Dennis Allen, Declan Doyle, Richard Hightower on preparing depth players | Press Conference

Dennis Allen, Declan Doyle, Richard Hightower on preparing depth players | Press Conference

So, uh, Dewin, can you uh talk about Caleb’s, uh, evolution using the, uh, play action pass? Seemed like it was something he didn’t do a lot, very ret, uh, you know, uh, Ben said he’s really grown a lot in that particular. Yeah, I would agree with that. Um, obviously there wasn’t a ton of it on tape last year just with what they were doing. Um, it’s been a huge part of Ben’s offense in Detroit. Um, and kind of the offenses that, you know, we’ve been exposed to in the past. Um, you always want to kind of have the ability to, uh, hide the ball and turn your back to the defense. It really allows, uh, your run game to be tied into, uh, you know, your play action and your movement game. And so, we felt like it was an important element that we wanted in the offense. Um, and Caleb has has really embraced it. He has he’s done a great job of uh working through kind of the nuances of of those things, whether that be footwork, whether that is um related to uh his eyes once he snaps his eyes around and getting them to the defense and being able to reassess. Um but he’s certainly come a long way from uh where we started. don’t want to coach you want to coach the scramble ability out that’s been a part of what he does but is there some part of you want to be more cognizant of situational awareness being the end zone what type of players were going against those type of situations where like we can’t really afford that I don’t know his progression obviously but it appeared on that particular play he had DJ in front of him maybe the running back in the flat that was available to him if you want to be just have a better awareness of situations when it’s okay to go Superman and when it’s probably too risky. Yeah, I think we’re all we’re constantly trying to u you know, work through whatever that play may be. Um you know, here’s number one, here are the outlets, here are the fail safes. Uh and then obviously when that breaks down, whether that is the protection or um you know, maybe the routes didn’t uh you know, turn out kind of the way we had planned. you know, there are escape lanes. There are things that we train that are principled uh that we want to always be making sure and and obviously anytime we have the ball back there, we have to have great ball security. You know, you’re kind of an unprotected player. And so, um you know, the goal of always, uh you know, returning back to the huddle with the ball, um you know, it was a situation that you know is it uh it happens, but it’s also something that uh we know is not acceptable. You know, that’s a team that you’re going against that has won that way for a long time. you know, being able to to force turnovers and takeaways and that was a big part of going into the game and uh you know, we were really fortunate to overcome that in the game, but obviously that’s something that we don’t want to happen. What is the major thing or couple things Caleb needs to be aware of going up against a big fan of defense? Yeah. Um I think Vic has done a great job uh just over the years. I mean, he’s really changed the way teams play defense. Um you’ve seen a lot of teams u structure kind of the way they’re built off of how he’s built his defenses in the past. Um, you know, it’s it’s principled. Uh, they do a really good job of understanding, you know, what their scheme where where the issues are. Um, you know, how how they use their players is, uh, really advantageous to them. Um, they do a good job of holding the shell and trying to disguise and, uh, make things cloudy on the quarterback. And so, the main thing is, um, really it’s still about us. It’s still about his process and being able to you know see the defense and make sure that his postnap picture is um you know either the same as what he saw pre- snap or very quickly transition into hey I need to uh move on or move my eyes or my feet somewhere else. How fast you kind of filter the way in the mold of Vicks defense. So, so, um, really when you look at the defense overall, just as a principle, um, they do a really good job of of keeping a shell over you. Um, they force you to, you know, try to run the ball and and their whole goal is to eliminate explosives. And, you know, our goal offensively when we go in is is really to be explosive. And so, uh, they’ve kind of modeled their defense, uh, to be the antithesis of, you know, what we’re trying to get done. And so, um, you’ve seen teams take that approach and play, you know, what would appear to be maybe, um, a softer zone pre- snap and then, uh, they’re able to rock and roll and and create different spacing postnap. And so, uh, you’ve seen that kind of trickle, you know, throughout the league. Um, and really there are elements of it really in in just about everybody we play. How would you assess how Aussie played and how much growth has he made since he was competing for that left tackle spot earlier? I think Aussy’s grown a lot. Um, I was I was certainly happy with the way Aussie played. uh you know, you you come in the locker room after that game and and for him to have gone in and played and played the way he did. Uh I think everybody was really excited for him. I know he was really excited. Um but that’s just a testament to the the work that’s been done, you