MVP: Legend Robert Smith On Preseason Focus, Working In A New System | Episode 158

fifty eight. I'm your host, Tatum Everett. We've got Gabe Henderson here. We also have producer Eric Davidson and a very special guest today for our podcast, we have Vikings legendary running back and personal friend of the Vikings Entertainment Network, Robert Smith. You know him, you love him. How's it going, Robert Summer. It's going great here. It's a big summer for you too, but we can talk about that on another podcast. But it's it's great. It's so exciting to

be so close to the season. And obviously you always get NFL news, I mean it comes every day, right, It's it's three sixty five, three sixty six on leap years. Um, but it's nice to actually get close to where we're gonna have the new changes, obviously with the staff and the systems on both sides of the ball, and finally getting a chance to kind of see that in operation. I'm really excited. You should be because football is back in I feel like it's really good to seeing you

in person. I had never met you in person, even though we've like done content together. So it's kind of wild, isn't it. Yeah, go to my third season. I've done count I know you guys that Postgame Live together last year, but Robert and I've done countless work together. I'm like, dude, it's like, actually, the way that you guys greeted each other, I felt like you were like best friend. That's that's

who I am. Like I greet everybody the same. I just have fun and Rober, I know you're a good guy also just from our conversations and um, love your work. I know you have some exciting news to get to here early in this podcast, but I've been a fan of yours since you since you play back in the day. I don't want to make you sound old, but I am that doesn't you don't have to but yeah, this

is this is great just having football back. The vikings are, you know, starting football up and in a couple of days here, so everybody's throwing, everybody's excited, and we finally get some of those questions answered right now. I mean in the past seven or eight months, it's all been about, Okay, who's going to do this? Who are you expecting to have a breakout season here? Blah blah blah blah blah. Football is back, and those guys get to answer those questions.

Yeah and again, kind of seeing the systems in operation. I think it's one thing to have the walkthroughs and for people to be out there in practice. You have some live sessions, but going against a different team, and teams keep it pretty vanilla obviously in the preseason, so you're not going to see a lot of exotic looks. But just kind of seeing how the guys react to live game situations. I think the coaches are as excited as we are going to see what it actually looks like.

And I you know, you hear Raves. You know, I saw what Justin Jefferson said Yesterday's like, hey, you know, I could see why Cooper Cup was open as much as I was, and you're just really happy to be in this system. But it's one thing to do it in practice, it's another do it in a game. And speaking of practice, you'll be out there today being able to see some of the guys probably the big first big prow or the last big practice will have until Sunday's preseason games. So what are you going to be

looking for when you're out there? Well, I think just kind of the way that the guys move, you know, are are they hesitant at all? You know? Do the guys seem to be confident in the schemes that they're using. And not knowing exactly where everybody's supposed to be on

every play doesn't make that easy. But you can kind of tell from the reaction of the coaches, you know, how much correction is there after a play and maybe how loud is that correction can kind of tell you sometimes, Although you know, I think I think the staff is going to be different in that regard. You know, that's

kind of what's happened over the NFL. Across the NFL, I think some of the older school coaches that were a little louder and newer coaches I think they're more into just explaining things to guys, and you know, you can say whatever you want about what system or what style of coaching is going to be most effective, but I think guys are just a little bit different now.

But yeah, I just kind of want to see how how smooth and how crisp things look, and you know, which which side seems to have the advantage, and you know that probably goes back and forth. Rber. I know you you played under Danny Green your entire career here, but how many offensive coordinator changes did you have? Well, we had so Jack Burns was the offensive coordinator I believe for like the first three games that I was here, So that was my rookie season, and then he got

fired and Brian took over as the offensive coordinator. And as a rookie, I didn't pay that much attention to the NFL in depth growing up, and of course it's not covered the same way that it is now, And I had never heard about coaches getting fired during the season, and I'm like, what what just happened? Like, we just lost our offensive coordinator. But it was such a great change for our team and for this organization. Obviously, Brian

was just amazing. But then Brian took the head coaching job with the Baltimore Ravens after the ninety eight season, and then we had Scherm Lewis as a as an offensive coordinator, and I think that was so it was just those changes there, Okay. And the reason why I asked is because like during this this time period, right like the week of the preseason game, and you were installing the new offense or learning new terminology, like how much is expected versus how much is kind of warranted?

