Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, and special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn speak to the media about the privileges of head coach Sean McVay's leadership, quarterback Stetson Bennet's progress, and the rookies' adjustment to camp.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do you what do you need to see from
Nate or Roy or whatever may be to do. Yeah,
and we really you know, having Omar kind of come
on late at the end of the year and all
he's done is just progress. I mean he was in
the facility every day this offseason. Then Nathan Landman is
just a guy. He comes from some similar language in Atlanta,
and obviously Jimmy Lake was with him, who's now with
us now, so he has a lot of familiarity. So
(00:21):
it really feels like, you know, it doesn't you know,
it feels like we got guys that can communicate and
kind of get the defense set. But yeah, you know,
Rose Boom is one of my guys. You know, was
with him when he when he came out and uh,
you know when he was just a special teamer and
practice squad guy to wing hed in. So he had
an awesome year last year. So it's gonna be a
huge hole of phil.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
How do you explain the balance that you got a
lot of cognuity, a lot of different guys build forks
for sure, How do you describe the balance of same
but new.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, it's it's a really good question because you you
never want to rest on what you did last year
or anything like that, and you always want.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
To start from square one.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
But at the same time, you know there is a definite,
definitely a knowledge of Hey, we had been in the system,
we kind of know what some of these guys can do.
They've played together a lot more, we've been in some
different situations, so you're really trying to build off that.
But at the same time, it's it's square one. You
don't skip any steps. You know, first day camp is
still the first day of camp and we're gonna start from.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Score one and build from there.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
What are early impressions and real pads, Yeah, but just
a p a Ford going back to the spreading through
first studio.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Basically, he's been awesome. He's been what we hoped and more.
Really like him, really like him the d line room.
You know, he's quiet outside the room, but in there
you can tell it got a great rapport, especially with
Kobe Fisk TD those guys. And yeah, he's been really
impressive so far. So excited to see him and Pads here.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
What about your two Jared Kiss kind of coming in,
what do you see, if anything different from when he
came in as a rookie.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, I think it's like, you know, I think we
all just know each other a lot more. You know,
he understands the defense more. He understands, you know, when
he can take his playoffs. He's a guy that really
likes to be coached hard. And when your best players
like to be coached hard, you know, I think that
sets the culture for the whole defense. So he's a
guy that, you know, we try to hold accountable for
(02:11):
playing within the scheme of the defense and playing hard
every single play. And he's a guy that wants to
be able to accountable to do that. So you know,
it's fun just seeing him kind of take the growth
and take a step.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
More of a leadership role and the more of a
vocal role. You know.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Mike Hoyt was, you know, kind of the boys in
that room last year, So him and be Wive kind
of combined they kind of take those those roles because
they've played.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
So much football.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Does it surprise you at all that his reaction to
the workout with Aaron Donalds to say I.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Need to make my work hard or now. No, not
at all.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I mean, if you see Aaron donald you know, so no,
not at all. What stands out about the autonomy that.
Speaker 6 (02:44):
Sean gives you and Mike and Chase just in terms
of having that continuity and familiarity.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
At each of those positions on the coaching staff.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Season early season.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yeah, I mean it's it's cool to kind of, you know,
take the whole offseason and you know, I always think,
you know, coach in the NFL, you just you live
in the NFL. So like I could be at Sewan's house,
we could be at work talking about our families, or
I could be at Shawn's house. We could be talking
about defensive scheme. You just never know what's going on.
So we've really had a lot of time the saw
season that kind of clean up a lot of the
(03:15):
stuff from last year, you know, kind of over clean
up some.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Of the language.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And he's just he's just an awesome resource. He knows
our defense as good as anybody. And he's an awesome resource,
whether to have suggestions or kind of bounce stuff off him,
or you know, language or different things like that, or hey,
this is what the offense is seeing, this is what
you know may hurt offenses.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
So you know, it's just been NonStop communication. It's been fun.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I guess.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Really, more of what I mean is just what what
does that trust allow.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
You to do? In terms of Yeah, yeah, it allows
me to be myself.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And you know we had a big talk, you know,
we were struggling going into buy last year and uh,
you know it was like, spear yourself, what did you
do at John Carroll? You know when I was the
corner of my first year at John Carroll, Like what
exactly would you do? And you know that kind of
resonated with me, and you know, and I know he's
got my back.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
He's always believed in me.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And you know that's a big feeling when you when
you feel safety like that as a coach, when you're
not walking on eggshells if you make a call or
do this defense or you make a mistake, you know,
allows you to.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Be a lot freer. And we want our players to
play like that too.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Byron said he could tell that you felt like you
had a better grip on just like what ops are
available for which pieces of the defense, Like how did
that familiarity with your personnel influence like.
Speaker 7 (04:26):
The way you approached this officers.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, everything's about the plays.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
So you know, we're gonna build a foundational scheme that
you know, can evolve and adapt to the teams that
we're playing, but it's always going to be base abro
on what our guys can do. So I think we
know in the back of our heads certain things that
are guys can do best, and you know, we're gonna
try and put them in those guys positions. And what's
really fun is, you know, now Him, you know, b
Y and Verse and those guys kind of understand what
(04:50):
we're trying to accomplish and they can come up with suggestions.
So it's just like we're working with each other all
the time to put them in the best spots.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Play a couple more. Oh, he's the lynch pin. I
mean he's everything.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Uh, you know, he's a communicator, he moves around, he
can really be He allows us, how I like to
say that, he allows us always to get our best
guys on the field.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
He can play nickel.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
He you know these days, a lot of times when
you are playing nickel, you you get put in the
run fit. You're almost like a linebacker sometimes in a
four to three defense. And he does that. Then the
next thing he's covering a slot receiver, and then the
next thing he's now he's deep playing middle of the
post safety, now he's playing.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
A half field.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
He does all these different techniques and I think he's
one of the best tacklers on the team. But I
think he's probably one of the most underrated physical players
in the league. And he's always been one of our
best tacklers, and he's and he's been.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
One of our best communicators. Smart.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
You can do a lot of stuff with him just
because you know you're not gonna overload him, you know,
and he's gonna get everybody right around him. So in addition,
I think he makes the guys around him play better.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Tootos this obviouseason.
Speaker 7 (05:56):
What makes you so that, you know, not adding.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Somebody to this year is things you know the right
thing to do, and they're kind of successful.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, I mean, we we really like our guys. You know,
we thought we.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Had, you know, with as far as d Will and
getting a Kello back, and you know, d Kobe had
an awesome game in playoffs versus Minnesota, and I think
you saw what d Will and Nickelo did. And then
as far as you know, bringing in Emmanuel Forbes, he's
been excellent.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
There's a lot of depth in that room.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
There's other guys there that maybe didn't get as much
playing time that are kind of lingering in the background,
that have done an awesome job as well. So you know,
we're pretty excited about them. We're really excited about them,
I should say, and uh, you know, we really like
what they bring to our defense.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
God, what does having Davante on the other side do
for you guys.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
As a defense? Yeah, he's he's scary.
Speaker 7 (06:41):
You know, it's nice right now when it, uh, you know,
right now, you're not really.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Kicking yourself as a coach.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
You know, when he's isolated on a you know, on
a third down or a critical down, you know, you know,
in training camp rules. But yeah, when it when it,
when the lights come.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
On, it's scary.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Definitely, he's definitely something you've got to be aware of
where he's at every single play.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Awesome, that's one.
Speaker 8 (07:01):
Obviously, you've had eight seasons with the Rams, You've had
Aaron Donald for so many seasons now, Jared versus entering
the second season, I know, versus his own I was say,
a player, but what is the biggest resemblance that that
you see in versus kind of resemble do.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
They work hard and love to be coach hard and
they love football. It's really easy and guys that do that,
and Aaron Donald was like that. He was the hardest
worker on the team. He led the defense, he held
guys accountable for playing hard, and uh, you know, versus
obviously taking steps in that direction.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
And and that's exactly where he's at. I appreciate you guys.
Good God here we are.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
What's it been like if we I know, we talked
to you about having Duvante in the mix during OTAs,
but now out in training camp, what have you seen
and what do you think he's adding to the offense.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Obviously his his numbers in his career.
Speaker 9 (07:58):
Speaking for himself, you know, I just he's in such
great shape physically, he's in such great shape mentally. You know,
you can just he's just having fun being out here
and training camp. We haven't put the pads on or
anything like that. So it still has resemblance of OTAs obviously,
but you know, when you get just even a little
bit closer, you get through the summer, you can see
(08:18):
the guys just obviously just you know, kicks up a
little bit and he's in such a good spot. It's
like he's been here the whole time, you know, so
it's uh, it's great to have him.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
What are the early impressions of Tej Hunters another pro right?
I mean, he's played a lot of good football.
Speaker 9 (08:34):
I've unfortunately but fortunately, you know, been against him quite
a bit in this division, you know, for what feels like,
I guess seven years now, six years so a lot
of respect for him as a player. Never knew him
as a person until we, you know, got him, and
really we got him so late that in the summer you.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Didn't know, you know, I didn't know who he was.
Speaker 9 (08:52):
And then uh, and then just this these last few
days really getting to know him, and he's uh, he's
a professional.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
It's awesome to have him. You have such a tight
end room now.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I'm curious what your reaction and thoughts of Terrence focusing.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
For a few days. Yeah, just you know, awful what
he was doing in OTAs.
Speaker 9 (09:11):
It's just not too big for him, you know, he
just has that look in his eye and real smart
kids schematically, I mean it picked it up no problem
in the spring, and then just kind of the reviews
as we've done these last few days, really picked up
right where he left off in terms of schematics, and
then it's just gonna be you know, every single day
just building and stacking, you know, and getting used to
the speed of this game. And it'll be great to
(09:33):
get the pads on for all these rookies, for all
the guys, but the rookies, you know, having those pads
on and playing ball for a month, playing in the preseason,
stuff like that leading up to September.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
But really impressed with them.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
You guys look at it for some of the rookies
like that, but go from a long college season, combine
draft everything.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
They don't get the normal break. Does that. I've told
you know, especially when I was a position coach.
Speaker 9 (09:55):
But I tell the rookies all the time, guys, it's
the longest year of probably.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Your professional career.
Speaker 9 (10:01):
And I'm obviously college as well, because it's exactly what
you said.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
You go in college.
Speaker 9 (10:06):
I mean, they start practice all summer, right, so he
plays that last year at Oregon. Obviously they go to
the College Football Playoff, and then when they're done, he
has to get ready to train, to get ready for
the Combine Forest Pro Day for whatever visits.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Then you get drafted.
