Asst. HC Jeff Rodgers, OC Drew Petzing, DC Nick Rallis Press Conference – 11.4.25 | AZ Cardinals

Asst. HC Jeff Rodgers, OC Drew Petzing, DC Nick Rallis Press Conference – 11.4.25 | AZ Cardinals

You said last week that you weren’t sure whether they’re they might try something with Aubrey. Were you surprised at all that they were trying a 68 yard and and your thoughts on that kind of length and little making the 68 yard over the weekend? Yeah, I mean it it’s coming, right? I mean that’s we’ve all known that it just it comes with the situation like how far how close do they get. Um you know the previous week I was watching that game live and you know it was going to be a 70 yarder and they had an interception on the play. So, I mean, I I knew they would at least attempt that. Um, the debate was whether or not you put a returner back there, and he had won, it was outdoors uh the previous year, maybe was the year before that, and it was short, but um you just never know, you know? I mean, it might end up being short. I felt like it was worth the risk at that point to try and return it. Uh thankfully for us, it uh it sailed on him. What happened, coach, on the the block punt? Uh, I’d say like this, like we’re meeting with you guys before we’ve even seen our players, right, to go over the tape and stuff. So, like hashing that out in the media is not like something we’re real interested in doing, but um they had a good scheme. You know, the the player that, uh, got through for them has a history of that. Uh, it wasn’t a shock to us that he was rushing. Um, but they out executed us in that situation. I think there’s a stat says the third longest time to punt of the or something like that. It was like two and a half seconds. Is that too long? Is that what you aim for? Yeah. Generally speaking, we try to be um, you know, mindful of our timing. Um, normal op time for us is, you know, and I’m not sure where you got your stat. If somebody’s getting the ball off consistently at 2 and 1/2 seconds, uh the coach, the snapper, the punter, we’re all going to be out of the league real quickly. So, whoever’s stopwatch that was is probably inaccurate. Um if that was 2 and a half seconds, but that punt certainly wasn’t. We try to be, you know, under 21 is kind of the norm. Most snappers are somewhere between 65 and 0.80 depending on how far the punter’s back there. Most punters are going to be somewhere in the one two to uh 14 range somewhere in there. So, um yeah, I mean, you’re always trying to get the ball off. You’re trying to do it in a way that um you know, you can be under control cuz that’s that’s real quick, you know. I mean, it’s almost like it’s the same thing with the kicking operation. Like most of those guys are in the one twos and that’s from the time the ball snaps so the holder doesn’t have much time, the punter doesn’t have, you know, much time. Um efficiency and timing is something that we’re certainly mindful of. I think this is only supposed to be the second time you guys are going to be playing outdoors this season. Just how much of a difference does that make it for the scheme or whatever you guys are trying to design up when you’re so used to playing indoors and now you have to switch it up to go outdoors? Yeah, I mean there’s certainly more factors. Um day game, sun, um is it in the returner’s eyes, receivers’s eyes, things like that you got to be mindful of. Um, Seattle’s not necessarily been the driest climate in the in the country, so that’s something that you’re usually mindful of. Um, the ball handling aspects of things, the wind. Um, yeah, I mean, it’s certainly different and and something that, you know, I mean, thankfully we can practice outside here and get some of those elements. But, um, the game day decision making, you don’t really know until you get into those conditions and see how it might affect you. Maybe it’s by quarter. Um, you know, tailwind versus headwind and left to right win, right to left. Um, one end of their stadium is a little different than the other. We played there a bunch, so we’re familiar with it. With uh with Dorch and Pars specifically, seems like he’s been fairly effective most of the time. like just how would you analyze now that we’re eight games in like how that process has gone with Greg back there and just the overall unit? Um I think we’ve had some good plays. Um, we obviously spent a ton of time during the by-week self scouting, which we talked extensively about last week, um, a number of aspects, but we kind of spent the early part of of last week saying, “Hey, here are the things we need to work on and, um, and improve.” And the night before the game, the tape that I showed him was while all that stuff is true, here’s, you know, and we talked about things we got to continue, but just visual evidence of here’s when we’ve covered kicks well, here’s when we’ve returned the ball well. Um, and the punt return was a part of that. We we haven’t had that many um relative to the league, we haven’t had that many punt return opportunities. and you know the style that of which we play like the games are short like there’s not as many possessions in our games as opposed to you know other teams and and we’ve gotten in some situations where we’ve gone on fourth down they’ve gone for it on fourth down so excuse me um I we had one opportunity in the