 Mike, how is Will, have you gotten the test results back, and depending on his health, is it, do you have to weigh the fact that you're eliminated on whether or not you put him on the field? Well, I don't think that that necessarily weighs into, you know, the factor, the decision right now. I want to make sure that one that he can protect himself, that he can do his job up to the expectations that we have and that he, you know, really the most important thing is that any player can protect themselves out there during a game. So it's Monday right now, you know, he's sore obviously like a lot of guys, and we'll see, you know, how things go. Does it factor in maybe to a guy like Jeff or somebody like that who was expected to miss some time, maybe could have forced his way back in had you guys needed in for a playoff push. But now, how does that change your, well, I don't know if, you know, I think everybody's that's out is doing everything they can to get back until, you know, we have to decide to put him on injured reserve for, which would, you know, at this point in time end their season. So that hasn't happened. So I know that everybody that wasn't healthy enough to play in the game is doing everything they can to get back and realizing that, you know, every snap is meaningful, it means something to somebody. And, you know, so I wouldn't exclude Jeff from that or anybody else if they can play, we want him to play. How similar is Will's injury to what Ryan went through these last couple years? I think the mechanism is the same as similar and, you know, those are things that, you know, make it difficult. And, you know, those are things that come up, you know, as you're, you know, getting tackled or in a pile or anything like that. Yeah, I mean, just kind of same thing he has been dealing with. I guess as far as run defense goes, how many missed tackles did you count? Well, there was a handful, but there was also some, you know, I don't want to, you know, get this, you know, but third and 15 and they handed off for 14 yards, you know, there was a couple of those third down and long situations where some of those yards were had. There were some snaps on first and second down and normal down and distances that weren't good enough. But then there was also, you know, a lot that were. So I think some of the numbers and again, I don't have a percentage, but there's somewhere on third and long where they handed off and we're in a substituted defense and, you know, either way, it's got to be better. There were some missed tackles and, you know, we have to be better all the way around in all three phases. What about on the interior of the D line? Like it seemed like a lot of the runs were between the tackles. What was happening there? The couple that were in inside were, you know, the third and long where, you know, Niko and Arden are playing on third down. There was another 12-yard gain backed up on the, you know, two-yard line that, you know, went inside that, you know, got to fit, get off blocks and tackle, you know. And then there were some good snaps where they tried to cut back and Marlon or Jaleel or, you know, Ciaran Dreher or, you know, one of those guys inside were there. At what point is determination to establish the run turn into stubbornness to do something that's been futile? Well, we don't ever want to be stubborn, but also knowing that, you know, some of those things that allow us to gain yards downfield in the play pass game are also set up through that run game. And, you know, so I don't think it's a stubbornness. We have to be balanced. We have to use those formations and those running plays, you know, to set up some of those play passes down the field and, you know, be able to, you know, create good pockets for the quarterback so that they can deliver to football so whoever's in there can step up and throw the ball downfield. You know, like we did a couple of times yesterday and that we have done, you know, in the past and then have to just try to stay as balanced as possible and let those things marry with each other. We've got to make over in the off season and it hasn't necessarily translated into better play. Do you need to maybe reevaluate what you look for in offensive linemen and how they play? Well, we're just focused on this week right now. We'll worry about and be as diligent as we can in evaluation at every position, you know, in the off season. But, you know, right now we're focused on and continuing to find ways to improve and most importantly find ways to win. And then in the evaluation process, that'll come after the season. Mike, when you talk about the off season and ask about the off season, kind of always pivot every time to worry about the next game or Paul asked yesterday about the offensive line and just talked about protecting as opposed to what happened in the off season. Is the accountability for the fans about what happened with the offensive line this year that kind of dodging a little bit? No. With the offensive linemen, they can talk to some of them. They said that it wasn't anything new that they saw, but they did have problems communicating and just picking up assignments. Is that something that, like, how do you handle the accountability for that? Is that the players, is that the coaching staff, collective? How do you handle that? It's all of it, but it's every single one of us. It starts with me and, you know, we knew that this was a fast defense, like, you know, there's good players, you know. You like to watch tape, you know, elite collins and, you know, show them rankings, like we knew where they were going to be. And if you're not good with your communications or staying, you know, you're good on your combinations. They create penetration, which then makes you loose and everything else. So we've said this, like, there's a call that goes in. At that point in time, it's on the 11 players in each phase to communicate, to work together with somebody to identify the mic, to know your assignment, to strain, to do everything that you can, to put yourself in a position, to protect the guy with the ball, whether it's a run, whether it's a keeper, whether it's a play pass, that's how it goes down, that the coach tries to give them as many details throughout the week and show them some things that are going to help them. And then you have to go out, and if there's new looks that you see, then you come over on the sidelines and you make adjustments or you, hey, this is what's happening now, I know we had talked about this. But for the most part, you know, they were pretty much, that was just structured that we had seen in the previous weeks. When it run at 17 times for 12 yards on first down, is that setting up play action? Are people biting on that, or are they having a fine time stopping the run with what they