 Mike, with all the injuries this year, how much do you take that into account assessing the offensive performance and hot-downing as board members? Well, I mean, I think you take into everything when you evaluate, you know, all levels of the organization. You know, there were things, you know, I think the consistency, you know, is really the biggest thing. You know, that stood out when you look at that particular unit and our units in general. I mean, there were conversations that we had earlier in the season, you know, about our special teams being just one play away from being a dominating performance in the game, where we played really well and, you know, punted and covered and tackled them inside of 20 and had punt returns and kickoff returns. And then, you know, as, as attrition happened and, you know, had some guys down and moving parts and bringing people in from other places, you know, that happened offensively, that happened defensively and happened on special teams. So, you know, I think you look at it and you evaluate everything that you're doing and, you know, who you're doing it with and the staff that you put in place for the players. Mike, in terms of just where this organization is, in your mind, are you better off with minor changes and better luck or major changes? Well, I mean, I think change is obviously a part of this league. It's part of, you know, professional sports. You know, I think that there'll be conversations here in the short term about, you know, the general manager and where that goes. And then that person and I'll have conversations, we'll have conversations with Amy, you know, about the extent of the change that we have. And I don't think that that's something that is going to happen, you know, necessarily overnight, but there's going to be, you know, change. How about within the coaching staff? I know, like, you preach loyalty, that's one of your foundations. How do you weigh that against the performance that... Well, yeah, and I don't think that, you know, loyalty clearly is a two-way street, and so is trust and all that other stuff. And I think that one thing that going back to where you drew that from was things that I look for or that I certainly want to make sure is at the forefront, is that can you trust this person right outside of here and can you trust them that the messages that you're portraying to the team are getting relayed and that they're allowing for to put your message into their own words and that they're not out there looking for another job or they're not giving the players mixed messages. I think that's the loyalty, you know, that I'm looking for. The loyalty that I have is obviously just to do, you know, put people in place that are, you know, right for the football team. And so I'll look at each and every phase of our team as it relates to the coaching staff, as it relates to the players. And, you know, that process has obviously started, just finished up meeting with the players and, you know, thank them. You know, and then, you know, I'll have conversations with the coaches, you know, throughout this week and next week. What's the thing like for your mind to get the head coach? What was your final message to them? Well, the final message was that, you know, thank them. I thank the guys that started this process on April 18th. It had been through a lot. I thanked them for their dedication, you know, other than a few games, you know, that I felt like, you know, maybe we were out, outmanned, I felt like, you know, we competed. Unfortunately, we were five and six and one score games. You know, that's something that had been a strength of ours in the past. And it wasn't, you know, I asked them to stay in communication with, I don't want this to be a seasonal type of deal. I don't want it to be transactional, you know, try to build a connection with them, try to make relationships with them. You care about their family, you care about their children and things that they're doing. So I've asked them to communicate and stay in communication. You know, I'd hope that they had learned some lessons along the way outside of football. And, you know, told them to thank everybody here that, that helped them do their job this year. Mike, are you running the offensive coordinator? You know, our offensive coordinator, and Todd, that'll be part of the conversations and it'll be part of my evaluation. You know, this week as, as it relates to the football team. Has any changes been made yet, Mike, on the coaching staff? No, no, not yet. Just still, again, working through conversations with players and having some meetings. And, you know, I'll meet with the coaches and, you know, continue that process. When you look at offense in particular Mike and Todd's two years, numbers have gone down. Obviously a lot of factors go into that with injuries and so forth. But, you know, I guess what in your mind has he done best over the past couple of years? Well, I mean, I think that there's, you know, there's a consistency. I think we've, you know, built the, built the offense around Derrick. We've, you know, had a lot of success in that regard. You know, we have to protect our quarterback better. You know, when, when you don't protect your quarterback, they get hurt or they turn the ball over. So we have to, we have to do that. You know, we have to take care of the football. You know, we gave it to, to, to our best player and, you know, he just, he turned it over this year. And he hadn't in the past. And so, you know, there's a lot of factors that go into, you know, performance and, you know, we'll look at everything. Why is it important to bring back a guy like Jefferson? Well, Jeff's