Alec Ingold – September 18, 2023
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Monday, September 18, 2023
FB Alec Ingold
(Before we get into the game I actually want to address the $14,000 fine, which I assume you’re going to be appealing?) – “Yes.”
(What were you supposed to do on that play?) – “I’m not sure. I think when you have a clicker and you’re not on the field, you can see a lot and you can kind of chase ghosts. I can’t imagine that play not happening hundreds of times every single Sunday. So I’m going to appeal it. I’m pretty upset about that, but (it is the) cost of doing business. It’s that edge of setting the tone but doing your job and protecting the team. That’s a tough one to swallow. So I wasn’t too happy about that one, but we’ll go through the process and it’s not the first time stuff like that has happened. We’ll just kind of – I’ve got a great agent that will walk me through that whole process and we’ll just go from there.”
(When Head Coach Mike McDaniel puts you in motion the way he does and you kind of get full impact at full speed, is that the purest essence of fullback, I guess? Because they use you in motion a lot. Sometimes the guy has no chance.) – “I absolutely love it. I love the diversification of the motions, how it can set up so many different things. All of us are in motion pretty much all the time, so I love being a part of that. I love being able to set up Tyreek (Hill) for his stuff and vice versa. Durham (Smythe), moving in motion. You have everybody moving and I think it helps open up windows for Raheem (Mostert) in the backfield or whether we’re throwing the ball. So I really love it. I think it’s a great wrinkle in our offense. I think playing with anticipation and manipulating a defense, you use all 40 seconds of that play clock. I think that’s what we’re really going for. I think it’s a big part of our offense and I love the fact that we can do that and execute while you’re moving full speed, side to side and then stretch a team vertically as well.”
(Real quick follow up. Do you even consider yourself a fullback? Because traditionally fullbacks don’t do that.) – “I’ve loved the roles of this offense and how it’s progressed from when I showed up to what it is now. Last week I got to play a little tight end, a little fullback, a little running back, you’re split out wide. So being able to do all of that, the more you can do, I feel like it helps everybody on the team and I think that’s really what my role is. So I embrace that. I love it. It’s challenging mentally but I love that challenge, like the cerebral challenge to approach a week and have a game plan and have all these things going in. To be able to see it all come together and then put it out and execute on Sunday, that’s the game within the game and that’s what I fall in love with. That’s what kind of keeps everything moving.”
(When they install a play where your role is to go dig out a 350-pound three-technique, your reaction to that is…?) – “I love it. Yeah, like let’s do it. The more you can do. And I think those looks, people are going to study that. They’re going to have to practice against that and the more things that we can do and the more angles that we can create for our runners, I think that’s where you see creases hit and that’s where you see a guy like Raheem (Mostert) running 21.5 miles an hour. That’s the power of a run game like that.”
(Was that the official speed? 21.5?) – “I’m normally a numbers guy. I don’t know what it was. He was moving. We have a contest in the running back room every week who can be the fastest guy and I think all of them were over 21 this last game so it was pretty impressive.”
(It was 21.62.) – “There it is. (laughter)”
(That’s tough for you.) – “Oh, the average of the running back room gets brought down dramatically from my top-end speed in a game. (laughter)”
(What do you think Head Coach Mike McDaniel’s top-end speed was… did you see the way he ran off the field at halftime?) – “Yeah, I think he probably touched, I would say 17.8. But I think he would’ve hit those 18s if he didn’t look back. If he just put the head down, maybe it’s 18.4. I think he got up there. (laughter)”
(Why was the run game so effective last night? Was it play calling? Was it as simple as a hat on a hat? What happened?) – “I think it’s one-eleventh. Everybody doing their role. Everyone has to be aligned and to not get impatient with that. To know that’s the type of game that you have to go in and play. A primetime game, everyone can get real emotional. Tempers can run high and if you aren’t locked in on your keys, if you aren’t assignment-sound, if you aren’t accountable to your teammates, I think that’s where the running game can kind of slip up. And I think that we showed that if you put four quarters of assignment-sound football, I think that’s what we can do as an offense and it’s just another way to win ballgames down the stretch and I think that’s where you kind of progress throughout the season. You need those games. You need to come back after that and improve and see where we could’ve stuck onto defenders a little more. Where was the hidden yardage? Yards after contact? Where can we grow in all of those aspects and that’s kind of the entire challenge throughout a full season.”
(You have a 2-0 start. How do you guys keep that momentum going? What are you guys telling each other in the locker room as now home opener against a team who’s desperate for their first win?) – “I think when you look at the tape, we had a lot of mistakes that maybe weren’t – it didn’t end up impacting the end result but it does have to impact the process of which you are continuously trying to grow and chase those edges and continue to prep and be accountable. So we’ve got to find ways to improve. We’re going to look at that tape and you’re not going to accept – ‘Coach E’ (Eric Studesville) says this all the time – you can’t accept in victory what you wouldn’t in defeat. So he’s big on that. Top-down, I think coaches, players, everybody, support staff; you’ve got to look at this like, ‘man, we’ve got to expect to improve week-in and week-out and the results will be what the results will be.’ The scoreboard will be what the scoreboard is, but if we’re getting better, then we’ve got a chance.”
(Is this 2-0 the same as last year’s 2-0? This one – no T Terron Armstead, no CB Jalen Ramsey, two tough road games, a division win. Is it the same as last year? Is it different for any reason?) – “I think the biggest change would be just the process in which we approach every single week. I think you’ve got a lot of guys who have enough confidence to be self-critical with your assignments so that you aren’t letting things slip like we just said. So to be able to be that accountable for your teammates, I think that’s where everyone kind of wears that ownership on their sleeve and you go to work on a Wednesday ready to roll, throw those pads on and get to work and continue to improve.”
(What about the statement that you may have made on offense? Winning Week 1 with 466 by QB Tua Tagovailoa, winning the way you did last night in a totally different way. What kind of statement do you think that makes?) – “I think that just kind of is a sneak peek in what the rest of the season is going to be. We’re going to have to win a lot of games a lot of different ways – good weather, bad weather, road games, home games, whatever that is. We have to have the guys in the room to have a chance at the end of the game to have the talent, the closers across the field – offense, defense, special teams – to make those plays in the key moments to win games. So if we know that we’re going to be in the games that we want to be in, we’re going to have to win a lot of different ways and I think that’s where the confidence really has to be put in that preparation, that process.”