know, leading up to this point. Um Dan and Kyle done a great job of continuing to train him. You know, he comes in and um he’s competing for the tackle job in in offseason and training camp and you know, it’s a it’s a battle that you know, he ends up not winning. Um, but it just goes to show you the kind of kid he is, you know, just to keep coming back to work and continue to progress and get better. Uh, and because we know in in in the NFL there’s going to be attrition. It just is what it is. U, but we expect our guys who are going to have to step in the next man in to perform the same way uh the original starter would and and he certainly did that. In your role, is there enhanced appreciation for for Vick’s defense and what you know, you go through these each week looking at film, looking at what you’re up against. Is there a different level of uh admiration for what he runs? Yeah, I think there’s uh there absolutely is admiration for what he runs. I I think that each defense is different. And so uh there are things that every week that I’m going in and and I’m like, “Wow, that’s that’s a cool way to approach it from a defensive perspective.” Um you know, there’s certain certainly an appreciation and at the same point in time um you know, you’re going in to to um you know, play well and try to put a plan together to to attack that structure. And so, uh, absolutely there’s there’s an admiration from afar, but you know, our job is to go in there and put a plan together that we feel like is going to work. Seems like Sunday, uh, where Kale’s eyes weren’t in the right place. And is that tied to some of that inaccuracy that showed? Um, no. I I I wouldn’t say that there was any specific time where he wasn’t looking at the right spot. Um, and you know, he would have to answer that better than I could as as far as um, you know, where that’s leading. There’s certainly plays that we want back from that game. We felt like, you know, we had some um further down the field throws that that if we had brought the ball down just a little bit may have been explosive plays for us. Uh but that’s something that, you know, him JT um you know, coach were all working to get corrected and uh you know, we’ll continue to uh do that. Coulson’s touchdown catch the other day. What did you see from the standpoint of the play creating the advantage and then him creating enough of a window to to get the throw? Yeah, he ran a great route. He actually it was very similar to the practice rep we took. um he took one against our defense and he did a great job of really threatening the defender to his outside half and and forcing him to flip his hips. A lot of times guys who are running that route, they don’t go far enough because they’re kind of afraid to be walled. He’s a big dude who’s not afraid to try to use his speed to create leverage. Um did a great job of pressing the outside half. He got that guy to flip and then uh he came back at a friendly angle. He’s he’s a very friendly target to throw to. I know the quarterbacks love throwing to him. Um you know, there’s a reason he he he went where he did in the draft. is a reason that we we like having him around. Um, but he ran a great route and and made a great play. There are times during the game where you see Caleb use different arm angles to get the ball around. Defensive lineman. While that’s a great skill, it seems like sometimes that puts the ball behind the receiver. How do you improve? Not taking that away, but improve. You’re using that talent that you have, but you have to still lead your receiver. Yeah, I think every quarterback is different. It’s it’s all about ball location at the end of the day. And so, um, we want him to play within the rhythm of, uh, what we’re asking him in the concept. Um, at times there are going to be offplatform throws where there’s a guy in your face or I’m on the move or something like that. You’re trying to you’re trying to limit those as best you can with the protection being clean, um, and giving him a pocket to operate from. And yet, at the same point of time, that’s why, you know, he’s he’s a guy that gets taken first overall is because he he does have the ability to play from some different arm slots. Um, but that’s something that, you know, every snap it’s again it’s different like uh we want to try to try to eliminate the variation there and yet if he has to step up and and make a funny body throw the biggest thing is that the ball location is premium. Have you seen that improve uh this season? Because it seemed like early in the year there were a lot of those tip passes that were getting tipped to the line. We haven’t seen a lot of those recent. I think it’s improved. I think uh his eyes have improved, his his feet have improved. They’ve gotten better every week. um you know, you go back to the tape every week and there are plays where you’re like, “Man, this is what it looks like.” You know what I mean? This is what we want all the time. And then there are still plays that you’re like, “Okay, this isn’t what we want. Okay, this is how we want it.” And he’s very receptive to all that. And so that’s been awesome. It’s been it’s been great to work with him. Um he’s a guy who’s very hungry for growth. He’s very hungry to to u hear feedback and and he wants to improve. Uh and that’s really the the first step in, you know, a lot of steps. defense has defense has really good edge players, but they’ve