Lingering Questions About the AFC South with Dan Pizzuta
joining me now from the 33rd team I think his first appearance on the athletic football show which I’m very excited about it is my friend Dan Puda Dan how you doing man I’m I’m doing well I’m uh very excited to be here as a someone who was at uh in the crowd at the 2015 grantland’s oh my show in Brooklyn um it is very cool to to be here IO I’ve now podcasted with you podcasted with Barnwell podcasted with Mina who was the guest there yeah just Josh godman I need to find a way to um podcast with and then it’s like I’ve hit The Infinity Gauntlet of like the people who were at that show so yeah this is uh very cool for me thank you for having me on I’m excited I appreciate you being here that was a fun night it was at we did it at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and it was almost 10 years ago now that was before Mina worked for ESPN so she was just a person on the football internet who we wanted to come hang out with us that night and do the show with us and it’s crazy to think about now barnwell’s the story Barnwell likes to tell about that is he was asking me what I was going to wear and I think I told him I was like I’ll wear something nice so he wore like a cardigan and I just wore a Metallica t-shirt and he was not happy about that because he he thought we were dressing a little bit nicer for the show and yeah I got that was nine years ago so I would have been 27 that might have been what dressing nice was for me at that stage of my life was wearing a Metallica t-shirt to that show so this is a nice full circle moment I’m glad we get to do this then yeah I’m excited I am excited to do this division because I think that there is a lot of stuff to dig into and I think this division specifically is pretty ripe for this sort of analysis and this sort of look back because these teams had waves right the Colts were really exciting at the beginning of the year and then no one pay attention to to the Colts for half the year and then they were a playoff team or on the brink of making the playoffs the Titans were terrible so even though will Levis was a hugely important piece for this franchise I don’t think many people watched a lot of Titans football to get a gauge on how will Levis played and even though the Texans were in every single storyline and were a hugely visible team last year I think now it’s time to lend some additional scrutiny into who they were because they’re trying to level up so it’s easy to get excited about CJ strad and some of the surface level stuff about this team but it’s like okay now let’s really look under the hood and see what this is because now you’re trying to go from being the exciting upstart to a team that’s trying to win Super Bowls so I feel like this division has a lot of ground that we can cover today yeah it it is a very interesting Division and you know I’ve done the the football formerly football Outsiders Almanac now ftn Almanac like so two years ago I think I did the the Texans and Titans and like my role I think was just to like serve as information for people to use on like preview podcasts because no one was thinking about the Tess and the Titans in that time uh last year I did the Jaguars as one of my chapters too so it’s like they’re kind of sort of interesting pieces that went into those teams at that point but like now this is an actual like interesting division where where things are happening even if some of these teams might not be great uh there’s there’s certainly something to talk about which has not been the case for this division for for a while that’s absolutely true and we’re gonna we’re going to start with a team that I think for a lot of people from the outside my think is the least interested team but that’s where my notes are so this is what we’re doing what is your lingering question from the 2023 season about the Tennessee Titans my lingering question is just kind of it the Titans are hard to kind of look back on because everything they did was new yes and that’s always going to be a challenge with this exercise and picking and choosing or which new coordinators can we talk about versus who was on the roster last year that’s something as I’ve conceived of this I’ve realized we have to work through as we’re doing like it’s not even worth talking about this defense right because like every piece on that is new that entire thing is so like my my question is kind of like looking at what was on this team like the pieces in place on offense like how were they right like we went into last season I think the prevailing conventional wisdom was like DeAndre Hopkins was washed after Arizona so like how did he play CH quaka was like really great in like a small sample uh during his rookie season kind of had a bigger role here so like I just kind of wanted to look at what these offensive pieces really were some of the offensive line too uh and it was it was hit and miss I think as I dove into this um I will say the DeAndre Hopkins watch thing absolutely not um he was I thought he was awesome last year for for what he had to do like I I did not think he was as bad as like some people thought he would and kind of Aging out and like couldn’t separate anymore but I think he kind of blew away my expectations going back and watching him too uh you know that’s interesting why would you say that what what specific elements of his game kind of stuck out to you as you went back and studied it I think just the way he can still move and separate and especially at like the deeper levels of the field he still ended up being like 21st in in yards per route run I think he just still has all of that kind of old man game a little bit to like be as Shifty as he can be still knows the nuances of rout running especially on the outside I think he was used in the slot a little more too which was exciting more than he was um in Arizona which of course like that was stand on one side of the field and do that and I think that kind of played into the perception of what he was his role in that offense but when you kind of just look at what he was able to do like there’s still speed there he was still winning deep I think his numbers probably would have been better if there were more accurate Targets in some places and I think we’ll we’ll get to that uh later so I I think Hopkins can still be like this focal point of the offense I think is going to help now that you know Calvin Ridley is going to be like a you know one or one B however you want to put him there so I was impressed by Hopkins a cono was kind of let’s let’s stick on Hopkins for a second because I because I want to have I want to talk about this because I think there are a lot of layers to this that I find interesting when you look at what they did this offseason I think part of the reason it’s worth zooming in on these three or four guys specifically is they did so much new so it’s so easy to get distracted by Calvin Ridley and now Tyler Boyd is here and they drafted JC leam in the first round and they gave l k kushar that H deal so rather than getting distracted by the shiny news stuff what does the stuff that was previously here actually look like and what are we working with with Hopkins the slot stuff I’m so glad that you mentioned it because when I went back and watched three or four games I actually thought that was his best work from last year is when he was working from the slot and able to kind of feel out Zone coverages over the middle of the field he ran 99 slot routes last year 2.72 yards per route run from the slot here are the guys ahead of him on that list from the slot last year Brandon auk Tyreek Hill Nico Collins Justin Jefferson DJ Moore that’s it on slot routes specifically the reason that I’m kind of bummed about this yes is because with Tyler Boyd there now you have to bump Hopkins out to a full-time outside player again and I understand why they did this Tyler Boyd is perfectly made he knows the offense he’ll be a great piece to kind of translate things for everybody else you know that Calvin Ridley is your Z we could talk about Ridley a little bit I find it really interesting that Nick Holtz their offensive coordinator was in Jacksonville last year so I think he has a sense of the lessons that Jags learned about Ridley’s usage but if you look at those two roles then Hopkins now projects just your ex receiver in that Trio and it’s kind of a bummer to me he can still do it but I was actually excited about maybe him growing into something different as he got older and I think their other moves preclude him from kind of sliding into that newer role as he ages yeah that was kind of my disappointment too and kind of like that’s what I thought even if people thought he like wasn’t as good as he was in Arizona I thought maybe if you move him into the slot he could be like that power slot kind of guy and that’s kind of there were parts in Arizona where he like did that on a very very small sample but I kind of thought those were some of his like more intriguing Parts too so yeah that that that stood out to me when I was watching him and that is kind of disappointing in Boyd because Boyd is really a slot only type of guy so if he I think he had this highest slot percentage of any receiver in the league last year was like 81% of his routes it was actually excuse me it was the third highest he was at 80% last year yeah so you know maybe he’s not quite on the field as often as he might have been in Cincinnati uh where maybe you can you know switch up some of this uh you know the the Personnel a little bit um so I’m not 100% worried about boy but yeah it it is a bummer because I think that is a very exciting piece for DeAndre Hopkins that we kind of saw him get to expand on last year and yeah the hesitancy is whether that’s going to continue but again like he was still really good on the outside but like I said it’s this the slot part is was a lot more exciting about it was just tantalizing it was like the old man game to me trans very well to that move inside as you get a little bit deeper into your career so the fact that we may not see as much of that just like a little thing I was like ah I wish we had gotten that but we’re not going to is my guess so when you went back and you watched okao in year two versus kind of what the small sample looked like in year One what were your impressions of him so some of what was exciting was still there but I think his they I think they struggled with his role a little bit I think they kind of saw what he was able to do kind of after the catch and kind of tried to force him to be this slot type of guy and he spent way more time in the slot last year than he did in his rookie season and even during college like during college he was at Maryland he was like this kind of you know gadgety h-back type of guy and I think what’s going to help I think with Boyd now in the slot ISO is probably gonna get to move back uh into kind of more in line maybe move into the back field a little more and I think kind of having that type of you know versatility being able to like hide him a little bit and get him into to you know routes in a different way than kind of just standing straight