Panthers Live Press Conference
I think down the door. Christmas. Morning. Hey. Hey. Hey. You get where? All right. Wednesday got here quick. Um, you know, we uh we landed pretty early on Tuesday and got right to work. Um, fired up about the game plan and getting back to work with the guys. So, uh, a really focused group, hungry and, uh, ready to go. Can you give an update on Horn? Uh, I’m going to keep all injuries, but I I will say they’re in the protocol, so they have to go they have to make sure they pass all the necessary tests with all that. Would you think it’d be unlikely given the short week that they’d be able to clear? The short week does have a significant factor in it. And again, we just have to go through the right protocol, make sure that they’re clearing, you know, each hurdle along the way. You have three healthy inside linebackers today. Uh how much does that create an issue with special teams and plotting out the week just as far as depth? Absolutely. That’s a group that we really lean on for special teams um in their contributions in the coverage units uh particularly the interior of the punt team um on kickoff, you know, but they’re all over. They’re all over the core uh core force special teamers, you know, that we count on. And so um that’s an uh area that we have to look at to see who can help us there. And you know, could come from other positions, but um those guys have been very valuable for us this year. You’ve seen what Stafford’s done in place with the stats he’s posted this year and then, you know, you guys come in with a secondary that’s a little bit banged up and possibly missing Morg. I mean, how do you deal with all this? Yeah, we got to press into the game plan. Look at what they’re doing, how they’re finding success. Uh, he’s distributing the ball well to a bunch of different wide receivers and um he’s playing great football. He’s getting the ball out fast and he’s going through his progressions. he has a group that he really trusts and so you know we have to lean in on what they’ve been doing lately and and make sure that we have uh you know solutions for that in our coverages and be aware of how they’re trying to attack. I mean on that note he’s been doing this for so long. Can you throw anything at him that surprises him anymore? You could you should we should try to you know in different ways. Um and first part of it is just formation recognition looking at the route stems and how they’re trying to protect each angle of the cut. you know, they go in, out, and up, you know, from a bunch of different spots, and they have good variety and and throw it to all, you know, the tight ends, they throw it to the receivers, to the back. So, uh, we got to be aware of all that. You get, uh, do you get Trevan back this week? You should. Yes. Um, he was out there today, uh, participating. Facing two of the more highly known play callers in the league, two weeks in a row. What What’s the difference in those two and and and what is the challenge when you’re we’re facing that? Start with the similarities. Uh there’s great balance in what they do. They make sure they get the run game going and they have actions that come off of that. Uh the drop back schemes, you know, they’re different um from one team to the next, but um it’s about execution. It’s about finding that first first open guy and uh playing fast in the pocket and guys being where they’re supposed to be, you know. So it’s timing sensitive, all those things are. Um but I think it’s also just uh the variety of the attack, the attack and the different ways, the screen game, the run game, the pass game, all those things really tied in. Um, and it’s it’s a really detailed uh part of what they do with their formations to make everything look the same. Starts the same, ends up different. And uh two guys that I really respect, you know, to to be able to look at the crossover tape, you know, to watch as I’m studying the defense, but to flip over on the other side and to see how they uh deploy their offense, you know, these are guys that I really respect and and uh and try to emulate. Coach, in a shortened week like this, how does your preparation change? Do you try to cram everything as possible or do you look to kind of pick and choose spots of more emphasis versus maybe a full week where you’d have more time? You know, it’s really just the the Tuesday. The Tuesday is the day that really gets crammed a little bit because playing on Monday night, that’s typically a prep a prep day. Afternoon, evening once you’ve got gone through tell the truth Monday. So when we get to Tuesday, we have to kind of condense some of the the information to make sure that, you know, we can get all those things done, whether it’s first, second, and third down. And uh we just got to be really efficient with our time. The good part about it is this at this point in the season, we know what we’re doing. We know the concepts. Um and so then it’s just a matter of making those decisions quickly to put our guys in the best position. What do you hope to get out of the two new quarterbacks, Rochelle and Long? Yeah, they got to come and help us out. They got to contribute. And these are guys that uh Jonathan Kulie has familiarity with, also a Jerro. Uh guys that they’ve coached before in the past. Uh both were past former Rams too. So they’ll have some familiarity with the concepts and um that’ll be a good thing for us and we’re going to ask those guys to help on special teams as well in different ways. Dave, with without like you’ve been doing these quarterly reviews. Um are you going to do that during the by-week instead now since you didn’t