Of like, Okay, these guys aren't going to understand everything by week one of the preseason. Yeah, And so if you think about the changes that we had, none of them were system changes. No no, no language new verbiage changes, and that is huge. Uh, you know you you talk about a completely different style of calling plays and different concept I mean these are completely different concepts as well. So it's not just what it's called, but what it means.

And so that's why I think it's it's exciting for me to kind of see it in operation because it can be the greatest offenses in the world or the greatest defense with Ed Dontel. But if the guys don't understand it, and if they can't quickly on the run make the changes that they need to make, then you know, what good is it? And coaches say that all the time. It's not what I know, it's what I know that

I can teach the players. That matters. When you watch the preseason game on Sunday or when fans watch it, what do you think they'll see from this? Do you think they'll see? I mean, obviously we know. I think it's it's safe to say this coachings have doesn't want a lot of what they're doing offensively to get out there. They just you know, they don't, fans can't or they're asking fans on to post videos of practice and things

like that. So what do you think we see? And then on the conversely, like is it easier that way when they just come out that first week September eleventh, not having really any drives into their belt. I guess you could say, well, I think what you're going to see is probably going to be pretty vanilla. I think that you know, the coaches at this time of the year and you have to think, you know, you have a lot of young players that you try and play.

You think about the roster size being you know, ninety plus at this time of year, and you have so many guys you're trying to figure out if they can remember the play, get out in a real game, and execute. So you're trying to figure those things out initially, and apart from not just wanting to show everything that you're capable of offensively and defensively, you want to keep things simple so that you can just see at a most

basic level, can these guys get it done? But is it easier to just go out at the beginning of the season. It just it depends on who you are. You have guys in that in that fifty three to ninety group, you know, the part of the roster that might not make this team, but they might be auditioning for another team. So you have young players and obviously

they're going to need to work. You have guys that been in the league, you know, to tow three years that might need a breakout and they're the ones that you're going to see in the game and they need

to be in those games. And then you have older players. Yeah, it's it's easier for older players a lot of times not to take any snaps or just take a couple of series in the preseason just to kind of get used to it, you know, just kind of get the adrenaline flowing of game day and going out there against another team. But it's different things for different players. That's interesting. You say that, you know, the roster cut down, A

lot of people don't really talk about that. You mean, right now you have ninety players on the roster that'll cut down every single week, and it's just been it's just been interesting just saying like, you know, people in USFL hats on the syline or XFL hats or the Canadian Football CFL, and it's just like these guys are auditioning for other leagues also, absolutely, and you know, the young players need to know that everything that you do

is going to be on tape. And again, you know, you're not just showing the current coaching staff, You're showing everybody what you're capable of doing so and that's important for these guys. And you know, the great thing is, you know what we saw from having the USFL on Fox this year is that you know a good number of those players are having some tryouts and are part of the ninety man rosters for some of these teams. Well, we'll take a quick break from Vikings talk. We'll return

to that. But you did bring up Fox, and I think that it's really exciting. You know, you've really made a great name for yourself in the broadcasting world post career, and it's just continuing this year. You want to share some of the exciting news you got going on this season? Yeah, well, you know, the inventory for college had been down quite a bit. Yeah for Fox, and that may change here now with the Big Ten negotiations. But what is it

gonna be calling a huge number of college games? And my boss, one of my bosses there at Fox calls me up and he's like, hey, we're gonna have a few more NFL games for you this Year's oh, that's great. And then he calls me up, this is almost two weeks ago, and he says, how would you like to call a full slate of NFL games or at least fifteen games? And I'm you know, I swore and said are you And you know, he said no, we you know,

we're really happy with the games that you called. And you know, I've been calling at least one NFL game a year and I got two Vikings games actually two years ago, but I've been calling at least one NFL game a year, and now I'm going to be calling a full slate of games, and I just I just couldn't be more excited about it. It's just it's it's so exciting. Is it more work prepping for a college

game or NFL game? That's a really good question. There's a lot of work in both, but I think there's more detailed work in the NFL because you know, you know the players and you know the stories. So I think to kind of make the broadcast what you want it to be, you dig a lot deeper on stories in the NFL. So there's a lot more work in

