We're going to noticeaball rays and energy since Nick Bosa has been.
Back into building. I really haven't noticed. It was great energy all week. Actually, the guys have been really ready to go and have been a great couple of days of practice. And I mean, obviously I think Nick being back, but I haven't. I really didn't notice it. But it's I'm glad he's back, Chris.
This team has incredible depth of edge edge rushers, not just the starters, and the packups are really good as well. Is this a game where you're gonna have to help Trent and help Colton consistently throughout the game.
Well, I think you have to be aware. They've got good players across the board. On the defense, their defensive linemen or talented ninety seven is a very good rusher as well as a run player. The edge rushers are, obviously, you know not as you noted, very good players. So we have to take count as we do in every game where the good players, how do we help minimize their impact on the game in any way, shape or form. So whatever we have to do to do that. Sometimes
it's play calls, sometimes it's help. There's a lot of different ways in different things you can possibly do. But this team is so there's so many things that they challenge you with on defense that you just have to be careful that you're balanced in everything that you do. And and guys have to step up and make some plays and UH, and we've got to help him every way we can with our play calls as well.
Mostly just don't like to compare all I should compare not a good idea. But you've got four skill position players that Jo McCaffrey and I and Deebo and Kittle. I mean, you've been doing this a long time. The teams that you know been on come to mind where they like have a similar type foursome.
Yeah, when I was in UH, when I was in Indianapolis. The one thing that when I was with the Colts, they Bill Polland did a great job of when you had a quarterback and Tom Moore the coordinator there, like Peyton Manning, his philosophy was you had to make sure that he had people around him to get the ball to. At that point, we had Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Reggie is second here. Really wasn't quite what he became,
but he became that with it very quickly. At the time, Brandon Stokely was one of the elite slot receivers, and then Marcus Pollard at tight end. Kenny Dilger been a tight end. Then Edrin James is the running back. So there were three or four really good skill position players around him that that the yak. You know, you get the ball in their hands and they're going to do something with it. Now, Marvin did things down the field and so I'm not putting our guys yet in that category.
But it isn't you hear I mean, you hear other coaches talk about it. You hear other people say that, you know, our guys want to get the ball in their hands. It's a good group. And so it's it's it's it's a cool group to be around. And uh and and what they do with the ball in their hands, it's fun to watch.
Them a no question. But when you have this level of talent at skill positions, then do you say, oh, we can do more offensively, let's try this, or is it just the plays you have have a greater chance of success.
Well it can be both, right, you can just say we can just run what we run and h our skill are our good players are going to make plays regardless, or we can say how do we put our skill players in better matchup positions? And so I think it's always a balancing act. It depends on so many things. The team you play, what the defense presents, what are you trying to do? So on and so forth, and so you know, you just you obviously you know you take advantage of things as you see them. One comes
to mind. I remember, this is a great one is where the Colts are playing the Ravens. And I was actually at the Ravens at this point afterwards, and I was talking with Rex Ryan about it, and they had a third and one and Peyton threw a touchdown to Marrow, like a fifty yard touchdown pass to Marvin on a third and one. And when I asked Rex about it when I got there, I said, Rex, this was I said,
what were you thinking? You went cover zero? He goes, well, they never ever threw the ball in that situation on third and one when you put you know, they put those personnel people. But Peyton saw that they were in cover zero, so we checked to a play and hit Marvin Harrison because he knew he could take advantage of something that the defense gave him. So sometimes it's just that you have skilled players and you see something that you can take advantage of it and you do it that way as well.
Holten mcgivvitt's was saying yesterday that after mclinch he had left, that he had a conversation with you, and you basically told, hey, how you prepare like a starter, carry yourself like a starter? Have you seen that in him from this day one?
Yep? And he still has to go through the bumps and bruises of Okay, I maybe don't have as good a game, but I'm still a starter. I was good a quarter a rep of Hey, snush yourself off, let's go, let's go next play, because you're the guy and we need you to play well the next play. And that was what I wanted him to know. He was the starter. It's time to stop thinking of yourself as the guy that came up back through the practice squad and all that he's done to accomplish to where he is today.
And I just wanted to have the confidence to know that he is that guy and he has carried himself that way, and you carry yourself that way though basically not because you're gonna make yourself carry carry yourself that way by performing. But you consist in every day showing up every day, doing what you're supposed to do on the field, doing what you're supposed to do in the meeting room, do what you're supposed to do in the
weight room. Blah blah blah, all the things that guys are supposed to do to be a starter, be a pro, be the right kind of guy, be on time, do everything right, be a leader, help the young guys right. All those things that he does. He's embraced that role and but he's he's performed as well, so that's that's helped and hopefully going into week one, you know, this performance hasn't been a real game yet, so now we
get to see what we're made of. What's the confidence I've a like for a guy like him though, When he's got what he knows, I'm gonna be one on one on this rep against what without any help? Do you see just the confidence?
And I'm ready for that.
Oh, I'm sure he's like any other guy would be. You know, you get a lump in your throat. You know it's gonna be a challenge. You know it's gonna be a full day of work, and you know it. You know what I've seen Trent Williams get it, I mean, And Trent didn't think he can't remember Trent's first game. He didn't think he was going to get that feeling. And then he met Mark swear an opening day and realized, holy crap, this is a whole different thing than what
I thought. And for the whole game, he hang he hung on, and he's his eyes were as big as could be and like, I am so far out of my element right now. And that was Trent Williams day one. And you asked him about it DeMarcus Ware in Washington, and Trent was like, holy crap, this is something else.