really have Monday to kind of do that this Absolutely. We’ll take the by-week, the first couple days, um, dive into those things, dive into the the, um, all of our processes, offense, defense, and special teams, and and look at guys, see who can help us and see who is helping us, you know, and try to keep putting them in those positions to be successful. Are you at the Are you at the point where you feel like you you said you guys know the concepts, you know, what’s going on. Do you feel like any sort of major change that you would make to either play calling or the depth chart would be the answer moving forward? Are you at a point where you just think pushing forward is is the best thing to do? Yeah, just execution and all of us, myself included, making sure that the game plan we put together, the vision that we have comes to life. Um, and making sure that our players are continuing to improve fundamentally. And that’s the difference at this point in the season. It’s the teams that can find a way to improve their technique and fundamentals and and continue to make that an emphasis late into the season that have success. And um, so we got to get back to that, making sure we’re executing um, on all sides. And then for sure from a coaching staff standpoint, making sure we’re connected to the things that have found us success and and be committed to those. And with the way that the season has gone and the by-week being so late, first, how is your how is the room holding up because I know there’s injuries this week that have to be contended with. There have been injuries all season long, but this has been a long slog to get to this point. Absolutely. And and we have our rhythms and the guys know what to expect when they show up um each day. So, we have that process in place. So, that part feels good and and they’re hungry, you know, they’re hungry to to get back to work. They’re hungry for another opportunity to play against a formidable opponent, an NFC opponent, um, and to, uh, play our best football in that game. Follow that. Is the by-week maybe a talking point to your guys this week, saying that’s the carrot that’s out there, empty the tank this week, or do you even approach that? No, we have to have the mentality, empty the tank every single week and have that championship mentality so that we don’t treat any of these games different. Um, they’re all high stakes games, especially now at this point in the season. Speaking of championship mentality, you have a handful of former Rams players and coaches. Uh, how important have those guys been in helping you establish the culture here? It’s huge. And I I love having coaches that come from different places that have had success so that I can bounce off ideas for ways we might structure our meetings, ways ways we might structure our practices. Um, and just and also just from a game plan standpoint, how to attack, how to how to get different concepts involved because that’s where we can pick different pieces from where we’ve been and try to make those come alive so long as it fits what the players do well, you know, and and uh having a bunch of guys come from the Rams, you know, Goody Goody and Joe were the Bucks, you know, and they had a lot of success in the last couple of years and um and really just allows us to have that uh diversity along the staff and good information about execution. Um, I’m just curious what leads to poor execution. Is it overthinking? Just from a coaches standpoint, we always try to go back to the fundamentals, the basics of technique first and foremost. Um, starting the playoff with the right formation, making sure we’re in a great stance. Um, and then the basic parts of it, blocking, tackling, uh, exploding off the ball, um, taking care of the ball, all those basic things. Because in any given day, uh, scheme outside, if you set scheme aside, it’s always going to come back to the most technically sound players that have success, most technically sound play callers. We have to be committed to those things that fit the areas so the guys can anticipate what’s coming and um, that allows us to play fast. But that’s always something tangible that our players can really sink their teeth into. And that’s always been a goal of mine is to try to give them something real that they can work on. and each player, each coach looking for ways to improve um looking for ways to find an edge um from week in and week out. It sounds so simple, but is it difficult? I mean, you said dance and I mean it just seems like basic stuff. It’s very difficult and I think it gets overlooked because focus and refocus refocus is the real challenge. Can you continue to refocus on a play-to-play basis, drive to drive, and then of course week to week, can you refocus and re-engage your mind to find constant improvement? Our goal is to find our best football. That’s got to be the pursuit so that we can improve the whole thing. And and that takes discipline, that takes focus, and um and particularly when we get a by-week this late in the season, it really does take that type of mental toughness to show up and go back to work and find an edge. Generally speaking, I know you don’t want to talk about specific I know you don’t want to talk about spec specific injuries, but when you’re dealing with a young player who’s often injured and you’ve seen it multiple times, but you also think that player is talented, how do you balance the upside of the talent versus can I depend on this player when I’m trying to win a ball game? Like when you’re doing the planning process of the week? Yeah. Well, I where I go initially is uh just making sure I’m connecting