game last night and it’s kind of a hoham play of he caught it and got a couple yards on the return but you know if you can average I think it was a 36 net and if you can average that, that’s spectacular. Um, so there’s there’s things that play into it. Um, you know, where people are punting and and you know, what the down distance is. Are we able to It was long enough last night to where we end up double double vicing the gunners and you can’t you don’t want to make a habit of that, you know, on fourth and one, fourth and two because the ball’s going to go around the edge uh against you. But um I feel like Greg has maximized most of the times that he’s touched the ball in both return aspects and I think that you know that we talk about the you know rookie class. Well that’s who’s blocking for those guys. So as time has gone on Denzel Katon Burch Cody um those four guys have been on our punt return team you know the entire season. and Will Johnson’s also contributed there as well. And as those guys get better and better at the things we’re asking him to do, um, you know, the results have have been okay. Um, like to get more more chances at it and um, like I said, maximize the return opportunities when we do get them, but um, I’ve been relatively pleased with um, the results of those plays. It’s you mentioned how teams might be going for it on fourth down and I would assume that’s impacting special teams everywhere. Do you find as teams are more willing to go for it on fourth down or that you’re uh that your own team is going for it on fourth down that losing some of those special teams reps? Do you feel like your guys get enough special teams reps? You’ve talked often about how it’s hard to replicate in practice and then if you’re not doing it as much in the game, do you feel like that slows the progress of a unit because teams are staying on offense and or defense on fourth down more? Yeah, it’s a good question. Um, slower, yes, but really impactful. I I I don’t know. Um, not this deviates from what you’re asking, but one of the things that somebody said to me or I read or whatever is just the spike in the number of kickoffs, right? Like it’s 80% or whatever and last year it was 30%. But the by the whatever whoever was saying it was the point was but there’s only been two return touchdowns and I would tell you that teams that cover kicks a lot like you get better and better and better at those things and just like the return teams they get better and better but um when it’s a play that you don’t see all that often I I think I told you guys this I don’t know if it was this year or last year but when I was in Denver you’re in altitude and the ball was being the touchback was the 20 yard line and it’s all day long touchbacks both of us right what we’re doing and what what the opponent’s doing and then it gets to be December and it’s a you know it’s whatever time game on the east coast and your guys are are seeing kicks right now for the first time whereas that team might have quadruple the number of reps so reps matter um the punt and punt return thing has slowed down a little bit and it’s really changed. The biggest change that I’ve noticed is the ball just gets to midfield a lot faster than what it used to. The ball, it’s one first down and you’re in between the 40s usually um after a kickoff. So like that part of it has changed because when you’re punting from the 50 yard line, the percentages of times that you’re actually going to get a return are not very likely. you know, it’s you see more pressure defense day and in those types of plays as opposed to the balls at the minus 15 where there’s more return scheme because uh the punter’s got to punt for distance and he’s trying to uh change field position. So, um it’s an ever evolving process, but that tweak to the touchback rule has a domino effect that um affects all areas of special teams as well as the offense and defense. You talked about coach Ganon told us that Jacob’s going to start Sunday. Can you talk about that decision and what went into that? Uh, you know, he’s playing at a high level. We got to go with the, you know, the guys that are healthy in the game and and excited about where we’re at and ready to go play. What has Jacobe done um for you as a play caller over these last three weeks to open up the offense? I, you know, again, I think it takes all of us. you know, it’s the plan coming together. It’s calling at the right time. It’s 11 guys on the field executing a high level. Uh hasn’t always been perfect, but but very pleased with kind of how it’s played out. And so, you know, was was really, you know, pleased with the outcome of the game yesterday. Past we talked about when everybody was healthy in the running back room, how everybody has different skill sets. With that being said, how do the skill sets of Bam and Amar complent each other? You know, I think they both do things well and you saw that throughout the game. I thought they both made plays with the ball in their hand in different run schemes. uh showed up on the checkdown world in the passing game and and sometimes not even in the checkdown world, just free released out of the back field. Um tried to get them going in the screen game a little bit and then I thought you saw them in protection, you know, specifically Amari. I thought he did a really nice