Alec Ingold – October 2, 2023
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Monday, October 2, 2023
FB Alec Ingold
(How are you doing and how are you guys doing? The sun shined again today, it came up?) – “The sun rose today, yeah. I think guys took a lot of coaching today, which was needed, and it’s a good wakeup call for the whole team to be accountable and to continue to improve. The standard doesn’t change, the standard doesn’t waver, and it’s kind of just showing up, working to find ways to get better and improve. A cool thing I think we covered in our room is that any time you’re in a result-based business or industry, there’s expectations, there’s potential and then there’s what you put out on tape. That gap that is bridged between the two changes every single week, and the challenge for a lot of guys in the room is balancing remembering who we are, what we’ve done in the past, what we just did and continuing to find ways to close that gap toward the potential, the expectation, the standard in the room. Honestly, that gap will never close. You never arrive toward that full expectation, that full standard, but finding ways to continuously close that gap – the wins, the losses, the good and the bad, the applause, the criticism, being able to use all of that to continuously close that gap is the challenge for the guys in the room and to not lose any focus and just continue that improvement.”
(Is a loss to Buffalo any different than a loss to the Jets or a loss to the Chargers or the Bengals?) – “I would say microscope answer, no. You take every week in stride; you focus on trying to improve. Telescope answer, you want to be No. 1 in the division. You go on the road, you want to prove and make a statement – big picture, you want that win. So once again, balancing your microscope and your telescope, finding out the details and how you get a win done up there. It’s obviously disappointing in the way we didn’t execute, but telescope wise, you have to find ways to get up for those big games, the primetime games, the playoff game atmosphere and find ways to execute those as well.”
(What changed after the opening two drives, going right down the field for touchdowns, to then four straight three-and-outs?) – “I think it was self-inflicted wounds. This offense is really talented. There’s a lot of guys that can make a lot of plays. When little details kind of start slipping and you don’t have one guy pick it up, and then it kind of snowballs, that’s where you get a three-and-out like that. That goes back to the fact of just executing and focusing on your assignment – 1/11th of the team approaching the ball and being able to master your assignment, master your role. And yeah, it’s a great defense. They made adjustments. They’re really assignment sound. They play on a string, that’s the challenge. That’s what you love about going up there and playing the Bills. You know you’re going to be playing a great defense that plays together, and you’ve got to be on your stuff. So that was really the adjustment there.”
(You didn’t want to lose a game, but do you think there’s an advantage to getting that on tape this early in the season?) – “No doubt. Once again, I go back to the fact that if you’re constantly closing that gap, you’re able to find out with adversity how you’re able to use that to your advantage, how you’re able to use these opportunities to learn, to take tough lessons, to introduce guys to the rest of the team and show your true character and how you respond to those adverse moments. I think it’s a great opportunity to show up on a Week 5 game. There’s going to be a little saltiness going around, but the way that guys are able to trust each other, come together, go to work after a loss, a tough loss, an embarrassing loss like that, and be able to move forward is really important for the rest of the season. It’s a long season, you’re 3-1 at the quarter, and you’re able to use a tough loss like that and see how guys respond to it. I think it’s a great opportunity for everyone in the room to kind of get to know the guy next to him a little bit more and get in the foxhole a little bit.”
(I’m sure all today was about Buffalo, but with the New York Giants coming this week, what do you know about DL Kayvon Thibodeaux?) – “I know he’s a stud. I know the defensive coordinator out there is scheming up dang near everything, and that defensive front is something serious. I think that’s going to be a good challenge when you look forward. I’m excited to watch them on Monday Night Football and just be able to be a fan and kind of see everything that is presented on a game film that’s a little bit different than the iPad that you’re scrolling through all week. I think it’ll be cool to see those guys, get a jump on them after we put the tape to bed and figure out a gameplan and showing up on Wednesday ready to work and ready to execute.”
(How do you plan to watch that game tonight? You can watch it as a professional, watch as a fan, how do you plan on watching it?) – “I think normally the primetime Monday night games I like to watch as a fan. I love football. I love commentators. I love the environment of football. I live, I breathe, I eat this stuff. So I’m going to have that lens on it a little bit, and it’s going to be hard for me to put the notebook away. But I think that’s kind of the balance in your brain of football and just enjoying the love of the game, the pureness of the game. Then as soon as coach starts sending those clips and starts making those cut ups, you just put those glasses on, kind of get in your microscope, bear down and you find a way to execute against a great defense.”