in the slot and I think that’s kind of where he struggled and why the yards after the catch and stuff weren’t quite as you know prominent as they were during his rookie year so it’s it’s in that where he just kind of like he had less than a yard per route run from the slot last year and that’s where uh he was you know playing a whole bunch so when I think you kind of move him back to kind of the role he had his rookie year I think that’s that’s probably going to help but how they tried to kind of deploy him because they didn’t really have like the greatest slot weapons you know that’s why Hopkins was playing there a little more so they kind of forc aono I think into that position a little more than he probably should have uh so that was a little discouraging but I’m not totally sure that’s going to continue going forward because I think there’s you know a natural place H for him to move back into kind of some of the stuff he was doing he’s a weird player yes and and I don’t mean that as a negative I just think that the ways that you have to deploy him to get the most out of him are very specific one of the things I’ve really likeed that they did over the last two years is they’d line him up in the back field and he’d run vertical routes as a fullback and so few guys have that skill set to have the juice to threaten defenses that way but he can but they Bengals didn’t really do that like that’s just not how their usages of those kind of h-back type players so that is like all right and for the most part tight ends in the Bengals offense have been underneath targets from the slot where you can take advantage of one-on-one matchups because of how resources have to be devoted to the receivers and we just said that’s not really what he does so I’m trying to conceive of yak opportunities and some easy completions that they can give him that to me feels like the most reasonable deployment of him because I think and we’ll get to this with the Levis conversation people are going to spend a lot of time this off season trying to conceive of what the Titans offense is going to look like and I think they’re going to look at what the Bengals did over the last couple years with burrow and I think that’s wrong what you should do is you should look at what the Bengals did with Jake Browning for the last half of last season where it’s a lot more manufactured it’s a lot more play action it’s a lot more movement throws so we conell on some of those slide routes on some of those underneath completions off play action where you can get him some catch and run opportunities that’s the usage that makes the most sense to me but that’s still isn’t the player and the upside we had in mind after watching him as a rookie yeah and it’s it’s interesting because you know they didn’t really make another move at tight end so like I’m sure they know this but the fact that they didn’t really kind of bring in a you know a Bengals type of guy I I feel like they could potentially have an idea for what that role could be and you know having you know some of those you know shallow crossers are probably a way that is going to you know get him uh on the move but yeah he is it is interesting and again like with Ridley now with Boyd with Hopkins he’s probably now the fourth option after he was you know at points the number two last year with you know I don’t know how deep we want to get into like trayon Burks who just kind of I don’t think we have to spend much time getting deep into it man I think the Bal have yeah if there’s someone who really feels lost in that offense and not really finding a role like it was Burke so again like aaka was kind of serving as the number two for for some of that he’s now going to be the three at best on some snaps and a four so I think you know diving too deep into like how his role is going to be and I I think that’ll fit him more as kind of a you know fewer targets you know more concentrated on kind of opening up that space especially when you hopefully have some other guys you know opening up some space down the field uh he can kind of work that underneath area and that’s the catch and run is kind of where where he can win too and the last guy we really want to talk about with scaroni just because for me he is the perfect player to talk about an exercise like this because what you’re doing is the offseason starts you look at a depth chart you see what a team is going to potentially do and in your mind it’s like oh well Peter scar he was the 11th pick in the draft I’m sure he played fine last year that’s a building block to move forward with if you ask a casual NFL fan how Peter scony the 11th pick in the draft played last season no one would be able to tell you this is not an indictment this is just how it works when you’re studying the NFL so he’s the type of guy that is the perfect player to kind of go back and do a little bit of a deeper dive on when you’re trying to understand exactly what this team is moving forward yeah and and I wouldn’t blame anyone for I there’s probably very like diard NFL fans who if you ask them how Peter scony played would not you know be able to tell you so it it was tough because I think it was going to be hard for anyone to really play well individually on this offensive line because just the group as a whole was not good um so you know there wor offens line in the league we can say that I think we can pretty comfortably say that yes so I think that kind of that group of what those guys were like made it hard for just any one single player to to play well so you know there were I think some flashes of of what made him um you know picked where he was uh but again there was a lot of a lot of blown blocks which again like the quarterback kind of can make it a little harder um on offensive lineman too um so you know I think he had like a 4% blown block rate for for sis which you know is not great for especially an interior player um but again you know switching over from tackle a little bit so I I can see what is there that you know and now you have Bill Callahan there which I’m going to just be like okay I I trust what that is going to be and that’s kind of where I I fell here like the play obviously was not great last year but again like you have good coaching I think this is a system that is probably going to fit him so like that’s kind of where where I fell in where scony and some of the other guys that are you know going to be be coming back you know if you know Dylan run is going to you know be starting it at tackle to again some rough spots but again probably some of the best offensive line coaching that you could get so there’s there’s some hope they have to piece together the right side and how they’re going to piece together the right side I think is still a big question my guess is it’s some combination of sadique Charles and Raiden at Right Guard and PTI fer back at right tackle now that he has the full season that’s not ideal but that’s a Bill Callahan bet the hope is the left side of the line can be so good even in 2024 and then moving forward that you can live with a little bit of a downturn on the right side I’m with you on scaroni going back and watching a few games is a mixed bag you know and I think there’s a few things that lead to that one the guy is appendix bursts two weeks into the season so he misses three games and from people talking to people there and and people who kind of know the offensive line community and his workouts he really struggled with functional strength on the way back and for a rookie that’s just so difficult when you’re not trusting your body it can short circuit everything else and we talk about this with guys who move inside from tackle to guard things happen so much faster and when you watch skarky last year you can feel the speed whether it’s on a stunt or whether it’s somebody Crossing his face on a run Play It’s just unfolding so much quicker and by the end of the season you see moments where it’s like oh he’s just he’s so impressive physically you can understand what the upside looks like here but never quite got there I think a lot of people are looking at the Bill Callahan thing for JC leam who’s this moldable ball of clay but I’m almost as excited about what Bill Callahan can do with Peter scaroni as I am about what he can do with JC leam yeah absolutely and you know you kind of have those you know two potential building box and again like there’s a reason skorki was drafted where he was like he does have that that physical talent and it is clear on you know a number of plays so when you have is something like that and again I just think it was so hard to judge what that offensive line was going to be just just as a group with the the quarterback play behind it not necessarily helping it uh to a point but I I still think the the arrow is going to be pointing up on scaroni as you know up and down as as that rookie season might have been I I hear you trying to get there so let’s get there my my question about the Titans and I stole the good one I will admit I stole the good one here how did Will Levis actually play last season if a quarterback falls in the forest but no one’s around to hear it did the quarterback make a sound like that’s what we’re talking about with Will Levis in Tennessee last year people saw the Thursday night game against the Steelers and they saw the Monday night game against the Dolphins which there was a lot to like in those games but if you really dig in I said it was a mixed bag for scaroni it was certainly a mixed bag for will Lis how did Will Lev’s performance in the games that you watched line up with what your expectations might have been so I feel like he was in some ways both complimentary and derogatory kind of exactly what I expected of like what he was kind of in college he had an absolutely insane passing profile like 36.1% of his throws between one to 10 air yards which is just like that’s unreal for an NFL quarterback the last quarterback to be lower was like rookie season Josh Allen um and like that wasn’t a real that wasn’t a real quarterback season either and Alan I remember that offense very well it was just bombs to Robert Foster that was the 2018 bills yeah and so that’s kind of what Lis was without some of the more impressive type of Josh Allen things uh that were there so I I think the biggest thing that really stuck out to me was the and it was kind of the biggest concern of his coming in was some of the the pocket presence which just kind of felt like at times it just was non-existent which is kind of can really feel like a fatal flaw to me while there was you know some good throws it just kind of felt like when when he was in the pocket it just didn’t always feel pressure kind of led to a bunch of hits he was hit on over a quarter of his dropbacks um which is absolutely uh insane uh rate uh to be doing so there were like a lot of sacks where he just like didn’t feel stuff coming and I think again that you know made the offensive line feel a little worse he was kind of hanging in there uh just a little more than he should so it was stuff like that and then there’s the you know the the scattershot type of throws that they’re big throws uh and like you can play