with the player to keep them motivated to get back to the place where they are physically fit and ready to go. But then there’s like an emotional part as well cuz guys can get discouraged, you know, when they keep fighting against this or that and things start to show up, you know, particularly our college players coming to the pros in the season starts to get really long at this point. And um emphasizing the importance of body care and all that and then also being able to motivate them on the things that they’re doing well and how to just continue to build that way so that we can compartmentalize it so they don’t start making broad judgments about how this season is going to turn out for them specifically. um but where they can actually just focus in on what is the next t task at hand. Um whether it’s getting back physically or whether it’s taking the next step mentally being involved in our game plans. Kind of up on what Mike asked earlier on that question, but you’re obvious obviously raised expectations here with the the wins you’ve had so far, but with that people become even more specific with things and and he was asking about the play calling. What do you feel like you bring to the play calling? How do you evaluate how you’ve been as a play caller? And you feel like that’s the best thing to look forward. It’s an important part of all of of everything and I try to be really transparent with the players and uh to own up to the places and the areas I could do better in this situation and I want them to understand this is all of us. We’re accountable to each other. We’re all pushing to try to win to try to improve our football and I’m certainly a part of that as a head coach and then of course as the play caller. So, we all have to be connected on that and we have to be real about it, you know, and and look at look at the opportunities and um while players may get the scrutiny for, you know, a missed play here, a missed block there, a drop pass, an errant throw, a missed tackle, those types of things happen, uh the coaches are involved as well and we all got to be on the same page and be humble about it and be looking forward to improving. And you know, for me as as a as a young young youngish play caller, you know, but uh pretty early in my career, you know, every week is a lesson for me. Every week there’s something to take and I have great people around me that we talk to that we have accountability with and I lean on those guys because I want to get better as well as we continue to do this process. Yep. Thank you. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. favorite side on Thanksgiving. Ah, Bryce, um, the passing game has obviously been inconsistent throughout the year. You guys have had some pretty big highs and some low lows. Why do you think it you guys have struggled to kind of maintain the momentum in the passing game from week to week? Yeah, it just boils down to execution. Um, obviously it goes week to week. Um, you know, you got to be able to turn the page uh whether it be good or bad. Um, and we have all the guys in there with the right mindset. Um, it’s just execution, you know, I think, uh, first just growing that identity. Um, you know, all of us, especially as a, you know, as a younger unit. Um, but now, you know, everyone’s, you know, everyone’s pros, everyone’s embraced it. There there’s no excuse, you know, for us not to be consistent. So, that’s a challenge for us. Um, you know, at the end of the day, we want to do whatever it takes to win. Obviously, pass game helps out the run game, helps out the explosives, um, helps out the team. So, uh, you know, we we’re working to be more consistent there. I know a lot is made of like the multiple different iterations of the offensive line, but they’re pretty they’re blocking pretty well for sure. Do you feel like there is a strength in being able to not only have that depth but also most of those guys are familiar with you’ve played with them for multiple years like is that helping with your mobility and your anticipation? 100%. It’s it’s a huge luxury um having the the line that we’ve had like you said with so many um different lineups. Everyone’s kind of came in and not not miss a beat, you know. Uh that speaks to the culture of the room uh to the coaches to everyone. Uh and for me it gives me a ton of comfortability. Um, you know, I’m I’m I’m super grateful for the unit we have. You a lot of roll outs called to you and I know the plus and minuses on that. Do you feel like that allows you to get comfortable in the passing game or do you feel more comfortable if you were just in shotgun and we would have done it from there? No, I feel comfortable with with whatever coach calls. Um, you know, obviously I I trust him to to be balanced to call the game how he sees fit. Uh, you know, whatever it is week to week that he feels like is necessary taught me to execute. I feel comfortable doing it. Um, and uh, yeah, there there’s no excuses there. Um, you know, for me, no matter what it is, I pride myself be able to execute that we do as often. So, that’s always a mindset. And Rico u put an OG out um, Tuesday with the kind of confused look. He only had six carries. Um, has you he talked about that and and how did that um, just kind of how did that go if you did? Uh, yeah. Not not about that specifically, but you know, Rico’s a competitor. Obviously, he wants to win. We always want to win. um didn’t get that done. So, um you know, uh you know, we we we all have competitive spirit. We all have that stuff. We we we talk about the the the game and the game plan, the stuff that’s that’s in house, what we do under this, you