Nagy, Desai recap victory over Seattle | Coaches Show

Although it was definitely a team win, but Nick deserves a lot of credit for those two scoring drives in the offense in general. Yeah, he did a great job, Jeff, you know, stepping in on short notice like that and just kind of preparing all week long, and you know, those elements aren't easy, and that's a that's a good football team that we played, albeit their record there. That's a tough environment and for those guys to keep on fighting like they did, for him to make plays in

the end, it was great. Yeah, the snow probably helped a little bit, kept the crowd down because that place obviously is one of the loudest in the NFL. They still made some noise, but did you feel it was egregious in any way? I mean, did it get super loud down there? Yeah, there was time. There was times it got loud for sure. You know, now I've been

there before. We're like you're saying, there's no snow, and that place can rock, So I mean it can get super loud, and you got to make sure your cadences or your silent cadence is good. But early on in the game, there weren't as many filled seats because I think people were getting in so that that definitely helped out probably both sides. And it was snow then it kind of settled down a little bit and you could

you could hear the crowd really taken notice. Did the snow add a different flavor to the game a little bit? Because as kids, we all we all wanted to play in the snow. I mean we no matter how cold it was, it was fun to play in a snowstorm. It wasn't quite a snowstorm. It was a little flurrying going out. But some of those guys I know, like talking to clear Herbert after he never played in snow was his first experience, so I'm sure you got some

of that. Yeah, it's always interesting, and you know, it's just when you get a snow game like that, it just creates a little bit of that. I'll be hoonce to the game and it feels like, you know, it feels like football weather, and so the guys now there's a little difference too with the footing, you know, and sometimes I think it's advantaged offense because they know where they're cutting and they know which way they're going. So it's definitely unique that way. But it was fun to

be a part of. I haven't been a part of too many of those where it's where the field is covered like that. But I'm sure the guys loved it. Yeah, only the third time in Seattle history a snow game there. So but let's let's talk down that the twenty four fourteen and Nick this guy in the offense couple of scoring drives the past to Jimmy obviously, and then the two point conversion to Demere with one on one to go. I don't I'm sure you haven't had time to see

a bear. Some great pictures of bird that that will be one of the pictures of the year that tell a story because it's the one end. It's two Seahawks, maybe three, and it's it's just unique. It's it's one heck of a catch and one heck of a trust throw there. Yeah, it is. I mean that was a to be contestedate that too when you when you see it.

I actually thought for a second there that they were going to shove him out of bounds, but so for him to keep that balance to catch the football, to get to defeating bounds, and then to maintain it with the one handed grab and just kind of holding it there like everybody to show hey, I got it. I called it. And then they tried to knock it out of his hand, but it was too and it was a special catch by Jimmy too to play before. Are you happy for those two guys, including not not just Nick,

but you know Jimmy. You know he'd like to get every red zone throw, you know, because he's pretty confident he's gonna get it. And Demere has come on strong here of late. Yeah, I'm happy for those guys. You know, it's Demere has done a great job this entire season. Of just doing what we ask and you know, he can do a lot of different things within the offense.

So for him to be able to get some recognition and be able to be a big part of making some plays evening in Green Bay on that long touchdown catch he had, it's neat to see. He deserves it. He does things the right way, So I'm happy for him there. And then Jimmy, you know what a great way to be able to help your team win a game. That's what he does. I think everybody knew that we were going to have a chance to throw him the ball.

You just gotta make the catch, and he did it. Well, what's the key for a vet starting for the first time in over four hundred days, Well, a guy like Nick, when you play quarterback, the biggest thing mentally is preparing through the week, kind of going through your progressions and where you're at. And then once you get the game day, Well,

you had some elements, you had some weather. You got to get through that part and then it's just kind of like once you get through that first series, I think it all just kind of comes right back to you. So he showed that he did that. We got going a little bit. I was really happy with how we were on third down. We had some third and longs, but to be fifty percent seven or fourteen on third down with some of the longer distances we had the guys.

The guys worked time and they made plays. I think nine different guys to Chabon and all of them had a double digit play at least one. So you were getting some chunks against these guys. But the no turnover thing, that was huge. Yeah, that's big. I think that's really big is to make sure you protect and respect that football. We talked about it this morning in regards to the yards after catch, you know, and yards after contact was really good. You felt guys getting vertical again, extra yards

and that's important. How ready was Ryan Willison just in case you know, we talked about that on Friday before the game. Yeah, excuse me, he was ready. We had a limited menu of what we were gonna have to use with him and we had some other stuff going. So, I mean, but I give him a lot of credit. I give coach Schneider, Mike Snyder, our assistant quarterback coach.

