HEAD COACH BRIAN CALLAHAN
Just to start out, I think first and foremost, I want to thank our fans for showing up today. I thought that was a pretty good showing for a Friday night preseason game. Good energy in the stadium. That was pretty cool to see.
I know everyone wants to come see Cam (Ward) play. That's a good thing. Good energy, good environment. Awesome to feel that. Emphasized two things today for our team, was to win the turnover battle, which we did. Almost had two of them. I thought that was pretty close on a second one, but they overturned it. And then wanted to play well in our home stadium to start out preseason or otherwise. Put on the type of team we want to look like when we play in this stadium. I thought we did a nice job of taking that step. It's good to see us overcome — we had a 90-yard drive, then back-to-back 80-plus yard drives. That was good to see for the preseason process, just to work through that. Really happy with that part. Then I thought our linebackers stood out again today, which was good to see. Cedric (Gray) and I thought James (Williams Sr.) did some really good stuff. Really smart by James at the end of the half not to touch the player going down and wait. I thought that was really smart. I've got to give some credit to Frank Bush and the work he's done with that group of guys. He's done a really nice job coaching those guys up.
Other than that, I thought we got a lot of good things out of the preseason and we are ready to move on to next phase here. Roster cuts are coming. I probably won't comment too specifically on any players directly at the moment. We've got a couple days to do that when it comes up. I'll let you guys go ahead.
What are you seeing out of the offensive line throughout these three games?
I've seen a pretty physical group from top to bottom. I think they play the position with some nastiness and some toughness up front. I think that's good to see. They've executed pretty well in pass protection. We haven't had a ton of issues when it comes to just blocking our man, which has been good. So yeah, I'm happy with the performance of the group from top to bottom I think throughout the entirety of the preseason. They've showed well for themselves. A lot of guys have gotten a lot of play. Corey Levin and Blake Hance have played a lot. Good to see those guys get some run.
How much does the second drive from Cam Ward give you confidence as you get ready for the regular season? Is that what you wanted?
Yeah, it's exactly what we were hoping to see. Led a long drive. He was efficient. He was accurate. We ran the ball well. Complemented all those things well on the run and the pass. Good drive. Good to have that last experience. I'm glad these guys played in this game. It was good for us to get that one last dry run before we got to go for real here in Denver in two weeks. Got what we were hoping to get out of it.
Run-pass balance, happy to have chunks both ways?
Anytime we can take the heat off the quarterback in the run game, we are going to take it. We got some explosive runs today, which was good to see. Had some nice lanes to run through. Anytime we can play with some balance, it's always going to be good.
How is Kalel Mullings?
He's good. We'll see tomorrow how he feels. Shouldn't be a long amount of time missed. I think ankle. We'll see what he feels like tomorrow.
How much did Jeffery Simmons push to play and how much did you appreciate his eagerness to play?
It surprised me. I wasn't expecting it. He came up to me in practice the other day and said, I'd like to play. I said, Are you sure you want to play? He said, Yeah, I haven't played in the pre-season feels like four or five years and I think it would be good for me to feel that, play with my teammates. I was like, Absolutely, happy to let you do it. It was good. He had a couple series, two series, I think they went in there. You felt him in there and he played well. Good to get that experience to feel like he's ready to go for Week 1.
Chimere Dike show you enough on return game that you trust him back there now?
Certainly trust him. I'll watch the tape and see how the performance was and where the lanes were, if he was where he was supposed to be. He caught a pretty contested punt there at the end, a fair catch. I can't remember what quarter that was in. Seen what we need to see from him. I think he has done a nice job. All those guys have done admirably in the roles we've asked them to do so far. We'll make that decision coming up.
Did Van Jefferson need a game like this preseason game?
Not for me he didn't. But it was good for him I think personally to have one. You take a little bit of heat publicly for the misfire last week, not coming down with that play. To see him bounce back, I didn't know he had that kind of speed on the sideline. That was really good to see. But happy for him to put that performance and let everybody know he's still a good NFL receiver. And we're happy to have him.
How far do you think Slye's long kick was? Have you ever been witness to a double doink like that?
I don't know that I've seen — maybe one double doink. Not one that specifically jumps out out specifically to recall. That was a rare occurrence. What was the field goal length? 63 (yards), yeah. That's real range right there. That was an impressive kick. I think it hit the net, too, so it had some room to spare on it. That's a weapon. If we can get points at those ranges, that's a huge deal from us from a points perspective. That was really good to see that kind of range show up. That was pretty cool.
Surprised the flag came out on Jarvis Brownlee Jr.'s play and is that a teaching moment for guys?
Absolutely, the minute you pick a guy up and slam him, that's a penalty. Jarvis (Brownlee Jr.) plays hard, he plays nasty. You have to know his forward progress has stopped, and the minute you lift the guy off the ground and slam him, they're flagging that every time. It's a good reminder for guys that you can't do that and don't want to see that moving forward.
Jarvis Brownlee Jr. didn't play a ton of snaps in the preseason but have you seen progress from him on penalties?
I have, yeah. I think Jarvis (Brownlee Jr.)— Tony Oden has done a really nice job with that group. His ability to teach the technique and get through to those guys has been really fun to watch. They've all gotten a lot better with their hands, with their feet, with their eyes. Jarvis has definitely improved in that regard. Most of his penalties were either bad eyes or bad hands over the course of last season. I think he's done a good job of cleaning that up. DBs are going to get penalties, you know? It's going to happen. I think he's improved dramatically in his eyes and his hands.
After the seven series, what have you seen that you like from Cam Ward?
I think his command has been outstanding. He doesn't get rattled. He fights through. We've had some long down and distances, he's made some plays, made some really nice throws. There's just a confidence in his demeanor I have when he's in there that none of this is too big for him. He really operates calmly and finds completions. Those are the things that we've worked on over training camp. He's going to be able to make the big plays, that's what he does. He is going to be able to move around more when I don't have the governor at him to don't take any hits. But I think all of that stuff has been really positive. He's done well in his limited showing. I feel confident with where he's at.
Going into Week 1 with Cam, any area where you'd like to see a little more growth?
Based on what he handled in the preseason, nothing that jumps out. There's certainly more growth to be had. I think I've said before, he's not a finished product. He's going to learn a lot coming up. There's going to be things he hasn't seen yet. It's preseason, so you're looking at relatively vanilla things. Although he did get a little bit of 0 tonight, which was good to see. Pretty vanilla. Pretty standard looks. For him, he did what we asked him to do. There's going to be a lot of learning coming up over the next 17 weeks.
Regarding the next 48 hours, what did you tell the guys in the locker room after the game?
Really tough. The worst part of the process for me, especially guys that have been with us through the entirety of the off-season program. Their effort, their energy, what they've poured into helping our team get better, helping themselves get better, is not something that I take lightly for them. It's a tough moment to tell someone that they're not going to be able to realize a dream of theirs, at least here. You wish them the best, hope they get picked up. Not the most fun. I just told all the guys repeatedly over the last 48 hours how much I appreciate the effort, the work that they've put in, how they've helped our team get better. Not looking forward to the next couple of days.
Did you know Julius Chestnut had those hops in him that you saw tonight?
I did not. It was good to see him get up and over a couple tackles. He ran well. He's really run well all preseason and proven himself a viable ball carrier. He can protect, too. Happy with his performance over the course of camp and preseason. Not surprising. Julius (Chestnut) has been that for us. He's dependable and consistent. That's what you're looking for.
