December 12, 2025 • 10 mins
Dave Canales spoke to the media following Friday's practice.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hope.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm for the review, all right, A great day, great
finish to the prep.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
We got another review tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
But as far as the on the field work and
practice time, just a really focused group and excited group,
obviously with this opportunity that we have in front of
us to go go down there and play the Saints.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
So we're fired up to get after it.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
How much do you have to talk about what happened
last night as far as what it kind of means
for you guys and if it might maybe heightens the
importance of this week.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It's the same process that we've had all year.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Every game is a championship opportunity, and where we've been
even before the game last night, you know, approaching this
game and respecting the opponents, respecting the Saints, and you
know the challenges that we have right in front of us.
And so that's got to be the focus and for
us as our pursuit is to find our best football
and to continue to work on the things you know
from all phases that we're trying to improve upon and
(00:53):
that we can count on, and so keeping the guys
locked in and focused on that and understanding we have
this opportunity right in front of us in the division
and what's looking at us.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's easy for me to sell.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
That alost on Monday that when you watch the Saints
Tampa game on Sunday that you got emotionally involved were
watching last night, were you able to stay more even
keeled or did you let your motions take over again?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
You know, I watched the first half and you know,
eight o'clock kicks here, so it's around ten o'clock. Got
to sleep with the work day in front of me,
you know, and woke up and found out what the
score was. I'll have a chance to dive fully into it,
you know, as we go into it next week. But
you know, last week was different because we're playing the
Saints this week, so I was able to watch that
full game and you know, be involved with that part
of it as a part of my early evaluation process.
(01:35):
But if I'm asking the guys to be focused on
this week, I have to as well, and I'm sure
I'll have a chance to, you know, dive into some
of those things.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You know, going forward to the fact that you went
to bad early and didn't know the results in the morning,
does that kind of speak to the focus that you
want these guys have throughout this entire process.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
We have to we have to be ready to attack
every day, and if you want to continue to improve
your processes, it's about these practices that we have and
making sure that we're all on the same page with
this stay attacking this day with all the energy and
focus that we can.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Brad's been brought up as a potential future head coach
by some some media lately. I know, when when you're
the offensive coordinator entitle but you don't necessarily call plays,
it's kind of curious how involved you are, how important
is he to the week two week process, and really
your development as.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
A coach invaluable. The one thing that I've known about
Brad for a long time now. First of all, I
met Brad when he was in high school. You know,
his dad, John was working for us in Seattle and
so it got to be familiar with him. But then
he came back to us as a quality control coach.
And the work ethic, the trust factor, the loyalty that
I know Brad brings.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
He carries this thing.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
You know, he's the engineer and he's the one that's
you know, talking to the staff and cranking out you
know who's got what scripting things, making sure that our conversations.
You know, my job is to come in and make
sure it looks like us and make sure that you
know we're doing the right things for the players that
we have. But I can't do this without Brad. And
I know he'll get an opportunity to call plays at
some point, and I think he's gonna kill it, because
(03:01):
you know, I've been in his role a lot of
different times over the years for you know, Darryl Bevill,
for Brian Schottenheim, or for Shane Waldron, where I'm the
one sitting there kind of evaluating and looking for the
spots to attack what the defense is doing. You have,
you have the sheets in front of you, you have the
coverage notes and the play callers, getting the personnel and
the next play out there. And what Brad's done a
great job for me is to just continue to be
(03:23):
two or three plays ahead of where we're at and
getting me prepared for potential fourth down go for it
scenarios and having the things we talked about in between
series circled and ready to go. And he's done a
phenomenal job and it's been amazing for me to just
watch him grow over the last two years in his leadership,
being in front of the room, being able to talk
to the guys on a consistent basis, and making sure
that you know, we care about the things that are
(03:44):
important to us.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Can you talk a lot about finish and about opportunity?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Did you address the team today just about both of
those things in the wake of last night's result.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
No, today was our Friday.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Today was a focus Friday, and we had to be
locked in, you know, finishing up some of our red
zone concepts. Friday's the day you really pull the whole
game plan together. First and second down, third down, short yardage,
goal line, red zone. And so it's really this cool,
you know, dry run at the things that we're doing,
and that's our focus. Our focus is to make sure
we win the day because that leads to great process,
and that's that's.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Been a part of what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Everybody watched the game, we all the guys, the coaches,
we all watched it. But we also understand, you know,
that's for next week. We play the Bucks. Next week,
we're playing the Saints this week. We've got to have
our focus here. It's going to take everything we have
to win this game, and we're gonna get the Saints
best shot.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
Bryce has been putting up some big fourth quarter numbers.
