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[Assistant] It was, it's off the charts good. I mean that was a superstar performance. I mean it really was. That was a San Francisco defense that's been hovering around the top five all year. They just the week before, let's not forget, made Sean McVay and Jared Goff look very ordinary and average.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They've kind of found their groove here as of late to where they've been playing pretty good football on that side of the ball. There's two things I think that just break it down the simplest way for Josh Allen. One, just incredible athletic feats and his unbelievable skill set of, uh, being able to dance around the pocket.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And even there's chaos around the ability to dance around, yet still keep your composure and look down the field and make a play. His ability to throw outside the pocket and run away from some of those pass rushers and some of the throws he made there were phenomenal. But I think here's the other aspect of it. And we've seen little inklings of this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, in this Bill's run that they've kind of caught on fire other than the Hail Murray game, right? Which Josh Allen was good then. We're seeing Josh Allen


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, we saw those games early in the year. The Chiefs, the Titans. Oh no, big plays aren't there. They're used to big plays. What are they gonna do? They don't have a run game. And, you know, I don't know if their short passing game was quite as developed as it is now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Plus I don't know if they trusted him to always make quick decisions, put it into a tight window and zone coverages and do those type of things.


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[Assistant] I don't think there's any fear of any aspect of his game now. And I think what you saw in that game the other night was, yeaah, some drives and some plays where you went, woah, woah, woah, holy cow, what a throw, unbelievable scramble, are you kidding me? And then we saw other drives where you just went,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Six yards, eight yards, twelve yards, ooh, nice throw, good decision, good throw, good decision, nothing wow factor, but just a whole lot of good in the quarterback world. And I think when you put those two things together,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's where you go special. Hey, there's a few plays in this game, I know, and I'm a fan, you're right, and I'm a little biased this way, but I wrote down, like listen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is, this is Mahomes and Rogers territory we're watching right now.


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[Assistant] These are throws and things he can do that only those two can do. And I don't, I'm not forgetting about Russell Wilson and stuff. Russell Wilson can't lick the ball the way Rogers Mahomes and Josh Allen can. So I think all of that would be the big thing and my main theme and takeaway from


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think you said it right, like the degree of difficulty of these throws we're talking about.


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[Assistant] Are up there and rival anybody in football. I mean him and Mahomes would be the two guys I would think of when they throw the ball 10, 15, 20 yards down the field. They can make more unbelievable throws and unbelievable positions and sidearm, underhand, over the top, whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they can still be on the money. I think that's the big thing. I mean, I just think about the drive before the hat that just kinda capsulizes it all.


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[Assistant] Josh Allen, there's nothing there. He runs up in the pocket, throws a 20 yard laser as he's kind of running to the left sideline. Then the next play, oh man, there's nobody open and he runs to the right and throws a 25 yard laser along the sideline and all of a sudden you're like, whoa, the Niners played pretty good defense and they just let them go 50 yards in two plays and now they're going to kick a field goal before the half. That just speaks to it.


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[Assistant] Uh, I think there was things too, within the game where I want to give Brian Dayball credit too, to where I think he just played the proper way. I think they played the proper game. I was, I was actually interested, I was like, I wonder how the Bills are going to play this? Cause are they going to try to play like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're scared of the 49ers offense a little bit. We need to control the clock and run the ball a little bit. I was a little scared if they did that, that they would be overwhelmed and then it would be third and 12, like every series. And you're not going to beat the 49ers that way. Salah's creative on third downs. Eventually they're going to get to you that way.


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[Assistant] Brian Dayball took the approach of, I'm not fighting the 49ers in a phone booth. I just watched the Rams do that the week before and the 49ers kicked the crap out of them. I don't want to do that. And we're not that good at doing that. So that wouldn't be make sense. How about I spread it out? Their corners aren't all that good.


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[Assistant] They're not great man to man football team. I have a pretty good understanding of their, their defensive scheme and that Seattle scheme. I mean, Dayball was in New England all those years when they kept having to play, you know, Seattle and that scheme when it was in its prime. So he understands how to expose it a little bit too. And I think between that and then also within spreading it out, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But they pressured him the last seven plays. He's been under pressure. But just because he escaped and made a play happen didn't mean that the pressure didn't happen. No, he did a great job of doing that. Uhm, and that's of course where he's special. But I think them coming out and attacking, spreading the field.


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[Assistant] Allowing Josh Allen 1. Hey, let's spread the field. This kind of lets me see some of their creative blitzes. They have to tip their hand a little bit more here than if we were condensed and you're like, I don't know where it's coming from. They're all together and it's a mishmash. I think it cleared it out that way. I think also with that spread it out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then I think last but not least is what we just talked about, the tie it all together. They go, wait.


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[Assistant] The 49ers, they love to crowd the middle of the field. There's always seven guys in the box even when you're in the spread.


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[Assistant] I've been saying this for two years. You're gonna beat the 49ers. Throw the ball outside the numbers. Throw the ball outside the numbers. They're cover three scheme, and when cover three doesn't work, they go to cover four.


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[Assistant] It basically becomes man to man with that most route combinations on the outside. And that's where I give Dayball a lot of credit too. He just went, wait, they're giving us throws out here. Why bang our head against the wall and try to throw it over the middle when


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[Assistant] I mean, he feels as confident about hitting that on target as, you know, you and I would be like, I can hit you from the chest from two feet away. Right. You know, and that's how special he is that way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's where we're going to get into some other teams and conversations here. That's why you do motions and aggressive motions before the snap, not the kind of motion where it's like blue 85. Oh, the guy went in motion and now he's lined up over there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whoa, the defense is so stressed. Oh my gosh. That was a motion of booty five.


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[Assistant] You know, boo, oh god, he's going, boo, and he flies it high, and, and you can see the 49ers are trying to communicate because the Will Linebacker's gonna blitz, and now he's trying to tell the Nickelback, or the Safety, I think it was in this case, he's going, wait, no, you gotta go cover him now as he's blitzing, and they don't adjust quick enough. And it leads to a little bit of a pick-play rub over there because that coverage safety


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[Assistant] He couldn't get his wits about him quick enough. And I'm sure he was told all week, they're going to do this. Make sure you go over the top. But it happened in such a hurry and a flurry that he didn't. And then the beauty of it is not only the play call by day ball.


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[Assistant] Josh Allen's throw is beauty too. He doesn't let coverage come into play. Just the way he got the ball, he's open. Let me flick it out there real quick. You know, just how he does that. And he just throws it up high and soft and lets his guy run it and the DB can never make a play.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They haven't all year seen a quarterback that can attack them, attack him or them like that.


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[Assistant] Well, everybody has their own language, so, palms, obviously to him, and normal, just basic, uh, NFL terminology, you'd call it two-track.


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[Assistant] Right? That's what they would really call it. So here's the play as you see. And let me just go back to the start and pause it if you can, Nicole, just so I can point it out to everybody and what's going on here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, you kind of show Palms coverage to trap. It plays like quarters. So the two receivers to the right are Beasley and Davis. If those two receivers go vertical, they're going to play.


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[Assistant] Quarters coverage. Everybody go back into their quarters and do that. But, Sherman on the outside, he's, as he's doing and playing his quarters coverage, he is looking at number 2, which is number 11 in this incident, er, in this, in this play.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 11 goes out or makes that break. Now it goes from quarters to cover two and they kind of read it on the fly, right?


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[Assistant] Great example, just for a history lesson, Randy Moss, touchdown, game, I mean,


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[Assistant] Same type of thing. They saw that's what the Giants and New England did that to them. So this is always on the radar for the Buffalo Bills.


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[Assistant] Within that, okay, and you can see, alright, just go back one more time, Nicole, to the start here. So within this, there is the signal going around.


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[Assistant] Fred Warner did it. They both gave that signal. So, in my, in my, in my, what I would think is somewhere along the line, number 33, Reed, Temarius Moore, excuse me, I'm getting confused there. He should have got back to the


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, the two guys on the left are playing that coverage, those two, the corner safety over there. Now you see, he's rotating towards the middle, so he must have been totally confused.


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[Assistant] And, you know, at that point, it's just too late. Josh Allen read it. I think they were ready for the coverage anyways, knowing that they do that.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I think that's a good question. I do think they need probably more. I do, but I don't think it has to be a whole lot more. It just has to be there a little bit to where it has to be respected by a defense to a degree to just let


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Their play action passes still have an effect and all that. Those numbers to me are fine with the Buffalo Bills. I don't care. They're not a team I'm looking at and going, they need to have a running back, touch the ball 20 times a game or 25 times a game.


