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  • 2 days ago
The Morning Shift reacts to Atlanta Falcons OL Matthew Bergeron explaining how Bill Callahan's new gap scheme returns him to his college roots. Mike Johnson and Beau Morgan debate whether Bergeron actually fits Kevin Stefanski and Tommy Rees' system better than Pro Bowl guard Chris Lindstrom.
Transcript
00:00They got a little insight from Matthew Bergeron on the O-line and new schemes under Bill Callahan.
00:05Let's take a listen.
00:05I mean, it's going to take me back to my college days, obviously.
00:07I think it's going to be great for our running backs to be able to do some different stuff
00:11and mix it up for defenses and stuff and hopefully get B. John on the top of the rushing yards.
00:16And I think it's going to give us a good chance to mix it up
00:18and also just show what we can do as far as gap scheme-wise.
00:24Give me a minute.
00:25You okay there?
00:26Give me a minute.
00:27Give me a minute.
00:28I'm just telling you all, man, this is like when the old heads start talking about midline and veer.
00:35You know what I mean?
00:36Gap scheme, running back.
00:38I love it, man.
00:39Like I said, I've been daydreaming all day, talking about dropbacks, talking about timing,
00:46talking about under center, gap scheme, and things like that,
00:49and Bergeron talking about taking it back to his college days where obviously he was a tackle at the time,
00:54but they were able to do some different things in that offense, man.
00:56I get so excited.
00:57I want the details, and I know we'll eventually get the details on what that looks like,
01:02but my imagination just runs rampant when I hear a guy like Matthew Bergeron start to talk like that.
01:08The only problem that I have when he says it gets me up to my college days, I'm like, yeah,
01:13you're a tackle.
01:14This might be a little bit different for you.
01:16A little bit different.
01:17Of course, you could talk about that more than me of the differences is when you're moving around on the
01:23line like that as a tackle and as a guard, right?
01:25I mean, he's got different assignments, what he's going to be doing, but I do just – and I said
01:34this yesterday,
01:34and when we were talking about the contract stuff, I feel bad saying this, but I just think that Matthew
01:40Bergeron's going to fit anything that the new staffs are going to want to do
01:44better than the right guard that everyone gives all the flowers to constantly, and rightfully so.
01:51He's a good player, but I just think Bergeron's going to fit whatever they want to do better than Lindstrom.
01:56Yeah, I think that's definitely a conversation to be had.
01:59I think that when you've seen Chris Lindstrom on the front side of gap-scheme double teams, when they've been
02:05successful,
02:06a lot of that has had to do with Caleb McGarry and things of that nature.
02:10That's one of the reasons you've struggled in short yardage when you have, but I'm with you.
02:14So just to kind of compare and contrast a little bit, I would have – now, I don't know.
02:17I haven't watched the film of it to look for it specifically.
02:20I would guess that Matthew Bergeron probably pulled from the tackle spot in college a little bit, running counterplace,
02:26where both the backside guard and the backside tackle – the guard will kick out and the tackle will wrap
02:32up into the hole.
02:32But when I heard him talk about that, I thought more along the lines of he knows how to run
02:37gap-scheme double teams
02:38with a post player and a drive player and do those kind of things up front.
02:43Now, that's – you do some of the same things at guard that you would have done at tackle,
02:47depending on what the front is, but I think more than anything, it's probably just hearing the words for him,
02:52right?
02:53You hear whatever they're going to call it, you know, we've called it a million different things,
02:5833 power or whatever, you start to hear those things and you're like, oh, okay, yeah.
03:02This does sound like a lot like the playbook we had, you know, back in college.
03:06So, yeah, I'm stoked for it.
03:08What would be the most exciting thing for you guys to see?
03:11We walk out to training camp, you see – because you've been hearing them talk about these new things
03:15that they're doing, but we walk out and you see it, what would get you hyped?
03:18Like, I think obvious for me, the pulling guard more often, but I think more so than that,
03:30moving the pocket is what I really feel like we've lacked.
