Latest / Football Doesn't Lie / Football Doesn't Lie: Building a roster and Replacing Players
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: Hey everyone, welcome back to Football Doesn't Lie. I'm Catherine Zazzora,
- 0:12Speaker 1: joined by Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells. How are
- 0:15Speaker 1: we doing this week, Bill?
- 0:16Speaker 2: We're doing very well, Catherine. Are you ready to rock
- 0:18Speaker 2: this morning?
- 0:19Speaker 1: Rock and roll.
- 0:20Speaker 2: Let's do it.
- 0:21Speaker 1: Bill, before we get into it though, I want to
- 0:23Speaker 1: remind everyone that every Thursday we're here talking about football
- 0:27Speaker 1: with one of the best to ever do it. So
- 0:29Speaker 1: if you want to learn more about the game, hear
- 0:31Speaker 1: Bill's perspective, and get the kind of insight you're not
- 0:34Speaker 1: going to get anywhere else, hit subscribe and make sure
- 0:36Speaker 1: you're with us every Thursday. Now let's jump in. One
- 0:40Speaker 1: of the big storylines, the Chiefs versus the Raiders. Now,
- 0:45Speaker 1: what a game. They go back to the AFL, right?
- 0:48Speaker 1: They've been rivals since 1960. And what a back and forth.
- 0:52Speaker 1: Like the Chiefs came out on top and the Mahomes
- 0:55Speaker 1: versus Cousins duel.
- 0:56Speaker 2: Listen, that's one of the great rivalries in the history
- 1:00Speaker 2: of football. The American Football League started in 1960. That
- 1:05Speaker 2: was well after the National Football League had started. And
- 1:10Speaker 2: these two teams were very prominent figures in the AFL.
- 1:15Speaker 2: And they've been rivals for 60 years. And the games
- 1:18Speaker 2: were always the same. Very exciting. And I know I
- 1:23Speaker 2: watch with great interest. And the Chiefs have a tremendous
- 1:27Speaker 2: coach in Andy Reid. He always has his team ready.
- 1:31Speaker 2: And the Raiders over the years may even have, and
- 1:34Speaker 2: I don't know this for a fact, an edge over
- 1:36Speaker 2: the Chiefs because the Raiders generally have been a little
- 1:40Speaker 2: more consistent over a period of 60 years than the Chiefs.
- 1:44Speaker 2: So primarily because they had some very, very good quarterbacks,
- 1:49Speaker 2: the Raiders, over the years. They have.
- 1:51Speaker 1: And it was actually funny you say quarterbacks. I was
- 1:53Speaker 1: watching the quarterback special show on Netflix. And in the
- 1:58Speaker 1: first season, when we started this, right, I wanted to
- 2:01Speaker 1: learn more about football and Mahomes and Cousins were both
- 2:04Speaker 1: in the first episode. So it was really nice to
- 2:06Speaker 1: see their personal life. And now watching them last or
- 2:10Speaker 1: this past weekend was just amazing. I think more intense
- 2:14Speaker 1: for me, but they both performed so well.
- 2:16Speaker 2: Yeah, they're both very good quarterbacks. Mahomes, arguably the best
- 2:20Speaker 2: guy going right now. And what maybe some of our
- 2:24Speaker 2: audience doesn't know is Mahomes grew up in a professional
- 2:28Speaker 2: sports family. His father, Pat Mahomes, was a pitcher. In
- 2:32Speaker 2: Major League Baseball. So this young guy sitting at the
- 2:35Speaker 2: breakfast table was always hearing about sports. His father was pitching.
- 2:39Speaker 2: His father's traveling on the road 80 days a year
- 2:43Speaker 2: to compete for his team. And he grew up with
- 2:46Speaker 2: professional sports in his life. And it's ironic that he
- 2:50Speaker 2: took the same path. Just a different sport. They say
- 2:53Speaker 2: he was a very good baseball player, too, but he
- 2:55Speaker 2: chose football.
- 2:56Speaker 1: Just like you, from baseball to football.
- 2:58Speaker 2: Well, he was probably better than me, but you're right,
- 3:02Speaker 2: from baseball to football.
- 3:03Speaker 1: Do you think that gives him an edge, though, having
- 3:06Speaker 1: been raised with the professional sports?
- 3:09Speaker 2: Sure. I mean, when you're hearing about it every day
- 3:13Speaker 2: at the breakfast table, at the dinner table— You're living
- 3:17Speaker 2: the life that your father's living. You just it's just
- 3:20Speaker 2: an osmotic process. You just start to absorb what's going
- 3:24Speaker 2: on in professional sports. And he's been doing it since
- 3:27Speaker 2: he's a very young man. And it's my understanding that
- 3:30Speaker 2: he was a very good baseball player as well. But
- 3:32Speaker 2: he chose football, ironically.
- 3:34Speaker 1: So last week you were saying that you're the 85 Bears.
- 3:38Speaker 1: You knew right off the bat that they were going
- 3:40Speaker 1: to make it. Do you think that the Chiefs are
- 3:42Speaker 1: kind of heading in that same direction or is it
- 3:44Speaker 1: too early to tell?
- 3:46Speaker 2: Well, we're only a quarter away to the season, but
- 3:49Speaker 2: the Chiefs have an outstanding coach in Andy Reid. They've
- 3:53Speaker 2: been a contender for a while now. They're very, very consistent.
- 3:57Speaker 2: And this is not a team you can ever underestimate
- 4:01Speaker 2: because he's had them in contention for a It's a
- 4:11Speaker 2: little early to say conclusively. You know, I told you, Catherine,
- 4:15Speaker 2: I'm a Thanksgiving Day guy. Let's get to Thanksgiving before
- 4:19Speaker 2: we start making any declarative statements. But it looks like
- 4:23Speaker 2: the Chiefs are on their way, and they certainly are.
- 4:25Speaker 2: That was a big win for them. And the Raiders
- 4:28Speaker 2: are much improved.
- 4:29Speaker 1: They are. So actually, the Raiders, they already have as
- 4:32Speaker 1: many wins this season as they did all of last year.
- 4:36Speaker 1: So I want to know, is there such a thing
- 4:38Speaker 1: as like a moral victory thing? in the NFL after
- 4:40Speaker 1: a loss like this?
- 4:42Speaker 2: Well, I don't know that. No, there's not. It's just
- 4:47Speaker 2: wins and losses are the bottom line. But you can
- 4:52Speaker 2: benefit from a loss if your team gains an understanding
- 4:58Speaker 2: of the things that you have to improve on. to
- 5:01Speaker 2: allow you to be more successful, a loss can be
- 5:06Speaker 2: illustrated to them by the coach. He can sit there
- 5:09Speaker 2: and say, okay, fellas, we're not that far away. We
- 5:13Speaker 2: can be competitive. We can do this. But here's what
- 5:17Speaker 2: we have to correct. So let's put our focus on
- 5:20Speaker 2: that primarily. Let's eliminate the things, if we can, that
- 5:26Speaker 2: are causing us to lose these games.
- 5:29Speaker 1: What are they looking at the film for? on Monday
- 5:32Speaker 1: morning after a loss like that?
- 5:36Speaker 2: Well, a loss is a loss. It only counts one time.
- 5:39Speaker 2: There's a lot of games left to play. It's the
- 5:42Speaker 2: teams that can continue to improve, and I keep repeating myself,
- 5:46Speaker 2: and eliminate the things that are causing them to lose.
- 5:49Speaker 2: If they can just rectify, then they get back and
- 5:52Speaker 2: be an actual contender. Now, I'm not worried about the
- 5:56Speaker 2: Chiefs being a contender. They're definitely going to be a contender. And,
- 6:00Speaker 2: you know, they're off to a great start and things.
- 6:02Speaker 2: But the Raiders are surprisingly effective.
- 6:06Speaker 1: They are this year.
- 6:07Speaker 2: Even that, you said moral victory. No, but the Raiders
- 6:13Speaker 2: should benefit from the fact that they are very competitive
- 6:18Speaker 2: with the very best team, the Chiefs, in their division.
- 6:22Speaker 2: So it's not like they don't have a chance to
- 6:24Speaker 2: beat them. They proved to themselves that they had a chance.
- 6:28Speaker 2: And maybe the next time around it will be different.
- 6:31Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel that's encouraging. Another really good game was
- 6:36Speaker 1: the Vikings, and they remain undefeated. But they have an
- 6:40Speaker 1: orthodox coaching from their defense, right? Brian Flores, their defense coordinator,
- 6:45Speaker 1: has them blitzing 72% of the time. Like the next
- 6:49Speaker 1: closest team is the Commanders. I think they're at 46%.
- 6:54Speaker 1: I just want to know, what is it like living
- 6:58Speaker 1: on that much of an extreme in the NFL? Like
- 7:01Speaker 1: that just seems like a high percentage to me.
- 7:03Speaker 2: Well, it is an extremely high percentage. As a matter
- 7:06Speaker 2: of fact, it's an inordinate high percentage. Yeah. But, you know,
- 7:10Speaker 2: we have a saying in football, Catherine, you live with
- 7:15Speaker 2: the blitz, some days you're going to die with the blitz.
- 7:20Speaker 1: Are you foreshadowing?
- 7:22Speaker 2: When you run a high-risk defense like that, you know,
- 7:25Speaker 2: teams start to get aware of it and prepare for it,
- 7:29Speaker 2: and they learn how to do things to counter it. blitzes.
- 7:33Speaker 2: So sustained excellence with a 70% blitz scheme would be
- 7:40Speaker 2: very unusual. I'm not saying it can't happen because I've
- 7:44Speaker 2: seen a lot of strange things in football. But right now,
- 7:47Speaker 2: I'd be trying to get a little more balance than
- 7:53Speaker 2: what they're currently using.
- 7:55Speaker 1: Actually, that brings up a good point. I want to
- 7:57Speaker 1: jump to the Cowboys versus the Texans because talking about
- 8:03Speaker 1: something that kept on happening that could have been stopped
- 8:06Speaker 1: and didn't. C.D. Lamb caught 17 balls, right? That was
- 8:11Speaker 1: a wild game to me. Is that an incredible performance
- 8:15Speaker 1: by a receiver, or does it just tell you something
- 8:18Speaker 1: about the way that the defense was playing him?
