- 1 day ago
Kevin Sheehan critiques the decision to play Jayden Daniels and the offensive starters for just three non-impactful snaps before pulling them for the rest of the game. He also raises major alarms regarding the team's center position and lack of interior depth, warning that protection issues could prove disastrous against an elite Week 1 defensive line in the Eagles.
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00:00All right, we do this even though it's probably not worthwhile.
00:05Just, you know, the prefacing of all of this as a preseason recap
00:11is that this is more about kind of player evaluation.
00:13And again, that's dicey for us because of who they're playing against.
00:18Plus, we don't know what their responsibilities are.
00:20Plus, we don't know if like a defensive coach or an offensive coach
00:23is actually just trying some things out to see what they look like.
00:26Like, that happens during preseason games and joint practices.
00:30It's like we've been working on something,
00:31probably not the best defense to run it against
00:33or the best offense to run it against,
00:35but just want to see if I can get our guys together
00:37and that they know what they're doing.
00:39I mean, these are legitimately like grounds and opportunities
00:44for these coaches to try things.
00:47Results, final score stuff, please.
00:50It doesn't matter.
00:51So here's what I wrote down for the, what I, you know,
00:54wrote down during the game.
00:55I like the energy.
00:57I think that's one of those things you can sort of identify as a fan.
01:00Did they come out, like, were their players excited about the opportunity?
01:04Did they play with urgency?
01:05Did they play with a level of energy that says,
01:08hey, man, this is an opportunity to be evaluated in a positive way?
01:12And my coach really got me fired up to go out there and give it my best.
01:17I thought the energy early, the special teams coverage,
01:19the defense, you know, with the early blitz
01:23and off the corner with Robertson and the sack and the fumble.
01:26There you go.
01:27Energy.
01:28I noticed it, and it was a positive thing from the game on Saturday.
01:33Jaden Bradley's one-handed catch.
01:35That guy's, you know, clearly someone who can play football.
01:40At the professional level, you know, for a team like this on a regular basis,
01:45I have no idea because he hasn't played against starters in these two weeks.
01:49But last week he nearly blocked two punts.
01:52And that one-handed catch from Ethan, you know,
01:55Callie Maness was a really good catch.
01:58The dude's big.
01:59He's 6'4".
01:59He's able to, you know, get his body in positions to make catches.
02:04He's a hands catcher.
02:05There's a lot to like about Jaden Bradley.
02:07Of course, do they have room for him?
02:10I don't know.
02:11I have no idea.
02:12Because the guys that are ahead of him, you'd think on the depth chart,
02:16they haven't really played.
02:17He's played a lot more because they want to see and continue to evaluate him.
02:22But I do think that he's, you know, what Scott McLuhan would call a football player.
02:28Like he can do a lot of things.
02:31Here were some numbers and names that I wrote down.
02:34Part of it is because I know how they feel about these players too.
02:38Like 41, John Baptiste, they actually really liked him heading into last year.
02:45And he got hurt very early in the season.
02:48But they really like his pass rushing ability.
02:51You can see his ability.
02:52You can see his burst.
02:54You can see his bend.
02:56You know, at 6'4", what is he, 245, 250, something like that.
03:00He looks good doing it.
03:01You know, this guy that played at Notre Dame, he's played in big games.
03:04He's actually a guy, you know, who was drafted in the seventh round of that first draft,
03:10the first Adam Peters draft.
03:11And I think they had plans for him last year before he got hurt, legitimate plans.
03:16And then when Wise went down, they had big time plans for him.
03:20And then when, but he was gone.
03:22He didn't get to take advantage of the other injuries to the starters, Armstrong and Wise,
03:26because he got injured.
03:28But 41 can play football, I think.
03:30And part of that is because they've continued to throw his name into, you know, benign questions
03:36where all of a sudden it's like, yeah, John Baptiste.
03:39They like him.
03:40And you can see why they like him.
03:44I don't know how a guy like Tyler Owens, with his motor and his athleticism, doesn't get,
03:53you know, a big time chance moving forward in this league somewhere.
03:59I mean, he is a big, strong, athletic, rangy, aggressive, high motor defensive player.
04:10We've seen it in regular season games.
04:13Last year at times, he had a couple of really good games towards the end of the year,
04:18had a good game against the Cowboys.
