Pete Carroll Week 8 Wednesday Presser Notes 10/23/2019

Edit: Video Link

Pete:

Okay, we gotta get cranked up, going back on the road again. We’ve had pretty good success on the road so far with the games we’ve had. It sets up another opportunity to get out there, big trip, leave on Friday and try to make the most of it and get cranked up and try to play another good football game. There’s a lot of familiarity here, as you know, so that always makes it interesting when you’re trying to gameplan and all that. They know us and we know them, it makes for a really good, interesting preparation. We gotta play good, gotta get going.

Looking at the talent on that roster against their record, how do you evaluate the Falcons?

• They’re playing really fast, they’re explosive on offense, they’ve got highlight players that we recognize and know. The running back, receivers, tight end, QB. Matt Schaub is a renowned backup quarterback that has come off the bench for teams for years, he’s got a winning record if he’s the one that plays. Dan is coaching the defense, Bob Sutton, friend of ours that we’ve known for years from KC and all that and years beyond. Have a lot of respect for what’s going on, I know watching the film and what we’re up against, they’re going to cause problems for us so we gotta get ready to go.

What’d you like about Quandre Diggs?

• He’s an explosive player, I’ve watched him for years be the kind of guy that throws his body around as well as you can do it. he’s a real hitter and a playmaker. He’s played a lot of situations, played nickel, played a lot of coverage on key tight ends and key matchups. They’ve used him in a number of different ways, so we’ve got a big variety of background. I just think he’s been a unique player. He’s one of those guys that I’ve seen for a long time and have liked for a long time and really feel lucky to get him.

Which of those spots will you focus him in on first?

• He’ll wind up playing at Free Safety and Strong Safety, he’ll play both for us in time here. We’ll start him out where we can fit him in best, you’ll see in time on that one. The fact that Lano is out for a bit and we haven’t been able to get Bradley back in there really makes it where we got pretty thin really fast. A rare opportunity to get an experienced player who can fit a lot of roles gives us real flexibility. John made a great move to get this done.

He seems, by the reactions of Lions players, to be a pretty popular guy in the locker room; what do you think makes that so?

• Well, I don’t know him personally other than the time we hung out and just talked a little bit, but by the nature of his play this is the kind of player that everybody respects because he plays so hard and he hits so hard and he goes for it. I’m sure, what I can tell, he could win any team over just from his playstyle. I’m thrilled to add him because he is a runner and a hitter, I’m sure our guys will see that in him too. I think he was captain of the team too, that’s a big tribute. He’s held in high regard by those guys.

How surprised were you that he was available?

• Very much so, didn’t think that could be possible. We got concerned with our depth and with our issues, had a couple guys banged up and we weren’t sure when we’d get them back. Little uncertainty with Bradley, he may pop back here soon, but hasn’t been able to yet. We know Lano’s out for a bit. We were looking, it just happened to pop up just right.

It’s not easy to join a team in the middle of the year, what is it about the culture in your locker room that you’re counting on to get him up to speed and makes that a little bit easier?

• Well, Jen, I’m hoping that our guys will do like they always do. They know we’re trying to compete to be as good as we can, so they gotta help whoever, whether he’s a young guy or a guy from outside in, they gotta help. Our guys will do that, I’m sure. This is a good place to come to. I’m sure he’s already been welcomed in, he’s got friends on the team, Nick Bellore and Luke. He’s really good friends with Tyler Lockett. He’s got guys on the team that he already knows and are happy to see him and all that, that’s always nice. Nice to have that kind of reception. He won’t have any problem, I think he’ll jump right in.

Did you talk to any of those guys who are friends with him about him before you guys got him?

• In some cases.

Is Bradley out Sunday?

• I don’t know that. He’s not practicing today. That’s about all I can tell you today. I can’t tell you, I don’t know.

Could Diggs potentially play any Nickel for you or are those days kind of behind him?

• He’s not that old, geez. Yeah, he could do that. He could do that, he certainly has enough in the kind of spectrum of play that he could do a lot of stuff. He’s a blitzer, he’s a down safety, he can play in the hole, he can do all that stuff. He’s done it all. They’ve played a lot of left and right where you have to do everything at their place in years past. He’s really well-versed.

I know you’re not talking to Dan at all this week-

• I’ll answer the call if he calls.

