BB: We're starting to work on Indianapolis' third down package today. Offensively, they're so far ahead of
everybody else in that category. It's not even really competitive for
second. Very impressive. I think they've really set the standard for that
offensively. They're pretty good on defense, as the situations get a little
bit longer, as evidenced by their pass rush and their good underneath
coverage ability. That's an important phase of the game, in terms of keeping
drives going and trying to get them off the field. That's kind of the point
we're at today.
Q: Are they like Pittsburgh where
they really change what they do on third down versus first and second down?
BB: With that no huddle offense, they kind of can be third down on any
down that they want to be. So sometimes third down is first and second down
and sometimes third down is just third down. They run the regular stuff on
first and second down, where they take some shots down the field and run the
ball and all of that, but sometimes they just go into their third down mode
on first and second down. The fact that they keep the same guys on the field
and don't have to substitute, it's pretty easy for them to go in and out of
it.
Q: As good as you know they are, were you in any way a little bit
surprised how they played against Denver offensively?
BB: With all due respect to Denver, they score against everybody. So
nothing really surprises me with them offensively. It looks like they can
move the ball against whatever style of defense you want to play – man, zone, pressure, three-man line, four-man
line, over, under, even. People are throwing pretty much everything up
against them that you can throw and they can deal with it. They have a way
to deal with it.
Q: How much better do you feel about your secondary going into this game
than you did going into the Colts game last year?
BB: I'm just really focused on this year's game. I think that we have a
big challenge ahead of ourselves and we have a lot of work to do. Obviously
this is by far and away the best passing team in the league. They're
averaging almost 300 yards a game, so it will be a big challenge for us
defensively across-the-board. That includes everybody. It's not just the
secondary, it's the pass rush, it's the linebackers, jamming receivers, it's
all of that. We're just going to have to do a good job across the board.
But I think that our guys are working hard, they're preparing well, and
hopefully we'll be able to play well.
Q: How has Tully Banta-Cain progressed or improved with more playing time
this year?
BB: I think that Tully has made a lot of progress all year, he's just
gotten a lot more opportunities this year both in practice and in preseason
games than in the regular season. Our outside linebacker depth last year, he
just got fewer opportunities. He's gotten more this year and I think that's
helped him elevate his performance and his overall game.
Q: Is his speed his greatest asset?
BB: He runs well. I think Tully does a lot of things well. He's strong.
He's big. A big guy. He's 260, or whatever he is. He runs well. He has some
quickness. He's tough. I think he has good talent for the position.
Q: There was a play in the game last week, late, where you had like a
fourth-and-five at their 32-yard line. What factored into the decision to go
for it there rather than kick a field goal?
BB: Basically the score. Both the down and distance, that was a factor
too. We talked about it last week. There were similar situations that have
come up this year, the Jets game for one. We had another fourth down against Miami.
Q: Are they using Dallas Clark at all like they've used [Brandon] Stokley when he was healthy?
BB: Dallas gives them the flexibility to be split out and play what looks
like a three receiver type of set, but also to move in tight and be a tight
end and play a two receiver set, and they can go in and out of that very
comfortably. So, when there are three receivers in the game, then they're in
a three extended receiver formation. Whereas when Dallas is in there, they
have the flexibility to do both and they do both. Some games he's in tight a
lot of the game. Other games, he's split out a lot of the game. Some games
they mix it up. Again, they have the ability to do it however they want to
do it, kind of on their terms based on the game plan.
Q: Will you spend any time this week sort of simulating the game with
substitutions that you'll try to make during the game just because of their
no huddle and how they challenge you to get guys onto the field?
BB: Right, well the tempo of the game is a little bit different, although
we've seen three teams – the Jets did it, Miami did it, Cincinnati gave us a little bit of no-huddle. So there are different
versions of it. Some of it was done with substitutions. Some of it wasn't.
Anyway, part of it is the pace of the game. We'll do that this week. We'll
have a period or two defensively probably each day where we kind of
emphasize the pace of the game more so than the exact execution of the plays
and kind of run plays that we have that are similar to their plays so that
we can get a decent look at them. Matt [Cassel] does a good job of that. We
did that with the Jets. We did some of that with Cincinnati, the quarterback
kind of making those calls at the line at kind of the pace that they would
do it. You're right, the whole in between downs situation of getting people
on and off the field, whether they substitute them or they don't substitute
them, which that changes the rules in terms of our substitutions. That's all
definitely a part of our preparation this week.
Q: What are those rules?
BB: Well, if it's not in a two-minute situation, then offensively if they
substitute then the defense has enough time to match that substitution. If
they don't substitute then defensively you're on your own, unless it's in
the two-minute. If it's in the two-minute then there are no substitution
rules. Nobody has time to match anything. You just have to keep playing.
Fourth down, as it applies to a kicking situation, you're always allowed to
match in a kicking situation, even if it's on fourth down in the two-minute.
Q: What skills does [Laurence] Maroney have that makes him an effective
kickoff returner?
BB: Pretty much the same skills that
any good running back would have – the ability to read blocks, see holes and somehow gain extra yardage when he
has the ball. Whether that's with quickness, or speed, or power, or a
combination of those things, which I would say he has a combination of those
skills. It's hard being able to read the blocks and find the seams and set
blocks up and that type of thing. But, it's nice to have guys returning
kicks that have any of those skills – speed, quickness, power, run vision,
the more the better naturally.
