Read the full transcript from Mike McDaniel's press conference on October 16, 2024.
Q: We did not spot LB Emmanuel Ogbah at Monday's practice. Is he injured, and will he play this weekend?
"He is day to day but doing well."
Q: Is RB De'Von Achane still in the protocol?
"He is progressing through the protocol with all things positive. The last protocol piece is based upon activity that he should be doing. Hopefully he'll get some clarity on that, but we feel good where he's at, for sure."
Q: Is QB Tua Tagovailoa still on pace to practice the first day that he's eligible and when will he be getting out of protocol if you can tell us that?
"Nothing has changed from Monday with Tua. The process will go as – you have to allow days to progress for evaluation of where you're at and have a proper assessment. I feel good about him; the experts and family and everybody that's been involved has been very diligent. When the next step occurs, the next step occurs. Don't really know what time is."
Q: The last time you played a game, your three rivals in the AFC East looked markedly different from how they look today. I'm wondering, how much are you monitoring that and what do you make of the division now with all of the changes that have taken place?
"First of all, I've always looked at it like it helps your team the better the teams are in your division ultimately if you're trying to succeed at something. It makes your team have to be better, and really I caught wind of it but I've had plenty of focus on how to get our team better, like pretty much every team is doing. The two teams that added a player, it will be pretty cool to see how they involve themselves in the team and where their teams go and what type of challenge that will present. I know the players very well and they are very good players. I'm not the guy that's like, 'Oh man, somebody got somebody.' If you are trying to do what you say you want to do you have to beat whatever team, whatever day in whatever stadium. We just need to get better, as I'm sure every team in our division is saying that, because if you don't you will be at the bottom part of that division if you don't get better."
Q: QB Tyler Huntley has been here for about a month, I think. Is he at the point now that I'm not going to say the training wheels are off, but whatever you want to call, you're able to call?
"I think it's a cool point because there are things you learn that he learns about, what we're doing, why we are doing it. He absolutely knows he knows things, but then there's extra variables that you learn. As well as from a coaching perspective, I like to make decisions based upon concrete information and whatever that information is I can adjust. It's more difficult when you know a player from a far, but you don't know the daily of how – his first week of practice, we found out his Thursday was going to be an improvement over Wednesday and Friday was going to be an improvement over Thursday, as you want quarterbacks to do with weekly gameplans – didn't know that was the case. Certain things that I can tell he has conviction on throwing or running or doing whatever, you go into it thinking you know, you get a lot of clarity. For all parties involved, it is a night and day difference because we're working together to improve results day-in, day-out, week-in, week-out. I think 'Snoop' (Tyler Huntley) has really done a fantastic job becoming a part of our team in a way where teammates needed him to continue to develop and he has. I look forward to seeing what he does today, because what I've learned from him is that tomorrow he'll have an even better day and continue to stack through the week. Very, very valuable information that there was a lot in the previous games that you learned more and more each game, but you feel more convicted in what you're doing play-in, play-out when you have the nuanced information. I've always tried to tailor offense to player's skill sets, and you get a little bit better idea so you can be a little bit more detailed in what you can do."
Q: What's the status of WR River Cracraft? Is he possibly having his practice window open?
"I don't see it this week. It's a week-to-week deal. I don't see it this week, but I am encouraged by his progress for sure."
Q: Is someone getting a practice window open? You mentioned on Monday there were some possibilities.)
"We won't today. I was kind of looking at it like through the progress of the week because I need specifically Wednesday and Thursday to really know where everyone is at. You get used to in the job of all sorts of issues, but they clear up on Wednesday and Thursday whether that's other players or whether that's players opening a window. It's those two workdays in particular where most of the information comes, so I'm confident I'll have more information which might be the same information on Friday."
Q: Is S Jevón Holland open to trying to see if he can play?
"Yeah. He's – don't get it twisted – football players got into football to play football. He is going to be smart with the team and not be irresponsible with forcing a round peg into a square hole, but he also knows that he's a very good player that we're better off with when he's playing. So I'm very comfortable with all parties involved making an appropriate decision for the right reasons and (he is) definitely spending a lot of time in the training room to try to make that come to life."
Q: Do you anticipate a little extra pep in the step of your players coming off the rest and getting away from the facility during the bye?