Speaker 9 (10:23):
Then you come, you got a whole new playbook and
you got a few weeks off. But you take a
few weeks off, now you're going to be behind physically.
So it's just like you tell those guys, Yeah, you
think you have five six weeks off before training camp,
you can't stop.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Wait until next February.
Speaker 9 (10:40):
I promise it'll pay off where you can finally take
a deep breath.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
But that's just the life of a rookie. I mean,
it is what it is. And you know, I think
all of them would would take that in.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
Yeah, what stands out about the amount of trust and
autonomy and responsibility that Sean gives you and you know,
prison Chase and how does that help you be a
better coach?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yeah, I mean really appreciate, you know how much trust
he has in all of us.
Speaker 9 (11:03):
And it's not just us coordinators, it's all, you know,
all of us, the staff and and really the players
in the organization. You know, there's a reason this place
has been what it's been for for nine years now.
It starts with his leadership and and you know ownership
and less and Tony and dem Off.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
And all that. It's it's such a collaborative group and
you know, Uh.
Speaker 9 (11:24):
Feel very fortunate that he has that trust in us.
But again, it's it's uh, you know, it starts with
his leadership.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
It's been great.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
How how much of a luxury is it just for
you guys with Stafford out to have someone of Jimmy's
experience to be able to kind of stuff.
Speaker 9 (11:40):
Yeah, the show goes on when we're out here, right.
I mean, he's a he's a proven, very very good
quarterback in this league. Obviously, I have a huge history
with him. I've always loved Jimmy as a person. I've
always loved his game and respected his game.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
You know.
Speaker 9 (11:53):
Obviously, now going into year two, he knows this locker
room and uh, the guys don't blink when he's out
there because he has command of that huddle, and uh,
you know, and the coolest part, and I've been on
record saying this, He's got Matthews back at a level
that is so awesome.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
You know.
Speaker 9 (12:06):
So he wants Matthew to be out here in the
worst way, just like we all do.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
But until then, you know, he's just gonna go do
what Jimmy does.
Speaker 7 (12:14):
Said that he wants a more versatile offenses here.
Speaker 8 (12:18):
What's been your role in kind of implementing.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
And teaching that. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 9 (12:22):
I mean my role is my role, right is offensive
coordinator just with installs and stuff like that and scripts
and getting the guys ready to practice every day and
building the foundation.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
And all that.
Speaker 9 (12:31):
No different than it was a year ago, you know,
And so every year you're just trying to evolve.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
You know, what kind of team do we have, what
kind of roster we have?
Speaker 9 (12:39):
We got the like we just said that, the plethora
of tight ends right there, and how do we utilize that?
So you know, again we have I think eight thoughts
of what this offense is going to look like. But
every year it's not exactly the way that you think
it's going to look like.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
You know, the amount of work we put in the
spring obviously in training camp.
Speaker 9 (12:58):
You know, it'll organically, you know, come together as we
get going.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
But I like where we're at.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
That's a vision for Blake corn How did he get
on the field line?
Speaker 9 (13:07):
Yeah, you know, I think Blake, like a lot of
these guys, put a lot of time in from you know,
when we got done in January to where he's at
right now. So he's, uh, you know, he came in.
He's in I don't want to say better shape. He
just has another year of working and getting better and
working on what he needed to improve, and he's in.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
A great place.
Speaker 9 (13:27):
The best part about Blake very good football player, But
the best part about Blake his mindset's right. You know,
he's just attacking it. He's worried about himself again for backs.
Wait till you put the pads on and you get
tackled and stuff like that, that's when you really see it.
But again, level of Blake's at skill set a savior,
Branks Steer super you know, you guys saw the plays
(13:48):
he made, whether it be obviously versus Vegas, having that
awesome twenty five yard run going across Seattle the last
game of the year. I mean, he was putting some
tough situations behind the line of scrimmage with some some
of the stuff we were doing and making you know
little or you know, making nothing into something. Obviously the
return for San Francisco and in what would that be
week three that set up that last you know game
(14:10):
when he drive whatnot. But the other thing that's about
him is he's got a violence about him when he
has the ball in his hand, whether it be in
the return game or or obviously on offense. So he's
another guy that you just root for because one he's
got a good skill set too. He's tough, but it's
always got a great demeanor about himself, great smile on
his face and really attacks us.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
He loves this game.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
We're gonna see a lot of stats in August.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Where is he come from where last where he was
last year? And what kind of progress do you see
from that guy? I almost don't want to tell you.
I almost want you to see it for yourself. But no,
I'm so happy for him. You know, he's in again.
Speaker 9 (14:47):
I know I'm speaking volumes about all these guys, but
it's how I really feel.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
But he's in such a good place mentally.
Speaker 9 (14:54):
And when you're in such a good place mentally, you
can now allow your physical abilities to take you know, hold.
And so again I've like I've said, I think Dave
for going and the rest of the quarterbacks have done
such an awesome job with Stetson along the way, and
again altwinets He was on Stetson to get.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
To where he wants to be, and I think he's
right where he should be.
Speaker 9 (15:15):
I'm super excited to watch him through August, particularly in
those preseason games, but just every day and he's just
getting better and better.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
I think he's had two really impressive days. Hey, coach,
last one guys question for you is obviously the NFC
West is such.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
A tough division.