- 8:21Speaker 2: Well, you know, that's another excellent question. It was an
- 8:24Speaker 2: incredible performance, but don't forget, somebody was allowing him to
- 8:30Speaker 2: continue to do that, so... When the game starts and
- 8:33Speaker 2: you can see that C.D. Lamb was a focal point
- 8:37Speaker 2: of their offense, defensively, normally, we'll try to make some adjustments. Now,
- 8:42Speaker 2: the way you do that in football is if you're
- 8:44Speaker 2: playing zone, you try to roll into the side that
- 8:48Speaker 2: Lamb was playing on and disrupt his entry into the pattern,
- 8:53Speaker 2: jamming him, harassing him, trying to keep him from gaining
- 8:57Speaker 2: entry into the pattern. That's one way, zone defense. The
- 9:02Speaker 2: second way is man-to-man, okay? We're not leaving him one-on-one
- 9:07Speaker 2: if I'm coaching. There's going to be two-on-one. And I
- 9:13Speaker 2: actually have a funny story. Back in the day, NFC East,
- 9:18Speaker 2: the Cardinals had a very, very speedy wide receiver, much
- 9:24Speaker 2: like Lamb, and his name was Roy Green. And we
- 9:27Speaker 2: played each other so much we knew each other. And
- 9:30Speaker 2: once in a while in warm-ups.
- 9:32Speaker 1: I remember this story.
- 9:33Speaker 2: Yeah, he would come over to me in warm-ups and
- 9:35Speaker 2: he would say, hey, Bill. What do you got for
- 9:37Speaker 2: me today? I said, well, I got a lot of
- 9:39Speaker 2: bad news for you, Roy. I said, if we're running zone,
- 9:42Speaker 2: we're going to run into you and we're going to
- 9:44Speaker 2: disrupt the entry into the pattern. And if we're running
- 9:47Speaker 2: man to man, we're going to put two guys on you.
- 9:49Speaker 2: I said, you might as well take the rest of
- 9:51Speaker 2: the day off because you're not doing much. He'd say,
- 9:54Speaker 2: come on, Bill, give me a break once in a while.
- 9:56Speaker 2: It was funny.
- 9:57Speaker 1: But it's great that you, you know, that was... your mentality.
- 10:01Speaker 1: But the Texans had coach Ryans. What do you think
- 10:05Speaker 1: stopped him? Do you think he was just so focused
- 10:07Speaker 1: on a play he just wanted to play and that's
- 10:09Speaker 1: why this kept happening? How do you not see that
- 10:12Speaker 1: you need to double up on someone like C.D.
- 10:15Speaker 2: Lamb? You know. I'm not in their defensive strategy, Catherine,
- 10:20Speaker 2: but that would be the same question that I would
- 10:24Speaker 2: ask the coaches if I was in a position of authority.
- 10:28Speaker 2: I'd say, hey, how can we let this guy run
- 10:30Speaker 2: loose like that the whole game? We can't do it.
- 10:33Speaker 2: We've got to adjust. We've got to do something to
- 10:36Speaker 2: negate their assets. And quite obviously, he was the focal
- 10:39Speaker 2: point in that game, and they never really did anything
- 10:43Speaker 2: about it. And as a result, you saw what happened.
- 11:04Speaker 1: I remember last week we talked about the head coach
- 11:08Speaker 1: at the Green Bay Packers, Matt LaFleur, and they're saying that,
- 11:12Speaker 1: you know, his job might be on the line. I'm
- 11:15Speaker 1: not saying that D'Amico Ryan's on the same playing field
- 11:19Speaker 1: right now, but when do owners and organizations start shopping
- 11:24Speaker 1: around when something, obviously we'll see what keeps going and
- 11:27Speaker 1: what keeps happening and this is a, a pattern, but
- 11:30Speaker 1: if it is, and they start chopping around, when, when
- 11:32Speaker 1: do they start doing that? Do they wait a little
- 11:34Speaker 1: later on in the season? Do they kind of, what
- 11:36Speaker 1: indicates that?
- 11:37Speaker 2: Normally they're going to give more time than four games,
- 11:41Speaker 2: but still, you know, if you start to see patterns in,
- 11:45Speaker 2: in inefficiency on the part of your franchise and things
- 11:50Speaker 2: not going the way you, everybody in the building wants
- 11:53Speaker 2: them to go, then you have to kind of alter
- 11:55Speaker 2: some things. And that, That display that Lam put on
- 12:01Speaker 2: the other day was pretty amazing.
- 12:05Speaker 1: It really was. Do you think that owners, and this
- 12:08Speaker 1: is just my morbid curiosity, call it, do owners and
- 12:12Speaker 1: organizations sometimes talk about shopping around for head coaches to
- 12:17Speaker 1: put the fear into the head coach and not actually
- 12:19Speaker 1: want to? Do you think there's a little psychology behind that?
- 12:23Speaker 2: No, I really don't think that. I think they evaluate
- 12:26Speaker 2: the situation as they perceive it to be. And they're
- 12:30Speaker 2: hopeful at this time of year that things can change,
- 12:33Speaker 2: teams can improve, and that can certainly happen. And what
- 12:37Speaker 2: looks like now to be the course can be altered
- 12:40Speaker 2: and your team can improve and get better and hopefully
- 12:43Speaker 2: start winning some games. This is a little early to be. Now,
- 12:48Speaker 2: I'm prejudiced. You know, I was a coach, so I'm
- 12:50Speaker 2: a little protective of coaches. But they need more than
- 12:53Speaker 2: four weeks in the season to determine their fate.
- 12:56Speaker 1: But this happened to you when you were with the Patriots, right?
- 12:59Speaker 1: Robert Kraft kind of started looking around and you ended
- 13:01Speaker 1: up staying and it was great. It worked out. Water
- 13:03Speaker 1: under the bridge. How far into the season did that
- 13:05Speaker 1: happen to you? No, no, I don't know.
- 13:09Speaker 2: I can't recall how far into the season, but he
- 13:12Speaker 2: was a new owner, inexperienced. I'm a veteran coach. I
- 13:17Speaker 2: could have done things a lot better to cultivate a
- 13:20Speaker 2: better relationship. and less contentious relationship with Mr. Crab. Now,
- 13:26Speaker 2: since that time, we've laughed about it, we've talked about it,
- 13:29Speaker 2: and we're very friendly about it. It's just, I'm experienced
- 13:34Speaker 2: at the time, he's inexperienced. And really, I don't have
- 13:38Speaker 2: time to stop and talk to him about every single
- 13:41Speaker 2: thing that's going on in the organization. And sometimes that
- 13:46Speaker 2: makes it difficult for a relationship because he's new, he
- 13:50Speaker 2: wants to know, and he deserves an explanation. I should
- 13:54Speaker 2: have done a better job in cultivating that relationship.
- 13:58Speaker 1: Noted. Is that something, how actually, how much do owners
- 14:05Speaker 1: get involved? Because it sounds like he was new, so
- 14:08Speaker 1: he wanted to learn more. Is that something that owners do?
- 14:11Speaker 1: Do they try to get involved with the head coach
- 14:12Speaker 1: and more of it, or do they kind of What's
- 14:15Speaker 1: the average? Do they let them just.
- 14:16Speaker 2: Do their own thing? In that particular case, he was
- 14:18Speaker 2: a new owner. He hadn't had any experience. Now, since then,
- 14:22Speaker 2: he's had many years' experience, so he reacts differently now
- 14:26Speaker 2: than he did when he was in his first year.
- 14:28Speaker 2: But the owners are interested. It's their team. They want
- 14:32Speaker 2: to be successful. And if things aren't going in the
- 14:35Speaker 2: manner that they like, then they're going to start asking questions.
- 14:39Speaker 2: But shopping around and doing those kind of things this
- 14:43Speaker 2: early in the season... is usually just an exercise in
- 14:46Speaker 2: futility because you still have time, you have a lot
- 14:50Speaker 2: of games left, you can improve your team and what
- 14:54Speaker 2: looks to be the circumstances now can be altered and
- 14:58Speaker 2: a different course can be taken and your team can
- 15:00Speaker 2: improve and get in contention and get in the playoffs
- 15:04Speaker 2: and actually win a championship. And it's possible, I know,
- 15:08Speaker 2: I lived it.
- 15:09Speaker 1: You sure did. No, we did mention psychology Something you
- 15:14Speaker 1: told me about not too long ago and I was
- 15:16Speaker 1: really intrigued that I've never heard before is the psychology
- 15:18Speaker 1: of results because everybody believes you're winning or losing because
- 15:22Speaker 1: we mention that all the time.
- 15:22Speaker 2: That's only two results.
- 15:24Speaker 1: Exactly.
- 15:25Speaker 2: There's two more results, Catherine. You play good and you win.
- 15:29Speaker 2: Very satisfied. And the coach now has to fight what
- 15:33Speaker 2: we call the fat cat syndrome. Oh, the players are
- 15:36Speaker 2: feeling good about themselves. Everybody's feeling good. And they might
- 15:40Speaker 2: have an over-inflated opinion of what their real ability is. Now,
- 15:45Speaker 2: the second part of that is you play very good,
- 15:48Speaker 2: but you lose. Yeah. Gosh almighty. We gave it our
- 15:53Speaker 2: best shot, and we still couldn't beat those guys. All right?
- 15:58Speaker 2: That's another set that the coach has to deal with. Now,
- 16:02Speaker 2: the third one is... You play badly, but you win. Yeah. Oh,
- 16:09Speaker 2: look at us. We didn't even play good and we
- 16:11Speaker 2: still beat those guys. We must be something special. And
- 16:15Speaker 2: then the last one is a sense of despair. You
- 16:18Speaker 2: play very poorly and you lose. All right. Can we
- 16:22Speaker 2: ever win a game? Are we going to ever? Are
- 16:24Speaker 2: we just going to be mediocre or are we going
- 16:26Speaker 2: to be one of the bottom rung teams? And A
- 16:30Speaker 2: coach and the organization has to deal with the results.
- 16:34Speaker 2: And there are four of them, not just two of them.
