Coach's Room E1: Opening Day, DAL vs CLE, West Coast Offense

Start that's how impactful a defensive player miles Garrett is yeah well the best way to slow miles Garrett it down is right there get the running game going obviously you know Montana had a had a tremendous career I mean the numbers are just staggering I sit back and think about a lot of the Tuesdays that I had trying to stop monana let's look at Prescott so they're taking him away so now they have the combination pattern there's the snag here's the seven route what just happened and nobody could say anything we were too scared to mention it you asked big Ted you said you know who's the center in D's like coach it doesn't matter anyways I'm going to kick his ass so it just didn't matter really we didn't even do a scout report on you because honestly you guys are [Music] terrible welcome to coach I'm Matt Patricia and this is coach Bill Bell we're going to step behind the scenes into the coach's office and coach we're going to talk every week game plan must Tuesday players situational analysis and a special segment called the library coach I'm excited to be here excited to be with you every single week to dive into the details and go through the NFL season yeah it's a Wild Weekend opening weekend is always uh unpredictable and Opening Day Mayhem there are usually things in the kicking game that happen on this first weekend it could be you know look we saw something last year that I don't know if we'll ever see again right Shawn pyton opened the season with a surprise onside kick against the Raiders that's illegal now you can't do that anymore so if that rule doesn't change that will be one of the last surprise onside kicks that we've ever seen yeah and you know Sean you know he couldn't wait to get back into that first game and and put that play out there and just send the league on notice like hey you know be ready for everything with me and you know unfortunately we're not going to be able to see that like that like you mentioned because of the rule change um that was that was one of them last year that we saw yeah well in same in opening weekend last year the Lions against the Chiefs the lions run a fate pun on Fourth and two pick it up go down and score and beat the Chiefs in the opener so like that was a big win for him but you know I think back to to my career uh and one of the games that I remember vividly is the opener in 1975 when the Detroit Lions played the Green Bay Packers and block three punts on opening day three punt blocks you know to get off to the start of the season that's a tough day for the Special Teams coordinator right there to get your you know three you know you're seeing all the different rushes and the different looks and the protection back then you know obviously the system but three in one game not to adjust that's going to be a bad meeting the next day for sure oh my gosh it really was but you know I actually stole those uh rushes that the Giants used in that game when I was a special teams coach at the at the Giants I walked into coach Perkins office and I said we open against Eagles I said do you mind rushing the first punt I think we got a shot at it and he said no if you think we have a shot at it run it and Coach Perkins was great about that if you felt if he felt good about something you know he would go with it so we ran that Rush against the Eagles on opening day Gary Jeter blocked it for a touchdown and you know got us off to a good start in the game that we didn't end up winning but you know gave a lot of confidence to the team on in the kicking game yeah it's always good when you can score uh you know uh points on your very first play in that situation or first game um what' you call the rush like what what was the name we called it giant called it giant yeah over the rush it was it's probably still called giant it's probably in in you know our tree it's probably still called the giant yeah probably that's how we did things with then um well tell tell us a little bit about your opening game as a head coach in in Cleveland yeah well our opening my opening game in Cleveland was against the Cowboys 1991 and the Cowboys had a good team and they were just getting good they weren't quite as good as they were going to be but they were still really good good quarterback good running back good skill players really good defense Jimmy Johnson had a great defense and they were just too much for us that day they really were and so after the game I called up Jimmy you know Cleveland in the AFC Dall in the NFC we weren't really competing against each other very much and I said Jimmy you know can you help me out like tell me what you guys saw and you know what you think we could work on or do better and Jimmy said bill you know I just I really didn't watch you guys I just saw you a couple a couple times in Pre I really we didn't even do a scout report on you because honestly you guys are terrible we're focused on Washington and they played Washington the next week in a Monday night game who they lost to and eventually Washington went on to win the Super Bowl in 1991 but that was humbling for me when Jimmy said you know we didn't even do a scout report on you guys yeah that's not good if you're the head coach and you're talking to another head coach and you're like uh hey what' you think and he's like didn't even watch it you know it wasn't even that good yeah what about your first game Matt yeah so my first game as a head coach at the Detroit Lions um you know our first play was on defense uh it was against the Jets obviously a lot of familiarity you know playing against the Jets all those years uh being in New England and um you know great player for me in Detroit quandre Diggs uh we talked about what the Jets do in their openers and what we might see and you know sure enough they came out they ran a boot came back to the defensive right quandre did a great job of reading the quarterback we told him that might be one of the plays and it was a pick six on the very first play uh you know on defense as a head coach so you know that was the high Mark of the game for me right there it was a great play unfortunately we lost that game but uh great memory from you know starting out as a head coach for sure um but coach walk us through you know what's that meeting like you know when you go in before you play that first regular season game you finally got your team you got your 53 you know you got your active guys getting ready to go first real game week preparation you've got veterans you've got rookies a lot of excitement for sure you know what are you telling the team before that first game well I think there are two things number one what do you tell the staff and then number two what do you tell the team and as you know you sat in a lot of those meetings with the staff you know it was really about there's could be a lot of unknown things let's make sure we know what we're doing to make sure that we're good on our communication our assignments and and you know that we don't blow anything try to run some like triple reverse pass or something that we're just not you know polished up on um and you know it's going to be a lot of excitement a lot of energy you know let's stay calm make sure that we make good adjustments because there's going to be some things in opening day that you you haven't seen from your opponent they're going to Spring something on you've got to be able to ready to make good assignment uh adjustments on the sideline and I also remember saying let's don't get caught up in the emotion of the game you know don't yell at somebody just because you know something happened I mean unless they really really deserve it let's try to play through whatever we have to deal with deal with and and just you know make sure that we're doing a good job of coaching seeing what's happening adjusting to it and get the players to you know to respond to whatever's happening in the game um from a player standpoint again just like coaches a lot of preseason Jitters a lot of jitters going into the opening game a lot of things to think about you know in the end football's football and you know it's another game it's it's a big game because it's the opener but let's don't