Press Pass: Pat Shurmur

last two years with the Patriots. Um, we're about getting to that point where we want to see other opponents and so for us to do this here prior to the game in a controlled setting, I think is very important. We're going to see another defense, another group of the defensive players, different philosophy defensively, and it'll be good for him to kind of get almost a pregame type setting. We get the point tomorrow, but keep relevant today. Accepts endpoint given that all the theres a bad bet l

and the joint. Yeah, practices that you guys re emphasize or you say, leading enough the important to trying to keep you cool and well, we're only going to go on what we the last two years with the Patriots. We we kind of made our statements up front and said that we we just don't want it to happen, and we're gonna expect both teams to be professional and um and guard against it. I think we can't really

worry about other teams, but they happens. I mean there we'd like to think that we're not going to have them, but we've certainly talked about it. I mean that's part of what you do when you when you plan to practice together or trained together, because you set the schedule and then you set the ground rules and then we're gonna do this in this period and then certainly as the overriding part of that is, we're all going to be professional and try to get better. Josh Hump wasn't

targeted at all. If it takes the culture, there are reasons for that, or just because it was only a handful of play. No, it's just he was only in there for a handful and uh, there was no reason for it. Sometimes that sometimes that happens. We've been there in the team rules today. Yeah, he'll be out here training today, UM as much. And we got a little rotate going. We're gonna try to use our whole roster, so the ones, twos, and threes we'll all get reps

throughout the training session. We said last week that he's holding murrayed back because of his workload in two thousand and fourteen. How do you implement a guy into the offensive learning it um, yet the same time don't allow him to work full time. Well, I think here's here's the way I like to look at it is we've had almost two thousand reps in the spring that he was involved in, and in many of those, we've got a long line of running backs that need to get

work and we're just kind of balancing it out. You know, they're when they're in there, they're trying to get explosive efforts and play hard. And that can be said for all guys kind of skilled positions that you have this year. I'm running back in. We see what you get in. What does that give you? Guys from a gate planning in the way calling standpoint that maybe you haven't had

the last years. Well, we'd like to be able to whatever the forty five man roster of forty six man roster works out to be, we want that to be. We want every offensive player, especially skilled player, we want to be able to rotate them in and go um. Certainly you could see some of the benefits of playing with tempo last week and we were just rolling guys. And so when you have a lot of guys that you count on and you feel good about um, then

you don't worry about what plays you call. You just you just call him and oh gee, that's a good one for him, and you know, you worry less about being so strategic about where things are going and then just get the ball spread out in album. But Matthews is an album. He's always in. Why that really? That? Really? Not always? I mean we have a we have a rotation at the running back position, much like we do at tight end or receiver. And again, I think you

gotta be careful. You gotta be careful, to say, with the ones, with the twos, with the you know, we have drills out there where we run play one after the other and it's just the next the next guys are in. So you can see Sam Bradford with guys that you might consider to be backups and vice versa. So I think you got to be careful when you're

watching our training sessions. There's some is that well if that's the question, well, my questions fly the sea rash Marko is not well, I think he's out there and he's practicing and I wouldn't say he's doing anything anymore than if if DeMarco was out there, he'd be in the rotation smoothly with him. At the same time, you guys kind of will get like this week and next week is kind of a you know, I guess a

chance to like kind of get him ready for the season. Yeah. Yeah, he's a veteran player and and and he'll get himself ready to go, and it'll be within the structure that we have for him. We're not we're not as concerned about it as I feel this lineup questioning one on Saturday, Am I sensing something here? Huh? On Saturday night when you see from graduated get confidence back, Well, we feel like he's back. We just want to see him go out and execute efficiently and move the team and get

us in the end zone. That's that's what we want him to do, obviously, not conditions personally, that's so so what in your mind for a children being here. We want him to go out, execute efficiently, move our team and get us in the end zone. That's what we're looking for. I don't mean to be trite, but that's that's really what we want from our quarterbacks set John in terms of in the context, if you're being away from sport a while, do you see a guy who's

we committed. Do you see a guy who's suggesting to get back? Do you see guys right in? I just see a guy that's probably made the most improvements of anybody. But he had the furthest to come because he didn't have the benefit of the spring. But he's done a good job. He battled in there on Sunday and he had more, way more good plays than bad. Anybody that played a lot the other night made mistakes, but I thought like he Uh, in our eyes, we feel like

he made progress. Tibo played with the fourth uned a lot and Parfley was the third. Is there any plans to get a fair evaluation for them and maybe switch that around in the game the situation, it's in pencil. We have some ideas about how we're going to change the quarterback rotation this coming week, but we haven't solidified it yet. You know, we really expect the quarterbacks to go out and perform regardless of who they're playing with.