I give him a lot of credit. They spent a lot of hours together on Friday, Saturday and Sunday prepping, so you never know, right the shoelace can get untied and you're up. Yeah, oh yeah, didn't even think of that. That's uh, that's pretty much what Tevin Jenkins dealt with in Green Bay, right. Just guy's reaction was, oh wow, here we go. So Tevin left with a shoulder injury. I will learn more across the week. But you got to see Larry Boorham than a left tackle. How did

he perform after you watch the tape. Yeah, that's never easy again going from one side to the other. But I thought he did a good job. There was a couple of plays here there. Reopened his hips a little bit and they got some pressure. But again, like he battles and he cares, and I really believe that that he did just fine. And he's a good kid. You know he talked about in your postgame press conference the empty the cup. I kind of liked what I heard

there just from what I read. I did not see the news conference, but just to update those who didn't know about it, it was a message really from your son tape freshman at Lake Forest. Yeah, it was you know, we we have lost that game against the Vikings and we were driving home and you know, I don't get a whole lot of too many special moments of my kids, you know, staying pretty busy, and he just had a

nice little message for me. And then the big, big part of the message was listening, we have no regrets in life, like whatever we do right, him as a player in sports and me as a coach, and referencing me just giving it everything you got. And it's a story that he heard from one of his coaches, and it made a lot of sense to them. You know, it's all of us, no matter how much talent you have or I have. If we just empty the cup and give it our all on that day, we'll have

a pretty good chance to win the football game. And that was the message to the guys on Saturday night. And I love the fact that they were listening, and I love the fact that they did it on Sunday. And that's what you know, we fight, and we emptied our cups and we got the victory. Snap throw going to Graham of the endown. He's got it for the touchdown, touchdown, pairs, post up touchdown. Jimmy Graham with a slam duck in

the end zone. Pulls gun, lifts his right leg, moves to his right, checking it, throw it back in the end zone. Catch made. They're gonna say it's good for the two pointer. Jamir Bird back to the end zone. It is good and the Bears have the lead. Twenty five, twenty four here in Seattle, Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show, brought to you by Whippley. CPA's end consultants are proud partner with the Chicago Bears. Learn more at Whippley dot com. Jeff Joni acc with Matt Naggie here

on the Bears Coaches Show. Just heard the touchdown and the two point conversion. We talked about it in our first segment. But a former University of Miami basketball player knows how to box out, you know, that was the bulk of his athletic career in college. Is one year of college football and twelve years later, he's still making those plays in the end zone and taking advantage of a mismatch and the relationship of nick locker mates in

the locker room. Two veterans, they've been around the block, they've been through a lot of different things in their career. To have a guy still be doing the same type of things that he started his career doings. It's got to be pretty impressive to YouTube, it is. And I've always had so much respect for Jimmy throughout all the years that he's played and just the way he's done things and for you know, he's one of these guys.

Now he'll tell you I'm the best guy in the red zone to catch that kaketball, you know, in the NFL history, and he's right, he's right. Would you disagree with him? You can't. And so when you know they called a fifty fifty football, you know in that boss run and we know when the boss run to Jimmy, that percentage is a lot higher. So you know, give

credit to Nick for giving him a chance. It's hard on that dB, it's hard on the safety because you spread him out and then Jimmy, Jimmy's got to make the play and he consistently does that seventieth red zone touchdown his career. Let's talk about the other tight end because Cole Comet had had a very nice game here as well. He did, and I really liked, you know, his attitude, his the way he caught that football right from the very start. The very first catch of the game,

for him to catch the football wasn't easy. He got hit hard, got out of bounds, got a six yard game, you know, four or five six yard game, and you saw it the rest of the way. He really played physical football, and that's now, that's who he is, that's what he is. I really think he's growing proud of the progress he's making as a tight end in different areas of the game. And yesterday he made some big plays. We talked about it in post game as well. It

