I’m just really excited to, uh, go through this game and, you know, really sometimes it takes 5 quarters to get it done, but the, the mentality of the group to finish and the way that we did it connected and together it took all phases to get it done again, um, that’s been a common theme in the games we’ve had success is all the groups had to show up at different times to make sure that we got the win and, uh, I’m most proud of that, uh, the resilience of the group and the physicality we played with all the way to the end watching our defense, um. You know, the last couple of drives and then, and then certainly in overtime, you know, just showing up it with big hits, um, and, uh, with, with a different group of guys, you know, Claude Cheerless making some plays for us out there, um, with the guys trusting in him and, uh, Corey Thornton having an opportunity to impact the game and you know our usual guys, uh, that make plays for us that we count on, uh, showing up and doing their job when we needed him to so a really exciting win for us. All right, we’ll kick things off with Dan Gant, followed by David Newton. Uh, Dave, real quick, you came in last night and said you almost ran out of plays on your playsheet. How many do you usually go into a game with? Uh, it, it varies, but we’re pretty lean. Um, I wanna say it’s probably somewhere between 110 to 120. But that also includes plays that we have up every week for 2 minute situations, um, different things like that, some, some one word plays where we can go fast at times, so that probably makes up somewhere between 20 and 25 plays and then the rest of it are situational things, um, 12 down, 3 down, red zone, short yardage, all those things. So, um, I think probably leaguewide that’d be pretty lean, um. But you know we asked a lot of the guys in terms of just being on the details and all that and and we went through a lot of our core calls last night, circled back around to a few that we liked, um, certainly to try to, you know, attack what they’re presenting us. You, you also mentioned Corey right there at the top with him playing a lot more last week. What, what went into that and was that specific to Atlanta? Uh, was that Corey Thornton? Yeah. Um, yeah, there was, you know, he’s been showing a lot of ability in practice, uh, that we can count on watching him continue to improve his fundamentals and a guy that’s really into the game, really focused on the details, wants to know, uh, a guy that competes with Chuba Hubbard, try to be on the field first every day, so, uh, competitive guy by nature and then. Um, you know, he’s got length, he’s got size. We thought it would be a good matchup knowing they were gonna move Drake London around a little bit. So, uh, he got some opportunities yesterday and made the most of it. David. Hey Dave, um, Bryce was really sore. His ankle looked really sore when he came into the press conference after the game. Um, where does he stand now? I know he finished the game, but I mean, will that impact you guys as far as using him for preparation for the Monday night game or what do you foresee for him? We’ll do the full evaluation and we’ll have the updates out on Thursday. OK, so anything, did you talk to him today? How’s he feeling? We’ll let you know on Thursday. OK. Um, what about the, the inner strength he showed to come back that when you think about it 24 hours later, impressed you the most? Yeah, just the resilience, an opportunity to show his teammates, uh, that he wants to be out there with those guys to win that game with them, and I think if Bryce was up here he’d tell you first and foremost whatever it takes to win and just try to find a way to contribute, try to find a way to affect the game, and he certainly was able to do that, getting himself back out there and you know battling through some stuff to be available for us and, uh, and coming up with some big plays when we need it. And just to clarify when you let us know Thursday, is he going on full test, MRI, everything uh next couple of days or what? We will do whatever we feel is necessary and we’ll let you know on Thursday. Appreciate it. Talk to you on Thursday. We’ll go with Mike K, followed by Joe Person. Hey, Dave, uh, good afternoon. Being in your 3rd year as a play caller. Obviously 2nd year as a head coach. I’d imagine you learn something new about yourself as a play caller after you watch the tape of every game. I’m just curious, what was your biggest takeaway from your performance as a play caller after this game? Just trying to find the rhythm of how to attack a team based on what they’re trying to take away and what they’re giving you, being opportunistic that way and that’s something Brad and I talk about a lot is how are we’re gonna win this game and when they do this, how do we attack it? How do we try to make things come alive so that we have a balanced attack and we’re able to uh not let the defense completely dictate to what we’re doing but see it as an advantage to say, OK, where’s our one on one opportunity um where are the voids in the defense and so. That has to be the continued commitment to find what works that day, knowing that there’s gonna be some core stuff that shows up and comes out weekly, but um we have to look at each opponent specifically and say, OK, how are we gonna attack him and what are they giving us? And then a lot of teams have like a de facto number one tight end who they they target pretty regularly. You’ve kind of run it like a trio committee, and they’re pretty involved in the run game and everything like that. What, what’s your biggest takeaway on the way that group is operated as a, as a unit, and how much more can they evolve as passing threats? Yeah, a really tightly knitted group, tough, definitely detailed. Pat McPherson does a great job with these guys being prepared. uh, tight end is a very difficult position