| October 30, 2020 Opening Statement: “We’re going to dive right into the Colts and just get rolling here. Obviously, another big day for us out at practice. We’ve got to go here. Really good Colts team coming into our building, and we want to play well. So, that’s where we’re at.” On if he has decided on CB Justin Coleman’s status for this week: “No decision at the current moment, no. We’re just going to get through practice today and then try to evaluate and make sure – see where everybody’s at.” On the Colts’ defense and what’s he’s seen from their ability to stop the big play: “Definitely some Cover-2, a little bit of Cover-4, and then the emergence of three-deep. Four-in and three-deep. So, a little bit of zone coverage there. They do mix in the man when they have to. Certainly, in situational football, too, you’ll get to the man stuff, and they’re doing a great job with their zone pressures. I think that’s a real good complement for them. I think in the backend, really, where you see the coverage – like I said, I think Xavier Rhodes is playing at a really high level right now. I think he’s moving quick, he’s fast, he’s long. He’s very smart. He knows when to jump routes, and he knows when to stay deep. So, I think that’s really kind of helped solidify the one side. “I think with (Kenny) Moore, he’s just an aggressive player, he tackles really well, he reads the quarterback. He plays well from really those high to low positions, and I think they’re doing a good job with him when they move him inside in the sub. So, I think they’re keeping everything in front of him, they’re doing a good job of driving the tackle. They’re not giving up those intermediates or the deep shots. I think I had talked about (Julian) Blackmon maybe earlier in the week – I think this guy has really done a good job in his range in the deep part of the field, especially when they’re getting in the middle of the field safety coverage of just kind of being able to play sideline to sideline and taking away the deep shots downfield. Rock Ya-Sin, he’ll come in and play the other side. He’s a big, long, athletic, fast corner. So, I think they’ve just got good speed back there. I think they’re taking away the intermediates with their depth of their linebackers and the drops, and they’re rallying and tackling, and I think one of the things that’s happening is that you see a lot of their defensive production really go up in the second half of the game, so their yardage goes down, the sacks go up, the INTs go up. I think at that point, certainly complementary football, which this team is doing a good job of, the balls are trying to go farther downfield, and the pass-rush is just getting there. I think those guys up front, when they can pin their ears back and go, I think they’re pretty dangerous – (Justin) Houston, (DeForest) Buckner, those guys can go.” On the biggest challenge of facing a team coming off a bye week and the challenge of facing an AFC opponent: “I think you hit it right on the head. I think guys that are coming off the bye week have obviously had the chance to go back and see the different things that they’re doing right now, whether there’s different areas that they’re going to change, improve, or throw, like you said, a couple new wrinkles in there. I think that’s always one part of the challenge of seeing a team of the bye week, plus I think obviously a team that’s rested is going to be able to come in and play fast and have some fresh legs underneath them from that standpoint, too. A little bit of extra rest. Plus, you know they have a little bit of an advantage from a game-plan and scouting standpoint. They’re ahead of us. They were able to start working on us last week, and we were trying to get ready for last week’s game. So, those are always kind of the challenges I think when you play a team coming out of a bye.” On Colts TE Mo Alie-Cox and what allows athletes to transition between sports: “Certainly Philip Rivers is used to that with Antonio Gates and having those tight ends. Mo Alie-Cox is huge. He’s just a giant. He’s long. I think the thing about him that’s deceptive is he’s big, he’s physical. When he gets rolling, you’ll see him catching some of those over-routes and in-cuts. He’s moving downfield, that’s a hard tackle now, too, on top of it. So I think he’s done a good job of transitioning. The one thing for him, where he has not shied away at all, is the physical part of the game, which I think is always the biggest question when you work out guys specifically in basketball going back to football. But I think those bigger guys are used to banging down in the paint, playing that sort of physical style game. You see him do that on tape. He will block, he will get open in the intermediate. He’s obviously a huge target. He has a great catch-radius, so when you get down in the red-(zone) area, that’s another issue from that standpoint – just his overall length. So you can see where he’s really developed. I would say his knowledge has gotten better in the game and really improved there. He’s a good player.” On what it means to the players that the team and the NFL has made voting an initiative this year: “I think it’s great. I think it’s great for us as coaches and guys who are always trying to influence and help younger men in the game of football to give them that alley, give them those resources, help educate on that and how important that it is to have those rights that we can go out and vote. Honestly, the best part for me is just seeing some of the excitement from the guys that maybe have voted for the first time. I think that’s the cool part. You see guys with that sort of excitement, and you know that’s going to carry forward. So that’s probably the coolest part of it. Probably not, I’ll probably keep (those names) private. But definitely very cool from that standpoint.” On what DE Romeo Okwara is bringing this year compared to last season: “Nothing off the top of my head. I would just say give him credit for everything he’s doing right now. I think he’s done a great job of just coming in ready to go and trying to get better every week. Like I said, he and Trey Flowers do a great job every single day of working against and with each other, just constantly pushing each other in that defensive end position. Just hoping he continues to play at that level. It’s great.” On if he wore a Star Wars costume for Halloween as a child: “I’m pretty sure I probably had a Darth Vader costume that I probably wore for 10 years. So yeah, it’s probably still at my parents’ house.” On the importance of winning at Ford Field: “I think for us, it’s about this week. Again, just stay in the moment. Let’s just try to do a great job this week. Let’s make sure we’re doing everything we can to give ourselves a chance to win. That’s really our focus right now is just: How do we improve this week? How do we go play well? We have a great team with the Colts, so of course – you’re at home, you want to do well at home. That’s what we’re going to try to do.” |
