SHANE STEICHEN: Just recapping the game, really pleased with the way our guys fought. To get down in the hole 14-0, it just shows the resilience. I think when you hit adversity, you find out a lot about your team, and our character showed up. Our resilience showed up.
Then that fourth series, Dallas got it going with the screen, and then we went down and scored and got the ball rolling for us.
Really good overall performance by everybody in that weather, in that type of environment. Really pleased with the way the guys fought.
Q. What were the conversations like on the sidelines (indiscernible)?
SHANE STEICHEN: Well, nothing. It was just kind of like, hey, shoot, I think Quick said it best doing the radio broadcast; he said, Let the big dogs eat, and that's what we did. Those guys were awesome up front. Miles ran hard, had great vision all game. Kelce, Lane, Isaac, Sua, Driscoll stepped in there. Those guys played really hard, fought their butts off. It was good to see.
Q. You mentioned Dallas and the screens. Obviously that's been a productive play for you guys. What's so good about him after the catch?
SHANE STEICHEN: Gosh, he's so strong and powerful, and he's got great vision. He has great vision as a runner. He knows when Kelce gets out there and those guys get out there, he's got great vision to set those blocks, get set up, and he sees it well and he's strong after the catch, and he's hard to take down.
Q. You mentioned Jack. Losing Jordan so early, you put a lot on your tackles and typically don't have to give much. How much does that change things for you guys when you lose somebody like Jordan that early in a game?
SHANE STEICHEN: Well, we have a lot of confidence in the backups, and Jack stepped in, and credit to him, the work he's put in, and Stout does an unbelievable job getting those guys ready. Anytime your number is going to get called, you've got to be ready to go in and execute at a high level. I think Sua and Jack di a hell of a job coming in there and doing what we needed to do to win that football game.
Q. What's it take for a player like Jack who can play kind of every position? What goes into that, and what kind of player does it take to be able to do that?
SHANE STEICHEN: Well, I think you've got to be prepared, first and foremost, and then also you've got to be an intelligent football player because there's a lot of moving parts when you play all positions. You've got to know the different schemes that are going into it, where you're at, where the double teams are happening, where the singles are happening, and he prepares his butt off.
Like I said, Stout and Roy do a heck of a job getting those guys ready to play.
Q. On the Manningcast last night, Jalen said that the three quarterbacks that you guys watch are Philip Rivers, Andrew Luck, Tom Brady, which Eli and Peyton seemed to be a little surprised by. Why those three guys if you're able to break each of them down?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think through the off-season, just the scheme we run in the pass game, a lot of those concepts carry over from my time and Nick's time with the Chargers and then obviously Nick's time with Andrew Luck. When you're putting in the offense and you're showing them the pass plays, a lot of those concepts carry over that we're still running in the pass game, so that's a lot of study that goes into it.
Do we watch it as much during the season? No, not as much because we're getting ready for our opponents, but that's really what goes into it.
Q. How about Brady? Is that somebody that you guys watch?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, well, that's someone he watches on his own. Some of that stuff carries over, too. Obviously there's always carryover when you're watching tape, different teams, so he's one of the best ever to do it, so it's a good guy to study.
Q. What have you seen so far when it comes to the Cardinals' front seven and how you think the offensive line, especially with the uncertainty with a couple of guys on the offensive line?
SHANE STEICHEN: No, it's a good group up front. Watt still leads that crew. Allen is playing good football right now. Simmons, the linebacker they got from Clemson, he can run around. It's a really good group. They're very multiple in what they do. Defensively they give you a lot of different looks that we've got to be prepared for. But it'll be a good challenge for us, one we're looking forward to.
Q. Kenny Gainwell scores a lot of touchdowns for a guy who doesn't have a lot of touches. When you talk about a nose for the end zone, what goes into that and what makes him able to take advantage of those opportunities?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think he's just got a really good feel, and then obviously it starts up front with the offensive line, but then he's got good vision, good power. He's strong when he gets the ball in his hands. The touchdown run he had, I think it was 2nd and 10 or 2nd and 11 or at the 11-yard line or whatever it was. But that play, when he scored there, it was an unbelievable job by the left side of the line. They brought a stunt and the pass-off on that left side and then the double team on the front side with the stunt they were bringing, it was unbelievable up front and then he had a great knack of hitting the hole and going and getting it.
Q. That list that came out that identified you as the top head coaching candidate in the league. What's your reaction to that, A; and B, how much in your career have you kind of set aside things thinking about that opportunity?
SHANE STEICHEN: Honestly, my reaction to that is I'm focused on the Arizona Cardinals right now. That's all we care about is getting to 5-0. That's all we're worried about. I'm not worried about any of that stuff right now. We're getting ready to play football.
