Latest / Unicorn Football Talk / Reaction: Hard Knocks Ep 2 and Training Camp News
Transcript
- Emily: Hey Hillary, how are you today? Hilary: Great, Emily. How are you? Emily: Great. We are jumping on to talk about Hard Knocks episode two and reacting to training camp stories that are going on right now. Hilary: Okay, looking forward to talking about that. Emily: what's going on in training camps around the NFL. let's start with something that caught my eye. Kyler Murray named the starter in Minnesota. I don't think I'm surprised by that, but I was a little surprised that he was named the starter this early. What about you? Hilary: I'm not at all surprised, as we said in our prior discussions, we kind of thought this was Kyler Murray's job to prove it or lose. And I think it's actually a great choice by the Vikings to make the announcement now. It settles the controversy. It allows the offense to move forward with who's in group one leading the plays during the week. It gives JJ McCarthy a little bit of time to work with group two. two and get his feet under him. And I I don't see a negative to making the announcement at this point. Emily: No, I agree. I mean, I think they knew, so might as well make the amount and move on. I also wonder whether there's any chance they would try to trade J J McCarthy and doing it earlier maybe some gives some teams some thoughts about using him. also preseason's about to start up. I will say I don't personally have a lot of interest in preseason games, but I always do think it's interesting to see what teams decide to play their starting quarterbacks or not. I saw Joe Burrow might take some snaps in the preseason game, which surprised me. And Jacoby Brissett would, but that does not surprise me. Hilary: Jacoby doesn't surprise me at all. He needs the practice. He needs the time. I think that will help the Cardinals kind of gel on their offense. Joe Burrow surprises me a little bit. That's not normal for him. But then I also, based on comments I made in a prior podcast about the Bengals are shaking up their offensive play calling this season, that maybe it's good to take a few snaps under center and see what happens in a not high stakes situation of an actual game. Emily: I just I just get nervous every time I see starters take the field, whether it's the quarterback or any position, because I just hate seeing injuries at this time of year. Which brings us to one that you pointed out to me. We have an update on Kobe Bryant, right? Hilary: We do, Kobe Bryant is undergoing surgery, four to six month recovery on that. So sadly, he's pretty much gone for the season as far as I see it. Emily: I feel so bad for him that's that's really a shame. Sorry to see that. Hilary: yeah, and I guess one more thing on the pre while we're on the preseason injury thing, I did see that Coach Shanahan announced that he was planning to be there to coach for the forty niners for the preseason opener against the Titans and that is coming up Thursday. Emily: Wow, it'll be interesting to see how he does. I was hearing a reading interview that he did about how it's been really hard to adjust back to like the noise at training camp. coming back from his concussion has been tough. Hilary: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Emily: also for me, I am on Aaron Donald watch. How about you? Hilary: you know, I'm really interested in that story, and there was a lot of hype about him trying out with the Rams and having some practices and that kind of stuff. And I expected the announcement to come really soon. And still, as far as I know, as of this recording, nothing. So yeah, I'm waiting. I'm waiting and watching. Emily: Waiting too. I think they're just trying to torture us Seahawks fans. I was listening to one of my favorite sports radio people this morning, and this was his take on it, which was different than what other people were saying. I think most people were thinking he was coming back because Miles Garrett's there, obviously, and like great chance for a Super Bowl. They are the favorites. This was somebody else's take that he would have come back last year if he wanted to win a Super Bowl because they were also in really good shape from a Super Bowl perspective. But the one thing, if he comes back to play, this might be the first time in his career where he can't be double teamed. Just think about that. He's been double and triple teamed his whole career. And he's probably thinking, what could I do if I wasn't double teamed? Hilary: Wow, that's a cool take. I had not even thought of that. Emily: I hadn't either. So again, not credit to me, but thought that was an interesting take. what else are you watching? Hilary: I'm watching a little bit with the Tony Romo situation. At this point, from what I've read, CBS has been unwilling to comment on his timeline for return. And I think that uncertainty probably plays out a little bit across the network of how who how and who they're gonna broadcast in the games and and who's gonna fill his slot if he's not there. I'm not sure that I have a positive or negative feeling on it, but CBS's unwillingness to comment does strike me as they're teep taking a deep look at it before committing. Emily: Yeah, I saw a take on this. It was maybe like a week ago or when it was a little bit more fresh. Romo was doing so well when he first started doing this. Everybody loved him. And like more recently, he hasn't been doing quite as well, or people have been kind of making fun of some of his comments. seems like he's like his luster is not quite there like it used to be, and that this is an opportunity. potentially for CBS to get out of something that they probably were interested in getting out of anyway. But we're not on the inside. We have no idea. Hilary: Separate from Tony Romo, that is an interesting comment about broadcasters in general, in that what is perceived as a good broadcast booth or a good pairing