"Yes and no. When your team collectively is trying to battle through some adversity, that doesn't go away with one week. You kind of have a hunger to… it's one of the rare times players get – it's a lot of wear and tear on the body for all the players, the sleep and rest and seeing your family as coaches. But generally when you're trying to get something right, these are the rare times you're like, 'Yeah, I do not want the bye week right now.' So I do think there will be pep just because of the eagerness. It was a highly motivated post-bye Monday practice more so more spirited, more focused, as it should be because you don't get into this profession – anybody involved – to have things happen and to hope for better circumstances. You've got to put the work in and I think the work has matched the vigor to get our ball better and that's what we'll be sweating through today."
Q: A question about the run game. According to my numbers, when you guys have 25 or more carries, you're 16-7. When you have 27 or more carries, you're 11-4. But you have RB Raheem Mostert who has missed some games, RB De'Von Achane in concussion protocol, RB Jeff Wilson Jr. has had a knee problem, RB Jaylen Wright is a rookie – how do you balance that? Is it keep going and it's next man up? Or are you mindful of what the workload could do to your guys?
"So I think that's – going into the season, specifically the work that Chris (Grier) and his staff did, we felt very good about the running back room and felt in a way that you feel that all guys are capable starters for you and that you can play winning football and do all the things you want to do with running backs, whether that's handing it to them or having them run routes. So we knew that had the potential of being a strength, but what you need is a group that when you're competitive like that, they have to be the right people where they aren't worried about what someone else just did on the play previous or how many reps they're getting right then. They are worried about getting themselves better and supporting their teammates as a very close, tight room and as a result, I think you've seen situations where guys have been able to rise to the occasion and do some certain things. We had a ton of injuries at the receiver position; De'Von (Achane) stepped in and had been working on stuff in the offseason and played a lot of receiver. Jaylen Wright, as a product of the entire room, was ready when he was called upon. And that's the key that you're talking to the team all the time about because regardless, the absolute non-negotiable in a player's mind is 'Oh, when my number is called, I'm ready,' but you have to proactively do that and they've done that as a group. As a result, there's plays that are made week-in and week-out by that room. It's exciting because you go to a game with competitors like that, you don't know who it's going to be necessarily but you're very confident somebody is going to give you reason to give them the ball more. I think that room has done a great job; the team expects a lot of them and we rely a lot upon them."
Q: Indianapolis Colts Defensive Coordinator Gus Bradley has been doing this a long time, calling defenses. When you watched the Colts on tape, what stands out about how he structures that defense and how they play?
"It stands out that I'm old. I'm lowkey old because I've played against Gus Bradley, a Gus Bradley coordinated defense since 2012, I think was the first time, in Washington in a playoff game. And then played against him with the Chargers, Raiders just over the last decade, and one thing that is – it's cool to see over time like that, you can tell what coaches prioritize, what they value and since you get such a cross sectional of all sorts of different players, different draft classes on different teams, you get an idea of 'OK, this is a guy that players play for,' and you can see it on the tape and it's a consistency over 12 or however many years I've gone against him. That's pretty obvious, especially as seasons go, when you can just tell how groups play together and how consistent their fundamentals and technique are. Where so much of NFL defense, defending pass games now, are people being coordinated in various spots on the field, not being able to communicate to each other because it's loud so you can't hide the connectivity, or lack thereof, in a unit. I've been very impresses with the Colts football team in general, in all three phases, but in particular you can see how Gus Bradley has always wanted to play football. They are fervently vibrant on defense in Indianapolis and have some pretty good players doing it. I've had to play 'Buck' (DeForest Buckner) in practice two-a-days forever, so it's not fun watching him again, like 'You are so tall.' (laughter) But I think just in general, it speaks to the program, the health of it, and they're playing some ball that if you slip up at all, you will have negative plays, turnovers, just bad football situations that you have to proactively execute to prevent. I think getting the ball back is something that's always been a staple of his defense and it's definitely stayed consistent over my 12 years or however old I am."
Q: What did you think of QB Anthony Richardson coming out of the University of Florida?
"I was like, 'Wow, I haven't seen that,' really big, fast and has a cannon. He's a cool player to watch, very confident and a problem for defenses. You have to play team defense – any time you have to play team defense to minimize the impact of a player, that speaks to the player. Pass rush has to be connected to coverage, run fits have to be on point and he can do a lot of things if you allow him to. I think you saw him throw it 65 yards today going backwards – I couldn't do that going forward. (laughter) So a good player that – I think their team in general has done a great job in playing football with both quarterbacks, and I think you have to be prepared for that situation because they are very productive NFL players that present their own problems."
