 Chance to finally get in on on the field in a game finally on Sunday after all the hard work. Oh yeah. I'm definitely excited game week for close backs. So looking forward to it. I don't think you've ever gotten to face the Saints. How much are you looking forward to the opportunity? What are some things that stand out about their defense? Yes, it's going to be fun. Never played against the Saints before. I don't know what it is with, you know, the Saints, but it'll be fun to finally get to play against them, go to that stadium, always hear how loud it is. The atmosphere is always great. So yeah, great defense, physical fast, some good veterans over there. They're fly around to the ball. It's going to be tough. They're good in the run. So we got to make sure we're locked in. Do you still fire you up the same way it did maybe when you were high school or college or first couple of years here? Or is it now just business? No, that's always been the same. I love football. The plan since I was five years old. So anytime you get ready for a game, this game, we get always excited. The different team, I think 24 new guys are from last year. Just based on what you've built, maybe during the course of off season, we think about the squad maybe going into week one. It's been fun getting everybody, getting the new guys acclimated to how we do things, seeing guys work, you know, improve every day since we since we got back since I've gotten back and just trying to help anybody possible. And you know, it's finally to put it all together. Finishing up this week and getting ready to head into Sunday. Looking forward to hitting and being hit and getting some physicality on Sunday. That's the nature of the game. So I got to go out there and run my past and do the best I can to help us win new offense. Do you feel like there's some excitement about unveiling something something on Sunday? Just excited about the office in general, us to get around us to get out there and put the plays together that we've been practicing and repping throughout the off season and through training camp and let us see all see all come together and playmakers make plays. What degree you think people will be surprised by what we see as compared to what we've seen in the past from the offense? I guess we had a way to see. We've talked to you all often and about building chemistry with the new line. Now that week once finally here, how much confidence do you have in that new starting unit? Oh, yeah. I mean, they've been working hard doing a great job. I'm all season throughout camp on building chemistry and get acclimated to what we do with the new guys and they've been doing a great job being physical and playing how we want to play and I know they're excited as well to get out there and finally put the pass on a different jersey on the regular season and you know, we'll all do it on Sunday. Play how you want to play? What specifically do you mean by that? I think everybody knows how we want to play and especially in the run game office. We want to be down like the line of scrimmage come off the ball on beat the man in front of you. I think they know that stuff we preach and you know, they hear it every day and that's what we try to do. We come out here for practice. How do you describe how your relationship with Tajik has evolved? Yeah, I mean just trying to be any help I can possible to help him with this game and through the years, the stuff that I've learned in my experience, he's a smart, smart guy, comes in attended up in meetings, tries to bring it out to the practice field, try to be very detailed on what he does and he and he works hard and I think y'all seen that in the preseason so I'm excited to see him see what he does on Sunday. Prepare for the Saints. What are some of the things that maybe jump out at you and then how much is week one about not being certain about what exactly you're going to see sometimes? Yeah, the big thing is just watching film on them. You know, see the things that they like to do. The defense is that they're in the different styles that they run and then studying their best players on defense and watching them on film and how they play against the run, how they break, it's the past is trying to get anything, you know, anything possible to get the edge on them. But you know, it's week one, they go run stuff that we've we've never seen and that's that's how it goes in the league. But like I said, they're a great defense. You got great experience over there. They're disruptive. A guy guys that fly around and get to the ball and great in the run. You guys going to loud environments and have the first drive focus on you you go in, you guys score. How much pride do you take into like that first ride right off the back? Shutting up the crowd? I mean, I love the environment and in general, it's loud. The crowd's into it. It's a big game. It's the first game. So, I know it's going to be loud in the dome. You know, I've always seen it on TV. Never got to play in there. I played in there and call it. So, it was loud. So, I anticipate it being a great environment, something that, you know, I think we all look forward to and excited playing. You said individual goals for yourself. Did you have to do a season? No. Never do. It's have been any any moment since last year where you've allowed yourself to think at all about the potential that. Why are you beside the at all like that? Because I know, I know if it has been, it's been small that that this could be a last hurrah for you and and for for Ryan. Um just taking one day at a time and um not getting too caught up in it. Um thankful that I'm able