Rookie QB check-ins ahead of Week 6: Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, Spencer Rattler, Bo Nix
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This episode of Football 301, Charles McDonald joins me to preview week six, doing it through the lens of the rookie quarterbacks that are starting this week, as well as another Hoss fight of the week with an interesting Cardinals versus Packers matchup. Then we finish it off with some mailbag questions. We hear from you guys. Can't wait to get to it. See you guys in a sec.

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Hello and welcome back to Football 301. I am your host, Nate Tice. We are entering week six of the NFL season. We are going to be previewing it today through the lens of some rookie quarterbacks making their starts. Some first starts, some continued starts, some are involved in big games, some are involved in minor games that we just want to talk about because we think it's interesting that we are

is my usual Thursday cohort. It's a cohort? It's cohort. I'm calling you my cohort. Depends on the activity. Yes. But that cohort is that comrade

is Mr. Vertz, Charles McDonald. How are you doing today, Charles? Doing all right. You know, getting over a little bit of a cold. It's just, you know, it's like, it's like, it's like, I would probably, if I had to rate it like one out of 10, it's probably like a 1.5 or a two, but it's just like, it's sitting there and you know how men are. So like, I'm ready to die. Yeah. Just a little jab in the face. Like, I feel fine. And then my nose just starts leaking out of nowhere. And I'm like, well, I don't know what this is.

why i say yep is because i have the same exact cold and i feel like i'm on the tail end of it hopefully so yeah i know we both i think on the same day at the same time where i god i got this annoying cold like i got this annoying cold too i'm like changing out filters all around the house i'm like is it the same exact thing because it was just that minor little leak no cares but it's annoying it really is annoying and yeah so if you hear me cough a few times that's why but it

It is an interesting week. We are getting into bye weeks, which also helps. I know they started last week, but that helps us narrow down the focus for some of these games. We're going to deep dive to a couple of them, really the ones focused with the quarterbacks, some bigger than others. And then after we talk about these rookie quarterbacks and their games and the house fight of the week, which I think is a really fun one, we're also going to get to your mailbag questions. Finally, we have some good ones. Can't wait to get to those at the end of the show. But

But like I said, it's rookie time, rookie quarterback time. It's all anyone wants to talk about, quarterbacks and rookie quarterbacks. And we got a really fun one in a battle between the Commanders and the Ravens. You have Jane Daniels, who has been the story of this rookie quarterback class so far. The surprising Commanders and their offense. Now going to the Ravens, who are playing some fantastic football, even though they got into a little bit of a shootout against the Bengals.

But they sit at six and a half point favorites against a team that's been winning games in Washington. So Jane Daniels against this Ravens defense. What are you checking out, Chuck? I think I want to dive on both sides of this ball. I think this is probably one of the games of the weekends, even if it is a bigger spread. It's just a very interesting game. But when the Washington has the ball, Jane Daniels has the ball going against this Ravens defense. There's been playing some interesting ball.

What are you focusing on? What are you checking out? I don't mean to sound like a hater when I say this, but like, is anyone just going to stop on these go balls? Like, like, and I, to be clear, I have some stats on this too. I don't even know if the Ravens are the team that can do that right now because

because I look at this game, you see what happened in Cincinnati last week, especially like later in the game where just bombs away between Burrow and Chase. Like you had a 70 yard touchdown late. You had a catch and run touchdown. It was like 65 yards. So this, this,

And Baltimore defense, they're kind of doing the same thing they did when Mike McDaniel got hired as a head coach. For those of you who have forgotten, that's when Tua had his six touchdown game. They got everyone hyped about, you know, what was going on over there in Miami. But then they tightened up. But I don't.

think that they're at the point in the season yet where they tighten up or either like this is going to be the spark that turns them around. Like all of a sudden, like, oh wait, now we have Roquan Smith and Marlon Humphrey and all these guys in safety and defensive line and it's clicking. But just like what we're looking at, what we know, I don't really see any reason for the Jane Daniels train to stop.

this upcoming week. And I feel like this game has, again, for Baltimore, just like prime shootout potential, because I don't really think that watching the defense stands a prayer, like a chance to stop what Baltimore has going on the offense right now. So,

shootout points it's probably gonna be a little annoying lots of points you know yeah it's it's perfect this is the former two towns of the Baltimore Bullets and the Washington Bullets who are now the Washington Wizards so this is perfect because it is gonna be a little bit of a shootout the this game though uh yeah sorry but I kind of dove into numbers watching both things the commander's offense has a pretty

pretty solid run game. They, Jane Daniels is very accurate and then he'll punish you if you don't guard deep, especially thrown to the right, thrown to the left has become a little bit of a thing that I'm keeping my eye on what Jane Daniels, he leans a little right and

I looked at the Ravens and they kind of botch covering deep balls, especially this year. And it's eye test. I mean, shoot, just watch the Bengals game. But then I dove more into the numbers. And yeah, I think they might pop one. This might be a Terry deep ball game or one or two. And that's I think they'll catch them. I think they're going to try a bunch. I do think this Ravens run defense is really good. Statistically, it's one of the best in the league. I think that matches eye test.

The front, the linebackers are smart. You know, Roquan's a little iffy in coverage right now, but he is good. Roquan Smith, but he is good against the run. But he's defending deep balls, so I looked in True Media. 42 throws of 15 or more air yards the Ravens defense has defended. They've allowed the fourth highest success rate. They've allowed the second most yards per game on those throws, 129 yards per game on deep throws, only behind the Jags.

You don't want to be in Jack's defense territory right now. And they've surrendered. You'll love this. 1.13 EPA per deep throw. Jesus. 42 throws over 42 points. They've allowed an expected points. That is where I think if you're the commanders, you still continue to run. You still continue to do the kind of some of the nickel to dime stuff. The Ravens defense is solid. It gets shorter throws, but not great. Not overwhelmingly good. They're pretty good tackling team, but

catch them deep, catch them trying to make a mistake. And that I think will blow the whole game open or pop the whole game open. They are good against scrambles though. I will say that they are a good tackling team just overall, but the Ravens defense, they've only faced six scrambles this year. They've only allowed one first down. I got some decent scramblers too. Mahomes of course was the only guy that got the first down, but I, that's one thing I'll keep an eye on is that I think they are going to keep Daniels in the box, but I think this is a Daniels throw game. And I think it's a Daniels explosive play game on that side of the ball. So yeah,

And then you mentioned the other side. Is there any reason why you don't think this commander's defense is going to stop the Ravens offense? Yeah. It's a terrible matchup for him. It really is. Like, where do you even start? Because there's so many advantages. Like, they could get bludgeoned. They could get diced up through the air because Lamar Jackson's playing like out of his mind right now. So,

I think this game has full shootout potential, but at the end of the day, the Ravens' defense is a little bit better. But just looking at where the commanders are on defense, this size of ball has been what we expected it to be. They're one of the worst units. Not in a good way. Not in a good way, right. They're one of the worst units in the league versus a run versus a pass. They don't really do anything well. And it's just crazy when you watch...