- 16:37Speaker 2: There are four of them because you can play poorly
- 16:41Speaker 2: and win sometimes. And that gives you a little false
- 16:45Speaker 2: sense of security. Look at us. We didn't even play
- 16:47Speaker 2: good and we still beat them. Yeah.
- 16:50Speaker 1: And you come in next week all hyped up and like, oh, wait,
- 16:52Speaker 1: that might have been a fluke. Yeah.
- 16:55Speaker 2: But the psychology of results, you know, a close friend
- 16:58Speaker 2: of mine, People pretty aware of this relationship was a
- 17:02Speaker 2: very bright guy, a basketball coach named Bobby Knight, a
- 17:06Speaker 2: very mercurial personality and famous for some things other than coaching.
- 17:14Speaker 2: But that being said, he's the one that brought that
- 17:18Speaker 2: psychology of results up to me. And we spent endless nights,
- 17:23Speaker 2: and I mean endless nights, with one another talking about
- 17:28Speaker 2: that very subject.
- 17:30Speaker 1: And how did you guys meet?
- 17:31Speaker 2: We were both. Bobby was the head basketball coach at
- 17:34Speaker 2: West Point in the middle 60s. And I was an
- 17:37Speaker 2: assistant football coach. He loved football. He was from Ohio.
- 17:41Speaker 2: He grew up in a football town. And, you know,
- 17:45Speaker 2: I loved basketball. I was an East Coast guy. Basketball
- 17:48Speaker 2: was a primary sport. I played it in high school.
- 17:51Speaker 2: You know, it wasn't good enough to play in college. But,
- 17:54Speaker 2: you know, I always liked the game. So we had
- 17:57Speaker 2: this in common. And The main thing we had in
- 18:00Speaker 2: common was we were both coaches. Now, he had a
- 18:03Speaker 2: little edge on me because he was a head coach
- 18:05Speaker 2: at the time. I was an assistant coach. But he
- 18:09Speaker 2: was very bright. He was very articulate. And we spent,
- 18:13Speaker 2: as I said, countless nights talking about results.
- 18:17Speaker 1: So I want to know, who do you think could
- 18:19Speaker 1: throw a chair further, you or Bobby?
- 18:23Speaker 2: Well, he's the hands-down winner. I was there for that
- 18:26Speaker 2: particular incident. That occurred in Madison Square Garden when he
- 18:30Speaker 2: threw the chair across the floor. And that didn't help
- 18:34Speaker 2: his personal reputation that much. But I understood. And, you know,
- 18:42Speaker 2: I would say I'd have to give him the edge
- 18:44Speaker 2: on chair throwing. Good.
- 18:46Speaker 1: So we learned some stuff from him and things not
- 18:48Speaker 1: to do like throwing chairs.
- 18:50Speaker 2: But yeah, I also learned some very, very important things
- 18:54Speaker 2: from him.
- 18:54Speaker 1: And.
- 18:56Speaker 2: You know, we were very, very friendly. We both loved sports.
- 18:59Speaker 2: He liked the sport I was coaching. I liked the
- 19:01Speaker 2: sport he was coaching. And so we had endless, as
- 19:05Speaker 2: I said, discussions about everything.
- 19:07Speaker 1: Is there anything else that stood out that you gathered
- 19:10Speaker 1: or grabbed from him from that friendship that you walked
- 19:15Speaker 1: away with and it influenced your culture?
- 19:18Speaker 2: A lot of the time we would talk about how
- 19:22Speaker 2: we were going to approach things altering a situation that
- 19:28Speaker 2: wasn't comfortable or not good or not leading us to success.
- 19:33Speaker 2: We've spent a lot of time talking about how to
- 19:37Speaker 2: approach those situations with your team, with your ownership, with
- 19:41Speaker 2: everybody to try to get that confidence back. And, you know,
- 19:46Speaker 2: confidence is only born of demonstrated ability. So your team
- 19:50Speaker 2: has to show you eventually that they're capable of doing it.
- 19:53Speaker 2: But you as a coach can never, ever allow them
- 19:57Speaker 2: to see you in a manner where they feel like
- 20:01Speaker 2: that you as the coach has lost confidence in them.
- 20:05Speaker 2: Because once they see that, It's hard to come back from.
- 20:10Speaker 2: So I always tried to guard, hey, look, fellas, we
- 20:13Speaker 2: can do this. We just got to fix it. So
- 20:16Speaker 2: let's get working on fixing it and quit worrying about
- 20:19Speaker 2: what the scoreboard says right now.
- 20:22Speaker 1: Yeah. And I kind of love that when I spoke
- 20:24Speaker 1: to McGinnis last year, he's one of your guys.
- 20:28Speaker 2: One of my guys, that's right.
- 20:30Speaker 1: And I mentioned this before, but he said that you
- 20:35Speaker 1: were kind of not– tough on him but you gave
- 20:38Speaker 1: him the tough love because you know he he was
- 20:40Speaker 1: trying to perform and he did and you looked at
- 20:42Speaker 1: him like ah no no no that's that's what you're
- 20:45Speaker 1: supposed to do and he did it again did it
- 20:47Speaker 1: and when you said demonstrated ability when he was showing
- 20:50Speaker 1: consistency that's when you're like yes you finally got it hey.
- 20:53Speaker 2: Listen one of my favorite players ever um and we're
- 20:58Speaker 2: not only that he's a personal friend of mine and
- 21:00Speaker 2: we've been friends for years now and He's raising his
- 21:03Speaker 2: own children. He's got athlete daughters in college playing basketball
- 21:07Speaker 2: at the University of Texas. So he's going through the
- 21:09Speaker 2: other side of it now. But he was a terrific
- 21:13Speaker 2: player and a very, very personable, likable young man who's
- 21:18Speaker 2: doing a great job with his family.
- 21:20Speaker 1: Did you ever give him parenting advice? Because I have
- 21:23Speaker 1: to share this. The best story I heard from you
- 21:25Speaker 1: as a father was the time that your daughter snuck
- 21:30Speaker 1: out of the house. Tell me what you did.
- 21:33Speaker 2: Well, my daughter snuck out of the house one night
- 21:36Speaker 2: and I, of course, became aware of it. And so
- 21:40Speaker 2: I'm not proud of this, but I took her bedroom
- 21:44Speaker 2: doors off the hinges because I learned having three daughters
- 21:49Speaker 2: that the most valuable thing for a young woman is
- 21:54Speaker 2: her privacy.
- 21:56Speaker 1: It sure is.
- 21:58Speaker 2: And it is. So what are you doing? Why are
- 22:02Speaker 2: you taking the door? I said, well, I can't trust you.
- 22:04Speaker 2: You snuck out. I have to be able to see
- 22:06Speaker 2: whether you're in there. So I took her bedroom door
- 22:09Speaker 2: off the Hidgens. And I will tell you that I've
- 22:12Speaker 2: had four or five. other assistant coaches that i've worked
- 22:16Speaker 2: with that had daughters that did the same thing it's funny.
- 22:20Speaker 1: Yeah you guys traumatized a whole generation.
- 22:22Speaker 2: Yeah that's right get them bedroom doors off the hinges
- 22:26Speaker 2: so you can see what they're doing in there i'm.
- 22:29Speaker 1: Gonna warn my 11 year old daughter i'm gonna do
- 22:31Speaker 1: your heads up this is what's gonna happen.
- 22:32Speaker 2: You're getting ready about three more years you'll be working
- 22:35Speaker 2: on that bedroom door yourself.
- 22:37Speaker 1: I hope not All right, I'm going to throw it
- 22:54Speaker 1: back to the Raiders. I want to talk about Kirk
- 22:56Speaker 1: Cousins again. He's having a shockingly good season. And most
- 23:02Speaker 1: people didn't expect this from him, right? He led the
- 23:04Speaker 1: Raiders to a 3-1 start, 661 yards, nine touchdowns and
- 23:09Speaker 1: three interceptions. I loved him on the quarterback special on
- 23:13Speaker 1: Netflix because I got to see his personality. But would you,
- 23:16Speaker 1: knowing all this, would he play for you? Would you
- 23:18Speaker 1: have him play for you?
- 23:19Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. Yeah. But... Sometimes at that position, which is
- 23:23Speaker 2: a very critical position, obviously, a quarterback, team leader, you know, it's,
- 23:31Speaker 2: did that quarterback get to the right place with the
- 23:34Speaker 2: right coach and the right system that allows his talent
- 23:40Speaker 2: to flourish? And that doesn't always happen.
- 23:43Speaker 1: That's a good point.
- 23:43Speaker 2: Sometimes the system doesn't fit the quarterback skills and they
- 23:47Speaker 2: don't alter it in time, but Putting a player in
- 23:51Speaker 2: position to succeed is a coach's job, and you have
- 23:55Speaker 2: to evaluate his assets and also his liabilities and try
- 24:00Speaker 2: to accentuate or create a system that allows him to
- 24:04Speaker 2: accentuate his assets and limit his liability.
- 24:08Speaker 1: That's really smart. I hadn't even thought of that. It
- 24:11Speaker 1: makes sense. He could have been put on another team
- 24:14Speaker 1: with a different coach that didn't, you know, it sounds
- 24:16Speaker 1: like it was like the perfect spot.
- 24:17Speaker 2: Happens all the time. Wrong place at the wrong time.
- 24:21Speaker 2: But there's also the right place at the right time.
- 24:23Speaker 2: And that quite apparently is what exists now for Cousins.
- 24:26Speaker 2: And that's what you're seeing.
- 24:27Speaker 1: No, I love that for him. But you mentioned critical,
- 24:29Speaker 1: which makes me think of the critical factors because.
- 24:31Speaker 2: You love these critical factors, Catherine.
- 24:33Speaker 1: I find it interesting. I love that I can take
- 24:36Speaker 1: three critical factors for each position and kind of fit
- 24:39Speaker 1: somebody to like, okay, you would be this, you would
- 24:41Speaker 1: be that.
- 24:42Speaker 2: Well, you know what? This is just the way I
- 24:45Speaker 2: was educated in football as I came up on the
- 24:49Speaker 2: path that I was taken as an assistant coach and
- 24:51Speaker 2: then the head coach and And then the head coach
- 24:54Speaker 2: and the pros. It's just the path that you follow,
- 24:58Speaker 2: and you will start to learn about the importance of
- 25:02Speaker 2: certain things.