balanced out the offense with the run game. David Montgomery with twenty eight touches, but the underrated aspect of his hands in the passing game was a big benefit to you. Yeah, and he's always had that. What I thought was neat yesterday with David was this was a defense that wanted to just really any sign of play action. They were just going to fly out of there and try to

take away all the explosives. Well, when you do that, you leave up you give up the first zone there, you know, so they're getting their vacating that first zone. You dump it down to the back and now all of a sudden, he can make a guy miss and make a four yard catch go into a fourteen yard game, and he did that yesterday. Can you break down the Clil Herbert twenty yard touchdown how that all opened up? Yeah, we had an RPO there, so a run pass option

and you know, depending on how they played. Was second and eight and they decided to play a cover to shell and their linebackers were back pretty deep, so I thought the line did a great job of blocking their guys and Nick made a good read and then Khalil made a great decision where he just stuck his left foot in the ground and got a good block by Cody white Hair, and the rest was history. The safety had one little chance to come up and make a play and Khalil made a miss and just kind of

took it into the end zone. What stood out defensively too well, I thought, I thought defensively that you know, the two possessions towards the end of the game where a field goal puts them up two scores to get that sack to get them out of field goal range, and then the next possession that followed that, it just showed to who our guys are that you know, it would have been really easy for them to give up a ten or fifteen twenty yard game and give him

a pooch field goal to go up ten and two sports, But that didn't happen, and they gave us a shot. They had some sudden changes where we got three and ounced. So I just really like where they're at right now. We've got some young guys stepping up. We've got some guys that are playing hard. I'll be asking John to decide this later, but do you venture to get how many sacks Robert Quinn would have or Khalil Mack would have because of Robert quim and vice versa, if they

were all healthy together for the whole year. Yeah, that it'd be interesting to see for sure. You know. I was. I was talking about that last night with one of the coaches. Is it's it's really impressive to see what he's done and to think about what could be done if if fifty two is on the other side. So I think it just speaks even more to who Robert is and the rest of these guys too, Like, let's

not take away from these other guys. They're they're obviously calls and disruption to where teams can't double and triple team Robert every play, and when Robert has an opportunity to make a play, he doesn't. Um it's interesting to talk about the aspect of coaching in a season that has not gone the way you wanted, but you can't ever take the coach out of a football man, so

you're you know what I mean. So it's kind of interesting how things are sometimes framed because it just in my experience that no matter what coaches are gonna coach, they're gonna coach to win. We're all in this profession for a reason. We've all worked hard to get to this point. We're all competitors, and when you're in these moments, you got people that look to you to lead, and there's there's no other choice. It is what it is,

and the record is what it is as well. So it's our job that we're out there and to fight every single play, to show that fire, to show that commitment to this organization no matter what the record. You saw that even with Seattle, you know they're in a similar situation. Then they have the same mentality and they came out swinging yesterday and it was a good game

to watch if you were a fan. Download the Chicago Bears app to play our new predictor game or Risk It, brought to you by Bette Rivers for your chance to win two hundred fifty dollars in free bets and a customed Bears jersey with Bears head coach Mattnege. Our final statement here on the Bears Coach the Show. After a impressive win in Seattle, I'm the road twenty five twenty four. Here's a little nugget for you as well. Our statman

duck Letty did the research. It's the first time in Bears history that score is a final twenty five twenty four. Bears have never won a game. It doesn't matter in the big picture, but it's a good nugget and only the fifteenth time in NFL history. It's an odd score. Believe it or not. Yeah it is. I never knew that. So it's interesting while we're on the twenty five side,

not to twenty four exactly exactly. And you I think you told the folks this morning in your news conference then no matter what that was, that was your plan to go for two. Yeah it was we you know, we actually were talking on the sideline right right as that drive started. I knew if I got an opportunity to talk to Mooney or Demir, I wanted to talk him about the two point play, just so they it wasn't a surprise and they know the plays we have,

but which one we're going to choose. So that obviously told them that we're going for two when we do score. I could give him some details on it. And then at the two minute morning, I brought the mirror over and I explained to him, Okay, when we get to touchdown,

we go for two. Here's the play. Just remember if it's man, if it's owned, And we talked that through a little bit, and Demir put will spin onto it and Nick made a good throw and so we were we were committed to that and everyone felt that way. So if you put it in his head, maybe you're the one that gassed him up on that thirty yard catching run, because Money was tearing through tacklers like he was Marshawn Lynch. He was. That's that's a moon. I'll

