The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Super Bowl LVIII recap edition

Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar review Super Bowl LVIII between the Chiefs and 49ers as only they can in this week’s “Xs and Os.”

Now that Super Bowl LVIII is in the books, and the Kansas City Chiefs have established themselves as the NFL’s nest dynasty with their 25-22 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers, it’s time for Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, to review everything as only they can with copious tape study and advanced metrics.

Among the topics discussed in this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar”:

  • Steve Spagnuolo’s shocking man-blitz plan.
  • How Trent McDuffie made that deflection with 2:00 left in regulation.
  • Was Chris Jones robbed of a Super Bowl MVP award for the second time in four years?
  • Why Spags went so heavy with nickel, and Cover-0 stuff.
  • Why Brock Purdy wasn’t the reason the 49ers lost.
  • Was Dre Greenlaw’s injury a major factor in the game or not?
  • How were the Chiefs able to spot man coverage on Travis Kelce’s huge fourth-quarter catch?
  • How Patrick Mahomes showed his development as a quarterback at the most important points of his season…
  • …and why Mahomes’ biggest throw in the Super Bowl was the one he never should have attempted.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

and on Apple Podcasts.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing Super Bowl LVIII

It’s time for Super Bowl LVIII, which means that it’s time for Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar to dive into the Chiefs-49ers matchups with tape and advanced metrics.

It’s nearly time for the biggest game of the NFL season, which means it’s time for our guys Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, to do a very deep dive on Super Bowl LVIII between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, using all kinds of tape study and advanced metrics.

Here, the guys cover these topics, as well as many others:

  • Why run defense for each team could be the key to the entire game, and why Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco might unlock it all for Kansas City.
  • How Christian McCaffrey became the NFL’s best and most prolific zone runner.
  • How Steve Spagnuolo might blitz Brock Purdy, who has been amazing against the blitz all season.
  • Why Patrick Mahomes, who in the past has been similarly “unblitzable” in recent seasons, hasn’t been that in 2023.
  • Steve Wilks’ 49ers defense is far more multiple than some people think — especially in coverage — and why that could be a problem for Mr. Mahomes.
  • The Chiefs’ four-strong formations and use of 13 personnel, and how those two things have come to define Andy Reid’s offense to a great degree.
  • Why linebackers for both teams will be so important.
  • The Secret Superstars of Super Bowl LVIII.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

and on Apple Podcasts.

 

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing Week 17’s biggest NFL matchups

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into Week 17’s biggest NFL matchups with tape and advanced metrics.

It’s time for Week 17 of the 2023 NFL season, and Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, are here to get you ready for the most important games and interesting matchups:

Cleveland Browns-New York Jets: Joe Flacco is killing defenses with shot plays out of play-action, and as good as the Jets’ defense has been all season long, that’s a vulnerability on their side.

Detroit Lions-Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys have played more man defense than any other team this season, but all 10 of Jared Goff’s interceptions this season have come against zone coverage. Dallas played more zone against the Miami Dolphins last week; that trend might continue.

Los Angeles Rams-New York Giants: It’s time to check in on Matthew Stafford and what he’s dialing up in Sean McVay’s shape-shifting offense.

Miami Dolphins-Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens just came off a great game in which they beat the San Francisco 49ers on both sides of the ball, and Mike McDaniel’s Dolphins present similar challenges.

Cincinnati Bengals-Kansas City Chiefs: The Chiefs’ offense is circling the drain, and it’s everybody’s fault. Can they turn it around in time for the playoffs?

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” featuring tape and advanced metric analysis of all Week 17’s biggest NFL matchups, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

How Bengals head coach Zac Taylor made things easy for QB Jake Browning

The Bengals are rolling with backup quarterback Jake Browning, and that’s a tribute to how head coach Zac Taylor has made Browning comfortable with scheme.

When Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury in his team’s 34-20 Week 11 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, it certainly looked as if the 5-5 Bengals’ season was over in a competitive sense. Replacing Burrow would be Jake Browning, a 2019 undrafted free agent out of Washington who had never thrown a regular-season pass before the 2023 season.

Clearly, the onus was on head coach Zac Taylor and his staff to make things as easy as possible for Browning by tailoring things to his preferences, and that’s what they did. The changes for their new quarterback weren’t extreme, but they were meaningful.

In Weeks 1-10, per Sports Info Solutions, the Bengals ranked 23rd in dropbacks with pre-snap motion. Since then, they rank 10th. They ranked 22nd in dropbacks with play-action. Since then, they rank 16th. They ranked 30th in passing snaps under center through Week 10. Since then, they rank 16th.

One play that combined motion, play-action, and under center was Browning’s 54-yard pass to running back Chase Brown against the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday. This pass was thrown four yards behind the line of scrimmage, so this was a lot about Brown, but the design made things difficult for the Colts. The Colts were in Cover-3, and safety Julian Blackmon ran with Jamarr Chase’s jet motion across. The under-center play-action froze linebackers Ronnie Harrison and Zaire Franklin, and cornerback Darrell Baker fell down when he tried to follow Brown’s delayed flare route. Not an explosive play from Browning’s arm per se, but you can tell that the Bengals’ coaching staff have gone out of their way to make Browning comfortable.