know, under this building. Um so, you know, that’ll be the focus. When you’re when you’re looking at your evaluating your own play as you go through and watch, are you seeing opportunities where maybe you could run more or no or what you think? Um, I’m I’m just taking things uh, you know, play by play. You know, we talk about getting through progressions. Uh, when one’s open, throwing a number one. Um, obviously coaches put plays in with a one, a two, a three, or four. My job is to get through all that when I can. Um, you know, and when there’s times to run, when the play breaks down, when we’re above the time clock, then that’s what it is. But, uh, you know, again, every game’s different, every play is different. Um, uh, regardless of running and passing, you know, you can’t predetermine either one. You have to make whatever is the the right decision for the team. So, um, the goal is to be as efficient in doing that as possible. When you do film study after the games, are you ever really surprised by what you see, are are you able to go from play to play and and kind of analyze each play after like on the sideline or is it once you look at the film in totality, does do you ever come away with anything different than what you might have seen, you know, drive to drive? Yeah, of course. Whenever you’re able to watch the, you know, after the game, you’re able to watch the full um, you know, the full picture. obviously you can’t see everything um on the field and then you know you don’t you know you don’t see what happened on the backside when the ball’s already let go things like that that information you take in there on the sideline you know you get the pictures so obviously you don’t get the full uh after whatever it cuts off in so you know there there’s always takeaways you get to learn from watch the film after you guys have been in several situations this year where you’ve bounced back with big performances after tough games is it just human nature to be a little more focused a little sharper in thoseit situation. Um, I wouldn’t say so. Um, you know, again, we pride ourselves in not not looking at the week before and turning the page um and and focusing week to week. Um, you know, we don’t look at it as an advantage, as a disadvantage, anything like that. Um, you know, we’re 0 and0. That’s how we look at it as we have a great opportunity uh against a really good team. We have a ton of respect for this week. Um, so right now we’re just doing everything we can during the week to, you know, give ourselves the best chance to be successful. What has made the Rams so successful? Um, obviously watching the defensive side, uh, studying that, um, you know, it’s it’s a lot of things. Um, how hard they play, how physical they are, um, up front. It’s a, uh, it’s a really good group. Um, you know, they they they play with a lot of physicality. Um, you know, high motors. Um, guys that you could tell understand the system, have have a lot of, uh, dog up front. So, um, with with stopping the run, getting after the passer, they do a really good job. Um, you know, at the second level, they communicate really well. I mean great great job or orchestrating things um with play recognition, run in pass uh and then um you know a really good group in the back end as well. Um great job pattern uh pattern matching. Very very smart guys back there. Um you know they they go and get after the ball. Um and then do a great job mixing in coverages, mixing in blitzes, giving us uh having scheme that you know obviously on the from the protection side and run side we have to spend time scheming up and having looks for. So uh you know it’s a it’s a myriad of things. Um, again, it’s a it’s a really good group, really good unit. For us, it’s a great opportunity to go up against a a great unit. Um, you know, work on our execution. So, uh, we’re excited for the opportunity. I’m just curious if you had to quantify it, like how much tape do you watch in a week? How many hours? Uh, yeah. I don’t know about hours. Um, but, uh, just stay after for however long. It’s again, I don’t I don’t go for a time. I have like a set routine of the things that I want to get watched. Just a couple games a day with the cutups. stay ahead of what day it is. Um, you know, watching games through different lenses and then a couple of other miscellaneous cutups that I just watch at different times as as a routine. So, um, again, honestly, to be honest, it it depends on how focused I am. I take a lot. I It gets a obviously throughout the year, it’s a lot. So, I’ll I’m always listening to something. If I feel like I want a break, I take that. Um, so, uh, it’s more just I have a set amount of things I need to watch versus how long it takes. How do you how do you then decompress during the week? Like what what’s something like I know you play video games, you watch basketball, but like is there something that you specifically do to like have it like a happy place sort of during the week? Um yeah, I really just I I just leave everything here. Um I’ll stay I I watch film and do all that stuff here for however long I need to and then like the moment I’m done with that last thing for the day when I leave I’m not I’m not thinking about the the game plan. I think about football. you know, you have your little uh exceptions every once in a while, but um I just when I’m here, um I’m the queue. I’m doing whatever it takes for a team. And then when I leave night to night, then I’m just, you know, myself away from football. Used to Wednesday was his day. He’d come in and go grab some tight food, come in here, eat the same thing every week and be here like 