also got really good interior guys. You look at that, what becomes main priority in terms of making sure this is locked out. You want to get it all, but what becomes more of a priority interior guys you have or the edge guys? Uh, I think each of those are their own individual matchups and so you have to you have to approach them that way. Um, I think both the interior players and the edge players are are really talented, as is, you know, a lot of the rest of the defense. They have a lot of um, you know, blue chip players over there that that play good football and they’re smart. Um, but, you know, to your point, each guy on that that O line has a matchup this week that they’re going to have to go handle, whether that is, you know, Drew and and Jonah and Joe on the inside, all right, or u, you know, that’s that’s our tackles plan out there. And so, um, we’ll have a plan for that. those guys will be prepared and ready to go on Friday. DeAndre obviously didn’t have the game that he would have wanted on on Sunday. What was your evaluation of how he played and did you guys figure out whether he was down when he fumbled? Um when they ruled the fumble, I guess I should say. Yeah. No, uh that we we move on from that game so fast that, you know, once that play happens, it’s ruled and it’s over. It’s kind of over, you know, we’re just on to the next thing. Um, you know, Swifty is a guy that we have we have continued to have faith in and and I’m really confident that he’ll he’ll continue to uh bounce back and play good football for us moving forward. How proud are you of yourself, your game plan, your assistance for how you guys got all of those backups ready to play and then continue through the game. Re goes down, hit goes down. How proud of you coaching job that you did and also how the guys received? Listen, I’m I’m proud of the way that everybody responded in that situation. You know, um you know, Richard Smith, Kevin Cook, who are coaching our linebackers. I mean, I thought they did an excellent job of getting those guys ready. Those guys preparing themselves to be ready for the for the situation. Aean who wasn’t starting on the game and then yet he played a majority of the game, you know, him being able to be prepared and step into that uh you know, step into that role, I think, was was was a big thing. Uh, you know, Nick Mloud’s a guy that’s kind of done that for us all all throughout the season that’s always been there and stepped in and um, you know, and and and played played well when we’ve needed him to, you know. So, um, but I think that’s look, that’s just I mean, I I hate to sound cliche, but that’s that’s what this league’s about. I mean, that’s what we are, you know, and so um everything we do is all about um developing and preparing. uh cuz you never really know when that opportunity is going to going to going to come up. Um and if we’re not doing a great look, we we’ve got young coaches, uh you know, Canon Matthews, um you know, Matt Girardano is doing it. Uh Kevin with the linebackers, uh you know, Bill Johnson spends a lot of time with the defensive line outside of our normal meeting time. So, we do a lot extra with the guys that aren’t necessarily um expected to play a lot of snaps um because eventually they have to play snaps and uh and nobody cares. I mean, 90% of the world doesn’t care about your problems. The other 10%’s glad you got them. So, um you know, that’s just that’s the way we operate. Speaking of problems, you got how do you prepare for that? Yeah. What do you think? Yeah, look, I mean, you know, obviously we saw it twice last week. Um, you know, and and the thing that makes it even more challenging is that they’ve got several plays off of it, you know, so um yeah, it’s a tough play to stop. I think this team runs it uh better than anybody else in the league. Um I think the best way to defend it is not getting those situations. Um, and you know, trying to create more uh, you know, third and longer, fourth and longer situations, you know, keeps him out of those those type situations. But it’s certainly uh, yes, it’s it’s difficult play to stop. We’ve seen defenses go to extremes to try to stop it, laying a guy down, having guys jumping over. We won’t have anybody laying down. Nobody setting him over the top, flag through the air. Look, we we do have we do have a a plan, you know, in place. Um and uh you know we feel like it’s a good solid plan in terms of um you know not only trying to stop that play but all the plays that come off of it you know and that’s what makes it you know even more difficult to stop coach the way CJ has played I mean it’s a good problem to have and I’m sure you figured out what are you thinking in terms of how you go about deploying Yeah look I mean you know obviously you know we’re going through the game plan process and putting all that stuff together. Um, and like you said, it’s a good problem to have. Um, and and we’ll have a plan to try to utilize all the pieces that we have to the puzzle. Uh, we’ll try to utilize those to the best of our ability to try to get get ourselves in the best position to uh to be successful. And and so, um, you know, it it’s no different than the offensive coach that you’ve got all these offensive weapons. There’s only one football. How do you distribute the ball to all of them? Um, you know, at some point, you know, everybody’s going to have a role to play. What that role is going to