Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Just a couple updates on practice. So Bo Collins won't
go today planning in folds and not cho and caveon
everyone else be up or open up and Neil as well.
So he'll be out there today.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It'd be good to see him.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
At this point, all right, he's ready to roll. Good
to get him out there and get some get some
work out. Well, you know in.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Practice, who's going to be kicking for you this week?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Is it going to be Ben?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Well? Yeah, right now, Ben, Ben'll be'll be rolling today.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
You guys exploring bringing someone in?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Well, I mean that's the discussions that we got to
have right now. Ben's we're confide at what Ben has.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Mike, you've you've been around for this game a long time.
I mean to go through you have that he would
be your eighth kicker or if anyone that hasn't cared
for since the start of two years ago. Is it
as a coach, how do you look at that? How
do you describe it? Bad luck? Is it bad planning?
How do you see?
Speaker 5 (00:58):
No?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I think it's a great opppportunity for for Ben, for
him to step up and go kick for our team.
It's opportunity for him we've we've dealt with injuries, and
injuries happened all across the league, so there's you know,
there's no excuses to that. Like it happens at every position, quarterbacks,
O line, D line, You see it across the league.
You see it across each team. So it's just another
opportunity for Ben to go step up.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
For us going.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Jamie will get some work today. Yeah, we'll get some
work today.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
And Gunnard did he clear?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
He cleared? Yes, he did.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
We came on obviously. Is there any change as far
as like thinking about shutting him down? Just been like
four or five games now.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
No change yet. He's still he's still he's still working hard.
So at some point we'll make a decision. But right
now he's just working through it, and you know, there's
some comfortability he has to get through, but he's working
hard at it.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I'm sorry, sorry, Will that come before this upcoming game or.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
We're just stayed by day right now? Like there's no
hard deadline on it. We're just kind of working through it.
If he feels good and the doctors clear him, then
he'll be out.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
There is a strength issue or is it the ability
to be able to sustain hits, Like what at what
point are you guys at with what he needs to
show you.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
I'm not going to get in too much of the
details for like that specific, but when Kavon is working
his tail off to get ready, whenever he's the strength
and whatever all the information, and whenever he feels good
and we all feel confident about it and the doctors
clear him, then he'll be up a lot of times.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Later in a season like this, when the team's out,
they might get some younger guys opportunity to play early
evaluation to see.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Them actually in games.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
With Evan, I know he's not the youngest guy, but
he hasn't played as much new position at guard. I mean,
is your thought process at all getting him on the
field to evaluate him there or is it just practice
and see where he is?
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I hope that's not really in the thought process. We
got five guys that are playing their butt off right
now for us, and we're not looking to make any changes.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Mike. I know, facing Brian Flora's defense is a challenge
for any quarterback. Is there any differences in those challenges
when it's a young quarterback like Jackson kind of seeing
a Flora's defense.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
For the first Yeah, no, he's gonna He's gonna present
you with a bunch of different looks, coverages, max blitzes,
max coverage, so drop eight cover zero. I think one
of the most important things that we, you know, we've
got to look at and study is you know, they
get back on track calls. You know what I've done,
what he's done, how he wants to handle that, you know,
whether it's by personnel groups, whether it's by concepts and scheme.
(03:20):
Where can I be aggressive? Where's he going to be aggressive?
So I think that'll be you know, a touch point
for us as we go through the week.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
With the defense that is so aggressive, does that give
you opportunities? I mean, obviously we know the drawbacks for
an offense, but if they're going to be aggressive, can
you take advantage of certain situations if you get the
right look.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that's just everyone being on the
same page and you know, having to operate. And again,
he's going to show Bloe zero looks. He's gonna show
blue zero looks, then pop out and play coverage behind it.
So having the answers either built into the play call,
having the answers built into our system. And then just
the communication across the boards is you have to be
really good because they present a bunch of different personnel
(03:59):
packages as well, so you have to find a way
to kind of isolate certain things. You have to find
a way to to continue to play fast and operate
at a high level.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
How aggressive he is. Is there anything you can do
before the headsets cut off before snap to help Jackson
with what he's seeing.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Absolutely, And that's that's part of that, just the coach,
the quarterback communicator and talking him through, Yeah, here's you know,
here's the play. You know, don't forget about this, think
about this if you get this look. So it's just
it's just like kind of the normal talk that that
we have. And even if it's just not a type
of look, you know, where I'm always just giving him
some reminders, just open to that dialogue because I do
have the opportunity to do that. So I want to
(04:36):
maximize as much time as I can talk to him.
And he I think he likes it. He likes that feedback,
that constant talk is he's seeing the same thing and
sometimes he sees something that I'm seeing, but he's like,
I I got I got this one under control, or
or even you know, have an adjustment of his own
that he liked a little bit better. So that's that's
but that's built up through the week, and then it
carries over into the game.
Speaker 6 (04:58):
When the commanders were preparing for you guys and Jackson,
you know, they were heard on hard Knock saying, we
can take the ball off him. What do you think
of that? What do you think of his ball security?
And you know that's obviously a huge thing for any
rookie quarterback.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, it's something we emphasize every single week. And Jackson
does a really good job holding on to the football
and being a runner and protecting himself and you know,
I think all those things as we continue to work
on them, not just with Jackson, but all the skill guys.
And this group that we're playing this week is one
of the best or top three in the league in
terms of turnovers, fumbles, fumble recoveries. So they do a
(05:32):
great job punch out the football. So we got to
have drills and we got to have an intent on
each day in practice here to make sure we get
that cleaned up and make sure we're excellent on the
game day.
Speaker 6 (05:39):
With all that emphasis and everything. And you know, there's
been so much talk around Jackson, with Jackson about running, protecting,
all this other stuff. I mean, you are We're a quarterback,
You're around quarterbacks. I mean, is it all too much?
