Speaker 1: We're going to noticeaball rays and energy since Nick Bosa
Speaker 1: has been.
Speaker 2: Back into building. I really haven't noticed. It was great
Speaker 2: energy all week. Actually, the guys have been really ready
Speaker 2: to go and have been a great couple of days
Speaker 2: of practice. And I mean, obviously I think Nick being back,
Speaker 2: but I haven't. I really didn't notice it. But it's
Speaker 2: I'm glad he's back, Chris.
Speaker 3: This team has incredible depth of edge edge rushers, not
Speaker 3: just the starters, and the packups are really good as well.
Speaker 3: Is this a game where you're gonna have to help
Speaker 3: Trent and help Colton consistently throughout the game.
Speaker 2: Well, I think you have to be aware. They've got
Speaker 2: good players across the board. On the defense, their defensive
Speaker 2: linemen or talented ninety seven is a very good rusher
Speaker 2: as well as a run player. The edge rushers are, obviously,
Speaker 2: you know not as you noted, very good players. So
Speaker 2: we have to take count as we do in every
Speaker 2: game where the good players, how do we help minimize
Speaker 2: their impact on the game in any way, shape or form.
Speaker 2: So whatever we have to do to do that. Sometimes
Speaker 2: it's play calls, sometimes it's help. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: different ways in different things you can possibly do. But
Speaker 2: this team is so there's so many things that they
Speaker 2: challenge you with on defense that you just have to
Speaker 2: be careful that you're balanced in everything that you do.
Speaker 2: And and guys have to step up and make some
Speaker 2: plays and UH, and we've got to help him every
Speaker 2: way we can with our play calls as well.
Speaker 1: Mostly just don't like to compare all I should compare
Speaker 1: not a good idea. But you've got four skill position
Speaker 1: players that Jo McCaffrey and I and Deebo and Kittle.
Speaker 1: I mean, you've been doing this a long time. The
Speaker 1: teams that you know been on come to mind where
Speaker 1: they like have a similar type foursome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when I was in UH, when I was in Indianapolis.
Speaker 2: The one thing that when I was with the Colts,
Speaker 2: they Bill Polland did a great job of when you
Speaker 2: had a quarterback and Tom Moore the coordinator there, like
Speaker 2: Peyton Manning, his philosophy was you had to make sure
Speaker 2: that he had people around him to get the ball to.
Speaker 2: At that point, we had Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and
Speaker 2: Reggie is second here. Really wasn't quite what he became,
Speaker 2: but he became that with it very quickly. At the time,
Speaker 2: Brandon Stokely was one of the elite slot receivers, and
Speaker 2: then Marcus Pollard at tight end. Kenny Dilger been a
Speaker 2: tight end. Then Edrin James is the running back. So
Speaker 2: there were three or four really good skill position players
Speaker 2: around him that that the yak. You know, you get
Speaker 2: the ball in their hands and they're going to do
Speaker 2: something with it. Now, Marvin did things down the field
Speaker 2: and so I'm not putting our guys yet in that category.
Speaker 2: But it isn't you hear I mean, you hear other
Speaker 2: coaches talk about it. You hear other people say that,
Speaker 2: you know, our guys want to get the ball in
Speaker 2: their hands. It's a good group. And so it's it's
Speaker 2: it's it's a cool group to be around. And uh
Speaker 2: and and what they do with the ball in their hands,
Speaker 2: it's fun to watch.
Speaker 1: Them a no question. But when you have this level
Speaker 1: of talent at skill positions, then do you say, oh,
Speaker 1: we can do more offensively, let's try this, or is
Speaker 1: it just the plays you have have a greater chance
Speaker 1: of success.
Speaker 2: Well it can be both, right, you can just say
Speaker 2: we can just run what we run and h our
Speaker 2: skill are our good players are going to make plays regardless,
Speaker 2: or we can say how do we put our skill
Speaker 2: players in better matchup positions? And so I think it's
Speaker 2: always a balancing act. It depends on so many things.
