Hey guys, today this is kind of just an estimation since we're just going jog through today.

So the guys that would be limited would be Alaric, Terrence, Ferguson, and Nate Landman.

And then the guys that will be DNPs will be Colby Parkinson, Cam Kitchens, Jordan Whittington, and Puka Nakua.

I'm not sure.

I would say it's more likely than not, but we'll see.

These soft tissue things, I wish I had better information.

But can you, as best you can describe, just the nanoseconds between when the ball is hiked and when we actually see the throw, all that is going on in his mind and the processing and all of that kind of advanced QB stuff that separates him from, frankly, most quarterbacks in history?

Yeah, I think the biggest thing I would say is mentally and physically he's able to execute things where it goes really fast for other people, but I think the game slows down a little bit.

There's an intrinsic feel for the timing and rhythm.

When you just talk about the way the ball leaves his hand, I think these elite quarterbacks...

Especially, you know, if you're having to kind of, you know, navigate and negotiate, you know, a congested pocket or throw around guys, they've got this ability right before that leaves your last, you know, fingertip, you know, to be able to correct and adjust, you know, to be able to get it accurately thrown wherever they want.

what type of ball it is.

And I mean, you look at, if you were able to just talk to him about the way that the ball comes out of his hand and when he's feeling good about how it's jumping out of his hand and some of the different last second corrections that he can make based on, you know, split second, you know, just moving points, you know, it is, it is pretty rare.

Tell me about the relationship between Devontae Adams and Matthew Stafford and how things changed when we found out Puka wasn't going to play.

Yeah,

no, I, I, I was encouraging, you know, I was coaching them up on some of those bang, bang types of plays, you know, body it and prevent them from playing through you as opposed to kind of using your hands.

There's some situations you actually want to body it where guys are in a position to be able to play aggressively through your hands and it's tough, but yeah.

He's a stud.

I'm not responsible for anything I say during games.

I black out during games.

So, but I was encouraging him.

And then finally, I know at the end of your press conference, you, you may, you made a joke at your own expense a little bit, but you know, what precipitated that? And did your, do you feel like your team responded kind of exactly the way you hoped it would? Yeah, they

All right, guys.

First of all, I thought our group did a great job tonight.

I thought our defense really was outstanding from the very jump.

We had a couple turnovers offensively.

Not getting points at the end of the half was disappointing, but I did think the way that we responded, I thought we got the running game going a little bit in the second half, but I did feel our defense's pressure.

the presence all night you know where you can see they never got comfortable hopefully you know dart is okay but you can feel even with winston a really good quarterback that i got a lot of respect for we were able to kind of you know apply pressure to him i thought we were sticking coverage guys did a really good job and then i thought you know our line did a great job protecting to allow matthew and davante to have a bunch of cool connections anytime you go eight for 195 is a pretty special deal but um the cool thing is there's a lot of stuff we can clean up too and that's a good football team I was proud of the way that we responded, and we've got to be able to look at the things that we can improve upon.

Can you talk to me about the power of trust And why is it important for a coach to trust his

players? Yeah, well, I think the players would be better equipped to answer that.

How did Miles' surgery

Went good.

He's feeling good.

You already see he had crutches yesterday, and then he was walking without crutches today.

So he's like Wolverine, healing fast.

You know, I'm reluctant to put a timeline on it.

You know, we've kind of talked about it, but, you know, we know that he's going to miss, you know, those four weeks at a minimum.

What are the benchmarks that you're looking for with Aaron in terms of deciding whether it's this week or next week? It's

Tell me about taking on Coach Harbaugh, who's brand new here with the Giants.

Yeah, he's a great coach.

Obviously, we're close to the Miami of Ohio connection.

He's always been great to me, great competitor, but I think you saw it.

There's a toughness that he coaches with that I think the team took on the personality of him and their coaching staff, and they did a great job, but they're going to be sound.

They're going to be tough.

They're going to be really difficult in the kicking game.

What did you get from your grandfather more than anything else that maybe you use now that a young guy who was around pro football as a kid that you might be able to use as you run your own team now?

What needs to happen in order for that to be true at the end of this story?

