Ranking the Best Play Callers in the NFL So Far This Season

0:00Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm Sheil Kapadia. Today we are talking about the best play calling jobs in the league so far this season. This has been a big topic recently. Dan Campbell taking over play calling duties in Detroit. Packers fans upset with Matt LaFleur's play calling. Eagles fans upset with Kevin Petulo's play calling. So who's actually done a good job? Who is setting their players up for success? That's what we're going to talk about today. what they're doing specifically. Our guest is my friend, Sean Syed of Sumer Sports. He studies this stuff obsessively. So I'm very curious to see, does he have the same guys I have?

0:41Does he have different guys I have? What order does he have them in? So we'll talk about our top three each, and then we will get to some honorable mentions. Let's take a break. We come back. We talk to Sean Syed about the NFL's best offensive play callers so far this season. This is the Ringer NFL show presented by FanDuel, the best place to bet the NFL all season long. FanDuel's got it all. Same game parlays, quick bets for jumping in live and your way so you can build the bet that fits your play. And Missouri, get excited because FanDuel's coming your way December 1st. Download the FanDuel.com slash Ringer NFL to get started.

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2:22All right, we are back here with Sean Syed talking best play callers so far this season. So this isn't, hey, we're starting a team. Who would we want? This is this season through 10 weeks. We each picked three guys here. Hopefully we'll have some time to get to some honorable mentions, Sean. I'm going to get us started. The best play caller in the NFL so far this season is Shane Steichen of the Indianapolis Colts. I did not suspect that I would be picking Shane Steichen if you would have asked me in August and looked into the future and said, Sheil, this is what you'll be talking about in mid-November.

2:54I would have said, what are you talking about? But I think, Sean, the hardest thing to do in the NFL is produce a great offense without a great quarterback. And that's what Shane Steichen has done. I mean, there's so much revisionist history now. Like, I think it was last week or two weeks ago during the broadcast, they're like, Jonathan Taylor told us he saw this coming. I'm like, you're lying, Jonathan Taylor. What were you actually telling your friends in August about this quarterback situation? And now it's like, oh, great supporting cast. And, you know, Daniel Jones has always been talented.

3:23It's like, give me a break. This was a broken quarterback the previous two years, literally statistically the worst quarterback in the NFL the previous two seasons with the New York Giants. And Shane Steichen has gotten the best version of Daniel Jones and he's put him in position to succeed. So I've got Steichen number one. Do you have Steichen number one? Do you have Steichen in your top, top three? Where am I right? Where am I wrong with this? So I don't have Steichen at number one. I will tell you, I do have him at number two. He does so many things so well. I think he has the ultimate understanding of his players, their strengths, and their limitations.

4:01Every year, we hear about a new tight end is going to revolutionize offense. He's going to unlock everything. And this year with the Colts, taking Tyler Warren, pairing him with Steichen, it's kind of delivering on that promise where Warren is lined up all over the field, in the backfield, on the line of scrimmage, in the slot, out wide, and is really a matchup weapon in the passing game. And I'm glad you mentioned it. You know, with the quarterback, if you look at Daniel Jones as someone that you really believe in now, it's certainly at least in part because of Shane Steichen. If you look at Daniel Jones as someone that you don't believe in now, then I think you have to recognize that this is a team that still has a chance to maybe be the AFC's number one seed with a quarterback that you might not even think is good.

4:41So I think Steichen is doing a fantastic job this season in doing probably the most important job of an offensive coordinator. And that is making your quarterback's life easier on a consistent basis. Yeah, I love the Warren shout out because so many times, and there's a lot of fan bases unhappy with their offensive coordinators and their play callers right now. And so many times it's like, why isn't player X getting the ball more? Why isn't he featured? They spent this much money on this player or they drafted this player at this time. And to be fair with Tyler Warren, like you look at it historically, tight ends, non-Brock Bowers, you know, uh, as Brock Bowers aside, they generally come in and it's kind of hard to get them involved and you're trying different things, but usually they get off to slow starts.

5:23It is, I feel like a signal that they drafted him. They had a plan for him. And it's like, if you don't have the Colts on your main screen on a Sunday, but they're on the secondary screen or red zone, it's like, how is Tyler Warren just always running for like a 25 yard game gain when you're watching them. So yeah, I like that shout out a couple other things I was thinking about Sean with Steichen is that, you know, we think of the Colts as a running team and they are a great running team, but there are certain things that you can do to help your quarterback. And Greg Olson always shouts this out during broadcasts.

