SAFETY ANDRE CISCO
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2024
(On the Colts’ last two scoring drives in Week 5) “Yeah, from my perspective, it’s about
getting him [Colts WR Alec Pierce] on the ground at the end of the day. We were playing
obviously a coverage where he’s coming from my side of the field, so I could have been
much better on that, really just making sure that I was staying inside of the receiver. It
would just give me a better chance to make a play downfield. So that’s kind of how that
went.”
(On what he sees from Bears QB Caleb Williams) “I would say he definitely has a lot of great
talent and great tools and great confidence in the pocket. So, I’d say that’s a little bit
different as a rookie. He’s really confident scrambling, really confident escaping the rush
and blitzers and he doesn’t really panic with pressure in his face. So, I would give him hats
off to his pocket presence as a young quarterback. Obviously, there’s a lot there for him to
grow if I was to be critical, but I would say he looks like a number one pick.”
(On how much the Bears’ veteran receivers have helped Williams) “Helps a ton. I think
especially with [Bears WR] D.J. Moore, he’s a yards-after-catch guy. So that’s what you
want. It helps him not only with confidence, but he knows he can give his guy a five-yard
route and he can make the most of it. So, he has a great receiving core, a great tight end
core as well.”
(On where he’s seen the most improvement from TE Brenton Strange) “I’ve always been
high on Strange since day one. I knew him, was fairly familiar with him while he was at Penn
State. When he got here, he’s always been extremely athletic and attacked the ball well. So,
I feel like just consistent growth and maybe just settling into the pro level a little bit better.
But overall, I feel like he’s always been who he was and I’m glad people are getting a chance
to see it.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR PRESS TAYLOR
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2024
(On what he’s seen from Bears DE Montez Sweat) “ Played against him when he got into
Washington in the NFC East, when we were in Philadelphia, tons of length. He’s got a
variety of pass rush moves, but he’s able to affect the quarterback. What he’s done really
well since he’s been there is take the football away. That’s something they do really well as
a defense. I spent a year with Coach Eberflus [Chicago Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus] in
Indianapolis as well and he preaches it. I mean, watching them practice, the way they go
after the football, calls it their shots on goal, that type of stuff. That is something that
they’ve been very good at from his time as a defense coordinator across the league. So
[Bears DE] Montez Sweat is just another guy that adds to that, honestly. They do a great job
in coverage. So now providing another dangerous pass rush element on top of how they
play in the back end and how well they defend the pass. Obviously, that’s a challenge for
us.”
(On what he’s seen from the interior offensive line) “They’ve done a good job, and they’ve
had some tough matchups. I mean, we feel like [Colts DT] Grover Stewart from the Colts is
as good as a lot of these interior pass rush guys, just players in general, as there was. So, to
do what they did against him as well, that’s hats off to them. In this league, what you did
last week doesn’t matter. So, it’s about continuing to show up and perform and do your job
at the highest level.”
(On how Matt Eberflus’ defense has evolved from his time in Indianapolis) “Yeah, I got a
chance to work with a lot of that staff that went with him to the Bears. I think they’re a little
bit more of the Cover 2, Rod Maranelli, Monte Kiffin that he kind of grew up in, probably in
Indy. They’ve evolved a little bit more. There’s a little bit more single-high. There’s still
varieties of shell, whether it’s two, four, you know, quarter-quarter, half, all the different
things they play. So, you see a little bit of that, but you also see the prototypes he’s looking
for, the linebacker mold that he looks for. Then as they built the defensive end of these, kind
of the old school monsters of the midway, just big guys. Then you’re starting to see a little
bit of prototype, at least in the back end with the safeties, too. So, you’ve kind of watched
him develop the identity of this defense and that fits the mold of what he’s really looking for
as a defensive coordinator.”
