LOVIE SMITH: Another day, I guess you could say training camp still. Guys have come a long way since that first day we were out here, trying is it establish what we wanted to be, how we wanted to play defensive football and we've seen improvement. Some things we are doing a pretty good job of. Others, we need to improve upon. It's always good when you get a chance to play the Super Bowl Champion to get a great evaluation of exactly where we are, but we like some of the things we've done. Can't wait to play another game. Getting ready for Jacksonville.
Q. What are things you want to see the team do better?
LOVIE SMITH: There's a lot. We can do a better job taking the ball away. We had some other opportunities that we left on the field last week. But it always starts up front stopping the run and we are about a gap-sound defense, playing hard, getting 11 guys to the ball. That's the first thing we talk about.
Once you have good gap control and you're flying around to the football and you have 11 guys at the point of attack, takeaways come then. We had a couple break outs, believe me, we gave up a few plays last week. Not satisfied with how we played third downs. We had some opportunities we let slip away but hopefully we can take another step this week.
Q. How do you work on not just the takeaway --
LOVIE SMITH: It's pretty easy to track the takeaways, per se, but a lot starts before that. One way is just -- I'm from a little small town in east Texas. You know, simple math, you get more takeaways when you are trying to take the ball away. And what I mean by that is you have an opportunity -- if a ball carrier has a ball, you know, we want to see you going after the ball. That's the first step, trying to strip the football. So that's what we chart first, just how many times we see guys pulling and yanking and punching the football.
Q. A few questions about your son, can you talk about the pride you have as a father and as a coach?
LOVIE SMITH: Well, I've always felt this way about coaches kids in general when they go into the profession, they have seen it, the good and the bad, throughout their lives. So you know what they are getting and they know what they are getting into. As a father, I just great to -- I want to be around family as much as possible and to get a chance to work with him, I'm a football coach pretty much 24/7 and when you have your son on the staff, you can talk football pretty much year round, every day, every night, and that's what's expected. That part has been a lot of fun.
Q. He says he never calls you dad --
LOVIE SMITH: You know Coach Miles -- I'm Coach. We understand our relationship together but he'll tell you that it's about -- I hold him to a certain standard like I hold all the other defensive coaches on our staff, same standard I hold to myself.
Q. You said he understands that -- he's got the job and working with you, but he has to prove -- he's here on his own merit and his own right. Thoughts about that?
LOVIE SMITH: Well, I mean, you can't get away from he's my son. So that part is there and people are just going to assume certain things based on that. But if you start talking football with him, you see his products that's on the football field. I have been around a lot of coaches kids. What I've found is that a lot of time people hold stuff like that against them and they work harder than anyone.
Again, when you know what you're getting into and you've seen it all your life, I think you get the best from coaches kids. Yeah, he's my son. Can't get away from that. But as I'm judging him, he's our linebacker coach and doing a pretty good job.
Q. I think I asked you this question before, but I've always heard that when a son or daughter follows in a parent's footsteps --
LOVIE SMITH: I agree 100 percent. And again, they have seen the good and the bat throughout their lives and for them to want to go into the same profession that you did, we're talking football now, but I think in most professions, a lot of sons follow their fathers because they have seen it all their life and there are some things that they like about it, and just like I wanted to be a football coach; it was in my blood. I think it can be in your son's blood, too, and I know that's the case with mine.
Q. Is there a special moment that you can recall?
LOVIE SMITH: Well, you know, I had a lot of those moments and just seemed like after awhile, we've been coaching together for a while. I can't remember the first time we started coaching together now. I just know it's been a lot of moments like that, special wins and things like that. It's always great when you have somebody that you really love there right next to you.
Q. The defense taking away the ball -- what about the defense's ability to show that they can stop the run?
LOVIE SMITH: Well, it starts with that. I know we are going to talk take away but it's about first, gap control, running to the football. Getting 11 guys to the ball in a disciplined way. If you do that, then that's when the takeaways start coming.
I think it starts up front. Our defensive line has attacked the line well. Guys are buying into trust your teammate. I just need to do my job and have faith and trust in the guy next to me. Once you get that concept down, the rest of those things come.
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