What do you think it’s like, does it change how you coach or is it distracting, it seems like very much so he’s in the hot seat right now, how do you feel like that would affect?

• Nothing should affect the way we prepare. You can’t even come up with a scenario where it should affect the way we prepare. That’s by philosophical design, we want to do exactly the same stuff that it takes to get us at our best every single week regardless of the circumstances. This is just one of those circumstances. It certainly isn’t going affect our players. As long as it doesn’t affect me and a couple of the guys that have been old friends and all that, which it won’t.

I’m not talking about how it would affect you, I’m talking about how it would affect Dan?

• I don’t know. You gotta ask Dan. I don’t know that. I just know how we’re doing it.

It looked like Jarran Reed and Jadeveon Clowney were having a lot of conversations on the sidelines, they had a week of practice, but what does now having that game experience do for them going forward?

• It just helps, there’s so much stuff that has to happen before they really are clicking, but these are two guys that really care and they have a good relationship. The communication is absolutely necessary, it takes a long time where you can really feel the way a player plays next to you and benefit from that. But, we don’t have the benefit of that so we’re going to go for it and keep mixing these guys as much as we can and try to accelerate their process. Both these guys are communicators, they both have a lot of savvy, I think they’ll fit together really well. We’ll improve as we go.

So much of this league is based on measurables and size and combines, you have Matt Ryan and Julio Jones who are a picture-perfect QB/WR and what everyone looks for, you guys kind of have the opposite with Russ and Tyler but the production—

• What do you mean the opposite? They have great chemistry too, they can make plays and they can run real fast and throw the ball real hard. What are you talking about?

Kind of a duo that is different than what the league looks for?

• Okay, I got you. The measurables and all of that is really important over the long haul of things when you look at big numbers and big spreads and evaluations and all that. It’s the people that make the plays and bring the style and nature and savvy and experience and extraordinary uniqueness. I don’t know how to really address that other than you gotta look at everything. The combine is really important. That gives us guidelines, but those are just guidelines. That’s why the meetings with the players and the personal evaluations and all the conversations and communications, as well as the assessments of how they play the game is just so crucial. The four guys you mentioned are four great players, they really are. Their styles are different, but the results are very similar. They do it in their own unique ways which I think is really cool. In our time, we’ve always tried to look through beings stuck on the numbers. The numbers are really important but you gotta see the player and the person to really make a great assessment.

Do you think they would have been drafted higher if they were taller?

• Yes. Absolutely. I do.

You mentioned Tre kind of turning a corner in recent weeks, was there a specific teaching point that lead to that or was it just him?

• It’s just an ongoing conversation about how things are going and just assessing. With corner play in particular, when you really watch these guys really closely they go through trends of style almost and they’ll start to pick things up and their style and technique will change a bit over time based on what’s going on. They’re always very heady players and they’re trying to figure it out. It’s such a fine art being on the line of scrimmage and all. It’s almost like a golf swing, you gotta come back to the truth of your swing and who you are and all that. It’s just an ongoing process. Always tweaking and trying to get it right, I just think it’s been the process. There was a time a few weeks back where our conversations kind of got into some stuff and I’ve watched him just go back into the real basics of it, pure stepping stuff that he does, and you can see it’s really helped his game some. It’ll change again, you don’t just nail this thing, it’s such an art form that they try to own and master.

How’s your golf game?

• I left it a long time ago. I was going for a while, but the third kid. Third kid came along and I found my clubs hanging up in the garage where I couldn’t get at it. Things change.

Is it important to keep Jamarco and DJ happy?

• Is it important to keep them happy? I think its really helpful, it’s productive in your culture when you can keep guys feeling good and connected to the competition. Keeping guys happy, that’s not always available to us. What we need to do is be truthful and be straight up about what’s going on so that everybody knows where they stand and they’re battling. I keep standing for giving guys opportunities to show who they are and what they’re all about and to give them the chance to compete to play more. That’s an ongoing challenge but that’s what’s going on right now. It’s a great situation for us, we’re thrilled about Jamarco’s play the last few weeks. We love the fact that DJ’s back. He was back last week to be an emergency player, this week he’s ready to play football and he can go. It worked out great at that spot, it just makes us better.

Do you remember your best golf score?

• Yeah, it’s like the biggest fish you caught too.

What was it?

