Brad Idzik on facing the Atlanta Falcons in Week 11 | Carolina Panthers

Brad Idzik on facing the Atlanta Falcons in Week 11 | Carolina Panthers

Uh, I just think, you know, building off of Sunday, it wasn’t our best performance. Um, things that we all need to, you know, take care of, uh, going forward have been addressed, uh, to to the players. Really, uh, proud of their approach as they came back to the building. Um, you know, getting ready for another divisional matchup, you, you know, sometimes when you come off a rough game, uh, e execution wise, you just hope the next one comes up, uh, you know, as soon as possible. And our guys are chomping at the bit today, uh, to hit hit the practice with full speed today. get a chance to to let it come to life. Uh the game plan that we’re putting together. Um the coaches as well, just uh you know, excited to put this thing together and get another crack at, you know, NFC South opponent. All right, we’ll kick things off with Jeff Hawkins, followed by Mike K. Hey, good morning, coach. How are you? Good. How you doing, Jeff? Hey, good. Hey, a lot’s been made of Bryce Young’s um ability or inability to throw down field. Uh the wide receiver unit wide receiver unit is a very young unit, but against the Saints and overall are you satisfied with the route running that they’re putting in and did they help the young with with their with their um precision route running? Yeah, I I think anytime you have a young receiving core or young skill group in general, u you you need to accumulate those reps of hitting those downfield shots. Uh we we just missed on a couple of those uh big opportunities on Sunday. Um, I know the guys, you know, taking the coaching well, uh, on Monday and they understand, you know, what we need to do to to hit those this week. And, uh, I’m excited for it because these guys again, like their approach, uh, coming in on Monday, coming in, uh, you know, back into the building on on Wednesday, yesterday, getting more of a mental day, get their legs underneath them. Um, it’s been right. Right. They’re very professional in their approach. Uh, they take criticism very well. Um, and they look to build upon it. So again, today being our first like full speed look at, you know, making this game plan come to life, I look forward to some of that coming to life. And what are you expecting to see able to get after uh zero catches and only the one target that he failed to track last week? Yeah, Xavier’s been playing fast for us. You go, you you put the tape on from the last game, he was physical, uh doing a great job in the run game, playing aggressive, uh you know, doing a good job of attacking in his route running. Got to finish a couple of those plays uh down the field. And sometimes the, you know, anytime uh there there’s a a little bit of the execution that kind of limited our opportunities alto together. We would have loved to give them a chance at a couple more balls. Um but just sustaining drives is going to give everyone more chances, more targets. Um we ended up with like 54 plays last week. There was a handful of three and four and outs uh in the middle chunk there where we just didn’t get opportunities to get those targets to everyone. So, um, that’s, uh, on the group as a whole, coaches included, to make sure that we sustain these drives and then those opportunities, they naturally start to flourish. Hey, thanks. Good luck, coach. Thank you, Mike. Hey, sorry about that, Brad. Um, when T-MAC’s making up 54% of the um, production for the wide receiver room, how do you make it so that teams aren’t keying in on you guys and what you’re trying to do, especially later on in games? Yeah, as you go, you continue to move guys around. Uh, you try to highlight the wins and wares of, hey, we think the tilt the coverage is going to tilt this way. It gives other guys opportunities. Um, I think you go back in the in the last game and there’s some great looks at uh, you know, a target might go T-Max way. Uh, other receivers are also doing a good job of of making sure that they’re they’re winning their their roles. But it’s all connected protection uh, to eye discipline from the quarterback and receiver uh, you know, positions. And then uh, for us as coaches, making sure that we mix and match where you find those guys uh, in the formations and in the concepts. Bryce has obviously had kind of a safety net in Adam and now T-MAC. How do you push him though to look other ways with your play calling? Uh he’s doing that. So every week again I think I brought it up last week where he he makes a list when he gets the game plan uh engaging the material. He makes a list of routes that he wants uh with these guys. And that’s so important when you have a young uh you know a young group of skills, specifically the receiver room. um making sure that Jimmy’s getting his uh you know routes route adjusts that come up in the middle of a game that might not be the the one that he’s got an accumulation of reps versus the ideal look. Well, here’s the one-off coverage that I want you to get your rep for um you know on the side while we’re not practicing the full speed reps as a group. um those guys go on the side and Bryce has his list of uh you know things he wants to hit with those guys and he does a really good job of engaging the material bringing the guys along um you know with all the skill group and just look forward to those reps too accumulating over time and that starts to create that you know that connection that you you talk about the he has with the he has with T-Mac that all comes with repetition so um twofold Bryce engaging the material and bringing the guys with him but then also the guys not being satisfied you know, with going through a practice, maybe getting one look at a route and saying, “Hey, Bryce, can we go get this one on the side?” I want you to, you know, leave this practice feeling good about what I’m doing with my