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[Assistant] They just need the threat of that there to keep the defense respectful that way. And in the playoffs, let's not forget


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[Assistant] It's going to become more dangerous because they're not going to worry about protecting Josh Allen as much and you'll see quarterback design runs just like we saw last year when they played the Houston Texans and that'll open that up a little bit more too. So you'll see that. But I think the big thing is the development of their short passing game and Josh Allen's


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is going to save their lack of a running game per se. You know, like I said, they need a little of it, but the past game has everything now to where, you know, they just need to do it just to keep, like I said, defenses respecting, respecting it a little bit.


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[Assistant] It was by far the most physical game that Bill's defense has played all year. And they've been better the last few weeks. You've been seeing it go this way.


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[Assistant] You know, the reason I didn't pick them is I just went, I don't think they're going to be able to man up and handle the 49ers in the run game. I just think the 49ers scheme, and that they'll just overpower Buffalo. Which on the first drive, it looked like you were right. It looked that way, I mean it looked that way, but I always, I'm always a little


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like, woah, it's just the first drive. Defenses are getting used to what's going on. Offense always has the advantage on the first drive for the most part. So they're just feeling it out. But yeaah, it didn't look good. But to your point there,


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[Assistant] The 49ers in their rushing stats, right? I mean, they ended up with, uhm, I just want to get this right. 86 total yards in the run game.


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[Assistant] Half of them came on the first drive. So that just tells you where the game went after that. Half of them. I think like 43 or 44 yards of rushing came on the first drive. So after that, the Bills had their freaking way on that side of the ball.


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[Assistant] The physicality and the health of the bills, I think, are the first two things you have to talk about. You know, they're, they are. They've gotten healthy up front. You know, the predator, Tremaine Edmonds, he's healthy, his shoulder's better, he's running around like a crazed animal, having some fun again. And you saw that in the football game too. So I think that's the first thing. And then, you know,


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[Assistant] McDermott's approach on defense was phenomenal.


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[Assistant] No, they almost did and what does that lead to? It led to two mistakes and some other issues and they don't win games really when they start to get in those type of numbers as a football team. But I think the biggest thing more than anything would be McDermott's defensive game plan with Leslie Frazier and how they


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[Assistant] Just into Kyle Shanahan. And I'm trying to get my thoughts here together so I make this, make sense of this.


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[Assistant] They know Kyle Shanahan's a codecracker. They know. McDermott's smart. He's watching film going...


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[Assistant] They're about to run the ball and it's not what they want. It's not the look they want. So a lot of late disguises, movements, or...


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[Assistant] Not showing a blitz until it's set hot to where, oh, I think we have the weak side run. Wait, the Nickelback and the weak side linebacker came. They didn't look like they were coming at all. They were showing like it was coverage, coverage, coverage. They gave us no context clues. So he was phenomenal in that in self-scouting myself.


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[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, they were willing to take their chances that way, right? I mean, you can't have it both ways always. And with an offense like Shanahan, you're not going to be able to have it both ways. You know, you're just not going to be able to go, oh, we'll stop the run a little and then we'll stop all the passes.


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[Assistant] Oh, they went all out to say, stop the run. Yeah, we might give up a few big pass plays here, but we don't really think your pass game is going to beat us with Nick Mullins at the end of the day. And we think that if you continue to throw, he'll make mistakes or leave points or yards on the board. And that's what he usually does too. It was a good game by him.


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[Assistant] But some crucial mistakes and some big moments, and which is how it always goes. Right. You know, hey, let me just say this while we're on this. I mean, Nick Mullen, there was a graphic during the game the other night.


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[Assistant] Through 13 starts, nobody in the history of football has thrown for more yards other than Patrick Mahomes and Andrew Luck.


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[Assistant] Well that just tells you what coaching does and everything like that because they're not even in the same universe, those three people right there. Technically they are. Well they technically they are, but football wise they are not, okay. They got two that are like gods of football and then one guy who's just been teamed up with a god like coach.


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[Assistant] Who serves things up to him, but whenever he has to do something in a big moment or carry the team like a luck around homes.


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[Assistant] He's not capable of that. So that just tells you how coaching can help out a guy and things like that. I don't know why I added that in, but I just felt like I needed to.


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[Assistant] They've been creative through this run in general. They've been getting progressively, uh, more creative as they've gone along. I mean really, I look at it ever since...


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[Assistant] Okay, wait, Buffalo's finally stopping so vanilla, they're starting to do more and more stuff on that side of the ball. And, yeaah, I think...


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[Assistant] You know, the fact that, you know, Quentin Jefferson, Philips, Vernon Butler, you know, S, Eponesa, Mario Addison, everybody's healthy. It's allowing them to throw fresh bodies out there too, even though they might not be all like the most talented group ever. At least they're fresh and they can fly around and put the pedal to the metal. And I think that's really the big thing. But McDermott.


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[Assistant] He's phenomenal. I mean, I respect him like I respect Kyle Shanahan on the offensive side of the ball. He's kind of a code cracker of his own on that side. And that's why he's just, you know, one of the best head coaches in football.


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[Assistant] Yes. Right. It's been the opposite. It's been the opposite. The team that won it's gone into a funk. Kind of weird. Yeaah. And they've gotten better and better. And they outplayed the Cardinals that day. I mean just think, man, this game Sunday night would be really interesting if Hail Murray didn't happen. Yeaah. You know, Buffalo, Buffalo, to wrap this up because we've talked about it enough, has gone from me in the last three weeks to


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[Assistant] Playoff team that maybe wins one game to what I've seen with the growth of the offense and now the defense where it is, they're a Super Bowl contender. It's official. They can go to Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] I would definitely put Josh Allen closer. Aaron Rodgers should be in the lead for my money. Should be in the lead. And listen, you know I- Because of the lack of weapons that he has. Yes!


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[Assistant] I mean, statistically, he's better. He's 36 touchdowns for interception. That's true. You know, his quarterback ratings better and definitely because of the lack of support next to him. And I'm not trying to, you know, I love Patrick, my homes. I mean, it's, it's the most fun watching football, but I'm just shocked. That's like.


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[Assistant] Because he can be super lovable and show you how much he cares and how much he respects your work ethic and how you play and the good job you're doing too.


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[Assistant] So that's where, you know, that's where good coaches do. You know, I mean.


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[Assistant] Really, even Belichick has that aspect about him. He does. I mean, I know we don't get to see it.


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[Assistant] The best motivator I was ever around, ever. He's one of the best communicators I've ever seen or ever been around in my life. He's got an unbelievable way about him and that's why he's lasted a bit awesome there for so long. On the wide receiver drops things, let's just hit that.


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[Assistant] Alright, so let's hit on the drop thing first, alright? I mean, listen, they need to catch the ball. There's no doubt about that, alright? We know that. In the game, just to wrap this up,


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[Assistant] I believe there was only one drop that affected the football game. Really. They got first downs and moved the ball after almost all of their drops. There was a third and 15 in the first quarter of Juju Smith Schuster who dropped a 16 yard catch as Ben kind of scrambled out of the pocket and threw it. Other than that, every other drop


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[Assistant] Still, they overcame it in the drive. So it didn't like, it wasn't like, oh, they dropped it on a big crucial third down and now they're off the field. That didn't happen, alright. So just, that, just, just to add some context to the situation. Now, everything you just said, like,


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[Assistant] Pittsburgh's predictable, right? That's a problem. It's shotgun and they're gonna throw the ball. But what's worse is they become even predictable.


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[Assistant] Within their predictableness, if that makes any sense at all. To where, okay, now we know they're gonna throw, but now we also know, yeah, they're gonna throw at every play.


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[Assistant] They're going to throw it short almost every play. They're not going to really attack us down the field. And they're what I would call a sticks team, right? This is what like, and when you might be going, what the hell are you talking about? Sticks team. They're a sticks team. If it's third and four, they throw five yard routes. If it's third and 12, they throw 13 yard routes.


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[Assistant] I checked the rule book. If it's 3rd and 4, you're allowed to call a 15 and 20 yard route still. You are.


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[Assistant] Washington did nothing in this game on the defensive side of the ball. They played as vanilla as you can play.


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[Assistant] They played man to man very rarely. In fact, the James Washington touchdown where the guy missed the tackle was one of the few plays of man to man the whole game because they, they were afraid of that. Why give them a chance to throw one deep one or they break one tackle and score and it's a big play.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was constantly coverage, coverage, four man rush. I mean, very few blitzes in any of that. And uhm, they played just, you know, cover two, cover four, quarter, quarter, half.


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[Assistant] And you're going to throw the ball short. It just, it gave, it didn't give them any opportunity. It just, you have to be perfect. You have to play surgical football. And then at some point you're going to have to make some explosive plays along the way in the pass game too. That's the, that's to me is one of the biggest problems.


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[Assistant] It's really becoming, you can, you know there's certain areas where you have to defend.


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[Assistant] And you know that allowed Washington sometimes to act like you were going to blitz and do something and then they all drop out, but they're all dropping out looking for four and five yard routes that are running right at them. So it's very easy to do that and give disguises and that stuff.