be uh from week to week may may change. Um, and uh but we’ll we’ll have, you know, we’ll have a plan in place. How would you characterize the two plays that Nan’s made the last two weeks and with the interceptions? You don’t even see Pro Bowl receivers making those type of catches on a regular basis. Yeah, look, I mean, um, you know, I feel like I stand up here every week and say these things like it’s a credit to the player. I mean, the player is really, um, he comes out, he comes here every day. He goes to work. Um, you know, uh, he’s always positive. He’s always, um, you know, trying to do exactly what we’re coaching him to do. Um, again, I think, you know, our assistant coaches do a great job with these guys. Uh, but you know, I think I if if if you’re smart um and you got some talent and you’re willing to work, then I think I think us as coaches and this staff that Ben’s put together um I think we can help you become a better football player. And and I think he’s um he’s exactly that. I mean, he’s smart. Uh he’s got athletic ability and he works extremely hard. And and and when you put those three things together, you you you tend to improve. Another really good problem to have injury, but comes back. Can you put the shot on the bench? Uh, well, look, again, like like I just said, everybody’s everybody’s going to have a role. He’s certainly uh earned the right to play. Um, what that role is, you know, we’ll will, you know, each and every week may change. Uh uh but we’re going to try to find ways that if we if we have a guy that we think can help us, you know, win games, we’re going to try to find ways to get him on the field. Was talking about how big’s defense, how he sees other defenses really kind of molding aspects of that. What What’s your respect level for a guy like Vic and kind of what do you take from somebody like his defensive vision that throw into your own scheme? Yeah, look, um I think everybody in the league uh pays attention to what other teams are doing, especially guys that have been as successful as Vic’s been throughout his career. Um I I you know, he’s he’s outstanding at at what he does everywhere he’s been. Um he’s coached top level defenses, go all the way back to the freaking dome patrol back in New Orleans. You know, he was part of all those things. So, uh, got a lot of respect for him, um, and and what he’s been able to accomplish, uh, defensively and and certainly we we we try to look at his tape and see what he’s doing that can marry up to some of the things that we’re trying to get accomplished with with DeMarco, you know, obviously you have some history with him. How can you kind of what can you see from him that tells you you can trust him in that role, you know, and what are some of the things that you do with these guys to make sure they are ready to Yeah, look, I’ I’ve been in the room with him a lot, you know, so um I know how he works. I know how he prepares. Um and he prepares himself every week as if he was the starter. Um and and so it just so happens that last week he kind of knew early in the week that this was going to be the role that he was going to be in. um and he had a lot of time to get himself ready and prepare, but you can’t do that in one week. You do that throughout the course of the entire season um with how you prepare each and every week and how you study the game plan and how you pay attention into the in the meetings. Um you know that it it’s a it’s a non-stop process. It’s not like you just find out on Monday, hey, I’m going to be playing and here we go. We get ready to play. it it’s it’s it’s constant uh you know striving for daily improvement in in all areas. So um you know I I felt confident uh and our guys going out there and and and playing um just cuz I know the amount of work that they that they put in. And look, it’s not always perfect. Um but uh but but I thought those guys, you know, Aean I thought stepped in and did a really nice job. Cut it loose out there and and uh you know had a lot of production for us. So, um, I think that’s, you know, that’s what we’re trying to build here where everybody everybody feels like they’ve got a they’re they’re part of this, you know, and they’ve got a piece and they they have an accountability to each other because um, you know, we’re all counting on everybody in this room. Um, and so, well, not everybody in this room, we’re all counting on everybody in this room. Uh, but you know, like I’m dependent on all these assistant coaches um doing a great job and and and coaching their guys to the best of their ability. They’re dependent on their players going out and performing. Each player is dependent upon their teammate to when they’re called upon to go in there and play. And I don’t care whether you’re the starter, all right, or you’re the last guy on the practice squad. Um, you got to come in here every day trying to improve. Uh because you never know. You’re one hangail away from being in the game. What do you remember about Seaquan last year? Um you guys I look here here’s the thing about Seaquan. Okay, every time he touches the ball, he’s a threat to go all the way. Um and that’s really kind of how that game played out. You know, I thought we did a pretty good job on him uh for a majority of the game. um you know he hit one crease um and and I think it was 66 yards or something like that you know and and uh u but that was kind of how that game played out