5:55I think that's why the nerds love him, but you throw the ball on early downs when the opponent doesn't know if you're going to throw it or pass it. It feels so simple. I remember Vic Fangio said in the summary, he's like the first thing defensive players have to figure out after the ball is snapped is whether it's a run or a pass. And I'm like, oh, I've never actually heard anyone phrase it like that. It's so simple. But the way he does that, putting him in advantageous situations where now those linebackers don't know, is it run? Is it pass? They're using play action at a very high rate, the third highest rate in the NFL.

6:25They're creating yards after the catch opportunity. So I just look at all these different things that he's done. And it's like, if the nerds like me are like, hey, offensive coordinator, here are the things you should do. Steichen's kind of checking all of those boxes. Shil, I'm glad you're self-associating with the nerds right now. And Steichen may have to self-associate with the nerds because he is doing all of the right things, really pulling all of those levers. I mean, I cannot believe at this point in the season, every week, I really, really look forward to watching the Indianapolis Colts offense.

6:56In the summer, literally, no one had any idea what this offense would look like. So for them to be at this point, and you really see it, the teaching points with their offensive line, they are getting to the exact right spots, exactly when they need to. Jonathan Taylor is helping them out. He's able to get through those seams and get down the field. It is just, it is so fun. It is so surprising. And I kind of wish I had him at number one because obviously you love that offense that he ran with the Eagles as they got to the Super Bowl. But for him to be doing this in Indianapolis, I think it's pretty special.

7:24All right, so you don't, and you like him, but you don't love him. You know, he's number two on your list. So you got somebody else who you say, now this person's doing a better job. So who do you have as the best play caller so far? Sean McVay is the best offensive play caller in the NFL. And it is because his offense is so cohesive. It is so thoughtful that you just have to be prepared for too many things at the snap. He's going to present you with similar looks, similar motions, similar setups over and over and be able to run the ball from them. He's going to be able to use play action. He's also going to be able to have Matthew Stafford throw the ball over your head.

8:02He's not afraid to run downfield concepts when you get three tight ends out on the field, they can churn yards in the run game. And Shiel, when is the last time it felt like Puka Nakua was just taken out of a game? I mean, every other week, every other week in Philadelphia, we hear about how a defense just deleted A.J. Brown from a game with some kind of zone concept. But McVay has all of the tools at his disposal to make sure Puka Nakua is running free over the middle of the field against a linebacker when coaches are looking around the league for what is the next big thing or who is at the forefront of offensive football.

8:37They're going to keep on flipping Rams film as long as McVay is there. All right, so coaches, if you talk to coaches around the NFL, it's one thing they're, every offensive coach is like, you gotta marry up the run in the pass game. Some of them don't do it and their offenses stink, but they like to tell you that, no, this is the, what did, because I always hear that Sean McVay is like the best guy at doing this, marrying the run game and the pass game. And you kind of alluded to it there, but explain to us, like, what does that actually mean? Why is he the king of doing that? And what does that, why is that so hard on defenses?

9:12You know, you think about it pretty simply, like do your run plays look and feel like your play action plays? Do some of those formations also look and feel like your pass plays? Can you get to all different kind of levels of your offense from maybe a condensed, kind of tighter under center type look? And the Rams absolutely can. And Shil, I'm watching this film versus the 49ers, three tight ends on the field. I'm seeing a tight end run straight down the field at full speed. Like they can get to all of these different things. So at the snap, a defense really has to play a little bit slower. I think the best defensive coordinators get their players to play really, really fast.

9:48And McVay knows exactly how to get you to just fall step in the exact direction that he wants you to fall step. And now we're running a guy right by you going the other way. What's the thing you told me on Philly Special? The thing your offense's job is to what? I think that you have some saying that's like an offensive coordinator's job is to create problems. Right. Defensive coordinator's job is to solve problems. I think McVay does such a consistent job at creating problems that aren't that easy to solve because you can say, OK, we can stop the run. But now we have Devonta Adams and Puka Naku out there just kind of running, running down the field wide open.

10:24So I love how McVay has evolved. Right. We go back to his first Super Bowl. Like you're running one running back, one tight end. You were doing all of those things from that look, get to his Super Bowl win. Now that Matt Stafford has the whole field spread out, attacking in all these unique ways. And now we're talking about three tight ends on the field shield. You know, some people want to say two tight ends, but McVay is making three tight ends cooler than anything else. I mean, the hipsters are obsessed with this. I cannot scroll onto any social media without someone just losing it at the Rams using three tight ends.

10:54And I like McVay. I have McVay number two, by the way. So I don't disagree with anything you said. but explain to me why this is so cool. Like, why can't a defense just be like, oh, those guys are slower than your wide receivers. Like this isn't going to be that hard. Is it just because, well, they can run the ball with it. What is so cool about using three? I like, I'm sticking up for the wide receivers here. You know, get wide, my campaign is get the wide receivers back on the field. Why are the hipsters so obsessed with Sean McVay using these three tight end packages this year? Before a play starts, the offense and defense, they have a series of choices.