(3-1 at the quarter pole, as you said. Two good road victories. You know everything that you guys have done. How do you feel about the 3-1 record and the way you’ve played?) – “I think it’s a good start, and you can use that for whatever it is. I think that’s where being able to respond after a tough loss and being at 3-1 is going to be a lot of juice for a lot of guys. We put a lot of good stuff on tape. You now have a good understanding of defenses that you’re going against. You have four games to really break down the personnel, how they’re playing, what the assignments are, and you’re able to kind of grow into your offense and grow into your role. So it’s going to be an exciting opportunity to move into the second quarter of the season with a little bit more understanding of identities of different teams and our own as well. So yeah, it’s going to be exciting. There’s going to be new wrinkles every single week and kind of take that approach to it.”
(After the game, QB Tua Tagovailoa called it very humbling, and he said that for some, it’s much needed. Did you sense that there was any getting ahead of yourself and looking 4-0, 5-0, 6-0 kind of thing?) – “That’s a tough answer to have for you right off the jump. I think whenever you have a humbling loss, and people might be getting too comfortable or whatever you want to call it, I think that’s just a wakeup call and learning a lesson. How do you learn lessons? How do you take adversity? How do you take coaching? How do you take mistakes? How do you take what we just put out there and improve from it? I think that’s really, whether some people need or not, man, we all need to take that in stride and we all need to push in that same direction. We all need to grab the rope and pull in the same way. I think that’s really the opportunity moving forward is how does this team come closer? How do we continue to trust ourselves? How do we continue to grow together in all of those small details to be able to execute? Whether you take that loss to heart, or it takes a shot at your ego or your pride or whatever it is, being able to check that at the door, come to work and play for the guy next to you, I think that’s the method to the madness here.”
(You guys were a streaky team last year. Three wins, three losses. Five wins, five losses. What did you learn from that and how do you not let one loss become three?) – “I think you find a balance in coming to work, believing in everybody around you, not taking sole ownership of all of the mistakes or all of the rewards, all of the criticism, all of the praise, and being able to do your job and be accessible, be accountable to the guy next to you. And if you get 11 guys operating like that, you’re able to take every single week refocused, re-energized with a new game plan and you’re able to make that week that week. You don’t have to take winning streaks or losing streaks or last year’s problems into this year’s problems. I think that’s where you’re able to be intentional about where your feet are at and move forward with it. And the more guys that can buy into it, the more lessons we can learn. The more applause and criticism and critique that we can (get to) continue to close that gap towards the fullest potential as team, I mean, I think that’s how you take those lessons in stride and that’s how you’re able to take one week at a time knowing that you have 16 or 17 opportunities to prove yourself to your teammates.”
(Two special teams’ questions for you. How bizarre was it to be fielding kickoff returns?) – “Yeah, I mean, with all the new rules and the kickoff return space, you never know what’s going to happen with the short kickoffs, squibs, onside kicks, deep kicks, whatever it is. So it was cool to get Braxton (Berrios) out there and get some opportunities. A lot of guys, a lot of glue guys out there on special teams making plays, being able to sustain blocks. So it was cool to get some tape on that break it down because yeah, we didn’t have any for the first three weeks.”
(I don’t know if you guys have met as a special teams today, but I’m wondering about the mood in the room. It seemed that it was a pretty crisp special teams game. There were some errors in the previous three games. So what was the feeling? And how needed or necessary was that special teams performance?) – “Yeah, I definitely think there was a lot more film to break down, like you can say, and just seeing the different details of every guy’s job. We sit there through all four phases, whether you’re on three of them, four of them, one of them, being able to see your teammates be able to make some plays and execute was a good feeling. And that’s something where it’s something to build off of, right? You get a foundation of trust in the guys to make the plays, you rely on your techniques and how your coach to play, especially on special teams. You get all of this space. You have 80-yard kicks, you have all this space where you got speed, you have guys playing off of one another. I think that’s really the epitome of football. There’s a lot of yards to be gained or lost in special teams. So being able to kind of sharpen that sword and to be able to watch and break down that film and use it for next week I think is really important. It was cool to cool to see guys make plays.”
