Reshad Jones – November 10, 2017
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Friday, November 10, 2017
S Reshad Jones
(What kind of conversations have you had with S T.J. McDonald, even before this week?) – “We didn’t have too many conversations. He’s been pretty much away from the building so we haven’t really talked; but when he returned I said, ‘We’ve got eight weeks to go to work, so let’s go hard and see what happens.’”
(Is it an adjustment for you playing with so many safeties over the years – Isa Abdul-Quddus, Louis Delmas – it’s been a pretty long list of good safeties?) – “Not at all. I just control what I can control. I go out and do whatever I can to help this team win. Whoever is next to me or whoever is playing with me, it really doesn’t matter. Luckily, I’ve been fortunate enough to play with a lot of good safeties throughout my career here; but it really doesn’t matter.”
(The biggest thing is being on the same page from a call standpoint?) – “Yes, that’s it. We’re the quarterbacks of the defense so we’ve got to make sure we get everybody lined up and make sure we’re both on the same page and we’ll go from there.”
(You don’t see any adjustment period to playing with each other?) – “No, we played early on in OTAs and minicamp and different things like that, so we’ve got a little bit of experience together. We bonded a little bit on and off the field, so we’ve got a relationship. It’ll be fun. I’m ready to see this guy play and for both of us to go out and make plays.”
(Does S T.J. McDonald’s skill set complement yours, or how does that work with two safeties in the back?) – “I think it does. I think he’s a versatile safety too. He can play free or strong and I, obviously, can play free or strong. I’ve played both throughout my career here, so I think we do complement each other well.”
(It’s rare for you to play a game where you’re not at a really high, elite level, so when you have a game like Sunday that’s maybe not up to your standards, how tough are you on yourself and how much does it weigh on you all week?) – “It was just a play or two I had and that’s part of the game. I know I‘ve got to make those plays; but like you said, I think I’ve been playing good. Sunday, I think I had a solid game, I just (had) one or two plays I wish I had back. I’ll learn from that and move on, and keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
Jarvis Landry – November 10, 2017
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Friday, November 10, 2017
WR Jarvis Landry
(On Jason Taylor’s ping pong tournament…) – “C Mike Pouncey brought it to my attention that they do a ping pong tournament for Jason Taylor every year, so we just got that going.”
(I know you wanted to win obviously on Sunday, but does the receiving record, the most receptions in a four-year career mean anything to you?) – “It does; but for me, I haven’t even taken the time to let that soak in yet. Right now, I’m really just focusing on Carolina.”
(That was more fun for you when it was you and Odell Beckham Jr., wasn’t it?) – “What do you mean?”
(The record, when it was you and Odell Beckham Jr. going back and forth for it. Now the race is kind of over.) – “Absolutely, absolutely. Hopefully, through his recovery process and through everything, the push for the five-year mark, whatever that number is, is going to be something we both will be fighting for again.”
(Are you getting different coverages this year than you did the last couple of years, or even last year?) – “Not really. I’m getting more of the same stuff. If I’m answering the question, I’m getting more of the same coverages that I’ve been seeing for pretty much my whole career.”
(Because you’re on pace to have more receptions than past years, but for less yards, and nobody knows why really.) – “I don’t know. All I can do is the best I can when I get the opportunity and the type of opportunity; so for me, just getting the ball in my hands regardless of the defense, the play call, whatever, and trying to make something happen from there. That’s all I can do, that’s all I can control.”
(It’s the third straight primetime game for you guys. It didn’t go so well in the first two. Is there a sense of wanting to show the nation that you’re a good team?) – “Yes, we want to show the nation every week. For us, it’s another opportunity for us to be on the primetime stage and try to come back home with a W.”
(I know you’ve talked about people not respecting you in the past. Do you still feel that way and do you feel like you have something to prove on Monday night?) – “Yes, of course; but we’ve got to go and take that respect, regardless of if we’ve earned it or not. Nobody is going to give it to you and I feel like we’ve got to go out there and take it, and that’s the mindset.”
Matt Burke – November 10, 2017
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Friday, November 10, 2017
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
(What do you remember about the time that S T.J. McDonald and S Reshad Jones were in the secondary together during camp?) – “It seems like a long time ago. Obviously we felt really good about the way that they complemented each other, played together. We were moving groups around at the time obviously with the awareness of T.J.’s situation. We were working Nate (Allen) in and some other guys; but I just remember them having a good connection and kind of being able to work together in a lot of different areas. We felt good about their skill sets complementing each other in terms of both being able to play down and being able to play back and being able to do some different things with them in that sense. We got them back out there again yesterday for the first time and kind of went right back into it, so hopefully it’s a positive sign moving forward.”
(Did S T.J. McDonald just jump in? He’s just totally good to go?) – “Yes, until someone tells me otherwise.”
(Did S T.J. McDonald look like a guy that’s been out for eight weeks?) – “No, no. He did look good. I mean physically, he’s been really working hard. One of the benefits of being able to have him in the building at least in terms of … We haven’t been able to do anything with him in terms of on-the-field stuff, but with our strength staff and conditioning and getting him ready to play, I didn’t notice personally, anything in terms of lack of fitness and that sort of thing. I think physically he’s ready to go. There’s always going to be a little bit of dust in terms of some mental stuff; but again, another benefit of having him in the building is (him) being in some of the meetings that we’ve been able to have him in and in a classroom setting. I think he’ll be ready to go.”
(Are both of those guys, S T.J. McDonald and S Reshad Jones, for those guys, is playing back the bigger challenge then playing up in the box?) – “I don’t think so, necessarily. I think that’s, especially with T.J. for example, I think that’s … I don’t want to say a stereotype but you see a big, a 6-3, 225 pound safety and you just assume those things. It was probably sort of a bias I had when we signed him. Going back to your earlier question, I thought that actually was one of the pleasant things about him we noticed in the spring. He’s a tall kid that can range back there too and do some things. I think it’s just sort of human nature to say let’s put this big guy in the box and that’s where he is, but we try to find safeties that are multi-dimensional and multi-talented that can do different things that don’t hamstring a play caller or a defensive scheme. I don’t have any reservations of putting those buys back in the back end.”