job in some key third down protections there. They brought a lot of pressure. I thought he stepped up big time. I know that uh JD was talking about one of the reasons he wanted to say Jacobe was starting in Seattle was for clarity of game planning. How much does that impact you to have that clarity? Uh I mean, uh yes and no. I think a big part of it’s going to be who we’re going against, what we think allows our best players to be effective. Um, you know, whoever’s playing quarterback is going to tie into that. Um, but again, we’ve talked about I don’t see a massive difference between the guys in that room, what they do well, and how it how it impacts the rest of the group. JG said after the game that during the by-week he was sitting in the shower think, how did I let this how did I let us lose five games in a row? It’s a paint caller when the offense was sputtering earlier in the year. Do you have that same self-doubt and and does it kind of reinforce what you know about yourself to see the offense these last three games come out and play well? I don’t know if I’d use the term self-doubt. I think anytime we fall short of our goal, I’m going to blame myself first. And that’s going to be true from now till the end of time. I think, you know, as a competitor, as a teammate, I I think that’s what you do as a coach. I think you have to. So, when you’re coming up short, you’re going to look for answers and you’re going to figure out what you can do better and put guys in a better position, call better plays, design better plays. Um, you know, when you’re winning, you feel good about it, but in reality, there’s probably 10 or 15 plays that I’m still saying, I gotta be better here. I gotta call this better there. We could have been better here. I think that’s always going to be the case, win or lose. Is it nice though to see some kind of proof that that the methods work and then kind of the overarching plan works? It is always better when it works. Coach Jacobe said after the game last night, you talked to him before the game, wanted to get the ball to Marvin early. Was there something you saw that that you wanted to said you would talk to him before the game about getting that ball. Yeah, I you know, one of the things we talk about, you know, kind of throughout the week and certainly as we get closer to game Dave is is really Trey and Marv getting the ball early in the game and that’s true of any time you think your best playmakers, you want to get them involved. You want to get them to touch the ball early. Uh we’ve been able to do that in most games. Uh maybe not to that volume depending on, you know, what they’re giving us on defense. Um so I wouldn’t say that was any different than any other week. It sounded like he he was kind of talking about the opening script and how would like in the leadup to the game like on game day you guys kind of thought okay well maybe we can get the ball more on that opening script than we envision. Why would that be something that would change on game day in terms of once the game starts in terms of the the opening script right because it sound like he was saying like the opening script you guys kind of changed in the leadup to game time to focus on getting the ball to Mar. You would have to ask him that. I mean, typically that script really doesn’t come together towards I mean, we’re putting the plays in, then we’re repping them, then we’re going back towards the end of the week and kind of evaluating what looked good, what we feel comfortable with, what matches up. Um, so I’d say it’s a very fluid process up until, you know, as the first drive started there. I think we started on what, the 11 yardd line. So there might be a play that I was calling on the minus 35 if we got a touchback that I’m not calling on the 11. So I think a lot of those things can change really even in real time there early in the game. So the game script kind of comes together Saturday, I guess, Monday, but but Sunday, Monday later. Absolutely. Yeah. And it it can it’s it’s a script, but it’s not like I’m calling this at all cost. I think there’s got to be some fluidity there and we have to be ready to adjust. You know, you know Jacobe as well as anyone. How much upside is still left in his game and how might that translate and wear to this offense? And this is just me speaking. I hope there’s upside to every single person in that room and I think he has that mindset. I think he drives that mindset uh in the quarterback room. I think the other guys do as well. I think as a team, as coaches, our mindset is we’ve never reached our ceiling and we got to push to be better uh at the little details, at the fundamentals, at execution of the scheme. I I think that’s so important to what you do throughout the season in the NFL. Coach, what’s the vibe like around building with so many guys being involved in the offense? You know, again, and that would be a better question for them. I think the one thing I really appreciate about the group we have is no matter what the role they’re assigned or or ends up being coming to fruition on game day, I think those guys take advantage of it. They take a lot of pride in it. They work really hard at it. Whether they’re getting the ball, you know, 10 times and having seven catches or they’re not seeing the ball or it’s not getting handed to them and