OC Drew Petzing, DC Nick Rallis & Asst. Head Coach/STC Jeff Rodgers | Press Conference – 10.14.25

OC Drew Petzing, DC Nick Rallis & Asst. Head Coach/STC Jeff Rodgers | Press Conference – 10.14.25

Is it a um relief, I guess, to see the offense kind of click in the way that it did and know that kind of some of these things that you guys have been working on can can work on Sundays? I I think there was some confidence built. I think at the end of the day, we’re an outcome based offense and we didn’t score enough points. So, that’s what we’re going to focus on where we can improve to get over the hump, but was definitely pleased with some of the things that took place on the field and kind of the momentum we were able to build. Most pleased with, you know, I you threw the ball well. I thought, you know, you know, I don’t think we punted in the second half. um you know got ourselves into scoring range a number of times. Um so just I thought the overall operation of the offense on the road in a hostile environment against a pretty good group was solid. What do you think you did to set Jacobe up for success to pass for 327 big play passes? I mean what what do you think you guys did? I I think we’re you know able to take advantage of some things they did on defense. I think that’s going to be our focus every week. you know, some of the things that they were showing us from a front structure and a coverage structure in terms of how we could, you know, protect and get the ball down the field. And I thought, you know, even though we didn’t hit the explosives in the run game, I thought the efficiency efficiency of the run game was a little bit better, which was good to see. So, I think that all plays hand in hand. What led to a lot more the play action was this week compared to recent. Yeah. So much of that is based on what we’re getting on the other side of the ball and kind of what we think we can take advantage of. Not that you didn’t know already what Jacobe brings to the table, but how nice was it to to see it in a game in a real game and and know you have that moving forward if need be again? Yeah, you hit on it. Anytime you see a guy go out there and perform at a high level on your roster, it gives you comfort knowing that he’s out there and can do that in a moment’s notice, which is great. Drew, with uh I know JJ said at one point about tailoring the offense to what each quarterback is on a higher level. Obviously, you’re not going to talk about specific plays, but on a higher level, what does that look like for a quarterback in a week to week, whether it’s Kyler, whether it’s Kobe, of them working with you and what they’re comfortable with and how exactly that works. Yeah, the communication piece is huge. Just making sure that they’re comfortable with what we’re calling, why we have it in, why why it matches up really with the defense we’re playing. That’s probably where we spend most of the time is who are we going against, and how do we take advantage of what they do? And then we put a bunch of stuff on there and talk through it, and it’s like, all right, hey, here, take this, leave this out. Here’s where I really see this well. And then even repping things through the week of practice, you start to get a feel for, all right, we thought that was going to look really good. Okay, that’s not maybe as clean. Let’s take that out, tweak this. Uh, I think that’s a constant process from really Monday afternoon when you put the previous game to bed all the way up until Sunday morning. But just to just to clarify because people have been wondering about this, it’s not like there’s a separate playbook for a Jacobe Brassette than No, not at all. Not at all. I And honestly, I don’t think that game looks drastically different if one of the others in the game. So, you think the same things that Jacobe had success with, Kyler could have similar success? Absolutely. And then then there, yeah, there’s going to be tweaks and changes. It’s not, you know, that like, hey, Jacobe did this, Kyler might do that. Um, but I think from a overall standpoint, I think their skill sets are similar. You guys are obviously under center a lot on Sunday. What advantages can that create? Um, especially in the play action game. Um, in things that you can exploit. Yeah, as you said, sometimes it’s the play action game, sometimes it can be a cadence thing on the road, sometimes it could be different things that the defense does, whether they align differently or play different coverages versus gun and under. So, I think there’s a lot of different things that can be dictated whether you’re in the uh under center or in the gun. You guys are able to pass against base more often than you had, I think, all season. Is that part of it? Right. If if you’re under center, they’re they’re maybe in base more often. I I could a lot of times their personnel is going to be on the field before we break the huddle. So I don’t think they’re necessarily going to dictate that uh in that way. You guys lose Travis very early. Sure was going to play maybe a blocking role in the offense. Mike goes out at one point. Marvin and you lose. How many different roles were being played by your wide receivers, your tight ends, and how do you feel like they adapted to that? A ton. I mean, I I I couldn’t even get there, as you said, there was so many moving parts in that game. I think I I got to give a ton of credit to the players for being