What happened last week in Cleveland? I'm like, dude, you can't take advantage of this defense. Your season's over because that game didn't change anything that I thought about when I thought about the commander's defense. So I kind of still expect them to get killed this game. I don't really think they'll have any answers for Lamar, Derrick Henry, Tandem. And Lamar is kind of in a spot right now where

I don't really know if it matters, like, who is that receiver for him all the time. Like, it seems like it's been a little bit devalued. Kind of get Mahomes-y a little bit. Right, a little Mahomes-y in a little bit because even last week,

we were talking about it off, off to the side where it was like, but God damn, like St. Flowers had the most annoying game ever. And then you look up, he's like 11 catches for like 120 yards, something like that. It's like, okay, Lamar, he's in a different stratosphere. Um, and I don't think that this is a quarterback that Dan Quinn is ready to game plan for. I don't think they have the talent to even get it across the finish line. So,

they'll need Jaden Daniels to just keep scoring, keep scoring, keep scoring, because I think Lamar and Derek are going to put up more than enough to cover their signing deal. To, to,

I use an old coaching adage that we hear all the time. It's if you have a bad defense like this, you just have to create turnovers. That's what you're watching. Cardinals last week against 49ers. Yeah, you're popping us in the face, but we'll make you make that one mistake and our offense can do enough to kind of control. That's what they have to play like, because like you said, it's not a great style matchup for the commander's defense. They are all light bodies. They run exclusively nickel and dime. The Ravens last week,

Two thirds of their plays feature two or fewer receivers like they are going to bully you. And the commander has been OK against the heavier personnel. But this is just a totally different beast. Defending Derek Henry, defending Patrick Card and I formation runs like that is this is just not how they this is not what they defend. Well, yeah, the Ravens are first explosive run rate second combined.

I'm just going to call it sex right now, which is success rate and explosive run, right? Well, I'm just going to shorten it because it just, it does make it a lot easier and people remember hopefully, but there's second and sex rate on, on rundowns. Uh, and the commanders are dead last in the same metric. So I,

It's kind of obvious. It feels obvious on that side of the ball, but it's, I think, for commander's defense, just hope for a turnover. I do think my prediction is the Ravens pull this off. I do think the commander's cover, though. It's six and a half, and I think it's going to be closer than maybe even if I do think the commanders are a little wonky right now with how well they are playing and maybe some drop off. I do think they actually match up. Okay. So do you think they might cover and keep it under a touchdown? All right.

Moving on to a debut and also kind of another upset or potential upset of the week, or at least cover of the week. We got the Texans going to Foxborough to play the Patriots and Drake May's debut. The number three overall pick stepping in for Jacoby Brissett, who did a, who gave his valiant effort. God, he is, he's got, that's the thing is no one wants to get too negative on Jacoby. Everyone's just like, ah, Jacoby.

Yeah, you did. You did what you did. Send him back to Cleveland. Yeah, I know. I love that idea from you. Because good vibes, man. And he was good for them. He was. I know. And he's perfect for them. He's not going to ask too much. He was not going to make mistakes. He can actually run an offense and call the plays right, which is probably an issue in Cleveland right now. But Drake Mays debuting. The Patriots are a touchdown underdog. So.

I don't know what you want to focus on here. I think this is a pretty fun matchup because the Texans are facing a lot of injuries too on offense. They might be out both their tackles. I'm not sure what they practiced today, but they both tackles, Lamry Tunsell and the right tackle, Howard, did not practice on Wednesday. So when you're watching this game,

which you're checking out. Want to just focus on Drake May or do you want to check out maybe the other side of the ball, Texans and the Patriots defense? They're doing him such a disservice by putting him into an NFL game, right? You know, like, holy crap. Share your take. Yeah, actually, I want you to basically share your tweet because I agree with essentially all of it. Like, stop crying about this. Like, I really don't understand because...

I understand why people are like, okay, you're going to put him in against the Texans pass rush. Okay. And is that going to be the only tough pass rush that he sees all season? Right. Plays the Jets twice. Right. Plays the Jets twice. Plays the Bills twice. He played the Dolphins twice. The Dolphins, when they're healthy, they have good pass rushers too. So this fear...

of starting rookie quarterbacks against a tough opponent, I don't think it's something that people who say it have even examined it fully, what they're actually saying. Because to me, if I were so scared

that if I put Drake May out there with a bad offensive line against Will Anderson and Daniil Hunter, if I'm so scared that that will ruin his career, I should have never drafted him number three in the first place. Like, never. Because that just means you suck. Like, you're a horrible, no-good quarterback if one game against a tough opponent is going to ruin you. Because we've already... And also, what I think people...

I've got to ignore, like, have you not watched, like, how playing in a poor environment has made Caleb Williams a better quarterback every single week of the season? Like, he's not making the same, you know, 20-yard negative plays that he was in week one. Like, you're mitigating those. And that's something that every quarterback has to learn how to do. So the idea that you put him in against his game against the Texans, we know the offensive line is not good. We know the Texans have good pass rush. But so what?

So what? Like every, every team has somewhere, almost every team, especially against a team like the Patriots, almost every team has some facet of their defense that can take advantage of the Patriots offense. And if we're going to start from, Oh, the Patriots have the worst off the line in the league, uh,

Well, you know how long it takes to fix a bad offensive line? It takes years. So you're going to sit them next year, too? No, stop being scared. Understand what you're actually saying, which you which you I feel like what people mean to say is I don't think Jake Mays that good. And this could ruin his career because if one game is going to ruin it, that means he was awful from the jump. And I think that that's crazy to think.

You want to see the guys overcome it. And hopefully you watched them in college overcome it like Drake Mayday in North Carolina, especially in that last year. I know I'm with you. I've gone back and forth whether the quarterback said or do you play. I have leaned always more towards playing them like what you said. As long as the

You think like in practice, it's like, okay, this guy can at least operate the offense. All right. Then hopefully if you dropped him top five, he has the talent. That's obvious should be out there. If you're worried about a mentally at that point, it's like, okay, but hopefully he has the talent to just overcome it, which is simplify and go. I think may is pretty smart. I think he showed a lot more than people gave him credit for last year at North Carolina.

So that's why I've always thought he's going to be able. He's going to be more advanced than people make him out to be. He's not going to be total Josh Allen coming out Wyoming who played as a rookie in a terrible situation. And he's not, but they were 17 or 20 point underdogs to the Vikings and they straight up one in Minnesota. Like, you know, you never know. It's the national. You never know, man. You never know. And even the Patriots. Sorry. This is also another thing as a guy that was a career backup.

I totally relate to this. It's a lot easier when you're watching yourself on tape and going like, oh, I can't make that mistake. Oh, I can get away with this. Yeah, you can translate stuff from Jacoby Brissett, but I'd rather my franchise guy get more reps of him making mistakes or him doing good things or learning experiences. Scott Zolzine had a great line about that at Wisconsin when I backed him up when he took over his junior year. Someone's like, what's the biggest difference? He goes, well, I actually get to watch myself.

He goes, "As opposed to all the other guys I've been backing up the last couple of years." - The last thing I had on that was, let's say Drake goes out there and just gets pants by the Texans, which is possible.

The only people that are freaking out about it are us, like, on the other side of the media. Like, you talk to coaches and other players, you're like, hey, it's a game. Another week. It happens. Hopefully we'll get them next week. But it's like we have to get better at blocking out, like, our own noise about this stuff. Because we've seen... We got people calling Jaden Daniels the MVP of the league. Like, we've seen how harsh, like, the takes can swing in either direction just day by day by day. So, look, just...

Take a breath. You got 12 games of Drake May coming up. Take it all in at the end of it because you're not equipped to do it week by week. Just take it all in by the end of it. It was supposed to be a learning. You had no ambition this year. You shouldn't have any ambition this year. So, yeah, I'm trying to figure it out. I will say schematically, the Patriots offense actually has a couple OK answers for the Texas defense more than you would think because they can run the ball.

And they can run it out of two tight ends with Hunter Henry and what's your guy's name? Austin Hooper, former Falcon.