04:19I think that was the game on Christmas Day.
04:22I think he's going to make this team.
04:25But he's just a guy that you can't teach 6'3", 220, and super athletic at that position.
04:35And he has that.
04:37But I wrote down 51's number again, Cahoe.
04:41I've written, I've talked about him before.
04:43I think that he just, another guy that, you know, super, super instinctive, athletic,
04:51and, you know, maybe a bit undersized.
04:55But I think he looks the part, you know, every opportunity he's had,
05:00including last year when he played in the regular season.
05:03And then 77, I also wrote down Mo Hurst.
05:08I actually didn't even know this when I wrote his name down,
05:12but he was second on the team in tackles.
05:14He's had, you know, an NFL career spanning multiple teams.
05:19He's been in Cleveland most recently and has played in several games for the Browns
05:24over the last few years.
05:25And, again, he's playing against twos, threes, and fours, but strong, can really move people,
05:33it would look like, at least the people he was playing against.
05:36And another guy that seemed really sort of instinctive up front.
05:41Those were the names I wrote down as kind of the good.
05:46Yeah, you love to see the turnover ratio, but, I mean, you didn't play against Jared Goff
05:52or Jameer Gibbs or Jamison Williams or Amon Ross St. Brown.
05:57I mean, come on.
05:57Like, what are you talking about?
06:00Like, hey, we are – this is going to be a different team.
06:02Remember, last year this time it was like, God, this secondary is going to be lights out.
06:08It is going to lead a major resurgent defensive comeback from 2024.
06:14No, it basically got lit up all year long when they played against better players,
06:19much better players in real games.
06:24Yeah, that's the good.
06:26All right, so let's get to the bad.
06:29I just don't get it.
06:31I don't expect them to care one way or the other
06:35if people like me question three plays for Jaden Daniels in the offensive starters
06:41and two plays for the defensive starters.
06:44And, by the way, not all the defensive starters.
06:46You know, the list of players that were out was, again, pretty long.
06:50And defensively, there was no Deron Payne, no Tim Settle, no Dorrance Armstrong,
06:54no Owe, no Chason, no Amos.
06:58We know no, you know, at this point, no Newton, Dietrich Weiss still on the pup list.
07:02Like, let's focus on the offense here.
07:08So the plan was one series, one series.
07:12If that series is 12 plays, 69 yards, 72 yards, touchdown, field goal, okay.
07:22It was three plays.
07:24It was immediate pressure thanks to our backup center,
07:28or maybe back up to the backup who knows Julian Good-Jones throwaway.
07:33Then, you know, an attempt at some play action or maybe even a bit of a boot
07:37and the tight end, Bates, who's a really good blocker, he gets blown up,
07:42and that play gets blown up, and it ends up in a big sack.
07:46And then a handoff draw on third and forever.
07:50That's it.
07:52I don't get the value of that.
07:55I would rather them not play.
07:56What's the point?
07:58Now, you might say, like, I wrote this down.
08:02I'm like, look, there are basically three reasons, you know, that I can think of
08:07why you would decide just one series regardless of the result, okay.
08:11You know, three plays and out, three negative plays basically and out,
08:16and you're, you know, you're punting, and then the defense is out there for two plays
08:19because they turned them over and then they –
08:22So the first reason is that they genuinely believe, they, the coaches,
08:29that there's real value in getting into uniform, going through whatever you go through
08:37pregame to get ready to play in the game, to actually walk out onto the field
08:43in a real live environment for even just a couple of plays.
08:48Like, they may believe there's tremendous value in it.
08:52The second reason that you might do it is that you had an intention of,
08:59if it was a really short series, coming back for a second series,
09:02but something alarmed you about the first series that said,
09:07I don't want to put, you know, our guys back out there
09:10if we can't block a simple second down play action slash boot.
09:17And the last reason you would do it, and I do not –
09:21I'm not suggesting that this is it.
09:23I'm just giving you one of the potential reasons you would do it,
09:28is that you want to be able to say to the world,
09:31oh, we did play our starters.
09:33We didn't sit our starters for the entire preseason.
09:36We played our starters in the second preseason game.