(I know some of this is dictated by how fast the ball comes out, but are you okay how much pass rush you’ve gotten out of your front four and is there any you could do to ramp that up?) – “I’ve been actually pleased with what they’ve done. I mean there’s nothing I can do to make a guy not throw the ball quick if they really want to. Really to combat those things, we have to … Teams that want to neutralize a defensive line, they’re going to run the ball, which I feel like for the most part in the big picture, we’ve done a decent job of taking that away from teams, so they can’t do that. One of our struggles in the Baltimore game was we weren’t doing that. That’s a way to neutralize a rush. The other thing is when they do throw quick throws, at a minimum we have to tackle. I think one of our failings or issues has been … I think it’s really hard, I think it’s difficult for a team, for offenses, to put together 12- to 14-play drives if you’re just throwing the ball so quick. If it’s a 2-yard pass here, a 3-yard pass there, if you’re tackling well, if you’re matching things up well, I think one of our failings has been that we’ve actually given up more sort of chunk plays in the last few weeks than we had earlier in the year. If a team wants to throw the ball in 1.4 seconds, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
(Is that what it was last week?) – “I don’t know. I’m just throwing random numbers out that sound lower than they probably are. (laughter) But no, we have to make that not a successful plan of attack, is what we have to do. That comes from tackling those quick throws and limiting a 2-yard throw to a 2-yard gain or 3-yard gain, not a 10-yard gain. Now the issue is, I thought last week for example we got pretty aggressive in our zone coverages and we were trying to … We can’t get frustrated by that plan of attack. I think it’s hard for a team to keep doing that for a whole length of a field. I thought we were a little bit over aggressive in some of the shallow routes and now we’re opening up stuff behind us. It’s kind of a fair trade there a little bit. We have to do a better a job of mixing our coverages where maybe they think this is a time I can get a quick throw off, where now we’re matching it up a little tighter versus giving up stuff behind us. That’s the sort of game you have to play. In general I’ve been pleased with our d-line. I actually thought they played really well last week. Even a guy like (Andre) Branch, who didn’t practice as much during the week, I thought he played really well. He rushed really well. Again, the message to some of the guys in the back end is I’ll pause the tape and you see the pocket collapsing, but the ball is coming out and stuff. (We have to) keep mixing up our coverages, giving different looks, getting a little bit tighter in that area of things to give those guys that extra half a second; but I’ve not been disappointed with the way line has played.”
(In Cincinnati, you had a guy in S Taylor Mays who essentially at some points, even though he was listed as a safety, played linebacker on occasion. Do you view S T.J. McDonald in the same light and can kind of do those types of things?) – “I mean he’s capable, absolutely. I’m a little cautious, again just getting him back into things – T.J. – in terms of putting too much on his plate right now in terms of multiple positions and all of that stuff; but yes, we did. Taylor was actually in my room (when I was) the linebackers coach (in Cincinnati) for some of the time. We moved him around a little bit and did some different things. I mean T.J. has that skill set for sure. It’s just a matter of, again sort of mentally and sort of learning and as we move forward, and again what other pieces (do you have)? If you’re putting him down there, you’re taking somebody else off the field and who you’re putting on, and all of those sort of issues. I think he has that ability for sure to be sub dime or linebacker, and move back, and you can do some different things with him. It’s just a matter of how it fits into the big picture.”
(What’s the biggest challenge when you’re facing an athletic mobile quarterback like Panthers QB Cam Newton who is basically a running back?) – “It’s funny. I think Cam (Newton) is a unique athlete. I mean a really unique (athlete), just probably mostly due to his size. Even then, compared to running quarterbacks, he’s just such a big man. It’s a different sort of element. It’s just, I think the biggest challenge is being disciplined in your assignments and your techniques and how we’re playing that, because it adds another element to the run game. I mean it’s one thing if they’re under center and they’re loaded up and you can just play the runs. At this point of the year, you’ve seen most of the run schemes from a normal standpoint. But when you add the quarterback element of the game, and with them there’s pitch elements and there’s all sorts of stuff going on. You just have to be disciplined in how you’re doing that and it just makes it mentally challenging over the course of the game because every play you have to be on point with who’s got the dive, who’s got the quarterback, what are we showing them? Basically all of our calls have to be able to match up versus all those elements in the run game. That makes it a challenge. I think it’s as much of a mental challenge as it is physical. The physical part with him is getting him on the ground when you do have that chance because he’s a big person and when he gets a head of steam and gets in open field, he’s tough to take down. That part physically is just something we’ve got to deal with, but the mental aspect of play in and play out, having the discipline and having the awareness of what my assignment is and what my responsibilities will be, will be the challenge this week.”
(Who are your roster do you think is best equipped in coverage – and when I say on your roster I’m speaking linebackers, safeties, CB Bobby McCain I guess you could throw in there – who’s best equipped to defend big pass-catching tight ends in coverage? Obviously it was a problem last week.) – “I feel good about a lot of our guys. Last week we were mixing guys up. I feel good about Kiko (Alonso) matching up the guys in coverage. I feel good about Lawrence (Timmons). I feel good about T.J. (McDonald) and (Reshad (Jones). Probably not Bobby (McCain) in terms of size wise (laughter). But last week, in terms of tight ends stuff, I didn’t feel we did a good job taking some of the stuff we had talked about during the week, sort of the information that we give these guys and putting it into play on the field. I thought our issue with the tight end was two-fold last week. We talked a lot about not wanting to give him free space. (Jared) Cook, when he gets going, he’s a big guy. He can run when he gets going, we felt like we wanted to disrupt him off the line a little bit more than we did when we had those opportunities. One of the things I was disappointed in is I just felt that we didn’t execute sort of that – not that it was part of the game plan in terms of schematically but in terms of a scouting issue. If he gets going as we saw, when he was climbing and got in the seams and got down field, I mean he’s a big man. He’s tough to keep up with and we wanted to take that away before it got to that point. I didn’t think we did a good job of putting hands on at the line of scrimmage and trying to disrupt his releases, which was part of what our plan of attack was. Then the second part I thought was, again we were probably getting a little too nosey on shorter routes and letting him get behind us. If we were in man or we were in something where it was a little bit more aggressive, we didn’t do a good job of getting hands on, and when we were in zone coverages, I felt like we were getting a little bit too jumpy on some shallow routes and giving him some space behind us to complete some of those balls. I honestly don’t really worry about matchups. I think we have different athletes at linebacker and safety –slightly different body types and skill sets – that I feel good about trying to give different looks to tight ends in terms of man coverages and some type of coverages. I just think that we have to execute the scouting reports out of the game plan better than not just the schematic stuff.”
