NFL Week 2 Theme: IMPROVEMENT!! | Coach Podcast

Start the tough one is when you are 0 and one and then drop that second one you're 0 and2 you know now things start it's still a long way to go but things start to tighten up a little bit and so I think winning that second week is uh I always felt like that was better than winning the first week to be honest with you not you don't want to win both of them welcome to coach I'm Michael Lombardi this is Matt Patricia and of course this is coach belich we're excited to have you join us on the coach podcast and we'd like to start this week off coach with week one reaction expectation you know everybody talks about don't overreact in week one you got to be careful but we know fans they're going to overreact and we also know fans are Fan Reactions to Week 1 seldom right but never uncertain but John Fanta I think captured America's opinion of watching the Cleveland Browns we were in Cleveland we know how we've seen this Cleveland yes we've seen the Cleveland fans yeah we've seen that Matt you've been in Detroit you know how that goes right I mean they're passionate let's play the tape for America to see John Fanta at his finest the only thing that's nice right now is the sun that's shining it shouldn't be that was utterly embarrassing pathetic disgraceful shameful you gave that guy under Center $230 million fully guarantee $230 million fully guarantee he's not great he's not good he's not even average right now I put him on par with Bryce young or Daniel Jones he can go stand in line with them rip the Band-Aid off before it's too late cuz the rest of that locker room knows it toam Watson's done that first half against Dallas was an utter joke I'm tired of hearing about rust I'm tired of hearing excuses I'm tired of hearing that the two-time NFL coach the it's all his fault folks he can't play it ain't happening except reality I'm tick what do you say to that well there's 16 cities that have fans like that Matt and I think to me let's not get into the Deshawn Watson discussion or else we'll be here forever but the passion that he exhibits in that I mean you felt that I mean we've had all had games where we start the season out and we go uhoh that ain't going to work yeah no doubt we've had some historic ones that we've all um you know that we all know about coming out of Kansas City uh going out there uh in 14 and um we had that previous years you know trying to play those guys in week one and it's a disaster after that happens you know you can't do anything Cleveland I love because you know you tell the stories you guys tell the stories of the dog pound back in the day and the passion and the mass and everybody in the end zone and the biscuits being thrown and you know you just got to love the fans and how much they just love that team and obviously disappointed with week one for you know the Cleveland fans but we we know it's a long season we know things change um but like you mentioned earlier Mike you know coach expectations week one going into week two um certainly uh things can change you know real quick you just when you have those games like that they had in Cleveland you just really can't wait to get to the next Sunday I think that's all you're trying to do is like all right let's just go play we can just play as soon as possible and just get going I mean you've had a lot of these right you've had great ones and bad ones I mean what was your mindset after a bad one uh like the 31 to nothing lost to Buffalo Buffalo 20 you brought it up I didn't want to bring it up yeah that was uh the day before the world came to an end yes I remember on the worldwide leader had announced your death yes I know that oh man that was uh but you know what it's it's a long season and I think whatever happens in week one you pick up the pieces sometimes they're good sometimes they're not you pick up the pieces you have a lot of things to work on and you commit as a team to get better and and and each individual player and coach needs to get better too I mean don't forget about the coaches coaches haven't coached in 6 months I mean it's preseason you know get those same situations practice is practice uh those real-time game decisions that's part of coaching you know getting into the right Groove and making good decisions as well as the players so uh I think everybody's got a lot to work on after week one yeah like we saw last night the Jets we were taping this on Tuesday afternoon the Jets went out to San Francisco with High Hopes right they go out there and they basically run off the field by Kyle shannan's Run game and Robert Salah comes back and says 0 and one feels a hell of a lot better today day than one and0 does without Aaron roders so I don't know is that mindset the right approach well as I said I think everybody has a lot to work on and so um whoever you have you have whoever you Adjusting After the Opening Game don't have you don't have you know we saw a lot of injuries in week one probably about you know 30 or so players uh that got hurt and there so these teams are going to have to already make some roster adjustments you know going into week two whether it's Rams on the offensive line Tampa Bay is secondary uh everybody's got things they need to work on and and they come in different you know shapes and sizes and uh so you know just just you got to get back roll up your sleeves and get back to work yeah on Tuesday when you go in that meeting room and talk to the team after one of those bad losses did you have a sense of confidence what what what is the remotion coming back at you yeah you know and I think you're trying to read the room and you've obviously probably already talked to your leaders at that point your captains and um you know I think you're leaning on those guys because those guys are the ones that are having the conversations in the locker room and getting the true feelings of where everybody's at and it just depends on how that first game goes you know did it was what kind of loss was it obviously all losses aren't great but you know were you out there competing and you're in it you just have you know some things to fine-tune and get better or you know is it like all right we got a lot of work to do and how's the team feel but really leaning on those those veteran players that have been around or those strong leaders in your locker room to you know pull the team sayy listen Coaching a Team Through Early Adversity this is a process we've got to get better we've got to do more you know maybe you know whatever we got to change look at and go forward from there but I mean I even remember you know in ' 08 we obviously the first game of the year wasn't great our quarterback gets knocked out and you know coaches got to walk in there the next day and you know walked in with the football walked over to Matt Castle handed it to him said it's your ball we got to go and there really is no choice like we have to go we have to get that mindset we got to go out there and play next week and you know put put that learn from it put it behind us we've buried some shoes we've