11:29The first thing is literally who do you put on the field? And the most common situation is the offense is in 11 personnel, which means one running back, one tight end, and three of receivers, which, you know, now I found out that that's your favorite position here. And that first number is just the running back. The second number is how many tight ends you have on the field. The most common way a defense is going to match that is with five defensive back nickel personnel. Think nickel, five cents, five defensive backs. When you take one of your receivers off the field at a tight end, you're giving the defense just more reason to play a little bit heavier, close to that line of scrimmage.

12:03Maybe take a defensive back off the field for a linebacker. But if you have two extra tight ends on the field, I mean, you are telling the defense, hey, you better get inside because we're going to run the ball on you. And now a Rams pass out of a three tight end look is one of the most efficient plays across all of football by the numbers. It really does help though that you can't just say, hey, this guy is not going to be able to run down the field on me because their tight ends can move quite well. And you can't just say, oh, you know, you're just, you're just showing me that and you're going to run play action pass because they actually can run on you.

12:35So they can get to everything from that same look. And, you know, is it overhyped? I'm not sure. It's like, it's like something like 15 % of snaps, but it's still a real, real tool that Sean McVay has at his disposal. It is a lot. He's done it more this season. I looked this up earlier because I knew you were going to bring it up because, you know, this is the film guys. They're just obsessed with it. He's done it more this year, of three tight ends than he had done in the previous eight years combined, which as much as I'm making fun of everybody, the evolution is cool. This is what you want from an offensive coach where it's not just like, here's my scheme.

13:07We do it every week. I mean, we do it every season. This is what we do. Doesn't matter who the personnel is. You want someone who's kind of ahead of stuff that says, all right, this is what we do now. We used to play. Like you said, we loved playing with three wide receivers, but you know what defenses did this to make that life harder. So why don't we bring the tight ends on the field? So yeah, the way you explained it, if you're a defense and you're getting big, getting your big people on the field, well, the Rams are counting on our tight ends are going to be faster than them. And they're going to be able to get open in the passing game.

13:37And if you counter and say, all right, well, we're going to leave our defensive backs on the field. Then they're saying, well, our tight ends are going to be able to block you and we're going to be able to run the ball. So it has been very effective this season, their offense. I would label it as the most trustworthy offense in the NFL. It just works. I mean, they can run, they can pass, they can put together a 12 play drive. They can hit you with an explosive. And I think the big thing is they just have answers. When you have Stafford and McVay, it's just like, all right, they, you know, the first possession, maybe it doesn't go their way.

14:07I just have trust that they're going to break a little tablet out on the sideline and say, this is how they defended this. Hey, let's do this on the next possession. And they're going to figure it out. I don't know. Like there aren't the list of offenses that I feel are able to do that on a weekly basis. It's kind of shorter than I would have to go through it. Like I'll put the chiefs in that. Maybe there's a couple more, but there aren't a lot of offenses that I give that trust to. And then some of the stuff we talked about with the Colts, those, those easy buttons, they throw the ball a lot on early downs.

14:36They use play action at the highest rate, uh, in the NFL, they create yards after the catch opportunity. So McVay has been awesome. Um, they are among the super bowl favorites here, certainly, uh, in the NFC, big matchup coming up this weekend against the Seattle Seahawks. All right, let's take a break. We come back. This gets interesting. I feel like most people would have those two guys on their list. Three, it got a little more, you know, I could have picked one of many people. So let's see who I have. Let's see who you have. The Ringer NFL show is brought to you by FanDuel. Thursday night football continues to deliver and FanDuel's keeping the energy up with their$2 million Thursday night football jackpot.

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17:11Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia, if you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking ZepBound with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-5979 or visit zepbounce.lily.com. All right, we're back on the Ringer NFL show. All right, Sean, number three on my list might surprise some people. You tell me, do you have him on your list or not? Because they don't have one of the NFL's best offenses, but this isn't just best offenses.

17:53This is best play callers. I'm going to Ben Johnson in Chicago. Yeah, you're Ned. Do you have Johnson or somebody else at number three? I have Ben Johnson. I wish we disagreed, but I'm excited to hear why you have him up here. All right. So the whole point of the Ben Johnson hire was put Caleb Williams in position to succeed. And any way you look at it, he has undoubtedly done that. Like if you look at the bones of this offense, they are very strong. They create explosive plays at the highest rate in the entire NFL and their top six in rushing success rate. So just those two things, you run the ball well, you create explosive plays.

