On his approach this week with the first cut deadline tomorrow: “That’s always tough. We already had to make a couple of tough decisions. These that are out here working their rear off and giving it everything that they’ve got, you’re always mindful of that and appreciate that, but it is a hard business. I think everything from our standpoint is two-fold, number one, ‘How do we get ourselves ready for San Francisco?’ And then also continue to evaluate who is going to be on this roster, who we think can make this roster and help us win. I think that’s the focus this week.” On how different his clock management will be from preseason games to regular season games: “To me, that was about getting (David) Blough a couple of throws or see if we could, see if we could score a touchdown in a tight red. Ordinarily, would have milked those timeouts out of our opponent. It was kind of one of those – that was my first inclination and I was like, ‘Hey, man, Blough’s going pretty good here, we’re moving the ball a little bit. Let’s see if we can find a way to get it in the end zone or get some throws.’ Certainly, you’d rather not get a throw to where it goes out of bounds, even if you are trying to be more aggressive. That’s on me. That’s not them. It was, ‘I’m trying to get a look on these guys,’ all of us. The benefit is if you don’t get it, then your defense is in a two-minute, which is what happened at the end and you get another look at those guys under a high-stress situation, some of those young players. It’s tough because you are, you want to win the game, but you are also trying to evaluate these guys under certain circumstances. That’s really what the focus was, I guess, if you will.” On if he needs to practice game-like decisions with the assistant coaches or if he feels confident in their operation: “No. We do those in the walkthroughs. We’ll be amping a lot of that stuff up over the next couple of weeks. We’ll have things to go off of. We’ll give them a four-minute, two-minute today, a couple of different segments. It is important, but that was one of those – the first thing I said over the headset was like, ‘Ordinarily, we would milk these timeouts, but let’s throw it.’ On what he saw on the Bills’ first touchdown from RB Devin Singletary: “It was a busted coverage is what happened there. That was a player that knows better. He’s normally on it and he missed it. (Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG talks about that all of the time, we all do, it’s like, ‘Man, you had one breakdown and those things happen.’ That’s what you don’t – if you’re going to give up a big play – not a big play, but if you’re going to give up a touchdown, make them earn it, make the opponent have to earn it all the way down. You don’t want something off of an MA, missed assignment to where they benefit from it. Make them go the long, hard way.” On how LB Jahlani Tavai has progressed over training camp: “He’s a smart guy. He works at it. He puts everything out that he has into it. I think there are certain things he does well. He’s really a hammer. Particularly, he’s probably a first, second down inside linebacker. So, there are things he can do and I think it’s up to us to put him in the best situation to have success, too. So, it’s two-fold. He does everything you ask him to do and he gives it everything that he has got.” On what he thinks LB Shaun Dion Hamilton can do on special teams: “He’s been playing pretty good football. There are things – we try to get a few more looks on special teams that didn’t work out like we wanted. We wanted a little bit more, but certainly he’s a guy since spring, we have had our eye on. We really like him a lot.” On T Penei Sewell’s progression throughout training camp: “There are a number of things. I mentioned this before, but I just his ability to adjust, it really shows up, the way he’s grown. There are things that he gets beat on the day before that, it’s not happening the next day or the next rep. Just to be able to go out there and face a new opponent, like the other day, he didn’t throw his hands like he had been and then you see him in the next rep and he does it. I just think that he is a really good athlete, he’s got the right mindset, he’s all business, he’s aggressive, but he’s also able to adapt quickly, especially for a rookie. Because he has the talent and the want to and the knowledge and to work at it, he’s able to adjust pretty quickly, which is good. It’s a good thing.” On if anything surprised him in his first game as head coach: “You know what? Not really. There was so much of it that was about just getting a look at these guys. There were a number of times where I’m in it, but I tried to force myself out of the moment a little bit just to watch the player. There was a couple of times where I just watched Julian (Okwara), ‘I’m just going to do nothing but watch him this play.’ I watched (Penei) Sewell. I watched (Jared) Goff or (Tim) Boyle, watched (Derrick) Barnes. You’re not able to do that in a normal game, but knowing it was preseason, just to really, with your own eyes, watch this player for the full rep, see what they’re doing, that was pretty cool. It wasn’t quirky, but that’s probably something a little bit different. There was nothing that was – for me, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t – I took it for what it was, which was about evaluation of these players and trying to build the best roster.” On his impressions of G Logan Stenberg since padded practices started: “I think he was listening, I guess. Since then, I would say over the last three practices and it continued into the game, it feels like he’s starting to turn the corner a little bit. He’s done some good things. He had a couple of fundamental issues in the game, but overall, you feel like, ’OK, this last week he’s beginning to grow a little bit.’ It’s encouraging. That’s what we need from him. He is still young and still learning, but to feel like you’re starting to see the improvement is encouraging.” On how RB Jamaal Williams converting first downs on third-and-short set the tone against the Bills: “I think it says a lot. To know that you have a guy that if it’s anywhere in that range, he’s going to find a way to puncture the line of scrimmage and get you a first down, not only does that give you confidence as a play caller and a head coach, it gives the offensive line a lot of confidence. Sometimes, those guys subconsciously it happens and they need that a little bit, but to know that, ‘As long as I can get on this guy and I can cover whatsoever and just hold on here a little bit, Jamaal will find a way to get this first down.’ I think you do gain a lot of confidence as an offense. It certainly would make you much more likelier or confident about going on a third-and-one or fourth-and-one to know a guy is going to be able to find a way to do it.” On if RB D’Andre Swift and DE Levi Onwuzurike will practice today: “They’re not going to practice today. Swift, we’re planning on trying to get back out here hopefully tomorrow on a limited basis. Levi will be out here. He will be limited, but he will do individual work and a couple of team reps and then we’ll start to progress him. So, hopefully in the morning he gets a little bit more and were on the up-and-up. So, tis was kind of the week we we’re waiting on Levi to start going here. Everything checked out, so it’s time to get him his work. There again, hopefully Swift is feeling better tomorrow and we can progress him in practice.” On if he has made any additional roster cut decisions yet: “No that was it. There was one we were talking about. That’s why I was late. We were talking about one that we haven’t done yet. Obviously, those talks are already in the works between (Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and myself. It’s beginning – trying to think a million different ways to what you’re going to do.” On how often he breaks down film with the players: “You’ll break some of those up. There will be some things that pop up throughout this week I will show. I let the coordinators handle that this week as it pertains to each side of the ball, but when there are things that pop up that we need to see as a team, they can be good plays, bad plays, negative plays, game situation, I’m going to start putting those into my team meeting to start everything. It’s been hard to do as much as you want to do to this point because you’re trying to get everything in schematically, you’re trying to watch your practice tape. Those things will be noted. We’ll start incorporating those.” On if he will game plan for Saturday’s preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers more than he did than the preseason game against the Bills: “We will. We’ll game plan more than we did versus Buffalo. It won’t be a full-out game plan, but they’ll have enough in their toolbox to go work. Then certainly when we get ready for the Colts next week, there will be a little bit more than there was this week.” On practice times changing to later in the day to mimic the regular season schedule: “It’s kind of altered. We’re going to end up – we’ll have more of these kind of afternoon practices. So, it’s beginning to evolve into an in-season schedule somewhat, but we’ll still have kind of the later nights behind it. We’ll go more on this mode of where we meet in the morning and practice in the afternoon so they begin to go that way. As far as the nature of where we’re at, we’re still in camp and we’re still going to get our work in.” On if he is building confidence in K Randy Bullock: “Yes, absolutely. That’s a good thing to see him get in there. Even though they weren’t very long, to know that he got in there and nailed those – certainly we’d like to put him under a little more stress as we get closer here, whether it’s in practice or games, but that’s encouraging. It’s good to see.” |