to make it to year to year eight. Um and be playing for this organization as long as I have and try to be the best way I can. Um each and every week and come out here and be a great leader for this team and try to help everybody get better in any way possible and just taking one game at a time. Um fortunate I'm living my dream playing in the NFL. So, not try to get too caught up in that but just be thankful for what I have right now. If it is the last time I imagine you two would want to go out like as big as big can get, right? Hopefully that's in the plans. Um I hope so but I think just try to take it one step at a time and um whatever happens, happens but we definitely want to go out there and ball out and I'll leave my mark. You mentioned year eight realistically in your mind comedy four years of quality played you feeling you have luck? I ain't putting no limit on myself for me. Hopefully as long as I want to, hopefully I can leave this game on my on my terms and um you know be happy with what I accomplished but I ain't looking forward to that yet so I got a lot more in the tank. What do you remember about your first regular season game of your career and kind of how are you relaying that that experience to the younger guys? Um I was ready to get in there um uh it was very exciting um it was it was it was a surreal moment it was a home game for me so it's different from the there in the way game um but you know you're going to have jitters um but that's a that's a good thing you just want to go out there and be detailed and do everything that you practice and not just trying to put it on showcase. To the end I played there twice um back to back in my my freshman year against Oklahoma and then we played Ohio State and in playoffs. By the way do you fall I'm sure you fall Alabama still but you imagine this we get you're a little breakdown on it real quick. Um you know it was a close game last year um no they had a pretty good pretty good defense they had a pretty good team I mean I feel like it's gonna be a close game this year but I feel like um you know that first game kind of gave them a boost of confidence to see um what they had and be able to be able to showcase and decided to see uh middle guard there and um put the show on and show everybody that he's a real deal. Um I'm just excited that Alabama football back in every Saturday I'm gonna be talking and gonna be looking forward to them um having a great season but this Saturday is gonna be a big one I hope you know they come out with the victory. Thanks Eric. Appreciate it. Thanks. To what degree you feel like uh Sunday's an unveiling of everything that you've been working on since you got this job? Yeah I think uh every time you're getting ready to go play the first game of the season you kind of have that feeling. Um you know you spend a lot of time in the off season watching a lot of tape uh evaluating the players evaluating the scheme and uh excited to go out and be able to kind of show uh what we've been working towards over your however many past months it's been. How much fun is it to kind of devise creative things out of run conservative run packages like 12 and 13 and 21 when you've got guys like chig and taje who can maybe do more things than you normally would do out of a package like that? Yeah I think you know obviously having guys that have versatile skill sets uh that that can be a threat in both the run game and the past game provides you the ability to uh to you know put the defense in conflict which is ultimately uh you know our job as coaches uh you know it's it's down there at the top of the list so um having those guys out there and and those guys putting in the work to be able to learn the system to be able to be moved around and put in different spots uh that's been great. What is impressing you the most about taje in particular just from where he started to now entering the season? Yeah I don't know if there's any one thing in particular as to where he started but I mean he works he loves the game football um as cliche as that is it's he's got a cool energy about him when he's in here um always kind of bopping around always looking for little little pieces of information that are going to help him perform better so it's been great having him here. How much have you learned in the last month about things you thought might work or maybe haven't or things that have become priorities for you during the course of what you've learned? Yeah I think getting ready for any opponent get getting ready again going through any training camp you know you find out who you really are you have an idea going into camp but it's not real football until you put the pads on you know what I mean so obviously we've been able to kind of figure out um you know some things that that we want to do uh know what our identity wants to be and and like I said we get a chance here in a few days to go out and show it. Who you as a play caller? You've got different kinds like somebody like to dictate this is what we're going to do just stop it and others like they work with the flow of the game what's your philosophy and approach um whatever's going to score the most points um you know there's there's times where uh you gotta play a game a certain way based upon how what's best for the team um you know in a lot of times obviously that that comes first and foremost what what's going to put our team in the best position to win a football game if that means that we go out and throw the next amount of times or if it means we go out and run it the next bunch of times uh we got to make sure that we're versatile enough to be able to do