 So, Mike, in 10 games you've started seven different combinations on the offensive line. How challenging is that to build chemistry communication when you have guys going in and out of the lineup like that? Well, that's part of it. We know that it's part of this league. That's just kind of what happens throughout the course of the season. Not to say that it's not challenging, but we've tried to get guys ready to go, tried to ask them to prepare his starters, even if you look at Calvin coming from Carolina and just working hard to try to be ready to go whenever his opportunity presents itself. And the other guys, some of them have been here and waiting for their opportunity. So that's kind of part of the deal. You have to prepare as a starter each and every week. Where's Duncan maybe made his biggest strides, and what maybe is next for him? Well, I think we'll see where he ends up at the end of the week. He'll be working. Diller will be, I think, available to practice as he works his way through protocol. And so, probably work Jalen and him over on the left side and work Dylan on the right side. As we start the week off. Just the experience and going out and playing and working through the calls, the silent cadence, the execution, the plays that he thought that he did a nice job on, the ones that he needs to improve on. Just little things. There was a screen where, unfortunately, Peter was downfield early and Jalen was on the back side and felt like he blocked his guy long enough, but then he ended up being a factor in the play and just explained to Jalen that that's, you know, sometimes those are long developing plays and every block matters. You know, even though that you did, you know, your job for the majority of the play, you know, it's a good lesson to learn out there and seeing that guys finish in and being involved in the play and you can help that. I mean, I think that just probably comfort level for Jalen and Dre and Dylan, you know, just, you know, being able to work those combinations and that's kind of how we'll start the week off and, you know, that may change. Impressions of Grace Young, so far? I think that the operation has been good. The command of the offense and that you see him change in protection on third down, quick release, the ability to scramble, doesn't look like it's too big for him, does a nice job of scanning a field. It doesn't just lock in, you know, on one receiver, it can progress through, you know, even though feelings mostly open most of the time and, you know, he has gone to him, but, you know, it looks like the different concepts that they try to have up first, different coverages, he's ready to go with. Well, it's great not to be able to travel and we have one here and we got to give our fans something to cheer about. That's, you know, we have to go and play in a manner in which they're excited about and cheer and support us and help us on, you know, third down and a silent cadence and helping with momentum when we have those types of plays. Beyond just special teams, how's Colton Dowell coming along in terms of knowledge of the offense and being ready to go and play? He's worked extremely hard and, you know, where those opportunities come at receiver, you know, I don't know, but I know that he's gained a lot of, one confidence in himself and respect of his teammates for what he did on Sunday, just in the kicking game and, you know, blocking on the kickoff return as we've talked about that, that's not an easy task and he went back and set up and blocked the linebacker, it was running down the field and good gunner releases now didn't have an opportunity to make a play, which again, that's the most important thing, you know, they were fair caught or kicked in the end zone, but he was playing with some speed and so hopefully that can translate into more confidence and more impact in the kicking game and then, you know, take advantage of the opportunities when they come on offense. What kind of characteristics do you usually face against a Frank Wright coach team? Well, I think they've always been physical, they like to, which the defense is and then, the ability to run the football, the ability to change pace on offense, the ability to, you know, take advantage of the coverage that you're in and try to match up with that, whether that's, you know, zone concepts, spacing, high-low concepts, or the ability to run man-beaters. Well, I think the speed of the length, but also, you know, there is a burst and sometimes he plays at different speeds and kind of laws you to sleep and knows that he starts faster than the offensive lineman do and so there's times where, you know, he'll come in and kind of stop and, you know, they can see and kind of take a deep breath like, okay, he's done and then all of a sudden he'll burst and did that a couple times against Dallas, you know, even on Sunday. So, I think that's probably something that he's probably picked up. He can go up and under, he can beat you inside in the middle of the pocket, but then also, you know, if he feels like he's got it on the edge to be able to bend. Well, it's completed 50% on first down and 70% on second down. Do you have any feel for why there might be such a discrepancy? I don't. I should probably throw more on second down based on those numbers. When you pull those numbers, does that include two-minute, you know, things of those? Yeah. And so sometimes those numbers get skewed when you look at breakdowns of, you know, the two-minute at the end of the half, two-minute at the end of the game. You know, again, I'm not sure. You know, I know that maybe the pressure forced a throw away and I know we had one the other day there with hop and that there was some leakage and I don't think he felt like he could get it to hop and so, you know, kind of dirted it to Derek. That's just an example. Again, I'm just trying to, I think it's all a product of everything in the entire offense and, you know, looking and realizing that it's not all broken. There's some really cool plays in there. There's really positive plays in there. And then just the, you know, what gets overshadowed, I think, even in our minds and everybody's