a cut up of will Levis that like you could post on Twitter and be like will Lev made some throws last year uh but if you kind of you know what this exercise is if you go back and look at kind of the the grand scheme of things I I I really question like how this can work in a more sustained uh type of you know environment because I kind of feel like the the lack of kind of the the pocket movement and stuff like that that that was my biggest concern going in and I think it heightened my concern kind of going back and watching him the 25% of hits the percent of dropbacks where he was hit last year just for context he was at 25.5% no one else in the League was above 20.4% that is a massive gap between him and the next guy on that list and you could feel that when you watched it he wanted punishment it felt like on some of these plays he’s jumping into people he’s hanging in the pocket and I do think again after talking to people there that really did dear him to people in the building and on the roster and I think that there’s some benefit to that but you also want your quarterback to take care of himself so my my question with this is is it a chicken or the egg thing how much is he exacerbating the problem because of the lack of procket presence and how much is the offensive line hurting him here because he was pressured at the third highest rate in the league according to PFF the only guys that were higher were Justin fields and Daniel Jones Justin Fields doesn’t count because of how long he holds on to the ball so Daniel Jones was really the only person with a Humane time to throw who was pressured more last year than will Levis that will hopefully be better this year but you still worry about what he’s like when pressure actually starts to set it because he just I’m with you the feel is not there I think he did a very good job of getting some throws off in tight Pockets he’s a more creative thrower than I might have expected him to be coming out of Kentucky the arm angle some of the things he can do getting the ball off he’s so strong that I think that also really presents itself when you watch him but I would also be worried that some of his feel for pressure feel for those spaces and how he tries to subtly move around I think that is cause for concern yes yeah and like you kind of go back to to Daniel Jones like that was always my biggest worry about him or just like oblivious to to pressure and again like sometimes that looks super cool because there’s a throw he makes when there’s a guy in his face because he doesn’t know he’s there so he’s not bracing for it he’s just making that throw that he was going to make uh in the first place and I think you kind of saw the way the Giants really did a good job in 2022 was you know they moved the pocket for him they like did not allow him to get hit because like he was never standing still long enough uh to do that um so I don’t know if that’s like kind of the thing that you’re going to do with Levis kind of like you said it could be like a jake Browning uh type of thing one of the things I did that did Stand Out is he seemed really comfortable in empty and that was kind of the one place where he was able to kind of manage the pocket get the ball out quickly which he did not do in really any other situation so I I’d be interested to see what that kind of looks like because you’re coming from the the Bengals who originally like with Burrows uh kind of very early Seasons they used that empty package to kind of protect him from the offensive line too allow him to be able to you know kind of command everything’s going on use some of that horizontal spacing kind of protect from that offensive line and of course you know burrow is just great from empty too um you also kind of have the the Stafford empty stuff that just you know again will EV not Matthew Stafford but you just have like he can the [ __ ] out of the ball though he he does have a really good arm so you just have some of the that vertical stuff from empty when everything is spread out also that I think they can kind of work in there and I think Levis just uh the other day when they were doing um uh when they were going into some of their you know OTAs he was talking about Callahan had him watching you know some burrow and some Stafford uh stuff that you know quarterbacks that he’s worked with in the past so I I would be interested to see how that empty game develops because it did look like that was where he was most comfortable he was seventh in EPA per play out of empty uh last year so you know I think like that could be a thing it again like it’s yeah it’s interesting like he the way he does like put his body in danger was like I I was kind of concerned like he didn’t scramble often but when he did he treated third Downs like it was the goal line like there were there were like multiple third Downs true where he’s just watching himself over the marker yeah that are like the 30 yard line and he’s like jumping and leaping and he had like an lway spin on on one of them and it’s like man it’s like third and six like you can come up a yard short it’s okay you might go for it on Fourth um so like it’s just that kind of that kind of Reckless abandoned is how his game was just in general um you know he was uh he was 11th in EPA per play from a clean pocket so like in the pocket no pressure so like there are pieces of that offense and his play where you’re like this looks good but what happens when the pocket is not like that is really concerning I think like and you know it’s a deeper conversation about like quarterback play and what we’re looking at for some of these guys and how they develop but like I think we’re kind of seeing what you can do out of structure and Under Pressure it’s kind of how you really like just kind of separate yourself from what you can do in an offense and that kind of just really Remains the the biggest question I have for Le look some of the other numbers he was 21st in EPA dropback just ahead of Joe burrow and Trevor Lawrence 31st in dropback success rate yeah anecdotally that makes sense right think about what the Titans offense was last year you get your scattered three or four shots sprinkled in there over the course of a game but down to down there’s a lot left to be desired about the passing game and that’s how they felt and I think the plan the the best plan I think the plan that makes the most sense if you look at what the Bengals did with Browning last year is let’s just try to keep him in the most rigid box that we can while he figures the rest of this out because he looks damn good throwing the ball over the middle off play action man I mean the there that is what he does best which isn’t and shouldn’t be surprising That’s What kenty’s offense was when he was there it was the Rams offense he would work with Liam Cohen who’s now in Tampa Bay so I think that trying to lean into as much of that as you can and really just take as much off of his plate as you possibly can I think that is the best plan for him because the nuts and bolts of it and how he looks throwing the football it can be exceptional at times so I think trying to make him as comfortable as possible and limiting the asks of him I think is the right way to approach this and we’ll see how it goes yeah I think so it know it’s certainly interesting um yeah that’s going to be I think one way or another one of the most interesting offenses in the league let’s get to the Houston Texans what is your lingering question about the 2023 Houston Texans a team that is hard to do this about because we watched a lot of Texans football and paid a lot of attention to the Texans last year yeah so my lingering question is we’ve kind of we’ve gone crazy over that offense and CJ shroud was great there was a lot of good going on a 10th weighted pass Deva by the end of the season Bobby slowick five head coaching interviews and was kind of you know seen as a potential just kind of like immediate head coaching candidate uh so like kind of my lingering question is like was is Bobby slowick already like one of the guys for as a play caller or you know is there like a little more to kind of investigate because I think we remember you know that that Ravens game there was they were just running on every first down could not gain a yard and it was second and long it just kind of seemed like they were you know continually kind of running into problems on their own and it was kind of a you know a play calling thing so is Bobby slowick like this guy that we kind of like have already propped him up to be or like or do we like does he need maybe another year or or so of seasoning and uh I think my my answer was yes I think to is he the the guy does he need more yes um so like there was all the elements of like the Shanahan stuff that we really like there it was spat all over uh this offense the way they used play action the way they were able to move linebackers horizontally and vertically um you know like the the wild card game against uh Cleveland just the way they were able to you know one of the best defenses in the League last year they had him on a string the entire game absolutely that uh the Deep touchdown to to Dalton Schultz uh that he had early in the game with stoud Boots right uh they get everyone flowing to that side Schultz um fakes the corner and then ends up running the post so Stroud’s throwing a throw all the way across the field um and it’s wide open it’s just like there was stuff like that all over the place um but then we kind of come back to you know some of those early down runs and it was a place where it kind of felt like they were obviously coming from this Shanahan scheme you have you want to marry the pass with the run but it kind of felt like they were they were trying a little too hard to establish the run a little bit and I think the biggest thing with SLO and I think the offense in general is there were not a lot of immediate problemsolving answers I think it took a little bit for them to get there I was actually I was talking to someone from Houston at the combine and he kind of said like even as we realize like how good strad was I think it took a little bit for us to really Embrace what that was and really put more of the offense on his shoulders uh so and I think you can kind of see that as this season kind of went along so it was one of those things where I think shroud bailed out the offense at times especially kind of on third Downs a little bit um but again like I guess you can do that when you have a guy like shoud you can let him kind of bail you out and so I I think there’s going to be a little more because they did eventually get the answers right it was just kind of slow uh in the way like you kind of think like after the buy maybe is when you would have done that but their first game out of the buy they were like completely shut down by the Panthers uh and that was just we’re we’re gonna play too high We’re not gonna let stoud throw deep uh but then immediately after he had a 7.5 a dot in that game but then there was nothing below 9.4 uh until week 14 so like they kind of figured out a way after that game to be able to you know push the ball down the field so I think it’s