under contract, I think. But just in the future with the negotiations, just what does he bring to this team? Oh, I mean, leadership, toughness, accountability, you know, performance. You know, I, you know, just, just every day coming to work with a great attitude, you know, he plays through a lot of pain and discomfort. You know, I played, you know, through a lot of things in his career here. So those are things that I value and appreciate in a player. Are you optimistic that Ryan will be your starting quarterback next year? Well, I mean, we have a lot of guys here that are under contract. We have a lot of guys that, you know, want Ryan to get as healthy as he possibly can. And then, you know, go and be our quarterback and figure out things that are going to, you know, help us win. And then that, that's, that's the case for a lot of guys. A lot of guys are, you know, that are under contract that finish the season not out there. You know, so let's get everybody healthy and let's see where everybody's at. And then, you know, we can make some decisions. So you don't feel comfortable right now committing to Ryan as the starter for next year? Well, I mean, he's our starting quarterback. If he was healthy, he's our starting quarterback. You know what I mean? So that's, that's all I could tell you. And right now there's a lot of guys that aren't healthy and that didn't finish the game. I mean, I think we're going to talk a lot of hypotheticals two days after our last game. So, you know, happy to talk a lot about things that I can answer, but I can't answer things that, you know, are in the future. What does Amy told you about how the kind of search now, now that we're out of the season, how the search will play out for the GM and what your role will be? Well, you know, comfortable with those conversations about, you know, being involved. I think that they're excited about the group that they're going to bring in and meet with. And I think that, you know, once they kind of get through that first process, you know, be involved in, you know, whatever would come after that and probably a smaller group excited about that process and being involved and, you know, helping in any way that I can. She asked for your input on anyone that you may already know that you would have a preference for? Yeah, I mean, we've had conversations about it. So I would just say that those were good conversations, you know, open conversations. So, yeah, it's not like they've, Amy's kept me in the dark about the process and how that's going. I mean, as a player, there was always uncertainty, you know. So as a coach, I mean, there's uncertainty in this business. Whether there's a GM, whether there's an interim GM, whether there's no GM, there's uncertainty. That wouldn't change if we hired a GM tomorrow. Well, you know, we have to address it. We have to at least look at it and we are and we have and we do it every single day, you know, that I meet with Todd, that we meet with Frank, that we're trying to figure out what these injuries are, Gentry, and I know that everybody, you know, has got the answers. I don't know if I have the answers on, you know, the 90% of the injuries occurred in the game, right, of an ACL or an MCL or a high ankle sprain. I mean, those are hard, you know. We look at soft tissue injuries. We look at those soft tissue injuries of, you know, repeat offenders. You know, I mean, it doesn't take too hard to look and see that, you know, Christian Fulton and David Long, you know, I mean, they repeat offenders as soft tissue injuries. They have to figure out a way to train and act like, you know, this is, the game has played at a high speed. Kevin Byrd hadn't pulled a hamstring since we've been here. You know, I mean, and there's a durability factor to play in professional football that we should not overlook. Like, that's real. There's guys that are durable and there's guys that aren't. And we're going to check, you know, I mean, you're going to keep asking me about these questions. There are these injuries and I'm going to try to do my best to answer them. How we practice, you know, how we practice in preseason and that the data that we're getting about the regeneration days. Now, do you want to be a blister or you want to be a callus? And, you know, do you want to keep working through every day and you get your volume up so that you can withstand the volume and the rigors of the season? You know, and that would be callus or do you want to be a blister and you want to, you know, feel some discomfort, pull back, wait till you feel good and then come back and do it for a couple of days and then you're going to, you know, keep feeling that way. So those are the two thoughts. You know, we've tried to get them to maximum speed or excuse me, 90 percent. We've talked about that throughout the week so that it's not Sunday to Sunday proposition that all of a sudden, you know, they've got to go and sprint and get up to 90, 95 percent and they haven't been there since the previous week. And there is a level of luck that I think I think there's a level, you know, it's cyclical. I mean, we've had two, you know, awful years as it relates to injuries. You know, prior to that, you know, I think it was at a level where you could, you know, say that it was in the range of normal. Can you just describe, like, how different is that thought process from, like, when you first got here and the way you guys were doing things? It's not. I mean, maybe the training camp, you know, I think other than the training camp, you know, we've added the regen days. We've added some of that time off, if anything. You know, I mean, we've, you know, we've added that into the