Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka
Q: What part of the plan was turning (quarterback) Tommy DeVito into (Ravens quarterback) Lamar Jackson?
A: (Laughs) Listen, Tommy did a nice job. It was a good team win. He did a nice job just managing the game and getting us in and out of good and bad plays and executing, along with the other 11 guys.
Q: I was joking, just trying to find humor in it but his running ability, he really hasn't shown that. Just the idea of knowing when to do it and having a feel for that. Is that that something you guys worked a lot in practice last week? Did you talk about it?
A: Yeah, we emphasized it. Just the scramble drills and guys working for him and Tommy just stepping up in the pocket and if he saw a lane, being decisive and taking it. I think it's just kind of the feel of listening to your feet as a quarterback as you work through your progressions.
Re: how working on the scramble drills translated to the game
A: We've kind of always had that element of the quarterback run game. You saw it with (quarterback) Daniel (Jones), you saw it with (quarterback) Tyrod (Taylor) and now Tommy's had a couple snaps of that as well, so it's part of what we have on offense. On a given week, some weeks we like it a lot, some weeks we don't. It just kind of goes back to each week.
Q: How much harder is it playing a in dome for any quarterback? You've got a rookie who hasn't felt that yet. How do you prepare him for that kind of atmosphere?
A: His first start was in Dallas, in a dome, it was loud, one of those kind of atmospheres and this week will be no different. It's a loud atmosphere, it's a good defense so we've got to make sure to prep the right way.
Q: Are you going to use the indoor facility today to jack up the noise?
A: I believe so, that's where we're going to be at today, yeah.
Q: Curious. Obviously, Tommy went undrafted. The evaluation process from your perspective. What did you see from him? How much did you even look into him?
A: We did our evals of all the guys whether we had visits, or draft guys or guys for local pro day. We detail all that stuff out and watch as much as we can on those guys and put reports together of things that we liked. Tommy was one of those guys that was in our building actually for the local pro day, so we had the opportunity. It was different than a lot of other pro days. You get the opportunity to meet with them, have them in the meeting room, go out here and run our plays and then see them kind of throw it around a little bit, kind of get more a live picture of them. He certainly stood out and so that's why we're happy to have him.
Q: Why did he stand out? Do you remember anything specific?
A: I mean, we thought he did the best, performed the best. We thought he was one of the best ones in the classroom and then when he came out here in the rookie camp, he just kept on growing and growing and learning. He's a guy that fits what we want to do and a guy that we targeted.
Q: What specific trait did Tommy display to you that made him stand out? I mean, you see undrafted quarterbacks all the time and they look like a fish out of water.
A: When you have young quarterbacks, there's always that growth process and so you're always figuring out what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are. I think Tommy, on tape looking back, he was very comfortable in the pocket. He had a very nice, compact throwing motion. He can get out in space and run around a little bit, he's athletic. So, the things you saw in college, you try to take some of things, how they fit into the offense and as a young player, you're just constantly learning and learning and growing. For him, it was the mental side of it, so building our routine with him and how we can build and help him be a professional quarterback.
