Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka
Q: What are you the things that you learned about and liked about (quarterback) Tommy (DeVito) this summer when he was playing?
A: Tommy's continued to grow every single day that he's been here from rookie camp. Just learning the offense and understanding how to be a pro and doing all the little things, all the things that work into that. Whether it's studying, preparation, being in the huddle with the guys, being a leader and a teammate and then understanding what the NFL game is about and how much detail that goes into that. I think he's really honed in on that. Each week, you look his notes and it's just like getting better and better every single day, so that's probably the biggest thing.
Q: Ever since July when training camp started, he's always conducted himself as somebody who felt like he belongs, which can kind of be difficult for a free agent rookie. What is it about his confidence level that you've noticed? And is that rare?
A: He approaches the position with confidence, and obviously when you're playing quarterback, you want to have that confidence, you want to have that demeanor when you walk into the huddle. I think he has that. It's something that looks like he's had his whole life. He's a confident kid, not just on the field but also off the field, too. He brings an energy with him that kind of permeates throughout the room.
Q: Where did you first see that? When he arrived here, I guess, where did you see that confidence come in? Was it on the field? Was it in the meeting room?
A: You saw it really quickly, even when we had him in for that rookie camp in the meeting rooms interacting with him and then once you get on the field, there's a lot of learning. There's a lot of stuff and a lot of growing that goes with it, so it doesn't just come right away on the field, but I think as he got more comfortable within the system, got more comfortable with his specific job, I think you saw that growth there.
Q: You were a mid-round pick. It's pretty rare in the league, what do you think of the jump from undrafted rookie to starting as a rookie?
A: I think for him, just understand that it's an opportunity to take advantage of. It's obviously not something that happens all the time, like you said, but it's an opportunity, so he's got to go out there and take advantage of it.
Q: You've talked in the past about when you're a play caller, you're trying to get a feel for your offense. When you spend all summer getting a feel for one offense and now the offense is going to be reinvented twice in the last couple of weeks with different quarterbacks. How do you gain a feel of what your quarterback now can do with pieces that he really hasn't been with other than emergency situations in a game?
A: I think my time with that quarterback room, Tommy and all the guys in there, you spend time with them, and you try to get an understanding of what they like and what some of their favorites are. Obviously, you're doing that when you're calling games in the preseason and stuff like that and you're working through the gameplan of the week, and you look back at some of the stuff he did well in preseason or some of the stuff he did well in college and try to get a real good feel for how he likes to operate. Then you put together a plan that not only fits that person but all the other 10 guys on the field.
Q: You have that experience of trying to get up the ladder as far as rising up the depth chart. He mentioned yesterday his throws to (wide receiver Darius) Slayton were the first time he's ever thrown to Darius. Things like that, is that what you guys are trying to speed up over the last – yesterday, today and tomorrow? The idea that he's now playing with essentially teammates but new guys.
A: We're working that throughout the practice and getting everyone on the same page and he's done a great job of bringing those guys together and talking through with them and opening those lines of communication, whether it's with the coaching staff or with the players. I think that's just part of the process when you have something like this, it's not necessarily just at quarterback, it's at any position. When you have a new person in there, you've got to ramp up those levels of communication and detail.
Q: I know you saw him in Week 1, but how do you have a plan for (Cowboys linebacker) Micah Parsons?
A: Micah's a really great player. They have a lot of great players on that defense, so we've got to make sure that we put together a great plan that we can support. Support those guys and make sure that we handle some of the things they do up front, handle some of the things that they do on the backend and put our players in the best position to be successful.
Q: The Cowboys lead the league in pressure percentage. They're at 45 percent or right around there. What's the key in your mind to slowing that defense down?
A: I think the biggest part is putting together a plan that our guys can go out there and execute. Whether it's in the run game, in the pass game, things where our guys can play fast. These guys play a fast style of defense, an aggressive style of defense, so we have to be able to match that and I think having the right mentality throughout this week of practice, putting together the right plan for those guys to do that, I think that's going to give us a chance.
Q: Is it too simple to think that if they're a good pressure defense that the easiest way to beat them is to just run at them?
A: I don't think there's one way to do that. I think you have to be multiple. I think in this league if you just do one thing, I think teams kind of bank on that little bit. So, you want to be multiple, we want to make sure we have a wide variety of things we can use, whether it's run game, pass game, movements, play actions, all the different variables within that with motions and shifts and stuff so we want to try to be as variable as possible.,
Q: (Tackle) Andrew Thomas thought he was a little rusty in his own words, but he kind of got comfortable in the second half. What did you see? And obviously having him back out there kind of changed some things.
A: It was great to have him back out there, you saw it right away. I don't know if I would disagree with him, but I think he did a great job in the game. I think the more he's going to play, the better he's going to look. I think it's one of those things, he's a leader, he's a captain, he's back in the huddle. That whole
offensive line now ramps up, it's a little bit more juice there, too. He certainly sets the tone and tempo for that group.
A: I mean we had things going the way we wanted, the ship was lined up, not descending too fast, elevators were working hard into the wind, ultimately it just got away from us a little just before hook-up. It might have been the hydrogen . . .