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Head Coach Mike Macdonald Looks Ahead To Week 5 vs. 49ers · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Getting used to the mics here. It's like they're staring
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: at me. All right. Go ahead.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Do you expect Leonard Williams to be practicing today?
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: He'll be out there in some capacity. What happened with
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Joe Mixon? Why is he not on the team? Just
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: didn't work out. Didn't work out. Probably the most we
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: should say about it with respect to the process, but
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: those things happen and it's just part of the process.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: What do you like about Robert Henry?
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Someone that we had a solid evaluation with throughout the
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: process of him coming out and I'm looking forward to
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: seeing what he can do. He's here and practicing and
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: we'll see how it goes.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: What is it about him, his game that you like?
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Well, he's... He's got good vision. He's got good burst.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: He's got good acceleration. A lot of good stuff.
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  Speaker 3: 49ers.
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  Speaker 2: Go ahead.
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  Speaker 3: How much does a player like that, Robert, obviously playing
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: in a smaller school, but had really great success against
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: some SEC schools.
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  Speaker 4: I know he had a 75-yard touchdown run against Texas
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: A & M.
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  Speaker 2: How much does that play into your guys' evaluation of
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  Speaker 2: the player as well?
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: It's a part of it. It's a part of it. It's,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: you know, it's... My experience, the evaluations for players just
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: varies based on the player. You can hold it against
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: a guy if they didn't go against other teams. I
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: don't know. Maybe, maybe not. I trust our folks on
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: who we bring in here. We've got a great track record.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to bet against John evaluating runners. It's
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: exciting to have him. We'll see what he can do.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: When you look at.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: Those last two games against the 49ers last season, what
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: stands out defensively about the way you guys played?
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: We tackled really well. We limited kind of extra yardage
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: really well. I thought we rushed the quarterback with discipline,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: and it married the coverage. So that's what it takes
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  Speaker 1: to play just really good football in general. But the
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  Speaker 1: guys played really hard, played physical, played well situationally.
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  Speaker 3: You just touched on it, but when you put together
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: those rush plans against Purdy, what are the factors you
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: need to consider?
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  Speaker 1: Their offense is very efficient. It's also explosive. He throws
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  Speaker 1: on time, and then when it's not there, he's very
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  Speaker 1: creative in how he extends plays and makes plays. It's
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: kind of not a one-man job for us. It's an 11-,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: 12-man job.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Kyle Juszczyk is not looking like he's going to play.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: They've run 21 more than anybody else and been very
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: good in it. Does that make it a little more
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: complicated to game plan since they don't have a lot
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: of game without him?
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: It's harder to anticipate how they're going to deploy their people.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: They've done such a great job over the years of
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the next player playing at a high level and filling
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: in those roles and then kind of tweaking how they
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  Speaker 1: deploy their people, so A lot of respect for how
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: they've done business. Kyle's been extremely durable over the years,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: so there's not a lot of things you can go
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  Speaker 1: to and see how they actually did it with the
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: people that are on their current roster. Shout out to
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  Speaker 1: him for being able to play all those games. I
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: don't think they're going to end up an 11-person all game.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's how they want to operate. We'll
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: have a plan for 11, but we're anticipating multiple tight
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: end people out there and And we'll have to adjust
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: throughout the game to kind of test how we think
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  Speaker 1: they're going to play it.
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  Speaker 2: One of the first teams, I think it was in
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: 36 years or so, that started the season 4-0 without
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: allowing a sack.
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  Speaker 4: What are they doing that's just.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Been, with that offensive line being talented today, what.
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  Speaker 4: Are they doing that's allowed that to happen as far
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  Speaker 4: as not allowing a sack part?
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  Speaker 1: Really good team football. They're running the ball. They're staying
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  Speaker 1: ahead of schedule. There's very limited third downs. When they
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  Speaker 1: do throw it, they're playing on time. There hasn't been
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  Speaker 1: many occasions where there's people unaccounted for for the quarterback,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: and when there has been, he's gotten rid of the ball.
