NFL '22 Season Kickoff Preview

NFL's biggest questions. It's my new co host. He's a pro bowler, super Bowl winner, Michael Robinson, or as we affectionately call him here at NFL Network, m rob It is awesome to be with you, man. Yes, it's great to be a part of this podcast. You know, Yams, I've seen a lot of football scenarios and situations in my eight NFL seasons. Those experiences allow me to dig a little deeper into those statistics. You know how those

statistics go on the field. Come on, man, let's get it. Yeah. Well, hold, not to be fair here, and there's a slight little correction. I will handle the statistical aspect of it because I was not physically gifted like you. Your experiences are the ones inside the locker room. You were the ones taking the hits on the football field. I would probably better suited for making sure that you were saying hydrated. Man. Look, I know you've seen the water boarded water boy hitting

people too. Man. Come on, now, I am Adam Sandlers. I've taken pictures sex to him. He's definitely bigger than I am. With that in mind, look, it is awesome to be with you. There's a wealth of knowledge that you have and unique perspective that you're going to be bringing every single episode. So for episode number one, we're gonna do an NFL Explained version of a season preview.

We're gonna run through a number of relevant topics and take a closer look into the stats, the history, and as I made reference to, we'll get em Rob's professional and I will not use the air quotes around professional experience. And since we started off the top with the theme of new the first thing we should take a look at is the fact that they're m ROB ten new head coaches in the league. Yeah, it is a lot. It's actually over of the league. I'll be the numbers

guy on this one. Although I didn't do the math on it, it's wild and not the norm. So in fact, it's actually tied for the most turnover in one year in league history, along with two thousand and six in nineteen seventy eight. Now you came into the league gain rob in two thousand and six. You're actually part of a coaching change in your first few years in San Francisco, transition personality wise, when you're stepping into that. How unique of an experience is it? Well, it was unique because

obviously I got drafted by the San Francisco forty Niners. Uh. The head coach at the time was Mike Nolan. He's a defensive guy, um, and I think it was two thousand and eight that was the year that we kind of had some issues and he was kind of forced out.

And then linebackers coach Mike Singletary, one of the all time great Hall of Fame, one of my favorite people in the whole world, he took over as as an intern head coach, and so from a mentality standpoint, of philosophy standpoint, it was pretty similar, right to defensive guys, but with whether rubber met the road though that that year and then in two thousand nine, coach Singtary got the job, and we had a former head coach on

the staff and Mike Marts. Okay, we know Mike Marts part of those RAMS teams, greatest show on throws the football, all of those things, and so everybody, even the players, we thought Mike Marx would get the job. Yams. Let me tell you something, bro being at practice to see coach Singletary trying to call everybody up, and you know, Mike Martz is upset because he's not the head coach. He's turning his back to Coach singletonp It was crazy and a couple of times we saw them almost get

into it in front of us. It was crazy. I had never seen anything like it. I thought I was in uh, I don't know, a soap opera or something, but it was awesome. It was awesome to see. We took on the mentality of coach Singletary, who was a workaholic, hall of Fame type of a guy, and that team we almost felt like we wanted to win four coach sings. So, I mean, from a mentality standpoint, everything stayed the same

because coach Singletary was that defensive guy. But it was different because Singletary wasn't the head coach that drafted me, right, Mike Nolan was. And so when you're operating around the building, when you're you know, putting what you gotta put out on tape for games and things like that, you do have that in the back of your head. Okay, I gotta continue to play well and do was ask to me because this coach may not been one of the

guys that wanted me here. The guy that wanted me here is no longer here, So that that is always in the back of your mind. When you see two coaches flying for the permanent job. Obviously it's awkward. Right now, you're you're painting a picture of that. I think many of us can actually envision. What are the conversations in the locker room. Is it offensive defensive guys, or like hey check this out, or hey, don't really matter, like we're rolling no matter what because we need to pay

our bills. Yeah. Man, So most of the guys in the locker room more like that, like, look, man, I don't give a damn who is the head coach who's calling the shots or whatever. We just gotta get our ducks in the rows that we can win games, and we win games. Every body gets paid, everybody enjoys the success.

