Great team win. Great atmosphere. 12s were rocking. Just really proud of our team. You know, we’re just really doubling down on our process every week and really trying to just be dedicated to playing our style of ball, and I think that is starting to show up, which is great. We talk about all these phases complementing one another, stacking plays throughout the course of the game, which has been a point of emphasis over the last couple months and our guys have done that. The resolve that they’ve shown when we do hit adversity in games is really incredible. Shoot, I am the guy they have to calm down sometimes, which is a great sign. Guys have each other’s backs; playing really hard. Like even offensively today we started the game slow but we stuck to the game plan, found some more runs in the second half, and were able to close the game out there on that Charbs run, which was a dynamite play. I know the defense played really well. Proud of them. Takeaways on defense make a huge impact on the game. Really was a team win. Complementary football and excited to kind of get back to get to work for Atlanta.
For a defense to get to celebrate a shutout, those are pretty rare in this league.
It’s great. When shut-outs happen, it’s hard to keep teams out of plus territory, so when you get there, taking the ball away in the red zone, I mean, DeMarcus Lawrence caused fumble is probably my new favorite play of all-time. Just an incredible, incredible play. I just saw a blur coming down and just violently attack the ball. It’s been such a point of emphasis, and to see him do that was really great.
Offensively seemed like they brought a lot of pressures.
Offensive line maybe at times confused?
Yeah, we need to start faster, especially in terms of protection and making sure we’re on the same page. On paper it’s nice to say we have it protected, but when they’re doing it full speed we got to be ahead of plays faster on offense. But guys have resolve. Thought we protected Sam better in the second half. The run game helps with all that as well.
What do you think allowed you guys to pick up on the protection front kind of as the game progressed after halftime?
I think everybody deserves credit. We didn’t go all haywire. Just go back to the drawing board, get to good protection that you like, get to better plays, stay out of certain situations, get a better feel for how they’re matching us, all the things going on there. Then I think players calming down and executing at a higher level. Look, you got to give Minnesota a lot of credit, too. They had a good plan. They called an aggressive game and they did a good job.
The Charbonnet touchdown, what went into the decision to bring the offense back out on the field?
I was being like too much of a nerd by just saying, make it a three touchdown game rather than a three score game. To Klint’s credit, he was confident in what we were going to be in, so we decided to call timeout and go for it.
Hear the fans disagreeing with the field goal?
I did hear the fans, yeah. Turns out they were right.
Any concerns about the offense?
No. It’s the same thing every week. Look, there are things that Minnesota did that was really good and there are some things that we capitalized on, which was good for us. We got to understand those things so we can make sure they’re not issues moving forward. That’s the same thing every week. Every phase, at this time of year, you know, it’s hard to come up with new ideas. There is a lot of teams being inspired by things that happen from prior weeks. Happens in all three phases, happens every week, so same process.
Seems like the defense gets better every week. How can you assess where they are right now?
It’s funny, we’re not worried about all that. We’re just worried about playing our style of ball, playing for each other, making sure we do it every day, and then doing it on Sunday. It’s like we’re really not out to impress anybody or prove anybody wrong. We really don’t care. Just trying to prove ourselves right, you know? Our guys are dedicated to doing that. It’s a great group.
You mentioned DeMarcus Lawrence already. He also had the pressure on the pick six.
Seems like every game he’s…
That’s one of these things that DeMarcus does probably better than anybody I’ve been around, is he plays with anticipation and understands situational football at an incredibly high level. Fourth-and-one in a run-or-pass type of situation and reads it, it’s a movement, and that’s not part of his technique. That’s just him being a great football player and understanding situational ball. Just an awesome play.
What about the effort on the forced fumble?
Oh, yeah, I said it. It was just my new favorite play. Unbelievable. Just plays like a blur of a human. It’s on the other side of the field, and then you’re like holy crap he’s going to make the play. Then you see him coming down with the right hand and it’s like, okay. Hopefully recovered the ball. It was awesome.
His resume was awfully impressive before he got here. Anything about him surprise him?
I mean, I wish I could say yes but it’s like AD loved him, we knew he would fit in great with our culture and add to it. I think that’s probably the coolest thing, is how well that group, the defensive line room and our defense has really meshed and grown together, which is just a fun group to be around every day. And that’s the environment we’re trying to create and they’ve done that. They’re the ones that have done it every day. We talk about what’s fun and not fun. What’s fun is going to work and having great days with the guys you work with and trying to achieve a goal together.