Us use it as a growth opportunity.

Not allow that game to beat us twice.

Let's look at it and then let's be totally and completely present with how we move forward.

Let's understand some of the things in terms of our style of play, the things that we've emphasized that we fully believe as coaches.

And I know our players feel the same way that we're capable of doing that.

Stringing together good plays, playing complimentary football, you know, as poorly as things went for us in that game to be down three at halftime.

Or did you? There were some opportunities

At what point did you guys realize that Myles was at a situation where IR was a possibility? Like, at what point did it get to that severe that IR was what you wanted to do?

It was right after.

I mean, honestly, after I talked with him after the game, after I had spoken with you guys and just seeing, you know, just how he felt, you know, where you look at it, we thought it was something that we'd be able to kind of manage it.

That wasn't necessarily the case.

And so having that evidence and then being able to say, what's the next right thing.

So it was right after the game, just in terms of listening to how he felt, how he was able to impact the game, you know, and even just like what you guys saw with how limited that we had to be with him.

Obviously, we thought we were doing the right thing.

Just how you see them and their performance and also how they can contribute to the team moving forward and both kind of building on roles from previous years.

Unfulfilled by winning and devastated by losing, McVeigh considered stepping away for a career in broadcasting.

Those are... tough words from your wife.

You know, I think it was the wake-up call that I needed.

You say run away from, which is different from pivot to or turn to.

Yeah, I would have been quitting.

You know, that would have been the truth.

I would have been quitting because I couldn't handle the losses.

There's honor in the pushing

So I know there's a lot of factors in it, but what do you think

I think there was opportunities in the second half.

It's a three-point game at half.

They did a good job getting that drive.

We go right down the field, and then we don't get in on the QB sneak, and then things kind of just got out of hand from there.

But there was a lot of things that didn't go well, but I think the first thing I look at it is where can I improve Where can I put our players in better positions to have successful outcomes? I love that locker room.

I love those guys.

a team?

Right?

Yeah, and he's kind of one of those guys that is very unique in the way that he's taking care of himself.

What's unique is the way that he went out, the way that he took care of himself through those 10 years, and then the way that he's taken care of himself these last couple years.

Now, there's some nuances that he would be able to really articulate at a an amazing level some of the things that he's looking to be able to sharpen up and just get a comfort with as far as you know playing 11 on 11 high progression hand fits taking on double teams rush transition being able to rush four as one where do I fit in some of the things schematically that he's gotten up to speed pretty quickly on but he's you know I think you see that term one of one thrown around pretty loosely but he's one of those guys that fits that bill and um and we'll be excited to get him back but it's a good thing to have to pull him back and um and when he does come back you know it's a long season you don't minimize every single game is so important we want him out there but but I do I think what's great for our group is feel great about the you know the guys that are going to be playing in Australia

And for a safety room that's bringing back

It's huge.

It's a big deal, and they're such a vital part of our communication.

When you look at it, that spot, really when you go up the defense, it's vital to be able to communicate to your corners, to your second level.

How do you approach this mentally and as a leader, the fact that you have a disruption like this in your schedule and not the day-to-day stuff, but just in general, how you handle like keeping people on track, keeping focused, keeping the main thing, the main thing?

I think you acknowledge, here's the things that we're going to do, and then here's the things that we're not going to waste emotional, mental, and physical energy on.

We don't control where we play.

That was a decision that was above something we could control.

So this is the thing that I think our players, and I would hope that they all feel this way, is everything we do is with them in mind and what's in their best interest.

And let's follow those protocols and the things that we would ask to make it as smooth of a trip as possible.

um let's try to do everything in our power with carter and the rest of our group all the many people that are beyond the scenes do an amazing job of facilitating a smooth travel plan that hopefully will go that way of letting it be you know as much focus and concentration on you know traveling as safely and as smartly as possible let's get there and then let's go play the best of our ability uh when the time comes to kick off and so i i think um What we try to do is focus on the things we can control and then just really abide by clear parameters that guys can follow so that it's seamless and then they feel as fresh as possible.

Is that what you kind of see from this roster? heading into the season?