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[Assistant] You know, not blitzing front four, you know, I mean, you saw the defensive line in that game, you know, get your hands up. They did some of that, but as soon as the ball's thrown, because it's short, they were ready to run and tackle and do those things too. They're just not giving defenses good enough to think about in my opinion. And what we've seen here the last two weeks, whether you have the personnel that can match up with the receivers or a scheme,


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[Assistant] That can slow down their receiving core. The Steelers are vulnerable to lose. That's all you can really, uhm.


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[Assistant] They can throw and I'll talk about that. They don't need to change a whole lot, but then if they're going to be a throwing team all the time, then they need to change some of their approach is how they throw it. It can't just be shotgun throw at four yards, shotgun throw at four yards.


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[Assistant] They're the team I was just talking about. They don't know aggressive pre-stamp motions. You know, they motion a little, but it's like, oh, the tight end moses from here. And then he goes to there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, the receiver came in short motion just a little bit and then lined up behind another receiver and they're in a stack. You know, it's not like they're totally stagnant.


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[Assistant] With all those receivers and talent that you mentioned, there, there should be more to give them an advantage that way. I'd also like to see them do like, if you're going to play shotgun pass, all right, and do all that stuff too, they need to have more like max protect type things. So Big Ben and the receivers can throw the ball down the field. And now we don't become as predictable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just because we're in a shotgun and no backs in the backfield doesn't mean we're going to throw at four yards. We can still, you still got to defend 20 yards and on the sideline down the middle of the field. None of that's going on right now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They can still throw it and do those type of things, but I just think like, hey, speed sweeps, the little shuffle passes and all those things, like, none of that takes place.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm okay with you throwing it all the time, but then there's gotta be some more variation as far as how you're doing it.


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[Assistant] But also realistically, I don't think it's like, you gotta have a little


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[Assistant] Okay, I just was choking there. You know, him, Filer, Villanueva, they're 6'7", 6'8". You know, they're not really made to be. So maybe they can. Well, they can to a degree, but what like, what's not helping it is that they don't ever get to do it.


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[Assistant] You know, they're a great pass protecting O-line. They are a below average run blocking O-line, but also part of that is because of the Steelers and because of the way they're playing the game.


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[Assistant] There's no way. So that's the perfect example there of why they need to have a little bit better of a semblance of a run game. Or again, have more to your shotgun drop back package to where, okay, you're at the two yard line, you stay in the shotgun and do that, but you gotta find more ways to be able to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Washington's stacking the line of scrimmage, and they're playing man to man. Yeaah, it's 3-1, they're afraid they might run the ball up the middle, and they don't want-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To let up a two yard completion. Like I told you, it's third and one. What are they doing? They're trying to run a two yard route. This is what I talk about a sticks team. They're a little too predictable this way. Now we're going to get into a play after this. That's, that's not, but this is one of the few times.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is an RPO all the way. And, you know, in a lot of ways,


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[Assistant] Big Ben is told like, hey, if we don't have the right look in the run game, or the numbers don't make sense, or anything like that, eh, try to throw the ball.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now, this is not the best look. The throw display to Juju Smith Schuster. Okay, he's gonna throw it into the flat here. Yeah, go ahead, let it keep going. Washington was ready for it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They were. You can see it's man to man, tight coverage. And as soon as the ball hits him, it's a bam bam play and it goes incomplete. But what I want to show is, you know, this is a little bit of a thing I'm seeing a lot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, there's a handful of RPOs in every game. The ball never gets run. And never.


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[Assistant] And on this play, I don't know, do we have another snapshot of this? If not, I'd like to go back to the sid- go back to the sideline views one more time, if you can. And if you're watching on YouTube, first off, on this play, let's go to the next shot now. If you go, alright, and one more, if you can. You get to right here, and you see 38 and running back.


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[Assistant] Who's, who's gonna get him on the outside over here? Who's gonna get him if they give him the ball? Maybe nobody. I know. Chase Young has gone inside. The Castro's about to pin him down inside. Or at least pin him towards his own goal line. And now, there's nobody in contain.


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[Assistant] I mean, Jalen Samuel is going to be able to run for big yards. My big thing is this. So that's un-bed. I mean,


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[Assistant] It is on Ben. There are rules here too as far as he's probably saying, wait, the numbers in the box don't work out for us here. So what, what am I supposed to do? But the big overall picture of what I'm trying to explain more than anything is.


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[Assistant] I see RPOs in every game from Pittsburgh. They never get run. You know, and that's not for Big Ben. These are all quarterbacks. I've said this through the last three years. You give quarterbacks the option to throw it.


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[Assistant] They're gonna throw it. They're gonna make up an excuse every time. Coach, I, I know it wasn't the right look, but I saw his eyes looking in at the run game and I just thought I had the look I wanted. They'll always throw it. You can't do that. It's like, it's like a receiver always says he's always open and you're like, wait, no, there were seven guys over covering you. I was open. Okay.


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[Assistant] That's part of that psychological thing. But also too, when I watch film, I just wonder, because Big Ben is doing so much of the line of scrimmage.


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[Assistant] And I know he's had a little history of this before, I just wonder how many plays he's turning into that were run calls, yea, that he's making pass


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[Assistant] I love Big Ben. See, that's why I like Big Ben too. He'll keep it real. He really will. Uh, okay, and that's, that's interesting.


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[Assistant] So, within knowing that, and because of the play, the way it looked the last play before, I'm sure he was going, wait, they're gonna play for the short pass.


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[Assistant] So they got two go routes here. And they send McFarlane out in motion. And as you can see in this shot right here, Jonathan Bostic is late to realize he has to go out there and cover the running back. Big Ben probably sees that. I don't know if that influences the decision or not.


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[Assistant] But either way, he's probably going, wait, that guy's not even out there to cover him, maybe he's not going to be ready, maybe McFarlane will just run right by him.


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[Assistant] But the other aspect of this too is, you know, McFarlane's not necessarily known for his ability as a big time pass receiver yet.


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[Assistant] He's got double go around, they both are actually running like double moves, little stutter goes. You can see on the top there, that's claypool.


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[Assistant] He's separating from Fuller up top. He's ahead in front of him. First off, that's open for people like Claypool, because if you throw it out there, he's running away from them. He's already running away. He's got to beat by a step. And if you go to the next picture one more time please, Nicole, uh, well that doesn't show it quite as much, but either way,


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[Assistant] I just thought that was a missed opportunity there. Where, you know, again, Big Ben knows, he'll learn from that. He's probably got one home too and probably went, damn, why didn't I throw to the guy that every time I throw it up, he catches it.


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[Assistant] And I threw it to a guy who doesn't really catch anything and never really has. So, uh, I think that was a big moment in the football game, but I think overall the approach of this Pittsburgh Steelers has to change a little bit, whether they want to become a little more balanced and run the ball, or if you're going to throw the ball every play, like we're talking about,


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[Assistant] I think that's where it gets into the conversation that it's just got to be a little more diverse that way and make teams think about a few more things, uh, as far as moving pieces and


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[Assistant] Defending the whole field. You know I'm big on that. Defending the whole field's important thing to make a defense do.


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[Assistant] I think there is something to that, there's no doubt, and it allows the coaches to go back and coach hard again and go look at some of these issues we got away with the last few weeks, they gotta be addressed now, okay? We lost, we have to address them.


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[Assistant] I was on 110 and 0 team in my NFL career. Tennessee Titans 2008.


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[Assistant] Our team was worn out by the pressure. We lost to the Jets, our first Brett Favre Jets in week 11.


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[Assistant] The team went back though just playing like renegades and flying around and never thinking about it anymore. I even remember my dad in 90!


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[Assistant] I was a 10 year old, I can remember the pressure around that situation when they started out 10-0. So there is something to set about that and, uh, Pittsburgh's still really good, but there's some things they need to work on. I mean, go ahead. You have one more thing. I want to say one thing more about Pittsburgh too. Just to jump that cause we didn't hit through defense.


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[Assistant] No, this one I'll say to you. But Pittsburgh, I will say too.


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[Assistant] Their defense is good. It's real good, we know that.


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[Assistant] Is it great, great, great, like some of the Super Bowl stealer defenses of past? I don't know if it quite is. I think, you know, there's a few things that have jumped out to me. No Bud Dupree. Yeah.


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[Assistant] They don't have incredible depth on the D-line. They play the same six guys just about all game long. And we saw in the end of this game, the pass rush the game got later, they kind of wore out. And they really never really showed itself in the big moments. And I still question Pittsburgh's ability to cover when the pass rush isn't getting home. I really do.


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[Assistant] It was before then, which might have been Titan's Rams. And I was there. So we could have been together. Maybe I saw her at the bar.


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[Assistant] You're cool, Bernardo, as long as I stay ahead of you in the top 50. If you pass me up, Bernardo, then we're not friends anymore, and I'm gonna ban you from seeing my podcast.