“I don’t know if it’s really been that different,” Taylor said of the new stuff. “They’re all things we’ve done over the course of the season. Each defense we play is a big driving force for how the game is played. We haven’t called a single play that we didn’t rep all training camp and fall. These guys believe in what we’re doing and have done a great job. We’ve really called upon every resource we have on offense, and everyone has stepped up. So many guys made catches and big plays today. We’re not afraid to use everybody on the roster that’s active. We have faith that everyone can step up and do their job.”

Browning has done just that, Browning is the second player since 1950 with a completion percentage of 70% or higher and a passer rating of 95.0 or higher in each of his first three career starts, joining Chad Pennington (first four starts, Weeks 5 and 7-9 in 2002 with the Jets). Browning has completed 79.3 percent of his attempts (69 of 87), the highest completion percentage by a quarterback in his first three career starts since 1950, surpassing Pennington (77.4 percent).

“I don’t look at him as a young guy,” Taylor said of Browning. “He’s been here now for three years — that’s old in this league. He knows what makes a really good backup quarterback. It’s being able to take the reps you’re not getting mentally, and manufacturing them in practice. Dan Pitcher does a great job with that. You’d handle him differently if he was a rookie or second year guy. I feel like we have a veteran quarterback out there, just getting his first action in front of a whole stadium. This is why we’ve given him the opportunity to compete for the job, this is why he won the job and this is why he stuck around for three years.

“A lot of times the guys on the practice squad, you just switch them out after two years. But Jake had all the intangible stuff, the skills we saw that made us think he can be an effective player for us. All he’s done is continue to prove that right. He knows the season doesn’t end today. He has to continue to stack and prepare. I’m sure we have another tough defense coming in next week with Minnesota. He has controlled what he can control at this point.”

Not that Browning is capable of just checkdown stuff. He hit receiver Tee Higgins with this 26-pass against the Colts in which Browning threw with good anticipation to hit Higgins in Indianapolis’ Cover-6 gaps. Browning was in the shotgun here, but his flash fake helped open things up downfield.

And this 76-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase against the Jaguars in Week 13 shows that Browning can roll deep when Chase is the backside iso receiver.

The Bengals have a very tough matchup this Saturday against a Minnesota Vikings defense led by Brian Flores, and that defense will throw the entire playbook right at your head. But so far, Browning has proven able and capable in a system tailored to his skill set.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get further into how Browning has kept the how 7-6 Bengals in the playoff race.

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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” featuring all of Week 15’s biggest NFL matchups (including Bengals-Vikings) right here:

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You can listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing Week 15’s biggest NFL matchups

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into Week 15’s most important NFL matchups.

It’s time for Week 15 of the 2023 NFL season, and Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, are here to get you ready for the most important games and interesting matchups:

Minnesota Vikings at Cincinnati Bengals — How Zac Taylor and his staff have made things easier for Jake Browning, and how Brian Flores’ defense can make life much more difficult.

Chicago Bears at Cleveland Browns — The trade acquisition and under-the-radar consultant who could be the keys to the Bears’ defensive improvement.

Dallas Cowboys at Buffalo Bills — Buffalo offensive coordinator Joe Brady has a great new wrinkle, but can the Bills’ defense hang with Dak Prescott and all his targets?

Baltimore Ravens at Jacksonville Jaguars — The Jags have been underperforming on offense and defense of late, which makes it a bad time to have to deal with the Ravens.

Philadelphia Eagles at Seattle Seahawks — The keys to Pete Carroll’s unhappiness with his defense, and why the Eagles had better get things together before they travel to the Emerald City.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing Week 13’s biggest NFL matchups

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys go deep on Week 13’s biggest NFL matchup with tape and metrics.

It’s time for Week 13 of the 2023 NFL season, including three Thanksgiving games, and the league’s first Black Friday contest ever. Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, are here to get you ready for the most important matchups:

Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys: Can Seattle fix its passing game, and deal with a version of Dak Prescott that might be the best we’ve seen?

Denver Broncos at Houston Texans: The underrated players who are at the heart of Denver’s drastic defensive improvement over the last five games.

San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles: How both of these teams set up future plays with current plays, and a throw from Brock Purdy you have to see to believe. Also, Jason Kelce might be playing the best football of his Hall of Fame career.

Kansas City Chiefs at Green Bay Packers: This Super Bowl I “rematch” comes at a time when Packers quarterback Jordan Love is coming into his own as a franchise quarterback.

Cincinnati Bengals at Jacksonville Jaguars: We have not talked enough about the 9-3 Jaguars on both sides of the ball. We would like to apologize, and go deep on Jacksonville’s pressure packages, and how they get their receivers open with scheme.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing Week 12’s biggest NFL matchups

It’s time for this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” with the guys breaking down Week 12’s biggest NFL matchups.

