Head Coach Joe Judge
Opening Statement: We'll progress a little bit with a normal Friday in terms of reviewing all the situations, the big four, going through the entire game plan. It's been a good, productive week for us so far. It's been very good for the team being out here. I'm very appreciative of the University of Arizona extending the facilities, what they've offered and worked with us on. Couldn't be more grateful. I know they're very busy themselves right now, they're in the middle of a big recruiting weekend, so the staff themselves are all back in off the road. There's a lot of gymnastics going on in the building, but they've completely let us have free run of whatever we want, whatever we need. Couldn't be more appreciative of that. With that being said, we'll open up to any questions.
Q: Where does (Quarterback) Mike (Glennon) stand in the protocol?
A: Everything's on track. He's obviously going to do a final clearance today with the doctor. He'll practice with us today. We'll have to simulate some contact for him today off on the side and then he'll talk to the doctor and we'll see where it goes from there.
Q: He'll start if he's cleared?
A: At this moment, if he's cleared and he's at the game, Mike will start.
Q: How's (Wide Receiver) Kadarius (Toney) progressing?
A: Actually, he had a good day yesterday. He's moving along, he's very in-tune to the game plan. I'd say we'll see how it goes today early in practice with the trainers, see if he gets a chance to get out there and get more involved. I'd say his ability mentally to function at multiple positions and understand what it is in the game plan – he's a guy that, along with (Cornerback) Adoree' (Jackson), I wouldn't hesitate if it goes all the way to game time to make a decision.
Q: Mike has been limited every day because he has to be listed as limited. If he gets to play, if he gets cleared, how much has he missed this week as opposed to a normal week where he's not in the protocol?
A: Minimal.
Q: How's (Quarterback) Daniel (Jones)? Anything new from today or since yesterday?
A: No, still isn't cleared for contact. Obviously, he's out here moving around. We'll practice with him today again and then we'll see if he clears. Still not cleared for contact.
Q: What did you see from (Quarterback) Mike (Glennon) last week when he did play? What does he have to do better?
A: I think as an entire offense we have to keep progressing on through, making sure we make the right decisions and then make the plays when they're in front of us. We've got to do a good job of putting the guys in position and then we've got to execute when it comes our way. I liked some of the things Mike did last week. There were a lot of things he did within the game that are encouraging. There are some things we have to coach and correct off of, make sure we don't repeat certain mistakes, but Mike prepares very well. He's got experience in this league, so we have faith in him.
Q: You've been described as a conservative head coach at least in terms of some outside perception. Do you agree with that? Why or why not?
A: To which regard 'conservative'?
Q: In terms of whether it's decision-making, play calling, when you're doing certain things at certain times.
A: I think I look at everything situationally. We've talked about different factors before. Was it the analytics factor? Is it the gun slinger factor? What's it going to be? You've got to balance that out and play situational to the game. I say it all the time, sometimes people look at not being aggressive because you punt the ball. Alright, well sometimes you're being extra aggressive saying, 'No, I know our defense is going to go out there and stop these guys.' So, I'm being aggressive with our defense to go out there and make a play and get the field position back for the offense. It all depends on how you define aggressiveness. I've gone for it on fourth down, I've got no problem doing that. I've got no problem running fakes. We've got them in every week. When the situation arises, I'll go ahead and I'll pull the trigger on it. In terms of conservative, we're going to call the game that the flow of the game needs to be called and we're going to do things situationally that puts us in a position to have success. There have been decisions I've made in the past, whether it was more on the aggressive side than people say on the outside or more on the conservative side, that I break down and look at what I've done and say, 'Okay, don't want to make that decision again in the future. Maybe that was a little bit too aggressive early on and we didn't really need that at the end of the game.' Maybe you look at the matchup and where you think you are as a team and you say, 'Okay, we've got to press it a little bit more early in the game as opposed to sit back and let it declare.' That's independent of each opponent, where you're at every week as a team. In terms of any labels on the outside, I'm really not concerned with that at all. I put us in position for the best chance to have success every week and I'm going to going to call the game situationally throughout. I look at everything from a big-picture perspective.
Q: How hard was it to hear about (Former NFL Wide Receiver) Demaryius Thomas?
A: I woke up this morning and (his wife) Amber texted me throughout the night. I woke up with the text that he had passed. D.T. is – obviously, you take all of his athletic accomplishments, and they don't hold a candle to the kind of person he was. Just character and just a quality human being. Look, I got to coach him for a brief period of time, but I'd say the impact he had on me as a coach, my approach to the game with a lot of the players, it was profound. Watching this guy as he led as a player – this guy was able to be a leader to the team as an older, experienced player, but he was on PUP at the time. He was hurt. There was a good amount of a chunk of time that I was together with him that he wasn't even active on the field. So, it's tough as a player to have any kind of an impact on the team when you're not out there competing every day, but his ability of almost transcending being a player and almost being a coach at times with the way he would share wisdom and talk through techniques, the hours that he would sit in my office when we talked through game plans. We talked through route technique, we talked through defensive recognition, we talked through how he sees it on the field. It was tremendous. But all the football stuff aside, none of that holds a candle to what kind of person this guy was and I think everybody he interacted with, he impacted. There's a lot of guys in our building right now, there's a lot of guys throughout the league that are affected by this. There are a lot of guys in our building directly. I'm not going to speak for (Wide Receivers Coach) Tyke (Tolbert), but Tyke's a guy who was extremely, extremely close with D.T. Extremely close with him and it affects his entire family. (Long Snapper) Casey Kreiter was a teammate of his. They had a strong relationship. There's a lot of guys through this league – it's a small league anyway – but there's a lot of guys that crossed paths with this guy that he had an impact on. You hear news like that, there's no good way to take it. It kind of makes you reflect back on how fortunate we are for any opportunity we have every day and you never really know when it ends.
