“Sliding for a guy who’s aggressive in the way he runs and trying to pick up yards for us, sometimes it doesn’t come naturally,” explained Idzik. “So we just trust him to be smart. Sometimes it might not look natural for him going down, but being smart, you don’t need that one extra yard that might get that late hit. So we really want him to protect himself, get all he can.
“As long as Bryce is keeping clean and he’s in the grass, you know, he’s not getting anything caught in some of the turf—I think (Chargers QB Justin) Herbert had one a couple of weeks ago, where it just, it gets ugly—just making sure you’re keeping all available parts that could catch the grass free from doing that. So as long as he’s doing that, he can look as awkward as he wants, so he’s avoiding the hits.”
In the 30-0 win against the Falcons on Sunday, Young didn’t have to scramble much at all, as the defense took care of the game early and often, including a score. So while Young finished with a mere 121 passing yards on 16-24, it was his lack of turnovers and control of the run game that Idzik wanted to highlight.
“There’s plenty of different ways to win a game. We’re just trying to find the one avenue that makes sense that week. When the defense is playing well, we were playing good ball and protecting the football, I thought he made good choices,” praised Idzik.
“He did a good job of protecting the ball and, both not putting it in harm’s way, but then also just getting it out on time to make sure that the rush wasn’t a factor. So, while the stats say what they do, and there’s some missed shots downfield, which I think is kind of a tribute to maybe the lack of overall yardage and the pass game or anything like that, the guy’s still extending plays, getting the ball out, and that’s really what we keep putting our thumb down on every single week.”