routes. And then last one for me, promise, guys. Sorry. Uh, you guys have 21 plays of 20 or more yards. Most of that has come off catching runs. How do you weigh the 2.7 second rule that you guys have talked about a lot and then also setting up downfield strikes? Yeah, it’s it’s continuing to um marry up the short game with the intermediate and the long. So, uh there’s there’s a time and a place for us to take shots downfield. Every single week, we’re hunting for those those perfect opportunities and making sure that those plays get called, the players understand, I’m expecting this call in this situation. Um and they know when this is a kind of we’re going for it, uh you know, type scenario. So, uh for us, it’s it starts with us as coach. just starts with me communicating that out to the players like here’s the perfect op, the perfect look when we know we want to hunt. Um, so Bryce and the receivers and tight ends, whoever the the guy taking the shot is, you know, is really tuned in to like this is this is my play. I should be juiced up. Uh, I should be really uh, you know, pressing uh to to get over the top and and to get a shot at an explosive play. Um those things come to light as the week goes and then you you kind of circle back on it on you know late on Friday and Saturday and say hey guys remember here’s your four or five opportunities where we know um there’ll be some others where you know someone just gets open one-on-one but there’s coverage uh things that present themselves where they know this is our opportunity to make an explosive play downfield and we got to connect. We’ll go with Joe Pson followed by Cass. Hey Brad, good morning. Morning Joe. Um, little bit related to Mike’s question, but just kind of a little more general uh in terms of T-Max’s development. Where where are the areas where you’ve been most pleased and where do you think he still has some work to do? Uh yeah, for for T-Mac it’s he has a general football understanding of uh timing for the quarterback. Uh also where’s the windows to throw. So you’ll see him uh a lot of the times his routes don’t look like the lines on the page, but he gets to the window uh you know in the appropriate amount of time for the quarterback uh to you know to garner that trust of I know if I throw it to this window on on my timing uh he’s going to be there for me. So T-Mac does a great job at that. Um, for him it’s just continuing to develop the complimentary routes to protect some of his, you know, some of his babies. Uh, so doing a great job at the line of scrimmage is another piece uh that guys are going to continue to challenge us at the line of scrimmage. Have to be physical, have to play with their hands. Um, he’s done that. Uh, he’s got to make sure that he’s consistent in doing that when guys want to come up and press. Uh, you know, we got to challenge them as the aggressor uh at the line of scrimmage and finish some of those plays downfield that are they’re so close, right? we had another shot down the left side last week. Um being physical in the right way uh at the right time and then coming up with some of those explosive one-on-one shots I think is is just going to continue to elevate his game. And you said protecting his babies. Please explain. Yeah, some some of his uh his key routes uh you know really you look at him and some of his end breakers are probably one of the most high production things that he does for us. Um and we know Bryce throws that ball well. That’s not a secret. So, I feel good about saying that. Um, but protecting that with double moves off of it or the same stem and working a different route concept off of it. So, uh, defensive coordinators can’t just lean on certain leverages knowing, hey, here it comes. This is only the inb breakaker. It’s like, no, we have to have the out, the double move, and something else off that stem to complement it. So, continuing to flesh those things out as a staff. Uh, that’s what we do on Monday. That’s what we do, you know, on Tuesday when the players are, you know, a little bit out of the building away from us and we get to try to make sure that we’re protecting them, protecting what they do best, um, you know, within a a route scheme. And for T-MAC for, you know, he does a great job with those end breakers. Uh, we got a lot of other things, uh, also built into the plan to make sure we protect it. Thank you. Yep. Is uh, is protecting your babies a Bradzik original? Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know if we need that quote on a headline. Fair enough. Um, speaking of T-Mac, he mentioned yesterday that this defense is this Falcons defense is going to look a little different simply because AJ Terrell’s on the field this week. Like what does he add that um you kind of have to be aware of? Yeah, he’s a he’s a great match corner. Um you you put him in the boundary, you let him travel uh and he wants to play match press. He’s a a patient and long defender. So, it’s really tough to get separation uh from him and uh you know, so down the field there’s not you’re not going to often see four or five yards of separation, he’s going to be there. So, finding ways to hold a guy off at the last second to make a play downfield. Um understanding that just because the defense is playing zone coverage doesn’t mean that he’s not going to play you and man. He’s not going to get up and press and uh you just have to have a plan at the line of scrimmage with him at all times. Um, and then the rest of the defense, they got young guys that are really coming to life. And, uh, I think that’s that goes without saying with the whole NFL when you have rookies playing a lot of snaps, they continue to ascend. Uh, we have guys on our team doing the same thing. Um, but those edge players that they have, uh, coupled with, you know, a safety, a nickel, um, all those guys are getting those accumulated reps, they’re really jelling well together. They play