How important with that chance to stay in control of
the conference, to get off to a quick start and
kind of avoid that lull that seems to be turned
to know in the end of the first quarter into
the second quarter.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, just looking for consistency and I would love to
see that from snap one until the end of the game.
To your question, and you know, the fact that we
do finish well in the fourth quarters, that we take
a lot of pride in that. We take a lot
of pride in the way that we prepare, do right longer,
maintain that focus and it's the simplest execution.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
That's required throughout.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It also comes from just a lot of adjustments that
go throughout the game and the different ways we're trying
to run the ball and how they're impacting that, how
we're trying to throw the ball, how they're impacting that,
and so there are a lot of conversations that we
kind of settle into a type of game plan as
the game goes on. But what I love to see,
you know, more success early on and especially in the
middle part of the game.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
That goes back to the place where we're talking about
finding our best football is finding that consistent football that
shows up drive in and drive out with Jac.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
Cleared and Ray to come back through.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Do you think there's is there any common.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Thread on his interception numbers this year, guy who hasn't
had those kind of production numbers.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, it's attention to detail, and it's really you know,
this is attributed to his study habits, the way that
he watches film, the way he prepares himself and looks
at who's at what spot, information, what's the split taking
in the D and D and all those things that
come with just being out there playing with your teammates
and trusting your eyes, trusting your feet. And you know
what I've seen of JC, he's got incredible hands. And
(06:08):
you know, I've even flirted with the thought of, like
shoot in an end of game scenario and you got
a jump ball, why not put JC out there and
try to get up there and affect the game that
way too, because of his ability to track the ball
and to come up with those catches. But it's all
just paying off because of the work he's been putting.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
In what will Claude's will be Sundays.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Claude's got to be ready to roll. You know, we
got Christian rose Boom back this week as well. Claude
will be definitely playing a lot of special teams, but
he's got to be ready to contribute on defense as well.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
He showed us some stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
He showed us he can help this team win, and
if he gets called upon, we'll be excited to see
him have another opportunity out there.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
See you guys step up, specifically on defense. I know
Eaj's gonna handle the rotations and stuff, but when a
guy steps up and you have to two starters, I
know inside linebackers, you're normally not taking them off the field,
but how do you can you manufacture opportunities for them
in certain packages.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I've seen that done across the league in different ways
where maybe a guy is a little bit more of
a rundown player. Danny Stetsman for the Saints, he's mixing
in there some for Pete Warner in some different spots,
and they have three really good linebackers. They like to
try to get out there on the field. So it's
just great to bring that up because we're playing the
Saints this week, and so you know, there are opportunities
that way, and these are good, These are good things
(07:24):
for us as a staff to evaluate. The bye week
gave us a chance to kind of look at some
of the other spots to see who can we get involved,
who can get out there to see if they can
impact the game in.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Great designations this week. So yeah, I seem to be
training in the right direction that way. Saw Rob Hant
out there again today. Just looking at his week so far,
does it feel like he's closer potentially on that window open?
