| November 18, 2020 Opening Statement: “Obviously, just rolling into a big week here getting ready for Carolina. Certainly, from that aspect of it, there’s a lot to learn about this team, and we’re diving into it and trying to get familiar with Coach (Matt) Rhule, his staff, what they do. Some really good things here, some great players that we’ve got to get ready for, and we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re just grinding away here on a Wednesday. “Other than that I think, really, the only thing for me from a player’s standpoint, practice here today – I’m sure everyone’s going to ask me – would just be (that) Matthew Stafford is here, he’s going to be out at practice. I don’t know how much he’s going to do. We’re just trying to be smart with it. Obviously, I think we all know how tough Matthew Stafford is, and he’s going to do everything possible – and for the most part, it’s probably me just trying to slow it down through the course of the week. Sometimes he gets out there and gets competitive and likes to do what he knows that he can do. From that standpoint, we’ll take it day-by-day. That’s really all I’ve got for you as far as that’s concerned, but he’s going to be at practice (and) we’ll see what it looks like when we get out there.” On how the toughness of a quarterback can be underrated: “I mean the quarterback position, I think, is one that is so underrated – the toughness of it. Honestly, there’s so many hits that you don’t see that guys take as the ball is thrown. Honestly, when you’re standing back there behind it sometimes, as a coach or somebody watching, and you see a guy just throw a ball as hard as he can as far as he can, be in that just complete vulnerable position and then have a 300-pound grown man hit you as hard as he can, there takes a lot of courage and a lot of toughness to do that and to do that over and over and over. Matthew Stafford is one of the toughest I’ve ever been around. I mean, he’s unbelievable (with) what he can consistently turn his mind off to go out and play at a high level. Teddy Bridgewater’s an extremely tough player, too. This guy has overcome so much, he’s persevered. He’s a great player, he’s athletic, he’s strong, breaks a lot of tackles. He’s a tough guy. I learned a long time ago playing in a big game against a quarterback with a torn ACL, and he stepped out there and just ripped it, and I was like, ‘These guys are unbelievable, what they go through.’ It never ceases to amaze me from that aspect of it.” On the production of DE Romeo Okwara: “Romeo is one of those guys that – it’s great, the production that we’re getting out of him. I think it’s awesome. But I would say also just one of the most unselfish people that you could be around. We ask him to do so many different things, especially aligning in different positions in some of the stuff that we do, and he just goes in and does it, and he does it to the best of his ability. I think it’s a credit to him and how hard he works in all the different techniques and the different positions that he plays, and then when he gets those opportunities to get after the quarterback and rush, just his development from that standpoint and his awareness and being able to attack tackles and guards and the different alignments that we have them in. I think he, just as a player, has continued to work so hard to develop himself. I think you really see the extra work that he does. We may practice for a certain amount of time, but he’s going to be out on the practice field for extended amounts of time after practice working on his technique, working on his hand placement, working on the run game and the pass game. He works. He works really hard. Happy for that from his standpoint. Obviously, hopefully we can keep that going.” On if DE Everson Griffen’s performance against Washington gave him confidence in his ability to contribute: “Everson has a tremendous amount of energy. He has a great drive every single play, too. He plays hard. He plays aggressive. Had some good production and pressure on the quarterback – the reverse is really, I mean, that’s really such a big play in the game. I don’t want to downplay that because that obviously created that first negative play before Romeo (Okwara) got the sack on the third-down play. Just really think he’s done a good job of trying to understand what we do and play within the system. It’s just great to have his energy out there. I think that sometimes when those mid-season transfers happen and you get to a new spot, it does give you a little bit of a different perspective, little bit of new life as a player, from that standpoint. I think he’s just trying to maximize that.” On what he saw from DE Brian Burns and DT Derrick Brown coming out of the Draft and how he has seen them develop: “Burns, we’ve definitely looked at very closely at him as someone that was kind of an outside linebacker, defensive end – really had some inside linebacker flex. He was a very smart player, has really good pass rush ability, which I think that’s been the thing that transfers right away, that you see he has unbelievable get off. His burst off the ball – I think it’s like one of the top in the League right now, just from that standpoint. He’s very quick, very explosive, he has a good freeze move and then – a little bit different of a rusher from some of the power rushers that we’ve seen. He has just more of that speed, get to the edge and he has a great ability to turn the corner. A lot of times when you talk about rushing the edge, it’s about how quickly you can turn that inside foot, toe turn, and get towards the quarterback, and he does a great job of that. He’s a long guy, so what you see out of him is a lot of ball disruption in the pocket, where he can kind of reach, get after the quarterback, attack the quarterback’s ball security and then turn it over. So I think from that, that’s all transferred, you see that from that side of it. So really good player coming out, really liked him a lot. He’s been a good player for Carolina. “Obviously Derrick Brown, just really kind of a staple for them on the front right now. It’s exactly what you saw on tape coming out of college. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s powerful, he can knock the line of scrimmage back. He does a great job of his pad level, his hand placement. He’s a strong guy. He’s someone that you have to deal with inside, and you see it on tape. That’s definitely something – especially in the run game – I think that’s something that transferred very quickly for him at the position from college to Carolina.” On how pleased he’s been with the offensive line’s performance: “I think that’s a group, that really from the start, we’ve been excited about. I think that they’ve just gotten better every week. I think there’s been some lineup changes that we had to deal with through the course of the year. I thought last week felt really settled, as far as where we were and the guys that were going to be out there. I think Oday (Aboushi) stepped in and did a great job, I really do. Frank (Ragnow), obviously anchors the middle. He’s just such a good, young player and gets better every year. You can see that growth. Obviously ‘Deck’ (Taylor Decker), you know, what can you say? Just an unbelievable job that he’s doing right now on the edge, just the complete confidence that every single week he’s doing an unbelievable job. I think (Tyrell) Crosby has done a really good job on the right. I think he’s got great length; he has a good ability to keep the width of the pocket, and that consistency is showing up out there for him. Jonah (Jackson), he’s a tough guy, he’s in there, he’s grinding. He’s learning – there’s some things in there that we’re still working on, but I think as a group, those guys work really hard. I think ‘Big V’ (Halapoulivaati Vaitai), when he’s in there, gives us another different element and certainly Joe Dahl. I feel like we have guys – and Matt Nelson, who rolled out there and played really well, too. Just a group that we’ve been excited about from the beginning. I like the growth that they’ve gone through. We just have to stay consistent. I think that’s the biggest thing for us. We just have to do it every week, that’s the priority.” On what RB Christian McCaffrey brings to Carolina’s offense and what is taken away when he’s not out on the field: “Christian McCaffrey is one of those guys in the League that’s just – he’s such a dynamic playmaker. The thing I think they do a great job of, is they put him in so many different positions. So now you really have to account for him on a lot of different levels, and then they’ll play the matchup game, too. They’ll also force you into certain situations or formations or sets where now they feel like they have an advantage in the matchup, and then they go after that matchup and it just turned into a one-on-one game at that point and are really productive. So dynamic, explosive, home-run hitter, everything really goes through him from that standpoint when he’s out there. I think Mike Davis – this guy is a really good running back. This guy is strong and powerful. He’s a great cut-back runner, but he can also bounce out to the edge. So you have to be very disciplined in the run defense or otherwise this guy will hurt you very quickly. He has good speed. The cool thing that I think they’ve done, is they’ve used (Curtis) Samuel, No. 10 – you will see him in some of the packages maybe that McCaffrey has done, and they’ll move him around, and they’ll give you some – we call them ‘oddball personnel groups’ – and he’ll be in the home position, in the running back position to carry the ball. They’re kind of using him as another way to get to some of those packages or those matchup situations that they want. Then obviously Carolina, they’re top in the League in explosive plays – they can get vertical on you real quick, too, with their skill guys.” On if he considers the win-loss record of opponents and strength of schedule: “No. I think for us, we understand that in the NFL that every single week is hard. Games are tough. So you just look at them as the individual games. What happened in that game? How did they win, or how did they lose, or what, in particular, were the causes of how that game was played? I think that’s what is really important. Then you try to really project that forward into: What is our game going to look like? A lot of that has to do with personnel sometimes. Who’s in those plays? Who’s in those games? Is that going to look similar to what our game will look like? You really try to evaluate each one, I would say, just individually based.” On if he was referring to Indianapolis QB Philip Rivers earlier: “Yeah, it was unbelievable.” On Carolina RB Mike Davis’ pass-catching ability: “It’s a great point. I think the thing about it is that (Christian) McCaffrey is so unique is – he can run a route tree. He can run a lot of different routes, from outside to inside he can be in different positions and run those just as efficiently as a wide receiver could. Mike Davis is more of just the production of – he’s going to get in space. They have some plays where they get him the ball. He can run, really good running back routes and get open, runs the angle really well. He can get to the flat, and then I think it’s the production that you see that once he catches it, it’s all of the same problems that you have to deal with. He has great hands, so he’s going to catch it – it’s all the same problems that you have to deal with similar to the run game when he gets out in space. He’s big, he’s fast, he’s sudden, and he can have those explosive plays. So I think from that aspect of it, they do a good job of getting him the ball in those situations.” |