(With three interceptions in the first half of the season, what are some things you’ve noticed as reasons for limited interceptions and what might be some ways to…?) – “Well we’ve got to catch the ones that come to us, first of all. Not to keep harping on last week but I mean probably the biggest disappointment for me, personally, was the 2-minute drive at the end of the (first) half. There’s 28 seconds left in the half. We should not give up points there, period. We jumped down on a shallow route and gave up a long play to start the drive. If we just let them check that ball down there in the first play of it, they probably run the half out at that point. Then the next two plays we have our hands on balls twice and we drop them both. Kiko (Alonso) kind of stumbles, it gets tipped, then (Davon) Godchaux kind of gets his hand on a tipped ball so the path redirects and Kiko stumbles and it hits him in the facemask. Then they try to take a shot and ‘Mo’ (Maurice Smith) is in really good shape and he goes up and he just doesn’t come down with it. The starting point is I’d like to catch some of the ones that come to us. That would be a plus. I think it ties into similar stuff with the rush. It’s hard to pick balls off. A lot of interceptions come – I always hear (Defensive Backs Coach) Lou (Anarumo) talk about it – on tips and overthrows. There’s that part of it but also if they’re throwing the ball quick and they’re not letting our rush affect it, most of your picks are coming on a little bit down the field throws or again, if you’re in 2-minute drive situations or have to throw it situations and they’re trying to force balls down the field in coverage, and those sort of things. We haven’t been in a lot of those situations and then we have, we haven’t taken advantage of the opportunities that come to us. It’s like anything else. I mean we preach … If you start trying to go get interceptions, you’re going to give up some other things. When the opportunities do come, you don’t know. That was pretty much my message after last week’s game was that there were probably … I mean that’s an NFL game to me. That’s a battle, right? They made some plays, we made some plays. (Ndamukong) Suh makes a hell of a play. It is 20-16 with 12 minutes left. Suh makes a hell of play to get the ball back at midfield. That’s how NFL games are going to go, but you don’t know what those five or six plays are that are going to be the difference. If you get your hands on the ball and there’s a chance to get a big turnover and change the game, then we have to be able to take advantage of those chances. Sometimes you can’t dictate when those chances come. Some of that is game situations, some of that’s sort of the byproduct of what we’re playing and things; but when they do come, we have to take advantage and we probably … they’re not easy plays but we had three or four chances at least last week to make a play on the ball; and honestly, even on the long touchdown, I’m sure if you ask Reshad (Jones), he’d say he expects himself to pick that ball off.”
(Do you have an estimate for catchable or not caught picks?) – “No, I don’t. If you remind me, I’ll try to dig that up for next week.”
(S Reshad Jones’ late hit/unnecessary roughness play, what did you think? Is that an example of something you would send to the league for explanation?) – “Yes, we did send it to the league. We do that stuff. To me it’s more about coachable moments. That’s a hard play. They ruled, and the NFL said that they felt he led with the crown of his head. That’s tough. It’s close. They also claim that they missed the facemask where his helmet got ripped off by the receiver in the aftermath. It’s a bang-bang play. To me, Reshad came over. I always try to, in the moment, get a sense of what those guys are feeling and what they are seeing. The kid caught the ball and was sort of tip-toeing the sideline trying to get more yards up the field. He was still in play. It wasn’t like it was a hit out of bounds, that the receiver had been out of bounds or anything like that. They just ruled it that Reshad kind of dipped in and led – a lot of times he’s trying to gather some force to try to pry through on the hit. I thought it was with the shoulder pad, they thought it was with the helmet. It’s kind of a judgement area. That’s how they ruled it. I think it’s just the world that we’re living in, with the defense especially. The NFL is going to error on caution on those things and error on protecting players. If we tell them to keep that head out for that much more and just make it truly a clean hit with the shoulder on the sideline, I think that’s where we’ll try to get to. It’s tough. It’s a tough call.”
Adam Gase – November 10, 2017
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Friday, November 10, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(You mentioned about penalties, obviously, last Sunday being timely. College coaches have the recourse of having their players run steps or something with penalties. Beyond playing time, is there any recourse that an NFL coach has if he’s troubled by penalties by specific players at bad times, are far as consequences?) – “There’s really nothing you can do. You want to do it right in practice. That’s really where it starts. Make sure that you’re keeping clean with everything you’re doing, whether it be pre snap penalties, holding penalties, defensive holding, pass interference – those type of things. You just want to try to make sure you do it right in practice.”
(There’s a report out there that T Ja’Wuan James has a groin injury that will cost him the rest of the season. Can you clarify or…) – “It’s not a groin. So, I guess that’s wrong.”
(A hamstring?) – “That’s what I said yesterday: we’re still going through the process of trying to figure out the main issue. I’m just gathering information when they bring it to me. I’m sure I’ll know something here in the next few hours of the exacts.”
(WR Jarvis Landry is averaging nearly 5 yards less per catch than he did last year. Why do you think that is?) – “It’s nothing that he’s doing wrong. We’re going to take what the defense gives us and complete balls and try to move the sticks and stay in third-and-manageable. That’s really what it’s all about. Earlier in the season, the biggest problem we had was we were third-and-10, third-and-10 probably because we were trying to push the ball down the field too much. That’s why your conversion rate gets down and low. It’s tough to complete balls in that area. Some of the defenses that we’re seeing, they’re going to try to take him away. What does he have, like 50-some catches? (They) kind of know we’re going to go to him. They’re playing tight. We’re not seeing a lot of middle field, open zones where in the slot, that’s where really that guy makes his money. We’re seeing a lot more single-high safety, zone-type defenses. It forces the ball to go outside most of the times. So when we try to get the ball to him, he has to break a tackle or something like that, which he does a lot of times. It’s not easy.”
(With TE Julius Thomas, you’ve always talked about getting the right matchup, which would make him come alive. Has that been what you’ve been getting, or are you seeing him create a little bit more separation?) – “That’s what happened last game. We got the right matchups. We tried to find some ways to get him going a little bit. It worked out. We’ve just got to keep going, and that’s going to help the other guys.”
(Are you expecting WR Jakeem Grant and RB Damien Williams back at practice today?) – “I’m still … I’m not sure yet. We’ve got to see … They both still don’t feel good. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I just don’t want to put them out there if they’re dehydrated and then something else happen (and) make it worse than what it already is. I’m going to keep checking in with the trainers. They’re keeping an eye on it. I know Jakeem is trying to go. I don’t know if Damien is going to be able to.”
(What’s the challenge with Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey and how unique of a player is he?) – “I think when you’ve got a guy that does as many things as he does, it always makes it difficult, because you’ve got to know where he’s all at the time. When you take a guy that can play slot, outside, backfield, then he can run the ball, then he can pass – when you add all those things up, it makes it very hard to really key on what he’s going to do and how they’re going to use him for that game. That’s why when you play this offense, you have to be very sound at what you’re doing. If you’re not, that’s where you can get gashed pretty bad. With my experience, whether it be playing these guys or being on a team that was similar to some of the things that they do, you have to be very sound at what you’re doing.”
(If RB Damien Williams can’t go, can one guy replace him – RB Senorise Perry – or because of scrimmage and special teams, would it take…) – “He’s going to be able to go, he just might not be able to practice. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.”