able to handle that and communicate and get that all lined up and the coaches to make sure because we you know even as you said I think it was what the Trav Amari Michael Marv so there was so many different moving parts to make sure as you guys know we’re in a lot of different personnel groupings so it’s not like we’re just sitting in one group and kind of hey you go into this spot it’s we’re going to be in and out of the game we got to do a great job making sure that people know their new spots and make sure that we’re communicating in and out of huddle uh was really pleased with how everybody handled that. When it comes to Marva, I mean, you could tell this was a big trip for him and he wanted to play well there, but when when an unfortunate situation like like, you know, his injury happens, how tough is it to to witness that from a kid that, you know, has worked so hard and wanted to to do well? It’s hard. And I’ll be honest, and this is, you know, being in this sport, you hate seeing anyone on your roster get hurt. It’s it’s it’s an unfortunate reality of the sport, but you never want to see it. You know, knowing what the game meant to him obviously carries a little bit extra weight on my end, but I wouldn’t say that I have a drastically different response. Um, just cuz I always feel bad when those guys go down. How do you think that the pass protection looked overall? I thought it was really good. I mean, that’s a good front. I thought those guys did a really nice job up front. I thought that was a big piece of our success on Sunday. Where did you see Will Hernandez kind of take that next step in his second game back? Yeah, I think he was a lot more comfortable in there. I thought he played with great effort, you know, obviously f first time where he kind of played a full game really since what, week three of last year. Um, you know, so I imagine he’s pretty sore, you know, coming in on Monday after that. But, uh, was really pleased with how he did. Uh JJ talked after the game about um you know the importance of avoiding negative plays. I think you guys only had one sack and obviously that’s not just on the offensive line, but but what impact does that have on the offense when you’re not taking those negative plays? It’s big and a lot of it, you know, we talk about staying on schedule and putting yourself in second and medium, second and manageable where the defense has to respoke respect both the run and the pass game is huge. and then trying to avoid those third and longs because you get those in situations where it’s known pass and people can really disguise coverage and bring different pressures uh and you can put yourself behind the sticks, it gets hard. So, I think uh staying on schedule and eliminating those negatives is always important. How much of an offensive line success is finding the right combination of the five? You know, it’s it’s ability, it’s communication, it’s the mix and match. I think all of that goes into it. At the end of the day, you got to put your best five out there, but you have to make sure that they fit the right roles and they communicate well and that they can play together because if they can’t do that, it doesn’t end well. On the avoiding the sack stuff, how did you think Jacobe did with that? I thought he did well. You know, you saw him get to the checkown, you saw him get out of the pocket. I think he had what, an 11 or 12 yard scramble there on the last drive of the game, which was big. Um, so I thought he did a really nice job. He had nine passes of 15 or more area. Were those was that part of the game plan or that just kind of how the defense kind of allowed things to happen? I think it’s both. I mean, we’re always trying to generate explosive plays in both phases, whether it’s run or pass. And you’re trying to dictate certain looks, attack certain coverages or certain personnel groupings on the defensive side of the ball. And when you get the look and and it’s well executed, you can hit them, which we did on Sunday, which was awesome. Uh, but that’s something we’re always going to be searching for. Depending on obviously whatever happens with Travis and his prognosis short term, I mean, you you could be without what you considered your top two blocking tight ends, does that drastically impact how you go looking at how you’re doing things with missing those guys? Uh, I think it again, it pains a little bit on who we’re playing and how we want to run the ball or do different things in in pass protection and things like that. Uh, it’s certainly going to be, you know, we have to find it from someone else. Uh, whe you know, Beach played what, I think, 18 plays against the Colts. Uh there’s other guys on the roster that that certainly can fill that role. So we’re going to be creative to try to do that. Um and we need some guys to step up. Would there be a consideration to running some kind of pl patch past the beach? Uh he has elite hands. I mean just unbelievable route runner. So everything’s on the table. I was curious about that like what impact does that have as a coordinator when you you have a tight end go out and in his place you have a offensive lineman who maybe is not no insult to Travis but like a better blocker but but doesn’t have that ability in the passing game. Yeah, it really when it happens in-game it’s probably the most unique because if it happens during the week you can plan for it. You can put different