Latest / Know Your Personnel Pod / BEARS PICK UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF & TEXANS LEVEL UP!🚨 Week 6 NFL Recap
Transcript
- Nathan Hawthorne: What's going on with coaching in the NFL right now? It feels so unbelievably lopsided and broken. There's a good offense with a bad defense, a bad defense with a good offense, vice versa. Special teams feels like it's a forgotten art. Like I'm not sure if teams are even still coaching this. We're teaching QBs how to run plays and be in a system, and we're not teaching them how to actually beat a defense. And so they get up, they're like, here's the play to run, you know, kill to this if you see a light box, or kill to this if you see three to the strong. And you're like, okay, but how do I actually see the coverage behind it? I don't know how to beat a defense. I know how to change the play, which might not even be the best fit. We're investing in play designers, i.e., Mike McDaniels, instead of football coaches, coaching a system and how to be great, not just on the field but off the field. And analysts are telling everybody, we need to go for it on four town, blah, blah, blah. Not everyone, number one, has the play designer and caller to say, hey, it's fourth and short, it's fourth and seven. yeah, I have a play for that. Not everyone even has the personnel to do that, whether that's the quarterback, whether that's the receiver, running backs. And sometimes there's a defense you don't want to do that against. And that's not even taking into account what we need for like the the flow of the game. Sometimes it's not the right time to go for it. I don't even care if it's fourth and three. Sometimes it's not the right time to go for it. Take the points. but you know, analytics say if we get this fourth down here, we have a whatever percentage chance to get the well, if you don't get it, you'd get zero points. So at some point we have to actually get the points. We can't keep talking about expected points, points per blah, blah, blah. Get the points. Score points. That's how you win in the NFL. Points on the scoreboard, not theoretical points. And then there's just like the the lack of operational excellence. How many false starts are we seeing this year? How many roughing the password penalties because guys are just brain dead running into the quarterback? I know that they're tic tac, but they've been calling it for several years now, tic tac. Stay off the quarterback. Don't put your helmet right into his chin. And then we got guys jumping offside. It's like I just it blows my mind for how poor it feels like coaching is in the NFL. So I don't know where we where we started going wrong with coaching, but it just i you know, I'm a guy that said, hey, if you hire a strong defensive coordinator to be your coach, now you only have to have one good one good coordinator hire. But we can't even get that right. So again, we have these unbalanced teams on one side of the ball and And I can't figure out why, not just the unbalanced side, but the the coaching has just been so poor across the league and the penalties beyond past interference. I just my mind's blown. Welcome to another episode of KYP. My name is Nathan Awthorne. This is my co host, Jared McEnroy. I had no, I just I had to get right into it, Jared. I'm so sorry I hijacked it. But you welcome, welcome to the show. This is episode 44. Shout out 45. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, forty five, I think. Nathan Hawthorne: Four forty, the big the big four five. That's what I'm talking about. Can't people aren't doing it like we're doing it right now. So make sure you tune in. Make Jarod McInroy: Not doing it like we're doing it. Nathan Hawthorne: sure you like and subscribe and you're gonna get more rants like that. We've got an NFL recap coming. We're gonna be talking about week five in a more unique way than anybody else in the media landscape right now. Jared, Jarod McInroy: Week six. Nathan Hawthorne: week six. Jared, why don't you go ahead and and kick us off? Tell us what we're talking about here. Jarod McInroy: Week six. listen, we we heard you. We're gonna try and restructure a few things. We're we're gonna adapt. so you're gonna hear some fun new segments from us. and it's gonna start off with one that we like to call Victory Lap and Walk of Shame, where we're gonna highlight a team that we're going to give a victory lap to, and then one who really just did not have it this week. I'm gonna kick things off so just to give you a breather here. How how about a glass of water? after that just beautiful Nathan Hawthorne: Whoo. Jarod McInroy: picture of just the bad coaching that's going on right now. But at the end of the day, wins matter. Wins matter more than anything. And I'm gonna do my victory lap for the Packers. all the criticism to this point is very valid. Jordan Love has been quite terrible. he was terrible again. Fifty six percent completion percentage. one T D, one pick the the team can't run the ball fifty seven total yards. But I'm a man of principle. I'm a man of my word and week in, week out, I say every single time, all of those things matter, but they also don't matter if you're stacking up wins. They're four and