- 25:03Speaker 1: Yeah. Understanding that there's nuances, right? Because you may not
- 25:06Speaker 1: have all three critical factors, but you're so amazing at
- 25:08Speaker 1: one thing for that position that you kind of oversee
- 25:11Speaker 1: the other stuff.
- 25:12Speaker 2: Well, a perfect example of that is one of the
- 25:14Speaker 2: great running backs in the history of the league, Barry Sanders,
- 25:18Speaker 2: played for the Defiant Lions. He was a highly explosive runner.
- 25:23Speaker 2: And that skill was so good they had to use him,
- 25:26Speaker 2: but he was only 5'7 or 8'. So when the
- 25:29Speaker 2: linebackers were blitzing, he was a little bit of liability
- 25:33Speaker 2: because he couldn't compete physically with some of the people
- 25:37Speaker 2: he was playing against. But that one asset he had
- 25:41Speaker 2: was so, so great that you still had to live
- 25:45Speaker 2: with the downside of some of the other things.
- 25:48Speaker 1: That's a great example. So talking about linemen, let's talk
- 25:52Speaker 1: defensive linemen. Give me some critical factors for them.
- 25:55Speaker 2: Well, actually, that's pretty simple, Cal. You have to be
- 25:59Speaker 2: big enough. You have to be strong enough. And you
- 26:03Speaker 2: have to be quick enough to engage and then disengage
- 26:09Speaker 2: the offensive lineman, try to get into the pursuit, and
- 26:13Speaker 2: try to be part of the defense that's charged with
- 26:17Speaker 2: tackling the ball carrier. So if you can't get to
- 26:20Speaker 2: the ball carrier, then you're a liability. But size, strength, quickness,
- 26:25Speaker 2: those are some of the critical factors for a defensive lineman.
- 26:28Speaker 1: I would feel like instincts would have a big part
- 26:30Speaker 1: to do with it, too, because they've got to be
- 26:32Speaker 1: quick on that, too.
- 26:33Speaker 2: Agreed. That would be more prevalent at the linebacker position
- 26:37Speaker 2: than it would on the defensive line. Linebackers have to
- 26:41Speaker 2: have good vision, good anticipation, because they are the reactionary
- 26:46Speaker 2: part of the defense immediately when the ball is snapped.
- 26:50Speaker 2: They're charged with making plays. the vast number of tackles.
- 26:54Speaker 2: They are pursuit players that have to be involved in
- 26:58Speaker 2: the action, both run and pass. They have to be
- 27:01Speaker 2: good pass defenders and they have to be good run defenders.
- 27:06Speaker 2: Instincts and anticipation are a very, very important part of
- 27:12Speaker 2: that position. A lot of film work, a lot of study,
- 27:18Speaker 2: a lot of preparation, that can assist the player. But
- 27:23Speaker 2: a lot of players aren't successful because they're not willing
- 27:25Speaker 2: to do what's necessary to prepare to be successful. They
- 27:30Speaker 2: just go through the motions. Others, they're into it. They're
- 27:34Speaker 2: trying to get every edge. They're trying to create every
- 27:37Speaker 2: opportunity for themselves. And those are the kind of guys
- 27:40Speaker 2: who want playing defense for you.
- 27:42Speaker 1: Absolutely. What about their intangibles, like mentally, personality-wise? Is there
- 27:48Speaker 1: something that the defensive linemen kind of have in common?
- 27:51Speaker 2: Defensive players are generally more physically aggressive. They're charged with
- 27:56Speaker 2: tackling the ball carrier, rushing the passer. So you have
- 27:59Speaker 2: to have a degree of physical aggressiveness there. But as
- 28:04Speaker 2: I said, you also have to have a degree of
- 28:06Speaker 2: anticipation and what's going to happen and how I'm going
- 28:09Speaker 2: to react to it. And you have to sustain that
- 28:12Speaker 2: performance play after play after play or else you become
- 28:17Speaker 2: a liability. If one of those up and down yo-yo
- 28:20Speaker 2: kind of guys that half the time he's up, the
- 28:23Speaker 2: other half he's down, then he's not. productive as you need.
- 28:28Speaker 2: So players that can mentally fight that fight to continue
- 28:34Speaker 2: to compete and do things correctly are usually more valuable.
- 28:38Speaker 1: It makes me think, do you know anything about hockey?
- 28:40Speaker 2: Well, I know there's skating out there.
- 28:42Speaker 1: There is. So being Canadian, I grew up with hockey.
- 28:44Speaker 2: I know there's skating. I don't know any, I've seen
- 28:47Speaker 2: a lot of hockey, but I don't really know. I
- 28:50Speaker 2: know what the objective is, get the puck in the net,
- 28:53Speaker 2: but I don't know much about the strategy of hockey.
- 28:56Speaker 2: I do see a lot of similarities physically between hockey
- 29:01Speaker 2: and football.
- 29:01Speaker 1: So that's what I was going to, is the defensive
- 29:03Speaker 1: line make me think of goons. So certain teams have.
- 29:07Speaker 2: Goons? Goons.
- 29:09Speaker 1: There was actually a movie called Goonies.
- 29:10Speaker 2: What is a goon?
- 29:11Speaker 1: It's kind of like that guy on the team that
- 29:14Speaker 1: he's the one that's going to throw down or intimidate.
- 29:16Speaker 1: He's the one that's kind of starting the fight sometimes.
- 29:19Speaker 1: I mean, there's always fights, but... They're the muscle and
- 29:22Speaker 1: the intimidating factor of the team. Well, it sounds like
- 29:26Speaker 1: the defensive lineman kind of.
- 29:28Speaker 2: Absolutely. Defensive line and linebackers are those kind of guys usually.
- 29:32Speaker 2: And even some of the safeties and corners, some of
- 29:36Speaker 2: them are just physical, reckless, aggressive players. And like I said,
- 29:41Speaker 2: I don't know that much about hockey, but I do
- 29:43Speaker 2: see some similarities physically.
- 29:45Speaker 1: They're like the rhinos of the animal kingdom. Just plow through.
- 29:50Speaker 2: The rhinos would be more like a defensive lineman, big
- 29:53Speaker 2: and aggressive and that kind of thing.
- 29:56Speaker 1: What about linebackers? What are critical factors for linebackers?
- 29:59Speaker 2: Vision, anticipation, and it's a production position. If you can't
- 30:05Speaker 2: get to the ball carrier and make a tackle, you're
- 30:08Speaker 2: not going to be a very good linebacker. You have
- 30:10Speaker 2: to consistently be willing to play 65, 70 plays in
- 30:15Speaker 2: a game with the same temperament, with the same aggressiveness,
- 30:19Speaker 2: with the same physicality. And sometimes you get players that
- 30:23Speaker 2: just give in to that process and take plays off,
- 30:27Speaker 2: don't execute the way they're supposed to. Fatigue, you know,
- 30:31Speaker 2: the old expression, fatigue makes cowards of us all. And
- 30:35Speaker 2: that's really true to a degree. When you're tired, it's
- 30:38Speaker 2: hard to keep going and persisting. And, you know, it's
- 30:41Speaker 2: strength of will. It's strength of will a lot of
- 30:44Speaker 2: the time.
- 30:45Speaker 1: And what did you mean by physicality for the... linebackers?
- 30:49Speaker 2: Well, they got to tackle the ball carrier. And when
- 30:51Speaker 2: we tackle them, we're trying to knock them backwards. We
- 30:54Speaker 2: don't want them to gain additional yards. So we have
- 30:57Speaker 2: to be physical when we tackle. We got to wrap
- 31:00Speaker 2: our arms around them and we got to get them
- 31:02Speaker 2: on the ground right where we hit them. If we
- 31:04Speaker 2: get run over or pushed back, we're conceding yards that
- 31:08Speaker 2: don't need to be conceded. So aggressive mentality, good tackling,
- 31:12Speaker 2: good anticipation. Good vision. Those are critical factors for the linebackers.
- 31:18Speaker 2: I'm a little prejudiced. That's my favorite position on defense.
- 31:22Speaker 1: Is it?
- 31:22Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. I used to try to collect those guys.
- 31:26Speaker 1: I've been watching a lot of National Geographic lately with
- 31:29Speaker 1: my kids, and I want to compare them to tigers,
- 31:31Speaker 1: I'm sure.
- 31:32Speaker 2: Right, yeah, that's what you need, a real tiger over there.
- 31:35Speaker 2: And in the secondary, you need some cheetahs.
- 31:37Speaker 1: Some cheetahs?
- 31:38Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what you need, cheetahs.
- 31:40Speaker 1: That's hilarious. All right, so knowing these factors, the player
- 31:43Speaker 1: evaluation obviously is not simple. Is there ever, and I
- 31:48Speaker 1: think you kind of mentioned this previously, but is there
- 31:51Speaker 1: a player that you thought was going to do great
- 31:54Speaker 1: but disappointed you?
- 31:55Speaker 2: Well, yeah, without naming names, yeah, several. You see the ability,
- 32:00Speaker 2: you see the capability of the player, but something inside
- 32:06Speaker 2: him is not allowing him to perform at the level
- 32:11Speaker 2: you expect. And you can't see it until you're actually
- 32:16Speaker 2: out there in the fray. It doesn't show up in any.
- 32:19Speaker 1: In training camp? No?
- 32:20Speaker 2: Well, yes, to a degree, but you don't really know
- 32:24Speaker 2: until they're under real fire. How are they performing under pressure?
- 32:30Speaker 2: And on the other side of the coin, some players
- 32:32Speaker 2: have attributes that you can't see that allow them to
- 32:37Speaker 2: go forward and be successful. And you're just looking at them.
- 32:42Speaker 2: They look like an average guy, but there's something inside
- 32:45Speaker 2: them that's different. And when the game comes, you start
- 32:48Speaker 2: seeing that. And you try to collect the players that
- 32:51Speaker 2: are like that.
- 32:52Speaker 1: Do you have any players like that that you like
- 32:53Speaker 1: to name? Somebody that you thought was going to be okay,
- 32:55Speaker 1: but surprised you and really... proved you completely wrong?
