Speaker 1: We will hold for a practice today. Ryan Matthews his knee,
Speaker 1: it's still day to day. He's doing better, but we'll
Speaker 1: hold him from practice. Jordan Matthews with his ankle again,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, uh yesterday x rays were negative, so
Speaker 1: he'll he'll be fine for the game. We're just gonna
Speaker 1: hold him today. And then Big v Um with his
Speaker 1: left knee again. It's just it's week to week and
Speaker 1: still so probably a little ways away, so definitely hold him.
Speaker 1: Everybody else Brandon Brooks is back and we'll return to
Speaker 1: practice today. So you said that on Carson's interception he
Speaker 1: threw off the back to foot. Is that a repeating
Speaker 1: mechanical issue and wasn't one of the things that you guys,
Speaker 1: you know, knew he had to work on when you
Speaker 1: got him, and it isn't something that he has has
Speaker 1: worked on continuously. He's definitely worked on it and he's
Speaker 1: um um. You know you saw earlier in the game
Speaker 1: when he when he's steps into throws, how how accurate
Speaker 1: and how how um you know, smooth the ball comes
Speaker 1: out of his hand on that particular play too, he
Speaker 1: also had there was some pressure. It wasn't like it
Speaker 1: wasn't a clean rush by the fact that he um
Speaker 1: got a got a bull rush pressure right in his face.
Speaker 1: So naturally you're gonna end up throwing a little bit,
Speaker 1: a little bit high and off your off your back
Speaker 1: foot because you can't step into your throw. So it
Speaker 1: was a little bit of mechanic, but it was also
Speaker 1: a little bit of the rush at the time that
Speaker 1: that made that ball go high. Take over a quarterback too,
Speaker 1: I guess polish and perfect mechanics when it's a guy
Speaker 1: as big and as strong as Carson who has been
Speaker 1: able to get over in college, you know sort of
Speaker 1: you know, forcing things physically, And how long do you
Speaker 1: think it'll take him? Is do you think he'll be
Speaker 1: in front of the purser. I think I'd definitely be
Speaker 1: in front in front of the curve. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: and it's still a work in progress. Uh you know, Um,
Speaker 1: you look, if you look kind of fast forward to
Speaker 1: this this this upcoming off season, you know, we get
Speaker 1: a chance to really work with him and spend time,
Speaker 1: you know, more so on his mechanics and and and
Speaker 1: obviously the details of that. But you know he's working
Speaker 1: on it every day. Um, it's definitely improved. Again, he
Speaker 1: saw it, you know, early in the early in the
Speaker 1: game and really throughout the game, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: we're still working on his eyes, progressions of plays, understanding
Speaker 1: the offense, and working through that. So there's uh, there's
Speaker 1: definitely it's it's small strides, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: it's going in the right direction. You talk of jal
Speaker 1: Mills just starting and playing the entire game, No, not yet.
Speaker 1: Why Why is that it seems like he's performing better
Speaker 1: than to go when he's out there, and that's it's
Speaker 1: that's a good question. The other thing, too, is just depth,
Speaker 1: having having having bodies, having guys that can play out there,
Speaker 1: and uh, um, that's that's kind of the the bottom
Speaker 1: line is having having guys, you know, having bodies. There's
Speaker 1: many rookies playing at once, especially at offense up but
Speaker 1: really on both sides of the ball. What what challenges
Speaker 1: does that present? And a lot of these guys haven't
Speaker 1: been through tough you know, who's in six out of
Speaker 1: eighty that kind of faith, Uh, what challenges? You know,
Speaker 1: one the challenge this time of year is most of
Speaker 1: the you know, as you as you're seeing the college
Speaker 1: football seasons winding down, so they kind of hit that
Speaker 1: that that wall just a little bit. Now with us
Speaker 1: we got we got five games left, and they're they're
Speaker 1: either getting ready for a bowl game or not going
Speaker 1: you know, getting ready for you know, Christmas break and
Speaker 1: and so that's obviously a challenge with the young players
Speaker 1: now is just keeping them, keeping them plugged in mentally
Speaker 1: and physically going down the stretch. And then and then
Speaker 1: just the the grind of how important every single rep
Speaker 1: in practice is to get it right in practice and
Speaker 1: that corresponds to the game. And and you just can't
Speaker 1: show up and go through the motions during the week
Speaker 1: and expect it on Sunday. Not at not at this level.
Speaker 1: You might get away with that in college because you're
Speaker 1: a better athlete or you're a better team than your opponent,
Speaker 1: but here everybody's good and and so the challenge is
Speaker 1: for them to practice well because and it helps them
Speaker 1: you know when when when crunch time comes into games.