overthink it we've seen all their games from last year we've seen all their preseason Gam games they can only run 60 plays on offense and defense 65 whatever it is and we've seen probably 500 so let's just make sure that we're good on what we know they're going to do we'll react to what's going to be the new things and we'll adjust to them uh and at the same time make sure that our communication's good so that we you know we know who we're blocking we know who we're covering uh and play good fundamental football really in the end football games that one on good fundamentals blocking tackling throwing catching kicking yep all right all those fundamentals and just if we play good play good fundamental football have good communication go out there and be aggressive then you know let's get off to a good start and let the game play itself out yeah you would always say you know look let's play through it let's not overreact you know do a good job with the adjustments make sure we know who our you know better players are get the ball to them at some point try to settle things down and just go play football you know we had to get back into that Rhythm yeah I always feel like that's an important meeting to have for your team you know to to just set the tone for you know how you want the game to go so that you don't get into the game and everybody's scattered coming all over the place like hey here's what we're going to try to do let's go ahead and do it it's a pretty serious meeting yeah it is coach but uh you know I'm going to tell you you know I'd go into that meeting and you know we're all focused ready to go first game of the year and you know you got up and I remember in 2004 uh you were going through those coaching points and everybody's dialed in and we're locked in we got the game the next day you know we're getting we're getting ready to go and the door opens up and Coach Azie Osborne walks into the team meeting room shuffles in he's got his head down doesn't look like he has any idea where he is cuz he didn't but you're going like you're in mode you're still going he walks in behind you the whole team is frozen cuz we're not sure if you you know like look you may yell at Azie at that point you might you might get after him throw him out whatever it is you know we he had given us sign CDs he was in the opening uh game entertainment it was it was craziness everywhere but I mean talk about a team meeting where ozie osor walks in you know and just stops everything the team freezes I think by the time he shuffled his feet turned around walked out the door you finally looked he was gone you looked back at us like what just happened and nobody could say anything we were too scared to mention it but that was a team meeting uh that was an opener one I won't forget yeah I won't forget that one either that that's there's always one for the books and that's one Aussie Osborne a team meeting my God yeah that was great let's talk right about the evolution of the West Coast offense I think right now we're seeing so much of that in this league uh you know it'd be Evolution of the West Coast Offense a great topic to start the season off with yeah no better place to start with that and uh you know with with Mike McCarthy this week with big match up between Dallas and Cleveland that that's a really good game but yeah let's go back to the West Coast offense uh it really became popular when Bill Walsh went to San Francisco had a lot of Success With It won the Super Bowl in 1981 and even before that where uh Walsh came from he spent 10 years uh at Cincinnati under Paul Brown and really is more of Ohio River offense to me Paul Brown and and Bill Walsh developed that for a quarterback who was a good quarterback but didn't have a great arm Virgil Carter right you know and uh there's so many books coach was obviously had a great career and you know we've we've all read and and dove into his many uh books that he's written about his organization at San Francisco but um you know getting back to what your point was really Paul Brown you know really goes back to one of the guys The Originals of the NFL and um someone that you know founded two organizations and brought them up and and Bill Walsh was the quarterback's coach at the time for Paul Brown at Cincinnati yeah that's right and so uh Coach Brown and coach Walsh developed that at Cincinnati then when coach Walsh went to San Francisco and had success out there with it uh you know with Montana and then later with the 49ers with young you know he wrote a book here uh finding The Winning Edge and in this book he details the organization structure uh but there's also uh quite a bit where he details uh the actual plays and and how he installed them and taught them and so forth so uh coach Walsh gives great insight into not only the building of the 49ers organization but also uh you know some of the foundational uh principles of of his offense yeah and I think um that book's really amazing I think if you know if you love football and and like we've been involved with a l lot of different aspects of the game when you go through that book and you see how detailed he was in every aspect whether it's Personnel the different departments that he was in charge of being a head coach the assistant coach every job description um I'm not say unlike you know what you had us do when we were at New England but everything detailed out you understand why his offense was the same way detail detail detail starting with the quarterback position why it was so important that you know everything had an answer from his perspective through each one of those plays yeah like all great coaches I think coach Walsh was a great teacher yeah and he taught his offense the fundamentals the mechanics of it the timing of it with the quarterbacks and the receivers and the footwork and everything he was very precise and and uh you know that really I think has formulated uh has gone down with all the other coaches that have been in that system uh that that's probably the one thing they take out of it is the detail that goes into the passing game uh and so as we've seen uh coach Walsh expand his uh assistance and then their assistance and the in the overall that West Coast tree uh we see it as really one a big part of the NFL today uh as it's gone through those coaches and uh there have been different versions of the running game The Zone runs the Gap runs and eye formation and things like that that have evolved but the passing game has really been uh pretty consistent with coach Walsh and the West Coast offense as well as the script the first 15 plays those are the two things that anytime you you see a coach from this syst you can pretty much Bank on those are are two you know principles that they're going to use in it yeah and I I love to watch the old film I know there's a lot of it where coach Walsh is up on the overhead projector and he's writing with the marker and he's coaching every aspect from you know the route and the movement to the quarterback's footwork to the offensive line how they need to block and uh to your point he was a tremendous teacher great organization all detail that he had and and everything scouting to Playbooks to whatever that was and and then you see that trickle down through the coaches that he had Underneath Him and certainly um you know a big part of his coaching tree when it branched off and the success they had at San Francisco um certainly the first part of that would be George seff for stay um he eventually hired a guy by the name of Mike Shanahan which that's going to be a name that we're going to talk about here uh quite a bit and then really when Mike holgren left and and went to Green Bay and the the names that kind of came out of uh you know that branch of the tree once it got to Green Bay out there and I'd say really the third part of that would be Paul Hackett who is another you know really influential coach who then eventually had Mike McCarthy who's going to be a guy we're going to talk about you know week one at pit and and really um you can see where the evolution of the tree starts to grow as those guys leave San Francisco at that time right and I think when you get into today's uh coaching staffs offensively uh that