mind is the negative plays, the self-inflicted wounds, you know, the sacks on early downs that lead to longer yardages, which are tough, you know, the snap or the fall start or all those things. But then there's, you know, there's plenty of good stuff in there as well. It just, unfortunately, gets overshadowed. So we'll have to throw it better on first down and maintain, you know, that same completion percentage and that same accuracy and that same operation of protection, route craft, and then accuracy to keep it at 70% on second down. You mentioned Monty Rice yesterday as somebody who's earned more of a role and taken advantage of his defensive snaps in your eyes. What's gone right for him over the course of a season to be able to do that? Well, I've just been, you know, been continuing to progress and I have good leadership. You know, Aziz has played a lot of football and, you know, whether that's Aziz or Gibby and Monty, you know, you can only play certain amount of guys at one time. You know, so we're trying to balance all that as well, I think. And so with Monty, you know, trying to factor in the kicking game and trying to explain to him how critical that is and how he can and help us there. And then, you know, the opportunities that we've given him on defense, he's been able to, you know, be around the football and show up and, you know, again, not just in the run game at a nice play the other day on the on the boot where, you know, he flipped and ran with Ingram and was able to force it in completion. After the game, talk about how you need to feel like he needs to do more, maybe run harder to do certain things. I mean, is he getting room to run when he gets the ball? Well, you know, I mean, I agree with Derek. I think we all and I'd love that attitude. I think the attitude that we all have to do a little bit more. And even Derek, and we have to help him out. We one, we've got to help him out by being able to run more plays, right? We can't can't give him the ball 10 times and have, you know, would be not that he couldn't have an impact. But there's a process to being able to get him those, those carries that then marinate and mature and, you know, have the ability to bust a few and break some tackles. And then we know that there's going to be some, you know, hopefully not too many, some inefficient runs, but we know that over the course of 18 or 20 or 22 carries that hopefully, you know, that we get some of those that pop. And so there's, there's some room. And then sometimes there's not, you know, based on the front or based on, you know, the coverage or our inability, you know, to, to get, you know, the defender or somebody falls off. And, you know, so there's been times, you know, where we have, and there's been times where, where it hasn't. And so when there isn't, you know, they've got to go backs have to be able to put their pads down and, and push for some, some dirty yards or, you know, beat somebody on the edge, like that guys, those guys have done numerous times. Like you said, 18 or 20 or 22 carries, he's averaging under 17. I know. How much of a, like is that a core issue for you guys? It's about the volume of plays. And if you, however many of those are third down that you take down out of there and however many are in two minute, you know, that you take out of there. So that number gets to be pretty small. And so we know that to get everybody involved, the efficiency has to be there. The drives have to be there. And I'm confident that it will. Because I believe that if we are able to do that, then Derek can impact the game and so can hop. And, you know, Tajé, Tajé's, you know, first time he's gotten tackled by the first defender, I would say, all year was on Sunday. And we still like those chances. We're out on the perimeter. And we just have to be able to run, you know, enough plays to get those guys involved. Similar with maybe McCreary, you know, playing outside as opposed to playing inside as he had most of the year. You know, Roger, you know, he comes to work, he goes inside, he plays outside, he'd play in the kicking game for us. He just, you know, I think he loves football. I think he will do anything that the team needs. And that's what he will continue to do, I'm sure. Always open. I mean, he is great route craft, good feeling, his own coverage. And, you know, man coverage he uses, whether it's his own receiver or the defender to run his guy off of the route. And just a lot of really good instincts there for getting open and, you know, rarely drops the football. Titan's defense, right? Okay, great. I mean, I just, I think guys, you know, they credit to the players, you know, for being able to understand that you can't let them run it in and get a forced up all lateral. You know, we saw that a couple times, you know, creep in there when we haven't had success, right? Where it was Pittsburgh and they creased us in the middle, understanding that not to, you know, all the details that we talk about in the red zone, not backing up and being on top and trying to play square and, you know, trying not to let the quarterback scramble. So all the, all the breakdowns that you see, we've all done those things really well when we're getting stops. Like we did on first and second down, you know, they ran the one play with the quarterback Reed and, you know, Arden and, you know, the corner played it really well and we stopped them. And then they came back later in the game and ran the same thing. And, you know, Roger got a little bit nosy in there and, you know, he got the edge. So it's, you know, just being able to execute those details and the stuff that we go over, knowing the coverage concepts that we're in and executing them. But that don't need to continue. Yeah, we'd like them to mix it up. Yeah, we'd like to mix it up. And again, being, being a smart situationally, right, and being aware of where you are at on the field, where you're at down and distance wise, situationally, whether it's, you know, end of half and they're in field goal range, you may want to protect, you know, the yen zone, as opposed to coming up and pressing, you know, third and longer and, you know, different