 Coach Michael Don and Peter, how are you feeling today? Good, how are you guys doing? We're doing OK. How much easier is it to coach for the next game when you have a captive audience and a bunch of players that feel good about things, having one, two games in a row? Yeah, anytime you win, it's a lot better than losing. That's just how it goes. Right. The NFL is, it's a week-to-week league. And you get a couple in a row, then that gets everybody rolling and getting excited for the next one. I asked Sam yesterday, like, what's the difference between what happened to Miami and what's happened over the last couple of weeks? And he said, we're just executing the plays. A, do you agree with that? And B, why is their execution now and maybe weren't earlier in the season or specifically in that Miami game? Yeah, that's probably a fair statement. I think just the experience of these guys playing together. We still have a couple of guys moving in and out. I think the receiving core kind of sticking together and staying somewhat healthy has helped us. I think Sam, getting to play multiple games in a row, coming off, really coming off the mono. And then we have the Cowboys, Patriots, and then now we've had four in a row and the last two have really been more what we expected to look like. Coach Sam continues to deflect it every time we ask him on Monday when we have him on. But I mean, he was out the three weeks with mono, but how far away was he from being the real Sam Darnold while he was coming back and having been out for three weeks? I mean, was he at full, you know, full efficacy right away? That's, it's hard for me to say because, I mean, I had one game with him. I had a couple of preseason games with him and that one game in Buffalo. And then he was out three weeks. I mean, I know he was cleared. He played really well in the Dallas game. You know, really we look at that New England game as that was just a, you know, it was a disaster on all aspects of it in all phases. I mean, it was all of us. I mean, nobody did anything well. And then we just, you know, we had opportunities in Jacksonville, Miami. We just didn't capitalize on them. And we've just played cleaner the last two games. Now yesterday, we asked Sam about a story that was in the athletic on Sunday that he came into your office and said, you know, we've got, we've got, these are the plays I want to run. And these are the plays I really want left out. And you said, what took you so long? Is that an accurate assessment of how that went down? Yeah, I mean, really what it was about was just kind of the type, how we were playing. You know, we were huddling more probably before the last couple of games. You know, we were, we probably had a little more in and just some, you know, game plan specific type plays. He was just specific as far as, hey, this is what I think I'm really good at, which was, for me, it was perfect timing. It was just exactly what, you know, I personally needed to hear because it made it, it makes it so easy when your quarterback is saying like, this is what I want to do. This is how I see it. This is, this is what I think I can do really well. This is how I can make sure that we're not turning the ball over. This is how I know we can move the football. And that just makes my job a lot easier because now it's, we just target on those things and then just call it the right way. Now, Adam, it's interesting because we have on the Hall of Famer, Steve Young every, every Monday. And he said, he found the story unusually. He said, because when he was with Bill Walsh, Bill Walsh would come to him and say, what do you like running? What could we take out of this? He said, he was surprised that you waited for Sam to come to you. How come? Well, I mean, there's conversations that are had, but a lot of times Sam is somebody that's not gonna tell you, no, I don't like that. He's gonna be like, yes, I like that. Right. Because that's him. He's been in the NFL two years. He's played 20 games in his career. So I mean, he's going through a process of he's learning a new system and he's trying to figure out what's good, what's bad. How do I feel about this? How do I feel? There's a lot of assessing going on of him trying to figure out what is good. He doesn't wanna just say, I don't like this just because he erupted one time in practice. So that's interesting then because it's almost like he seems like he's a pleaser. He's still young. He has a new coach. And if you want him to say what don't you like, he's gonna say I like everything until that meeting. Yeah. Interesting. Has that changed now that he came to you? Do you feel that it's more comfortable that he will be able to speak with more confidence around you and say no to things? Yeah, if he doesn't like something, he says it hasn't happened a whole bunch in the last couple of weeks because we've, it's been so, it's been easy to target what he wants to do. Now we brought this up yesterday, Adam. I wonder what your take is. He's done everything right in terms of, you know, speaking with the media, being in that locker room as far as we know, Levy on Bella's been great, but he has not been great on the field per se in terms of the huge chunks of yardage. Is it because the offensive line is still a work in progress or is he just not having a great year? I think what he's really tried to do the last couple of games is really, it's all about efficient runs for us. We're trying to stay ahead of the sticks. There's sometimes where maybe he could take a chance and bounce a ball or try to hit a hole that might be there, might not be there, but I think really after those Jacksonville, Miami game, we got to the point where he understood kind of how we were playing at this moment right now and kind of really the changes that we've had up front quite a bit to where he knows that us staying ahead of the sticks is really critical for us to stay, try to third and manageable, stay out of second and longs. You know, just really put us in the right position. So he's, I thought, I think he's been doing a really good job of just being efficient and just making sure we're getting four yards and on second and two, getting the first down and third and one getting the first down, we're getting the red area, you know, and there's an extra guy, he's running