 100 yard games in general, is that a good thing for a run? I mean, do you look back 100 yard games, say that clearly a pretty good game if I hit 100? If you run for 100 yards in an NFL game, yes, I think that's good. Yeah. What makes 100, like everyone talks about 100, what makes that special mark, do you think? I think just having success in the run game, dominating the line of scrimmage, running back, finishing runs, and getting everything he can out of a run. And just being efficient and playing at a high level all game. I mean, that takes a lot of detail and fundamentals in each and every play, if you'd have success. You and the offense in line, you sit on top of the NFL and Russian yards. Is that something you kind of envisioned during this offseason when you were putting in the work? No, I mean, I don't really try to put that as a stamp. It's we got to be number one. But I think just me playing at a high level or having efficiency affecting the game by the way I play, whether I have the ball or if I don't have the ball, being the best teammate I can be, and us just being tied together and having the will and wanting to dominate each game in line of scrimmage and doing the job the best we can. You told us home runs would come. You had 54 yard or there, which certainly qualifies. You've run great. But you've gotten caught a couple times, which didn't ever used to happen. When you watch that, does it make you agree? Are you funny? Houston, I got caught, he tapped my foot so that it broke me out of stride. And then in Kansas City, I had to re-catch my balance. So I mean, I don't know. I mean, when you start asking me questions about me getting caught, don't worry about that. I'm fine. So when it comes, I'll break one and everybody to be asking questions about something else. How much in detail do you guys go over just the red zone offense and it continues to be successful and consistent down there? But how much actual attention do you focus on that in practices? I mean, there's always a focus on every aspect of the game. And we want to be detailed in everything that we do. And when we get down there, we want to score, put plays together, and we go out here and execute. So why not go out there and execute in the game? Recovery looked like for you, I guess, after games and just how big of a challenge is when you got a game Sunday and then you could be turn around playing on this day next week? My recovery is always the same. I do my preparation throughout the week, as I always do. But it's going to be challenging. You got to change up a couple of things because the schedule changed in a quick turnaround. But you got to try to do as much as I can as possible. So I'll be ready for Thursday. Mike talked about the, for trailing with the foot that he's been in the pool and the lighter gravity things, trying to stay fit while dealing with the foot injury. How helpful was it to you to have those resources when you were trying to stay fit with the foot injury and how cool is it to be able to have those resources? Yeah, I mean, just taking care of yourselves. Keep your body in shape and doing everything that's required as far as the plan they have for us, just so we're ready to come back. Get back in the swing of things and as far as you, you just prepare to go out there and play the game. Were you able to do maybe more than you expected in that department? That was a whole year ago. I mean, I've tried to do anything I can possible to get back. Are you guys writing about trailing as well? Yeah, well, I mean, I'm sure trailing has worked hard and did everything he needs to do to get himself back and come in and help us. And I'm just happy to have him back and happy to have him come out there and Sunday and contribute. But you got to come out here and get better throughout the week to have a great game on Sunday. Back in training camp, it seemed like for the first time you actually admitted that you were looking at some of the things that outside people were saying. You said they're going to see. Is that something that still drives you to this point? And do you feel like they have seen from what you've done now? I mean, like I told you, I get motivated from anything and I get motivated from stuff from back in high school when they said I wouldn't make it as far at this position. So I can't really try to focus too much on them because I have a job to do. But all I can worry about is until you get better, we've got the week and just pushing myself to be the best player I can be. When you were in high school, where did people do you think project you to be in college? And maybe if you were to have a career, what would it have been at? Is that again? When you were in high school, you were talking about people questioning whether you could be successful at running back. What do you think they thought you would be as a football player? I don't think they thought I'd be here. But I'm just happy and blessed that God has blessed me tremendously to make it this far. You got three new starters on the line from last year with Dennis filling in for Taylor. Did it take a little time for you to get used to them and them to get used to you and now things are kinda peaking? No, not at all. I think we have identity and how we wanna play. And I think Ben and Nate, they're guys who've been in this for a long time and they can help those guys get prepared. And Taylor's been around, so not at all. I mean, it's gotta block and I gotta run and try to get a job done. We've all seen tape of what you did at U of E. What was the basis of people's doubts about your future when you were a kid? I guess, cause usually guys who are big and play running back in high school usually turn into edge wretches or put on defense. I guess I was just not the normal running back that came throughout