they're when you when you see the uh the tentacles of the West Coast offense that really you know stretches pretty wide and a lot of these coaches you know have you know gotten principles from it or some cases been directly involved with it and you know many of Super Bowl winning coaches have come from it kubak uh you know John Gruden obviously hongren Shanahan uh as well as Walsh Seafort hongren it's a pretty long list yeah there's a lot of trophies there uh for sure in that tree there's a lot of lot of wins including Mike McCarthy yeah absolutely and uh you know I think it's it's really neat when you kind of track all of the lineage of that um and to go back to your point the pass offense and the West Coast just the efficiency you know when you think of the west coast post offense in the passing game um all those quarterbacks that they've had throughout the years in the different systems how efficient accuracy and athletic too you know some of the quarterbacks that we see they can they can move and they can extend plays and all of that still carries true to the guys that are running a similar systems now from that tree those quarterbacks have kind of the same traits yeah it's almost a prerequisite in the West Coast offense to have a quarterback that can is mobile and can extend plays can do some of the roll out things that they want um and then accuracy of course is is very very high on the on the qualities that are needed uh so much of their offense is based on catch and run plays uh they like to say that you know half their offense is the passing game and the other half of it is run after catch and in some cases it's more than half of it so when you can get the ball to explosive players uh you know like rice cidd lamb you know guys like that then then those yards can can really pile up in a hurry and uh those uh the the quarterback's execution and time in which is such a big part of that offense primarily on inside routes you know Crossing patterns slant patterns uh over routes in Cuts like those are really the heart of it they mix in some outside routes to keep you off balance and just to to you know balance off the offense but most of the Yards are made on inside passing plays and a lot of it's run after catch yeah and I think you know when you go back to exactly what you mentioned the origins of it with Paul Brown who's a great innovator of the game coach owner all of that um really identifying the fact that they had a very accurate quarterback with Virgil Carter and then Ken Anderson who followed him after that tremend tremendous accurate quarterback could get the ball out on time uh develop a system where maybe you know the Run game wasn't so great for them back then and they just wanted to completely stretch the defense horizontally you know and really open up all those zones underneath get the ball out like you said the catch and run plays the explosive plays that happened because you know the timing of those plays was so critical and you know we certainly know that's what they drilled you know time and time again seven on seven drills team drills it was just the timing of the plays they had to get the ball out quick and you know we see that all the way down into you know the versions that we see in today's game too yeah I think when you look at uh you know a coach like Coach Brown coach Walsh at Cincinnati you know they took two quarterbacks Carter and then Anderson and they were uh at the top of the league in in completion percentage actually set a couple NFL records back then so uh the accuracy the Precision the timing of the passing game was uh you know very well detailed by coach Walsh in his book in his in his clinical teachings and uh they had tremendous success in San Francisco that's really where it became popular um how did it become a popular West Coast name yeah you know I think this this is a great story here uh with the West Coast I think you know one of your former uh bosses here Bill Parcels is really credited with um kind of asking the media how's that West Coast offense I think maybe you guys won that game out there a little bit uh great rivalry going back to the Giants and the 49ers um but originally was actually tagged you know with other offensive systems that were in the west coast um at the time Corel was a great coach out there um you know Sid Gilman was another great coach that just but the tag stuck really with the 49ers I think when coach barcels kind of mentioned that to the reporters they they took it and they ran with it even though it started in the Ohio Valley we we'll we'll give it credit back there to Coach Brown well speaking of the 49ers Matt we have some uh 49ers cars here from 1992 uh in men condition yeah my dad uh uh brought those to me last week he's like hey I found some I found some old cards here they were in the pack the glue was still intact um you know how many every years he brings them to me I grab the and they instantly open up so kind of ruined now but they're still in good shape oh my God they're in men condition we got Steve Young got Brent Jones John Taylor two of his favorite receivers how about big Ted Washington we had him we had Ted Ted was a he was a monster inside when we had him and great player back then too that's a long time said we took the three four defense and we moved everybody out we did we the ends lined up and we moved them out outside linebackers we moved them out you get the ball back inside of Ted Washington they're not going anywhere in the running game we just moved everything outside with big Ted in there and then you know Vince after that they stuff the middle yeah my favorite Ted story though is you know we we'd go into the team meeting coach every Wednesday and you'd ask you know all the players hey who you playing against what's your matchup you know and and we'd have to know you know the guy you were lining up in where he went to college if he wrote left-handed or right I mean you wanted every you know and you you asked big Ted you said you know who's the center forgot who we were playing that week and Ted's like coach it doesn't matter anyways I'm gonna you know I'm gonna kick I'm gonna kick his ass so it just didn't matter and Ted he was dominant inside and like you said we were able to kind of move the ends out a little bit you know the linebackers had a little bit of a better day when Ted was playing in the middle oh my God uh yeah playing behind yeah he changed a lot for us he did Guy McIntyre Steve Wallace Jesse zalo three great linemen for for him wrathman a fullback he could do it all um Charles Haley what an addition he was to the 49ers great pass rusher Donnie Griffin I had him at Cleveland good cornerback Michael Carter the nose tackle yeah big time guy how about this Todd BS that was Todd BS yeah 92 49ers that was great that was another one as I was flipping through and I was like holy cow I didn't I didn't even realize you know coach BS Todd was there and and uh he's obviously a great coach great head coach great defensive coach and got a good looking stance there yeah he's he's ready to go right there he's got that good football position he's ready for the ball to be snapped well I was talk about the West Coast offense really leads us into one of the great matchups here in week one and that's Dallas traveling to Cleveland Mike McCarthy in the West Coast offense against Jim Schwarz defensive coordinator of Cleveland they led the league in virtually every category last year defensively so this is going to be a great matchup you know in Cleveland yeah and I think when you break down these teams you know we'll start with the DAL vs CLE matchup Dallas Cowboys offense last year kind of look what they did as McCarthy really Dove back in uh from an offensive play caller standpoint he's got Brian shimer there too of course he's another great coach but um you know you can see with the stats that you know Dallas had last year just you know uh one of the things that we know they're got to work on is some of their rushing yardage here in the game so if you're Cleveland's defense what are you looking at here how does Dallas's stats like you know how do we break that down as coaches when we see some of the stats that we're talking about here yeah I think