one thing where they they did figure it out it just it wasn’t quickly it’s never really in game uh and I think it kind of maybe took like a week or so after so I again I’m positive on what they can do and I think another full season of kind of knowing what this offense is going to be is going to definitely help them a lot there’s so much I like in the structure the quarterback is uh incredible so it’s like yes Bobby slowick is a guy yes uh this you know another year or two probably going to help I I think that’s right I think having an entire offseason to kind of figure out all right what is the right ratio of all of this stuff it reminds me a lot of watching early Kyle Shanahan teams which shouldn’t necessarily be a surprise right I was talking to somebody on their staff during the combine it was the same way that you were and we’re talking about just what SLO was bringing to the role and to that side of the ball and this assistant was just telling me how there’s such an expectation for how you play and how you practice and that is something that came from San Francisco you watch the way that those rece this has been something I’m gonna harp on a lot I think over the next year because it keeps coming up I can watch how receivers block and I can tell you how good the offense is and it’s not because receiver blocking is foundational to certain things succeeding it’s just because this is how you teach things and this is the standard that you bring to this side of the ball and when you watch the Texans this year guys are playing with their [ __ ] hair on fire and so that style and that mentality that almost becomes the most important thing that you can instill in year one of a new system they have that in droves I mean they they have so much of that in the way that they play but those early Shanahan teams if you go back and you look at it Prem mcaffrey they weren’t these monsters running the football necessarily there were stretches where they had that but there were a lot of those couple years big stretches of those couple years where they were not the most efficient running team but they still were poking and prodding because it’s in service of the larger Mission you can live with a little bit of inefficiency on the ground if it’s going to help your play action game and if it’s going to inform just what defenses expect out of you in certain situations and sometimes that’s hard because you’re pulling back and you’re looking at the numbers and it’s just like ah stop doing this like this is not helping you but I do think that there are kind of inevitable qualities to it that do lead to a greater efficiency overall that doesn’t mean you can’t find a better ratio so I think that ultimately is going to be the challenge for them it’s now that we can kind of take a step back and prune certain things and be a little bit more intentional about certain things what do the details of this from down to down look like and I have faith in their ability to figure it out yeah absolutely and you know um and when you kind of get to the the Run game too like they they took steps to make that better because it wasn’t just inefficient running like this was I think easily the worst Run game in the league between the kind of the way they had to you know shift things on the offensive line it just didn’t so many injuries yeah it was it was and they were trying to do too much it felt like I they were doing all these different types of runs and I get it you know that that’s the world we live in now you you can’t just be his Zone team anymore you got to have all these layers to it but when you’re dealing with I mean I couldn’t even tell you how many offensive line combinations they used last year felt like they had six left guards over the course of the year I was trying to piece it together today I was like well Titus Howard was there for a while and then JW scrug was there for a while and then Michael deer was playing Center but then Scruggs was supposed to be the center and George F was playing right tackle but then Charlie heck was playing right tackle it was just impossible to keep track of it all and when you have this this run game with all these moving Parts it’s almost impossible for that to be successful when you don’t really know who’s going to be playing up front from week to week yeah and and I think that was you one of the the biggest things um for uh this offense and kind of why some of the the Run game stuff was was so frustrating just because like it was it was literally running into a brick wall on first down sometimes um so I I do think the way they are going to use this offseason kind of see what shroud was able to do I I think we are going to see a a more quarterback driven um you know type of offense that we’re still going to see all the fun things of the Shanahan stuff but I think this is going to be like a CJ shroud Le type of thing and and if we see that I think this offense is like really G to take off because I I do think slowick in you know the way the the plays are designed the way there’s openings the way there are answers for everything it kind of feels like uh that that is thing that is very exciting about this offense and I think that’s really is what’s going to take off this year the other thing going back and watching their offense last year that stuck out to me outside of stoud just being ridiculous which he is Nico Collins is incredible yeah like I I just I and what’s so fun about the niik Collins CJ strad pairing is that they’re they’re married they’re the marriage is perfect they’re perfect for each other because Stroud’s ball placement on those throws over the middle of the field and Collins’s ability to pluck them away from his body and continue moving up field on those throws he’s a yak monster he’s a 64 Yak monster because of the Synergy he has with his quarterback on those plays that’s incredible and watching his ability to separate with initial releases and how he uses his hands at the line of scrimmage he’s an awesome player like I I am so excited to watch that pairing specifically get to grow and continue to grow because of how well they already seem made for each other so that was another just fun little wrinkle about going back and getting to watch the Texans a little bit yeah that’s that’s absolutely uh it I I had that in my notes too of how good ni Collins was like he was third in yards per route run and like that was not fake it was not manufactured in a way that we might see like some other uh you know players that have really high rates like that he was so so good and to every level of the field just beating guys on the outside I think we’ll talk about you know the Indianapolis the secondary a little bit but the end of the year are you just you know running past you know Juju Brent on like multiple occasions it’s just there are so many ways for him to win and again like shroud finds him at at every yeah he was would of and and I think that made me more optimistic about the Stefon Diggs pairing to where like Diggs does not have to be the guy no even remotely uh in this offense in order for it to work whether Stefon Diggs is you know like whether he’s excited about that not sure but like for this offense to to work like he does not have to be that guy because Nico Collins I he’s 100% that guy I also wanted to go back and watch Diggs a little bit in preparation for this because I do think that’s a small lingering question about the Texans is like what the hell happened with Stefan Digs at the end of last year here to tell you Stefan digs can still play even if the production was not there if you’re watching him on a per playay basis here’s how I’ll frame this when Stefan Diggs wants to get open he is still very capable of getting open so I think the biggest question for the Texans is does Stefan Diggs want to get open for the Texans if the answer is yes I think everyone will be very happy about them making that move yeah I I I believe so too like yeah you kind of look at it it was weird just usage in general in like the routes he was getting asked to run by the end of the year uh so that was kind of probably what played into him not wanting to get open all the time because he wasn’t always getting asked to um but I think in this offense he he will be I think it’ll definitely fit his skill set a little more with I think he can be like one of that the the really great season he had in 20 21 I think when he was like just kind of using all his vertical stems and breaking them off in curls and comebacks and they just kind of spam that I think I could see that as a piece that he does really well um in this offense while Collins and you know you got tank Dell coming back like this this is gonna be a fun offense that I think is going to find a way to get everyone involved similar to the Titans conversation I’m wonder how the roles shake out because tank Dell even though he’s tiny was an outside player last year and nicoo Collins is an X so what does Diggs do with that because I think part of diggs’s falloff last year down the stretch is they were using him in the slot on like more than a third of his snaps and that’s just not his game that’s just not where he’s best so I wonder how much he’s going to play in the slot for the Texans because of those other guys so just what the alignments and roles look like within that offense just be something I’ll be keeping my eye on as we see the first couple games of that Houston receiving Corp my Texans question I think it’s you know again we we’ve did so much studying of this team it’s not the most important question but this is a Derrik Stingley and Jaylen Petri question masquerading is a larger one when you look back at the Texans team building strategy over the last few years they trade DeShaun Watson they get all these picks the 2020 draft feels like the first one that kind of had to be transformational and foundational for where the Texans were going so how’ it go that’s my lingering question it’s like what was that draft actually when you look at the hall and the way that those guys have played I think Stingley is a star he was banged up at times last year but when he got back on the field even if there were a couple hiccups I think that guy’s going to be one of the best corners in the league he has a special skill set we’ve seen it I think he has been as advertised other first round pick in that draft Kenyan green did not play a single snap for them last year a single one and Titus Howard who was a first round pick got an extension was supposed to be the right tackle for this team when he got back in the lineup last year he played left guard for them so does that mean with sha Mason already on the roster you spent a second round pick on juice scrs to play center are you going to want to keep Titus Howard a guard and does that mean that Kenyan green just isn’t a starter for you after playing one season really as a first round pick listening to Nick cerio talk about him recently he gave one of the like every guy has an opportunity answers and I just don’t think that’s what you want they drafted Blake Fischer in the second round he’s a tackle Charlie heck who’s a backup for them played last year so it really does seem like