Head Coach Todd Monken (8.11.26)
Can you talk about the way practice ended yesterday with the two-minute drill and the penalties? Obviously, you were frustrated.
“Not good. We got hijacked. We did such a good job on Saturday, cadence-wise, and then at the end of the two-minute drill, we just couldn’t get out of our own way.”
When that happens, how do you work through it with the players, either at the time or in meetings later?
“I did a poor job of working through it. I tried to continue with the cadence just to force them, in the moment, to overcome a little bit of a setback in the drive. We’re certainly not there yet.”
Sometimes there’s days like that after a day off. Did you learn something about your team as a result?
“That part of it, really, I was jacked about the way our team practiced coming off six days with one day off, and how they attacked it yesterday. You couldn’t have asked for better energy, attitude, body language. It just wasn’t good at the end for one side, the way it ended. But up until that point, I thought our guys practiced their rear ends off, and I thought it was outstanding for having a day off the day before.”
You mentioned last week that once you get into preseason games, it adds the layer where the quarterbacks can get hit. What extra layer of evaluation does that give you when their live?
“It does. In terms of getting the ball out, they’ve got to learn to get the ball out, learn how to slide, not just run around. I do want playmaking ability, so there’s a balance there between playmaking ability and taking some sacks. You’re going to have to live with that to an extent. The other part is stacking plays where it matters, because they’ve got the scoreboard on, in terms of points on the board. In terms of the flow of the game, that’s a big part of it. We’re going to be on the road, the ebbs and flows of positive plays and negative plays, overcoming that. I think there’s a part of their quarterback’s body language. How they are around the team, do I sense, ‘hey, that’s over, I’ve moved on to the next play.’ There are a number of things you get to evaluate once you get to the closest we have to games, which is preseason.”
Are you ready to say who might start at quarterback yet?
“Not yet.”
We haven’t seen Mike Hall. Is he battling through an injury right now?
“We’re hopeful to get him back soon. You have to talk to the medical people about that, but we’re hopeful to get Mike back soon. He got off to such a great start. He’s such an explosive player. We’re hopeful to get him back soon.”
How difficult has it been for you to evaluate the offensive line when you’ve had guys in and out because of injury?
“That’s part of it. Everyone goes through it. Every team goes through nagging injuries where guys are in and out of the lineup each day. You can still evaluate the guys who are in there. I think it’s harder to build a cohesive group. It’s not as hard to evaluate. You can evaluate guys individually. But cohesively, it’s a lot better, and yesterday we were the closest to having that, and I expect that today as well.”
With Spencer (Fano) essentially getting promoted to the first team, on the offensive line, is it just right guard? Elgton (Jenkins) has been taking all the first team snaps?
“Ultimately, that’s it. We’re still in that process of it. I think Teven (Jenkins) has the advantage there from experience and he’s played right guard before, so he has the advantage. At every position, we’re competing, but as of now, up front, that’s it.”
I asked Travis (Switzer) about Carsen Ryan as a fullback. Can you utilize your fullback package with him as much as the other guy, (Michael) Burton?
“I think it’s a work in progress. He’s learning how to keep his pad level down and his legs driving on contact. This isn’t an easy training ground for that when you’re going against some really good ends, but that’s part of the process. I’ve said that before, especially with tight ends and fullbacks and the O-line, I guess. But those guys, especially, the advantage in college is you get to hit in the spring. We really don’t get to hit in the spring, you really don’t know. You can gauge footwork, landmarks and hand placement, but you can’t evaluate strike. Right now, we’re working on placement, strike and finish.”
If we get the unofficial depth chart today, should we not necessarily assume that whoever’s in the one spot at quarterback will start Saturday?
“Well, unless Peter (John-Baptiste) screwed it up, it should say ‘or’. Unless somehow there’s a typo, it should say, ‘or’.”
I asked Travis this as well. How much does rotating the quarterbacks play into the cadences and some of the pre-snap stuff we’re seeing?
