 in three games before you're by managing the practice week, maybe as crucial now as any other time in here? Well, I think just trying to be as creative as possible with as many guys that need it. But also, we've got guys that are coming back, off of whether that's designated for return or Deontay and Adrian and guys that we've got to get some work in. But then there's so many other guys that are working their way through things and battling through just the wear and tear of the regular season. So I think that's the biggest thing is trying to be creative, trying to find ways to improve, but also ways to take care of guys and then also get some other guys some work. With that challenge, working on the run game with all these new guys, Peterson, Deontay, that make it part of the additional challenge, trying to get them enough work to get them up to speed with the offense? Yeah, I think so. I mean, it's just that time of year. So we'll see what it looks like this week. And so I can't really tell you what that's going to look like, what practice is going to look like today. Just haven't gotten back and taken inventory. So hopefully we can improve in that area and get those guys some looks and practice. Was the running back rotation last night more by design or sort of just flying by the seat of your pants and how the game was going? I think a little bit just by how the game was going. And we'll see where that goes this week. I thought they all did some things well. And there's some things that they'll have to look at and improve. And obviously, we'll have to be able to block better for everybody. And that's all part of it. How did you think Jay-On held up through the full game back? Yeah, I mean, I think OK. We'll see. I'm sure he'll be sore. But like you said, his first game back, I thought it was OK. I think that it could continue to improve. And it was a good place to go get him back. 19-9 on the sack so far, Mike. Are you guys the case study this year for how a good pass rush can completely revolutionize defense from what it has been? Well, I don't know. Unless we're halfway through, we're not going to have any mid-season reports or anything. We're just trying to find ways to affect the quarterback each week, figure out what your coverage we're in and how to execute it. And I think that those guys do a good job of working together when we call games. It can always be better. And then at the end of the day, you've got to beat somebody. Just on this a little bit last night. But you said when that rush is working productively, as it has been, does that allow you to be a little bit more aggressive at times in the secondary? Well, I think that that's always when the coverage dictates it. When you're in a vision and break defense, yes. I think when there was maybe one, I can remember I'm sure there were more. But where the quarterback pumped it and guys went, and then he came back and hit, maybe it was cup over the middle, to me that is on the pass rush. I mean, that's what we're asking David or whoever to do is that if he looks and that front hand comes off, we're going to have to go and trigger. And he was able to progress back through. So to me, that is on the pass rush. So I think if there's the coverages that would allow us to do that, hopefully. But when you need to be in the back part of the field, you need to be taking care of that job, too. Easy to see guys in the pass rush winning their one-on-one battles. But is there something that you guys, the chain is doing particularly well to get those guys in positions to succeed, whether that's through stunts, alignment, things like that? Well, it's all part of it. I mean, I think that there are sometimes we're game in and, again, we're unfavorable down in distances, second and long. And you're saying, hey, we're going to rush. And if they hand it off, then we're going to have to live with whatever happens. And that sometimes shows up. But it's them understanding that what we want to do versus empty hang, or what we want to do versus this look. So it's always a process. It's always going to be, here's the plan. Here we're going to implement it. We're going to try to teach it to you. And then they're the ones that have to be able to execute it quickly and understand which call or which game they want to get to. Chris Jackson has been kind of pressed into duty. Nice game last week, good game. Yesterday, what is standing out to you just above? And he's battling. And I appreciate Chris. I thought he has done a nice job for us. Can continue to improve in the slot. But he's done some nice things outside. I thought his ability to come up and tackle was really good. And just a guy that has had a good off-season for us, and hopefully can continue to bring some stability. He's got some versatility to play inside and outside as well. How far did that even plan slot for most of the time this year than all of a sudden to go outside and play almost all the time? Well, he's gotten some work. He's gotten plenty of work outside. And it's got good speed down the field. And I think his technique's improved and stuff. You were aggressive. I already go for a touchdown on fourth and one. Instead of kicking, is that based on maybe feel how the game's going? Based on maybe, hey, I've had