they’re in a completely different role. I think that’s a big part of that group and the reason a lot of those guys have been successful. What were you saying after? You’ve already seen where the Seattle defense can do and JG said earlier that it’s the best defense you guys are going to be facing. From where you saw them week four, is there anything this defense is now doing significantly better? Does it look similar to how you game planned for them the first time? And there’s definitely some similarities. I mean, like like everybody in the NFL, they’re they’re dealing with some uncertainties on the injury front and different things that can change how they want to do things or who they want to emphasize. Um, but I think JG hit on it. It’s as good, if not better than any defense in the National Football League. From the talent to the coaching to the scheme to the way it’s executed on game day, it’s it’s a really strong group and it’s going to be a big challenge. Coach, it seems to me just from my eye that the offensive line is playing better lately. Do you see the same thing? Yeah, again, I mean, I think it’s game to game. I think there’s games I said they definitely play better. There’s games where hey, we got to be better here or be better there. I think the thing that I I really appreciate about the group is, you know, we we the term like mode of play or kind of the effort, energy, and execution of scheme from that standpoint, like, hey, you you may lose a one-on-one or you may but the effort and the thinking and I think that that has been there throughout. I think they do a great job of communicating. I think the physical aspect of the game shows up in everything they do. Uh been really pleased with that. Marv said this week, even before this game, that he felt like he was doing a better job of getting open. You know, even when the ball is going his way, doing a better job of getting open. What have been the keys to to him doing that more often? I think it’s something and I know he’s talked about it and I’ve talked about it to a number of people. He is the, you know, it’s he’s playing fast and he’s playing physical and even at the receiver position. I think those two things are so important to everything you do. On third down, how how do you assess the improvement here in these last few games? Yeah, really good. But anytime you can stay on the field, I think we’ve been right around 50% the last couple games at least to points, right? Because you’re staying on the field, you get more opportunities at the plate, more plays being called, which is huge. And and it’s it’s been a number of different things. Sometimes I think we had two or three short yardages yesterday. We able to execute a couple in the low red there. Uh a couple third and longs we converted early in the game that were huge. Um but again, it takes everybody. We got to get open on the outside. Uh sometimes it’s checking down underneath and breaking tackles. Protection’s got to hold up, which certainly involves tight ends, backs, and a number of different people. So, uh, it’s it’s great to see and needs to continue. A lot was talked about with Tracy Mcbr’s lack of touchdowns in recent seasons. What do you think? What do you attribute to the uptick this season? It’s funny that touchdowns are always uh it’s a very variable stat based on so many different details. So, it’s I don’t know if there’s anything in particular I’d credit it to other than to him going to get the ball and getting open in critical situations and making the play. So, there hasn’t really been much of an added emphasis when you’re trying to scheme up these plays when you’re in the red zone to try to find him the ball. No, I mean no more than you know he’s arguably as good as any player on our roster and we need to get him the ball from the minus one to the plus one as often as possible. There was a stretch where Jacobe was going at Marv a bunch and he said he since it was working he’s like oh I just do this all day. What did how did you see that kind of that first quarter first quarter and a half kind of open things up for the rest of the offense because of how much Marv was bad. Yeah, again a lot of it depends on how they adjust defensively and sometimes they do this, sometimes they do that. I’m, you know, not going to necessarily get into the specifics of the entire game, but I think anytime you get a guy rolling and winning one-on- ones and kind of moving the offense like that, there’s definitely that sense that other people are about to get more one-on- ones because they got to do something. Uh, whatever that is to try to eliminate that production. And, uh, it was good to see some of those other guys step up and get involved. You guys were pretty efficient on third down. Um, and I know that going into the game, statistically at least, that was one of the areas that the Cowboys defense was really struggling, but moving forward, what what can you take? What did you learn about how you guys were so efficient in that area to continue? Uh, I think it’s a couple different things. You know, certainly the yard to gain is a big part of it and that’s something we always talk about staying on schedule, putting yourself in third and manageable. Uh, you get into those third and long situations, the known pass where you got to push the ball down the field and the