Q: Is he one of the bigger returners that you've ever had?
BB: Yes, I think he's probably about at the top end of that, with Randy
Baldwin in Cleveland, 215, that type of guy. Again, if you go with a smaller
guy, then hopefully he has probably more speed or maybe more quickness. If
you go with a bigger guy, maybe he has more power, maybe he has speed too,
it depends on the player's individual skills. You need some of those to be
good, whatever it is.
Q: Was [Joseph] Addai a guy you liked looking at this draft?
BB: We looked at all of the players. Sure, Addai was a good player for LSU. He's tough. He's a smart kid. He runs hard. He's good in the passing
game. But I think his toughness and his speed and his ability in the passing
game were real strengths of his coming out.
Q: Maroney seems to have an ability to cut. Is there another player that
you could compare his ability to?
BB: I don't know.
Q: [Barry] Sanders, maybe?
BB: No. He's played seven games. Sanders is in the Hall of Fame. I think
he has good running skills, all the way across the board. I think he's fast.
I think he has some quickness. I think he has some speed. For his size he
has some power. He's not a 195-pounder either. He has a little bit of bulk
and he has some power with it. Again, it depends on who is tackling you
which of those attributes is good to have. Sometimes when you're in the
secondary against smaller guys it's good to have size. Sometimes when you're
up against the bigger linebackers or defensive linemen it's more important
to have is quickness than size because you're not bigger than them. Sooner
or later, you deal with different types of situations that you're trying to
get out of as a running back and break tackles. To have a variety of skills
or ways to elude, or avoid, or break those tackles, sooner or later they
come in handy. But I think a lot of it depends on what situation you're in
and who's trying to tackle you.
Q: Who is the biggest kickoff returner that you've ever seen?
BB: Mike Nelms. Mike Nelms. I don't know how big he was, but big enough
and strong.
Q: Did you have to alter your coverage in any way?
BB: It was just more of hang on for dear life. Hang on and hope that two
or three other guys get there before he breaks the tackle and runs for a
touchdown. But he had two or three just terrific years there. He did
kickoffs and punts. And that's hard to do. You just don't see as many guys
doing that anymore. I think the skills are different, well they're
definitely different. It's harder to find one guy that does both probably
better than another guy that you have on your team. Usually you have one guy
that's better at one, another guy that's better at another. Kevin [Faulk] is
a guy that has had success doing both. Sometimes you just have other people
that are little bit better at one than the other.
Q: [Terrence] Wilkins does both, right?
BB: Yes, and again, he's had good production throughout his career in the
league. He's quick and he's fast. He's not the biggest guy out there, but he
has really good speed and he's quick, which you need to be when you're not
very big.
Q: How much, if any, do you think Richard [Seymour's] effectiveness was
curtailed by his elbow wrap last week?
BB: I don't know. I couldn't put a percent on it. I have no idea. You'd
have to ask him that.
Q: Going back to that fourth down for a second, when you say
'basically dictated by the score,' is running up the score an issue?
BB: No, I'm trying to win a game. I'm not trying to run up the score, I'm
just trying to win a game. It was a three score game. It was a 24-point
game.
Q: I'm saying that maybe a kick somehow is insulting or something. That's
what I'm trying to assess.
BB: That's the furthest thing from my mind. I'm just trying to win the
game. That's all I was thinking about.
Q: What are some things that drew you to James Patrick?
BB: He's just a guy that we followed a little bit and had an opening on
the practice squad. We just wanted to take a look at him. He's a pretty good
athlete. We feel like he maybe has a chance with his skills as a corner and
special teams player. We'll see how it goes. But this is chance to take a
look at him.
Q: Just out of curiosity the injury report came out yesterday and each
team had exactly 17 guys questionable.
BB: Really?
Q: Yeah. You probably weren't aware of the coincidence, but I'm just
wondering what we should make of that.
BB: I don't know. Just following the league guidelines.
Q: When a team like the Colts traditionally has 20 or more names on their
list, does it even serve a useful purpose when you're looking at it?
BB: If who looks at it? Me?
Q: Yes.
BB: I don't look at it. We prepare for all 53 players. Whichever ones are
active for the game, then those are the ones that we compete against. We
assume that everybody is going to be able to play unless we absolutely know
100 percent for certain that a player is out and is not going to play.
Otherwise, if he has a five percent chance of playing, then we prepare for
him. If he plays, then we've prepared for him. If he doesn't play, then we've
prepared for whoever else is in there. We have no control over those things, so
we prepare for everybody. That's just the way we do it. So it doesn't really
make any difference to me if a guy is 25 percent or 75 percent – I don't want
to be on the wrong end of either one of those percentages. I don't think it
would be right for me to not prepare our team for…even 25 percent is a high
percent chance that something could happen. If a guy has a 25 percent chance
to play, that's a lot more likely that we'll have to use our hands team on
an onside kick. That's about a five percent chance, but we prepare for that,
too. We prepare for everybody. I don't care who is on the injury report. It
doesn't make any difference to me.
Q: Do you want to practice out here at all to get used to the field?
BB: If it works out that we can practice out there, then we probably
will, yes if it works out. If it doesn't then we'll play there on Sunday. |