• Why would you want to know that? Um, honestly the best round I’ve ever had I had an 82 that was really sweet one time. That was back in my Minnesota days.

How’d you get to a third kid before you had to hang them up?

• Huh? How many kids you got? You know. That’s a good question. I’ll give you a little sidebar, I can remember. It was a little country course that we played out in Minnesota and it took us a long time to get through it, I’d get home about 7:00, just all day long. I had her just waiting for me at the steps and that was just kind of it. I was all for it. She was absolutely right. I was not going anywhere with my golf game.

There was a little controversy coming out of the Monday night game when the ESPN cameras caught Darnold saying he saw ghosts on the sideline and they broadcast that on TV. The Jets are all upset about that, would you be bothered by that? Are there certain things that you do or don’t want put out over network television?

• Yeah, I think I would like to hold our space somewhat sacred. Same thing in the locker room after games, I really don’t like having anyone in there. I would kick them out every time because that’s us. I understand why it’s good media, particularly micing guys up, you get in close and behind the scenes, I get it. I just don’t want to do it any more than you absolutely have to to do our part for the league. Mainly the reason is it’s really hard to not be conscious of the fact that you’re mic’d. That’s a factor and an element in the midst of the game that you’ve gotta have some conscience for. Sometimes you forget, too, which is the other thing that’s an issue and you say things you wish others hadn’t heard. It’s kind of a necessary evil, we have to promote the game and do everything we can for it, I think it can be a distraction that doesn’t help the performance which we’re all about, trying to perform. From our end of it. The other end of it is they’re trying to create a great product. You know, we get it.

Do you have a mic on you every game?

• No.

When you do have a mic, are you thinking about that?

• Yes. I am.

You’ve been asked about 4th down decisions a few times this year, those are easy to second guess when they don’t work, I’m just curious about your process with those decisions? How do you process the emotion in the moment and game situation?

• Well, hopefully well. At the time when we make our decision and we’re going, I feel good about it. That’s why I do it. I feel like, okay, I’m fine. I’ve been through enough of them, so many more when we were in college and go for it all the time. I have pretty good background in it and I know what’s at stake, I understand that, sometimes the stakes matter more than others, it just depends what the situation is. It’s some of the best parts of the coaching game, for me, there’s a lot of stuff out there and a lot if plays in there where I don’t get to do much. I do have the opportunities at times, I often think about there’s a few plays in the game where it comes down to I have a choice to do something. I’m trying to maximize them and do as well as I can.

Do you look at analytics or anything?

• Yeah. Sure. We’re well aware.

Going back to evaluating players, is there any one person that’s influenced how you do that or do you just keep on evolving through the years?

• That’s a good question. I would like to think that coach Grant was the guy that influenced me the most. Because of the way he mentored me, whether he meant to or not, he mentored me during the years we were there to look at the whole package and to take all the time, never quickly judge the decisions about personnel. From that I took the evaluation process never ends, I took that from being with Bud. It was really most apparent when we were at SC and I had to do everything, the personnel and the coaching. The evaluation is to take in every bit of information that you can and then go from your gut and trust that you’re okay. That’s what Bud was famous for, from my perspective. There’s a sense of how you do that. You don’t get impatient, you don’t snap judge, you don’t overreact, you just take your time in a mature, organized fashion. You wait it out and make good choices, but when you do, you go. You trust it. I think I was most influenced by him in that regard, it has to do with a lot of stuff, but it does apply to personnel in particular.

Did the play with Tedric Thompson affect your consideration for the Diggs trade?

• No. It’s the guys that are banged up that I’m concerned about and not knowing when we’d get them back was really at hand.

What’s Ed Dickson’s status?

• He’s working really well, he’s going to come back next week. I think next week was his first chance back, he can practice next week. Based on what I’m seeing, he’s going to be practicing to play. That’s pretty optimistic right now but I’ve watched his workouts a number of times in the last couple weeks and he’s working hard. He has a chance. Meaning he has a chance to come back in that week and help us some. So we’ll see what happens. Pretty hopeful, but he looks good.

WIll Duane be able to practice today?

• He’s going to get some work today. Yep.

Tyler and Russ, what makes their chemistry so good, what goes into that?