to play, as you know, uh, running routes, blocking in the run game, being a part of the pass protection unit as well. So there’s a lot of things we ask them. They’re very smart guys, conscientious, they’re tough, uh, versatile guys that we trust, so we try to get them all out there to have a chance to affect the game. And uh I believe there is more out there for them in the past game and and it’s not just about that group but it’s about how I’m using them and the different positions that I put them in on routes that they can find success with and so that’s that’s a continued process to to see if we can continue to find another spark um with that past unit. Thank you. Yeah. Hey Dave, um, and you mentioned this in the presser, but um the ball getting out to so many different receivers yesterday, was that a conscious conscientious effort going into the game, or was that something that kind of happened organically? It happened organically, Joe, and I’m glad you asked because that’s something that we try to uh bring to life weekly. And again, as I’ve said before, we try to create a focal point of the pass game knowing that TX is gonna get targeted in some way, shape, or form. Um, when you create that, then you can kind of tilt the field a little bit and find other opportunities and I was just fired up that we had the protection first and foremost it starts up front. They gave Bryce the time to get through his progressions to find different guys. Um, there was a concerted effort to make sure that Xavier had some one on one opportunities, knowing we had a good match up on that side. If AJ Terrell was gonna follow TAC, we were gonna have some opportunities over there and, and Xavier made some plays. For us and then also the other part was making sure Jalen Coker doesn’t come out of the game with a couple of targets. He made some fantastic catches yesterday, played really physical to the ball, contested passes, and was able to find some separation. So I was really pleased with the group in general, building on the hard work that they’ve been putting into the pass game. Uh, back on team A, there was a crazy stat uh by by NextGen that He had exactly the same number of catches, yards, and touchdowns inside the numbers and outside. Was that by design? Yes, just trying to move him around, trying to make sure that he doesn’t get the hard down every play. And when I say the hard down. Anytime you’re in a 3 by 1 formation and he’s the single side X, there’s a lot of things that a defense can do. First and foremost, you can put you can put your best corner over there to cover him. Secondly, you can cloud it with the safety over top. You can buzz the safety into the hook and have kind of a presence on the weak side. You can use the weak side linebacker to kind of stave off any type of end breaker. So there’s a lot of things that defenses can do, um, when he’s singled up. So the goal was to try to just continue to move him around in different spots. The #3 spot, the #2 spot, #1 in a 2 by 2, number 1 in a 3 by 1, and just get him in different places. He’s seeing different types of coverages and maybe try to get him a little access, knowing that we can also rely on him to win some one on ones out there, but that becomes a really difficult position for the receiver as you’re trying to, you know, protect all the angles of the cut for the receiver. Thanks. We go with Scott Fowler, followed by Jeff Hawkins. Thank you. Uh, Hi, Dave. Uh two quick ones. Uh, first of all, it worked out fine, but I wonder why you waited until 4th down to kick the field goal, um, in overtime as opposed to 2nd or 3rd down. Yeah, honestly, I haven’t been up with time. If you’re in a timeout situation, it happens to be 1st, 2nd or 3rd down, whatever down it is, obviously you just take You know, the 4 take it down to 4 seconds and kick the field goal in that in those situations, but in terms of like, you know, last year in Germany, uh, against the Giants, you know, we forced that fumble, got the ball, ran it a couple times, kicked it on 4th down. It’s a part of our process. I like the kicker to just kind of know in his head the ball’s getting kicked on 4th down, the whole blocking unit’s ready, everyone’s prepared. We trust our guys to snap it, hold it, and, uh, make those kicks in that situation, so. And then of course there’s also just like the Arizona game last year, you know, we had a walk off on a on a handoff to Cuba, broke a couple of tackles and and scored a touchdown to win the game. So wanted to see potentially could have that type of opportunity, but Rico did a great job of securing the ball in those downs and getting us a couple of yards. We didn’t make much out of it, um, but we were in a position to, we were in a good spot to kick the field goal. OK, thank you. And the other one is, um. You know, you, you mentioned this a little bit yesterday with your dream and your vision of being in the hunt, and you are now. Uh, so what do you think it would mean to this team if it made the playoffs? Honestly, we just take it one game at a time and my job is to really just sell the championship moments that we have, the championship opportunity, you know, talking about this week playing on Monday Night Football against the Niners, a team that I really respect. It’s a great opportunity for us. There’s gonna be a couple more cameras out there. It’s gonna be under the lights. Um, this will be a great environment for our guys and easy for me to sell just what these games feel like. It’ll feel like a playoff environment certainly against a playoff caliber type of team. These are the opportunities that we need. Thank you. Hey, good afternoon. Uh, congratulations on the win. Thank you. Uh, following up on the wide receivers, can you speak to the credit they deserve, uh, uh, for creating a better separation from the, from the defensive backs, uh, to create the explosive