Speaker 8 (15:30):
Every team, including you guys can score points. And I'm
kind of handle the hammer on the defense. I mean,
what is the tone that you want to set in.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Your second year here?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Is it kind of modify what.
Speaker 8 (15:40):
You did last year or kind of keep keep the
keep the same.
Speaker 7 (15:43):
I will say.
Speaker 9 (15:44):
Philosophy that you have, Yeah, I don't you know. The
tone is just to keep stacking days and building on
our foundation. Like answer your question, NSC West is tough,
but it's not really our concern right now.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
We're concerned about us.
Speaker 9 (15:58):
We open with Houston, really nine concerned about them right now,
right We just got to We're worried about ourselfs uh,
stacking days, being as good as we can can be,
competing against each other. You know, we have a hard
enough time going against our defense right now, right and
in blocking those guys, so which is fun. It's a
great competition out there. Through two days. Again, we'll get through.
Tomorrow will be a great day. We'll get back, we'll
(16:18):
finally be able to put on the pads and we'll
see how good we can get leading up into September,
and that's really our only focus and everything else is
just you know, we'll take it week to week and
go from there.
Speaker 7 (16:28):
Early impressions of breaking coffee and said, you're a smart.
Speaker 10 (16:31):
Yeah, I think the first and foremost, I think you
feel really confident with both of them. Obviously they both
have experience in games and put a lot of good
stuff on tape, and so it's going to be a
great competition.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
With you know, slightly updated kickoff rules. Do you still
feel like you're kind of experimenting all those things.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And that compared to like this time last year, well, a.
Speaker 7 (16:55):
Little less because I think you have a little bit
more data to go off of.
Speaker 10 (16:58):
And then yeah, there's some with the kick and some
with like in your coverage about maybe running some different
things and getting the ball in the ground in different ways,
or you know, maybe some gap schemes in the return
game which we experimented with last year, and but yeah,
I think you have a better grip upon it. Just
the one thing will be Obviously it's gonna be more
kicks covered. I think when I think you could, you
(17:20):
thought that last year didn't quite come to fruition. But
with a new touchback, I think that's gonna be a
bit more prevalent.
Speaker 7 (17:27):
Safety was kind of a big focus for that rule change.
Have you seen that come through?
Speaker 10 (17:33):
Yeah, I mean all the data that we got from
from the Safety Commission was positive. So I think took
a lot of long speed you already off a guy's
high speed collisions, things of that nature, and and then
showed up.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
It doesn't look like they're a conor roster spots in
this team overall in terms of like you know, really
up for grabs. How does that affect your job as
especially in coordinator when you know a lot of the
guys were gonna be on the team. Is it was
that good or is it bad?
Speaker 10 (17:55):
I think there's still you could say that every year,
and you know there's always things that happen, and there's
injuries that occur during training camp.
Speaker 7 (18:01):
You don't ever want preseason games things like that.
Speaker 10 (18:04):
A lot of things sort themselves out a little bit,
but you also never want to take away from those
guys that are fighting and competing because you can find
really good players that are going to come in here
and have a chance to operate if.
Speaker 7 (18:14):
You give them the opportunity. And so I think that's
kind of what you have to do.
Speaker 10 (18:18):
I mean, one thing, there's a lot of guys, like
you said, have those reps, and so you may not
need to see quite as much of them to get
a better evaluation some other guys that you haven't seen.
Speaker 7 (18:27):
So that's it's kind of where that changed a little bit.
What strides have you seen from Josh Carty and.
Speaker 10 (18:35):
What strides have you seen from Josh cart I think
the comfortability just of having the reps, being in those moments,
having the same snapper and the holder, the confidence that's
built in the offseason together, training camp together, going through
it and having those knowing that he has the confidence
(18:56):
and the complete trust of all his teammates too.
Speaker 7 (18:58):
I think that's that always helps.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
Going back to part returner with Xavier and Great, what
did you see out of that position last year? What
was your evaluation of it that led you to believe
the competition was something that would.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Put up with that spot.
Speaker 10 (19:09):
I think we're always trying to strive for competition. I
don't know that that was any one thing or you know,
anything like that. I thought Xavier did a really good job.
Obviously had a lot of value in a different a
lot of different roles too, of being kick returner, gunner,
part returner, playing on kickoff, making tackles. So I think
there's some versatility and things that he showed outside of
just the return position. When you look at the career
(19:31):
that Kubby's had, and I've studied him for a long time,
he's one of the guys that I had highly rated
coming out of.
Speaker 7 (19:36):
College and free agency and different things.
Speaker 10 (19:38):
So I think just in general, you want to make
a football team better, and so ironing, sharpening iron is
the best way to do it.
Speaker 6 (19:47):
And I guess yehond that just what stands out about
the trust that you know, Sean puts in you and
Mike and Chris in terms of responsibility and do your jobs.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
Yeah, I think that's it's shown daily.
Speaker 10 (20:00):
He talks about modeling the way and he does that
really well with us and being experts in our own
position groups and what we're doing and what was expected
of us and handling situations and running things in an efficient,
effective manner. And when that means me and coach Katwika
are together or we break up in certain groups, and
then I can deviate and put some onus on him
(20:20):
to get certain things coached up. Having a guy like
him that has a lot of experience coaching in this
league at a high level and being a coordinator is
huge and so you can develop a lot of trust
there and kind of divvy up the work a little bit.