(Were either of those guys hospitalized or anything? Was it that serious?) – “No.”
(Have you kept them away from the rest of the team to avoid…) – “Yes. I can bring them in here. (laughter)”
(Why would you do that? You’re in here too though.) – “I’ll leave. (laughter)”
(Was the snap count and the usage for each last week about what you would consider ideal? It was 37 for RB Kenyan Drake, 30 for RB Damien Williams.) – “We thought it would be close to 50/50. I think Damien’s role, whether it be on first and second down, third down, red zone, we were just trying to make sure we didn’t load up one guy. I thought (Running Backs Coach) Danny (Barrett) did a good job getting those guys in and out, communicating with me who was in. It helped to keep those guys fairly fresh. Damien was doing a little more on special teams. The amount of effort he exerts takes a lot out of him. He’s wiped out after the game, I know that for sure. He gives you everything he has. We’ve just got to keep doing a good job of balancing it out.”
(How did C/G Ted Larsen look in practice and how did he come out of the practice?) – “I think he’s just trying to get it going. All of a sudden you get thrown out there and you’re taking a lot of reps. I know he feels good. It’s really just getting him in the best condition we can as fast as we can, which he has been working on; but when you start going out there and you’re leaning on guys and run blocking, pass pro, all those type of things, going through a full practice, it’s just completely different than just running on the side and lifting. He seems to feel good. An NFL game, that’s a long time to play.”
(But you saw out of C/G Ted Larsen what you wanted to see?) – “Yeah.”
(What does RB Kenyan Drake need to do to elevate his level of contribution for this team and to sort of gain the coaching staff’s confidence a little bit more?) – “I think he has got our confidence. A majority of the things he did this last game is what we’re looking for. I’d like for him to hold onto the ball. We’ve just got to keep improving on all of the things he has never seen before, whether it be third down stuff, a lot of the different looks and coverages when we release him on routes. He’s going to be learning through the rest of the season. I think he has just got to stay on the track he’s on right now. He’s studying, trying to make sure he knows everything to do; but it’s one thing to know what to do and react to what the defense does. We’ve just got to keep working on that. The more reps he gets, the better.”
(What types of challenges does their guy LB Luke Keuchly pose?) – “It’s probably easier to say what challenges doesn’t he pose. The guy is a special player. I don’t think I’ve seen a guy communicate as much as he does on defense. I can think of one other guy (Ray Lewis) and he played in Baltimore for a long time. It’s impressive to watch. As a coach, you just kind of sit back and you can admire what he’s doing, how he runs that defense, how he gets those guys in the right stuff. When teams give him oddball formations or plays and things like that, he seems to iron everything out, get everybody lined up. Everybody knows what to do. You don’t see them make a lot of mistakes. It starts with him, and then he makes a ton of plays sideline to sideline. He does a great job in coverage. He stays as tight as you’ve got to stay, whether it be zone or man. He’s a very tough player to go against.”
(Looking at Panthers QB Cam Newton’s rushing numbers, I think he has got like 28 first downs, which is maybe fifth or sixth in the NFL. Does he get a lot of those on third down? Is it a lot of them against nickel defenses?) – “It’s hard to say, because they do so many different personnel groupings. Whether it’s a run or a pass, he has designed runs. When you get in third down and all of a sudden you spread everybody out and you get the smaller guys in there, he takes off and he’s tough to bring down. I feel like he’s playing extremely smart right now where he knows when it’s time to go get one and when it’s time to get down. He has always been a tough matchup to go against. You’ve got to stay in your coverages as tight as possible and then guys have to do a good job of trying to keep him in the pocket and not let him get outside, because when he becomes … When he has the ability – whether it be to run the ball or pass the ball – that’s where he can get some really explosive plays, especially in the pass game.”
(Speaking of Panthers QB Cam Newton, how big has assignment football been preparing for this game, who has the pitch, who has the dive, things of that nature?) – “The hardest thing about playing this crew is they just don’t do … That’s something they do, but that’s not exclusively (what they do). That’s what makes them tough because they can line up in the shotgun and do normal drop-back passing. They have the full gamut. You’re talking about a guy that won MVP a couple years ago. He knows how to move the ball, whether it be in the running game, the passing game, whether he has got to do it himself. He knows how to put together drives and get the ball in the end zone. That’s what makes him dangerous is he can do everything. I think a lot of people forget that he was rolling really good a couple years ago. Everybody forgot about him last year, but he looks like he’s playing pretty good to me.”
(I don’t know if you can say your offense is in now. It’s less of a power-running offense, but two guys – QB Jay Cutler and TE Julius Thomas – seemed to have their best performance in your offense last week. Was that just the way it happened or was that because you’re closer to what they know?) – “I think Julius, we got some of the matchups that we wanted. Jay, really, the last two games he has played well. The Jets game, that was probably one of the best games that he has had. Then this last game, I think he topped it. I don’t know if that has anything to do with that. We just got finally rolling a little bit last week. We’ve just got to figure out a way to eliminate a couple of those penalties, don’t turn the ball over and we’ll probably have a different outcome.”
Darren Rizzi – November 10, 2017
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Thursday, November 10, 2017
Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(How would you evaluate CB/S Walt Aikens’ season and how important has he become to the special teams unit?) – “I’ll start with his importance to the special teams unit. His importance is great. I look back to the middle of last season and I thought Walt really, the second half of last year, was dominant on special teams; and I don’t use that word very often. I thought he had a dominant second half. He really played very well in just about every phase and I was very, very pleased with the way he finished last year. You may remember, he started off this season a little bit slow because he was hurt in preseason this year. I thought it may have taken him a game or two to get back into it, but I thought by about games three or four until now, we’re kind of seeing where he left off last year. You start off with his role as a gunner, he’s been very good. The one thing that may go unnoticed sometimes is he’s actually caused a whole bunch of penalties out there. That’s actually a statistic that we keep. We call it a factor point, a factor grade. If you force the other team into a penalty, then obviously that’s a big deal. He’s forced a bunch of penalties, last year, this year, and there’s probably been a few that haven’t been called that should have been penalties that we sent in to get an explanation on. His role as a gunner has been very, very important and vital, especially now with the injuries and things that we’ve had and different guys having to step up. Our other gunner has been a little bit of a revolving door, but he’s been a consistent constant out there. You look at him in the punt rush game and the punt return game and he’s a guy that can do everything. He can rush punts, we’ve seen him block punts before, he can block guys. Last week, he was on (Raiders WR) Cordarrelle Patterson (who) was one of their gunners and he’s obviously a big, physical guy. We put Walt out there on him, so he can do a little bit there. The same thing in the kickoff game. In the kickoff game he can do a little bit of everything. We’ve had him in the middle, we’ve had him on the edge, we’ve had him as a safety. Then in the kickoff return game, he’s a great matchup guy, again, because he’s a big guy that can block; and then we’ve seen him in the field goal block game. He wears a lot of hats for us. He’s a very important piece of what we do and, like I said, from the middle of last year through this point, he’s really put together a really good string of games.”