schedule of training camp. You know, just trying to look at, you know, the length of it, you know, when you're not playing games and, you know, there are some days where you have to look and some guys that aren't playing games with the day off, the day before, you know, you're trying to manufacture work for them. So we're always trying to be creative and make sure that everybody has a plan to stay as healthy as possible and then obviously the return to play. You know, I, you know, I love what we do with our training staff, our rehab staff, you know, the strength and conditioning that has knowledge within the football. You know, Brian Bell puts a lot of time in with the coaches so that he knows what drills to do as these guys are returning to play and then ultimately trying to get them back onto the field. Is there not enough emphasis, Mike, on durability and the acquisition process? Well, you know, I mean, we've certainly brought some guys in or had some guys that have had some injury history. And if that's, I don't know if that's always a predictor of the future, in some cases it maybe was and in some cases it wasn't. As you turn the page to free agency and draft that evaluation process with this new GM coming, how much involvement would you like to have in bringing guys in at that match with what you want to do? Well, I think that that's the whole idea. You know, I'm comfortable that, you know, throughout this process of, you know, communication and finding the right person, you know, the collaboration obviously is critical. I feel like we've, you know, put some time in here over the course of five years. It hasn't been perfect, but we certainly have an idea of the type of people and I think you start with the person. You start with the person and then you make sure that, you know, the talent and the skill set fits, but I think it's about people and who they are, the type of leaders they are, the type of teammates they are. I think you start there because you just, you learn anything, you learn that this is a tough gig. It's a long gig and the front runners may be good when things are going well, but when you have some hiccups and you have some, you know, adversity, you really need, you really need some dudes that, you know, are going to stick there and kind of do it each and every day. What about that collaboration to remain as it was with the previous GM or are you looking for that to increase? I'm just looking to try to bring in the best people and the best players that we possibly can. Again, just going forward, just trying to find the best GM right now. That's the next step, you know, trying to work through the staff, work through the players, work through meetings. And then when they ask me to be involved, I'm comfortable and excited to be involved in the process, not about where we were or what we did. At the quarterback position, did Josh Dobb give you something to maybe think about as far as bringing him back and to kind of piggyback on that? What's the message to Malik moving forward? Well, I think I'll start with the message to Malik moving forward. I mean, the messages continue to improve, continue to develop, continue to work on those things that we've continued to discuss, whether it be with, you know, being able to progress through, being able to recognize, you know, rotation, coverages, you know, just overall knowledge of what he's doing each and every day, which is what he did on the show team most of the year, you know, come back with a great attitude, with knowledge of what we're doing offensively, being in shape, you know, and that's, I told all the young guys, that this isn't a six-month job, you know, if they don't work harder between the next four months than they did to get here, there's a whole new crop of players that are waiting to come into that spot. That's the nature of this business, and that's not a threat to anybody. That's just what it is. You know, you look at the development of T.R. Tartt over his first, second, third year, I mean, whereas, I said, Jaden Peevee, if you don't do anything, you don't work any harder than we just got another Peevee that'll just come through the pipeline and just explain it to him. As far as Josh, I think, you know, certainly you'd have to have a conversation. I enjoyed having him here. I think he made an impact in a short amount of time. You know, we'll have those conversations, and I don't see where we end up. The one thing about this team is there was never any bigger point it seemed like for the guys in the locker room. That's hard to do when you go on a seven-game skit. How was that able, I guess, to be able to keep that culture together? Yeah, I mean, I think that's what you've talked about. Well, I've tried to talk about it. It's not when you're winning, you know, the culture, that the culture is about, you know, maybe when things aren't going so well. And guys continue to prepare, continue to show up, you know, get on a plane, go to Jacksonville with every intent to win that football game. And, you know, for most of that game, you know, I thought we did everything that we could. You know, it came up short there in the end. But, you know, it all comes down to, you know, trying to be consistent in starting with my message to the team, the people that we put around them, you know, the coaches and the trainers and, you know, our support staff. And then obviously the players, it's their responsibility. And, you know, they did that. They stuck together and tried to try to find ways to prepare and try to find ways to win. Mike, as you go about... This organization would go the path of rebuilding from the bottom up as opposed to running it back with