18:28Those are the bones of an offense that I like. You can get pretty far, even if you don't do the other stuff very well. So I like that about him. Then I was looking like, hmm, what kind of throws is Caleb Williams making? Because it does feel like there are times where you're like, man, that was schemed up beautifully. That guy's wide open. Not all the time, but there are a lot of times I felt like that. So I looked at the numbers. He's throwing into tight windows at the lowest rate in the entire NFL. And the receivers he targets had the most separation of any group in the entire NFL. So he's throwing to open receivers more than any other quarterback.

19:03Now, some of that give Caleb Williams credit. He holds onto the ball. He's creative, gives guys time to get open. But I think the other thing is Ben Johnson, it's carried over. It's absolutely carried over what he did in Detroit. It took a few weeks, but now that we're 10 weeks in, if you're a Bears fan, you gotta be over the moon that know you do have a great offensive coach here in Chicago. So that's why I picked him. What did I miss? What do you have for Ben Johnson that I missed? I mean, along with the numbers, he just leads the league in times that I look at the film and say, wow, that guy is wide open and the throw is going to be able to get there.

19:37He has such a good understanding of how to force a defense to play exactly how he wants them to play. He, like if I was a linebacker going against Ben Johnson, that is just the worst place to be in. He knows exactly how to get a route right in front of you and throw to someone right over you. He is constantly attacking. And Sheila, I am a little bit biased towards the go for the kill type offensive coordinator or offensive play callers. And Ben Johnson, I mean, he seems insulted that other teams think that they're allowed to line up across from him. He doesn't care who you are. He'll put a trick play out.

20:06And now we have Caleb Williams getting receptions. He's elevated an offense that this was a bottom of the league type unit last year. And now you are leading a team that is contending for a playoff spot. I understand who they have played. They obviously don't get to choose their schedule. I can look at it and say, hey, some of the defenses, some of these plays, why these guys are wide open, a little bit of a defensive bust here and there. But I really agree with you. You have to feel so, so good about what's going on in Chicago at the head coach position. Then you look over at Detroit, they're flipping over play callers.

20:34We got Dan Campbell bringing out the glasses, make sure he can get that play sheet through. It's interesting just to see what's going to go on going forward with Ben Johnson and the bears. It's kind of interesting that if you would have said before the season, like if you would have told lions fans, Hey, in after week 10, we're going to do a podcast where we're calling Ben Johnson, one of the top three play callers. And we're talking about the lions made a play calling change with Dan Campbell taking over. They would have thought they were like three at three and six or two and seven or something.

21:03Like it's so funny with the lions that like they, they still are super bowl contenders, but I like it. They got ahead. They got ahead of it. They have more information than we have. And Campbell obviously decided it was time to make a move. All right. We got some time for some honorable mentions here, Sean. I was shocked knowing you, like I do, that you do not have Kyle Shanahan on your list. I mean, they have like a top 10 offense with Mac Jones having started eight games this season. I don't know. I could just stop it there. I don't need to say anything else. I know you've been impressed with what Kyle Shanahan has done this season, though.

21:38I would imagine he's on your honorable mention list as well. Absolutely. Yeah, on the short list for honorable mentions. I mean, like look at the different ways that he's using Kyle Juszczyk this year, where we're look like we're a high school offense. He's kind of tilted inside, looking like a wingback in the wing tee that you would see really across the country at the lower levels. And to build an entire offense where, I mean, they're the injury bug is so bad in San Francisco. We have Mac Jones out there. Obviously, you don't have Ayuk out there. But no matter what happens, like they are still putting together a competent offense, like around that kind of 10 to 12 spot inefficiency based on, you know, a backup quarterback.

22:13It's so fun to watch Christian McCaffrey at this point in his career continue to be so, so successful where, yeah, maybe he's not going to run the fastest 40 time if we timed everyone up. But his vision, I think, really, really helps San Francisco, the way that Shanahan uses him out of the backfield on all of these passing routes. You know, regardless of what happens with the 49ers at the end of the season, absolutely deserves a nod as someone that is still putting together such a good offense. I was looking at McCaffrey's receiving numbers earlier today. And if you just put them side by side, they basically turned him into Amon Ross St.

22:44Brown. Like the numbers are almost identical, which you're like, wait, so that does speak to also McCaffrey, you know, sometimes during draft season, it's like this guy could be a great, you know, slot receiver. And you're like, all right, you know me. I'm like, all right, everybody settled down with that. But with McCaffrey, it's like, oh, he kind of can be Amon Ross St. Brown for the 49ers. We had Danny Heifetz on earlier this week, a huge Giants fan. And we were talking about the coach opening. He said he would give up three first round picks as the Giants to trade for Kyle Shanahan. You are one of the biggest Kyle Shanahan fans I know.