Yeah. Wow. No, I am. I am. It just made me think about like how upset the fan base was when he didn't get re-signed. And I'm like, Hey, he's just a guy. Hayden Hurst came in, did the same exact thing that Hooper. Yeah. It turns out when you're in a really good offense, it really helps out. But they, but they, but they'll run out two tight ends. I deal a lot of balance formations out of it against this Texans defense that trots out a lot of nickel. I mean, exclusively nickel and,

They're pretty garbage defending the pass out of 12 and the Patriots like to do it. So yeah, the 26 and passing success rate against 12, they allow explosive play on a quarter of those throws. So that is a thing that they'll get. I think they can maybe pop them a couple of times. And the last thing is I think Drake may is going to run a lot faster.

texans are dead last and scramble epa they've allowed over 11 yards per scramble decent amount of scrambles too um it's that's just because the man coverage stuff that's just that's why i thought josh allen was going to get him and he did later in the game that game is such a wonky game re-watching it i actually feel okay yeah it's such a wonky game but the late downs it's they run almost they're half the time it's cover one they've

They blitz a bunch, so there's no eyes on the quarterback. Bullets are flying. May gets pressured. I can see him running for a little bit. So check out that player prop over there.

wherever you get your gambling at. BetMGM. BetMGM, yes. That is, yeah. But that's the sneaky one I really do like. But I think it's an interesting game. I do think the Patriots, as long as they play within themselves, they actually got to keep it closer because their defense is okay. And CJ Stroud freaking rocks. Wrote about him. Awesome. Might be my favorite for MVP. Him and Lamar probably burrow a little bit, bro.

pretty freaking good right now. Why? I was trying to think like if there's any area that I was trying to think if there's any area besides scrambles, I think the Patriots can kind of get them.

It's running exclusively. Running with the running backs and a May running. These guys are getting up against Stingley. Lassiter's played pretty well too. He's much better the last couple weeks. NFL is a matchup league. Especially when you get in the cover one, that is as matchup as it gets. Watch the Broncos defense. We're about to talk about them. Watch them in man coverage. Swamp everybody because their DBs rock. Watch last week.

Third down, Bills, ISO, MVS against Derek Stingley.

It wasn't even a battle. It was like, it was such a womp womp. Like Alan threw it perfectly on time. It's going right to MBS's chest and they're, they're staying with just like, boop, just bobs it down. Like, just like, what was that? Like, really? That was third down. All right, cool. Yeah. It helps to have those guys. You kind of know your matchup style. Sorry, Jalen Polk. All right. So that is the first two rookies. And then we're going to take a quick break and get back to a couple more rookies, the Haas fight of the week. And then after that, we'll get to the mailbag. See you guys in a second.

you

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That is interesting to me because their defense rocks. And so the Chargers defense also sneaky, good, sneaky, good Chargers defense. But when you're watching this game, you don't even have to focus on Bo Nix, but just generally watching this game, which I think is more interesting than it first meets the eye. Charles, what are you checking out? What are you watching on? I mean, we could talk about Bo Nix, but.

It's not as fun. The Broncos defense is fun. That's the fun part. I will say this about Bo. Congratulations. You finally put up respectful box score stats towards the end of the game. Still slogging through some of the process stuff, but baby steps, baby steps. And honestly, to even have a game where you got that many yards...

Big step ahead from where you were over the past month of football. So hat tip to Bo Nix, but that's all I got on the Broncos offense. I think on the flip side, though, the Broncos defense... Okay, this is related, but I've been laughing at... For the past day, Pat Sertan was like, we need to come up with a nickname for me and Riley Moss. But it's true because you have the novelty of Riley Moss being a white cornerback, but he's also very...

who wears white sleeves, right? All the names are there. I think he was the first white cornerback to get an interception this past weekend since Jason Sehorne in 2002 or 2003 or something like that. So, hey, he's breaking color barriers right here. But he actually is a fantastic player. He's good.

that gives them... You already have best cornerback in football in September. Now you have a credible number two who is playing like he could be a number one on some teams. And not only that, but I think the defensive line is playing better than maybe... Because we were on the band... We were on the train like, this is a credible defense, probably a good defense, but...

I wasn't really expecting them to be possibly the best defense in football through the first five weeks of the season. So the defensive line stepped up, the cornerback play is legitimately insane. And to me, if I'm looking at this defensive back room against the Chargers wide receivers,

Like, this is a smothering. This is just a beatdown. So you might, if Justin Herbert's healthy and feeling 100%, he's probably going to need some heroics to get some points scored against his defense because I don't really know if they have the personnel to match up to it. This is going to be a fist fight because the Broncos kind of figured out the formula.

Which is kind of, again, what we kind of thought going into the year. It's Sean Payton with kind of a bullio line, a pretty good run game, and just nice and safe pass game. And that is what it felt like last week. I was like, oh yeah, this is the formula. This works. But that defense rocks. I'm glad you brought up Riley Moss. NextGenStats had a great stack owner this week. Pat Sertan has allowed the second lowest EPA per target. Riley Moss.

is one of the top five guys as well. They are making Sertan and Bost just one of the five cornerback duos that both allow negative EPA per target so far this year. So it's like, this is the legit duo. They run a ton of man coverage and they're able to do that. They just press everybody too. They press, they stick you up, and then they make you beat them. And so far, not a lot of guys are beating them. I legitimately think Sertan should be

a defensive player of the year front runner or at least in the conversation i'm glad he brought up the front uh dj jones rocks he he's tied tied for the league right now and stops which is tackles for no yards or or no gain or tfl um outright leads the league and stuff rate zach allen rocks they have guys like malcolm roach stepping up uh he came over from the saints john franklin myers is playing well they got some pass rushers getting after nick benito and stuff so

really, really good defense that's first in success rate allowed, first in explosive plays allowed, going against an offense that wants to win with jabs, get to the red zone and go, hey, Justin, go do some stuff in Justin Herbert. So,

Yeah, I'm curious how this goes. I think it's going to be kind of a sloggy game. The Chargers defense is pretty damn good, too. They are, God, I had some stats on them, but they're a fourth and rushing sex rate. I have to bring that one up. I know, I got to say. They tackle really well, too, which is why I kind of just really stick them, keep them to short gains. The only thing is Chargers, of course, are facing a ton of injuries. They have nine injuries.

players in practice as limited participants. They had seven players in practice as non-participants. That's 16 players as limited or non, and that's including Derwin James, Joey Bosa, and

So pretty good defense, but this, you know, Bo Nix could find some answers. They're playing sound and everything, but I think it's just going to be real, real nice little fist fight going on. Yeah. We get back to like a 2.5 yards per attempt game for old bull bow. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to feel, it feels tight. It feels tight. I, yeah. And then the other side, it's just the, like, I want to see, well,

like lad mcconkie going against these receivers or against these dbs we got a little wisconsin byu kind of thing going on in basketball where you will the matchup with riley moss and lad mcconkie uh but then we got you know sirtan going against those guys too so that's a really that's a sneaky good matchup too like a little cruiserweight fight going on over there with lad going against those dbs so really good yeah better than your cruiserweight

It is. Because when we do Hoss Fight the other day, you did Justin Jefferson and Sauce Garter, which I loved. And I was like, oh, Cruiserweight Battle. Yeah, that's a good Hoss Fight too. All right. Next up, we're going to your division, but not your team, the NFC South. We have the Bucks at the Saints. The Saints are three and a half point underdogs, likely because they are also starting a rookie, a day three rookie in Spencer Rattler, who at one point was kind of

The guy of his class before I ended up transferred to South Carolina, I got to be up with Caleb Williams. Stuff happened.

Kind of reclaimed his career. Dude's got a lot of talent. This is a natural football thrower. Someone that watched the SEC, Charles, you have any thoughts on Spencer Rattler? Also, just going into this game, how do you kind of maybe think it shapes up against this Bucs defense and Todd Bowles? This is going to sound terrible, but as a Georgia fan, Spencer Rattler is like the only game cogs player I've respected since like...