Speaker 7 (20:35):
Exactly goodness, all right, thank you,
What do you what do you need to see from
Nate or Roy or whatever may be to do. Yeah,
and we really you know, having Omar kind of come
on late at the end of the year and all
he's done is just progress. I mean he was in
the facility every day this offseason. Then Nathan Landman is
just a guy. He comes from some similar language in Atlanta,
and obviously Jimmy Lake was with him, who's now with
us now, so he has a lot of familiarity. So
(00:21):
it really feels like, you know, it doesn't you know,
it feels like we got guys that can communicate and
kind of get the defense set. But yeah, you know,
Rose Boom is one of my guys. You know, was
with him when he when he came out and uh,
you know when he was just a special teamer and
practice squad guy to wing hed in. So he had
an awesome year last year. So it's gonna be a
huge hole of phil.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
How do you explain the balance that you got a
lot of cognuity, a lot of different guys build forks
for sure, How do you describe the balance of same
but new.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, it's it's a really good question because you you
never want to rest on what you did last year
or anything like that, and you always want.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
To start from square one.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
But at the same time, you know there is a definite,
definitely a knowledge of Hey, we had been in the system,
we kind of know what some of these guys can do.
They've played together a lot more, we've been in some
different situations, so you're really trying to build off that.
But at the same time, it's it's square one. You
don't skip any steps. You know, first day camp is
still the first day of camp and we're gonna start from.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Score one and build from there.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
What are early impressions and real pads, Yeah, but just
a p a Ford going back to the spreading through
first studio.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Basically, he's been awesome. He's been what we hoped and more.
Really like him, really like him the d line room.
You know, he's quiet outside the room, but in there
you can tell it got a great rapport, especially with
Kobe Fisk TD those guys. And yeah, he's been really
impressive so far. So excited to see him and Pads here.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
What about your two Jared Kiss kind of coming in,
what do you see, if anything different from when he
came in as a rookie.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, I think it's like, you know, I think we
all just know each other a lot more. You know,
he understands the defense more. He understands, you know, when
he can take his playoffs. He's a guy that really
likes to be coached hard. And when your best players
like to be coached hard, you know, I think that
sets the culture for the whole defense. So he's a
guy that, you know, we try to hold accountable for
(02:11):
playing within the scheme of the defense and playing hard
every single play. And he's a guy that wants to
be able to accountable to do that. So you know,
it's fun just seeing him kind of take the growth
and take a step.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
More of a leadership role and the more of a
vocal role. You know.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Mike Hoyt was, you know, kind of the boys in
that room last year, So him and be Wive kind
of combined they kind of take those those roles because
they've played.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
So much football.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Does it surprise you at all that his reaction to
the workout with Aaron Donalds to say I.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Need to make my work hard or now. No, not
at all.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I mean, if you see Aaron donald you know, so no,
not at all. What stands out about the autonomy that.
Speaker 6 (02:44):
Sean gives you and Mike and Chase just in terms
of having that continuity and familiarity.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
At each of those positions on the coaching staff.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Season early season.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yeah, I mean it's it's cool to kind of, you know,
take the whole offseason and you know, I always think,
you know, coach in the NFL, you just you live
in the NFL. So like I could be at Sewan's house,
we could be at work talking about our families, or
I could be at Shawn's house. We could be talking
about defensive scheme. You just never know what's going on.
So we've really had a lot of time the saw
season that kind of clean up a lot of the
(03:15):
stuff from last year, you know, kind of over clean
up some.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Of the language.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And he's just he's just an awesome resource. He knows
our defense as good as anybody. And he's an awesome resource,
whether to have suggestions or kind of bounce stuff off him,
or you know, language or different things like that, or hey,
this is what the offense is seeing, this is what
you know may hurt offenses.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
So you know, it's just been NonStop communication. It's been fun.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I guess.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Really, more of what I mean is just what what
does that trust allow.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
You to do? In terms of Yeah, yeah, it allows
me to be myself.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And you know we had a big talk, you know,
we were struggling going into buy last year and uh,
you know it was like, spear yourself, what did you
do at John Carroll? You know when I was the
corner of my first year at John Carroll, Like what
exactly would you do? And you know that kind of
resonated with me, and you know, and I know he's
got my back.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
He's always believed in me.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And you know that's a big feeling when you when
you feel safety like that as a coach, when you're
not walking on eggshells if you make a call or
do this defense or you make a mistake, you know,
allows you to.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Be a lot freer. And we want our players to
play like that too.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Byron said he could tell that you felt like you
had a better grip on just like what ops are
available for which pieces of the defense, Like how did
that familiarity with your personnel influence like.
Speaker 7 (04:26):
The way you approached this officers.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, everything's about the plays.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
So you know, we're gonna build a foundational scheme that
you know, can evolve and adapt to the teams that
we're playing, but it's always going to be base abro
on what our guys can do. So I think we
know in the back of our heads certain things that
are guys can do best, and you know, we're gonna
try and put them in those guys positions. And what's
really fun is, you know, now Him, you know, b
Y and Verse and those guys kind of understand what
(04:50):
we're trying to accomplish and they can come up with suggestions.