buried some jerseys we've buried you know we've tried to do everything to get rid of some of those losses that we've had early in the year but you know I thought that was a great one where you just kind of walked in with because that's that's a big change right so you're starting quarterback you know you got a situation there I think the whole team is waiting to see okay what are we going to do and you know with as much confidence as you had just walked in handed the ball to Castle said we're going and that was it yeah I hey Mike my first year in the league was a really interesting situation we went to training camp on July 5th in 1975 with the Baltimore Colts and our opening game was September 21st against the Bears we played really good against the Bears beat him 35 to7 pton had negative yards that was his rookie year and we got off to a great start and it validated training camp it was like you know what all the hard work we put in training camp it paid off we played good we were in good condition we won and then we lost the next four games and now we're one and four and that was kind of a crisis moment and things turned around at that point and we won the last nine went 10 and four ended up losing the Pittsburgh eventual Super Bowl champions in the playoffs but that week one validated training camp so I think when you win there's a lot of validation there when you lose that first game no matter how you lose it it's kind of like oh you know we just we got to do more it wasn't quite good enough maybe we didn't work hard enough maybe we're you know we over um evaluated certain things but I think the real crisis for the team is going to come sometime during the season yeah you know it might be week five might be week 10 it might be week 13 but it's going to come later on in the season I don't think it needs to be a crisis now although in some places it probably is yeah right I I thought one of the best stories after Matt mentioned the' 08 season when Brady gets hurt is you had two quarterbacks come in for a workout that Monday just to just to get your emergency list you never anticipated Brady was going to was going to get injured and before they could even get to the building you sent them home because you wanted to send a message to the team that Matt Castle was our guy that you weren't out there looking for another quarterback right you know Matt had put in three hard years of work had really put himself into a position to be a good quarterback he just wasn't better than Brady and then when Tom got hurt unfortunately in ' 08 that was Matt's chance and you know I think at that point he really deserved the opportunity you know he went on to lead us to 11 wins that year so it was a you know he validated the you know the hard work and training that he had put in and pushed Tom to be better and and Tom pushed him to be better and and in the end you know similar to the Trent green uh Kurt Warner situation when when the Rams won the Super Bowl was at that game that was another one that the season was over when Trent green got hurt Rams end up win the Super Bowl Kurt Warner I can remember we were playing him in in the old St Louis dome there and I'm looking at the program who the hell is this guy coming in I even heard him before his name's Kurt War oh God next thing you know he completed eight passes in a row and Al Davis was like who is that guy you know and then all of a sudden they go on to do it so I I think to me it'll be interesting if Deshawn Watson plays better and the Browns beat Jacksonville I wonder if John Fanta will post another video about how happy he is with all the decisions what do you guys think it will it'll be the highs and lows we know that's how it is every single week and you know that's what you love about it you know you ride and die with your team um for sure and The Season Timeline take those High moments and and you know hate the low moments and all of it you know I think one of the things um that you know coach obviously instilled in the team for us you know even going back to like the 2014 13 you know some of the years that didn't start off so great we just put a timeline on the season so that we kind of tried to eliminate the Panic right hey at this marker of the Season you know we're trying to figure things out so the month of September we're learning our team what do we do well what do we not do well where do we got to improve we get to October we really try to improve on those things that we're not doing well and start to get become a better team you know try to put that Thanksgiving marker in there to like hey can we be our best by Thanksgiving to get ready to push and get ready for postseason and you know when you kind of break the season down like that I think from a team standpoint certainly not outside the building but inside the building you know coach you did a great job of just really keeping everybody calm early on in the year let's just focus on the process let's just try to get better let's identify what we need to improve on let's identify what we do well you know and how we can win and then go from there and and see if that's what helps us get better week to week and you know keeps that goal in the Forefront yeah I think that really and Mike you and I have had this conversation many times Matt you and I have too I think the biggest thing is don't kid yourself come in after week one and identify the problems these are the problems this will we got to fix let's you know I think you can really make a mistake saying well everything's okay here when it really isn't well eventually three or four weeks later you're going to really find out that it isn't if it's not okay then what can we do to address it maybe we can work around it you know try to push the you know stay away from that area that's not a strength for us you know whatever it happens to be play less man-to-man coverage or get the ball out quicker on pass whatever it happens to be you know figure out a way to address the problem rather than ignore it and say well we're going to be okay if you're going to be okay then you better be okay if you're not then you better figure out a way to work around and solve the problem you know Green bay loses Jordan love maybe for four weeks six weeks but that's a different turnaround now Malik Willis comes in what was going through your mind I know you had great as hopes for Brady and he looked good in practice but when blo goes down and you put Brady in there the season wasn't going great at that point and then all of a sudden it turned around not in the first week it wasn't a Hollywood Story but eventually it did what was your mindset during there uh really just I told Tom the biggest thing is look we have a good defense and we're pretty good in the kicking game let's just don't go out there and lose the game don't turn the ball over we'll get what we can get we got Troy Brown we got Antoine Smith you know we'll try to keep the games competitive and keep it close don't turn the ball over and that third week we beat uh beat the Colts and you know had a couple turnovers pick sixes returned