Head Coach Mike Smith, Aug. 11
Q: After looking at Saturday’s tape, what were some things that stood out positively and negatively?
A: "It was good to get back out on the field this morning and get the game out of our way. We watched a little bit of tape this morning. There were a number of positive things. One thing that I thought was most positive was that we were very physical. We played against a very physical team and I thought we matched their physicality. I thought in the first half we went toe-to-toe with those guys. I thought Matt (Ryan) came in and threw the ball extremely well. He operated very well under those circumstances. It was by design to get him in with the first unit and to get him playing against a solid defense. I also thought Jason Snelling did some very good things. Not only running the ball, which he averaged eight yards per carry, but he had a great catch and run on that screen pass. He made some guys miss so I was impressed with him. Some of our young guys played extremely well for the first time. Curtis Lofton had some impressive plays. Chevis Jackson started that game as a rookie playing nickel and corner and he played well. Brent is small in stature and height, but he can play big. He had two opportunities for interceptions. There were overall a lot of positives. On the flip side of that, from watching the tape and evaluating, there are a number of things we need to get better at. The first thing was that were entirely too many penalties. We had 10 offensive penalties and seven of those were procedural. We are going to kill ourselves when we get in first and fifteen or third and long situations. The other thing we are going to work on is we had three turnovers on the plus side of the fifty and we only came away with 10 points,a field goal and touchdown. That is when you have the advantage and you could convert those situations into points. We kind of hurt ourselves. We didn’t have the production we would like to have when we have those types of turnovers."
Q: Are you going to wait until the end of the week to get your quarterback situations in order or do you have a set rotation?
A: "We have a set rotation. We are going to do the same thing we did last Thursday. We will announce who is going to start then we will work through the rotation. As we said from the beginning, we are going to give everyone a chance to play with the first team. We will set all of that up on Thursday."
Q: It looked like Lawyer (Milloy) and (Keith) Brooking had good games out there. Are you asking them to incorporate the young new people?
A: "It is a different situation for those guys when they are coming in. There are a lot of young players who haven’t had a lot of experience. We need for those guys to step up and they have really accepted those roles. They have started to mentor those young players and they are trying to get those guys in line and on board as quick as possible. I think that Laywer and (Brooking) only played two series each, but when they were out there, they were productive. Especially Lawyer. He had three unassisted tackles in 16 plays. That was nice to see."
Q: What took Dahl so long to get into a training camp dust up?
A: "Well, I don’t know. I do know that he got a lot of practice in and was getting after folks. I thought our offensive line did a great job getting after them (Jacksonville Jaguars.) I thought there were some examples of our guys playing right through the whistle. I think that when you do that you can frustrate your opponent. I think Coach (Paul) Boudreau and Coach (Paul) Dunn have done a nice job of having those guys play with a nasty attitude."
Q: Can you elaborate about what you saw from Chevis (Jackson) technique wise?
A: "As far as knowing what he needed to do in the schemes we called defensively, he schematically did a nice job. He really made a couple of plays on the ball that were impressive. He is progressing extremely well. He has got to continue to go because each week there is going to be more offenses he has to defend."
RELATED LINKS:
- COVERAGE: Click here for complete coverage from 2008 Russell Falcons Training Camp
- NOTEBOOK: Ryan pleased with first professional game
- TRANSCRIPT: Head Coach Mike Smith
- RELEASE: Falcons waive/injured tight end Listorti
- VIDEO: Head Coach Mike Smith | Brent Grimes | Matt Ryan | Chevis Jackson | Keith Brooking
- BIRDSEED: J. Mike reviews and comments on Falcons news
- J. MIKE'S BLOG: Loyal Leadership
- MOOKIE'S BLOG: Some Shots from the Jacksonville Game