(How would you assess your return game this year, as a whole?) – “A little bit disappointing, so far. Statistically, obviously not really where we want to be. We’d like to be creating more opportunities for the offense. I was asked a question about, ‘Is it one particular thing? Is it Jakeem (Grant)?’ It’s not. It’s never one thing. You look at last week’s game as a good example, because we start the game and our first kick return we have actually a really good return out to near the 30-yard line, and it got brought back because of a holding penalty. The next kickoff return we got everybody blocked, we have a really good play and Jakeem falls down, to be honest with you. No one hit him. So it’s been a little bit of a frustrating thing. Jakeem was battling a little bit of an ankle thing for a few games and he really wasn’t 100 percent. Now I feel like he’s getting back to where he needs to be. The thing about the return game is you’re always one or two plays from making a huge statement, momentum. Really, statistically, to be honest with you, you can go from 30th to 2nd with one or two big returns. So I take the statistics, as you guys know, with a little bit of a grain of salt. Just finishing off, even last week on a punt return, that last punt return we had should have been a bigger play. We had pretty good blocking and I thought we should have gotten downhill a little bit more. We’ve got to do a better job there. We all know what Jakeem is capable of doing. I think sometimes we’re looking to make the huge play where we’re not really taking what the opponent is giving us, so it’s been a combination. Our effort’s been there, our execution has not, and we’ve just got to get a little better there.”
(Have you considered making a change at all?) – “As you guys know, we have a couple of punt returners and we have a couple of kick returners too. We’ll continue to do the same thing with Jakeem (Grant) and Jarvis (Landry). They’ll both get opportunities. They’ll both be back there. There’s been one or two times this year where they were both back there at the same time and we’ll continue to look at that on a weekly basis. Kick return, we’ve had (Kenyan) Drake back there, Senorise (Perry) was back there last week. Jakeem will continue to be back there, but it’ll still be the same.”
(I was going to ask about the kick return alignment. It looked like you changed it last week, correct? You used to have RB Kenyan Drake and WR Jakeem Grant back there, now it’s Jakeem with RB Senorise Perry up front, is that right?) – “So a lot of times what we’ll do is align depending on the game plan – number one, how we’re going to block, so I don’t want to talk too much about that – but number two is, in the back end, the returners, a lot of times we’ll align based on the kicker that we’re playing. Last week was a lefty kicker and his kickoff chart, if you will, was a little bit different than maybe a guy we’re playing this week or last week or Justin Tucker, or somebody like that. So our back end alignment’s going to fluctuate week-to-week based on the kicker we’re going to play, where we anticipate the ball coming down, the return that we have set up. There are many factors into it. Yes, we have had Jakeem and Drake both deep at times. We’ve had one guy play up a little bit more defending the mortar or squib type of ball, the short high one or the squib, and one guy deeper. So we’ve done both and we have both in. A lot of the times, it also depends on what call we have in on where those guys align, as well, so there is many factors involved.”
(Is there a little bit of a reluctance now to have RB Kenyan Drake return kickoffs now that his role on offense is so much greater?) – “For you or me or who? (laughter) I’m kidding. Listen, Drake’s a guy that … It’s a lot like the Jarvis (Landry) thing with punt. If we have an opportunity to make a play in a game and we can help the team get field positon and help the team make a big play then that’s really the most important thing. Do we want him back there full time? No, kind of like Jarvis isn’t back there full time; but occasionally he’s going to go back there and get some punt returns as well. Really it’s the same kind of philosophy with Drake.”
(On the flip side, RB Damien Williams looked like he had pretty much his normal load on special teams?) – “He didn’t. It was a little bit lighter.”
(A little bit lighter?) – “Yes, it was probably about 50 or 60 percent that he normally has.”
(RB Damien Williams is a guy you still want out there, though?) – “No question, and Kenyan (Drake), too. Again, week to week, we’re really going to define everybody’s role and again, it’s all game-plan related. Those guys are still very much involved with what we’re doing.”
(The K Cody Parkey onside kick, can you talk about how that went about and how often does he practice that?) – “The way it went about is it’s something we always have had in, even before Cody was here. It’s something we had in all of last year. It’s one of those things where you’re looking for the best opportunity to run it and execute it. It’s something that Cody did well and has done well. I thought one of the things that goes unnoticed too is a lot of the times when you run that play, you worry about the offsides, we call it the take-the-line. When you hit the line, a lot of times guys get a little bit greedy on those onside kicks and you see a bunch of flags on onside kicks. Our guys did a great job with the approach. Cody hit a great ball and we did a great job of letting it go 10 yards. It’s something that we’re always going to have up and it’s something that we always have practiced. We’ve practiced now for a while. We haven’t run it in a while, but it’s one of those things that we always have in the back pocket and look for the best opportunity to run it.”
(The actual kick, as a lay person, that seems incredibly difficult. K Cody Parkey can just sit there and do that 10 times out of 10? just kick it and kind of walk the dog?) – “I don’t know about 10 out of 10, but more often than not. He’s pretty good at it, and again, it’s one of the tools, if you will – or in the old tool chest – that the kickers like to have. Some guys call it a bunt ball or whatever word you have for it. Guys hit the ball differently, but he just has a good knack of hitting that ball. I’m not going to sit here and tell you he’s 100 percent in practice every day when we do that, but more often than not, he gets a pretty good ball there. He does a great job. Great execution, obviously he recovered it himself. I told him he owes Damien Williams a lunch, because Damien probably took a little bit of the hit off of him. Damien came in and got a little block there at the end, ‘91’ (Raiders LB Shalique Calhoun) was coming in to hit Cody. He tried to get into a late slide, if you didn’t notice; but no, really good execution by him. A great, great kick. ”
(Under what circumstances is it okay with you for WR Jakeem Grant to lose yardage on a kick return in order to cross field, trying to make something a big play out of what otherwise might just be a 3-, 4- or 5-yard return?) – “Sure. That’s really a scheme question. It depends on what the call we have in and the way we’re blocking it. There’s a lot of punt returns that are more downhill, catch the ball and get downhill right now and get north and south, go get 5 or 10 yards and then make one guy miss and hopefully it turns into a bigger one. There’s other ones where they are more sideline-type returns where it is okay to maybe lose to gain, like you call it. On those straight line, downhill returns, that’s not something you want to do. You shouldn’t be running sideways, and sometimes on those sideline returns, the same type of thing. You may be losing a little bit trying to get sideways to set your blocks up. It is a little bit more of a scheme thing. There are times, though, and I said it earlier, there’s times where, and last week was a good example, we need to get more downhill on the particular return.”