Speaker 2: The team you play, what the defense presents, what are
Speaker 2: you trying to do? So on and so forth, and
Speaker 2: so you know, you just you obviously you know you
Speaker 2: take advantage of things as you see them. One comes
Speaker 2: to mind. I remember, this is a great one is
Speaker 2: where the Colts are playing the Ravens. And I was
Speaker 2: actually at the Ravens at this point afterwards, and I
Speaker 2: was talking with Rex Ryan about it, and they had
Speaker 2: a third and one and Peyton threw a touchdown to Marrow,
Speaker 2: like a fifty yard touchdown pass to Marvin on a
Speaker 2: third and one. And when I asked Rex about it
Speaker 2: when I got there, I said, Rex, this was I said,
Speaker 2: what were you thinking? You went cover zero? He goes, well,
Speaker 2: they never ever threw the ball in that situation on
Speaker 2: third and one when you put you know, they put
Speaker 2: those personnel people. But Peyton saw that they were in
Speaker 2: cover zero, so we checked to a play and hit
Speaker 2: Marvin Harrison because he knew he could take advantage of
Speaker 2: something that the defense gave him. So sometimes it's just
Speaker 2: that you have skilled players and you see something that
Speaker 2: you can take advantage of it and you do it
Speaker 2: that way as well.
Speaker 4: Holten mcgivvitt's was saying yesterday that after mclinch he had left,
Speaker 4: that he had a conversation with you, and you basically told, hey,
Speaker 4: how you prepare like a starter, carry yourself like a starter?
Speaker 4: Have you seen that in him from this day one?
Speaker 2: Yep? And he still has to go through the bumps
Speaker 2: and bruises of Okay, I maybe don't have as good
Speaker 2: a game, but I'm still a starter. I was good
Speaker 2: a quarter a rep of Hey, snush yourself off, let's go,
Speaker 2: let's go next play, because you're the guy and we
Speaker 2: need you to play well the next play. And that
Speaker 2: was what I wanted him to know. He was the starter.
Speaker 2: It's time to stop thinking of yourself as the guy
Speaker 2: that came up back through the practice squad and all
Speaker 2: that he's done to accomplish to where he is today.
Speaker 2: And I just wanted to have the confidence to know
Speaker 2: that he is that guy and he has carried himself
Speaker 2: that way, and you carry yourself that way though basically
Speaker 2: not because you're gonna make yourself carry carry yourself that
Speaker 2: way by performing. But you consist in every day showing
Speaker 2: up every day, doing what you're supposed to do on
Speaker 2: the field, doing what you're supposed to do in the
Speaker 2: meeting room, do what you're supposed to do in the
Speaker 2: weight room. Blah blah blah, all the things that guys
Speaker 2: are supposed to do to be a starter, be a pro,
Speaker 2: be the right kind of guy, be on time, do
Speaker 2: everything right, be a leader, help the young guys right.
Speaker 2: All those things that he does. He's embraced that role
Speaker 2: and but he's he's performed as well, so that's that's
Speaker 2: helped and hopefully going into week one, you know, this
Speaker 2: performance hasn't been a real game yet, so now we
Speaker 2: get to see what we're made of. What's the confidence
Speaker 2: I've a like for a guy like him though, When
Speaker 2: he's got what he knows, I'm gonna be one on
Speaker 2: one on this rep against what without any help? Do
Speaker 2: you see just the confidence?
Speaker 5: And I'm ready for that.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sure he's like any other guy would be.
Speaker 2: You know, you get a lump in your throat. You
Speaker 2: know it's gonna be a challenge. You know it's gonna
Speaker 2: be a full day of work, and you know it.
Speaker 2: You know what I've seen Trent Williams get it, I mean,
Speaker 2: And Trent didn't think he can't remember Trent's first game.
Speaker 2: He didn't think he was going to get that feeling.