and and had some good field position for the offense took advantage of it and got a big win and that really rebuilt the confidence of the team now you know we lost you know four other games after that I mean it wasn't like we were arrived or anything but I think once the team feels like it's competitive and and that's the big thing you want the team to feel like every week we got a chance to win right and if they feel like that then okay you at least you're in position to win now you have to go out and and play well enough but uh when a team has a mindset and they go into the game like well we just can't win then then you're really in trouble yeah I I think that's the hard part and that's where you have to develop the confidence without evidence right yeah Back to Fundamentals no doubt and I think you know one of the things you know we look at this week and it's the first game of the year and it's the first game speed this is like you saw real game speed on the field you know special teams that's that's totally different you know you're trying to get those reps in practice but you never really get game speed in practice and special teams for sure and then in the preseason some of those guys are you're know trying to evaluate your roster so now you're actually out there in a competitive situation with special teams and you know I think that'll improve as we go through you know to this week and tackling for sure you know the first time a lot of these guys are seeing that game speed and trying to tackle so those fundamentals will improve and you know Bill and I talked about all the time like the the improvement from week one to week two I think from the fundamental standpoint that'll be big to see which teams you know some of those plays that kind of hurt the teams this past week those will get fixed and then they won't hurt those teams and that'll help them to win week two and they'll continue that way as they go through the season yeah I think look I think every team is going to improve from week one to week two it's the rate of improvement yeah what team improves more than another team and we won't know that until the following Sunday but you know it's everybody's going to get better but look there's only 17 games if you only get better 17 times that's just not enough you got to use Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday to continue to improve through the week if everybody can improve 5 10% every coach every player then that Rising tide will lift the boats up to you know a much higher point I think it's time to look back on week one you know you used to say this all the time great teams can run the ball when they need to run it great defenses can stop the run when they have to stop it and I think when we watch week one there were very few games where Passing Game Inconsistency we saw teams being able to execute and demand and be precise with what they had to throw the football what were your thoughts about the passing game in week one Tak an outside the rookie quarterbacks well pretty inconsistent really I think when you you look at some of the numbers the numbers are down you know many fewer touchdown passes than what we normally see in week one uh yards downfield passing that was low too uh the quarterback ratings were generally low with the exception of a few quarterbacks who had pretty good days we only had two 300 yard passers the whole weekend yeah yeah that that was surprising and Matt when you watch a tape from a former head coach and defensive coordinator what did why do you think that the passing is behind is it because of practice and lack of execution with training camp or is it just defense getting better yeah it's probably a combination of both them in in depending on the situation but I think to coach's Point um you know I think that was the least amount of 300 yard quarterbacks you know since 2010 so it's you know obviously this change as we're kind of um with the passing game just the production um you know just wasn't there this weekend I think the defenses are a little bit more advanced you know maybe to start the season the offenses are trying to get in their Rhythm um you know New pieces going in and first time out there on the field all working together as a unit um I think that the defense just kind of had a little bit of a jump on it you see a lot more shorter passes from the quarterback trying to ball control that's just kind of in in the offensive kind of uh style right now so the amount of uh yards down field is not you know the same it really it's almost like when we look at it it's like really short passes like everything within five to six yards or you know it's downfield like plus 25 to 30 you know and these guys are getting out of the pocket the intermediate routes you see the more advanced offenses Kansas City you know Philly things like that throwing the in Cuts like you really see those inside you know intermediate routes those were completed this weekend but really for the majority of everybody else it's you know getting the backs out of the back field we saw a lot of halfback releases a lot of wheel routes you know by The Backs getting out that turned into explosive plays these guys are so good with the ball in their hands you know they just want to get it to them right now so they can you know try to get the yards after catch but I just think that ball is coming out so quick from the quarterback and the defenses are sitting there and they're just driving and tackling and keeping everything in front of them in those situations um but you know there was some plays in the defense this past weekend where the ball got behind them you know they cut some guys loose through the defense and um now they had those big plays so it was really like the the passing game was it was really interesting it was short and then there was some giant ones downfield and not a lot in between I would say yet you know in the offensive system what were your thoughts on offensive line play in week one well I think the lack of fundamentals and continuity was uh showed up uh there was some missed assignments on games and twist Blitz pickup things like that there was some free Runners on the quarterbacks a lot of times quarterbacks just heed the ball and didn't get sacked I don't think it was in inordinate amount of sacks but there was a lot of pressure on some of those guys and I think the offensive lines will become more cohesive you know as the season goes on but um look you you got to protect for the quarterback from day one so if you don't then you lose your quarterback so uh I think just the overall timing execution offensively I'm sure we'll get a lot better this week which it needs to yeah you talk about using September as kind of an extension of preseason and you you kind of use it not and people think when you Dallas Personnel Strength say that you don't want to win the game you're just trying to look at the team but you you want to win the game but you also want to learn a lot about your team and I think there's a lot of teams like Dallas for example they go into Cleveland and