the group that you guys have had over the last couple of years with the changes. Well, I mean, I think that there's a number of things that you could do. You know, we could, you know, there's a lot of... That's those questions that you ask every year. You know, as you construct a roster, as you do a lot of different things. And our goals will never change. Our goal is to have a championship football team. I have fallen short, you know, of that. But we still know what wins. We still know, and we're going to win. You know, but again, there's decisions that will be made throughout the season, throughout the off season, excuse me. And starting with, you know, free agency, guys that we identify, you know, trying to get somebody hired and looking at where we are with the salary cap and all those things that everybody's concerned about. Mike, as you go about evaluating your coaching staff and your players and looking at what needs to change, how do you go about evaluating yourself as you kind of reflect on what's been your first losing season? How do you kind of internally look at the job you've done? You know, I mean, I think when you work, you know, the ability to play with 23 guys on a practice squad or from the street out of 48, you know, you look at how competitive you are, you know, didn't do a good enough job. We lost too many games. You know, I think that those things will come. I think those that self-reflection, you know, I mean, nobody would evaluate that they did a good enough job because we didn't win. You know, how I try to lead in the connection that I make with the players and, you know, ultimately, you're only defined by one thing, and that's whether you win or not. So short answer is that it wasn't good enough. Because of Henry Centric on an offense during your time, Mike, and a lot of success, going forward, do you still envision that being kind of the main theme or, you know, do you see a veering off at all in the future? You know, we'll have to see where things go in the offseason and see where we think is best for the football team and the identity of the football team and where everybody is and what those plans are. So I can't really answer things that are a few months away and the direction, but confident that we're going to be aligned, you know, that the organization starts with alignment from Amy, with myself, the general manager, the coaching staff, the players. That's what's important in the offseason is making sure that those things are in place. Assessing the offensive line, is it more a matter of trying to just revamp and get more players in that maybe are healthier and be better there or is it a situation where maybe you have to kind of tweak the scheme and how you're going about things? You've got to protect your quarterback in the National Football League. When you don't, what happens? Well, they get hurt and they turn the ball over. So we need to find guys that can protect the quarterback just because that's what happens. They show it up, you know, throughout the season and, you know, cap some guys in and chip and all this other stuff and, you know, we'll just have to, you know, keep searching for them and keep finding them and keep working with them. How much does your ranking and pass defense have to do with the fact that teams just stopped trying to run the ball against you and how much of it is they can work? Well, there was some volume there. Yeah, I think that, you know, can't be first and run and last and pass. I mean, it goes hand in hand. We've got to find ways to rush the quarterback and impact the quarterback. That's the best coverage, you know, is being able to rush them. You know, and that'll be conversations that I'll have, you know, with Shane, the coaching staff is, you know, but it starts there and then it starts to, you know, materialize into the coverage and zone and man and but that's something that we have to, you know, we certainly have to improve on. Mike, when you're assessing the coaching staff here, how much of it is based on practice, teaching, development and how much of it is game execution? Yeah, I think that there's, you know, you've got to teach, you've got to develop and you have to inspire the player. And I think, you know, the play callers, you know, have to be, you know, efficient and be in rhythm and understand what we're trying to do as a team that we want to execute the game plan and what I feel like is the best way to win that particular game. I mean, we talked about, you know, you know, Danico's, you know, the time that he was out, Harold wasn't out there for the whole year. There was some production there. That's, you know, that's the easiest way to cover, you know, is to speed up the quarterbacks clock and, you know, did some of that, you know, at times, but just not consistent enough on, you know, first Jacksonville game or some of those games. You mentioned Harold, I mean, we hadn't seen him since August, how has his recovery gone and you're expecting him to? Yeah, I mean, it's great to see him around. He looks good. You know, I mean, he's made Nashville his home. It's great to see him, you know, and Danio and the kids and so hopefully he'll have, you know, be ready to go and have a full recovery and, you know, get back to playing the way he was before he got injured. Mike, what would you like to see from the league going into next year? What would you like to see him work on this offseason for next year? Yeah, I think I answered that question. Somebody, Jim asked me five minutes ago. Fourth quarter issues, 37 points. Jim, you shared the quotes with him? I got sorry, Jim. 37 points combined for the fourth quarter in 17 games. For a team that