Steve Spurrier was the coach. Yeah. Yeah. Around that era. Around that era. Yeah. 10 years. 12 years ago. Yeah. You know, it's funny because I was actually. I'm really trying to think now. I was looking up. Because even Stephon Gilmore, that was before Clowney. Yeah. You know? So it's been a long time since they've had like real dudes. Like you got Xavier Leggett this past year. But, you know. Yeah.

Who's the run back with the bad knee? Oh, here's a special Marcus Lattimore. Yeah. Yeah.

Because I used to get Marcus and Marshawn mixed up all the time. I did too. That's why. I was letting you get the first names. I knew it was Lattimore, but I was letting you do the first names. That's why I asked the question. But for real, for South Carolina to land a quarterback like that, that was a big deal for them. And I think, towards the end of last season, really the entire season last year, he kind of gave them a chance to do some things on offense that maybe the surrounding cast outside of Xavier Leggett

wouldn't really suggest you could do it. The offensive line was horrible. Horrible. Like, historically bad. Like, if you look at the statistical measures, like, one of the worst offensive lines you'll see in major college football. Yeah. Really, really bad. So I try to, like, temper my expectations here because I just remember, like, back before Spencer got

Basically, you know booted out of there by Caleb Williams. We were talking about Spencer's like a potential number one overall pick Just like this strictly based on like the arm talent and some of the throws as you would see down the field So he was the guy getting Rogers comparisons, right? He was first and you know some things happen got a got a transfer and It didn't end the way he thought it was going to end but he's still in a spot where hey, I

The Saints don't want to be tied to Derek Carr. If you can come in here and show some stuff over however long he's out, that would actually be a pretty big deal for his future and the team's future. I don't want to get too ahead of myself because I think when you look at him, even though I think he married a higher draft pick, he still was a fifth-round pick,

Still got to give him the runway to be bad. But I do think that he's a pretty good fit in this offense because you're talking about the athletic requirements that we usually talk for Shanahan, tree, quarterbacks. I think he should fit right in. He's got the live arm. I think he's more accurate than people probably remember him being at South Carolina. So I think that this could actually work out.

But you know, both is still a tough defense to go against your first start I Know that this deep this Tampa Bay defense hasn't been like down-to-down what we've inspected But it's still a lot coming at you if you're a rookie quarterback

It is. It's like easier said than done. It's always like one of these things like, well, this guy's really mature. And then they get thrown into that fire and it's like, oh, yeah, this is hard, huh? Much easier for me watching on film afterwards going like, oh, rewinding it 15 times going like, you didn't see that safety? Yeah, like, you know, I Rattler even going into this draft process, I ended up

You got to really watch him because like you said, it was such a tough system that he had not system surroundings that he had overcome. He's used to shaky pockets. I'll say that. But it was it was truly a war zone in the backfield. Every time he dropped back, it was so rough and you almost felt bad. He's still trying to chuck that ball. He's aggressive. Like this guy is just a natural ball thrower. Say that again. He really spins it.

This was actually a good landing spot for him. Like this really was as far as just kind of trajectory, get a chance. I mean, obviously he's getting a real chance here, but even going into his draft process, I know he ended up in the fifth round. I had Rattler in the same tier as Nixon Penix and I had Rattler above him like slightly, but above him, I think this, he really has talent. I do think there is a chance for him to be a starter in this league and

we'll see what we got here you know it's hard but we'll see what we got so and like you said throwing on the move is an important thing in this offense and he throws really well in the move so not ideal going against this bucks defense going against bulls but let's see let's see what you got you know let's see let's see what you got out there i think i think he'll have a couple highlights that will be pretty interesting to watch afterwards all right going on away from the rookie quarterbacks moving on to our hoss fight of the week and this is a

An offense that I think will get nominated a few times this year. This is the Cardinals offense going against the Packers defense. I think it's a pretty fun matchup overall, just both sides of the ball, but especially this side of the ball. So when you are watching Cardinals offense and their

kind of no-name offensive line with Paris Johnson Jr., but some maulers up there going against this Packers defense. What are you checking out, Charles? I kind of want to see just how the Packers handle the whole run, like the whole rushing offense. And I think a big part of that this week is going to be Kyler Scramble's because...

He's been awesome when he breaks a pocket this year. I'm pretty sure he's one of the better quarterbacks by efficiency metrics in terms of just scramble yardage. NextGentsStats has him number two. Packers defense is number 20 against defending quarterback scrambles. So that to me is kind of the edge because Kyler –

if you if you can scramble and still keep your like keep your offense like on script and keep them in you know plus chains like that that really changes the dynamic of how you could start to defend everything because not only are you defending the first place defense like the second play of kyle doing something uh whether he's scrambling or if he's gonna scramble behind line scrimmage and then find marvin or find another receiver like when he's at his best you have to defend two plays at a time um when you're a defense and

When you're a defense that doesn't really have like a whole bunch of speed, like up front and your linebacker room is like, they're fast, but they're not always doing the right thing. You know, I was pointing in the right direction. I think that that's, that's an area where they can take advantage. Not just college scrambles, but also like James Connors is a pretty nice season so far.

I know the nerds are going to get me. They can just establish the run game and really just start blowing guys off the ball. Then everything gets so much easier. You don't have to get trapped to where you're throwing deep shots to Marvin Harrison against Shirey Alexander. You can kind of do whatever you want. And I think the Cardinals, Dave, really have a chance to get that going pretty early in the game.

Yeah, I actually think this is a decent matchup for the Cardinals. That's kind of why I wanted to talk about it. One great point with Kyler's stuff, even just outside scrambles, Rashawn Gary has always been susceptible to zone reads. He is.

Oh, my God. He is just blind. Just a bull seeing red went on those zone reads. He is running right after the running back. And you know who else is like that? Nick Bosa. And the Cardinals got him last week. They set it up perfectly. They ran like three zone reads at him. Just did the same play over and over. And it's really funny because you can see Bosa everywhere.

Every play, he cheats in a little bit closer. It's the same formation, so you can really see. It wasn't a different front either, so he just kept cheating, cheating, cheating. Then he thinks he's got it, and then Kyler keeps it for a big game. We actually set up their final drive to win the game. I actually am looking at that, those little zone reads, but

This is duo, baby. This is my run. The Cardinals are going to pound this thing, I think, in this game. So last week, the Packers played the Rams, who also run a lot of duo. Very at you run, very power run, a lot of double teams, a lot of physicality. You need your tight ends to get involved in it. I know I'm obnoxious about this play.

It's also turned out to be the best play against the Vikings. You nodded your head. I saw that. But it is the best run against the Vikings, not zone. I figured that out. But the Packers defense against duo. They allow 4.7 yards per carry. Middle of the pack success rate. But let's look at these Arizona Cardinals, how they are on duo. My friend Charles, I looked this all up through FTN Fantasy. The Cardinals have run 42 duo runs this year. Second most in the league.

They have run those for 297 yards, a crisp 7.1 yards per carry, 52.4% success rate, which is ninth, easily the highest yards per carry, second most attempts. That, yeah. So look for two tight ends and look for the Cardinals just run down the throat with James Conner. I mean, it's...

I wish I could be more sexy than that and have something cooler to say, but it's as standard as it gets. It's going to be a 4-3 defense going against two tight ends and some bully ball going on. Maybe some bootlegs with Kyler. Packers are a little iffy on those. Maybe a Marvin Harrison Jr. dig route. Look for that. But yeah, I think they're going to be trying to get that run game going against this. So I think it's going to be interesting.

Class is we're going to step forward and displace people and run the ball. Watch the second half against the 49ers. They said, stop overthinking this. They ran like two runs, two different runs. It was like duo and zone read. That's it. They ran the entire second half, and it worked. But no, in the Packers defense, of course, Xavier McKinney's having an awesome year. Lucas Van Ness actually has a lot of really good moments, too. Hopefully he sees more playing time as well. But their linebackers are fantastic.