dominate Cleveland's offense well nobody's better from playing ahead than Dallas is you know they can control the ball offensively and they can they can play from ahead on defense with their pass rush and their coverage players so that really plays into their hands we'll see what happens when they get into a tighter game maybe they have to play from behind uh whether it goes that way last year it didn't for him yeah aren't you I mean how good is their kicking game though they they can make kicks from outside the moon right and then that don't ever kick the ball to turban I mean like why anybody would kick the ball to turban it would be like I know you would kick it out of bounds the turban he'd have to catch it in the stands if he was going to catch it right yeah he'd have to bat it back onto the field to play no and look I think you got to give Dallas's uh Personnel Department Steven Jones the personel apartment a lot of credit look the only way you can afford CD lamb Dak Prescott some of their other High pric players is you got to find good players that don't cost too much they've done it with their kicker Aubrey they've done it with their returner Turpin those guys are two of the best guys in the league didn't cost anything another thing they got this year was like another free draft choice overan had 11 tackles in the game he didn't even play last year because he tore his ACL so he came back in his second year without playing a snap last year you know led the Le league in tackle or led the team in tackles against the Browns so uh you know really a great job by Dallas of finding those those play players to come in and supplement some of their high price Players so they can have a solid team all the way around and I know to say coach to that point you know when you find players like that that actually score points you know and obviously you know the score is the biggest thing so with their kicking game Dallas I thought that was so impressive you guys know obviously being in Cleveland you know you're kicking in Grass you're kicking outside those aren't easy kicks now you go to Dallas and you know defensively you're playing on half a field like literally you know they get the ball at the 30 yard line they gain 20 yards and it's three points because it's such a weapon but when you can find those guys that you know you get in that contract that price range that score like you know they have and to do it in Cleveland with another plus 50 you know yard field goal which we're we have a lot of those right now it's just that's such a weapon for them and that's what gives them that playing from ahead mentality it was a 22 field goals over 50 yards or something like that this weekend I mean it was a lot these guys aren't missing many it's not like they're trying you know just trying it every time they get there when they get in range they have enough confidence and and the kickers are accurate enough to you know validate the coach and they've been putting them through yeah I mean that the success rate was that of extra points this week Special Teams Strategy before the extra point got move that's how good they were kicking you know and so as a defensive coach and both of you should talk about this what is your mindset knowing that that kicker can make it I mean Houston kicks three kicks over 50 yards and the Colts lose by two you know typically when you would line up for a 50 yard kick you say oh we got a 50-50 chance this guy ain't going to make it you know but boom that went through the middle what's your mind set on the calls does it change how you look at it that we got to knock him out of field goal range or is it just going to you're just going to make sure you don't give up an explosive play well I think once they're in field goal range you're just trying to keep them out of the end zone right like they're already in range now if they go backwards on a penalty or uh maybe if you can knock him back on a blitz or something but I mean that's kind of hard to do uh certainly you try to do it but that doesn't happen too often I think once they're in range then you know you got to try to hold them to three unless it's the end of the game situation where it's critical but in normal parts of the game uh until they get into that range then you've got to be very very conscious of uh keeping them out of field goal range but I would say when you get into that gray area there between you know call it the Midfield and the in the plus 36 seven yard line somewhere in there depending on the kicker's range you got a lot of four down situations and so what these coaches will do now offensively is third down run the ball get the fourth and two and then and then keep the offense on the field in fourth and two and instead of you know trying to end up fourth and six fourth and seven where they have to punt it uh in a plus 50 but you know speaking of the kicking game though I mean this was a a wild week on special teams like it usually is in week one we saw block punts punt returns kickoff returns you know some other I would say missed plays ball handling plays it was it was a lot of lot of interesting things in the kicking game this week yeah it really was Brian Callahan the head coach of the Tennessee Titans said Matt that if they would have punted the ball on first down they probably would have beaten the Bears now they also had a punt block so I'm not sure that's the right thing to say but I mean you know when you watch the tape his team sitting right there and they just make as as bill would say you know we didn't deserve to win because we gave the game away yeah and you know there's like just like coach mentioned and and like you're saying there's a lot of lost yardage that happened this weekend too where you know the punt uh you got a good opportunity to to down the ball inside the 10 yard line and put your opponent on a longer field which now we need because of the field goal range of these guys and you know you get down there miss handle it Kick It In The End Zone and now the ball's coming out on a Touchback situation and you know you're right back into that short field to you know back to field goal range those are huge plays you know when you can um pin your opponent inside the 10 make him go longer on the drive and to the point of the question you were asking earlier defensively okay how am I defending this I got a short field once they get into this range depending on where they are in the game you know we've got to be tighter for the field goal that affects your end of the game end of the half defense a lot of times on the plus Terr or in the Min territory maybe a little bit more Zone you're playing the clock you're trying to tackle trying to tighten the coverage up as it gets by Midfield well shoot Midfield is already field goal range so maybe you got to tighten up your coverage a little bit sooner um and then to that point it really once you cross Midfield I think coach as we know those third and long situations you know those become a question because all right you're maybe not in field goal range so the first down obviously