But there was splinters of the locker room. It did splinter us a little bit because obviously the offensive guys, um, you know, Mike Mart's Greatest Show on turf, we understood the numbers and all of that, and we get our numbers and catches and running, you know, and numbers get paid. We get paid, right. But defensively, you know, I've I've always been a guy from the old school, like, you know,

defensive wins championship. So I did see an importance and having a tough defense and having that that defensive mentality of everything being disciplined, everything being in order running the football. Obviously as a fullback, I love that. Well, digging into the numbers, this is what's really unique about the situation that's in front of us first year head coaches. From two thousand to twenty one, a hundred and forty head coaches were hired. Nine two of them were first time

head coaches. So of the rookie coaches, thirty nine percent had a winning record in their first year and percent made the playoffs. To be fair, if you're going through a coaching change, you're probably not a great football to begin with, so some of the numbers not all that shocking. But here's where it gets interesting to me. Veteran coaches they struggled even more than the rookie coaches, only winning of their games and making the playoffs about seven percent

of the time. So it's not a huge disparity, but nonetheless still intriguing to me. Why do you think the retread coaches just had a little less success than the rookies. Tough to teach an old dog. New tricks simply puts that. I mean, guys are who they are. If from an offensive standpoint, let's say you're a numbers guy. When I say a numbers guy, if your offensive play caller, you call a play double wing right quick as right to twelve f flat, that's a numbers guy right to twelve

f flat. I'm giving each receiver a number from right to left. You know what I'm saying, And every guy when I break the huddle based off the number call, I know exactly the route I have right. Other guys called plays a little bit differently. They the West Cool system is more code words and things like that. So to me, when you're stuck on a certain way that you call a game, whether it's offensive defense, and that's what made you successful in your past. It's hard to change.

You know what I'm saying is that's why I say it's tough to teach an old dog new tricks. To me. When younger coaches first get the job. The reason why they do have a little bit more success because the league has always been about innovation. And let's think about when Chip Kelly first came in the league, he changed some things with regard to practicing that now every team International Football League is kind of picked up a little bit with that sports science stuff and you know, all

that type of stuff. So again, this league has always been good for innovation, but oftentimes because the defense and other coaches get paid to after that first year, the rest of the National Football League catches up. And so that's why you see that little bit of a bump down, you know what I'm saying on the next years of coaches. But the reason why the retraid coaches, I think have issues is because they know what they know and it's

hard for them to re learn something else. The truly great ones, which I'm looking at guy like Tom Bowles, who's getting his chance with a good team with a Hall of Fame quarterback to run a team again. Just looking at to see what he's changed and kind of how his philosophy has changed in his time not being a head coach. Yeah, there's a couple of those guys. Josh McDaniels certainly comes to mind. Peterson comes to mind

as well. Look, the reality is there's a lot of new coaches, as we made reference to ten of them, but in the Super Bowl era, the new coaches when just of their games in their first season. But there's a little bit of hope here. Over that same span, seventy one coaches have gone onto the playoffs in their first two years, next Herianni Rich Besaccia doing it last year.

So you might have already kind of answered this, But as I'm thinking about some of these coaches, Todd Bowles you said you want to see you're intrigued by that. Is there a first year guy that you have a little bit more faith in it. Maybe it's less about them personally or they're they're coaching acumen, and more about the team that they actually have. I mean, you mentioned

Tom Bowls right there. I mean, it's tough not to He has the great one Tom Brady as his quarterback, right and I just like the fact that Bruce arians you know, just say hey, I'm gonna go upstairs or whatever.

But Ta Bows has to be the head coach. I like the fact that t Bow's got that job because I do think that team is loaded, one of the top, one of the upper tier teams in the NFC, which the NFC is a little bit easier to get to the top than in the a f C. But I do like what I see with Tar Bowls in year one, Kevin O'Connor in Minnesota as well, Kirk Cousins, again more of an offensive minded head coach. I do think that

they can see some success there. I just hope that Kevin O'Connell when he steps in front of the entire team full of grown men, I just hope he has that voice. I haven't heard him speak in front of the team. I hope he has that voice. In Denver, man, my old quarterback Russell Wilson. Nathaniel Hackett is there as well. I have some reservations about this one about Hacket or Wilson. You're not reade, I'm riding. But at the end the day. Look what was the issues in Seattle? Everybody wanted to