defense has a lot of options and your options for conversions may be limited. I think that’s a big part of it. Uh, I think the other piece of it is you see some of those guys playing fast and physical down the field and it’s not necessarily perfect, but we’re being physical at the catch point. We’re attacking the football and we’re creating plays down the field in some of those critical situations. Uh, which has been really good. You’ve had a lot more explosive pass plays in the last three weeks. What do you attribute that to other than Jacobe being at quarterback? What what else do you I think it takes everybody and it’s kind of it’s it’s the opposite of what we say when we’re not doing. It takes everyone to execute when it’s not happening. It takes everyone to execute when you are. So, uh, it’s been really good. Like I think of some of the ones that come up came up in the game and you got guys making some great plays in protection versus pressure which by that maybe extra tick or extra second to get the ball down the field. You got guys winning down the field and going to make plays on the ball and then creating after the ball’s in their hand which is a big part of explosive plays is is run after catch. Um so I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. Coach, it seems to me like the playbook is opening up. Um, how much harder does that make your job, right, to have to get so deep into the playbook in terms of I mean, like it’d be easy to just call three plays and then just go sit down for a half out, right? It would be easy, but it wouldn’t necessarily lead to good things for the team, right? But, you know, if you’ve got to call a 10, 12, 15 play drive and you got to do that two or three times and that’s a lot of plays. How much more difficult does that make your job? it it doesn’t change it dramatically, especially early in the game because you you know, you got your whole play sheet, you got a lot of things you’ve repped during the course of the week. There’s definitely times later in the game where you’re trying to figure out what do we want to get back to, what do we need to adjust, where do we need to go? And those conversations have to happen quickly. You know, our defense, especially when they’re playing like they did yesterday. You might be on the field, you know, three and out, turnover, you got to be ready to go. Um, but I wouldn’t say that’s a challenge. I would say that’s a uh something you look forward to in a lot of ways. you guys with Jacobe have been under center significantly more often and therefore used more play action. What impact have you seen that have on opposing defenses? You know, again, you know, I think that would be probably a question I would have to have them answer, which we can’t do. Um, you know, we certainly can run play action, gun, pistol, under. I don’t feel like that’s going to increase or decrease the amount we run necessarily. Um, but anytime you can create the indecision for a defense on whether or not their ball is being handed off, what the play type is, where we’re trying to attack on the field, I think it makes a lot harder to defend. Teams under with since Jacob has been invested defense against you guys like almost twice as often. Is that because he’s under center more often or is that because of other things that you guys are like? Is that because of schematic things you guys are doing? Like what do you kind of see as the the ways that you guys are causing that? I think a big portion of that is who we’ve played. You know, if you look around the league, there are teams that love to be in base defense to certain personnels. There are other teams like the one we’re about to play that lives like almost entirely in nickel regardless of who we put on the field. So, I think that’s probably more a function of who we play than what we’ve done. Can we talk about Jacobe and chemistry? A lot of the questions are about receivers, right? Which makes sense. but also with the center and yield to Frol and communication and the snaps and and I know that you won’t speak for them, but from your experience, what is the most important aspect for a center and a backup quarterback to really focus on to maintain the success and communication that he’s had with this? Yeah, I mean, it’s a communication from quarterback to 10 players on the field is arguably the most important thing that that player will do uh in the huddle, on the sideline, during the week. Um, so from those two people, I mean, they touch the ball every play. Uh, they got to be on the same page in terms of why we’re doing things, what we’re trying to accomplish, snap counts, mic points, all the things that go into that. So, I think it’s something they both take very seriously, uh, and have done a really nice job of, but that communication is paramount to everything we do across the board. The 50 yard start second half, any chance that was a direct result of like a halftime conversation, right? Adjustment right there. It was a play that we had up that I actually tried to get to earlier in the game and and didn’t get it called and and it kind of just was like, “All right, we got the right hash. We got the we got the look we want. Let’s get into it and give it a shot.” And uh was great to see it hit. We’ve seen Michael Wilson get significantly more involved these past three weeks. What