(Did you feel like the field conditions played a part in the second onside kick not getting the bounce that you may have wanted it to on that one?) – “I don’t think our field had anything to do with it, it’s just sometimes on grass they’re very hard to predict. If you talk to kickers, they like to kick those onside kicks off the field turf a lot of times, because you get more of a true hop. Grass is very unpredictable at times with those. We can kick that same exact ball 10 times and you may get 10 different bounces on the grass. One may just (be) a slow roller, if you will, a worm-burner like I hit in golf (laughter) or you may get the third hop and get a really nice bounce up. It did make a little bit of a left there and took an unfortunate bounce for us. I thought we executed the play well, schematically. We had a couple of guys come free towards the guy that we call the catch guy, but we did get a little bit of an unfortunate bounce there. I don’t think it had anything to do with our field, I just think a lot of times on grass you get an unpredictable bounce like that.”
(Going back to that, it’s kind of like baseball, where you have certain spots where you know the ball is going to take a little hop. Is it the same thing on the field there at the stadium?) – “Again, I go out and walk the field before every game and assess those different things. Our field last week, again, I think it gets a little bit blown out of proportion all of the field conditions and all of that. They had to play on it too. Again, if you’re hitting those types of kicks on grass, sometimes you’re going to get that third big bounce and sometimes it’s going to stay along the ground. Obviously, if you’re playing on a rain-soaked field and all of that, then you have to really make a decision if you want to even try one of those kicks or do something else.”
(This team, I think, has trailed seven out of eight times at half this year. How do you assess that? What do you chalk it up to?) – “Not to be captain obvious, but obviously we want to start better. I think we put a lot of emphasis on that and I think our team has been a very good second half team now for a couple of years, not just this year. Really since (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) has been here, we have played well, we have played pretty good second half football. I think that’s pretty well-documented. I think the one emphasis that Adam has obviously made this year is just getting started better. I’d love to tell you I have the magic answer on why we don’t; but it’s something that we certainly can’t (do). Digging yourself into a hole is not really the way you want to go. It’s not going to be the consistent way you’re going to win games. We obviously want to get started better in all three (phases). I think Adam mentioned the other day, the one thing that I take out of it, the biggest thing is we need to play better complementary football. It seems to me like when the offense is playing well, we’re not playing well in the other phases and when the defense is playing well, we’re not playing well in the other phases. I think complementary football is probably the biggest improvement we can make moving forward in the second half of the season, that’s where I see it from my seat, just being more consistent in all three phases and playing well together. It seems like we haven’t done that very well or very often. I think that will help us play better in the first half of games if we play complementary football. That’s where I think we can make the biggest improvement here in the second half.”
(Have you seen this 6-foot-9 offensive lineman, T Zach Sterup, that they brought in?) – “Hard to miss. He’s a big sucker.”
(Do you have any ideas of ways you could use T Zach Sterup?) – “Well, offensive linemen are really going to be more field goal protection type guys and sometimes kickoff return, back end type of guys. Their roles are a little bit limited.”
(The reach?) – “Sometimes you get a huge guy like that and maybe get a little bit of field goal block going, so we’ll see. We have Sam Young as one of the guys we always train as a field goal block guys as well, so it’s always nice to get those taller guys in there. By the way, Vincent Taylor did get credit for that blocked kick (in Week 3 at the New York Jets). (laughter) So he now officially has two on the season, so good for him.”
Clyde Christensen – November 10, 2017
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Friday, November 10, 2017
Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen
(How did the two-running-back system work for you last week?) – “I thought they did a good job. We had the fumble – which was a huge play in the game – that we can’t have. It was a huge play in the game – a big swing. I think it was good because it kept the numbers reasonable for them. I think it would have been a big load for any of them to take completely themselves. We’re better off when there is both of them. We probably need to get the third guy (Senorise Perry) working a little bit. Just percentages say it’s hard to make it through a whole half of a season with two guys not having an incident or two – a hiccup or two. I thought it worked out well. They’re good that way.”
(When you say the third guy, do you mean RB Senorise Perry?) – “Yes. I think we just have to have him ready to go also. You just don’t know. All of a sudden he’s two snaps away. The thing that makes it a little interesting is those two guys (Kenyan Drake and Damien Williams) are such key special teams players. They’ve had their reps cut down on special teams but they’re still special teams players, so you can lose them on the opening kickoff. You can lose them somewhere in the special teams game. The third guy is important also. Senorise is coming on. He’s working hard. He knows that he’s in the bullpen, so to speak, and better be ready to go.”
(You could have on Monday one offensive lineman, C/G Ted Larsen, that hasn’t played a down all season starting against a very good defense. You could have another playing a position he’s never started at in the league in G/T Jesse Davis. How worried are you?) – “I don’t know if worried is the right word but it’s not ideal. It’s just the way the league is right now, just with all of these injuries. The good thing is we played Jesse Davis all over the place. I remember talking to you guys about that we probably hurt the kid as far as his progressing (by playing him at a lot of different positions) probably is now an advantage. All of a sudden, now he’s going to have to play some tackle and do some stuff like that. These guys always amaze me that veteran guys come back and get it back quickly. I hope that will be the case with Ted. The same thing, it trickles all the way down. You’ll have Sam (Young) and some other guys who have to be ready to go too, that everyone moves up a slot.”
(Where is your confidence level that G/T Jesse Davis could start for a good portion of the season at tackle?) – “It’s high. You’d rather go the whole year or go three years without having an inexperienced guy starting for half of the season. Ideally from a coaching standpoint, you’d like to have veteran guys and veteran backups and guys with experience; but I just think the league, the way it is now with the injuries, with the roster, with the salary cap and all of those things, you’re going to have to depend on some guys who don’t have a ton of reps under their belt. In an ideal world, it wouldn’t happen; but in the real world, it’s happening every day all around the league. That’s the case.”
(Anything in particular about G/T Jesse Davis’ skill set that you like?) – “Yes, he’s long. He’s a conscientious guy. Football means a lot to him. Skill set wise, he’s a big, long guy. I do think he’s suited to play tackle. I do think his skill set – as far as being versatile and having played a ton of positions, a ton of different places and a ton of different practices and games – is probably going to be to his advantage. I wish we had a couple of JV games here first before we go play on Monday Night Football, that we could slip him into the JV game tomorrow afternoon and let him get a little experience before the varsity game; but we can’t. (laughter) That’s the deal.”
