Latest on the Couch episode April 9th, excellent (1 Viewer)

[Bracie Smathers]

http://subscribers.footballguys.com/podcast/

Loved the breakdown of OLB/DEs Dion Jordan and Barkevious Mingo.

Bloom, Waldman, and former NFL player Ryan Riddle kick around lots of topics but I really loved the discussion concerning these top two pass rushers.

I would have liked to ask Ryan's thoughts on the weakness in Jordan's pass rush and one aspect that I saw with Jordan pertaining to his amazing athleticism combined with his hieght and long reach.

I noticed how well Dion set the edge due to his long reach and athleticism where if he was not in perfect position to set the edge that he could still reach and take down the ball carrier with his loooooong reach and athleticism HOWEVER........

I noticed that when he made those amazing looooong reach take downs sealing the edge that it left his body in a highly vulnerable position that instinctively made me wince.

Right now Jordan's shoulder is recoverying from a SHOULDER INJURY.

I feel that the combination that makes Dion such an amazing prospect is a double-edged sword where he will continue to make amazing plays that will leave his body in extremely vunerable positions and quite frankly I think he will have on-going issues with his shoulder.

Also the utter lack of a bull rush and inside moves is an issue with his pass rush and with a guy that tall their will always be a leverage issue when an O-Lineman will sometimes find the handle and push him far out of the play and make him look bad.

Riddle nails the huge plus that Jordan has in coverage, true but I don't feel he was really tested in college on his coverage. I think college QBs took a look in his direction and saw a huge 6'6 guy who really wasn't in tight-coverage but posed an imposing figure so they would check to the other side of the field where smaller DBs who had better position were targeted since the cushion 'looked' wider when in actuality Jordan wasn't nearly in as tight coverage on his side of the field.

I think his coverage is solid but not as good as he appeared with the Ducks.

I really loved this version of the Couch.

Fantastic stuff Sig and Matt and especially to Ryan Riddle.

Tons more than just Jordan and Mingo.

Check it out if you haven't.

 

[simsarge]

Totally disagree. Big Fan of The Couch, but this was far and away the worst. Bloom's an excellent orchstrator. He has a good feel for when to let the type A minds do their thing and always gets a lot of point/counter-point going among him and his guests. He does a good job of keeping all the voices in a a three way conference call from talking all over one another. I'll often sit in the car after I get to work or home, just to hear the last couple minutes of a Couch show.

But this episode had be bailing out before the end. Barely any Bloom insight (it could well be he's already said all there is to say). I know his job as host is to facilitate, but for me, his knowledge is an important aspect of the show.

I've read several of Ryan's articles on Bleacher Report and especially liked the effort that went into the DMR. But IMO his forum needs to stay behind the keyboard. Several times in the middle of his answering a question, I had to look down at my phone because I thought it had stopped working. For some reason (reading notes? losing his train of thought? just a halting speaker? Show editing?) he just stops talking for seconds at a time often in the middle of a sentence.

Sometimes MW can be engaging and insightful. When he's on the Audible and the conversation's split 3 or 4 ways he's usually on point. But man oh man, when he's left to ramble unmoderated, he is like Chineese Water Tourture. It's not that he's not knowledgable or interesting. But he can just seem to go off on tangents like nobody's business. I have a wicked pet peeve about people who constantly say "Like" and "You know" instead of commas and periods. Wildman is the poster child for the "you know". Then the War movie/corporate business soliloquy just did me in.

Please keep the Couch from being an early week version of the Audible.

My two cents...

 

[Sigmund Bloom]

Totally disagree. Big Fan of The Couch, but this was far and away the worst. Bloom's an excellent orchstrator. He has a good feel for when to let the type A minds do their thing and always gets a lot of point/counter-point going among him and his guests. He does a good job of keeping all the voices in a a three way conference call from talking all over one another. I'll often sit in the car after I get to work or home, just to hear the last couple minutes of a Couch show.

But this episode had be bailing out before the end. Barely any Bloom insight (it could well be he's already said all there is to say). I know his job as host is to facilitate, but for me, his knowledge is an important aspect of the show.

I've read several of Ryan's articles on Bleacher Report and especially liked the effort that went into the DMR. But IMO his forum needs to stay behind the keyboard. Several times in the middle of his answering a question, I had to look down at my phone because I thought it had stopped working. For some reason (reading notes? losing his train of thought? just a halting speaker? Show editing?) he just stops talking for seconds at a time often in the middle of a sentence.

Sometimes MW can be engaging and insightful. When he's on the Audible and the conversation's split 3 or 4 ways he's usually on point. But man oh man, when he's left to ramble unmoderated, he is like Chineese Water Tourture. It's not that he's not knowledgable or interesting. But he can just seem to go off on tangents like nobody's business. I have a wicked pet peeve about people who constantly say "Like" and "You know" instead of commas and periods. Wildman is the poster child for the "you know". Then the War movie/corporate business soliloquy just did me in.

Please keep the Couch from being an early week version of the Audible.

My two cents...

Thanks for the feedback - Ryan's delivery is definitely not paced the same way as those of us that have done a lot of on-air work, but it did make a few of his takes, especially in the second half of the show, more riveting. Still, to have a former player who is tuned into everything and willing to speak off the cuff on controversial topics is a nice thing. Really appreciate your support of the show!

 

[ummich10]

I thought the same thing about Riddle, but I wasn't bothered by it. I don't know much about him, so I'm intrigued to look into more of his work. Thought he had some interesting takes on things that I hadn't thought about before. I'm more concerned on who is doing the heavy breathing I think I'm hearing on the audible each week. LOL