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  Speaker 1: Now we spoke about how he's been able to extend
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  Speaker 1: plays and take care of the football and still have
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  Speaker 1: that element of creativity and playmaking that keeps the ball
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  Speaker 1: moving forward. They've been doing a great job.
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  Speaker 4: How have you seen Mike Evans amplify their passing game
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: and make things easier for Brock in the office?
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  Speaker 1: Well, they've always had a good passing game. Mike Evans
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: is a big target that can run the whole route
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  Speaker 1: tree and also win on outside lane throws. He's a
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  Speaker 1: really great player. He obviously knows how to play the
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: position at a really, really high level. So they've moved
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: him around quite a bit more so probably than his
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: whole career without speaking for him. But definitely have to
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: understand where he is. You've watched a fair amount of
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Brockville over these last couple of years. Exactly.
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  Speaker 3: When you watch it, is there an underappreciated or underrated
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  Speaker 3: part of his game that you see come through?
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  Speaker 1: I'd have a hard time underrating him. I think he's
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  Speaker 1: a hell of a player. He can throw it at
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  Speaker 1: all three levels. He throws on time. He throws it
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  Speaker 1: into windows with timing that makes it hard to defend sometimes.
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  Speaker 1: And then I think a big part of his game
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  Speaker 1: that he deserves a lot of credit is that His competitiveness,
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  Speaker 1: his athleticism, and playmaking ability as the down extends.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: Are we at that point in the season where you
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: can start trusting the numbers that teams are putting up?
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  Speaker 1: We're getting there. We're getting there. Going back to the
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: run game, was using Sheed out of the backfield a
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  Speaker 1: result of the lack of depth that you have right now,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: or would you want to be using him in that
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: capacity no matter what? We've been practicing with him at
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: halfback throughout training. since Brian got here. Part of our
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: running game is you want people, non-halfbacks, carrying the ball,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: so there's more things to have to defend. I'd say
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: it's been part of the plan. Because of J.D. going down,
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  Speaker 1: because J.D. is a fast guy that can get on
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: the perimeter, is there probably more of a niche to
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: see what those plays can do, probably.
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  Speaker 3: What do you think about your run blocking with your
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: offensive line so far?
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  Speaker 1: I think our guys are playing hard. I think we've
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: been more connected in terms of our targets and how
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: we want to play better than we were at this
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  Speaker 1: point last year. I think the guys are doing a
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: good job. I just think we have to be really
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: careful in, like, you know, comparing our team now to
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: anything else. Is it expectations? Is it last year? Is it,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: you know, it's as a journey of this team and
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: understanding the schemes that we're good at running and, uh,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: what our guys can do and how we're going to
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  Speaker 1: deploy our personnel, all those things. So, um, I'm pleased
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: with our process right now. I think, uh, there's definitely
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: room for, for growth really in all phases of our
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: football team, but you can lump their own game in there. Um,
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  Speaker 1: and we're just going to continue to attack it and
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  Speaker 1: try to try to be the best, best run team,
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  Speaker 1: best football team we can possibly be.
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  Speaker 2: You guys have the most efficient screen game in the NFL.
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  Speaker 4: How about that?
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  Speaker 1: San Francisco's number three.
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  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, 30th in defending the screen on defense in San Francisco.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: San Francisco also struggles. So how important is the screen
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  Speaker 2: game in modern NFL, and how do you stop it?
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  Speaker 1: Well, maybe I should be the one asking how you
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  Speaker 1: stop it. I mean, we're that bad at it. It's
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  Speaker 1: just different ways to keep the ball moving forward. It's complimentary.
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  Speaker 1: It plays off. A lot of times it plays off.
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's a compliment off your past game, obviously.
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  Speaker 1: So it's either your action game, your keeper game, drop
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  Speaker 1: back game. There's something, it's an extra thing our, our
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: rushers have to handle and how you stop it. And frankly,
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  Speaker 1: it's a team, it's a team play. You know, there's,
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  Speaker 1: you need, you need to get the ball stopped in
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  Speaker 1: the alley. A lot of times the ball is supposed
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: to hit in the alley. So get it stopped, get
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: it forced and then get back side pursuit to get people,
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  Speaker 1: people on the ground. So it's a good play. You
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  Speaker 1: seem to, I think a.
