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August 18, 2025 • 12 mins
Dave Canales speaks with the media following Monday's practice.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hope for the review.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
So here we are Pittsburgh week. We had some great
meetings today. We had a day off yesterday, so we
had great meetings this morning. Talked about the game, talk
about the fundamental improvement that we're looking for across the board,
and like also just making sure the guys are excited about,
you know, what we're doing and what we're building with
all the opportunities we've had since the Cleveland joint practice

(00:27):
and the preparation that went into that and the games,
and then just a great week last week, a couple practices,
go on the road, spend time together, a Hotter joint practice,
which was fantastic work. We needed that to go into
the game and to really just be able to learn
from some stuff. And and and again I kind of

(00:48):
said this, you know, right after the game, like there
were some almosts, while that almost is not going to
be good enough in the NFL. And so I was
able to just speak truthfully and just to coach them hard,
which they want, you know, they want to be upheld
to that standard. And so it was a great day.
And then we had to shift gears get ready for
this practice today. We were in a little bit of
a modified mode just you know, we had probably I

(01:10):
want to say, we had ten or twelve guys that
were you know, close to fifty reps on the day
between special teams and the action and the offense defense reps.
So we kind of just backed off a little bit today,
had a good individual period, but just getting our legs back.
We'll get after it again tomorrow. I just know how
important these opportunities are for guys who are trying to
make this team, not just the games, but our practices,

(01:31):
practices everything to us. And so to have a high
intensity practice tomorrow to evaluate our guys one more time
before we go into that last game is really critical.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Dave, can we get some injury updates? JC was practicing.
Did he get his stitches out?

Speaker 1 (01:44):
He did?

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Buton Churtlis channelers of Alla participated.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Are they good to go for Thursday?

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
They should be. Yeah, now tomorrow. Again, today wasn't a
super high intensity practice, so we'll push them tomorrow and
then we'll have more information tomorrow evening after we kind
of get through all that to see where they're at.
But if they come out and they check the boxes
and those are guys that will play and then a
boom questions right there, that's the future guys, Just you know,

(02:11):
what should I ask coach?

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Updates on Bobby Brown wasn't out there? And DJ Johnson?
And then what's the latest on Nick Sport?

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, Bobby's got a sore knee. DJ's got a sore hip.
Both guys are being treated and just weren't going to
be able to turn it around and get individual, which
was kind of the point of the practice to get
a high speed individual. So we shut them down in
hopes to get them back for practice tomorrow. And then
who else was what's the latest on? So Nick? Huge improvement,

(02:42):
got to drive across country from all not the way
across country, but from Houston back here, but significant improvement.
He was actually running today. They were monitoring really closely,
checking his oxygen levels. Everything is like huge improvements. The
guy's twenty years old, you know, so he bounced back
pretty quick. He will not play this week, but the

(03:04):
hope is to just continue to just progress him daily
and get him more and more work.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Participate.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, yeah, t Mac had a really sore hamstring. Imaging
look fine, but he's just kind of all stoved up.
He's been taking a lot of reps, a few series
more than the rest of the starters, just to get
him that the game reps and just between that the practices,
he's been working like crazy. We just thought we'd you know,

(03:31):
shut him down for a couple of days and then
and turn him back around. He may not play on Thursday.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
Uptat the O'Brien right his health status and yeah, can
you speak to speak to the defensive lines done?

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, so LB is gonna be week to week. He's
he's not responded as quickly as as we'd hoped with
that ankle, and so we'll push him again tomorrow kind
of see if we can get him back to play
on Thursday, but a little bit a little bit uh
slower that we anticipate, which these things can kind of
happen with the ankle, you know, all that soreness and
discomfort and the strength and stability is the most important part.

(04:07):
So we didn't feel like he turned around as quick
as we thought. Who else have we asked about?

