00:00Good morning, Greg. Great to see you last night. How are you doing?
00:03Great to see you as well. I was working last night, so I couldn't make dinner.
00:08How was the dinner after the event?
00:10It was great. I always enjoy the company of Bill Powers from CNT,
00:14who's obviously helping provide me being here today,
00:17but always good to support the Greg Hill Foundation as well.
00:19What a great event over there at Needham Bank.
00:22Did you end up having a steak or sushi? What was your go-to?
00:26You know what? Ocean Prime, I stuck with seafood.
00:29Shellfish tower, sushi, tuna. I mean, you can't pass that up over there.
00:34I happen to – I am favorable when it comes to a warm seafood tower.
00:39Yeah, I love this steak topic. I enjoyed that.
00:41All right. You had a chance to look at last week and that loss to the Bears.
00:47Anything stick out when it comes to why that happened?
00:51Well, I mean, obviously everyone wants to talk about the interception,
00:53and I've said all along I thought it was the right decision, just a poor throw,
00:57and that happens sometimes.
00:58You know, earlier in the season we were talking about Drake May and the turnovers,
01:02and I thought a lot of those were decision-related, not physically related.
01:06And so this one, he knows where he wants to go with the football.
01:08He holds the safety the whole time in the middle of the field,
01:11and he's going to throw it to Raritan in the back of the end zone,
01:14and he just doesn't get enough height on it because it has to be a laser.
01:17It has to be one of those throws that leaves his hand and stays at 10 feet the whole time
01:23all the way to the back of the end zone, and it's a little bit of a condensed field.
01:27He underthrows it, and obviously that's huge because you probably already have points,
01:30and they were moving the ball.
01:32Once they figured out, first and foremost, how to skip that Dennis Allen package,
01:36as we remember talking about last Wednesday, like, you know,
01:39you don't want to face the eight-up looks all night.
01:40So they kind of got away from that.
01:42I thought they were moving the ball really well.
01:44And then defensively, they just got to tackle better.
01:45And, Wiggy, you know this.
01:47Like, on those Thursday night games, it really comes down to who's a better fundamental team.
01:51And defensively, they just – there was too many missed tackles out there
01:54to try to get the Bears off the field.
01:56And I will say this.
01:58I've been really, really impressed with Caleb Williams for the last two weeks,
02:01the way he's played.
02:02He's playing within the pocket.
02:03He's not trying to make the big home run play.
02:06And that's what made him so dangerous because at one point in that fourth quarter,
02:11I'm like, okay, just get him, you know, just get him to move
02:13and not be able to throw the ball down the field.
02:16And there was the one play where Ellis has a clear shot at him
02:19and he kind of sidesteps him a little bit and creates – completes the pass to Adunze.
02:24And I thought that was a backbreaker because you had him kind of backed up.
02:27If you get him to punt right there, you're going to get the ball with good field position.
02:30And the defense just had a hard time containing him.
02:33And, look, we're going to have to watch these guys.
02:35I mean, hopefully these two play a lot of games going forward
02:38because it's the future of the NFL when it comes to top quarterbacks in the league.
02:42Well, what is your guess at why they are struggling when it comes to running the football?
02:49Well, first of all, it starts with backup guards on both sides
02:52and continuity of the offensive line.
02:54And I always kind of rely on my resident O-line expert, David Andrews,
02:58and just knowing this too, the offensive line continuity
03:02is probably one of the most important factors of any team.
03:04When you're having to constantly shuffle guys in there,
03:07they haven't worked together,
03:08the communication that goes on between that unit.
03:13It would be awesome just to have all five of them mic'd up for one game
03:16and let people listen to how much communication pre-snap, post-snap,
03:20while they're blocking guys.
03:21It's like, you, you, you, go, go, go.
03:23I mean, Wiggy, you were in there.
03:24You had to be a part of those type of combinations and blocking.
03:28And I think because it's been a revolving door on the offensive line,
03:31it seems like every week it's a different combination.
03:33It's just very, very hard to be on the same page
03:36and then go on a Thursday night game.
03:38You're plugging guys in who haven't played out there
03:40and you have to be able to see things as they move.
03:43It's one thing to go do it in a walkthrough when everything's moving slowly.
03:48And I think the moment they get continuity
03:51and you play the same starting five for multiple games,
03:53I think it will easily clean up.
03:55But it's just, look, you've got to deal with it.
03:56And so you have to, at this point, do next man up.
03:59I actually thought those guys did a decent job,
04:00especially, as we mentioned, going up against this Dennis Allen defense
04:03that gives you all these different looks.
