Mike McDaniel – December 25, 2023
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Monday, December 25, 2023
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(I wanted to talk about shins. So WR Jaylen Waddle’s shin injury, there was a report today that he was going to have it further examined. Did the information suggest that he might miss a game or more? And with RB Raheem Mostert, he told reporters yesterday that a shin caused him to leave the game. Obviously he came back. Did you not play him more in the second half because he reported to you some discomfort or lack of mobility or because trainers told you it might not be a good idea to use him a lot in the second half?) – “We were addressing the information given back to us by the player with (Jaylen) Waddle, and as of today it seems to be more of a high ankle that we’re going to have to get some more information on because we know those can be tricky; so that will be pending some more information, but it looks to be a high ankle. Raheem (Mostert), it wasn’t really necessarily that. That’s the relationship that he and I have – Eric Studesville and myself – because we have so many tough-minded, tough players on the team, we’ve become kind of like body language readers. Raheem wanted to go in the game. It had nothing to do with that, it was more that we could tell that it was pretty painful at the time so to the credit of the room, we have so much confidence in that room and all the different guys that you kind of are able to ride the momentum. I think it was just really the disposition Jeff Wilson had the entire game and being a Texas boy, it kind of made sense. But it wasn’t because he was unable or that he was saying that he couldn’t go. It was quite the opposite. Just kind of a relationship professional kind of read into what was going on and thought that gave us the best chance in those particular moments.”
(I wanted to ask a follow-up on WR Jaylen Waddle. He seems to have had a pretty rough go of it this year. It seems like every other week or maybe every week he’s had something. Given the fact that he’s fought through so many injuries, do you have a higher optimism that this won’t be something that will keep him out long term?) – “Yeah, I do, and he’s a really, really tough player and like you said, he’s battled through several things this year which has made him even more eager just as a playmaker to kind of make up for that with his play. So yeah, it does give me optimism because of the individual and because of what he has gone through for sure. He’s had several things that have been real that other players might take them longer, especially at that position, might take them longer to come back from, so I do have a lot of confidence in him for that type of thing.”
(With OL Austin Jackson yesterday was he just available in the event of an emergency but just wasn’t ready to start, play a full 60 minutes? Was that why you went with T Kendall Lamm at right tackle?) – “That’s exactly why. That’s exactly why. He was a warrior to even be able to dress and just we kind of knew it was going to go down to the wire, which it did, in the course of the week. We felt like that he could strain through some ball but to be able to go through the whole game, we thought that was unfair. We have so much confidence in Kendall (Lamm). It was definitely the most appropriate thing to do with regard to where he was at. That being said, I am very, very optimistic for him for this week.”
(And I also wanted to ask you about what’s coming up. A lot will be on the line in Baltimore this week. I know you treat every week the same even against the teams perceived by us to be lesser opponents, perceived by us on the outside in the media, but does it help that this win against Dallas immediately precedes the one you’re about to go into?) – “I think the whole season in its entirety helps. I think that each team has to learn lessons and a lot of times you learn lessons the hard way. I think that the bottom line is there’s a purpose with approaching each and every week with the utmost regard. And that’s because you know down the stretch of the season, you know when you get to games like this, you know in playoff games, that it’s going to feel a certain way. That you’re going to be all in, so you don’t want it to be all of a sudden, we turn up and now we’re going to try. You try to train that. You try to train how you’re going to approach end-of-the-season games early in the season. Henceforth, every game is the same to me and that way, the closer that your team can get to that, the less stressors that are imposed upon you in a week where you’re playing a team that has currently, they have 11 wins right now and I think that it’s exactly what you want. You want to be playing the best football teams in December and January. You want to go toe-to-toe with them and you want to earn victories. And so to do that, we’re very fortunate to have the opportunity to play the Baltimore Ravens this week. I think it does fit. I think that this past week does help the team just in general, because you’re finding out about yourself deep down, that you’re capable of beating any team. But it doesn’t hurt to be able to find a way to win against a team that was equally as desperate or whatever. That game meant a lot to both teams. So whenever you win games like that, it helps for ultimately what you’re trying to do.”