college just knowing who the players are. Uh. And you know, if if you're calling a Utah or by U or a Cal game, You've got a lot of Polynesian name games that have you know, multiple soyables and you know different pronunciations, so that can be difficult. But the NFL, you know, you you're you're familiar more familiar with with the names because the guys have been around, I mean college, it changes every three years, so that's a challenge in

and of itself. But I think that the schemes and the ways that guys try to get an edge on the opponent is different in the NFL, so that you end up more you end up digging a little bit deeper about the history of the coaching staff and and why they've adopted certain systems and how coaches and players try and find that razor's edge that can be the difference in winning in the NFL. So you're partnering with Chris Myers and Jen Hale, who you know and I

know Tiger Tiger talk again, Tiger talk always. Well, when Robert I'm in the building, it's gonna be Buckeye entire talk, Michigan and Alabama fan for that knowledge. Bum But you're alongside these two guys. So when you join a team like that, are you do you go through like a practice game, do you work with them? How do you kind of build that bond and that chemistry to be ready to go on air when you do the first game? Well, we called our first game together last December actually, and

that it was because of an illness. The regular announcer had an illness and so I stepped in and Chris Meyers had like three flights that he ended up missing and the protocols were different. We didn't we didn't we weren't out watching practice on Friday. There were COVID restrictions, and we didn't meet with the coaching staffs in person, so it was a little bit different then. But they do just kind of throw you in there. You know. I think if somebody's calling a game for the very

first time, they may have some sessions like that. But that's not something we did. But you know, Chris and Jed, I mean, there's such professionals and just so easy and because I've worked with a number of different announcers and and and at different levels, right like people that have been doing it for a long time, people that haven't been doing it very much. So to step in there with somebody in the booth like Chris, like it was just it was so easy. You just made it so

easy for me. And I'm again, I'm just I'm just so excited. But you know, you talk about what kind of builds that relationship. Uh, you know, it's when we'll get together on Friday nights and we'll have dinner and we'll be discussing different aspects of the game that week or things that we've heard during the week, and you know, you have those conversations a lot of times just kind of over meals and casually, and that's where some of the best information, uh and nuggets for a game will

come from. That's awesome. I'm so happy. I can't wait for you to get on one of our games. Yeah, I mean, we have a couple of Sunday New games. You never know, and you've called a couple already, So like, do you I know you're you know, far removed from playing, but do you still get that itch? Sometimes I'm like, man, I would do this in this situation. Yeah, you know, and that's so much I would do this or guy

would do that. I think, you know, you look at it more objectively and what what you think should happen on sertain And again, you know, when you're in a booth, you don't necessarily know what the blocking scheme was. You can kind of guess, you know, if somebody runs free, and if it looks like based on the structure that you know it should have been a running back or a tight end or one of the linemen that should

have had a particular block. Um. But yeah, you really just kind of look at that things objectively and obviously, as you know, as much as I love the organization and uh you know, and now like a fan of the organization, that one you've heard me swear a few times too. But but but it does become easy on game day to just be objective because you're calling things

as you see them. And I'm sure every fan out there that's a true fan of the team, uh that you're you get angry, like if there's something that you don't like, you get angry. And so obviously I'm not getting angry during the broadcast, but you can be objective without uh, you know, having your pom poms out there on a Sunday for a call. Could uh nineteen ninety eight, Robert Smith excel in this offense so forward focus and innovative. Well,

I mean, you know, I've had this discussion. I was talking I golfed with Todd Bauman yesterday and we were talking about, you know, the evolution of offenses and just I mean just night and day, how different they are. And yeah, nineteen ninety eight, much much fewer years on his on his body, Robert Smith, Yeah, could it could flourish in the offense. But it's just fun to see

the guys do what they do. And you know, the really fun part for me now being an analyst and watching the game and really trying to again to figure out what are the what are the small differences between winning and losing. Now it's not just one aspect of the game, because when offenses evolved, defenses evolved, and defenses, you know, force the offenses to do certain things, and

offenses force defenses to do certain thing. And from a personnel standpoint, I think the type of player and the way that they train and the players that fit certain schemes, all of those things evolve, and kind of seeing that

evolution is just it's been really cool to see. And because I had the opportunity to work at the college level for so many years, you know, seeing how high school offenses have influenced college offenses, and then some of those college offenses, some of those concepts have made their way into the NFL. So kind of seeing it from