you're trying to prevent that but if it's third and 15 and you give them five yards now they're in field goal range so you got to move up your you know your whole process there and you got to get tighter coverage to not let him get in field goal range and still not let him get to first down so you got a little bit of a bind there defensively to try to figure out how we going to how are we going to play that Ball Security situation yeah I think another interesting thing from this past weekend was just the ball security yeah you know you look at two teams Cincinnati fumbles going into the end zone lose by six Jacksonville fumbles going into the end zone lose a close game I think if those teams would have just held on to the ball and been able to get into the end zone when it looked like they were going to score anyway and didn't get the ball knocked out that those games could have turned out differently so I think ball security is a great lesson not just for this week but going forward for all guys that handle the ball you just got to take care of that ball around the goal line teams are getting better and better players are getting better and better at punching out we saw what Wagner did in the game you know had a great punch out um in in the um in the Monday night game so you know these guys are are good taking care of the football is still number one on my list after points yeah you you know you used to say it all the time coach I used to love the saying you know you'd walk in you be like you know with the ball like hey when you carry the ball you know you carry the entire the fate of the entire organization in your hands and and it was just you know that's what it is you're going in to score like that's a win or you know the ball security like that's just the importance of you know making sure that you you know that you handle the ball my seven-year-old grandson Dominic he knows it already ball security is job job security you ask him that question and he knows it I mean he's primed to give you that answer so he's been well trained on that let's talk about pandre Stevenson has heard that thousand times all secur security and north and south those are the two things we finally got ra Andre going on and uh you know he's turned into a you know what M it reminds me you know growing up as a kid you only have one car in your family right and when your Dad gives you the keys to the car to go out you know go do whatever you're going to do or go out night or whatever that car has got to come back full of gas in one piece cuz he's got to take it to work tomorrow and when he gives you the keys to the car that's a lot of responsibility kind of like handing the guy the ball you better have it at the end of the play Don't Give It Away you screw up that car youve screwed up our whole family yeah no question yeah and it tilts it and and Miss field goals count too we talked about that before the show started I mean this whole idea that we don't think a Miss field goal I mean Washington misses two field goals Kade York misses two field goals they didn't bring the punter they didn't bring him home with yeah gone gone gone and in this light you know as a Personnel guy you know used to be don't pay the kicker you can always find a kicker but now with these guys making 50 yard kicks at like a rapid rate if you don't have one you don't have a closer in B it's like not having a closer in baseball yeah the games are so close those three points or you know they decide half the games in the league yeah I think we saw that in Jacksonville Doug Peterson went for it on fourth down on in his own 30 I'm not sure what he was thinking about or what he was even thinking but then he got a break because they the you know Miami's in Prime field goal range and then that that was one of the few kicks that they missed so they kind of skirted the issue but then of course when ATN fumbled what happens the next play yeah Tyreek Hills going 80 yards you know at 20 miles an hour so I Officiating want to talk about officiating what was your thoughts on the officiating I know that we knew it was going to get tighter but man did it really get tight I think it's it went about the way we all thought it would go a lot of calls in week one of the Season just like there were last year a lot of calls in week one of the season and then it settles down as the season goes along and and there are fewer calls and at the end of the year as we saw in the playoffs last year hard to get a call yeah there they're letting the players play so uh I think that some of the line of scrimmage calls you know not enough guys on the line of scrimmage and motion and illegal formation stuff like that got called a lot tighter than I've seen it called in a while um and some of that the players probably need to tighten up their alignments and make it a little bit cleaner uh but I think the officials I mean look you don't sign the the TV contract the NFL signed to to see false starts and illegal formations and offensive pass interference nobody wants to see that they want to see the offense scoring points yeah no question what you think Matt yeah I you know I agree I think that's also part of the you know an improvement as you go through the weeks right so they'll go back they'll look at the tape say hey we got to tighten up the formations here you know we got to eliminate the pre- snap penalties you know let the offense stay on track and be more efficient which I think will increase the the pass game and the production and all that stuff that we're talking about with the offense um but I think it's you know it's kind of the same philosophy of you know if you're teaching uh a class you know don't you know if you're a teacher don't let them see a smile till Thanksgiving and you know they're going to throw the penalties early they're going to you know make you aware of that they're going to be out there you know keeping track of things and eventually you know it does loosen up a little bit and you know we start to track those guys and say all right we're going to play the game is do business this business is being done and hey this is a real high offensive holding crew do good job with your hands or you know this is going to be a pass uh you know pass penalty defensive pass penalty crew do a better job with your hands and so now you got a little bit of a coaching tip to tell your players was like Hey be a little bit more discipline in this area this week be a little bit more discipline in this area this week and and some of those penalties go away yeah yeah I think the big thing on the penalties I look things are going to happen during the play that happen I mean that's football you some of that you just got to live with to me the discipline of the team is eliminating pre- snap penalties yeah and post Snap penalties right illegal formation illegal motion too many guys on the field roughing the passer personal fouls you know hitting a guy out of bounds all that type of stuff you got to eliminate those and then you're going to have to live with some stuff during the play of you know holding or