Press Pass: Pat Shurmur

of the coverage concepts are different. Um. And again you just have to follow the path of the guy we're talking about. Sean kind of reconnected with Ron Rivera, who was involved with the Lovey Smith Tampa two type stuff and configuration, and so you see some of that, uh, you know where Spags was kind of out of the nest on his own and then interacted with John Down

and Ball the more. And so you know, you kind of take on and you kind of add to yourself based on the experiences you've had, you know, And I think that's that can be said for Sean Drum Drum Balls happened, bad passes happened. That's football. But quarterback and receiver not agreeing on what the play is that's that shouldn't happen with the miscommunications? Yea, how he traced these things?

Is it from the sideline where it's not being communicated properly or no. I think they both knew the play. And again, I'm not going to really tell you why it got miscommunicated because that leads to scheme and we're going to run that play again. We actually ran that play numerous times in the game. And but what it is is this guy's making the right decisions and then throwing the ball accurately. And in that case there they both fell victim to not doing the right thing properly.

And you know, I'll just leave it at that. But I don't think it had anything to come coming from the sideline or not knowing what the play was. And you know, we were running Apple and they all knew it was Apple. They just didn't execute it the right way earlier with Sprowls on the first possession, right, Yeah, No,

I think I think that that's just another example. You know, uh Sprosi was the first look in the flat, but then he had another part to the route that he was going to run and he just got into it a little too quick. I don't know. I don't know. You know. What happens is is we kind of get an initial report in the morning and then these guys are training, you know, and doing their rehab. So I don't know if he'll be out here or not. We'll see. The last two games, you run running and thrown it

for a lot of yards. How big is that when you're you're able to do both well From a yardist standpoint, that's more of what we're used to. Um, you know, I think we just got to tidy up the turnovers, you know. I think when you're we're able to run the football, then play actions meaningful. Um not lost on us. When we were running the ball, we hit a couple of deep play actions which which are which are really helpful. King become the kind of a linebacker who you have

to really be aware of really is on a recent ever. Absolutely, I mean Keithley and Davis. I mean both both as a pair. They're very instinctive. Um, they diagnose very well, and they run extremely fast. So they show up in concepts that you know they because they saw it and they get it, they get a jump on it. So certainly, uh there, that's where the defense is extremely talented in that linebacker level. They've got really good players up front and in the back end, but the highlight of their

defense would be the linebackers, especially Luke. Is that something you see, No, I don't. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. So there's no why to that. Yeah, what kind of job? Or the receivers doing blocking and

Disraeli Cooper kind of stuff. The tobal I think our guys especially and they've got highlighted in the last game, have done a good job with perimeter blocks and that really helps you know, whether we're just throwing a simple bubble, you know, with two blockers out front, or you know, if a ball splits out. Sometimes we talk about turning bad into good, and good into great, and great into touchdowns, and a lot of times it's the perimeter blocks that

do that. So you may have a good run that's going to go for six or eight if the ball spits out to the perimeter, and then that can go for eight to twenty, and then sometimes that goes from twenty to a touchdown. And I think a lot of that has to do with the receivers. A lot of time blocking on the perimeter is all about effort and angles. You know, you just got to fight to the whistle and take the right angle on your guys. And I

think our guys have done a good job. I think there anyone who's really kind of step up this year that they really made a profressman. You know, I think they've all done a good job. What comes to mind in the last game was Miles Austin. I thought he did a good job. Coop has been has been a good blocker, Huff's an extremely tough competitive guy, and then

certainly Jordan. So I think they all have done They've all done a good job, uh to get that combination and and and get put all the backs enough reps and and get them a tour rhythm, and it's like they're all kind of starting to click a little let. It's a little easier than you think when we get a lot of plays. You know, when we get up, we get you know, close to eighty plays or ninety plays,

and you get a good rotation. Um, so we have an idea of how we want it to flow, and then you know, we just get it executed from the sideline. A little easier than you might think when you're getting a lot of plays. When you're not getting a lot of plays, that's when it you know, it affects the whole offense and especially substitution patterns. You know, a lot more than you did last year. We have comfortable to the early two years. So what's what's kind of going

on there? Everybodies Well, Again, I think sometimes when you when you're able to get open deep it's because you've found a way to run the football. And when you're running the football, then play actions meaningful, you know, And I think a lot of times a lot of the deep throws that we've gotten have come off play actions and I think that's just that's just part of what football is. And then you know, his baseball brought background.

You know, he tracks the ball well in the deep part of the field, so typically if the ball is thrown down around Riley, he'll do a good job downfield. That wasn't happening, Yeah, I don't, I don't know that. I wouldn't say that. You know, we took his you know, the schemes the same. You know, maybe the ball just didn't get there as much. Now that he guys have had the misfortune that Sam has two back to back acos. Do you think he's mentally over the two injuries now?

I think so. I think he's mentally over it. I think he's physically able to play. The big thing with Sam and I mentioned this to the production guys last week, you know, he's just got to keep keep training and

keep playing. And you know there's certainly when he plays the game, there's way more good plays than bad, and and as you play each game, you got to eliminate the bad ones, and then everybody outside the building will start talking about that was a good performance because he did a lot of things to help us win the game. But I do think there's some things that become glaring because they're significant plays that we just got to eliminate.

