On what stands out on film:
I mean, in general, we went into this thing, we had a list of objectives, or I had a list of objectives that I wanted to make sure, and we met them, other than the end result. In terms of the players, and from the sidelines, to the operation, to the communication, to the huddles, to personnel and getting the reps on some people we wanted to see in a game situation, to getting guys paired up, and seeing different people playing together. So all those things, we were able to get, we did get a good beat on some guys. All that stuff we feel real good about.
On performance of first OL:
Again that first group, Staley was out of their kind of quick, so was Pears. But I thought they did a nice job working together. I thought that was a great start, you know, I did. But then as you went on, and I don't want to mislead anybody, as we go through this preseason, you're going to see some different guys working together. Marcus Martin going out there playing at the guard spot, with Looney at center. I mean watching that combination, watching those two guys working together, that was, I thought they were really, I thought it was good. I thought they were in a good place. But I did, Brandon Thomas did some nice things. Marcus then went back to center and did some nice things. So again, there's, we're gonna keep playing with that right there for a little bit.
On what OL combos we'll see (maybe Brandon Thomas at guard and Martin at center with first unit):
Yea, Matt, you know exactly what I'm getting at with all this. And I don't want to tell you exactly what that is today because I'd be making it up. We're thinking those things through, and we're gonna practice guys together, and we'll have a plan, and when we do I'll let you know. It won't be a secret, but yea we're just, and who starts and who doesn't, for me right now, doesn't, that's not a big deal, other than I want to make sure it's a nice group of guys for the quarterbacks to get some things done.
On defensive pass rush:
Not all the way in sync, but I will say, for me, in my history of coaching defensive line, if you go look at the preseason the pass rushes are a little sketchy too, because we don't put a lot of game plan into the protections. And we're not putting a lot of game plan and using our leverage principles in the rush as much. So when you start getting some wide-angle, 3-techniques opening up the pocket, and we're opening up windows underneath, and things like that, we're not sitting in there game-planning where we need to, where we want that quarterback to throw, and what we want him to throw over. So, it was porous in my opinion. But, Eli Harold, I think you see some things there with him. And Tank a few times. But we've gotta get all that gelled together, and get it coordinated.
On Brooks starting on right side:
No, we're definitely evaluating that. I've always held the, if you remember when he first came in, he was on the right. When I had him early on, when we moved him from inside linebacker to defensive line, I had him rushing on the right-hand side. And then in the base stuff he started playing on the left-hand side, and then he started to rush from the left-hand side. But again, too, with Ahmad, if they're chipping and setting backs on formations and things like that, it does nothing but help us to be able to move him from one side to the other. So I do want him to work on it.
On Arik Armstead:
I thought Arik, there was some really good things, and there's the cliche, some really good things and some really bad things. Not really, not so good things. Arik, I think you see it. We see what we know about Arik. He's got some power to him, he's got length, and he can bend. He knows how to use his leverage. A lot of reps in a row. Not being able to get off the field on third down was a, that's something we were disappointed in. Both sides of the ball, conversions and then not being able to, conversions both ways, so he got a little bit winded there. But the guy strained, so I was happy to see that.
On Jarryd Hayne's performance:
Well, for me, with Jarryd, number one, he's got the same, he's got everything, he can build off of just like everybody else on the team. Everybody's got something to build off of. So we're definitely looking for the big growth to be from Week 1 to Week 2. That's where I'm looking to see, Week 1 to Week 2, then 2 to 3. After that, after Week 3, you've got an idea where it is, and you're running out of time. So, we want to see the growth between these two games. But Jarryd did a nice job, he did. I mean, you saw it, and I guess Janie, I'm not as shocked or, I don't know what the word is, that Jarryd was able to field punts and run, or field kicks and run, or that Jarryd was able to see creases and take them, and then get into the open field and avoid. i've seen him do all those things. I watched a lot of film on Jarryd Hayne playing rugby, so I understand, him in space. The things that excite me, the things that we gotta stay on, is when you get into those tighter quarters, and seeing those little creases. You know, that's where the improvement is. That's where he just has to keep working. Not that he's bad at it, Janie, he's not, but we just got to keep improving there. I just like to temper everything. We don't need to put undue things on Jarryd's, undue expectations, it's unnecessary to me to put that on his plate right now. I just want him to stay focused on getting better. Guy's a world class athlete, he's played professional sports for what, 7, 8, 9 years.
On Mike Purcell performance:
Well, obviously that game last night, the way Michael played, was, you feel great for Michael. Michael Purcell, he's another one, I mean I tell you all the time, the two things, No. 1 he's one of those guys you just, he's a father, he's a husband, he's a hard-working guy, he's a great person, a great teammate. He's got all those things, and he's got a lot of ability. So, you root for him, you're pulling for him, it excites you. But again too, the other thing that I say is, you've heard me say it before, year three, year three in development.