Speaker 3 (04:11):
I was just wondering about the pensive line debt.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, definitely right now for for this stage of camp.
Like concerning but you know, we had a couple of
studs that carried us through with Jaden Crummody, Sam Roberts,
Jared Harrison, Hunt and Shy even was available at the end.
They played a lot of snaps for us the last
game to get us through it. So like love that
about the guys, and they love the work, you know,

(04:35):
they all want the work. They improved in games with
young guys especially, you know, you can see the improvement
from Drive to drive with techniques and all that. So
these guys are gonna have to carry us again this week, you.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Know, Dave, if the past protection had been a little
better and that second series, what might bryce have played
a third series.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
I had nothing to do with that. I just felt
so good about the work we got in the joint practice,
the vau of work that we got for that group.
I was really hoping we could have continued that second
drive and try to, you know, achieve the goal of
getting them more plays. But I just felt really good
about the work that we had, you know. And then
I thought the protection was was really solid. It was
a double move Andy got hit on, so it's a

(05:17):
pump reset that Neil Hunter had a great rush on
yosh On that one got his hand up, you know,
And and you know, Andy tried to get it off
as quickly as possible, had tea Maac available, you know,
on the play, but I think they kind of settled
in and blocked really well the rest of that drive
if you look at it. So I was really pleased
with that group. And then the third group, of course,
Brady and Yosh were kind of were still in there

(05:38):
in that until Mike Tarkan came in. But I thought
they did a great job with the past.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
Pro the additional imaging. Would did Andy be able to
play if this was like a regular.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, yeah, So it was really more of a muscle
type of thing, and it was a mild deal. I
think I said elbow sprain, but it was more of
a muscle strain. But the imaging looked pretty solid, you know,
and we just kind of partaken him day to day
for the soreness to kind of resolve itself. So he
just he started the practice through a little bit, then
we shut him down for the rest of it.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
He said, you're really happy about what went down the
Browns Show practice, Texas Show practice and all that stuff,
and that the starters are not going to play, and
then you brought up the fundamentals. How do you think
you can hone those fundamentals behind the scenes, Maybe that
maybe a casual fanolydn't understand.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Practice is everything, you know. That's what we preach to
the guys. We practice full speed, all butt tackling, you know,
and we're in our when we're in our thud tempo,
like I want them hitting so that you show me
you made the tackle. So we're getting the physical work.
Iron sharpens iron. We got good players on both sides,
and that that's a great place to challenge it. They'll
move the ball periods that we do in practice is

(06:40):
another way I'm asking our officials to like really really
officiate it hard, you know, with is the tackle too
far back? Are two guys moving? Like, let's make sure
I need a flag on the ground. George Lee keeps
track of all that stuff so I can talk to
the guys and address it.

Speaker 5 (06:56):
You know.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
I don't think this is anything that's different than what
a lot of teams are experiencing right now, but it's
not our standard. So coach at hard, you know, and
it just it does. It just gives me an opportunity
to really, you know, be nitpicky about the things that
I know are going to be critical when we go
into regular season play and all that.

Speaker 5 (07:12):
If you mentioned the other day that Derek is basically
begging you to play and to play more. He's always
been a high volume snaps guy with as deep as
you are at that position. Now is the goal to
have him on the field a little less this year?

Speaker 2 (07:26):
I think it's going to be just kind of playing
it by ear. You know, he's a great player, so
we'd love to have him out there the whole time.
We'll see how he responds as we continue to push
his volume, and then we'll have to kind of just
make that decision like week to week in terms of
how much he plays and how we're rotating that group.
But it is a deep group and we love all

(07:47):
those guys. There's veteran guys, there's young guys that can
help as well. So we'll kind of see as we go.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
Early assessment on Bryce Perkins.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Oh yeah, accurate. You know, he came in today really
excited to get him in here the UFL MVP. He's
earned this opportunity, you know, and and just going into
the Steelers game, if if, if Andy can't turn it
around and get this horness out and we don't have
to play him. Then Jack and Bryce can can play
that game for us, and so it's all hands on deck.