packages together. You know when it happens in game it’s like all right some of this stuff you know we’re not going to run beach down the seam on four verts this week. Like that play probably shouldn’t get called. Um, but there’s other things where, hey, Trav was going to be in that role, but Beach can serve that. And then there’s other, you know, so it’s it’s a little bit of a mix and match, but hey, maybe Beach didn’t get that rep or he’s not comfortable in that. So, we have to talk through a lot of that in the sideline between series to make sure we’re ready to go in those circumstances. Well, why not run down the He asks all the time. I mean, he’d love to talk about it. I’m sure they did run that Alabama play where the offensive line caught the quick screen a couple weeks ago. Dangerous. when when it comes to these these four games, I mean combined nine points you guys are have been in every every game. When you talk to the guys, is it like, man, we’re right there or is it we have to execute down the stretch or both? Or it’s a combination of all of them. You know, at the end of the day, it’s four losses. That’s what it is. Uh but when you feel like you’re close, it’s just a couple of plays, I think you try to figure out where you can get that extra ump from and get over the hump, whether it’s execution or play calling or all those different details. Uh, but I do I think there’s a sense of urgency because I do feel like we were really close and I think the guys feel that as well. I know that J was saying earlier this week he felt like he liked how the the mechanisms of the pass rush was working and it was the back end he felt like wasn’t quite there. Like just how are you seeing that marrying up between the pass rush and the back end? Yeah, we got we got to do a better job of all 11 executing um within a given play because there’s a a handful of really good rushes that I would say are winning fast, you know, and in the NFL you got to win fast. Quarterbacks know how to get it out, especially good quarterbacks like we just played and we’re about to play. Um and you just got to you got to be able to execute and play your fundamentals or your rules. Um so it just goes into all 11 guys. It takes all 11 on every play to to do your job. Otherwise, you know, good offenses are going to they’re going to take advantage of it. What did you guys not do well enough on the back end this week? You know, it was a combination of things. Um you know, maybe sometimes it was technique driven, sometimes it was communication driven or just adjustment driven. So, um you know, things that we’ve we’ve done well um all the way up until this last week. So, we got to get back to what we were doing and clean that up and um get better. You talked last week about um you know the the some of the fourth quarter struggles which at that point had been two-minute mechanics. This game was a little bit different game script. What did you see that went wrong? Yeah, completely different. Um you know it was it was more normal ball driven and we didn’t do a good job of getting them into must pass situations. Um and when we did get them into some second and longers or even some third downs, we didn’t we didn’t capitalize on it. And so, you know, as is the National Football League, like when you get in those situations against good offense, um you got to find ways to get off the field, whether that’s, you know, forcing them to punt or go for it on fourth down or set for a field goal. Um and we just need to do a good job of that in the second half. And so, um it starts with, you know, how can we coach it better and then how can we execute it better. Given that it’s looked so different, the fourth quarter struggles, the different game scripts and stuff like that, like do you see a common thread? these things like how do you explain that this defense for three quarters has seemingly be been like one of the best in the league and then in the fourth quarter it falls off? Yeah, you know, I think early on it was it’s a completely different type of um game that’s being played in those situations. Not to say that we don’t need to execute that better. Um, but I want to say like, you know, the first two games and then um, you know, the the Tennessee game we probably played a combined that’s three games and we probably played, you know, seven two-minute drives. So, it’s it’s a different brand of ball and we got to do better in those situations. But if you’re looking at it from a schematic or what could we do better from a technique or execution standpoint, you’re looking at it little bit of a different lens. Whereas, you know, I think this last week obviously didn’t play we didn’t play how we wanted to in the fourth quarter. You’re looking at it from a a different lens of how could we execute it better? How could we um set up the plan better and things of that nature. Um but from an overarching theme, how can we focus better throughout uh four quarters? How can we finish better? Um all those things definitely play a role. Are you do you stay fairly pragmatic in situations where it’s not going the way you’re hoping for? Do you find yourself having to tamp down your internal emotions? No. Um, not just solve problems throughout the 60-minute game. You know, it’s that’s that’s the National Football League. I talk as Drew the same thing where these four games were losses by combined nine points. I mean, you guys are right there. When