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Press Pass | Press Taylor on Mac Jones, BTJ's Growth & Attacking Raiders Defense · Press Pass

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: A little bit about what if anything was different a
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: little bit last week, think you were able to at
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: least get the running game going a little bit. I
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: mean I think early on too, with just some of
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the quick passes, be it screens, quick game, bubble throws
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: that are part of the run. It was all kind
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: of an extension of the running game. So we kind
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: of got the ball moving side to side, attacking a
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: lot of different points. We're just able to be efficient.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: A little bit of that was the tempo we were
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: able to play with, but all that starts with your
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: fishing on first down puts you in a second manageable.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: We had a lot of normal down situations. We were
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: able to get a lot of snaps, able to spread
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: a lot of touches around. And then part of that
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: we did a good job on third down. I think
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: we're over fifty percent on third down. That keeps those
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: drives going, and then you know you're odds chances of
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: scoring converting a third down within a drive, obviously everything
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: goes up. So that was a big part of it
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: for us. I feel like, moving forward, that's that's gonna
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: have to be the game player, because if you're playing
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: a backup quarterback and if you're not giving them some
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: help with the running game a litle bit. Yeah, I
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: mean any game we go into, it's what can we
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: do to move the football? And that just kind of
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: was the way that game went. We were able to
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: stay on pace, We're able to stick with the run game,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: get a lot of runs called just because of the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: game script the way things went, I think for us there,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: and that obviously fit how we wanted to play those guys.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: You get a chance now the first half we dominated
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: time possession. You would have obviously loved to punch in
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the red zone opportunities. We had some missed opportunities there
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: that keep you from scoring touchdowns you're instead settling for
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: field goals. That was a big thing. But you know,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: now we have Aaron Rodgers sitting on the sidelines watching
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: us play, and that that was a big part of
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: our first half success. At least then the opportunity to
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: play because of unfortunate injuries. What do you think is
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the biggest thing that Matt is getting out of this year? Hear?
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: I think, just like anything, it's I mean, this is
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: one year in a long career for him. So you're
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: experiencing a lot of different things. So he spent what
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: was it three years in New England seeing it done
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: a certain way, offenses called a certain way, installed a
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: different way game plan. So then you're just gonna exposed
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to more. I think over the longevity of your career
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: that that's a good thing you lean back on. I've
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: done it a lot of different ways. You kind of
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: see what fits best for you, your process within the week.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: So I think just exposure to more I think benefits
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: anybody throughout the course of their careers. Yeah, I think so.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I think he's showing that, and you see it. He's
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: getting more and more comfortable. We're all getting more and
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: more comfortable with the you know, how we utilize him,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: how we utilize the personnel within his strength, all of
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: that just kind of I think shows that anytime you
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: put them in a situation that's favorable for the things
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: he does in the game script that's going on, I
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: think that's a benefit to him. What's the challenge right
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: now for Mac in terms of the in terms of
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the deep passing game twenty or more yards, doesn't seem
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: like there's really much connection the last few weeks. Yeah,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: we feel like, we've had a few opportunities that we've
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: missed our chances on and then I mean, really it's
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: it's every single plays its own. So sometimes we're calling it.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Some times it's not getting thrown. What is that coverage pressure?
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: As long as we're doing the right thing with the
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: football each down, we're okay with moving the ball forward.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: However that that fits. Now. We'd love to have the
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: one play drives, launching shots over the top and getting
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: those explosive touchdowns. But as long as we're putting the
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: ball and play moving forward, staying efficient, staying ahead of
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the chains, that's just another way to play. But we want,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: we feel like we have the ability to do that.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: We obviously have to show that and make defenses on
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: to that as well too. Yeah, Rangers defense with just
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: what sort of sayings out about them and what's the
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: challenge this week? They do a lot, They present a
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: lot to you. I think the beauty of them is
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: they can basically play all their schemes from any different
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: personnel grouping, so they're going to have something very specific
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: to you. I think that's a little bit of the
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: New England and coach Graham's background that you know you're
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: gonna come out in the first quarter. You're going to
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: try to figure out how they're playing your twelve personnel,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: how they're playing your passing strength, how they're adjusting certain things,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: how they're building their fronts, because it's probably gonna be
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: something that we've maybe seen once this year or haven't
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: necessarily seen on tape from them, but it gets pretty
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: specific to you how they viewed your scheme, your personnel.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: So that's always the challenge the chess matchup, trying to
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: settle in to figure out what they're doing to you
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: and how you're going to play. And then I mean
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: they play really hard. There's a lot of pressure, probably
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: more pressure on normal down situations than we're used to
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: seeing throughout the course of the year. So that's always
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: something you You got to get eleven guys seen it
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the same way and on the same page to have success.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: One thing about Brian Thomas, if you could sort of
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: illuminate a little bit, what is it, you know, because
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: a lot of really good receivers in the NFL don't
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: get a thousand yards in their rookie season, you know.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Dante Adam, I think it's a fifth year before he