“Some of that does. Exactly right. It’s the same when you’re under center taking a snap whether it’s Dillon (Gabriel), Taylen (Green)…any other quarterback is a little bit different. The cadence is a little bit different. You’re exactly right, we’re working through that. But at this point, after spring and we’re three weeks into it, that’s a little bit of an excuse. It’s going to be part of it, but, hell, we’re playing a game this week, I mean, s***you’re going to be with a different quarterback. You’re going to be with a different center. That’s our job: is to make sure it’s not an issue.”
There are so many variables in a game that you can’t control the uncontrollable. Is there any way to simulate those ahead of time, or is this the real beauty of these preseason opportunities, that it’s completely unscripted?
“You try as much as you can. We have move-the-ball periods, which simulate having to call it. Everything we do should eventually simulate like what you’re going to get in the game from our drill work. If our drill work doesn’t show up on the field, then we’re doing the wrong drills. I heard that one all the way back when I was a kid on the practice field with my dad. You take meetings to the individual, individual to group, group to team, team to the preseason, preseason to the games. That’s the closest you’re going to get. And ultimately the gauge is being able to move the ball and you’re keeping score. We’re not out here keeping score. We’re installing and trying to evaluate, and then we’ll get a chance to move the ball a little bit and then we get a chance to play in the preseason. Being able to stack plays offensively and defensively.”
How do you prepare for stuff that might come up in your first game as an NFL head coach. I mean, the challenge flag comes to mind, but are there other things that’ll make you say, “This is my first time doing this.”
“Before, when we were at the owners’ meetings, I met with a couple of head coaches who did it for the first time last year and talked to them a little bit about the offseason, to start, then the season, and then being on the sidelines. When the officials came in the spring to visit, I met with them for an hour about what they saw from first-time head coaches and the mistakes they make. All you can do is prepare as best you can with those who have been through it, like we all do and from an official’s standpoint, how they view it and how they see it. Then you go from there. That’s the cool thing about this. This isn’t just for the players, this is for the coaches as well. This is for myself, this is for Rudy (Mike Rutenberg), this is for Byron (Storer). We’re all going through it for the first time, and I can’t wait. It’s going to be really cool.”
When a practice ends with some snap issues like that, is there anything that you can send the players home with, or is it just a reset the next day?
“Unfortunately, we sent them back with their head coach being emotionally hijacked, which isn’t a good thing. I told them that this morning, that can’t happen. I should have just gone to a different cadence and let them play out the drill. I was obviously frustrated. We’re never too old to learn. Keep processing, keep getting better. That’s one thing we sent them home with.”
Were you always in the coaches’ box as an offensive coordinator at all your stops?
“I have been. The last time I called it on the field would’ve been at Southern Miss.”
So, will it be any different for you this time?
“Oh, yeah it’s going to be different. It’s different because you can’t spread everything out. You have emotion around you, you have noise. You have the immediate sideline you have to deal with. You can connect with the quarterback. There are some positives and some negatives to both that. It’s different, sure it is, but it’s football. I call it out there. I called it at Southern Miss. You just pick one and let it rip. That’s what you have to do. That’s what you prepare for, that’s what you lean on the staff for. Pick one and let’s go.”
Do you have reason to believe that the (Chicago) Bears are only going to start their starters for a series or whatever you’re planning on doing? Are you trying to match that up a little bit?
“I have no idea what they’re doing. We’ll see when we get there. We’re going to do what we do. Some of that will play off what they do a little bit offensively. We certainly want to be able to evaluate our quarterbacks, so we certainly can’t put them at risk if they’ve got their number one defensive line out there. That’s probably the biggest item on the table. How long our starters up front will play will be determined by how long their starters up front will play.”
Todd, going back to Southern Miss. Obviously a different level and it’s been a few years, but how much can you draw from that past head coaching experience as you’ve gone through it for the first time at this level?