It's been a good day today.

It was good to be able to get our guys in the practice squad.

Aaron not being out there was part of the plan all along.

So that was kind of par for the course.

And then players voted on captains.

We've got as much leadership as we've ever had since I've been the coach here.

Stewart as well Yep, those

guys were just really erring on the side of caution and knowing that we've got these three days off, they were a little bit sore and so we were being smart with them and then we'll have, I mean, my days are all messed up.

Okay, guys, first of all, really proud of the group.

I thought they did a great job really throughout the preseason, and it was a great opportunity for a lot of our coaches to get experiences that I've kind of shared that I got a chance to get when I was in some different roles.

And I thought really just the way that our guys improved, but really proud of them.

And, you know, and now here we go.

We're looking forward to being able to start our preparation on the 49ers.

We know what a great challenge it's going to be.

Do you like where the team is at this point? I

do, you know, and there's always, you know, it's never-ending constant evolution and improvement, constant growth.

It's wild.

I don't know enough about it other than the fact that guys that can be in NFL camps, if it doesn't go down for them, they can go back to college.

I mean, I don't even understand it.

It's true.

I mean, I'm looking at this stuff.

I'm like, surely that's not real.

But I just try to stay in my lane.

What's the balance between kind of splitting that up and getting –

When you say behind the, stuff going on behind the scenes, is it specific to the quarterbacks or just-

No, no, just in general.

There's just a lot of stuff that we manage, you know, that I think you can realize.

I mean, sucks, we had to injury settle three players this morning, you know, and one of them that we've been with for a handful of years, and so there's, you know ...

When you've got 90 guys and then you're trying to figure out how do you get through the pre-season stuff with the approach that we take, there are some obstacles that you have to really be able to kinda manage, which I think it is important.

It doesn't mean that it doesn't create some hoops and things to be able to work through.

Feel like we've had probably 120 total guys in this camp it seems like.

As you approach roster cut down day, um, with decisions like how many quarterbacks, how many at the position you're gonna keep, when you came into training camp, did you have an idea roughly about how you would allocate those when you made decisions like during the draft and during free agency? Or is it something that will come down to later this week?

Okay guys, I thought it was a really just good team effort.

Awesome to see so many guys making plays.

I thought really Stetson did a really good job in the first half.

I thought Ty did a nice job being efficient in the second half.

To be able to do some different things as far as the two minute drive was excellent.

The two turnovers in the tight red area to be able to prevent them from scoring was big.

Is it obvious to you the confidence growth of Stetson just from year to year and the way he's taken over leadership?

I think so.

So having, having worked with Dallas and the Saints, what have these joint practices shown you about the team going into the season?

Well, these are learning opportunities for us.

You know, we don't game plan, so I think we play rules ball.

It really tests our rules, and I'm looking forward to being able to watch the film, figure out where we can clean some things up or add some different stuff.

Um, but it's really just an opportunity to take a step in the right direction.

And most importantly, we've been going against each other for what feels like a while now, so see some different schemes really in all three phases is beneficial and, and being able to go against some stuff where you're kinda testing your rules and, and mainly for our first guys that don't play in the pre-season, we've really tried to use these joint practices to supplement that, where we can get more reps, more of a controlled setting.

You're almost trying to get what would be equivalent to a normal game.

in terms of determining what's happening, are, are you looking to see like, is Stetson doing enough that you don't have to play him that much in the pre-season, or is Ty doing so well that, you know, you keep playing him-

... where did it come from?

I would say the essence of what it really comes from is what we learned in COVID, that the more that we can keep guys in their normal rhythm and routine, um, the better off.

And then there are certain things based on time zones, time allotted to adjust your circadian rhythm.

But I'm a big believer that, you know, how long can we keep our players in a comfortable rhythm? Some of those things are outside of my area of expertise that I've been educated on, but everything that we do is geared towards what we think is best for our players.

Um, and that'll always be the case as long as I'm fortunate enough to be the coach here.

And so that was really, you know, whether it's traveling from West Coast to East Coast, whether it's staying in Baltimore and traveling a little bit later than most teams are accustomed to, to, you know, in London.

