Mike McDaniel – October 2, 2024
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Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(I’m sure we’ll get to the depressing news that LB Jaelan Phillips announced shortly, but just a quick thing with regard to WR Odell Beckham Jr. It was nice he was a full participant if you had practiced fully according to the injury report. Does that suggest that he will be ready to play Sunday for you if he has no setback the next couple of days?) – “It’s one day that we saw him in a walkthrough setting. Tomorrow will be his first full-speed action and we’ll assess from there. Want to make sure people are ready when they go out on the football field, but he’s been working very hard not just to practice, so we’ll see what tomorrow has in store.”
(And on LB Jaelan Phillips just how crushing is this and for a young man obviously like him to have to go through this two years in a row, it’s pretty depressing, no?) – “It’s not exciting at all. Especially when you watch someone work so hard to earn every rep. It’s tough and I think Jaelan (Phillips), as he has continually impressed me since I’ve gotten to know him, he recognizes that this is – in a contact sport, this is a contact injury and he doesn’t know the whys necessarily currently, but he knows that he is not going to be worse but going to be better for all those things. So I was very impressed with – you don’t try to forecast how anyone’s going to react to that, understanding that there has to be a multitude of emotions. He’s very positive and already working the process, and as football goes, you have to prepare numerous people to fill a role like that and I know the guys have a lot of motivation to accept that challenge because it’s a great one.”
(You guys have had it seems like a year’s worth of adversity in a month. How do you not let this snowball, be able to get back to what this team was supposed to be?) – “It’s a lot of people that have the appropriate intent, a lot of relationships that you have to – you really get to see if things are what you think they are and it’s the ultimate test of a lot of things that you say that you believe. It does one of two things; it splinters people or it brings them together. Fortunately or unfortunately, this is not the first time, anybody that’s been in the NFL long enough, that you don’t start the way that you want to. And then you have things that you can’t control that there’s distractions aplenty in this league and all sorts of different things that can get you worried about the wrong stuff and you don’t have anywhere to hide when you’re losing. So that’s the tonality of it. I don’t hear much of, I don’t know, calculations of the bad things that have happened. I think guys are very, very intentionally trying to fix things that aren’t up to our standard. So you don’t have time – in this league, everybody has their own stuff going on. Nobody cares about the trials and tribulations or the things that you have to overcome. The whole crux of it is whether it’s early in the season or it’s late in the season, you will have adversity and sometimes it comes in bunches; sometimes it doesn’t. But you get to find out, guys get to see truly what I believe in; I get to see how they respond to it. And ultimately you hope and you believe that you’ve invested in the right people. I think the only way to prove that is daily attack of things that are uncomfortable and whatever we weather, whatever comes in our crosshairs, you just have to problem-solve because everybody’s got their own problems and we’re focused on trying to solve the New England Patriots problem that we’re trying to win a football game.”
(Speaking of LB Jaelan Phillips, what was the specifics of that injury? We just know from what he posted that it requires surgery and he’s out for the year.) – “I guess it’s what you could categorize as, it was a contact injury, something that happened in the game. He went back in based upon the fact that he could do no further damage. They braced it up and adrenaline of the game, he was all right. You worry about injuries just in general, but particularly in guys that are coming back. But contact injuries are unfortunately kind of the roll of the dice that kind of live outside any – it’s really a shame because you spend so much time getting yourself in a position to practice, and then that practice time is so minimized due to the fact that when you’re healthy enough to practice – he’s started in this league for a while – but you’re getting going. He’s a phenomenal player so he’s still able to impact the game in a great way, but I just know he was starting to get in a rhythm. But there’s contact injuries that it was a freak one at that because it was probably the first time that I’ve had friendly fire as they say. (Jordan) Poyer and him having – I can’t remember what quarter it was – but they both got injured on the play aggressively trying to take down the ball carrier. It was a partial that the medical experts needed to go fix and beyond that I’ll leave to Jaelan (Phillips) to speak on more, but proud of him and how he’s handling it and how he’s focused on the right things because circumstance could trick you into being in a pretty dark spot, but he’s focused and hoping that – I just know that he’s of the right mindset to come back with this and use it to his full advantage as rough as it is right now.”
(Just if I could follow up real quick – I’m not a doctor, I have no idea if this correlates – but it looks like it was the same leg as his Achilles tear. It sounds like this was though just a result of contact not necessarily a byproduct of that leg?) – “No, for sure. The medical experts wouldn’t have cleared him if it wasn’t, but specifically a contact injury that the only way you could avoid a contact injury – so like that to me… when our doctors clear people to play, they don’t take that lightly, so I’m always very confident. I think that any time that you have a contact injury that those are kind of unrelated more often than not.”
(Is it possible that by returning to play that he may have compounded the injury without even – obviously he never intended to do so – but is that possible?) – “Again it’s the contact part, like I guess because he came back he did have contact, but you’re always – just understanding, rudimentary understanding of the body – that’s why you have to be so deliberate and intentional with not talking timelines and things like that because all of those things are built because that’s non-negotiable to bring somebody back and cause… I think I’ve trusted early with just the way they handle all the players and continually earn my trust so I don’t think that was a factor at all. If it turned to flag football, that’s the only way to avoid it; it was a contact injury.”