of personalities in the booth is changing over time. And I think that those who are in that industry have to kind of keep evolving their style and their reach to their audience to stay relevant on top of the game, maybe bring a little different energy over time and Perhaps that's what people are vibing on Romo is that his presentation today is the same as when he started. Not sure. Emily: Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right. all right, I got one more thing that caught my eye and then I'll open it up to you just to wrap up on anything else you've got. this isn't really training camp related, but you you and I haven't talked about the new owner of the Seahawks. And one thing I saw he had a comment this week on grass versus turf. Did you see that? Hilary: I saw it but I didn't read it in depth. What was the comment? Emily: Yeah, because we talked about grass and turf, I thought we'd definitely want to, mention this. I think I have some nervousness about a new owner given the quality of ownership we've had in the past and like bad owners can really mess up franchises. But this was a really encouraging comment from the new owner. so he was being asked, or maybe it was on Twitter, someone tagged him on Twitter saying, What about grass? And he wrote back, I'd defer to the people at the Seahawks who know better than me, the team that got us the Super Bowl. And so I loved that as somebody who's nervous about a new owner coming in. We don't want them to mess it up. And I thought that was encouraging. Hilary: I like that. I hadn't heard that. That's great news for Seahawks fans. Let's get some grass Emily: Yeah, I mean Hilary: in Lumen Field. That would be amazing. Emily: Yeah, number one, they might be open to grass, which would be great because we know that players prefer it. And second, he's he said it wasn't really his call, which, you know, isn't technically true, but I like that he said it. Hilary: I like that too. So I got a couple things that caught my eye this week. And the first has to do with the Eagles training camp and the new O.C. Sean Mannion. is shaking things up. He spent the last two years in Green Bay. And as a side note, he does come from the Shanahan McVay coaching tree. But the Eagles are trying some new stuff. There's some more under center plays, there's some more motion. the defense is making comments that Jalen Hurts look faster than ever. their offense is leaning into some play action and a wide zone blocking scheme. apparently Hurts and the O-line are on board. And last season, Hurts was the last in drop back rate from under center and almost the last in motion. So he's really used to working from the shotgun. And this is a lot of work for him in the offseason to prep for this new system, work on his footwork, work on. Resetting his timing and rhythm, things like that. I'm excited to see what comes of those changes. I think it might actually make him even more productive as a quarterback if it works out. So that's one thing that caught my eye. The other thing that caught my eye was news coming out of the Washington Commanders training camp. And that is that Laramie Tunsil suffered a season-ending injury. for people who don't know, he is their left. Tackle. He's considered one of the very, very best in the business. He's a five-time Pro Bowler. He's a huge contributor in the locker room as a leader and a mentor. He was signed last year to a two-year extension, which is a 61 and a half million guaranteed money. So he's the first lineman to get a contract averaging more than 30 million per season. This is just a huge blow to their offense. The commanders have gone ahead and named Brandon Coleman as the replacement. He's going to move over from the left guard, and he does have some experience at the position, but this is really not ideal. Dan Quinn has stated that they're not going to look for outside help. they're gonna use internal options, but really not good news, unfortunately, as we've talked about that injuries are always a painful thing in the preseason before the teams even get going. On the plus side for the commanders, they did sign Stefan Diggs to a one year deal, which adds a weapon for them to compliment Terry McLaren and we'll see what happens there. Emily: Yeah, hate to see these injuries. I really do from the big from the big players. but yeah, it was fun to hear you talk about the Eagles. I I love this time of year where you just don't know what's gonna happen and we're looking for clues, but we'll we'll see once the season gets going. Hilary: Yeah, season's coming up. Preseason week one this week. Emily: That's right. That's right. Okay. Well, thank you for talking training camp updates with me today. Look we'll chat more reaction next week. All right, let's move on and talk a little hard knocks episode two. Hilary: Sounds good. Emily: I've been enjoying Hard Knocks seeing our team in ways I've never seen them before. But I will start by saying this episode wasn't as interesting or as much fun as the first episode. How did you feel? Hilary: This episode didn't resonate with me as well either, and I don't quite know how to put a finger on it, but it almost felt like the players were more aware of the presence of the cameras this week. And so things were a little more scripted or a little more perhaps cautious with their words or the way they were looking or not looking in certain directions. I can't identify it exactly, but I didn't get the same spontaneous vibe from this week as I did as from week one. Emily: Yeah, same. but I liked they started off. Coach was fiery, really fiery when Derek Hall was getting a little too close to Sam Darnold. And we didn't see that last week. We saw just all calm from him last week, but he was pretty pissed. Hilary: Yeah, I agree. I I like to see that side of him a little bit of spunk. Emily: Yeah. we also saw Eamon Wari make some progress. And of course, this is all