Speaker 2: And then he met Mark swear an opening day and realized,
Speaker 2: holy crap, this is a whole different thing than what
Speaker 2: I thought. And for the whole game, he hang he
Speaker 2: hung on, and he's his eyes were as big as
Speaker 2: could be and like, I am so far out of
Speaker 2: my element right now. And that was Trent Williams day one.
Speaker 2: And you asked him about it DeMarcus Ware in Washington,
Speaker 2: and Trent was like, holy crap, this is something else.
Speaker 2: So I can imagine Colton now. The good thing for
Speaker 2: Colton is Colton has played that Week seventeen game Von
Speaker 2: Miller and yeah there were some not so good plays,
Speaker 2: but there were some really good plays down to stretch
Speaker 2: as well, and he has had some meaningful reps for
Speaker 2: us over the last the first part of his career.
Speaker 2: So while it's going to be a challenge as a starter,
Speaker 2: and I know it's a great player on defense, and
Speaker 2: we give him all props and Colton Obviously, I'm sure
Speaker 2: he's gonna feel it. I'm gonna feel it for him
Speaker 2: if he's not feeling it, but I know he's You know,
Speaker 2: where we prepare for things like this, and we go
Speaker 2: against really good players in practice all the time, and
Speaker 2: we talk about guys like this, and the guys spend
Speaker 2: a great deal of time studying and looking at you know,
Speaker 2: what is it? How do we best manage a player
Speaker 2: like this? And then how do we help him as
Speaker 2: coaches as well?
Speaker 5: The team hasn't gotten off to great starts in recent seasons.
Speaker 5: Just wondering if that's been discussed in recent weeks and
Speaker 5: been any sort of diagnosis as to why that might
Speaker 5: have been.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I don't think it's hard. It's hard to
Speaker 2: put your finger on why it has been what it's been.
Speaker 2: You know, I think I don't know. I really don't.
Speaker 2: This team this, I mean, we prepared well this this camp.
Speaker 2: You know, last year we had we had a young
Speaker 2: starting quarterback right the weather and then you know it's
Speaker 2: just some ups and downs earlyer than injuries to the
Speaker 2: positions right, and you know, Jimmy takes over after the injury.
Speaker 2: He hadn't done anything in training. You know, there were
Speaker 2: a lot of reasons last year. Every year there's going
Speaker 2: to be an excuse. But the nday know, we haven't
Speaker 2: played well since nineteen when we started eight to zero
Speaker 2: in early in the season. And I don't know why
Speaker 2: that is. I mean, you can look at it. Last
Speaker 2: time we played Pittsford. I think we had five turnovers
Speaker 2: and we still found a way to win that game
Speaker 2: at the end when they fumbled back to us at
Speaker 2: the end of the game and we end up kicking
Speaker 2: the game winner. I mean, we could have lost some
Speaker 2: games that stretch. I don't It has obviously been discussed.
Speaker 2: You don't want to come out of the gate slow.
Speaker 2: You love coming out and building that cushion early in
Speaker 2: the season. Heck, all we're trying to do is win
Speaker 2: one game, just like we did last year, just like
Speaker 2: we did the year before. Come out Opening day. You
Speaker 2: hope that all your guys, your preparation, execution, everything that
Speaker 2: you've worn done, you can go out and do that
Speaker 2: on game day. And that's all we're hoping to do
Speaker 2: is start the season off right with one. Just try
Speaker 2: to get one against a really, really good opponent opponent
Speaker 2: and a really tough atmosphere. How was Elijah Mitchell looked
Speaker 2: since coming back to that groin stray?
Speaker 3: And do you find it difficult to get all your
Speaker 3: running backs touches right now, especially after having.