09:39As if to kind of take the pressure off you –
09:43I actually think they created more of it –
09:45but to take some level of, like, okay, they did play their starters
09:49versus having the ability for people to say at some point during the first week,
09:55if you're down 17-0 against the Eagles,
09:58well, that's what you deserve.
09:59You didn't play the starters at all.
10:01So the third reason would be more of we're sensitive to what people might say
10:06if we don't play our starters.
10:08I don't think that's it.
10:09I'm just throwing it out as a possibility.
10:11I would hate, like hell, if that's what they were succumbing to.
10:15But as far as, like, the honest, genuine feeling that there's value
10:21in three plays and two plays, three for the offensive starters
10:26and two for the defense, I just can't see it.
10:30But especially when the next time they take the field in a real game –
10:35and maybe they'll play against Baltimore on Friday night
10:38and this will be a moot point.
10:40But if they don't and the next time they play is 22 days from Saturday,
10:47over three weeks away, how does the preparing for a real game,
10:53stepping out onto the field and taking three snaps
10:56and maybe getting into a little bit of contact,
10:59how does that benefit you three weeks later?
11:04I don't get it.
11:05I said last week, and I waffled around, and I admit it,
11:09and many of you picked up on it, and that's fine
11:11because you called it out and you were right.
11:13I finally decided, and I want to keep – I've decided that this is my conclusive opinion
11:20on playing starters in the preseason, and I just hope I remember it next preseason.
11:26And that is you either play them or you don't.
11:30And playing them means you put them out there for no less than 15 snaps up to 30,
11:37which could be a whole half.
11:38You either play them or you don't because three plays, one series, I'm sorry.
11:46You've got to really stretch, really stretch the outer limits of imagination
11:53to convince anybody that there's tremendous value in that.
12:00I want to see, you know, what some of the other starters around the league have done.
12:06The Jordan Loves, the Joe Burrows, the, you know, there are plenty of starters
12:11that are playing meaningful minutes.
12:14Bo Nix was out there.
12:15I mean, he had a broken ankle and missed the AFC championship game.
12:20He's back, and they're playing him in the preseason.
12:23Listen, he got drafted, I believe, in the same class that our guy did.
12:28It's not just our guy at quarterback either.
12:31Like, I want all of the starters that are healthy enough to play to be out there.
12:38But either play them or don't play them, period.
12:42I mean, Bo Nix had nine pass attempts.
12:46You know, he was 6-9 for 76 yards.
12:49Jordan Love was 5-7 for 56 yards in the same game.
12:53Like, that feels like good work.
12:56I don't know how many drives it was.
12:57It had to be multiple, given the pass attempt count.
13:01Was Jordan Love out there for the second drive for Green Bay?
13:06He was not.
13:08He was not.
13:09Was Bo Nix out there for the second drive?
13:12He was.
13:14I mean, Bo Nix played into the second quarter.
13:18So, either do it or don't do it.
13:20And don't tell us that, you know, you got a preconceived, it's going to be one series regardless.
13:26And Helly said that during the broadcast in the first half.
13:29He said that it was their understanding that it was going to be one series regardless of what the results
13:38were.
13:39I mean, can't you be a little bit more flexible than that, given what that one series looked like?
13:46Or maybe the one series scared them.
13:49And if that's the case, that leads me to number two on my list.
13:53And that is, they got some sort of center problem here, okay?
13:58This wasn't, you know, totally lacking in the ability to predict.
14:03There was plenty of foresight from everybody on the center position.
14:07Now, we haven't seen Nick Allegretti in a game.
14:09And hopefully we will in the opener against Philadelphia.
14:14But this was Dan Quinn.
14:15Do you've got that sound bite ready to go, Max?
14:17Sure do.
14:18Okay, play what Quinn said about the center position.
14:20And could you talk a little bit about the offensive line?
14:23What do you see in there from the guys that started the game and throughout the game with the other
14:27guys?
14:28Yeah, there's a lot of groups that went in and out.
14:30And so the first crew of, like, Connerly and Cosme, I thought, I like how they're playing together, their communication.
14:38And Sam's really throwing a good camp.
14:40He's, like, maybe playing the best, you know, that I've seen him play in the couple, three years.
14:45His technique, he's on it.
14:46I like what I'm seeing, you know, on the outside, you know, at left tackle.