04:05I actually thought they did a decent job once they got it figured out.
04:09You know, Brian, you know what's interesting?
04:10I always wondered this because I remember when I played,
04:13we used to have, like, players-only early meetings before,
04:16like, special teams with Brady.
04:18And it would be the quarterbacks, the running backs, tight end, wide receivers.
04:22And we'd go over different pass routes.
04:24And we'd do the same thing as, you know, an O-line group with the tight ends,
04:28whether it comes to protection.
04:29And when you start to see, like, some of these third-down packages
04:32that Chicago was running, and we even talked to Vrabel
04:36and guys not really understanding or scanning,
04:39I always wonder, how smart are the football players nowadays
04:43and how much are they putting in on their own?
04:45This is a theme for you.
04:46Yeah, it is.
04:47You think the players were smarter in your era?
04:51Yes.
04:51Listen, I wasn't the greatest athlete, but I was a smart football player.
04:55I could scan from the left side.
04:56If I was in a seven-man protection and I was in the backfield and I knew,
05:00okay, this was my defensive back that I had on blitz pickup and heated and come,
05:05I could scan all the way to the right and be an extra protector there.
05:09I just don't know how much these guys actually put in on their own.
05:13Well, I know they do because Josh wouldn't have it any other way.
05:17And Josh, obviously, on Thursdays was always blitz pickup day.
05:20And you would go, while special teams are going, with the line, the backs, the receivers,
05:24everybody would go off to the side of the field because you have to go over these looks.
05:27And to your point, Wiggy, there's scans and there's pops and all of those things.
05:31And I promise you that if you're playing for a Josh McDaniels offense,
05:35you're the smartest players on offense in the league because the other systems don't require it.
05:40I mean, that's why Michael Penix the week before in a West Coast system,
05:43they don't have all those rules.
05:45They just basically say, here's the protection.
05:47If they bring the blitz, go ahead and make a play.
05:50Like, literally, Kyle Shanahan would tell me at times, be a baller and make a play.
05:53We don't have that picked up.
05:54With Josh, there is a level of complexity to the system.
05:58And then when you go against one of those looks, and you could see early on the game,
06:02they were trying to get the right call.
06:03The problem is with eight up, you know, that's four linemen and four linebackers slash DBs.
06:10The combinations of blitzes are really unlimited.
06:14It could be two to a side.
06:15It could be one from each side.
06:16It could be bring one, drop an end.
06:18And on a short week, when they're bringing all those different variety of blitzes,
06:23I always said sometimes, and Josh has said this too, let's not try to be perfect.
06:27Let's go fast and make them react.
06:29And if they bring it where we don't have it picked up, let's throw a sight adjuster or a hot.
06:32And so there are, and Wiggy, like the thing with the scans becomes when you change the protection,
06:38now you've got double scans.
06:39If you go to like, you know, the split back where they put the tight end and the back back
06:42there,
06:43now you've got guys looking for, obviously, the guy to their side.
06:47But when he drops to your point, now you're trying to scan all the way.
06:50And if they're mugged up in there, it becomes that one second hesitation could really be the difference.
06:55So I thought they got it figured out.
06:56Ultimately, the best way to avoid that is to avoid that third and sixth and nine obvious passing situation.
07:02And in a few weeks, I guess it's almost November, in December, they're going to see beef low in the
07:07Vikings.
07:07And it's going to be a very, very similar package.
07:09I mean, no one's been able to handle that yet.
07:11We'll see if Detroit can handle it this week with Jared Goff.
07:14And because beef low is just going to keep blitzing 85% against Daniel Jones last week.
07:20If you can't handle it, it's like blood in the water.
07:22So same thing with Dennis Allen.
07:24You're going to see those looks and you're going to have to handle them.
07:27And there's different ways you can, as you, to your point,
07:29you could be smart and keep the backs in and try to scan and do all those things.
07:33I think sometimes going out, lining up in three by one,
07:36because it has to declare a little bit more, go fast, and then rely on a hot or a side
07:41adjust.
07:42And then when you hit them on it, they're like, okay, they have a plan.
07:45Maybe we can't bring this all the time.
07:46Brian Hoyer is our guest, as he is every Wednesday.
07:49Curtis, hold your, you have a question.
07:51Yes.
07:51We'll do it after the break.
07:52Oof.
07:53Tease about your question.
07:55The number one receiver who wears number one and the concerns that Brian may have.
07:59Okay, all right.
07:59We will continue with Brian Hoyer in a couple of minutes.
08:04It's on the...