- 33:00Speaker 2: Yes. I had a couple inside linebackers at the Giants
- 33:04Speaker 2: that were young guys that were inheriting their position from
- 33:08Speaker 2: a veteran pro-ball player named Harry Carson. So I had
- 33:12Speaker 2: two young linebackers. One was named Gary Reasons, and the
- 33:15Speaker 2: other was named Thomas Johnson, but his nickname was Pepper,
- 33:18Speaker 2: so everybody calls him Pepper.
- 33:19Speaker 1: Wait, Pepper?
- 33:20Speaker 2: Pepper Johnson.
- 33:21Speaker 1: Oh, okay. I've heard that, yeah.
- 33:24Speaker 2: And these guys were just young, aggressive. They wanted to
- 33:28Speaker 2: do it. You could tell. You couldn't tell just looking
- 33:32Speaker 2: at them, but once the game started— You could tell
- 33:36Speaker 2: they were in the fray all the time. Like I say,
- 33:39Speaker 2: we're trying to collect guys like that if we can.
- 33:42Speaker 1: Yeah, somebody who gives it their all. The other ones
- 33:44Speaker 1: that don't, though, the ones that kind of buckle under pressure,
- 33:47Speaker 1: do you think that's just because of the pressure, or
- 33:49Speaker 1: do you think they just want to be there for
- 33:50Speaker 1: the paycheck and aren't into it? I'm trying to figure
- 33:52Speaker 1: out that mentality.
- 33:53Speaker 2: Well, you're asking— some psychologically difficult questions to answer. You
- 33:59Speaker 2: usually can't put your finger exactly on why, what's causing
- 34:04Speaker 2: this player to underachieve. But most of the time is
- 34:08Speaker 2: maybe he doesn't really like football as much as he
- 34:11Speaker 2: pretended to. And maybe the pressure to perform gets to
- 34:17Speaker 2: him and he can't sustain that mental wherewithal to continue
- 34:24Speaker 2: to persist. That's a very strong word in football, Catherine, persist.
- 34:30Speaker 2: It's also true in raising your children, Catherine. You've got
- 34:32Speaker 2: to persist.
- 34:33Speaker 1: Oh, I know that for a fact.
- 34:35Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
- 34:36Speaker 1: Single momhood's not easy, but we've got to do it.
- 34:39Speaker 2: Once in a while, yeah.
- 34:56Speaker 1: So last week with the critical factors afterwards, I gave
- 34:59Speaker 1: myself some homework because you had gone through all the
- 35:02Speaker 1: critical factors for the offensive line. And I put together
- 35:07Speaker 1: a team and I want you to analyze my choices.
- 35:11Speaker 1: And I'm slightly terrified.
- 35:13Speaker 2: No.
- 35:13Speaker 1: You're going to be harsh.
- 35:15Speaker 2: Let's do it.
- 35:15Speaker 1: All right. So my quarterback, no surprise, Josh Allen with
- 35:19Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills.
- 35:20Speaker 2: Well, I know he's geographically desirable for you because up
- 35:23Speaker 2: in the area that you're from.
- 35:25Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 35:25Speaker 2: And I know you saw the Bills as a young
- 35:29Speaker 2: fan and everything, but I love Josh Allen. I know
- 35:32Speaker 2: him personally. He's a physical marvel, first of all. For
- 35:36Speaker 2: a quarterback, he is even above and beyond physically what
- 35:40Speaker 2: you could expect. And he also has a mentality that
- 35:44Speaker 2: allows him to function physically. He's not afraid to run
- 35:47Speaker 2: with the ball. Every once in a while, he makes
- 35:50Speaker 2: some throws that I wish he wouldn't make. But that
- 35:53Speaker 2: being the case, I think you picked a real good
- 35:57Speaker 2: guy there.
- 35:58Speaker 1: Good. Now, the running back, I kind of cheated because
- 36:00Speaker 1: I remember you saying this name, and I looked him up.
- 36:03Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, he's the one. Derek Henry with
- 36:06Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens.
- 36:08Speaker 2: You know, one of the things for a running back
- 36:10Speaker 2: is just the ability to continually sustain punishment.
- 36:15Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
- 36:17Speaker 2: You're going to carry the ball 25, 30 times a game.
- 36:20Speaker 2: You're going to get tackled. You're going to get hit hard.
- 36:22Speaker 2: And just to be able to, I keep using the word, persist.
- 36:27Speaker 1: That's the word of the day.
- 36:28Speaker 2: That's the word of the day. I mean, just to
- 36:30Speaker 2: go forward. You know what your job is. Sometimes it's difficult.
- 36:34Speaker 2: Sometimes it's impossible. But you have to continue with the
- 36:39Speaker 2: mentality that gives you the opportunity to use your skill.
- 36:43Speaker 2: And when you find a guy like that, That's a
- 36:46Speaker 2: valuable commodity. Very valuable.
- 36:49Speaker 1: We're kind of keeping him. The wide receiver was pretty
- 36:52Speaker 1: easy because after the Cowboys game with 17 catches, it
- 36:56Speaker 1: had to be CeeDee Lamb. He has gumption.
- 36:59Speaker 2: His performance was unbelievable. And I personally can't see how
- 37:04Speaker 2: a defense could continue. Once in a while, first three
- 37:10Speaker 2: or four plays, okay. First five or six, but 17 catches.
- 37:15Speaker 2: You have to do something about that player.
- 37:17Speaker 1: Yeah, that was on the Texans. That was their mistake.
- 37:21Speaker 1: But C.D. Lamb just really performed so well.
- 37:25Speaker 2: I know, but they weren't double covering him. No, no,
- 37:28Speaker 2: that's their fault. When are you going to get around
- 37:30Speaker 2: to doing that? How many does he have to catch
- 37:32Speaker 2: before you decide that you have to negate him? When
- 37:36Speaker 2: he's performing like he's performing and generating the yardage, he's yardage.
- 37:40Speaker 2: And you don't make an adjustment to that, then that's
- 37:44Speaker 2: your fault. You'll have to do something about it.
- 37:46Speaker 1: We'll have to call Ryan's and ask him what he
- 37:48Speaker 1: was thinking. All right, I want to move on because
- 37:52Speaker 1: my tight end, I picked him because he was all
- 37:56Speaker 1: over my Instagram feed. He's a little controversial. Trey McBride.
- 38:01Speaker 2: Very good player. Yeah. Likes the lime late.
- 38:04Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say. Well, that's okay.
- 38:05Speaker 1: You know, he's headed out with the officials. He got
- 38:08Speaker 1: sworn at by an official this past week.
- 38:10Speaker 2: Well, I understand. You know, you have to keep your
- 38:13Speaker 2: poise if you can. Sometimes it's difficult to do. I'm
- 38:17Speaker 2: the poster boy for not being able to do that myself.
- 38:20Speaker 1: But you're not throwing chairs.
- 38:22Speaker 2: No, I'm not throwing chairs yet. But in any case,
- 38:25Speaker 2: he's a very good player. He's very competitive. I think
- 38:28Speaker 2: he's trying to win, and when things aren't going the
- 38:31Speaker 2: way he wants, he gets upset. But you just have
- 38:34Speaker 2: to keep your emotions in check, particularly at the wrong time,
- 38:39Speaker 2: because you get a personal roughness or impolite to the
- 38:44Speaker 2: officials penalty, using bad language at the officials or something,
- 38:49Speaker 2: and you get the key penalty at the wrong time.
- 38:52Speaker 2: You can actually be a deterrent to your team winnings.
- 38:55Speaker 2: So poise and the maintenance of it is very important.
- 38:59Speaker 1: That's good advice. Now, the offensive lineman that I picked,
- 39:02Speaker 1: because I love the 49ers right now, is Trent Williams.
- 39:04Speaker 1: I think he's the best out there.
- 39:06Speaker 2: That was easy. I know. Probably picked the best guy
- 39:08Speaker 2: in football at his position or certainly one of the
- 39:11Speaker 2: best three or four.
- 39:12Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 39:13Speaker 2: And not only that, he's a veteran. He has a
- 39:15Speaker 2: track record. He's maintained that excellence for a long time.
- 39:20Speaker 2: And he can play on my team if he wants to, Catherine.
- 39:23Speaker 1: Heck yeah.
- 39:23Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 39:24Speaker 1: Maybe we start our own football team soon. What about
- 39:27Speaker 1: kicking positions? Because I know they're not technically part of the... offense,
- 39:30Speaker 1: but the special team is crucial. What about a punter?
- 39:34Speaker 2: Well, your punter is one of the main ingredients that
- 39:37Speaker 2: you use to control field position.
- 39:39Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 39:39Speaker 2: So, like, let's just take this for example. If you
- 39:43Speaker 2: are on Team A and your punter is punting for
- 39:46Speaker 2: a 45-yard average, and I'm only averaging 10 yards of return, well,
- 39:52Speaker 2: that's a net 35-yard gain for you. If my punter
- 39:56Speaker 2: is only punting for a 35 average and we punt
- 39:59Speaker 2: seven times, then obviously you've got a 70-yard advantage over me.
- 40:05Speaker 1: Did you know that Matt Areza with the Chiefs, he's
- 40:08Speaker 1: got a 54.5-yard average? He'd be my punter. That's all
- 40:11Speaker 1: I'm saying.
- 40:12Speaker 2: Listen, these punters and field goal kickers these days, are
- 40:17Speaker 2: ridiculously good.
- 40:18Speaker 1: They are.
- 40:19Speaker 2: I mean, if you had a punter back in the
- 40:22Speaker 2: day that was averaging 43 or 44, that was very good.
- 40:27Speaker 2: But now these kids are kicking up in the 50s
- 40:30Speaker 2: and consistently doing it, that makes a big difference. And,
- 40:33Speaker 2: of course, you feel goal kickers. Back in the day, again,
- 40:37Speaker 2: the range, 46, 47, that was a long field goal.
- 40:40Speaker 2: These guys are kicking them 60 yards now.
- 40:43Speaker 1: Yeah, I say for the field goal kicker, I would
- 40:45Speaker 1: totally take the Cowboys, Brandon Aubrey.
- 40:48Speaker 2: You picked the best guy.