(QB Jay Cutler had statistically his best game of the season last week. Was it actually his best game of the season?) – “I think it probably was, yes. He looked comfortable. He threw the ball accurately – more accurately. He protected the ball. He was extremely prudent with the ball. We all thought that he looked comfortable. I think some of it probably is that he’s getting more and more comfortable. If we can keep the arrow going up that way, that would be huge. We didn’t have the drops. We caught the ball. I thought there were some positive things. It was a no-interception game. I don’t know that there was a ball that was close to being intercepted. That’s huge for us. That’s huge. All of a sudden now, then a fumble shows up and I won’t say it lost the game, but those are tight games with tight margins and that’s a big one.”
(How much do you think the pass catching of the running backs has helped QB Jay Cutler and the offense evolve?) – “For the one game that we’ve been doing it, a lot. The check downs … I think the backs caught 12 balls, is that right? They caught 12 balls and I don’t know what the average was…”
(It was 82 yards.) – “So they were 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, 10-yard plays. That’s huge. That’s huge to be able to check the thing down, especially in that game where they were hurt in the secondary and it turned to kind of a zone game. To be able to hit those guys and then be able to turn them up and run with them is really big. That touchdown was an extra effort … Damien (Williams) with the extra effort and stuff. Those are really big. The one thing we do know about these two backs is that they’re exceptional, they have exceptional receiving skills. They’re very good receivers and they have a big-play ability in them. They have a knack for making big plays and hopefully with their numbers being up, their ratios will stay the same and they’ll make more big plays because they’re playing more snaps.”
(Are you seeing anything different from TE Julius Thomas the past couple of weeks?) – “Yes, I think his production is up and that always makes you a little more confident and gets the quarterback looking over there a little bit more. I do think his confidence is up. I don’t know that there is anything specific but it’s amazing how when you get feeling it, you just look better and have a little more bounce in your step, and practice … Everything looks a little bit better. I do think that’s been good for us, just for him to get a little bit of confidence.”
(Where does WR Jarvis Landry fall? I know you’ve coached a lot of good receivers. Where does he fall in that category?) – “I don’t know. He’s a good player. He’s having an extremely productive year. I know this, he’s a tough guy. Reggie Wayne was an extremely tough guy. Pierre Garcon was a tough guy. This guy is a tough guy. It’s always amazing. It’s fun to have a receiver who likes contact, who likes to mix it up in there. Those guys aren’t all over the place. He’s unique that way. He’s got elite hands. His hands amaze me. Every day in practice he does something that has a ‘wow factor’ to it, just how good of hands he has. I do think he’s a good football player.”
(Your tackles have faced some good pass rushers – Melvin Ingram, Khalil Mack – you’ve got a couple of good ones this week. How have they done as a group, whether it’s T Sam Young or T Ja’Wuan James with T Laremy Tunsil?) – “I would use the same word that we’ve been inconsistent. We’ve done well at times and then we’ve been loose at times. I don’t think it’s been just whiffs, but we’ve been too loose. We’ve just been inconsistent. We’ve got to find more consistency in the protection unit and in the offensive line. You sure can’t get whatever it was – five holding calls. That’s hard. That makes for a hard (game). You’re not going to beat many teams like that where you’re first-and-20 or second-and-20. Then we had the huge callback of a couple of big plays. Was it fourth or third down … The fourth-and-9 I guess gets called back that’s a conversion. That’s a huge play because that’s a minute and a half of clock. If you go down and score right there, you’ve got some time outs left and you’ve got more time on the clock. The other one that went down inside the 15 is a 20-plus-yard play that got called back. That’s bad ball. That’s bad football. We have to eliminate it. You can’t get where we want to go and play bad football.”
(When you look at WR Jarvis Landry’s production, he’s averaging 7 yards a catch, which is like 5 yards less than he did last year. Why do you think that is?) – “I don’t know. I don’t have something that just hits me specifically. Sometimes it’s just the way it falls and all of a sudden … I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for you on that.”
(When you look at the Panthers defense on film, what is it that stands out and what do they do really well?) – “Here are a couple of things that stand out: 1) We pulled out some film of watching practice with them two years ago and it’s the same defense and many of the same players. I’ve always had a special respect for people who keep things the same. They keep the same system, they keep the same coaches for the most part – they hired from within on the defensive staff. They’ve been doing it a long time with a lot of the same players – the same key players – so I think that’s the first thing that jumps out is that they know what they’re doing. They’re a very, very good team defense. They’re very well coached. They know how to adjust. They’re aggressive. Now you plug in that they have some really, really good players – a premier guy up front, a couple of premier guys in the middle and a couple of premier guys in the back. They’re very talented to go with their experience, which is a great formula for success, which they’re having. They’re the No. 1 defense in the league and they’re playing extremely, extremely well. It’s a good challenge, a good challenge on a third national TV game in a row. We have to prove we can win one. This is the kind of game that if you want to get where we want to go, you’ve got to go win one of these games in a prime time, (against a) prime team and a team that’s playing extremely well. This is a big game.”
T.J. McDonald – November 9, 2017
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Thursday, November 9, 2017
S T.J. McDonald
(What has this experience been like for you?) – “It’s been humbling. It’s been tough to sit back and watch, but I’ve been doing what I can to be here for my teammates and it’s definitely made me appreciate the game. I’ve done everything I can to get back right and being around this building, being around these guys, has kept me going and kept me pushing.”
(You were allowed to be in the building the entire time, is that correct?) – “Yes, I was allowed to go to meetings. I was still working out. (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Dave Puloka, (Manager of Skills Development) Mike Wahle, (Director of Sports Performance) Wayne Diesel, they all helped me stay right. I felt good today.”
(How do you describe the feeling when this week comes around?) – “Last week was the longest week ever, I’ll tell you that. (laughter) That was the longest week. This week, the biggest thing for me is just trying to make sure I stay the same player and not get too high, not get too low. I’m not going to go out there and try to press, try to force myself to make a play. I’m just (going to) play the game like I know how. I’ve played a lot of games in this league, so just play the game like I know how, let the plays come to me and play hard.”
(What was the hardest part about this process for you?) – “Watching the games on Sundays, not being able to be in the stadium, not being able to get the true feeling of a win or be able to make the corrections after a loss and just be able to sit there and be in a shadow. That was tough, but I’m back here now and I’ve done everything I can to make sure that my body is right, my mind’s right and I’m ready to go.”
(Where would you watch the games? At home usually?) – “Yes, I’d watch the games at home. I’d watch the games at home or even, Tony Lippett is on IR and we’d watch the games together to be able to keep that camaraderie going and be able to see what the mistakes are and what the good things that we’re doing are. That’s been helpful.”
(Kind of weird, though, to be sitting there watching on TV?) – “Yes, especially when you’re healthy. You feel like you can go out there and help.”