They're fast, but they can go in wrong spots. I think that's what duo can get. If they get one wrong step, boom, there's James Conner getting 70 yards. All right. Lions and Cowboys. Interesting game. I actually was more like this is a review game than a preview game, if that makes sense. Because it's more of like, I want to see what you do. The Lions defense is...

Been getting caught a little bit. You know, they're trying to run a lot of bays. You're kind of getting caught in the pass game a little bit. I want to see how they rectify that against the Dallas Cowboys and also just with the Cowboys. I want to see what you got. Matt and I have talked about it a little bit. All right, is this run game real with Rico Dallow? Are you going to play a little more Hunter Lipke, who is like one of my new favorite players in the league? Slash, I'm going to call him. He's Zoomer Slash.

playing fullback, tight end, and running back for the Cowboys. Good player. But yeah, I just want to see what their next steps are. The Cowboys had that good win. Dak played his ass off with a couple botched moments, but came on strong. I want to see him go against this Lions defense that's tough up front. Has some weaknesses, though. So anything you're checking out with this game, like I said, it's more of a prove-it game for me.

Yeah, to Cowboys, like this is Cowboys defense. I feel like this is an ultimate gut check game. Another one. Another one. Like you better buckle your chin strap and...

you know tighten those cleats because you we know what the lines want to do on often they want to mash you in the face and then throw play action off of it uh and i to me this seems like a game where the lines could just go absolutely like insane where they run the ball run like really trample the cowboys leave them stuck in the turf and you move on to the next game but i i don't i i feel like if they're if the cowboys are going to win this game to me i think that's going to have to

Yeah, do some Superman stuff. Because this is a game to me where you can find yourself in a situation where you just don't even have the ball that much if you're Dallas. Because they're in a spot where they're playing against maybe the offense outside of Baltimore. And we saw what happened versus Baltimore. The only offense that is uniquely built to absolutely kill the Cowboys is Desmond.

So if you're going to be in a situation where like it's,

35 40 minutes time of possession uh that's gonna make it harder on dac but he's he's he's good enough where maybe he can make something happen for you just it just seems tough to me that the cowboys defense will be able to give them enough in this game where they can actually go home with a win no no it it really is a good point because it's i guess the other teams matt and i talked about a little bit was like you always with the cowboys offense or like are where the explosive plays coming like all right you guys can nickel and dime and everything

And it's just like, all right, but in this game, you might have to be a little bit more time of possession and you can't make any mistakes. And it's just kind of like, all right, I'm talking about both sides of my mouth with the Cowboys offense with it. Also curious CD, like the Cowboys or the lines are gonna run a bunch of man coverage. All right. Who's guarding CD? Is it Carl Davis, Terry and Arnold? What, you know, how are they going to go after him and who else is going to step up? I know people are high on Jill and Tolbert. I think he's fine. Who's going to guard Jake Ferguson? Is he going to go off? So,

The Cowboys have answers to pick at, but again, I love what you're saying, gut check. You're talking about the Cowboys' defense, but it really is like a testing ground, I think, every week for this team until I finally feel good about them. I don't want to give any Cowboys takes because I am not sure how I feel about them. I just do not know. I will say the Cowboys game did give me more takes about the Steelers.

Enough. We need Jalen Warren back. Enough Najee Harris touches. Yeah. Those are wasted touches. I know. Better receiver now than, but every run thing, he's missing holes. He's slow to it, but I do want to say that. Alrighty. We are going to take our last break and then we're going to hear from you guys. Some mailback questions. See you guys in a sec.

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Learn more at klaviyo.com slash BFCM. We're back for the home stretch of Football 301. We are going to do mailbag questions. Excited. It's been a while. I'm going to hear from you guys. Again, that email for next time. Do this about once a month, football301mailbag at yahoosports.com. So if you want to send in a question, I'll hopefully have another tweet about it.

I don't know if I want to get to this first question about Youngway Coup and why does he kick like that, but I couldn't tell you. I signed Youngway Coup in the Alliance League, and I was like, this guy's really good. He doesn't miss, but here he is still in the league. I'm not a kicking expert, but I know he changed his stance. Do you have any thoughts on Youngway Coup? He's awesome. He's been great so far, except when he wasn't the first half of that Bucs game. He missed a

we got a chance to kick the field goal. Then there was like a penalty or a timeout. So, and he missed, then he got a chance to re-kick it and he missed again. I was like, okay, I thought that was going to be one of those games for the Falcons, but I guess Kirk Cousins, imagine that solves all, you know, I'm telling you, they cancel each other out. Although a lot of Vikings fans are just making sure that, you know, it's Kirktober. This is where he looks good. Apparently in October, I know Vikings fans want, want to make sure you know that.

I've been telling Vikings and Chargers fans, like, we're cousins, man. Falcons, Vikings, Chargers. Yeah. We're cousins because it's never going to be so bad that you don't want to watch it. But it's never going to be quite good enough to get you where you want to go. And that's the hell. Falcons and Vikings have a lot more in common. As someone that's been around both franchises, yeah. There's a lot. Oh, man, dude, my adult life, my fandoms, because they switched with me and my dad. So it's Vikings, Jaguars.

Falcons, or sorry, Bears, Falcons, and then Raiders. That's my, I grew up spoiled. I had the late 90s, early 2000s Vikings. I had the Mariners that were rocking. The Timberwolves and Sonics were good. I too, you know, so I was spoiled, but it's all come crashing hard in my fandom. But sorry, Hunter. I wish we had more. We're not kicking experts, but that was the first question. A young way to question. All right, next up. Didn't really talk about this game or talk about this team. Logan Bonifor.

What is your take on Love's fit with LeFleur and his offense? The game plans for the games without Love were so fun and run heavy. Can both Love and LeFleur shine at the same time? You have any thoughts on this, Chuck? Because I do. Mike don't want to play like that. He doesn't want to play like he had to play with Malik Willis was in the lineup. No. It's fun because...

Right. It's fun because it's a novelty. It's not fun to do every like 17 times a year. So like, I don't think you should have any worries about like love and the floor is fit. But yeah, like if you if you think that was fun, just just go rewatch it because you don't want to be doing that.

16, 17 times a year. That's awful. Go watch Army or Navy this year if you want to watch that. If you want to watch the swing tee. Navy might be throwing more than Malik Willis was. They might. They seriously might. Yeah. Yeah, Logan, I totally get it.

That was a fun little novelty for a couple weeks, but why that usually can't work is usually you don't get game scripts like they had in those games where their defense was just getting turnovers. It's like, all right, whatever. Oh, cool. Another little hitch route going for 10 yards. This is great. That's why you kind of want to avoid

type of game plan. The Mac Jones versus the Bills game plan where you only throw three times. But I would say who loves to play with LaFleur is fantastic because this is an offense that I think is the type of offense you should have right now in the NFL. I mean, what the Rams do. Pound the rock and

And then chuck it. And when I say chuck it, I don't just mean little bubbles and little stick routes and little quick. I mean chuck it 15 yards downfield, 20 yards downfield. Launch that thing. Yeah, you get lucky and get Jane Reed way deep. Yeah, you throw picks sometimes. But the thing is, you're making up six, seven, eight first downs when some offenses are struggling just to put

three successful plays together. And so I think this offense is great. I think they're really coming together, actually. And I think they're just going to keep ascending. I came away from that film, watching that film, way more optimistic about the Packers offense because I know the pick-six love through. I know. But actually, he was trying to do the smart thing on that. And it's just, he's going to try. Like, that's just the quarterback that he is. And I love it. And I think...