tell you what. When he gets gold Man, he gets rolling, and uh, I thought for a second there he was even going to break that last one. And then you can see dads knew something jumping in and trying to push him out of the tackle. So that was pretty neat to see from a wide receiver that's one hundred and seventy five pounds, right, that was just flat out impressive. A lot of young guys put their hand up and made some plays and interesting. Talking to Herbert after the

game too, he used the term we decided. He didn't necessarily mean last night, we decided as a group, and whether he's talking about young guys, whether he's talking about the Rickey class and Justin and and that group, we decided we are gonna We're gonna finish this thing strong. Um. I thought that was an impressive quote. It really caught my attention. We decided because a lot of guys they don't decide that. They just want to finish up and go home. Yeah, No, that's who That's who they are,

and we're seeing that. I think that's what special is. You got these young guys that are saying we're going to decide to finish it our way, and it's important to us that we finished strong. It just kind of shows that who we all are as competitors. And now we got a game coming up here against the Giants. That's the only thing that matters right now is making sure we decide to empty our cuff for this game and give it everything we got at home and do

everything we can to get another win. What's it been like for you right now? Because that empty the cup thing is is obviously symbolic for you and significat And you've always been about those types of things, you know, those sayings, those things that try to kind of set

the tone for your week, your season and whatnot. So it's interesting, even at this late juncture in the season that these things are resonating with you well for sure, and it's there's different ways than they happen organically of how some of these messages can impact you, whether it's me with my sons or whether it's a player with

a coach or a player to a player. You know, I've made it well known about what I believe in being you for everybody as you go through good times and bad times is always stick to who you are. That's been real And now this one here with NT and the Cup is when whether things are good or things aren't good, have no regrets, right, leave it all

out there. So that's a that's I think it can be impactful to the players, to the coaches, and in times like this when you're not playing for the playoffs, it can really bring things in perspective too, because that's another part of this too, Jeff. I think we all got to have a little perspective and be appreciative of where we're at and what our job is, and that's

to go out and win. Have you had your own challenges about staying in the as you know, bouncing off that you honest quote from the World Championship for the Bucks that you hung on too early in the year. Yeah, I mean it's I think it's only natural for all of us. Whether it's the start of the season and you're anxious to get to the middle of the season, or it's the middle of the season you're anxious to get to the end, whether it's the playoffs or whatever.

And but you have to con you gotta always just remind yourself that today is the only thing that's guaranteed. And our players do a good job of that. They focus in install meetings, when we're out here, at the walk throughs or at practice. That's the other part of this too, is the really they practice like they play, and when you do that it makes Sundays a lot easier. All right, quick word on the Giants. Yeah, again, the team that we're getting started on watching tape getting in

late last night. But uh, you know, we understand that. I know, defensively they do some good things and Coach Graham there on the defensive side of the ball will mix coverages and different fronts and stunts and obviously they you know, having Daniel Jones on IR and you're looking at you know, from or glennon. But at the same point in time, it doesn't matter whoever it is that comes in. We've got to be prepared for and be prepared to do everything we can to win. All Right, Matt,

good luck with your prep. We'll talk to you later in the week. All right, Jeff, see you. Thanks. That's Bears head coach Matteneggie. We'll have Shanda Sai coming up. Next. Snap to Wilson looking stays in the pocket. Here comes Quint springs out of it. Then he's got him, and Donny goes Robert Quinn there to make the sack of the quarterback Russell Wilson, the fourteenth time he's sacked him in his career. And that for Robert Quinn is number seventeen.

Sunday's game against the New York Giants is brought to you by Doctor Pepper Zero Sugar. The Zero Sugar Bears fans deserve Welcome back to the Bears Coaching Show, joined by defensive coordinator Sean Desai. Shaan, Congratulations, good to see you, Good to talk to you. How'd you like that one? Thanks, Jeff. You know, it's always good to get a win. So it was an extagging victory for us, and I'm glad the way the guys fought and it kind of grind

it all the way to the end. My sack, cob Robert Quinn brought us in out of the break here crashing the pocket on Russell Wilson. That was a high motor play, great angle. He is showing every single day and every single game this season, just his value and what he's doing and his relentlessness. I think that's really the key word here, would you agree, And how he's trying to finish at the quarterback as much as possible. Yeah, I think that's that's the perfect word to use for