But what we do believe in is doing our research, trusting the people that are responsible for giving us, um, the information, and then ultimately make the decisions that are best for our players.

What have been your impressions- Last one ... of the special teams as a whole, uh, since camp started, and what gives you confidence that it can be sort of a cleaner operation than last year?

What else does, does he just have to call sooner? And what is the prep look like for them, like getting ready to handle that?

It's a good question.

I think you'd probably have to ask them.

Um, but I would imagine that it's, you know, it's putting the call sheet, going through the calls and the different scenarios.

You know, I mean, you know, one of the things, I mean, I remember Bill Walsh used to say this, you know, there's a lot of situations that come up within the game, and if you kind of almost play the game before the game so that you can be decisive.

I think the most important thing is, is giving clarity to the players on the decision that you have so that they can make their calls and then be able to go execute with as much clarity as possible within, whether it's offensively when you decide the ball's snapped or defensively when the offense decide that it's snapped.

And so I was pleased with the overall operation.

How do you, what is your mindset during a game when you're not calling plays? Is that hard for you?

What does that tell you about him and in terms of the moment not being too big for him and also just settling in?

I think all of those things that you really just asked with the question Vinny kind of answers it itself where he really settled in, did a great job.

I think it's a tremendous credit to just the way that he's worked.

Dave Ragone does such a great job with that room as a whole and obviously Matthew's leadership and I thought Nate really did a nice job of putting him in a lot of good spots that accentuate his skill sets but The other 10 guys around him were able to do their job.

We were able to kind of sustain, get some first downs, be efficient on early downs that allow some other stuff.

And you kind of have that good balance.

And Nate stayed aggressive on the early downs, which gave Ty an opportunity to deliver.

What do you like in particular about the way he picked and chose the spots as far as when to push the ball downfield versus

From the, uh, the tape that you guys were able to see against the Cowboys, were you able to see some explosive plays offensively that you would like to see?

Yeah, I thought there was some good stuff.

You know, like, like I talked about the other day, um, you know, I was more interested in kind of our style of play, not necessarily, you know, testing our rules and different things like that.

I thought our guys came out, they were ready to go.

I thought there was a physical style of play.

I thought there was a toughness illustrated really in all three phases, and I thought, you know, I got a lot of respect for the Cowboys.

I thought they did a great job, and thought it was good to be able to go against somebody else.

What did you see out of your defense against the Cowboys when you went back and watched it?

[laughs]

Yes.

Okay.

Um, you know, it was a lot of good work that we got today against an excellent opponent.

It's kind of bouncing back and forth.

I thought the teams' periods were competitive, and most importantly, we can learn.

And I like the way that really both groups competed.

[laughs]

Sean, there's certain people he's working out with.

Yeah, he was working.

So it was actually here on our players day off just because we had all the equipment and worked out with, you know, Giff Smith put him through a workout.

Reggie Scott and Justin Lovett were there, but he's been going, you know, he's got such an intentional routine and rhythm.

He's had his same speed trainer that he's worked out with throughout his whole career that He has back at home or back in Pittsburgh that he's brought out here.

And so he's taking great care of himself, as we all know.

But getting ready to play football and just kind of working out the way that he has, there's a little bit of a different rhythm and routine.

should we reflect on the contrast of last season, how staff are having uncertainty to now we're talking about the speculation of Aaron Donald, how different this camp feels from

But what was step one? I mean, in season, what was the pivot? What were those conversations, and where did you start with the season?

What do they say? Desperation is the mother of invention, or, you know.

It was by necessity.

I mean, really, the origin of it was after we lost that Thursday night game against the 49ers, we were not very good in short yardage situations.

And so you're really saying, "What are some ways that we can close edges?" We've got capable tight ends, and so really the origin was going into the Baltimore game, some of the different things that they had prevent- presented in tight red zone, short yardage or four minute if you're trying to close out the game.

Let's get into some personnel groupings that allow us to have just longer edges, uh, to be more efficient in short yardage.

Well, then you fast-forward to that fash- you know, fast-forward to that game.

I know it's early days.