have up front? Did it establish anything for you to do in play action? We hit a strike behind the linebackers late in the game to Hopkins, so it must have done something. I mean, there was... Was that trade off worth it? Again, we didn't win the game, and you have to understand that some of these play pass protections are also advantageous to allowing the quarterback to move the spot, to change his launch location and give us an opportunity to protect, but also still run a route that we think is going to be good versus their coverage. What's the trade off there in terms of the frequent conversations we had about not being behind the sticks when out of all of those first downs, you're coming out generally at second and 10 or worse? Well, that was, you know, yesterday we've done well, and again, previous weeks of our average gain on first down, whether that be running or throwing it, trying to stay as balanced as possible, and also trying to do, you know, possess the football, try to find ways to win the football game, and didn't work out yesterday. What starts in how much freedom does Will have with the line of scrimmage and has he exercised it a lot to this point in terms of getting you in the right place? I think specifically, I'm thinking of a couple of instances yesterday where it looked like they were bringing run pressures and you essentially ran into it at the end. Yeah, and I think that there is some of that that we have to be able to expand on, or at least, you know, can it and try to, you know, maybe get it to the other side to give us a little better angle. You know, and there's some, you know, relief throws that we can make and things that are in there and, you know, I think it's important just to, you know, as long as everybody's on the same page between him and the receivers or him and the offensive line and what we're trying to do, that's what's most important, and, you know, we'll continue to work on that. Mike, what led you to your torque getting released and did he ask for his release at all? You know, I think we can touch on some of those personnel decisions, you know, at the end of the season. But, you know, we're excited about the guys that are here now and working with them and moving towards them and, you know, finding those guys that we can work with. Mike, I know all the guys, Mike, about finishing the season strong the right way after being eliminated. Yeah, I think that that's probably going to be something I'll try to, you know, make sure I'm consistent with when they come in here, you know, on Wednesday and making sure that, you know, it's not too watered down. I don't know, it's new, it's a new experience for me, you know, so I'll have to give it some thought and try to, you know, make sure that we're doing everything that we can to continue to try to teach them, to develop them, you know, inspire the ones the best that we can. Mike, are Derek's days as an elite running back in the NFL over? I don't think that, you know, I think that, you know, that we understand that Derek's got a certain running style and a great skill set and, you know, we have to be able to get him going and give him some space and get him to the second level and he in turn has to be able to, you know, help the line, help the receivers, help the tight end, you know, it all goes hand in hand, you know, just hand it to a guy and they beat three people, but there's also times where guys make a great cut or guys make a guy miss or Derek Stiff farms a guy, you know, so certainly after yesterday, nobody was good enough, everybody involved. All seven sacks yesterday were in the second half and over time, was there something that they did that made an adjustment that allowed them to get there or is it more breakdowns from the second half that didn't occur in the first half? Well, they, you know, two, you know, two through three quarters. You know, one came, you know, down in the red zone, I would say that, you know, we're trying to hit one, we're trying to play that we had designed from before and, you know, they didn't bite on it. We'll probably waited it out a half account too late and it wasn't there. Would have liked for Jelinda block a little bit longer, but maybe we can help them out and just say, hey, they got us, they didn't bite up on, you know, the fake. You know, you go by case by case basis. There were some that, you know, tried to throw the ball on first and 10 one time and wasn't open, so it was a sack. So, you know, it's a lot of things. They're down, they show up there and long, you know. So it's just got to be, you know, cleaner, you know, with everybody involved with, you know, how quickly we get open, the concepts that we're giving them, how quickly we get open as receivers, how long and how well we block, you know, the quarterbacks movement in the pocket, all those little things that, again, that all goes into it. I mean, yeah, there's times where we got beat, but there's also a play and a process to the entire operation. We're currently starting two rookies on the left side of your offensive line that seemed to have a rough day yesterday. A lot of teaching tape there and what's the message to them is that that's bad. They'll keep working, they'll keep fighting, keep improving, try to, you know, keep taking the little details, the technique and, you know, it's not easy developing young offensive linemen, but we'll, you know, at this point in time in the season is what I'm saying with the amount of reps and, you know, where they're at physically, but, you know, working together is something that's critical, you know, using length, you know, not letting them get into your body, you know. But then they had some snaps where they blocked them well too, you know. You think that the last sack of Levis was a hip drop and I wonder if you had any more thoughts on that, I guess Deanna Fales looking to ban it next year? Yeah, I don't have any. It was a sack that led to a player getting injured. Levis, can I talk a little about the interception and how the corner kind of came off of Birx on the deep route and he had an alert, but he threw it to Hopkins. How do you take him through that whole process of, okay, I know Hopkins is a guy that you want to throw it to, but, you know, look at other options as well. I mean, I think just, you know, there's a primary and there's obviously things that you have to do before you throw it there and make sure you're looking out in front of the crosser and, you know, understand that you have time there to set up and, you know, wasn't, you know, we're trying to protect you to get to the edge and allow you to set up and, you know, maybe by doing that, he would be able to see trail and I know that he stayed on the move and, you know, thought he had hop and, you know, it's, you know, we gotta do a better job of