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[Assistant] He did pretty damn good. And they hit some aggressive passes in that game. Denver, I think he hit one.


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[Assistant] But took a step back in like, development, where you were like, woah, there was some shaky decisions and, woah, he threw the ball there, is he seeing the field the right way?


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[Assistant] Whoa, I know this play. He skipped the first read and went right to the second read. Like, just little things like that that happen in the Denver game. Let alone, listen, that was a weird game.


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[Assistant] Maybe the first two throws of the game were a little shaky, but still got into a groove and led the offense on a number of big drives. This game should have never got to 21-16. He's, yea, you can partly blame him with the stupid fumble. They missed a chip shot field goal. They had a lot of other issues where they could have ran away with this thing either way.


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[Assistant] I do think this was a big step forward and we saw, I saw everything in this game. Listen, they're going to throw a lot of play action and they are being more aggressive with what they're doing throwing the football. He is a phenomenal.


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[Assistant] He's really very technically sound. I mean there's not really anything he does wrong. It's really, for a guy that really hasn't played quarterback, it's technically really awesome. And man does he stripe it. Made a number of big throws into some tight windows. Is it perfect? No.


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[Assistant] You know, are there two throws in the fourth quarter that he missed that were crossing routes, which I was shocked he missed because he threw a number of them in the first three weeks where I just go, that's unbelievable, great throw, all that. Yeah, he left a few yards on the field in those scenarios.


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[Assistant] I think between those play action, 10 to 30 yard throws, we saw, yeah, that's great. And then.


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[Assistant] What I also saw in this game that we haven't seen a few just pure drop backs.


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[Assistant] Three step, five step drop back, you know, read the defense, make the right decision. We saw more of that, and I think it's because Sean Payton was more confident in the fact that it's his third game. And Taysom was great that way too. He really was. I mean, he read the field and went to the right place with the ball.


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[Assistant] Uh, most of the time. Does he still have issues? Yes.


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[Assistant] He needs to get off the first read. He gets a little too obsessed with it. You know, and, and I understand that. He's a young quarterback. He's new. And Sean Payton gets the first read open a lot. So when it's not open, he's like, wait.


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[Assistant] I've got it, it's always open. In Sean I trust, in Sean I trust. You get spoiled by it. It's like a gift and a curse that way. So he's still gotta process that, I think. And there's still a few plays of just craziness, like the fumble.


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[Assistant] The fumble, he's got Jared Cook open for a touchdown, he kinda cocks it like he's gonna throw it, and then doesn't, and then wants to run, and then, oh no, I'm gonna get sacked and in trouble, let me try to throw it again, and of course it becomes a fumble. You know, those are things that are a little raw and he needs to work out of his game, but I still think it was a very good start, and they went


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[Assistant] The only guy I can ever say that about, I think we've ever said that about is Cam Newton.


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[Assistant] That's true, yeaah. You know, I don't think Cam, you know, I don't know if Cam's quite as explosive fast as Taysom Hill is. You know, Cam is probably every bit as fast if it's a hundred yard race. Taysom Hill though, like, has a running back explosiveness to him to where those first two or three steps, you're like, whoa, can he accelerate? That's pretty special that way. And to your point, I think this is another thing that I've noticed really


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[Assistant] It's hard to play two deep safeties against Taysom Hill.


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[Assistant] You can't, you can't, it's really hard to. Cause...


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[Assistant] They can run the ball at any moment. And if you're, you know, with the quarterback running the ball, you already have a one player advantage in the run game schematic. Now you put a safety back, right? You got two players.


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[Assistant] He almost sees no two safety defenses, which leads itself to some passing concepts where you just go, some quarterbacks would be like, oh, if I could ever throw that play versus single safety, it would be amazing.


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[Assistant] They can't run like he can, so teams can play too deep or whatever else. So that is one thing he gives them a great schematical advantage with. And, you know, his aggressive throwing.


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[Assistant] His scrambling, the quarterback design runs and all that, in its own little way is very effective and really stressful on the defense and like I've always said, makes you defend the whole football field.


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[Assistant] And that's hard to defend. And I mean, again, you can see they're winning football games and little more wrinkles every week with Sean Payton and what he wants to do with taste of him.


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[Assistant] Gosh, that's a tough one. It really is. I do think they can win either way.


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[Assistant] I like the Taysom Hill style of football play better, personally, like to my own person, right? I do. And I think...


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[Assistant] In a lot of ways, it's more stressful on a defense like I've told you. I do.


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[Assistant] But, I guess the inexperience factor still scare me. Just a little too much. And that I just don't, and just like we saw with, you know, points being left on the board, and yea, they missed field goals, but his turnover and things like that, that just scares me a little still.


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[Assistant] I mean, I think they can win with Taysom Hill. I mean, they're 8-0 the last two years without Drew Brees. Uhm, but, you know, again, it's a team sport. It's more than just one guy and everything about that. But I think I would still go with Drew. You know, if Taysom Hill got to finish out the year, and then it continued to go on this arc,


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[Assistant] And you ask me this three weeks from now, four weeks from now, I might change my answer. But as we sit here right now, I just don't know if I have enough evidence to quite say that quite yet.


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[Assistant] I think they're gonna, either way, they're gonna be more emboldened and encouraged by what they're seeing in Taysom Hill to go, he is our guy next after Drew Brees leaves and he's gonna be the starting quarterback for the Saints going forward.


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[Assistant] No, I mean, it's not as varied as a lot of big time receivers. And I mean, listen, we're, we're going to show Robert Wood's chart. All right. On the right here. Listen, I don't think that's impressive. They need to do more too. Just so everybody knows that is not enough. It is not.


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[Assistant] On the left is ridiculousness. With arguably the best receiver in football, he ran three routes. That's just not gonna get it done. It speaks to the bigger picture of what I've been saying for the last month about the Cardinals anybody's been listening here to the pod.


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[Assistant] The offense needs to do more. It's too predictable. It is. Defenses have caught onto it. They've caught onto the route combinations and how they want to play. And then the other thing is, that you see there,


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[Assistant] It's one of the all-time, over-the-middle, fearless receivers. They don't throw the ball in the middle of the field.


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[Assistant] He made a living in Deshaun Watson. Down the middle for 15. Boom! Oh, got hit by his safety, spun off and ran for 5 or 10 more yards. You know, down the middle in tight coverage. You know, Deshaun Watson throws a back shoulder and he sticks up his Spider-Man hands and rips it out of the air.


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[Assistant] He didn't even run to that area of the field in the game. I mean, the idea is that Kyler's too short to throw it over the middle. I don't think the offense lends itself to that a lot, and I think that's the other aspect of it too. I think it is. I don't think there's any doubt about that. There is a number of plays, I think I see every game where I go,


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[Assistant] Guy's kinda open in the middle but Kyler doesn't wanna throw it or maybe he just doesn't see it clearly. I see that with Russell Wilson too. Not as much now as I did early in his career.


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[Assistant] Third down and four quick slant over the middle. Teams have realized, wait, if we stop that over the middle aspect of their team, nothing else is really going down the middle. Plus you can stick your hands up and do all that.


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[Assistant] Defensive linemen stick their hands up. Definitely. And the way he's throwing the ball right now, which again, I will still stand by, like I want to know, I know his shoulders beat up, I still don't, I, I, his motion has changed this year.


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[Assistant] It is really some whirly bird motion. There's no snap to it at all anymore, like I used to see. And that whirly bird motion, because it's so like apparent and obvious, it helps defenders go, oh, he's getting ready to throw it. Let me put my hands up and do that. So it's not just all him.


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[Assistant] He is definitely not throwing the ball nearly as well as he was in the first half of the season. But I think the other big aspect is teams have caught up. They've caught up to


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[Assistant] The offense, and there's been a few teams who have put the right formula now too to where, okay, we feel good about defending the offense.


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[Assistant] You know, don't overpass rush him. Don't overpass him. Don't fly by him, right? And create these huge gaps. So defense ends are basically just getting up to his level. And they're like, if you were Kyler Murray, they're just sitting there, okay, I've gotten here, but I'm not going to overcommit and go for it. I'm just going to kind of wait.


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[Assistant] Because we got a blitz coming up the middle or something here to where


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[Assistant] Probably won't be anybody open because the offense is predictable. And now we're just waiting for you to break. And what the Rams did in this game, they did a lot of five man rushes. You know I'm not a fan of five man rushes.


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[Assistant] When you know the past offense and it's a little predictable.


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[Assistant] You can play that game a little bit more. Plus they went, we're going to cut off all lanes for Kyler Murray. And what they did more times than not, when Kyler Murray was in the shotgun, they really made an effort to, the pass rushers on this side really got wide and over here. They were ready, they were not going to let him scramble right, is my point. They did a lot of different things all game to not let him scramble right.


