Head Coach Ben McAdoo
June 6, 2016
Q: There were a bunch of guys not here today. Were any of them injuries or mostly travel?
A: Yeah, we had a few guys not here. Again, there were a variety of reasons why they couldn’t be here, but they all communicated and we will get them back here shortly tomorrow and we’ll pick up right where we left off.
Q: When you come back for next week, you have minicamp. Are there any differences between minicamp and OTAs?
A: The structure of practice will be similar for this time of the year. We will have them for a little bit longer in the day, so we will be able to get them on the field, and extra time to get some simulated training in in the afternoon but otherwise it will be pretty similar. A little more meeting time.
Q: Practice will be the same though?
A: It will be structured fairly similar.
Q: I know you haven’t been doing contact but have you seen a difference in Jason Pierre-Paul’s handwork since he got this new glove?
A: Well, obviously he has a year under his belt now. He has been able to hit the weight room and is able to go out and practice fundamentals with it for a year, so obviously he is ahead of the game that way.
Q: Sterling Shepard made a nice catch today. How has he impressed you?
A: The thing about Sterling is he will make a mistake, as a lot of young guys do and a lot of veterans do, but he doesn’t seem like the guy that is going to repeat that mistake. So once he makes a mistake, he will fix it, he will move on, he will learn from it and he is continuing to pick things up and he is doing a nice job right now for us.
Q: With JPP and his progress, is it going to be possible to tell how far he has progressed with his injury before you get to training camp with pads and hitting?
A: No, you can tell. He has definitely improved his fundamentals. I’m sure if you asked him, he would be able to give you a pretty good indication of it. He looks a lot more comfortable. He has always been a very disruptive player and we expect that to continue.
Q: By the time the minicamp is over, do you want to have an idea of a loose depth chart?
A: Guys are jockeying for reps right now for when we get to training camp and for when we get to the preseason games. We just want guys to take advantage of their opportunities right now. I think it is a little early to be talking depth chart. Those things tend to sort themselves out.
Q: What did you feel about the end of quarter offense at the end of practice as far as this stage of the offseason conditioning program?
A: We had a pretty good pace today in two-minute. Guys were doing a nice job working with each other there, offense and defense. At the end when we split the fields up, have two fields going, we dial the tempo down a little bit and the defense is very aggressive, trying to make the offense adjust and communicate and the defense is working on communication, so we dial it back there. When there are a lot of moving parts, we don’t want a lot of high-speed collisions, so that part of the game is good. We are huge in the mental part of the game at the end of practice to challenge these guys mentally.
Q: What have you noticed from offensive line coach Mike Solari?
A: Mike is well traveled. His success speaks for itself. He is great at teaching the fundamentals and we are fortunate to have him.
Q: During the two-minute drill, was it comforting seeing the defense get some stops?
A: It depends if you are calling plays or not, but the defense did a nice job ending the first drive with a turnover. [Darian Thompson] picked the ball off and then took a knee. He had enough awareness to know that the game was over at that point in time with the offense only having one timeout and under 50 seconds; I believe that was what was on the clock at that point on the tipped ball, so he showed good awareness there. You can obviously feel the pass rush a little bit with the front and the secondary has good coverage, so that is encouraging.
Q: Did you call the plays in the two-minute?
A: I called some.
Q: Just the good ones?
A: I wish it was that way.
Q: Whose voice was playing during that portion of practice?
A: I’m not going to give up all our secrets. No, that was Chris Pridy. He does a good job. He is the play-by-play guy in our two-minute situations and we split up play calling duty there as well.
Q: Did you pop on the microphone at all?
A: Early on I did. I was very loud. You probably had to plug your ears.
Q: Seeing that Darian Thompson did make that big play in that period. You guys also had a big time safety in Landon Collins come out last year. Can you kind of compare what you are seeing at this point?
A: Yeah, DT is a guy who looks like he is comfortable in his skin, he can communicate well and we know he has good balls skills. That showed up in his stat line and on his film study and he is making the most of his opportunities.
Q: Anthony Dable has an unusual background. I was wondering how polished he is and what areas do you want to see him improve in?
A: Well, he is like a lot of the other young guys, he is not very polished. He has a lot of raw talent, he takes coaching and he is working out here to get better like the rest of the young players.
Q: Is Daniels going to be a third arm or is he actually going to get some return chances?
A: Right now, he is number three in the quarterback rotation. We will see where that leads.
Q: When you talk about receivers, we just see guys catching balls. What do you look for with young receivers out here in this setting?
A: Probably most importantly is if they can digest the information, not repeating mistakes. That is an important part of the learning process for us. They have to be able to play fast, drop their weight, push out of breaks so they can create separation. If you can’t drop your weight and push out of breaks, it is tough to separate in this league. It doesn’t matter how fast you are, they need to be able to detail the way they catch the ball. They need to be able to pluck it away from their eyes and their body and do it on the front end of the ball.
He'll learn