one of the big things for Dallas is the games they lost last year you know several of them they didn't run run the ball very well couldn't get over 100 yards rushing uh fell behind had to play from behind uh look they have a great passing game but they don't really want to go back there and throw the ball 45 times not against Cleveland's pass rush with the matchup at left tackle with you know gon and and uh miles Garrett not sure they really want to do that so they really need balance in their offense and to be able to get the running game going uh would help them a lot yeah and you can see just a couple of the games that they had last year with the Run game where you know when they weren't successful and they didn't win you know their rushing yardage just wasn't there but on the flip side of it like you said the pass offense they had some good numbers there from that the efficiency of the offense as you can see on the next slide when we uh showed that up on the screen here is just where they were when they were in the top five of the league in some of the categories statistically in yards and points and things like that yeah well they got the running game going in some other games but not in the games they lost so overall yards per game 370 20 30 points a game I mean that's that's really good obviously first in the league all right and had the second fewest giveaways in the league so they did a really good job of taking care of the ball they scored a lot of points they can move the ball uh the big thing for them is in the games that they've lost they lost a little bit of control in the running game and then of course you know didn't play well in the last game against Green Bay which ruined their season but this is a team that's very explosive offensively Lamb's back he's ready to go Prescott they got a lot of weapons on offense you know this is going to be a tough group for Cleveland to stop yeah certainly and you look you know like that's where we start okay hey what do they do well you know you can see that up on the board the things they did well last year certainly if you're if you're doing a good job scoring points uh you know that is the number one stat in football it's it's the scoreboard so determined in winning and lossing so if you're doing a good job there you know whether it's the big explosive plays that score which they have the capability to do or the plays in the red area where they've been really efficient and able to score um you know they want to lean on their strengths and then like you mentioned you know they got to stay balanced they've got to get that run game going in this game to uh you know make sure that they can control the game and give themselves a chance to win yeah they just kind of like Cleveland tee off on the passer every play and and play their man coverage and and make it tough on them so um look when we talk about points you know there's there's really you know two ways to score points offensively one is with explosive plays and the other is to go through the red area so good red area offense and explosive plays you know that scores points of course there's an opportunity to score on defense into the kicking game which Dallas did a good job of last year it's hard to count on those points it's nice when you get them but really explosive plays and and red area is the key there you know defensively uh they got a lot to look to be ready for with c Cleveland is the number one team defensively in most every area uh and you know that that matches up pretty pretty well with uh with the Cowboys you know first in yards per game third first on third down conversions all right and tied for fifth in takeaway so even though their takeaway differential was bad because they lost the ball so much on offense they actually took the ball away the fifth most in the league so Dallas protects the ball well Cleveland takes it away Dallas moves the ball well Cleveland doesn't give up many and Cleveland doesn't give up a lot of third down so they're off the field so this is a great matchup between coach McCarthy and his offense and Coach Schwarz and that Cleveland defense yeah and you know you mentioned it with the takeaways besides points you know that's a big stat as far as the takeaway the takeaway ratio and they were you know fifth on total takeaways they were like third in int so you know they were doing a great job against that passing game turning the ball over playing aggressive defense from that standpoint and then even the third down percentage a lot of times we look at that as another turnover where if you're getting off the field on third down defensively you're getting the ball back you're getting the ball back to your offense and you got opportunity to go score yeah when you combine those two stats together that that's a lot of possessions for the offense and and that's really you know was the key for Cleveland last year getting into the playoffs uh even with all their their issues with the injured played five different quarterbacks they were great on defense uh they did a lot of things to win defensively and and in the kicking game uh did a lot of things there to enable them to win uh this year if they can get the offense going you know that'll help them but really defensively this matchup between uh the Cowboys and the Browns is going to be a great one with the you know Dallas's offense against uh against that Cleveland defense yeah it's like a heavyweight match up here you got you know top five Dallas offensive stats top five Cleveland's defensive stats we'll see how those other ones improve you know through the off season whether it's Dallas's Run game can be more consistent really Cleveland's defensive run defense improving a little bit from where they were last year uh this will be a heavyweight matchup for sure yeah well let's talk about what it's going to take for these two teams to win yeah I think when you put up the must for the you know we always talk about must every single week what are the game plan must how do you go in and really narrow down for either side of the ball hey if we can get these five things we can get these three things done this week we're going to give ourselves a great chance to win so we kind of categorize those of the must of the week and we've got the Cowboys must up here you know what do they have to do offensively to give themselves a chance to win well you know here we go there must number one don't let miles Garrett ruin the game you know this guy is a is a game changer uh you got to you got to do a good job on him and he can ruin a game in a lot of different ways tackles for loss strip sacks uh that can be a big problem it looks like rookie left tackle for Dallas playing over there on that side against Garrett uh so you know we'll see what how coach McCarthy tries to take care of him but this would be number one do not let miles Garrett ruin the game and then we talked about Dallas getting the running game going that's a good way to control Garrett is to not let him pass rush on every play so uh that's key man-to-man coverage nobody plays more manto man than Cleveland does it's going to be a lot of man coverage they're going to have to beat man coverage especially in critical situations and that's going to be third down and red area so uh you know stopping the uh being able to convert get open uh protect long enough have good man beater routs and so forth uh those will be big Keys you know defensively Cleveland has a lot of different looks they got to be able to handle those and not turn anybody loose and it goes back to protecting the football uh they did a great job of that last year need to do it again this year uh Cleveland's defense very good at taking the ball away so uh those are the things that the Cowboys I think really got to focus on on this game pretty much in that order yeah what I love about this list you know when we come in uh for us we'd come into a Wednesday team meeting a squad meeting you know we'd be able to put these up on the board and it's it's pretty specific you know miles Garrett there's clip after clip of him you know destroying the passing game all by himself you know handling the Run game knocking the line of scrimmage back and I think if you're a left