Head Coach Todd Monken (11.13.26)
I see that Denzel Boston is questionable. So how encouraging is that that he came back today? What’s the outlook for him?
“It was great. He came out there today and moved around. Moved around pretty good. Went through our walk, took a full walk. But then when we got out there, we just limited his reps. So, we’ll have to see how he progresses tomorrow and then Sunday. But it’s trending in the right way.”
What, with Michael (Burton) out, what’s sort of the game plan? I mean, what would be sort of the fallback?
“Well, we’ll have to see. You know, we’ve got a number of guys, whether that’s Carsen or Zaire (Mitchell-Paden) who we picked up. So, as we get closer, today’s a big day for us talking through, you know, as we got through the week, of where we’re at, and then we’ll finalize it later today.”
With Ronnie (Hickman) being ruled out, how much changes in terms of, I know you value safety lineups anyway, it seems like E-man (Emmanuel McNeil-Warren) will have a starting role on Sunday. How much changes and how excited are you to see him?
“It’s a great opportunity for E-man and next man up, you know, whether it’s DT (Daniel Thomas) or D Mac (Donovan McMillon), those guys are going to be ready to go, and we’ll be ready to go.”
What have you seen from what he has gotten, in his opportunities?
“Well, you’ve seen tremendous growth. Even from the spring he got nicked up a little bit. Missed a decent amount of the spring, and then coming back in fall camp, that’s never easy when you’ve got two established safeties in front of you. You know, pretty much right from the get-go. The young receivers were thrown in, right? Where E-man, it’s been a little bit slower process and getting the amount of snaps that you need. But talk about range, talk about physicality, and he’s really got a high football IQ that I didn’t – It’s not that I didn’t think he had one way or the other. I didn’t know that when we took him. So, I think he’s got a really bright future.”
Todd, we’ve talked a ton about slow starts. You’ve been trying a bunch of different stuff. This week, do you try anything new during the week, or thinking about Sunday, just to try to flip that?
“Well, we’ve been trying new things. I mean, whether it’s been in practice or whether we’ve taken the ball or, you know, we just, again, it’s how do we stack plays and that’s the biggest thing. At times we’ve been able to do that throughout the game. We just haven’t been able to start fast on both sides. It’s really been both sides’ things, so hopefully it starts this week.”
Todd, Jared (Verse) told us yesterday that he had sort of talked to a psychiatrist and worked through some mental stuff that was contributing to the season he’s had to this point with just how disappointed he is. How much did you kind of know, or converse with him on that plan, and how are you as a staff and team continue to support?
“Well, I think it’s great that our players are willing to use the resources that are available, whether it’s doc, whether it’s in the training room, whether it’s in the weight room, whether it’s all the coaches that we have at their disposal, because everyone in the building has a job for our players. There isn’t one person that’s part of this organization that doesn’t have a job for our players. So, every single day that our players are able to use those resources that are available to them, I commend them in any way, shape or form, because it’s about their career, their ability to make as much money as they can, play as long as they can. So, I think it’s a real credit to him. It’s been frustrating, right? He’s a really good football player, and all he’s trying to figure out is, ‘hey, where do we go from here, right? Where is it?’ That’s all it is, is ‘how do I fix it’, right? That’s all we’re ever trying to do. And credit to him.”
What does it say about Jared’s character that he’s so willing to speak out mentally that there wasn’t something there and it’s just kind of on the up and up? You know, his character of being able to share that, knowing that he hasn’t played the best he can.
“No, I think it speaks a lot to him in terms of – again, like I said, all we can do is, everything in life is try to fix it, right? That’s all he’s trying to do, right? Whether it’s, ‘how do I unlock myself to just play free’, right? Whatever that might be. And I think that’s what he’s trying to do. And I think once that happens, I think you’re going to see such a, you know, there’s going to be like an exhale, a little bit of, like, ‘oh, man’, you know, whatever, let’s get my first sack. Hey, I hit the quarterback, whatever that might be, and then I think you’re really going to see his season turn around. I really believe that.”
Trying to get the run game going and growing pains through all of it. But how have you seen maybe Quinshon (Judkins) and Dylan (Sampson), as they’re working through those things, kind of lift each other up or work through it as a group, as a duo?
“Well, it’s been great getting Dylan back. You know, we didn’t have him early in the year, and we had Rocket (Raheim Sanders), then we lost Rocket, and then we didn’t have Q for a game, you know, with the Steelers here. And the guys have done a great job, might have been… that might have been the Ravens game. But, you know, those guys have done a great job, and they’ve played off of each other. They’ve got a little bit different skill set, but – and they’re both young, developing players. And as we have a number of those guys. So, obviously everything that we’re doing is a work in progress. But we’ve certainly got to, like I said, you can’t control the game if you can’t run the football. So, we’re going to continue to work at it and continue to find ways that we can not only scheme it better, but put our players in the best position to be successful.”
With Spencer (Fano), yesterday, Travis (Switzer) mentioned that the challenge of there’s more tape of him that exists now for these edge rushers and D-coordinators. So, what’s important for a rookie tackle when it comes to that sort of part of the game where you have to make the counter adjustments as the season and career go along?
“Yeah. It’s so cool for him because the way he’s wired, how he works at it, highly intelligent, very prideful, but it’s not easy being indoctrinated into playing left tackle as a rookie. And every week it feels like there is no off week, right? There isn’t an off week of these guys that are paid to get to the quarterback. And it really stresses your mental stamina play after play, right? There is no, ‘oh, I get a little bit of a smoke break here’. Oh, no, right. You don’t get that. You know, and then they roll (Jadeveon) Clowney in there, and they roll other guys that are young and trying to get the quarterback. Like, that’s what’s the coolest thing about being a part of professional sports and being in professional football. Everybody’s got really good players, and it really challenges you. And I like his mental makeup. I like the way he’s wired. He’s only going to continue to get better.”