does that do for the offense? I think anytime the ball starts getting spread around and you see success again, it creates that issue for the defense of like we can’t just take away this guy or we can’t just roll to that guy or just focus on this uh because the other guys can hurt us and and they have and and it kind of creates that indecision on what they want to do. You you kind of jumped a little bit last week about how we’ll you had found some of the answers and we’ll see on Monday night and it it felt like you kind of did. Did you come out of that feeling pretty good about how things came together? Yeah. Um, anytime the players win their one-on- ones, you think you’re the greatest coach of all time, you know, like, yeah, I found the answers. Well, players went out there and made it happen. And that’s ultimately, you know, what it comes down to is as coaches, did we come up with a plan that put those guys in position to best win their one-on- ones? And then did we coach it good throughout the week? Did we work it how we need to work it? And then on, you know, Sundays or Monday night, did we players go execute it? So, all those things have to come together um for you to win in this league. How much of a proud dad moment was it for for you to see all the rookies get involved late especially? Yeah. Um you know, I mean, I’d love to see anybody um even a 39year-old go out there and make plays uh late in the game, you know, um whatever helps us win games. Wall had quite a debut. What do you attribute to him playing so well in his first I mean his preparation, you know, he’s put himself in that position to be able to go out there and um in his first NFL game, you know, make plays and he did that. So, um you can tell the moment was not too big for him, you know, it’s to him it’s just between the white lines and he did a really good job with his not just his physical prep and his scheme, but his his psychological prep for that moment. What was it about him personally that allowed that moment not to be too big? Man, I think that that goes back over the course of people’s lives, you know, of what preps them for, you know, where they’re currently at. So, you’d have to ask Walt, you know, I’m a a small piece of his journey. Um, so I think there’s probably been a lot of things that have gotten him ready for that moment. What about his skill set is different? I mean, he’s a he’s a big athletic man, you know. Um, I think it it’s that simple. And I think the game comes pretty natural to him. Um, he has feel, you know, as a rusher, um, when to take something, when to counter off of it, when to go to power, when to use finesse. So, um, I think it’s the combination of ability, but also, you know, football acumen. A lot of the stuff that he did yesterday is the stuff that he did in college. Obviously, there’s a reason he was drafted in the first round, but was there anything were there any reps that you saw that that were things that he’s actually worked on despite being injured that he’s worked on and maybe added to his game over these last six months? Um, you know, nothing specific there. I mean, that’s that’s hard to say cuz it’s it’s been a while since he had really, you know, started ramping back up. Um, I’m sure sure some more things will kind of come to the light in terms of improvement plan or things that he wants to build on that he’s maybe already doing at a a good level, but he wants to create, you know, be at a great level with it. So, um, to be seen a little bit going forward. Garrett made his return after missing five games and we’ve talked very highly about what he can do in the slot. What kind of trickle down effect did you see for the rest of the secondary by having Garrett out there, whether that’s physically or mentally? Yeah. um hard to pinpoint something in terms of a trickle down effect. I know it’s you know Garrett is so prepared um and is a really good communicator that you know things are always very settled to the people that are around him. You know sometimes it includes a linebacker, corners, safeties. Um you know he’s never going to be late on a call. So I mean that’s just something that Garrett provides to the to the back end. How much communication responsibility does he have? Actually, I have no idea how that works. Like who back there is is responsible for communicating on a given play. It doesn’t change play to play. Yeah. Um it can change based on our calls. Um you know, it can change based on the formation of who’s involved in those calls. Um and a lot of times it’s it’s everybody communicating at once because we ultimately should all be on the same page and and know what we’re getting to. Um, so that depends, but you know, I would say the more that you’re in the middle of the defense, um, those guys are responsible for a lot of communication. You’ve been up front in practice prioritizing forcing turnovers. You guys have had a couple of instances, especially last couple weeks where the players have been close. It just hasn’t come to fruition for whatever reason. So to have three, what did you notice was the difference maker of I know to a certain extent it’s luck or like where the ball lands, but what what did you notice that it really worked in Dallas? Um, you know, there there’s been a handful of weeks now that we have taken really good shots on the ball and