opportunities. And again, if you're going to, you're going to press, you know, to make sure that we're impacting, you know, the route and not just giving them free access. And so that that's most important is that when you're going to go up and press, that you're going to impact the release and force him, you know, to be uncomfortable and to disrupt the timing of the route. I want Christian to have whatever opportunities he has. It's going to keep him, his man from catching a football. And I can't say that whatever the numbers are, whether it's press or off, you know, I know that he'd been able to execute both of those. And I know that there's been times where guys have caught it in press or off. So I think being able to mix it up, you know, I just, I think that's important as well. I don't know that, you know, what one's statistically better than the other. And then, you know, there'll be some coverages. But again, in man coverage, it is what it is. And you can't have everybody pressed, right? And making sure that we don't get picked. There are some opportunities there when guys are close together. So, you know, that's kind of where we're at there. No, he'll, no, Traylin won't be there. I'm sorry. No, we need to be better in all levels of our past defense. And I'm hopeful that when I say all levels, I mean up front, that we get there a half a step sooner. And in the back end and, you know, that we're either hitting guys to hold, help the quarterback hold it a half a second longer. That's what I talk about impact in the quarterback and the passing game and talk to the players about that. It's not just one group, but there's times where we've had good coverage and forced them to hold on to the football. There's times where we've gotten there and have not forced them to hold the football. And so just realizing and showing where we can put those things together just a little bit better. And that hopefully will lead to, you know, ball disruption, whether it's a tip pass or a sack or a strip sack or, you know, or an interception because the quarterback's throwing it too soon. Thank you. Yeah, I'm not really too close to them personally. But I mean, I've definitely watched them from far. I've been really impressed with this whole process. And he's a heck of a quarterback. It was really fun watching him, you know, compare myself to the other quarterbacks in the draft class. And he did some great things on Saturdays. He's been doing some great things on Sundays. And look, wish him in the breast of this career. Now that you're in a position to take advantage of some opportunities here, compare yourself to the other quarterbacks. Yeah, I think it's really important, especially like playing at this level, like seeing how other guys have gotten it done at this level. It's important, you know, looking at dudes that, you know, might have a similar skill set to you as to what you can do physically. And just it's a copycat league, you know, just like with plays, just with same with technique, you know, just seeing other guys doing different things that can help your game. So that's been that's been fun. What are some of the things that you learned about the position in the NFL playing quarterback that you had had no way of knowing when you were, you know, just working in practice and watching film? I think just how fast things go during the game. I mean, we work with a with a play clock here every day of practice to emulate it, you know, and then just knowing that even though the time is running down at the same speed, it just seems like, you know, when you get out there on game day that there's a little less time, you got to make your decision a little faster, you got to be more decisive and more clear. So just the processing of it all on game day knowing that it's a little sped up, but to have the same confidence you do in practice, to see it the way you do in practice and make the right decisions and get the guys rolling. Yeah, I think it started with the pre-draft process. One guy I really liked watching was Joe Burrow. I think he does some great things and just I think physically we're pretty similar. Dax, another one of those dudes, I think he does some good things with their offense and you know, even just watching just their pass game they had against Carolina and what he was able to do and how he operates. There's this couple that I'd say at the top of my head. How much are you looking forward to playing at home? It's been a while for you guys. Oh, it's great. I mean, we undefeated at home. So I mean, we got to keep rolling, you know, so I mean, it's going to be awesome to have the fans back there and to get back at home. It's been what, five, six weeks since we've been there. So it's going to be great because this feels better at home for sure. We have a couple deep throws for you in the last game. Was that a great success on two? But was that more by design or did you just maybe not have time to throw? I mean, we ran 36 plays. Like, I can have more opportunities to run more plays, to give the ball to Derek more, to give the ball to Taj J more, to throw the ball down the field more, to open up those things. But when you truly only have seven opportunities to put drives together, you realize just how important, like we talked about, you know, ad nausea is just the little things. 