I think it's just going to really come together because I really do think the run game came together against the Rams and the chalk plays are starting to come together. To Logan, I didn't mean to laugh at you, man. As someone who really enjoyed watching Danny Etlin preseason games for the Falcons, I understand what you're going through. But I don't want to see Danny Etlin start 17 games. You don't want to see Malik Bull start 17 games. DJ Shockley?

Oh, Georgia and Falcon. Great. That's right. Like Atlanta legend. Atlanta legend. Yeah. He has like jobs everywhere. It feels like a really nice guy. I met him. But yeah, that's the guy I think of too. But no, just keep the faith Packers fans. You got a good offense. Just look. Just wait. Go on to the next question from Mike Cross. The Eagles stink. How can they not be stinky? Please send in a prescription. That gives me hope.

Charles, how can the Eagles not be stinky? One, get healthy. Yeah, I know. That's huge. Two, just prepare for Howie to do the same thing that he did to Carson Wentz with Jalen Hurts with another quarterback to Jalen Hurts. That's...

I'm calling. I've been ready to call since last year. Uh, well, honestly, since the Superbowl year, but that's a little bit too soon. Uh, but you mean when he was second team, all pro and everyone, everyone wanted to bring up how many turnovers he did not have. And apparently that's what made the good quarterback. Like whatever, like this is going to fall apart at some point. Cause he, he just, he doesn't do enough to elevate what's going on around him. Uh,

And it's just like, right, he hasn't developed. It's really basic stuff, too, that he still struggles with. I think the most telling sign is, you know, Kellen Moore gets here and you're running the same exact offense as you were before. So, like, Jalen Hurts gets bucketed into the...

the Russell Wilson class of quarterbacks kind of where it doesn't matter who your OC is, it's going to look the same. But with Russ, man, I knew like, I knew at peak Russ, I could put anyone out there and we would have a good offense at least because we could, we could actually do like some grown up things. But with, but this, I don't know, you're running like,

run like college college stuff and like a derogatory way not like in the you know we're bringing the fun concept stuff it's like oh like we have to run rpo like orbit rpo like 15 times a game because a quarterback can't read the field so they'll be fine once they get healthy probably not a super bowl team but i would just prepare yourself for how are you trying to figure out a way to get out of the jail and hers contract

So that was even a harsher. I was going to go, I was going to talk about the defense and say, well, you need a, you need a, you need a whole off season to fix that defense. They, yeah, it's, it's, you know, Jalen, hopefully Jalen Carter makes a lot of plays. I think, you know, and they're,

When you come out of buy, hopefully Fangio will have some stuff for you to fix some of it. But I do think they just need reinforcements, and I don't know where those are coming from. I mean, they already moved on from Devin White. That experiment didn't last long. No. I just want to talk about that for a second, because that's been really weird to me. People who've been shocked by the idea that Devin White could get cut by...

The Eagles, and I kind of think this goes back to the Super Bowl that they played against the Chiefs.

where after that game, people were calling Devin White the best linebacker in football. And I'm like, well, that was never true. He was number two, I think, in ESPN's rankings or something like that. Yeah, he was number two on his own team. Like, that was just never true. So I think people are still, like, grappling with the idea, like, whoa, how could someone who was, like, the best linebacker in football a few years ago be out of a job? Well, because he was never the best linebacker in football. And that was just an erroneous bad take by a lot of people who weren't watching any Bucs football that year.

He was a super role player that that defense was perfect. And what, what Todd Bowles did with him and why he had a bunch of sack numbers was

He's really fast. That's why he got drafted so high is he would be in man coverage on the running back. If the running back stayed in to protect, he just puts the quarterback. So he was the master of the green dogs and it was perfect. Like that was what he was good at. He's run really fast. Don't make him think it's with the Ravens. They would Patrick Queen a little bit last year. It's just run, hit, go. Don't have to think you're a man coverage. Don't do it. If Levante David was on the field, he was lost. And that was, I mean, it was just palpable when he watched it. So,

Yeah, I don't know why. He has the titles, the stats, Super Bowl champ and all that. High draft pick. But if you watched him even at the box, he was never that type of guy. He was more just a Super Bowl guy. It's like...

Tony Pollard of linebackers. But I think Tony Pollard might be even better at that. Yeah, I know. But a guy that everyone's like, well, he's really good. But he's like, yeah, but he can't do this, can't do this, can't do this. That's why he's never going to get to that level. That's me and Tony Pollard, actually. All right. But going into the Eagles offense, though, I'm with you. That's always just going to be limited. This is how the offense is always going to feel. And I think some Eagles fans are figuring that out. But it's just that

I was hoping to see more and hoping to see maybe that next step from Jalen Hurts, but it just feels more of the same of last year, which is not good. He's not been good reading on quarterback replays. He's a good scrambler, but he's not good on the design runs. And again, that was such an important element of him in this offense that taking that away is kind of just...

All right. So what do you do? Throw go balls? All right. Well, I don't know. We can get Tanner McKee to do that. You know, like that. So, you know, like, all right, let's get something. Yeah. Right. That's what I mean, though. So why pay this? It's so. Yeah. Yeah. I want to see how the second half of the year goes. But next up, is it McKeever? McKeever has our first voicemail on the mailbag. Producer Stone, you want to drop that in?

Hey, Nate, Charles, and Matt. Big fan of the show. Long time suffering Bills fan here. And I just wanted to ask if you think there's a chance that they get Devonta Adams or Amari Cooper. And just kind of as a bigger discussion, what big offensive trade moves do you see happening at the deadline coming up? And what teams would you like to see add some value? Well, you already gave your Jacoby Brissett to the Browns.

So that's one. Did they answer the first question? Do the Bills make a trade? No, probably not. I don't think so. I don't think so. I think they're fine just slogging through this year as it is. Like we all know it's a retooling year. Do you really need to go get Devonta Adams? You might win the division in a retool year. Yeah.

That's right. You're sitting. Okay. And like, depending on how this middle portion of the season breaks for you, you might win the division by a good amount of wins. Honestly, like Monday's pretty big. That's going to start to define things, but dolphins are not playing real football. The Patriots are rebuilding like the jets are. We've seen what happened with the justice league. So I think you should feel pretty okay about the bills standing pat. Um,

with no train. But, like, Devontae to the Jets, that still seems like something that could possibly happen. It was funny that

It was kind of getting leaked. Like Devante wanted to go to the Jets or the Saints, his former quarterbacks. And then Derek Carr gets hurt. The Jets fired their head coach. Man, I had a pretty stinky curse last week when I went on NFL Network and I said, oh, yeah, Nico Collins, Offense Player of the Year, gets hurt. And then the other guy, a guy I highlighted the whole show, was Aaron Jones, who also got hurt. Perfect. Snipe, snipe.

Yeah, I'm so bad at projecting the trades because it's not like the NBA where you just do a trade machine with the contracts and everything's locked. Yeah, you can do some funny stuff with it, but everything has to kind of be one for one. There's some rule changes. I read too much of the contract stuff, but the NFL...

Some teams can eat it. It's based on the base salary stuff. So it's like, okay, yeah, they don't have enough room, but they can do things to get room or they might not want to use that room because they want to carry it over, things like that. So that's why it's hard for me to ever project it. I can see Amari Cooper getting moved. But the thing is, the Browns seem like they're in a world where they're just going like, no, this is – we're good. Like, I mean, just – Everything's fine, guys. Everything's fine. What are you guys talking about? Like, they are. They're acting like it's –

business as usual we all saw that yeah the more you say it the better things just turn out to be I guess you know yeah we just everyone saw it everyone watched that game everyone saw what was going on uh

I mean, you guys just traded for Jerry Judy and paid him. It's like, I don't know. Yeah. So I don't know what they're going to do as sellers or anything. I would like to see Cooper moved, like maybe to the bills or something, but I don't know if that's going to happen. So sorry to not answer that question, but we still kind of got to talk about it. All right. Next one up is from Noah L.

