Head Coach Todd Monken (10.12.26)

All right, Coach, I was wondering if you expected Dylan Sampson to practice this week?

“I think there is a possibility we’ll open up his window for this week.”

 

And the second one is, I know you know what a good running game looks like, and you said if you had the answers, you’d fix it. Is it as simple as, you know, the last three years, Lamar (Jackson) and Derrick (Henry), or is it something more than that? You’re five games in, do you feel like you have the personnel to get it going?

“Well, it’s not just one thing. I said it last night. Having Derrick and Lamar, obviously, is advantageous. Just like having Deshaun (Watson) and his legs and having Quinshon Judkins. It’s never just one thing. It’s scheming. It’s us running off the football. It’s executing at a much higher level than we are right now. And until we do that, we will struggle. And it really wasn’t that way at Pittsburgh. I felt like we had made some strides, and the Jets have a good front, and we just didn’t execute and certainly didn’t coach it well enough.”

 

On the injury front, there’s a number of guys who either didn’t play or left with some type of injuries at this point. At this point, can you say definitively, like, anybody that will not be able to play Sunday against the Ravens or is looking unlikely?

“I don’t know that yet. I don’t see anybody at this point that I know for sure will be out.”

 

So how would you characterize Quinshon? He left with a boot.

“Yeah, I’d say day-to-day. He did. He had a little tweak in his ankle and, precautionary, we put him in a boot. I would say he’s day-to-day.”

 

And then one last quick question. On the running game, you guys are exclusively operating your offense out of shotgun. You have the fewest number of runs from under center. Why is that? And is that something, like that diversity in terms of how you’re running the ball, is that something that you could change up in the weeks to come?

“Well, we’re still trying to figure out in a lot of ways who we are offensively, what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are as players, collectively as a staff. So, we’re always under construction, and that’s always subject to change in terms of what we feel like gives us the best chance to move the ball, run or pass.”

 

Coach, you wanted to reserve judgment last night on how you thought Deshaun Watson played until you watched the film. And obviously, it was a challenging game for everyone, but did it look any better, any worse, the same? What did you see of Deshaun when you reviewed the film today?

“Well, I think collectively, as an offense, we did not handle the elements very well. It was difficult on both teams. I’m sure there’s elements of their offense, the Jets, that they would look at and say they didn’t handle it very well. Whether it’s holding onto the ball or the penalties they had, it’s the same with us. And the team that handled it the best was going to give themselves an upper hand. And I just think, collectively, Deshaun being a part of that, I don’t think we handled the elements as well as we could have. And certainly, that showed up. And I’m sure Deshaun will say he certainly can play better, and we can certainly play better around him.”

 

Coach, wanted to ask you about the offensive line and the volume of sacks and quarterback hits allowed yesterday. When you went back and looked at it on the film, how much of that was a byproduct of Deshaun’s mobility and extending plus plays versus breakdowns up front?

“All of the above. I would say that the starting point is, one, getting the ball out when we don’t have answers. The other is our communication up front, that we’re on the right people and missed assignments. There were a couple times where we might have just gotten beat, but the collective part was more get the ball out and communication, and that was what was most frustrating.”

 

I want to ask about Isaiah Bond. He had such a strong offseason, training camp, preseason. Just what do you think happened yesterday? Was it as simple as the ball was wet and was slipping through his hands?

“I don’t know. You’d have to ask Isaiah. I mean, it’s unfortunate they had to deal with the elements like we did. We certainly had a couple other drops within that, but collectively, as an offense, we have got to play cleaner, and it’s next man up, and we didn’t do that, collectively, whoever came in the game and our skill players being able to execute at a high level, and it showed.”

 

Following up on that, as a coach, how do you handle when you have multiple drops in a game? Is there anything you can do or say to these guys?

“No. I mean, other than it happens sporadically throughout the game. So, it’s not like, one of them was near the end, and the other ones, I think these guys have been doing it long enough. It’s hard to really get into the mechanics of catching a football at that point. And again, we collectively did not handle the elements very well, and they did a good job defensively against us. So that’s what it’s going to look like when Browns hurt Browns and when you’re not clean in terms of your operation, handling the elements. And that’s what happened yesterday, and as good as we felt in some ways the previous Thursday, but this is part of what you go through. This is the NFL. This is a week-to-week league. And we certainly didn’t put our best foot forward offensively yesterday. And our job is to get it cleaned up here today and then come back on Wednesday and work like hell to get it fixed. That’s what we’re going to do.”