11:’clock at night. Have you got like a routine like that? And how what’s the latest you’ve stayed here? Yeah, I I have a routine um you know, for every day. I couldn’t tell you the latest I’ve stayed. Um, but again, honestly, it’s it all boils down to how how focused I am as far as getting things done without a without a break. If I some days I just don’t take a break and watch everything I need to watch. Some days um I’ll push it back and I’ll uh I’ll procrastinate or if I have something to do in the training room, I’ll do that first. Um so again, it’s it’s the same amount of stuff getting watched. Uh the time varies just depends on the day. Best pass rush team you faced this year in white. Um it’s it’s hard to compare. Um but again, just from this week, yeah, it’s a it’s a great unit. Um individually, they do a great job um creating one-on- ones, winning those one-on- ones. Um they did a great job scheme wise. Um you know, it’s it’s rare in this league. I don’t want to say rare, but it’s always uh you know, uh it’s always give a lot of credit when you see people are able to, you know, create pressures and sacks off both scheme and one-on-one wins, and they’re able to do that. They’ve been able to do that all year. So, again, we have a ton of respect for this unit. Um it’ll be a great challenge for us. Circle back on something you mentioned before about leaving it all here. When did you grow to appreciate the value of being able to have that cut off point for yourself? Um yeah, that’s something that I um started in college. Um and it was just something that was really helpful for me. Um I’ve I’ve really appreciated since then. It kind of allows me to just again be my all here. I’m kind of have that line in the sand. Um and then decompress. um make sure that you know I I try not to let it overflow. Um give myself time to be human, know what to expect from a day-to-day basis. Um so yeah, it’s been been helpful. You look at like Stafford, he’s had an incredible season. He’s 27 straight touchdown passes, Mike was saying, without interception, 30 touchdowns on the year. I’m curious during the year, do you ever have a chance to look what other quarterbacks are doing? Right. I know you got all your your preparation you have to do. So, probably have a limited time, but do you have any chance to look at what other quarterbacks are doing or is that mostly say for after the season? Yeah, it depends on So, I’ve watched a lot of Stafford just because we played the you know, we’ve played the NFC West. So, um I’ve we a lot of similar opponents and yeah, I mean he’s been he’s been balling. Um and not like that’s new, you know, he’s um I mean amazing quarterback um for the duration of his career. Uh he’s been, you know, he’s been elite for a really really long time. Um, so yeah, I’ve been able to watch a ton of games because of that. Have a ton of respect for for him, um, for for the way he plays, for everything about him. So, uh, yeah, I have a ton of respect for him. Understanding understanding how prolific that offense has been this season and the defense is missing some pieces potentially on Sunday. How much maybe pressure isn’t the right word, but but urgency is there to make sure that you’re controlling the ball and and moving the ball and and score? I mean, obviously that that’s the goal every possession, but Yeah. No, it’s no added pressure. Uh, you know, one, we we we have faith in my our our defense. We we trust in them. We believe in them. Obviously, respect them as offense, as a defense, as a team. But, you know, uh always always trust my guys. And then, you know, I I trust on coach for that. You know, we don’t go in uh saying, “Hey, this is going to be a slow game or this is going to be uh you know, we’re going to run as many plays as possible.” That that’s not how it is. You know, we put in plays. Obviously, we uh we trust on we trust coach to kind of, you know, read the game, read how he feels like it should go. uh he has uh great discernment when it comes to that stuff. So, you know, for whatever game it it it ends up being, you know, we’re we’re prepared for whatever it is. Uh we’re always going to be have an attacking mindset, attacking mentality on offense, that’s, you know, one of our pillars. Um and then, you know, obviously for for me, for us as offense, uh when coach has certain calls in, situational stuff, we know what it means. So, uh whatever it is, we’re going to trust coach with that. Do you have memories of it the Rams coming back to LA when you were in high school? Um yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was younger. Um, yeah, I I I remember it. Um, yeah, high school probably is about about about the time. Uh, yeah. Yeah, it was a while without a team in in LA. I probably one question on Stafford. I mean, he went through a lot of hard times early his career, played for a team that wasn’t complete and he really did get to show all he could do till he got to the Rams. What do you take from that and and what’s that experience he’s been through? Um, uh, not really something that I’ve personally, uh, thought about a lot. Just again, I’m I’m not a big comparer of others. Um, I just try to run my own race. Um, again, big, uh, you know, big fan of Stafford and everything he’s been throughout his entire career. A ton of respect for him. Um, again, not just from this season, but, uh, since I’ve gotten to the league, you know, I’ve been able to watch a lot of lot of film of his and again, have a ton of respect for him. Uh, me personally, I’m just kind of a run my own race type of person. I appreciate you guys.
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