tackle if you're a tackle in this league and you know you get the game plan on Wednesday you're okay what what where am I getting help who's helping me where the tight ends where's the back are we going to chip this guy is the slide coming to me you're looking to do all of those things to slow this guy down that's how impactful a defensive player miles Garrett is yeah well the best way to slow miles Garrett down is right there get the running game going that run game get the running game going yeah stay out of those long yardage situations a lot of third Downs get the running game going stay Balan if you're going to throw it throw it quick or give some help there on Garrett especially early in the game you know until gon can get a field for for what it's like to block this guy yeah and I think you you hit it right on the head here I think we've talked about all the other stats and you know both Dallas's offense is topping some stats and those stats that they're top in you know Cleveland's top in the same stats the Run game last year statistically for both units middle of the road so that'll be a key factor for them will be that run game number two yeah and when the Cowboys had the Run game going they had it going and when they didn't they didn't and and that really you know that cost them they lost some big games because of that yeah Mike McCarthy would do a good job with these muss in his offense that way West Coast system it'll be interesting to watch but on the flip side of that if you're a Cleveland's defense coach you know talk us through what they've got to do well number one CD lamb he's a very explosive player can score from anywhere on the field in any way long passes catch and run plays short passes in cuts and intermediate routs he can pick up those 20 25 yard chunks uh this is a guy that will be game planned by Dallas they'll move him around they put him in different spots and particularly in critical situations uh you know you really got to take care of him I imagine you know coach Schwarz would double him or find some way you know to make sure that that CD lamb doesn't beat him you know keep Prescott in the pocket you don't want him extending plays stop the run and make him throw every down you know try to get him into a passing game let the Cleveland pass rush go uh make it tough for him but take care of the running game so you don't have to deal with that the timing of the passing game is going to be key getting the quarterback off the spot and hitting the receivers which again as much man-to-man coverage as Cleveland plays I think there will disruptive if they can stay with them that's a good group that uh you know that uh the Cowboys have out there you know especially with cooks and and um and lamb you know they got a good tight end backs and catch the ball so that'll be a challenge for him and then you know keeping them out of the end zone and and the number one thing you know is points in this game Dallas led the league in points per game Dallas is going to move the ball Dallas is going to get down in the Red Zone it's really going to be a question of how many points can they score and if Cleveland can hold them to field goals instead of touchdowns then you know that really bodess well for them to win the game if they get five possessions down there and it's five touchdowns you know instead of 15 points that's 35 points you got a The Modern West Coast Offense whole different game so I know points is obvious but keeping them out of the end zone as it relates to the red area especially against an explosive offensive team uh like Dallas that's going to be key yeah if you're Cleveland's defense and you know you go into the meeting on Wednesday and the first stat you see Dallas was number one in points last year so I know everyone's trying to score points that's the object of the game but look you got to make it a point emphasis these guys score points and a lot of times we talk about you know teams can't sustain those drives and they just can't finish them and you'll have opportunities not this team this team finishes the drives they get the ball in the end zone so as we talk about the red area uh you know those four-point plays being able to get a stop on third down in the red area hold them to a field goal that's the difference of the game sometimes you know so many games in the NFL or you know three points or less or one score or less uh that that one critical stop wherever it comes in the game that the Cleveland defense can hold Dallas out of the end zone that might be the difference of the game here yeah so I think that'll be a big key for him and again you know Dallas has done a good job of not turning the ball over last year we'll see if they can continue that Cleveland's done a great job of taking it away we'll see how that matches up against Dallas obviously turnovers are a big factor in the game here and and you know I would say the must for Dallas is not the turnover and the must for Cleveland is we got to take advantage of our opportunities we'll probably get a couple against against uh Dallas one way or another whether it's a fumble or maybe a strip Sack or a tip ball and interception or something like that you got to make those count you can't drop them or not get get on the ball those ones that come you got to be able to take advantage of them you don't want to give Dallas any extra possessions yeah absolutely and you know we've we've really kind of talked about the offense and the West Coast philosophy Mike McCarthy really coming from the original part of the tree there um and you just saw last year CD lamb very efficient explosive type of player Dak Prescott keeping him in the pocket but he got the ball out fast they moved CD around really gave defenses you know a hard time trying to figure out where he was going to be even in critical situations moving around like it'll be a big challenge for Cleveland's defense and you know certainly talking about the West Coast offense we would talk about Tuesday players coach Tuesday players who are the guys that we're going to sit down and you know figure out how are we going to stop and we take that all the way back to San Francisco yeah well I sit back and think about a lot of the Tuesdays that I had trying to stop Montana and rice those are the two guys in San Francisco lamb and Prescott those are the two guys we're talking about with the Cowboys and you know when you look at those guys just their production Montana had tremendous career I mean my God you know 273 touchdowns you know 92 passer rating you know you think about how good Montana was uh I mean the numbers are just staggering but then let's look at Prescott you know Prescott last year under Mike McCarthy's kind of you know new offense where Mike took over the play calling Mike kind of reins stilled some of his West Coast philosophies from Green Bay 45 500 yards 105 quarterback rating Montana was 92 so you know Prescott had a tremendous year last year uh you know if he can re maintain that same type of production this year you know Dallas is going to be you know they're going be a hard team to beat all year but this will be a big challenge for the Cleveland defense yeah and you know again when we talk West Coast offense I think efficiency the ball coming out fast on time timing of the play detail of the play obviously Mike McCarthy did a great job last year with Dak Prescott just like we saw with Joe Montana but the other stat in this is also that you know touchdown to interception ratio and you know last year Dak did a great job of protecting the ball as we saw earlier of course Montana did a good job through his career with that too um but those are big stats right there 36 touchdowns nine interceptions you know not turning the ball over keeping the ball good quarterback rating efficient offense starting with the quarterback it's big for him look you can't have good production as a quarterback in terms of yards touchdowns and all that without somebody to throw to Prescott had a lamb last year and look at this 1,77 50 yards passing all right and 14 touchdowns that's one a game so you got to stop this guy 135 receptions and that's just the ones he caught think of all the other times he was targeted or that he