So it's just like we're working with each other all
the time to put them in the best spots.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Play a couple more. Oh, he's the lynch pin. I
mean he's everything.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Uh, you know, he's a communicator, he moves around, he
can really be He allows us, how I like to
say that, he allows us always to get our best
guys on the field.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
He can play nickel.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
He you know these days, a lot of times when
you are playing nickel, you you get put in the
run fit. You're almost like a linebacker sometimes in a
four to three defense. And he does that. Then the
next thing he's covering a slot receiver, and then the
next thing he's now he's deep playing middle of the
post safety, now he's playing.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
A half field.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
He does all these different techniques and I think he's
one of the best tacklers on the team. But I
think he's probably one of the most underrated physical players
in the league. And he's always been one of our
best tacklers, and he's and he's been.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
One of our best communicators. Smart.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
You can do a lot of stuff with him just
because you know you're not gonna overload him, you know,
and he's gonna get everybody right around him. So in addition,
I think he makes the guys around him play better.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Tootos this obviouseason.
Speaker 7 (05:56):
What makes you so that, you know, not adding.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Somebody to this year is things you know the right
thing to do, and they're kind of successful.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, I mean, we we really like our guys. You know,
we thought we.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Had, you know, with as far as d Will and
getting a Kello back, and you know, d Kobe had
an awesome game in playoffs versus Minnesota, and I think
you saw what d Will and Nickelo did. And then
as far as you know, bringing in Emmanuel Forbes, he's
been excellent.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
There's a lot of depth in that room.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
There's other guys there that maybe didn't get as much
playing time that are kind of lingering in the background,
that have done an awesome job as well. So you know,
we're pretty excited about them. We're really excited about them,
I should say, and uh, you know, we really like
what they bring to our defense.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
God, what does having Davante on the other side do
for you guys.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
As a defense? Yeah, he's he's scary.
Speaker 7 (06:41):
You know, it's nice right now when it, uh, you know,
right now, you're not really.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Kicking yourself as a coach.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
You know, when he's isolated on a you know, on
a third down or a critical down, you know, you know,
in training camp rules. But yeah, when it when it,
when the lights come.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
On, it's scary.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Definitely, he's definitely something you've got to be aware of
where he's at every single play.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Awesome, that's one.
Speaker 8 (07:01):
Obviously, you've had eight seasons with the Rams, You've had
Aaron Donald for so many seasons now, Jared versus entering
the second season, I know, versus his own I was say,
a player, but what is the biggest resemblance that that
you see in versus kind of resemble do.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
They work hard and love to be coach hard and
they love football. It's really easy and guys that do that,
and Aaron Donald was like that. He was the hardest
worker on the team. He led the defense, he held
guys accountable for playing hard, and uh, you know, versus
obviously taking steps in that direction.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
And and that's exactly where he's at. I appreciate you guys.
Good God here we are.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
What's it been like if we I know, we talked
to you about having Duvante in the mix during OTAs,
but now out in training camp, what have you seen
and what do you think he's adding to the offense.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Obviously his his numbers in his career.
Speaker 9 (07:58):
Speaking for himself, you know, I just he's in such
great shape physically, he's in such great shape mentally. You know,
you can just he's just having fun being out here
and training camp. We haven't put the pads on or
anything like that. So it still has resemblance of OTAs obviously,
but you know, when you get just even a little
bit closer, you get through the summer, you can see
(08:18):
the guys just obviously just you know, kicks up a
little bit and he's in such a good spot. It's
like he's been here the whole time, you know, so
it's uh, it's great to have him.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
What are the early impressions of Tej Hunters another pro right?
I mean, he's played a lot of good football.
Speaker 9 (08:34):
I've unfortunately but fortunately, you know, been against him quite
a bit in this division, you know, for what feels like,
I guess seven years now, six years so a lot
of respect for him as a player. Never knew him
as a person until we, you know, got him, and
really we got him so late that in the summer you.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Didn't know, you know, I didn't know who he was.
Speaker 9 (08:52):
And then uh, and then just this these last few
days really getting to know him, and he's uh, he's
a professional.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
It's awesome to have him. You have such a tight
end room now.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I'm curious what your reaction and thoughts of Terrence focusing.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
For a few days. Yeah, just you know, awful what
he was doing in OTAs.
Speaker 9 (09:11):
It's just not too big for him, you know, he
just has that look in his eye and real smart
kids schematically, I mean it picked it up no problem
in the spring, and then just kind of the reviews
as we've done these last few days, really picked up
right where he left off in terms of schematics, and
then it's just gonna be you know, every single day
just building and stacking, you know, and getting used to
the speed of this game. And it'll be great to
(09:33):
get the pads on for all these rookies, for all
the guys, but the rookies, you know, having those pads
on and playing ball for a month, playing in the preseason,
stuff like that leading up to September.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
But really impressed with them.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
You guys look at it for some of the rookies
like that, but go from a long college season, combine
draft everything.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
They don't get the normal break. Does that. I've told
you know, especially when I was a position coach.
Speaker 9 (09:55):
But I tell the rookies all the time, guys, it's
the longest year of probably.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Your professional career.
Speaker 9 (10:01):
And I'm obviously college as well, because it's exactly what
you said.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
You go in college.
Speaker 9 (10:06):
I mean, they start practice all summer, right, so he
plays that last year at Oregon. Obviously they go to
the College Football Playoff, and then when they're done, he
has to get ready to train, to get ready for
the Combine Forest Pro Day for whatever visits.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Then you get drafted.
