Monday, October 7, 2019
(Opening statement) “Met with the team this morning. The first thing we talk about when we first get the team together is obviously turnovers. With the three turnovers, when you’re minus three, it’s about a seven percent chance of winning. We had an opportunity. A lot of times with the three turnovers, the average defeat is like 14 points, and we pulled it in and had an opportunity at the end to tie the game or take the lead and we fell short. And then looking back, one of the points of emphasis was explosive plays, not giving up explosive plays, and we ended up giving up nine of them. I think those nine plays totaled two hundred and seventy something yards. Conversely, offensively, we had about 10 of them, so that was a good situation. Then when you look at it, obviously, they kept running the same type of, two different types of plays over and over. And at the end of the day, we’ve got to do a better job coaching the fundamental part of it. Looking in the backfield, looking at things, getting knocked out of our gaps. Not being in the gap or filling it the proper way. [It’s] not a lack of effort from the players, they’re really playing hard. It’s just a matter of, really talking about it this week about, ‘Hey, let’s get back to the fundamentals. Let’s get back to the little details. Those are the things that correct the issues that we’re having. It’s not schemes, it’s not replacing guys, it’s not anything like that. Sometimes as complicated as the game is, the answers are simple. Fundamentals, techniques. Placing our hands, staying in our gap. Being tight to things. Those are the things that we’re going to have to do a better job of.’ Coaching it and then obviously performing it.”
(On the injury status of TE James O’Shaughnessy) “James had a terrible knee injury, an ACL [injury]. It’s really unfortunate. He was doing a lot of really good things for us, really coming along. So, he’ll probably be placed on IR at some point. And we don’t have to make any decisions today, so we’ll probably work some guys out and then make a decision of where we are, as far as what we want to do with that position.’
(On where TE Josh Oliver is with returning from his hamstring injury) “I think we’re at that same point where we were when we kind of needed to work with him more. I hate to say it, it’s going to be day-to-day. He’s going to be listed as questionable, but obviously it would be a big help for us if we can get him back on the field playing. And I think we’ll know more with some of the strength testing and things in the next couple days and see where he is on Wednesday.”
(On if he is concerned with the amount of low hits QB Gardner Minshew II is taking) “Well, I would hope that everyone’s doing what they’re supposed to do and those are penalties for hitting him low. I think you get concerned when things are happening to your team that aren’t getting called. And obviously those things, we have the ability to turn them in, make people aware of it prior to. But it’s the same thing, during the course of the game, you like to see that stuff get called and make sure that player safety is the number one thing that we harp on and we talk about. So, that’s the one thing that we should be doing well.”
(On if WR DJ Chark Jr. ceases to amaze him) “As a coach I think you have high expectations of all of your players. I think that DJ [Chark Jr.] has high expectations of himself. I think he’s worked extremely hard and it always goes back to that. People can only see just the on-field performance. And then last year, you can have an opinion on how you felt about him, obviously, he would have liked to have played better. And then you look at a player that goes in the offseason and really works hard and does a lot of things to better himself, better his game, feels comfortable. Coming out of college, knows how to work during the week and rest his body, get himself prepared and I would say that he’s taking advantage of all that. He’s playing well for us. We’re happy that he’s playing well and he’s playing with an air of confidence about him and it’s something that we hope to continue each week.”
(On if he agrees with Marcell Dareus in thinking the defense was out-schemed yesterday) “We’ll, I can’t speak for Marcell [Dareus]. It’ll be interesting to see what they say after they’ve watched the film and it was talked about. What I saw was, collectively, we’ve just got to do a better job. It’s like everything else – everyone knows we’re an eight-man front defense. It’s not giving away anything. So, every gap should be secured, and every gap should be filled, and gaps should be played. And if that’s not happening, I take it upon myself to make sure that I put a big emphasis on it on practice. I can do a better job of that. The assistant coaches that are coaching those positions, ‘Get those players what they’re supposed to do and how they should do it,’ and then the players doing it. So, I’m not going to say I disagree with his statement, because I don’t know exactly where it’s coming from, but I would say that collectively, all of us really, it’s not just one position. It’s not defensive linemen, linebackers, safeties; we all have to do a better job. It’s not one coach, it’s all of us.”
(On what caused the first fumble in the Week 5 game at Carolina) “I think Gardner [Minshew II] needs to, looking at it today, just needs to seat the ball better. I think the ball, when he opened, the ball was out there. I thought that Seth [DeValve] took a good step to clear it. Those are the things that obviously you don’t want to have happen and we’ll make it a point of emphasis, as well as with the ball security for Gardner, because obviously he’s upset about that. He’s trying out there, he’s trying to make plays, which is great. You can see he does a good job with ball security, he’s aware of it, and then the ball came out late and the ball gets knocked out, so we just have to do a better job of that.”