two. Look at where they're at right now in terms of you know, the division, in terms of the grand scheme of the NFC. Honestly, the grand scheme of the league, I think they're technically based on record strength so str strength of schedule, scoring totals, all of that. They're like sixth in the NFL right now if they did a a full ranking. So hats off to them. They that they're doing it. What I will say also about this team is LaFleur doesn't seem to be too bothered by all of the criticism that's coming his way. He's not coaching scared. He's still sticking to his game plan. he's still taking risks. Now, again, it's not paying off in way of a a great stat sheet, but i i if you're stacking up wins that's all that matters. So I think s after six weeks, no matter where you were early on, when you're looking at the schedule, what what could our record be a few games into this season, if you told them four and two, they would take it and run with it. And this last week 13 points allowed. What what did you need to do this week? Get 14 at least to get the win. They got 23 So I'm not gonna knock them too much. I'm gonna give the victory lap, especially if we're gonna sit here week in and week out and give somebody crap. We're we're also gonna own up to when they do do the right things. And right now they're winning games. Take a victory lap, Packers. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, they can take a victory lap. you beat the Bears last week. even though they had Tyson Bajant, they've still been an effective offense running the football. And then you you demolished the Cowboys at home at Lambeau. It was impressive. I still have the way I feel about LaFleur, but like you said, you're four if you're four and two, you've made it. You know, at this point in the season, you're gonna take that record. Jonathan Gannon, I think we underestimated the time it was gonna take for his defensive acumen to kind of settle in to the Packers team. Things are str It's things are starting to sharpen up on that defense. Micah Parsons coming back soon. And then on offense, the offensive line isn't great, but you do have Josh Jacobs coming back. It sounds like he's off the commissioner's exempt list. He's going to be able to play as soon as week seven. So whether he's gonna actually gonna be ready, you endured that early season storm. Things are trending in the right direction. I can't wait for a wild card playoff loss. It's gonna be amazing to see. Jarod McInroy: You know, but at the what what can you control? You can control who are you playing that week? What is the task at hand and how did you handle it? Four wins, two losses. It doesn't matter who's on the other side of the field. And yeah, well looking at the end of the game, they kept loading the box on Dak because they saw he was getting flustered. I saw seven in the box, whether they're dropping back into coverage and they were just you know, bluffing. There were seven in the box every single time. And he looked uncomfortable through another Multiple picks, just just a terrible, terrible game from Dak. all in and all said and done and frankly been last couple weeks a bad offense, but overall a pretty good offense. So hats off to them. Who do you have for your victory lap this week? Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Vic victory lap, you guys are gonna say it's too obvious. I'm gonna tell you right now why it's such a big deal that the Kansas City Chiefs started five and Not only does Kenneth Walker lead the league in rushing, six hundred and sixty-five yards, eight rushing touchdowns, but they've had a depleted re receiving core in a young defense. Travis Kelsey is their leading receiver right now, and he's only got two hundred and ninety nine yards. You don't have Taekwond Thornton anymore with the fractured ankle. Rasheed Rice has been missing time with a ham ham hamstring injury. Xavier Worthy, again, we like him as a weapon, but he hasn't been fantastic. And you're five and You've won the games that you've needed to win to start the year because the rest of the schedule gets real tough. Now you go to the Seahawks, you go to the Broncos, back to back. Then you got a couple easy games in between. And then starting on November twenty-sixth, you have to go at the Bills, at the Rams Thursday night football, and then at the Bengals. So starting five and gives you so much breathing room going into the remainder of the season. Now, is it over? No. Is your bye week gone? Yes. But then even later you host the Patriots Monday night football and then you gotta go host the and then you gotta play at the Niners on a short week. So again, when I talk about stacking these five stacking these wins for Kansas City, it's not just stacking the wins by way of beating the bad teams. They are controlling the game and they are winning in whatever way is necessary. So the Chiefs, they're averaging right now about 53 offensive plays a game. Contrast that to the Bills running 61, the Cowboys averaging 63 point plays a game, the Lions 68, the Seahawks 62. So you're looking at these other teams. The the Chiefs are just shortening the game. They're saying, hey, yes, we have a great offense, but we are not going to score so quickly that we're hanging out our young defense to dry. Monsieur Delane already has a pick and three pass breakups. You're allowing this young Defense to develop without having the pressure of playing 60 plus snaps. Contrast it to the Bills. Their defense is on the field, an average of 72 plays. The Lions, 73 plays. So again, it's this makeup of the Kansas City Chiefs leaning on Kenneth Walker right now. These young receiving weapons, Cyrus Allen and Jalen Royals, are gonna have to develop quickly. And they've just done such a great job managing it the first five weeks. Again, you got to take that victory lap if you're the Kansas City Chiefs. And it's not just because of Kenneth Walker. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Did you see I don't know if you saw the Russell Wilson came out and said that he's predicting that they make a gigantic trade here in the coming days. Now, is he a trusted source? Maybe not. However, sometimes the the people hanging around the league, they they know stuff that we don't know. So maybe it's maybe it's a big receiver move, who knows? But I I think even with what they have in the building right now, they're stoked. So if they add a piece here before the trade deadline, that they're gonna be tough. They're gonna be really tough. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, I'm just I'm just not sure who you're calling right now in terms of a wide receiver weapon. You know? There there's a lot of injuries out there. you know, you said sir, you said a Jarod McInroy: Keenan Allen? Hey, fire sale. Nathan Hawthorne: sir, you said a big addition. This is like that'd be like picking up Juju Smith Schuster a couple years ago. All right, let's Jarod McInroy: No. Okay. But hey, hey, vet receiver, he's doing decent Nathan Hawthorne: let's let's say focused. Jarod McInroy: All right, let's lock in. we're we're jumping over to you know, we just went over the victory lap, so let's do the walk of shame here. My loser of the week. I got the Broncos. Now I I hate to beat a dead horse, pun intended. But I'll tell you what. The Broncos is this do they have Bo Nicks at quarterback or is that Tyler Huntley? Like I I genuinely don't know, like w b just based on scheme, not even just production. Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm. Jarod McInroy: last week. We we went over the game. We said what what are the keys to this Broncos team beating the Seahawks and i i it was more just like what do we want to see from their offense to be convinced that they're legitimate? And I said they need to stay ahead of the sticks. I said, you know, second down's extremely important. I f way too often we just talked about bad coaching, way too often do we see coaches just call a very basic lackluster run play on second down just to like get a couple yards and I think those days are over. Somebody needs to look into the analytics of that because I I knew any for any time that it would be third and five or longer, they were gonna struggle. And sure enough, Broncos two for ten on third downs over five yards. Two were on the same drive. So that was you know, things were rolling. You got lucky a couple of times on one drive. and they were owing six on those in the second half. when it was third and less than five, they were two for two. The league average is about 40%. So just to provide some context, it it's it's inexcusable. It's terrible. And on all ten of those drives, it was a basic run concept on second down. They're not trying to do anything crazy. They're not throwing the ball downfield. they're not even getting I said they need to get the ball into their playmakers' hands in creative ways, and they're not even doing that. It's still the same thing. The screen passes, the you know, they hit just a a three yard hitch. We all know, we all saw his a his average air yards per attempt is what, less than five yards. yeah, I I don't know what they're doing. Bonex is playing like you scheme for a backup that comes into the game. and frankly and he he's dead last. I I saw this stat also that I I have to share. Dead last in air yards per attempt to start a season in the last twenty years. Dead last. Seven hundred and first out of seven hundred and one qualified quarterbacks. It's I I don't know what they're doing. It and it's not just him at this point. It's it's scheme, it's everything. It's Sean Payton. Do you not trust him? Is there something we don't know? let him loose. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Yeah. You know, this reminds me of what I said when we were talking about our division breakdowns with the Broncos. Bo Nicks just makes this offense really hard for some reason. Now I'm gonna give him a break this year, you know, coming off of the ankle injury, but more so apparently when Sean Pa when Sean Payton gave up the play calling duties to Davis Webb, apparently Davis Webb changed the terminology to what he was more comfortable communicating with and working with. And now apparently that Sean Payton has taken the play calling back. Terminology has changed back to what Sean Payton wanted. So if you're telling me that we have to use new terminology and new information here week in and week out, that it's probably a little bit frustrating for Bo Knicks. But I think the biggest problem is is we've seen Russell Wilson say it. We've seen Ryan Fitzpatrick say it. He's just not letting go of the football for some reason downfield, and there are guys. So he just needs to have a come to Jesus moment with I have to I have to let go of the football. He's in a clean pocket. He's just gotta let it fly. And again, you're exposing this defense at times. and it's it's hard to scheme up anything better if your quarterback isn't doing the basics. That's how I'm Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: feeling. So yeah, i I think I think it it is a loss, you know. to take that walk of shame. Like, yeah, you you pulled it out, but doesn't look good. You got the win. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, you got the win. But just in term the offense did not get a win this week. That's for sure. All right, give us here. So do you got? Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Hey, time to take a walk of shame Los Angeles Rams, offseason champions. I know a lot of people are taking I know a lot of people are taking a victory lap on this walk of shame, but you've got a two and four start. This Rams a super team, but they're a super overpaid team. They have number one or first round picks all over the field. But the biggest problem to me is there's a lack of focus la lack of focus in that building when you're losing one possession games and you're handing it to other teams with mental mistakes. I think we're underestimating actually how beneficial Mike LaFleur was as the offensive coordinator. You know, he's a head coach and say what you want about the Cardinals and how good they are, but that offense is finding a way to move the ball. And it seems like with Skelassie, as a new offensive quarter, McVay has to do a little bit more babysitting in the offense. And that could be impacting how the rest of the team is looking. Their special teams is forgotten about, Devante s or not Devante Smith, Devontae Adams now out for six to ten weeks. Puna Ford is out for the season and Kobe Turner's gonna be missing four to six weeks. So you're talking about losing a a great wide receiver weapon, and now you're talking about your defensive line that's already down Miles Garrett. You gotta get him back. But I will say this are they lacking in explosive plays? A little bit. Are they lacking in attention to detail? Sure. Is their linebacker play and their safety play? Horrible. Compared to what they're paying people. Yeah. But I'll tell you what, do you remember those LeBron James Miami Heat teams? That 2000 Jarod McInroy: Yeah, the Heatles. Nathan Hawthorne: team team? Yeah. They started out eight and nine or nine and eight and something like that. And everyone's like, this isn't gonna work. They they just don't know how to share blah blah. And then they ended up in the NBA finals. Granted they lost. Granted they lost shout out there, but they but they Jarod McInroy: Well, they lost in the NBA finals. That was a tough loss too. Nathan Hawthorne: got there. Shout out Dirk Novinsky. And it just takes time, I think, for chemistry to settle in. Now, would I have liked to have seen it after six weeks? Yeah, I I really needed to see it. But now the you know, the temperature has turned up in LA, even though we're going into the winter. two and four is not a good start. Your division is good. And now you see that the Cardinals are feisty. So you gotta go play the Seahawks, you gotta go play the Niners again, and this Cardinals team is giving you more than you can handle. I don't like the way things are looking in LA. I it's not that I don't think that they can turn it around, but this is man, take that walk of shame back to LA. It ain't looking good. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. It's it's a tough look. Nathan Hawthorne: And that's and that's a true walk of shame in Los Angeles. You know, that's that's how that's a that is a true Jarod McInroy: The Cardinals, man. The Cardinals. Nathan Hawthorne: walk of shame at home. You know, the bungalow is close. Jarod McInroy: How it how much is that a real home stadium though? Like even for the Rams, like I know they're starting to like regain their fan base, but anytime you play w whether it be the Chargers or them at SoFi, there's it they're just loaded with other other fans and it's it's an easy easy travel day for someone from Arizona hopping on over to LA. But nonetheless, it's a bad Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. The the just Jarod McInroy: loss. Nathan Hawthorne: yeah, that that playoff picture looks real tight because you've already got two of your teams in your division likely going. I I'd like to think the Seahawks can turn it around as well. Niners are looking great, so it's gonna be tough. And that's that's Jarod McInroy: Gonna be tough. Nathan Hawthorne: the walk of shame. We're gonna break this out into now the performance of the week. Who stood out across the entire NFL? Jared, lead us off. Jarod McInroy: I got CJ Stroud this week. Again, if we're gonna come after somebody's head every week and then they they show up the following week, we're gonna give them their flowers and we asked him just to be