Speaker 9 (10:23):
Then you come, you got a whole new playbook and
you got a few weeks off. But you take a
few weeks off, now you're going to be behind physically.
So it's just like you tell those guys, Yeah, you
think you have five six weeks off before training camp,
you can't stop.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Wait until next February.
Speaker 9 (10:40):
I promise it'll pay off where you can finally take
a deep breath.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
But that's just the life of a rookie. I mean,
it is what it is. And you know, I think
all of them would would take that in.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
Yeah, what stands out about the amount of trust and
autonomy and responsibility that Sean gives you and you know,
prison Chase and how does that help you be a
better coach?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yeah, I mean really appreciate, you know how much trust
he has in all of us.
Speaker 9 (11:03):
And it's not just us coordinators, it's all, you know,
all of us, the staff and and really the players
in the organization. You know, there's a reason this place
has been what it's been for for nine years now.
It starts with his leadership and and you know ownership
and less and Tony and dem Off.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
And all that. It's it's such a collaborative group and
you know, Uh.
Speaker 9 (11:24):
Feel very fortunate that he has that trust in us.
But again, it's it's uh, you know, it starts with
his leadership.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
It's been great.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
How how much of a luxury is it just for
you guys with Stafford out to have someone of Jimmy's
experience to be able to kind of stuff.
Speaker 9 (11:40):
Yeah, the show goes on when we're out here, right.
I mean, he's a he's a proven, very very good
quarterback in this league. Obviously, I have a huge history
with him. I've always loved Jimmy as a person. I've
always loved his game and respected his game.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
You know.
Speaker 9 (11:53):
Obviously, now going into year two, he knows this locker
room and uh, the guys don't blink when he's out
there because he has command of that huddle, and uh,
you know, and the coolest part, and I've been on
record saying this, He's got Matthews back at a level
that is so awesome.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
You know.
Speaker 9 (12:06):
So he wants Matthew to be out here in the
worst way, just like we all do.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
But until then, you know, he's just gonna go do
what Jimmy does.
Speaker 7 (12:14):
Said that he wants a more versatile offenses here.
Speaker 8 (12:18):
What's been your role in kind of implementing.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
And teaching that. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 9 (12:22):
I mean my role is my role, right is offensive
coordinator just with installs and stuff like that and scripts
and getting the guys ready to practice every day and
building the foundation.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
And all that.
Speaker 9 (12:31):
No different than it was a year ago, you know,
And so every year you're just trying to evolve.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
You know, what kind of team do we have, what
kind of roster we have?
Speaker 9 (12:39):
We got the like we just said that, the plethora
of tight ends right there, and how do we utilize that?
So you know, again we have I think eight thoughts
of what this offense is going to look like. But
every year it's not exactly the way that you think
it's going to look like.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
You know, the amount of work we put in the
spring obviously in training camp.
Speaker 9 (12:58):
You know, it'll organically, you know, come together as we
get going.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
But I like where we're at.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
That's a vision for Blake corn How did he get
on the field line?
Speaker 9 (13:07):
Yeah, you know, I think Blake, like a lot of
these guys, put a lot of time in from you know,
when we got done in January to where he's at
right now. So he's, uh, you know, he came in.
He's in I don't want to say better shape. He
just has another year of working and getting better and
working on what he needed to improve, and he's in.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
A great place.
Speaker 9 (13:27):
The best part about Blake very good football player, But
the best part about Blake his mindset's right. You know,
he's just attacking it. He's worried about himself again for backs.
Wait till you put the pads on and you get
tackled and stuff like that, that's when you really see it.
But again, level of Blake's at skill set a savior,
Branks Steer super you know, you guys saw the plays
(13:48):
he made, whether it be obviously versus Vegas, having that
awesome twenty five yard run going across Seattle the last
game of the year. I mean, he was putting some
tough situations behind the line of scrimmage with some some
of the stuff we were doing and making you know
little or you know, making nothing into something. Obviously the
return for San Francisco and in what would that be
week three that set up that last you know game
(14:10):
when he drive whatnot. But the other thing that's about
him is he's got a violence about him when he
has the ball in his hand, whether it be in
the return game or or obviously on offense. So he's
another guy that you just root for because one he's
got a good skill set too. He's tough, but it's
always got a great demeanor about himself, great smile on
his face and really attacks us.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
He loves this game.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
We're gonna see a lot of stats in August.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Where is he come from where last where he was
last year? And what kind of progress do you see
from that guy? I almost don't want to tell you.
I almost want you to see it for yourself. But no,
I'm so happy for him. You know, he's in again.
Speaker 9 (14:47):
I know I'm speaking volumes about all these guys, but
it's how I really feel.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
But he's in such a good place mentally.
Speaker 9 (14:54):
And when you're in such a good place mentally, you
can now allow your physical abilities to take you know, hold.
And so again I've like I've said, I think Dave
for going and the rest of the quarterbacks have done
such an awesome job with Stetson along the way, and
again altwinets He was on Stetson to get.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
To where he wants to be, and I think he's
right where he should be.
Speaker 9 (15:15):
I'm super excited to watch him through August, particularly in
those preseason games, but just every day and he's just
getting better and better.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
I think he's had two really impressive days. Hey, coach,
last one guys question for you is obviously the NFC
West is such.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
A tough division.
Speaker 8 (15:30):
Every team, including you guys can score points. And I'm
kind of handle the hammer on the defense. I mean,
what is the tone that you want to set in.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Your second year here?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Is it kind of modify what.
