Okay, obviously you guys know the one injury. He (Marcus Harris) is still being evaluated. Unfortunate situation with him, the way he's been playing. But I'll have more information tomorrow on him. What a great team win. That's the way it's supposed to be. It's been a long time coming since we've won a home game here, so it's just a great feeling for everybody in the entire organization, everyone who puts so many hours in, and then to be able to come home and play like this is phenomenal. Some numbers that people have told me about is that the first time not allowing a TD since 2023 by the defense. Outstanding. Most kick return yards by Chim (Dike) in franchise history. Cam (Ward), rookie yards, most. Outstanding. Just seeing him make those plays out there, unbelievable. Once again, Jeff (Simmons) is Jeff. What he's done, getting the safety and the way he played, the way he leads, it's unbelievable. You just feel so good for these guys because they work so hard, and this is what you want for our fans. To our fans, I'm glad we do this for them, too. It was a great atmosphere. Then you talk about the game going—you guys talked about finishing the end of the half, start of the second half, the way the offense did that. But just a great team effort overall by everybody. Give the coaches a ton of credit. The defensive coaching staff with three guys going down last week and what we did with the guys just learning this week, teaching whoever they had available, obviously, and then we have an injury, it's just, give them a ton of credit. And the offensive staff with the plan and once again, the way we ran the football. Like I talked about, that's the identity we want to have here in the way we're playing. Couldn't be happier for the players in the locker room, the entire organization, everybody that's bought in and worked so hard. There's nothing like winning at home. With that, I'll open it up.
How much of an explanation did they give you on the touchdown that they took off with Jeff Simmons? Did they just not see him report?
They said he has to go directly to the ref to report. He's running out there, 98, everyone in the whole entire stadium, but he has to go directly to him. You see everyone is saying Jeff's report and this and that, and they said he has to go directly to Clete (Blakeman), so they threw the flag.
The running game has been revitalized the last three weeks. Tony (Pollard) has been over 100 yards each week. How much has that not only helped him but also helped Cam (Ward) to be in better situations and able to use the passing game?
Well, this is with two minutes remaining. Obviously, we ran the one time, so we had 38 total runs I guess we had, the last one. It's a commitment to the running game. We said it. I've always wanted to run the football, and situations come up, this and that, and obviously we went on the road to Cleveland. We said we have to run the football. We cannot get out of this game running it 12, 14, it's got to be in the 30s. We've got to be able to get up there and do it in the weather with Myles (Garrett), this and that, you have to run the football, and it was a commitment, and we kind of challenged everybody. This is what the offensive line loves, obviously. But just give everybody credit. The coaches putting a great plan together, players going out and executing, the receivers blocking their tails off downfield, doing certain things. It's a whole team effort. Cam with the alerts and the checks and everything, getting us into the right plays, things like that. But it's a commitment to the run game. You have to commit to it. You have to practice it that way, and you've got to actually call it in the game, and that's what we've done the past three weeks, and it's paid off for us.
That 10-play 89-yard drive, how big was that for you guys, and how do you like the way you were able to layer the plays?
Oh, you love it. You love those 10-play drives. I don't care what plays you call. You get 10-play drives and go that many yards, it's awesome. That's what it's all about. This was a complementary game, everyone playing together today. So like I said, I'm so happy for the guys in the room.
Potentially Cam's best game?
He played well. We'll look at the film. You see some of the plays that he made, the one throw to Chim (Dike) when he was scrambling around there and threw it to the left side over on their sideline, wow, what a play. But he's getting better every week, and there's going to be some plays you miss. The fourth down, I think he's going to look back at and say we can make that throw, we've got to convert that there. But he's getting better. I've been saying it from day one, Cam loves to play the game of football. He loves to be coached hard, and he understands he's going to make some mistakes, but it doesn't bother him. He just keeps going, and he's Cam. Very happy with the way he played.
You've scored 24 or more in four out of five now.
I kind of like that.
How due was that, and how much is that a testament to the growth of everything, the play calling, the young guys?
I think it's everybody involved. You always go down to how do you execute and how do you block, how do you do certain things, how do you call games, how do you put players in a position to be successful, and it goes down to players executing and making plays. There's plenty of plays in there, especially in the run game, the attitude and the mindset of our backs right now, it's unbelievable. It's because they have the confidence in it, and that's what happens when you commit to something like that and you run it. It's amazing the number of times we run it and now we scored more points because we're more efficient. I think Cam is learning a lot, too, about when you run the ball like this, and now it's a lot easier to be in third-and-manageable than it is with third-and-longs if you have an incomplete pass, even second-and-longs are harder. So, when you don't have the incompletes and you're efficient, even if it's two yards, and all of a sudden two becomes four, four becomes—you keep multiplying it as you go, it helps everybody. It just goes to say when you go out there and do what we're supposed to be doing, you score points like this, it's great to see the number of points we've been scoring. Then give us credit, too, the defense getting the ball back for you, good field position. Leading up to this game the past two weeks we had 24 points off of three turnovers and a blocked kick, so that's part of it, too, scoring more points.
You mentioned the home losing streak a couple of times. Obviously the players were aware, too. What are the ways you guys emphasized it as a staff? How did they get ingrained and why was it so important to emphasize?