was doubled all right which provided opportunities for somebody else so obviously the number one go-to guy on the field that Cleveland's got to stop that'll be a big matchup I'm sure we'll see Ward on him some if not all the time all right but you know this is Prescott's guy here lamp yeah and that's why you know we have it up there as the number one must for Cleveland's defense because not only is this guy good production stats catch and run explosive ability all of that is off the charts but then Mike McCarthy does a great job of moving him around he's on the backs side of formations they'll give you 3 by one two by two he's going to go in motion he's going to come over fast he's going to return sometimes he's outside sometimes he's inside they like to stack him put him in the stacks and bunches all of these things they'll do to try to get them open create confusion for the defense communication uh this is a key piece to what they did last year and I know they're excited to have him ready to go for game one uh this is that's why he's the number one guy yeah well you can double him you got to find him first and Jerry Rice you know was just as big of a problem back in the 49er days with Walsh and Montana you know Rice's production I mean almost 23,000 yards I mean you kidding me 207 touchdowns yeah I mean we doubled rice coming out of the locker room as soon as he stepped on the field we put two guys on as much as we could uh obviously an explosive player uh in all in all areas catch and run route running you know deep ball Production Red area I mean Jerry did it all and you know Lamb's kind of on that same track but you know rice and monana lamb and Prescott very similar conversations yeah I mean Jim Schwarz obviously coming from your coaching tree coach uh I'm sure he's got CD lamb doubled on the plane right now making sure that he can't even get out without you know two Cleveland guys on him so I just think this is going to be you know this exciting game this weekend I think it really you know call it the West Coast offense with Mike McCarthy and in more of its older version than some of the younger you know West Coast philosophies that we're seeing right now but really interested to see how cidd lamb Dak Prescott they handle Jim Schwarz that defense miles Garrett um this is going to be a great game yeah and we've talked a lot about the basic situations but you know it always comes down to situational football some key got to have it situations critical plays in the game let's take a look at how these two teams match up on situational football you know coach we're going to Situations: "GOTTA HAVE IT" talk about situational analysis every week and I think you know we'll start right away with the got to have it situation and I think you know as you can see here we have our encyclopedia Series where we're kind of deep diving into situational football the playbook in general but talk us through got to have it you know what are we what are we talking about when we say got to have it well got to have it is just a critical play in the game when everything really is on the line it could be fourth down it could be a a third and goal at the you know situation it could be a uh it could be a third down where you need a first down to run out the clock where everything's really on the line where if you convert this play it's going to make a big difference in the game so uh very important situation offensively you know there's a couple different ways to think about this some coaches think about players like I want to get the ball to my best player some coaches think about plays like I want to run these certain two or three plays that I have a lot of confidence in and sometimes coaches think about running the perfect play you know what are they going to be in are they going to be in this defense or that defense well we'll run this play against this and that play against that um so there's a couple different ways to think of this uh you know offensively and a lot of times that is you know by coach sometimes they'll use all three but usually you know most teams prefer you know one of these the types of philosophies and I think you know right here talking about Dallas talking about the Dallas Cowboys you know the first thing that pops in my head when we get in critical situation it's going to be cidd lamb c l like where is he how are they using him you know he's the go-to guy that we got to make sure we stop if he's single they got to go to him they got to throw the ball to him so defensively that's the first thing we do is we got to stop him then I think about play I think about Concepts I think about you know West Coast offense that's going to be the flat to the offensive right defensive left you've got to stop that concept however they get it over there coach we laugh week in week out got to have a situation West Coast offense they throw that ball in the flat to the right and they convert every time so those are the two big concepts for me that I think of when got to have it comes up against the Dallas Cowboys and then really the third element like you mentioned is that perfect play that check with me and when you have a guy like you know cidi lamb you can put him to that flat side on the right or you can put them away from it and if they kick the coverage over you take the concept if they don't push the coverage over to CD lamb then you throw it to CD lamb yeah and I think in the red area where coach Schwarz could come with those pressures and those blitzes I think that's an opportunity for Prescott that if he has the play he likes run it if they're going to Blitz then maybe we run something else so uh you know coach McCarthy and the Cowboys have been very good use running all three concepts yeah in one way or another which we'll see here in a minute defensively you know you really want to get on these receivers tight so usually it's man-to-man coverage if you're a Zone team then a lot of those zones will be matched in other words as soon as the guy enters your Zone that that player takes I mean you don't give up any completion so got to be ready for pressure all right or Max coverage like you said whether that's double and lamb or you know however Jimmy decides to do it but again defensively you decide do you want to defend a certain player lamb or do you want to send defend certain plays those flat to the right Concepts all right so the most common situations and we're seeing that this week in the Dallas Cleveland matchup man-to-man coverage by Cleveland against a West Coast offense so here it is and again got to have it here's what we got to do man-to-man coverage you know and then offensively moving routes flat to the right and then I would say just Dallas has to be ready you know for Cleveland to Blitz somewhere along the line in a critical situation and if they Blitz then they'll probably fake it and then drop into coverage later on I'm sure that'll be a little bit of a chess match so let's go to some of the Dallas got to have it situations that they've run in the past yeah this is one right here coach where you know a lot of West Coast offenses they build this type of play a couple of different ways but really in essence what they're trying to do is get the quarterback out of the pocket and get that flat to the right you know quick throw where the ball can come out of the quarterback's hands before pressure or pass rush can get to him so a combination here with the quarterbacks coming out they seal the edge with a tight end receiver whatever that is and then they run some sort of high low combination to that right side of the offense where the ball can come out right now yeah they're really looking for this flat receiver so it's third and one third and two there's it's third and four you know he'll take it a little bit deeper but here's the first down if it's covered he can run it we'll get this Edge sealed here by the tight end and then the secondary options would be you know the flag route especially if these receivers are are stacked in here together and and the defender gets picked and then the last resort would be this Crossing pattern but this is a big one the other big one that they like is a lot of times out of and look this there'll usually be