Uh, QBs are taught to look off the safety. Why do safety linebackers still follow their eyes? Shouldn't it be clear that the direction they're looking is not a tell as the quarterback or he taught to only look off the safety sometimes. So they bite when you do. Okay. I'll answer this one to start. Uh,

plays happen quick so that that is why that's why looking i mean look at basketball everyone bites the lebron's eyes even if he like has the most telegraph no look passes ever uh i can't believe i just insulted lebron somehow there but the uh but really what what it is is a lot of people are like oh i've noticed this a lot especially during the draft process he locks in on his receiver a lot

Most guys, because the play happens in two seconds that the ball gets a lot, you get rid of the ball. You're not really looking anyone off unless it's a play. Usually when there's a high safety, like a post safety. So that is when you look a safety off because usually you're

Caleb Williams' touchdown to D.J. Moore is an amazing example this past week. It's a double pump move or a pump and go move to one side, I think to his Keenan Allen. He looks because it's a single high safety. The Panther safety sprints over there. And then there's D.J. Moore on the post that he replaces right there. That is looking off the safety. But that only happens on vertical routes like that.

And, yes, great point, though, bringing up that the older players do get to that point. That's something Tom Brady was the master of. Stafford's really good at it. Rodgers is good at it. Mahomes has gotten pretty good at it. You see guys like Joe Burrow has gotten pretty good at it, where they kind of just –

I think we did a study one time where it was like Tom Brady did not look at his actual target 90% of his dropbacks. It was something like that. Like he did it like every play. That's Tom Brady. You know, most guys are about to step down from that. But really it's more...

You're confirming the look when you see a quarterback staring. And usually if it's quick game, they're going to stare because the only time you look guys off is high lows. The Matthew Stafford throws because you're holding, you're tying down the one, the linebacker. That's when you look off the linebackers high low. So it's a long window way to answer it, but look off safeties when it's single high, look off linebackers when it's a high low concept, look off corners when it's a smash concept, which is a high low on the outside, but it's,

It usually doesn't happen as much as people think. I think it's one of the more exaggerated aspects of quarterback play. That's what I was going to say. I was like, well, one, just looking from a defensive perspective, one, because I'm greedy and I want to make the play. And second, most of the time, I'm going to be heading in the right direction if I follow your eyes. Because like you said,

You know, if you're going to be a quarter, like, you know, we talk about the first read stats all the time. I mean, that's just like play design most of the time. You know, it's not a really big deal. So if I see the quarterback like catch the ball and like look right. Yeah, like we're all going to shift over in that direction because most of the time that's where the ball is going. And then, you know, in circumstances like you put out.

yeah, sometimes you get got on the other end, but most of the time you will be heading in the right direction. If you follow their eyes, you're going to have to get beat on that sometimes, but you want to get your hands on the ball or not go make a play. Well, it's like,

yeah stafford can get away with their own no look passes and it's like why does everyone fall for it it's like because when they play any other quarterback they're getting a pick there like that that is why they jump in like you said it's just it's just how it goes and things happen so quick that's why guys still bite on it because that's how quick you have to react to things to make plays on defense if you if you're a half i mean the any given sunday al pacino when he's talking about you're

you know, quarter inch or a quarter second slow or anything is a billion percent true. Like that is exactly how the NFL is. It's one of the, yeah. One of the more realistic things that that movie, which actually is pretty good. But yeah, I do think the looking off the guys is, is, has been exaggerated. I think went from on the outside perspective, but you do still do it sometimes. All right. Next question from Ryan. And I keep thinking about your podcast name, football three Oh one. Thanks.

And coming back to the same question, who would be the faculty teaching the doctoral level classes in different parts of football? If you were the head of the college of football at NFL University, who would be your faculty in the main facets of the game? Do you have any ones?

I have a couple. I don't really have a specific name here, but whoever is coaching the Ravens front seven, like specifically the interior guys and the outside guys, I want that guy on my staff. They've had a lot of guys over the years. And outside of like, I feel like a small stretch of,

Like in mid-2000s when their defense was like legitimately terrible, like when Joe Flacco was still a quarterback, you're always getting solid play from the defensive tackles. You're always getting solid plays from the edge guys, even if they're not like standout guys. I remember one time at the combine, one time at the combine when Ozzie Newsome was still the GM, I asked him about it. I was like,

I was like, you know, how, how, like, where, where are you? Like, what are you looking at to get all these like late round draft hits on defense line? He was like, well, if I knew that I'd be taking them a lot higher than I was. Fair point. Fair point. So to me, they're doing something right. As far as player development, uh, their defensive line coach right now is, uh, Dennis Johnson. He's only been there for a year. Defensive line has been pretty solid, especially versus the run. Uh,

I don't know who it was before that or who was on the Mike Mack staff, but that guy was pretty good too. And whoever was before him was pretty good too. So just a theme, Ravens, uh, people of mine, uh, you know, front seven coach. You're drafting by helmet or, or yeah. Uh, yeah, I went with, uh, I kind of, it's kind of the names you'd expect. Like I'd be for me, it'd be like spags at DBs.

I think he just, he's just so good. Look at what he's done the last couple of years with those, all those kind of, kind of like you said, day three guys, you know, with the Ravens and stuff. So Spags or DBs, I'm biased. I would say this guy named Mike Tice for offensive line. I,

How could you not put him there if you didn't? I know. Wade Harmon is the guy that was a long-time assistant at tight ends coach. I'm trying to think. Oh, running backs. Bobby Turner. Bobby Turner. Bobby T at running backs. Bobby Turner is the long, long-time Shanahan assistant. First for Mike and then Kyle. I worked with him in Atlanta. And also a...

actual savant in running back scouting. And I can say that because him and I both like Tevin Coleman. So that's why I'm saying that. He made me feel smart. But Bobby T receivers, Kyle Shanahan,

He's incredible with receivers. Watch how detailed those 49ers receivers are or anywhere he's ever been. Atlanta, Cleveland, Houston before that, like Washington. All the receivers are always detailed. So actually Kyle Shanahan coaching receivers. Trying to think who else. Oh, Kocerek, the 49ers defensive line coach. So three coaches from the 49ers staff. I didn't know how to pronounce his name. Chris Kocerek, I believe it is. Yeah, because I was going to butcher it. I was like, let me not. Yeah. Special teams, Dave Tobe.

who's the chiefs special teams coach long time yeah so we got two guys from our staff harbaugh either harbaugh really either harbaugh like uh man i know both yeah both of the harbaugh's would be good to have in there well i don't know about jim actually no not jay okay

Yeah, I know what else we got in there. Jack, too. Yeah, no, I could keep going with this one. I like this question, but those are the ones that came to mind for me. Linebackers, Rod Marinelli, maybe. Rod Marinelli for... Man, we are showing our age on that one. Dude, I know. Name good coaches from 2010. That's kind of what I'm doing here, so...

Yeah, really showing my age. Oh, LaFleur. Matt LaFleur of quarterbacks. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. I easily would say that one. Did I cover every position? Close enough. But yeah, those are the ones that came to mind. Ask us again in a month. We'll be better. Yeah, give us some byronce.

That's how I really looked at these. All right, Stone, let's get to another audio or another voicemail. This one from Felix. Greetings from Montreal, Canada. What's the difference between a receiver and a Titan in 2024? Essentially, right, as I see guys like CalPets and Samuel Porter, which are deployed all over the field like receivers, they're

like but they don't really block i'm like why is that guy just not a receiver so i was wondering if you could educate me on the distinction between the two and is is that distinction getting slimmer to the day so thanks a lot have a nice one

I like that. I think, do you have any thoughts on this? Yeah, when I heard Montreal, I just immediately thought of our friend Seth Glina. Yeah, I did too. Yeah. At first I thought it was a prank, but I was like, no, I don't think he's doing a prank. Not yet. Not yet. But I think, I would say the reasons why you're not seeing more tight ends flex out to receivers because they're just not threats to cornerbacks really. Yeah.

