A debate about the two-high safeties defense—or, as you may know it, the “Tampa 2″—broke out on ESPN’s Get Up thanks to Mel Kiper Jr.
A debate about the two-high safeties defense—or, as you may know it, the “Tampa 2″—broke out on ESPN’s Get Up after Mel Kiper Jr. said it should be outlawed because he wants to see more downfield shots rather than bubble screens and checkdowns.
Dan Orlovsky was tasked with explaining what this alignment was, and credited former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Tony Dungy for creating it, stating that “2-high safeties has been around for a long time, Tony Dungy made the ‘Tampa 2’ defense famous down there.”
While Dungy and the Buccaneers may have made it more of a household name to a wider audience, the former Buccaneers coach made sure to set the record straight. “Thanks, Dan, for including me in the legacy of Cover 2, but the Tampa version wasn’t near the beginning of the story,” Dungy said on his X account in response to Orlovsky’s history lesson.
The Cover 2 defense was actually introduced to the NFL in 1973, by Bud Carlson and the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dungy would say, and the Hall of Fame coach took the Tampa version right out of their 1977 playbook, which he received as a rookie DB for the Steelers.
Dungy spent time interacting with comments and giving a history lesson on the defense and suspected that the defense was heralded as “Tampa 2” simply because “people hadn’t seen it in a while.”
Continuing their ESPN rounds from the day before, representatives from Notre Dame’s football team had even more to share. The most significant segment came when [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and [autotag]Jordan Clark[/autotag] appeared on “First Take”. One secret badly kept recently was that the Irish were planning on wearing new home uniforms in 2024. The secret officially was out after this appearance:
It looks like Marcus Freeman and Jordan Clark just revealed Notre Dame’s new home jersey on First Take, with the gold “ND” on the shoulders. pic.twitter.com/JxEi4IBdIS
Earlier in the morning, Freeman, Clark and [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] appeared on “Get Up” with Mike Greenberg and Ryan Clark, Jordan’s father. The roundtable discussion began this way:
The Irish came to New York with the purpose of hyping up their season for the Worldwide Leader in Sports. They certainly have done that, and they’ll take in a Yankees game later with Freeman throwing out the first pitch. This will be a trip to remember for those involved.
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Jayden Daniels believed his meeting with Washington would be a one-on-one visit.
It’s been a wild week regarding LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders. The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner was believed to be the leading contender for Washington to select at No. 2 overall. Therefore, it made sense why the Commanders would schedule their top-30 visit with Daniels the week before the 2024 NFL draft.
The only problem was that Washington also scheduled visits with North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, and Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
Those visits weren’t solo visits, either. Instead, Commanders general manager Adam Peters scheduled an outing at Top Golf for the four quarterbacks.
Ultimately, it means nothing as the Commanders control the situation. If they want Daniels, they will select him. If not, they’ll choose Maye or McCarthy. There’s nothing wrong with Daniels thinking it would be a solo visit; the issue comes from his agent’s unprofessional actions, making this a much bigger deal than it actually was.
If Washington planned to take Daniels No. 2, nothing that occurred this week will change anything.
Daniels’ agent did him no favors this week, though, creating a bunch of unnecessary noise before the biggest week of his life.
It is rare we write up the comments made on ESPN’s ‘Get Up,’ ‘First Take,’ or other similar shows.
First, the shows don’t talk nearly enough about college football for our taste. But second, the stupidity rarely crosses into the threshold of Wisconsin Badgers athletics.
Well, on Monday it did. Former NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum shared the following idea on Get Up for former Badger Russell Wilson’s next step after leaving the Broncos.
“I think he would be a great fit with New York [Jets], and here’s why,” Tannenbaum said. His partners on the show reacted with appropriate disgust before he continued to say “pay him a million dollars and let him resurrect his career. I actually have experience with this, Vinny Testaverde got cut by the Baltimore Ravens, we signed him in June and went to the championship game that year. So, if you’re Russell Wilson…where else is he going to go? He has to resurrect his career, so if you have to sit for a year why not sit for a year behind one of the greatest of all time and then be a free agent again. Where is he going to go? He’s 36 years old. Nobody’s going to hand him a starting job. He’s going to have to be a backup somewhere.”
Here’s the full video, for context:
Dan Graziano was incredulous over Mike Tannenbaum's suggestion that Russell Wilson could be backing up Aaron Rodgers on the New York Jets next season. That led to Bart Scott checking his coffee mug as well. pic.twitter.com/TOOPiqfjPk
First, Tannenbaum said it, Wilson is 36 years old. He only has a few years of football left, so it would be foolish to spend one of them on the bench. Look around the NFL, there are far worse quarterbacks than Wilson starting for teams — Tommy DeVito, Derek Carr, Sam Howell, Josh Dobbs, Mason Rudolph to just name a few. The Wisconsin legend should get one final shot at leading a team under center.