aggressive. Um, we got to do a great job of, you know, being the aggressor coming off the line of scrimmage in both phases because, uh, you can see it on on defense. They play confident with each other. They communicate, uh, and they fly around. Thank you. Yep. We’ll go with Daryl followed by Dave Newton. Coach, uh I know last week was a tough week, but since the pa since uh the Dallas game, you really have not scored a lot of points, even though there was a great running game, you know, pretty much up until this past Sunday. And I’m wondering why the passing game and the running game aren’t coordinating to the point where you’re putting a lot more points on the field because I I know you’ve been under 20 points all the last four weeks, you know, aside from this particular week that obviously got a lot of discussion. Yeah, absolutely. Uh we need we need our pass game to come to life and that’s from starting from the guys up front uh to the quarterback to the receivers and tight ends. um our protection plan being in in in peace so Bryce can get good clear vision down the field and then just continuing to internalize why why are we not hitting on some of these close shots down the field. Uh making sure that we’re we’re learning those lessons and we’re building from um the near misses the the near misses can’t happen in the same way uh as they come, you know, those opportunities come back up. Uh so really looking forward to our guys, you know, taking the the tough lessons from, you know, some some near misses in the last four or so weeks and especially in the past game and making sure that going forward, you know, we’ve uh you know, dotted our eyes and crossed our tees and we’re ready to roll uh you know, with what what Atlanta brings to us. So are you saying like we were mentioning Bryce gets clear vision downfield? Is some of the problem possibly he’s not getting that. And is that due to anything in particular that he’s not being able to see maybe those openings there? No, no, not at all. And that’s that’s not really the case for Bryce. He does a great job in the pocket. It’s just uh making sure that, you know, we’re on our protection plan and and uh you know, Bryce gets a chance to hit his his you know, first initial drop, get a chance to see number one open. Um, and then for him too, the last couple weeks, you know, I’m just excited to see as his ankle’s gotten better, uh, for him to, you know, move around a little bit more. Um, making sure that we’re we’re taking care of him. He looks great. He looked great last week moving around. Uh, we know that’s a big part of his game. So, that’s a huge threat to the defense and that’ll only help us, you know, now that he’s, you know, fully healthy running around. Um, you know, we don’t have to protect him that way at all. So, um, excited for that that element to come to life. uh it did last week right on the little pole and on third down on on the nub side and uh you know he he pulled it on the end and he he ran around the corner and and we’re like okay there you go that’s our that’s our Bryce and we want to make sure that we we keep him upright whether he’s staying in the pocket and uh and the fact that you know he’s he’s fully healthy now and he’s rolling just helps us do that too when he extends plays. Thank you. Yep. kind of follow up on that, Brad. Um, when you moving Bryce around a lot, how much is it more difficult for him to to see the the receivers open downfield and to get set to actually launch those deep passes? Um, you guys haven’t really completed. Uh, no. Abs I don’t think he has a vision problem down the field. He’s done a great job, uh, you know, of moving to find space. Uh, we’ve had experience, you know, me and Dave in particular have had experience with guys like Russell Wilson, Baker Mayfield, um, you know, and and Bryce. They all do a great job of finding space and finding vision to get those throws down the field and they’re not 6’5, you know, just towering over the offensive line. So, um, you know, the proof is in his ability to push down the push the ball down the field in practice. We’ve seen it. We’ve seen it in games. You go back to last year, uh, he does a phenomenal job right around this this stretch. Uh I showed the guys a couple, you know, clips from this stretch of the season last year when he started clicking. Um guys had those accumulated reps. He was ripping the ball down the field. Um not that you dip into the past, but you just you got to be honest of saying, “Hey, throughout the season we get these accumulated reps, uh you know, in the pass game where there’s a trust involved with that. Um that you grow and you show like, hey, I’m internalizing some of these near misses. Uh I’m going to fix it, move on.” You hit it in practice and then it comes to life in the game. And I think that’s that’s going to be the case for us going forward down this this last stretch of the season. Really excited to see it come to life. There’s there’s no no bigger issues other than, you know, just addressing the things that have gone on and and then making those connections happen on game day. And you mentioned Russell. How much is what you’re trying to accomplish and what Dave is trying to accomplish is from that Seattle influence? Uh, no. Every every year’s every year’s different, you know, and every player is different. there’s uh in particular plays, concepts, things that we know that our current quarterback likes. So, uh we we truly don’t copy and paste uh from one year to the next, even from year one to two to three for a certain player. Uh we we treat it like a a blank slate. And uh you know, that’s what we’ve done this year. We’re building this thing around him, making sure uh you know, that we bring everybody along with them. Hey, hey, hey. [Music]

Idzik spoke about Bryce Young, improving the passing game, and facing the Falcons defense.

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