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[Assistant] We're gonna make him scramble left when he does scramble left. And within in doing that, they always had a linebacker on that side of the ball to go, now we have an athlete who can tackle him in space to where he's not gonna make some


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[Assistant] Hey, he's following around DeAndre Hopkins and he's playing him man to man and doing all those things, right?


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[Assistant] And you just think, oh man, he's mirroring Dondre Hopkins. But then...


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[Assistant] Subtle curve ball there. Right. To, again, trick the offense, Kyla Murray, Cliff Kingsbury and everybody involved. So what happened with Cliff?


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[Assistant] There's been dabbles in little things where I go, oh wait, I think he's about to diversify and be a little bit more of like, hey, we're going to add this to our attack and make it a mainstay. But that's all it ever is, is dabbles. It's, you know, it's, oh, he's under the center for one or two plays.


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[Assistant] And then it's gone for the rest of the game. Or, oh, it's three tight ends in the game for one or two plays, and then it's back to four wide receivers, shotgun to the left.


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[Assistant] You know, I just think the route combinations are a little too predictable to line up in the same formation so much predictable and that, you know, there's not a lot for the defense to think about. And that's where I, when you talk about diversity, I know I talked about this with you before.


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[Assistant] Diversity is not, oh we changed it up for one or two plays. Diversity is being able to go, on this drive of 10 play drive we're about to do, we're gonna play a different way. We're gonna have different personnel set, and add a few different scheme thoughts here for you to think about. Not just,


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[Assistant] So man, do they have some schedule coming up and there's nothing there. I mean, they gotta play the Rams one more time.


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[Assistant] They gotta play the 49ers one more time. They gotta play the Giants. The Giants are gonna, uh, tough matchup for Arizona. So.


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[Assistant] You know, the way they've played as of late, I sit here right now and I don't think Arizona's going to the playoffs. I don't see that happening. Uhm, but we'll see. If they can play better football and maybe find that mojo they had early in the year, maybe they can turn this around.


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[Assistant] Well, nobody from the NFC East can ever get eliminated, so who knows that. But, uh, yeaah, you're right. We're, we're, we're, we're gonna be getting down there to at least where some of these 4 and 8 teams might be getting out of here soon.


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[Assistant] And the way, hey, just while we're on that too, I look at the playoffs right now and just look at like the NFC. I'm starting to think 9 and 7 is going to get in. I really am. Because if you look at Minnesota and Arizona's schedules down the stretch, they can lose 3 out of 4.


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[Assistant] To me, where that's important is for two reasons.


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[Assistant] And, and then the other thing is, you know, I do think New Orleans and Drew Brees will be more dangerous if he gets to stay at home in his dome and not have to play in those weather elements we're talking about. So that's where I look at that being an interesting race.


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[Assistant] I don't know if I think it really matters other than you just get, you don't have to play one extra game, right? But I, I don't look at like Pittsburgh or Kansas City or Buffalo and go, yeah, like, oh man, or if they have to go on the road and play in this weather or these elements, it's going to be a different game. So, but the NFC, I do think it has a little merit there.


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[Assistant] Alright, that's it. Ahmed Fareed, you the man, Ahmed. Seriously, good show.


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[Assistant] Chris Simms on button, the what the f*** happened edition brought to you by Verizon. I hope you enjoyed that. Tomorrow it's the PFTPM Chris Simms on button picks podcast. Here we go. We had a decent week last week, uh, but tune in me and Florio have a lot of fun and we pick a lot of winners.


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[Assistant] Hi, I'm Mike Tirico and thanks for watching. Make sure to hit subscribe for the latest news and highlights from NBC Sports.


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[Assistant] Oh yeaah baby, what's up? It's Monday. You know it. Week eight is in the books. Not all the way yet. We got Buccaneers Giants coming up later tonight. We'll hit on that in a second. But it's Chris Sims, Paulie Burmeister.


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[Assistant] Paul E. Burmeister was calling a college game this weekend, and he's been sanctioned away from NBC Sports until he gets a negative COVID-19 test, which he'll have to take tomorrow. So, uh, he has to do it from home. That's why we're not together, but good to see you, Paul. You doing all right, man?


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[Assistant] You know, first time releasing that to the public, you know, so I gotta work on it a little bit more, but it's just too obvious.


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[Assistant] Okay, you do. Okay, I didn't know. I didn't know maybe if you got home and you're like, alright, take the pants off, let's do this thing in tighty-whities and then go to football. Let's do it. Alright, let's go. Where you wanna start this thing?


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[Assistant] Well, it's certainly not the best throwing condition, but if you're asking me if I'd rather be on a football field in 30 mile per hour wins, or doing this, or in a studio with Florio, I'm sorry, I like all of you guys so much, but I'd rather be on the field throwing in 30 mile per hour wins. I'm sorry, yes.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, I mean, I'd like to think I could, yes, but you're right. I mean, there was a lot of challenging elements yesterday, and there is something to throwing into the win. I mean, we saw a lot of teams take that run-first approach.


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[Assistant] I think the, the quarterbacks you saw who can throw, have strong arms and then can throw tight spirals.


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[Assistant] I could spin it and throw it, I'm not saying like Mahomes or Rogers, but I could cut it through the wind, okay?


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[Assistant] Well, the Ravens offense lost the game yesterday. That would be my first thought. And again, they did a lot of good things. There's a lot to be positive about, definitely. I mean, really.


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[Assistant] The Ravens controlled the tempo of the game for the most part of the day.


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[Assistant] And really weren't stopped a whole lot on the offensive side of the ball.


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[Assistant] You know, so, you know, that was Pittsburgh's first real crack at, whoa, Lamar, Baltimore, Ravens offense hitting on all cylinders. I know they got to play them last year in week four, but that was still Baltimore trying to get in their flow of their offense.


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[Assistant] So hey, he made some plays and Pittsburgh certainly had to adjust to life in playing this Baltimore Ravens offense.


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[Assistant] This was Lamar Jackson's first real test against this front seven, healthy, flying around, Minkin Fitzpatrick at safety, all of those issues. And it's one of the few defenses in football, Paulie, that I would say, no, even for a guy like Lamar Jackson,


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[Assistant] You gotta reel it in and be a little bit more careful against this group than other groups. There's just too many big freakish athletes in the front seven who can make plays, cause disruption, do that. And if you just break it down like this, pick six to start the game. It's cover three. I mean, there's nothing special about it.


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[Assistant] Spillane does a great job of kind of just reading Lamar Jackson's eyes. Lamar is looking to his left and just flips to the right, Paul, and kind of just throws it blind, like looking left.


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[Assistant] Flips to the right, just assuming he's going to be open, and Spillane does a good job in jumping it.


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[Assistant] It's a third, or second in nine. Lamar Jackson, they're on the nine yard line. Nobody's open.


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[Assistant] He sits in the pocket too long. This is Pittsburgh. This is the Steelers. They're coming. You can't sit there and pat the ball four times and then try to figure out what you're going to do at the last second and try to throw the ball. Bud Dupree, strip sack fumble. So that's, you know, Raven's fault.


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[Assistant] Then you talk about the first, the first play of the second half, which was basic Spider 3 wide banana to the weak side there, Paul.


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[Assistant] Explain that one a little bit. So yeaah, this is, it's spite, it's a weak side play action pass. He's gonna have 42 record in the flat as his fullback. And then he's got his guy Mark Andrews running the corner route. Andrews does not get enough depth on his route.


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[Assistant] But because Andrews is not depth and not deep, he can almost cover both of them by himself.


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[Assistant] And of course the kid makes the interception, sets up the short field for the Steelers, and kind of jump started their offense and got them going from that point. But I don't, I didn't mean to ramble for so long, but to me the big part of the day was the turnovers, definitely. And Lamar Jackson


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[Assistant] Kind of serving the game up a little bit on a silver platter for Pittsburgh to take it and take advantage of.


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[Assistant] He made a lot of really good intermediate 8 and 10 yard throws.


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[Assistant] And then of course when they needed him at his best, you know, at the end of the game to make some clutch throws to go down and take a lead when they're down 21-17, he did that too. So I have no problem with


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[Assistant] The overall physical throwing from Lamar Jackson or anything like that. I think he had control of the ball. It's just, hey, the first interception, he just


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[Assistant] Didn't see the defender. The second interception, he sees the defender.


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[Assistant] But it's just, it's too, the degree of difficulty is too tough. I mean, he really has to get it up and get it down and throw it in the perfect spot. And that to me was just a misjudge of the circumstances. Hey, it's the first play of the first half. You're up 17-7. You're dominating, your defense is dominating.


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[Assistant] And you let them off the hook and kind of got them going right there. And that to me is, you know, the big story of the day.


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[Assistant] Yeah, no, I agree, Paul. That to me, you know, that was the difference between Big Ben, Big Ben, Big Ben, Big Ben. He was like, whoa, this ain't my first rodeo. I've played in Raven's Steelers games before.