Speaker 8 (15:40):
You did last year or kind of keep keep the
keep the same.
Speaker 7 (15:43):
I will say.
Speaker 9 (15:44):
Philosophy that you have, Yeah, I don't you know. The
tone is just to keep stacking days and building on
our foundation. Like answer your question, NSC West is tough,
but it's not really our concern right now.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
We're concerned about us.
Speaker 9 (15:58):
We open with Houston, really nine concerned about them right now,
right We just got to We're worried about ourselfs uh,
stacking days, being as good as we can can be,
competing against each other. You know, we have a hard
enough time going against our defense right now, right and
in blocking those guys, so which is fun. It's a
great competition out there. Through two days. Again, we'll get through.
Tomorrow will be a great day. We'll get back, we'll
(16:18):
finally be able to put on the pads and we'll
see how good we can get leading up into September,
and that's really our only focus and everything else is
just you know, we'll take it week to week and
go from there.
Speaker 7 (16:28):
Early impressions of breaking coffee and said, you're a smart.
Speaker 10 (16:31):
Yeah, I think the first and foremost, I think you
feel really confident with both of them. Obviously they both
have experience in games and put a lot of good
stuff on tape, and so it's going to be a
great competition.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
With you know, slightly updated kickoff rules. Do you still
feel like you're kind of experimenting all those things.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And that compared to like this time last year, well, a.
Speaker 7 (16:55):
Little less because I think you have a little bit
more data to go off of.
Speaker 10 (16:58):
And then yeah, there's some with the kick and some
with like in your coverage about maybe running some different
things and getting the ball in the ground in different ways,
or you know, maybe some gap schemes in the return
game which we experimented with last year, and but yeah,
I think you have a better grip upon it. Just
the one thing will be Obviously it's gonna be more
kicks covered. I think when I think you could, you
(17:20):
thought that last year didn't quite come to fruition. But
with a new touchback, I think that's gonna be a
bit more prevalent.
Speaker 7 (17:27):
Safety was kind of a big focus for that rule change.
Have you seen that come through?
Speaker 10 (17:33):
Yeah, I mean all the data that we got from
from the Safety Commission was positive. So I think took
a lot of long speed you already off a guy's
high speed collisions, things of that nature, and and then
showed up.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
It doesn't look like they're a conor roster spots in
this team overall in terms of like you know, really
up for grabs. How does that affect your job as
especially in coordinator when you know a lot of the
guys were gonna be on the team. Is it was
that good or is it bad?
Speaker 10 (17:55):
I think there's still you could say that every year,
and you know there's always things that happen, and there's
injuries that occur during training camp.
Speaker 7 (18:01):
You don't ever want preseason games things like that.
Speaker 10 (18:04):
A lot of things sort themselves out a little bit,
but you also never want to take away from those
guys that are fighting and competing because you can find
really good players that are going to come in here
and have a chance to operate if.
Speaker 7 (18:14):
You give them the opportunity. And so I think that's
kind of what you have to do.
Speaker 10 (18:18):
I mean, one thing, there's a lot of guys, like
you said, have those reps, and so you may not
need to see quite as much of them to get
a better evaluation some other guys that you haven't seen.
Speaker 7 (18:27):
So that's it's kind of where that changed a little bit.
What strides have you seen from Josh Carty and.
Speaker 10 (18:35):
What strides have you seen from Josh cart I think
the comfortability just of having the reps, being in those moments,
having the same snapper and the holder, the confidence that's
built in the offseason together, training camp together, going through
it and having those knowing that he has the confidence
(18:56):
and the complete trust of all his teammates too.
Speaker 7 (18:58):
I think that's that always helps.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
Going back to part returner with Xavier and Great, what
did you see out of that position last year? What
was your evaluation of it that led you to believe
the competition was something that would.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Put up with that spot.
Speaker 10 (19:09):
I think we're always trying to strive for competition. I
don't know that that was any one thing or you know,
anything like that. I thought Xavier did a really good job.
Obviously had a lot of value in a different a
lot of different roles too, of being kick returner, gunner,
part returner, playing on kickoff, making tackles. So I think
there's some versatility and things that he showed outside of
just the return position. When you look at the career
(19:31):
that Kubby's had, and I've studied him for a long time,
he's one of the guys that I had highly rated
coming out of.
Speaker 7 (19:36):
College and free agency and different things.
Speaker 10 (19:38):
So I think just in general, you want to make
a football team better, and so ironing, sharpening iron is
the best way to do it.
Speaker 6 (19:47):
And I guess yehond that just what stands out about
the trust that you know, Sean puts in you and
Mike and Chris in terms of responsibility and do your jobs.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
Yeah, I think that's it's shown daily.
Speaker 10 (20:00):
He talks about modeling the way and he does that
really well with us and being experts in our own
position groups and what we're doing and what was expected
of us and handling situations and running things in an efficient,
effective manner. And when that means me and coach Katwika
are together or we break up in certain groups, and
then I can deviate and put some onus on him
(20:20):
to get certain things coached up. Having a guy like
him that has a lot of experience coaching in this
league at a high level and being a coordinator is
huge and so you can develop a lot of trust
there and kind of divvy up the work a little bit.
Speaker 7 (20:35):
Exactly goodness, all right, thank you,
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