2: his arm because you can't wait until he starts his break.
24:48
Speaker 2: You have to throw this ball as he begins, not
24:51
Speaker 2: wait until after the break.
24:53
Speaker 1: And by the way, he got clobbered by Jeffrey Simmons
24:55
Speaker 1: on the play. I mean, to stand in there, take
24:57
Speaker 1: that hit, and deliver it like that.
24:59
Speaker 3: I remember seeing the TV copy, Jeff, and I was like, wow,
25:01
Speaker 3: he got smoked and he delivered it.
25:03
Speaker 4: It's pretty tough.
25:04
Speaker 1: Fall is the season where everyone gets busier, more calls,
25:08
Speaker 1: more customers, more chances for something to slip through the cracks,
25:11
Speaker 1: and staying ahead means having the right system, not just
25:15
Speaker 1: working harder. That's why today's episode is brought to you
25:18
Speaker 1: by Quo, spelled Q-U-O, the business phone system built so
25:23
Speaker 1: you never miss a call. Quo is the number one
25:27
Speaker 1: rated business phone system on G2, trusted by over 90,000
25:31
Speaker 1: businesses who rely on it to stay reachable, and look
25:35
Speaker 1: professional every day. Money is on the line. Always say
25:39
Speaker 1: hello with Quo. Try Quo for free, plus get 20%
25:43
Speaker 1: off your first six months when you go to Quo.com
25:46
Speaker 1: slash birds. That's Q-U-O dot com slash birds. Football is
25:51
Speaker 1: finally back and PrizePix is bringing out their best offer yet.
25:55
Speaker 1: New users who sign up will get $ 150 in lineups
25:58
Speaker 1: if you win your first $ 5 lineup.
26:01
Speaker 2: That's right.
26:02
Speaker 1: If you win your first $ 5 lineup, you get $ 150
26:05
Speaker 1: in lineups. And now PrizePix is available nationwide. So what
26:10
Speaker 1: are you waiting for? Lock in for kickoff. Everyone and
26:13
Speaker 1: everything is on PrizePix. Okay, so what you on in
26:17
Speaker 1: this football season? I'll tell you what I'm all in on.
26:20
Speaker 1: The Bears offense. All right, you've already heard their head
26:23
Speaker 1: coach say he wants to score the most points in
26:27
Speaker 1: NFL history, and they have the personnel to do it.
26:30
Speaker 1: Go over, check out Luther Burden, wide receiver Luther Burden's
26:34
Speaker 1: receiving yards for the season. I pick more on his
26:37
Speaker 1: receiving yards, and I'm not even sweating it. You can
26:39
Speaker 1: thank me later. He's going to be the guy on
26:42
Speaker 1: that Bears offense. Trust me on that. PrizePix is going
26:45
Speaker 1: crazy with the deals to start the football season, giving
26:48
Speaker 1: users a new promo every day during stacked September. Make
26:53
Speaker 1: sure to sign up now for guaranteed picks every Sunday,
26:56
Speaker 1: along with profit boosts and daily discounts throughout the month. Plus,
27:00
Speaker 1: the app is simple to use. You just pick two
27:02
Speaker 1: to six players, then pick more or less on their
27:05
Speaker 1: projected stats, like pass yards or rush yards and touchdowns.
27:09
Speaker 1: It's the best way to get more locked in on
27:12
Speaker 1: game day. That's super fun. You can make all the
27:14
Speaker 1: picks you want across any sport all in the same app.
27:18
Speaker 1: Download the app today and use code BIRDS to get
27:22
Speaker 1: $ 150 instantly in lineups if you win your first $ 5 lineup. Remember,
27:27
Speaker 1: download the app today. Use code BIRDS to get $ 150
27:30
Speaker 1: instantly in lineups if you win your first $ 5 lineup.
27:34
Speaker 1: Prize picks run your game.
27:37
Speaker 2: So that's the basic concept that's in everybody's playbook, and
27:41
Speaker 2: it's one of those plays that you just hope to
27:42
Speaker 2: execute the right way because it's a two-man route. Yeah.
27:46
Speaker 1: This week for Robert Schell and his defense, Greg, is
27:48
Speaker 1: definitely going to be about how did we give up
27:50
Speaker 1: so many second and third and long, I don't want
27:53
Speaker 1: to say easy conversions. Obviously, we just saw the Hurts
27:55
Speaker 1: get clobbered, but they gave up a lot on unmanageable
27:59
Speaker 1: down and distances, and this is a 22-yarder, the touchdown
28:02
Speaker 1: to Devontae Smith on second and 19. So break this
28:05
Speaker 1: down for us.
28:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this was your classic Salah defense. I mean,
28:10
Speaker 2: the Eagles are an 11 personnel with three wide, two
28:14
Speaker 2: by two set. Titans do what they do under Salah.
28:16
Speaker 2: Four man D-line pass rush, cover two behind it. So
28:20
Speaker 2: what happens here is Hurts looked to his right, then
28:23
Speaker 2: came back left, then broke down reacting to Franklin Myers.
28:27
Speaker 2: you know, look in the TT stunt. I mean, that's
28:30
Speaker 2: what happens here. So this is one of those plays where,
28:32
Speaker 2: you know, he kind of felt that I got to
28:34
Speaker 2: get out of there. Because don't forget, he looked right,
28:36
Speaker 2: he looked left, and the internal clock goes off. I mean,
28:40
Speaker 2: that's the other thing. You reach a point where the
28:42
Speaker 2: internal clock goes off. You can't just sit there, you know,
28:44
Speaker 2: for five, six seconds. So the internal clock goes off.
28:48
Speaker 2: What I really liked about this play, but if you
28:51
Speaker 2: go back, can you go back, Jeff?
28:53
Speaker 4: Sure.
28:54
Speaker 2: See, when he looked right initially– what happened was is
28:59
Speaker 2: the cover two safety to that side, who's a money hooker.
29:03
Speaker 2: You see him jump down. Yeah. Can't do that. He,
29:07
Speaker 2: cause now he lost his coverage responsibility. Right. You know,
29:10
Speaker 2: he's a cover two player here. So what happens is
29:14
Speaker 2: when that happened and then hurts leaves the pocket, he's
29:16
Speaker 2: too low. So now as Smith runs across, he's in, Oh,
29:20
Speaker 2: you know what mode low. Uh-huh.
29:25
Speaker 1: And great job by Hertz to keep his eyes down
29:27
Speaker 1: the field.
29:28
Speaker 2: That's what he did really well here. He was very
29:30
Speaker 2: controlled in his movement. This was not random movement.
29:33
Speaker 3: Maintain this downfield focus is what coaches love when a
29:37
Speaker 3: pocket breaks down.
29:38
Speaker 4: Yeah.
29:38
Speaker 2: Yeah.
29:40
Speaker 1: Greg, we're going to look at a backside. I just,
29:42
Speaker 1: you know, again, this is a first and 17. Okay.
29:46
Speaker 2: Right.
29:46
Speaker 1: You guys get 20 yards here.
29:48
Speaker 2: Is this the Cooper play? It is. This I thought
29:52
Speaker 2: was really good. This I thought was really, really good. This,
29:56
Speaker 2: this is the Cooper 23 yard. All right.
29:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he had 20.
30:00
Speaker 2: Maybe 23.
30:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it was on first and 17.
30:02
Speaker 2: But this was first and 17. I thought this was
30:04
Speaker 2: really good pocket patience and poise. I thought he worked
30:07
Speaker 2: through his regression. He hit Cooper on the backside on
30:09
Speaker 2: the delayed shake, shallow crosser. This, to me, is just–
30:12
Speaker 2: this is what you want.
30:13
Speaker 5: By the way, I should point out, for as much
30:18
Speaker 5: grief as the O-line is taking, in all these second
30:22
Speaker 5: and third longs, outside the one where we saw Simmons
30:24
Speaker 5: get a hit, this protection is pretty good here.
30:28
Speaker 2: They were.
30:28
Speaker 1: Very good.
30:30
Speaker 2: See, I like it. He looks left. It's not there.
30:32
Speaker 2: You can see it's not there. There's no throw. Right.
30:35
Speaker 2: So now instead of leaving the pocket, he comes back
30:39
Speaker 2: and he hits, you know, Cooper ran kind of a
30:41
Speaker 2: delayed shake route. And this is beautiful. This is what
30:43
Speaker 2: you want.
30:44
Speaker 1: Adam, I froze it here. This is the play. And Greg,
30:48
Speaker 1: you too, we did inside the tape. This is the
30:50
Speaker 1: crosser where he's open and Hurts hits him across the
30:54
Speaker 1: middle at the numbers. There were a lot of times
30:56
Speaker 1: last year where this kind of play, he's hitting him
30:59
Speaker 1: way late outside the numbers and he's allowing the defense
31:01
Speaker 1: to come and make a tackle. This was, as Greg said,
31:04
Speaker 1: composed on time. It's beautiful. It's first and 17.
31:08
Speaker 2: You get a first down. This is really good.
31:10
Speaker 1: Because if you don't hit him then, he can't turn up.