(08:15):
Mike Bercovici's like he's about a foot away from Bryce.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
You know.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
The whole day today is as he came in, and
so it's great to just be able to reward somebody
who's who's gone to another league, played so well, but
also spent three years with the Rams, so there is
some carryover. He some of the words are familiar to him,
but it's kind of a marriage of a couple of
two different systems. But football's football, and he's played a

(08:40):
lot of it. He's played significant snaps, and so I'm
excited for him to be here.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Preference fee to not play handy.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Probably yeah, But again, you know, if he turns it
around and he's like, shoot, I want to go out
there for a couple series, then that's something we can
talk about. But I'd love to give Jack another opportunity,
you know, to take those snaps and then see what
Bryce can do.

Speaker 3 (08:59):
And there was part of logic Perkins that he had
played in the spring league and was in football shape,
having not been in a camp like you could have
signed other guys that were not in camp before.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, and I think it's just relationships and people that
Dan talks to talk to, you know, And we had
a conversation on the plane, like here's the guys who
are available, and knowing that he has some experience you know,
in our run game, in our past game parts of it.
You know, it's just a really cool fit right now.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
Hey, not on the I know you like what you
saw on the joint practices, but one reason you wanted
to play with the starters in the preseason games was
to kind of get a better feel going into the game. Yeah,
so what did you really glean from from the experience
of having them in the pre at least from the starters.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah. Honestly, it starts the night before and it's about
going through your call sheet one more time. It's about
making sure you have all your reads right and make
sure you have all your adjustments right. Waking up. What
time do you get up for a noonkick, you know,
and start to prepare yourself. What do you eat for breakfast?
All the little things when you come into the locker room.

(10:02):
How do you get yourself prepared? Do you work with
the trainers, you get a little extra soft tissue work,
you know, just having all those checkpoints. I think when
when you have a group like this week, the starters
won't play and I'll be watching to kind of see,
like you'll see the routines change. So taking advantage of
two opportunities for guys to go through their routines and
be ready for it is valuable. Is is I wouldn't

(10:24):
say more valuable than getting out there on the field,
but it is very valuable for your mental preparation.

Speaker 4 (10:29):
So what did you glean from specifically from Bryce that
you feel like he's better prepared to start this season
than maybe last year.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
I just in general, he's just done a great job
leading the team, pushing the schemes forward. And you know,
if we get a couple of third down conversions, we
extend the drives, we can get more into the calls.
I would have loved to have another red zone shot,
you know, to kind of just polish off some of
those things. But I feel confident. I feel very confident
about how we've loaded our guys, the exposure to different
situations throughout our practices, in particular the joint practices, but

(11:01):
in general on training camp, Chris.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Barnes came in the middle of training camp and seem
to make a couple of plays last week. What have
you seen from him and what do you look for like.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
As you guys close out the preseason with a guy
like that. Yeah, really good demeanor. You know, he's a
guy who's called this defense before. They're very similar to
what he's done before, but there are nuances, So those
are kind of things that we're still working through. But
I think just being able to stand in front of
the huddle communicate it well, and then just running and hitting,
playing physical type of football, and and was was very

(11:32):
usable on special teams as well. So I'm glad he
had the opportunity to come here. I'm glad we had
him here to just be able to evaluate him.

Speaker 5 (11:40):
We'll do a couple more.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Quick We'll both kickers get action Thursday if possible.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yes, yes, they will last welcome the draft with Nick out.

Speaker 4 (11:50):
Is this a chance for DJ Johnson and stuff out.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
I think Dj has been doing a great job, so
he'll be out there playing. Hopefully we can get this
hip turned around quickly. But it's opportunities for all the guys,
you know, it's it's it's Carlos Boogie Basham, you know,
Thomas Sinkum another opportunity there, JJ Weaver. Certainly, these are
guys that you know, want to have those reps, want
to be able to put things on film and show

(12:14):
show us what they can do, but also show the
other thirty one teams that I can they can contribute
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