Kenyan green as a first round pick in his third season might be the odd man out of that rotation that’s not great we get to the second round John meie there’s a reason they had to trade for Stefan dicks right like that that there’s a reason for that John mey was a second round pick among 125 receivers with 25 targets last year he finished 100th in yards per route run when you are making big splashy moves for guys at your position you’re probably edging out even a guy who was drafted in the second round a couple years ago and that’s how it feels with Mei Jaylen Petri up and down right there are elements to his game that I find very interesting and very intriguing he led all safeties and run stops last year for PFF he will fly to the ball problem he will fly to the ball that is also part of the issue he missed a lot of tackles I saw DeAndre Hopkins roast him on double moves twice in those games against the Titans I love DeAndre Hopkins with all of my soul 2023 DeAndre Hopkins is not Tyreek like him beating you on vertical routes is not exactly what you want so I think Petri has been a solid player I think they’ve tried to figure out what his usage to be in rooll should be but I don’t think he’s more than you know an average to somewhat plus starter at this point and then you go a little bit further down Christian Harris is a third round pick at linebacker he has not come along I think last year they hoped he would come along a little bit faster you give a guy some Grace that position could take a little while in terms of development it’s a new system but they paid a ziz Al Shire again it’s just one of those moment where these guys who should be cheap for you you’re having to spend money at those position groups and the same is true for running back because they did not get what they wanted to out of Damen Pierce that’s why you have to go get a Joe Mixon and then give him that contract so I think that this why this is important and instructive is that it’s when we’re looking at the Texans now and figuring out where they’ve had to spend and how they’ve had to allocate some resources CJ strout is going to paper over a lot of shortcomings elsewhere and I think that is kind of the conclusion that I reached when looking back at the last couple drafts yeah and that kind of stood out to me kind of when you it sent this and like you kind of framed it as like 2022 was kind of the first foundational piece and it kind of felt like they slow played that draft because they knew they also had two first round picks in 2023 at that point they still had two first in in 2024 so they didn’t like completely jump head first into some of the stuff and going back to just I think we need to like just sit in where Houston was in 20122 like they wanted to make Josh macowan the head coach like that was a thing and then the Brian fles lawsuit happened and they were like well maybe we can’t hire a guy with absolutely no coaching experience and you know I think Josh mcau has done good things I’m excited for what he can do uh in Minnesota this year but like they had interviewed him in two in back-to-back years they had just come off David cly loveby Smith was not in their initial interview process and then all of a sudden he was the head coach um so Houston was just in a very and this was when they were still giving like one-year deals to all of these veteran players this was a team that was 16th in snap weighted age uh in 2022 so like this was not a young rebuilding team and to a point where it still really isn’t they were older this year they were seventh uh in snap weighted age in 2023 so this is not you know really this like we’re built off rookies uh type of off or type of team just and I think that’s the important point to make is that there is somewhat of a Runway because you have stad because you have him on a rookie deal obviously Collins has been good but he’s about to get paid so there are not that many guys on this roster who are these cost controlled young pieces that you can build on and as we think about their window and how much urgency they should have over the next couple years I think that’s an important thing to keep in the back of your mind yeah and and I think it’s going to be more important like except for these upcoming rookie classes because they’re going to have to fill in there as like this was really their first year that they got to really kind of shape the roster in a way of guys that are kind of going to be around you know kind of knowing that they they just had to nail one of those drafts and again like the 2023 draft was it obviously with with shoud you trade up for Will Anderson which again was risky move but will Anderson was fantastic so you do have those foundational pieces there and then you can start kind of building on like in as’s Al year is like I think one of the more fun linebackers in the league and I think is going to be a lot of fun in that offense you kind of look at what else they were able to do bring in like building that defensive line with Anderson some of the free agents that they brought in was it’s going to be a lot of fun but like this is not like the young kind of upstart roster that you kind of think and like you said some of those those misses there like again Stingley is again I agree with you that he’s like a star but you know nine games played in 2022 11 in 2023 like that that is a concern when you’re missing guys I like uh Mario L Lannister who they brought in but if like he doesn’t start their other outside corners right now are either going to be Jeff Auda uh who again like it’s a guy teams continue trying to take a swing on just hasn’t clicked uh CJ Henderson they brought in who just like has not been one of the worst Corners in the league uh just kind of from the time he was I think the ninth overall pick and that so you are running a little close to the Sun in some of these places um but again like that not to say that um down on what Houston is going to be but when you kind of had a draft Cass like this and again like going back to Mei um you know great that he’s back on the field after you know came back from the leukemia like super exciting but again like they traded up for him it for like a pretty aggressive price uh in that second round again like they weren’t a team that should have really been using like that those type of resources on a guy who is maybe going to be like their wide receiver three in that season um and again they traded one of the picks they traded 68th pick ended up being Martin Emerson who you know probably could have helped on this team a little bit so it’s kind of it’s a weird team to mention that against though because they cooked Martin Emerson in the playoffs last year but overall yes I think think it’s a point well taken I’ll be curious to see what happens with ler I there are team people that think he’s a nickel only and so if he is and he’s your nickel corner here if they still have Desmond King on the roster but Desmond King is getting a little bit older it really does feel like it’s we’re gonna crack that pool queue in half and we’re gonna have tryouts for that other outside corner spot with Jeff Auda and CJ Henderson which we’ll see how that goes yeah I mean that’s not super exciting uh for me because I I just I I I’ve I’ve lived the the Auda experience kind of thinking yeah sure he’ll he’ll bounce back and I like what he’s going to do in Atlanta and just it it hasn’t happened so again you’re just it’s a very small uh kind of you know margin of error here in some of these spots and it’s kind of you know from you know being aggressive on on trade UPS like Mei but again like that’s also ends up being the philosophy that gets you will Anderson because you are being aggressive to trade up so hit and miss in some of this stuff so I think this is going to shape and I I think it does make some of their future roster building a little more important than it might be for a team that was kind of Flushed with some of these draft picks uh that we had like starting with that 2022 draft that’ll be good I mean because I think their quarterback is good I think their offense is good but them signing Daniel Hunter to that two-year deal it’s not an accident that they they’re going to try to make this thing happen in the next couple years and I don’t blame them for that but I think like you mentioned the margin for error and the plane you’re trying to land whatever mixed metaphor you want to throw out there it it be becomes a challenge when you’re giving yourself not that much wiggle room all right let’s get to the Indianapolis Colts and I think probably one of the topics we were most looking forward to discussing on this show what is your lingering question about the 2023 Indianapolis Colts all right 98 dropbacks 84 pass attempts what what was the Anthony Richardson experience and was this offense sustainable because what happens in there is you get one injury that uh a concussion that knocked him out of a game he comes back that next game shoulder injury that ends his season so we really did not get a lot of the Anthony Richardson offense that I think a lot of us were excited to see and then we get a gardner muu Leed offense that you know is coming in and all of a sudden is on the the brink of playoffs at the end of the season so I want to go back what so what what was Anthony Richardson and what did that offense look like and and is it something that we can you know potentially sustain going forward and I will say yes like Anthony Richardson was more exciting than I remembered um it was something and just to like go to the injuries I don’t think they were like crazy he was putting himself in danger from running the concussion like he kind of gets pushed when he’s crossing the End Zone on a run but he’s like trying to do a back roll to like softly land himself and that’s when he hits his head so it’s not like he took a big hit and then the shoulder injury just kind of is a you know the worst possible landing spot that he did but I I don’t think he really like put himself in in a lot of danger in some of those hits so it’s not something that I’m really concerned about going forward it was that like your takea away from the way he kind of controlled himself there yeah I think it I think that there moments where he can protect himself a little bit more and I think that that mostly comes from being able to play on time more often because that was my biggest takeaway from the passing game overall there are throws accuracy issues aside and there are some sprays there are going to be some sprays especially throwing to his left he can get a little bit antsy and there can be some issues yeah but outside of that there are moments where I’m just like ah throw it throw it throw it and that that’s that crept up a little bit more than I wanted to and I think his not inability but a lack of experience kind of betraying him in that area specifically where it’s not coming out as quickly as it should that got him into a little bit more trouble than you want to see that’s something hopefully will come with more experience and more maturation I don’t think it’s something that’s necessarily endemic to who he is as a quarterback the other side of