03:35We've run a handful of power plays over the last couple years.
03:38I would somewhere in the ballpark of seven, if I had to guess, over the last two seasons.
03:43But I would love to see the quarterback – I would love to see the spot move.
03:46And I think for an offensive lineman, that is such a necessity.
03:50If you just look at a guy like – just going to throw him out there, Myles Garrett,
03:54and you think that we're going to keep him away from that little spot of dirt in the grass
04:00the quarterback's standing on for five seconds, you've lost your mind.
04:03You know what I mean?
04:03So, being able to come up with different ways – and maybe that involves a pulling guard,
04:06maybe it doesn't.
04:07Maybe it involves play action, maybe it doesn't, bootleg and things like that.
04:10But just finding different ways to give the defensive front different looks
04:12on pass plays would be a huge step in the right direction for me.
04:17I mean, as far – it's not as much for me.
04:21I want to see certain guys running certain – like I want to see Kyle Pitts
04:26running some little drag routes, some little – like some plays that are designated
04:31to use what personally I think his skill set is.
04:34because it'll be really fun to see both quarterbacks under center and drop back.
04:40And I'm with Mike.
04:41I would – I absolutely – especially if – with number nine.
04:47I want to see number nine moving in the pocket.
04:49I think it fits him.
04:50I think they did a disservice to him, and I'm not sure if it was from him.
04:57I don't – I'm aware of this – not really sure where the whole thing started,
05:00that he didn't really move in the pocket much.
05:02But to me, it's one of his great – look at some of the throws he's made on the run.
05:08He's incredibly accurate on the run because of his arm strength,
05:11and for whatever reason, he's just – he's just pretty – he makes –
05:14so he can make those throws.
05:15It's a good skill set.
05:16So I don't know why we made him a statue at any point last year.
05:21And let me tell you something.
05:23If you think – if the response from somebody out there,
05:26and even if you might say, well, that's something that's on him.
05:30No.
05:31It's on you.
05:32You're the coach.
05:34You have the control of this.
05:36It's on you if you're in year 10, right?
05:38When you get to the NFL, you're going to assume that the guy coaching you
05:42knows way more than you do about what you need,
05:44especially a guy like Zach Robbins who played quarterback in the NFL,
05:47you know, T.J. Yates.
05:49And the fear there being that, like, maybe he just wasn't good at it.
05:52Maybe they were like, this looks like – you know, this looks terrible.
05:54We're going to veer away from that.
05:56But I would say, if anything, like, let's just say Michael Penix wins the job.
06:00And I know we're so far away from that.
06:02What do you think the book for different coordinators is going to be?
06:05As soon as they – as soon as you get to a situation where they are allowed
06:09to be blitz happy like a Tampa, right?
06:11You're going to look at Michael Penix and go, okay, I want to see if he can move
06:15and I want to see if he can diagnose what he's seeing.
06:17And until he proves me otherwise, I'm going to light up the blitz package
06:22every single down when I get a chance.
06:24Which is what Todd Bowles does anyway.
06:25Exactly.
06:26And that's – I think that Tua probably a little step in the right direction
06:31above that as far as having seen more defenses.
06:33But they are going to – because I do, and I've said it a number of times,
06:36I do think Michael Penix will be your week one starting quarterback.
06:38I don't know if he holds it all year, but I think he'll be out there.
06:40And I guarantee you every coordinator that he steps in front of,
06:44it is going to be one game plan.
06:46Prove me wrong.
06:47And you better be able to move and you better be able to diagnose
06:49and you better be able to get the ball out.
06:51And honestly, it's not going to be that much different if Tua's back there.
06:54Because what do you think is –
06:56For sure.
06:56If Tua's back there, I mean, this sounds really, really bad.
07:01Hit him.
07:02Hit him hard.
07:03Make him fill it.
07:04See if he gets up.
07:06Because he's got an – he's got a history.
07:08I mean, dude, guys, it's a contact sport.
07:11They're not out there trying to – they're trying to make you uncomfortable.
07:15They're trying to make you fill it.
