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Transcript: Head Coach Joe Judge

Eric from BBI : Admin : 9/25/2020 2:17 pm
Head Coach Joe Judge

September 25, 2020

Q: Are you going to bring in a fifth receiver for this game, and if so, will you name him?

A: We have a lot of discussions ahead after practice. There are a couple more things we have to look at today in terms of some third down review, red area install. We’ll see where it goes today in practice. We’ll finalize those discussions really tomorrow morning as a staff.

Q: This a little bit of a psychological question. You can either answer it or dismiss it I guess. Do you think that a team will win when it’s ready to win? That everything has its time and place. That a team needs to learn how to win, and when it does that, it will?

A: I think a team will win when it executes on the field for 60 minutes the way it needs to. To kind of sum that up, you can summarize that and say ‘when you’re ready, you execute for 60 minutes.’ But I’m pleased with the improvement I’m seeing from our team. We just need to string it together on the field and let these guys go ahead and get some tangible results for the work they’re putting in.

Q: Kyle Shanahan announced its officially (Nick) Mullens. Your thoughts on him? He actually played against the Giants two years ago. Will you guys go back, pick some of your players’ brains who are still around here about that game and look at that film? Or is that too old, you need more recent?

A: We use all the resources we have, whether that’s a player who was on the field and may remember something about it, coaches in the building at the time, and all the game tape, obviously. Nick is a good quarterback. He’s a competitive dude, he’s a tough dude. I talked about it earlier, that Southern Miss mentality. These guys are really overachieving type guys. He’s comfortable in the pocket, gets the ball out of his hands really quick, he’s an accurate passer. I can’t say over and over enough how competitive this guy is and how much we expect this guy to fight and give his team every advantage possible.

Q: I have a question that’s kind of left over from the last game, but it’ll come up again. I’m just curious on your thought process. It seems like there are two schools of thought on when to use timeouts, and you used yours maybe on the earlier side. Just curious what goes into that process for you?

A: I’d say it’s always geared towards a specific situation of the game. Last Sunday, we thought that was the best opportunity to go ahead and stop the clock and save as much time as possible for our offense to get back on the field with enough time to move the ball. There are sometimes we want to save more timeouts for our offense. There are other times we’re on defense, I feel it’s best to save those 40 seconds at a click.

Q: I also wanted to ask you about Carter Coughlin. I’ve seen him at practice, he’s been working with the inside linebackers. What made you move him in there and what have you seen from him?

A: He’s a young player, so we’re trying to look at him in a couple different positions. Obviously, he has roles for us in the kicking game. He played mostly outside linebacker through camp. There were some discussions early in training camp about looking at him inside. We’ve had the opportunity to do that the last few weeks. He’s made some progress there. The more versatility he has playing inside and outside really adds to our depth at the games.

Q: Your schedule is obviously not going to get any easier. How badly does this team need a win in your estimation?

A: Look, we prepare every week to win. We do everything we can. Yeah, it’s the NFL. That’s what we’re paid for on a weekly basis, that’s what our guys work for. We’re preparing every week to do the same thing.

Q: I just wanted to know what’s impressed you most about Andrew Thomas? I know you guys obviously dug very deep about him, you saw him in the summer. But these first two weeks, to see a rookie go through what he’s gone through, what has impressed you most about his approach and really how he’s shown up on the field?

A: The athleticism always stands out with him, whether it was the tape coming out of Georgia or early in training camp we got to see him in person. The athleticism definitely stands out, but I’d say how mentally tough he is. This guy has had some really elite pass rushers over him the last couple weeks. It’s only going to be the same thing throughout the remainder of our schedule. Everybody is very talented. But I think the way his career has started already with who he’s facing off of, he understands there are no easy days in the National Football League. His approach on a daily basis to improve, to learn from previous mistakes and to go ahead and compete throughout it. He gets great work throughout our practices. We go one on ones or two vs. two against the defensive line, he gets to see really good pass rushers off the edge, whether it’s Zo (Carter) or Leonard (Williams), whoever it may be, on a daily basis. He prepares for the games on Sunday, but this guy never really looks fazed in anything he does. He has a quiet demeanor, but it’s a serious demeanor. Once he starts talking, he’ll chatter a little bit to you. But he’s very focused and locked in, and it translates over to how he plays in the game.

Q: I know you pay attention to details across the board, but I would imagine that it’s fair to say from the beginning of the season, that is certainly near the top of your list wanting to see how your rookie left tackle is going to accept these challenges. Have you been kind of focused on that a little bit more?

A: Absolutely. It’s generic to say I’ve been watching every single player. That’s absolutely true. But obviously, you’ve been watching Andrew the entire time as well, the matchups he’s had and how he’s handled it. Not everything has been perfect. This guy is learning, but he’s really competing and he’s progressing. This guy has the ability to be a really good player in this league for some time.

Q: Kind of piggybacking off that, how would you assess the play of your entire offensive line throughout the first two weeks?

A: We’re progressing on a weekly basis. The guys had a good week of practice this week. I’m looking forward to getting them on the field. I thought we improved from Week 1 to Week 2. We have to see more improvement in Week 3.
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