high school in the recent years. And I mean, people just had doubts about it. But like I said, God has blessed me tremendously and throughout my years of going to Alabama and coming here and I'm just thankful and what have I been able to do, so. You played at a smaller high school. Did you play anywhere on defense as well? I played defense, yeah. I played defense, played defense and then played safety. And did all those type of things, but what do I need to do to help us win? No, when you watched Denver, what is Denver, when you watched them on defense, what do they do that makes them successful? The other thing is stout on their D line that guy that's playing well. They're penetrating their readers and then their linebackers are smart and we know the experience they have in the back end with Simmons and Karim Jackson. So I think they play well together and there'll be another big task force coming in on Sunday. Knowing the way you have been blessed, like the ability you've been blessed with, why is it so important for you to deflect when you have success to the offensive line and to your teammates? I mean, because they're the reason why I have success. Without them it doesn't mean we don't get started. They get the play started and I gotta make my reason, get North and South and do what I do. But without those guys up front and tight hands full back, receivers blocking, I have no success. So I'm always gonna give credit to them whenever I do have success. Different shirt, never seen that. Christian Fools, man. Okay. Come on, man, you were, hey, stop hating, man. Don't hate, congrats, man. Look how many tickets made Hassan kind of be successful as a returner and also maybe on kick coverage. Yeah, I think it's the time that he puts in just coming in and meeting with us a bunch, whether it was during the off-season training camp and even now he's coming in and during his off days and wanting to talk to us about being a returner, how to tackle correctly and all that stuff. So he's putting in the time, whether it's on the practice field or during his time off, he's just continuing to learn and get better. But covering kicks is not just, hey, go get the ball. I mean, you've got rules and responsibilities. How is he still getting there so often? Yeah, you know, one that's his desire. This guy just goes down there and I wouldn't say that he's just putting his body in a bad spot or just being reckless, but he's just going down there and being a physical presence on a lot of things that he does. I feel like his last two tackles on kickoff, he's running over someone and also making the tackle. But we kind of, well, continue to teach him different techniques that he's trying to use, especially on our punt team. You know, whether to get off a block, a single block, or whether he's running down there and someone's trying to pin him in, we got to continue to teach him to stack defenders. And then when he gets in a position to make a tackle, he's doing it correctly and having a good base to him, not crossing over, not hopping and keeping his eyes up when he makes tackles. Were there some instances, Craig, in punt return against KC that you might have been looking for better coverage on some of those? Sure, I mean, we gave up too many yards on their punt return. We've got to do a much better job on our net. We had too many guys following the same color jersey which allowed them to get to the outside where our guys got pinned. And we got to continue to harp with those guys because they're running down there. They just got to understand what the other team is trying to do. And we got to coach that better. But that was way too many yards for us. And we expect a lot better just because of how we've been playing in the past couple of weeks. So we'll work on that again today and try to help these guys understand that we got to keep contain because we lost contain twice versus them. Does Stonehouse improved his hang time and his directional punting over the course of the year? Yeah, I would say maybe it's not where it's been early in the season, even the hang time and direction. The direction is a little bit more on us as coaches because we are not giving him sometimes the direction and we're just having him go and hit the ball as far as he can. So that's not totally what we're looking for all the time. But we'll continue to work with him as far as some direction that we want to get to. And we got to continue to work on his hang time because it is a little bit lower than what it was at the beginning of the year. We saw last year with Manny Rice how the special teams transferred to linebacker play. Are you seeing that with Dylan Cole and if so, how? Yeah, I think the greatest thing about Dylan is whether he plays on defense or on special teams, he's always gonna be all in on everything and he's transitioning more to defense but his play hasn't went off. Now it might not be in production wise, but we still feel like he's being a productive football player for us, whether it's blocking, whether it's going down there on kickoff return and doing a great job on single blocks or on double teams. He knows how he made a living in the NFL and that's with special teams. So whether he transitions to defense even more, he knows his bread and butters with special teams. Touchback always a good outcome when you kick off and how much more difficult is that gonna be here as the air gets colder and the wind starts whipping a little more of these last couple of months? Yeah, I mean, it's obviously gonna be different because of the weather, but there's still games where we're gonna ask Randy to go and try to kick touchbacks or we're gonna play to our advantage where we feel like we need to kick the ball up and get some more hang time where we feel like we can go and make some more