select rust Cook. That was just left rust Cook movement. Russ wanted to win more games off the strength of his arm. Right Petka wanted to run the football, play tough defense. We won the Super Bowl, got to another Super Bowl on running the football. We had one of the generational backs and beast mode than the l ob and that tough defense. Now, Nathaniel Hackett, he was with Aaron Rodgers. The thing in Aaron Rodgers when he first

left Mike McCarthy is wow, Ken, Matt Lafleur. Can Nathaniel Hackers, who was the offensive coordinated at the time and the quarterbacks coach? Can they get? Can they get? And Rodgers in the structure? Well, guess what. Nathaniel Hacket wants to run the football, big explosive in the past, game, play tough those defense. So where did Russell run to? Like I thought he was trying to get away from that type of molde And so I'm not sure if Russell's

gonna play in the preseason. So that's another thing. I think they gotta get used to a shorter quarterback who likes to scramble around to push the ball down field. So I think Denver has I think they found a guy. Russell's a Hall of Fame guy. But at the end of the day, it's different plan with Russell, and I think the guys have to play with them to truly understand that and in that division trying to figure that out.

If you don't figure it out quickly, that might be too much of a gap to overcome and we might not be riding into the postseason with the Denver Broncos. But look, it is an impressive list, right of guys that are now getting an opportunity in year one with their new teams. That's coming up on the NFL Explained podcast Welcome Back to NFL explains Mike m and m Rob with you, and it's an impressive list right of guys that are now getting an opportunity in year one

with their new teams. This whole idea. Look, Todd bols of you made reference to it was a good team that they had in Tampa Bay. There's some other situations. The Giants, Brian Dae all four wins for those dudes. Love Smith takes over a four win team and we don't even need to get into what Jacksonville was working with. But it doesn't always happen where a team very quickly can turn it around. We did see it with Cincinnati last year went from words to first to reach the

super Bowl. Does it happen? My initial gut was like, no, it doesn't happen a ton. But check this out. Since two thousand twenty five, teams have gone from worst to first in their division. Yeah. I I my initial guts like, no, no, you kildn't make like those turnarounds don't happen. Eight times a team has gone from last place to the super Bowl in the following year, with four of them actually winning it all rams thousand one Patriots, the oh nine, Saints,

and the Eagles. Is there a team em rob that you think maybe could go from worst to first? I mentioned some of the records of some of those squads. It's hard to fact after what we saw a season ago. Um, I'm gonna go I'll pick how about the Baltimore Ravens. We're not used to seeing those guys lasting the division. They came in last in their division last year. I think they were on eight nine or something like that. May be a little bit less than that. But you

can't anticipate the entire backfield getting hurt again. You can't anticipate all the entire secondary getting hurt again. Lamar missed games as well, and you know this year, I think Lamar I think the reason why we haven't heard him sign yet. I think he wants to win US up. I think he wants to get there. I think he feels like he wants to validate that possible fifty million per year that he's gonna get. So I would I would say the Baltimore Ravens. They're intriguing to me, man.

I know they let Hollywood Brown go, they did bring in some other guys, they drafted some guys and things like that. But I just think this team is built around Lamar. I think he's motivated this year. So I would say the Baltimore Ravens and the Denver Broncos, another team we just talked about. I know they're playing ANFC West, who they did come in last in that division last year. There is something to be said though about the mental fortitude and toughness of the Ravens. Even with all of

those injuries. It's not like they were getting their butts kicked. They were right there in it. Every it felt like, you know, the margin of defeat was just always so razors thin. You got a healthy team out there, be that changes your chances. That's great coaching. Yeah, like John Hardball special teams coach, he has held that team together.

That is excellent coaching. That that's when coaching matters, right when you know you are clearly outdone, you know the other team has all these assets you don't, but yet you still put up a formidable fight. I think John Hardball is that guy. What's the god it? I'm gonna butcher this. You know, when you invest in stocks, they tell you, hey, past performance doesn't indicate future results. That

sounds right, that's true. The point is, if you're a Cincinnati fan, you might be feeling yourselves a little bit. Hey got to the Super Bowl, Joe brow stuff made some changes to our offensive line. But check this out. Thirty one teams have actually failed to make the playoffs in the season after playing in the Super Bowl. I should also throw the Rams into that mix as well, right, Like, if I'm going to throw some shade towards Cincinnati, you

could do the same from a Rams perspective. So of that chunk that actually accounts for twenty eight percent of the one hundred and ten Super Bowl participants entering two. I want to talk a little bit about a rarity, a divis vision in which every single team feels like they're a Super Bowl contender. You know what I'm talking about the a f C West. And my first question here about this division is it the most stack that you've seen since we've gone to four teams in the

division in two thousand two. Yeah, I mean just looking and again I'm not even talking about the rest of the roster. I'm just looking at the quarterbacks, and yes, this is the most stacked division that I've seen in my lifetime. I was born in eighty three. I know they say the eighty three uh draft had all those quarterbacks. Uh, this is a stack division. Man. I played in the NFC West. When you look back in the twenty between

twenty eleven, that division was pretty stacked as well. You obviously had the Seattle Seahawks, the Santasco for the Niners. You know, Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick. Both defenses were shut down defenses, both had generational backs and Frank Gore and Beast Mode. But we weren't a stack as the a f C West is right now. And again I have to go back to people thinking that the Raiders and the Chargers maybe the two worst teams in this division, and I think they all have a chance to win it.

Derek Carr is a cardiac kid man. He showed me something last year. He showed me dealing with all the adversity that this Raiders team dealt with, dealing with the coach and change all the things, you know, all the things that happened. He kept his team together. They made to the playoffs. Justin Herbert superstar. And now I'm talking about this Los Angeles Chargers team this year three for Justin Herbert. First year, Anthony Lynne gets fired. Okay, I'm

giving something that you rookie here, Justin Herbert. Okay, you didn't go nowhere. Okay. Second year, you got a new head coach. Give you a little something more on that because you got a new head coach. But this is the third year, and I believe Justin Herbert is a guy. He's one of those five six guys walking this planet that can win a game strictly based off of his arm talent. And so the Charge hes gotta go to playoffs period, almost did last year. Almost. This ain't horseshoes, Mike.

I mean, I love the Khalil Mack, I love the J. C. Jack, but this kid is a superstar. I gotta see more out of the charges man. A lot of drops in that offense, justin Herbert was on the receiving end of the most drops in the NFL a year or trying. I'm trying, and that's not even in the research. Come on now, I'm bringing it, guys, are you kidding me?

We're a mid season for its episode number one? It is something to consider here, because you're right, the pieces are in place, and it does feel like to let's go. And Staley have done a great job remaking this thing and addressing some of the issues that we saw, specifically on the defensive side of my football. And no more Tyreek Hill in this division. I gotta say that I can't let us talk about the FC West and I can't not talk about, to me, the most important non

quarterback skill position player in our league. I'm talking about the cheetah Tyreek Hill. He makes offenses, he makes quarterbacks. Now, I ain't ever seen Patrick Mahomes really without Tyreek Hill. So I'm interested in this year if Patrick Mahomes can dank and dunk all the way down the football field, because that's how you defend Patrick Mahomes. You drop eight, you play to safety high and forced Andy Reid and

Patrick Mahomes to work their way down the field. I'm not so sure from a philosophy standpoint they're able to do it. Here's the beauty of it, because I know there's a family listening right now and just says dude, all four teams get into the postseason, which which would kind of squash the argument. The problem is, while it's possible,

it's not exactly likely. Since moving to the feign team divisions, three teams from the same division have made the playoffs nine times, and last year when the Rams, the Niners, and the Cards all reached the postseason in the NFC West, it's really hard to do, but mathematically possible. Still more to come here on NFL Explain, Records were made to be broken and a few were shattered A season ago. Will remind you of what went down, and Emerald will

tell you which ones will crumble this year. Welcome back to NFL, explains Mike m and m Rob with you. Now. We just we're talking a little bit about the a f C West being loaded with quarterback talent and just real dudes. And speaking of qbs, the most recent draft, we had four quarterbacks taken in the first three rounds, one in the first, none in the second, and three in the third. It was actually the first time there was only one quarterback taken in the first round, and

that was when EJ. Manual went sixteen to Buffalo. I've actually worked with e J on the radio. Side note his voice sounds exactly like Anthony Mackie and I've told you, yeah, it's identical. Close your eyes and just listen. Side tangent there, They're like, I need to go find the radio. We'll get them on the pot at some point. Meanwhile, that was the year in which eight quarterbacks were taken in the first three rounds of the draft. That was the most ever. So which one of last year's rookies is

going to take that leap in year number two? And it's an impressive list. You got Trevor Lawrence, Jack Wilson, Trey Lance all of a sudden has the keys to the car. Justin Fields comes to mind. There's that Mac Jones, and then one of my personal favorites, Davis Mills, the first round pick had he gone back to Stanford. We can't talk about that on another episode podcasts. But is there a guy that you like making making a jump?

I want to say justin feels so bad. I want to, but I just think that the Chicago Bears hired a defensive head coach and Ebra Flews, who look, he's had some great defenses in Indie. Okay, the bend, but don't break defenses. They force you to throw to a spot, they rally, they take the ball away. But from the Chicago Bears standpoint, the keys to everything is in the hands of this young quarterback who you know, big tim player of the Year a couple of years in a row.

Look where you are in the country. I mean, just do everything that you can to guarantee the success of this kid. I just I may have looked in a more offensive head coach standpoint, but okay, I talked about justin fields. But for me, I gotta go with Trey Lance making a big jump. First of all, he only played in two games last year, so you know he's got and he has a team around him as a defense that can get after the passion, they can take

the ball away, they play tough nose. Again, having a great defense for a quarterback, it's like having a whole life insurance man. You can always go back to it and use it as an own in house banking and all that type of That's what it's like. Okay, that's what it's like. And so he has the keys to the car um. Now you have Kyle Shanahan, who from a play calling standpoint, he knows how to run the football. He anybody can run the football and coy Shanahan's offense.

And when you can run the football, that means it's one on one on the outside. You do have Deebo Samuel on the outside, and so now playing quarterback is a little bit easier, right, it's just one on one, is just pitch and catch. So I think Trey Lance will have the biggest jump, especially when you look at what the forty Niners did to get him, and you look at your taking a proven winner in Jimmy Garoppolo, and you're basically saying, I know he's a winner. It's

all good. He paying for us no more, though, We're gonna let him go and somebody please come get him. Just the fact that this organization is competent organization will have a lot of respect for they drafted me. I love, you know, all the people in the front office, very competent people. For them to let Jimmy Garoppolo walk like that, that tells you all you need to know about Trey Lance and terrific when he was in college in terms of play Actually, we see a lot of that in

the play calling with Kyle Shanahan. And I'll take it a step further. I actually covered that draft and I had the Niners for us at NFL Network and one of the things that I'll never forget, and it screams to the point that you're making. John Lynch, their general manager, said hey, we've moved up and the unique situation that Trey Lances in compared to every other young quarterback. I gave you the list, right, Trevor Lawrence, There's a reason why they were picking that night, right the Jets with

Zach Wilson issues there. The point is this is a roster that if they made the Super Bowl, you're not surprised, not surprised at all. And just in season they were in the Super Bowl. And I can make an argument to Kyle Shanahan that if he continued to run the football on the net Super Bowl and when they lost to the Patriots when he was with Atlanta, if he just ran the football, he'd be a two times Super

Bowl winning coach right now. But he isn't because he didn't run the football to get Degbo sent me the ball. So I think Trey Lance is that guy that's gonna take this offense to new heights. No, I'm with you there. Now we're talking quarterbacks. We're talking about dudes in year number two. And I know we loved up the a f C West earlier, but their quarterbacks in the record

books for performances in year number two not shocking. The half billion dollar man, Patrick Mahomes most passing touchdowns and passing yards in a second season in NFL history with fifty TVs and five Yeah, that's no joke. That was his sad. That was the second year number two. Dude was just bawling. And how many of those fifty touchdowns like second come on to Tyree take off, you know, and just roll second year in the league that many yards.