plays, uh, specifically, uh, uh, Xavier it’s just a long task. It’s the work. You cut out a little bit, sorry. Uh, no problem. Um, specifically, uh, Xavier’s a long touchdown pass, how big it was for him and the confidence, uh, um, going forward. That was an amazing play, uh, great execution by Bryce to buy a little time, get the ball up and down, and X Xavier just running under it, securing the catch, you know, taking advantage of that opportunity. Had a similar opportunity the week before against the Saints. We just missed it. We were just a touch off on that one, but those are things that Bryce, X Xavier, they talked through those things, uh, the whole group really just having conversations throughout the week and watching the hard work pay off. It was so rewarding. Those are the types of moments that I love because we have these conversations. Brad and I will with Bryce, Rob with the receivers, Pat with the tight ends, the certainly the protection unit and all that. But it’s time on task. It’s the little tweaks. It’s the trust factor. It’s guys being where they’re supposed to be, when they’re supposed to be there, and then, and then ultimately coming down to Bryce delivering an accurate throw in those situations, um, and creating more separation. It’s all technique. It’s technique. It’s making sure you’re exploding off the ball, making sure you’re coming out of your route efficiently with your footwork and your body position. All those things are things we work on on a consistent basis, and I’ve been seeing the improvement, but I was so glad to see it come alive on Sunday. I know you touched on Coker, but how good was it to see him get more involved uh with the offense? Oh, I was fired up about it. Uh, we all were, we were really excited because Jalen has really showed in the last couple of weeks. He’s creating separation and he’s attacking the ball when he gets his opportunities and it was really just a matter of opportunities and we we hadn’t had a lot of opportunities like we did in this game, 81 plays, and that just speaks to the whole group getting more first downs, having more opportunities to affect them, and then Jalen making the plays when it came to him. Hey, thanks. Good luck, Monday. We have time just for a few more, so we’re gonna go with Alex Zitlow, followed by Cass. Hey Dave, um, you opened the press conference by um acknowledging Corey Thornton, but also Claude and Cheerless. Can you speak to, um, after watching the film, just how effective he was? Uh, Claude Yeah, OK, OK, great. Yeah, I had a great conversation with Pete Hansen this morning just talking to him about the preparation it takes to get a guy ready to play, uh, particularly when he hasn’t had a lot of in-game opportunities this year, but the process continues. The developmentally minded approach is so important. It’s all hands on deck. All the guys have to be ready and and looking for their opportunity. We saw Cloud at the end of the Saints game. He came back in and just picked up right where he left off. Um, I think collectively as a group we let some runs get out on us in the first half, but once they settled in, Claude started to see the runs really well and look for his opportunities to make a play, um, and when he did, he showed up with physicality whether it was in the run game. In the past game he had a late, uh, he had a late nice collision on a slant route to to um Drake London at the end of the game where he just trusted his eyes and just bolted towards it and made a really physical play right there to get the ball down and I’m really proud proud of the way that Claude stepped up for his teammates. And one quick follow up, did he wear the green dot? He did not, uh, Christian did, but once, uh, Christian was out, then, uh, he, he was the one calling the plays at that point. That’s right. Thanks, Dave. Last question. Hey Dave, how’s it going? Hey, Cass. Um, you’ve joked a couple of times, like y’all know your schedule. You play Sunday at one o’clock, and, and you told the guys yesterday like you would see them today, no day off, but like what does your schedule look like this week and how do you kind of have to adjust and how do you keep the guys focused during a different schedule? Yeah, a bonus day, so another day for recovery, get our bodies right, our minds right, a chance to really look at some of the things. In the last couple of weeks that went well, some of the things we need to continue to improve upon evaluating our players, um, but just trying to take advantage of that extra day so that our mind’s right and then just attacking the game plan just like we would. So essentially we just bump back the whole week one day and then get into the regular flow of our uh of our preparation. And then just one more quick thing for me, a play that kind of got lost in the shuffle yesterday cause there were no points scored off of it, but the, the fumble that Bam Ford and Princeley recovered, just how big was that to to not let the Falcons score coming out of the half. Yeah, that was Bam’s 2nd play of the day. He made a nice tackle earlier on on a kickoff, and then that one he had an opportunity to strike the ball to punch at it with his open hand, and he was unblocked on the play, made a dynamic play and got the ball down. I’m sick that we didn’t get points out of that one. just speaking of that situation, you know, we’re, we’re 4th and 1 sitting right there. Uh, we were a little bit behind the clock on that play. I needed to take a time out. Let’s regroup. This is, uh, too much of a critical situation in scoring position. Um, so I gotta take that one right there, but Bryce still got the place snapped in time and try to make something happen on it, but I could have done a better job in that situation. Awesome. Thank you. Mm. All right, coach. Thanks so much for taking the time today. All right, thank you. All right.