You have to pass the threshold. Right. It's not even always just not fast enough. It's just there's a lot of skill that goes into playing wide receiver that you aren't necessarily learning when you're also spending time on tight ends. People ask about why don't the Falcons just put Kyle Pitts out at wide receiver? It's because he doesn't play wide receiver. I don't know. It's kind of his own thing. He hasn't learned it yet.

Yeah, I like the at the end there, Felix, you said is the difference becoming slimmer? And I would actually, that's where I think some of it is too. Some of the college, you know, offenses, we can find a bunch of 230 pound guys. You can't find a lot of

255 pound guys that can run, catch and are smart. That's what Mike Leach said. He goes, Titans are great. If you find them, he was like, yeah, 12 personnel is awesome. I would love to run 12 personnel. You got two tight ends. Like you got two guys. I could try it out there every play. It's hard. Those are the, those are some of the best athletes on the field. Like you have to be incredibly athletic. You have to be, but now the intelligence level for that position is,

You have to know the pass game. You have to know protections. You have to know the run game. You – like even the coaches at tight ends have become a lot more intelligent. They used to be the spot you can hide guys. Now, on the staff, that's the head coach's brother or brother-in-law –

college teammate was coaching tight ends. Not anymore. Like you need a dude there. Usually those guys end up becoming the quarterback coaches. But that's just from a mental standpoint. But yeah, physically there are smaller tight ends that are succeeding now because coaches are kind of letting them or get more creative. You're not having Sam Laporte a block, you know, bad-ass DN on every play. You split them out, do other things. So I think that's where some of the merger has come. Then you get,

more receivers getting asked to down block. And I think that's some of the Shanahan influence where, you know, McVay as well with the 11 and a half personnel stuff. So that's where some ideas have merged because defenses are kind of going like, well, if you're an 11, you do this. If you're in 12, you do this. So offenses go, how do we invert that? How do we do three receiver looks out of two tight ends? How do we do two tight end looks with three receivers? So that's where some mergers has come X's and O's wise. And I think just body types are that, you know,

power slots are becoming a thing, are a thing. Big 215-pound receivers. Those are essentially what we used to call tight ends. That used to be the F tight end, the second tight end. But now that's the third receiver. Those guys used to be 5'9", 180. So it's kind of more the second tight end and the third receiver have merged. Kind of role-wise, player-type, kind of, sort of-wise, but that's where we really see that adjuster kind of merging. I mean, you could spend a whole

show on just that. I mean, every aspect. Well, we'll finish with one last question from James Rogers, which is also tight end related. So we'll wrap this up with another tight end question, which is, could you guys dive into what's going on with tight end production seemingly being down across the board this season? You have any thoughts on that? I didn't actually, I didn't really marinate on this one, but I'm. I was going to say the same stuff. There's just, there's not a whole lot of guys that can do both. I think you're also seeing guys who we've seen as established guys who

starts to fall off. Mark Andrews, Travis Kelsey, George Kills getting up there, and there hasn't been anyone to replace him, really. We thought Kyle Pitts was going to be that guy, but I think he's been hampered, too hampered by injuries to kind of reach the potential there, and Sam Laporte is a cool player, so...

You're kind of looking at like Laporta. McBride's been fine, but not overwhelming. Yeah. Right. So I guess your biggest hope is probably Brock Bowers right now. Tucker Craft. Tucker Craft. Tucker Craft. Yeah. That's a good one. Saving my fantasy team. Dude, I might say this. I don't think I'm scared to say it. He's like a top six tight end in the league right now. He is. He rocks. Tucker Craft, man. I'm trying to train for him in every dynasty league, and I can't get him in any of them.

But like also an answer to the question is like if you told me almost any tight end that was played up quality numbers top six tight end of the sure There's not many of them, you know So it's really hard to find guys who can block and understand protections and also Understand how to run routes and catch the ball and make plays after the catch. So we saw a little golden era I think it's kind of the same thing with the quarterbacks. We're seeing a bunch of guys have gotten over the hill and

And we're just waiting for the new blood to kind of actually establish themselves in the NFL. And there's a couple coming in this next class, too. There's Mason Taylor from LSU, who I really like. Jason Taylor's son. Son. Son. Because he's married to Zach Thomas' sister. Yes. Yes. And there's also Jason II, who's a safety, I think, at Arizona. He's a safety? Wow. Yeah. Because Mason...

Yeah, because Mason, you get like he looks like Jason Taylor playing tight end. Like he's good. I like so many LSU guys this year, but you also got Loveland from Michigan, who's a good player. You got tight end for North

Dame. I'm blanking on his name right now. He's also interesting. Mitchell Evans, I believe it is. There's some guys coming up, but like you said, there's just guys have dropped off. Mark Andrews dropping off is a big deal. That guy was looking like the number two guy behind Kelsey for a minute, along with Kittle maybe as well. We're just kind of waiting for that. I also think it's some scheme stuff.

A lot of tight ends are staying in to protect. A lot of guys are chip helping. That's going to reduce yards you can get because it's going to take you a sec before you get out on the route. So I think some of that is part of it too, where offenses are attacking shorter that

The tight end routes where you can get chunks, the seams, maybe a dig are kind of just going, why don't we just get the number two receiver to do that as opposed to the tight end? So again, it's that merger of ideas between the receivers and tight ends. Maybe it's hit some of these tight ends that haven't really found that role because they were just like, I don't know if I'll just give it to the receiver. So good questions. Good job, guys. Appreciate it. That'll do it for this week's episode, our week six preview. We are closing it out today. Matt and I will be back next Tuesday.

To recap week six, I'm Nate Tice. You can find me at Nate underscore Tice. That's my cat, Midge, if you can hear her. And you are Charles McDonald. Chuck, where can they find you? What'd you work on this week?

uh wow a lot of stuff uh check out four birds calm i did a breakdown of like the john gruden tiktok video oh we didn't even talk about it yet oh yeah we had a whole bit planned i just totally forgot about but uh yeah if you just go to my page on four birds uh on twitter it's just all over all over my page i it just kind of broke my brain when i when i get into these ruts where something is

and stuck in my brain. I just have to get it out. And the way I can get it out is just by continuing to post about it. So, you know, couldn't even do that in pregame warmups, but I can do it on the podcast. Got you feeling nice-y. Oh, yeah.

Every single one. I've watched that video so many times. I showed it to my wife and she was like, is he okay? I was like, I don't know, but I'm loving it. Your breakdown too about how he lost like 10% of his enthusiasm on each quarterback. Yeah.

Because at first he's like, yeah, I'm way overstimulated. And then by the time he gets to the end, he's just like, okay, done. Shred them, Stroud.

Oh, man. If you guys enjoyed this show, or if you enjoy Football 301, please subscribe to us. Please follow us. Please rate us, whether it's your podcast or on YouTube. You can watch us on YouTube on the Yahoo Sports YouTube channel. Also follow Yahoo Sports on Snapchat. Did not get any review questions. So that little bait I did for the mailbag, I was like, hey, leave a review with a question. Got an O for there. So did not really work out for that. But

Hopefully we'll leave some more reviews, hopefully positive ones. I really appreciate everyone that's been checking out this show. I want to thank also to thanks also to Brett Stone and Adi behind the scenes, everybody that helps us out, get football three on off the ground. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend. Thanks for listening. See you guys next week.