you know it was a back and forth game and um you know they’re they’re they are an explosive offense they have explosive players um and guys that can uh you know really hurt you both in the passing game and in the running game. Uh, and so, you know, it’s gonna take, you know, every play you got to be on your P’s and Q’s because if you’re not, they can take advantage of it. All right. Thanks, guys. Afternoon. Afternoon. I’m great. How are you? Good. Good. Go ahead. Shoot. What’s the key to a good dirty ball? The key that it hits in a landing zone, that it bounces more than once. Um, but we got a lot of different things in our arsenal, uh, as I told you guys before. So, um, we’ll just keep rocking and rolling, uh, and hope to play, um, good kickoff coverage this week. Ideally, do you want it hitting at the 19 and a half or are there different kinds of dirty balls where it can go a little deeper than that? Yeah, I mean, we study the whole league with it. You have to be careful with it. Um, obviously, um, the guys out in LA, they do a lot of it. All right. And it it affects uh, your field goal percentage, too, because it’s two different leg swings. So, you’re teaching the kicker to do two different things. So, um you have to be careful with that out in LA. Um that got to them a little bit and it’s got to different teams around the league at times. So, you just have to um master it and use it when you need it. Um like I said, we have all different type of tools and and things that we use um in order to win ball games and um that just happened to be something we used last week. Describe as a knuckle ball. Are there different spins that kickers put on it? Uh, yeah, they can. I mean, it’s just different kickers. Kickers are like golfers. So, everybody’s swinging is different. Everybody um the way they approach the ball is different. Everybody’s steps are different. So, sometimes it takes a little longer for certain guys to master what you guys are talking about, and sometimes it uh is in a short amount of time. So, um I think we’ll see uh some of those throughout the league uh as the rule progresses and uh we’ll see um some different type of kicks in the air as well. So, we’ll just still still new still all studying it how it goes and um just things we got to be mindful of when we when we decide to do it and when we don’t. How big of a boost did that provide for you, especially the first two kickoffs that Cairo kicked? Uh I think it was a huge boost. Um provided a lot of boost. that was happy with the kickoff coverage team. They had eight drive starts. Um the special teams unit in general had eight drive starts inside the 30 yardd line. Uh some of those were inside the 20. Um five like six of those were inside the 25. I think one of them was at the 11 and one of them was at the 5 yardd line. Um, the thing I get a kick out of is when I see DA smile big like that when that when that ball’s tackled at the 5 yardd line and all our guys Dom and you know Blackwell and Hardy and all the guys Cairo go give him you know a big high five. So again we just want to help and aid the team in any way possible whether that’s from a defensive drive standpoint or that’s an offensive drive standpoint. We just want to help the team and contribute. That’s all we care about. Coach, you mentioned coach DA and ask him this in a minute, but a lot of the conversation was about the defense and how they performed being so short-handed. That obviously impacts the G game. What was it like putting together a game plan and just filling out depth chart for for teams this week when there were so many of your normal guys that were upset? Yeah, you know, it was uh very uh challenging to be honest and I think DA would say the same. it was challenging for him on defense as well um going into it. Uh and then when we got into it, then we got decimated again by guys. Uh so um but it was fun and it was challenging. It’s something we look forward to. So uh it was something we never we didn’t blink at it. We didn’t care. like we were excited, me first of all, for the opportunity for Aean, DeMarco, Ruben, all of those guys to get a chance um to play. We were excited for that. And obviously, we were excited for our practice squad guys that we’ve been training the whole time um to get ready cuz that’s what we do. We train guys to get ready and when their numbers call um we want them to take advantage of their opportunity. What were you thinking, feeling when you saw Aiden and DeMarco having those games and those roles? Yeah, I wasn’t surprised. I mean, I think that uh those guys work their tails off. Um they’re pros pros. They are very uh intelligent players. They care a lot about helping the football team. You have to be selfless in order to know your role and play special teams in the first place. So, you have to be a selfless individual. Um, here it’s a thankful job. At some places it’s a thankless job. People don’t always say anything about it, but here it’s totally different. Those guys are appreciated. Coach Johnson appreciates them. The whole team does. So, my feeling and everyone else’s feeling was pure excitement for them and then pure excitement for guys like Nico and those guys that got a chance to step up. And boy, did he take advantage of his opportunity.

Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower address the media Tuesday at Halas Hall.

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