his play demeanor. He's playing at a high level and his motor just keeps going and you see it show up on tape constantly weekend and week out, and he's doing a great job with it, and so you know we're going to continue to write his hot hand for the rest of the season. We're only talking about him as a pass rusher because it's a significant stat number right now at seventeen eleven and a half in the last seven game, seven straight games of the sack. I

don't know if you're aware of all that. Good math for good math for Bears fans, good math for Robert Quinn. But how do you think he's playing the run, because I think that may be the underrated story. Do you feel he's playing the run at a level that you're happy with and that he's happy with. Yeah, I agree,

I think I think it is an underrated story. I think I've said it a few times with different media outlets that I think this is probably one of the best years that he's played the run going back through his career. Not that he's been a bad run defender. I think he's really straining in mind into the techniques that coach Shuey is asking of him in the defense is asking of him, and then it's showing up on tape.

You know, he's getting TFLs, he's getting production in a lot of different ways, and so you know, I think that's been a great asset for him and it's helped us, I know, as a defense. And the significance of that is that he hasn't always been in this kind of system three four, So were there are things in his technique that he brought to the table that you enhanced or you had to teach him a few new things in defending the run and even dropping back a few times. Yeah,

I think it's a combination of both. I mean, you know, he's obviously a season vett who's played a lot of football, so we try to play with a lot of his strengths. H and coach who he's done a great job and he's done Roberts done a great job of understanding where those strengths can apply in this defense that we play right now. In the both run in the past, and he's been highly effective for us, even as a dropper.

You know, he had I think was San Francisco we had the big TfL on Deebo Samuel and in the open field. And so his relentless nature shows up in all facets of the game for us, and that's a that's a really a good thing when you can have an outside linebacker play that way. He hasn't missed many. I know over the years coaches have tabulated how many sacks maybe they should have had. Have you done that with him, and as he had many that he could have had. Uh No, I haven't done it with him

right now. We're just on the focus of it now and trying to keep getting better every day. And I'm sure there's a few out there. There's always gonna be a few out there. Every season. There's some out there, and I'm sure Rob will tell you saying that he could have had a few, But you know, that's part of this game. But the more you take the shots on goal, which he's getting. You know, whenever there's a past attempt he's able to go and convert into the

pass rush, the more success you have. And his relentless play and his ability turned the edge and win one on ones is helping him. I know you're living in the now, but have you ever entertained the concept of if Khalil could have stayed healthy with this kind of Robert Quinn, what the two of them that would do and what whose numbers would be going through the roof even I mean, honestly, you think about it, he would really put the offense in some real conflict. Yeah, I agree,

I think, and you saw it. You saw it when they were both playing early on in the season together. The offense had some hard times with our pass rushing, and Robert's taken on the towards kind of taken on the ownership since Khalil has been absent of holding that standard up high. And so I think with both of them, you saw it early in the season. They were both

having career years. You know, they're both they're both their stack percentages with the highs that they've ever been in their careers, and so that's a testament to both of them. You know, they're understand what we're trying to do with them, and they're executing at a high level. And so that's a credit to them. You know, we can't, like you said, we can't be in the business of wishing and hoping. But the time that we did have both them, were proud of both of them, and I think the defense

executed a high level. And then obviously Khalil's a big loss for us and Robert's taking on the ownership of filling some of that board. For us attending Sunday's game, be sure to stop by the middle of light Ultimate Tailgate located at the Field Museum for food, games, music, and more, free to Bears fans of all ages. The Ultimate Tailgate opens at ten am through one hour post game with Bears defensive coordinator Sean Dasai after the win,

oh yesterday in Seattle, nicely done. A lot of different things we can focus on, but let's talk about the decisions you made in terms of personnel at various times, and how you planned on stop and two potent wide receivers and yeah, yeah, the forty one yard or but that's it for DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. A very

very quiet day, those two gentlemen. Yeah, you know, we, I think the back end understood what we need to do to get to get a handle on those guys that they run a lot of variety of routes, and a lot of them are obviously the deep balls or the deep overs, deep crosses across the middle field, and so we had to make sure that we were in great communication with our back end and then try to give our disguise a good look to try to get