okay this offseason in our division breakdown in countless episodes. We we we've said now just just be okay. Be top fifteen. If if you're average, it's fine. he was exceptional. It wasn't even just average this week. Twenty four for thirty-four, with three t TDs, three hundred and twelve yards in one very unfortunate interception at the end of the game where Travis Hunter frankly just made a good play on the ball. So but what I liked about the interception, and there's not many things to like, he was decisive. He made an attempt to go get points where I feel like they've been very conservative this year and honestly, again very similar to the Broncos game plan. they're not taking many risks. They're not throwing the ball downfield. He's not trusting his receivers in certain spots. So instead of just, you know, rolling into a a win where you're really heavily reliant on your defense, making a stop and a play, whatever, you're trying to go get the win yourself. Granted, again, it turned into you still having to rely on your defense, but you're at least being aggressive. The aggression is gonna pay off, I think, as the season goes on. a another big piece of their game plan and their offense in general was they're averaging about twenty four minutes of possession per game. And they bumped it Nathan Hawthorne: Hm. Jarod McInroy: up to thirty this week. That's an extra six minutes where your defense gets to sit on the sideline. Now, again, not a great defensive performance. They will figure it out. They will pick it up as the season goes on. again, complimentary football. The more your offense continues to do what we saw this week, the defense will start to roll as well and get into their Their thing. So it again, not just the offense in general. CJ Stroud was exceptional. the last little piece of this is he spread the ball. Eight different players had multi-catch games. Eight. so he was spreading the love, finding people everywhere, trusting everybody to be in the right spot. And frankly, they just seemed more organized on as an offense and he looked more confident. And I don't want to call it, you know. I've nothing else nothing left to lose, but it kind of looked like he was playing that way. And sometimes that's where you're at. One and four, that was where you're at, especially against a division rival in a neutral site. luckily for you where the other team is the home game. So go capitalize, go get the win. You did it. so hats off to CJ Stroud this week. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, tip the cap to CJ Stroud. my again, my beef has always been with Nick Cayley, not CJ Stroud. I will say I think that Nico Collins means more to this offense than anybody was giving them credit Jarod McInroy: yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: for to start the season. You know, the last couple games, thirty points and a loss to the Cowboys, twenty six points and and thirty four points. So they're starting to figure out things offensively. Nico Collins being a huge addition. Marvin Harrison Jr. when he gets ramped up, hopefully that effort level goes up that we saw a little bit last week. but It's gonna be, you know, tougher to defend these guys. Jalen Knowle starts popping. It sounds like Tank Dell Jarod McInroy: yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: is coming back this week or he's, you know, preparing to play within the next couple. So all of a sudden, you know, this receiving core looks fantastic. They still need to be able to run the ball. And whether it's Woody Marks or Montgomery when he's back, they they have to be able to run the ball more consistently. They did a little bit better in this last game, but still, if you want to start dominating the clock and again protecting that defense. getting a lead so that that defense can start attacking the quarterback, that's how they're built. these guy th they're gonna be good. But like you said, huge win for these guys to go from one and four to two and four and that game being a division game, massive. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Who do you got? Who's your performer of the week? Nathan Hawthorne: I've got NFL MVP Caleb Williams as performer of the week. 30 of 36, 305 yards, eight and a half yards per attempt. And here's here's the best part. Here's what people aren't talking about. 24 of 24 from the clean pocket. He's he's staying in there. He's staying in the pocket. That was a big part of his issues the the last couple years, right? Leaving that pocket a little bit early. But we saw, and I think that that hamstring injury gave him a chance to see Case Keenum operate. And then see Tyson Bajent kind of do it differently. But hey, you drop back, you hit your spot, you hitch, and you let it rip. And he was throwing with velocity. Even Tom Brady said it. That ball is gyrating come out of coming out of his hand. Early in the game, again, he was decisive and he threw with accuracy. It his sort of you know, Caleb Williams-ness started to come back late in that game against the Falcons, scampering out a little bit early. So he needs to work on that urgency in the game. not affecting how he's playing the quarterback position. But I love to see that progress. Again, seeing