you talk to the guys, do you talk about, look, we need to execute in the fourth quarter and get a stop or you talk about like, hey, we’re almost there. How do you balance the the two there? Yeah, I mean wins, losses, um you’re going to look at things and say in the totality of the game, how can we execute it better or in the critical moments, um how do we execute it better? But, you know, at the end of the day, the points, it’s it’s about the wins and it’s about the losses, you know, and so um you know, no one in this building is is happy with where we’re at, you know. Um, but I will say that everybody’s attitude and um their work ethic right now is it’s it’s right where it needs to be. So, I’m I’m I’m very happy with how the players are working right now. Through six games, how’s Will Johnson kind of grown, evolved, Yeah. I mean, every game I feel like he’s he’s made improvements. Um he’s doing a good job of obviously assignment sound stuff, but you know just his one-on-one battles where the whether the ball goes to him or not. Um he’s doing a good job of you know taking away access. Where’s the learning curve been for him as a pro? Um multiple spots as as expected. Um sometimes it’s technique driven. Um sometimes it’s situational awareness. Um, you know, sometimes it’s, you know, technique in the pass game or the run game or tackling or ball disruption. Um, you know, sometimes it’s schematic, which he’s he’s extremely intelligent. So, he he’s picked up things very very fast. Um, so pretty typical of what you’d expect a lot of different areas. Where have you seen a guy like Katon take that next step? Um, what what’s the question exactly? Defensively, Katon getting a little more action. Where have you seen him kind of take that next step? Um, kind of the same spot. You know, there’s been things that I’ve wanted him to get better at from a technique standpoint, on snap footwork, and I think he’s done that in practice, whether it’s taking a reps of our defense versus, you know, scout team. Um, and then again, the schematic knowledge of of being on point and communicating, you know, at that position, you got to be someone who who runs the show on the back end. And so, you know, I’ve seen I’ve seen strides. Um, I’ve been on him and he’s he’s uh he’s a fun one to work with because he’s just he he puts a lot into it. Um, but he’s he can learn really fast from a mistake he makes in practice or a game. Having played Green Bay last year with the same quarterback, are you able to look at that and and see similarities in a Matt Laflur offense or are things drastically different with him? No, I mean you know um you know Matt and Jordan have been there to working together for a while. So, um, you know, there’s definitely things that you can pull from the past. Um, but there’s things that they they’re adapting to, you know, and, um, you got to be able to filter out that information and see what are they doing different this year or or what are they doing really well to be clicking, um, what’s giving them issues this year. So, combination overall through six. I know you you like the formula rushes this week, but how do you kind of feel like the interior pass rush has been, especially outside of Clay’s? Um, I mean, things to get better at. There’s some things that, um, you know, you you feel like are really good and you want to be able to build on. We just got to do it at a very consistent level. Um, to be a to be a group that consistently affects quarterback with four man rush. On the flip side, seems like they had rushers, especially all of them really, who have gotten to the quarterback pretty well. What have you liked from that group? that you know um yeah you know there there’s things they need to improve on though too you know because I have I have a high expectation for all those guys I think they can they can win at a high clip and so you know even though you know there’s there’s some good rushes here is how can we win at a higher percentage how do our point of attacks uptick um everybody in that room um you know one thing I have been pleased about that Sweaty’s really done a good job of is is finishing on that ball too around the quarterback cuz you know, a strip sack is takeaway winning stat. So, um, just like the inside guys, um, there’s good things and then there’s things that you want to see consistently, um, in order to be a really good fourman rush group. With Green Bay’s offense, where do they stress it a defense the most? What do you know you’re everywhere? Um, good running back, good quarterback, a lot of good skill, really good tight end, and an old line that’s just good across the board that plays well together. I think they’re well coached. Um, Matt’s a really good play caller, so pick your poison. Um, we got to play really well and we have to have a really good plan. Take away run game, take away pass game, quarterback can move. Um, he’s extremely intelligent at the line of scrimmage. He can get them in the right stuff. So, it is a complete offense and we have a challenge ahead of us. If you look at the the numbers, you guys have given up a lot of yards to to slot to guys who are lined up in the slot, whether it’s tight ends, receivers, whatever it is. Um, how much of that is just Garrett being out and is that somewhere where you guys feel like you can be better or is it just you played a lot of good receivers? Like what what goes into that? I think you got