- 40:49Speaker 1: I know. I feel like I picked all the best
- 40:51Speaker 1: guys down the line, but that's my personal opinion.
- 40:53Speaker 2: You must just be reading the stats, Cassidy, and making
- 40:56Speaker 2: your choices. Is that true?
- 40:57Speaker 1: You know I'm a stat girl. You know it. I
- 41:00Speaker 1: got to look at the performance. But, no, there's some
- 41:03Speaker 1: really good players out there. And, like you said, barring injury,
- 41:06Speaker 1: I really hope to make it a really good season
- 41:09Speaker 1: this year with all these guys.
- 41:10Speaker 2: Hey, listen. I think you got a real shot. You
- 41:12Speaker 2: picked some of the best guys in football.
- 41:15Speaker 1: I would love to know who you would have picked.
- 41:16Speaker 1: We could have compared.
- 41:17Speaker 2: Well, we can get to that someday.
- 41:19Speaker 1: I'd love that.
- 41:20Speaker 2: You know, we would have some similarities in that regard. But,
- 41:23Speaker 2: you know, I could pick Patrick Mahomes instead of Josh Allen.
- 41:26Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying.
- 41:27Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I could do that.
- 41:30Speaker 1: Talking about quarterbacks, though, I want to know about pressuring
- 41:32Speaker 1: the quarterback.
- 41:34Speaker 2: Okay.
- 41:34Speaker 1: First and foremost, what's a sack?
- 41:37Speaker 2: A sack is when you tackle the quarterback behind the
- 41:39Speaker 2: line of scrimmage before you can throw the ball. That
- 41:41Speaker 2: makes sense.
- 41:42Speaker 1: Why does it happen sometimes, though?
- 41:44Speaker 2: Is it poor? Well, your offensive line doesn't protect the
- 41:48Speaker 2: quarterback as well. There's some individual breakdowns along that area.
- 41:53Speaker 2: Or the defense blitzes or rushes more guys than you're
- 41:57Speaker 2: capable of blocking. And the only way the offense can
- 42:01Speaker 2: combat with that is since they have free rushers coming
- 42:04Speaker 2: at the quarterback, is for the receiver to do what
- 42:07Speaker 2: we call side adjust, which what that means, Catherine, is
- 42:12Speaker 2: a certain route was called, but since you as now
- 42:17Speaker 2: the offensive player see the blitz coming and you know
- 42:21Speaker 2: that we can't pick it up, you alter your route
- 42:24Speaker 2: usually to a quicker in-breaking route that allows the quarterback
- 42:28Speaker 2: to get rid of the ball before the blitzers get
- 42:32Speaker 2: the quarterback.
- 42:32Speaker 1: So you said the rush. So quarterbacks usually get pressure
- 42:37Speaker 1: with a four-man rush. Is that the best option?
- 42:40Speaker 2: Yes, because you have seven guys covering. If you can
- 42:43Speaker 2: do it with a four-man rush, you're probably going to
- 42:45Speaker 2: be successful. But if you have to add more men
- 42:49Speaker 2: to accomplish that thing, then you're a little more vulnerable
- 42:52Speaker 2: on the deep end because you haven't got as many
- 42:54Speaker 2: guys covering. So it's a choice. And obviously, most defensive
- 43:00Speaker 2: coaches are going to go back– And fourth, blitz, cover. Cover, blitz.
- 43:05Speaker 2: All out blitz, cover. So they're trying to make it
- 43:09Speaker 2: difficult for the offense.
- 43:11Speaker 1: To predict whether, yeah.
- 43:12Speaker 2: Whether they're going to be covering or whether they're going
- 43:14Speaker 2: to be blitzing.
- 43:15Speaker 1: This makes it more exciting. I'm going to keep an
- 43:17Speaker 1: eye on that now.
- 43:18Speaker 2: Well, you got to keep your eye on the linebackers
- 43:20Speaker 2: because they're usually the ones that blitz.
- 43:22Speaker 1: So actually, if you were to pick, because obviously everybody
- 43:25Speaker 1: together is what makes the perfect team, but if you
- 43:27Speaker 1: had to pick a great quarterback or... a great offensive line.
- 43:31Speaker 1: Which one would you prefer?
- 43:33Speaker 2: I want them both.
- 43:34Speaker 1: I know.
- 43:34Speaker 2: Okay, but your quarterback's the hand that steers the ship. Yeah.
- 43:39Speaker 2: So I feel like they're harder to find the exact
- 43:44Speaker 2: right guy at that position. You have more multiple choices
- 43:48Speaker 2: on the offensive line. So the quarterback would be my
- 43:52Speaker 2: first choice, obviously.
- 44:08Speaker 1: Talking about pressure, there's a team that's actually been handling
- 44:12Speaker 1: pressure super well, the Cleveland Browns. And it's funny because
- 44:16Speaker 1: not that I used to watch football before you and
- 44:18Speaker 1: I became friends and started this, but I had never
- 44:21Speaker 1: really heard of them. But they've really been popping up,
- 44:24Speaker 1: even with the wide receiver being out with an injury.
- 44:28Speaker 1: They've been doing well. What are your thoughts on them?
- 44:29Speaker 2: Well, Cleveland Browns have been, first of all, they were
- 44:33Speaker 2: one of the flagship franchises of the NFL. They were
- 44:36Speaker 2: there at the beginning. They were one of the team
- 44:38Speaker 2: along with the Lions and the Packers and the Giants
- 44:42Speaker 2: and the team that started the NFL. And they have
- 44:46Speaker 2: since merged and become an AFL team. But that being said,
- 44:51Speaker 2: Cleveland has a great fan base. They haven't enjoyed a
- 44:55Speaker 2: lot of success recently. So I can tell their fans
- 45:00Speaker 2: have hope now. These are what they're doing now. You say, hey,
- 45:04Speaker 2: maybe we got something. And when that fan base in
- 45:07Speaker 2: Cleveland gets excited, there are too many places that you
- 45:11Speaker 2: go to play where you feel it like you feel
- 45:14Speaker 2: it in Cleveland.
- 45:15Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 45:16Speaker 2: Cleveland, Pittsburgh, those.
- 45:17Speaker 1: Those cold weather.
- 45:18Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, that's right. Green Bay.
- 45:20Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 45:21Speaker 2: You get up there and you find out, hey, we're
- 45:23Speaker 2: going to have our hands full today, fellas.
- 45:26Speaker 1: Seriously. I want to figure that out. There's something about
- 45:30Speaker 1: the cold weather areas that have, I mean, not that
- 45:33Speaker 1: there isn't diehard fans everywhere else, but.
- 45:35Speaker 2: Well, you know, we've talked about it. Playing in the elements.
- 45:39Speaker 2: You have to be able to play in the elements
- 45:41Speaker 2: if you're going to be a football team. And being
- 45:43Speaker 2: able to deal with wet and soggy and wind is
- 45:48Speaker 2: a special factor all the time. The wind, yeah. And
- 45:51Speaker 2: it's such a big factor in the games that that's
- 45:54Speaker 2: part of the education of your team. How are we
- 45:56Speaker 2: going to play with these conditions as they currently exist?
- 46:01Speaker 1: Well, actually talking about weather, there was actually more injuries
- 46:04Speaker 1: again week four. It was brutal. But because of rain,
- 46:09Speaker 1: the Eagles running back, right?
- 46:11Speaker 2: Saquon Barkley.
- 46:12Speaker 1: Yeah, Saquon Barkley got an injury. And he ended up
- 46:16Speaker 1: speaking out. I don't know if you saw this video,
- 46:18Speaker 1: but I watched a video afterwards of him talking about
- 46:21Speaker 1: the difference between grass and turf. Because, you know, the
- 46:26Speaker 1: World Cup came and they said, no, grass only, grass only.
- 46:29Speaker 1: And they're showing that there's more injury with turf versus grass, right?
- 46:35Speaker 1: And he spoke up about it. I know that I've
- 46:38Speaker 1: heard such a thing as turf toe that I'd love
- 46:41Speaker 1: to get a professional on to talk more about because
- 46:43Speaker 1: it's like it's a legit new injury. What are your
- 46:46Speaker 1: thoughts on the grass versus turf yourself?
- 46:48Speaker 2: Listen, I'm a traditional guy. I think football should be
- 46:52Speaker 2: on grass. But you have to understand these owners that
- 46:55Speaker 2: own these stadiums, they want to have multiple venues in
- 46:59Speaker 2: the stadium. And if they're constantly having to replace the
- 47:02Speaker 2: grass every week because it's not playable, it's a lot
- 47:06Speaker 2: less difficult to have a synthetic surface that you know
- 47:09Speaker 2: is gonna withstand the elements, okay? Now, playing on a
- 47:13Speaker 2: hard surface is riskier than playing on a pliable surface.
- 47:19Speaker 2: So I'm a grass guy myself. But that's the way
- 47:23Speaker 2: I grew up playing football. We didn't have synthetic surfaces
- 47:27Speaker 2: until well into the career that I was involved in.
- 47:31Speaker 2: But as they came along, the owners wanted multiple venues
- 47:35Speaker 2: in the stadium. And having a stable surface allowed them
- 47:39Speaker 2: to do that. You know, you go to those rock
- 47:41Speaker 2: concerts and you go to that stuff.
- 47:43Speaker 1: Don't tell all my secrets.
- 47:45Speaker 2: Okay, all right then.
- 47:46Speaker 1: But going back to the injury, I get that. I
- 47:48Speaker 1: get that. And I feel like that's a completely different
- 47:50Speaker 1: conversation I'd love to unpack in some other week. But
- 47:53Speaker 1: I want to go back to the injuries because there
- 47:55Speaker 1: were some pretty bad ones too. And then two with
- 47:58Speaker 1: the Bengals, right? Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins, both white
- 48:03Speaker 1: receivers out with the Bengals. The Chiefs, they had Rashie
- 48:06Speaker 1: Rice with a hamstring and Taquan Thornton, dislocated ankle. He's
- 48:11Speaker 1: going to be out 12 to 16 weeks. It sounds
- 48:14Speaker 1: terribly painful. I want to know with all these injuries,
- 48:17Speaker 1: how many quarterbacks specifically, how many do you need backup quarterbacks?