Well, you've got to be careful. Nick (Holz) said in the meeting the other day about being 412 days since we've won at home. So that was kind of where it stemmed from there. But it's hard to win in this league. That's why I just told the players, enjoy this. What a great Christmas gift for everybody involved, everybody in the organization, all our fans to be able to enjoy Christmas after a win. It's great. It's an unbelievable feeling. I'm just so happy for the guys and the veterans and the leaders that deserve this. The entire team deserves it, don't get me wrong. They work so hard.
We talked about the fourth downs before. This game there was no hesitation you were going for it. Was it a confidence issue? Was the game flowing better? What was it?
Got a little nervous after the one. It's just you do what you think is best there. Do you punt there? Cam went right to the line of scrimmage and tried to sneak it and we didn't get it, and we responded to it, but there was times earlier in the game we went the third down, we didn't get and then we went for it on fourth down. It's always going to be the flow of the game and what is the down-and-distance and what is the score of the game. I know I've told you guys this since the first game here; it's going to change week to week. There's times where you say, you've got to be more aggressive. You've got to finish drives with touchdowns and not field goals, so that changes things. There's so many things on a weekly basis, how are you running the football—it makes it a lot easier for those situations to go for it when you run the ball the way we do. Now, we didn't get it on the one third down we ran it. But other than that.
You talked about the commitment to the run game. How is that affecting those shorter swing passes and in effect the screen game? Looked like it was hitting today.
It's all part of—they've got to cover everybody. I know you guys had some questions about handing the ball off to Chim (Dike) and it's this and that, and the average is this. But when you look at it, and all of a sudden you hand the ball off the next time you'll see X number of defenders going with him, that helps the running game. So they've got to honor everybody. I think a number of times this year when we've thrown those bubbles and things like that, there have been some big plays, and Chig (Okonkwo) makes guys miss more often than not as long as you get that first guy going. It's just another way that whoever those players are, they've got to honor that because if they don't, as long as you make one block and get the play started, it's going to be a positive gain. It's just something we believe in, and it helps the running game. It may not always be the prettiest thing in the world. It might be some one and twos. There was a couple minuses in there, I know that. But it helps because that nickel or whoever that defender is has got to widen the box.
A lot of young players on this team, obviously. How important do you think this whole journey is going to be for them, that they're seeing what it's like over the course of a season and now having some success before it ends?
It's invaluable, the experience they're getting. I think a lot of times, too, and give the coaches credit. Give all the coaches all the credit in the world. The way these rookies are playing and the number of them that are playing and have been playing for a long time, and you see the success. We all talked about Gunnar (Helm) earlier in the year and what Luke (Stocker) just to mention one person, Luke, the way he got Gunnar rolling up early in the blocking and things like that. We weren't sure how it was going to be, and you just see where he is now from where he was. That's just one example. Then the DBs unfortunately have been dinged the last two weeks, but you see their growth and you see Cam's growth. I can go on and on about every rookie. I think one thing, it's hard to win in the NFL. It's brutal losing. But you're also teaching the guys how to win games. When you look at the whole game, you look at it, and you learn from the losses just as much, and it's not just the individual performances. But part of my job is to help teach these guys how to win. It's not just their individual performances, but you look at it as you never know what play is going to affect the game and when. So it's just a matter of getting these guys to execute at a high level. They're going to make mistakes. They're going to make mistakes. But be brutally honest with them about, 'Hey, this is what's going to help us.' The one thing I think the coaches have all stressed from day one here is don't worry about—the mistakes are on us as coaches. That's going to happen. There's a bunch of young players. Just don't make the same mistake twice, whether it's a decision Cam makes. Like I had to burn a time-out today. Don't do that again, please. Things like that that you don't want to do. You've got to avoid those things. But it's going to happen in the game. And you just keep growing.
The one play Dan Moore Jr. went down, Peter Skoronski bumped to tackle before Corey Levin came in, what was behind that? What was behind that?
It's because he was eligible the play before. So you can't go from an eligible to an ineligible in an injury because that's twice now that's happened this year. That's twice it's happened.
Can you challenge a replay assist?
You're asking about the one, the fourth down? I asked Clete (Blakeman) if I could challenge it, and he told me I could not challenge it.
That's wrong, by the way.
I went to ask him, I want to challenge. You cannot challenge. That's what he told me. He said we could not challenge it. When he told me we couldn't, we didn't challenge it.
Would you have if you could have?
There's a possibility.
What do you think about Cam Ward's decision making growth over the last month to five weeks?
It gets better. I think he plays faster and faster. He's more comfortable each week. This was a tough challenge because Spags (Steve Spagnuolo) is a phenomenal defensive coordinator, and the pressures, he understands all the protection schemes and all those things, and he got us a couple times. The good thing was Cam did the next best thing. He ate the ball, whether he threw the ball away, didn't turn the ball over, and that's critical against a team like this. But those are the things you see, the ball security in the pocket, things like that. You see the growth, and that's what it's all about, so you just continue to see him making the wow plays here and there and just the control and the command of the offense and the growth. Very pleased with where he's at these days.