a completion percentage that high from a guy who had been struggling with his completion percentage first two years in the league is impressive. if he continues to develop this way, it's going to be scary. And in in my humble opinion, all said and done, Caleb Williams will be a better quarterback than Josh Allen. A better quarterback than Josh Allen. Hey, a better quarterback Jarod McInroy: Whoa Yo. Nathan Hawthorne: than Josh Allen. I'm not saying a a better talent even though he's right there Mm, he might be the second most talented quarterback in the NFL. He might have surpassed Patrick in terms of talent and ability. I I'm not sure. They they've got different looks, but I'm telling you, I think that as a quarterback in the NFL, I think that Caleb Williams has a chance and will be better than Josh Allen. Now Jarod McInroy: I'm not saying I disagree. I'm just that that's crazy. That's that's it's a crazy time. Yeah, no, I Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, I'm I'm coming for it right now. I'm coming for it right now. Jarod McInroy: all right. Nathan Hawthorne: And and here's the deal, and we saw this with Caleb Williams, and you you have to play him so differently. In and I love seeing Keenum and I love seeing Bajan. But your rush integrity has to be so much more precise. If you rush four, he's got space in the pocket to move. If you rush five, you're sending pressure. He's no where's the press he knows where the pressure is coming from, or he can get out of it and punish you with his leg. So again. that combined with his ability to stay in the pocket longer, watch out for Caleb Williams for rest of this year and for the rest of his career. Probably ten Super Bowls. Jarod McInroy: Love it. The the big thing too is the his his biggest knock, the really the only argument I saw for his that wasn't a great season from him last year was his completion percentage. So to come out eighty-three percent completions percentage, not sustainable for the rest of the season. However, in a game where you're coming back off an injury, your team treaded water for a couple games for you, you're sitting pretty. you gotta go beat an Atlanta team that's now kind of rolling a little bit and and you did it. So yeah, hats off to him. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, you just see that difference in playbook too. It just it Ben Johnson Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: just starts licking his chops, he's like, boy, do I have a play for you. It's special. Jarod McInroy: it really is. okay, let's hop over to our last segment here. Nathan Hawthorne: Yes. Jarod McInroy: We're gonna call this one Brilliant or Blunder. and it's gonna be a coaching centered segment where we go into what coaches either, you know, had a brilliant moment that maybe won them a game or a blunder that would have cost So I'm gonna let you start this one off. Who do you have? Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. mine is none other than Brian Schottenheimer. And I you guys heard it at the top of the show. I can't stand bad coaching. Bad coaching makes me sick. And what we are seeing is what made the Cowboys bad at the tail end of last year. Inability to run the ball and putting a ton of pressure on your offense to put the ball in the air a bunch of times per game. Right? You've got turnovers, you're not running the ball effectively, you can't sustain possessions. And you again, you're you're asking a defense that's not very good to be out there a lot, and you're relying on all of your own explosive plays coming through the air. If your explosive plays are only coming through the air, you're gonna have interceptions and turnovers. It's that's just the way it is. Because you ha again, the if the ball is flying in the air, the the likelihood of a defender getting a chance on it is so much higher. And then again, you're asking Dak to be perfect night in and night out. We said this after the first couple of weeks. Can the Cowboys win when that offense is not working? And the answer is no. They threw 54 times and they could not really get anything going against a reeling Green Bay defense. Early in the show, we tipped the cap to, you know, LaFleur and Gannon, really bringing things back for them. But this is just, again, it's shades of what we saw last year. And Brian Schottenheimer has been unable to address the needs of this offense, which is running the football. And Javante Williams ran for one like twelve hundred yards last year. And but not towards the end of the year. So what happened in between the start of last year and where we're at here in twenty twenty six where we can't effectively run the football between the tackles? And if you don't have the right running back, then maybe you should have thought about drafting one. And if you do, this this run game scheme has to change. Cause right now, play action has no bearing on the defense. Like you ain't handing that off. You can't hand it off. And again, it's I When you see the same repeated mistakes and inability from a coach to address the the faults of the offense, that tells me that things aren't going to get better. They're still going to have great games. Dak is still a great