I mean, like he did have a great teacher. Alex Smithy was my quarterback in San Francisco, and the fact that Alex was there first, I mean to me that was like the perfect way to groom your quarterback, have them for a year and then leadal league and passed the next year. I mean kind of feeds into your answer about Trey Lance with Jimmy garofin like all kind of a process is staying in line there. But look the fifty touchdowns. Impressive, five thousand, ninety seven passing yards

from homes. And then Justin Herbert, who you said is one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL. The numbers bared out. Herbert fourth on the TV list with thirty eight touchdowns, also holds the completion record with four hundred and forty three for a quarterback in year number two. Those look a lot of records. Last year, I mean, hell, last year on NFL Explained, we did an episode on

records being broken. There was a ton of them. Any anything that jumped out at you because I got a bunched that her here, you know, Brady with the past completion record Herbert, you know, passing yards and touchdowns in the player's first two seasons combined The point is there's a lot to choose from anything. Stand out, Um, I gotta go with Jalen Waddle and the receptions record. The

record receptions record. This kid, you know, a year before last year, was in college okay, our amateur game okay. And then he comes into the National Football League sets the record a hundred and four receptions, Like that's not a little number, Like this guy's have been in this league for years that don't get those types of receptions in the season. Hell, I don't even know if I got that for a career, and this this young guy got it in one year, his rookie season. So to me,

that's phenomenal. It also tells a story about the wide receivers. Right, wide receivers are coming into the National Football League a little bit more prepared. We saw that happen to running back some years back. Right running backs come into this league a little bit more prepared, and you know, it's a double edged sword. I hate to say it, but maybe teams will start looking at wilde receivers kind of like they look at running back, so we can just

find one of them anywhere. They all can catch, they all are fast, they all run sub for for all of those things, but to see j Leen Widdle set the rookie recommends pretty cool. Jamaar Chase setting the Super Bowl era rookiecord with receiving yards over fourteen hundred, Justin Jefferson and NFL record for receiving yards and his players

first two seasons. Mike Evans not And I know this sounds crazy because we do love him up and we know how good he is, but I don't know how I don't know if we know how good, just how good he is extended his own record for most consecutive seasons with at least a thousand yards to start a

career with eight, which is just wild. And I gotta throw some love to t J. Watt, who tied Hall of Famer Michael Strahan's single season sack record with twenty two and a half, which apparently, according to Miles Garrett, will be broken at his number, which would be ridiculously impressive. By the way, just one of the note here, because I don't want to get you on some records that could go down this season, any record that you're keeping an eye on for this upcoming season that you think

could get broken. Um, I'm a runner Okay. Even when I played quarterback, I was a runner, Mike. Okay. So Jonathan tayl I think is the best running back in the national football Yes, I'm going on record to say there's no aide to King Henry. I love King Henry, but King Henry is more of a volume back. You gotta gotta feed him for him to beat you up. To me, Jonathan Taylor from a acceleration, from a speed through the hole from I can catch the ball, I

can also pass protect. I think Jonathan Taylor can get over two thousand yards this year. I really do. And now he has a signal caller who's not gonna throw the ball with his left hand in his and in his ends own and throw an interception for Matt Ryan is not gonna do that. Matt Ryan actually will say, you know what, y'all canna keep playing to safety high because you're scared of Michael Pittman Jr. And my guys on the outside. I will call a run fifty times

in a row. Don't challenge me. That's why I think Jonathan Tylor has a real good shot of going over two thousand yards this season. Back to back years where we could potentially be talking about him as the best running back in the NFL, absolutely, which would be remarkable if he hits that to k Mark episode number one NFL explained officially now in the books, m Rob, I am so jacked up for the start of the season. Look all year long, every single week to who the whare,

the what, the why, the how? You and I are going to be discussing it. I will be bringing more of the analytical stat side of things. I'll bring the water. I'll make sure that you're hydrated for the for the next episode, to make sure that that you're ready to rock and ball. I would appreciate you guys checking in with us and follow us on social media. Would love to get your take on some other episodes that you'd love to hear us talk about and answer some of

your burning questions around the NFL. It's a season preview, explained