(On Andrew Norwell getting pushed back to cause a fumble and his evaluation of the interior of the offensive line) “Yeah, I thought that at times, there’s a lot of plays that you like to take back. And I think, especially with the offensive lineman, I’ll talk specifically about Andrew [Norwell], is that when a guy has a bad play, it’s going to be a really bad play. People are going to notice it. They don’t notice all the good [plays] that happen during the game a lot of times. I’ve always said that before. When I was an [offensive] line coach, I used to say all the time, ‘You can dominate someone for 70 plays, but give up three sacks, and it’s the worst game you’ve ever played.’ But in saying that, I think that’s a good illustration of what happened. I think that when you have a bad play, it was a really bad play, and I’m sure Andrew would want it back, like we all would. And there’s other players, too, other linemen, other players on that field that would like to have those plays back.”
(On how close LB Jake Ryan is to returning to the field) “I don’t know that answer.”
(On if Ryan is not overly close to returning) “I haven’t asked for an update, so I don’t want to make it [look] like there’s no communication or anything. If anything, that’s my fault, but I’ll ask and then next time I’ll have a better answer for you. I just haven’t asked, but that’s down the road, so I’m not really on top of it.”
(On if Ryan’s return is not imminent) “Yeah, it’s not imminent.”
(On if CB Jalen Ramsey has seen a back specialist yet and if he has a report on it) “No, I think we’ll get it tonight. Did he see [the specialist] today? Yes. I think we’ll have the report later tonight, at least from the doctor, so we’re just waiting for that information to come.”
(On if the hope is that Ramsey’s back issue will stop lingering soon) “Yeah. Hopefully [we’ll] try to get it figured out, that’s why he went to see a specialist.”
(On what in-game adjustments a team can make when they see an offense using the same one or two plays) “Well I can tell you this; it’s easier to make adjustments when you’re being out-leveraged. And sometimes by formation, we try to do it offensively, you try to gain leverage somehow on the defense, and that’s why you see defenses will switch a couple fronts or play different types of coverages and get extra guys down there. When you don’t feel like you’re getting out-leveraged and you’re not being able to control all the gaps, and they’re good enough to find them, the running backs, there’s not much you can do without exposing – really putting oneself in harm’s way. So, that’s why I said before that a lot of times, a lot of people will go to, ‘Well, hey, we have to play this,’ or, ‘We have to do something different,’ or, ‘We have to change,’ or ‘We have to go three-four.’ There’s a lot of people that are going to say those things, but at the end of the day, it’s very simple. Everyone has a gap; everybody has a responsibility in every one of those defensive fronts. And in every one of those fronts, if you’re out of that gap, or you’re not filling it the proper way and these running backs are good enough to hit the hole, you’re going to give up plays, and that’s what we did. It goes back to those explosive plays, because there’s other times where we do do a good job. And that’s just everyone where they should be and that’s what they should do. So, we’re all in it together. I mean, we’re all working hard. Like I told the team today, obviously, they’ve shown a resiliency about themselves, but, ‘Hey, listen, let’s go out there and let’s play. Let’s play to where we’re not always having to show that coming back-type of resiliency. We’ve got a difficult team coming in, a team that obviously I have a background with. I have a ton of respect for them, we have another great running back coming in. A lot of the same type of style that Christian McCaffrey had, and he just hurt us, so we’ve got another big challenge this week.’ But our players, today were looking at the film, and going through it and we as coaches are going again. And when they come back, like I said before, we’re going to really focus in on those small little details that somehow got away from us, whether it’s from the coaching aspect or the performance aspect.”
(On how DE Yannick Ngakoue is playing after dealing with the hamstring injury) “I think you said it the right way, he was battling through some things, which is obviously appreciated. We have a lot of players right now battling through little things; you see them on the injury report when they’re limited. But yeah, I’m fine, I mean he’s doing a good job and he’s working his butt off. He’s giving us everything he has, and that’s the one thing. It’s easy to say, ‘Hey listen, we need to do this or do that, replace, whatever,’ but when guys are giving you everything they have, then we have to do a better job as coaches.”
(On how D.J. Hayden is feeling after playing through a foot injury and if he’s impressed with his play from yesterday) “I saw D.J. today and I told him, I said, ’I know we’re professionals and I understand everything, but I really appreciate you going out there and performing at a high level.’ And he played well. To a point where he was questionable, 50-50, I didn’t know which way it was going to go, I really didn’t. And he’s like, ‘Hey, I’m playing, I’m ready to go.’ He went out there [and] he played well. He’s played very well for us, he really has. Again, this week he’ll probably start off as limited and we’ll see where he is at the end of the week.”
(On if it surprised him that Hayden almost tracked down McCaffrey on his 84-yard TD run) “No, our guys are giving the effort and we just have to do a better job coaching them, I really do. You get around this game long enough, really nothing surprises you no matter what happens.”