Russell off those looks early. And you know, like you said, he had that one into a post high coverage that you know, we could have been better at with some of our techniques in fundamentals, and we will be better at those. But that's part of you know, that's part of DK Metcalfe. Know he's gonna catch a fade ball on at some point and we'll be better at those. But I was probably the way the DBS challenge those guys all day, and I think the Russian coverage worked

well together. Take him off those two guys and you had a lot of variety back there again, peeling off of what you did a week ago. How would you characterize the play of the secondary and Gem, Yeah, you know again, I think guys are stepping up in their roles. You know, Thomas obviously gave up the big touchdown pass. But uh again, like I said, that's a young corner who's still uh learning his way in this technique versus a big time receiver. And so it's your teaching point there.

What's your teaching point to him on that one? Well, you know, you just want pressing, That's right. Your present. So you gotta understand how to play your press against the guy that's going to convert into a fade route, especially a big, strong guy that's going to convert into a fade route who uses as well at the catch point. He uses his hands well at the catch point. So that's just part of the growth process for him in this league. But he did a good job challenging the

whole game already. Burns had a couple of big pass breakups. You know, he almost came down with that one in the end zone and the two minute drive which would have been a great interception, and then uh kindall also challenge well, you know, at the point of attacking, we had some good tackles out of those guys. And then coming off the back end, you know, we moved around Eddie Jackson a little bit. It was good to have him back, put him at the nickel and the safety,

so that was nice. Dude played a good game. And then Dion uh, you know, overall had a good game also, so and then he saw some reps of Marquis back at safety, you know, once Teas Taber went down. So you know, like you said, it's it's kind of just been that mentality where he's got to be ready to go, and they were kind of expecting their number to be called. Six pass breakups by the Bears defense, including Alec Ogiltree and Bruce Irvin also got out of the mix as well.

With Sean de Sai here at the Bears Coaches Show on WBBM, let's talk a little bit about what real Quin did yesterday at time or two. I got I got the feeling he was spying Russell a little bit too, and again just marauding all over the field. Yeah, you know, his another word for he's another guy that's relentless. Yeah, you know, he kind of shows up all over the tape, to the left, to the right, downfield on TfL's you know,

when the past coverage, he's all over the tape. And so he's going to continue to do that for us. That's why I think he's one of the best linebackers in the league. And he knows there are still some places that he could improve on. And that's the beauty of this, you know, because the guys were still looking to get better and the coach are still coached from

hard to get better, and you're seeing it. You know, you've seen some of the fruits of those labors show up week in and week out, and that's what we've always wanted. It was kind of focused on this process and try to make sure our guys are improving. You know, coming into the game, Seahawks had the lowest time of possession of the league, and again that played out that way just twenty five minutes headed into the game yesterday. Did how much is that significant to you to just

keep your defense fresh. The offense held the ball for over thirty eight minutes. Yeah, I think that's a credit to the offensive. Like you said, holding the wall for a long time. It's always good for our guys to stay fresh and engage in the game. And then you kind of get the opponent defense is real them when they're taking those long drives. They're on the field for a long time. So I think our offense is a

great job of doing that. And then we did a pretty good job most of the time of trying to get them a third down and get them off the field. You know, we had a few three ounce and then a couple of long drives that we got improved on. What did you think about the run defense? You know, I thought it was inconsistent yesterday. And really the unfortunate part was I think we gave up three explosive runs, you know, that were over twenty or thirty yards and

that and happen. You know, we got to tackle better on two of those runs where should have been ten or twelve yard runs instead of twenty or thirty yard runs, and that makes a big difference, you know when you look at that. But I thought that they hit us on jet sweep a little bit on the perimeter, and then some of the run stats, we had some penalties

that were unfortunate that got added to those. So we got to be better, I think at the point of attack, and we will be and I think we just gotta we played enough split safety to take care of those two guys that sometimes you get a little bit softer on the run. And that's that's part of the give and take that that we got to be able to

live with as coaches. Bears defensive coordinators. Sean to say, our guest here on the Bears Coaches Show will step away one more segment to go and it will take a little look at the New York Giants as well, with Seawan to say here on WBBM back on the Bears Coaches Show with Bears defensive coordinator Sean to say, we'll take a look at the giants in just a