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[Assistant] I'm going to let the game come to me. I'm not going to force anything or get us out of the game before it even starts. Let me kind of like feel it out. How's this going? When do I need to step on the pedal? When do I need to step on the brake? And that was the difference because Lamar in Baltimore now, of course,


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[Assistant] They're used to stepping on the pedal and nobody ever stopping them. So they're used to steamrolling teams. And they certainly had their moments yesterday.


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[Assistant] Hey, that's Steelers defense. They got run on. There's no doubt about it. I mean, early on in the game it was on the edge and then they kind of overcompensated and tried to stop edge runs and then it went right up the middle and the Ravens had their way really with either, either aspect of the run game there, which led to a big day.


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[Assistant] So, uh, there's still a lot of positives from Baltimore and the offensive side of the ball. I think still the big question remains on this though, Paul.


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[Assistant] With the Baltimore Ravens offense, as talented as he is, as Lamar Jackson is, as powerful as they are in the run game.


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[Assistant] And we'll see where that goes. And that's not all on Lamar Jackson either. It's not the greatest pass offense in the history of football as far as the way it's orchestrated scheme and things like that as well. So, I'm, I'm, I'm not blaming it all on Lamar. But that I think is still a real question going forward. And, uhm,


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[Assistant] I, I, I would say, you know, not being, to your point, not just being able to consistently bully those defenses, right, to where, oh, we can just take it for granted every drive, we're just gonna smash it up the middle, on the edge, and make these huge plays. Listen, they, they had their way.


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[Assistant] With the run game, certainly. But I think the other thing too that I would take into aspect with those is, you know,


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[Assistant] Pass rush people around Lamar Jackson and making him throw the ball into tighter windows. Those would be three things I would look at to go, they all had a common


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[Assistant] Kansas City's been more of, no, we're gonna man you up a little bit.


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[Assistant] And there's no gonna be no free zones or play action pass wide open people over the middle. And then same thing a little bit of yesterday. Chris Jones, Frank Clark are capable of creating chaos and being around Lamar.


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[Assistant] So now when he wants to buy time or extend a play, he can't quite create the magic he normally can. And I think that's more along the like what Pittsburgh did yesterday.


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[Assistant] You know, they can get those pass rushes around him to where he's not gonna just make magic happen every time he drops back to pass. Or buy enough time to go, alright, everybody was covered, but now I've escaped the pocket, and hey, receivers, you got four more seconds to get open, or more open now.


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[Assistant] And no, he couldn't do that because Dupree, Watt, everybody was running him down and he didn't have that luxury. So that was a big thing. And here's the last thing I'll say about this, Paulie. Here's, you know,


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[Assistant] The Chiefs called their bluff, right? I think we did the Monday, the podcast right after that game a few weeks ago. Spags called their bluff and basically was like, you're not running on me, screw you, look at these great pass looks, let's see if you can beat me that way. And they didn't.


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[Assistant] And when it got big time clutch time yesterday, Paul, and it was the last drive of the game,


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[Assistant] 3-5, the last two drives of the game, you know, and I'm specifically talking about the drive that ended up with the quarterback draw up the middle that he ends up fumbling on the fourth down. Not the throw into the end zone drive, excuse me, just to say that. But they played a 3-5.


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[Assistant] Three down linemen, five linebackers, and it didn't matter what personnel set the Ravens were in.


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[Assistant] Even when it was three wide receivers and one tight end, Pittsburgh played three defensive linemen and five linebackers and only three defense.


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[Assistant] The Baltimore didn't even trust Lamar to throw the ball all the way with some of these looks. So to me, it was one of the last things I wrote on my notes. I just wrote


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[Assistant] Kinda says it all right there. I don't know if his own team trusts him totally in those situations just to let it go. And obviously, we've seen some of the top cream of the crop type defenses who don't believe it. Or they gotta see it to believe it first. And they are gonna err on stopping the run in those big moments.


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[Assistant] I think so, yes. And I'm not, I'm not sure the Ravens, just the way they called that last drive, I'm not so sure they believe they can either. I mean, really. Most often...


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[Assistant] They still wouldn't run. I mean, here we go. Let me just read out the plays on that last drive. We're talking about the one where they get on the fourth and three quarterback draw. That drive. But it's 3-5 defense the whole drive.


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[Assistant] Baltimore still said no, we're gonna run it. Now listen, they could be also saying this is what we do and we're gonna do it no matter what.


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[Assistant] I think that's very fair. You know, I gotta see it to believe it. And I hope they err on continuing to throw.


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[Assistant] That's what they have to do. You know, in some of these games that they got coming up where they know, hey, we're the better football team. We're going to beat them, blah, blah, blah. You know, maybe you sacrifice from not winning 35 to 10 and the game has to be 28 to 17.


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[Assistant] But you get more reps and more throwing the football and expand your offense that way to grow it. Just like we've talked with the Kansas City Chiefs. Not going to be able to throw bombs every game against every defense.


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[Assistant] When you can't do that, what's your offense gonna be? We've seen them get better at the run game and get better at the short passing game. Well, it's like vice versa with Baltimore. You're not gonna be able to just smash mouth every good defense in the AFC or the NFL.


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[Assistant] At some point, somebody's gonna have them personnel to stop that. Can you beat the past game? Can you grow it and be, you know, schematically creative enough to stress people and that'll be something to watch for.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I don't think they do. You know, listen, there's certain formations when they get in there and they get into big heavy personnel sets where yes, obviously they're going to try to run the ball. It's two tight ends and you know, the fullback Ricard who's basically a defensive tackle playing fullback.


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[Assistant] Yes, that's going to limit their passing options there, but they don't care on those, on those certain, like, personnel sets. They want to run the ball and just impose their physical will on you when they do that.


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[Assistant] Yes, right. Well, they're in that conversation. They are. Uh, you know, there's some work on the offense. Can I say they can just definitely run it down somebody's throat if they have to? No, they cannot. And as you saw yesterday,


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[Assistant] What the Ravens did a really good job of is they took away what I call the Steelers BS. And it's not BS, but it's part of their offense and how they really move the ball and screw over most defenses. But the screens, the short passes,


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[Assistant] All of those type of things that they use as like a de facto run game, because that's really what they do. They can't run the ball consistently good, so they're good at wide receiver screens and short passes to kind of make up for that. Baltimore, that wasn't happening against them. It's the reason I picked the Ravens to win the game.


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[Assistant] Because they're gonna play up in your face, aggressive. They're not gonna give you those short throws or those wide receiver screens.


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[Assistant] And so that's still a work in progress for the Pittsburgh offense altogether. I think they're one of the more complete teams in football.


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[Assistant] I'm not sure, I'm ready to say they're the most complete team quite yet to our buddy there's question.


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[Assistant] Well, really, I mean, Baltimore was capable. Yannick and Gokwe was a good trade. Let's just start off right there, okay? Yannick and Gokwe popped just about as much as anybody on the field yesterday on the defensive side of the ball. Ravens and Steelers, I mean that. He makes a difference for this team.


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[Assistant] You know, the, the Steelers and how the Ravens, the Ravens can match up and play man to man that way. And they gave them a tough time. The Steelers really had a hard time separating from the Ravens' DVs. And then when you talk about the front four of, you know, Baltimore,


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[Assistant] It's, it's hard to run on that group. Whether it's a nickel defense or whether they're in their base defense, like, forget about it. I mean, they just, they got so much versatility. They can get big, and now with Jannik and Gakwe, they have a true speed rusher.


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[Assistant] But, you know, more than, more than not, Paul, there's nothing specific I could sit here and tell you like, oh, the Ravens were doing this. They played it pretty vanilla. It was man to man. It was two man. It was a little cover three here and there.


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[Assistant] More than, more than not, it was man to man in your face, and they had a lot of success with it, and the Steelers weren't capable of really separating much throughout the day.


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[Assistant] Well I think they can, they can. Now listen, I don't think there's only a few defenses in football that are going to really give them problems like the Ravens can. And the one thing with Big Ben...


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[Assistant] You know, the one thing you gotta give him credit for, again, yesterday, most times in games like that.


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[Assistant] The opposing quarterback against the Ravens starts to panic and they throw stupid throws and they start to force the issue and all of a sudden it's a 17-7 game and you look up and you go, we're losing 31-7.


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[Assistant] You know, because that quarterback just couldn't help it. I gotta do something. I gotta make a play. Big Ben's patience was very important in the game. One of the other things that will go unnoticed about the football game that was really a big part of it was


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[Assistant] Also, the Ravens had 110 yards of penalties, and most of those were on the defense. So it's almost an extra hundred yards that the offense got, they guess isn't going to go on their personal stat sheet.