a very broad view has been interesting. It's a kid's game, well, but if you also think of it conversely, I feel like sometimes these kids are ready to play college ball immediately at a high school, and these college kids are ready to play immediate in the league because they've been in those kinds of systems and football has almost become I would and say like professional level, but it's definitely

gotten a little bit more advanced. I think even when you get down to like some high school gets younger

every year. I mean, you're in the Dallas area, you came, yeah, absolutely, But some of the things that you know, the colleges though, in the way that they call offenses in particular, like uh, you know, using the big cards and boards and things like that, I think some some of those college players have a little bit of difficulty when they do come into the league and they're hearing it and their ear and then having to repeat it and say it. You know,

that's that's where the rush. But you're absolutely right, I mean the seven on sevens and you know, the evolution of the offenses has has kind of seen this growth and value for the for the wide receiver position in general, and it's really interesting to kind of see just how ready those guys are at every level and the quarterbacks too. And I think because players get exposed to social media and all of the good and especially the bad because the bad people are exposed to it early and it

just doesn't bother them as much. You become kind of numb to it, like, yeah, of course they're going to say all that nonsense. You know, So some guys are

more sensitive than others. But I think that that helps players as they advanced through the game from high school to college, Like you've been hearing this stuff for a long time, whereas twenty thirty years ago you didn't really have to deal with it the same way you didn't have to deal with media except for the media that was writing papers, and if you don't pick it up, you don't see it. But people are on social media so much they hear all the criticism. So I think

from that standpoint, players are more purchasing. You know, I am, There is no way that I am at any level of criticism as these players are. But there are people and I heard, oh, she's terrible, we hate her voice, all this kind of stuff all the time, and I'm so much more numb to it now when I first started out. So I kind of I feel like I really related to that last point a little too close to how well yeah, but you know, but you know the good thing is that because you do, you do

get numb to it. And look like you realize is that the people oftentimes are on social media saying those kind of things like they just want attentions, and like when you see it that way, and then when you get into the league or into college and then into the league and you hear hear that, you know, even even some of the people that you know are writing for professional organizations, you can think of them in the same regard, like, Yeah, they've got a job to do.

It's to sound critical sometimes and you can handle the

criticism better that way. Speaking of critical, I don't I promise you this question isn't to set you up, but I'm I'm a preface this by saying, preface this by saying, because I have an opinion on it, but I'm a preface this by saying I worked at an organization before, and the organization they would sit certain rookies at they drafted throughout the entire preseason, and then during the regular season they would blow it up like like Terry McLaurin,

for example, just signed a second contract, really good athlete, but nobody really heard about him when they sat him the entire preseason. This is like you just drafted this guy and now you see more teams starting to do it in the preseason. I know it's for you know, body preservation and trying to you know, get him, you know, ready for regular game season before we sort of regular season games. But how do you feel about the new waves?

It's been a small increments now, but the new wave of resting certain rookies because you want to see what they can do in a real game. So it all depends on the player. Uh, what kind of system did they come from, how complex was it, how difficult has

it been for them to adopt the professional scheme? And if you really have no concerns about that, and you have no concerns about how is this player you know, in that in that particular example, how does this player deal with press coverage, how they deal with some sort of adjustments of the routes based on the coverage. If you don't have concerns about that, I think the teams are more comfortable to say, hey, we don't really need

to see that much from this player. And that goes back to the conversation, especially now because there are three preseason games and of five preseason games, as some of the teams had, you know, back in the day, you know, you really do need to be careful with the players that you have and the guys that you're comfortable with, but you also need to be faster and evaluating that fifty three to ninety group and you have to you have to know more. And there are just so many

reps out there, whether it's in practice. Because you only have eleven padded practices now, it changes the way that that you evaluate some of those other players and you just you don't need to see as much from those guys and there's no point exposing them to the injury risk. So would you say the starters for the preseason games this here? Do you do? You do you like the new wave of that of only playing like a game

or a quarter or I'm here or drive? Like what's the balance and that with installing a new offense and trying to get comfortable with playing together. Yeah, that's a that's a really good point right there, especially especially when you're having a coaching style change and complete change in

scheme on both sides of the ball. Obviously, Uh, you know it can be difficult, but hey, the ones that are coaching the team, like, that's what they get paid to do, right, and they've been around those changes before on different staffs, and they see what works. And you know, coaches, coaches have to be coachable too, the way that they implement their systems and their history probably of evaluating the way they've seen the progression. What should it look like