31:13
Speaker 1: If you wait too late, he doesn't turn up the field.
31:15
Speaker 2: It's the timing of the play and the precision of
31:17
Speaker 2: the ball placement that allows for the run after catch.
31:20
Speaker 4: His ball location also has been pretty good the first
31:22
Speaker 4: two games.
31:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. All right, this is another Wicks play.
31:26
Speaker 1: This is now we're in the fourth quarter. This is
31:28
Speaker 1: the game-winning drive. To me, this is like the start
31:30
Speaker 1: of this is the game. We need to play. It's
31:32
Speaker 1: third and six.
31:33
Speaker 2: Well, and this time they went cover one. See, that's
31:36
Speaker 2: the thing. They played like the first. three or four
31:39
Speaker 2: snaps in, in, you know, zone. And this time they
31:43
Speaker 2: went cover one and they went with their first five
31:45
Speaker 2: man pressure. Right. So Hill was the fifth rusher. Wicks
31:49
Speaker 2: beat Harris on the outcut and Hertz made a really
31:51
Speaker 2: good throw. I mean, this is, you know, this is,
31:55
Speaker 2: you know, solid thinking, Hey, it's, I got to get
31:57
Speaker 2: to him. I got to change up. I got to
31:59
Speaker 2: give him a different look. I got to get there.
32:01
Speaker 2: I got, you know, I got to, I got to
32:03
Speaker 2: impact the quarterback. And in fact, They got a free rusher,
32:08
Speaker 2: but the timing of the play, you know, beat the
32:11
Speaker 2: free rusher. Yep.
32:14
Speaker 1: Nice play.
32:14
Speaker 2: Nice back shoulder. Good placement.
32:16
Speaker 4: That's trust, Jeff. That throw to Wicks is what they
32:19
Speaker 4: did in training camp on out routes.
32:21
Speaker 1: Right. And you saw him release the ball as the
32:24
Speaker 1: break is happening. Again, he's not waiting. He's releasing in time. Now,
32:28
Speaker 1: here's a beautiful one on second and four, I believe,
32:30
Speaker 1: to Devontae Smith for six yards. Again, this is set
32:35
Speaker 1: as was– I think they played one or two before
32:38
Speaker 1: the game-winning touchdown.
32:40
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is the out route.
32:43
Speaker 1: Look at that toe tap.
32:44
Speaker 2: That was incredible.
32:47
Speaker 1: Very nice out route. Nothing fancy about it too, Greg, right?
32:51
Speaker 1: I mean, it's– it is– is it a blitz?
32:55
Speaker 2: The big one he hit too was the last one
32:57
Speaker 2: to Smith when he threw to the left side. Yeah, 19.
33:01
Speaker 2: Is this it? This is it.
33:03
Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
33:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, again, they're playing a two-shell coverage. It's another basic
33:10
Speaker 2: kind of high-low concept. They're working into the boundary. It's high-low.
33:14
Speaker 1: By the way, I'm just going to re-point. You see
33:16
Speaker 1: the Titans stunt in the middle a lot this game
33:18
Speaker 1: because they were trying, and they did a good job.
33:20
Speaker 2: Of not letting Hurts. A lot of TT stunts, figuring
33:23
Speaker 2: that was the weakness.
33:24
Speaker 4: Right.
33:24
Speaker 1: You weren't going to let Hurts. You're going to clog
33:25
Speaker 1: the middle, not let Hurts run up.
33:28
Speaker 2: I mean, A.U. Simmons was a spy a couple times.
33:30
Speaker 1: It's crazy. Did you think that the Titans were just
33:35
Speaker 1: like a step slow defensively or just great timing by
33:39
Speaker 1: the Eagles?
33:41
Speaker 2: I mean, look, this is the way Sala plays. And
33:44
Speaker 2: I thought that, you know, look, I'm sure I certainly
33:47
Speaker 2: don't know all the coaching points that Sala and his
33:49
Speaker 2: staff will go over, you know, and have gone over already.
33:52
Speaker 2: So I can't, you know, I don't want to sit
33:54
Speaker 2: here and say that, you know, everything was perfect. Obviously
33:57
Speaker 2: they did not want this to happen. So something, You know,
34:02
Speaker 2: there's something in the execution, but stylistically and philosophically, he
34:08
Speaker 2: played the way that is his sort of MO, which
34:11
Speaker 2: is four-man D-line pass rush and the own concepts behind it.
34:14
Speaker 2: That's kind of who he is. Right.
34:17
Speaker 1: It felt to me, Greg, like watching that the last drive,
34:19
Speaker 1: that the Titans either need another killer in the pass rush,
34:23
Speaker 1: because if you're going to stunt Simmons, it takes them
34:25
Speaker 1: longer to get to the quarterback.