few moments up. You've had to play a lot of guys. Obviously, the team has I think upwards of seventy six seventy seven players, and there is trickled down because of COVID and injuries and so forth. But you could look at that two ways, right. You could look at that as a negative because we're not having the continuity, you're not starting the same eleven, you're not having the same nickel

and dying packages. But have you enjoyed the variety? Have you used it to your advantage at the same time, because I think you're us utilizing the talents of guys in ways that allow them to play fast. And they may not have been a starter, but they're getting a lot of snaps over the course of the last few weeks and they just seem to be playing with a little more of aggressive demeanor. I guess I'm specifically talking about the back end because the front seven and we

know what they we know who those guys are. Yeah, you know, I think fair Is that a fair statement? Yeah, I think so, and I think part of that comes with growth. You know, we had a lot of young guys back there playing this year, especially when we had

some turnover with some injuries. But it is exciting. It's exciting to see these guys understand how to play the defense, understand where to win in their leverages, and then compete at the top of the routes, which they've been doing, you know, the last few weeks, and so that that's been nice to see. And it's been a variety of

guys doing that, you know. So what that tells us is that they're taking to coaching there, they're understanding the points that obviously to Shay, Mike Adams, Rondelle and myself for giving in that dB room, and so it's good to see them, uh see see the positive fruits of their labor, you know, because over time, especially in the season like this, where you know you're not winning as much as you want to, it can get frustrating. But I think the guys are buying into it and you're

seeing it on tape. Thomas Graham went from zero media attention to a ton. He did a lot of interviews last week, including with Tom Thare and myself, and he was a wonderful, wonderful perspective on where he's at and where his mind's at. I think probably he'll look back at that first play and that goes back into the category if you got to forget it, because he came back and made plays. And I enjoy how he's tackling as well. He's going low and he's rapping. Do you

like the way he tackles? Is that how he tackled in college or if you guys worked with him on that, yeah, you know. I think I do like the way his mindset is and tackling um and he is trying to go low and trying to wrap. He had a couple of misses yesterday which are going to be part of it, but the good thing about those is he's missing to his leverage, so he's understanding where his help is and

then understand that the pursuit is going to come. So if there is a place to miss, you got to miss to one side, you know, And we don't want

to obviously miss tackles at all. But I think he's he's understanding the overall leverage and the techniques of the defense better and better each week, and It's been a process for him, like he said last week, you know, coming off a year or not playing everything, and that's part of it, you know, you got to take the time to do it and learning to credit to him to stay engaged and keep learning. And again the fruits

of his labor are showing up a little bit. You're getting Jayalen back this week, coming off the COVID list, and I can't imagine his patience was real good being out for two games, knowing where his heart's at as well. Yeah, no, I agree. I think he's probably jumping at the bid here to get back, eating, getting the mix and kind of be part of all the things that we're doing right now. So I think that's exciting for us to get a player like that back. Now, it's time to

look ahead. Brought to you by Bette Rivers, the official sports book partner of the Bears. New York Giants come to Soldier Field for a noon start on Sunday. Quarterback situation. Not really sure where they'll go here, but what do you know about the Giants? And just this team played the Bears early last season. Some of the same characters. They're struggling and uh, what can you tell us they've

lost four in a row. Yeah, you know, I think they're strong, but you know, I think they're They've obviously changed coordinates, they got a little bit of shifting and what they're trying to do offensively. They've obviously got the ability to run the ball. They've got a couple of good running backs that can do that, and so we got to make sure we're short up with our run defense.

And you know, we've played Kenny Galladay a few times here obviously with this time at Detroit and everything, and he's still a good receiver, you know, so we got

to make sure we take care of him. And then the tight ends are good, you know, Ingrahams are good tight end and so you know, we're gonna have our hands full, and we got to make sure that we do our job with our preparation and play with good run defense and techniques and take care of the deep shots that they have because they do a lot of max protection shots, and so we got to make sure our coverage holds up and when we get a chance of rush, we gotta be able to rush. All right, Sean,

good luck with your preparation. Thank you so much. Thanks Jeff, appreciate it. All right. That's gonna wrap up tonight's show for Keith Johnson, Dan Billy, Jordan Trudup and Jared Harburn. I'm Jeff Joni Yak. Thanks to coach nagging and Coach decide, we'll have the Bears Giants nine AM free game noon kickoff on Sunday at Soldier Field. This is News Radio one oh five nine w BBM. Good night, everybody,