You know, it goes back to the using all the guys on the roster, and so you know, we feel like we can. Whether you're playing behind the second, third or fourth line, we expect the quarterbacks to perform. So and I did caught some balls soday. Did he show you anything that? Yeah, you know he was. He was targeted quite a bit. And again it comes in bunches. You know, Huff didn't get any, but he got a bunch and who would have thought, um, But he did a good job. There was some there were some catches

he made where his run after catch was terrific. He caught a couple of balls in a crowd. Um, And so he you know, he did some really really good things in our minds. And like he said, he got targeted and he made the best of them those opportunities. So he just needs to build on that now. Not really well, again, he wasn't targeted, but I'm assuming if they'd have thrown it to him, whatever their offensive scheme is,

he would have caught it. Are you guys comfortable with Huff and that you know, he only played fourteen snaps in that first game, like a lot of the starters. Are you comfortable with a guy who getting really played a lot last year, missed four games, he was almost all the preseason put it having him in that kind of um er No, I think we're we're comfortable with him, and we're comfortable with the progress he's making through through

the training. You know, there's a lot that goes out here on the goes on out here on the practice field, and there's still a lot of preseason football to be played and he's going to get a lot of that. So, you know, I think when you look at the first preseason game, you know, we all want to try to quantify how much is and the how goods Uh, there's a lot left to do here. There's a lot of water. It's got to run unto the bridge before we put that final roster together, and these guys are going to

get a lot of opportunities. That's the beauty of what we're doing here. We're going to be able to compete in a team environment against another opponent, and so some of the guys that are only going to play partially in the game are going to get a lot of another you know, a lot of good reps against a really good opponent. I wouldn't say that I think he's performed well when he's been in there, but again that that decision hasn't been made yet. I think Andrew's doing

a good job. And I think the other guys that that you're going to ask me about are also making progress. It still kind of you know, and even come to I mean, so you don't think there's any separation of all yet. I just said he's doing a good job. We haven't. We haven't decided yet what's happening there. We're still rotating guys through. And keep in mind when you see and again you're I'm sure you're all keeping track

of who's in there at all. If you're not one of the five, then you have to be you have to have position, you know, flexibility, and so you're seeing guys training at different positions because if you line up on game day and you're six or seven, you may have to back up the center and the guard or the guard and the tackle, and you know, all the different combinations that we go through. So that's part of

the training. When you find a starter, is until you become that guy, you know, because until you become Ason Peters, you got to you gotta move around and do the other things as well. Uh, it's sin pencil. We'll see, We'll see. Chances are making the day because the Ordnay schools play right guard is opposed to training at tackle

or center. I don't know that he has history of playing other positions right now for him, and really what we have to do for him to catch up on all the stuff that we you know, that we've done in the spring and in the two years prior, it helps him to do it by learning one spot now certainly he's learning all the other positions as well. Just kind of get him up to speed. Locations regards to how how much home Poor would play raward, obviously guards

to be ordered. No, I think everything with regards to the quarterback is in pencil right now, and order and how much I guess, I don't you know, But we haven't, like I said, we haven't solidified or really you know, totally decided how we're going to play that. Yet it seems like a lot of the offensive rolls, I don't know, the way presented the self different. But the short passing

us going deep a lot. Is that by design or just the way the quarterbacks you're seeing the open guys or no, I mean, we have plenty of short intermediate concepts and we have deep to short concepts and I don't know. I think I feel like we're throwing the ball deep at times in practice. You know, most de seasons of four backs on the balls of last year wouldn't go for Well, those are decisions we have to make, you know, and you did you two examples of years

when the rosters are different. So we'll just have to see. And again we're gonna try to pick the best fifty three guys and then within that, you know, we'll have a certain number of skill players and then we'll play offense. It's based on what they can do best, and that's sort of what we do. Yeah, would you evaluate Kitty

is it? How is it a fair evaluation? Because he's moving to a position you have to play the plague at the NFL level and obviously involved technique and different things that he is not accustomed doing at a quarterback. So when you're evaluating, you know he's a more un potential or can you look for more more to improvements. I suppose for some reason playing wide receiver for a while and may have that now. So I don't think you said it's not fair. I think what we're doing

is fair. I think he's out there competing and what he's showing us is that he can play, be a guy, play a lot of different positions, and the more you can do, you know, the more valuable you become. So, um, I'm not quite sure where you're getting at, but just you know, for a guy who hasn't played some of the things you're asking to do in the NFL, I

was a football player and he's out there playing football. Okay, you know, so what do you judging though, as a player who's played at we're asking Scrolls to play wide receiver and running back. Is that fair? Well, he's built in the NFL, fight a lot, it's career well, but we're asking him to do two things, right. We're asking guards to play tackle, centers to play guard, you know.

So there's there's kind of that multiplicity that you try to build in a player, and really the more you can do, the more valuable you are to the team. So that's that's sort of the way we look at it. When you were when you were here as an assistant in the JOBIC here, you guys ever talked about being a head coach together and what have you admired about him as a head coach since Yeah, we were certainly, we're all back in the VET together on coach on Andy's original staff, so we had a lot of stuff

going on. We didn't have much time to talk about much at that time. We were just trying to get this thing figured out the best we could. UM. But certainly John has done an outstanding job. Is this this eighth eighth season? Um? Um super Bowls? You know, I competed against them four times when I was in Cleveland. UM, And he's just a solid he's a solid football coach. That it really provides a very clear direction for their organization. And I think that's what that's what it starts with.

And UM, he's done a great job, and I'm you know, I'm happy for him. We're friends, you know, we talk frequently in the offseason or at NFL functions, and uh, I'm looking forward to uh being around him and competing against this team. Team. Let's see, Well, they've got a really fine quarterback. You know, they do a good job of scoring points. And then they've always been very stout on defense, you know, I think that can be said. And then with his special team's backgrounds, you know, they're

always very solid on special teams. So it's a good rounded, hard nosed football team, and that's what gives him a chance. Well, he'll have to get up to you know, get back to to full speed when he comes back, and you know, he's he's got a memory bank of reps and he's been around for two years now, so he'll get back to full speed quicker than most h