after week one? You know, how comfortable are we opening up the playbook in week two versus week three? Just being around the guys, but then in a training camp environment and then in a preseason environment, so they have examples to go by, and they know far better than me, you know, sitting in a booth talking about it. I don't know. I don't know they have they do have. Their hands hold a lot of really tough decisions though it's a very stacked skill position, and then we're very

stacked at the skill positions. But I really wanted to ask you about the running back room because you've got Dalvin Cook, a healthy Dalvin Cook right now, you have Alexander Madison in a contract here, Cane Wong Wu, Ti Chandler. When you hear all those names and you have to come down to making those decisions like where did the reps come from? And and is this one of the most talented rooms? I guess in the league. Yeah, I

certainly believe so. And I don't say that from a biased position because we've seen with some of the injury issues that Dalvin has had and seeing Alexander Madison come in and play the way that he's played certainly impressive. And Wong Wu, you know, I saw him when he was in college, and you know it could see that burst right away. It knew that he was going to

be special. And the contributions on special teams. I think anybody that's anybody that's not a top level player, or I should say maybe top two on the depth chart, even that second player should be prepared for some special

teams work. Those guys need to understand that your best way to make a roster as a young player, if you're not going to be that starter, you better be able to contribute on special teams because that, you know, when you're when you're talking about position forty five through fifty three on the fifth three man roster, when it's finally made, a lot of those decisions come down to, Okay, well, are we going to keep a fourth running back, Are we going to keep a you know, a fourth tight end,

you know, a sixth safety, things like that come down to whether those players are going to be able to contribute on special teams. Yeah, that room is one of the most I think we we've talked about of the podcast before, one of the most perplexing questions for us, because there's a lot of talent there and where do you find who does one and how many do you keep? Even Alexander Madison. Yeah, I've been on record saying I feel like he's going to have to play special teams

now in the school. Yeah he hasn't. He's never had to play special teams in his past three years. But now with a running back battle contract year value, Yeah, you have to be more valuable on the field. And and that's just the my biggest question mark when it comes to just that backup running back position. Yeah, no question, I mean, and that's something you know, I remember coming

into the league. It was something I did too. I was a flyer on the punt team, you know, having to having to fight through the double double teams, you know what I mean. This is a some some some great memories though. Glad that they're you know, we're in the rear view mirror soon into my career, and they have to do that stuff. But yeah, you do. You have to be ready for those for those special teams responsibilities. Again, if you're not that top level guy, now what is uh?

I think my next question is like, what is the definition of success for preseason game number one? Outside of keeping your players healthy? Uh? Yeah, keeping your players and you don't you don't want you know, any stupid penalties. So you just you just want a nice, clean game and you don't want uh, communication issues with your quarterback um or whoever it is, if it's a linebacker or a safety. You don't want any of those communication issues

from coordinator to the field. Uh. And just guys going out and and playing as clean a game as possible, um, being injury free. I got a final question for you, Robert. Um. I know that you've got to get to practice and make some you know, appearances around here. Um, but I'm curious to see how much you can say first on

this point. But I sat in that, you know, watching away games with you, and how many games came down to the final the scoring before the halftime and then the final minute of the game where we were just on the end edge of our seat and this team just back and forth giving us basically heart attacks every single leek least since then with new coaching staff, new faces around here. Just real, maybe like a minute or so, if you could just describe your thoughts on are you

confident in this move? And like what would define success for this team this season? Yeah, and you know, unfortunately, what defined I'll start at the end there. What defined success? You know, depends a lot on what happens during the course of a season. And you know, as when you're following your team closely, it's easy for you to find those types of situations that you can point to and say, well, it should have been different here. But you know, a

lot of teams face those kind of things. You know, you have a lot of adversity throughout the course of a seat and it's just the nature of the game. You know. Basketball is a contact sport. Football's a collision sport. It's a violent sport. The possibility of injury exists all the time, and you just have to deal with those kind of things. And it's so hard to predict based on who that injury would be to when in the year it happens, who you happen to be playing that week.

