Grant and Danny
Dan Orlovsky On Jayden Daniels & Kingsbury's Offense
espiens Dan or lavsky one of the top football analysts in America and there are very few people I'd rather talk to about quarterback play Then Dan who does such a great job on ESPN on television Dan Thank you very much for the time. You're back on the air in DC with us here on Grant and Danny. How are you? Great to be with you guys. I appreciate the con words. I'm doing fantastic. How are you guys? All right, man. Yeah, it's football time. It's fall the weather's getting cooler all the things we like Wanted to start. I'm sure by now you've dove in pretty deep on the film from week one What did you make of Jaden Daniels performance in his maiden voyage? Yeah, there were some really good things to come out. I would say the though, you know The athleticism the legs to go and making some plays with his legs a really big deal I thought that there were a couple times when Tampa came Adam with some pressures That he did it panic. He had some hot meaning, you know pressure with an unblock guy and he got the ball of his hands I liked that There was a couple moments that no one got open for him and he didn't force the ball And I think his athleticism and the legs and is just is confidence in that really helped in those situations a couple nice Checkdowns again of not forcing the football down the field were good. So I do think that there's good positives of Operation handling no huddle. I liked I do think overall There were moments where I said he's not totally sure what he's seeing He's not totally convicted or confident in what he's looking at and he didn't let the ball go in some situations that I would have said I would have preferred some aggression in that moment and and some convicted throws in that moment So I think you know for a week one start against a really difficult defense. Yes Presentation and picture wise there's there's positives and then there's a lot of potential Learning and growth coming off of it. So Dan how many of those moments I guess we can call them negative right or learning experience teachable moments We're gonna call it how much of that to you is rookie first real NFL game with the bright lights on and things are moving You know like like time-lapse super speed style that'll be better as we go and how much is a you know I'm not really sure about this. I'd love to know your distinction Yeah, I think there's there's probably three categories. It's certainly you know looking at a defense going I don't necessarily I don't have the full picture or what I thought the picture was changed on me So, you know, there's a lack of conviction when you're looking at and I think there's the second thing of you know Not not a ton of clarity. Maybe of schematically what they're doing, you know, there's there's a ball down He didn't end up throwing scrambled. It's in the third quarter and it's about 14 15 on the clock And they get into a two-by-two set and they go play action tight end wing and they've got a slot receiver running down basically from the left hash all the way streaking across the to the front pylon and Tampa Bay plays a defender underneath that slot guy and then a safety way to the left side of the field over the top And I would sit there and go, okay. Well, what are they teaching? That's not receiver in Washington Does he have the chance to cross the field completely? Does he have to keep it more vertical the whole so I think that's part of it And then also and this isn't me trying to take a knock and shot at anybody It's not like they have the most dynamic weapons on the perimeter outside of Terry, you know, so there's there's a little bit of Do you have a ton of confidence in that receiver going to outrun that defensive back for the ball? I think there's probably three categories that some of that hesitation can fall into Dan or Lofsky with us on G&D you can see why we wanted to get him on to talk about Jaden Daniels's debut We'll go around the NFL with him in a moment I don't think I've had the opportunity to ask you this Dan because last time we had you almost just before they hired Cliff Kingsbury I mean you obviously studied his offense quite a bit when he was in Arizona running the show there It'll be different now. He's not a head coach But what do you make of? Kingsbury as a play caller and designer just generally, you know, it's only been a game But we're still getting used to it some of the things that worried me happened in the first week And I don't know if you can kind of maybe I don't know poor cold water on the idea that things change week to week But I didn't want to see McClellan in the same spot all the time. He was at an over an 85% clip I thought it used more motion. He still didn't do that. He's been bottom of the league three straight years and that Is that is that sustainable? Can that still work in 2024? I? Do not believe so and obviously I think Cliff's a very smart football coach I've had a ton of success offensively In my belief in the NFL in 2024 and I've felt this way for about three or four years now If you don't want Utilize motion in two different ways one for information and two for impact if you don't diversify how you displace defenders meaning notions play actions forcing defenders to move laterally Then I think you're doing an offensive disservice and you're relying far too much on execution rather than Identity I feel that way about a lot of different offenses and some of those offensive coordinators are my friends Guys that I I know and have a ton of respect for I just don't I think in today's NFL with this the philosophy of most defenses not all but most defenses which is going to be and It's been trending this way for two or three years. We're gonna put a cap on the defense We're gonna build an umbrella. We're gonna force you to be really efficient throwing the football I'm not gonna give up explosive plays down the field. We're gonna make you drive the length of the field I think that's really hard to do unless you're doing the some of the stuff that I described offensively Um, I think it's really hard to run the football from shotgun and or pistol Consistently there might be a team or two. That's the capable of doing it You better be Phenomenal at making the picture look the same offensively when it's married to a play action game I don't believe Washington it's so I Don't think he's going to change now. And that's always been my hesitation when I knew cheating was going to be a commander dinner Lofsky with us here on G and D I've so I didn't I feel the same but you obviously have a billion times level of sophistication that I just simply can't get to I just know that I see the good offenses do it, right? I mean, that's kind of where my simple little brain goes sure so my question to you is just devil's advocate What would some what would a proponent of doing it this way say to you like what would the counter argument be? To what you just said if you could make it Style and that what you're asking. Yeah, like in other words, what