Opening Statement:
"Alright, I thought first I'll give you a little background. I thought regarding the trip and the game and so Saturday morning, we heard a really important message about sacrifice, and it was actually from [USA Olympic Swimmer] Michael Phelps and who was absolutely a one-of-one competitor. But being on the road for eight days, that is sacrifice. And that sacrifice also leads to a lot of connection on the team. And it looks like a whole bunch of things on the field. It looked like, [DE] Dorance Armstrong competing until the clock hits zero, OZ [WR Olamide Zaccheaus], the crazy support he has on the sideline for all his teammates. And same thing with J-Mack [RB Jeremy McNichols] and the sideline going crazy for special teams tackles for guys like [TE Ben] Sinnott and [TE Colson] Yankoff and [CB] Mike Davis. And so those moments, they help you know about what sacrifice is all about and playing and competing and at the end of it, I think I told you a little bit last night, I was pleased to see the complimentary football. I thought there was a clear illustration of it, of a fourth down stop at the end of the half, which led to points to getting the ball to start the second half. And that's so important for us to do. So that was kind of what I'd hope we'd see when we're playing team football all the way through. And so we're jacked to be back home and get in front of the fans and I think the environment, the stadium's going to be absolute wild and we're looking forward to that."
On what the biggest difference has been for the offensive line:
"Well, I thought having the run game and the play pass, it was probably in this game, we used as much play pass as we have even through the first few. And when you have both going, that's kind of the whole art of the thing where the run game gets going and you step up and you rip a play pass over them or you're waiting for a play pass and the run game's going. So having the ability to have balance on both of those, I thought that's really one of the keys, but certainly doesn't hurt to see this cohesion and connection going all the way down the line. But, the play pass and the running game, those two things when they go hand in hand, that's really what makes us click."
On RB Brian Robinson Jr.'s running style and how he feels the day after games:
"Yeah, he can. He's definitely built differently. He is that tough. He is that strong. But yeah, but for a guy like him, 21 carries or something along those lines, but he also dishes out a lot of punishment too. But yeah, there's some days he's more sore than others, but by and large, he's usually ready to get rolling right again, without too much space in between. We've leaned on him, and he had to lean in a little more even this game with [RB] Austin [Ekeler] not being there and we knew that going in."
On injury updates for LB Jordan Magee and G Nick Allegretti:
Yeah, so Nick had injured his ankle in the game and so we'll see what he looks like going into this week, John. So, certainly, we'll see what the practice looks like Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to see how much work we'll give to him and to be ready, but still kind of on the early stages of that. And then as far as return to play goes, we'll definitely have an update for you on Wednesday once we get kind of moving forward with those. But, yeah, people are definitely trending in the right spots."
On Offensive Coordinator Kliff Kingsbury's offense and what makes it effective:
"Right. I think there's probably more than one thing like most offenses that are tough to defend. I'd say there's an element of tempo, right, where it can be in and out at the line working some things, some with cadence, some without. Then there's the element, like I was hitting earlier about the runs and the play passes that go with it. And if you can make those two things look similar, John, with gap schemes and pulls and then be able to throw to the tight end and slants off of run action, that can make it challenging because your eyes are obviously at the line of scrimmage ready to defend the run and then rip a play pass to go. And then I would say that the third element, which is not necessarily scheme driven, but it's [QB] Jayden [Daniels] and his ability to create a second play out on the move. And those are things that make it difficult. So, it's run and play pass, that's a combination. And then the combination of Jayden outside the pocket with his legs creating some first downs. That's what makes it tough, but the tempo's a big part of it too."
On the secondary's performance and specifically the cornerbacks after reviewing the tape:
"I thought first from the entire secondary, Ben, I thought going in this was going to be a tough challenge. And so I thought from an overall standpoint, arrow definitely up for us to have kind of the whole thing going together, some rush onto [Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler] Murray to go into that space. I thought [S Jeremy] Chinn had probably one of his better performances at the safety spot. I thought he was aggressive; he had some chances to make some tackles, and I thought those were good. On the outside, certainly I thought they made a good pass on the first drive that was a touchdown to [Arizona Cardinals WR Marvin] Harrison [Jr.]. We were in man-to-man on the play, he threw a good ball and completed it outside. So those are the ones that you want, the contested catches and going to fight for it. But I gotta tip my hat to them on a good play. But I thought third downs I thought was the real thing that that changed it for us, Ben, in this game to give the ball back to the offense and then offensively we were able to convert the third downs. So that to me was the swing in this game was the third downs on both sides."
