Mike McDaniel – October 7, 2024
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Monday, October 7, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(So not a game this week, but can you give us an update on where things stand at safety? Was S Jordan Poyer shin something he should be able to come back from pretty quickly after the bye? And with S Jevón Holland’s hand, will you guys talk about him maybe playing with a cast? Or is that just too difficult for a safety to do?) – “I feel good about where (Jordan) Poyer was at today, and I feel good about the time that we have until our next game so just positive on where Poyer is at. Not going to worry about timelines because I definitely don’t have a timeline this week. And then with Jevón (Holland), it should be about week-to-week. So this week for the game, this coming Sunday, I can rule him out for that, but we’ll see how it progresses. (laughter) A little ahead of schedule to kind of determine that, but it feels like it’ll be a week-to-week thing so we’ll see what that looks like in about a week.”
(And the whole thing about playing in a cast as a safety when you have a broken hand, is that a good idea in your opinion? Not a good idea because of how it limits you?) – “I think it all depends on the player and what value – if it’s just a ball production player, then I’m probably not playing somebody. If you offer much more than that, which is definitely what Jevón (Holland) offers, there’s value in playing with a cast even if you’re only a PBU player at the point of attack. He’s so instrumental in the various ways that we utilize him that I think if that would come to juncture, I would support that if he would support it because it’s all about guys feeling like they can do their jobs at a high level. Each player is independent, but open to that with a player of his skillset.”
(At the risk of answering my own question, I know you said you weren’t going to worry too much about QB Tua Tagovailoa because he’s on injured reserve. Is there a plan for him this week? Is he out of concussion protocol? Will he do anything this week?) – “So the way that will look is there’s some expert consultation that he has scheduled for this week and then we’ll address – the final stages of protocol won’t be achieved until we bring him back off IR and that first practice is had. So until then, we’re just communicating, and everything has been so far, so good.”
(RB De’Von Achane is in concussion protocol, I assume. Is that right?) – “Yeah, he is. But he’s in high spirits today.”
(And for the record, is QB Tyler Huntley going to be the starter or will there be a competition this week?) – “I think I feel as it stands right now, I feel very happy with the way ‘Snoop’ (Tyler Huntley) I thought went from managing the offense so to speak his first outing to – I thought he was executing the offense and that’s to his credit. So I feel pretty good about how fast he’s developed, and I would guess to forecast continuing that development process with the offense as the operation was better but not as good as it could be and you hope that with continuity, there’s an improvement in that.”
(Has there been anything brought to you, information that it would be dangerous to play QB Tua Tagovailoa when the window opens? Certainly, has to clear protocol, but all the experts you’ve talked to, has anyone said, “Hey, no. This is a guy that needs two, three, four months or whatever?”) – “There’s been nothing negative thus far, no. Nothing negative thus far, but we’re still in the process. We don’t rush that process and we don’t try to do anything that negatively impacts that. So I’ll stay within the guidelines that I’ve built for myself.”
(With the run game, is the 41 carries more significant or the 193 yards more significant?) – “Oh, chicken or egg. I would say I think the 41 attempts – it’s hard to get 41 attempts. And to do that, there’s inherent yardage, but that – to get 41 attempts, it’s more down-in, down-out and has less to do with how many explosives you have which can kind of inflate numbers sometimes. I think it’s the second time that I’ve been here that we’ve called 40 runs. I don’t know, extra credit, gold star to anyone that knows the other game – No?”