tackles inside the 20 yard line. But we might tell Randy that, hey, instead of hanging this thing up to the five yard line, we still want you to kick it deep as hard as you can, but knowing that that ball might go to the goal line or minus two or minus three and then we're gonna try to make them make the decision to bring it out or not. That's just for the wide receiver, certainly stands out. What were some of the factors that go into that for you? Is it simply on the wide receivers or more to it? No, no, it's not. I don't think at any time that there's a lack of success or productivity. It's on one group. I'll always say it starts with me. I gotta find ways to get those guys involved and find better ways to free them up and get some stuff going. I think we had a couple of opportunities that we weren't able to take advantage of. And then by and large, the second half, we put ourselves in some pretty bad spots where we're penalties or lost yardage plays that kind of took us out of third manageables and kind of put us behind the sticks a little bit. So culmination of everything, but certainly starts with me. If they join the two best changes that you have to get in field position for a two score lead, that's on them, yes? Obviously they want to have those opportunities back. I'm sure if you were to talk to them, but I'm always gonna err on the side of knowing how hard those guys work and know how much they care and not place blame just on one single person. So. Where did you see Malik from start one to start two as far as where he improved in areas he could still get better? Yeah, I think things slowed down for him from the Houston game into Kansas City. I think he processed a little bit cleaner. Certainly, I think some of the butterflies or nerves kind of had dissipated a little bit. And I think that he's obviously still got a lot of areas for improvement, which we all do. And it's working hard to try to fix those areas. In a situation when you've got a limitation, say you're not thrown in the field much because that's maybe something that's not tailored to Malik. Is there obligation to try to do it some anyway to keep the defense honest? How do you kind of navigate a line like that? I think you have to look for ways to keep him honest. You know, maybe it's certain play passes. Doesn't always have to be a traditional dropback game or things that nature. Our screen game had been a strength of ours going into that game. We obviously didn't execute very well on Sunday, but we're always looking for ways to make sure that we're not getting predictable. A little bit different than the Houston game where predictable was okay when we were cranking eight, 10 yards of pop. We need to make sure that we're keeping them honest and keeping them balanced. And that's constantly something the staff and I are discussing on the headsets and trying to keep them off balance. How would you have to adapt, so to speak, the game plan? Whereas there's a play call, I would run with Ryan but would not run with Malik or I would run with Malik but not Ryan. We have plenty of opportunities to work through that stuff throughout the course of the week and give Malik opportunities to see some of those things. And I think anytime you're dealing with a different player in there, whether it be quarterback, receiver, tight end, offensive line, you have to adjust to whatever your ingredients are. And so certainly we're looking for things that may be in Malik's wheelhouse. But we have to find ways to execute regardless of what the call is. And I think that that's something that the consistency certainly needs to improve from first half to second half and regardless of who's in there. What are the separation issues that the receivers are having? Obviously that is part on the player but as an OC, are there things that you could do to scheme up to create separation for the wide open? Yeah, there's certainly things that we try to do to help out in those regards. Obviously some very talented corners in this league. We're gonna play some this Sunday. And so we're always trying to do that. And I think that we've built quite a catalog of trying to get some of those rubber leases and things of that nature. And there's always a balance in that too. Holding the ball too long or letting something long developing unfold can put a lot of pressure on the protection. Excuse me. And so we're always looking for ways to try to scheme those guys up for sure. What do you need to say from Traylon to know he's a go on Sunday and how much would his return help? I'll get that from the boss, man. He gives me the thumbs up and I'll be good to go. How have you liked what you've seen? I'm just in a short snippet so far. I have been really impressed, number one, with how he kept himself in shape. And number two, just mentally how engaged he's been. Picked up right where he left off from a formation, from a schematic standpoint. You can tell that he didn't just step away from football while rehabbing. And that's really impressive for a young player, particularly one that had some bumps in the road early in training camp, has really figured out how to be a pro. I give a lot of credit to Rob Moore for working with him and setting up that schedule. Kind of the intangibles, leading the ones out here in practice, his command of the other one on game day, those kinds of things. I think he's done a nice job of playing that balance between understanding who Ryan is and what Ryan is to this team, but still putting his leadership style and his personality into it when given the opportunity. So impressive, obviously we know he has an infectious personality. And that's something that is gonna serve him well going forward, but I think it's been really impressive how he's found ways to interject his personality, his leadership