Alec Ingold – November 27, 2023
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Monday, November 27, 2023
FB Alec Ingold
(What went into the second-half rushing performance that you all had?) – “I think it was throughout the game you saw a lot of opportunities for a lot of yardage. The guys really excelled upfront with the offensive line coming in, whether backups were stepping up, everyone was banged up. It’s a really tough front. So when you’re able to stay on your keys, you’re able to stay on the fundamentals, you’re able to bank those reps and continue to improve throughout the game. I think that’s where you had our runners that were trusting the blocks and trusting pressing where they needed to, and they were seeing those seems towards the end of the game. It’s fun to watch your running backs towards the end of the game in the four-minute drill. (Assistant Quarterbacks Coach) Chandler (Henley) said in my pre-draft meeting, he asked me what my favorite part of football was and I said, ‘the four-minute drill.’ He said, ‘I’ve never heard that out of anybody ever.’ It’s one of the most beautiful things in football when you can either touch the paint at the end of the game by running the ball, or you can take a knee at the end of the game. We were able to do both.”
(This team is known for speed and high-scoring, wide open offense. There are some that wonder ‘Hey, is this a physical team?’ Do you think you kind of put that question to bed?) – “Yeah, it’s speed to power. You see Raheem Mostert doing sideline drill teach tape every single week, and he’s one of the fastest guys in the league. When you’re able to make that physical track meet happen, it’s important. It takes all 11 to have that physical presence, but when you’re going up against good defenses and you have to have four, five, six-yard carries and string those out and stack them, that’s another place of improvement where you’re able to see the development throughout our offense, so if the big plays aren’t happening, you can still rely on those fundamentals and techniques.”
(Could you sense that you were taking control of the game like on the 92-yard drive? I think you had five third-down conversions. Could you sense that, ok we’re seizing this thing?) – “It’s kind of crazy because you’re in the moment and you hear it’s a 17-play drive and you really don’t know, because you’re so locked into that next play call, until you get back to the line and the defense has been sitting there for 15 minutes and it’s like ‘we’re ready to play now.’ It’s definitely something you kind of feel once you go back to the sideline. But when you’re in it, you’re so dialed into what that assignment is and what that play is that it’s hard to really feel that, at least personally for me, throughout the drive. But once you get back to the field and realize it’s already the fourth quarter, that’s a drive and a statement that we needed to make at that time. It was definitely good.”
(Is it a challenge at all for you – we talk about the offensive line having so many different lineups throughout the course of the season and in the game. You played seven different guys in the game on Friday. Does it change anything you do at all in terms of reading them or getting your track, or is it all the same?) – “I don’t think you can change that up depending on new guys stepping in. I think that’s where the week of preparation really comes in. That’s where a whole season comes in, from OTAs to training camp. All of those reps need to be banked so we can all move along a string together. I think it’s a testament to the o-line being able to step up that way and execute where they needed to execute so that runners, backfield guys, skill guys are able to stay consistent with our techniques so you aren’t changing from one play to the next, or ‘this is a huge defensive front, now I have to change everything.’ You’re able to rely on your training and technique and not hesitate. You don’t have to second-guess anybody. I think that’s trust and I think that’s a lot of reps that need to be banked.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel and DT Christian Wilkins were just talking about the energy that RB Jeff Wilson Jr. brings. I was curious of your perspective and what he brings.) – “I think the physical presence and the downhill presence when you’re within those white lines is big. He’s taken my pregame speeches and blown them out of the water. He brings all of the intention and intensity, and it’s just fun to play for a running back like that, that just plays with a chip on their shoulder, is running hard every single time. It inspires play callers, it inspires an offense, it inspires a team, when you see a guy play with that much emotion and execute. I don’t know if you saw him when he hit that first down with the straight arm. That gives you so much joy when you’re playing because you know it means so much. If it means so much to one person, it means that much to everybody else.”
(Are there times when you’re saying something to the team and he’s following you up?) – “Oh, no. He starts it on the field. The emotion there, I can’t replicate it. I’m not going to try. I don’t think anybody should or can. But that raw emotion that you feel that get the little social media clips on, I think that’s a testament to the hard work, the preparation, and it’s like this is the opportunity that we get to go out. It’s something that matters so much to every single person, the entire community, the entire team, to go out and lay it on the line, whether it’s Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. It does not matter the time. It does not matter the place. When you get that opportunity, it means a lot.”
(There is this perception even though you guys have the number one ranked offense, I don’t know what you stand now, but you have the number two ranked rushing attack. People believe because of all the speed and how you play, that you are a finesse team. How much does that bother you, especially when you know you could do those four-minute drives and finish off games?) – “When you take those statistics across the entire league, you can extrapolate, and you can make narratives based on this 40-time is combined with this number of rushing yards or passing yards or whatever it is, and you can create those stories. At the end of the day, if you are operating at the highest of highest of levels, it takes everybody. It takes every little ounce of physicality, of finesse, of speed, of precision. It takes all of it. You can’t have one without the other. And if you do, you’re going to be middle of the pack. You’re going to be 15th, 16th in those rankings. I think it goes to show that whatever storyline is out there and whatever the strengths might be, or the weaknesses at the beginning of the year, when you’re continually bought into that process of intentionality, and you’re working hard and you’re progressing, things start moving together and you’re able to bring that physical side of the game along to catch up with the speed or vice-versa. I think that’s where you’re kind of seeing the strides throughout the season, which we were able to do so far.”