50% on first down to please you percentage 70% on second down. Were you aware of that discrepancy? Do you have any feel for why it's there? No, no, I thought my head I couldn't point to anything specifically now. No, it's fine. No, it's fine. Nothing else to say. Are you putting any extra just with just the snaps and since last game kind of went a little wonky on the way? Yeah, I mean, his misses, if we go back and just self scout, his misses have all been kind of in that same spot and he's aware of that and we're aware that is no error as well. And we're going to make some adjustments just with how we practice and how we play just to help us out with that, just to make sure that that exchange, which is the start of every play is if we don't get that clean, then nothing else can work. So got to make sure that that's clean every time. What's the challenge versus going through your progressions and knowing because it's all just so yeah, I mean, it's there's the feel of, you know, the rush and there's the feel of the back end and, you know, compartmentalizing the two and understanding how one could potentially affect you, but not letting the other one affect you at the same time, you know, but it's just a feel thing. It's just with reps knowing how when you get pushed off your spot, how your eyes can't necessarily go to that next read, how you have to move to this side of the field to find whatever routes coming to you. That's just, you know, knowing the playbook, knowing the scheme, knowing where your guys are going to be at certain times. And then if you have an understanding of what's happened in the back end, where those holes are supposed to be and then reacting to that. I think I mean, I've definitely improved things just in terms of coverage recognition and just not just guessing and having a good idea of what I'm seeing out there. I've done a decent job of that. Just got to keep pushing and get better. It's been great. I mean, they get us ready each and every week with all the looks that we could potentially expect. And then obviously telling us that, you know, we're going to get some looks that we don't expect. I mean, you can go back to last week to talk about their technique in the secondary and how we expected them to be handling all these, you know, deep three level concepts that we work a lot. And we didn't get the responses that we had expected. So it's that much more important that we're able to make those in-game adjustments and that these receivers and everybody else knows their rules and what we might be expecting, but how we have to just turn on a dime and just react to what actually happens opposed to what we're expecting. How do you think you've done with that stuff, the unexpected stuff? Sorry. How do you think you've done with that unexpected stuff? Good. Good. I mean, even with last week, like just that second deep shot that we were able to take, like the guys were in the spots that we were expecting them to be. And because of that, we're able to make a play. So just guys continuing to do that. Obviously, it's not perfect. And just with technique and how we're teaching them to do these things, it's important to, again, compartmentalize like what we're teaching, what we're expecting, but what needs to be done to get the point of the play through. In terms of that, as the rate that people are blitzing you, has that been about what you've expected or has it been a little more than when the city extra guys? Yeah. I think we go back to that second game that I played, just seeing a little more pressure and teams realizing that they were able to get to us a little bit. And then we've seen a little uptick in that and just the pressure percentage. These teams, they are what they are at their core. But if they do see things like that, then they might change their tendencies, which we've been able to get ahead of and at least prepare for, which has been nice. But we've done a good job of having the right answers in protection, and especially in third down, which is ways that we're able to handle and just take as much pressure off the quarterback position. Pretty close. Yeah. I mean, I had a dinner with them and then I had a top 30 visit with them and just had a decent connection with them. I know that they did the same process with the three or four quarterbacks or whatever they brought in, but they were very professional about all of them. And I thought that they were a well-run organization. Not really, no. I went out there for my top 30 and not that they said it in words, but essentially the vibe was, hey, thanks for coming. And then I think it was like two days later, like the reports come out like, well, Lev is reportedly supposed to be number one pick to Caroline. I really wanted to just stand up on top and be like, they actually told me the opposite. But no, I mean, all respect to Coach Reich and all of them, they handled that process with all the integrity and all the right ways that they should have. And looking forward to competing against them. I don't think I'm looking at a specific team like, dang, like screw these guys. I'm really trying to beat up on them, you know, but now it's just internal motivation just as a whole, just how that whole process went for me that was able to just push me forward and just work the way I have like since I got here. Yeah, he's a beast. I mean, we talk about him. We don't necessarily know who's going to do technique wise from his different positions. So just being locked into, he might be here, but you might expect him to be doing this where he might be coming underneath and he's definitely got to lock in on. And I think overall defensively, we're going to be getting some looks that we haven't gotten in a long time from a front perspective, which is nice that we were able to get ahead of it, knowing that we were going to be facing these types of teams. So a lot of stuff that we'd already worked in training camp that we haven't necessarily been able to come back to that we now just kind of got to refresh our memory with and get the guys tuned up on. So opportunities to do a lot of good things against them, got to handle their guys burns, especially being one of them. Quick conversations, post game. Anybody say anything with Baker or Trevor, anybody you talk to, giving any advice kind of going off about how things are going? I think the quarterback wise has just been really quick in and out with them, but I've had good conversations with dudes that I've played with on other teams in college that obviously they're going to tell me what I want to hear, being their friend, tell me that I'm doing a good job, but it's cool hearing just other guys, other professionals, you know, giving you some affirmation about how you play or whatever, not that that means anything, because it all just comes from within and the guys in here. But it's just cool seeing the dudes that you're able to come up with through college to go and chase their same dreams and then laugh with each other afterwards.