style, what's important to him, and yet not try to be too overly abrasive or intrusive. Defense has tried to clog the box, I guess, even more so with the rookie quarterback the last two weeks, expecting even more Derrick Henry. Yeah, we've been dealing with clogged boxes here since I've been a tight end coach here. They know who Derrick is and we're seeing the same defenses. Maybe that they show it a little bit earlier or there's a little bit more pressure, but it's the same defense as we've been dealing with for four years. Ask Crow, do you guys have to change anything when you got a quarterback like Malik who's looking to extend plays behind the line of scrimmage? Does strategy, philosophy kind of change it all there? I don't think necessarily from a schematic standpoint, maybe from a technique standpoint and those guys realizing that the journey's never over up front until the whistle blows. And so that's more of a technique and fundamental thing than it is necessarily schematics. Effective was he with the zone read stuff and how much stress did you see that putting on a defense? Yeah, I thought it was good. We ran a couple of those in Houston as well without as much return on the investment. I thought he did a nice job with his reads, making the proper reads in Kansas City. And we had the one that was called back due to the penalty on Cody, but a couple of opportunities, explosive plays there. So it's always nice to be able to put extra pressure on the edge of the defense. When it comes to the red zone consistency, Todd, how much added work goes into that, detailed work goes into that and how much is Ryan kind of the leader in the success that you have down there? Yeah, it's been something that we've been committed to since I've been here. I remember way back my tight end coach interview with Coach Frable, we discussed the red zone and it's something that makes a big difference in points scored and obviously creating separation if you do have a lead. And that's something that we've committed to holistically around here. And I would say that Ryan's done a great job down there for us, but we also went two for two in the red zone with Malik. So we expect whoever's in there to understand the schemes that we carry each week, the bread and butter type, you know, concepts and be able to execute them. How much do you think it is, Father Ryan, not to be able to play and just knowing his personality, how much do you think he's itching to get back out there? Yeah, you guys been around him long enough to know it's killing him. You know, he's a fierce competitor. We all know how tough he is. You know, he is doing everything possible to get back out there. And you know, we're really appreciative to have a guy like that that it's putting so much into it and it means so much to him. We've talked some about numbers where you consider things predictable or not. You guys have run over 70% of the time on second and 10 after an incompletion on first down. Is that a predictable level to you? And is that you guys saying, hey, we know we can get into third and manageable with Derek or kind of what's the thinking there? Yeah, I would say 70% is predictable. I would agree with you on that. I would tell you that there's also tendencies on the other side of the football where we're getting some split safety looks. And that's maybe some of the places we actually do see an advantageous box and feel like we can get ourselves into some of those third and shorter windows. And where we didn't do a good job of that the other night is where we had some either lost yardage or incompletions and zero yard gains. Now we wound up in third and 10, third and 12. And that's just not what we're built to live in. There aren't a lot of offenses there. So there's a balance there. And certainly I try to keep track of that stuff and make sure that I'm not getting too far out of whack. And usually you can tell if the defense has changed their call off of something that they're well known for, then it's something I gotta be aware of and try to react accordingly. Thank you. Shane, how well Denver's playing on defense? Does it kind of up the ante in your room thinking that we've gotta make sure that we're on our keys and points, especially coming off a road game and some guys playing almost 100 snaps the other night? Yeah, I think our guys are aware of what they are on defense the success they've had this year, where they kind of stand as you look at it. But we're focused on controlling what we can control. We gotta go out there and play the offense. So we gotta make sure we're locked in on doing our job, understanding what they do offensively, our game plan, how to execute it and take it play by play. I know Mike talked on Monday just about Russell and his ability to kind of extend plays with his legs. Kind of like Mahomes did. How much is he doing that this year? How much of a concern is that for your group? Yeah, he's did. I mean, it shows up on film, he's scrambling for first downs and getting them. So it's still part of what he does. Probably not to the extent that was earlier in his career, but still got the ability to do it. We gotta make sure we're coordinated, understand our rush lanes and everybody on the same page with whatever we got going on to make sure there's no easy escapes where he can pick up yards and get some of those first downs on longer yardage. How unique is it though? Because you see him able to scramble backwards as well and then push the ball down the field. How unique is that? With Russ? Right. Yeah, I mean it is. It's not a whole lot different than last week with Mahomes. These guys able to throw the ball and Russ has played a lot of football. So he sees the game, he keeps his eyes downfield and he's gonna take advantage of it. If you're coming out of coverage to