delayed by like a weekish, you know, like so I think he's even progressed further from this episode. we saw him do some rehab, right? Hilary: Yeah, that was really cool. Walking underwater in the plunge pool. How do I get one of those? Emily: Yeah. They have world class people taking care of these players, that is for sure. And world class facilities. Hilary: Yeah, I do agree that once again the V Mac training center facilities just looked fabulous. The sun shining, the water, the cool visuals of the inside of the facility that most of us regular fans don't get to see very often. And even in the grounds maintenance and everything, that green grass was cool. Emily: Yeah, d you see the little machine that came out to paint the line before, like on its own? Hilary: Did see that. Who knew? Emily: I didn't know that. That was really cool. Something I didn't know about before. all right. Also standing out for me, JSN. there the coach was talking about how he's always looking to be challenged. So that was really encouraging. Maybe he can even get better. Hilary: I think there's always room for a little bit of improvement. And I do think it was really ironic that in the segment prior, the coach was on the sidelines of the field talking about what a great guy JSN is and how they never argue. And then they show the two of them kind of going at it in the office. Emily: Yeah. Hilary: And he makes the comment of, God, they're probably filming this, right? And then there it all was in the show. So that was really kind of funny. Emily: Yeah, it was. Hilary: I enjoyed that. Emily: I really enjoy those moments of showing just like like a coach and the player talking or whatever. so they spent quite a bit of time talking about Sam Darnold's spin rate. And while I found that l segment interesting, he apparently has this elite, elite spin rate, and they talked about why that's important on the ball. It was just went a little bit long. Like there was like that one like one minute. It felt like a minute where they were just like following the ball slow mo in the air. So I'm like, Hilary: It felt like forever. Emily: it did. I was like, this is still going. It's still going. Why is this still going? But it was interesting Hilary: I found it interesting I guess the spin rate is faster into that sweet spot than is average. And I thought it was cool the comments from Cooper Cup about obviously he's been during his career receiving from some very, very talented quarterbacks, in let's see, Jared Goff and you know, that Emily: Matt Stafford. Hilary: I was gonna say that guy we won't who shouldn't be named down there Emily: Okay, all right, sorry, I named him. Hilary: anyway. He's obviously, you know, been catching some balls from from elite quarterbacks. And for him to call out Sam as being able to just put that touch on there and lay it in in a receiver friendly way was an interesting insight for me as well. Emily: Yeah, there were a lot of kudos for Sam in that episode. It kind of got me excited about the offense this year. I was expecting to just be excited to see the defense again, but I'm looking forward to see Sam in year two. Hilary: Me too. I think part of that is that he's just really settled in this year. There's no unknowns. He knows he's the starter. He knows he has the trust of the guys in the locker room. He knows most of the playbook. Obviously, there's some new things with the new offensive coordinator. But I just I think he's starting from a really solid base. And so he's got great potential to go above what we already know is a good threshold. Emily: Yeah, and the other thing that caught my eye always great to see Marshawn Lynch show up. he's gotta be one of my favorite Seahawks of all time. He is just one of the most genuinely funny people and it just charming. So I loved seeing him on the sideline with the Madden talk. Hilary: So is that for real? Does he really do that for Madden or was that all kind Emily: There's no way. Hilary: of like a spoof? I'm like, What dude, you got a Madden vest and you're you're analyzing for the video game? Really? Emily: I mean, yeah, he had his little clipboard and he was taking notes and I'm like, There's no way that Marshawn just gets to say, you gotta up this guy's number, right? Like, I don't know. Hilary: Right. Emily: We should look into that and get back next week. Hilary: It was fun to see him and it was fun to see him passing the love around among players and coaches and people he obviously has main contact maintained contact with. That's cool. Emily: Is there anything else that caught your eye on this episode? Hilary: Well I think it's cool, but I don't get it. The whole shadow boxing thing, I they Emily: right. Hilary: spent a long time on that and it's obviously a past the time competitive game slash culture slash thing, but I didn't quite understand it. So you got any insight on that? Emily: No, it was really cool to watch. And they explained it and I still didn't quite get it. But they all seemed really good at it. So, That was just it was just interesting to watch. I had no idea. Hilary: I look Emily: That was like brand new information for me. Hilary: Yeah. And I did love the player comment. I forget which player it was, who said it was really a great icebreaker for them that it caused interaction between people of different position groups who might not otherwise really spend very much time together. And I'm leaving it with Coach McDonald's basic explanation that it's rock, paper, scissors on steroids. I'm just going with that. I can understand that. Emily: All right, anything else for episode two? Hilary: No, I think it was a great episode. I think the Seahawks are shining. I think that Hard Knox does a great job of putting together the show in a pretty timely manner from the footage from the week before. And I'm looking forward to week three. Emily: me too. We'll we'll do this next week. Hilary: Okay, see ya soon, Emily.