07:18The whole thing with a quarterback is get his time clock off.
07:21Speed him up.
07:22And guess what?
07:23You hit him, that's how you do that.
07:25And we've seen – go back to that Pittsburgh game on Monday night
07:28back around Christmas with Tua.
07:31They had him throwing the ball – I don't know where he was throwing.
07:36It wasn't even – there was nobody even on that side of the field for the Dolphins.
07:40So when you get in these guys' heads, they've shown to kind of break a little bit.
07:45So they're going to do that.
07:47You've got to be ready for it.
07:49Well, I do want to point out, ask and you shall receive, Bo,
07:52because quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt did talk yesterday
07:55about how being under center is going to be huge this season.
07:57Oh, yeah, we have really three different dropbacks, not including play action.
08:02So we'll do it all.
08:03And that's another big thing we've worked on this year of getting Mike into a back
08:07under center because this system, we obviously love to run the ball from under center.
08:12I mean, we can do that with those guys.
08:13It just opens up everything else in the play action world.
08:16You just – look, man, I don't know enough to sit here about Alex Van Pelt
08:21and be like, oh, quarterback whisperer.
08:22I don't.
08:22But hearing his confidence in that answer, it just sounds different.
08:29And, you know, he's not the coordinator.
08:32That's Tommy Reese.
08:33But just hearing the difference between him talking and anything we would have heard
08:36out of Zach Robinson last year, well, yeah, he's doing the right things.
08:39You know, he's coming along.
08:40We're going to put him in a position.
08:41No, we have a system.
08:42You know, we have three different drops.
08:45We have – like this is how we go about things.
08:47It just sounds – Zach Robinson came here.
08:51He's a first-time coordinator, had been coaching for about five years.
08:54And it just – this just sounds like a little bit more prepared version going in.
09:00I just – it sounds good to me.
09:02Let's go.
09:02Yeah, I'm not going to sit here and bag Zach.
09:04I think enough people shoot, you know, attack him or he gets enough strays.
09:12The thing that I hear, though, you know, and Van Pelt is just the quarterback coach
09:16for whatever that's worth, but I – it just – he just – he talks with confidence
09:21about what he's doing.
09:24I don't foresee this staff changing what they want to do necessarily just to make someone comfortable.
09:33I think they're – and it's a little bit of an old-school approach.
09:36I'm a wholehearted believer in the fact that you figure out what your guys do the best
09:42and you work that into your system to get the best of everything.
09:48But I do believe right now they're – it feels to me like the offensive mindset of this staff is
09:56we're going to do what we do and see who does that the best
10:00and who can run that the best and who can – and then we'll adapt
10:05and add things into the game plan.
10:07But this is our base system.
10:09Figure it out.
10:10Get used to it.
10:11Sell it that.
10:12And then we'll – we'll twist things.
10:14But as far as the – but to me, the last group went out there and said,
10:19well, we just want you to be – we want to – we're going to build the offense around you.
10:23And I think that was a detriment.
10:26I think to me in the NFL, that can be a detriment to the players and to the team.
10:30Yeah, I agree.
10:32And again, I feel like we're still kind of climbing out of this, you know,
10:37Arthur Smith, we're going to get players that fit my scheme and only my scheme
10:42and we'll do the things that I want them to.
10:44And we're still kind of fighting our way out of that.
10:46So I just – I think that for the first time in a long time that we're going to get
10:51a chance
10:52to envision these players doing a little bit something different.
10:54And things that they should be good at.
10:55Chris Lindstrom should be great as a pulling guard.
10:58He is so athletic.
11:00He should be great.
11:01He should be great getting out in front on screens.
11:03We just do what we do.
11:05What is that?
11:06You and Dylan at training camp?
11:07Yeah, we do what we do.
11:08Yeah.
11:09Which, fair enough.
11:10I understand the guy's made a lot of money doing it.
11:12I just think that he's going to be put up to bat doing things that he should also be good
11:15at.
11:16And it's going to be fun to watch.
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