Q. Yesterday Nick was talking about 4th down, and I'm sure you saw, he said, I trust Jalen, I trust Jalen, I trust. You just talked about Philip Rivers and Andrew Luck. How much does the quarterback's understanding of the offense make you trust him more in those high-leverage situations?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, I think that's huge. There's so much trust there with Jalen right now. He's playing really, really, really good football right now, and when you're playing that good a football, you have a lot of trust in your players. We have good players surrounded around him, the offensive line, the receivers, and he's seeing it well. When you're seeing it well like he's seeing it well, there's a lot of trust there, and we're going to go out and make plays.
Q. What about trust when he needs to either protect himself or willing to kind of take on a linebacker at the goal line?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, I think there's a happy medium there, but I think when it's 4th down and we've got to go get it, he ain't going to back down, and he's going to go get it, and that's what he did.
We had the 3rd and goal at the 16 and he took off and got us down to 4th and goal at the 4, called the pass play there, they zoned everything off, and he saw a lane and he went and got it.
I think he knows the situation that we're in. When we need to go get it, he'll go get it, and he needs to be smart when it doesn't call for that situation.
Q. What goes into those end-of-half scenarios from a game planning perspective?
SHANE STEICHEN: There's a lot that goes into it. I'll tell you what, the head coach, Nick, he does an unbelievable job putting us through those situations daily. We talk about it as a staff. We walk through it all the time. Shoot, we spent I couldn't even tell you how many hours on Friday talking about these situations. We were in that staff room grinding away.
So when they come up, no one flinches. Like no one flinched. Like every situation that comes up, it's like, boom, here it is, let's go, you guys good? And there's so much conviction with everybody in those situations that it's time to go.
Q. One more question about Driscoll. Had he taken any reps at left tackle before Andre got hurt? Is this a relatively new thing for him?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think throughout camp and all those things, Stout gets him ready to play all positions. So being a smart football player that he is and understanding the scheme we're running offensively, he's prepared to play all of them, and he's done a nice job.
Q. As far as Miles is concerned, is he doing anything differently this year as far as running his style or anything like that?
SHANE STEICHEN: No, I think he's continuing to do what he does. He had a heck of a game. I think he averaged five yards a pop, and then the biggest thing was -- the most thing I was pleased with with him and the rest of the offense was the ball security. The ball security in that game was at a premium. I know we had the one interception, but besides that did not have any fumbles in that situation, in that game with that weather. That's a testament to the guys understanding how ball security is that important. We talk about it more than anyplace I've ever talked about it here. It is all day, every day. It's all about the ball.
He did a heck of a job holding on to that thing, and so did everybody else.
Q. Talking about Jalen's touchdown and how they zoned it off and he ran, when you're designing plays, are you designing them with his scrambling ability in mind? Like if they do this, then this will open, or is that all just skill?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think that happens naturally. Sometimes depending on the certain coverage, not getting into schematics of it, there's some times where they do match it up, sometimes the holes are bigger. They zoned that play off, and he saw a lane and he got it.
Q. When Jalen is part of a collision like that near the goal line, what's that like to watch from your perspective?
SHANE STEICHEN: Shoot, that's a good question. Shoot, he scored, so it's like heck yeah, and then make sure he's all right, and he got up and he bounced up, so it was good.
Q. Nick talks a lot about the passing game and you and Kevin and Nick and getting everything together, but the running game and Stout's part of that, when does that come together in the game-planning process, when you guys sort of mesh --
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, we mesh it up. So that started yesterday, and we get together -- last night we got together for a while. Pass game guys going through their thing, Stout is going through it, and then we come together and we marry everything up, and then that process goes through in the morning. We just finished that stuff up a little bit as we're still going through it, and we're just marrying things up. It's a great process we've got going, one that I truly believe in, and it's been working, and we've got to continue that.
Q. You mentioned the interception. It looked like maybe the wind caught that ball a little bit, hung up. Did that affect your approach the rest of the way to what you wanted to do?
SHANE STEICHEN: No, not at all. Plays like that are going to happen throughout the game. They're going to happen throughout the season. You've got to overcome those things and bounce back and respond, and our guys did. There was no sense of panic on that sideline. I mean, it was unbelievable. It goes back to the preparation part of everything. We talk about the guys were so calm on the sideline, coaches. It was like, hey, here we go, we're fine, let's go, let's go make a play.
Q. Do you think gee, it's going to be hard to make those kinds of throws?
SHANE STEICHEN: I did not. I did not. And then like I said, as I got in going in the second half we started running it good. I think we ran it 50 yards, 4.5 yards a pop, and again, it was a testament to those guys up front, the backs, everybody. It was solid.
Q. A few weeks ago you spoke about the benefit that the offense has on 4th down situations is that they go into 3rd down knowing that it's four-down territory. In how many of those situations did you call 3rd down knowing on 4th down you'd go for it?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, like I said, that's the preparation part of it. We know that going into the game when that's going to come up, and those are obviously talked about as the series is going, be ready for this situation to come up, and we go from there.
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