both what would you want the identity of this offense could be this year physical fast energetic uh it's it's when when I feel when when you have a football team when you when you have an offense more specifically um that does those things that goes out and plays physical pushes piles runs hard plays fast not just you know no huddle tempo but speed um and then goes out there and plays with a lot of energy uh it's it's it's fun to watch and it's fun to coach and it's fun to be a part of wanting to play at a lot of tempo with dealing with crowd noise at the same time yeah that's always a challenge um with that again that luckily for us we've got a great communicator uh with ryan being able to go and handle the crowd noise and he's played in hostile environments before and he's had great games so um it's it's not ideal but with with you know ryan back there calling shots it makes that easier for sure I mean it's been great anytime you're you know you're you're great players are out there practicing every day and it's not just hop obviously like derrick's out there you know i mean ryan's out there when whenever our best players are able to practice and run as much as they have um only good things can come from it there's less room now for willis and levis to to make a daily impression or to to to gain ground what what do you tell them about what their opportunity is now what the role is now and what can you do beyond practice with with them yeah uh you know charles and i have a plan with that being able to make sure that um while they they still may not be getting you know every team rep that they were getting a couple weeks ago they're still getting reps um those you know scout team looks those are vital because those are full speed reps and they're going against a pretty darn good defense too so just because you know we do we do our best uh job as coaches to be able to go and translate those plays to make sure that they're able to go and and get a game like rep there against the defense that's playing it and at a pretty good level so um yeah while they may not be getting the reps with the with the first team offense they're still getting reps and and they need to take advantage of them separate of the team on the previous coordinators had friday afternoon sessions or stuff yeah i mean each each guy because yes yes yeah yeah because uh you know both those guys we need to continue to develop them just like you're saying and we need to find different innovative ways to create a to create growth with both players um and so again that that's you know part of our part of our jobs as coaches is to go and develop our team and develop our players and develop our position group and it's something that we take seriously just be able to focus on now as opposed to everything like the possibility of this being his last season so yeah i think he's worried about winning a football game you know i mean which is again not not to rip off a cliche for you but like that's been at the forefront of him going out and attacking every day and and just being having a laser focus as to what we're getting better at and what we're going after today how much do you want to go in dictating your first 12 15 yeah uh you have a plan as to what you want to see but that changes like that like we if you know field position uh you know how did we get the ball um there's there's so many things that that go into the start of a game where you know you can't just be okay this is play one this is play two this is play three you know everybody talks about the first 15 i mean if you have a 15 play drive you're you're you know probably into the red area already and you're working from a different bank of plays as it is so we have an idea as to what we want to run and what we want to see early on in the game and then you know we got to get into the flow of the game pretty quick there and and make sure that uh we're adjusting to the to the situations as they come up help this offensive line and its first go around uh together kind of get comfortable and get in get in a groove because these guys have played together a whole lot some of them haven't been starters for a while yeah yeah i mean um you're always trying to do that the the most important thing for us to do is be good on first and second down um you know you're good on first and second down you stand there and manageable um it keeps the the exotic pressures the pass rushers that they can't necessarily just sit there and tee off uh so we got to do a good job being efficient on first and second down um and making sure we're staying on schedule some of these guys are eager to prove themselves after having not been starters for a while yeah i think uh as a whole i think as a whole our offense is eager to go out there and prove themselves what was the start of the question i'm sorry i said you guys tried the team tried dealing at that tackle that last off season ended up moving back to guard um what would maybe learn from that and do you feel like he's maybe better equipped to potentially play that i know you want to see yeah uh the the cool thing about that is that he he never blinked at at anything we asked him to do um and so as you guys have kind of alluded to here with that position and it's important to make sure that it's not just uh what's necessarily best for one particular player it's what's you know how do we get our best five on the field and in what combination of guys and what combination of positions gives us the best offensive line as a whole and you know he did a he did a good job in both in both spots you know when he played guard when we asked him to play