(Denver?) – “Boom. Hal, on it. But I think that also takes a commitment when you run the ball, specifically in the second half, specifically with 12 minutes to go in the game. And this league, you have to run it when they know you’re going to if you want success in big games, in tight games and November and December games – you have to. And when you run the ball 41 times, a good amount of those, they know that it’s coming, and it takes all 11 to do that. Because the more that you have success, guys don’t – it’s a large number on the defense, too, and so corners and safeties typically get very involved, just like they did yesterday. There was a couple times on that final scoring drive that we were running the ball against a six-man front, or six men on the line of scrimmage zero and still getting production, and that doesn’t exist if the receivers aren’t doing what they need to do. Ultimately, I think our guys have really taken a step forward in understanding that some of the coverages on first and second down that are pass preventative, those will continue to occur unless you’re able to take the time of possession and really wear the defensive front down. So I thought one of the best takeaways from the game was finding a way to win in spite of yourself. A lot of times, we tried to create opportunities to make it really hard to win that game. We overcame that and then we found our identity, I feel like, up front to where they had the connectivity of the preparation, the fundamentals and technique, the mindset, all of which that we kind of knew going into the game that if we’re going to come out with a win, we weren’t going to win in spite of our run game. It had to be a part of the solution, not the problem.”
(Looking at the seven consecutive runs and how successful you were on that drive, was that the result of the fact that you were running so well? Or was that a concerted effort where at the start of that drive perhaps, you said, “OK, we’re going to put this right on the run game. We’re either going to win because of it or lose because of it?”) – “I think it was a culmination of – I try to call plays as best I can be connected to the team, the defense, the offense, where our strength is at the time, where our momentum is. It’s easy for me to call a ton of runs in a row when the players on the field give me reason to. And how does that occur? Well, it’s not just like success or failure. Run game in the National Football League is difficult just in general, but when you see continued evolution in execution during the course of the game, you can feel the momentum of, ‘all right, we’re a little short here on this combination block,’ and ‘Oh, the next time we get it we’re not. The first time we run this run, maybe the back’s course is a little off relative to the blocking. Oh here, it’s right on.’ I think some of the biggest runs in the game, there’s three or four in particular, were like rugby scrum four-yard gains. When it’s blocked for one yard and collective push and drive by the ball carrier and the blockers, you end up at second-and-6, that substantially influences how I call the game. Because my eyes, you’re watching, you’re calling the play. As it starts, you’re getting ready for the next play call and the one’s that really always influence me are where my eyes go down, I’m looking at my call sheet for a wristband number and then coach upstairs says, ‘All right, second-and-6,’ and in my mind I was preparing for second-and-9 – that’s a big deal. That’s what we kind of talk about as an offense because there’s not ifs, ands or buts about it, the run game is proactive. You are dictating the terms and it’s hard to do down-in, down-out, but over the course of the game, if you’re connected the right way from coaches and players and guys are progressing through the game, you can end up having seven straight runs, knowing that they know you’re about to do it again and still getting production. That is something that did not just start on Sunday; that was a mindset of work from the first time that we had results we weren’t pumped about this season. Chopping wood at that, directly addressing it so that we could work into that situation where there was an opportunity that the offensive line and running back room, it’s all 11, but particularly those two groups that want the team to be on their back, they had the opportunity and took advantage of it, which was a huge, huge piece of growth for this team that we needed that is the source of feeling – we kind of had an odd feeling today where there was a really good feeling about getting the win, but not nearly satisfied with the way that it unfolded. We felt like we could have had a much cleaner game and the source of positive to build upon was really majority of the game run defense outside of a couple plays, some third down defense outside of a couple plays and the run game for sure took a step in the right direction.”
(I know the offensive line had injuries in the early part of the year, so it sounds like maybe that was the best half of football you’ve seen that unit play together all season?) – “It’s tough. It’s a tough existence, it’s almost like offensive linemen are kind of like – after retirement they should just go into officiating because they know how to roll, where a lot of the times the only attention you’re getting is when things aren’t working out or sometimes it doesn’t have anything to do with you. Guys could be running the wrong route, so then you can’t throw the ball and you get a late sack. But without question, this was the toughest task really from a run game technique and fundamental perspective, New England does a good job as any at defeating blocks. So they do a good job of really leaning into the most important technique and fundamentals on a down-in, down-out basis and to the offensive line’s credit, they really took pride in it. They recognized early in the week that they might have this opportunity so they prepared and wanted to help the team win. So I thought the 41 runs, and in particular that last drive to go ahead and get the lead and eat up half the fourth quarter, that was definitely a badge of honor to the offensive line. It was not easy, but I can you promise you looking at them today, it was worth it.”