And I think he understands that. How much do you have to make sure that things don't get in his head as far as criticism, the interceptions, the up and down play, I think you just wanted to go out there, and yeah, that's part of what we do as coaches. You know, we try to encourage them to focus on the training, focus on Carolina. I don't think good or bad, any of us can focus on what's said outside the

building and I think I think that's natural. We as coaches, it's a little easier because we're in here all the time, you know, as long as we can keep our wives from telling us what's being said, and they're driving around town listening, just don't tell me, you know. But these guys leave the building a little bit more. And you know, we're in a new age now where they've always got

their device in their hand, you know. And I don't know that whole So when you watch the gay, I saw, like I said, I saw a lot of I saw a lot of good stuff. I saw a lot of things that we didn't see earlier. There were times when he was running around in the pocket that we didn't see earlier in the game or earlier in the season. I think they're you know, the obvious. You know, we had a couple of interceptions which you got to eliminate

for whatever reason. And I think he will. I think he'll do that, and I think he'll continue to get better. You know, he hadn't played a lot of football in the last two years, and we're bringing him back. You know, we're fortunate enough to be winning games. However, we're doing it, and this thing is a sixteen game journey until hopefully you're in the playoffs competing to win it all. And so as we go through the journey, every one of us just keeps getting better. You keep training and you

keep playing. And you know it sounds cliche, you know, as coaches to say that, but that's really what it is, you know, And I know everybody has to evaluate what's going on and give praise and assign blame as we go, but we're just all training and getting better so that we give ourselves a chance to win it all. Is that a product of his comfort fun back from the injury or his comfort in all? I think both. You know,

I think he's he's certainly healthy enough to play. But as you go along, you know, I have that injury, and as you come back from surgery. You know, you're out there and you're fine, but you become more and more fine as you go. You know, you get used to your body a little bit. More games are uncontrolled. Guys show up and pop up out of the ground

sometimes and you got to avoid him. And where there's a guy there standing there getting ready to tip the ball, and you got to adjust, and so all those little movements that happen when you're in an uncontrolled setting. You just get more and more used to it as you get further and further away from the injury and the surgery. Are you seeing are you seeing moments where his wide receivers and played ends can can maybe help him out

a little bit. I'm thinking particularly on the passag George Matthews where he was kind of scram on the pocket and yeah, he kind of peeled off. It seemed like Jordan didn't well to me on that one. That was one where the pocket movement was great. He kept it alive and then he came But I still think that that falls on both of them. Jordan certainly could come back to the ball a little bit more, and then Sam could have thrown him a little bit higher ball.

So there's an example where there's some good stuff going on on that play. We just just got to connect on it, you know, And I think that's it. And then certainly, the way receivers helped the quarterback is they don't drop balls, you know, and where the receiver where the quarterback helps the receivers is they throw them perfectly accurate, you know. And then we all help each other and we keep going on our journey. You know what happened on the interception in the second quarter. Who was either

overthrow of Zach Ertz an underthrow of Rodway Cooper. What happened? Yeah, he just missed the throw. He missed the throw. I think the ball was intended for Zach, that's all I throw. Train it up, get his feet right, make it the next time out like you did the bog week. I know you run the ball the second half a lot. Sure, yea. The advantages of that are obvious, but the disadvantages of sometimes you have to take a skill guy out wide

off the field. How does that change your offense? Well, we like to think we're when we're in one back, we can run every play we run, whether we're in two tight ends or you know, or one tight end. The other night we fell victim. We had some receivers in and out of the game, as you saw, and so the roster kind of changed on us throughout the game, and so we used it, probably a little more than

we had planned, but it was working for us. And then we got into a game where we were running the ball and you know, kind of played into that. But you know, we really at this time of the year when you got guys a little bit nicked, they're out there fighting and battling. We got to use the whole roster, all the way down to Trey Burton at the tight end level, and even you know, we trained Kenyan Barner to play running back and wide receiver. We're

gonna have to use the whole roster. You know. We have a conceptual offense where you line up at one, two or three and you got to know what to do, and that allows us to play fast and I think all our skill players got to be involved have been with adjustments that are post staff um with with the suffense. Is it more reliable things like that compared to other systems. You've been in some plays, but not all, you know.

I think the one the other night was one where that's an adjusted route and a decision to be made. And I won't tell you what number Riley was in the progression. But you have a progression. Typically you want to throw it to the guys that are one on one are wide open, and then if they're not, you move on. I mean, I'm trying to sati fight again.

You're looking for one on ones. If you catch a none on one you like that better, you know, I'll just talk about the routes themselves sometimes like a, yeah, we don't. We have a few routes that are adjusted, but and then we have other ones that are locked or fixed. So it's just part of it. And I think all offenses are the same. I don't think we have more or less here, even going back to the West Coast routes and seeing albeit this work a year, like were you seeing the same in the seas that

you're seeing now? Or you know, we get same mistakes? You know, we you know, we weren't very good and we're really not that many changes other than add and Sam Bradford. We went from winning one game to winning seven and almost went in the division. And you know, I think sometimes we made mention of what people say, you got to just let it go and go play. That's why I say, hey, you're training, you play. And I think he'll continue to do better things and make

less mistakes as we go. And I think I saw that process when we were together the first year. If you have a route that has adjustment built into it depending on the coverage that the receivers seeing, doesn't that adjustment have to be made? X yards into it. Otherwise you're committed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's time. Football and route running is all time and distance and spacing, so down the field, as you're making an adjustment, it has to

be on time. That general concept might be part correct correct. Yeah, that's good, it's very insightful. Good h