Speaker 1: College guy's getting a little tired maybe at the end
Speaker 1: of the season. Do you have to worry about Parson
Speaker 1: in particular with his his arm maybe fatiguing at the
Speaker 1: last stretch of games. Here he's a little different. And
Speaker 1: the reason I say he's different is because where he's
Speaker 1: been from a college standpoint, he's always been in the
Speaker 1: playoff system, you know, in college, so he's still playing
Speaker 1: this time of year, so he's he understands that. And Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I feel like one of the things that
Speaker 1: I have to do is I got to be careful
Speaker 1: of the number of reps that I give the entire
Speaker 1: team this time of year. So I scale back just
Speaker 1: a little bit in practice so that we're not we're
Speaker 1: not on the practice field as long trying to keep
Speaker 1: their legs fresh. Everybody at this time the season is tired,
Speaker 1: they're fatigued, and so the best I can do to
Speaker 1: keep them fresh and and obviously with quarterbacks is that
Speaker 1: that's minimizing the number of throws that that we do
Speaker 1: in practice. I think we at lay of guards every
Speaker 1: consideration and putting him at left guard, Isaac, Isaac looked good. Isaac,
Speaker 1: you know, played well. Um wasn't perfect, you know, by
Speaker 1: no means, but at the same time, for his first,
Speaker 1: first first start, you know, to and really day of
Speaker 1: the game to start, Um played played well, filled and well.
Speaker 1: Um Wizz is playing good. Wiz Whiz is another one.
Speaker 1: So you know, if we feel like we've got two
Speaker 1: right now, and really you throw Brandon in the management,
Speaker 1: those are three guys now. And then Whizz has the
Speaker 1: ability to play center, as you know, and um it
Speaker 1: really was it was really a solid performance by the
Speaker 1: offensive line the other night, and and something that Isaac
Speaker 1: could just now, the more he gets in there, the
Speaker 1: more and just like Big V, the better he'll get.
Speaker 1: And and so that's the that's the hope going forward.
Speaker 1: What are you hoping to see? You know, sometimes back
Speaker 1: put Pearl can't be awarded the what's he like when
Speaker 1: in situations where he has to improvise just in general? Well,
Speaker 1: I think I think I think you saw a little
Speaker 1: bit of that the other night. Um uh. He has
Speaker 1: the ability to to change his arm, his arm slot,
Speaker 1: his throwing mechanic. If he's got to drop down, he
Speaker 1: can escape the pocket, he extend plays with his legs.
Speaker 1: You know, we're seeing a little bit more of that,
Speaker 1: and and that's something that it's just a natural thing
Speaker 1: with him. You know, it goes all the way back
Speaker 1: to OTAs and really in a training camp when he
Speaker 1: was healthy that some of the throw off balance type
Speaker 1: throws that he can make. And we've seen it throughout
Speaker 1: the year, you know, periodically some of some of those
Speaker 1: throws and decisions and and things that you h you know,
Speaker 1: it's hard to it's hard to coach those things. You know,
Speaker 1: you talk about him, you try to put them through
Speaker 1: a drill or something like that to you know, emphasize
Speaker 1: it because you're always going to be in a position
Speaker 1: to have to make an off balance or a unique throw.
Speaker 1: Be clear, I love Guard. The plan is to stake
Speaker 1: of wins for now or yeah, I don't know, whiz whiz. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So as far as scaling back practices, is that something
Speaker 1: that's planned during the summer that you know you're gonna
Speaker 1: I mean, I know Andy would always kind of do that,
Speaker 1: or is that something you just kind of gauge by
Speaker 1: watching how they're doing a little both, But but I
Speaker 1: kind of go into the season knowing at the times
Speaker 1: of the year where you want to start beginning to
Speaker 1: scale back just a little bit. It was unfortunate that
Speaker 1: our buy was after the third game. Normally you go
Speaker 1: your buy through like week six, seven, eight, get through
Speaker 1: that stretch and then you can start scaling down after
Speaker 1: your buy. So I started a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 1: backing down just a little bit, and then and then
Speaker 1: now going forward, you know, especially now, well this is
Speaker 1: a short week, so I'll scale back a little bit
Speaker 1: more this week. But now I'll keep the schedule as
Speaker 1: far as practice reps go pretty much the same. Now
Speaker 1: the rest of the season. I wanted Nelson to take
Speaker 1: out of sitting. You wanted them to take out that.
