Head Coach Todd Monken (10.23.26)
How did Denzel (Ward) show up on the injury report today? How did the injury happen?
“I don’t know that. I don’t know how it happened. I just know that when we met afterwards, something happened to his finger, and we were getting it looked at. So, I mean, knowing Denzel, I would expect him to play. But we’ll see.”
We just got a chance to talk to Mason (Graham). He sounds pretty excited about being back. How do you feel about finally having him back?
“Well, like I said, I was excited when he got injured that it wasn’t anything more than it was, and we were going to be able to get him back, because he was off to such a great start, and he loves playing football, loves his teammates, and you can feel him on the field. And so, it’s great to have him back.”
With Grant (Delpit) still in the protocol, does he have to clear a final hurdle before being ready Sunday?
“Yep.”
Is that something that could happen as early as this afternoon, or could it even happen tomorrow?
“Tomorrow. I think it’s tomorrow, yeah.”
What does it say about this group that Mason’s injury looked maybe worse than it was, he got back and now he’s set to play. Quinshon (Judkins) with the ankle, Carson (Schwesinger) playing through the ankle. What does it say that guys are pushing so hard to get back on the field, week-in and week-out, with different injuries?
“I think we’ve got a lot of guys that are wired the right way. I think that says a lot about them, and how much they enjoy playing with their teammates and being on the field together and not wanting to let their brother down and getting out there and doing whatever they can to get back. And I think being connected helps with that. I think winning helps that. I think having a strong coaching staff that supports the players, and I think it’s all of the above, but it says a lot about the players themselves.”
How about the notion of possibly getting Quinshon and Dylan (Sampson) back for the first time since the opener? What might that do for your run game?
“Yeah, and it didn’t even feel like, how long we had Dylan in the opener? Like, the opening kickoff? I think, I mean, if I’m remembering it right. Again, there’s a lot of things we need to do better on offense, but to have those guys back together, I think should be a boost for us.”
Todd, we were talking to a couple guys this week. Jared (Verse) brought up specifically how smart Carson (Schwesinger) is. How do you see that show up day-in and day-out?
“Well, again, it’s a little more difficult for me to say that because I’m so involved with the offense, but I think diagnosing plays, formations, his diligence during the week, that allows him to identify any type of trends or formations that may pop up that he would have looked at during the week. And the one thing he’s really good at is when he sees it, he goes, there is no hesitation. He’s put in the work and he lets it rip. And I think that shows up.”
How do you feel about what you guys have done to try to generate some earlier offense? Do you feel really good about what you’ve seen this week?
“Yeah, I got that question earlier today, and it’s, if we knew, we would have it fixed. And obviously we’ve got to scheme it better, got to coach it better, got to execute better, certainly early in the game, because it’s below the line. I mean, we just haven’t given ourselves a chance early, and there’s enough to go around in all of it, and that’s usually the case. And then at the end, when we’re finding a way to win, there’s enough to go around there, too. We’re calling it and we’re executing and we’re doing it there. So, it’s all of us collectively fighting, looking at what we’re calling, how we’re scheming it, who we’re playing, and, like I said, we’re still under construction.”
Todd, you talked a lot about your heavy involvement with the offense. How much have you kind of adjusted, at least during game day, to being able to sort of pay attention to what’s also happening, defense, special teams, compared to, in the past, when you were able to solely focus?
“Well, I feel lucky, whether it’s Byron (Storer) and special teams or with Rudy (Mike Rutenberg) and also having Dom (Capers) and then the defensive staff that was here the previous year. I feel really good about those guys making adjustments during the game so that I don’t have to spend – and we’ve had success. So, the more those areas are successful, the easier it is to really try to focus on how we can fix what we’re doing offensively. And so, when that isn’t happening, that isn’t as easy. But it’s been fine. I mean, every now and then I’ll flip over to the defense and between, like I said, looking at the tablet, talking to the offensive staff, talking with Rudy, but letting them do their job, listening to the conversations back and forth. And then obviously, like, even last week with Byron, like, okay, where does Dre (Andre Szmyt) want the ball? Like, if we’re – I’d hate to move it to the left hash. And he says, ‘no, no, I wanted the right hash. We’re on the right hash.’ Right? The communication that takes place during the game for those critical moments. But it’s been fine. You know, it’s been fine. There’s certainly things that – the hardest one was the Jets when it’s raining, and just your call sheet and just, that was the biggest one. Like, the communication there and then the call sheet itself. Everything else has been fine.”
Maliek (Collins) is one of the older players on the roster, but putting up some of the best numbers over these last two years in Cleveland. Just how valuable and how much does he mean to the defense, the defensive line and what you guys are trying to do?
“Well, I said it before, like, I voted for him All-Pro last year. I voted for him. I thought he was super disruptive, playing the run and the pass, and I’d never been around him, only known him from afar. But when you get around him, and even in the offseason, I mean, he’s going to stay in Houston. Like, he’s going to work there and be with his family. I’m thinking, ‘yeah, right. This is going to stink. We need this guy to come back and be ready to go.’ And all he does is come back and show up and they just say he’s ahead of schedule. That says a lot about him as a man. To not be here in the building and get the work done, that’s rare. That’s not normal. Not easy on your own to work out and do all those things that he does. So, and then he shows up here in the first days back. Like I said, I thought he was ready to go the first day. He was jumping on boxes and s—, and I was ready for him to go right then. They said, now it’s going to be four weeks. I’m like, four weeks. It’s just so cool. And how he carries himself, the way he leads and the way he carries the message.”
