Speaker 1: All right, good afternoon. UM. Let me start by updating
Speaker 1: you on the injuries. Ryan Matthews with the right knee
Speaker 1: MCL sprain. Uh, day to day, we'll get we'll get
Speaker 1: some more evaluation on him this week as we go.
Speaker 1: Jordan Matthews has the right ankle sprain. UM X rays
Speaker 1: where everything was negative. He's gonna be fine. We'll be
Speaker 1: good for the game. We'll we'll uh right now, m
Speaker 1: probably hold him from practice tomorrow. Big V's doing good.
Speaker 1: Um again, it's it's still you know, a little ways
Speaker 1: away week to week with him, but he's he's he's
Speaker 1: definitely improving and feeling better. And then update you on
Speaker 1: Brandon Brooks. Everything uh, um checked out fine with him,
Speaker 1: So so we'll get him, I get him working this
Speaker 1: week and and uh and getting back in there. He'll
Speaker 1: be he'll be fine. Marcus Smith came out of the
Speaker 1: game with a left shoulder contusion. Um, he'll be he'll
Speaker 1: be fine. It's uh just sore. So he's gonna be okay.
Speaker 1: And everybody else is um is healthy and good to go. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Do you have a sense with Big V what we're
Speaker 1: looking at the time wise yet or is still kind
Speaker 1: of still don't. It's still kind of a week to
Speaker 1: week uh injury you know is um pretty substantial. So
Speaker 1: these things with with these big guys like this will
Speaker 1: be you know, a ways ways away. So again we'll
Speaker 1: evaluate later in a week. But I don't expect it
Speaker 1: prob with Fletcher Cox this year. What it is the
Speaker 1: problem with Fletcher as he's not playing as well as
Speaker 1: he was last year? Am I wrong? And that he
Speaker 1: just says, well, well, I think he's he's he draws
Speaker 1: a lot of attention, um, and draws a lot of
Speaker 1: double teams. He gets a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: hands on him, you know. Um, he he he still
Speaker 1: is very uh at times is very disruptive and um
Speaker 1: you know, can can be a can be a force
Speaker 1: inside Um. You know, it's just uh, you know, he's
Speaker 1: mentally he's good. Physically he's good. It's just just a
Speaker 1: matter of just uh the sheer determination and wanting to
Speaker 1: wanting to get the job done. He's still a very
Speaker 1: capable defensive lineman for us, and and uh, um we
Speaker 1: do expect and I do expect you know a lot
Speaker 1: from from guys like Fletcher, and and he does he
Speaker 1: does as well, you know, so Dougy, you had a
Speaker 1: good bounce in the first drive and then from there
Speaker 1: on out forty four to fourteen in favor of the pass. Um,
Speaker 1: she feels like you got away from the bounce too early. Well,
Speaker 1: we started to get into our we call our mock
Speaker 1: ur tempo tempo world a little bit, and we mixed
Speaker 1: it in there. Um. Carson actually managed a couple of
Speaker 1: situations for us where where he got us, uh, actually
Speaker 1: from from a couple of passes into a couple of
Speaker 1: runs and vice versa, based on what they were doing
Speaker 1: defensively and and um, you know, you can always look
Speaker 1: back on a on a Monday or Tuesday and say
Speaker 1: we should have done this and should have done that.
Speaker 1: But um, I felt that that uh the way things
Speaker 1: were going in the game. And we didn't have a
Speaker 1: ton of touches offensively either, So um given us the
Speaker 1: best opportunity to keep ourselves in that in that football
Speaker 1: game last night. I think, did you think that countering
Speaker 1: their ball possession would have been the way to go
Speaker 1: in terms of, you know, trying to establish the run yourself.
