| Opening statement: “Obviously, we have a big week in front of us here. We’re grinding through today with the long week, still trying to navigate that and do the best we can. We’ll have a walkthrough here today, kind of do a good job of taking care of our bodies. With a night game off of this too, it’s a little bit of an extended time here at the end. As far as the injury thing, Mike Daniels still will not be participating. We had one yesterday too, who was not out there, Amani (Oruwariye) – I don’t know if you guys saw that or not. He was not out at practice. He won’t be out there today either. Other than that, trying to get the best we can out of all of the phases we have in right now. We’ll continue with the install and do all that stuff as we go forward and just get ready to go. We know we have a huge challenge. It’s a great game, everything in front of us as far as that’s concerned. Right now, it’s just the task at hand for the day and do the best we can to get ready. We’ll put the red (zone) area in today and kind of push forward from that aspect of it. That’s all I’ve got for announcements.” On if he has put more emphasis on Monday’s game: “No. It’s really just that the next game is always the biggest game. I think certainly from that standpoint, the only thing that does really affect anything along those lines – but the next game is always the biggest game – it’s just when in the season is it. I think as the season goes and the farther you get along in the season then from that aspect of it those games are always critical from that point. They’re all important. We only have so many of them. That’s just kind of the way the NFL works. Really for us, it’s staying within the moment. I think that’s the biggest thing.” On the special teams play of LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin: “He’s been really good in those coverage phases, in those units. He’s playing big. He’s playing fast. He’s playing strong. (We’ll) probably anticipate some different return looks for him as we push forward, so he knows he’s got his work cut out in front of him. As far as his production so far, he’s really been critical for us in those situations.” On how difficult it is to manage practice time for a specific position group with multiple injuries: “I would say any position where I would categorize more in big guys. We kind of call them big guys, semis, and skill, just kind of those body types. When you start running out of those body types and you’re trying to obviously prepare for your own game plan on whatever particular side of the ball, or also give the look for the other side of the ball. That’s where you have to be a little bit conscious in some of those things. I think when you have a depleted group or a group that’s maybe practicing not as much because of those situations, you can also alter practice a little bit. (You can) kind of just push towards the guys that are out there and make sure that they’re getting those reps. Whether it’s more inside work, more team, more seven-on-seven-type work, things like that to kind of compensate for those situations. It really happens in any particular of the three areas where the body types just run short.” On if he coaches the secondary differently for how each quarterback extends plays: “You want to be specific with what they do when those plays get extended, and really who those players are from that aspect of it. I think in those situations whether the particular quarterback has maybe a receiver or a skill player that he looks for, whether those guys tend to work towards the sideline he’s going to, or whether they work away, whether the guys to the sideline go vertical and the guys from the opposite sideline, from whichever way he moves, they come across. There are just different patterns that teams can use in those situations. A lot of it is a lot more choreographed or orchestrated in those situations than probably what it appears. You really want to study that and take a look at it, so that everybody kind of knows where the dangers lie or where their better players are.” On how confusing it is for coaches to challenge pass interference and if that will deter him from challenging future plays: “I think for us, we just try to do the best we can to go with the probability of what we think in those situations. I would say for the most part, I think just what’s being called on the field is what’s being called. I think we just have to move forward with that, unless we see something that we really think is a good opportunity for us to challenge or take a look at it, we’ll do that. But really for the most part, I think what’s being called on the field is what’s called.” On if that means he will not challenge pass interference because of the probability of winning is currently low: “It doesn’t mean do or don’t. It just means I think that’s where it is.” On why they are rushing three defenders more this season: “I think with the three, the four, the five, the six, six-plus-type of rush situations, all those depend on the particular week of the game plan. I think there are definitely opportunities where three-man rushes are good, important. Sometimes it has to do with the danger of the skilled players that are also out there on the field, and how you feel that looks from an overall matchup or situational standpoint. Those are kind of some of the things that go, or tie in to those factors there. It’s really kind of a philosophy of those particular situations. It really depends on down-and-distance, field position, point in the game, what you’re trying to defend in those situations, and also what are the individual matchups up front. How do you feel about those? Quarterback movement comes into play with those situations too; So you really try to analyze all that and figure out, OK when is this a good idea and when is this not.” On if he believes NFL defense’s will try to stop the pass more than the run in the future: “I think it really depends on what you think you need to do to win that game. I would say, there certainly are games where it’s like, ‘Hey they might run the ball here a little bit, and we’re going to have to do what we can to stop it, but we need to commit to these areas, and we need to commit to these situations and stop those because that’s how they are winning.’ I think that’s really what you try to identify first. What does it take for them to win and then how do you combat that, and how do you handle when it moves into a different direction.” On the performance of DE Trey Flowers this season: “For me, Trey obviously at this point in the year, I think he’s working hard like all those guys. He’s obviously pushing through his offseason last year and trying to do everything he can to just make sure he’s working back toward where he wants to be as a player. Everybody starts over so certainly we’re all looking at those guys just as far as improving, I would say he’s definitely improved as the season is going through. He does a lot of things, I would say, that are maybe not necessarily on the stat list, but you can see are getting closer and closer which is good. I think all those guys are working really hard, like Romeo Okwara is the same way. He works extremely hard in those situations and competes at a high level – and Devon Kennard. We’re just going to look for that improvement, hopefully to keep going up with all those guys, and we’ll see what happens on Monday, we’ll see what happens next Sunday. Hopefully they just kind of keep trending in that direction.” On if TE T.J. Hockenson is still in concussion protocol: “It’s a good question. He’ll be at practice and everything like that. He was at practice yesterday, completed another day and then they check with the doctors, and I think we have maybe one more day of that. Then we’ll see where we go from there but practicing and doing all those things. The doctors they – whatever the priority is they just, they practice and they check them, they practice and they check them, and go through until they are all cleared.” On if he anticipates TE T.J. Hockenson playing against the Packers: “We’ll just keep pushing forward with all that. We’re just – hopefully we’ll take it day by day. It’s so unpredictable, I’d say, with those situations. That’s why it’s hard to comment on them really. I let the doctors handle those situations up there.” |
