Rob Ninkovich joins! The Greg Hill Show!

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00:00And it seems like Wiggy says it all the time.

00:02They could basically have their way with the AFC, certainly, schedule-wise going forward.

00:08Yeah, it was awesome.

00:09It was a great win.

00:10Happy for Coach Vrabel to go to his own old home and beat up on the Titans.

00:17And, you know, it's good.

00:19I was with Drake last night.

00:21I was at the YMCA to have a Legends ball.

00:24Sick brag.

00:25Well, he's there.

00:26You know, he's obviously there helping the community because he's a community guy.

00:30And, you know, it's for inclusion.

00:32So it's including children with disabilities into, you know, everything that they need.

00:38Yeah.

00:38Society and feeling like they're welcome.

00:41And they do a great job with that.

00:43So it's the Hockamock YMCA Legends ball.

00:45And he was there, full support.

00:48And, you know, I haven't really been around him that much.

00:52And he is big.

00:54Like, not only is he big, he's fast.

00:57So it's almost like the Cam Newton thing.

01:00One time, Cam Newton, it was the first time I ever played against Cam Newton.

01:03He was running onto the field.

01:05And I remember looking at him and thinking to myself, wow, that guy's impressive.

01:11Big dude.

01:11He's a big dude.

01:13So that's what you said about Greg during the break.

01:15Yeah.

01:15Well, that camera angle was low to high.

01:17You know, low to high is never going to flattery.

01:19Stop with the camera angle.

01:20It's got to go high to high.

01:21I don't, I'm, I'm operating everything here technologically myself.

01:27Oh, that's good.

01:27The laptop, the studio, like everything.

01:30For a man of your age to have that technology, you know, the understanding is amazing.

01:35But anyway, Drake, you know, he's playing great.

01:38I think that one throw, I think to Diggs on the sideline, it was just a quick, get the

01:42ball, get it out of his hand, bang, bang play.

01:46It's one of those plays that when you're watching that happen through other teams, say it was

01:51Kansas City or one of these good teams, you just say, wow, that looks so easy.

01:55How come we can't do that?

01:56And now we have plays where you're like, wow, that looked pretty easy.

02:00Why can't we consistently do it?

02:02And we're doing it consistently.

02:03So even scoring before the half, like, well, it'd be nice to kick a field goal here, which,

02:08you know, let's just get in field goal range.

02:09No, they score a touchdown.

02:11We haven't done that a long time.

02:13So it's nice to see the vertical passing game getting down the field.

02:17Now, this is the only thing that I have some concerns with moving forward.

02:24It's nasty out right now, right?

02:25It's raining.

02:26Moving forward, we potentially might have some wet, nasty, windy games in New England, which

02:33is, we're used to that, right?

02:35What's the first thing that gets affected in a windy, nasty day?

02:39Throwing the football down the field.

02:41And what do you need to rely on in those situations?

02:43Running the football.

02:44And what else is more security?

02:46Ball security in a running, control the clock type game.

02:51So I think moving forward, you got to continue to work on the penalties, get better in those

02:56certain areas.

02:56But running the football when you want to run the football and protecting the football

03:00when you need to protect the football are the two important things in a November, December

03:06season in New England where you're going to have a game coming up.

03:11We haven't had one yet.

03:12It's been pretty nice.

03:14We haven't had a wet, nasty, rainy, cold where throwing was really gross.

03:20That was it.

03:20And what happened?

03:21They lost.

03:21Is your confidence up on Ramondre Stevenson now after that?

03:25Yeah, I mean, I don't think you look at the situation earlier in the season and the way

03:30Vrabel handled that was, hey, we need him.

03:32I'm not just going to say, no, you're not playing anymore because we need you.

03:35The team needs you.

03:37So hopefully the more consistency, holding on to the football can push him into a better

03:43mental state where you're confident, you're just playing, you're not worried about anything.

03:47So, you know, having a good solid football game like you did last week is a good step

03:52in the right direction.

03:53They certainly were more successful last week, but the difficulties they've had when it comes

03:59to running the football, do you put that more on the backs, on the line, or on Josh McDaniels?

04:06No, I think it's a combination.

04:08Anytime you have success, it's a combination of things.

04:10It's the play call, it's the execution, and how do you actually go out there and block

04:14them up?

04:15How do you run the ball?

04:16How do you, you know, there's plenty of times where the offensive line could block the right

04:20guys, but the back misses the hole.

04:23So, you know, there's, you always watch the tape back and you say, man, you got to stay

04:29front side.

04:30Instead, they see something and they cut back because as a back, you're just taught to do

04:35naturally what you feel is the right thing.

04:37And then there's that versus the play call.

04:39So maybe as they continue to move forward and they work and they get better at it, there's,

04:44you know, cohesion and this is how we're blocking it.

04:47This is where you need to go.

04:48So trust it.

04:49Because sometimes as a running back, you know this, it's there and it's not real quick.

04:56So, hey, the hole's there.