it is the usage on the design runs are do we have to throttle that down a little bit I don’t think you necessarily do it’s not like it was some outlier compared to a lot of these other mobile quarterbacks who were Central pieces to their run game he had a 14.7% design Rush rate last year that is right in line with what Lamar Jackson’s done the last four years that’s in line with what Jaylen Herz has done the past four years so I feel like the way they used him in that area is a way they can continue to use him I guess I’d like to see it a little bit more selective where instead of using him as a short yardage guy or in the natural progression of your run game just let’s out explosive Place let’s try to get him on the perimeter I know he got hurt on one of those which is funny but let’s let’s try to have that be the way that you’re building this thing not trying to find mildly efficient run plays with your quarterback when you could take a little bit more damage off of him I guess that was where I landed with the running specifically yeah I I think that makes sense and again he was a guy that was you know going to try to scramble also so he did kind of run him you know I I think did protect himself kind of well with some of those scrambles though I don’t think he got hit on scrambles more than I would want him to and his scramble rate wasn’t that bad I mean so he 7.1% scramble rate that’s lower than Mahomes lower than Josh Allen lower than Jaylen Herz I mean he’s not taking off to run that often and when he’s scrambling SL moving around the pocket I actually like the style that he’s moving with he’s keeping his eyes down field he’s not pulling the rip cord that quickly so I don’t I don’t mind the way that he approached the position yeah and I think one of the things that stood out to me was there was a it didn’t always translate to plays going well but I think he just had a feel in the pocket that kind of did feel like he was always under control it was kind of like it was the anti- Levis uh you know there was a lot of movement he was you know kind of moving around a lot but it always felt like he was in control of what was happening and even though we had like a a high pressure to sack rate um he wasn’t really taking a lot of hits standing in the pocket either like a bunch of his sacks were like he’s getting pushed out of bounds for a gain of like zero or negative one when he’s trying to like scramble out like he he wasn’t getting like blindsided um in the pocket and really at any point he had the I mean the game against the Rams Aaron Donald was in his face like all the time I was about to say this you almost have to throw out some of the overall stats because a quarter of his season was one more than a quarter of his season because he missed half of the two games he play four games he missed half of two of those games a huge chunk of his snaps this year came in that Rams game Aaron Donald ruined the football game break Blake Freeland who’s a fourth round pick developmental swing tackle for them last year God God bless him he had to start that game against Aaron Donald and [ __ ] brahem Morris is just putting Aaron Donald over this fourth round rookie for the entire game going back and watch I just felt bad for the guy like he had absolutely no shot and it in a lot of ways it ruined the ability to process what that offense was in the course of an NFL game because it was getting ruined so often yeah but that was especially definitely the case early in the game and then all of a sudden in the fourth quarter Anthony Richardson just starts making some batshit crazy throws like while while Donald is it his lap yeah there’s there’s one uh that I that I tweeted out where he just m Donald is in his face and Richard is like in the grasp does not have any feet on the ground I believe and just like throws 40 yards in the air a strike to Michael Pitman from The End Zone view it doesn’t get the catch because I believe the camera operator was just like oh there’s no way the ball is going this far like there’s no possible way that’s happening on this throw uh and it does so like they come back uh in that game and make it the closer than it was like it was a blowout for most of that game but again like he he kept himself kind of under control there’s still some things that are like he just makes some throws man that are like so impressive just you know not a large sample of just throws overall but there’s like you just you kind of watch him just be okay I I get this and I get what this can be and then you kind of look at the way Shane Sten kind of built an offense around what Gardner muu could do and I think you take some of that short area stuff that mchu was you know I’ll say good at I I guess in quotes um things that he was capable of doing yes much better way to to put it sure and I think you take some of that then you put it in with what Richardson can do kind of getting this ball down the field uh and I think that that’s going to be a very well structured offense like I trust Shane Sten a lot like when when we kind of talk about some of who the guys are in play calling I think Sten kind of off the bat I think I was really impressed with with what he did and then continually like with making a Garder muu offense at least passable like it wasn’t great and you look at a lot of metrics like it there was not a lot it there’s you have a very different view of the Colt offense if you just kind of like kind of saw the end results or you actually like watched Gardner muu from down to down like they are very different experiences so uh what he was able to do to kind of build that offense around him um I I think it’s it’s going to be you know real exciting of what they can potentially do with Richardson with with a you know full year and another like off season that Richardson kind of gets to really you know dive into and I I was kind of looking at some things like they kept Richardson very involved in you know some of the the game planning and being in those meetings so he got some of that um he didn’t miss out for being out for you know most of the year so that I think that is a very good learning thing and Sten again is just one of those guys that like I really trust to figure out what the strengths of this offense should be and just kind of build something around that I’m sure people will look at that the Rams box score specifically I’m pretty sure he finished 11 of 25 in that game and people are going to be like are you are you guys kidding who’s 11 of 25 let me say this it was an impressive 11 of 25 game there are a couple drops by running backs there are a couple throws along the sideline that are one inch off from being caught whether it’s off a fingertip or a foot not getting inbounds there’s so much to like even with a statline like that I know that sounds silly but I do think that if you actually peel it back one layer you could talk yourself into a lot of what you’re seeing I mean there were three or four throws in that game against the Rams he made a throw to Josh DS up the scam that just you could hear it was like a jet engine you could hear it when that ball gets thrown and then he made a throw on the move to Mo Alli Cox rolling to his right that’s just like holy [ __ ] and it was a boot and he just finds him on the Crosser and there’s aren’t that many people who can physically do that stuff and when you combine that with the feel he has for the pocket even if the accuracy is a little bit hit or miss here or there I I just think with a little bit more time a little bit more refinement you can get yourself there with him and get yourself very excited about what this offense can look like I uh you stole the good one with the Colts so I I had to kind of dig a little bit deeper here my lingering question about the Colts I spent a ton of time on this they did nothing at DB this offseason nothing and my question is is that okay is the confidence that they seem to have in their defensive back room is that warranted okay so you’re rolling into this year here’s who played defensive back for the Colts last year I think that that’s a good place to start okay early in the season your starting Corners are like Juju Brent comes in in week three he a second round pick great across from him is Dallas flowers who I believe was a college free agent but was a starter at the beginning of last year at some point during the season Jaylen Jones who was a seventh round pick for them last year gets inserted into the starting lineup like around week five or so and he becomes somebody that gets a lot of snaps over the course of the year with Brent on the other side Rodney Thomas who is a seventh round pick for them in 2022 played a lot at safety for them but so did Nick cross who’s a seconde player and Julian Blackman so those are kind and obviously we know who Kenny Moore is we don’t have to spend time talking about Kenny Moore Kenny Moore is a very good slot player so what happened with the other guys and here’s I think what the Colts would tell you about this Bren is a second round pick Brent is get every single chance to to be that guy and he had some good moments even if it was up and down on the other side that’s where you could potentially try to add a body on the outside the guys available in free agency chobia wer Kendall Fuller witherus Sneed via Trad you’ve had to give up a pick and give a monster contract I don’t think they necessarily saw any of those guys as dramatic enough improvements over what they already had and a lot of guys that are going to be getting their third contracts in the case of a wuang and Kendall fer that were worth blocking the possible development of somebody like Jaylen Jones on the other side and I get that and I think if you watched Jaylen Jones last year there was enough that you saw from him where it’s like okay like I would rather bet on another step forward from him rather than paying for someone we felt like was a modest upgrade and there are a lot of those Corners who are 29 30 years old who’ve had injury problems over the last couple years that you would be giving a third contract to so that I understand at safety I thought Blackman played really well closer to the ball last year as opposed to just being a true center fielder he played closer to the ball than he ever has consistently and I thought it was a good role for him and he comes back on a modest salary because the safety Market tanked really only one guy got money so that I get and I do think Nick cross heading into year three really really good athlete shocker is a Colt draft pick he’s only 22 and he was starting to figure it out over the course of last season so I get it I I think that it’s a risk I think you’re aiming for the middle but I don’t necessarily think that there were a lot of guaranteed long-term upgrades available to you in free agency and them spending their first two picks the way they did with latu in the first round and Mitchell in the second round I would rather invest in those two position groups and potential improvements in those two position groups then maybe getting an uptick Corner based on what we had last year yeah that’s it’s kind of where I fell coming into this also like I I