- 48:20Speaker 1: And then kind of offensive linemen, how many backups do
- 48:23Speaker 1: you have?
- 48:24Speaker 2: I'd like to have three or I'd like to have
- 48:26Speaker 2: two and maybe a young developmental quarterback on the practice squad.
- 48:33Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 48:33Speaker 2: So I want three on campus if I can get it.
- 48:37Speaker 1: You can move the practice squad up, right?
- 48:40Speaker 2: Yes, you can. But then you have to take somebody
- 48:42Speaker 2: else off. But that being said... Offensive linemen, you have
- 48:47Speaker 2: to have at least two centers. That's a unique position.
- 48:49Speaker 2: You have to have at least two. Guards, you have
- 48:53Speaker 2: to have two, but three or sometimes four. Tackles, a
- 48:57Speaker 2: little more valuable than guards. I'd like to have four
- 49:01Speaker 2: tackles if I could because, Catherine, sometimes if you have
- 49:05Speaker 2: four tackles, one of those tackles could also play guard
- 49:08Speaker 2: in a pinch.
- 49:09Speaker 1: I see.
- 49:11Speaker 2: So you try to create depth within the own unit,
- 49:14Speaker 2: but tackles are usually a bigger version of an offensive lineman.
- 49:19Speaker 2: I'm a bigger... bigger is better guy if I can
- 49:21Speaker 2: get it.
- 49:22Speaker 1: He made that very clear. Bigger is better. I agree.
- 49:26Speaker 1: What position do you think, though, is easiest and hardest
- 49:30Speaker 1: to replace?
- 49:31Speaker 2: Well. I don't want to say easiest, but wide receiver
- 49:34Speaker 2: because there's so many more of them.
- 49:36Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 49:37Speaker 2: The college, you know, there's each team has five or
- 49:40Speaker 2: six receivers on their team. You just have so much
- 49:45Speaker 2: greater and they're smaller players. That means the more diminutive
- 49:50Speaker 2: guys can play that position successfully. That's been proven over
- 49:54Speaker 2: the years. You don't have any particular size requirements. You know,
- 49:59Speaker 2: you just got to be able to be quick enough
- 50:01Speaker 2: to separate or run fast enough to separate. And you
- 50:03Speaker 2: got to be able to catch the ball. Well, there's
- 50:05Speaker 2: a lot of those guys out there. So that's by
- 50:08Speaker 2: far the easier position to at least attempt to replace
- 50:13Speaker 2: somebody who's hurt.
- 50:14Speaker 1: What would be the hardest? I'm going to take a
- 50:16Speaker 1: wild guess and say the quarterback.
- 50:18Speaker 2: Yeah. Sometimes if you get your center hurt.
- 50:20Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 50:21Speaker 2: That's a unique position as well. And, you know, there's
- 50:24Speaker 2: not that many centers usually in the draft every year.
- 50:28Speaker 2: That's why they get drafted so quickly because they're valuable commodities.
- 50:31Speaker 1: Oh, interesting.
- 50:32Speaker 2: Yeah. It's a kind of unique skill set, especially if
- 50:35Speaker 2: he long slaps too, which gives him dual efficiency in
- 50:40Speaker 2: certain areas. We like that. Huh?
- 50:42Speaker 1: We like, yeah. Oh, yeah.
- 50:44Speaker 2: You know the old question, Kath. The more you can do,
- 50:47Speaker 2: the better we like you.
- 50:49Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely. That makes perfect sense. Because don't you have
- 50:51Speaker 1: quarterbacks that do, what do they do as well? They
- 50:54Speaker 1: don't punt, right?
- 50:56Speaker 2: Well, I have had a quarterback named Tom Tupa.
- 50:59Speaker 1: Oh, that's what, okay, so yes.
- 51:00Speaker 2: Ohio State, he was also my best punter. So when
- 51:03Speaker 2: he wasn't playing quarterback, he was punting the ball. Yeah.
- 51:06Speaker 2: I liked him.
- 51:07Speaker 1: Yeah, and that saves you an extra player, right?
- 51:11Speaker 2: You're starting to learn, buddy. That's it. Give me an
- 51:13Speaker 2: extra one. I want one.
- 51:15Speaker 1: I always tell my kids, work smart, not hard.
- 51:20Speaker 2: The more you can do.
- 51:21Speaker 1: The more you can do. Now, do you find that
- 51:24Speaker 1: modern teams actually carry enough depth?
- 51:26Speaker 2: They try to. But, you know, in football, you can't
- 51:30Speaker 2: always get exactly what you want because it's not available
- 51:33Speaker 2: on the market. So you may want to have more
- 51:36Speaker 2: quality players, say, on the offensive line, but you can't
- 51:40Speaker 2: find them. You can't find what you want. So sometimes
- 51:44Speaker 2: you have to play a little short until you can
- 51:47Speaker 2: find what you want. It's not always, you know, it's
- 51:50Speaker 2: a week-to-week thing. Sometimes it's temporary, but sometimes those injuries
- 51:56Speaker 2: are seizing and ending, and you know you're going to
- 51:59Speaker 2: have to get somebody else. That's when you keep your
- 52:01Speaker 2: scouts and your pro department and all the people charged
- 52:05Speaker 2: with roster construction. That's when they have to be busy.
- 52:09Speaker 2: When you go in that meeting and say, hey, fellas,
- 52:11Speaker 2: we need an offensive tackle and we need him in
- 52:14Speaker 2: 24 hours. We've got to get him here now.
- 52:17Speaker 1: Do you find that roster construction is more important now
- 52:20Speaker 1: than ever, though?
- 52:21Speaker 2: Not more important, equally as important as it's always been.
- 52:25Speaker 2: And the ability to create depth within the positions is good.
- 52:32Speaker 2: And that's why I keep saying, if you have a,
- 52:35Speaker 2: tackle that can play guard, or you have a guard
- 52:38Speaker 2: that can also play center, or you could have a
- 52:40Speaker 2: tight end that maybe play fullback if he has to,
- 52:44Speaker 2: things like that.
- 52:45Speaker 1: Putting the right people in the right positions.
- 52:47Speaker 2: Yeah, if you can get them.
- 52:48Speaker 1: If you can get them, yeah. All right. I want
- 52:49Speaker 1: to go back to injuries because I was really surprised.
- 52:53Speaker 1: We talked about the 49ers and how great of an
- 52:55Speaker 1: organization team they are. And they remain undefeated, but they
- 53:00Speaker 1: have a huge injury list. So what does it tell
- 53:03Speaker 1: you when an organization can lose so many players? but
- 53:07Speaker 1: still keep winning? Is that coaching? Is that the roster
- 53:12Speaker 1: construction that we just talked about?
- 53:13Speaker 2: It's all of the above, Catherine. It's all of the above.
- 53:17Speaker 2: Have you been able to create the depth within your
- 53:20Speaker 2: team to allow sustained injuries and still function? Do you
- 53:23Speaker 2: have the versatility among the players themselves? that allow you
- 53:28Speaker 2: to be flexible and move them from position to position.
- 53:32Speaker 2: That's also very, very valuable in creating depth. But roster
- 53:37Speaker 2: construction always has been very important. And the organizations that
- 53:42Speaker 2: have philosophical compatibility in the entire organization with the coach
- 53:48Speaker 2: and the general manager and the scouts. Everybody knows what
- 53:52Speaker 2: we're looking for at this position. This is what we want,
- 53:56Speaker 2: and we try not to compromise what we want and
- 54:00Speaker 2: take something that's a little less valuable for us. Sometimes
- 54:03Speaker 2: we have to, but we want to get what we want.
- 54:06Speaker 1: Well, the 49ers definitely figured some secret sauce out because
- 54:10Speaker 1: they are still performing despite all the injuries.
- 54:13Speaker 2: They've been a competitive organization for a very, very long time.
- 54:17Speaker 2: And I've always had a great respect for them. And
- 54:21Speaker 2: some of the greatest games I've ever been involved in
- 54:24Speaker 2: have been against them.
- 54:25Speaker 1: Ooh, actually, tell me. I want to know. If you
- 54:29Speaker 1: could go back and coach one game from your career again,
- 54:33Speaker 1: which game would you pick?
- 54:34Speaker 2: I would pick Super Bowl XXV against the Buffalo Bills.
- 54:38Speaker 2: The score was 20-19. They were a powerful offensive team.
- 54:42Speaker 2: They were averaging 35 points a game. Coming into the game,
- 54:46Speaker 2: we were averaging about 25. And our sole strategy in
- 54:50Speaker 2: that game was to try to keep the ball away
- 54:52Speaker 2: from the bills. And fortunately enough, we had several individuals
- 54:58Speaker 2: that were powerful blockers. I had a big run back
- 55:01Speaker 2: named Otis Anderson that was powerful. And we could methodically
- 55:06Speaker 2: slow the game down to the point, Catherine, where we
- 55:10Speaker 2: had the ball for 41 minutes and 40-something seconds out
- 55:15Speaker 2: of 60. If they'd have had the ball for equal time,
- 55:19Speaker 2: We would have never won the game. Score was 20-19 anyway.
- 55:22Speaker 1: Didn't you have a chat with the officials, though, at
- 55:24Speaker 1: some point in that game? Because they were calling the— was
- 55:27Speaker 1: it during the Super Bowl?
- 55:28Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. What happened was the league was very, very
- 55:33Speaker 2: up on maintaining the pace of the game.
- 55:36Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 55:36Speaker 2: Okay? Maintain the pace of the game. Keep the game going. Yeah.
- 55:40Speaker 2: And they instruct the officiating crews to do that and
- 55:43Speaker 2: to do that. Well, the officiating crews that are officiating
- 55:47Speaker 2: in the Super Bowl, they're hyped up, too. It's not
- 55:50Speaker 2: just the players. And so the game started. The head
- 55:54Speaker 2: official was Jerry Markbright, a guy that I knew had
- 55:58Speaker 2: in many of my games. I knew him very well.
- 56:01Speaker 2: And he was officials were operating at such a pace that.
- 56:06Speaker 2: We couldn't even function as a team. They're spotting the ball,
- 56:08Speaker 2: running the clock. We didn't have enough time to. So
- 56:11Speaker 2: finally we got a timeout and I called him over.