(To piggyback off of that, after watching the film, how would you describe the impact that FB Alec Ingold had in the game?) – “Phenomenal. It was very fitting that he got the touchdown because I think it was the most snaps that he played all year. There’s a couple plays in particular on that final drive that were as good as I’ve seen from a point of attack, blocker, tight end or fullback. The team voted him captain for a reason. There’s a lot of guys that have leadership skills and play the game to have a ‘C’ on their chest. He proved to every teammate – not that he needed to at all – but he really wore the ‘C’ on his chest, leading, helping our offense operate but really did some outstanding things at the point of attack against a physical front that’s really trying to inflict punishment on fullbacks in general. He was instrumental. He was at the point of attack a ton and had a very, very high execution rate. It was a really, really cool game, especially if you’re really passionate about fullback play. That’s a game that you want to turn on; it’s one of the top ones that I can remember in terms of a fullback having an impact on the ultimate outcome, for sure.”
(When you go back and look at the first five weeks, has there been a common thread on special teams that have led to some of these errors you guys have had?) – “Well two in particular – we’ve been excellent in punt protection and we had a punt blocked, so that was unique and that was new. I hadn’t had an errant snap and that occurred one play after a false start, so those were unique and unto their own. We’ve had some penalties – ultimately you want to help a team win a game, not lose it, and there were some errors that the team had to overcome. I did feel like during the course of the game – I always watch for, OK, something happens that’s detrimental to the team or whatever; nobody hates a bad snap more than the snapper. What I will say is in-game to come back and execute, that’s important. We have to make sure that we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot and have to do two kicks at the potential of the second snap being errant. That snap can’t be errant. We can’t have blocked punts; these are things that when they do occur, those negatives usually lead to L columns. Now I will say there was a lot of field position that was won by special teams. We pinned them down at the five-yard line in the second half and there was a couple real good plays by not only Braxton (Berrios) but the guys blocking the gunners and creating a touchback. We had a kickoff that was inside the 20, so it wasn’t all bad; however the mistakes that did occur were unusual and we’re trying to get down to the bottom of why they occurred that one time and make sure they don’t happen again because you can’t typically with mistakes like that, you end up losing the game. And the pattern can’t exist, hasn’t existed in terms of who was at fault and what happened that was negative. It kind of came out of nowhere and we need to make sure it stays in nowhere and doesn’t become the rule of thumb.”
(How do you keep the momentum going? You talked about, the guys all talked about this not being the perfect win that you guys wanted to clean up everything, so how do you keep that momentum going through the bye week into the week after?) – “I think you have to establish first and foremost the elephant in the room; we were absolutely going into the game with non-negotiable needing to win it. We felt that way as a team and we were able to do that; however after the game you’re feeling like, wow, this game was really close, and it felt like we did more even giving credit to your opponents at all times, we did more to put ourselves in the situation to be a final-drive game than the opponent. And both things can be true. You can be satisfied with the result. You can understand that the result – I’m not sure if we would’ve won this game, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have won this game three weeks ago. We needed all the stuff to go on to occur to kind of grow into being able to win a messy game like this. However there are certain things – we will never feel good about our football unless we clean up errant snaps over somebody’s head, missed snap on a field goal, a blocked punt, an explosive run touchdown. Those things – procedural stuff – we can control those things. There’s a lot of things you can’t control in this league. There are certain things you can. The way we started off today was talking about all those things that we can control with absolute certainty that’s our job to get cleaned up. And all the while, understanding that it is a badge of honor to win that game relative to how we’ve found success in the past. To win a grimy game that isn’t perfect is a step in the right direction. Now, how do we take control over the controllables? That’s the most important thing for us moving forward, building upon the growth of the team, but we have a long ways to go and some time to do it, so we’ll keep chopping wood every day.”