So there are a lot of variables on what success really looks like. I think, ultimately, this is a team that has a roster construction that it's a playoff team. It's a playoff team that should win playoff games. You know, at least a game in the playoffs on paper, but that's not how games are played. And you know, evaluating, you know, was it the good move? I think it

was the right move. You know, when staffs are around for a while, sometimes the message gets stale and sometimes it seems like there's a communication breakdown, and that's certainly seem to be the case here. So I think it's a good move. But you know, everybody gets excited, and I don't mean to sound negative, but everybody gets everybody

gets excited about the fresh new faces that arrive. But remember most of the teams around the league, when these changes are happening, everybody's getting that everybody's getting that fresh look. And you know, these hires are made because oftentimes the coaches are impressive in the you know, in those interviews, and the team feels, oh, yeah, well they're going to make the change, and oh they've got great ideas. Everybody's

got those. It's a very difficult game to win any games, let alone enough games to get you into the playoffs and advance in the playoffs and ultimately win a championship. It's difficult, and that's why we enjoy watching it because if it was easy to do, then the reward wouldn't wouldn't seems as special as it is. And I think that goes in my last question. I think that reward goes for us who are behind the camera or in front of the camera talking about the actual action on

the field. So for you understanding, you know, your journey from post football to right now twenty twenty two, heading into the season NFL on Fox, what is the definition of success for Robert Smith? Huh, that's a that's a

that's a good question, you know. And when when I spoke with the um, with Chris and Jen and our producer Eric and some of my bosses at at Fox, Uh, you know, the thing that I pointed out to them was actually I told them the story of me getting drafted up here, and uh, you know, I was drafted twenty first overall UH in ninety three. And I remember Ty Willingham, who was a running back coach then looking at UH, sitting down, sitting me down and looking at

some film I'll never forget from Michigan State. Came when I was at Ohio State and it was a run to the left. It was wide zone play and uh, I don't know, probably about seven eight yard game, but all the way on the outside. And he pointed out to me, if you plant your foot here and you make this cut, this could have been six points. So eight yards is great, but don't do it where you're

going to lose an opportunity to get six points. And I told them, like in my evaluation and how you guys evaluate what I do, but more importantly communicate to me how I can get better. I want to I always want to know if there's something that I could have done that would have either been smoother or that would have made the broadcast better, because ultimately, the way that Fox looks at football, we want we want it to be a celebration of football. We want people to

We know that people are excited about it. But when we're in the broadcast booth, we're celebrating football. But you know, you obviously want to be honest in your evaluation and why did this work? Why did this play not work? What could have been done, or what's coming? You know, say it all the time, like you don't have to be Tony Romo, but let us know what's next. So all those little pieces, you know, there's there's just so

much that can happen in a broadcast. But I just want to be the best broadcaster that I can be. And if there's something that I can do and something that they can see or that they heard that can help me do that, I'm all for it. And coaches have to be coachable. Players have to be coachable, announcers have to be coachable. We all have to be coachable. Constructive criticism is the foundation of advancement pretty much. I

love that. That's how you end a podcasts and that's why you're successful and you get asked to do a whole, entire, full slate of NFL games. This is how from Vikings post game Live to a full set of NFL games. We're so happy for you, Robert. Thank you so much for being here on the bench giving us some time. We love having you back here in Minnesota. Um yeah, best of luck this season. We hope hope to god you'll be on some of our broadcasts. Sounds good. Thank you,

Thanks Robert Well. That conversation just made me really really excited for Sunday. Now, Saturday is a travel day for the team before the first preseason game of the year. You can watch Sunday's game on Fox nine or the NFL Network. It's the Vikings and the Raiders. Kickoff is set for three twenty five. But here is a little bit of a catch. We have another option this season for your viewing pleasure. It's called purple Cast. It begins

around three twenty ish on Fox nine's digital channel. Think Manning Cast, but it's me and Mark Rosen as your co hosts. We will have a ton of exciting guests who will stop by during the game while we're watching. We've got Jared Allen, Chris Jericho, Jamie Urdall, Sky Sports Is, Neil Reynolds, Matt Castle, Ali Kendricks, Caitlin Feelin and Steph Ham will be in studio. It's going to be so

much fun. Again purple Cast on Fox nine's digital channel, but getting around three twenty we will watch the game live with you guys and all of our guests. It's gonna be a really, really fun way to watch this first Vikings preseason game of the year. Get ready for the return of Vikings football this Sunday,