- 56:13Speaker 2: I said, Jerry, do you think strategy should be allowed
- 56:16Speaker 2: to be part of this game? And he looked at
- 56:18Speaker 2: me like I was, he said, well, yeah, absolutely I do.
- 56:22Speaker 2: I said, well, if you guys keep the pace of
- 56:25Speaker 2: this game going the way it is, I said, strategy
- 56:28Speaker 2: is going to be impossible. He looked at me and
- 56:31Speaker 2: he says, you know what, Bill? You might be right.
- 56:34Speaker 2: And they slowed it down just a little. It was
- 56:37Speaker 2: much better the rest of the way.
- 56:38Speaker 1: That's good. Oh, that was a really nice way of
- 56:39Speaker 1: you to handle that.
- 56:40Speaker 2: Well, I wasn't yelling and screaming. I couldn't do anything
- 56:43Speaker 2: about it. I know. But it was a deterrent to
- 56:46Speaker 2: not just our success, the other team as well. They
- 56:49Speaker 2: were operating under the same thing.
- 56:51Speaker 1: It was an edge of your seat win. Would you
- 56:54Speaker 1: have done anything differently in that game? Absolutely.
- 56:57Speaker 2: It was 20 to 19. I know.
- 56:58Speaker 1: That's crazy.
- 56:59Speaker 2: I got on the bus and I was happy and celebrating.
- 57:02Speaker 2: All right.
- 57:03Speaker 1: We got the win.
- 57:03Speaker 2: Okay. And they got on the bus and they were
- 57:06Speaker 2: despondent and down and out. Yeah. So no, there's always
- 57:10Speaker 2: things you would like to do differently, but I'm outcome oriented.
- 57:15Speaker 2: Let's win. Let's win. Let's just win. And that'll take
- 57:18Speaker 2: care of everything else. Yeah. I love it.
- 57:21Speaker 1: All right, so we're going to wrap up the episode
- 57:23Speaker 1: with my favorite rapid-fire round, the two-minute drill. I'm going
- 57:27Speaker 1: to throw questions at you. I don't want any long answers,
- 57:31Speaker 1: if you can avoid it. And first thing that comes
- 57:33Speaker 1: to mind is what you're going to say. You ready?
- 57:36Speaker 2: I'm going to have to be.
- 57:37Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't have a choice. I'm putting you on
- 57:39Speaker 1: the spot. Okay, biggest surprise of week four.
- 57:41Speaker 2: Biggest surprise week four? I would say the disappointing Houston
- 57:47Speaker 2: Texans defense.
- 57:48Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely.
- 57:50Speaker 2: Agreed.
- 57:51Speaker 1: Biggest disappointment, which I feel like kind of fall hand
- 57:55Speaker 1: in hand with that one.
- 57:56Speaker 2: Biggest disappointment. Anytime you lose in the last minute, that's
- 58:00Speaker 2: a big disappointment. So wasn't that Philadelphia-Dallas last minute?
- 58:05Speaker 1: Last minute.
- 58:05Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 58:06Speaker 1: Team you don't trust despite its record.
- 58:09Speaker 2: I'm going to say you're not going to like this answer, Catherine. Oh, no.
- 58:14Speaker 2: I'm going to say the Bills.
- 58:15Speaker 1: Yeah?
- 58:16Speaker 2: They're prolific on offense, but they're giving up way too
- 58:19Speaker 2: many points. And if they don't get that corrected a
- 58:22Speaker 2: little bit, it's going to get them.
- 58:24Speaker 1: That's fair. That's a fair point. All right. Quarterback you'd
- 58:27Speaker 1: want with the ball in the final two minutes?
- 58:29Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes. Or I'll take Josh Allen if you want
- 58:32Speaker 2: to give him to me.
- 58:33Speaker 1: No, he's mine.
- 58:34Speaker 2: Okay. I'll take Patrick. I'll take Patrick. All right.
- 58:38Speaker 1: Player you'd want to coach right now?
- 58:40Speaker 2: Well, that guy you mentioned, Derrick Henry. I like him.
- 58:43Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 58:44Speaker 2: I like him very much.
- 58:45Speaker 1: He's got great stats. Yeah.
- 58:47Speaker 2: Yeah. He can sustain possession for you. And that's what
- 58:50Speaker 2: I want to do. I want to keep the ball. Perfect.
- 58:52Speaker 1: All right. Coach who impressed you this week?
- 58:56Speaker 2: Andy Reid always impresses me.
- 58:58Speaker 1: Yeah, we talked about him a lot.
- 58:59Speaker 2: He's one of the top coaches without question. He always
- 59:03Speaker 2: impresses me. They got some young and upcoming guys that
- 59:06Speaker 2: I don't really know well enough to comment on yet,
- 59:09Speaker 2: but that I'm liking kind of what I see from them. And,
- 59:13Speaker 2: you know, Kyle Shanahan at San Francisco is another good
- 59:16Speaker 2: veteran coach that's been impressive over the course of his career.
- 59:19Speaker 2: But there's some young ones coming along. Let's get to Thanksgiving.
- 59:23Speaker 2: I'll give you a whole list of them.
- 59:24Speaker 1: Yeah, that's going to be your homework. You get me
- 59:26Speaker 1: the coaches.
- 59:27Speaker 2: We'll get the list of people.
- 59:28Speaker 1: There you go.
- 59:28Speaker 2: I love it.
- 59:29Speaker 1: All right, so one thing coaches today seem to overthink.
- 59:35Speaker 2: Coaches overthink.
- 59:36Speaker 1: Yeah, something you find that coaches overthink.
- 59:37Speaker 2: I think a lot of coaches think that more ammunition,
- 59:42Speaker 2: more extensive game plans is better. The more ammo you have,
- 59:48Speaker 2: the better you are able to cope. Not always true.
- 59:52Speaker 2: It's always what are your players capable of executing properly.
- 1:00:00Speaker 2: So it's not more ammunition. It's how effective is the
- 1:00:05Speaker 2: ammunition that you have.
- 1:00:07Speaker 1: So simpler could be better. Just analyze it.
- 1:00:10Speaker 2: Absolutely. You put it right. That's a nutshell right there.
- 1:00:12Speaker 1: I like it. All right. One thing today's players don't
- 1:00:15Speaker 1: understand about winning games.
- 1:00:16Speaker 2: The entire commitment that it takes. It's not, they'll all
- 1:00:21Speaker 2: say they want to win, but they don't all have
- 1:00:25Speaker 2: the will to prepare to do that.
- 1:00:28Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fair.
- 1:00:29Speaker 2: If you're not ready to pay the price to do
- 1:00:31Speaker 2: it mentally, physically, emotionally, emotionally probably not going to be
- 1:00:35Speaker 2: as good a result as that other guy who is.
- 1:00:37Speaker 1: I have to believe that because especially if you're new
- 1:00:40Speaker 1: to the organization, it's very long. It's very physically, mentally,
- 1:00:46Speaker 1: emotionally taxing on you, your family. You still have life happening.
- 1:00:51Speaker 1: That's a good answer. That makes like I'm analyzing it
- 1:00:54Speaker 1: even deeper in my head right now. And it makes sense.
- 1:00:57Speaker 1: Because anything can happen.
- 1:00:58Speaker 2: The physicality takes place over a long period of time.
- 1:01:02Speaker 2: You know, some guys just can't mentally deal with it.
- 1:01:06Speaker 2: And some can't physically hold up for that long a
- 1:01:09Speaker 2: period of time. And it's very difficult. But collect the
- 1:01:13Speaker 2: guys that can do it.
- 1:01:14Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a great answer. All right. Most overrated
- 1:01:17Speaker 1: stat in football?
- 1:01:19Speaker 2: Passing yardage. Yeah. Okay.
- 1:01:21Speaker 1: That was a quick answer. We'll leave it at that.
- 1:01:23Speaker 1: This one I think is going to be a tough one.
- 1:01:25Speaker 1: One rule you change in today's NFL.
- 1:01:29Speaker 2: I don't know whether I'd change it, but I would
- 1:01:32Speaker 2: like to see better consistency in what constitutes pass interference.
- 1:01:38Speaker 2: I think there's so much objectivity involved. I would like
- 1:01:43Speaker 2: to be, if possible, and it's very difficult to enunciate
- 1:01:48Speaker 2: what I'm trying to say, but if possible, just to
- 1:01:52Speaker 2: be more, specific in how we regulate past interference. Too
- 1:01:58Speaker 2: many variables right now.
- 1:02:00Speaker 1: Perfect. Oh, I like that answer. Well, as always, Bill,
- 1:02:03Speaker 1: I love learning from you. That was a great episode.
- 1:02:06Speaker 1: I gained so much information and I can't wait to
- 1:02:10Speaker 1: see what happens in football in the next week.
- 1:02:13Speaker 2: Well, we'll see. Maybe you'll be somebody's offensive coordinator if
- 1:02:16Speaker 2: you keep going along like this. You may be out
- 1:02:18Speaker 2: there coaching. You know, we got women coaching now in
- 1:02:21Speaker 2: the NFL.
- 1:02:21Speaker 1: I know. You told me.
- 1:02:23Speaker 2: You may be right out there with you. You might
- 1:02:25Speaker 2: be out there calling plays for somebody.
- 1:02:27Speaker 1: Listen, I have a lot to learn to get to
- 1:02:29Speaker 1: that position, but let's put it out in the universe.
- 1:02:31Speaker 1: You never know.
- 1:02:31Speaker 2: Okay.
- 1:02:32Speaker 1: It could be my fourth career.
- 1:02:34Speaker 2: Well, I want to give you one little piece of advice.
- 1:02:37Speaker 1: Please.
- 1:02:37Speaker 2: It's not for well-adjusted people.
- 1:02:39Speaker 1: It's Oh, you say well-adjusted people. When you say that
- 1:02:43Speaker 1: to me, it's not for well-adjusted sons of. So, yeah,
- 1:02:46Speaker 1: I got you. I got you.
- 1:02:47Speaker 2: All right. That's right.
- 1:02:49Speaker 1: Well, thank you, Bill, again. You're welcome, Catherine.
- 1:02:51Speaker 2: Great to be with you.
- 1:02:52Speaker 1: As always. And we'll catch up next week.