understand their thinking in this like you said there wasn’t a lot of free agent upgrades that that would have been you know really worth that investment I I kind of push back on on Sneed because they were apparently like the the first real rumored interested team and I understand kind of balking at that when we all thought like he was going to go for a first round pick um but for him to go eventually for a 2025 third um and for a Colt team that’s still $28 million over the cap again like you you are giving sne topof the market deal but like it not really because it was only 19 million we kind of seen the corner market really kind of stagnate at the at the top there and you can structure it in a way right now he’s hitting the cap for 9 9 million uh for Tennessee so like there’s certainly a way where like the Colts have this money like they could have had a move like that kind of in their Arsenal and they just haven’t really ever wanted to pull the trigger on something like that which I think that was kind of the move that was there for them to make and I I think I would have felt better about this if they did because then you have that one Corner Spot there and you can use either you know Brent or or flowers or or Jaylen Jones and you can kind of have them compete for the other outside Corner Spot which I think probably puts them in a much better spot than having those three compete for the two outside corner spots um again like this team was fine in coverage last year but again like not something that you really want to like double down on they were you know 19th in dbaa against number one receivers 27th against number twos uh an 18th against other receivers um Brent uh if you look at like adjusted yard allow for coverage snap which kind of just using like the pfr formula which uh takes you know touchdowns to interceptions and kind of puts it into yards uh for coverage snap he was 130th among 150 Corners with 100 coverage snap so not great Jaylen Jones was 65th but he’s actually like would have been better with just raw yards per cover St because he gave up a lot of couple touchdowns no interceptions but like he he was much better and flowers was was good early in the year and then he has the Achilles injury misses the the rest of the year so and again like you can hope that’s good but is he going to return to to full strength so you’re kind of already down a little bit there so it’s tough like I I do like what they did at safety I was very surprised Julian Blackman like was not one of the guys that got a little bit more on the safety Market as much as the safety Market was down like he was a guy I thought did play really well in that spot he’s a guy who can be versatile he played well near the ball but again can can move around a bit so to get him back for the deal that they did was excellent I also kind of surprised that they did that but it’s I don’t disagree with you about SE if it were it’s not my money if if I were in that spot I probably would have tried to do something aggressive there because I think he’s a really good player my sense is that they could not get there with the medical stuff and that’s something that is always going to be different from Team to team and how much risk each individual team is going to incur for a guy who has concerns about that knee with the top-of the market deal and and I think ultimately that’s probably what scared them off from it yeah so that that makes sense but again you’re just kind of you’re you’re really banking on development in a scheme that is not necessarily going to help these guys out again like it’s still it’s this team still led the league in in cover three 54.5% of their passing play they’re one of two teams who did it over 50% last year like this is this is still that defense while the rest of the league kind of moved away from that it’s like this is still what it is so you you are just you’re really banking on a lot of development and and I think you’re kind of hoping for the high range of that development too because if they’re just kind of the same as what they were it’s the defense is gonna hold you back there’s no doubt about that I I get why they went the direction they did with their first two picks though if we’re going to say that you know the the free agent guys are maybe a little bit rich and again you get a little bit older not drafting a quarter in the first couple rounds if you look at their defensive line line watching that defense o o over the last couple days there’s so much power and strength across the board having somebody who is more skilled as a rusher and just like a specialist in that way with latu I think makes perfect sense when you look at the Players they already have and they need a guy like Eddie Mitchell if you look at what Alec Pierce was they just don’t have somebody who can separate down the field they don’t and there the hope is that Mitchell can be one of those guys as a vertical player who all and Sten talked about it the Sear at the top of routes what he can do in that area I think in an ideal world he pairs very well with Pitman so if you can get upgrades from those two position groups and maybe live with middle of the road play in the secondary I think that’s the plan we’ll see how well that comes together all right last one here we have the same question about the Jags essentially we’re we’re gonna stay in the same general ballpark what is your lingering question about the 2023 Jaguars why are are you the way you are on offense expand expand on that this this is just it’s an offense that kind of has had the same type of questions for the past three years and while I was like kind of doing some research into like looking up what has gone on with the Jaguars offense I accidentally clicked on headlines of can the Jaguars offense be fixed from 2021 and 2022 as I was doing this so this is kind of where I’ve had those discussions many times on this program so this is a familiar place for me so I I think my overall question is just the the structure of this offense right you kind of go back to we can throw out 20121 because it was just an absolutely insane thing for Jacksonville in all areas but 2022 this was an offense that just kind of didn’t have a lot of juice I know you guys talked about this all the time um for on this show and it was just something where they didn’t have the trust in the offensive line to figure it out and they didn’t really have a way to generate explosives eventually in I kind of I wrote about this in the ftn almanac last year is midseason there was a shift they figured out if we can just do quick game have Trevor get the ball out quickly we can kind of create some stuff after the catch that’s the way we’re kind of going to get around some of this stuff because we don’t have anyone who’s going to win downfield we can use an Evan Ingram or or whatever so Lawrence kind of upped his like zero to one step drops off from 23% to 31% over the second half of the season and I and I hate it and and I absolutely hate it it is gross football so that like yeah so that kind of worked over the second half of the 2022 season but we get to 2023 Calvin Ridley is supposed to be the guy who’s going to stretch the field be able to create that vertical element and they just didn’t treat him like that at all it ended up kind of regressing back to what they kind of use out as a default in 2022 so there’s just not a lot of structure to this offense that kind of really builds upon stretching things vertically and it really just kind of limits what this offense can do and I’m not sure if the Jaguars or the people in charge of the offense believe that’s a problem because I think if you go back to Doug Peterson after the season um he had a press conference and I I just want to read this quote because it may be kind of infuriated when you struggle offensively like we did at times I don’t care who’s calling the plays you might as well look at that thing with your eyes closed and just pick a play I’ve been there you’re trying to find that one play or spark that it’s going to get the offense rolling with the struggles we had at times it’s a difficult thing to do whether it’s the Run game or pass game then you look at the amount of turnovers you go up and down the field you turn the ball over you just can’t do this it’s not play calling it’s not scheme where the design of plays just having the urgency of we need to protect the football better that is insane watching that offense and like saying Trevor you you need to stop throwing picks which was not was not the case I think that is a diplomatic answer given during a press conference I do think that based on my understanding of the situation they have taken more of a critical eye to what that offense was last year and I think your point about the explosives is 100% correct that this this is my issue with watching the Jags and again this is stuff we’ve talked about when you don’t trust the offensive line things start to Short Circuit because now things get all quick game and get so condensed that people can just sit on your [ __ ] you go back and you watch their game against the ners that’s the worst case scenario where he’s just getting the ball quickly every single time and they’re squatting on it so hard the entire offense starts to feel condensed and the number you had about the one zero one step drops my version of that was Trevor last year threw the second Mo they had the second most dropbacks of two or fewer seconds in the entire NFL only Tua had more than him they were 24th in EPA per play on those plays so if you’re throwing the ball in less than two seconds all the time and you’re shitty at it that’s a good place to start if you want to have a bad offense and a hard to watch offense and I think that was right one of my favorite things about watching this team play is when they get Trevor on the Move off movement throws and play action he’s such a good athlete he’s so good at throwing on the Move let’s have more of that but the problem is you can’t lean into that if you have a gun Run game that isn’t tied to that sort of under Center play action game so I feel like that’s an area where they can do a better job of seeking out some cohesion within the offense they ran way too much [ __ ] last year in the Run game and they did way too much of it out of the gun so if you pair that down with an improved offensive line and you try to tie that paired down under Center Run game with a play action game that allows you to seek out more explosive plays to me that is the starting point of how you break out of some of this malaise and I think they do understand that maybe I’m overstating it but I think they do understand that yeah it’s it’s tough because they clearly did not trust either that offensive line or that run game they were 30 second in DVA on second and short 28 on on Third and short it just they were threw the ball that’s what they did they threw the ball on those play and and again like you said that’s tough because you can just kind of sit deep and you kind of look at what they were doing they they were and three at at one point um but like the offense still wasn’t really that great at at that time so there was there was a stretch always