How about Deshaun Watson coming off the off week with the concussion and integrating back into practice? How did he look this week?
“Yeah, he’s been great. He was really good at the back end of last week. It just – it ended up when he came into the building on Tuesday, kind of put him behind the eight ball, and so that just put us at a position where he’s not going to practice. But he was fine at the back end and was really good on the sideline, and he’s had a great week of practice. I’m excited for him to get back out there.”
Going back to Jared for a second. You said it could be a sigh of relief for him when he gets that first sack. When you watch the film, do you see, like, a hesitancy that is affecting him because he’s thinking too much, dealing with whatever pressure he’s dealing with?
“I think you’d have to ask him that. I don’t want to speak for him. I know it’s a new system. It’s a new team. I mean, there’s, like any of these players, there’s pressure to perform. I don’t care if you’re Jared Verse. It doesn’t matter where you’re at on the roster. There’s a pressure to perform. That’s what we’re paid to do. Coaching, playing. So, we all can get to a point where we’re pressing a little bit, right? And like I said, all he’s done, though, is continue to work. That’s what he’s done. And try to figure out, ‘hey, how can I put myself in a position to make plays’, right? and be disruptive, as he’s always been.”
You played in the rain already this year. The Jets game comes to mind. It might be wet again on Sunday. Just what impact did that have on your preparation this week? And how many reminders from, like, the last four and a half minutes of that Jets game did you give your team going into this one?
“Well, we were lucky enough to get out there today, and it rained a little bit today, a little bit of freezing rain. So, that was good for us to get out there. And, you know, it’s really just a reminder that you’ve got to play clean football. And we let the elements kind of get to us a little bit, and we didn’t play our best football, and that’s possible. So, I do think they’ve handled the Wednesday practice and then today getting out there, and certainly I think our guys will be ready.”
How about the way that you guys have protected home field, 3-0 at home going into this game? And just what it’s been like down there on the lakefront for you guys?
“Oh, it’s been great. You know, as I said, I think that the initial schedule is going to harden us, you know, when you have six of the first nine on the road, the first two are in Florida, right? I mean, so there was a lot there, and our guys handled it in a first-class manner. We’ve had a couple of games we didn’t play our best, but other than that, collectively, of seven of the nine games, we’ve given ourselves a chance to win. And that’s all you can ask for, is give yourself a chance in the fourth quarter to win. And we’re 5-2 in those games, and that’s the way we’re going to have to play, you know, in terms of not turning it over, continuing to fight and battle for each other, obviously with being at home, right? And I’m excited again to be back home and play in front of the greatest fans in all sports.”
With Deshaun, how do you kind of, with him, try to strike that balance between making sure he can extend plays with his legs but also getting rid of the ball quickly, not holding onto it? How do you find that sweet spot?
“No, that’s always hard with guys that are used to making plays and still do make plays with their athleticism and their legs, right? You’re going to have certain plays where you benefit from that and other plays that extend drives, and you have others where, like, well, that kind of killed a drive, right? And again, it’s – what have we had now? He’s had eight games where he’s played from coming back, and I think we’re still, he is, like all of us, still under construction. Like,’ hey, this is where it’s okay to extend it, and this is where we’ve got to get the ball out and save us from’, you know, second-and-16, second-and-14, which we’ve had a hard time, you know, overcoming. And that’s been the thing that has stopped us in a lot of ways. Penalties and lost yardage plays, which is obvious in the game, is now your third downs are extra-long. And I love his competitive spirit. He tries to make every play, and it’s not all been him. We got to coach it better, protect it better and get to our spots at our skill. But again, ultimately, you know, we’ve got to strike a balance there. As you mentioned.”
With how talk about all the different factors and how actually it’s quarterback play, but, like, how valuable, how important, and how much do you even emphasize the staff, just taking, like, living to see another day, taking a check down, taking the thing that you know is right there and kind of living to see another play?
“No, for sure. You know, and there’s moments where you have check downs there, and there’s other teams that’ll match you a little bit differently. You know, it’s not that you don’t see spot-drop teams, but there’s certain spot-drops that’s going away other than long yardage. So, they understand the idea of the check downs. But certainly Shedeur (Sanders) did a nice job of it, like last week, you know, got us to some checkdowns and allowed our guys to do something with the ball in their hands. And so has Deshaun at times, has been able to get us to our checkdowns. But again, our ability to, when we throw it down the field, we take some shots, it’s the ability to find a completion. At times we’ve been big-little, right? Either getting a play down the field, or you’re in a sack, or it’s an incompletion. And we again, it’s a collective ‘we’ thing, scheme wise and execution wise, that allows you to stay ahead of the chains. And we’re again, we’re going to continue to work at it and keep growing with the guys we got.”
Are you focused on that a little more with Will Anderson Jr. in town?
“Yeah, no, you get their edge rushers. You know, you get (Danielle) Hunter and Anderson, and you get Clowney. You get the guys that really, you know, are paid to get after the quarterback, and they’re elite at it. And so that’s just part of being in the NFL. Whether it’s edge rushers, whether it’s a defense playing against a great quarterback, it’s what you go against every week. And then how do you minimize, as best you can, their ability to direct the game, you know, and so that’s what we’re going to try to do as best we can. How do you do that? Can you run the football? Can you stay ahead of the chain so you’re not in obvious passing situations, right?”
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