Maybe next week or the week after.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
That, every week closer.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
We will reevaluate that on Monday Tuesday and just see
where he's at from a strength standpoint. And then, of course,
the biggest thing for the offensive line or any interior
lineman defense or offense is how much you use your
arms your upper body when the when the picture changes,
when a defensive lineman you know, runs a stunt. You know,
(08:06):
we got to make sure that you know, the arms
extended away from your body, that's got to be the
most strong and possible place so that you're you're safe
in that and you're powerful in that position, and and
really that's the next thing out there for him. So
we're going to continue to you know, push that and
make sure we'll get him out there when he's ready.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Brad kind of brought up Damian Lewis's paunch and like
how he's been able to kind of handle pass, pass
protection and run stopping in your eyes since he was
a rookie in twenty twenty twenty, how much has he grown?
But also why is he having such a successful season.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
He's always been an incredible athlete, and he's got length,
you know, for being a six to three guy, not
the tallest, you know, sometimes you have your guard six
five sixty six in that, but he's got great length
and he's incredibly quick, So he matches quickness.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
He's a big man too, and so he can anchor
when you got a bigger guy who might you know,
be a little bit taller than him, he can still
anchor and find that. But what I've seen from d Luz,
he's seen a lot of football and a lot of
different combinations at this point, even speaking to like some
of the veteran quarterbacks that I've worked with, try to
remind these guys, you've seen it all. You've seen every stunt,
You've seen every pressure that can happen, You've seen different
(09:18):
body types in there, and Damien just really leaning on
his experience and he cares. He cares so much about
this team. He cares about winning. He's a great teammate.
He's picks and chooses when he speaks, but when he
does it comes from the heart with a lot of passion,
and that's what I love about De lou.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
He is nad more farther ahead than Rob in terms
of return to play.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
We're going to try to get David out there tomorrow sorry,
next week, and open up his window to practice in
a mode to see if he can handle being out
there running round. He's been running because it's an elbow injury,
so he's at top speeds. He looks great, but again
it kind of goes to the same part of it.
He's going to be blocking. He's a special teams player
as well, so we've got to make sure that he's
(10:00):
strong enough, stable enough to be ready for the impact.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
M
Hope.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm for the review, all right, A great day, great
finish to the prep.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
We got another review tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
But as far as the on the field work and
practice time, just a really focused group and excited group,
obviously with this opportunity that we have in front of
us to go go down there and play the Saints.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
So we're fired up to get after it.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
How much do you have to talk about what happened
last night as far as what it kind of means
for you guys and if it might maybe heightens the
importance of this week.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It's the same process that we've had all year.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Every game is a championship opportunity, and where we've been
even before the game last night, you know, approaching this
game and respecting the opponents, respecting the Saints, and you
know the challenges that we have right in front of us.
And so that's got to be the focus and for
us as our pursuit is to find our best football
and to continue to work on the things you know
from all phases that we're trying to improve upon and
(00:53):
that we can count on, and so keeping the guys
locked in and focused on that and understanding we have
this opportunity right in front of us in the division
and what's looking at us.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's easy for me to sell.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
That alost on Monday that when you watch the Saints
Tampa game on Sunday that you got emotionally involved were
watching last night, were you able to stay more even
keeled or did you let your motions take over again?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
You know, I watched the first half and you know,
eight o'clock kicks here, so it's around ten o'clock. Got
to sleep with the work day in front of me,
you know, and woke up and found out what the
score was. I'll have a chance to dive fully into it,
you know, as we go into it next week. But
you know, last week was different because we're playing the
Saints this week, so I was able to watch that
full game and you know, be involved with that part
of it as a part of my early evaluation process.