Speaker 1: I mean they were able to control the clock, um,
Speaker 1: to keep the ball to Aarons. Aaron Rodgers hands. Did
Speaker 1: you think you should have possibility? Yes, I think that's
Speaker 1: definitely a a you know, a possibility in any football
Speaker 1: game if you can if you can do that against
Speaker 1: good offenses, Um, I think that you can. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: you can control the clock, the thing that that gets
Speaker 1: his You got to make sure your execution is is
Speaker 1: pretty much flawless at the time, so you can stay
Speaker 1: on the field. You know, you can't have penalties obviously offensively,
Speaker 1: you can't have negative rushing plays, you can't have you know,
Speaker 1: things like that can can obviously hurt you. But yeah,
Speaker 1: he was having you know, he was having himself a
Speaker 1: pretty good day. We were doing a good job in
Speaker 1: the run game, and so, um, yeah, looking back on
Speaker 1: it today with different eyes, yeah you could probably you
Speaker 1: could probably say that a lot of games where you
Speaker 1: stood up here and said, I wish I ran the
Speaker 1: ball more. Is there something that you guys can do
Speaker 1: on game day to kind of, you know, as far
Speaker 1: as quality control, to kind of make sure, you know,
Speaker 1: you stick with it constantly monitoring you know, the run
Speaker 1: pass ratio constantly during the football game and series starts, uh,
Speaker 1: first down within a series, I'm always monitoring that asking
Speaker 1: the question upstairs, because they're keeping track of that for
Speaker 1: me and and Frank and I are always dialoguing on
Speaker 1: the sidelines. So there's there's ways that that that we
Speaker 1: monitor that and um and keep ourselves as you know,
Speaker 1: as man les we can in those situations. But rest
Speaker 1: about a ankle was this morning before committing to him
Speaker 1: on Sunday, because that mean now the children will be
Speaker 1: okay and Nelson sit down again. This well, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna again. I'm not gonna come out and say that
Speaker 1: right now today. I'm gonna get through this week of
Speaker 1: practice again. Jordan will be okay with the ankle. Um.
Speaker 1: And just got to see again where Nelson's at and
Speaker 1: whereas where his mind and his head is at and
Speaker 1: and uh um he had a good week last week,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, so we'll we'll monitor that again
Speaker 1: later on week. Did you get a chance to talk
Speaker 1: to him after the game last night? I didn't see
Speaker 1: him after the game. No. I just think he The
Speaker 1: biggest thing is just uh seeing seeing the way the
Speaker 1: offense kind of works, seeing the way the game kind
Speaker 1: of unfolds, and how guys react in certain situations and
Speaker 1: and and I wanted him to put himself into game
Speaker 1: situations and and see how he would react, see how
Speaker 1: he would play, see how he would run that route.
Speaker 1: And it's a lot easier to do that, obviously from
Speaker 1: from a removed position where you can kind of see
Speaker 1: it from a big picture and and a little bit
Speaker 1: calmer eyes, where the where the pressure and the stress
Speaker 1: is not on you to perform. So, um, that's what
Speaker 1: I'm hoping he takes away from this and uh learn
Speaker 1: learns from this down the road lads, he said it
Speaker 1: was not Number one is a coach? Is there anything
Speaker 1: you can do it? A third time? To see you
Speaker 1: he does that? Can use do anything to stop it?
Speaker 1: And three penalty? Stop thinking about yeah, you know and
Speaker 1: what I what I saw, um, and and obviously what
Speaker 1: the officials saw. I think as anytime you you you
Speaker 1: strike the quarterback in the head neck area, um, which
Speaker 1: is what they saw. Um. Then then obviously the flag
Speaker 1: is gonna be gonna be thrown. Listen it some of it.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna slow his aggression down based on penalty.
Speaker 1: It's it's um. Then I then then then we need
Speaker 1: to sit down. I need to sit down with him
Speaker 1: and just say, hey, Fletcher, we need to. Let's let's
Speaker 1: let's keep our hands down. Let's uh, let's not hit
Speaker 1: the quarterback. Let's let's lower our target, let's let's do
Speaker 1: a lot of other things. Next thing, you know, we're
Speaker 1: going low and it's a flag for hitting the quarterback
Speaker 1: at the knees or something. It this game happened so
Speaker 1: fast that, uh, it's hard sometimes when when you're in
Speaker 1: that heat of the moment um, you know, it's it
Speaker 1: was that a pass interference on Bryce Trais alls bang, bang,
Speaker 1: I mean, who knows. I mean, it's it's those those
Speaker 1: types of things that happened so fast in this game
Speaker 1: that um, I can't um. All I can do is
Speaker 1: grab him and say, hey, look, we got to be careful.
Speaker 1: You know, we got to make sure that we're we're
Speaker 1: lowering our target where you know, Fletcher's a big man,
Speaker 1: he's a tall man, he's got a got an arm reach,
Speaker 1: he's you know, he's aggressive. Um, and and yeah, we
Speaker 1: gotta be careful and we got to be smart about,
Speaker 1: you know, um, how we hit quarterbacks. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, I want our defensive line two hit quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: So you're given a disappointment of the last two weeks
Speaker 1: and that, you know, combine with you being in first
Speaker 1: year coach, playing a foundation, how important is it for you, Well,
Speaker 1: what do you do to make sure the wheels don't
Speaker 1: come off in these last five weeks? And how important
Speaker 1: is to you that you that that doesn't happen. Well,
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing is, you know, we're we're individual,
Speaker 1: We're very prideful in our jobs and what we do.