quarterback. The offense isn't bad, but you start playing, you know, wiser defensive coordinators and you start playing in games that have more defensive talent, it's just it's going to be hard to keep trying to outscore teams. The the the playbook is out. Jarod McInroy: Alright. I Nathan Hawthorne: Jack can. Jarod McInroy: s there's a lot of things I disagree with there, but this is hey, this is yours. You ch you went blunder this week and I I think I'm gonna do a blunder as well. I'm gonna hop on over to Patchagram of the Steelers DC. Did you not watch last week? Did you not watch what happened with the commanders and and and how they ended up giving up a field goal to the Giants to tie the game, sorry, not lose it. did you not watch the game a few weeks ago where it was the Ravens and the Cowboys, where the Cowboys just let the Ravens they played super soft coverage, let them go down the field and ultimately kick a game winning field goal. What are we doing? Your defense is ranked let let's take a look here. I just want to get it exactly correct for you. Ninth in total defense, eighth in total passing yards allowed. Why are you not playing aggressive defense against a backup quarterback? Now, granted, I'm talking about one specific play in regulation, final drive of the game. They play soft coverage. They give up a twenty two yard reception and then a sixteen yard reception to Ted Hurst. And they ultimately get into field goal position, kick the field goal, and send it to overtime where anything can happen. Yes, you walked away with the win. That's huge. But there's going to be weeks that where those aren't wins. And those are not games that you can help losing. You cannot lose to backup quarterbacks if you want to win a division that has the Ravens, that has the Bengals, and want to be taken seriously as a team in general. So I I'm tired of these coaches playing extremely soft coverage, giving you, you know, a lot of space to operate. you know, we're not gonna let the big play happen. Of course, don't let the big play happen. Play your safeties a little bit deeper if you need to. But you have aggressive corners. You have you know, a pass rush and Patrick Queen and and company that can go and go after the quarterback. Be aggressive. Be aggressive. F make a backup quarterback flustered and go win a game. What like I I it just doesn't make sense to me what what these coaches are doing in these end game situations. Again, it comes down to bad coaching, but can you make any sense of it? What what are you seeing here? Nathan Hawthorne: I'm just baffled at the amount of game winning slash game tying kicks we've seen this year. Is it is it not a record year of a team has a a Jarod McInroy: It probably is. Nathan Hawthorne: team has like four seconds to go down and get a field goal and somehow they're getting it? These field goal kickers, number one, have massive legs now. I don't know what PED plan that somebody's got these kickers Jarod McInroy: A piece of it. Nathan Hawthorne: on, but they are kicking the ball from deep. Like there's no fear kicking from fifty yards and even sixty yards with Cam with Cam Little and Brandon Aubrey. And again, like we're just defenses are are just giving up these massive chunk plays. And you've already got the issue of do we kick it deep or do we kick the touchback? Touchback comes back to the 35. But then again, you're just leaving all that space in the middle of the field and you're letting these guys get crazy. Yeah, like there's no aggression, right? You become passive on defense trying to keep it in front of you, but they don't have to get that far anymore. They they really don't. Jarod McInroy: No, b which is fine, but you know the rules and that's what I'm saying, where it's like you wanna give them space. No, I know, Nathan Hawthorne: Yes, totally. I y if you're asking, like I don't have the answer. I don't know. I don't know. Jarod McInroy: but like you give space, right? They only need twenty yards. How much space do we have to give them? And and we're seeing drop all the way back. Again, I know you don't want to lose in some crazy way, but you trust your guys to make a play. You you're your whole game plan, the entire game is to also not Give up big plays, that will affect the game. Like it it's not changing much in those regards, but I don't know. That's all I got for you. That's that's my blunder of the week. great. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Wow. That's great stuff. next week I'm gonna have an apology for you. I need to see I need to see one more week. And I'm gonna Jarod McInroy: Okay. Nathan Hawthorne: and I'm gonna have to say sorry to somebody, or I'm gonna come in here and I'm gonna grand sand pound the table and tell you why we should have never sold the stock. Anyways, ladies and gentlemen, that's gonna do it for episode forty five of the Know Your Personnel Cup podcast. If you enjoyed it this week and you like this little format switch that we just did and in the information we're presenting, Go ahead and like, subscribe, tell a friend about us. We would appreciate your support. Once again, this is KYP. My name is Nathan Hawthorne. This is my co-host Jared McEnroy, and we will see you on the next one.