I think it just came came to life a little bit um this past week. You know, one of the person that comes to mind is Mac. You know, like to the naked eye, you might not see it. He might because there some violent punches on the ball. But he’s had a lot for a course of weeks, weeks, weeks. And I told him like, man, that’s what it takes until you find all of a sudden that perfect connection. Their ball security is a little bit loose. You hit the sweet spot of the ball and all a sudden, boom, it looks very beautiful, right? Like to the naked eye, like balls flying everywhere. Um, and you know, it takes a lot of shots on goal for it to happen. And I think it just bounced our way the other night, but it was on their mind. And then you have to practice it and constantly have it on your mind. And um we got to keep it on our mind. At the end of the night, how cool is it just when you have a team like Dallas who’s scoring 40 points at home? How cool is it to just hold them to 10 on a night? How cool is that for you? Like a scale of 1 to 10 coolness. Um no, I’m just messing with you. Um yeah, it was it was um it was good just as a team to go in there and get a win. That’s the most important thing. Um not about points or stats or anything like that. So, I’m glad we came out with the W. You mentioned Mac and punching on the ball. Does he get any kind of grief for dropping the interception? He was saying that how I made up Well, well, I was watching with him on the plane last night. Um, and you know, I kind of um and he’s like, I made up for it. I’m like, you would have had two, you know. So, he wants that one back. Um, I think Sweaty was pretty mad at him, too, cuz you know, he would have he would have got credit for it in our meeting room, um, for the disruption on the ball in the pocket. So, uh, yeah, he’ll copy lies on that one. Next time I know he’s not going to mess that one up. I told him just signal fair catch next time. You know, I’m joking. You mentioned Josh after the game. Clay said that he felt like uh Josh was the best player in the NFL last night. He’s he’s played well. Um, was that the best he’s played since he’s been here? It was a high level game. Um, I’m not great with comparisons to say that this game was better than us. He’s he’s he’s made play for us. He’s made plays for us the entire year. I know that. And last night he made a lot of them. Um, and it definitely helped propel us to a win. So, it was it was good. Very good individual effort by Sweaty for certain. I asked you to make a comparison right after you said you don’t make comparison. Right. But did did you feel like you were able to open up more one-on-one opportunities for him? Whether that’s because of schematics or because Walt was next to him or or whatever it was at times. Um, you know, that was the intent. Um, but that’s not necessarily going to be every single time. And, you know, sometimes it it it just goes that way for you. Um, you know, one of the one of the situations where he disrupted the quarterback, it wasn’t actually a one-on-one and he was able to slide through and Clay did a really good job running a game with him. So, you know, he I think he really did a really good job of, you know, when the call wasn’t dictated for sweaty, you got a one-on-one to be able to go win. Um, you know, I’m thinking coverage driven or whatever, he went and won, you know, and that’s that’s winning your one-on-one. That’s what I’m talking about. players going out there and and making plays and executing. Um, you know, of of course it’s going to of course I’m going to be feeling good about these calls. Like you got guys winning and in their rush. How did you assess uh Cody Simon, especially since I think he played like three or four defensive snaps all year and he was sick yesterday in terms of how he flu game. No, I’m just kidding. Um, yeah, he was he was sick the night before. Um, he did good. He went in there and executed at a really high level. uh graded out really high and you know I think it’s it’s it’s cool to see him disrupt the football. Um you know sometimes it takes a little bit of repetition to have the confidence to say okay I’ve gotten to the point to make this play and am I just going to make the play or am I going to be able to take it to go to the next level and attack the ball? And to see him do that very early in the amount of snaps he’s played was cool. means he’s he’s comfortable for that moment. So, yeah, I’m happy with how he how he played out there. To Walt for a minute, based on what he put on film, what was most impressive? Was there a play or an aspect of his play that impressed you the most? Um yeah, his motor um because he hasn’t had as much banked up work. Um you know, like these other guys have practicing back in training camp. Um you know, he had his he was working through his rehab and then he had his window of practice and he practiced really hard to help get him into shape and he went out there and played hard. He played through fatigue. I think I I was messing with him once when he came off. I said, “Man, you look tired.” He’s like, “Man, I am tired.” But he he didn’t he didn’t go out there and loaf, you know, he played really hard. And so I would say that’s probably the most impressive thing is like there was no he play was there. Good Seattle offense that you’re going to face Sunday. How