 

And what did you see out of your D-tackle group, missing obviously Mason (Graham) and Mike (Hall Jr.)?

“Man, those guys that got elevated really gave us some valuable minutes. And Sam (Kamara), you can see what a valuable piece Sam has been around here, with his back issues and then coming back and just chomping at the bit to get an opportunity to play. And he really showed up in a big way.”

 

I want to go back to the shotgun versus under center discussion. Is it a matter of you and your staff trying to maximize Deshaun’s passing game out of the shotgun at the risk of giving something away in the running game?

“I don’t know. I mean, there’s a little of everything that goes with it. I mean, certainly we’re capable of pivoting what we feel like is best for us moving forward. There’s more to it than just that. But we were playing Tampa four weeks ago, we were under center, and they were pressuring us, and then we got in the gun and we had some success, and we were running it and we’re throwing it, we’re getting the ball out of his hands. And each week you’re pivoting. You want to have enough in your offense to not be pigeonholed as to one way to be able to move the football. And it’s not in stone, it’s in sand. And we’re going to do what we feel like we need to do, even moving forward. Did we see that coming the other day? No. But that’s what you do. You learn from it, you own it, you fight like hell to fix it, and you move on.”

 

After the (Carson) Schwesinger strip sack, the three play sequence, Judkins ran out of bounds to stop the clock, then two incomplete passes. Were you calling those plays or did Deshaun change the plays?

“No, I called those plays. Ultimately, we’ve got a puncture on the first run, like it was not intended to bounce. Okay, so that one, obviously we need to stay in bounds. The second one, when we got nothing, if we puncture it, we’d have been fine, and we’d have stayed on track. If I recall right, the second one, we had an opportunity, and back-to-back plays, we either got pressure or we got a deflected ball. And both of them we had opportunities to get the first down, because at that point we certainly had to get close enough to get a field goal. I mean, we weren’t in field goal range yet. So, at that moment, yeah, am I frustrated that we basically took about 20 seconds off the clock? Now in the end, it gave us another possession. So, there’s two ways of looking at it. You can say, ‘well, you were aggressive and it gave you another possession.’ And you can look at it and say, ‘boy, you could have…’ would I have liked to have driven the ball down, gotten all their timeouts left, and gotten a touchdown or a field goal? Of course. But that was just a microcosm of our day, that one part of it where we didn’t execute at a high level. And an opportunity with, as tough a day as we had, the touchdown and then the fumble, we were right back to where we’d been the other three games, with a chance to finish it off in the fourth quarter. We didn’t get it done, which is the most frustrating thing of all.”

 

Another D-tackle question for you. Maliek (Collins), two and a half sacks for him over these last two games. What about his pass rush plan that he’s put together have you seen working really well?

“Well, he’s relentless. I think that he’s got elite explosiveness off the ball. He was meant for attack style, and his ability with the varying pass rush moves, he’s hard to handle if you’re not going to slide to him. And it’s been a credit to him coming back from the injury he had last year. And he’s explosive. He seems to always have the right mind frame and the ability to – if he doesn’t get a clean, release or if he doesn’t get a clean get-off or rush plan, then he pushes the pocket. So, it’s been impressive to watch.”

 

I know his production has obviously increased on the stat sheet these last two weeks, but these last handful of games, just with all the time he missed coming back from the quad, do you think he’s sort of hit another level after those first couple of games?

“I don’t know about that, about another level. Sometimes games present itself, sometimes opportunities, sometimes you win and the ball comes out quickly. Sometimes they’re sliding to you. The game itself, it doesn’t present itself. I’ve always seen him as that player. I saw it last year. I voted for him to be All-Pro. So, I saw it last year.”

 

Todd, you kind of mentioned it in Tony’s (Grossi) question, but you now have had four one score games down to the wire. Three of them went your way. The guys in the locker room after those games were talking about how they feel like they learned a lot of how to get the job done and close out games. So, what does your team learn when it doesn’t go your way? What do you need your team to learn from a game where it’s a one score game, you have a chance, and you don’t get the result you were looking for?