14:51So we've got work to do to figure out, you know, where we want to get to in center.
14:55But with a lot of people in, it wasn't like a one-line, two-line.
14:59So Wiley played some, and then we moved.
15:01You probably saw different guys at left tackle, right tackle, rotated guys at guard.
15:04So today was about opportunities, giving guys their ops, and I'll look forward to taking a look.
15:11Look, the, you know, in a regular season game, even if Julian Good-Jones was your starting center,
15:19there would be game planning, you know, around, perhaps, their concerns of what his weaknesses would be.
15:27There isn't that in a game like Saturday at Detroit.
15:30And, by the way, that could be one of the reasons that they were like, whatever happens, one drives enough.
15:35And then to see the immediate pressures on the first two snaps offensively, I mean, it could have made them
15:42a bit queasy.
15:43Personally, again, I'd either play them or don't play them, period.
15:49But is it crazy to be concerned about the center position?
15:53No, it isn't, because we were concerned about it all offseason.
15:56Now, what did they do?
15:58They decided that Tyler Biotish, with, you know, a concern from his end to want more guaranteed money,
16:06had none in the third year.
16:08He was under contract.
16:08But, you know, him desiring a level of comfort and an extension, them not believing he deserved it,
16:16them also believing that inside that O-line room, Allegretti is a guy that everybody believes in.
16:22They believe in his ability to communicate at an even higher level than Biotish,
16:28to actually understand what's going on at an equal or higher level than Biotish.
16:36And even if the physical part doesn't necessarily match up, they felt like, at the very least, he was a
16:42good plan B.
16:43I think plan A was probably landing a center in free agency like Tyler Linderbaum,
16:49which they didn't do because the money got out of control.
16:52I do think also with Linderbaum, because this is what I understood at the time,
16:56is that it wasn't even about Tyler Linderbaum being a center.
17:01It was about Tyler Linderbaum being an A-plus interior offensive lineman, period.
17:07Center, guard, left or right, this dude was elite as an offensive lineman.
17:14And adding another A-plus level player to the O-line with Laramie Tunsil.
17:19And the idea that Sam Cosme is certainly rising to a B-plus A-level player,
17:26certainly he's been close to that when he's been healthy.
17:29And you heard what Quinn said, he's throwing a good camp.
17:32That's his expression here during the preseason.
17:35Jaden's throwing a good camp.
17:36I thought that was like, you know, partly he's really throwing the ball well.
17:40But we know Sam Cosme doesn't throw the ball, but he's throwing a good camp.
17:44That's a new one.
17:46Quinn's got a lot of these.
17:47You know, talks about, you know, the spaces and to-go,
17:50and he's throwing a good camp, Cosme.
17:53The center position, there's no reason not to be concerned.
18:00There wouldn't be a reason to be so alarmed as if to say we're doomed.
18:06Because you don't know what it looks like in a real game with game planning.
18:09And you don't know what it looks like at this point with Allegretti.
18:13Because he hasn't played.
18:15And even if he had played, there's no game planning.
18:19So hopefully he's healthy.
18:20Hopefully he's an answer.
18:22And he's equal to or exceeds Beatish.
18:25The problem, I think, that I feel it's a gut feel,
18:30and I know many of you believe it's a definite, you know, truism,
18:35is that their plan B, Allegretti,
18:39didn't come with a legitimate amount of quality competition at the position.
18:47That's what they don't seem to have at that position.
18:50And I think Quinn admitting that to a certain degree about the center position,
18:57and they've got to get that figured out,
18:59is an admission that they didn't really have legitimate competition for Allegretti
19:04at the center spot.
19:06They could certainly move between now and the regular season opener.
19:10And there may be opportunities.
19:12And remember, other than Linderbaum,
19:14there were a couple of opportunities here and there,
19:17but there were some injury concerns with some of the other players.
19:20And it's not like this was a position free agency-wise that had a lot of options.
19:28But there were options in the draft.
19:35Remember, Cole Kublik, who does SEC games on the SEC network,
19:40talked with us, came on the show before the draft,
19:43and he talked about the center position being loaded in the draft.
19:49And he said, you guys need a center.
19:51And there is a player from Alabama, Parker Brailsford.
19:55He specifically mentioned him.
19:57There were a couple of other names he mentioned.