tackle he went out there and performed at you know a winning level so excited to get him kind of back in the the scheme of things here as he's working his way back thank you guys thanks the past this year with the changed faces particularly with Sean Morphy Bunting Aziz Alshair and some of those guys absolutely i think uh the excitement the anxiousness nervousness everything that comes with week one looking forward to seeing these guys and it's everybody not just the new pieces but everybody on our unit just seeing them go out there and compete when it's real ball now right it's no more preseason they all count now so hopefully we can make some tries in the passing game we got big test out the gate right they got good playmakers on outside obviously an experienced talented quarterback so yeah i think he's guy who's played he's he's done it he's got the experience so i think as he gets more comfortable with what we're doing schematically just kind of seeing where he's at you know where he fits in he's just added depth right now to the room yeah great addition i'm happy we got him he's been he's been great since he's been here learning another guy you're just trying to get up at speed they missed the ball could train in camp right and they get here and it's on the game week so we're on the game plan and everything else and you're still kind of going back a little bit to the base install stuff with them just so they get a gauge of what we're doing schematically so i'm excited for both those guys that the atom when we did and hopefully they can contribute here as we get going addition of gifts and you know you're pretty deep at the outside that edge spot how much will that help having that rotation you know keeping the guys i hope a bunch i do i hope a bunch um i mean we'll see how many we have active on game day what that looks like but i think i mean it's been noted the number of snaps heros played for us in the past i mean hopefully we can take a little bit off him with the with the added depth that we've created finally um and then obviously with nico i mean he's getting up there in age so there's going to be a little bit of a snap going on him not that he's going to want that at times but we got to make sure that we're taking care of him at times too that's going earlier but uh how much is there not fear of the unknown but how much for you concern of the unknown going to go we want to hold it with the new yeah i mean uh it is it's it's it's different i would say the past few years we've faced a lot of new coordinators over the past couple years early in the season just even going back to last year with the giants not really know what they were going to look like week one um but with the coordinator being the same but with what derrick's done and where he's been and everything you're really not sure like we got to make sure that we can get lined up and we can adjust to everything and play our rules and we got to be locked in as the coaching staff on the sideline to make sure we get adjusted as as they're changing things and doing different things that we haven't really prepared for yeah i mean honestly we look at edge guys we're looking at guys that can rush the passion and they can set the edge well it's three four four three i mean we're a lot four down structure just the nature of the beast because it's a more spread out game nowadays like the days of 21 personnel a lot of 12 personnel with two big tight ends where you're truly that three four structure isn't isn't quite what it used to be you know so we're in sub package as that stuff goes anyway so ultimately these guys on the edge that can affect the quarterback and set the edge yeah i'm not surprised by it one bit um he's a total pro he is he he comes in every day ready to work he communicates he talks to other guys he encourages other guys i think you feel him out on the field just the energy um just everything you're kind of looking for from a leadership standpoint and to have it at that position is huge because it is such a integral part of what we're doing defensively being able to handle the front guys and the back end and work with both groups um but not surprised one bit by what it ever since he's been here since the spring day one i kind of knew what this guy was and what he was going to be for us how much easier does it make how much easier does it make your job as a coordinator when you've got smart inside linebackers like aziz and like given that kind of get they can kind of get everybody's set in the right spots make the calls and adjustments yeah i mean i think that's something that goes unnoticed at times right i think there's a comfort level in in the front in the db's and everybody just knowing that that guy's going to get us in the right call and get the front set the right way and and there's there's a sense of comfort that comes with that where we're not panicked and that's a big thing on defense like if you're out there panicked and you're caught behind the ball a little bit when they're breaking a huddle and a call might be wrong and you're trying to get things switched late like when guys are panicked the outcome usually isn't very good right so um i mean i think that's been huge i think it's a big part of that position kind of return to play work for herald as far as getting ready for to start the season and have good to have him back in the mix for you yeah i mean it's it's it's been great man i haven't noticed the acl one bit uh throughout training camp um i'm excited to see him go out there and play you know and i know he's chomping out the bit too so it'll be fun to see him out there i'm i'm glad