has prided itself on finishing, what disappointing was that number, maybe? Losing is disappointing, Trisha. Losing is disappointed. So we had to score 18 in the fourth quarter and been able to win because we had the ball and we finished with it in our hands. Like we did it against Indianapolis twice, you know, but we never won a game when we had the ball in our hands and needed to score with Mr. Kick opening week of the season, you know, and then never scored in those one-score games. Coach, Ryan talked about last year, how long it took for him to move on from the Bengals loss, the playoff game. For you, trying to move on from this season, how long do you give that? Or as a head coach, do you not have time? Well, I mean, I think you're always trying. You know, I mean, I think it's hard to move on, you know, completely because you're always thinking about, you know, things that happen and trying to use that as, you know, a learning, you know, where to learn, a preparation, what you did, you know, what you didn't do, what worked, what didn't work. But I think it's part of the process of dealing with, you know, kind of where we're at. And, you know, we'll have to turn the page and, you know, move forward. The same thing that, you know, I've always wanted it to be. I wanted it to be smart and tough, fast, you know, physical. So I still think that there's, you know, there's a degree of physicality that's required in this game at every level. Fundamentally sound, play with technique, you know, but, you know, we got to get faster. We have to be a faster football team. We're not, rarely are we the fastest team out there. What are your thoughts on analytics where it's like, how involved that is in your process? Yeah, help me out. Which analytics are you referring to? And I'll work your way through everything that we do. Injuries, game planning. Okay, so injuries, what would you want to do there? We're using analytics to track the GPS. Right, that's what I'm asking. What are your thoughts? Like where are you guys with the involvement with injuries but then also game planning? Yeah, I mean, we have, you know, we track the speed every practice. They have it on their iPad and they go around and they say, hey, I'd like to get you to 90%. That's how we track that throughout the week as it relates to injuries. We get a report the next day from the game about, it's got speed, max speed. It's got distance traveled at those max speeds, you know, anything over 15 miles an hour. So you've got that list. You know, the one thing that I would be curious in is acceleration, you know, as it looks, as it tracks from injury, you know, we can get you up to 90%, but does it track, you know, 0 to 15 over 15 yards? You know, I mean, how quick is a guy, you know, accelerating? How can we use that to help him, you know, recover from injury? What the baseline is, you know, they mark accelerations like, hey, he accelerated this many times in a game, but does it have that number of what that speed is, or excuse me, what that acceleration is, that speed, you know, over a level of time? As far as game planning, the GPS, I mean, where you want to throw deep to the fast guys, that's what I would do. The guys that are fast try to throw deep to them, and the guys that aren't, they probably should be underneath, running routes. I was talking more about how you look at probability on X play in this situation, fourth down, going for fourth down. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So then that leads to game management, stretch and eye, you know, track those. What we feel like is best in the situation, you know, whether to go forward or try to, you know, kick or attempt something, you know, those come into account, absolutely. You know, we're trying to track those and see what's best. And then you try to get a feel for the game and kind of how the game's going. Is it low scoring game, how they're playing, how our defense is playing, you know, how many points we think we're going to need to win. And to your decision about whether or not you're going to retain Todd after the DUI? I mean, I think our behavior and our actions outside of here are critical, whether that's, you know, the line, the coaches, the players. I mean, I think that that's something that's extremely important and critical in how we carry ourselves outside of here. You know, but we'll have those conversations and I'll have meetings with coaches and we'll go from there. What's going on? He's in the health training, do you think, Mike? Do you have any advice for him as he heads off? Well, it's just to, you know, understand that it's not a six-month deal. It's a year-round and he's not taking any trips to go see other teams. And I think he realizes what, you know, what he can do if he's in shape and he's ready to go and he's big and, you know, healthy. And he, you know, he worked his tail off. He had some, you know, unfortunate injuries. He hurt the toe, you know, had the concussion. But I, you know, I'm excited to work with him. I'm excited for him and his future. You know, I just, it probably got off to a slow start. And, you know, that's how you learn sometimes is by going through it. Is that the position receiver where you feel like you've got to, when you talk about speed, where you've got to get? No, you want to fast this roster that you can. You know what I mean? You want to, you want to fast everybody. You want your deliming to be able to run. You want your corners to be able to run. Receivers, you know what I mean? We're just trying to, it's a fast game. And so that's, that's what you're trying to do all the time. Just find as best players that can play football as possible.