Indianapolis Colts’ Shane Steichen On Daniel Jones: ‘Ton of Confidence in His Ability Leading Team’

Indianapolis Colts’ Shane Steichen On Daniel Jones: ‘Ton of Confidence in His Ability Leading Team’

Um, just like I said yesterday, no injuries uh to report from the game yesterday. Um, obviously a disappointing game going back and watching the tape. Uh, when you commit, you know, the turnovers like we did, it’s hard to win football games. Um, starts with me. I got to do a better job, you know, putting our guys in position so it doesn’t happen. Um, and then we go from there. So, get it cleaned up today. Uh, take ownership, take responsibility for all of it. Um, and then get ready to go for Atlanta this week. All right, Kevin, you want to start us off? Shane, what did you think of Jaylen Jones in getting back in the lineup? Yeah, I thought he did some really good things. Um, obviously he was sticking coverage to hold DK to I think two catches for six yards. Obviously, that was one of our keys. Um, I thought he did a good job uh covering uh all day. So, it was good to get him back in the lineup. Um, we’re excited, you know, for his next opportunity coming up this week. And then 24 hours out from the deadline, do you expect you guys will make a move? Uh, we’re working through that. Like I said, Chris and his staff are doing their due diligence on that stuff and we’ll see how it plays out. James, we need yes or no answers here. Um Shane, when you look at uh what Lot was able to do yesterday, what stood out to you about his impact and really just overall um your defensive uh effort? Yeah, the defensive effort was uh fantastic. I thought those guys were flying around. I thought Lu did a hell of a job getting the sacks that he did. Um but a lot of it stem too from the coverage on the back end. I thought our guys uh were sticky coverage all day. Um I think we held them to 226 total yards and uh like I said, I thought our defense uh was phenomenal for us yesterday. Pap, go ahead. Yeah, Shane is I don’t know whether you consider this a shorter week or not because of the travel. Does that play into the fact that the bounce back and maybe less preparation or does that not factor at all? Um I don’t think it factors. I think, you know, we’ll we’ll try to create, you know, a normal week as we can as much as possible. Obviously, we’re going to be traveling uh you know, earlier this week than we would normal uh away games. But, um you know, we got to attack it the same way, one day at a time and and get back to work. Um our Wednesday prep will be the same, our Thursday prep will be the same, and we’ll get out there uh on Friday and attack it like we do uh any normal week. One other question, injury related. Mooney Ward misses one more game with a conc at least one more game with a concussion. It’s kind of strange. Is he in protocol? Has he passed protocol or does that not happen until he’s back on the field? Yeah, he he’s still working through it. Yeah, he’s still in it. So, uh you know, once he once we get all that cleared up, you know, he’ll be back. Okay. Stephen. Hey, Shane. Uh, I assume I know the answer here, but um what what uh what was Daniel like after uh after a game like that? You know, he he put a lot of it on his shoulders, fair or not, whatever. But, um same guy, I assume, or Yeah, same guy. He’s steady as all get out. Um obviously looked at the tape, get the things that we need to get corrected corrected. Uh and then we go attack it again and he’ll be prepared and ready to go. And he’s already probably watching Atlanta film right now. We just broke meetings. I’m sure he’s on to them. Thanks. Yeah. No. Uh Bernie was pretty hard on himself in the locker room yesterday. What do you think about, you know, the way he played yesterday and and just the way he’s played overall this? Yeah, I think Bernie’s done a hell of a job for us. I’m sure there’s a a few plays he’d want back and uh you know, I got to do a better job of putting those guys in better positions, too. Uh we knew they had a good pass rush and uh Highmith and Herbick and Water really good players. So, um, you know, we’ll learn from this game and grow from it, uh, and get back to work this week. Nathan, hi Shane, after you got a chance to watch the tape, what stood out most about what you saw both from what you guys did uh on on the offensive line and anything that stood out that Pittsburgh did that was either different than what you guys expected or was just executed really well that led to those sacks and some of those turnovers? Yeah, I mean, you go back and look at the tape. Like I said, there’s a few, you know, protection stuff that I could have done a better job of helping our guys uh in certain situations. Um, and then you learn from those situations, you grow from them. Um, you know, credit to those guys. You know, they I thought they did a good job on that side of the defense. And, uh, you know, we got to get those little things cleaned up, uh, moving forward. Like I said, turning the ball over like we did, uh, it can’t happen. You’re not going to win a lot of