a play. And when you convert like that, how big would you be? Yeah, I think you just try to make sure that you're being mindful of the situation, the play, scoring opportunities, and just didn't know how many scoring opportunities we were going to get by the way that that was going. Really wanted to capitalize on the field position, love the play. And that's why we decided to do what we did. And the touchdown, a pretty good example of how effective Ryan can be as a runner. You're not like you're running zone reads with him all the time or anything. Nobody here has any problem, especially me with Ryan, with the football in his hand. He's proven that. The ability to scramble and extend plays or to get down field and run or to get his yards on a sneak or any kind of movement play. Jeff, and the way they work off of each other and the production they've had the last few weeks, is that come pretty close to what you were envisioning in the off season when you brought them in? Their growth together? I mean, I'm not going to just have a plan that you're like, oh, this has to happen, or this is what it's going to be. I just think that they are great people. They're great teammates, talented players. And they, I think, are finding ways to work together. And Danico has really taken a coaching and done a lot of things that maybe we might have corrected them on three weeks ago that are showing up and really making those plays. I mean, whether it's matching the quarterback's throwing hand, like Taran mentioned last night, there were times in the beginning of the year that that wasn't happened, or he may have put two hands up or whatever it may have been. And now you're seeing some of those techniques that it's just a correction. And he's really bought into it. You talk about the improvement further with the entire team. You've spoken a lot about how much you enjoy coaching them and how hard they compete. Is it especially gratifying to see the level of growth from week one against Arizona to what you put on the field last night as an entire team? Yeah. I mean, I think that that's why we stay here a lot of hours and try to figure out ways to help our players individually and then collectively as a team. You could look at Kevin Byard's ball production. I mean, we have tried to study that. And there's other guys are doing it. Kevin is just really doing it really well as far as stabbing through the pocket and not swatting and all these techniques that we see the difference between making a play and not making a play. And again, it's the player that goes out and does it. It's just that as coaches, you're trying to find ways to help them improve. And when you do that, there's a sense of buy-in from the player that, man, this stuff is working. And it really does help me, which then in turn helps their career and then it helps the team. As good as he's been, has Jeffrey Simmons sort of raised the standard for what's expected of him now going forward with that performance? Oh, Jeff will always raise the standard of expectations. I mean, he is such a great guy to be around. I mean, he's just, love seeing him every morning. We would miss him if we came to work and he wasn't here one day. It's just his attitude, his demeanor, his leadership, and then obviously the production. Kevin, Bayard had mentioned how he may not have been supposed to be in that passing lane on that interception to pick six. Is that something like, are you giving these guys more autonomy to do that? I would say that, you know, his responsibility is to have ability to make a play and then not hurt the defense. And it clearly didn't, you know what I mean? It was like, if he felt like he knew where the ball was going, he'd go make a play on the football. And that's never going to be an issue. If we start doing things outside the framework of what we're doing and it starts to hurt the team or the defense or the offense or whatever phase, then we have to correct things. We have to have a conversation. But we want guys to make as many plays as they can to help the team in any way. So I think that was a great example of it. Is that more of the case this year, where they're open to do that than last year? Well, I don't know. You know what I mean? I know that they play with a lot of confidence. And if they give up a play, you know, there's not a whole lot of panic. You know, we've gotten just a lot more red zone stops when teams have gotten down there. I think that's really just been the biggest thing. Obviously to Bayard's turnovers, but in coverage, it seems like he's with or without the interceptions. Pretty impressive in that regard as well. Is that accurate? I mean, usually, you know, we're using him in a number of different ways. So I would say most of the things that we're asking him to do, he's doing well. And again, he's a leader on this football team. And value his stability and his production. So whether that's man coverage on a tight end or playing down around the line of scrimmage or playing in different positions, that's something that I think he's really grown at and improved at. As far as the way Adrian ran, how do you think you did? And I guess with more reps, more practice time, you expect that to just keep improving? I hope so. I mean, I think that new