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  Speaker 4: Certain amount of pride in that. The last two times
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  Speaker 4: you've been asked about the screen game, you've had that
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  Speaker 4: kind of reaction. Was that a point of emphasis this offseason?
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  Speaker 1: I just can't remember being on a team with a
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: great screen game. Excited to be part of it.
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  Speaker 2: Mike, what needs to improve on offense in your third
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  Speaker 2: down numbers?
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  Speaker 3: Obviously, you don't want to get third down.
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  Speaker 1: You want to make a third match.
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  Speaker 4: What needs to improve there?
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  Speaker 1: I think we're just I think it's like the same
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  Speaker 1: question with your run game. Really, you could ask me
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  Speaker 1: anything about our team right now. It's just, OK, we've
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  Speaker 1: fallen short right now on our third down run pass. OK, well,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: let's attack the process. Let's keep, you know, do we
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: need a whittle down on what we're doing? What Sam
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  Speaker 1: likes the best? Is it protections that we need to
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: change up? Is it operation? Is it how we deploy
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  Speaker 1: jacks to other people? I mean, all those things are
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: part of the conversation, but that's, Always part of the conversation.
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  Speaker 1: No matter what, we're not hitting on cylinders with. So
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  Speaker 1: we'll make some tweaks and attack it, and we'll get better.
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  Speaker 2: What was the most info-gathering from all your players and
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: your coaches in your continual improvement process?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a 12 is one thing. We don't operate
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  Speaker 1: in silos. We don't just close our door and draw
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: things up in a broom closet. It's like, okay, let's
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about the actual truth of what's going on
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  Speaker 1: and let's go try to find solutions and solve problems
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  Speaker 1: to get better. It's really that simple. That's how we
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  Speaker 1: do business here. From my limited experience, that's the best
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: way to go about it.
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  Speaker 4: This is the most extended opportunity that you guys have
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: gotten to evaluate Christian Haynes.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: On the field.
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  Speaker 2: How have you felt with the way that he's progressed
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: with his play here now that he's.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Started the last three games? Christian's done a nice job.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: He's got a great opportunity in front of him now
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: that AB's out. I think Bo's also playing good football
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: with him, so encourage him to keep growing. Just keep
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: making steps every week. That's all you can ask from
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: our guys. But he's playing hard. Room for growth, for sure,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: but he's doing a lot of good stuff as well.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: You talked about the 49ers being efficient and explosive. You've
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: also talked about rushing coverage, how those kind of work together.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: How does efficiency and explosiveness kind of complement each other
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: on offense?
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  Speaker 1: Well, a lot of times explosive plays come from just
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: doing a lot of great little things the right way.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: And so, you know, if you're not having a bunch
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: of negative plays and a lot of second longs, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: they have very limited third down numbers, which tells me
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: they're moving the sticks. But if you keep the ball
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: moving forward and it's in your hands, a broken tackle
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: is now an explosive play just because you're in the
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: right spot at the right time and now the defender
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: doesn't have the right angle or maybe you get that
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: guy blocked. Now you're on the third level and You
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: get a third-level player blocked, and now the ball's out.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: That's just good football. And so they're playing a lot
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: of good football right now.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: How's Hunter Williams doing, and will he practice today?