Speaker 2: Good camps with Jordan Bason and Titus Price. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, every time Elijah shows up, it's great because
Speaker 2: it's it's like he's never missed a beat. So when
Speaker 2: he's out there, you're like, it's so good to have
Speaker 2: him back out there. We've talked about him, you know
Speaker 2: when Trent in the one game where he started running
Speaker 2: and he's like he could tell it was not Christian
Speaker 2: running the ball anymore, just by the way the physicality
Speaker 2: of the run. And it is tough because you have
Speaker 2: all these guys that can contribute, but they all have
Speaker 2: a role, they all have a place. Obviously, Christian's the
Speaker 2: lead dog, and Elijah will get his carries, and if
Speaker 2: JP and the other guys get a chance to get
Speaker 2: in there, it's nice to have him. As you know,
Speaker 2: throughout this thing, you're always gonna need guys, and so
Speaker 2: whether they're all available, and they all may not get
Speaker 2: touches right away, at some point they.
Speaker 3: Will who is the third tackle is it war, is
Speaker 3: it prior? Does it depend on which.
Speaker 2: You know right now? And it's still to be discussed
Speaker 2: going into how we who we dress and stuff. Right now,
Speaker 2: i'd be right and left. I did that. We did
Speaker 2: it last year with Colton and Jalen last year as well,
Speaker 2: So right now it's right and left.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: They've both done a good job and they're both more
Speaker 2: comfortable on those sides. But I've started swinging them and
Speaker 2: we've been starting to work both sides and practice in
Speaker 2: case the time does come that we've got to make
Speaker 2: a decision on one of them. Maybe we only dressed
Speaker 2: one swing tackle and we addressed other guys inside. It
Speaker 2: just made based on the health of the rest of
Speaker 2: the offensive line. So right now it's it's right and left.
Speaker 1: McCaffrey came in hit the ground running last year, but
Speaker 1: with a full off season.
Speaker 3: Do you see a lot of difference in how he's
Speaker 3: approaching the game now?
Speaker 2: More confidence in the system. Oh, he's he's awesome. I mean,
Speaker 2: he came here last year in mid season and obviously
Speaker 2: the shock of getting traded a whole different system. He
Speaker 2: shows up here, we start handing the football right away,
Speaker 2: and he just hadn't been in the system, and we
Speaker 2: talked about it last year, how he talked about how
Speaker 2: much we coached him. You know, he never is a runner,
Speaker 2: and runners don't get coached left. They get coached in
Speaker 2: this offense. What they're supposed to read, what they're supposed
Speaker 2: to see, how they're supposed to press it. And obviously
Speaker 2: the Christian does this thing too, because he's a great
Speaker 2: runner and has instincts and feel Now he understands all
Speaker 2: those things. He understands the plays. We went through a
Speaker 2: whole off season of him understanding what we're trying to
Speaker 2: accomplish with this play when we toss him the ball
Speaker 2: in this way, when we hand them the play, how
Speaker 2: he's to set up the blocks, what we're thinking up front.
Speaker 2: He didn't know those things, and they other places he'd
Speaker 2: been hadn't really talked much about it. Is from my understanding,
Speaker 2: I'm not saying he did or didn't. That's what he
Speaker 2: told me. So him being able to understand, you know,
Speaker 2: how things happen, and with as you've seen sometimes with
Speaker 2: some of the plays that Kyle's designed through the years,
Speaker 2: there's some decent sized holes they just kind of show
Speaker 2: up and and it's by design. Well, when you're a
Speaker 2: runner that hasn't seen that, it's like, you mean, you
Speaker 2: don't wait to run there right now, No, you gotta
Speaker 2: wait and then you can run there because there's other
Speaker 2: things that have to happen to play. And little things
Speaker 2: like that happened to him throughout and this year it's
Speaker 2: not like that. Man he is. It's just it's he's
Speaker 2: so on it and and still learning and still wanting
Speaker 2: to be better. He is just so hard on himself
Speaker 2: in a positive way that he's always wanting to make
Speaker 2: sure he gets it exactly right. And that just I
Speaker 2: mean that trickles down now to all the rest of
Speaker 2: the backs. And he's just a great guy to have
Speaker 2: on the team and he has made huge strides as
Speaker 2: much as a guy's talented as Christian can make, He's
Speaker 2: made huge strides this year. Thank you.