illegal contact whatever that's part of football that's going to happen but the pre- snap and post Snap if you can eliminate those then you probably have a much better CH you'll have a much better chance to win as you say all the time don't go backwards what you over the overall I thought conditioning wasn't I know you you know nobody loved to tell the team to go to the hill more than coach did right so I thought conditioning wasn't Conditioning very I mean you look at that Rams were exhausted at the end of the line game oh you could see JS so were the Jets last night the Jets looked like they were out of gas quickly but did you what overall the conditioning of teams what were your thoughts well look I think it's a Level Playing Field I don't think you know no team played more than the other one did in preseason or practiced more or you know so it's all probably about the same I think the conditioning levels are going to be a lot higher going forward but it didn't look like it was an overriding factor I think the biggest thing on conditioning was teams that use a lot of the substitution like the Jets last year last few years the Jets have brought those defensive lineman in In Waves let them play four plays bring in a new group let them play four plays bring in a new group and they were pretty balanced like all of those guys could play pretty well I think when you got into a situation where either that second group is a lot less than your first group or you just got to leave your first group out there and they wear down there's a difference in a level of play and I think with some of the defensive line uh throughout the league that until some of these younger guys get to be better players and gain a little bit more experience I think you just got to be careful as a as a coach and as a defensive team you know how much you rely on those guys to you know on those guys to play or or do you leave your good guys out there and let them wear down or do you put in guys who aren't ready to play and let them play to kind of keep everybody fresh that could be a tough decision I was going to say you know just off of that um give credit where credit is due in in the conditioning factor I mean I thought Trent Williams went out and really he played his he you know he played unbelievable he's he's dominant against you know against the Jets front and you know got the edge was able to run the ball and and he obviously you know did everything he could to get himself ready to go and and I thought that really showed on on the positive side for him last night absolutely yeah he he clearly I mean they needed him and he responded I mean he came back and saw it I I definitely feel like the conditioning it wears you down and if you don't practice I mean if you're not playing in the games those guys get tired at the end of the game and you could feel it and I think Detroit took advantage once they won that toss in overtime they went right down the field and took advantage of it that line you know you're getting Penny banging up against you I mean that's not an easy thing to do no and you know as much as Kansas City which I think coach Reed does a great job with the conditioning and their long drives and you know what he does uh with his conditioning program is legendary it's very good but you know you saw what happen to them at the end of the game too I mean Baltimore gets the ball and walk it right down the field and you know they they lose by a toenail uh but you know it that that was an impressive drive for Baltimore to finish the game on the road yeah no question and to your point Mike I think like you know give give credit to Detroit now I mean they went with their strength right so Ben Johnson the offensive line let's just you know go right at him go right down the field and and punch it in to win the game in that situation when you knew you know the Rams were still sitting in two high shell and they had a little bit of a light box and you know Ben did a great job and Hank fry who coach the offensive line they just you know those guys do a great job up front they were just coming off the ball and just moving the line of scrimmage which is what you love you know you love to see if you're on that side of it hate to see when you're on the defensive side no question well it not to look ahead but it'll be Week 2 Matchups interesting to see this week goes with Detroit and Tampa Tampa has a good defensive line yeah Detroit might have the best offensive line of the league that's going to be a great match up this week we'll see and I think as you go into week two you see different matchups you know some teams you know you look at New Orleans had a big win against Carolina I don't know does New Orleans that good maybe Carolina's you know they weren't very good last year are they the same team I think it takes two or three weeks to kind of let things sort out here and see you know good teams playing different matchups how all that works out there'll be some upsets every week like always yeah I mean like there there's no question but I I kind of felt like the teams that understood who they were early I mean clearly New England was not going to let Jobe brassette beat him so they were going to run the football and Cincinnati obviously didn't do a good enough job of making New England play left-handed and that's why they start the season Once Again losing the opening game yeah it's kind of same thing at Pittsburgh right Pittsburgh and and Atlanta Pittsburgh don't turn the ball over play good defense keep the score down I want to say win ugly but win they did that's how they win it's funny Matt when you look at Justin fields's passing right all of his throws were outside the numbers he never threw the ball inside the numbers there's not one throw inside the number and the reason is they didn't want Jesse Bates to beat him they didn't want to take that turnover and make it a bad play which you got to give Arthur Smith a lot of credit for for that game plan because that really worked out well and when he needed to make a play against Atlanta's defense he did yeah Arthur's a great coach and I'm sure that was a you know good for him to be able to go you know have that win this past weekend and to your point I think he Arthur does a great job understanding his quarterbacks what do they do well where can they put the ball what do they read in coverage you know being able to run the ball to obviously take them off the hook on on every you know so they don't have to go throw it every every down but understanding the defense like where are their go-to guys or where are their impact players on defense and how do I get the ball away from those guys so that you know we don't beat ourselves like Co you know like coach mentioned there in that situation but you know I think Arthur did a great job yeah he really did and Justin Fields is going to start this week against Denver they announced that today too so Russell Wilson's not back let's talk rookie Rookie QBs quarterbacks I mean there's so much fanfare about him right everybody that everybody thought cayb Williams