difficult Sam’s obviously having a solid year. Not not a solid year. A great year. Yeah. And the receiver, I mean, they’ve got a lot of Yeah. Um, a lot of respect for this group, players and coaches. I mean, Cubs is doing a great job. Um, I worked with Cubs for a couple years in Minnesota, so I know I know the guy. I know the work ethic. I know the intelligence. And, um, he is doing a phenomenal job of featuring his playmakers. I think they’re doing a great job of utilizing young guys and bringing them along and developing. You know, they got young skill making a lot of plays out there. They got two really good backs. Um, you know, they can run the ball and and when they run it, they can generate some explosives um with those guys. So, lot of facets to what they’re doing that’s that’s tough to prepare for. Um, you got an elite receiver, you got a quarterback that has arm talent and knows where to go with the football. Um, he’s getting out of his hands fast and when it’s not there, he’s able to, you know, extend and get the ball down the field. And um, that happened in our game. um led to an explosive. So, really good offense playing at a high level. Um challenge ahead of us. What was going through your head when you’re watching their first half on Sunday on tape? On tape. Um what was going through my head? Um they are winning by a lot of points. That was going through my head. Um I would say execution, you know, like they’re rolling. They’re they’re clicking on all cylinders. run game, action game, keeper game, drop back, third down conversions, you know. So, yeah, I think it goes into the their their dynamic with what they’re able to do right now. Um, and the quarterback’s making it go. You guys you guys used a ton of zone blitzes yesterday. I’m not going to ask you to give away why you did that, but what impact did you see that have in the game? Um, yeah, I think it it was a good combination of, you know, showing and getting out and showing it and bringing it. And I think that just it keeps the quarterback from knowing where to go with the ball pre- snap. Um, you know, that that those kind of things can change within a game depending on how it’s going. Um, Dak does a really good job of being able to do a lot of things at the line of scrimmage and change up versus the same looks what he was doing. So, it was a little bit of a cat-and- mouse game and I know Clayton’s probably over there. Um, you know, having his hand in that as well. Um, where like they would present something and I would go I’d be like, “All right, this is I don’t like this anymore.” and then they present something different and I would take my pencil and I I had it crossed out and I I erased it and then I went to it and then they change it up again. So, um they do a really good job. Um obviously Clayton um I know what kind of coach he is, but Dak as well with protections like impressive. So, it was it was fun um to kind of go back and forth because you know some of the pressures work and honestly some of some of them didn’t. Um, sometimes they didn’t work, but guys went out there and made plays. Um, to be honest, like that last sack by Klayas, it was Klay making a play. So, you know, it was it was just kind of the flow of the game on, you know, that’s what we felt like we were was going to give us best chance to win. Guys like Dvin Tomlinson and Darius Robinson haven’t necessarily popped up a ton on the stat sheet lately, but JJ was saying like in Dvin’s case, you watch the tape and he’s still making an impact. When you talk about grading out players, how do you find that balance between you’re grading out really well, but I’m sure they’re the type of players that want to be the ones that are making the tackles and having their names happen. Yeah, I think you got to look at it just play by play on um what we’re asking of guys. You know, number one, mode of play, um ball disruption, but then assignment, um schematic, and technique. And if they’re grading out high, that’s helping us win games. That’s what I care about. Um not not a stat sheet. When we talked to you last week, BJ hadn’t gone on to the practice field and then went to practice and he talked to us and gave us a little insight on what he called like a year from hell of just what he went through. So now that you saw him on the practice field one or two times, I mean like what what emotions were you feeling knowing what it meant for him to get back out there and when he’s healthy enough what he can bring to that? Yeah, he looked good. Um, you know, from a a moving standpoint like you can’t you to me I was like what knee is it again there VJ? you know, um I thought his technique was really I was impressed like for him to just be back in the swing of things that fast and I could tell it was fun. Like he was on every detail and he would come off and I would, you know, talk to him about his rep and like he he’s mad at himself, but I could tell like deep down he enjoyed that process of being back out there and being critical of his game and improving his game. Um and I think it’s going to, you know, continue to build this week.

Asst. HC Jeff Rodgers, OC Drew Petzing, DC Nick Rallis address the media midweek following Week 9 win against the Cowboys.

Jeff Rodgers 0:00
Drew Petzing 9:32
Nick Rallis 23:07

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