(On where he sees improvement in the run game) “I think it’s like anything. We’re going to
evolve as the season goes and every game is different based on the matchups, the
presentation from the defense, where they’re playing man or they’re playing zone or the
high-pressure team, but also the game script dictates a lot of how you’re going to play. We
were very efficient on first and second down the other day, able to kind of stay in those
manageable, normal-down, distant situations where, some games we’ve been behind, and
you end up throwing the ball a lot more or you’re not as efficient on first down. You’re in a
lot of these second long situations where, you know, a four-yard run may not be as
beneficial to you on second and 10 as say second and five. So, there’s a lot of those
situations where I thought we were just very efficient with whatever we did, whether it was
the quick-pass game, the screen game we had the other day against the Colts as well. It
was just staying on track, and then it helps you want to stick with the run game because it
was honestly, it was a grimy run game. We had two big runs that kind of broke it open and
set our numbers. But for the most part, I just thought we were pretty efficient. There weren’t
a lot of pretty ones. Tank [RB Tank Bigsby] kind of made that one happen late in the game.
The 19-yard touchdown, that was great. It lined up well for us. They were in a shell
coverage. We were in a bigger set. We did a great job getting the run started, and then
everybody just did a great job finishing the run. That was the cool part to see about that
particular play. But other than that, it was two yards here, three yards here, maybe four
yards here, but we were able to stick with it and finally break off those two big ones late.”
(On if TE Brenton Strange has exceeded his expectations) “Yeah, we’ve always thought
Brenton could be an impact player for our offense. Obviously he’s behind another very good
tight end in Evan [TE Evan Engram] and Evan has taken advantage of his role. Last season,
he was one of five tight ends in NFL history to have as many catches as he did. It’s a
crowded room in terms of, we have a lot of really good players in there. So, we certainly
expected when Brenton had more opportunity, he would be able to produce. And that’s
been true. Now, it’s on all of us to make sure that we’re continuing every single week to
maximize the matchups we had. If that’s involving multiple tight ends and a certain look to
get a certain thing out of a defense, then that’s what we’ll try to do. But like I mentioned
earlier, each week is its own beast. How are they going to play 12 personnel? How do you
play 12 personnel with Evan on the field? There’s all these different things you’re kind of
looking into. Then what does it give us? Does it give us an advantage in some way, shape or
form? Then we’ll try to lean into that a little more. And then how’s the game going as it
affects itself? But yeah, Brenton’s done a great job. He’s proved that he can handle
whatever workload comes each week.”
(On why he thinks rookie receivers have made more of an impact in the league recently) “I
think just obviously the game is heading more towards a passing league. I think that’s true
to say. The average number of yards per quarterback and stuff like that is, now you have
everybody throwing over 4,000 each season where that was not as common place back in
the day. I think part of that’s just the way these kids grow up now. I mean, these kids grew
up playing 7-on-7 forever. So, they’ve seen all these coverages. They’ve seen all these route
concepts to where there’s not as much surprising them or overwhelming them early in their
careers. But at the same time, I think it’s a credit to the kids that come out. They’re able to
handle a lot. Brian [WR Brian Thomas Jr.], you’d never know it, but Brian plays multiple
positions throughout the course of the game for us. He and Gabe [WR Gabe Davis] and
Christian [WR Christian Kirk] are constantly changing who they are in the huddle. And that’s
something nobody would ever notice, but it gives us so much flexibility as a coaching staff
to be able to kind of shrink the play call because we can just handle it with personnel
grouping. But that’s a credit to our guys, you can’t put that on everybody all the time. It
confuses people. It slows down their processing. With Brian, he hasn’t missed a beat in
terms of that. He’s the Z this play, he’s the X that play and there may be a handful he plays
the F for us. So that’s just a credit to him. But I think a lot of these kids now just come up
having thrown the ball a lot more, having run a lot more concepts through summer,
obviously in their college and high school careers as well.”
(On if the next step for Thomas Jr. is learning how to handle being the opposing defense
main focal point) “Yeah, I think that’s always a challenge for us as that comes in his career.
It’s on all of us to put him in the best possible position for him to be able to execute with
that. I think that’s probably more so a quarterback coordinator type answer for you, I guess,
of making sure that you have an effective player that can’t get taken away by a certain thing.