(That’s probably the longest layoff of football in your life.) – “Yes. I was on designated IR my rookie year; but that was for about six weeks and I came back. I was able to practice, but this was a little different.”
(Did you turn off any of the games before they ended or did you stay with them wire to wire?) – “No, once I started watching, I was glued in.”
(Even the 40-0 game against the Ravens?) – “Yes. I was just seeing what things were going wrong. I’m in here and I see these guys work their ass off every day, so I definitely want to see the fruits on Sunday. When that doesn’t happen, I’m not just going to turn the game off. I just want to be able to see it and be around, and like I said before, these guys have been keeping me going this whole time.”
(How was it like at practice today?) – “It was good. I tried to run around as much as I could. I’m definitely taking this preparation very seriously and everything, so it was good. It felt good. It felt like I was able to run around. I’ve still got to tune up some things, stay in the meeting room and stay on top of things; but like I said, this is not something that’s new to me. It’s definitely a great feeling.”
(Do you feel like you’re physically able to play an NFL game on Monday?) – “Yes.”
(Is this going to feel like a season opener or how would you describe it? It’s a weird deal. November, your first game.) – “I guess it kind of feels like a season opener for me; but this team’s got one goal. We’re just worried about winning this next game, so it’s not about me. For me, I just want to go out here and play and help these guys win.”
(How can you and S Reshad Jones complement one another on the football field?) – “We’re just two guys that want to win. We want to win. We want to make plays. We’re going to play aggressive. I definitely feed off of him and all of that. We’re two dudes that want to win. I want to win. I’m passionate about the game and I think that in itself, is going to be able to help make a difference.”
(As far as the skillset is concerned, as well, how do you guys complement each other’s skillset?) – “We’re welcome to do whatever they ask us to do. Whatever (Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke) asks us to do, I feel like we’re both capable to play deep, play in the box, whatever they want us to do – come blitz. It helps us be able to show different looks because you never know which one’s down, which one’s back. We’ll be able to come out here and do some different things.”
(Have you fulfilled all of your legal obligations?) – “It’s in the process.”
(How anxious are you to hit a receiver coming across the middle and make your presence felt that way?) – “I definitely want my presence felt. That’s what I love about the game. I want to make those pads pop and that’s what I’m going to do on Monday.”
Jay Cutler – November 9, 2017
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Wednesday, November 9, 2017
QB Jay Cutler
(We’re at the midpoint of the season now. How do you feel you’ve played in your first eight games?) – “I think we talked about it today. I don’t think it can be a concern for us. We’ve just got to try to get better each and every week, and this week we’re just worried about Carolina.”
(With your rib situation, when do you actually feel it – which motions or movements on the field does it restrict you?) – “I mean if I get hit. That’s about it. Other than that, I feel pretty good.”
(You’re throwing has looked – in practice and in the game – looked the same as it always had.) – “Thank you.”
(Has it affected you at all?) – “No, not really. It felt good. It felt good Sunday night.”
(You’re the FedEx Air Player of the Week. I guess you’ll get a FedEx truck or something?) – “What am I going to do with my FedEx truck? (laughter) I don’t know. I’ve never had a FedEx truck before. (laughter) Do you have to pay taxes on it do you think? (laughter)”
(I don’t know.) – “Damn. (laughter)”
(Nice honor, not nice honor? You don’t care?) – “I mean we’ve got to win games. You can have all the FedEx trucks in the world; but we’re about one thing and that’s winning football games. If you’re not doing that, you’re not doing enough.”
(What do you see from the Carolina defense?) – “Incredible. Incredible defense. I’ve played against those guys before. The core group of guys are still there. ‘59’ (Luke Kuechly) and ‘58’ (Thomas Davis), they control everything. They’re incredibly smart players. They get everyone else in position. They get out of checks if they don’t like them, get out of calls that they don’t like, and get into something that’s better. The front seven is still getting after the passer. They mix up coverages and do enough on the back end to keep you guessing a little bit and bring some edge pressures. It’s a really solid group.”
(With RB Kenyan Drake and RB Damien Williams in the backfield, how does that change your approach as far as throwing more passes to running backs?) – “I think it’s a strength of theirs. I think it’s something they do extremely well. They’ve got a really good feel for getting out of the backfield, finding soft spots. Obviously, the run after the catch is something that they’re really, really good at. I think (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) did a good job calling plays Sunday and trying to feature that a little bit for us.”
(Can you talk about patience as a quarterback? A lot of times a quarterback by their own nature will want to throw the ball downfield. In this instance, even Sunday night, there were a lot of break offs, a lot of short stuff. Does it take a little bit more patience-wise from a quarterback to have to be patient and take the little stuff?) – “I think one ball we kind of chucked it down to DeVante (Parker) on the left sideline. That was kind of the only ball that I felt like I forced into something that I probably shouldn’t have. I probably should’ve checked that one down, too. The defense, that’s kind of what they gave us. I think (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) did a really good job of tempering his play calls and then putting us in situations where we’re going to be successful.”
(What did you think of RB Damien Williams’ touchdown?) – “Nothing really surprising. I think the kid is an unbelievable football player.”
(So, that approach worked, obviously. Can you continue that approach or is it based on only what the defense will allow?) – “I think it’s a little bit of both. I think every team wants to get the ball out pretty quickly and get it to their playmakers. There are certain defenses that you want to take advantage of and try to take some shots a little bit deeper. Going into this week, we’ll see how they want to play us. Adam is going to do a good job of trying to call plays that give us the best opportunity to win football games.”
(Now entering November, how exciting is it to still have everything as far as playoff possibilities and all this stuff still available in front of you?) – “Everything is in front of us. We kind of control what our future is. I think this group does a good job of staying focused on one week at a time. This week is Carolina. We’ve got a Monday game and got a little bit (of an) extra day, so we should be prepared.”
(Have you found there to be a difference in November, December football versus early season?) – “Yes, I think so. The good teams, they figure it out. They start getting better. They start executing really well and they find ways to win games, no matter what it takes. I think that’s the difference (in) November, December. If you want to be in it at the end, this is when you have to figure out how to play your best football.”
(The last three games that you’ve been in, do you feel like something has been better in the passing game than it was early?) – “I think it’s a case of us just executing, us just getting better as a football team. Offensively, you look at all the penalties we had Sunday night. If you take those away, we’re going to feel pretty good about ourselves. I think we’ve gotten better and better and better. We’ve had a few hiccups here and there, but we’ve kind of been trending in the positive direction.”
(Have they told you when you’ll start to feel normal with the ribs, how many more weeks?) – “I feel pretty normal now.”
(It doesn’t affect you at all?) – “No.”
(Sleeping or laying down?) – “No, I slept well last night.”