In some ways, the early struggles of an offense could have anything to do with the fact that you guys are so brand new in every way on offense that you’re not really even sure yet how defensive coordinators are going to attack you until you get to the game. It seems like guys keep on saying, “oh, we saw more, you know, shell, or we saw more this or that.” Like, is it like an adventure every week to show up and see what they’re going to do?
“Some of that. Some of that, I think, is true. I think some of that would be an excuse. I think there’s a part of that, that we’re trying to feel our way with our personnel. Who’s playing, what we’re calling, what we’re designing. But there’s also a part of that that you can’t take that too far and exonerate yourself from the things that – where we can put our players in the best position to be successful? And you don’t get to where you’re at without owning it as a coach and saying, we certainly have to be better. Now, we’ve been good when we’ve needed it and we haven’t turned the ball over, which is a recipe to giving yourself a chance. I mean, so that part of it, as long as we’ve ended the possession with a kick, we’ve certainly not given them anything. And Bojo (Corey Bojorquez) has been a weapon punting, so. And again, we certainly have a ways to go, and that’s starting with coaches and then players and scheme. But I wouldn’t want to use any type of, like I said, any reasoning of why we certainly aren’t where we want to be, because we’re not. And that’s a good thing. We’re 4-2 and we haven’t gotten there yet, and we’re going to need that. And the players know it and the coaches know it, and we’re going to continue to work at it, to take the next steps each week.”
With the similarities between your defense and Tennessee’s defense, from the attacking style front, are they complete opposites in the back end, in the coverage? I know Robert (Saleh) gave a talk a couple weeks ago, but they try to explain how they like to do the back. Is it really different when you contrast the front to the back?
“Well, I think everything starts with an initial structure, and then everybody makes it their own, right? What Kyle Shanahan does on offense now is not what it was at one time. The West Coast. I mean, it evolves, right? So ultimately, the structure and the belief system, obviously Rudy having a strong connection to Robert over the years, but then at that point you make it your own, your own personality, coverage, your rules, how aggressive you are, whether it’s man or zone, whether it’s blitzing, all those things. And so, like I said, the structure is very similar, but everybody puts their spin on it.”
How significant is it that this Titans team seems to have put it together in the last quarter of their game against the Colts, and erupted with yards, points, takeaways, sacks and all that kind of stuff? What does that say to you and your team?
“Well, momentum is a powerful thing. It really is. I think of the Tampa game when Denzel caught that skinny and bounced off somebody, it’s like, wow, that felt like a moment. And for them it was getting a couple turnovers, some special teams play, to get a little bit of the juice. And, like I said, momentum is a powerful thing. And so, we’re going to have to be on point. They’ve got good players and good coaches. And we’ve been winning in team fashion. We’ve been winning at times with special teams and with defense and then drives at the end of the game. And so…and we both have pretty young teams, so we’re all trying to take that next step in our development of our players and develop it schematically to continue to take steps.”
Is there anything in particular that Dylan has to do, a step he has to still take, or is it just sort of seeing how the knee responds and plan to be good to go on Sunday?
“Dylan?”
Sampson.
“Oh, Sampson. Oh, I thought you were going Dillon Gabriel and then I was like, ‘The knee? I’m like, well I thought he had back.’ I think he’s been fine. I would anticipate that we’ll have him up. I mean, I don’t know, certainly we could have a setback, but what I’ve seen, and we started it a little bit last week, and I just think he’s taken another step forward.
You guys just haven’t had him for so long, but just from what you’ve seen from him, how valuable can he be in the screen game in particular.
“Just getting the ball in his hands. He’s so explosive. Saw it in the preseason, saw it last year. And just the juice he brings. And I’m not taking anything away from JMac (Jaleel McLaughlin) and (Audric) Estime, and those guys, because they were great last week. We don’t win it without those guys, and Duce (Staley)’s doing a great job with them. But Sam (Dylan Sampson) brings juice to practice, smile on his face, energy. And we’re excited to have him back out there and I think he’s a weapon.”
When you guys go on the road, here as an NFL head coach, how different is it from when you used to go on the road with Southern Miss?
“Oh, we’re comparing it to Southern Miss. The hotels are nicer, our plane is nicer, but the players are the same. The meetings…our meeting rooms are bigger than the smaller ones at some of the other hotels we stayed at. But I would just say that it’s pretty cool. Pretty cool to be a head coach and go on the road with your team and get on that plane and try to take another step in terms of your program. And I think that’s probably as much as anything. It’s the same. You have to figure out what the hell you’re going to say to the team that night, the meetings you’re going to have in terms of the messaging. So, all that’s very similar. But there’s nothing like being a part of a team. Nothing like it.”
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