Second, and more important in my eyes, who wants to back up Aaron Rodgers? Of all the starters in the NFL, Rodgers might be the one I’d want to back-up the least if I were Wilson. The only positive is he may get injured again, leading to quicker playing time. But Rodgers is a challenging person to work with by all accounts, which would make life tough on someone like Wilson looking for another shot.
Tannenbaum was an NFL executive for more than a decade, so there is some basis behind his opinions. I think he’s way off on this one — which the football community on ‘X’ agrees with. Wilson needs to find a starting job to try to resurrect his career, not a backup job behind a quarterback like Rodgers.
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Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.
Robert Griffin III sounded off on Patrick Mahomes’ blow-up against the #Bills and the #Chiefs’ offensive woes on ESPN’s “Get Up”
The Kansas City Chiefs have had a tough time getting their offense into gear during the 2023 season, and much of the talk around the team’s dysfunction has revolved around its lack of firepower at the receiver position.
2011 Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III sounded off on the Chiefs’ offensive woes on ESPN’s morning show Get Up this week, and gave his take on why Patrick Mahomes reacted so negatively on the sideline during Kansas City’s loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 14.
The real reason Patrick Mahomes went off is because his WR room has let him down time and time again this year. I’m convinced the Chiefs would be undefeated if Tyreek Hill was still in Kansas City. Instead they have a Top 5 defense and inconsistent WR play. WRs have to step up. pic.twitter.com/BrkigPeDrG
“They (the Chiefs) have had 33 drops this year,” He explained. “When you talk about Mahomes to his receivers, QBR (quarterback rating) wise, he’s 23rd in the league when targeting his receivers. Running backs and tight ends, he’s third in the league.”
Only Mahomes knows what caused the blow-up against Buffalo, but Griffin’s perspective certainly seems to be a point worth considering. With just four games remaining on their 2023 schedule, the Chiefs’ receiving corps will have a magnifying glass on it as fans and the media try to figure out what is at the root of Kansas City’s offensive decline this season.
Rutgers’ Kyle Monangai gets a shout out for his blocking this past Saturday.
Kyle Monangai is getting some serious attention, not just for his ability running the ball but also for his blocking. The Rutgers football running back got a big-time shoutout on ESPN on Wednesday morning.
On the ESPN morning show ‘Get Up,’ a Monangai block from this Saturday’s 31-14 win at Indiana was shown. In a segment entitled ‘Sit Down,’ the crew highlighted Monangai’s block on a run by quarterback Gavin Wimsatt.
And very astutely, the crew noticed that Monangai didn’t just have one block on this particular play. The Rutgers running back finished one block and then went to another to key a run from Wimsatt.
Former NFL offensive lineman Jeff Saturday led off with the talk about Monangai’s blocks.
“He gets one down, he gets up and blocks for his boy again,” Saturday said on the ESPN segment.
Saturday was six times a Pro Bowl selection and four times an All-Pro. During his 14 years in the NFL, he won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts.
Ryan Clark on Jonathan Allen: “The Commanders made this man lose all his professionalism.”
Ryan Clark spent 13 seasons in the NFL, including two stints with the then-Washington Redskins. Clark’s final NFL season (2014) was spent in Washington.
Since retirement, Clark has become one of TV’s best NFL analysts and is a part of ESPN’s weekday morning show, “Get Up.”
On Monday morning, the “Get Up” crew was breaking down Week 7 NFL action, including the Washington Commanders’ ugly 14-7 loss to the New York Giants.
It wasn’t the game that caught Clark’s attention; it was defensive tackle — and team captain — Jonathan Allen’s postgame rant.
We’ll let Clark take it from here:
“This man chose violence,” Clark said. “The sheer audacity of the outfit says, ‘I don’t give no F’s. Zero of ’em.’”
Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said quarterback Lamar Jackson is focused on and cares about winning
The Baltimore Ravens’ regular season kicks off on Sunday when they travel to take on the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. One of the biggest storylines facing the team leading up to the season is the contract situation of quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Jackson is entering the final year of his rookie contract, with some speculating that the fifth-year quarterback would hold out of training camp until a deal was reached. However, that’s been far from the case, as Jackson has been active with the team and working hard.
During an episode of ESPN’s “Get Up,” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews spoke with former Baltimore linebacker Bart Scott. When asked if Jackson’s contract situation was a distraction, the tight end said Jackson is focused on and cares about winning.
Mark Andrews on “Get Up” when asked if Lamar Jackson’s contract situation will be a distraction: “Lamar approaches football in a different light. He’s a focused dude. He cares about winning.” pic.twitter.com/KcnEWftLQ9
“Lamar approaches football in a different light. He’s a focused dude, he cares about winning. Everything that has happened this offseason with the contract and stuff like that, no one’s even heard anything about it from him. So, he’s a true pro, treats us the right way, he cares about this team, this year and what we can do. So, I know Lamar’s locked in, I know he’s focused and he’s not going to let any of that contract stuff or anything like that affect his play.”
