Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka
Q: Can you take us through the halftime conversations with Dabs (Head Coach Brian Daboll) when it came to the quarterback switch?
A: Well, I'll keep those conversations private. Whatever Dabs wants to kind of disclose on that, but a decision was made, and we went with that.
Q: For a rookie like JMS (center John Michael Schmitz Jr.), just how big of a challenge is going up against a guy like (Rams defensive lineman) Aaron Donald up front?
A: Aaron Donald is a Hall of Fame type player. He's a really good, talented player. He plays in a good scheme that's well coached. It's going to be a big challenge, not for just a rookie but for everyone on the front line.
Q: In that Eagles game, how does (wide receiver) Jalin Hyatt not have a target? I look at his speed and just say, 'maybe you give him a chance and he hits a big one.'
A: I think there was a few calls there that we had for him and just didn't get the coverage. Sometimes that happens, but every week is different and every week we're looking to improve to get everyone involved in the offense.
Q: What did you see from (quarterback) Tyrod (Taylor) in the second half?
A: I think Tyrod did a great job just stepping up. He made some big plays, he did some nice things with the football, with his legs. I was not shocked. I think he's a guy that's going to prep and do it the right way and he did a nice job stepping in for us.
Q: Does the playbook open up anymore with a veteran like Tyrod compared to an undrafted rookie (quarterback Tommy DeVito)?
A: I think there's differences, you're going to build the gameplan around each player's strengths. Whether it's quarterback, running back, receivers, o-line, you want to build the best game plan you can around the guys (and) what they do best.
Q: What are specifically Tyrod's strengths?
A: He's been in the league for 13 years; I think there's a lot that he does, not just on the field but as a leader, as a good teammate. I think Tyrod does a hell of a job in the huddle getting guys organized, so there's a lot of things that he does just outside of playing the quarterback position that makes him special.
Q: On the touchdown to (wide receiver Darius) Slayton, obviously, the throw was right on the money. Slayton's body control doesn't really get as much attention as his speed but to be able to – what kind of skill does he need in that situation to not only make the catch, but then kind of stop himself, start again and then get to the endzone?
A: It was, number one, a great route. Great job by the o-line, great protection up front. Tyrod gave him a great ball and he went down there and grabbed it. So great concentration, great catch, great balance, and he's a tremendous athlete with great speed so it wasn't shocking to see him make a play like that. He's done that several times this year. It was just a hell of a play.
Q: You mentioned Tyrod's huddle organization. How long does that take for a quarterback to get that under their belt and a person like Tommy who's only played six games?
A: I think in the NFL it's different over the last – call it 10 years, where you see in the college game a lot of teams are 'no huddling' so there's not a huddle mechanism at the college level as much as there is in the NFL level. So, you're getting signals from the sidelines, you're getting boards and those type of things, so when you get young players, that's kind of an adjustment. Whether it's receivers, whether it's the quarterback, it's kind of an adjustment period of getting the guys in the huddle, talking to them, getting through the situations, talking about the cadence and all those type of things, the play call. I think as you get young players, it takes time to develop, the more comfortable they get, some guys are faster than others. So, it just takes time. Everyone's a little bit different.
Q: How was Tommy with that just in the games that he was able to play?
A: As a young guy, it kind of was that process where it started off a little slow then it just got better each and every day and he worked to improve on it and he's gotten to a point where he's very comfortable in and out the huddle.
Q: I don't know if this would've made a difference but after (tight end Darren) Waller's catch in the late there seemed to be like, 'should I get off? Should I get on?' it was like a little bit of an extra run off, you might have one more play. What happened in that situation?
A: Waller landed funny or got hit and he was in that kind of no man's land where we've got to keep him on the field just to get the ball spotted. Wherever they spot it, you don't want to get that 10 second run off for an injured player. Obviously, his health is super important to us, but I thought he toughed it out and tried to get set as fast as he could and get the ball set and snapped so we could have at least one more play.
Q: Why didn't they bring the ball to the middle? What's the rule on that? I know (running back) Saquon (Barkley) ran over there and brought it to the middle. Why were they standing there with the ball on the side?
A: The procedure would be is that if you're the ball carrier, you catch it and you get tackled in bounds, you run it to the hash and get the ball spotted. Whether it's the center or giving it to the ref, but in that scenario, Barkley made a hell of a smart play and just went and grabbed it just to get the ball spotted where Waller was kind of in that spot of does he wasn't to run off or does he want to stay on there. We were telling our guys to stay on the field. Again, the injury side of it, there's a fine line right there in making sure the guy is okay, but he toughed it out and got the ball spotted for us.
Q: Now if he comes off in that situation, I know the injury runoff, but if he comes off, then it gives the defense time to substitute so that probably would've led to even more time coming off.
A: Exactly, yeah. If it was an injury timeout, it would have been a 10 second runoff. No, under two minutes if you sub on and off, there's no substitution time.
Q: Going into that game, did you think a quarterback change midgame was a possibility? Was that something you guys had talked about as something that was possible?
A: No, I think Dabs had hit it. It was kind of one of those things that wanted to see a spark for the offense.