It’s time for Week 12 of the 2023 NFL season, including three Thanksgiving games, and the league’s first Black Friday contest ever. Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, are here to get you ready for the most important matchups:

  • San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks — It’s time to stop thinking of Brock Purdy as a system quarterback, and here’s why.
  • Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions — Jordan Love is coming along both in and out of the pocket, and that could mean trouble for the Lions’ defense.
  • Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs — Steve Spagnuolo’s Chiefs defense is among the league’s best, but that’s not the issue here — it’s a Kansas City offense that can’t seem to get out of its own way.
  • Buffalo Bills at Philadelphia Eagles — With new offensive coordinator Joe Brady, here’s how the Bills can do things differently.
  • Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans — Breaking down C.J. Stroud’s three interceptions against the Arizona Cardinals last week, and what they might mean moving forward.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” video right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing Week 11’s biggest NFL matchups

Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar get into Week 11’s biggest NFL matchups in this week’s “Xs and Os.”

It’s time for Week 11 of the NFL season, and as always, Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, get you ready with tons of tape study and advanced metrics.

This week, Greg and Doug get deep into these games:

Bengals at Ravens — Why the Ravens could be ready to give Cincinnati’s run defense a very bad time.

Cardinals at Texans — We’ve all talked about C.J. Stroud, and rightly so, but this Texans team is very good in all areas.

Vikings at Broncos — Why Vikings DC Brian Flores is making life tough for opposing quarterbacks with creative pressures, the amazing stuff Josh Dobbs is doing, and the reasons behind Denver’s drastic defensive improvement over the last five weeks.

49ers at Buccaneers — The addition of Chase Young to the 49ers defense has DC Steve Wilks and his staff doing new and interesting things!

Eagles at Chiefs — Steve Spagnuolo’s defense might be the NFL’s ideal right now, and here’s why.

Greg and Doug also take a deep dive on the best way for the Buffalo Bills to design the right kind of offense for Josh Allen.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar” right here:

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You can also subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

The Xs and Os: How the Giants finally found their offense again

Daniel Jones’ 58-yard pass to Jalin Hyatt broke a streak of bad offense for the Giants. Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar explain how it worked.

Through the first six quarters of their 2023 season, the New York Giants’ offense did not look at all like head coach Brian Daboll, offensive coordinator Matt Kafka, or quarterback Daniel Jones would have preferred. This was especially true in the passing game. In a 40-0 Week 1 thrashing at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys, and in a Week 2 first half against the Arizona Cardinals in which Big Blue had a 20-0 deficit, Jones completed 24 of 44 passes for 166 yards, no touchdowns, and three interceptions.

Then, in the second half and overtime of the Cardinals game that the Giants won, 31-28, Jones completed 17 of 21 passes for 259 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.

It was as extreme a difference as you’ll see from any offense from one half to another, and as it turned out, Daboll and Kafka had some great adjustments at halftime to make things right. In the first half — and this may have been a function of wanting to get Jones back in rhythm after the Cowboys debacle — the Giants were running a lot of quick passes without play-action or motion or any other kinds of eye candy. The idea seemed to be to get Jones some easy completions and get him into a rhythm, which was not how it turned out.

Then, at the start of the second half, everything changed. It started with this 58-yard vertical completion from Jones to receiver Jalin Hyatt.

The first thing to notice here is how Cardinals linebacker Kyzir White is indicating a possible quarterback run to the right, based on tight end Daniel Bellinger blocking edge-rusher Dennis Gardeck, and right tackle Evan Neal pulling to the right in a run-action concept. That sucked White in, and Jones’ play-action fake to running back Saquon Barkley did the same to linebacker Krys Barnes.

Then, there was the combination of the route concepts, and how the Giants set everything up with personnel.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys further discussed how the Giants got back on the good foot after such a bleak beginning.

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“One change they clearly made was a personnel adjustment,” Greg said. “There was far more 12 personnel starting in the third quarter, and obviously, they know [current Cardinals head coach and former Eagles defensive coordinator] Jonathan Gannon. Whether he’s calling the defense or not, it’s his defense. So they know him from his being in Philadelphia over the last two years, and they probably felt pretty confrontable… coaches end up coaching against coaches. They probably felt that if they went to 12 personnel, they’d get specific things defensively.”

Greg on the 58-yarder to Hyatt:

“That came out of 12 personnel. Hyatt was the boundary X receiver. They went tight bunch opposite that to the trips side of the formation. And they pretty much knew how that would be played. The Cardinals played Cover-4, and the boundary safety — the safety to the side of Hyatt [K’Von Wallace] — he was looking inside to trips, which he has to as his initial look. Therefore, you get the one-on-one — you get Hyatt running the deep post versus Wilson. And Wilson at that point has no over the top help because of the trips route concepts. So, they knew that. They anticipated quarters coverage with their 12 personnel. You don’t call that play unless you anticipate a deep post without a safety sitting right there.”

It was a brilliant design against the right defense, and it got the Giants back on track, where they desperately needed to be. Now, we’ll see how they try to advance that against the San Francisco 49ers’ top-tier defense on Thursday night.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to “The Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.