(01:35):
But if I'm asking the guys to be focused on
this week, I have to as well, and I'm sure
I'll have a chance to, you know, dive into some
of those things.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You know, going forward to the fact that you went
to bad early and didn't know the results in the morning,
does that kind of speak to the focus that you
want these guys have throughout this entire process.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
We have to we have to be ready to attack
every day, and if you want to continue to improve
your processes, it's about these practices that we have and
making sure that we're all on the same page with
this stay attacking this day with all the energy and
focus that we can.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Brad's been brought up as a potential future head coach
by some some media lately. I know, when when you're
the offensive coordinator entitle but you don't necessarily call plays,
it's kind of curious how involved you are, how important
is he to the week two week process, and really
your development as.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
A coach invaluable. The one thing that I've known about
Brad for a long time now. First of all, I
met Brad when he was in high school. You know,
his dad, John was working for us in Seattle and
so it got to be familiar with him. But then
he came back to us as a quality control coach.
And the work ethic, the trust factor, the loyalty that
I know Brad brings.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
He carries this thing.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
You know, he's the engineer and he's the one that's
you know, talking to the staff and cranking out you
know who's got what scripting things, making sure that our conversations.
You know, my job is to come in and make
sure it looks like us and make sure that you
know we're doing the right things for the players that
we have. But I can't do this without Brad. And
I know he'll get an opportunity to call plays at
some point, and I think he's gonna kill it, because
(03:01):
you know, I've been in his role a lot of
different times over the years for you know, Darryl Bevill,
for Brian Schottenheim, or for Shane Waldron, where I'm the
one sitting there kind of evaluating and looking for the
spots to attack what the defense is doing. You have,
you have the sheets in front of you, you have the
coverage notes and the play callers, getting the personnel and
the next play out there. And what Brad's done a
great job for me is to just continue to be
(03:23):
two or three plays ahead of where we're at and
getting me prepared for potential fourth down go for it
scenarios and having the things we talked about in between
series circled and ready to go. And he's done a
phenomenal job and it's been amazing for me to just
watch him grow over the last two years in his leadership,
being in front of the room, being able to talk
to the guys on a consistent basis, and making sure
that you know, we care about the things that are
(03:44):
important to us.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Can you talk a lot about finish and about opportunity?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Did you address the team today just about both of
those things in the wake of last night's result.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
No, today was our Friday.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Today was a focus Friday, and we had to be
locked in, you know, finishing up some of our red
zone concepts. Friday's the day you really pull the whole
game plan together. First and second down, third down, short yardage,
goal line, red zone. And so it's really this cool,
you know, dry run at the things that we're doing,
and that's our focus. Our focus is to make sure
we win the day because that leads to great process,
and that's that's.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Been a part of what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Everybody watched the game, we all the guys, the coaches,
we all watched it. But we also understand, you know,
that's for next week. We play the Bucks. Next week,
we're playing the Saints this week. We've got to have
our focus here. It's going to take everything we have
to win this game, and we're gonna get the Saints
best shot.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
Bryce has been putting up some big fourth quarter numbers.
How important with that chance to stay in control of
the conference, to get off to a quick start and
kind of avoid that lull that seems to be turned
to know in the end of the first quarter into
the second quarter.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, just looking for consistency and I would love to
see that from snap one until the end of the game.
