SHANE STEICHEN: I think I'll just start. I realize you guys probably want to hit on the Tampa Bay game. Obviously not what we wanted as an offense. We've got to be more efficient on 1st and 2nd down. Coach hit on that last week. I think when you have so many three-and-outs, you look at the tape and you kind of look and see what you can improve on and do better, and I think even dating back to the Carolina game, I think when Quez hit that big 3rd down that kind of got us going. I think when you can have a big play or have someone make a big play, it kind of gets you in a rhythm. So I think we need to keep continuing to grow as an offense.
Are we where we want to be right now? No, but we've got 11 games left and it's going to start this weekend in Vegas, and try to get back on the right track.
Q. Nick mentioned the lack of experience that he had had with zone read plays, and does that affect ultimately production?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think with anything, I think you look to grow and improve on everything. I think we've got a lot of good coaches, and when we're looking at certain things, we've got a lot of guys that have good input, and we're looking to get better every week with that stuff, and that's the main focus is just keep growing as an offense and getting better.
Q. What's been your experience with those types of plays?
SHANE STEICHEN: I did it a little bit last year when I was with Justin Herbert, but other than that, that's pretty much it because I've been around Philip Rivers most of my coaching career, so last year was the first year I had a little bit of experience with it, but there is guys on our staff like Jason Michael and Brian Johnson that have done it a lot, so it's good to have those guys. And Stout has done it, as well.
Q. Is it something that's really detailed or is it just easy as reading a defender?
SHANE STEICHEN: There's a lot of detail that goes into it because when you start running zone read a lot teams are going to play you different. When you're looking at teams and you're scheming up certain things and you see what they're doing defensively, they're not going to always play the same way because of the quarterback we have. I'm not going to get into too much scheme on how teams are doing it, but teams do play it differently when you're running that type of stuff.
Q. How much difference have you seen from say week one when you guys were really successful up to Tampa Bay as guys shifted from a defensive standpoint? Has it been drastic when you're talking about the zone read stuff?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, I think we've done some really good things. Obviously Atlanta was a great start for us. I think we moved the ball efficiently against San Francisco. Obviously we didn't score in the red zone, but I think we've had some ups and downs through the first six weeks, and I think we're just continuing to grow and improve as an offense and get better.
Like I said, we've got 11 games left and that's the biggest thing. We've got everything we want in front of us and our players know that. We're just cleaning up the details right now and focusing on this week.
Q. How important do you think having a physicality to what you do is as an offense?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think you definitely have to be. Football is a physical game. You've got to be physical. You've got to be able to run it, and especially when it gets cold here and it's starting to change, you've got to be able to run the football well in those situations, so I think you definitely have to be physical.
Q. Do you feel like you guys have yet to show physicality that you'd want?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think we've shown physicality. I think we really have. I think we've got to keep getting better at it, but we've got the guys up front. This offensive line like I said, this is the best offensive line I've been around. Excited about the guys up front. The backs, the receivers, they're blocking well, so we've got to keep improving.
Q. What's the process for in-game adjustments with the staff?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think throughout the game obviously there's a lot of good conversation on the sidelines. Obviously you look at the services on what they're doing and how can we adjust and make certain things. There's certain things that come up in the game that might not be in the game plan that say, hey, shoot, they're playing this, we've got to run this. Those are stuff that's in our offense that are staples that we like, and those are the conversations that happen on the sideline.
Q. Obviously Nick is the play caller, but as the head coach he's managing the game while the defense is on the field, too. Is that you kind of leading the way there in terms of those adjustments?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, we have a process that we go through on the sidelines that we talk about through the week on certain things, like hey, let's talk about our next series of runs that we want, here's our next pass that we want, hey, what screen do we want up, so we talk through all those things and then we have a plan going forward.
Q. As you come back from this mini-bye week, what are some of the biggest takeaways from the offensive performance so far?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think the biggest thing I just hit on earlier is just efficiency on 1st and 2nd down. We had some really good conversations as an offensive staff on Friday, and obviously we self-scout ourselves every week, but obviously we had some extra time this weekend to look through some certain things on what we can get better at, and I think we're going to be all right. I really do. I think we have the right coaching staff. Coach does a heck of a job. He's a great leader, and we've got the right players to get this thing turned.
Q. You guys play a lot of zone reads and RPOs and that's been a key to having Miles Sanders get the ball. Why hasn't he gotten a lot of it early on, especially on 1st and 2nd down it when comes to designed run plays?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, I think that's something we've looked at. That's something we've been looking at, doing some of those things, and so even like the ones we hit last week, obviously we popped some late in the game where he popped them, and those could have been called runs, they could have been RPOs. From the naked eye just looking at it, you don't really know.
Not trying to get too schemey with it, but Miles is a heck of a back and we've got to get him going.
Q. No more Zach Ertz, obviously, getting moved, how does that change things for you and the offense? Obviously that's a veteran guy.
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, first and foremost, I just want to wish Zach the best. Being around him the short time that I was during training camp and these first six weeks, he was an ultimate pro, did everything you wanted, studied the game, loved the game, worked hard, and I wish him nothing but the best.
Obviously Dallas's role will probably pick up a little bit more and then obviously Jack and Tyree and Noah, all those guys are going to be able to step up and make some plays.
Q. We've never really seen Dallas be the No. 1 guy for an extended period of time. What's your level of comfort in him being that guy and how do you think he'll do?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think Dallas will do a heck of a job. He's explosive. He's got really good hands. He's strong. He's powerful. He's good in the run game. So really excited about Dallas moving forward.
Q. We asked you earlier in the season about Jalen's lack of passes in between the hashes, and I think there's a stat out there that's probably the lowest in the NFL. At this point is that a trend? Is that something that is an issue that needs to be corrected?
SHANE STEICHEN: No, I think with anything, I think I hit on this earlier, I think when you're looking at plays and what defenses are doing defensively from a coverage standpoint, are they giving you the middle of the field? Are they giving you middle of the field? If they are, we're going to take it, and if they're giving us one-on-ones on the outside, we're going to take that, so I think that's a game-by-game basis.
Q. Do you feel like teams are trying to take that away from you guys?
SHANE STEICHEN: Sometimes they are, yeah. Sometimes they are.
Q. We've seen Jalen just miss some guys that I'm sure are throws he'd like to have back, open guys. What can you do to get him through that? Is it mechanical? Have you seen anything with his footwork? What are you seeing there?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think you just continue to work it in practice and repetition. You go back and look at the tape and you talk through it mechanically, fundamentals and all that stuff, and then you just keep working it in practice to get him better.
Q. You talked about the 3rd down play that Quez made against Carolina. Do you feel like he could be even more involved in the offense?
SHANE STEICHEN: Quez? Yeah, I think a lot. Like I said, we want to get everyone involved. Quez has got big play ability. Obviously DeVonta is a big-time player, Dallas is a big-time player, Miles is a big-time player. As much as we can get everyone involved, we want to do that.
Q. I don't know how much the players have been around the past 24 hours, but I guess how has Lane been since he's been back? How does that add to the offense?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, it's great to have Lane back. I just saw him for the first time yesterday. Obviously he's a big part of our offense and we're excited to have him back.
Q. What does he bring to your line, kind of stabilize things back there at right tackle?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, I think Coach will handle those questions, but we're excited to have him back.
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