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On if any offensive stats and accomplishments from the first four games have stood out to be emblematic of their achievement so far:*
"I think probably the amount of completions, Ben. I would say one of the topics that we look for are runs and completions together when you add those two. I don't know if that's in the billions of stats, but it's one that I like [laughs]. So, when they are 55 or over, you have a good chance to really possess the ball. And so that's one of the ones that I always like to see and that was well above that in this game. So, I would say the ability to have these completions and that's just not Jayden, that's the protection to have a game where the offensive line was able to protect and allow him to deliver the ball to the right spots. That's a big deal too. But those were, that's one of the ones that I'm always looking for and to see that come through on a few of the games so far. That's a big deal."
On what stood out from Armstrong's performance:
"You got it, Donna. I thought overall I actually felt a pretty strong connection from the entire defense. You'd heard us talk earlier about coverage and rush and working together. And so those were some of the things that I wanted to see in this game. Could they be really more in sync together to balance each other out? I thought the line did a good job of not allowing Murray to get outside the pocket too many times because as we all know, Jayden, he's a dual threat. And when he gets outside on the perimeter, the second plays begin, and he can sometimes just outrun leverage or contain just based on his speed alone. I think we saw some games in the past and I've probably been part of some of them where even when you have somebody spying him, that he's able to go and convert. So, I thought for those guys to for the most part keep him inside in the pocket that was a big deal for us."
On the direction the team is going in and what has stood out overall:
"I would say the complimentary side of things, Donna. When you see, I wish you could be on the sideline to see the support these guys have for one another. And that's what I was hoping for us to become, to have that kind of support where maybe there was an example of that where we threw an interception and there was a three and out and that was the defense's way of letting them know, 'Hey man, we got your back'. And same thing on a special teams, the way the guys are covering to try to create field position. And so those are the moments that I felt that connection on the sideline between one another. When the offense is up, you'll see the defensive players there. I saw the PAT team out there and lo and behold, after the extra point, I saw 5 [QB Jayden Daniels] and 54 [LB Bobby Wagner] as the first guys out on the numbers to connect with the offense. And so those are the small things that don't show up on the stat sheet, Donna, but I do know that their connection is starting to take place and I think part of that comes from sacrifice where you're seeing all that time together and how they work together. You've heard me talk a lot about competition and that's us at practice as well. And they know it's the work that they put in together that allows them to go really hard. And if we continue to do that and continue to build how hard the guys go at practice and then get that to carry over into the game, that's what I want. Our fans and our family and friends see us every time we go, man, these guys absolutely emptied out and bring it and it does take sacrifice and connection to be able to play that way."
On what he saw from the tight ends in Sunday's game:
"Yeah, referring to the [opening statement], it was honestly a special teams tackles, one on a punt with Ben and one on a kickoff with Yankoff. We played Sinnott more in this game, he got more reps than he's had probably in the previous ones. We knew the play-pass was going to be a big part of this and Ben's really equipped in that way in the run game, running routes. So, to see that coming on more, that's a big deal. So, having [TE] Zach [Ertz] there, it was actually really cool to see on those two special teams plays, the first person probably to go see him was Zach. To see his little brothers out there making a tackle and stuff that he does not do [laugh.] So, we had a lot of fun seeing that. But that's the type of energy I'm looking for from those guys. And as Ben gets going more and more, I think you'll feel his energy, his strength, his speed as the games progress."
On the penalties from Sunday's game:
"One, we had an illegal formation that we definitely had control over, so I think you've heard me talk about pre-snap and post-snaps, those have to go away. So, one of those was pre-snap, then the other two were actually post-plays, some two unsportsmanlike ones. So, one was taunting for throwing out the, Donna, you should like this one, for the Usain Bolt arrow got seen as a weapon instead of Usain Bolt, so we'll put that one on ice. And then the other one was on the sideline that was a taunting foul, and we'll check it into the league. I certainly don't think that was OZ's intent. I think if the official known who the person was, he probably wouldn't have thrown it. He doesn't have that way about him, but hey, that's what they saw, that's what they called. And those are the things, if you don't step on them right now then those things fester and so we're not going to do that."
