Mike LaFleur Transcript 11/26

[Maxman]

Brian Heyman, Newsday: With what Zach (Wilson) has learned watching these past four weeks, what do you want to see from him?

Just, I guess, have a better grasp of the offense, which even if he had been playing, you know he was going to improve every single week and like I kind of said four weeks ago when I got asked the question, “How much is this going to hurt him?” I think it’s just going to help him. Just sit back, being able to watch better and play and take the good and take the bad and just learn from all the stuff they did well and all the mistakes they made. It will be fun to get him back out there, see what he’s learned, and go play his game.

 

Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: Could you tell Mike, from practice, does that only have to manifest itself in the game situation or can you tell from the last couple of practices?

No because us as coaches, we look at the practice. It’s huge what they’re doing play in and play out Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Even in the walkthrough on Saturdays, seeing what their mindset is, seeing what we need to correct, seeing if we’re on different pages and that’s not just for the quarterback, that’s for all 11. The improvements that I believe he’s made these last three days compared to where he was a month ago, you could see it, like I said, in those three days, hopefully it will carry over to Sunday.

 

(follow up) What’s your excitement level to see it in game circumstance since it’s been a long time?

Yeah, I’m excited for him as a play, as a competitor, just to get back at there, be with his teammates and again, go play his game. That’s my excitement level. I don’t have any expectations of what to expect from him, the offense, whatever. We just try to live in the play, in the moment, and whatever comes of it will come.

 

How strange has this been for you having Zach back, Mike (White) and Joe (Flacco) out, Josh (Johnson) up and James Morgan back?

I guess it’s the world we live in, right? You never know when this is going to happen and obviously, it happened in Green Bay a few weeks ago just talking to Matt (LaFleur) and when that kind of happened. But again, it’s what we’ve lived through for the last two years across the league. No one’s getting a break over another team. We all have to go through this. But it is, it’s been a little lighter in the quarterback room and thankfully Mike’s feeling well, which is good, most importantly. It just is what it is.

 

Zach Braziller, New York Post: What do you think of Zach coming back could do for Elijah (Moore), he’s has kind of broken out these last few games? He’s been doing it with different quarterbacks.

Again, Elijah is just, like I was saying five weeks ago, he’s getting better every single week and who knows when the production’s going to come. He could play the best game of his life on Sunday and the production won’t be there or he could play kind of an average game and the production could be there just based on the chip falling his way. You just continue, you don’t worry about who’s in at quarterback. You just have to do your job and do your job to the best of his ability and he’s been doing that. I particularly thought last week he played a good game and obviously the production showed. But even the games where he hasn’t had that kind of yardage, he’s continually getting better in playing at the speed that’s needed to produce in this league.

 

(follow up) What stood out to you in terms of Elijah’s breakout?

Just the speed at which he’s playing. I think I’ve said that a few times and the whole group, all the receivers, but really the offense in general, just the comfortability their getting with the offense and getting all those guys. But particularly Elijah, it takes rookies a little bit longer, particularly receivers, not all of them, but the majority of them. The ones that you hear about are the ones that are producing. You don’t really hear about the ones that aren’t producing as much in terms of rookies. So for him, it’s just been getting used to the speed of the game. He missed those three games in the preseason which a lot of people kind of forget about. That’s a huge deal, that’s an absolute huge deal. Just again, just adjusting to how an NFL game works, the speed of it and the speed at which you have to play every single down. That’s kind of been the thing that’s stood out to me the most.

 

Dennis Waszak, Associated Press: Despite missing those three preseason games, the fact that he had some success in the offseason working with you guys and just kind of making some plays, do you think that really helped him too? Just kind of have that confidence. It seems he always has confidence. Just to know, like, “Okay, I could do this at this level, I’m doing it here, I just need to kind of…”

Totally. He’s always been a confident guy. I’ve never seen his high school film but his film at Ole Miss, he’s obviously very talented and that’s why we took him where we took him. Then he came here and had good OTAs and really good training camp, that’s well documented. I think just for him, having some success out there on Sundays has been big for him, just moving forward. He always knows he can do it, but just how to get it done each and every play. Again, missing those three preseason games, people don’t think it’s a big deal. I disagree for young players. It’s just getting your feet wet without having a coach behind you, without being on the do a script review. You go in with a game plan for sure and you’re going to know those plays but you don’t know what order those plays are going to come in. You never know when you’re going to be in the red zone or third down or short yardage or what not. So, there is no script. You just got to fricken’ roll and that’s what he’s getting used to and he’s doing a good job at it.