he's finally healthy and going to be able to contribute for us how much different do you think uh their offense your own offense could be possibly without um kamerican yeah i mean i think just some of matchup things that they've always done for him um i mean he's a he's been a major part of what they do in offense whether they're trying to find ways to give them balls and screen game create one-on-one matchups versus backers the mismatches um there's still some of that i mean you go back two years ago we played against them and it was in chimera and they were still doing the same things right and still trying to pick on our backers with the running back so um i mean i think slightly i think the run game we'll see where that goes but overall they're going to have guys that are going to step up ready to go and ready to make plays just the same yeah i think it's important to them i do um i think it's it's a fine line between being able to stop the run and then not being very good against the pass right so we got to navigate that and we got to make sure that we're doing everything we can to be great in the run game setting the edge building a wall and swarming to the ball but at the same time we have to find ways to affect the quarterback and be better in coverage than what we were feel better about your cornerbacks though going into this year i'm excited about yep thank y'all uh you know what it's interesting because they onside kick every single time so the field position is a pretty big deal there for the six grade teams you haven't gotten any ideas from that right uh you know what i tried to do what my what my wife tells me to shut my mouth so um she's like yeah well it's good thing so if she uh we sit together and then sometimes she'll nudge me a little bit and say hey craig let them do their thing so here to be back there for fun yeah um i think he's done a really good job in the preseason and during training camp he's earned the right to go back there excited for him but yeah we feel comfortable him being back there catching the ball getting up field and getting them some potas potas of yards for us coming to play for anybody but especially a rookie in that type of situation anything you you guys say to him and discuss with him beforehand yeah i mean he's he's played this game his whole life you know he's played at a very high level at the university of georgia so um you know i don't think it'll be too big for him but uh they're always going to have a little bit of nerves going out there we're just going to tell him to relax make sure he catches the ball and we're going to let his natural ability take over after that what degree will you have hard and fast rules about fair catching kickoffs sure um you know i think that's a game by game basis of what we want to do um you know depending on their kicker how much hang time he's getting it it's obviously going to be an option for us at some point in time but we'll figure that out per game and maybe in game of what we want to try to do or what they're trying to do to us if we want to go and fair catch the ball kick returns yeah um you know what kairis will be back there you know taj might have an opportunity the guys that you've seen during preseason but again uh thought kairis did a really good job until his when he got dinged up a little bit in minnesota game but uh we're looking forward to having him back there would you guys be in the side on sunday you know the shadows and those type of things are you going to have kairis work inside some field in parts oh yeah i mean we'll have him out there even earlier in our bubble uh out there you know in new orleans getting a getting a feel for where maybe the lights are going to be at you know i think that's always key for the young guys uh not only for our returners but even mike brown as a personal protector where's the where's the game clock where's the play clock they're going to have to find out all those different types of things but yeah we'll we'll be out there early for those guys to take a look at that stuff what about kickoffs how are you going to handle that with nick paul are you just going to do it or is there yeah again that's going to be you know game by game um have no issues with nick and his leg strength and i think he does a really good job you know even watching some stuff that he did last year um at new england whether it's a touch back or them trying to kick the ball um you know we'll continue to discuss that with coach rabble and nick too um and see what we want to do to help us win the game during the offseason he worked on kickoffs what do you do to work on that just kicking the ball and what yeah i mean there's a couple things you can do um you know whether it's him getting his timing down his steps whether he wants to kick the ball right or whether he wants to kick the ball to the left or in the middle uh those are the things that usually kickers work on in the offseason um you know a lot of them still try to you know gain strength um on their kickoffs or even try to do some fancy type kickoffs whether it be a squib a mortar kick right or left so he's worked on a bunch of different things and uh we're obviously excited to have him what you thought about him maybe from afar and then what you've been like since he's been here in the building yeah i mean the guy who's played a very long time in the national football league uh just love the way he's already interacting with ryan stonehouse and morgan cox but uh here's a guy who's made pretty close to 90 percent uh field goals his last three years um and has done it at a high level so uh really excited to have a