So I can imagine Colton now. The good thing for Colton is Colton has played that Week seventeen game Von Miller and yeah there were some not so good plays, but there were some really good plays down to stretch as well, and he has had some meaningful reps for us over the last the first part of his career. So while it's going to be a challenge as a starter, and I know it's a great player on defense, and we give him all props and Colton Obviously, I'm sure
he's gonna feel it. I'm gonna feel it for him if he's not feeling it, but I know he's You know, where we prepare for things like this, and we go against really good players in practice all the time, and we talk about guys like this, and the guys spend a great deal of time studying and looking at you know, what is it? How do we best manage a player like this? And then how do we help him as coaches as well?
The team hasn't gotten off to great starts in recent seasons. Just wondering if that's been discussed in recent weeks and been any sort of diagnosis as to why that might have been.
Yeah, So I don't think it's hard. It's hard to put your finger on why it has been what it's been. You know, I think I don't know. I really don't. This team this, I mean, we prepared well this this camp. You know, last year we had we had a young starting quarterback right the weather and then you know it's just some ups and downs earlyer than injuries to the positions right, and you know, Jimmy takes over after the injury. He hadn't done anything in training. You know, there were
a lot of reasons last year. Every year there's going to be an excuse. But the nday know, we haven't played well since nineteen when we started eight to zero in early in the season. And I don't know why that is. I mean, you can look at it. Last time we played Pittsford. I think we had five turnovers and we still found a way to win that game at the end when they fumbled back to us at the end of the game and we end up kicking the game winner. I mean, we could have lost some
games that stretch. I don't It has obviously been discussed. You don't want to come out of the gate slow. You love coming out and building that cushion early in the season. Heck, all we're trying to do is win one game, just like we did last year, just like we did the year before. Come out Opening day. You hope that all your guys, your preparation, execution, everything that you've worn done, you can go out and do that on game day. And that's all we're hoping to do
is start the season off right with one. Just try to get one against a really, really good opponent opponent and a really tough atmosphere. How was Elijah Mitchell looked since coming back to that groin stray?
And do you find it difficult to get all your running backs touches right now, especially after having.
Good camps with Jordan Bason and Titus Price. Yeah, I mean, you know, every time Elijah shows up, it's great because it's it's like he's never missed a beat. So when he's out there, you're like, it's so good to have him back out there. We've talked about him, you know when Trent in the one game where he started running and he's like he could tell it was not Christian running the ball anymore, just by the way the physicality
of the run. And it is tough because you have all these guys that can contribute, but they all have a role, they all have a place. Obviously, Christian's the lead dog, and Elijah will get his carries, and if JP and the other guys get a chance to get in there, it's nice to have him. As you know, throughout this thing, you're always gonna need guys, and so whether they're all available, and they all may not get touches right away, at some point they.
Will who is the third tackle is it war, is it prior? Does it depend on which.
You know right now? And it's still to be discussed going into how we who we dress and stuff. Right now, i'd be right and left. I did that. We did it last year with Colton and Jalen last year as well, So right now it's right and left.
Uh.
They've both done a good job and they're both more comfortable on those sides. But I've started swinging them and we've been starting to work both sides and practice in case the time does come that we've got to make a decision on one of them. Maybe we only dressed one swing tackle and we addressed other guys inside. It just made based on the health of the rest of the offensive line. So right now it's it's right and left.
McCaffrey came in hit the ground running last year, but with a full off season.
Do you see a lot of difference in how he's approaching the game now?
More confidence in the system. Oh, he's he's awesome. I mean, he came here last year in mid season and obviously the shock of getting traded a whole different system. He shows up here, we start handing the football right away, and he just hadn't been in the system, and we talked about it last year, how he talked about how much we coached him. You know, he never is a runner, and runners don't get coached left. They get coached in this offense. What they're supposed to read, what they're supposed
to see, how they're supposed to press it. And obviously the Christian does this thing too, because he's a great runner and has instincts and feel Now he understands all those things. He understands the plays. We went through a whole off season of him understanding what we're trying to accomplish with this play when we toss him the ball in this way, when we hand them the play, how he's to set up the blocks, what we're thinking up front. He didn't know those things, and they other places he'd
been hadn't really talked much about it. Is from my understanding, I'm not saying he did or didn't. That's what he told me. So him being able to understand, you know, how things happen, and with as you've seen sometimes with some of the plays that Kyle's designed through the years, there's some decent sized holes they just kind of show
up and and it's by design. Well, when you're a runner that hasn't seen that, it's like, you mean, you don't wait to run there right now, No, you gotta wait and then you can run there because there's other things that have to happen to play. And little things like that happened to him throughout and this year it's not like that. Man he is. It's just it's he's so on it and and still learning and still wanting
to be better. He is just so hard on himself in a positive way that he's always wanting to make sure he gets it exactly right. And that just I mean that trickles down now to all the rest of the backs. And he's just a great guy to have on the team and he has made huge strides as much as a guy's talented as Christian can make, He's made huge strides this year. Thank you.