(Just wanted to touch on S DeShon Elliott and his touchdown-altering tackle. Can you just touch on his development from Week 1 to this point in the season and just what are your thoughts as far as just totality of this season so far?) – “It’s a really cool thing that he’s experienced starting in a new system. He had elements of this system in his career, but to find comfort and then become a guy that we really rely on to make plays, it’s been a really cool journey to watch him evolve in this defense. I thought it was really cool that play he made. It reminded me of in Jacksonville preseason, Jevon Holland had a forced fumble right at the goal line and in this defensive system, our system is built to make it really hard on offenses. And when you’re taking advantage of every single yard on the field and making them earn every inch, you never know what’s going to happen so I think it was such a cool play that he made because the next play we were able to get the ball back. None of that happens if he’s not straining. He’s in a rough position at the point of attack and goes above and beyond and it just shows why coach speak is what it is, why we emphasize every single play and you have no idea – that was a converted first down – and to a lot of people, maybe you don’t do that or fiercely go through a blocker to try to make a play on the ball because, okay, they already got the first down. First-and-goal, what does that mean? Well, they have to earn everything, so I think it speaks to that, it speaks to our philosophy in general. And then just to watch guys have high expectations going into the season, specifically on the defensive side of the ball and everything not work immediately and then to see their game progress over the course of the season; it’s everything you want, everything that’s satisfying in coaching and I think you’ve seen that immensely, especially in this last portion of the year. Both defense and special teams have found a way to really impact the game and take it over in a certain degree when the team has needed it, so it’s been really cool to watch guys develop in our systems and it’s kind of what coaching is about.”
(I wanted to ask you about WR Tyreek Hill. He wound up playing his second-most snaps in that game with WR Robbie Chosen being knocked out of the game and WR Jaylen Waddle’s issue. So I’m curious as to whether he came into the game on a pitch count and that got elevated because of the injury issues or whether there was no limits to begin with and also how did he come out of the game with the ankle?) – “That’s a great example of why we make those tough calls sometimes and have a game day workout because you can’t – there’s residual effects to when people go down and he was ready to go. We definitely didn’t plan on playing him that much, but it was also very hard to get him off the field in a competitive game like that, which speaks to him as a competitor. But that’s why we do what we do, why we make the tough decisions sometimes that on the surface – first and foremost we will always protect the players from themselves, but we also have to protect the other players and make sure that guys if they’re able to go, can handle any unforeseen situations because we didn’t go into the game thinking we were going to lose both (Robbie) Chosen and (Jaylen) Waddle. But that very well could happen any game. So the guys you have up generally have to be able to go; if they can’t, you just have to be very aware of the potential residual. So I was just happy that Tyreek (Hill) could put in so much time. That’s the one – for a captain to be able to step that up and, like you said, play the second-most snaps he has all season coming off an injury; what that means is he was all in trying to play for the last two weeks and doing everything – I mean, he’s been living in the training room and that’s what you need from captains. That’s what you need from your star players if you’re trying to do anything in December. This is an accumulation of a lot of reps for all teams, all players involved. And when everything’s on the line, for him to come through that way with the stuff you guys saw, but then all the stuff that you didn’t see, where he’s been spending multiple hours every single day, trying to get his body right, we’re all very fortunate that he did that because he was able to have an impact on the game, even when he wasn’t touching the ball.”
(I wanted to ask earlier in the first quarter of the game, yesterday’s game, when Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb got off to a hot start, a lot was made about the decision to not shadow him with either CB Xavien Howard or CB Jalen Ramsey. It didn’t seem like you guys did that for the final three quarters of the game, so I was curious from reviewing the tape, what stood out to you about kind of being able to limit him?) – “I think it’s team involvement. Now it’s really easy to say, ‘yeah, just shadow somebody with somebody.’ That also has residuals. One of the strengths of our defensive system is that at the snap, the quarterback has very minimal intel as to what’s about to happen. And that in conjunction with our pass rush is really what has made our pass defense go and when you do shadow, there is the gain, but it does adjust your entire toolbox. And it’s one of the reasons why Vic (Fangio) is so elite as a defensive coordinator, is because he has complete ownership of his system that he created and understands all the pros and cons to everything. There’s a lot of things that come into play with where on each individual play, there’s a defensive player that we like to say has a hard down. And you have help certain places and there’s certain times that your defensive game plan allows for you to have more help in the slot than outside and vice-versa, so we have a bunch of tools. We haven’t really displayed all of them up until this point, but it’s not as simple as a lot of times you have to factor in a ton of stuff when you’re trying to come up with a plan, including does the quarterback flourish when pre-snap he knows exactly what the coverage is? Those things factor into our decision-making and we’ll continue to as we progress through the season.”