04:58You just can't stutter or stop your feet.

05:00You got to hit it and you got to go.

05:01Because once it's there, but it closes in a second.

05:04And once it closes, you're done.

05:05And that's the thing about when you have fumble issues, when we talked about this with

05:09Vrabel, is sometimes the back gets too scared and he's running through the hole with two

05:13hands on the football, which slows him down, not being explosive.

05:17And that you might've saw from Ramondre a few times, but now that he has the confidence,

05:22he can just get back to, because they always tell you a good running back will tell you

05:25just stay on them because an arm tackle is not going to get me down.

05:29Right?

05:30So as a run blocker, just stay on them, stay engaged.

05:33I can run through an arm tackle.

05:34But if you're kind of stuttering, like Niko says, then it allows that those other guys to

05:40get into the, to, to the fray when it starts to come to tackle.

05:43But to Niko's point, if you've got rainy, windy games coming up, how can Ramondre run

05:47through those holes with only one arm?

05:49Like, wouldn't that be?

05:50No, you always got to run through a one.

05:52You got to be confident in, in your high and tight and tucking the ball in.

05:55Like you have to be confident because no running backs running through a hole with like

05:59two hands on it.

06:00Like this is 1925.

06:02And you know, it's.

06:02But do we have the confidence in him to be able to do that, especially in a game where

06:05the weather is going to be a factor?

06:06Well, he has to have the confidence in himself.

06:08And if he can string together a few games where he's not fumbling, then that's going

06:14to help him.

06:15But a coach is going to tell you, Hey, I want you just going through there.

06:17Don't, don't hug on that thing.

06:19Like, you know, you hugging on to, you know, your last woman on your last night on earth.

06:23It also changes your personnel and your packages.

06:26So if it's a rainy, nasty game and you know, Hey, there's not really a chance of a lot.

06:31There's more 21 personnel or 22 personnel.

06:34There's not as much 10 or 11.

06:37Everyone's like, what is that?

06:39Two backs, two tight ends, two backs, one tight end, one back, one tight end.

06:4510 is one back, no tight ends, three receivers.

06:49So with that being said, you go into a game that's really nasty.

06:54It's wet, it's raining, it's windy, and you have a whole game plan.

06:58You might have to just scrap it like, Hey, we can't run what we're running in this week

07:02of practice because we're not going to be able to do it.

07:05It's too windy.

07:06We can't get the ball down the field.

07:07The kicking game is the first thing affected by the wind.

07:10So you might have to, instead of kicking the field goal, you might have to go for it on

07:15fourth and two.

07:16So it really changes your, your mental approach to if I'm a defender and I know they really

07:21can't throw the ball.

07:22Well, we're going to stack it up.

07:24We're going to stop the run.

07:25So when both sides know you got to run, it just comes down to who's more aggressive up

07:30front.

07:31Who's got the better front.

07:32Who's getting off the ball quicker.

07:33Who's got the better hand placement.

07:34Who's pushing people around.

07:36And then it comes down to mentality at that point.

07:38Do you think that Drake has it?

07:40Yeah, I do.

07:42I do.

07:42I think he's got it.

07:43I mean, I think we've already seen it.

07:45I think we've seen it right now.

07:47And, you know, I think coming into this season last year, things were, he wasn't the starter

07:54from day one.

07:55There was, you know, he looked good.

07:57Some flashes.

07:58He looked bad.

07:58Some flashes.

07:59Oh man, what's he doing here?

08:00What's he doing there?

08:01But like I said last week, it's, it's a perfect combination of coaching Josh, putting him in

08:07the right position.

08:09He's trying to protect himself better.

08:11I said, coming into this, this whole year, the number one thing is going to be the offensive

08:14line play.

08:15Number two is going to be, who's going to be the other receiver other than digs, which

08:20is booty.

08:20Now he's making plays.

08:22He's the guy.

08:23And who's the pass rush.

08:26My fourth thing was, is the quarterback going to make sure he doesn't put his head down

08:30and take on contact?

08:31And is he going to avoid contact?

08:32I think he's done a good job of sliding, getting out of contact.

08:36I know last week he had the little backwards tackle there, but you can't stop that.

08:40Like you're literally just getting thrown down and your head whips back.

08:43So, you know, I think he's done a great job of learning from last year to this year, and

08:48he's only going to get better.

08:50He's only going to get better folks.

08:52So it's awesome.

08:53The form talent is there.

08:55The athletic ability is there.

08:57The size is there.

08:59And when you see him on film and you don't really walk up to him in person, you don't

09:05realize he's 6'5".

09:06Yeah.

09:07He's a big boy.

09:08Rob Minkovich.

09:08He's 6'5".

09:09Rob Minkovich.

09:10We will try to have video game consoles and ping pong tables and cornhole boards for you

09:16next week.

09:18Okay.

09:19Perfect.

09:20Let's do it.

09:20If that makes the atmosphere better, we will be all over it.

09:25That is Rob Minkovich.

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