Thursday’s daily. Excellent insight from Seth Payne last night. I’m recapping stuff he said in the first half hour. Hit the video at the end and scrub to the 28 minute mark to watch the rest of his musings. Good stuff.
On Sean Payton: Not Seth’s favorite of the bunch. Certain level of legitimacy and validation (to have a new belief in what the Texans brass are saying when they say they’re seeking a new direction after firing Lovie Smith after just 1 year) that they’re handling this search differently than the past two searches. Until Sean P, the candidates are up and coming candidates who are 35 to 45 years old. Biggest issue with Sean P. is the concern if Sean P.’s head space is in the right place after having been out, and also #2 it’s a situation of having to give up draft pick(s) to acquire his rights from the Saints. But in terms of him having taken a year off, Seth doesn’t think that’s a big deal. He feels Sean’s later years with N.O. felt more like work than passion with how they were trying to hold it all together as Brees’ career was winding down. Says he got it wrong when he thought Andy Reid had a tough head space going on when he left Philly and went straight into the gig in K.C., so he says he missed his mark on that mindset about Reid that it would be hard for Reid.
On DeMeco: No problems with Meco having been a LB and having been a DC and now coming to Houston to be responsible for or accountable to, of course, the overall picking of coordinator to run the offense. Points out that Meco was in Houston and faced Kubiak/Shanahan offense on a daily basis, and has now of course been with the 9’ers who have Shanny Jr. running the same offense, so Seth has no problems with Meco because our offense and a new QB would definitely need that help and Meco knows the Shanahan system and what coord. would be good for that. One quibble he has, though, is that it is a fair question as to who he would bring as coordinators and coaches. Feels Meco might have pulled himself out of the HC cycle last year PERHAPS for that very reason, wanting another year to build his career in San Fran and take time to build that list when he’s asked for it in a future HC opening interview setting with interested teams.
Back to Payton: Thinks Payton will do well wherever he goes, but isn’t sold on Denver being the most advantageous destination for Payton. Lot of turmoil with a QB who they’re on the hook for, the picks traded away for Russ that Sean now wouldn’t have to bolster the team roster with, yes a very good defense there but all things considered it’s a tough spot to land in. Concerns about measurables when drafting players, mentions an interview recently where Sean says he came from the Parcells tree where Parcells said, “There are only so many humans on the planet who are at the top in terms of measurables and if you have those guys there to take at the top of the draft YOU TAKE IT.” Mentioned that in an interview Sean was asked his thoughts about Tua, and Sean said “How about we just stop drafting guys who aren’t the prototype.” Seth mentions that Aaron Glenn was an exception to that rule as he was smaller but was the right guy and it worked out. Brees was a FA and smaller, so I think Seth was saying that there is precedent there that Sean would be OK with a smaller QB (then again, Brees was showing he was able in the NFL to work around his smaller stature as an NFL QB against NFL opponents).
Back to Meco: Meco was a rookie in 2006 and that was Seth’s final season in the NFL. First couple of weeks into training camp Meco gets put out there as the Mike LB, and Seth said “I’ve always believed rookies have to earn that and they can’t just be slotted in automatically like that. So Meco is stumbling through communicating the call in the huddle and I just get all over him, working him over, and Meco never let it get to him. He stays calm, gets the calls out better, and it makes sense that this guy had been chewed on by Saban after all so it didn’t bother him. By the end of the 2nd day of that with Meco at the Mike, I was basically calling him ‘sir’ because he was dialed in and you could tell he had it. By the way, he ends up being the DROY that year, so yeah. Remember when Belichick got all teary when talking about how Teddy Bruschi was just the perfect football player? Yeah, that’s what DeMeco was in terms of just being a leader and doing everything right.” Says WHAT A DRAFT THAT WAS IN 2006! Mario, Meco, Owen Daniels, Eric Winston, and even David Anderson who became a regular part of the offense.
That was the 1st 28 minutes, so you can go to the 28-minute mark of the video to catch the rest. I don’t want to type any more because it buries the comments section. I encourage you if you have the time and the desire to do so, go check out the full video because it has more good stuff. Seth is a great talent when talking about this stuff, so much insider info on the players and coaches. I wish THIS was the stuff he would do from 10 to 2 if they could have the guts to put him in that slot instead of what’s there for that time slot because it’s entirely more nutritious to the person listening for football talk than the hammy, low brow shock jock stuff of Locker and Lopez. Here’s the link to the video: