Coffee and Cigarettes: Educational Links for Labor Day

by Danny Kelly on Sep 5, 2011 5:00 AM PDT in The Classroom

Happy Labor Day y'all!! Hopefully you're all enjoying it somewhere warm with an alcoholic drink or something in your hand. If not, here is Matt Waldman back with a must-read five part interview with the inimitable Greg Cosell.

NFL Films’ Greg Cosell Part I: Personnel Interrogation " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
It might be a dream job, but NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell understands what work is. The process of studying the game of football is a methodical one. Doing it well requires the attention and the appreciation of the minute detail, patience, and a large dose of humility.

Entering his third decade with NFL Films, Cosell has been studying football with this intense level of scrutiny longer than the average person reading this blog has been an adult. If football knowledge were gold then Raiders offensive coordinator Al Saunders’ appraisal of Cosell in a recent New York Times feature places the man behind the long-running ESPN program Edge NFL Matchup on par with Fort Knox:

"Greg is just a brilliant man when it comes to" the strategic and personnel facets of the league, Raiders offensive coordinator Al Saunders said. "Tremendous insight, a tremendous knowledge of personnel, a great command of the intricacies of the game from a strategic standpoint." This week I will be featuring a recent conversation with Cosell as well as another conversation we had about the game a few years ago. I’d like to thank Greg for the enormous amount of generosity he’s provided to indulge the interrogation I put him through without advanced notice.

Greg Cosell Part II:The Pats TE Duo and Rookies " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
In this portion of our conversation, Cosell supplies his take on the Patriots duo of second-year tight ends, quarterbacking in different eras of the pro game, and his thoughts on several rookies from the 2011 Draft class.

Greg Cosell Part III: The All-Timer Game " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
In Part III, he agrees once again to indulge my inner football child.

Greg Cosell Part IV: The Craft of Evaluation " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
Part IV is a conversation from 2008.

Greg Cosell Part V: Class in Session " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
Part IV and this conversation about what goes into evaluating certain positions on the football field are from 2008.

Greg Cosell Part VI: Favorites " The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
The final installment of this series features a short conversation about "favorites."

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Interesting blurb on Kam from Cosell

Waldman: Kam Chancellor.

Cosell: He’s the Virginia Tech kid, right?

Waldman: Yeah.

Cosell: You know, he strikes me as a sub package player almost as Jon McGraw of the Kansas City Chiefs is used when they go dimes. McGraw is kind of a hybrid safety-linebacker. Kam Chancellor is that kind of player. I remember seeing him at Virginia Tech on film. Didn’t he come out the same time as Jason Worlids the kid that the Steelers drafted? Yes. I watched a lot of Virginia Tech games and I didn’t think he was dynamic in any way. He’s a build up speed guy. Not necessarily that fast. He wasn’t a real quick-twitch guy. He’s a big kid as I recall. He’s like 6’3" 230 lbs. -

Waldman: Yeah, they looked at him as possibly a linebacker.

Cosell: Yeah. To me he is a sub package player (see Jene Bramel’s take) and that’s how he was used in Seattle last year. I watched a lot of Seattle down the stretch because they had a chance last year to make the playoffs and when the played dime, he was the sixth DB. So to me that’s what he is.

by Nate Dogg on Sep 5, 2011 10:00 AM PDT reply actions

Yeah, this link passed by before

It’s worrisome to read. John McGraw was so terrible the Chiefs fans are actually happy he’s being replaced by Sabby Piscitelli, one of the worst starting safeties in the league. I hope Kam can do better

Formerly Known As Vasilii

by Thomas Beekers on Sep 5, 2011 11:24 AM PDT up reply actions