take care of him, he's gonna find it and that's what the good ones do. They put stress on you, they break down the defense. Whenever these guys get out of pocket, puts a lot of pressure on those DBs because they're in decision mode. At some point is it plaster my guy or what point am I going to get the quarterback and they don't always know where the line of scrimmage is that he's crossed. So we gotta do a good job trying to keep him bottled up. How much did losing Bud the other night kind of allow Mahomes to make it easier for him to break contain and if you don't have Bud this week, how do you try and remedy that? Yeah, I think any time we lose anybody on game day, it's tough. I mean, you're working through personal changes as the game goes and it happens every game. So I mean, we always have a plan for it, prepared for it. And again, just I think everybody understanding whoever's in there, what their role is and however we're gonna rush them to try to keep them contained. What's Cole's growth curve look like in his time here and what's behind it? Yeah, I think he's improved throughout the season, I do. I think early on it was more spot work and you don't really get in the flow of the game and you're asked to go in there and execute in some different personnel packages we have and that might only be your four or five plays and don't get me wrong, he's expected to go in there and execute. But now it's as you play more, you get a little more comfortable, you see a lot more as you're out there and what we're asking him to do. And he's done a good job when he's been in there filling in for us. Did you watch much of the Niko when he first came into the league and what's allowed him to continue to have so much success this late in his career? Yeah, I mean, just, Terrell Williams was with him in Oakland and just talking to him and I think his mindset, right? I got undrafted guy who's came to work, he's tough, he's physical and I think his skillset has developed to the point where he understands who he is and he's able to capitalize on the quickness and we've been able to find some favorable matchups that he's been able to take care of. Sorry, he's been able to take advantage of, you know? And I think the biggest thing with him is that mindset of, hey, I was undrafted, I am constantly proving myself and a lot of those guys have that mindset, the ones that are really good and producing but it's paid off for him. Are you guys changing anything about how you're handling Jeff's injury this week or is it kind of the same holding pattern? Yeah, it's a mold, you know? So he's not practicing right now so we'll kind of see where it's at towards the end of the week. When it comes to Caleb, you're still not seeing him on the field or are you satisfied with what he is, the improvements I guess that he's making and probably is he taking the coaching I guess? Yeah, I think he's been engaged, he's had a good attitude about it. Again, I think with all these guys, the message every single day is find ways to improve. Whatever it is, pick one thing and let's work on that and focus on that to improve and hopefully that pays off as we continue forward and keep moving and then see where things are at. But he has, he's had a good mindset, he's working out here. Is there one thing maybe that he has been improved on even if he's not playing? Yeah, I think you see some of the technique and coverage showing up, you know, between our reps, the dirty show reps, right, working with the offense, some of that, like you're seeing some of those things carry over from Indy to those periods and hopefully that can continue the consistency up. It seems like after last week, the general consensus around the defenses, they, like you just said, they have things to improve on, but they were really proud of the way they performed. It was a performance that they could hang their hats on. Do you agree with that? Yeah, I mean, it's been throughout the year, they've shown the ability to fight and battle regardless of what it is. The long drive to start the game and have come away with holding them with three points, going back out there after the touchdown drive, late in the game with just under two minutes and finding a stop there to make them punt the ball. Like that's kind of been our MO and I think the players have built that. They've built that culture between Jeff, KB, all of our leaders, Danico, David Long, like all those guys, they have that mentality, but it has to be better from an execution standpoint. We can't rely on that to solely be what we hang our hat on. We gotta be able to go out there and execute line up. Too many MAs, too many little things there. And at times they didn't cost us, right? But at times they did. So there's such a small margin for error in this league, whoever you're playing, right? So just making sure we're locked in and honed in on the details of each call and everybody making sure they're executing their role. Other moments that you see in offense that run a play that you know isn't a strength for theirs or anything, that isn't a significant gain or anything where you say, that's just them trying to keep us honest. We know that's not what they do. They don't like to do that. They're not good at doing that. Let's not give that much weight. Yeah, you see that. I mean, you see teams based on, and a lot of that is based on how the game's going. Our opinion of things, like last week when they ran the ball, right? Like they weren't having much success and they'd mix it in, but at some point they said, screw it, let's get away from this and let's give it to Patrick and let him go do his thing, right? So I mean, that comes into play. I think it's very situational specific and partly their culture, their team, kind of how they're built schematically and personnel-wise.