frustrating even if functional yeah but there was a stretch from weeks 11 to 13 where I think Trevor had his best stretch I think they went three and one in that that um or two and one there was a loss there but it was easily his his best stretch where they were they had longer developing plays right he was able to sit in the pocket uh a little more he had a higher a DOT than he had in in any other game he had a 10.1 a dot in those games 7.8 in all the other ones um only 54.5% of his throws were under two and a half seconds it was 66.7% in all other games um there were more crossers that he was throwing he was throwing deep more and only under 50% of his deep passes were on go routes it was 60% or 61% in other places so it was just a very static type of offense and that’s even the thing that I’m kind of worried about too going forward even kind of the vertical element that they were able to find was a lot of go routes and I think one of the the biggest kind of red flags of a broken offense is against the blitz if a quarterback is just throwing deep and throwing goes and that’s kind of what Trevor was was doing last year think he had the highest rate of of deep passes and I think Levis was second they were like one and two so these are the offenses we’re talking about like when you don’t have easy answers like that and like that’s when you’re trying to throw explosives okay these guys are coming let’s just Chuck it deep like that’s not a functional offense and that is really like it was one of the the things that just kind of made you go crazy watching this offense where like it could have been like and Calvin Ridley was really supposed to be that guy and now like you you have Gabe Davis like Brian Thomas is is fun but again like that’s putting a lot on his plate to be that guy as a rookie now so you do have these kind of vertical elements but I’m not totally sure if like those are the pieces that are really going to be the answers to the questions that that you need to solve so that is kind of why I’m I’m still a little down like even if I clearly from the Personnel that they added they do realize they need more vertical elements I’m just not totally sure with the play calling and the person now that they actually got in if that is exactly who is going to be able to get to the kind of Ideal version of what this offense like could potentially be probably what Trevor is at his best at when he is kind of throwing downfield I really hope we get some like big crossers from Brian Thomas like that’s his role within the offense the the reason and the benefit to having Gabe Davis is you can pop him outside the numbers and you can move everyone else around and that’s what they didn’t do with Ridley last year and I think they learned their lesson or at least say hope they did so I’m hoping that Brian Thomas isn’t just a vertical outside the numbers player for them because if he is I think they’re going to be in trouble he cannot be that within this offense if we’re going to see the best version of this offense yeah and that’s one of the things the crossers just like disappeared from that offense last year SL too there’s no catch and run opportunities whatsoever and again I I think I think they have a sense of that the question is can you build a system with that sort of stuff in it around this group of players yeah I think that’s that’s my question and if the play calling is going to be kind of like you said just kind of in conjunction with what this offense kind of should be because there were just it it was scattered all over the place there was not a lot of connected stuff like you said it was it was the the the quick game it was kind of some of the struggles we saw like and the Bengals were eventually able to kind of fix it but they had a very unconnected you know quick passing game and the Run game they were eventually able to kind of do a lot of stuff out of that and they were able to kind of fix it but again you’re working with you know jaras and and T Higgins in the passing game which is a much different uh you know type of problem solving that you’re able to do you have slightly easier answers for some of that and it was kind of fixing the the Run game on top of it so man I just I I really want to like what they’re doing like I I’m not going to be in like the the the Trevor is absolutely great and he is Flawless and he is without fault here um but when you kind of just watch when he was able to kind of do stuff that he was good at like it was good stuff um like that that three- game stretch from weeks 11 to 13 like when that is the I kind of Ideal version of what this offense could be and then that kind of went away also as the the season continued to go along so I also hope the offensive line improvements go a long way bringing in Mitch Morris just as a veteran presence you hope that helps and protection I mean that that’s been a consistent issue for them they’ve obviously had a rotating D left tackle because guys have been hurt Anton Harrison in year two you know you’d hope that they can get better play from that group overall and if you do have a little bit more confidence in that offensive line does it expand the types of things you can do in your passing game and allow you to push the ball a little bit more and have things not feel as condensed and just again margin for error you go back to it it’s just you have to be perfect when you’re playing the way that they were because of the lack of Fai they had in their ability to hold up up front and that’s just not sustainable so we’ll see if they can step outside of that here in what is a very important year for that quarterback that coaching staff and that organization in general Dan Puda really really really appreciate the time sir tell people where they can find whatever you’re working on right now uh yeah so right now you can find me at the 33d team I doing still a whole bunch of offseason content find me coming up in the ftn almanac I am doing the NFC North chapters which is yeah that is a exciting four teams uh to be diving into man the fact that the Bears can be included in that it just is a lumping those teams in together it’s it’s a long time coming sir I’ll tell you that right now yeah very exciting so uh have that uh in the middle of working on that right now believe that’s coming out early July so uh keep an eye oh wow a little early this year huh I believe so I don’t want to that’s fun give away too much but yeah that’s sometime sometime there so been reading the football Outsiders Alman act since you were since you were a Wii one so it’s one of my favorite Publications every single year yeah me too the the fact that I’ve been able to do it this is gonna be my fifth one so that is it’s super cool yeah I uh I mean the first one I bought it was the 2008 version and it had like Nam aam on the cover and we’re talking like physical book that I had on my bookshelf I mean I’ve had that thing I think Barnwell was already writing for them back then which would have been very funny it was been years before we started working together but I think 2008 is what I think it might have even been earlier than that but I wasn’t even in football media I was like a college kid and I just got the football Outsiders all man act because I was a absolute loser so that’s where we are Dan Puda really appreciate the time sir we will talk to you very soon all right thanks all right guys that’s all we got sincerely appreciate Dan’s time uh this is gonna be running when I’m on vacation so I can’t really tell you what’s coming next but there will be at least one show on the feed every single week even while I am gone this was this week’s uh and we will be back with you guys very soon so just keep an eye on uh your phones and whatever’s coming your way in the meantime appreciate you listening we’ll talk to you soon [Music]
Robert Mays is joined by Dan Pizzuta of The 33rd Team to continue the Lingering Questions series, this time digging into each team from the AFC South.
0:00 Intro
3:32 Tennessee Titans
28:33 Houston Texans
51:00 Indianapolis Colts
1:09:43 Jacksonville Jaguars
#nfl #jacksonvillejaguars #houstontexans
9 comments
Pizzuta acknowledging that Richardson's injuries were somewhat flukey makes me know he actually watched and understands what he's talking about
And yes I am absolutely a coping Colts homer seeking validation for my team being good 👍
1:01:40 Overall a great breakdown of the Colts secondary. I don't see a lot of media thinking with this type of nuance, so this is refreshing. The only thing I'd mention is just how the Colts ended up playing a number of different unknown guys at CB.
The Colts CB room was dealing with a lot of adversity last year
Our preseason CB1 Isaiah Rodgers got suspended for gambling and didn't play a snap for us last season (no longer on the team)
JuJu Brents was dealing with injuries throughout the year and only played in 9 games. While he did get completely sonned by Nico Collins in Week 18, he also showed other flashes throughout the season that makes me cautiously confident in his starting ability going forward
Dallis Flowers was actually playing well through the first few games but then tore his Achilles in Week 4 against the Rams. He'll be healthy for the start of this season, but who knows how coming back from that Achilles will go.
7th round rookie Jaylon Jones ended up playing every game (starting 10 of them) and played decent for a 7th round rookie, but not that great in a vacuum. Possible he takes a step forward this year, but hard to count on given draft pedigree
Darrell Baker Jr. was a UDFA from a couple seasons ago and was an actual garbage can on the field. If we end up having to play him for significant snaps again, we're in trouble.
My thoughts are pretty much in alignment with Mays and Pizzuta here. I think it's perfectly valid to question not bringing in another potential starting outside CB, but I get the team rolling the dice on finding two starters between Brents, Jones, Flowers, and the lesser named rookies they brought in (Jaylin Simpson, Micah Abraham)
Robert Mays's vocal fry makes this a very difficult listen.
57:26 – This game was awesome. Was kinda interesting how AD got to AR and he would still make sure the ball got out of his hands (just like Purdy did, but that's not as commented)
Dan was a great guest, hilarious how interesting the AFC south has gotten 🤣 Vrabel got out at the right time
Good show
I really want to know who is Trevor L PR team. Not even 5 years ago he was touted as the next big thing and he’s simply not that but he also isn’t getting dog piled for not living up to expectations. He’s going to get paid because it’s the least scary of the options available to the Jags but I don’t think he’ll ever make it to a Super Bowl much less win one. Every other QB drafted that year has been put through the shit fairly and unfairly while Trevor is clearly the best of that lot he also isn’t good enough to escape the criticism. So I ask again who is Trevor’s PR team and have they asked for that raise yet?
Great Texans thoughts I think you guys are sleeping in Christian Harris tho
Dan has no idea what he’s talking about. QB analysis in sports media remains at an all time low.