(It seems like every game win or lose, you’re always looking to see what your team can learn from that game to build upon moving forward. Yesterday you gave up a score in the fourth quarter… you came back and you made it work. You scored the go-ahead points with no time left on the clock. What do you think your team learned from that experience that’s going to help you in December and January moving forward?) – “I think that’s very much how I look at things. That’s very much how I’ll approach the review of this game with the team, because I do think that’s the hard thing about the NFL is that if you’re able to accomplish, you can really develop your team over the course of a season. In this particular game, it was entertaining to me because there were three phases that were trying to win the game, that thought it was their game to win. That type of mindset is everything you want. However, you don’t want to feel like a phase feels as though they have to win the game. There are times in football where you can have the perfect defensive call and you can have the perfect technique by defensive players and guys can make plays. So your coaching towards that, and hey, if a guy makes an incredible play, we have plenty players in all three phases that can take advantage of their opportunities. To be in a game like that, that very much had the exact feel you feel in playoff football, where there is a lot on the line and guys desperately wanted to win it, you can kind of have an aura of confidence, understanding that if all we want is your maximum effort, maximum attention and maximum preparation, and if you’re not able to win the game one way, we have a team that can win the games in multitude of fashions. I think the first two wins of the season on the road, the defense was out there when we won the game. I think those types of lessons are invaluable for a team the further along you go in the season. Every week inherently you’re going to have more investment collectively, because it’s just another week into the investment into the ultimate goal. As all that accumulates, you want guys to be confident that when push comes to shove and we have a lot on the line, we’ll find a way to win the game in a multitude of fashions. To end the game that way, that’s a thing that playoff teams do that win playoff games. That’s ultimately what you’re trying to strive for and build towards, and you’re capable of doing that if you put your maximum attention and all of your attention on the only thing that matters, which is the opponent, that prep that day, and then ultimately that opponent that game.”
(Hard Knocks has given us a chance to see your good moments and your not so great moments. We saw you after Tennessee say how ‘we now might have to go on the road to do what we want to do.’ Fast forward two weeks and that’s not necessarily true anymore. If you win out, you’re the No. 1 seed and you have home field. Is that a message you take to the team this week? Since it’s so close, and so tangible is that something you talk about, or is it still all about Baltimore?) – “I think it has to be about Baltimore. The NFL does a great job of teaching this lesson if you’re willing to watch and listen. I don’t know the stats behind it, but I’m willing to bet that if you’re trying to get rich quick, just go to December football and bet against spreads, because what happens is there are a lot of distractions. A ton of distractions. And every single week, you have teams lose to people that they should beat or whatever, because you do not for a second take your attention away from the team you’re playing against. If you do that, if you start thinking – ok, if we do this, and even thinking about two weeks, it short-changes the opponent. If you short-change the opponent that has been playing together all season and has a ton of stuff to play for, and even teams that are not even in the playoff mix, they know how many games they have left, and they will teach lessons. You can either get in front of that and prepare like as if it’s a one-game season, as we will do this week. Or you can find out that lesson the hard way utilizing hindsight, and then applying it for the next game. I think we have learned a multitude of lessons this year. One of which is our formula is as simple as today is Wednesday, we are going to go over first and second down for the Baltimore Ravens. We’re going to go over punt and kickoff, and master those for the opponent and nothing else. That is something that since I’ve been in the league, it has always been pervasive, and I think for us to do what we want to do, nothing matters besides the Baltimore Ravens. It’s an awesome test for us. They are a phenomenal team. They are playing tonight. I am anticipating it’s a tremendous game and our job is to get ready for Baltimore. I could care less about any scenario at all. It literally matters nothing to me. At this point, we’re in a situation where everything is helping us and leading us to ultimately where I think our focus needs to be, which is this one opponent, which will deserve all of our attention.”