over that guy and getting into the end zone. He's doing a lot of the things that we need him to do to just, you know, as a group move the ball consistently. So you don't believe he's lost a step or slowed down at all as the season went on? I don't, I think he's really doing things to try to help us as a team. Now the defense looks like it's turned a corner and boy Jamal Adams, I mean, you know, he talked about being in the same breath as, as Donald and Brady. And although that seems a little excessive, he certainly put himself up with the elite the last two games. Has this surprised you? No, I mean, I guess I've played against him quite a few, you know, in the last couple of years, we've played him two times a year and he was, I always felt like that's how he played against us. Right. So, you know, it's nice to be on the other end of this. And you know, he's just, it's been a lot of the right opportunities that Greg's put him in great position and he's gone and executed the defenses as well as you can ask the guy to execute it. The thing that he does as well as anybody I've ever seen is he finishes the play. There's a lot of times you see guys that are free blitzers or they have one guy to beat and they get there and they don't make the play. They don't finish the tackle. And what I see him do is he finishes every play, which is you just don't see a lot of guys be able to do that. He's a really strong tackler. He just doesn't miss. He puts himself in the right position as a tackler all the time. Now, obviously the wins and losses get compromised by the injuries. You lose your starting quarterback and all that, but wins and losses aside, just assessing where you are right now as you get closer and closer to Thanksgiving, which is always, I think, an important line of demarcation. Are you where you thought you would be from a coach having the players play where they need to be? Are you even close to where you thought you would be at the beginning of the season entering week 12? Well, I think our record says no. That's surprising to everybody in this building, including coaches, players. We all thought we were gonna have a better record at this time. I would say, especially the last month, guys have done a really good job of just taking it one week at a time, focusing on trying to get better every day. I think it's been very impressive how hard these guys practice. And it's never wavered, no matter what's happened the week before, and that's been very impressive to see. We're talking with Adam Gase, head coach of the New York Jets here on the Michael K Show, his weekly spot here on the show. Adam, when we spoke to you last Tuesday, this happened after that, so there's a first chance we've had to ask you about it. Christopher Johnson came out and said, Adam Gase is my coach, he's my coach next year. What did that mean to you, or did you not even care that that was said? You know, anytime your owner comes out and says the positive things that he has about our staff and just kind of understanding how we're going about things and trying to get guys better. I mean, he's around a lot, which is, it helps us a lot with communication. We see him almost every day. You know, we keep him informed with everything that's going on. He's very, very involved in the loop in what's going on around here. So, you know, for him to do that, that was, you know, we appreciate that, especially as a coaching staff. I know just everybody in this building just appreciates everything that he really, he does, you know, to help all of us. And what does it mean, Adam, in terms of in that room? The players know, well, this is not a lame duck coach. This guy's going to be here. Does it help you coach? Yeah, I mean, this is a good group of guys. I've never even crossed my mind because of how these guys work every day. I mean, players and coaches, everybody looks at it the same as, you got to do everything you can to get better on that day. And that week, put out, you know, the product that you should put out, which is good football, you know, make sure that you're competitive towards the end of the game, and then you got to go try to win it. All right, now you're trying to stockpile wins here. Income the Raiders, a team that's competing for a playoff spot. So what are the challenges that they present on Sunday? Well, obviously their offense is playing very, very good right now. They're running the ball well. You know, that's going to be a very big test for our run defense. And our guys are playing about as well as anybody and when it comes to that, that area of the game. So we just have to make sure that we do a good job there. You know, offensively, we have to do a really good job of protecting the football. We can't have any unnecessary turnovers, same thing on special teams. I mean, this is going to have to be a full team effort and we got to play three phases together. I want to ask you this since I have you, and I don't think in my mind's eye I can remember it being a situation for you. But a lot of conversation on the show has been about challenging the pass interference. And it just seems like the NFL is just not going to reverse it. So what is your philosophy on a call that goes against you? Are you going to look at the past and say, they just don't overturn it? Or are you going to look at the situation? How do you think you'll treat it going forward? Well, I mean, it's the same way we've treated all year. We've kind of, we watch everyone that's challenged. I mean, that's kind of part of what we do. But are you going to bother throwing the flag even? Because they just don't, they don't think. Last game when they called it on Demarius, we just felt like that was one that we thought we could get overturned. Interesting. I mean, I kind of feel like we're being played for fools here, right? I mean, it's a rule that exists, but the NFL just doesn't seem to have an appetite to change it at all. So what did they even put the rule in for? Well, that's something you'd have to ask them. I mean, I feel like this, we do our research. We watch all these, all those plays that are challenged. And we just kind of narrow it down to say, hey, this is something that we think could be challenged. Good luck on Sunday, Adam. Thanks a lot. We'll talk to you next Tuesday. I appreciate it, guys.