(You mentioned needing contributions from several players. Can you speak to your faith in the rest of the edge rusher group including a couple rookies in LB Chop Robinson and LB Mohamed Kamara?) – “They get to collectively put forth a lot of work that they’re absolutely positively prepared for. The situation as it presented itself, there was a tremendous amount of gained reps to learn from and grow through in training camp, and the key thing is that you’re not trying to be Jaelan Phillips and just one person be that. I think as we understand each other as a defense and how we utilize personnel, you adapt and it’s strength in numbers. It’s a collective step up and it’s kind of directly in relation to what the whole team is trying to do right now with just in the nature of what the team is working through right now. It’s not one person necessarily, but I am confident in the collective because they’ve given me reason to be confident by their daily output.”
(Question about repercussions around here – WR Tyreek Hill had the ball that was a lateral, he didn’t go after that aggressively. TE Julian Hill has had a lot of penalties, LB Anthony Walker Jr. has had a few on special teams. Without going into stuff that should stay within closed doors, do you guys talk to these players? I don’t think they run sprints or anything, but do you show them video? What is the corrective action there?) – “The corrective action, when you’re negatively affecting the team, my recourse – I think it’s my duty as the head coach for every player and coach involved in the thing to literally hit it straight between the eyes, talk about it in a team meeting. Most teams, guys, they want to be a part of the solution and not the problem. But at the same time, we’re all accountable, and first and foremost myself, for yeah – that’s not good football. You can’t go backwards before a play starts. You can’t turn the ball over. We have an entire team meeting devoted to turnovers on a weekly basis and the ownership of the ball and taking the ball away. So these are things that in a competitive situation, you can have scars or you can have lessons and I think the accountability that Tyreek Hill is exhibiting to his team, he didn’t try to shy away from that, and I think the whole team learned something that I thought – or you think you know until it happens and you’re like, ‘OK, so if it’s going to happen once, let’s use that as he can be the teacher and let’s not have anybody else not learn from that mistake.’ You’re trying to grow your team, sometimes there’s – when the football isn’t up to standard, you don’t make it rosy; you just tell it exactly like it is. That’s what’s owed to the whole team and when you’re doing things that hurt the team, they should be held accountable.”
(Regarding the offense, I know you guys see a lot of seven-man fronts, a lot of two deep safeties. Is it as simple as just running the ball and getting them to bring a safety down? I know that they do things to discourage the run up front, but is it that simple?) – “You’re trying to crack codes every week that the opponents get paid, too. And they’ve collectively, with their coach and their executions of their game plans, they’ve done a better job than we have. There’s always adjustments, that is football. I’d like them to happen immediately, and I am not used to having the lack of offensive production that the players on the team, the fans, just everybody is not used to. So you try to problem solve and that is a steadily evolving process – that’s not just schematics and it’s not just players. You find success when everyone is connected and the right solutions are being presented and the right things are being executed. There’s nowhere to hide and it’s not fun when you’re not achieving, so the great news is you have opportunities to come together as a football team and focus on absolutely, positively the only things that matter. In situations like these, if you want anything to change, that’s the only thing you can do. You want to see people go above and beyond in what their job responsibilities are and not be complacent because the second you’re complacent with whoever you are – if it’s not me, it’s you. That’s the way we’ve kind of approached it so day by day, rep by rep, there’s no path of least resistance if you want to change the result.”
(What are the main one or two teaching points you need to emphasize to QB Tyler Huntley in order for him to run this offense as effectively as he needs to in the second week of starting?) – “I would hate to think that the best execution of the offense in its entirety would be your first week running the offense. I think that it’s having a standard and not getting defeated as you continue to learn and get the finer details. I think he’s a professional and there was a lot of things that were very impressive when you put into context the timeline, the language and how he’s able to do things that our guys are used to, and then there’s a lot of room for growth, as well as getting to learn him, not just from soundless tape. Getting to coach him on something and see how that hits his ear and see what he does with that coaching, patternizing some of the stuff that he’s comfortable with, all of those things that you do, but there’s no substitute for time in this business when you’re working at the position. So absolutely, positively, did he learn a ton and was this walkthrough today or was the team orchestrated stuff today absolutely better than last week? Yes, it was. I think he’s sinking his teeth in to trying to not just do but have ownership, and I think all of the guys feel like they have to do a better job around him and he feels like he needs to do a better job. I feel like I need to do a better job, and I don’t see another formula for a better product than everyone trying to do their jobs better.”
(Just your biggest concern playing a team like the New England Patriots on the road?) – “Absolutely, positively it’s a team that you’re going to have to earn the victory, and they play a really cool style of ball that is physical and something that I think to go on the road and earn the win, you’re going to have to earn the win. Right now, I wouldn’t want it any other way. I think it’s a division opponent that we know each other well. I see the on-tape growth in the game and the players on offense and I see the fundamentals and technique consistently across the board that have made them a very good defense for a long time and there’s guys playing hard, very physical across the board. They will compete and you will get their best, so I think it’s a good opportunity for us because there’s going to be no gifts. The only gift in my household is for my daughter who’s four-years old today, by the way – shoutout Ayla.”
(Happy birthday Ayla!) – “Thank you – for her. (laughter) But she’s excited about it as well. She wants to see dad’s team compete and earn a win, so we have a lot of work to do in the meantime, but it’s definitely going to be a challenge. It will be fun.”