protecting the football. So Mike, when it's all about winning, how frustrating is it for you like on Sunday nights when you've lost overtime games at home when there was a missed extra point involved? Well, whether you miss an extra point, whether you don't intercept the football, whether you throw an interception, all those things contribute, whether you have a penalty, you know, on a punt that's backed up, like there's a bunch of plays that contribute to that. I would say that losing is devastating. You know, it's, you know, again, you just, the players put a lot into it, you know, they play hard, you know, being close isn't good enough. Everybody feels better about the work that you put in when you win. And you want the players that go out there and work for you and play for you to have success. You want them to feel that, you know, and then their bodies don't hurt so bad and they come to work and then we all come to work. There might be two PITs away from two more wins. Thought about that in terms of how close you are to a different story. I think about a lot of things, you know, so can make points up other ways. You know, Nick's been really good for us. I'm sure he'd like to have that kickback yesterday. I'd like to have a lot of things back. You mentioned how these next three weeks are kind of a new experience for you as a head coach. How difficult do you expect it, or do you expect it to be difficult to keep the same messaging? No, I don't know what the messaging is going to be. You know, it's just, you know, we'll figure that out and we'll try to, we'll get them as prepared. We'll figure out who's available, who we need, you know, to make sure that, you know, our guys are ready once we determine who that's going to be to make sure that they're ready and that they all prepare starters and, you know, some of these, a lot of these guys are just getting their first opportunity playing with us or playing with anybody. Challenges like keeping them around where it needs to be in these last two weeks? You know, gonna rely on the assistant coaches, rely on our leaders, be great every day, don't be phony, you know, be as authentic as possible and keep teaching them the things that are gonna help them. You talked about guys and how much you expect out of the defensive line because of the money that you pay those players. Using the 11th pick on Peter, are you disappointed with where his play is right now? No, I think Peter's been working hard and you know, again, the player evaluation, you know, we're putting a team together and Peter works, Peter's improved. Not sure what the first part of your question had anything to do with Peter, but we're just, okay, we all have high expectations. That's the nature of this business and we understand that and we need to continue to raise expectations with whoever's out there. What about his playoffs to coach for I guess now or these weeks that I guess you have to rely on why you got into coaching in the first place and competitiveness and love for the little things within the season? Well, certainly love football, I love helping players. Remember that, remember why you got into this and watching them improve and have success and you know, embracing their competitive spirit and making sure that we're doing everything that we can to put them in the best positions to go out and enjoy it, but enjoy it from having success and winning and making plays and it's a fine line each and every week. Do you use these last three games maybe to take a look at guys like Caleb Murphy or Otis Reese and some of them beyond maybe just special teams? I mean potentially, but you know, I don't, not ready to answer that, you know. Is it simply Ryan or do you have to assembly? I don't think, you know, Ryan would, you know, we'll see where we're at based on Will's health and we'll keep you updated. I'm sure every player that didn't finish the game could probably have missed some time and he was one of those players so we'll have to be ready for where he's at Wednesday of practice and moving forward but, you know, when you're not able to finish, you know, then then you have to, you know, then there's always concern. There's guys sometimes that finish the game and then come in with something and then there's guys that leave the game so I know that he wished he could have tried to finish but that wasn't gonna be a possibility. Well, you're not saying that the full review will come at the end of the season but yesterday there was some finality knowing you can't make the playoffs. When you went home last night or came in this morning, is there some, I guess, theme that you think about and why this season is where it is right now or other than you expected? No, no, we're focused on, you know, I appreciate the question I do. I just, we're focused on what we have to do today on who's injured and how they feel and how many guys are sick with the flu and all this other stuff, that's my focus is not going back and evaluating that right now. There's two more home games left and you're eliminated from the playoffs. You talked about high expectations. For what would be the team's message to the fans about the two home games to finish out the season and the belief in the program going forward into future seasons? Well, I think the belief going forward, you know, we can always discuss that. I mean, when our guys play hard, if you feel like our guys loaf consistently, I mean, obviously there's a lot of snaps in the game we can all pick them out. But, you know, when we take the ball there at the end and three negative plays on defense that, you know, from guys that maybe have been here on the practice squad or just got here, you know, and obviously the plan with great effort is going to rally, you know, a fan base. Winning always is going to be the forefront of what we do. And if we can, you know, eliminate some of the plays that are going to get us beat, and, you know, there's still good football in there, there is. It's all over the place, we go down, we convert a fourth and one on first drive of the game, hit a couple X plays, third and 10, they jump off sides, we snap the ball, Will looks for the flag, we throw it down there to two yard line and we score, like, that's what good football teams do. But then there's just, you know, there's the plays that, you know, aren't consistent enough and not efficient enough. Defensively, get an interception, get a third down, stop. But then we give up some plays that cost us. Special teams, we do a good job, we're protecting a punter and get a penalty at a critical time in a game. So there's a lot of good in there. And again, I know that this sounds like it sounded a couple of weeks ago, you know, but unfortunately there's just a lot of too many, too many examples of the bad football that ultimately you can't overcome.