was going to throw for 450 yards easily in the first half right it was 50 yards right yeah it was 50 right I mean UPS we missed that one a little bit but what were your thoughts overall on their play well I think all those guys I'm sure learned a lot in this first game you know I thought that D jayton Daniels was able to do what he can do which is run he carried the ball a lot he scrambled a lot and he was very effective I still think teams need to put a put a spy on him and keep him from running um but I'd say some of the other guys had some trouble and and uh just in general the passing game overall in in the league was was down but certainly the young quarterbacks all had their had their issues with it you know again the big things just like you said Michael don't lose the game don't go out there and lose the game give your defense a chance to win don't do what will Levis did and toss a pick six and and give the game away you know and so uh between that and the kicking game clean up the mistakes in the kicking game get your good guys out there make sure they know what they're doing handle the ball don't get a punt block like like Tennesse did the you know I mean there Chicago WIS on a pick six and a block punt but they count you you you know you can't let those little things slide yeah no question what were your thoughts of of Caleb Williams I know you were watching that tape upstairs yeah um you know I think again Chicago's offense I think they they've they've got to get The Passing game going you know and they've they've got to be able to run the ball to not have to go back there and throw it every down I think um he's certainly going back and I think he said in his postgame press conference you know um little bit more accuracy with some of those throws take advantage of some of the receivers that he had open and um you know I think they had one where they you know dropped a touchdown in that situation too so I think they're close they're going to tighten those things up this week and um hopefully uh you know be more improved in the passing game I think really the biggest question Chicago has got to be up front you know the protection and and Caleb Williams he's running you know he's athletic he gets out he has the one boot he throws that thing I mean that's a laser downfield on the boot that he completes um but you just don't want your quarterback running for his life you know all game long like let him settle in the pocket and keep his eyes downfield I think that's the biggest thing for young quarterbacks and defensively obviously we you know we like this right we want to see those eyes drop right so as soon as we start to see those young quarterbacks or whatever veteran quarterbacks once their eyes you know you can see on their helmet you know once their eyes start to drop down you know they're looking at that rush and now they're not seeing the coverage all the way through maybe one read to rush and especially with young quarterbacks like keep their eyes downfield as long as possible and let them learn to read coverage because as soon as they got to start getting to the rush they're not paying attention to what's going down there that's when the bad things happen for them you know really if Caleb had hit the guys that were open a couple times they might have had close to 300 yards yeah they there were some guys open you know just got the going too fast didn't you feel like you know he didn't have time to set his feet every was throwing off balance and made himself really inaccurate there's a lot of pressure you're right lot no question and and then Matt I think you make a great point when you watch New York Giants and Daniel Jones I I'm not sure Daniel Jones has recovered from all the hits he's taken in his career you know David Carr started out in Houston and took a beating and his eye level came down and never went back up that happened to CT Warner we had a chance to sign Kurt Warner when I was in Oakland and and he had just been play his eye level was down and remember he went to the Giants and he really didn't do anything at the Giants in fact then he went to Arizona and his eye level came back up I wonder do you think Daniel Jones's eye level is going to come back up well we'll see over the next few Dynamic Pass Rushers weeks um you know they got they got a tough schedule coming up here and um I would say with the two inside rushers that Washington has probably get challenged this week on that no qu and and look one thing we talked earlier and I wanted to mention this when Minnesota was playing they put the Dwight Frey rule in when Dexter Lawrence wasn't in the game what do you think they were doing they that was it was clearly a call Matt Matt I mean excuse me Kevin okell used the old Dwight freedy Rule and said let's let's make sure we take care Lawrence is out yeah pay attention to those substitutions you know it goes both ways you know we used to play Baltimore back in the day and they have the big bodies in there or Buffalo uh as soon as those guys subbed out it'd be like run the ball and they come back in all right throw it you know and just you're playing that substitution game offensively to see who's in the game and and certainly uh with the dynamic pass rushers that are in the league right now uh if those guys ever rotate out man you're you're trying to go it too last night with Mosley you know he went out for a play I'm like just run it because you know he's going to destroy everything in the Run game me you're you're paying attention to that stuff on offense for sure yeah same thing with receivers that top receiver cuz that Buffalo Blitz go get him yeah yeah yeah how about how about the new coordinators the older coordinator it seemed like the guys who were coordinating have done it Mike Zimmer's done it 150 years right it it was like even though he hadn't been a League last year it was no big deal but some of the younger coordinators Zack Robinson struggled in Atlanta I mean somebody might want to tell Zack we need to double that guy named TJ watt over here on every single play you know cuz Young Coordinators Performance he could screw up the game just a thought but uh what was your thoughts about the young coordinators and the coordinator as continuity within the coordinator group yeah well again I think it's a little bit like rookie quarterbacks you know your first time calling or early uh your early opportunities calling a game are different I mean they just are we all learn from them we all make a lot of mistakes doing that but uh you eventually learn from it but yeah uh sometimes those fires can get hot yeah and uh you know I think the teams the experienced defenses teams like New Orleans uh certainly Dallas was Zimmer but also the defensive players uh New England basically the whole defense is back from last year those teams can adjust you know more easily readily with the same system with similar coaching uh and and I think that showed up they all play pretty well on defense yeah Pittsburgh yeah no question Pittsburgh I mean I think there is continuity offensively too when you can