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: got one. What has he been able to do early on,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: especially given the quarterback situation you're facing, to be able
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: to get where he's at. I think a lot of it.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, unfortunately with all the injuries is it's put
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: more on him and he's you know, we kind of
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: took our time building to it and then we're kind
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: of forced into it with losing you know, we've lost Evan, Gabe, Christian,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: all those guys. I think what you're seeing with him,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: he's really just taking all those roles on in different things.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: A lot of the things that we've thrown to him
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: were things we've thrown to Christian for three years, and
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: now Christian's gone. Who takes that role? Well, he's shown
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: he's got the skill set to pretty much do anything
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: we ask. We're making sure we don't overload him mentally,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: and he's proven he can handle a lot of things.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I think there was that little chunk in there where
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: he wasn't probably one hundred percent healthwise. He came off
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: a little injury and we were trying to manage him
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: a little bit, and then from then on it's just
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: kind of is taken off and he's confident in what
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: he's asked to do. He's confident in his role in
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: the room. He's kind of he's growing into just everything
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: we've asked every single day. So it's kind of circumstance
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: has given him the opportunity where if everybody stays healthy,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know that you see the explosion of statistically
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: that you would see because that's kind of getting filtered throughout.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's a he caught a kind of a
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: bang eight the other day that typically would have been
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: a Gabe Evan type thing. He caught some choice routes
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: that tip we have been Christian and Evan's. He's just
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: kind of been able to move around and take all
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: these spots that a lot of people have done. And
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: you know, using Parker and Britain in that role as
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: well has been beneficial to everybody. But the circumstance, the
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: opportunity that he's been given, I think has really kind
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: of put him in position. And then he's got the
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: ability to do it all. That's the biggest thing. I Mean,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: if he didn't have that, we wouldn't put that on
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: his plate, we wouldn't ask him to do it all.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: But he can. For a rookie press a rookie receivers
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: very impressive. I mean mentally to be able to handle it.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: It's the same that we've talked about it before. You
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: wouldn't know it. We have our receivers that are all
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: lined up the X, Y, ZF. He throughout the course
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: of the game will align as multiple letters. Well, that
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: takes a lot of mental toll on guys. Of it
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: was the Z on display. Chad signaled this now on
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: the F on the X on this one. I got
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: to know where to align, what to do, and you
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: don't want to do that if the guy can't handle it,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: because you're paralyzing a player. He can handle it. He's
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: shown that through the course of the year. And then
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: on top of that, it's you can run routes from
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the slot, going across the field, down the field, a
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: quick outbreakers, decision routes, all these different things that he's showned.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: He's been a better ball carrier than we expected coming in.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: So getting the ball in his hand on some screens
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: and bubbles and things like that has been befit handing
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the ball. That's all stuff that's been beneficial, and a
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: lot of it you just didn't see in college. I mean,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: I remember asking him when he first got here, you know,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: what's something you did at LSU that we don't we
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: haven't shown to have yet in the play with he
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: kind of just said, well, I just ran switch, I'll
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: go or I ran four verticals. Malik did everything underneath,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: So he just wasn't exposed to that because that their
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: personnel didn't match up with that way. So you're kind
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: of uncovering a lot of things that you maybe didn't
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: know just because he wasn't exposed to it. And it
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: never we never thought he couldn't do it. You just
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: didn't see it. And so I think two during rookie
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: camp we put him. We kept him in rookie camp
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: without those other guys, and we tried to put him
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: in all these spots to see and you thought, okay,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: this is cool, he can do that. But you had
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Christian that you know, it's kind of hard sometimes to
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: go to your quarterback and say here's something you've thrown
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: to Christian Kirk and critical situations a one hundred times,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: we're gonna have somebody else do it. Well, now Christian's
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: not there, and Bat takes that role, and there's a
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: lot of try us there's a lot of confidence, and
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: I think his confidence is rising. I think everybody's confidence
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: in him is rising. At what I guess you mentioned
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: the rookie campo, But at what point did you realize
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: he could actually take on all these roles, do this,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: handle it all mentally, all that kind of stuff. I
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: think you were always confident. You just didn't know if
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: it was fair to him to walk in week one
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: and say you're gonna do You're gonna know these four
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: letters and you're gonna know every route and how to
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: run them really well. And the thing that's really cool,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Chad and I were just talking about this the other day.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: He's taking in coaching points that we've never said to
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: him directly, but we meet as an offense a lot
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: of times, and hey, this is the best way we
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: run around this cross route. And then you see him
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: bring it to life. For hey, Christian on this big
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: box stop whatever it may be inside, fade stop, run
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: it this certain way. Well, then BT goes out. We
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: put him in that position, he does exactly the way
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: it was coached, when really we weren't directly talking to him,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: but he's just observing everything in the course of the
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: meeting retaining it all. He's becoming a little bit more
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: vocal through the course of meetings, but you've also removed
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: four of our veteran guys from those rooms that usually
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: we're speaking up. So it's cool to see, yeah,