veteran player like that come on in and you know continue to even help out ryan stonehouse um stuff that he ends up seeing too how do you go about what he came in he was doing a lot of talking and he's since changed and he does the level of listening now how did that i'm sorry i'm just your first part here so yeah first came in he was doing a lot of talking and they sort of changed over do a lot of listening how did that sort of play out how's that benefited i think that goes with a lot of rookies you know they want to fit in uh sometimes it's better just to listen than to talk uh but uh yeah i think kyrus has done a really good job of just you know listening and trying to understand what we want from him um and whether it's hey we need you to catch the ball and get up field or whether we need you to catch the ball and go to the big field or whether we need to be you know have great communications with fair catches uh he's he's learned he's starting to mature even more and and i'm excited for him what do you do in the process of trying to develop kate york because i presume that the practice reps the bulk of them are going to nick folk to get ready for the game yeah well with nick you know we'll continue to handle nick um on how he wants to be handled and and when i say that is you know how many kicks nick want per week you know because we're going to watch his reps obviously him being an older veteran player uh but we're going to have an opportunity to develop kade uh we're excited about it um you know and i'm i'm just getting to get to know faces with him right now and uh learning from him a little bit too of what he likes so um i'm excited we we went back and watched the film from the lsu days too and uh you know we're excited to work with him and develop him i was joking the other day he has no idea what goes into developing a kicker for your vantage point what goes into how do you develop a kicker yeah i think one of the biggest things that we we try to do to help develop kade or any type of young kicker is um you know find out what they're about mentally um and then we obviously know a lot of stuff that is physical with them but just getting to know um them and what they like and angles on their kicks things like that um you know that that's going to help us develop kade a lot more um because obviously he's got some god-given ability that's really good i mean a lot of people saw that um two years ago at lsu and even last year i mean he's got an extremely strong leg so um you know we'll we'll continue to do our little things that we can help him with um but yeah we're we're still excited for him to be here and help develop him Mike said that he thinks kick with fun blocking is the hardest skill in football what what makes that hard to teach yeah well here's the biggest thing you're you're standing flat footed um you have to see the ball kicked if you're a front line player because obviously you don't want to give up a surprise onside kick and then you have got to turn and run as fast as you can to a certain yard line or a certain landmark depending on what's going on while also taking a look at the guy that you might have to block okay in the nfl not a lot of guys just run straight down the field they might twist they might do a bunch of different things uh so all those things come into effect of uh trying to block at least single block on kickoff return so what we try to do is put these guys in the hardest situation that they can possibly get into um we tell them to turn and run as fast as they possibly can get to that landmark turn and run and find their guy um and still make a block that as the guy is going 20 miles an hour uh down field where you're standing at a standstill position so uh again we put them in what we feel is like the hardest thing for them to do and um you know try to give them the techniques and fundamentals that they need to uh make a single block the roster's been pared down uh these past few weeks so you're happy with who's left in regards to those return teams on special teams and how much work of all of them is a group actually gotten in the last few weeks together yeah i mean you know each week uh during preseason you kind of start realizing hey these guys are doing a really good job they're developing on offense and defense are doing a really good job on special teams uh so us as special teams coaches we've got to look into the future all the time um and and we felt like the guys that end up making our roster or even the practice squad uh developed on special teams and um i'm excited for all of them and for them to get an opportunity to play there were some guys that maybe emerged as the top gunner candidates yeah we got some guys out there obviously some veteran uh with nick westbrook chris moore um anthony kendall did a real nice job in the preseason matt jackson uh rookie from eastern kentucky uh those are the guys that that stood out to us and and did a really good job and looking forward to them um hopefully going out there making some plays for us you got 11 rookies on this roster obviously a lot of those will be playing on special teams sunday how concerned are you about rookie mistakes and penalties that might come just because of inexperience sure i mean there's always going to be rookie mistakes our job is to really limit them as much as we possibly can try to put them in the best situations uh that they can get into so that's our job as coaches uh to get these guys ready um even their rookies or second-year players or fifth-year players but um you know i they're willing to learn and we're excited for them thanks for joining me thank you