• I think it’s the two individual guys are so gifted that you just keep them together long enough, they’ve got along, there’s a good harmony between those guys, that they’ve been able to benefit from each others’ expertise. The stuff that Russ does and the stuff that Tyler does, there’s lots of it that you can’t orchestrate and you can’t coach it. They just have such instincts for the moment and what’s awesome now is we see them dance together. It’s like figure skating almost for those guys. The things they’ve been able to do, this year in particular, have just jumped out more than ever. Tyler is so gifted at just awareness, Russell is too, now they’re both benefitting from each others’ special nature.

On their touchdown, did you see the flag first and think ‘oh no no’, or was it just kind of a cool play?

• I was concerned about the flag. I saw him catch the ball, I was concerned the flag may take it away. I didn’t know what the flag was for. I didn’t get it.

How’s Ziggy Ansah doing with the ankle injury?

• We’ll see how he does today, he ran really well this morning, he looked like he’s really close to getting back. We have a chance to see him play this week.

How’s Phil Haynes?

• He’s doing well, we’re monitoring how he handles the workloads. These two days, today and tomorrow, are huge for him to show us where he is and whether he’s ready to come back for us next week. We’re going to try and max out the two weeks before we make that decision.

Whenever Duane does get back, how big will it be to get George back in that tight end role?

• It’s a big deal to us, it’s really a big deal. If we can get that done, I think George is such a unique guy at that position that that’s a really important thing for us if we can get it. We’ve missed it for a couple weeks now.

You guys have had a really strong record over the years coming off a loss, is there something about the process in how you respond to that?

• I hope so. I hope so, you know? We’ve been working at it for a long time. It’s interesting, it isn’t the work that you do on this week, it’s the work you do on weeks past I think to bring the mentality to a place where you come back to Monday, do what you do on Monday, take Tuesday off, and Wednesday is Wednesday. That means the focus goes right to what’s coming up and what’s happened before is left behind in a really disciplined fashion. No matter how much it hurt or how much you rejoiced, you can let that impact of what’s coming up go so that you can find consistency. I think that’s something we’ve tried really hard to own and it’ll only tell us next week how we go out, see how we do. It’s a big deal to me to make sure I do a good job with these guys in finding that consistency in how to return to what you’re capable of doing.

That whole, ‘don’t look past anyone’ conversation, is that more of a college thing than a pro thing?

• No. That’s every level of every sport everywhere, I think.

Do you have that conversation with these guys?

• Absolutely. Not in the words that you used, we have our own words for it. It’s hugely, hugely important. Consistency is the name of the game. Anybody can win sometimes, anyone can go out and have a good game, it’s can you come back. Anybody can have a good play, can you come back the next chance that you have. That’s how you return to the moment and the focus and what it takes to make the plays that you just made. You have to let it go, a huge part is the letting go of what just occurred and don’t let judgment kick in and get in the way of what’s coming next. I just think it’s extraordinarily valuable and important on all levels, I think the nature of competition is to see people go up and down and match the moments and then not match the moments and not be available for the opportunities, we don’t want to miss those. We spend as much time on that mentality and that discipline as on anything we do. It’s a long season, we gotta keep going. This is the last game of the first half, that’s all this is all about, it’s a championship opportunity.

What point in your career showed you that or convinced you of that?

• What point in my career? Ah, there is an absolute moment. The first year we were at SC and we played Notre Dame. On the road at Notre Dame. I had been told in the buildup to that game, that this is the biggest thing in the world and you’re going to hear the bells ringing when you walk through the stadium and you’ll see the scoreboard and all of this stuff. You’re going to hear all of the echoes and all that kind of stuff. I made the biggest deal out of that game, i feel like I told you this before, but we went to the grotto and we went and touched down Jesus and the whole thing… We got our butt kicked. We just got our butt kicked. It was the biggest waste of time I ever encountered. I thought, I’m never letting that happen again. That’s when the mentality kicked in. It wasn’t all at once, but that’s when the mentality kicked in. It wasn’t all at once, but that’s when the mentality kicked in. It wasn’t all at once, but that was when the mentality kicked in. It wasn’t all at once, but that was when the mentality kicked in that no longer are we going to make any game any different than any other one. Because it just took away all the good stuff that we had, just diminished in the midst of all of the hooplah and the buildup and all that, it was a waste of time.

Submitted October 23, 2019 at 11:54PM by Ninjasandapples https://ift.tt/360F8zR