get into a rhythm and having called the game I mean Zack or three years as a coach I mean that's a tough challenge you go against Andy Reid National TV everybody's watching and you know they gave up what 27 points in 26 minutes it's not easy it's easier Monday through Saturday right right no doubt and I think you know again anytime you play Andy Reid early in the year um you can be an experienced defensive coordinator you're you're sweating that game for sure and um you know I think it's it's just when you get in the game you're like okay first quarter you feel good you feel like you got your adjustments um but those guys on the other sideline that have that experience like that they're making adjustments and if you're not staying in front of it and if you're not moving kind of one step ahead um you know you get to that end of the second quarter third third quarter fourth quarter and it's coming like an avalanche you know you just can't stop it and you know that's when you need those experienced guys on either side of the ball to kind of calm everything down on the sideline and and just communicate you know sometimes that's all it is like hey we just got to do a better better job communicating let's make sure we're you know playing with good eye control things like that but um you can you can that Avalanche can come fast for sure Looking Ahead to Week 2 yeah what are you looking forward to in week two I would say just you know a different matchups right different matchups every team's got a different different matchup we'll see how you know some of these things now start to level out or not right you know and and then of course uh you know the home openers for these teams that played on the road like most of the teams played on the road now they're coming back home uh that' be a good opportunity for some of them to go 2 and0 uh or some of them to come back and and get back to 500 and and kind of get a restart on the season so I think really week two I've always felt like that was more important than week one you know if you win week one and then you win win week two and you're 2 and 0 like you know you're you you got something going if you lose week one and you come back and win week two it's like all right well we reset here all right now we can push forward uh the tough one is when you are 0 and one and then you drop that second one you're 0 and2 you know now things start it's still a long way to go but things start to tighten up a little bit and so I think winning that second week is uh I always felt like that was better than winning the first week to be honest with you not that you don't want to win both of them right Matt what are you looking forward to yeah like I like definitely like to win both that was I've been on the other side of that's it's not a fun Monday at all um I'm just I'm excited to see the adjustments that people make you know from week one to week two now that we've got good game tape on and uh we're evaluating both your own players and your opponents um to see those matchups and see how they're handled um you know I think you hit it the start of everything we talked about Mike was was hey run the ball when you can run it stop the run when you can stop it and that goes into like what we talked about all the time and Bill get up in front of the team and talk about controlling the game you know control the game by running the ball stopping the Run covering kicks you know playing all three phases in that area tough and you know I think that's a good way to play week one you know and I think that's what the teams did okay let's see if they open it up a little bit more in week two let's see if we hit some of those big plays in the passing game let's see if those numbers go back up um along with the teams that are doing a good job of running the ball and controlling the game that way to see how those adjustments play out in week two I think that'll be interesting yeah I I think we'll see fewer penalties I mean I think the teams will tighten up some of the the false starts and illegal formations and things like that I think they'll tighten that up and uh I wouldn't be surprised if we see more more touchbacks not less I think the teams that Touchback are going to continue to touchback and I think a couple of teams that maybe are concerned about their coverage would just say let let's touch back it yeah I think that's right and you know the one thing you always used to talk about there's two things in every game who's in control and who's in the lead and and I think to me they're not always the same they're not always I know I've heard that before many times I you know that was interesting because I thought Houston's when you watch the Houston inding game Houston was always in control and they had the lead but Indie because of their big play strike ability kind of gave themselves a chance but when Indie needed when Houston needed to make a throw we talked about this the third and N throw that stra makes unbelievable unbelievable Collins and and that like you mentioned earlier Mike the time of possession for Houston just Domin just I mean and listen Mixon that was unbelievable like that was just a great effort and I thought from the get-go he came out and he just ran with an attitude that I mean that was beautiful like for him to come out and just have that and I think the team felt it and they just you know like you mentioned they they controlled it that way and it carried him through the game it looked like three backs kind of had something to prove last week Barkley Aaron Jones and Mixon no question and they did they all had good days and two and all three of them were rejected by the team this that they played for they didn't want them there might be something to that I mean you know when you get Shrugged off and all of a sudden you want to prove it I mean Mixon I thought Mixon had no juice in his lower body as an evaluator I thought oh no you know Cincinnati Cuts him to sign Zach Moss Aaron Jones you and I we all three of us agreed that Aaron Jones was the I don't understand that move but they did it anyway and then of course Barkley you know just give me a chance to match the you know that was never going to that was never going to happen I mean we've been down that road but I'm I'm looking forward to the matchups too but I think I do think that there's certain teams that are just better than other team San Francisco obviously is good Kansas City I mean the Detroit it just seems like there's that cluster that you know they're going to be hard to beat yeah well and look I think the Philly Atlanta will be a big match up you know people are picking Atlanta to win the division go to the Super Bowl and all that uh they're 0 And1 going into Philadelphia Philadelphia be a good challenge for them uh B you see how this one goes Monday night yeah that'll be a fun game to watch and you're going to be at that game right I will love to be in Phil there you goly love and they love me well that that's it for Coach make sure you subscribe to our Channel be here next week will we review week two for you [Music]