motion you know involved with this type of play uh the next one we have is the you know the famous snag seven flat combination so the one of these receivers will run a short route he'll get the first down another receiver will go to the flat he'll also get the first down and another receiver will go vertical in this case it's the middle receiver going vertical to kind of take the coverage back and to create a high low out there so uh with the quarterback in the gun here you know one two three and then if it's single coverage on the backs side especially if you put lamb back here as the single receiver backside if the defense is all over here well then just throw the slant the lamb if they come over here and want a double lamb all right then you've got a three-man combination on the other side so this is a good play that the Cowboys like it's a good concept play for him they've hit it yeah in both of those plays you nailed it where is CD lamb where is he is he backside of the 3 by one if he's going to be to the side of the bunch in this particular case the right how are they building that forming there's going to be a pick a rub in there somewhere to try to get him free and again if you commit two guys to CDs over on that side you know that snag route or that flat route or somebody else is going to be singled up it's a quick throw for the quarterback he doesn't you know quick read for him he can get the ball out fast and again those are two big plays that they like to convert and use in these situations we got some film on this too let's really dissect you know Dallas's film here as we're going forward all right so let's start with this fourth and two situation in the fourth quarter against the Dolphins and again a lot of these plays come with some kind of motion first of all let's look at lamb making sure you know checking with the officials to make sure that the formation's legal yeah smart on his part there he could really see him going of getting the attention of the official there to make sure he was on the line of scrimmage seal the end let Prescott get outside you know lamb runs a a little Stop Route down here pass the sticks makes the catch you know first down fourth and two got to have it single coverage on lamb that's where they're going to go yeah they you know Prescott gets out of the pocket here they do a great job of sealing The Edge they build it with the tight end he extends his motion a little bit to really kind of allow Prescott get out but really Miami's defense then you know kind of slow to adjust slow to get down to that motion you got two guys there standing really in no man's land and you know CD Lambs all by himself so kind of an easy conversion there for the Cowboys all right third down and six uh again motion involved in this formation so this time lamb instead of lining up on the single receiver side okay comes over to build this once again seal the end fake here roll out and come back to CD lamb uh for the first down yeah and again they're using the motion the window dressing there to really get them in that one-on-one matchup and you know I think this is an interesting formation to start this is really what we call a 3 by0 formation where the tight end's kind of backside by himself gives the quarterback a good indicator hey is it man is it Zone did the corner travel over who's matched up you know what's the what's the coverage now as steedy motion's over he knows he's got one-on-one out there you know they seal the edge you can see Dak gets rid of the ball before the pressure can get there and you know they got another big conversion good catch good run and they keep the drive alive so really the same play but dressed up a little bit differently one time with lamb lining up over there the other time with him motioning but in both cases the tight end sealing the end Prescott after the Fate getting outside uh making a good throw again it's all about timing and accuracy and execution by the quarterback and receiver like that's the key to all these plays okay third down and two on the two so got to have a situation here where is he yeah where is he you're trying to find him right away you got a balance two by two he's in the slot but he's not he's not on the right side of the offense now he's on the left so what's going on right so Prescott does a great job here of recognizing uh the double coverage here on lamb so he eats up two guys right there all right that leaves one-on ones across the board uh everywhere else so now this is you know they're three on two over here they're going to double cover uh lamb so they're taking him away so now they have the combination pattern there's the snag here's the seven route and then here's the flat route here so they attack uh this side of the this side of the defense here while lamb draws the the double coverage up on top and again you can see Prescott it doesn't take him any time at all he sees this right away he sees the double over here he comes to this side there he is he's on it right now it's great job good execution yeah good good design play there by Mike McCarthy you know again put CD lamb away from your core concept A play that you know Dak Prescott throws a thousand times during training camp all the way through the season that snag seven flat route and he can read it out find the open receiver and try to get the ball to him but good play design there obviously you know good job by the Giants seeing it they play them twice a year so they're used to the West Coast offense for sure I think again fundamentally you can understand and got to have it situations I've got a go-to guy if I put him away from a core concept and again the core concept doesn't change it's still that flat to the right throw yeah another low red area situation you know this is a good example right here of Prescott with having a two-play option or getting in the perfect play so uh he looks at the defense here does the fake count to see if he can figure out what's going on all right and now he changes the play changes the protection resets and he can see now pressure coming from from the top of the screen he's got one-on-one down here across the board the commanders are three for three here in their coverage so he's got you know a good matchup down here he's going to find Cooks on the flag pattern there yeah again another good forming there by Mike McCarthy put you know CD lamb on the backside of a three by one you know he can see he's got three Defenders really if it's the linebacker the safety of the corner over to lamb side then I know I've got single coverage away from it he checks the play gets to the second play there like you mentioned the perfect play versus uh you know manto man coverage and it's really that two under three concept with one on the delay you know he finds the leverage of cooks here throws that back pylon throw which again we know the target points of the red area the back pylon is one of those makes a good throw good catch and you know again points in the red area this is something Dallas did extremely well last year right whenever we number the receivers it's from the outside in so the number one receiver is the outside most outside play number two generally in slot number three the third player so this is one and two under or two under three three running outside to the flag you know Cooks ball getting placed in the back corner of the end zone uh pylons they used to be Flags that's why we call them Flags but now they're all pylons so uh but that's the that's the name of the pattern and Prescott again great throw good execution again this is a concept though that uh an experienced quarterback like Prescott with an experienced coach like Mike McCarthy will use to recognize the defense and get into the play that they want against this particular coverage if the Ritz if the commanders had shown something else then they would have run a different play yeah flag route sounds way better than the pylon route I mean I think that's tough in the in the Huddle to try to get that over there maybe it's pylon camera I don't know whatever that route is but great throw great execution I think when you look at all these got to aits again player number one CD lamb number two concepts either it's get