What do you know about Anthony Bradford’s injury?
Shouldn’t be major I don’t think. Just enough for him not to finish.
Looked like Ty Okada played almost every snap or maybe he did play every snap. Made a quick recovery this week.
Talk about really tough football players, Ty is one of those guys — you know, couple things that we did to get him ready to play medically speaking, and he just got ready to play. Didn’t obviously take a lot of reps throughout the week so mentally was ready to go and played good. If D-Bell was the guy to go in we felt great about it as well. Felt like Ty deserved chance to go start.
With the play that Lawrence made, a 12-year vet making that play, what did he have to say in the locker room?
I don’t know if the guys see it as an age thing. I think that’s just the standard how we want to play. He’s right there leading them with the rest of the crew.
I don’t think we asked about Ernest. His game, tackles, two picks, coming back from injury?
He had such a great message to the team in the locker room. Hopefully they got video of it. The guy has been through a lot and it’s — you know people — it’s just the position that we’re put in as coaches. That’s really the reason you have a team, is that you can be there for your brother when they need you. I know we’re in a business and there is transactions and stuff, but at the end of the day these are the relationships you’re going to have for a long time hopefully. It’s really great to see that the rest of the guys are there to support him. And he’s playing great football. You know, playing great football and battled through some health things throughout the year as well. I mean, some of the plays he’s making in the run game are just really tremendous, really great plays that allows us to really call some defenses that you normally wouldn’t call in those situations.
With the pick-six specifically, obviously it’s a 14-point swing to that matters a lot, but what’s the intangible in terms of how much that matters to a sideline…
It was huge because coming off the takeaway as well. Was that coming off the fumble?
So just a huge turning point in the game. Again, if you make the situations bigger than they are, it’s the next play, defense, we’re up, let’s rock and roll, fourth and one. Josh Jobe deserves a lot of credit. We defend a blade the grass. He made a tackle to create the fourth and one that might have forced them in a pass situation rather than running it. All that stuff adds up, and that was a huge turning point in the game.
Speaking of Jobe, he was checked for a concussion. What’s the status?
On that same note, he had the breakup on Ernest’s second pick too.
Yeah, he did. He did. That’s a great player he’s going against. Just competing. Did a great job.
Cooper Kupp, that fumble recovery, how big was that to dive on that?
Yeah, that was big time. Ball was probably in jeopardy a little too much on offense, but ball finds energy, man. Ball is on the ground, it’s ours. That’s our attitude.
Seems like we are asking you about Riq Woolen every week now, but obviously didn’t end well, but —
I’m yelling ball security. Ball is out here. Come on, man. Such a great play. It was a phenomenal play until he caught it. Then it wasn’t a great play. So we’ll learn from it. I’m sure CP will have a presentation ready for when the guys get back. Bad call by me; great call by them; better play by Riq. So when your players bail out like that it’s big time.
Going back to the comment about energy, what kind of energy did the team have and did you see that coming in in practice or that’s just the way they roll?
I’m paranoid by nature. Our guys were awesome. Our guys were awesome. They’ve been awesome. They’ve just been great. They bring it every day. When guys need a pick me up other guys pick them up, hold each other accountable and go chase it, man. They been great.
Do they do anything on Jaxon that you guys hadn’t seen?
I’m not sure. Got to look at it. I am sure protection is definitely part of it. Have a better answer for you probably tomorrow.
With all that, what did you think of how Sam played? A lot of free rushers coming and blocked passes at the line of scrimmage. How would you assess the day?
Yeah, the blocked passes are tough. You don’t want to put the ball in jeopardy, but also trying to get rid of it on time. So we’ll look at that. Thought he made some smart decisions, fast decisions. Got away from the rush well. I know it sounds weird, but he took some good sacks actually in some of those critical moments, which is good team football. Did a great job. There is a lot of things he’s doing outside of the pass game in that second half that really helped us win the game as well, so operating at a high level.
Some good sacks meaning not forcing the ball like you had in L.A.?
I mean, look, a field goal from the 10 is just, you know, with the ball not being in jeopardy is better than — just as good as a field goal from the 16 or something, so… not thinking like prior things but I thought those were good decisions in the moment.