football games in this league. And so, you take ownership of that. you address it uh and make sure you know going forward um that you can’t turn the ball over like that uh moving forward. And then as as much as you’re able to share, what was you how would you characterize or what would you say your message was to the guys in the locker room after the game after a a loss that was both close and also um as I know a lot of folks have touched on just a little uncharacteristic than the team that we’ve seen this year. You know, it’s not like this was a a game that you guys played maybe up to your ability in some ways and just lost a tight one. How do you handle that as a a coach in these uh next couple days? Yeah, I told those guys in there just like the mistakes that we made, right? We got to get them cleaned up, but that doesn’t define who we are as a football team. Uh what defines us is how we respond uh to the situation. Uh, and like I said, as a collective, taking ownership and everything that happened out there, uh, on all three phases, uh, and getting it cleaned up, uh, in a hurry because we got a hell of a challenge, you know, coming up against Atlanta. Just a couple more here, Kevin. Shane, I know you said postgame, you know, you maybe felt like, I don’t know, a couple extra carries for JT. As you went back and watched it today, is it more just you got to be effective in the carries that you gave him, or do you really think you needed to give him more? Yeah, I think there I could have been more balanced there probably in the first half. You know, I thought we moved the ball really well on that first drive. Um, and then I think, you know, we had some opportunities there. Obviously, I think to start the second quarter, we were driving pretty good, you know, up seven nothing. Had a chance there and that’s when the sack fumble happened. Um, you know, you always look back at those situations and hey, shoot, maybe I could have called the run here, maybe I could have called the run there. Um and again that’s that’s all part of evaluation process when you go through uh games whether you win or lose you’re always trying to uh get better um in every as aspect of your game as a coach and as a player. So yeah maybe a little more balance there um in that first half uh you know with what they were doing um and then we go from there. We’ll go with Stephen and then James will be our last question. You kind of answered my question. I was I was just going to follow up. You had said earlier there were some things maybe you could do differently in protection. I think you meant help a little more at times, right? Um I I guess I was going to ask in addition to that with the running game, um JT, I think he got the most out of most of the runs that he could. Um what did you see in the run game in the run defense I should say? Was it just good personnel having a good day or do you think there were some schematic things you guys can help him with there? I don’t know. Yeah, I always look at the schematics first and foremost of trying to put our guys in better positions. Um, it starts with me and, uh, you know, our guys, too. We can all do better, right, as a collective. It’s not just about one guy. Uh, when things like that happen in a game, um, everyone’s got to be better. Um, and we learn from it. Like I said, we grow from it. And uh you know, as we look through this week and looking at what Atlanta’s doing and how they’re playing different things, um obviously put our guys in the best position to go be successful and uh be ready to adjust uh on the sideline uh when the time occurs. And then James, last question. Shane, we always hear the cliche of like you learn more after a loss than a win and all those things, but I imagine you want to win every game. You can still learn from wins, too. Um, when you look at uh Daniel and and obviously how obsessed he is with the craft and and things like that, um, do you think that’s why or or what what traits do you think allow this team to rally around him? Um, even when things don’t go as like they did yesterday and how much do you think his character is defined by the moments he’s in now versus like when everything is great and everyone is feeling good? Yeah, no question. I think we’ve talked about it with him uh so much from the start that his preparation, he’s the same guy every week no matter what happens. you know, he’s been playing lights out for us. Um, and he was the same guy even playing lights out. It wasn’t like he relaxed at any moment, um, or any time in the season so far. And it’s going to be the same this week. And you can see that our guys got a ton of faith in his abilities to go out u be successful and put our guys in position to go make plays on Sunday. So, a ton of confidence in his ability um, leading this football team.

Indianapolis Colts HC Shane Steichen broke down the team’s 27-20 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and discussed the performances of Daniel Jones, Laiatu Latu, and more. (video via Jake Arthur)

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