Speaker 1: You see how the offense runs and you kind of
Speaker 1: insert himself mentally into these situations. Where's the connection between
Speaker 1: that and his issue, which I thought was him overthinking
Speaker 1: when he was on the field. Well, you know, the
Speaker 1: connection is just again seeing seeing the game. It's just
Speaker 1: seeing it differently. Uh, you know, the connection of not
Speaker 1: having the pressure of performing, not putting pressure on yourself
Speaker 1: to perform, me not asking him to go perform that
Speaker 1: particular week. Um, you see it in practice where you know,
Speaker 1: we talk all the time play you know, on a
Speaker 1: service team, you know, they we hold up a card
Speaker 1: that says, hey, run this offense or run this defense,
Speaker 1: and receivers run it and they usually they make sometimes
Speaker 1: they make great plays and you're kind of going, you're
Speaker 1: scratching head, going, wow, that was that was pretty nice
Speaker 1: little play. It was a great route, great play, get
Speaker 1: great catch. So the connection there is play like you're
Speaker 1: playing that route for us as if it were a
Speaker 1: service team rep, as if it was a carded rep.
Speaker 1: If if it's where you just you're not thinking, you're
Speaker 1: just going and just reacting to what the defense or
Speaker 1: the offense presents. And that's it's easier said than done, obviously,
Speaker 1: but that's how that's al Nelson right now needs to
Speaker 1: attack this and and that's by just playing like you're
Speaker 1: playing the service team and running that particular But but
Speaker 1: obviously you're doing it with our off if that makes sense,
Speaker 1: You're doing it with our offense. And there's a level
Speaker 1: of of sort of comfort there knowing that you can
Speaker 1: just do it that way. Thank you. But have you
Speaker 1: had the chance to do any self evaluation during the season, um,
Speaker 1: and what what areas do you feel like you've progressed
Speaker 1: as a head coach so far? And what areas do
Speaker 1: you feel like you need to get better? Well? I do,
Speaker 1: I you know, of course, I you know, I set
Speaker 1: myself after every game and from a play calling standpoint,
Speaker 1: and you know, managing the game that way, I think
Speaker 1: I think as the as the year's gone on different
Speaker 1: the different situations, whether it be you know, fourth down,
Speaker 1: third and shorts, whatever, those little situational things. Kind of
Speaker 1: knowing maybe when to throw a screen pass over a
Speaker 1: drop back or a run. Um and and studying, studying
Speaker 1: my trend over the season has has has made me
Speaker 1: a better UM play caller. And understanding those situations also
Speaker 1: a little bit better as the season's gone on. And
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, kind of knowing when to when
Speaker 1: to make those decisions, and and and uh you know,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe knowing when to run, when to throw
Speaker 1: again all of that and and I think as when
Speaker 1: I look back, you know, after a full season, I
Speaker 1: look back, you know, on this season and assess everything. UM,
Speaker 1: be very critical and hard on myself going forward. But um,
Speaker 1: because I try to just like the quarterback, I try
Speaker 1: to put myself in in those game situations, even during
Speaker 1: the week when we're scripting plays and making sure that
Speaker 1: that's the right play that I want in that situation,
Speaker 1: even in practice, because just like the players, I got
Speaker 1: to put myself in that same in that same mindset
Speaker 1: even during the week. The challenges have you have you
Speaker 1: reviewed that? I will review that every Weekness, I wondering pophy,
Speaker 1: your philosophy on that twice you've taken them for really
Speaker 1: short yards plays aglar for four yard let's passing one
Speaker 1: for a two yard play on first down? UM in
Speaker 1: retrospect or is that or is that the phosophy years
Speaker 1: that you feel like even a few yards is worth it? Um? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And you know, and of course I do a lot
Speaker 1: of UM. You know, we we do have a process
Speaker 1: with the coaches upstairs and the information that we're seeing,
Speaker 1: the camera angles and different things like that, and you know,
Speaker 1: to make to make those uh, to make those choices.
Speaker 1: That second one in the game, I probably would have
Speaker 1: kept it, you know, it's a two yard game, keeping
Speaker 1: it second and eight. You know, the thing was too
Speaker 1: where they were on the field, you know, UM, I
Speaker 1: was just trying to you know, at that point, just
Speaker 1: trying to hey, let's go, let's go second and ten
Speaker 1: over second, they try to keep them back just a
Speaker 1: little bit two more yards, And I was trying to
Speaker 1: play all that in my head at the same time.
Speaker 1: And but that would be a challenge that that I
Speaker 1: would UM. And that's part of going back to the
Speaker 1: process of self evaluation, you know, making those decisions I'd
Speaker 1: probably probably hang onto that and keep it for obviously
Speaker 1: a situation that didn't show up in the game. Okay, yeah,