34:26
Speaker 2: Right, right, right.
34:27
Speaker 1: Or they just need some– tighter D-backs.
34:30
Speaker 2: Well, they don't really have an edge pass rusher. And
34:35
Speaker 2: don't forget, not that he's a great player, but he
34:37
Speaker 2: is a starter. Flott was inactive, and they played Micah Robinson,
34:40
Speaker 2: who actually I thought showed some toughness and competitiveness, but
34:44
Speaker 2: obviously he's a backup corner. Right.
34:46
Speaker 1: All right, let's diagnose the game-winning touchdown.
34:49
Speaker 2: They went zero, which you have to, and this is
34:52
Speaker 2: where the motion kills you. First, they went short burst
34:56
Speaker 2: motion outside, and then return motion, and They're playing man,
35:01
Speaker 2: but they got stuck here with the releases. And I
35:04
Speaker 2: don't know technically who they would say made the mistake,
35:07
Speaker 2: but there was a total miscommunication between, I guess, Harris
35:13
Speaker 2: and Micah Robinson.
35:15
Speaker 4: Devontae's fault here.
35:17
Speaker 2: I know.
35:19
Speaker 1: So you got two guys standing around a receiver on
35:22
Speaker 1: the ground.
35:25
Speaker 2: I don't know if they were supposed to stay with
35:26
Speaker 2: their original man or if they were supposed to switch.
35:29
Speaker 2: I don't know.
35:32
Speaker 1: But one of the sneaky things here is, as you mentioned,
35:36
Speaker 1: Hertz can tell that the overload of this blitz is
35:38
Speaker 1: coming to the left.
35:39
Speaker 2: So he slid away because he knew that couldn't be
35:42
Speaker 2: picked up because he knew that Barkley had to go
35:45
Speaker 2: inside with a double mug. So he knew that anything
35:47
Speaker 2: to his backside could not be picked up.
35:50
Speaker 1: That's Shipley. Shipley couldn't pick up all.
35:52
Speaker 2: Excuse me, Shipley, yeah.
35:55
Speaker 1: I think that made a difference. If he had stayed
35:57
Speaker 1: there and not moved, 33, is that 33? Is on
36:01
Speaker 1: top of him, but he moved to give himself the
36:03
Speaker 1: time for all that to happen.
36:06
Speaker 2: Great stuff. We know they're going to bust the coverage,
36:09
Speaker 2: but he still needed to give himself some space.
36:13
Speaker 1: Just really fantastic stuff. We'll see what happens next week,
36:17
Speaker 1: but A lot of positive results so far. Anytime you
36:20
Speaker 1: can get that many conversions, I think, and move the
36:22
Speaker 1: chains when you're in second and third and long almost
36:25
Speaker 1: all game is a feather.
36:26
Speaker 2: In the cap. And I hope the Eagles fans look.
36:30
Speaker 2: We all know that coaches will tell you how hard
36:32
Speaker 2: it is to win on Sundays. I just hope that
36:34
Speaker 2: fans don't think that, oh, the Commanders game was close.
36:37
Speaker 2: The Titans game was close and they stink. I hope
36:39
Speaker 2: they don't take it that way. These games are hard,
36:42
Speaker 2: you know. And the Titans, like I said, I thought
36:44
Speaker 2: they played as well as they played since Cam Ward's
36:47
Speaker 2: been there. You know, because don't forget, they just play–
36:50
Speaker 2: the Titans were playing a really high-level quality opponent. You know, so,
36:54
Speaker 2: you know, you can't just come away and go, something's
36:56
Speaker 2: wrong with the Eagles. They're not winning 30-10. You know,
36:58
Speaker 2: that's– it doesn't always work like that in this league.
37:02
Speaker 2: For sure. I mean, that was– look, say what you
37:04
Speaker 2: want about those throws at the end and about, you know,
37:07
Speaker 2: how Robert Sala chose to play it, but that's big-time quarterbacking.
37:10
Speaker 2: They had a minute 56 and no timeouts.
37:13
Speaker 4: Yeah.
37:13
Speaker 2: That's big time quarterbacking. I agree. All right.
37:16
Speaker 1: On the next episode, we're going to do the Eagles defense.
37:19
Speaker 2: All right.
37:19
Speaker 1: That'll do it for this episode of inside the birds.
37:22
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Inside the tape on inside the birds for
37:24
Speaker 1: Greg Cosell and Adam Kaplan. I'm Jeff Mosher. We'll catch
37:27
Speaker 1: you on the next one.