19:59He said Parker Brailsford, he felt like,
20:02was one of the, if not the most underrated players in the draft.
20:08Washington had a chance to take him.
20:10They didn't.
20:11There were other centers.
20:13Maybe they didn't evaluate him the same way Cole Kublik did.
20:16That's fine.
20:17But they ended up taking a center.
20:18They did.
20:19But he was center number 11 taken overall in the draft, or 10, in Matt Gulbin.
20:26And, you know, we'll see whether or not he's ready if Allegretti is injured.
20:32So, yeah.
20:34I mean, on the list of things that I didn't like from the game,
20:39I just, it's hard for me to really understand the benefit of three plays
20:4522 days before the regular season begins.
20:49Two snaps for most of the expected defensive starters, 22 games before, 22 days before the
20:57regular season begins.
20:58It's almost like a mini-off season before you're back and playing real football again.
21:03Now, I'll leave out the possibility that they could play their starters against Baltimore.
21:10And we do know that there is a joint practice tomorrow in advance of the Baltimore game.
21:17And we know one other thing.
21:20Quinn felt strongly enough about the performance on Saturday that he canceled the walkthrough
21:28and instead is going to do a full-fledged practice today.
21:33So, you know, again, read from the coaches and what they're telling you.
21:39And what he's telling you is, yeah, we got some improvement here.
21:42We got to get to some, maybe some players playing and hitting a little bit more.
21:48Because that center position, I keep coming back to the same thing.
21:53But you're going to open up facing Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis.
21:59Like, that's not funny.
22:02You better have that buttoned up because your quarterback and your offense can't be reliant
22:10on a defense with like 11 new players playing together for the first time early in the season.
22:18We can't have our quarterback shotgun, under center, pistol, I don't give a crap, being under siege
22:26within less than a second because we've got Julian Good-Jones in the game against Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis.
22:33And the truth is, he shouldn't probably be in that position.
22:38Again, game planning can fix that.
22:40We're going to load up the front of that line.
22:42I mean, he's going to be under center, but we're going to bring that back up right next to the
22:46center.
22:47We're going to double Carter and Davis, and we're going to give our guy a chance to go back, drop
22:53back, and throw the football.
22:55Because we think we got some ball players that can get open this year in Terry and Diggs in a
23:01con quo.
23:02That reminds me of one of my all-time favorite Steve Spurger stories, coaching at South Carolina.
23:10Defense is out on the field.
23:11The Gamecocks defense is out on the field in the midst of a 16-17 play drive against them.
23:17It's eaten up nine and a half minutes of the clock, and he jumped on the headset with his defensive
23:23coordinator
23:23and told him, look, man, either stop him or let him score because I got some ball plays that can
23:30work.
23:31Old ball coach, he was a beauty.
23:35Yeah, the problem with him is he'd probably just add a couple of receivers to the formation.
23:42He'd spread out five wide with Julian Good-Jones at center and ask his quarterback to do it without any
23:49real protection.
23:51There are lots of ways to attack flawed pass protection ability.
23:57There are.
23:58Number one is running the football.
23:59Number two is quick game.
24:01Number three is a lot of what you saw with Cliff, which is quick game RPO.
24:08And they do have some of that in the scheme.
24:12Promise you some of the Cliff stuff will remain in part because there could be a concern with no Tunsil.
24:20And if Alec Reddy is going to be banged up here and there, you're going to have to find ways
24:26to offset that potential weakness.
24:30All right, your chance, 301-230-0980, 301-230-0980.
24:38If you call up and you tell me that Sonny Stiles is a major concern or a bust, honestly, I'm
24:44going to hang up on you.
24:45We've got to have some level of conversation that is real.
24:50It's hard this time of year.
24:52But please, if you legitimately think Sonny Stiles is a bust after about 22 defensive snaps in the preseason,
25:03it's hard to have a conversation with people like that, really, as it is to have a conversation with people
25:10who thought that J.P. Finley's question was a bad question.
25:13No, it actually was the right question and had to be asked to Jaden Daniels on Saturday after the game.
25:20We'll get to that in the third hour of the show.
25:23Some of you, man, have worn the pom-poms or donned the pom-poms and the fandom hat to a
25:28level that is really absurd.
25:32Delicate, some of you.
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