Q. On Devonta's touchdown there, we're used to kind of seeing that almost be a nature fit for him.
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah.
Q. In this case, he leaked into the end zone. How much of that was your holding it in your back pocket for that situation or how much was that just the read?
SHANE STEICHEN: That's part of the read. It's coming out, trying to set a little pick there, and the guy played underneath and actually passed it off there when you watch the tape. He did a good job finding the dead spot and Jalen went to throw it to the flat, guy fell off, boom, found Devonta for a touchdown. It was a great play.
Q. The 15 yard pass to Brown for the touchdown, looked like Parsons was in between. Like he didn't know whether to go for Hurts because he thought he might run, or go out of the coverage. Is that the way it was schemed?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, we were just reading him on the end right there and see what he did. He was kind of playing in between and Jalen pulled it and hit him in the flat and we went down the sideline.
Q. What's been the biggest difference on those long, late drives where you guys kind of pounded it at them?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, I think it's really the guys up front, the conditioning part of it. Those guys are ready to go in those situations. We pop the big one to start there, that drive. It was a concept we ran earlier in the game and we just missed it. It was close and it was like, Hey, let's come back to that, and we did. We ran it again the second play, just flipped the formation, and then we came back to it again couple plays later.
And we kept moving the ball. Just kept going down the field with it and it was working, and then you got to second and ten and it was like, let's get the ball to our playmaker's hand, and we hit AJ on that little underneath route and he created the explosive and then we went right back on and hit Devonta for the touchdown. Really good drive right there by everybody.
Q. Do you go into the drive saying, okay, we're going to do this, or do you say, okay, maybe we'll lean this way and if it works...
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, it's a feel thing there honestly. It was really similar to Arizona last week. It really was. It was kind of like, shoot, we started running it and popping it and it was like, all right, good, let's keep this thing going. When something is working you want to stay with it, and that's what we did in that drive.
Q. Do you feel like there is more urgency when it gets to that point in the game, late in the game?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, there is definitely urgency. I think there is urgency throughout the whole game, not just that drive. Obviously towards the end of the fourth quarter you're up and you got a chance to go up two scores and it's like, Hey, guys, we got to go here.
Guys did a heck of a job there converting on that drive. The urgency has to be there the first quarter through the fourth quarter, at all times.
Q. Jonathan talked about a trickle down effect Nick has. The principal of putting team before self.
SHANE STEICHEN: Uh-huh.
Q. How does that apply to when he handed over the playcalling to you last year and what that signified to you?
SHANE STEICHEN: Nick is a tremendous leader. What he's done from last year, all through last year. We had the slow start and then he just kept sticking to the process and the preparation part, and he doubled down on his beliefs and everyone bought into it.
You could see it through the coaching staff, the players, through the building, the effect he had on everybody. He holds everyone accountable. We're in here on Saturday mornings going through situational football, and everyone is alive and everyone could get called on.
I get called the on about three, four times and he'll throw up the tape: Hey, there is 14 seconds left. We got no timeouts. The ball is here. What's your call? Everyone has to be ready to go. I think that is the accountability part he holds everyone to, so everyone understands what we're trying to get done on everything so there is no second guessing.
So when things come up, whether it's in the building, on the practice field, in games, everyone has to be locked in.
Q. What's your call in that situation in?
SHANE STEICHEN: That depends. I'm just throwing out a random situation.
Q. When he handed over playcalling, what did that tell about him?
SHANE STEICHEN: I mean, just his selflessness. Everything that he's all about. And putting the team first in everything he does. He's all about winning and anything we need to do to win and help the team win, players, coaches, everyone involved. It's been really good.
Q. Did you get a sense of how much AJ Brown's influence carries over to Devonta?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah. It's huge. Any time you add an elite player like AJ to the roster with the other elite players that we have, everyone's level of competition goes up. I talked to the team the other day about the it factor. What is the it factor. Oh, that guy has the it factor. Some people refer to it as energy and focus and commitment to excellence and all that stuff.
I think all that is true. I think when you have that it raises the level of everyone around you. So when everyone has that it factor everyone will play harder for each other and be more committed to each other and the process we are trying to get done.
Q. How delicate is that? It doesn't always seem to work that way. Egos are involved and everything like that.
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, there is no question. We got a great group of guys. They're very selfless and all about winning. That's the most important goal every week.
So to win the football game, and that may look different every week as you have seen over the first six weeks. Guys understand that.
We're trying to win games, and that's the bottom line, and guys know sometimes they'll get it and sometimes not and go from there. Everyone understands that.
Q. Mile Sanders' yards after contact are up this year per the analytics community. Why do you think that is?
SHANE STEICHEN: I was going to bring Miles up today. Miles has been tremendous through this first six weeks. Averaging 4.6 yards a carry. He is running hard. He's got great vision. The biggest thing, too, besides that and his speed and his power that he has, the ball security is huge. We've had no fumbles this year. Knock on wood. Only two turnovers.
I think when you go back to our big thing, we look at winning the turnover battle and winning the explosive play battle, I think it's proven over the first six weeks. We got to continue to do that. Hats off to Miles. What he's done so far has tremendous.
Q. As far as running back rotation in this game, just this past game, it seemed like you got to it a little early. Boston Scott was in I think in the first quarter and I think Kenny, too. That was by design?
SHANE STEICHEN: Absolutely. We have a rotation there on certain things we want to do, and Jemal does a good job, and we talk about the rotation throughout the week. Miles, again, ran hard and Boston ran hard and Kenny ran hard. Kenny had some big runs there on that last drive. All three of those guys are doing a tremendous job running.
Q. What needs to get better after the bye?
SHANE STEICHEN: Right now we're going through the self-scout process. I just took a break. We been going since 9:00 this morning. We are really just looking at what we're doing well, what we need to improve on. We look at where we are around the league statistically and categories and then we look at two-minute situations, four-minute, backed up, first, second down, run-pass tendency, bi-formation, shifts, all those different things, because at some point you're going to have tells and we got to break those tells.
So those are the things we're working on now.
Q. Each quarterback is different, Justin Herbert, Phillip Rivers, and Jalen Hurts. What about them do you see any common traits?
SHANE STEICHEN: You know what? I think the calmness that all of them have and the understanding of the game. You can see it by the way all these guys play. I think all the really, really good quarterbacks have that trait in them.
I think all those things are common denominators, after the way they go about preparation, see the game, see the field, how they are with their teammates, players. And I think that carries over on game days on Sunday.
I think all they of those guys are really good football players.
Q. When did you see that with Jalen?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think you saw that growth last year. I think you saw it right when he started growing in the middle of last year. Just continued to grow and continued to grow and that carried over into the off-season and carried over to this season, and it's been good.
Q. As a play caller, what compels you to keep going to the run on a drive where it keeps working?
SHANE STEICHEN: I don't know, I think just the feel and the flow of the game and how the game is going really, and the score and where you're at in the game. The situation. I think that's more than anything.
It could look different in the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter. I felt in that situation you're up three, we started running it good, boom, and just kept going to it.
We were running it good and it was working, so just stayed with it in that situation.
Q. Nick admitted that the reason you guys sat on the ball before the half part had to do with Lane not being in there. How does he affect what you guys do?
SHANE STEICHEN: Lane is a really good player. More than anything, just always looking out for the health of Lane right now. He should be good. He's in the protocol right now. Lane is a really good player, one the best to do it, so obviously when has out, when you lose a good player you just got to be aware of it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports