Tag: Chris Cooley film analysis

Chris Cooley evaluates horrible loss to the Bears

Some excellent analysis as always from Thursday’s embarrassing loss.

“You can’t lose these games. You can’t get down like that early in games.”

That’s how former Washington tight end and Redskins radio broadcaster Chris Cooley began describing his observations of the Commanders’ horrendous 40-20 Thursday night loss to the Bears.

Cooley appeared on the “Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast on Friday. Here are a few of his observations. Here is the link to the entire episode.

“If you are a good team, then win these games. If you are a good team, then consistently find ways to win these games. They can be a good team, but they are not. There is a lack of consistency.”

“Who are they? They got run by the (0-4) Bears early in this game!”

“I thought Washington was garbage. And are they going to continue to give up over 30 points a game? They are early in the season, so the preparation…….”

“He (Sam Howell) is better than Taylor Heinicke.”

Regarding Sam Howell’s interception: “They (receivers) are too short on their route. That route has to be run 10-12 yards by Curtis Samuel, period. But he cut it off five yards early, which would take about one second longer.”

Trailing 27-11 when Coach Rivera chose to kick a field goal on 4th & 3. “My concern is you haven’t stopped the Bears enough, so at this point, you can’t trade field goals with them, which is exactly what happened. Didn’t Chicago drive right down the field and kick a field goal?”

Playing against Philly last week, a big game, it went right down to the end. Getting your body ready for a Thursday night game is a challenge…They are early in the year, so I don’t know if they were tired, stiff, sore, but it sure didn’t affect the Bears” (who also played a close game Sunday, losing 31-28 to Denver).

“You know you can do a lot of preparation early for a Thursday night game. You could actually do some preparation during the preseason for your Thursday night game so that you are not waiting until you travel back from Philadelphia on Sunday night.”

I’ll bet you right now there are probably about 25 players upset, and they are cursing the coaches, the game plan. And there are probably several coaches saying, ‘these guys just don’t get it.’ Every dude in that locker room is probably pointing the finger at someone…there is a huge disconnect between coaching and playing. And I am not here putting it on either side. I think it is probably on both, and we need to figure something out.”

Chris Cooley was impressed with Commanders QB Sam Howell

The former Washington star liked what he saw in Sam Howell’s performance against the Ravens.

“I loved the offense; I thought it was terrific.”

That’s how former Redskins tight end Chris Cooley opened his film review of the Commanders first-half performance against the Ravens. Cooley was a guest on the “Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast on Wednesday.

Here are some selected comments by Cooley:

“Actually, Sam Howell was really good. He did put himself in some bad situations, like taking a sack early.”

“I thought throughout the first half he was really accurate, his release was quick, and when he was on the move he was actually really good.”

“In the second quarter, when he hit (Jahan) Dotson on the run, great vision down the field. Great ball to Dotson. Who, by the way, was tremendous in the game. He (Dotson) is going to be a stud.”

“When he was holding the ball too long on a sack, he had two dudes open…He had early pressure; he should have stepped up and let it go.”

Over the middle of the field, I thought he made some really good throws…I was really pretty impressed by him.”

A couple of negatives:

“He bounces so much; he is like a rabbit back there. He is always bouncing, bouncing. He has happy feet. He is always looking down the field way too long to throw the ball. It’s open, or it is not. But he will get there. It’s open or it’s not, and your check-down is open now. Your check-down is not usually open later…That’s a young player, and I am fine with that.”

“Dyami Brown also looked good in this game. All the receivers looked good in this game.”

“All in all, I was impressed with the offense. He (Howell) did a great job executing within the game plan. He made accurate throws, and he looked very confident in doing so.”

“Can he read 4-Verts? Kansas City lives off of 4 vertical routes. Can he really push the ball down the field? If he can’t, he is going to get tight man coverage, press. Guys are really going to disrupt things, and you are going to have problems. So he has to be able to throw the ball down the field.”

“Can he survive in the pocket? Can he understand when some people start bringing some zone pressures and different looks? Can he not take a bunch of sacks? That is going to be a problem for this year because he is going to do that. Because he is hopping around a lot. He looks a little anxious in the pocket. So, he is going to take some sacks this year, but that is a young player.”

“My favorite thing about this game was we have a really young quarterback who has not seen enough looks. What are we going to do in this game? Why don’t we throw the ball 30 times? Great idea. Is it that hard? The one guy we really need? Let’s get him going.”

Chris Cooley’s film review of Commanders 2nd-round pick, Quan Martin

Cooley is a big fan of Martin and hopes the Commanders have a defined role for him.

“Did you see he jumped a 44 inch vertical? Do you know how far 44 inches puts you over the rim?”

Those were the first thoughts Chris Cooley expressed on his film review of the Washington Commanders second-round selection Jartavius “Quan” Martin, a defensive back from Illinois.

Cooley was a guest on the Kevin Sheehan Podcast this week, providing film reviews Martin and first-round selection Emmanuel Forbes.

“He moves around, wherever they need him. He’s played a ton.”

“He might be a safety, the more I watch him.”

“Are you taking a guy in the second round because you think he is going to be good somewhere? Or do you have a role for him?”

“I like this pick, and I like a lot about Quan if there is an actual role for him. If in their mind, ‘This is where this dude plays.” Cooley said he doesn’t want Martin to be a guy they try at corner and then settle for safety.

“You don’t take those guys in the first, second, or most likely the third round. You take starters who can be starters that year because you have a position that you know they can fill.”

“The reason I like him at safety is he is fast and has really great hips in transition. He has really great range when he is moving across the field. His red-line to red-line speed is really good.”

“Through the middle of the field, he could be in a straight backpedal, and his turn and pivot to run red-line to red-line is exceptional athletic transition.”

“I think he is a good block shedder. He has a great downhill approach to run-stopping. He makes a ton of TFLs (tackles for a loss) on the other side of the ball.”

“He is a real physical player, fearless.”

“There is something lacking when he is outside in vertical stuff down the field.”

“I didn’t love him in tight-press situations…I don’t think he is a mirror corner. One thing I am sure of, he is not an outside corner.”

 

Chris Cooley’s film review of Commanders cornerback Emmanuel Forbes

Cooley says defensive playmakers are hard to find, and Forbes is one.

Former Washington tight end Chris Cooley is again going to conduct a film review of each of the Commanders 2023 draft class.

A guest on the Kevin Sheehan Podcast Wednesday, Cooley began with part one of this film review.

Emmanuel Forbes, CB Mississippi State

“He has unbelievable speed.”

“He is not big, I will tell you that. Is it really that hard to get the dude some Creatine and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Is his metabolism so unbelievably high that they can’t put 15 pounds on him in a year?

“He made a business decision in some of the run-game stuff…He doesn’t have a great block-shed ability. When dudes get their hands on him, he is getting blocked. Now, he does have a good avoid. But I wouldn’t say he is out there yanking dudes around shedding blocks.”

“It only gets harder because it is such a demand for receivers to block in the NFL. And they will, and he is going to get blocked. He is going to have to find a way to get off of these blocks.”

“This is not a deal breaker for me. I would much rather have a guy that can cover than a guy that can shed blocks.”

“You just don’t (easily) get playmakers. It is one of the hardest traits to find in my opinion, especially on defense, and he is one. He has really good instincts. He sees things very well.”

“He jumps throws really well.”

“His off-zone coverage I really like. I think he plays with good hips, good vision on the quarterback, and is able to jump things when the quarterback turns to read or make a throw to the receiver Forbes is working on.”

“There is some potential that he over-commits to things. There is some stuff I would attack him deeper vertically down the field. His recovery speed is pretty good. But he is waiting for a breakpoint at 5 yards, at 10 yards…”

“My last concern with Forbes is that on the turn and run stuff… he gets super handsy. He will potentially get some defensive holding stuff.”

“I do like him in press. He can run, he can press, he has good hips… I think he is an outside guy (corner) right now.”

“You have to take risks to make plays, so I think you have to play with a lot of confidence to take those risks, and that is what I see with Forbes. That is the thing I like about him most. Playmaker who takes risks.”

Chris Cooley: ‘The moment wasn’t too big’ for Sam Howell

Cooley was extremely impressed with Howell’s performance in his latest film review.

“He did a good job, he did well,” that is how Chris Cooley summed up in one sentence Sam Howell’s performance in his first NFL start Sunday against Dallas.

Cooley a guest on the “Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast Monday, continued to offer a film breakdown review of the game as well.

Here are some of Cooley’s evaluations of Sam Howell’s first game.

“I thought he played well. Take away that one pick he would like back; for the most part, I thought he was pretty consistent.”

“His accuracy was good other than one screen throw and a deep ball to Terry McLaurin that was underthrown a little bit.”

“He threw two deep balls later down the field. One to Dotson that was dropped, that was a really good ball, and another one to Terry that was an excellent ball.”

“Although he didn’t make a ton of throws vertically down the field, he did make three or four down the field that were essentially pretty good throws.”

“The crossing route throws he hit; he hit guys on the move in stride. He had a drop by Terry that would have been a conversion (first down). He looked really good athletically. The kid can get out and run. You saw that with the zone-read touchdown, making good cuts, fearless cuts.”

“He had a couple of good third-down scrambles where he ends up converting. I thought, for the most part, he ran the offense with good tempo. He looked comfortable in the pocket; he looked like he belonged there. The moment wasn’t too big (for him).”

“The moment was huge for him. He definitely felt nervous, and felt pressure. I think he performed in the moment while he felt pressure. I would have liked to have seen him throw the ball more.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbykgy681k112p8 player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]