To your question, and you know, the fact that we
do finish well in the fourth quarters, that we take
a lot of pride in that. We take a lot
of pride in the way that we prepare, do right longer,
maintain that focus and it's the simplest execution.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
That's required throughout.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It also comes from just a lot of adjustments that
go throughout the game and the different ways we're trying
to run the ball and how they're impacting that, how
we're trying to throw the ball, how they're impacting that,
and so there are a lot of conversations that we
kind of settle into a type of game plan as
the game goes on. But what I love to see,
you know, more success early on and especially in the
middle part of the game.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
That goes back to the place where we're talking about
finding our best football is finding that consistent football that
shows up drive in and drive out with Jac.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
Cleared and Ray to come back through.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Do you think there's is there any common.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Thread on his interception numbers this year, guy who hasn't
had those kind of production numbers.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, it's attention to detail, and it's really you know,
this is attributed to his study habits, the way that
he watches film, the way he prepares himself and looks
at who's at what spot, information, what's the split taking
in the D and D and all those things that
come with just being out there playing with your teammates
and trusting your eyes, trusting your feet. And you know
what I've seen of JC, he's got incredible hands. And
(06:08):
you know, I've even flirted with the thought of, like
shoot in an end of game scenario and you got
a jump ball, why not put JC out there and
try to get up there and affect the game that
way too, because of his ability to track the ball
and to come up with those catches. But it's all
just paying off because of the work he's been putting.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
In what will Claude's will be Sundays.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Claude's got to be ready to roll. You know, we
got Christian rose Boom back this week as well. Claude
will be definitely playing a lot of special teams, but
he's got to be ready to contribute on defense as well.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
He showed us some stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
He showed us he can help this team win, and
if he gets called upon, we'll be excited to see
him have another opportunity out there.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
See you guys step up, specifically on defense. I know
Eaj's gonna handle the rotations and stuff, but when a
guy steps up and you have to two starters, I
know inside linebackers, you're normally not taking them off the field,
but how do you can you manufacture opportunities for them
in certain packages.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I've seen that done across the league in different ways
where maybe a guy is a little bit more of
a rundown player. Danny Stetsman for the Saints, he's mixing
in there some for Pete Warner in some different spots,
and they have three really good linebackers. They like to
try to get out there on the field. So it's
just great to bring that up because we're playing the
Saints this week, and so you know, there are opportunities
that way, and these are good, These are good things
(07:24):
for us as a staff to evaluate. The bye week
gave us a chance to kind of look at some
of the other spots to see who can we get involved,
who can get out there to see if they can
impact the game in.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Great designations this week. So yeah, I seem to be
training in the right direction that way. Saw Rob Hant
out there again today. Just looking at his week so far,
does it feel like he's closer potentially on that window open?
Maybe next week or the week after.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
That, every week closer.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
We will reevaluate that on Monday Tuesday and just see
where he's at from a strength standpoint. And then, of course,
the biggest thing for the offensive line or any interior
lineman defense or offense is how much you use your
arms your upper body when the when the picture changes,
when a defensive lineman you know, runs a stunt. You know,
(08:06):
we got to make sure that you know, the arms
extended away from your body, that's got to be the
most strong and possible place so that you're you're safe
in that and you're powerful in that position, and and
really that's the next thing out there for him. So
we're going to continue to you know, push that and
make sure we'll get him out there when he's ready.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Brad kind of brought up Damian Lewis's paunch and like
how he's been able to kind of handle pass, pass
protection and run stopping in your eyes since he was
a rookie in twenty twenty twenty, how much has he grown?
But also why is he having such a successful season.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
He's always been an incredible athlete, and he's got length,
you know, for being a six to three guy, not
the tallest, you know, sometimes you have your guard six
five sixty six in that, but he's got great length
and he's incredibly quick, So he matches quickness.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
He's a big man too, and so he can anchor
when you got a bigger guy who might you know,
be a little bit taller than him, he can still
anchor and find that. But what I've seen from d Luz,
he's seen a lot of football and a lot of
different combinations at this point, even speaking to like some
of the veteran quarterbacks that I've worked with, try to
remind these guys, you've seen it all. You've seen every stunt,
You've seen every pressure that can happen, You've seen different
(09:18):
body types in there, and Damien just really leaning on
his experience and he cares. He cares so much about
this team. He cares about winning. He's a great teammate.
He's picks and chooses when he speaks, but when he
does it comes from the heart with a lot of passion,
and that's what I love about De lou.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
He is nad more farther ahead than Rob in terms
of return to play.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
We're going to try to get David out there tomorrow sorry,
next week, and open up his window to practice in
a mode to see if he can handle being out
there running round. He's been running because it's an elbow injury,
so he's at top speeds. He looks great, but again
it kind of goes to the same part of it.
He's going to be blocking. He's a special teams player
as well, so we've got to make sure that he's
(10:00):
strong enough, stable enough to be ready for the impact.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
M
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