I mean, is it like you're going to emphasize what
he needs to do? But is there a narrative with
Jackson that you think is just getting completely over belong
(06:00):
with this stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I don't necessarily listen to the narratives out there. I
just me and Jackson talk each day. We talk about
what's important for his job, what's important for the offense,
how he's gonna lead it, how he's gonna operate throughout
the week, how I can help him be an asset
for game day. And then really the most important thing
is just today. What's our objectives today? It's first second down,
it's the two minute, it's blitz emphasis, right, So those
(06:24):
are the things that we're operating with, and those are
things that we talk about on daily. You know, don't
get too bogged down with all the other stuff. Is
all right, let's focus on what we can control today
in the workday.
Speaker 6 (06:33):
You sense any confusion or trepidation or hesitation in him.
You know, you talk all the time with him about
all this about should I shouldn't? I can just go
out and play. People tell me I should do this,
that kind of stuff. I'm sure you talk about that
a lot with him.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, I don't sense that. I sense a really aggressive
player that's continuing to learn and grow and you know,
build an offense around him, and he's taking all that
in and he's making his own and putting his fingerprint
on it.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
Admitute after the game he didn't really understand quite clearly
why he was taken out of the game. You guys
obviously talked to the league every week. What have they
told you about that?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
You know, I'm not going to get it. I'm not
going to get into like the injury stuff in the
and the rest. But that was their decision. And again,
like I said on Monday, you know, they got to
make a decision in the betterment for the betterment of
the players. If they feel like a guy has got
dinged up, then they got to make that call. And
you know, I respect it. It's all for player safety
and so I support it. Ford. Obviously, you don't want
(07:28):
a guy to ever come out of the game. But
if it's because it's for a reason that they think
is someone's hurt. Then we get them looked at and
we get them back into the game, and that's just
another opportunity for another guy on our team to step
up and go make the play while he's out.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
Ask you, because reality is they've called now four times
for him to be checked. All four of those times
he actually, you know, pass. Is there anything you guys
can do, because like every time he has to come
up the field, you guys have to you know, you're
changing quarterbacks in the middle of drives, in the middle
of the place. Is there anything you guys can do
about that to sort of prevent this from happening?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
You know what?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I don't. I don't know because every week is a
is a new week in terms of the refs and
how they see it. And again, football is a violent game,
so it's all up to interpretation of the refs. Again,
I respect it, I understand the whys behind it, but
you know, I think just that communication and understand like
they got to make a judgment call like split second decisions,
just like the players do within the play. And again,
(08:23):
those are things that just come up. We live with
it and That's why we have great quarterbacks and great
depth at our positioned so those guys can step up
and great trust in Jamis and rest to go and
do that.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Mike, how would you assess obviously you guys miss Malikue,
But how would you assess how the offense has looked
as a whole without him? Obviously, Jackson's played well, Wandel's
playing one thousand yards and you're tired and you stepped up.
How would you assess how this offense has looked without
a league Not say he's not important, but just stepping
up without him as a whole.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah, I think I think everyone everyone, not just the
receiver room, but the running back room, you know, in
terms of Scott, the old line room, stepping up the quarterback,
I mean the whole collective. And that's just the comp
that's a you know, a comprom to our our coaching
staff and those guys getting them to rally around each other,
the players getting to rally around each other. I'm just
really proud of that group for stepping up, regardless of
(09:08):
the injuries, regardless of the situation, continuing to fight, continuing
to battle, coming in and having rock Star walkthroughs and
having installations that open up great dialogue and communication between
the coaches and the players to really make sure we're
all on the same page. And so I'm proud of
the group. We have a bunch of great leaders. You know,
you hit on Wandell and Slayton, but you can go
down the list of you know, Andrew Thomas, GVR, you
(09:31):
know Runyon JMS, you know, I mean, illumin or these
are all leaders on this on that front, that front
five that that stand out to me, you know what
I mean. And I'm proud of those guys, Like these
guys step up when when there's an opportunity for them
to step up and make a play days that they've
made them And again I can't express so much I appreciate.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
That on that don't mentioned the leaders you mentioned obviously,
just you know, you guys have been in these games
and just haven't gone the way you wanted to. How
pleased are are you with how the guys have competed,
even though for example, the first half doing those roles
you wanted second id guests play better. How impressive you've
been with how the guys have competed during this leads
for even though the winds haven't come.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, I think the main goal is to win. You know,
we want to we want to win, and there's no
there's no substitute for that. I think the guys are
playing their tails off. I appreciate that. We've got to
continue to find a way, continue to push this a
little bit more. Where's our edge that we can find
to get ourselves over the hump to win a game?
And that's things that we're stressing though. Whether it's fundamentals right,
(10:31):
whether it's scheme, whether it's matchups, those are things that
we're going to evaluate and continue to try and grow from.
But yeah, I mean I think, yes, all that stuff
is right. We're battling, we're playing hard. That's good. We're
going to need that. We need more of that to win.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
Obviously, you guys did a lot of work on JJ
McCarthy when he was coming out of the draft last year.
What did you see from him then and when you're
watching the film, what do you see from him now?
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I really enjoyed my time with him and working with
working them out and getting to know him over the
course of really sharp kid, great kid, with cool personality.
Obviously he's having some production right now. He's doing a
nice job of, you know, kind of managing that game
and own owning how they're operating on offense and you know,
getting a ball to those playmakers. He's operating fast and aggressive.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
What do you mean by his personality.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
He's got a unique personality, like it. Not every I
think he's got it, just kind of a laid back chill,
But when the lights turn on and when the ball's
out there, rolls out there like he kind of he
flips a little bit of the switch and it's the
cool cool to watch that