Speaker 1: And and uh, um, you know it's it's my job
Speaker 1: to to make sure that that that doesn't happen. And
Speaker 1: so we continue to communicate and talk with the players
Speaker 1: and and you find out a lot about your football
Speaker 1: team in the next month, and um and and and
Speaker 1: you know, um, you continue to go to work every day.
Speaker 1: You know, you don't back off, you don't lighten up
Speaker 1: the loads. You just keep working. You stay the course.
Speaker 1: We have a process, we started the process back in
Speaker 1: OTAs where we're gonna stick with that, with that process
Speaker 1: and that routine, and uh you know, it just it
Speaker 1: just becomes it eventually becomes second nature to you. And
Speaker 1: uh um, you know, you look back on seasons like
Speaker 1: this and some of the close games that we were in,
Speaker 1: you learn from them and it puts you in better,
Speaker 1: better positions in the in the future. And uh so
Speaker 1: we just continue to continue the journey, continue the process
Speaker 1: that the players that every game that that your message
Speaker 1: was these next five games to show who wants the year?
Speaker 1: What exactly did you be? You just find out who who,
Speaker 1: who's gonna put forth the effort, Who who's gonna you know,
Speaker 1: who's gonna you know, sort of man up, as they say,
Speaker 1: and uh and take pride in in in their in
Speaker 1: their jobs and their profession. And that's coaches and players.
Speaker 1: And and that's not a listen, that's not a not
Speaker 1: a threat or anything like that. That's just that's just
Speaker 1: because that's what happens teams, teams in our situation right now,
Speaker 1: even though you know you're still on the maybe on
Speaker 1: the edge of of getting to where you want to
Speaker 1: be at the end of the season, you can kind
Speaker 1: of go the other way. And and uh, it's not
Speaker 1: to put any added pressure on anybody, But at the
Speaker 1: same time, I don't want people to just start tanking it,
Speaker 1: you know, in the last last half of the you know,
Speaker 1: the last month of the season, and and uh, then
Speaker 1: you jeopardize injury, you jeopardize injury up from another another teammate.
Speaker 1: So you know, we all have pride in this and
Speaker 1: and um, you know, uh, we still want to compete
Speaker 1: and go out and win football games. And that was
Speaker 1: the message and the challenge for the guys you're right now, Well,
Speaker 1: I think you're constantly evaluating. I don't think it's just
Speaker 1: for next year. I think I think you're doing that,
Speaker 1: you know, um, even even currently. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: so we're all always you know, evaluating, UM staff and
Speaker 1: players and and and just we're trying to, you know,
Speaker 1: make sure that we're heading. And I and like I
Speaker 1: said last night, I do think we're heading in the
Speaker 1: right direction. I do. I feel that, you know, the
Speaker 1: wins and losses, yeah, you got to take a look
Speaker 1: at that, and and um, you know that's a big
Speaker 1: part of the direction that you're heading. But what I
Speaker 1: see on a daily basis in practice too, with some
Speaker 1: of the youth that we had with Carson, with with
Speaker 1: the Windale Smallwood, with the you know Jalen Mills, I
Speaker 1: mean we got pieces and you know we keep adding
Speaker 1: too and down the road. Um, as I mentioned, these
Speaker 1: these games go in our favor, and that's what you want.
Speaker 1: You guys had twenty sacks the first six games and
Speaker 1: six sacks the last five games. Uh, Brandon has has
Speaker 1: not gotten the same. You know, a video has not
Speaker 1: been effective. We talked about Fletcher. Uh Connor hasn't had
Speaker 1: this season he's had in the past at a new position.
Speaker 1: What's going on with the pass rush? Is it possible
Speaker 1: to win like that without getting pressure? Well, you're you're seeing, um,
Speaker 1: what we're seeing in games is obviously you know, teams,
Speaker 1: teams know we have a good defensive line, we have
Speaker 1: a good pass rush. They're they're keeping tight ends and
Speaker 1: backs in. Uh. Some teams are using two tight ends
Speaker 1: and protection um seven seven man protection, six man protect
Speaker 1: They're chipping our defensive ends, which secure your A and
Speaker 1: B gaps and and then your pass rush lanes become
Speaker 1: a little tighter, um, and and just it's just something
Speaker 1: that we you know, UM, we keep working games. You
Speaker 1: keep working pick stunts, you keep working all the things
Speaker 1: that that you do to to try to free up
Speaker 1: free up these guys, whether it be linebackers and tackles,
Speaker 1: tackles and ends, ends and tackles, and and just keep
Speaker 1: keep working at it. You know it's uh, Um, you
Speaker 1: know we do that. We do the same thing a
Speaker 1: lot with with backs and tight ends, trying to trying
Speaker 1: to add an extra element of protection knowing that you know,
Speaker 1: a team has a good defensive line and and um,
Speaker 1: this is what this is what we're seeing, this is
Speaker 1: this is why good defensive lines in the NFL get
Speaker 1: this type type of attention. Um, I can remember the
Speaker 1: days when we were constantly going against the Giants with
Speaker 1: with stray handing those guys. We kept constantly keeping tight
Speaker 1: ends and backs and and and more protection elements in
Speaker 1: the uh in the game plan to to to nullify
Speaker 1: the pass rush. So, um, we got to keep working.