“Well, I told them that after the game. It’s easy to call the team up after a win. We saw that after the Steelers game. It’s easy to get the guys up and celebrate that. You got to do the same thing after a loss. I mean, let’s get up here. We didn’t put our best foot forward. Get used to it. That’s the NFL. I don’t know what it is, about 60% of the games are one score games. So, get used to it. This is what you signed up for. So, we didn’t finish. Offensively we had a chance after we missed the extra point, we give up a long kick return, but Carson (Schwesinger) gets the sack fumble. We have a chance to close it out on offense. We have a chance to punt them down deep. We did all the things that are counterproductive to winning on special teams and then on offense. And we still defensively had a chance to raise up there and make them kick a field goal. So, we certainly had our chances, after the way we had played, especially offensively. And that’s part of it. I mean, you’re going to see it throughout the league. You’re going to have these one score games, and how we work to finish and end up on the right side of it is going to determine your season.”

 

And then a quick one. Would you maybe describe Carson’s injury outlook similarly as Quinshon’s?

“Yeah, very similar. It’ll be day-to-day.”

 

Coach, obviously the defense held the team to 17 points. I think that was the best or lowest this year. Any concern, or why though the last two games have started with a 78-yard drive and an 80-yard drive for a touchdown. Is it just the scripted plays that the other team does that the adjustment after the first drive?

“Oh, I don’t know. It could be that. I wouldn’t say that’s it. Just sometimes it goes that way. We didn’t start the game as fast, and we haven’t started fast on offense. We certainly need to start faster on offense and get points on the opening drive, and certainly there’s things we can clean up after back-to-back weeks of giving up long drives. But again, it’s a long game, you settle in. Would you prefer to get a three and out to start it? Of course. But that’s not a death sentence. That’s not the end all. So, now what? What are you going to do now? Adjust and come back out and find a way to get a stop.”

 

Todd, do you think there are times when maybe Deshaun is holding on to the ball a little bit too long, trying to maybe do a little bit too much, knowing that he can use his legs and looking for some things that might not be there? I mean, did you see some of that on that film yesterday?

“I think that’s always the case. That’s not a Deshaun issue. That’s an athletic quarterback issue and trying to make plays. They’re so used to being able to escape and make plays, and you do see it, you see it weekly. So that is the hardest part, is when you’ve got to get the ball out. You’ve got to mitigate the loss, because for every big play that you make, it can’t be offset with a sack, because one’s a drive extender and one’s a drive killer. So, we have to do a better job coaching wise with our protection schemes, our communication up front, and our attention to detail as a group. And then we’ll give ourselves a chance. It’s not all him. There’s a piece of it that is, there’s a piece of it I have to own, and our offensive staff has to own, and there’s a piece that all of our players have to own. That’s part of the pie. The pie that is winning and losing, which is coaching and scheme. There’s in terms of attention to detail, in terms of how we do it, how we practice it. And then the other part of it is the opponent, what impact they have on it. And they’re all a piece of it, and we all own it. Just like we’re going to all own the wins, we’re going to all own this. And that’s part of what we do. And we’re going to come back and fight like hell to fix everything that we know that we’re capable of. Because I’ve seen our best, and our best is good enough. And now we just got to be able to stack plays, starting with us as coaches and then players. That’s just what you do every week.”

 

In the fourth quarter, Watson finally hooked up with Bond for that 30-yard pass. It looked like Bond went right out of bounds. Did it look on film like he should have turned it up field, gone to the end zone?

“I think there was an opportunity to possibly turn up. I can’t speak for Isaiah where he thought he was on the sideline. I don’t know that. I think that comes up frequently within a game, for a player to make that decision to get vertical.”

 

And I know what you said after the game about (Minkah) Fitzpatrick’s hit on (KC) Concepcion (Jr.). You, being in college, do you think the NFL needs a targeting rule, or ejection could be the discipline of a really egregious hit?

“Well, I think they have that. I mean, they certainly have that ability from my understanding. Again, it was a bang-bang play. He made a nice break on the ball. It is unfortunate what happened, but that is going to happen in games, and I’ve gone against, like I said last night, Minkah a bunch, and I’ve always had a ton of respect for him, and I’ve never understood him to be a player that’s trying to injure other players. I’ve never known him to be that. I know he’s a guy that plays the ball well in the air and is aggressive, and unfortunately it ended up being a bang-bang play and it cost us a player. That’s not for me to determine whether a player gets ejected out of the game. The bottom line is at that point it’s next man up, and we got to be able to function at a high level.”

 

 

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