system, new terminology, new blockers in front of them had some good, strong runs and probably a couple of cuts in there that he'd like to have back. And I'm sure that there's a couple of blocks that we'd like to have back that need to be better. So all three of those guys played a role, played the game, made some plays off the top of my head. That helped us win. Jeremy did that, catching the ball, screens, good runs. Deontay had a couple of good runs. And then obviously Adrian was able to help us get in the end zone. Inquire with the league as to why there was no... I was on a plane. I didn't inquire with the league. I asked you guys to tweet at him. If you didn't, that's your fault. I'm not calling the league. I'm not going to get into this. Is it seem odd that there was no official announcement that... The correction? Correct. Correct. I don't know. I mean, maybe it's happened before. It's never happened personally to me before. So I don't have anything to go by. I don't know what the protocol is when they change something. Do they... Oh yeah, we changed it. OK. Well, let somebody else know so that... I mean, I don't want to be the guy. I'm just trying to follow the rules and say, hey, that's what it is. But no, you'd have to ask what the protocol is when they change a penalty to something else. It opens a broad door for officials in theory. I guess. You know what I mean? We changed it. OK. What did you change it to? But they do a great job. They communicated with me about the one penalty. You know, they came back and corrected it, said that I could take half the distance and put it on the 12 and a half. And so I appreciate that instead of, you know, moving the kickoff to the 50. And so, you know, we understand the job that they have. I want to be part of the solution. I know how fast the game is. I know how fast it is by standing behind those guys at practice, by being out there on the field and having been out there, it moves at a fast pace. And some calls are tough and they all have a job and they're part of the game. And so we know that they're just like, I make mistakes, the players make mistakes and the officials are going to make mistakes. And we're going to have to live with it and understand that it's a part of our game just as coaching and playing is. One week at a time, but when you do have the best record in the conference, is there any temptation to look ahead and start talking about, and we can get a buy, we can play at home, that sort of thing? No, no. So we're just turning the page and getting ready for the Saints. As you mentioned, you flew back this morning, we hope to get everything done. We have some plane ride. What did you make the schedule look like in the last 16... Yeah, we watched the game last night, guys watched the tape and, you know, no issues, you know, with our players. I'm sure they went out, had dinner, did whatever they wanted it to do to celebrate, got everybody on the bus, got to the airport. That was a great process, great trip, great operation from our football ops department. Flew back, landed. We're able to, you know, our video department had laptops for everybody with the Saints stuff on there. And this is a lot of work. And I'm conscious of that and how much work went into being able to give us the Rams game and then being able to give us the Saints stuff and having that all loaded up onto laptops for us to watch on the way home. So, you know, I appreciate Anthony and everybody in his department as well. How do you first, Mike, with your guys, being 7 and 2 and on top this late in the season? It's uncharted territory for you guys. I just wonder, as a coach, what's your approach with them? Probably the same as it was last week and the week before. Like, here's... We've got to fix this. This needs to be better. Here's the message. These are the keys. This is a 12 in shells and go coach them. You know, I don't really know any other way to do it. I just didn't know if they're, you know, in that position there's a different feeling as far as being the hunted rather than the hunter. I'm sure it'll be the same each week. I really do. Right. Nothing's... It's not going to change where I'm going to go back in here. We're going to figure out what the message is going to be for the week. Figure out what the keys are. Meet with Shane and Todd and... Auk. Talk about the injury report. See who may be available. That's kind of what we're going to do. The feeling has been practiced and played mostly on a rate this year, but with his background at left tackle, was he or could he be consideration at left tackle? Yeah, I mean he could be, but just understand him, you know, where the majority of his work has been and is common, you know. So, and he continues to improve and it's cool to see him, you know, push the pile and get Adrian into the end zone last night. I know he was excited about that, you know, playing that role of the jumbo tight end. So, we'll just keep working with all of them. Particularly, good job jumping in last night, especially given who he was lined up across from the start. Sure. I mean, yeah, it's just a huge challenge to play against Darren Donald and, you know, Brue missed some blocks and he made some blocks and he finished and competed and just like I knew he would.