Speaker 1: It's tough. Um they know it, and UM we just
Speaker 1: we just we just keep working. And on a daily
Speaker 1: basis follow up on the you know, you guys spent
Speaker 1: a fortune on the D line on contract. It's supposed
Speaker 1: to be the strength of the team and one of
Speaker 1: the top D lines in the league. Shouldn't they win
Speaker 1: some of those battles? I mean, shouldn't they be getting
Speaker 1: to the quarterback more than they are, even if there's
Speaker 1: a tight end helping out. To answer your question, I
Speaker 1: would say, yeah, you know, should should your quarterback hit
Speaker 1: an open receiver. Yeah, should a receiver catch the football? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean those that we get paid to do that,
Speaker 1: you know. And it's if you've never played that position
Speaker 1: or played this level of football, I think it's easy
Speaker 1: to speculate and see you know what's going on. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, these guys are working extremely hard,
Speaker 1: you know, to get to the quarterback. It's not that
Speaker 1: they don't want to, you know. The effort is there,
Speaker 1: the determination is there. Again, when you're a good player,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get a lot of double teams, You're gonna
Speaker 1: get a lot of chips. It just slows down. I
Speaker 1: preach it to our offensive guys all the time. Slow
Speaker 1: down the pass rush. How do you do that? You
Speaker 1: do it with chips, you do it with double teams,
Speaker 1: you do it with you know, extra extra height ends
Speaker 1: in the game and sliding your protection and it's it's difficult.
Speaker 1: It is tough. Um ball is out. The thing is
Speaker 1: how fast did Aaron Rodgers get the ball out of
Speaker 1: his hand? How are you going to get to the
Speaker 1: quarterback when he gets it out of his hand so fast?
Speaker 1: It's it's tough. It's extremely hard, and end up in
Speaker 1: front of everything is is the ball's out so fast
Speaker 1: and it's left and it's right, and everything else is
Speaker 1: in front of you, and that's the hardest thing. Game
Speaker 1: is the only game, I'm sorry, the Minnesota game is
Speaker 1: the only game you up more than two sacks. It's
Speaker 1: like week three. So I mean it's not just I'm
Speaker 1: not just talking about yesterday. It's really been an ongoing
Speaker 1: thing where it just hasn't been there. So that's what interception. Um,
Speaker 1: a little bit of pressure in his face, kind of
Speaker 1: threw off his back foot, ball was high sailed over
Speaker 1: his head. Um, you know, just something that obviously happens, uh,
Speaker 1: you know occasionally in a game. But a play that
Speaker 1: he can he can definitely make and from that he
Speaker 1: got He took a big hit. Carson, Yeah, yeah, he
Speaker 1: did take a big hit. Peppers hit him pretty hard
Speaker 1: before you called the play. I saw the hit. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to run play there just to give him No, No,
Speaker 1: I'm not listening. I'm not just because of a hit.
Speaker 1: It's you know, yeah, trying to show you something though.
Speaker 1: I mean, spite, you know, the banged up offensive, you know,
Speaker 1: bank up situation, my receivers, just the way he played,
Speaker 1: I thought he played, you know, um, outside of a
Speaker 1: couple of plays, I thought he thought he played he
Speaker 1: played well, you know, and being able to manage the
Speaker 1: number of um, you know, formation adjustments and things that
Speaker 1: we did with with a young group, getting those guys
Speaker 1: lined up, the communication, getting getting us in and out
Speaker 1: of you know, runs and passes and protections and um,
Speaker 1: one of his better games that he's had here recently.