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[Assistant] But in the second half, the one thing they just figured out a little bit


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[Assistant] The best way to make big pass plays is play action pass. And when you have that threat of the run game, they're in the shotgun almost the whole game. It's a spread offense. James Connor's a spread runner that way.


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[Assistant] Again, let's just not forget, this might be the best corner duo in football they had to play yesterday. And it's a very damn good defense. That's very well coached.


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[Assistant] And, uh, this is where I give Pittsburgh credit. When they're, they're two drives, they're two legit touchdown drives, right? Not the ones that, you know, the one off the short field turnover and all that.


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[Assistant] They just started playing one on one ball. That's really what they did. They just said, wait, it's one on one out here. Big Ben can throw strikes. This guy will get open just enough. Five yards. Oh, seven yards.


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[Assistant] 8 yards. And they just started to break it. They started to say, let's stop worrying about scheme and all this. They're playing man on the outside. Let's just go one on one. Big Ben, you throw it in there. And that really


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[Assistant] Was about all there was to the game plan and what got them going on a few drives. And then of course they caught him in zone a few times where he hit a few other short passes.


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[Assistant] And that was that. I can't sit here and tell you there was anything special Pittsburgh did to expose Baltimore or anything like that. It was just a good all around team win. Big Ben played smart. The offense made plays when they needed to.


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[Assistant] He, he was really accurate with the football and then made some, some of his biggest, best throws when they really needed it, you know, at the end of the game.


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[Assistant] And now with Yannick and Gokwe too, they don't have to worry about blitzing as much.


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[Assistant] And I think it's just really gonna make their defense even that much more dangerous. And maybe better for when they finally have to play the Patrick Mahomes and deal with that once again.


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[Assistant] Was it, they threw the, the one, uh, the one play I wanted to talk about too, is


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[Assistant] You know, he threw the little short, shallow cross to Eric Ebron, right? That, that, the second touchdown to make it 17-14. Hey, the young guy, Patrick Queen, he messed up there.


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[Assistant] He, he covered the wrong guy, just he had a blown assignment there that left him wide open for the touchdown. But other than that, I mean, their defense played really well and they put them in tough spots and put the pressure on them and the defense played well enough to win the game. It's just the offense put them in a tough spot.


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[Assistant] And, uh, Pittsburgh took advantage of that and ended up winning the game.


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[Assistant] You know, we won a lot of areas of this football game, and I think it's gonna do a lot of good for Lamar Jackson.


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[Assistant] I would go Steelers, especially now with the two game lead. I do, I think it's going to be tough for Baltimore to overcome it. But I think Baltimore...


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[Assistant] I don't think there's any doubt about that in my mind. Yes, I do.


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[Assistant] Yep, I'm gonna put Kansas City 1, Pittsburgh 2, Baltimore 3. That's how I would see it there. Yeah, that would be my top three.


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[Assistant] It's still a little sloppy on their side of the ball.


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[Assistant] You know, it's going to be an ugly close game. And I think they got the game kind of exactly how they wanted to. Here we go. We got the ball. Last drive of the football game. It's Cam Newton time.


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[Assistant] Yeah, he makes a few throws on the drive, but the drive was really about hint, you know, the run game.


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[Assistant] And his ability to run, and of course the big fumble at the very end. Which was a play that one, they had already scored a touchdown with on Cam Newton's previous touchdown. And then two, on that same drive, he ripped off, I'm gonna say a 12 or 13 yard run. On basically the same run play, there was one little difference.


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[Assistant] But either way, yes, they got into a spot there where they're sitting pretty.


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[Assistant] I mean, you're going, uh-oh. I mean, here they go. He's gonna have a chance to score a touchdown to win the game. He's in the shotgun. He's got Rex Burkhead to his left. He's got two receivers to his left, Paulie.


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[Assistant] The outside receiver comes in. They're gonna run basically the old toss-crack play, right? Where you toss it to the tailback, and then two guys on the outside block down, and you got some pulling linemen now that are gonna go up and around that, and lead the running back through the hole. Except he's not tossing it. He's just taking the ball himself. And now he's got Rex Burkhead leading the way for him.


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[Assistant] He does a great job of waiting for his blockers, finding the hole, sees it there, and then makes the appropriate cut up to the hole, and he's gonna have an 8-10 yard gain, whatever it may be. But I'm blanking out on big old 61's name on the Buffalo Bills. He hustles from the other side.


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[Assistant] Yeah, well he hustles and he makes a great play coming in full speed throwing his big right arm up there and you know ultimately stripping Cam Newton to the football.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and then my guy 61 was Justin Zimmer. Sorry about that Mr. Zimmer to blank out on your name there. But uhm, I still think with this particular game and everything like that, I would, I still look at it and go, they might still have a say in this. I know they're two and five and it's looking dark. It's not looking good.


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[Assistant] You know, when their run game goes, and even without Stefan Gilmore, their defense can be...


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[Assistant] Real good at stopping the pass. You know, that's one thing there. They are legit.


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[Assistant] You know, there's gonna be a few games that are gonna be mismatches. They gotta play the Ravens in a few weeks. How can the Patriots stop the Ravens run game? I don't even know how that's possible. There's no chance. So, you know, they're gonna lose that game, I expect.


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[Assistant] And then they're gonna have to win just about every other game other than that here going on, going forward. And I don't know if that's capable, but they are gonna still be a pain in the butt going forward.


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[Assistant] Yeah, that's why I give McDermott a lot of credit. You know, not banging his head against the wall going, wait, no, we're a passing team and, you know, screw the elements and screw whoever planned. We're just still going to throw it because that's what we are. No, thank you. I mean...


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[Assistant] You don't always have to put the whole game on Josh Allen's shoulders. Other guys are allowed to help.


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[Assistant] And you're crazy when you play the New England Patriots if you don't try to run the ball on them. You know, we've talked about it for the last three weeks. They don't have big people. They're not gonna be able to stop the run against anybody.


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[Assistant] So you have to continue to stay patient with it. And then it was a real windy, crazy day. And when you get too crazy into the drop back pass game play after play against New England,


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[Assistant] You know, Bill's gonna do some creative things where it's gonna cause a mistake or a turnover that'll sway the game.


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[Assistant] You know, they've played four defensive coordinators who are pretty damn good ones.


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[Assistant] That have been able to slow their passing attack. It's made them force a run game. The Chiefs, the Jets, this pass game have forced them to run the ball a little bit more. And I think ultimately that will help them in the long run. But let me just say this, to me the biggest part of this football game, it's 14-14. New England has tied the game.


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[Assistant] They have momentum for the first time in three weeks. They have something positive as an organization.


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[Assistant] And I, I don't understand this, and I'm sure he's got a better reason, but Belichick kicking the onside kick at 14-14 still is like dumbfounding to me. I don't, I don't get it. I don't, your defense was playing well, you got the momentum, you kick an onside kick,


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[Assistant] And the momentum kind of gets squashed right there and it goes right back to Buffalo once they recover.


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[Assistant] There hadn't been much movement on the offense. You know, that was wet. That was a basically a start of the fourth quarter or a late third quarter onside kick.


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[Assistant] You can't run the NFL for 20 years straight. I don't know what everybody expects. At some point they've kind of, you know, where they fooled people.


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[Assistant] And no, I don't think this speaks to anything of like, oh, now this proves that Brady's, how good would Tampa Bay be if Bill Belichick was coaching them?


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[Assistant] I mean, they're not even, New England's not even in the same stratosphere as Tampa Bay as far as talent's concerned. It's not even, if you took the 22 starters on both teams.


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[Assistant] I bet you you'd have 18 or 19 Buccaneers players on the team and just two or three guys from the Patriots, maybe in the secondary and one or two offense alignment, the rest of the team is going to be all Bucs. So I don't think it shows anything. Brady's doing awesome. New England's got a tough year ahead of them here.


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[Assistant] COVID-19 threw them off schedule and listen, they're going to be set up very nicely for next year and the salary cap and those issues too.


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[Assistant] To where, you know, let's not judge it all by just the first eight weeks apart and see where this goes for years and years to come.


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[Assistant] Oh, it definitely is. Well, it's just, it's the arrow we're in, again, where it's always just quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, you know, and so be it. Either way, Belichick and Brady were awesome together. I will, you'll always hear me say,


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[Assistant] Belichick was more important. I mean, that'll never sway in any shape, way or form. I mean,


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[Assistant] What's the deciding part of that? Well, let's just, alright, so the first, I mean the first, you know, early in his career it was defense and run the ball. I mean Tom Brady won his first Super Bowl, he threw for 145 yards. You know, he won the MVP, he threw for 145 yards. Right. And 55 of them were on the last drive of the game.


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[Assistant] Alright. Yes, he got better as time went, but think about all the great things. You know, first off, there's more talent there on those teams than people ever want to talk about. That's all I ever hear. Brady didn't have anybody.


