8-4. What does a win like today mean for your team?
One week at a time. 1-0 for the rest of the way. We're giving ourselves an opportunity to play meaningful games in November and December, and ultimately that's all you can ask for in this league. The rest of the way you've got competitive meaningful football games, and I think that's just an important thing for us to go through as a team in year one. To have the opportunity to do those things and to earn that I think is important for us to be able to continue to move forward as a team.
Trevor started 6 of 7, two touchdowns. What kind of day was today for him?
I thought he played pretty well. He had under some duress, we had some injuries up front, obviously. But I thought early on especially that he was accurate, was seeing the field well, made some good throws for us, scrambled a few more times. But I do think that he played well.
The opening drive for Tennessee was their best of the day, 39 yards rushing, more than half of what they ended up with. Just the ability to respond and make adjustments, what was that like?
Yeah, Campy (Andrew Campanile) just continues to do a great job in his first year as a coordinator. The whole staff I thought had a really good plan, and the players executed at a high level. I thought the front and the coverage were in alignment in the back end especially, and we were able to get after the quarterback at a pretty good clip.
DaVon has been forced into the role of long snapper, and that's got to be a little bit --
Yeah, that was a little stressful for sure. Credit D-Ham (DaVon Hamilton) for stepping in with limited repetitions. To go out there, it just speaks to the dude that he is and the player that he's been for us this season. He's just so consistent as a human being, as a pro. But yes, that was a little stressful.
You got the punter and the long snapper getting unsportsmanlike penalties, in a fight. Is that sort of the attitude that you want this team to have?
Yeah, they had an edge for sure. I'd like Logan (Cooke) to be a little smarter there on the one he got hit on, but there were some frustrations that were being built up with them rushing us the way they were with the long snapper issue, and we thought we maybe were roughed or potentially roughed at one point. I don't know if it got called or not. You know, it was just the — proud of those guys for competing, but we've got to continue to be smarter.
Six targets for Jakobi Meyers and six catches. Talk about him showing up big and making some big plays and even Brian Thomas, first game back, knocking the guy off the block in on open field, that has to be awesome.
I know, and then a huge 3rd down conversion on a drive that we went down and scored on. You know, obviously would like to continue to get BT (Brian Thomas Jr.) more as he's getting healthier. But Jakobi (Meyers), just so consistent, and his ability in the middle of the field to then catch and run, losing Parker (Washington) for a little bit, obviously guys had to step up. Jakobi just keeps being that dude in terms of the pro, the way that he competes, the way that he prepares and the trust level between he and the quarterback has continued to go forward.
Big game next week; what is your message to the fans as you try to lock that stadium down and pack it out?
Yeah, we need everybody. We need the city to show up and support us. We want to make them proud. We're continuing to try to put a product on the field that our city and community can be proud of, and that's something that means a lot to our team. It means a lot to our players. We want to continue to do that. As much support as we can get from Duval, that would be huge.
The offensive line has been banged up and you lost Walker again today. Can you talk a little bit about the resiliency of that unit?
Yeah, frustrating. You have to keep kind of moving pieces around, and then the continuity gets a little bit jacked up and the chemistry. But again, Col Van Lanen, the Swiss Army Knife, just keeps moving positions, going into the different spots. Wyatt Milum stepped up in a major way for us today and gave us a lot of meaningful snaps and allowed us to go win the football game. Credit to Shaun (Sarrett) , Keli'i (Kekuewa) and Trevor Mendelson for getting those guys prepared and ready to go play.
Josh I think had two sacks today. Do you feel like in speaking with him, getting that record gets the monkey off his back a little bit?
I think so. We haven't had the conversation, but I think you can just tell for him personally that there's a little bit more freedom now to just go let it rip and play. Man, he was rushing today. There was a lot of opportunities that he was pushing the pocket and making life a little bit challenging on their tackles. Very proud of Josh (Hines-Allen) being able to get two and just continue to stack blocks and get better and better each week.
Arik Armstead downgraded on Saturday and didn't go today. In terms of the hand, where is he at?
Yeah, we'll have to reassess. I haven't talked to Ferg (Jeff Ferguson) yet on that in terms of what it's looked like now. It's something that we tried to work out pregame and just didn't end up working out. We'll reassess and hopefully he'll be able to go this week.
With Cole (Van Lanen) going from right guard to left tackle, that's four offensive line positions, plus the jumbo. Have you been around an offensive lineman who's done that?
No, I have not. When we got here as a staff, everybody spoke about Cole Van Lanen. Everybody spoke about him as a pro, as his ability to be able to do this. To have the mindset but also the preparation — I mean, guys, that is not easy to go and do for anybody. He goes and does it at arguably one of the hardest positions to play in the National Football League, which is offensive line. The calls, the chemistry, the continuity, all right, you've got to block. You're preparing in your mind to go block (Jeffery) Simmons inside but then you've got to go outside and go block (Arden) Key. It's not easy to do. I've got a lot of respect for Cole Van Lanen.