Now, I think we benefit from having a lot of really good skill players. So, if you’re going to
commit resources to doubling a certain receiver, well, we feel like we have the ability ideally
to run the ball if you’re playing shell coverages and things like that. You’re giving us a light
box too, now we have another matchup we get an opportunity to attack where you don’t
have as much help over the top possibly. So, it’s something that certainly that’s a good
problem to have if you have a really good player and teams have to commit multiple
resources to covering them and stopping them and taking them out of the game.”
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR RYAN NIELSEN
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2024
(On the defense in the last five minutes of Sunday’s game vs. Indianapolis) “Yeah, I mean,
that’s what—you look back at it, the game, we had the game, up two scores. We were
playing the two-minute situation, and we had a quarters call for that situation right there,
expecting the deep ball. Yeah, it could have been two-high right there. Then the second
one, we’re cloud to the boundary and we’re playing a quarter concept to the field. So yeah,
got to do a better job, make a better call and get off the field right there in that situation.”
(On if he’s ever experienced an offensive comeback so quickly) “Yeah, was not expecting
that at all. We were expecting the deep balls, but not the result of the play. So again, got to
make a better call and get off the field in those situations for sure.”
(On if he takes responsibility for the Colts’ late scoring drives) “Yeah, it’s on me. No, it’s not
on our players. It’s on me. 100 percent is on me.”
(On what it meant to him to see DE Travon Walker have a career game vs. Indianapolis) “I’ll
tell you, when you watch the game from the first pass rush to the last, he had a really good
pass-rush plan throughout, changing up his rushes with some power or some finesse on
the edge, running guys over, some up-and-under things. It was really impressive to watch.
His plan that he put together, he did a really good job with that and executed and finished.
So, when you look at the whole body of work, I mean, he played really well.”
(On what he’s seen from Bears QB Caleb Williams) “He’s a phenomenal athlete. I mean,
the balance, the pocket presence. He’s getting out of sacks all over the place and running
around and making plays with his feet. And then he can make every single throw. I mean,
the guy has got a cannon for an arm. He’s got some really good awareness, and he
continues to get better, like from the first game to the last game, you’ve seen the steady
growth of this player. It will be a good test.”
(On his evaluation of the safety play this season and the impact of S Tashaun Gipson Sr.’s
eventual return) “Yeah, I think we’ve had some really good moments. I think you look at the
first half of the Miami game, guys were all over the place, and then there’s just a few plays
here and there, the Cleveland game, I think, and even in Houston, at times guys are all over
the place. But then we’ve had some moments where it seems that we’ve just got to change
up some calls and get some guys in some better positions to make some plays. Again,
that’s on me. Got to make that happen for those guys and execute and play the full 60
minutes.”
(On the impact of CB Tyson Campbell returning from injury) “Getting him back is huge, and
when that happens, you’ll see him. I mean, window’s open, so he’ll be here next couple of
games. Really good player, talented, could cover anybody. I mean, it’s impressive the things
that he can do on the field. So, getting him back is a huge boost as any other player, you
don’t want to lose anybody, but getting Tyson back, it’ll be good to see him back on the field
with our defense.”
LINEBACKER DEVIN LLOYD
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2024
(On what stands out to him about Bears QB Caleb Williams) “Yeah, you can see his
progression every week, obviously. He has the arm talent, I think that’s why they drafted
him number one overall and then obviously his ability to extend plays and kind of create
things with his legs. He’s a little tougher than you would think to tackle, and just his ability
to extend plays, I think is what he’s best at.”
(On if five games are a sufficient sample size to scout Williams) “Yeah, I mean, you watch
some of his stuff from college too, but obviously that’s a different game. Five games are
more than enough, but the more the merrier. You still have good enough film to watch, for
sure.”
(On how much of a benefit it is for Williams to have a veteran receiving core) “Yeah, I think
it’s just good for the communication aspect as far as the veteran receivers telling him what
they see, just different areas to settle down and just kind of having that communication, I
think that helps them.”
JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville Jaguars have placed CB Tyson Campbell on the Reserve/Injured; Designated for Return List, the team announced today. Campbell was originally placed on the Reserve/Injured list on September 12, 2024.