 

Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: You guys are coming off a game, obviously with a lot of self-inflicted wounds, not just offensively, both sides of the ball. Robert was talking a little bit earlier about these sessions that Matt Burke does on Fridays, the kind of teachable moments and what not around the league. What’s your impression of that and how much do you think that helps the guys trying to educate them a little bit?

Yeah, you’re always trying to educate these guys, you know. They don’t get to always see what’s going on Sundays. They get to maybe see the highlights and whatever’s written on Twitter, and stuff like that. But you can learn so much by watching, and not just watching your teammates and watching the other team but watching across the league. So, I think just in those situations, for Burke to get up there and just kind of present what’s going on around the league, what’s kind of the ebbs and flows, and what’s happening. Sometimes when you, let’s just say for instance, there’s a pretty cool trick play or something out there, just to be able to show that, “Hey guys,” you don’t want to have them overthinking it, but just be prepared that this is kind of, this team did it and this team stole it the next week, and it’s a copycat league. So, it’s just kind of one of those things that I think just educating those guys and learning each and every week.

 

(follow up): It seemed like the games yesterday in particular, there were a lot of those moments. I don’t know if you watched at all, Robert was talking, the Detroit, the Chicago game, and it was all the penalties, the killer penalties in the Dallas game, just seemed liked, he particularly mentioned though, as some stuff that Matt was pointing out today, a lot of that stuff today.

Totally, yeah. Today he out in the situation that happened in Chicago and Detroit. And again, just you’re educating coaches as well. In terms of what to do, what not to do and things happen fast out there, and you try to put these players in position to be the most successful. I know that’s what every coach does. Whether you do it or not is one thing, but I know that’s the mindset I would think of most coaches.

 

Al Iannazzone, Newsday: Is that unique to you guys? Have you done that at other places? Seen that where you’ve looked at other games?

Yeah, everywhere I’ve been, we’ve done some sort of around the league, just to give a view.

 

Brian Heyman, Newsday: How crucial do you think this closing stretch of the season is for Zach’s development? Also, for the team next year, you too, being able to take a step forward?

Yeah, I guess it’s big. I’m just worried about this week, whether we had seven games, four games, two games, I just want our guys to play to the best of their ability this week. Last week, I thought we did some really good things, but there’s so much to correct. The one thing of a good team, a good unit, a good offense is when you make a mistake, whether it’s you or one of your teammates, you have to learn from that mistake and there’s a lot of areas in our game right now that we need to get corrected fast.

 

Dennis Waszak, Associated Press: How tough is it for Michael Carter, who was on a roll the past few weeks, to now have to sit out? He was really getting that ground game going and I know you have other guys in TeCo (Tevin Coleman) and others, but just from his perspective, here he was really starting to…

It stinks for him. He’s a rookie, but he brings a lot of juice to our unit. He brings a lot of juice to our team in the team meetings. He doesn’t act like a rookie. He doesn’t just take a seat and stay quiet. He is who he is, that big, bold personality that he has. They like being around him and he is infectious to this team. We’re going to miss that energy, but again, it’s next man up and someone has to step up.

 

Zack Braziller, New York Post: What’s the one thing you think people are going to notice differently about Zach on Sunday?

I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Again, I think, just every single week, whether he was going to play or not, the game is going to slow down for him. That’s what you look for. Again, even if he was having just great success early on, you still want to see some improvements every single week and see the game get a little bit slower and a little bit more almost kind of tempo’d out for him. I know that’s something that he wants to make come to life. Again, he’s had a good week of practice to get himself prepared for this moment and I expect good things from him.

 

Dennis Waszak, Associated Press: With the tight ends, it seems that Ryan Griffin has been used a lot more. He’s had some production the past few weeks. What have you seen from him in particular with (Tyler) Kroft out and him kind of stepping up?

He’s just a pro. Whether he gets no balls, whether he gets three balls, you know he’s going to be in the right place at the right time. He’s going to do it the right way. Griff has always been a guy that, again, when he’s out there, he’s available first and foremost. You just expect him to do the right thing and he is a true great teammate because, again, he doesn’t care how many balls he catches. He just wants to be out there to help his unit.