On C Tyler Biadasz:
"Yeah, one of the challenging parts about playing center, on so many of these plays you have to target who belongs to whom. On a traditional offense, you have a little bit more time. You can get the line of scrimmage; this is what I see. If they shift, you change it. When you're going more quickly, those are when you really have to process quickly like a QB. So, on the runs and the passes, Tyler's right in the middle of all that to make sure the declaration's right, who we're going to, how we're going to go. So, for a team like Arizona who plays multiple fronts, has a good blitz package and a safety that can just honestly show up in a blitz from just about damn near anywhere, he's somebody he had to keep an eye on. So, that would be one. And then the second part, in this part of, he hasn't done this a lot in his career, but I thought him pulling and being on the move there were some good plays that I saw on that, and that's another added part of things when you get another big guy out on the edge on some of the lead blocking that went to Brian, I thought that was a big deal."
On CB Emmanuel Forbes Jr.'s performance:
"Yeah, and I don't know the exact number of reps that we had. We thought he did a good job on the deep ball coming up. I think afterwards had him as a missed tackle as well. So, probably going into it, like keep training, keep digging for it. And we had moved [CB Mike] Sainristil outside some, I'm sure you probably saw that as well. So, we'll keep continuing to compete and find the right combinations and how we can feature guys in the best ways. Sometimes that may even be some third downs, in two-minutes and how we'd work it through. So, we're still kind of digging through that. But I did like the way that the guys really came to compete, I thought that part was loud and clear. Even after the first drive of allowing the touchdown to say, 'Man, we got a long way to play.' And getting stops after on third down I thought was a really big deal."
On why Daniels is having so much success:
"Well, I don't think it's not any magic that's going into this. I know that's hard to say, but he absolutely works his ass off. I would say that number one. The time that he spends getting ready, getting prepared. I said it the other night on this trip, there's many nights their office on the quarterback room was just a few doors down from mine and Thursday nights and just staying in there, going through it again and again. He really puts in the work so when the game time comes, there's a confidence that comes from that. So, I love the connection that everybody in that quarterback room has. It's Kliff, obviously, and [Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Pass Game Coordinator] Brian [Johnson] and [Quarterbacks Coach] Tavita [Pritchard] and [Assistant Quarterbacks Coach] David Blough and the other quarterbacks that are with them. They really support the hell out of them and featuring players of the things that they can do well, which Jayden can do a lot of things well but finding those things that the other receivers can do well in different spots, different routes, I think that's some of this. But to think he would start like this, no, I don't think anybody would've said that but what I would say is that if you're around him, you feel this work ethic and there's no magic pixie dust that we're throwing into him. It is absolutely grinding, working and a lot of confidence comes from that, because he can enter the game knowing that he put the work in."
On how he wants the team to handle success:
"Well, I think one, you talk about it. And you make sure, you want them to feel that emotion in the locker room after a win. They've worked really hard to put themself into that space to do that. So, seeing that and feeling that, that's a good thing. What you don't want to do is no tickets to the rollercoaster, man. We have a real process that we go through every single week to go get us ready to play. And so that begins today and all the way through tomorrow and into Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we have a theme of every day. So, by staying consistent in that approach, I think that helps avoid the highs and lows. And I hope, and what I told the team earlier is just an absolute obsession with getting better and that's what we need to chase. Not what happened in the last game, but just an absolute obsession on things that we can improve on. Because quite honestly, we think we can improve in a lot of areas. And so that's the challenge to do the things that are really hard to do and you got to do them a lot. And so that's the practice, that's the grind that goes into it. And so that's what we'll chase man, absolute obsession with us getting better."
On if the forced turnovers are a result of good communication:
"Well, I would say they're on the same page. I would feel that way right now. By more communication you get to play even faster and absolutely cut it loose with no hesitation. And that's the challenging part when you're facing some of the receivers obviously that we've had through the first part of this season. But really clear, concise information so you can absolutely go let it rip. The faster we play, the more aggressive we play, those are when some of the takeaways and the hits and things happen. So, we will continue to do that. But to see us play better at a two-minute at the end of the half, and play better on third down, a lot of that came from clear, concise communication and absolutely letting it rip."