Jackson hinted at Week 1 being an initial deadline for an extension. It’s apparent that Jackson cares for Baltimore and wants to bring the city another Super Bowl, as he promised when he was drafted in 2018. The situation doesn’t appear to be a distraction in terms of what’s happening on the football field, but it is one to monitor as it continues to play out.
Tannenbaum’s Get Up co-hosts were not fans of the analogy, to say the least.
In the wake of a week (and really, an entire tenure) of controversy from head coach Urban Meyer, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan decided to pull the plug on the experiment with the college legend before the end of his first season. The Jags will close out the year with Darrell Bevell as interim coach before looking to make a full-time hire this offseason.
Jacksonville likely won’t be the only opening, but with a generational talent at quarterback heading into the second year of his rookie deal, there will be a lot about this job that is attractive. Former NFL executive and current ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum echoed that sentiment on “Get Up,” stating that the Jags’ opening could be the league’s most attractive this offseason.
“Jacksonville is a historically great opening because of Trevor Lawrence’s contract,” he said. “The day I get that job, I’m getting (star Packers receiver) Davante Adams on the phone, saying ‘congratulations, you’re a Jacksonville Jaguar.’ I am not getting off the phone.”
(Quick correction. Tannenbaum said DJ Chark would be returning, but he’s a free agent in 2022.)
Tannenbaum went further, though. He compared the current situation in Jacksonville to the one that coach Steve Kerr inherited when he took over the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Kerr has since won three NBA Championships and set a regular-season record with 73 wins.
“This reminds me of when Steve Kerr went to the Warriors and he had the foundation there, they made a couple of tweaks, and the rest is history,” Tannenbaum said. “This is a team that should be in the playoffs next year.”
Tannenbaum’s take drew criticism from his other Get Up co-hosts. Former NFL center Jeff Saturday laughed him off.
“This dude just compared Jacksonville to the Golden State Warriors,” he said. “Man’s high!”
“They’re the worst team in the NFL, Mike,” Mike Greenberg told him.
But Tannenbaum doubled down.
“Trevor Lawrence is a generational talent, and if you surround him with ‘B’ or better players, they could be in the playoffs next year,” he said.
Tannenbaum went on to add that with the lack of state taxes, weather, and other factors, he thinks Jacksonville should be one of if not the top destination in the NFL for free agents. That certainly hasn’t been the case historically, but the team will hope having a potential franchise quarterback in place will help in that regard.
Comparing the Jaguars to the most dominant team in the NBA over the last decade may have been a bit of a reach, but Tannenbaum certainly makes valid points when it comes to the general attractiveness of the opening. The team will hope he’s right and that it can woo a top option to take over Lawrence’s development.
In Kyle Shanahan’s first two seasons as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, he finished with a 10-22 record. His third season in 2019 is where things turned around for the young coach. The 49ers went 13-3 and represented the NFC in the Super Bowl.
The 49ers turnaround was due to good coaching, solid quarterback play and an outstanding defense.
That’s a formula that could work for the Washington Football Team in 2021, according to Mike Greenberg of ESPN’s “Get Up.”
On Friday’s edition of “Get Up,” Greenberg chose Washington as his darkhorse for the upcoming 2021 season, comparing Washington to San Francisco in 2019.
“Now, the NFL gets so much attention all year round that it’s hard to imagine it could ever have a secret as well-kept as the Washington Football Team is heading into this year,” Greenberg said. “Caesars has them at 25 to 1 to win the NFL. Even Vegas doesn’t see this as coming. And it is. The formula is there, and it’s proven recently. They are the 49ers of two years ago.”
Next, Greenberg went into his list of reasons why Washington resembles that 2019 San Francisco team — and they do sound familiar.
Start with the quarterback, who has been far more magic than tragic as of late. These are the numbers, the last three seasons Ryan Fitzpatrick has a higher completion percentage than Tom Brady, a higher touchdown percentage than Dak Prescott, a higher QBR than Deshaun Watson. He’s been very good and his new team is sneaky loaded. It won an admittedly bad division last year with the worst quarterback play in the sport. They were 32nd out of 32 teams. Their top receiver is a stud. You barely know. His name is 25-year-old Terry McLaurin. He has more than 2,000 yards in two seasons playing with Dwayne Haskins, Case Keenum, Alex Smith, Kyle Allen and Colt McCoy. The running back is 23-year-old Antonio Gibson. He had over 1,000 yards from scrimmage and 11 touchdowns, starting just 10 games as a rookie. And the defense, it may very well be the best in the entire sport. They had the best pass-rush in the league in the second half of last season.
Greenberg also likes Washington’s coaching staff, led by Ron Rivera.
The comparisons to San Francisco were made in 2020, too. The 2019 49ers had four first-round picks on the defensive line and were led by a stud pass-rushing rookie in Nick Bosa.
Now, Washington should be even better with an improved group of wide receivers and a hungry veteran quarterback who has played some of his best football in the last three seasons.
We will certainly know a lot about this Washington team by Week 7 after playing Kansas City and Green Bay in consecutive weeks.