On Lawrence Okoye development:
Well you saw a lot more consistency and blasting that pocket down, didn't ya? You saw it, I saw it. I mean, playing some of the base blocks, you see that. And so yes, there is. Now his year three is a little different. His is like year three from zero. He's a junior in high school right now [silence] I'm being funny, but nobody laughed. Again, he's much better, he's gotten better every day, he's gotten better every year. You remember that first year he was here. My god, I didn't want to put him in a game. I mean the last preseason game I got him a few reps. I was worried he'd get busted up.
On Arik Armstead holding penalty (on running back) and still showing recognition, awareness on the play:
Exactly. That's exactly what I said on the sideline. Penalty, dad-gummit, and you don't want that. But my point to the guys was, hey, he saw it, he felt it, he was on it. Now we'll just clean him up, don't reach, if you spin the back on one of those things, they're gonna call it. And they should. He felt it, he got out there, he got his hands outside, and when you put your hands on those backs, the biggest thing that happens, they're going out for a screen and you're trying to get them, you reach out for them, and if you spin ‘em, there's your penalty. And that's what happens.
Updates on Nick Bellore, Michael Wilhoite:
I tell you what, i will have more information tomorrow or the next day. I do know that Nick Bellore is feeling better, so I know we're getting closer. I'm optimistic this week, I know he's doing more. I know he was doing more at the end of last week, so I'm optimistic there.
With Michael, I know we're gonna get him one of those, I don't know what it is, MRIs or whatever, just to make sure that...we don't want, any of those muscle things, we're trying to make sure that they're healed, so you don't have them nagging you all year long. That's what we're trying to get to, so that's exactly how we're handling Michael. He's got a strain in there, and we just want to make sure it's healed, and now we're moving forward.
On tempo:
Early on I thought that was really good. And from the headset perspective, communication from the box to the field, the way that went in all three phases of the game last night was really, really good. I felt great about that. I felt great about the sidelines itself, in terms of the coaching going on between series, and where the coaches were, and all the coaching that was going on all the way through the game. And I felt like the players in the communication, you know you watch that clock, we were around 22, 20 there a couple times in the first half. And then the second half, we fell off. Now the communication from the booth to the sidelines and all that stuff was good. We just had some of the young guys out there that we just gotta keep training them. They're working at it. I appreciate the effort, but we're looking for the result.
On L.J. McCray on special teams:
I tell you, he was running around. That one hit got everybody's attention, didn't it? L.J. is really, he's done a good job on special teams since he's been here. I think he can be a really, really, really good special teams player. And some things on defense, he's cleaning up, he's working at. And again, you come from some of the smaller schools, not to down the coaching, I mean that's the last thing I'd do. Just what you see int terms of the different patterns and reads, and the different coverages, so he's been doing a lot of learning. And he's been working real hard at it.
On pass coverage issues being communication vs. missed assignments:
Well I'm gonna tell you, I think it was a little bit of both. Just quite honestly. Again, with the vanilla coverages, trying to see, we're really looking back there, that's an area we're really looking at, on finding out skill-sets, and finding out who we have there on game-day. And again, without the game-planning and without looking at your route combinations, and talking about what to jump, and the leverage on a particular combination of routes, and things like that. We come out of the gates last night, and they have 10 personnel out there, 4 wide receivers. Not something we've spent a lot of time on. Whereas if, when you're game-planning, you'd spend time on that, spacing and all that kind of stuff. I think it was a little bit of both. We did find some things out with our secondary. We've got some talented guys back there.
On Tomsula, Logan talking with Dylan Thompson:
Well, I tell you what I'm going to say to you there. I think we've had these kinds of conversations about quarterbacks before. And Dylan Thompson had a, now that last ball sailed on him. And, there it is. But the rest of that, this is where we get into these conversations where I have to disagree with people that that was all the quarterbacks performance. There's a surrounding cast that has to be in the right places at the right times. They have to know the depths of their routes, they have to know their protection, and we have to put it all together. You look at that and a lot of times, offensively and defensively in the later part of the third and getting into the fourth quarter, we looked like popcorn. We were popping all over the place. Instead of one continuous pop, it was pop-pop-pop-pop-pop, and you can't play team offense or team defense, or team special teams, you can't play at all that way. Everybody's gotta be in unison. That shows you, that right there to me speaks on just getting that thing to gel. We gotta get those guys to gel together.
On any new injury news:
No, I went through the plane, I always shooting the, shooting it up with the guys, checking on everybody. Nothing there. I spoke to Bishop, and I asked how he felt, he sounded great. But I haven't been, the guys are in the training room now, so we're getting a lot of those. We tried to let a lot of guys, we tried to let them have some rest this morning, and dad-gummit, i've been watching guys out here working out since about 9:30 this morning. Anquan's running right now. But I don't have a complete list or anything from the training room yet.