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: He's doing good, and he'll be out there in some
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: capacity today. Mike, with Emmanuel.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Wilson getting the run he has here to the last
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: three weeks with the carries, have you kind of seen
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: him handle the workload, kind of jumping up and needing
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: to lean on him.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Here for a bit? He's doing well. I don't know
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: what his numbers are. I thought we had a great
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: game in the Arizona game. He carried it well last game. Obviously,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: the Boston game, as a team, we didn't run it
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: as well as we wanted to. He's a good back, man.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: He's heavy. He falls forward. He's got good vision. Let's
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: keep it rolling. We have other good backs, too. George
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: has done a nice job. Bayless has A lot of speed.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: He brings a lot of things to the table as well.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Emmanuel's done a great job, but it doesn't just have
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: to be him right now.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: Open the practice window for Irv Charles. Where can he
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: fit into things once he.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Gets up and going? Irv's here. He's a physical guy.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: He's a big receiver. He's a great gunner. We'll see
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: how he does as he comes back.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: I was talking with Eric the other day about his
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: fumble recovery at the end of the game. He said
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: one of the things he had Julian in his ear
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: encouraging him, grab the ball, grab the ball, really kind
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: of cheering them on, so to speak. Obviously this defense
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: is so connected. When you hear something like that, how
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: cool is it?
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: You're talking about Derek on the last play? Yes, yes. Well,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I think the way the game went, just for us
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: to stick together is really important, coaches included. So it's
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: a great test for us, you know, just to have
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: to work through some of those things that happen throughout
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: a game, whether they're in your control or not. and
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: be able to kind of wipe it and go to
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: the next spot. Really, for us to take our game
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: to the next level as a football team, we've talked
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: about this all the time, but it's kind of a
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: moment-by-moment mindset about how we want to operate and be
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: able to stack those things. And when they don't go
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: in your way, trying to find a win so then
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: we can kind of get back on track. And I
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: think that's a great example of our team is, with
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: all the things that are going on, be able to
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: kind of regroup in a two minute to win the
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: game and be able to close it out that way
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: speaks a lot about our guys.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: Obviously, there are penalties in your game, but they're really
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: up around the league, too, statistically, as high as they've
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: been in decades. As a coach, I guess, how do
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: you try to.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: I love hearing that, don't you? It sounds great.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Is there, I mean, when you know that's the trend
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: or whatever around the league that, like, everybody seems to
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: be falling, that there seems to be a lot of
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: penalties around the league, is there something you can coach?
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure, Bob. It's hard to, like... It's hard
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: to understand what else is going on. Coaches, we're kind
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: of crazy. We kind of just focus on our, it's
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: hard to get a temperature for the rest of the league.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Brian Ayers might have a better answer for you. I
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: think it's a know the rules and play by them
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: better than anybody else type of thing. Like, is there,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: you know, do certain crews have a propensity to call
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: certain things a little bit more than others? That's something
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: we definitely want to be aware of, you know. understanding
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: how they're calling certain things, you know, so the guys,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: when they understand they're in those situations, how they can
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: play clean football, I think all that stuff helps. But,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, we've got to focus on playing great football,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: and then the penalty stuff will take care of itself.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: We're going to have penalties. You know, I don't think
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: every team that led the league in penalties won the
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: most games every year, and I don't think the vice
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: versa is true either. So we're going to be somewhere
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: in the middle, and What really matters is us playing
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: great football. This hasn't been a month of games Brian
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Fleury would have envisioned.
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: Lose his starting quarterback right away, lose.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: His starting tailback.
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: How has he navigated that?
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: What have you noticed about him and his characteristics to
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: get through that?
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question. He's been incredibly steady. Like
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: I said, he's been very solution-oriented in terms of trying
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: to solve problems. the questions that arise from things like that,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: which I really appreciate. So I've been impressed with how
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: he's operated. Very steadfast, very consistent. You're right, he probably hasn't,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: probably didn't, but this happens in the NFL. I mean,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: it happens every year in some capacity, really in all
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: three phases. So I've been impressed by how he's worked
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: through it.
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: We hear about how steady his temperament is. I imagine
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: there are times where... He might fluctuate. What does that
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: look like, and when does that happen?
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Like a normal person that gets upset. I feel like
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: he really has been steady. I never felt like he
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: needed to be calmed down or anything. He's a normal guy.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: He's a good guy.
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: What's the plan for Ty and his practice this week,
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: and whether or not you.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Expect him on Sunday? Ty's going to practice today. All right,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: thank you. You're getting good at the injury questions.