Speaker 1: From from that standpoint, Jim Jay twenty three stap yesterday,
Speaker 1: we talked about evaluations. She having a hard time getting
Speaker 1: open or what he wasn't targeting the ball black ball
Speaker 1: wasn't um, you know again it's a lot of it
Speaker 1: was uh, you know, design of the play ball was
Speaker 1: going in other other other areas. UM. You know it's
Speaker 1: it's you can evaluate off for twenty three plays, but
Speaker 1: you'd like to see more obviously, So these next few
Speaker 1: weeks could be even more important for him. UM. You know,
Speaker 1: we had we had uh a few plays in the
Speaker 1: game plan for him, you know, him specifically, and and
Speaker 1: the way it was going, we just uh. And then
Speaker 1: when Jordan got nicked up, I went more to the
Speaker 1: two tight end sets a little bit with with Zach
Speaker 1: and Trey, so that that sort of uh, um, you know,
Speaker 1: sort of sort of kept him a little a little
Speaker 1: bit on the sideline at those in those times, you're
Speaker 1: playing a Packers that you're playing a Packers defense that
Speaker 1: other teams have just dominated lately. Forty seven points, forty
Speaker 1: two points, You got three points in the second half.
Speaker 1: What in the world was that about the fact that
Speaker 1: we I think we had maybe six possessions the entire game.
Speaker 1: It was a keepaway game. We didn't have enough touches,
Speaker 1: you know, and then the touches we had, we we
Speaker 1: got to make sure that we're doing, um, the best
Speaker 1: we can to score points and score touchdowns, especially against
Speaker 1: again a good a good quarterback in Aaron Rodgers in
Speaker 1: that offense. Um, you know, uh, that's what she that's
Speaker 1: you know, bottom line, that's what you gotta do. Scort
Speaker 1: says all time, me over the defense pretty much right. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, he doesn't answer questions after the game. You
Speaker 1: used to stad up there and stand out, stand out
Speaker 1: and answer questions for scheme decisions the players are responsible
Speaker 1: for end up having answer questions. Are you okay with them? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Because you know, ultimately, um, you know, um, it's it's
Speaker 1: I have to answer for it all, you know, and
Speaker 1: and and and I'm gonna I'll stand up here and
Speaker 1: and and and take the heat. I'll take the good,
Speaker 1: the bad, the ugly, the indifferent. It doesn't doesn't make
Speaker 1: me any you know, one way or the other doesn't.
Speaker 1: There's no difference to me. I got I got to
Speaker 1: do that as part of you know, it's what I
Speaker 1: signed up for. So um, I'm okay with that. The
Speaker 1: comment after the game that you think the team's pointed
Speaker 1: in the right direction because of the effort that you're
Speaker 1: seeing out of them, curse, Why that's the standard? I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a this is a team that's been in
Speaker 1: playoff contention, you know, basically throughout the season. It's kind
Speaker 1: of a given that they would be giving effort. It's
Speaker 1: not like you guys have been out of playoff contention
Speaker 1: for weeks. So why is that the standard? And why
Speaker 1: is that something that that gives you confidence that this
Speaker 1: is a team moving in the right direction. Well, I
Speaker 1: just think that you know, we we we've given ourselves
Speaker 1: opportunities if we if we just make a few more
Speaker 1: just a couple one or two more plays, and some
Speaker 1: of these ball games, the outcomes are different, and we're
Speaker 1: not talking about this right now. Um. Yes, I'll admit
Speaker 1: that we're playing with some young guys on offense, and
Speaker 1: these young guys are getting valuable, valuable reps. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: we had Big V in there for a while. Now
Speaker 1: Isaac is in there, and you know, Wendale and Carson
Speaker 1: and these guys and the youth at receiver that that
Speaker 1: are getting valuable reps. And and yes, I agree that
Speaker 1: it may not show on the scoreboard and it may
Speaker 1: not show what the wins and losses. I totally get that.
Speaker 1: And you know, we're in this business to win games.
Speaker 1: That's that's why we're here. Um. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I look at the process and I look at the plan.
Speaker 1: I use those words because those are words that we
Speaker 1: use around here, because there is a plan and there
Speaker 1: is a process. And and you know, you build your
Speaker 1: team through the draft, you pick up a couple of
Speaker 1: good free agents in the offseason, you you continue to work.
Speaker 1: You you watch these these young kids develop and turn
Speaker 1: into into ball players, and you see the potential. And
Speaker 1: that's why when I say that, that's what I see
Speaker 1: with these guys. And you know, I look at the
Speaker 1: I look at how Seattle's built their team. I look
Speaker 1: how the Raiders have built their team. I look at
Speaker 1: the plan that's been in place for a lot of
Speaker 1: teams around the National Football League. They're having success now
Speaker 1: in their third, fourth, seventh years. And that's the direction
Speaker 1: that we're heading in. And so that's why when I
Speaker 1: say those comments like that, that's what I see. I
Speaker 1: see us three four years down the road. I see
Speaker 1: us seven eight years down the road, having consistency that
Speaker 1: way and winning more of these games than not. Thank you,
Speaker 1: all right, guys,