the quarterback out you know get that ball out to the right side um or it's some sort of design concept pattern the snag s flat still a throw to that quarterback West Coast philosophy that right side of the offense that quarterback's throwing arm you know that's what we really saw them do last year yeah they they love that to the right side again it's all about you know quarterback mechanics and execution all right this is a great view of that play from The End Zone you can see Prescott faking the Cadence to try to get was uh Washington to commit he sees what he's looking for now he changes the pattern right signals the pattern out here with that little uh you know gesture underneath his his face mask his chin gestures the pattern okay making sure the protection here with the guards and they communicate the protection all right we know who we're blocking if they Blitz it's a great job by by Prescott here of Orchestra and everything there's the pickup all right everybody's blocked here Cowboys have everything blocked perfectly Prescott has plenty of time to execute the play this would be an example of a perfect play situation where the quarterback sees what he wants gets in the protection that he needs to be in and then the play is executed perfectly for a touchdown it's great job offensively yeah and you can just really see the control Dak Prescott has you know over the entire offense you know that comes with a very veteran experienced quarterback he can go up he can see some things he can make some communication checks not only is he talking to the skill players but he's coordinating with the with the obviously the running back the guards in this particular case you know Dallas runs a system where the center he's really trying to keep his Focus around the road they got noise cra noise all that the center's trying to keep his Focus you know on the guys in front of him the guards then are looking at the quarterback all that communication that's really hard to do and you got to trust the quarterback and this is what happens when you got a really good quarterback that can do all those things at line of scrimmage he's going to capitalize on the coverage and you're going to convert it into points yeah good quarterback good system well coached good offensive line great receiver a lot of good complimentary players here uh this is this is good good execution really it's it's well done yeah good football is you know we'd like to say yeah okay fourth and four against the Dolphins yeah got to have it where is he yeah coach he's in the slot again but he's on the left side of the offense so I got to try to figure out what's going on here how are we going to defend this defensively what are they doing well they're going to double him you know good good call here by the Dolphins doubling them and so really what has to happen now is you say to your other Dolphins Defenders look we're doubling lamb you guys got to hold up on the guys that you're covering and so you know Prescott checks it sees the double coverage comes back to Turpin in the slot who's running a little return or option route you know that's the matchup you want there a lot of space hard guy to cover on this option route uh so it's a good second you know good second option here on the for the uh Cowboys and you know turban gets held there's the holding penalty but that's the idea if they take away our best guy then we got to come to somebody else on a route that they can win on and that's and and Prescott does a good job of that protection is good uh you know this is the right idea again Miami gets a holding penalty there so uh they convert anyway but that's good good concept play yeah and really you know again you can really see here how committed the Dolphins are to try to take away CD lamb the other factor in the West Coast offense a lot of times is the athleticism of the quarterback especially in the red area and Dak Prescott can run so now you got to commit maybe a linebacker an extra guy in the Box to make sure that he just doesn't take off it's empty formation you still kind of have quarterback draw even though it's got to haveit some situations there he can scramble and extend the play or score himself as a quarterback and now you know you've got one-on-one matchups you've got that out to the offensive right you've got an option route flat route whatever combination they want to put over there which is to the side of the quarterback's throwing arm good timing play for them yeah it's really one-on-one across the board with the double coverage over here on lamb and Longs got the quarterback so you know that's everybody's one-on-one except for lamb those one-on-one guys got a win and to your point having a guy to spy on uh or at least keep his eye on Prescott so he can't run for the Scramble for the first down you know you don't want to give that up yep and I think if we get through the week coaches you know we're trying to coach defense and we're talking about the Cowboys offense and I know Co coach Schwarz is doing this you get through the week we're talking got to have it here's what you're going to walk out of the meeting knowing got to have a situation find CD lamb where is he defend the flat to the right make sure you've got that handled don't let the quarterback out of the pocket let's start with those three things and then you'll be okay then you've got a chance you got a chance Ball's on a two yard on here let's see what coach Schwarz does against uh the Texans getting another West Coast concept there's the motion coming over and seal the edge Sprint out all right and try to run the number two receiver here to the flat so the same play that we've seen the Cowboys run a couple times uh you know here's Cleveland defending it tight man-to-man coverage what we'd expect from Cleveland and then what happens on this play is when the tight end gets seal when the tight end seals the defensive end here the man who has the tight in and coverage comes quickly to contain the quarterback so this is good coaching right here and good preparation you know the Browns really know what they're doing on this play as soon as the the tight end blocks here and the quarterback gets to the edge here comes the unblocked guy to force the ball out all right and there's tight coverage you're not going to get that easy flat to the right pass on Schwarz you know he's got everything else taken away pretty good there's pressure on the quarterback it's good good team defense by the Browns yeah it really is and you know it starts right away as we're coaching defense and we're looking at this and Coach Schwarz 100% went through this in the meeting hey that tight end starts off you know to the defensive right he steps off he motions over he creates a little bit more space if I'm that linebacker that's got the tight end or I'm that second contained player that needs to go pull up the quarterback I'm alerting right now hey if this guy blocks down or he seals The Edge I'm gone I got to go pull the quarterback up right now obviously coach Schwarz hit that in the meeting really hard they do a good job putting pressure on the quarterback and you know again the coverage good tight coverage in the red area try to undercut the that goal line you know more pass breakups than ints in the red area because of the man coverage and that's exactly what Cleveland does right here yeah you can see Cleveland's communication is very quick here as soon as the tight end comes over okay communication back inside watch the Crosser he blocks there's the quick hug on the quarterback he triggers yep he triggers right there and the quarterback's got to get the ball out there's no chance here for you know for stra to pull it down and run so great defense by uh you know great defense there by the Browns this going to be a great matchup to see how coach McCarthy and Coach Schwarz on all downs but especially in he's got to have his situations yeah well coach uh this has been unbelievable you know week one of the season coming up uh our coach series that we're going to be running all season uh great to be with you great to talk football uh appreciate you having me and uh this is going to be a lot of fun yeah thanks Matt look forward to it all year [Music]