Tmaine, I'm always breaking down film of you guys and I wanted to sit with you and go over some of the stuff that we did.
This is the 40th anniversary of the first Super Bowl in the organization's history. And so this is right before halftime.
And our mentality at the goal line, if somebody got down this far, we was angry. Like legit not ready to get off the field, not hold a field goal or anything. We was just legitimately angry. So, they got down here and we had three stops in a row.
This is two of them, but like our guys are staggered because the way we played them down here, Lawrence was always our launch guy.
So, he was going to run. If it was coming over the middle, he was jumping over the pile.
Or he was always the guy they wanted to keep clear to run to the football because he was faster. Harry Carson was bigger. So like from an inside linebacker perspective, I want you to tell me what you see and how this is all playing out.
Yeah, I mean right now obviously 34 has 30 in man. He's tracking his man in motion, ball off the line, you know, I just see, I mean you looking at, I mean everybody's in the frame of the play. I mean, you just see people running balls out. I mean, full tilt. I mean, that's what it got to be. You know, the ball is on the one yard line. Offense need one yard.
Yeah, we're all upset. Like, that's what I'm saying. You can see, look at the pursuit to the ball. Like, what was y'all like, what was the message throughout the week? I know you said you was upset, but what's the message?
So, for us, we practiced goal line like we practice everything in practice. So it was a big part of what we do because we were probably one of the better goal line teams in football. But our message is if they get down here, we can't let them score.
And so it was just always like that. And I think Fridays we did goal line.
You know, and it was semi-live, but this is the result of that. And then when you see this picture like you see 74.
Watch where he ends up because he running. But the pursuit is this way and not straight down the line of scrimmage because our coaches coached us on just every little detail. If you're on the goal line and you hit a guy, he can fall forward. So you want to be going this way to push him or make him, you know, bounce out a little bit more.
So this is the third down and everybody on the line was like, 'Somebody got to make a play.'
34 in motion again. Look, look at the speed. I mean, like it's everybody out there just 100 miles per hour.
So, you got our front side corner to the ball. He turns it in, right? So, then our middle linebacker turning it in. And then I come all the way off the other end because I'm down here at the bottom and just chase down.
But that's like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, seven guys. But that's how it should be, especially down in the red zone. Two yards to go.
It's the same thing here though out in the field. Like look at the speed that's out there. I can only imagine how y'all practice as well, man. But it was always full speed. It was like everybody was accountable, right? So when that film stops, there's like a count of who's going to be in the film and then you got to have a really good reason why you didn't make it into the frame.
You know, you got cut, but you got up and you kept trying to get there. But like you can see the communication with our inside backer here. They were trying to run a little flare block on me and I jump back inside of it. But again, just people to the football. And then here's one where in pass coverage just breaking to the ball knowing what the down and distance is.
And then you see play on the ball though. Our best pass rusher.
I was about to say, look at the pass rusher. Quarterback ain't got no choice but to get the ball out. He see two dogs coming off the edge like that. I mean, he got to get the ball out.
This might be one of my favorite plays of this game. I had like 15 tackles this game. But this one I'm one-on-one with the tight end.
Sticky cover. So, it was basically he tried to use the ref, so I just kept pushing him towards the ref and I knew I was going to come just right back underneath him.
When you was in those man-to-man coverage, like what's your key? Like, where are your eyes going?
So, I'm definitely inside technique because my head was to his inside right on the snap. But then, you know, you had the five yard rule, I'm like, I'm gonna keep jamming you.
My first thing is when it's man-to-man for me is, okay, where's my help? Am I outside or inside? Right. And if I have inside help, I'm not getting beat outside. Like, I'll do everything I can even by alignment to make sure that the release of the tight end or back has to be inside of me and then I can get into my coverage. But a lot of keys too, like if you have a tight end, and this still holds true today, if it's a passing play, you can ask your dad about this too. If he flexes out, it's so he can get to an inside release, right? If he's tight to the formation on pass, it's so he can release outside.
I used to look at it, I thought it was the opposite, but I was like, 'Oh, no. He's getting wide so that I can get wide.' And so he can just release inside. And then if they're tight close to the tackle, even closer than it would be on the run, it's like, 'Oh, he's about to release outside.' You know, he wants to get me in tight. So, kind of got the cheat sheet on that a little bit, man. You know, Pops kind of gave me a little knowledge on that.
So, this one we show blitz, we drop out. And this is just pattern read for me. I'm up here at the top. When I drop out, I'll stop right here. I looked to two. Long as two was outside, I know I only had to come back to three. So I didn't have to waste any time, you know, drifting in coverage. If two would have came in, I would have to ride him up the seam, right?
But then again, it's you talk about leverage, right? The guy who's got him in this, it's cover two. It looks like it release. Make him release outside. Everybody had to release outside. So we knew exactly where we wanted the ball to go if it was a pass.
That's a big time play. Yeah, that's a big time play. Yeah. So that's how we did it in the 1900s, dog.
Man, tell me, I'm curious though, like just your routine throughout the week. Like how does your routine go? You're a big recovery guy. You're a big film guy. Like what is the week? Big film guy. Big film guy.
Big film guy. I could tell you by the time this game was played, we had a little extra time, but by the time this game was played, I could tell you everything about everybody, what bothered them, what they like, what they didn't like in terms of physical contact, all of those things. But it's so many little things that when you just watch the film, you just started to notice a rhythm of an offense and how they like to do things, how they like to block.
And that's what, and then you get that and then you get your other teammates to start looking for the same things and then the unit just gets, you know, stronger and smarter about each team that they play and it becomes so much easier too on game day.
No, for sure. Man, I appreciate you always. Yes, sir.