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[Assistant] Troy Brown, Dion Branch, Daniel Graham, Ben Watson, Rob Gronkowski, greatest tight ender, Randy Moss, the slot receiver wasn't even invented. You know who invented it? The Patriots, Wes Welker, oh the two tight end set, Aaron Hernandez and Gronk, we're gonna run it, we're gonna split them out.


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[Assistant] All those things are all schematical advantages that New England was always ahead of the times with.


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[Assistant] You know, even going from the first Super Bowl and then winning the second and third one, they were running and playing defense. The rules changed for the pass game. Belichick said, the hell with this. We'll start spreading it out. Let's throw it every play. You're not going to be able to play defense anymore with the way these rules are. We'd be stupid not to throw it. They did that. So Brady, awesome. I don't want to take anything away from Belichick.


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[Assistant] Is on another level compared to just any other coach I've ever seen.


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[Assistant] Well, I'm seeing the ball spread everywhere with Aaron Rodgers, cause...


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[Assistant] He's gotta throw it everywhere. With Kirk Cousins, there's 11 for 14, and nothing is past 10 yards, and nothing is really much farther outside than the inside edge of the numbers on the football field.


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[Assistant] So, the game was just served up on a silver platter for him. And of course it was. Cause when you can run the ball like you could with Dalvin Cook and the Minnesota Vikings, you don't need to do a whole lot else in the pass game. I mean, that was...


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[Assistant] First of all, a fun game to watch, but I think second of all,


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[Assistant] I mean, a butt whooping by the Minnesota Vikings and their offensive line and what they did to the Packers front seven. The Packers front seven's not good. You've heard me saying this since last year. I've been trying to tell everybody. Yes, they got some pass rushers, but when it gets to the interior part of their D line,


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[Assistant] Or they're linebackers? They got nothing. Kenny Clark's good. I think he's a little overrated. I don't think he's as good as everybody else thinks he is.


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[Assistant] They got two rookie middle linebackers, and then the other interior linemen they have in Lowry and Lancaster, you know, they're just big, they're just bodies. There's never a play made by anybody in the interior part of that defense, and the Vikings just beat them into submission yesterday with the run game.


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[Assistant] Yeah, well, I, you know, again, it's not all Mike Patton. Some of the players are the issue too. And they're built to play in front.


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[Assistant] And then that allows them to play some of the creative Mike Petten coverages and they have the Smiths and Zidarius and Preston Smith who can get after the pass rusher. That's really their beauty. But as we see, whenever a game stays equal with Green Bay,


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[Assistant] They, their defense falls apart because they can't both stop the run and the pass at the same time. They can't. And then when you let a team be balanced and still able to run it on them, they really can't and they have big issues.


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[Assistant] No, they're not. Again, this is not a Super Bowl team. This is a playoff team with a Super Bowl quarterback where we're all going, can they win the Super Bowl? Are they the best team in the division? No, they're not. They're not. Twelve is fooling us. Twelve wants us to make us believe that they're this shiny Green Bay Packer gem that's a Super Bowl team. But, you know, again, as you see yesterday, it's just


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[Assistant] They can't depend on their defense against really good offenses, and especially ones that can overpower them up front. They had issues last year. Paul, they went down and scored a touchdown. Vikings scored a touchdown.


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[Assistant] Packers scored a touchdown. Vikings scored a touchdown. Now, Vikings get the ball to second, start the second half. They go down and score a touchdown. It's 21 to 14.


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[Assistant] And then, the Packers have to go for it on 4th and 10. They're kind of in no man's land on the 38 yard line. And, you know, their kicker, Mason Crosby, I guess had a little injury, so they were a little worried about that. It's a windy day.


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[Assistant] It's fourth and ten and they already know, like, we have to go for it because our defenses, we're never gonna stop them. They're gonna run for seven, run for seven, throw for five, run for seven, every play of the whole game.


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[Assistant] And they don't make that 4th and 10th. What happens? They run for a few yards and then he throws a screen for 50 yards against Green Bay, who's trying to disguise and then drop into Tampa too.


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[Assistant] Uhm, so major concerns with that Green Bay football team. Again, still so much of the game and so much of their success is all predicated on what Rodgers does early and can he kind of put, you know, you know, your neck underneath their boot.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it's a fair question. You know, listen, it wasn't like they had issues finding open receivers.


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[Assistant] They were basically daring Aaron Rodgers like, look, it's Devonte Adams. There's a, there's just a, an average DB on him and bump man to man. Do you want to throw to him? And he was like, I have to, even though I love the play over here.


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[Assistant] I have to. You know, Minnesota, they don't play that in your face, bump and run style of play as much. So maybe when there was this three deep zones, cause they have attacked on the outside and do that. But really Rogers and company


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[Assistant] You know, moving the ball or finding open receivers was not an issue yesterday. It was not.


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[Assistant] You know, we talked about that fourth and ten, right? That stalled that drive. The next drive, they move the ball down the field, and you're thinking, okay, here they go again, they're gonna score.


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[Assistant] And they have a few penalties to where they ended up being like second and 30. So there goes that drive. You know, they get the ball back again in the fourth quarter. They drive the ball down the field.


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[Assistant] And it's blatant pass interference on the Minnesota Vikings. And they picked the flag up. I still don't know how that is. And I saw Aaron Rodgers today, he made some comment like he thinks New York, you know, got in the referee's ears. Well, it looked like it on TV. It did. You know, I don't know how, how can you throw pass interference


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[Assistant] The guy hit the receiver and then the ball hit the defender in the back of the head. So he hit the receiver, then the ball hit him.


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[Assistant] And that's not pass interference? That makes no sense at all. Right? So, you know, I think again, what I'm just trying to say to answer the question is they had people open and they didn't play the same defense that Texans did to just feature Devontae Adams like they did two weeks ago in that game.


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[Assistant] Took some shots down the field. Penalties by the New Orleans defense.


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[Assistant] And Foles just being tough, you know? I think that's the biggest thing. You know, at least Chicago at moments during the game the other day did take some shots down the field.


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[Assistant] The last few drives to tie it up, you know, or of course get to get within three and then tie it up from there. But nothing special that way. New Orleans just always seems to find a way to get a penalty.


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[Assistant] You know, oh, it's man-to-man, somebody gets beat. You know, Marshawn Latimore been very unimpressive this year. He's not even the best corner on their team. That's, that's, that's, that goes to Janoris Jenkins. He's by far their best pure cover man-to-man corner right now.


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[Assistant] You know, all in all, I think that's all I can really say about it there, Paulie. It was nothing special to look at that way. You know, the big thing with the Saints more than anything is they can't create big plays on offense and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They give up a few big plays every game. And they gave up big plays to Chicago, who's not even capable of making big plays against anybody in the sport. But the, like, this kind of says it all. You know, the Saints have a top ten.


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[Assistant] I think it's all Jekyll. There is no Hyde. Which one's the good one, which one's the bad one? Jekyll or Hyde? I don't know.


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[Assistant] There's nothing to it. I don't ever come away from a Chicago game and going, oh man, those were some unbelievable pass plays or a really cool way to dissect that defense and do what they did there. Not at all.


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[Assistant] You know, there's no rhyme or reasons to what they call. I never see a, you know, intended game plan where I go, oh, this is what they're trying to do this week. And then of course their offensive line.


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[Assistant] Is not physically dominant or good enough to just be able to run the ball on anybody that way, nor do they give their offense a line the schematical advantage either to creativity advantages for them. So their offense is going to be challenged throughout. I mean, that's just the way it'll be.


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[Assistant] I don't think it's going to change anytime soon. The one thing I'd like to see change is just as, man, Nick Foles, you got brought in there to take care of the football and he's had a lot of issues with that ever since he's taken over. He's good for a turnover or two every game.


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[Assistant] Well, it's not bad as far as tight end and receiver are concerned. I don't look at, like, Chicago and go, oh, they're under manned. Jimmy Graham, Colt Comet, Anthony Miller, you know, Mooney, and Robinson, Alan Robinson.


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[Assistant] That's a pretty damn good five I just mentioned. You know, running back? No, I'm not thrilled with. No, Montgomery's a good back. He's your number two. He shouldn't be your star bell cow guy. You know, he is not that type of running back.


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[Assistant] The Saints. Well, again, we tip the Saints on their defense and what they do there. But I mean, how can you not be somewhat concerned with the Saints and their offense too? You know, again, they're in a building. They just can't, it's just, it's just ugly. It's just, they can't create any big plays. You know, I don't know. I mean, can,


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[Assistant] No, you're right. I'm not, I'm not trying to hate on them. They're in that rare group of teams where I hold to a Super Bowl standard and that's what I'm measuring on them. You know, I know they're a playoff team.


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[Assistant] Yeah, like, I think that like you said, I mean, they had moments to, they could have put the Bears away and they never could do that. They let them hang around. And of course it became a coin flip game there at the end.