“There’s some of that, but that was a while ago. I probably am able to draw off the last six years more than I can all the way back then being an assistant coach for Kirby Smart and for John Harbaugh. I think you’re going to draw from what’s most recent. There are certain things back when I was at Southern Miss as the head coach that you do draw from, but I would probably say just over the last six years, getting a doctorate in coaching by being super fortunate to be around those guys and see how they handled everything from the offseason to training camp to game day. I’m very fortunate to get this head coaching job now than compared to before, I’ll just say that.”
Isaiah McGuire was wrecking practice yesterday. It seemed like he was in the backfield on every play. What did you think of his day yesterday and his development overall at this camp?
“He’s an explosive player overall in his development. Some of it ended up by scheme. We ran some trap schemes that he was able to blow up and get into the backfield. Some of it was really good play calls, and that’s a good sign for us defensively that he’s able to do that. He’s been doing it really all camp, it just showed up a little more often yesterday.”
How do you design a play that confuses the defense but doesn’t confuse your guys?
“There’s a lot to that. As Coach Harbaugh used to say, it’s about elegant simplicity. How do you build a system for yourself for your guys to be able to play fast without it being so simple where you create tendencies? You create tendencies, but I’d say this: if you’re really good, you’re going to have tendencies. Your tendencies are to do what you do well and get the ball to the players who are explosive players, who allow you to put points on the board. So, with that being said, you’ve got to have a core system you rely on, and then how you build it each week per opponent is where we’ve got to, and have been, trying to drill down, to make sure our guys are on the same page.”
You promoted two rookies yesterday and obviously informed them before you informed us. How big of a deal do you make that? Do you say that it front of the team, or do you just slip them in there?
“I don’t have to say it. It’s pretty obvious. What I see is what everybody’s going to see. Guys are making plays. It’s real simple. Make a bunch of plays, you move up the depth chart. Don’t make a bunch of plays, you move down.”
So, you don’t announce it to the team in the meeting?
“No. I guess I could, but they noticed it when they lined up and that’s who’s there. It’s basically for them to know, like ‘all right, who’s there?’ Pretty easy. If we can’t tell, then we won’t do it. If we can tell, then who knows, after this weekend we might switch it. That’s where we’re at now, and those are the guys that have done it every day. That’s where we’ll go from there.”
When you talk about getting hijacked emotionally, do you feel the need the next day to say something to the players about that?
” I said to the offense. I said it to those guys. I told those guys in that moment what I should have done and what I didn’t do. I’ve said to them enough, we’re human. I got fired up, I was pissed, and that was awful. That was s***** football. That’s going to get me fired up, and I have to own some of that. Obviously, we haven’t coached it well enough. There were other aspects of that two-minute period that got me fired up, and that obviously was a reflection of coaching. We are getting plenty of effort. The guys are fighting their rear ends off, we’re tough, so we’ve got that. Okay, well how are we going to do the little things well? And that’s coaching. That’s me and that’s our staff.”
We saw Dylan Sampson make an impressive toe-tap catch on the sideline yesterday, and it seems like you’re making an effort to get him the ball in the passing game. Looking at parallel’s like Justice Hill in Baltimore, a third-down pass-catching back, do you think that’s a correct parallel in comparison to what he could do here?
“I think those guys can be like, your tight ends, can be matchup guys if they’ve got the right skill set, and I think Dylan’s on his way to that. That play that happened yesterday happened organically on a scramble. He did a great job turning up the sideline, and that’s where you saw the Sheuder’s (Sanders) elite playmaking ability. That’s the one thing between him and, also, Deshaun (Watson). When you’ve got guys, and Dillon (Gabriel) and the same thing with Taylen (Green) – when you’ve got guys who are two-play quarterbacks, you’re going to have to live with a little bit of lost-yardage plays. That’s part of it. You can go back to Ben Roethlisberger. He would lead the league in sacks, and that son of a gun would lead the league in scrambles and jacking that thing down the field about 60 yards and make an explosive play. So, there’s a little bit of that you have to live with. You’ve got to shrink that, but what you saw was an elite play by two playmakers. It’s fun to watch, and the defense allowed us to let it play on. That’s what they’re doing a great job of, letting it play on and letting us evaluate the back end and our ability to make plays when a play breaks down.”
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