would he tell you if he was listening in? Yeah, I think there's there's a negative to doing it or a potential negative to doing it Okay, so number one you have to have the skill guys that can handle all the verbiage of that motion and movement The formation and the changes that get attached to it number two You have to have a quarterback that can manage and control all of it And then number three you have to have offense alignment that can handle some of the Rules that might change if you are using those motions Okay, so you got to have everybody because as an offense if I line my quarterback under center And I I present a bunch to the right and I'm gonna throw Dan on hold Ryan. You see if you can just work out I want to hear them really quick because this is too good to miss out on Dan or lavsky of ESPN is with us here on Grant and Danny joining us on the fan you can hear he's got strong takes on the Kingsbury offense So Dan, I'll tag you back in here. That was too good. So I wanted to make sure we could hear you so you can keep going Yeah, so so everybody's got to have rules that they're able to adjust with on the fly Like if I line up with a bunch to my right and just a single receiver Terry McClellan to my left And he's reduced foot to the tackle And I want to go a play action fake to the left and then set Jaden Daniels up in the B gap on the right Well, I might line up in that bunch and then motion a receiver and as I motion to receive any passes Jaden I'm gonna snap the football Well as I do that the defense might adjust and my offensive line might look at that picture and say well These are the six guys that were five guys that we have to block And then all of a sudden that motion happens in one of those five guys changes and then all of a sudden a blitzer comes off The right edge and our offensive line doesn't adjust to that guy being their responsibility And it's a sack fumble. And so unless you have the guys that can handle that that can teach that that know the problems with all of that It's silly certainly for you then to teach and install your offense. So Aaron Rodgers doesn't like and use a ton of motion So there's definitely a ton of advantages to it But if you don't have the right people to teach it and then really to know what the problems of it are So you are setting yourself up for failure wearing Cliff's offense. He can sit there and go Well, yeah, there's a simplicity to this and we've got the guys to do it and allows our team to play fast and we don't think as much necessarily as some of those other offense are there there is there that potential positive attack temperature Dan Orlowski with us on Grant and Danny here on the fan You mentioned That it's harder right now to make some of those chunk passing plays and the proof was there in week one 24 quarterbacks through 20 more times with one touchdown or fewer We have not seen that since the merger 17 quarterbacks 20 throws sub 200 yards Haven't seen it since the merger in a week one 27 fewer passing touchdowns this past week than in week one three years ago Why is that? I mean, how would you make that make sense for me? Hopefully you guys got a lot of time baked into this segment Like there's a lot of reasons. It's not a singular one. So I do think it's a little bit attached to guys not playing it's on the preseason. Absolutely Um, I think defensively it goes back to some of that structural stuff that I was referencing before where these teams are going to play in two high safeties And here's so everyone understands when a defense lines up in two high safeties consistently It becomes math and there's only so many different ways that you can change the math The best way is you have to run them out of it You have to force them to bring another human being down closer to the ball And not only do you have to commit to running the football You have to be effective in running the football and over the course of a drive and then over cook of the course of a game Two when teams play two high safeties. There's really only four areas of the field That you want to try and attack that are somewhat downfield through of the places are down the sidelines 20 yards and that turkey hole that honey hole area and then two of the places are Basically behind your linebackers on the hashes. Okay. The only way So throw the ball So the behind the linebackers on the hashes is one of two ways So high low them meaning put a receiver behind them and put a receiver in front of them That takes time in the dropback game for two So play action pass them and to displace them either vertically or horizontally Teams aren't doing as much play action and as effectively And so therefore these defenders are just dropping back to 10 yards The pass rush is forcing the quarterback to throw the ball at four or five yards And with three or four defenders with vision on the quarterback They sprint to the ball and it's a four yard completion For washington's passing attack dan, what would your prescription be this week? Now i'm really kind of not just for this week against the Giants But sort of going before for the best practice maybe to develop jade and dannos to get them to a ceiling Yeah, I mean again, systematically i'm i'm a believer in a lot of the things that cliff doesn't deploy um You know, I think this week And this is probably a concern of mine is I do think the giants defensive line is much better than it showed in week one I think the Vikings have a phenomenal offensive line Washington's is concerning. I do think that jade and dot lettuces and can't help but So just pass game-wise if I were cliff, I would sit here and say What's the fudge that we're doing with Dexter Lawrence every play because Dexter Lawrence can literally ruin the football game from a defensive tackle perspective I think then second is Their defensive coordinators philosophy is They're just going to play top-down They're going to try to show one coverage and disguise at the snap and they're going to force jade into Play with the cloudy thought process of what the coverage is. So I do think quick Uh ball out to the perimeter of pass game yards out to the catch Have to be a part of it You have to play action to the weak side of the field and try to layer the defense so meaning Guy vertical guy intermediate guy shallow into the boundary. That's the best way to attack this defense game-wise Um, and then moving forward Again, I think part of that is how how does it's not developed? How does McCaffrey develop as passcatchers to really be threats? Um, I think Thematically, I want to see some advancements and some of the stuff that they do. I don't know if clip is going to install that Dan super insightful. It's why we wanted to track you down and get you on early this season Thank you for hopping aboard with us. It's been great watching you guys get ready for week two Enjoy the games ahead on sunday. Thank you, Dan Thank you guys so much. You as well. You got it. Check him out on espn's NFL coverage NFL live He's all over the dial over at the four-letter network