to maybe look at that play by play to be honest. Um, I wouldn’t say that like we’re getting targeted in the slot per se. Um, so much can go into that of, you know, that guy was aligned in that spot. What was the route concept actually? What was the coverage? How did they get to it? Um, did we execute it well? Was it bad technique? Was it a bad scheme thing? Was it um you know just poor schematic execution? So that’s pretty variable. Then I don’t I don’t feel like that that is a uh an issue um per se right now. JG, you mentioned last week that you Kobe Brassette and McBride bark at you and you guys go back and forth. How competitive does that get in a typical practice? Um yeah, competitive. Um I mean I love working with those guys. Uh I do like barking at those guys a lot. Um but then on on Sundays it’s it’s it’s good to know that they’re on our team, you know, and I now it’s time to to dap them up and um you know, I’m going to get you this ball, go make these plays type of deal. So yeah, I mean it’s it’s it’s those two. It’s a lot of guys on offense. Um but I think that’s that’s the fun thing. It’s just we have a lot of guys that enjoy being out there at practice and competing. Do you think about the players on defense or is it mostly just you? I mean, I’m sure there’s there’s chirping back and forth. Um, but, you know, I get mine in, too. Yeah. You uh you had to make some changes obviously a puncher last week with Blake who was having a a good year. I know that he’s had some back trouble in the past. Just what’s that like having to deal with that? Did it kind of come out of nowhere for you and how do you kind of juggle that in in the moment? Yeah, they just kind of told me um at some point last week that he wasn’t feeling great um and you know further evaluating so you start the contingency plans you know we had a couple guys in um a couple weeks ago maybe the week prior and that’s why you do that stuff find out about people that you haven’t seen live and then uh we had another workout we um you know I’ve got familiarity with Pat from our time in Chicago he was the punter there all three years I was there so uh kind of knew what he was capable of and what his strengths and weaknesses were and um you know it it’s the holder right so I mean it’s the middle of the operation it’s not just the punting thing so that’s um you know a guy had in his capacity has punted and held before but you know has he it’s not necessarily with your snapper with your kicker um there is some crossover with those guys as well but that’s the biggest thing we had to get ironed out was the the holding process process and uh went well the first week. This might be a very dumb question, but do you have Can’t wait to find out. Do you have a backup holder that’s not the partner on the team? Yes. How come you in situations like this, you don’t just put them in just to make that transition a little more seamless? Um it’s not a dumb question, it’s a good question. Um yeah, I mean we’ve actually done that before. Um I I forgot what the circumstances were, but Colt held for us in a game. Um I think when we had a had a um deal, maybe Andy was our punter, whatever. Those guys, you know, when it’s a positional player, um which apparently the Colts contingency plan for their deal the week before was their snapper was going to become their holder. Uh and they were going to put in a backup snapper. um which you know you can talk yourself into a lot of different things but um there’s just not that many reps that you’re going to get with a positional player you’re trying to and you try and maximize um the opportunities that you got but you know when a guy has done it professionally and that’s all he not all that he does because obviously the guy’s going to going to punt as well um that transition is usually a little easier in that regard um unless the guy had been like Romo was the holder right for a long time. I’m sure that he remained as a backup and if it was a oneweek thing, he probably would have held, but um we felt best about Pat being able to hold. There was a a play on Monday Night Football last night where the the kickoff moved up because of I think it was an offside on the on the PAT and then the Commanders landed a dirty kick like at the 18 or something and they were saying, “Oh, it’s easier if moves up. And I was wondering like when you practice so much kicking off from the 35 and landing it in that little zone, is it actually easier when it moves up or or is it more difficult when it moves up because it’s a different distance than what you’re used to? I think it depends on the kicker and what you know his preferences are. Um I know this moving it back to the 20 is not going to make the dirty kick easier, right? Because it’s got to be lower line drive. Um I don’t know. I think it depends on I didn’t see the player you’re referencing. I didn’t uh see any football last night, but um different people have different philosophies. You know, if it’s a if it’s a 5 yard difference, if it’s a 15 yard difference, you know, ball being kicked from the 50, it it’s I would just say it’s kicker preference.

Offensive Coordinator Drew Petzing, Defensive Coordinator Nick Rallis, Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Jeff Rodgers address the media midweek following Week 7 against the Packers.

Drew Petzing: 0:00
Nick Rallis: 9:06
Jeff Rodgers: 19:20

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