Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury addressed the media before practice on Oct. 31. Here is a full transcript of the press conference.
On how much planning goes into practicing the hail mary play during the week:
"A ton of reps throughout the course of a year. What's crazy, we have a guy on our staff, [Tight Ends Coach] Dave Raih who's been part of five now. So, three in Green Bay, one in Arizona, and one here. So, he's kind of the expert. But when we got to Arizona my first year, he and [Green Bay Packers Quarterbacks Coach] Tom Clements, who's Green Bay's quarterback coach, legendary, one of the best quarterback coaches of all time, coached [Former Green Bay Packers QB Brett] Favre, [New York Jets QB Aaron] Rodgers, all those guys. They kind of installed it like this was just going to happen, like it's a normal play. I'm like, 'This never happens, like what are y'all talking about?' But they had been a part of three with Rodgers, so we kind of bought in and had been fortunate to be a part of two of them. And the guys, I mean it's about players not plays like I've said, and the guys just executed flawlessly and incredible play by those guys."
On if the play is still shocking after going through it two times:
"Oh, there's no doubt. And the last one was Covid, so there were no fans, and it was just kind of us screaming. So, this was a lot more exciting and that was really, [Arizona Cardinals QB] Kyler [Murray] made an incredible play, and he saw Hop [Kansas City Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkins] one on one and took his chance. It was just Hop going up and making a play. And this one took everybody, so that was really special."
On the matchups with New York this weekend:
"Yeah, you always hope you made significant improvement from week two up until now. And there's always a bit of a battle of attrition this time of year with injuries and things of that nature. But they've played really well on defense. They continue to get better, not giving up many points. Very disruptive as far as recording sacks, I believe they lead the league. So, it's an impressive group to watch. [New York Giants Defensive Coordinator] Shane [Bowen] has done a great job schematically each week, I think, really tailoring it to their strengths and so it'll be a huge challenge."
On QB Jayden Daniels facing a team for the second time:
"It's always difficult. You know each other really well at that point. You have a lot of intel and you've seen each other on the field. And so, to me it's about not trying to do too much and just stay within yourself and execute at a high level, which he's done so far this year. But it's a disruptive group, like I said, I think they've gotten better and better and the games haven't always ended the way they wanted, but they've been in every game and the defense played at high level."
*On the balance of getting WR Terry McLaurin involved throughout a game: *"Yeah, I'd say, I mean, every game with a guy like that, you come out of it saying I wish we would've gotten it to him more. I mean, he's that type of a talent and he plays hard. And like I told you all before, the beauty of him is he never asks for it. He never comes back, complains and never gets on the quarterback. He just does his job. And when that guy is doing it like that and blocking, playing without the ball, then everybody else is going to get in line. And that's kind of the beauty of him. But yeah, I think he's a guy you want to make sure every week if the money's on the table, like the ball's going to him."
On why Daniels is good in low probability moments:
"Yeah, just he has a fearlessness about him when he plays, he cuts it loose and believes. And in practice it's not like he's just trying to complete it, he's trying to make the perfect throw and he judged himself on that, which the great ones do."
On Daniels not doing well in the trash can practice drill:
"Yeah, there's no doubt. He's not great at the trash can drill, but he's really good on the field [laugh]. So, I think that that'll work out for him."
On a throw from Daniels that sticks out from this season:
"Oh, I mean he's had a bunch. One of the most impressive throws all year was the one that [WR] Luke [McCaffrey] caught, I think it was the first drive of the game, [Chicago Bears DE Montez] Sweat barreling down and pulling his jersey and he drops it in there. Luke almost gets his feet down, but his off platform, off schedule stuff has been really, really impressive."
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On Chicago using late substitutions to slow down the offense and on if that's something the team has encountered this season:*
"No, we've seen it sporadically throughout, and it's just really on us to make sure that we're concise with our substitutions and we're nailing it. Otherwise, they're going to be allowed to hold the ball, and when we sub, they sub and they tend to take their time doing that, which I understand. It's part of the game and it's built in that way, but that just means we have to be really good when we do go fast or we sub that we're dialed in."
On the substitution protocols:
*"Don't know, yeah, I mean, it's very subjective crew to crew. And yeah, I'm not going to get into that too much, but they are allowed ample time in my opinion."
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On having multiple skill players with the ability to help in pass protection:
"Yeah, it's been huge, and [they] take pride in it too. Those guys take pride in that and playing without the ball, and making sure they're buying more time. And it's hard for these o-linemen to block those guys. It's some of the most dynamic athletes in the world playing d-end and rush in this league, and so you're going to need help at some point. And we try to do that and take some off of them, and those guys really embrace that role. And a lot of times they're the ones who gets get the ball too because it tends to be, they'll chip defense will drop them or forget they were there and then they end up catching a check down for a positive play. So, it has been a good part of our offense, and it's been cool to see those guys really embrace it."
On redzone execution:
"Yeah, it definitely needs to be better. I thought we moved the ball well at times against Chicago but had a chance to really put it away a couple times. I thought that could put a lot of pressure on them, make them more one dimensional and we just floundered around down there, whether it was bad play calls or not the type of execution that we expect. And similar to the New York game as well, just have to call better plays and have to execute better. And our guys know that we can't expect to win like that. Defense did a tremendous job continuing to get the ball back, continued to give us a chance to put that team away and we just didn't do it."
On if the team used a conservative redzone approach against New York because they didn't have a kicker available:
"I wish I could say so. No, we were trying to score as many touchdowns as possible. We just did not get it done, yeah."
